First found in Counties Kilkenny, Leix, and Waterford, in Ireland, where they were seated from 1170.

During the middle of the 19th century, Irish families often experienced extreme poverty and racial discrimination in their own homeland under English rule. Record numbers died of disease and starvation and many others, deciding against such a fate, boarded ships bound for North America. The largest influx of Irish settlers occurred with Great Potato Famine of the late 1840s. Unfortunately, many of those Irish that arrived in Canada or the United States still experienced economic and racial discrimination. Although often maligned, these Irish people were essential to the rapid development of these countries because they provided the cheap labor required for the many canals, roads, railways, and other projects required for strong national infrastructures. Eventually the Irish went on to make contributions in the less backbreaking and more intellectual arenas of commerce, education, and the arts. Research early immigration and passenger lists revealed many early immigrants bearing the name Walsh: Jacob Walsh who settled in Boston Mass. in 1635; Thomas Walsh settled in Virginia in 1643; John Walsh settled in St. John's, Newfoundland, in 1756; Robin Walsh settled in Quebec in 1825 with his wife and six children.

Motto Translated: Transfixed but not dead.

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