Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Migration, Myth, and History: A Cross-Border Case Study

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Cross-Fertilizing Roots and Routes

Abstract

This essay provides a case study in support of the proposition that a deep study of the history of cross-border migrations can help to remedy superficial stereotyping that haunts transborder dynamics. The author describes his findings from a study of French-Canadian migration across the eastern borderlands of Canada and the United States in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In this study, he found major faults in historical representations and cultural assumptions, which continue to be ascribed to the Franco-American population in New England and are often accepted by the French Americans themselves. He then asked how such illogical characterizations evolved and the reasons for it. His view is that once a detailed revision of the historical record is made, the larger society then has a potential to free itself of bias. His proposition is that re-evaluation of the history of migratory experience and its wide deployment among the people affected has contemporary relevance.

An article that included some of the materials discussed in this chapter appeared in a regional American journal over twenty years ago. It has been updated and expanded, in part to address modern global contexts. Barry H. Rodrigue, ‘The Cultural Trigonometry of Franco-American Stereotypes’, Maine History: The Maine Historical Society Quarterly, Orono: Maine Historical Society, vol. 34, no. 1, 1994, pp. 40–57.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Albert, Félix. 1991. Immigrant Odyssey: A French-Canadian Habitant in New England. Orono: University of Maine Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen, Charles. 2003. The Buddha and the Sahibs. London: John Murray.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen, James. 1970. Catholics in Maine: A Social Geography. PhD dissertation, Geography Department, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anbinder, Tyler. 1992. Nativism and Slavery: The Northern Know Nothings and the Politics of the 1850s. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bélanger, Damien-Claude. 2003. ‘Lionel Groulx and Franco-America’. The American Review of Canadian Studies 33 (3): 373–389.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bélanger, France, et al. 1988. La Beauce et les Beaucerons: Portraits d’une région, 1737–1987. St. Joseph: La Société du patrimone des Beaucerons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Yehuda, Nachman. 2002. Sacrificing Truth: Archaeology and the Myth of Masada. Amherst: Humanity Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger, Carl. 1976. The Writing of Canadian History: Aspects of English-Canadian Historical Writing: 1900 to 1970. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bock, Michel. 2004. Quand la nation débordait les frontières. Les minorités françaises dans la pensée de Lionel Groulx. Montreal: Hurtubise HMH.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brault, Gerard. 1986. The French Canadian Heritage in New England. Hanover: University Press of New England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casgrain, Henri-Raymond. 1912. F.X. Garneau et Francis Parkman, Montreal: Librairie Beauchemin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chartier, Armand. 1991. Histoire des Franco-Américains de la Nouvelle-Angleterre, 1775–1990. Sillery: Septentrion.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coffin, Edward. 1991. ‘The Untold Story of the Great Kennebec Dam at Augusta’. Unpublished typescript, Maine State Library, Augusta, Maine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Courville, Serge. 1990. Entre Ville et Campagne: L’essor du village dans les seigneuries du Bas-Canada. Quebec: Laval University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2001. ‘The Colonial Dream: Empire, Quebec and Colonial Discourse in the Nineteenth Century’. In Iain Black and Robin Butlin (eds), Place, Culture and Identity, pp. 289–309. Quebec: Laval University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Courville, Serge and Robert Garon. 2001. Québec ville et Capitale. Quebec: Laval University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Courville, Serge, Pierre Poulin and Barry Rodrigue. 2003. Histoire régionale de Beauce-Etchemin-Amiante. Quebec: Institut national de la recherche scientifique.

    Google Scholar 

  • Creighton, Donald. 1937. The Commercial Empire of the St. Lawrence: 1760–1850. Whitby: Ryerson Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daily Kennebec Journal. 3 June 1914. ‘Meserve Rodrick’, p. 11. Augusta, Maine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diocese of Boston. 5 August 1838. Journal of the Bishops. In Edward Coffin. 1991. ‘Untold Story of the Great Kennebec Dam’. Unpublished typescript, Maine State Library, Augusta, Maine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doty, C. Stewart. 1989. ‘The Intellectual of the Quebec Diaspora: The Case of Henri d’Arles’. Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d’etudes canadiennes 24 (4): 61–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1993. ‘Rudy Vallée: Franco-American and Man from Maine’. Maine Historical Society Quarterly 33 (1): 2–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1994. ‘The American Identity of Louis Dantin, More Francophone American Than Franco American’. Revue canadienne d’études américaines 24 (3): 103–119.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1997. ‘“M. Maurras est ici” French Fascism in Franco American New England’. Journal of Contemporary History 32 (4): 527–538.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2007. ‘How Many Frenchmen Does It Take To…?’. In Nelson Madore and Barry Rodrigue (eds), Voyages: A Maine Franco-American Reader, pp. 330–344. Gardiner: Tilbury House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eccles, William. 1961. ‘The History of New France According to Francis Parkman’. The William and Mary Quarterly 18 (2): 163–175.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eloi-Gerard, Frère. 1946. Recueil de genealogies des comtes de Beauce-Dorchester-Frontenac, 1625–1946. Beauceville: College du Sacre-Coeur.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fecteau, Albert. 1952. The French Canadian Community of Waterville, Maine. MA thesis, University of Maine, Orono, Maine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferland, Jacques. 2018. ‘Identity, Heritage and Society’. In Barry Rodrigue, Tom Plant and the American Dream: A Castle in the Clouds, pp. xx–xxvii. Bath: Archipelago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fingard, Judith. 1982. Jack in Port. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fortier, Moïse. 1841–1842. Letters to Joseph Signay, Quebec City, 1 August 1841, 18 October 1841, 9 November 1842.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forum/Le Forum. 1974+. Franco-American Centre, University of Maine, Orono, Maine. https://umaine.edu/francoamerican/centre/le-forum/. Accessed 13 July 2019.

  • Gagnon, Serge. 1982. Quebec and its Historians: 1840–1920. Montreal: Harvest House.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1985. Quebec and Its Historians: The Twentieth Century. Montreal: Harvest House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garant, Andre. 1985. Saint Francois de Beauce, Je me Souviens. Beauceville: L’Eclaireur Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert-Léveillé, Pierrette and Réné Léveillé. 1986. Répertoire des Marriages, Baptêmes et Sépultures, Paroisse Saint-François-de-la-Nouvelle-Beauce, 1765–1850. St. Foy: Société de généalogie de Québec.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodwin, Daniel. 1876. ‘Notice of John Merrick Esq.’. In Collections of the Maine Historical Society (First Series) 7: 379–402. Bath: Maine Historical Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenough, Jones and Company. 1876. Directory of the Inhabitants, Institutions, Manufacturing Establishments, Societies, Business Firms, etc., in Bath, Brunswick and Richmond for 1876–7. Boston: Greenough, Jones and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Groulx, Lionel. 1919. La Naissance d’une Race. Montreal: Bibliothèque de l’action française.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawthorne, Nathaniel. 1932. The American Notebooks. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilton, Elisha. 14 January 1836. Petition. Maine Legislative Papers, Maine State Archives, Augusta, Maine.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2 May 1848. Petition. Maine Legislative Papers, Maine State Archives, Augusta, Maine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobsbawm, Eric and Terence Ranger. 1992. The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackman, James. 11 February 1835. Petition. Maine Legislative Papers, Maine State Archives, Augusta, Maine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackman Bicentennial Book Committee. 1976. The History of the Moose River Valley. Augusta: Kennebec Journal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kosso, Peter. 2001. Knowing the Past: Philosophical Issues of History and Archaeology. New York: Humanity Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laberge, Yves. 3 November 2008. ‘Sad Chapter in the Story of French in America’. University Affairs/Affaires universitaires, Ottawa, Ontario.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lambton, John George (1st Earl of Durham), Charles Buller and Gibbon Wakefield. c.1839. Report on the Affairs of British North America From the Earl of Durham, Her Majesty’s High Commissioner. London: Fourth Session, Thirteenth Parliament, Second Victoria.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lavoie, Yolande. 1989. In François Weil. Les Franco-Américains: 1860–1980, p. 24. Paris: Éditions Belin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Canadien. 26 May 1837. Quebec City, Lower Canada (Quebec).

    Google Scholar 

  • Little, John. 1989. Ethno-Cultural Transition and Regional Identity in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Ottawa: Canadian Historical Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Locke, Joseph, et al. February 1832. Petition. Maine Legislative Papers, Maine State Archives, Augusta, Maine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Louder, Dean and Barry Rodrigue. 2002. ‘Recherche sur les Franco-Américains du Maine, 1970–2000’. In Yves Frenette, Martin Pâquet and Jean Lamarre, Les parcours de l’histoire, pp. 207–229. Quebec: Laval University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Madore, Nelson and Barry Rodrigue. 2007. Voyages: A Maine Franco-American Reader. Gardiner: Tilbury House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maine, Joint Standing Committee on State Roads. 10 February 1832. Report. Legislative Papers, Maine State Archives, Augusta, Maine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massachusetts. 12 June 1817. Resolve to Lay Out a Road to the Canada Line.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCallum, John. 1981. Unequal Beginnings: Agriculture and Economic Development in Quebec and Ontario Until 1870. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKechnie, Thomas. 1811. Townships and Canada Road Survey. Plan Book 1, Page 24, Map Case 1, Drawer 11, Folder 11, Maine State Archives, Augusta, Maine.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKechnie, Thomas and John Neal. 1811. Map: Cattle Drovers Trail and Canada Road. Maine Land Office 6: 18. Maine State Archives, Augusta, Maine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mellow, James. 1980. Nathaniel Hawthorne in His Times. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mies, Maria. 2006. ‘The Myth of Catching-Up Development’. In Paula Rothenberg, Beyond Borders: Thinking Critically About Global Issues, pp. 150–157. New York: Worth Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miner, Horace. 1939. St. Denis: A French-Canadian Parish. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. 2006. ‘On Being South Asian in North America’. In Paula Rothenberg, Beyond Borders: Thinking Critically about Global Issues, pp. 209–216. New York: Worth Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mundy, James. 1990. Hard Times, Hard Men: Maine and the Irish, 1830–1860. Scarborough: Harp Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osborne, Brian. 1995. ‘Grounding National Mythologies: The Case of Canada’. In Serge Courville and Normand Séguin, Espace et culture/Space and Culture, pp. 265–274. Quebec: Laval University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Owen, Henry. 1936. The Edward Clarence Plummer History of Bath, Maine, vol. 1. Bath: Times Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Portland Times. 20 July 1947. Portland, Maine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quintal, Claire. 1993. Religion catholique et appartenance franco-américaine/Franco-Americans and Religion: Impact and Influence. Worcester: Institut français, Assumption College.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roby, Yves. 1990. Les Franco-Americains de la Nouvelle-Angleterre, 1776–1930. Sillery: Septentrion.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodrigue, Barry. 1992. Thomas G. Plant: The Making of a Franco-American Industrialist, 1859–1941. MA thesis, History Department, University of Maine, Orono, Maine.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1994. Tom Plant and the Making of a Franco-American Entrepreneur, 1859–1941. New York: Garland Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1997. ‘The Canada Road Frontier: From Mythical Reportage to Analytical Reconstruction’. In Serge Courville and Brian Osborne (ed.), Histoire Mythique et Paysage Symbolique: People in Time and Place, pp. 59–69. Quebec: Laval University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1999. The Making of the St. Lawrence-Maine System: The Canada Road Frontier, 1790–1860. PhD dissertation, Laval University, Quebec City, Quebec.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2000. Maine’s Canada Road Frontier, Settlement and Development, 1790–1860. PhD dissertation, University of Maine, Orono, Maine, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2001. ‘Tom Plant, la route du Canada et les stéréotypes sur les Franco-Américains’. In Dean Louder, Jean Morisset and Eric Waddell (eds), Vision et visages de la Franco-Amérique, pp. 113–139. Sillery: Septentrion.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2017. ‘Francophones … pas toujours, mais francos toujours’. In Dean Louder and Eric Waddell (eds), Franco-Amérique, pp. 113–136. Quebec: Septentrion.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2018. Tom Plant and the American Dream: A Castle in the Clouds. Bath: Archipelago.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2020. ‘Our Place in the Multiverse: Anthropology, Civilization, Big History’. In Craig Benjamin, Esther Quaedackers and David Baker (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Big History. Abingdon: Routledge (forthcoming).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodrigue, Barry and Alaric Faulkner (c.1995). Archaeological Site Surveys. Maine Historic Preservation Commission: Drovers Trail and Old Canada Road, ME 215–024; ME 290–038; ME 122–030; ME 629–013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothenberg, Paula. 2006. Beyond Borders: Thinking Critically about Global Issues. New York: Worth Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rumilly, Robert. 1958. Histoire des Franco-Américains. Woonsocket: Union Saint-Jean-Baptiste d’Amérique.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, Jacob, et al. 18 June 1832. Report to the Governor. Maine Executive Council Papers, Maine State Archives, Augusta, Maine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shohat, Ella. 2006. ‘Dislocated Identities: Reflections of an Arab Jew’. In Paula Rothenberg, Beyond Borders: Thinking Critically about Global Issues, pp. 216–220. New York: Worth Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, Abijah. 20 December 1832. Letter to the Governor. Maine Executive Council Papers, Maine State Archives, Augusta, Maine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stein, Eleanor. 2006. ‘Construction of an Enemy’. In Paula Rothenberg, Beyond Borders: Thinking Critically About Global Issues, pp. 205–209. New York: Worth Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, Martin. 1989. Promotors, Patriots and Partisans: Historiography in Nineteenth-Century English Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trépanier, Pierre. 1992. ‘Lionel Groulx, historien’. Les Cahiers des dix 47: 247–277. Quebec City and Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

    Google Scholar 

  • United States, Department of Commerce, Census Bureau. 1850. Sixth Decennial Census, Bath, Maine.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1865+. Department of War, Army. Pension File: Antione Plant.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vicero, Ralph. 1968. Immigration of French Canadians to New England, 1840–1900: A Geographical Analysis. PhD dissertation, Geography Department, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. October 1971. ‘French-Canadian Settlement in Vermont Prior to the Civil War’. Professional Geographer 22: 290–294.

    Google Scholar 

  • Violette, Maurice. 1976. The Franco-Americans: A Franco-American Chronicle of Historical and Cultural Environment: Augusta Revisited. New York: Vantage Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weil, François. 1989. Les Franco-Americains: 1860–1980. Paris: Éditions Belin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitney, Joel, et al. 17 February 1830. ‘Report of the Agents for the Kennebec Road to the Governor and Executive Council’. Maine Executive Council Papers, Maine State Archives, Augusta, Maine.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts, Symbiosis International University, Pune, Maharashtra, India

    Barry H. Rodrigue

Authors
  1. Barry H. Rodrigue
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Barry H. Rodrigue .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, India

    Ananta Kumar Giri

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Rodrigue, B.H. (2021). Migration, Myth, and History: A Cross-Border Case Study. In: Giri, A.K. (eds) Cross-Fertilizing Roots and Routes. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7118-3_11

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation