Prison records Quebec 1813-1907, free online

[smcarberry]

Here is the link, hopefully still set to a search on terms born: Ireland and occupation: servant, which returns hundreds of entries (there are some repeat offenders):

https://www.banq.qc.ca/archives/genealo ... 4=&15=&16=

or tinyurl.com/5f5czzut

The returns list is easy to browse. Clicking on a name results in a drop-down box of information sorted by category, to which you can scroll back at any time (such as when consulting a 2nd entry for the same apparent person). No pop-up windows or switching to a new pane.

You can search by surname ("nom or family name") but you may need to use spelling variations to reach all possible entries for your person. There are several entries for wives and widows which state the woman's maiden name followed by her husband's full name.

You can search by occupation alone, and that did provide many returns for tailor, laborer, shoemaker, and carpenter so you then want to add "Ireland" to make the returns fewer and more relevant. Once I saw that an English-born man's residence was further refined as the locality Hull. The only Tuohy entry, for a 19-year-old soldier Michael, noted his residence as Dublin, Ireland.

The underlying offense is usually provided and for the Irish was typically "idle, drunk, and disorderly." It was sad to see a 70-year-old widow in that category. Several men are noted as failing to report for duty or outright desertion (from a military unit or a ship).

I was surprised to see how many Irish-born were listed in the early years of this database, the 1830s and prior.

If you search by surname, you will find good returns on McMahon, McNamara, Kane/Keae, Foley. Not so good for Frost, Driscoll, or Slattery. None for Clune, Donnellan (any variation), Talty, or Brew. The only Carberry variation was Carbray for men born in QUE. Thus I can believe that my family left Montreal for reasons other than its teen Patrick getting in trouble there.