This section of the website is where team members publish profiles of individual Irish patients from the Toronto, Beauport, and Rockwood Lunatic Asylums, tracing their journeys from Ireland to the Canadian colonies and what we know of their lives before, during, and—for some—after their institutionalization. These patients represent just a handful of the thousands of Irish admissions to these facilities during the mid-19th century, but their particular stories have been ones that have stood out to us throughout the research process. You can click on the links below to view the individual histories.

Letitia Stephens, first admitted to the Toronto Provincial Lunatic Asylum in January, 1841

Den(n)is McNamara, first admitted to the Toronto Provincial Lunatic Asylum in November, 1844

John Murphy, first admitted to the Rockwood Asylum for the Criminally Insane in June, 1869

Frances Nadeau, first admitted to the Toronto Provincial Lunatic Asylum in August, 1857