Tracey Irish Family

A poor Irish farmer, Daniel Tracey of Tipperary, finds himself fleeing to America in 1815 on a deportation vessel alongside a number of migrant fishermen bound for the annual fishing season which takes place every spring and summer in the lucrative fishing waters off the coast of Newfoundland. He overcomes many struggles in his desire to settle on a homestead in St. John's while working in the fishing sheds alongside numerous other Irish immigrants. His son obtains a scholarship to study for the priesthood at the St. Sulpice monastery in Montreal, and eventually moves to St. Colomban, a newly settled village near St. Jerome north of Montreal. He becomes acquainted with Doctor Daniel Tracey, a fiery orator and editor of The Vindicator, a newspaper that helps inspire a rebellious movement, the Patriotes, and challenges the British Parliament to root out the oppressive and elitist politicos in the unelected Legislative Assembly in Lower Canada in 1832. Dr. Tracey wins the election in Montreal West by a hair's breath but succumbs to cholera during the terrible epidemic of 1832. Daniel eventually takes up the torch and ends up in a life and death struggle at the Battle of St. Eustache in the 1837 Rebellion. The Patriote Rebellion unfortunately ended in a dismal failure, but the event sparked reforms in Upper and Lower Canada which led to the modern, democratic form of government which Canadians enjoy today. This is a work of historical fiction; it has been carefully researched and presents a record of the events of the early 19th century in Canada. Evelyn Cohoon Dreiling has recently retired from the Public Service where she worked at National Defence for 10 years. She has pursued a two-year program of Commercial Art at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec and Nursing at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Montreal. She has taught watercolour courses and enjoys doing watercolor images for her book covers and other sketches. She spent many years travelling and living in parts of Canada and the United States. She now makes her home in North Vancouver, BC, where she lives near her two adult children and her daughter-in-law. She always had a great love of books, and is particularly interested in Canadian history, which she attempts to portray through the lives of ordinary people and their stories; she is an avid researcher and will no doubt will be working on another historical fiction novel soon.

To everyone who has enjoyed my book, "A Rebellious Spirit: Daniel Tracey", I am introducing the sequel, "From Colony to Country: Michael Tracey" and covers the period 1840 to 1880.Michael Tracey followed a different path from his father. He was less of a fighter and more of a thinker, and it served him well as he navigated the troubled political waters of Lower Canada in the 19th century. But he was prone to bouts of depression, and it weighed heavily on his loving family.Learn about the Fenians, a rabble-rouser group of Irish-Canadian and American patriots who fought for freedom for their homeland in a most bizarre fashion, by taking on the British in the Canadas in the 1860s at the end of the American Civil War. Their exploits were doomed to failure, but their actions threatened the peace of the newly forming Canadian colony - they served to unite the colony - as the provinces joined together to fight a common foe. The Fathers of Confederation had tried for years to find compromises between the four provinces, Lower and Upper Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, (as well as P.E.I. and Newfoundland), but it was the threat of the Fenians and the promise of a trans-continental railway that sealed the deal. Read about another stalwart Irish fighter, great orator, and brilliant statesman who played a pivotal role - Thomas D'Arcy McGee. Evelyn Cohoon Dreiling has recently retired from the Public Service where she worked at National Defence for 10 years. She has pursued a two-year program of Commercial Art at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec and Nursing at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Montreal. She has taught watercolour courses and enjoys doing watercolor images for her book covers and other sketches. She spent many years travelling and living in parts of Canada and the United States. She now makes her home in North Vancouver, BC, where she lives near her two adult children and her daughter-in-law. She always had a great love of books, and is particularly interested in Canadian history, which she attempts to portray through the lives of ordinary people and their stories; she is an avid researcher and will no doubt will be working on another historical fiction novel soon.

The last book in the Tracey family trilogy deals with the lives of the grandchildren of Daniel Tracey, the rebellious spirit who came to Canada from Ireland in the early 1800's. John Tracey lives in the Montreal area during the nefarious Gilded Age brought on by the reckless railroading investment and profiteering in land speculation in The West. He is the hopeless romantic who refutes the cold-blooded profiteering and reckless speculation and joins the union, trying to take the side of the little man struggling to survive and raise a family.John's sister, Ellen, prim and destined to be an old maid, falls helplessly in love with a married man and in spite of all, pursues her dream of marriage and family, only to have it shattered by a smallpox epidemic.Set against the historical background of 19th century Canada, this historical fiction book touches on the industrial revolution and the strained relations between England and its colony, struggling for independence. Evelyn Cohoon Dreiling has recently retired from the Public Service where she worked at National Defence for 10 years. She has pursued a two-year program of Commercial Art at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec and Nursing at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Montreal. She has taught watercolour courses and enjoys doing watercolor images for her book covers and other sketches. She spent many years travelling and living in parts of Canada and the United States. She now makes her home in North Vancouver, BC, where she lives near her two adult children and her daughter-in-law. She always had a great love of books, and is particularly interested in Canadian history, which she attempts to portray through the lives of ordinary people and their stories; she is an avid researcher and will no doubt will be working on another historical fiction novel soon.