Emigrants Circa 1818

Source

"That although in certain cases such special acts have been made in favor of bodies of foreign emigrants, it has always bee on the ground, and in consideration of a general public benefit accruing.... ." 

Louisiana and Indiana were specifically mentioned.

Scarcely Any Taxes - Illinois In 1817

Lincoln-Berry Store In Illinois

Letters from Illinois ...., By *Morris Birkbeck, John Melish:

November, 1817

"...a few miles farther West [in Illinois] opened our way into a country preferable in itself to any we had seen... ".  "...foresee greater than in the state of Ohio, being so much nearer the grand outlet at **New Orleans." 

"...we have no rent, tithe, or poor's rate and scarcely any taxes, perhaps one farthing per acre." 

"Where we are settling, society is yet unborn as it were. It will, as in other places, be made up of such as come...".

*Morris Birkbeck's memorial at FindAGrave.

**After Abraham Lincoln returned from taking a flatboat to New Orleans, he clerked in New Salem for Denton Offutt, the boat's owner. A year later he and William Berry bought an interest in a general store... . (Source)

A Colony of Émigrés in Canada

Source

Le Poers (Powers)

From The Irishman in Canada (1877):

...we owe to the Normans the Clanrickards, the Butlers, the Le Poers (Powers), and many others who came afterwards....

Were my Powers ancestors originally Normans?  At my request, my brother submitted his DNA for genealogical purposes.  A partial explanation of the results:

Here are the results of my brother Dan's POWERS DNA test (37 markers).  Dan's results are most closely linked to...[brothers] both born in Ireland... .

Speculation about our Powers line is piggybacked on the research of  the Irish Power brothers:

"I think that all Waterford Powers go back to Blackborough, Devon, England, and to one of the six persons by name 'le Poher' who came as part of the Norman Invasion. They were the four brothers - Sir Robert, Sir Roger, Simon and William - and their two cousins, Henry and John. The four brothers were sons of Bartholomew, Lord of Blackborough." [It is believed that their line goes back to William].  

Bridget Higgins And The Irish In Canada

My Bridget (Higgins) Cameron was an Irish woman who immigrated to Canada.

Source

From The Irishman in Canada:

"The population of Ontario is 1,620,83; of these 559,442 are Irish, 328,889 Scotch, 439,429 English and in the four Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, the Irish number 846,414, as compared with 706,369 English, and 549,946 Scotch. The Irishman was here as early as others he fought against the wilderness...".

"...the historian...will have to deal with a later American immigration than the U. E. Loyalist, an immigration composed mainly of men who entered Canada intending to settle in Michigan but who when they saw the splendid stretches of oak near London...".

[Footnote on Page 6] I am convinced from what I saw in the States and from all I have heard that the position of the Irishman in Canada is better than in the States.