THOMAS ADDIS EMMET, M. D., LL. D.,
Of New York City. A Founder and Life Member of the Society, and Member of the Executive Council.
Title: The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV)
Author: Various
Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray
Release date: March 28, 2020 [eBook #61687]
Most recently updated: October 17, 2024
Language: English
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THOMAS ADDIS EMMET, M. D., LL. D.,
Of New York City. A Founder and Life Member of the Society, and Member of the Executive Council.
The present is the fourth volume of the Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society. This volume, like each of those preceding it, is complete in itself. It contains a record of the organization since the third volume of the Journal was issued, and presents a large amount of additional material within our line of work. The Society continues to maintain the high standard established by its founders, and is doing a great amount of good in its chosen field. The organization has already secured a place in the front rank of American historical societies, and enjoys the most cordial relations with organizations long established.
LEADING EVENTS IN THE CAREER OF THE ORGANIZATION FOR THE YEARS 1901, 1902, 1903, AND 1904, OR OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO THE MEMBERS.
Virginia was first settled by white men in 1607. On the authority of a work published recently, Francis Maguire, an Irishman and a Roman Catholic, visited the colony a year later. “He wrote an account of his voyage to Virginia and submitted it to the privy council of Spain.” From this it is evident that he was not in the interest of England and did not remain in the colony.
Virginia, even in its early days, was not friendly to those of the faith of Maguire. In 1625 the same writer mentioned that “Symon Tuchin master of the Due Return having been banished out of Ireland was reported as strongly affected to popery, and the Governor and Council of Virginia sent him as a prisoner, in January, 1625, to the Company in England.” This ended the career of Symon in the Old Dominion, and no further mention is made of him.
Who the first actual settlers in Virginia from Ireland were, and the period of their arrival, can be determined only from the names printed in the early colonial records and in the calendar of state papers following.
The population of the colony from 1609 to 1624, as given in the work mentioned, namely, The First Republic in America, was as follows:
In 1609 one authority gives it as being, in July, not over one hundred and nine persons.
In 1611 it is estimated at about two hundred and eighty persons. In 1616 it increased to about four hundred. In 1618 it had increased 31to six hundred. In 1619 it had dropped to about four hundred. The census of 1620 gives it as eight hundred and eighty-seven. In 1621 it fell to eight hundred and forty-three. In 1622 it had increased to one thousand two hundred and forty, and in 1624 it was reduced to eleven hundred.
An idea can here be formed of the struggles of the first settlers of the Old Dominion against disease, famine, and the attacks of the Indians. In 1621 or 1622, the year is in dispute, there was a terrible massacre of the settlers by the Indians, the number of killed being given as “three hundred and forty-seven men, women and children.”
If names are any indication of the nativity of the bearers, the first Irish settlers arrived in Virginia during this troublesome period. Their condition in the colony could not be much worse than it was in their native land, for about that time the long struggle for the possession of the land, beginning with the Reformation, had taken root, not to end until the war between William and James.
In Hotten’s Original Lists of emigrants, among others is published the names of the following persons arriving in Virginia between 1616 and 1624: John Higgins, John Cannon, John Collins, John Healey, Francis Downing, John Fludd, Tege Lane, “of Corke in Ireland”; Tege Williams, “Irishman”; John French, of Washford “(Wexford) in Ireland”; Thomas Cawsey (Casey), James Connor, James Dore, Ann Mighill, John Duffee, Thomas Doughtie (Dougherty); John Moore, Giles Martin, Thomas Jordan, Francis Butler, Thomas Burns, “and Bridget, his wife”; Thomas Dunn, Edmund Blaney, John Burroughs, “and Bridget, his wife”; John Griffin, William Lacey, Alice Kean, Thomas Farley, A. Conoway, Hugh Hughes, Bryan Rogers, William Joyce, John Haney, Elizabeth Haney, Peter Jordan, Luke Boyse, Thomas Oage, his wife and son.
Some, undoubtedly, of the foregoing came here as the servants of English landed proprietors in Ireland, and there is no doubt that others came as actual settlers, for there is mention later of grants of land to some of them. Let that be as it may, however, here was quite an addition to the scant population of the colony of a liberal mixture of Irish blood with that of the early English settlers.
On the same authority, Hotten, there was a large increase of the same blood some years later, in 1635. Hotten copied his lists from the originals preserved in England. Many of the originals were either lost, mutilated, or destroyed. In consequence, they are incomplete. 32The period thus partly covered is between 1600 and 1700. The following names are published among hundreds of others in the lists as arriving in Virginia during the year 1635: Richard Hughes, Garrett Riley, Miles Riley, James Bryan, Thomas Murphie, Christopher Carroll, Philip Connor, Jo Dunn.
As the ages of the foregoing are given and the average was twenty years, it is fair to presume that they came over as servants. They are followed by Richard Fleming, Charles McCartee, Owen McCartee, Bryan McGowan, Patrick Breddy, Bryan Glynn, John Neale, William Redman, William Hart, Elizabeth Riley, Daniel Flood, William Hickey, John Herron, Edward Hughes, James Morfey, Robert Bryan, Dennis Hoggan (Hogan), Jo Dermott, Jo Butler, Jo O’Mullen, Charles Gibbon, Richard Kirby, Humphrey Buckley, Olough Berne, Daniel Vaughan, Bryan Hare, Thomas Connier (Connor), Jo Tullie, Donough Gorkie, Gerald Butler, John Griffin, Thomas Purcell, John Duffy, Edmund Butler, James Gavett and John Gavett, “Irishmen”; James Fenton, Thomas Dunn.
Hotten’s book also contains many names, Irish in appearance, of persons who went to Barbadoes during the same period, or later, and states that permission had been given many of them to go to New England and other parts of the English colonies between 1635 and 1680. That many availed themselves of the opportunity, and migrated to Virginia is evident from the names printed in colonial records and the state publications. That the greater part were useful citizens, and not a few of their descendants filled positions of honor and emolument in Virginia, and in the territories settled by her people, is quite clear.
Thomas Jordan, bearing the name both given and proper, borne by one of the emigrants of 1624, was a sheriff of Nansemond county, in 1718, and a public-spirited citizen.
Col. Fleming, a namesake of another of these sturdy immigrants, bore an honorable part in civil and military affairs before and after the Revolution, and has frequent mention in the publications treating of those stirring times.
The McCartys have been prominent in Virginia almost from the earliest period in the history of the colony. Whether or not all were descendants of Owen and Charles McCartee, who came over in 1635, cannot here be determined. The name, with various spellings, has frequent mention in the colonial and state records. It has been represented in the National Congress, and one of the bravest of the 33Confederates during the Civil War, noted for his courage, was Capt. Page McCarty of Richmond. He was equally noted as a duelist.
In a letter to the writer, some six years ago, Capt. McCarty said there was a belief in the family that the original immigrants of the name came from Kinsale in Cork, but some of the name, as is the custom nowadays, called their ancestors “Scotch-Irish.” He was an exception, however.
In an account of the death and funeral of Washington, by his private secretary, Tobias Lear, a native of New Hampshire, he wrote that the families of McCarty, McClanahan, and Callahan were especially invited to attend the funeral by the widow, at the request of Washington on his death-bed.
Daniel McCarty was a justice for Fairfax county in 1770. Capt. Richard McCarty was in command of an expedition against the Indians in 1779. With him as an associate officer was Captain Quirk. The name is spelled indifferently as McCartee, McCarty, McCarthy, etc., which makes it appear that there were others of the same name later and spelling their names in accordance with the Irish method.
In 1742 there is a record deeding two hundred and ninety-eight acres of land to Dennis Conneirs,—the good old name of Connor was undoubtedly twisted by the scribe. Major William Lynn was an officer in the Spottsylvania militia in 1757. Lynn is a name frequently met in Ireland. Judge Wauhope Lynn, of New York, is a splendid representative of the Irish Lynns of Antrim, in Ulster, Ireland. Daniel Lyon and Daniel Currie were two of the defenders of Hickey’s Fort against the Indians in 1758. Another old Irish name heads a list of signers complaining against the Brunswick county court in 1764. It is Malone, spelled properly, and was borne by Shakespeare’s great Irish commentator, Edmond Malone, who has frequent mention in Boswell’s Johnson, and who flourished in London about the same period as his Virginia namesake.
John Hooe (Hoey), Lynaugh Helm, Henry Gee, William Keenan, Daniel Herring, Daniel McCarty, Philip Nowland (Nolan), Elijah McClenachan, John Grattan, Walter McClerry (Clary), James McLaw, Nicholas W. Curie, Jeremiah Glenn, Jeremiah Early, John Fitzpatrick, William Mead, Charles Lynch, were all magistrates in the several counties of Virginia in 1770.
In a letter of George Mason, written in 1775, declining a nomination to Congress, he writes his excuses to Mr. McCarty and other 34inquiring friends. Capt. Richard McCarty has frequent mention during the Revolutionary period. As showing the friendship of the Irish people in Ireland for the Americans during that struggle, the following extract, written by an American agent, Philip Mazzei, from France to Governor Jefferson of Virginia, is of interest:
“I shall now tell you how that came about. Mr. Mark Lynch, merchant in Nantes, came to me with a bill I had drawn in Ireland on Penet & Co., D’Acosta having refused to accept it. My old creditor, Mr. John P. Cotter, of Corke, had ordered that in case of non-payment, the bill should be returned without protest or molestation. Mr. Cotter’s generous and delicate behavior had probably prepared Mr. Lynch in my favor and the sight of my situation completed the business. His countenance expressed his sensibility at the bad usage I had met with in that town, and in the most genteel manner offered me the assistance I was in so great need of, on the security I had proposed to others.”
This letter was written in 1780. It is evident from the closing part of the quotation that Mr. Mark Lynch, the Irish merchant in Nantes, had cashed the draft. It recalls a similar act of kindness extended to Ethan Allen by the people of Cork while he was a prisoner on board an English vessel in the harbor of that city. They were so lavish of their hospitality in money and provisions to the American prisoner that the British captain put an end to it, saying at the same time that he would not allow the damned Irish rebels to thus treat the damned American rebels. It also recalls an entry in the diary of John Adams, where he mentions the hospitable treatment he had received in Spain from two Irish merchants located in one of its maritime cities.
Between the years 1700 and 1800, many Virginians bearing distinctive Irish names, and filling honorable positions in civil and military life, are published in the records of the times. They reflected credit on the community. John Daly Burk wrote a history of Virginia, and during the Revolutionary period Thomas Burke was governor of North Carolina, and Ædanus Burke was chief justice of South Carolina. In connection with this it is of interest to note that in the report of the part taken by his regiment, the Thirtieth Virginia Cavalry, in the battle of Bull Run, Col. Radford credits his adjutant, B. H. Burke, with capturing Col. Michael Corcoran, of the Sixty-ninth New York. Beside Col. Radford’s report is that of Lieut.-Col. Henagin of the Eighth South Carolina. Some of the officers of this 35regiment, Capt. Harrington, Capt. Hoole, Capt. McLeod, and Capt. John C. McClenaghan, are also mentioned. It will be noticed that the name of the colonel—Cash—and the lieutenant-colonel—Henagin,—are also Irish in appearance.
The battery attached to the regiment was commanded by a Capt. Shields, one of whose lieutenants was a McCarty; possibly it may have been Page McCarty, mentioned before. This battery was from Virginia. The adjutant-general of Gen. Beauregard was Thomas Jordan. It will be noticed that this name, given and proper, was borne by one of the immigrants coming over before 1624. Shields and McCarty were also among the early Irish names. Surgeon McClanahan is commended in a letter written by Gen. Robert E. Lee, and in the report of Gen. Stonewall Jackson. He also speaks in the highest terms of his surgeon, Dr. Hunter McGuire. A Francis McGuire was in Virginia in 1608, and a Capt. Francis McGuire, who was a commissioned officer in the Revolutionary War, was the occasion of trouble between the states of Pennsylvania and Virginia.
McGuire was charged with taking away a free negro man from Pennsylvania. The correspondence between the states in consequence, as given in the state papers, is quite lengthy. From this it can be seen that the McGuires have figured from an early period in the history of the Old Dominion down to the present. Dr. Hunter McGuire was by the side of Stonewall Jackson when the latter died, after receiving the fatal wound from a volley fired by his own men at Chancellorsville.
Perhaps no name is more closely connected with Virginia for a certain reason than is that of Lynch. John Lynch was the son of an Irish immigrant who arrived in Virginia in the early part of the eighteenth century. His son, of the same name, was one of the first settlers of the town bearing his name, Lynchburg. His brother, Col. Charles Lynch, was prominent during the Revolution. He commanded a regiment at the battle of Guilford Court House. His son bearing the same name was governor of Louisiana. Col. Lynch was a bitter enemy of the Tories. It is said that the term “Lynch law” originated with him. He was credited with having hung not less than one hundred Tories by his own hand. Hence the expression “Lynch law.” This, however, is disputed by Irish writers, who claim that it originated with a mayor of Galway in the olden times, who, when the sheriff refused to hang his son convicted 36of murder, took the law into his own hands and executed him himself, following the example of Brutus, who performed a similar act during the existence of the Roman republic. One of the family, whether or not a descendant it is not necessary to know, was Lieut.-Commander William F. Lynch of the navy, who explored the valley of the Jordan some time before the Civil War. He was a officer in the Confederate navy in the War of the Rebellion.
Capt. John Fitzgerald was Washington’s favorite aide. It is stated that he was “the finest horseman in the American army.” His home was in Alexandria. During the trouble with France after the Revolution he was appointed to command the defences of that city. He was a man of the highest character and was universally respected. Col. Alexander McClanahan was one of a family, or clan, which furnished not a few useful men to Virginia for over a century. His brother, Capt. Robert McClanahan, was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1770. This was called one of the bloodiest Indian engagements on record.
Surgeon McClanahan, who has been mentioned in the letter of Gen. Lee quoted, is undoubtedly of the same family. Within a few years, a Miss Virginia McClanahan was president of the Daughters of the American Revolution of the city of Washington.
John Lewis was an immigrant from Ireland who came to Virginia before the Revolution. Two of his sons, Col. Andrew Lewis and Capt. Charles Lewis, were in the battle of Point Pleasant, also. Charles was killed. The colonel afterwards served in the War of the Revolution, reaching the rank of general before the struggle was over.
Major William Croghan was an officer of the Virginia line in the Continental army. The name was borne by many men who had distinguished themselves during the Revolutionary period, and are well known to the readers of American history.
Among other officers of the line were Captains James Currey, Lawrence Butler, Michael Wallace, John McCoy and Matthew Carney; Lieutenants Joseph Conway, Timothy Fealey, Peter Higgins, John Jordan, John Rooney and William McGuire. Luke Cannon, Robert Hayes, William D. O’Kelley, Patrick McElroy and Patrick Lockhart are also mentioned. Major Ferdinand O’Neal was a distinguished officer of dragoons during the same period. The name occurs frequently as O’Neal, McNeil, Neal, Neale, and Neilly.
A Captain Sullivan was also an officer in the Virginia forces, with 37a Major Charles McGill. His company was known as Sullivan’s Militia. Capt. John O’Bannon was major of Farquier’s battalion of militia of Williamsburg. Col. William Fleming was one of the well-known officers and a representative of the name was among the first settlers in 1635. John Moylan was appointed clothier-general, and as such was sent to Boston to get clothing.
Among those who were killed at Point Pleasant with McClanahan and Lewis were Capt. McBride and Lieut. McGuire, and privates John MacMurdrey, Francis McBride, Hugh Cunningham, John Foley, Andrew McConnell and John O’Neal. About fifty in all were killed in this engagement.
These names are signed to petitions, appeals, or other papers on the records from 1782 to 1786: George Flynn, Malcolm McGee, David Looney, John Adair, Partick Wright, Anthony Geoghegan, Patrick Joyce, James Sullivan, Richard Whelan, James Murphy, Joseph Delaney, William Kelley.
Alexander Drumgoole was sent on a mission to the Cherokee nation by Governor Randolph in 1787.
Major Andrew Donnelly was a gallant officer during the Revolutionary period. Capt. McMahon, who was mentioned, served with Wayne as a major in the expedition against the Indians, and like Gen. Butler, who had served through the Revolutionary War, was killed during that engagement.
Other names appearing on the records, either as magistrates or signers to various papers, were James Corran (Curran), Patrick White, Christopher McConners, Edward McCarthy, Cornelius Conway, Arthur McCann, John McLoghlin, William Flood, Edward McGuire, Anthony Murphy, James Goggins, John Connor, William Brennan, Major Thomas Healey, Capt. Samuel Brady, Col. William Finnie (Feeney), James Dougherty, Joseph Carroll, Archibald Casey, Capt. Daniel Mullins, Patrick Saggert, John Sexton, John McCormick, Thomas Mulledy, David Dungan, Cornelius Brady, Thomas Brannon, Abraham Donovan, Edmond Grady, John Dunn, Francis Kelly, Bernard Gallagher, Thomas O’Hara, William Malone, Dennis Ramsay, Thomas Reardon, George Sweeney, William Fitzgerald, Robert Fitzgerald, Edmund Moran, Dennis Croghan, Philip Boyle, John Butler, Cornelius O’Laughlan, Charles O’Neale, William McManahan, James Connell, Joseph McCaughey, Alexander Leary, Richard Byrne, Thomas McGuire, John Lowery, Joseph Hensey (Hennessey), Anthony Fitzpatrick, Bernard McCord, John McNeill, 38Henry Garrett, Dan McCarthy, Thomas Burke, Nat Murphy, Charles Connor, Edward Hart, William Danahan, John Casey, James Kelly, Michael Burke, Patrick Wilson, John Cavanaugh, Richard Nugent, Andrew Donnelly, Jr., Lawrence Bryan, Michael Delaney, James Byrne, Michael Tiernan, James Quinn, James Daley, John McEnery, Francis O’Meara, Henry Fitzgerald, John McMullen, James McGonegal, John Hagerty, Pat Donohue, James McCoughlin, Patrick Butler, Cornelius McGuire, Josiah McGuire, Cornelius McKinley, John Lawless, William Doherty, Alexander Dugan, Cornelius Harnett (Hartnett), Patrick Roche, Cornelius Fenny (Feeney), Simon McLaughlan, Thady Kelly and James Murdaugh.
The foregoing, from appearance, were men of standing in the communities in which they lived. As but comparatively few names appear in public records, there must have been many others in Virginia of the same nationality before the beginning of the nineteenth century. Those mentioned were officers in the militia, justices of the peace, judges, or holding other positions which had occasioned their names being printed in the state papers. It will be noticed that the names can be classed as Irish, distinctively. How many more there might be bearing English names, but who may have been as Irish as the others, cannot be determined.
When Ramsay’s History of the United States was written in 1789, or thereabouts, the following Virginians were among those who subscribed for it in order to guarantee its publication: Patrick Gill, William Carroll, Edward Cunningham, James Fleming, H. H. Lacey, John McDermott, John McBride, M. Sullivan, Thomas H. Mitchell, J. C. Vaughan, A. Jordan, W. C. Moore, H. H. Redman, Edward Sexton, Francis Riordan, John Bowery, William Matthews. On examination it will be found that a majority of these surnames appear among the early settlers of the Old Dominion.
Thomas Fleming, whose name has been mentioned, was colonel of the Ninth Virginia regiment. One of its field officers was Major M. Donovan.
It is related in the Historical Collections of Virginia that Gen. Andrew Lewis was born in Ireland, and came here with his father and two brothers. They were obliged to fly from their native land on account of the resistance made by them against being evicted by their landlord.
Another prominent man in Virginia in 1753 was Dr. James O’Fallon. He is supposed to have been the ancestor of the O’Fallons of St. 39Louis, Mo., who were among the latter city’s first settlers. One of the latter, Col. John O’Fallon, served on the staff of Gen. Harrison at the battle of Tippecanoe. Another well-known Irish name was that of Michael Dillon, whose death is recorded from a fall from his horse in 1704. Richard Donnahan was concerned in Bacon’s Rebellion in 1677, and with him was a Capt. Hubert Farrell, who is mentioned as being one of Bacon’s majors.
Philip Connor was an associate justice of the Provincial court in 1650, and Robert Managan (Monaghan) is recorded as taking an apprentice Sept. 24, 1690.
In the main, the first settlers of Kentucky were Virginians. The wife of Daniel Boone was the first white woman to stand upon the banks of the Kentucky river. This was in June, 1775, and in the September following she had for company Mrs. McCary and Mrs. Hogan.
Col. William Casey, born in Virginia, was one of the pioneers of the dark and bloody ground. Col. Joseph M. Daviess, who fell at Tippecanoe, was born in Virginia. His grandfather was an Irishman and his mother Scotch. It is written of him that he had marked peculiarities of both races. “The hardy self-reliance, the indomitable energy, and imperturbable coolness which had from earliest times distinguished the Scotch, were his; while the warm heart, free and open hand, and ready-springing tear of sensibility, told in language plainer than words that the blood of Erin flowed fresh in his veins.”
It is clear that this eulogy was not written by a “Scotch-Irishman.” His name undoubtedly comes from Wales, so it is fair to presume that he had in his veins commingled the blood of the three kindred races,—the Welsh, the Irish and the Scotch.
William T. Barry, a noted lawyer, a soldier, an educator, and postmaster-general under Jackson, was a Virginian of Irish parentage. Michael Cassidy, born in Ireland, emigrated to Virginia, and finally settled in and became one of the prominent citizens of Kentucky.
The descendants of the Irish settlers in Virginia in many instances became eminent in the southwestern states and territories organized after the Revolution. One of them was Gen. Benjamin Logan, a Virginian, both of whose parents were Irish. He was one of Kentucky’s greatest men. Three counties bear the names of Casey, Daviess, and Logan, in honor of the three men mentioned.
Brig.-Gen. James Hogan, a native of Virginia, served in the Continental army. He was commissioned Jan. 9, 1779.
40In March, 1756, the Provincial Assembly of Virginia passed an act making provision for protection against the enemy, the French and Indians, and further enacted a bill providing for the raising of money, £25,000, for the payment of the militia of the several counties, and for provisions furnished by sundry inhabitants of the said counties. Among the names to whom payments were thus made, nearly twenty years before the Revolution, were the following: John Daley, Elizabeth Birk, Richard Murray, James Nevil, John Bryan, John Burk Lane, John McAnally, Alexander McMullen, Bryan Ferguson, John Fitzpatrick, William Cunningham, Robert Carney, Darby Conway, Thomas McNamara, Michael Mallow, Hugh Divar, William McGill, Robert Megary, John Shields, Cornelius Sullivan, Michael Dickie, John Farrell, James Burke, John Jordan, George Farley, Adam McCormick, Thomas Boyne, William Shannon, Bryan McDonnell, Robert Looney, Robert McClanahan, Michael Doherty, Peter Looney, John McNeal, William Curry, John McGowan, Ralph Lafferty, Patrick Frasier, Patrick Campbell, Michael Kelly, Patrick Porter, James Kennedy, Patrick Lowery, Patrick Savage, Patrick McCloskey, Charles McAnally, John Kilpatrick, James Boreland, Hugh Martin, Patrick Cargon, James Mulligan, John Caine, Dennis McNealy, Lawrence Murphy, Dennis Getty, William McMullen, William Garvin, William Doherty, Joseph Looney, Patrick McDade (Dowd), John Casey, John Macky, Thomas Sexton, Head Lynch, Patrick McDavitt, Ambrose Bryan, William Meade, John Riley, Reuben Keef, Jeremiah Early, Joseph McMurty, Patrick Hennessy, Edward O’Hare, Luke Murphy, James Murphy, Patrick Vance, Patrick Hallogan, James McFall, Patrick Johnson, John Patrick Burks, Thomas Dooley, James Dooley, Thomas Maclin, Thomas Connelly, Michael Poore, James Lynch, David Kelly, Michael Lawler, William Collins, Miles Murphy, John Hayes, Richard Burke, Cornelius Mitchell, William Gerrett, Michael Ryan, Garrett Bolin, William O’Donnell, Patrick McKenny, Richard Murphy, Francis Maginnis, Bryan Mooney, John Hickey, John Sullivan, William Murphy, Thomas McGuire, Cornelius Cargill, Michael Dixon, William Splane, Thomas Doyle, Michael Lynn, Edward O’Neal, Thomas McClanahan, James Doyle, John Donnelly, William Fitzgerald, Henry Dooley and Bryan Nolan. The people whose names are here given were soldiers in the militia fighting against the French and Indians between 1738 and 1758, as well as citizens furnishing them provisions.
41In the poll for the election of burgesses for the several Virginia counties in 1741 are the following, among other names: Morgan Donnell, Daily Callahan, Edward Barry, John Carfey (Coffey), Simon Carnel, Dennis Connors, Edward Fagin, John Murphy, Patrick Hamericka, Michael Dermond (Dermott), James Cullen, William Butler, Michael Scanlan, Gabriel Murphy, James Dulaney, William Hogan, Henry Murphy, John Madden, Dennis McCarty, Thomas Carney, William Buckley, William Reardon and Philip Nolan.
The greater part of the names here given are in appearance Irish of the Irish, of Gaelic, or of old Norman origin. An examination of the early Virginia records will show, from 1619 to 1790, the entry of some of the most ancient of the Gaelic names peculiar to Ireland, like O’Neil, O’Donnell, O’Brien, O’Connor, accompanied by McMahon, McCarthy, McClanahan, McGuire, etc.
In an address delivered by the venerable Dr. Thomas Dunn English to the members of the American-Irish Historical Society, at one of its annual gatherings in New York several years ago, he stated that when a young man, over half a century before, he practised his profession in western Virginia. He noticed while there the manners, customs, and phrases of the mountaineers, and in later life, when he removed to New York, he was surprised to see the similarity between them and the newly-arrived Irish from the south, east, and west of Ireland. This for the first time caused him to change his opinion as to the nationality of the ancestors of the people in Virginia who had been classed as “Scotch-Irish,” for in every respect they appeared more like the southern Irish whom he had met later in New York.
Enough has been written to show what a large proportion of the people of the Old Dominion before the year 1800 were of Irish descent. The mention of any more names would simply be a tiresome proceeding.
While many of these people were distinguished in Virginia, the greater part of their descendants were more eminent in the territories and states to which they migrated. A distinguished Virginian, although not a native of the state, was Major-General Benjamin F. Kelly of the Union army. He was a native of New Hampshire, but went to West Virginia when a youth. He was the grandson of Darby Kelly, who served three years in the old French War in northern New York under Sir William Johnson. Darby was a soldier, a schoolmaster, and a farmer, and his New Hampshire descendants 42are, and have been, among the most useful citizens of the old Granite state. Gen. Kelly is credited with raising the first Union regiment and winning the first victory for the Union south of Mason and Dixon’s line during the Civil War. His nephew, Capt. Warren Michael Kelly, commanded a company in the Tenth New Hampshire Infantry, commanded by Col. Michael T. Donohoe, and it is claimed that he led the first white troops into Richmond after its evacuation.
Another distinguished Union officer, a West Virginian, if I am not mistaken, was Gen. Milroy. Every Irishman is aware that this was the good old Gaelic name of Mulroy, and in that form is borne by hundreds of Irish persons in America to-day. On the Confederate side none of the many distinguished officers serving under Gen. Lee had a better reputation as a fighter than Gen. William Mahone. It is claimed that he was opposed to the surrender of Lee, and that his troops were ready, under his direction, to continue the fight.
That writers in time will do justice to those of the Irish race and to Ireland for the part taken in the colonization of the country and in the establishment of the republic, is unquestioned, but Irishmen and the sons of Irishmen must interest themselves in this matter in each state in order to accomplish that end. New England in this respect, through its writers, has made known to the world the part taken by the Pilgrims and Puritans in the building of this nation, and their example can well be followed by people of our own race in laboring with the pen to show that in the same work Irishmen and Irishmen’s sons have taken no small part.
The authorities examined in connection with the writing of this paper are Hotten’s Original Lists of emigrants, the Virginia Calendar of State Papers, the First Republic in America, Ramsay’s History of the United States, Campbell’s History of Virginia; Historical Collections of Virginia, William & Mary College Quarterly, Gleanings of Virginia History, Collins’ History of Kentucky.
Since the organization of the American-Irish Historical Society, in 1897, with Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, whose father’s mother was Irish, as one of the charter members, and Rear Admiral Richard W. Meade as the first president-general, many important facts have been recorded of the contributions of the Irish element in the upbuilding of this republic.
A distinguished statesman and statistician recently stated that within the memory of men now living upwards of twenty-one millions of immigrants arrived and settled in the United States. This same authority states that almost two thirds of our entire population is represented by English and Irish blood in about equal proportions. In this computation it should always be remembered that England was given credit for many of the earlier Irish emigrants who were obliged to sail from English ports and compelled to adopt English surnames.
It is, however, with thousands of Irish pioneers who immigrated to this country before the time of men living now and who settled many of the towns in or bordering on the Connecticut valley that I wish to occupy the attention of my readers.
Up to a few years ago, the popular opinion seemed to be that the Irish first began crossing the Atlantic after the famine of 1846, or about the time of the building of the canals and railroads. That many Irish men and women came to the Connecticut valley and participated in the formation of the first settlements, that is from 1635 to 1735, practically the first hundred years of American life, the records of the towns will prove.
The descendants of the old Irish settlers here, in many cases, ceased to look upon their ancestors as Irishmen, or at least forgot 44about, or appeared not to be familiar with, their Irish origin, because of the prejudices that existed respecting the more recent comers from the “ever green isle” that have tended to make them disinclined to acknowledge an ancestry which was so little in general favor and popularity.
As we become more educated, intelligent, and enlightened as a people, however, and become familiar by careful study with the early history of our country, we will learn to our great advantage of the names and deeds of Irishmen who played a prominent part in the establishment of this government. We will appreciate more fully something of the pride that should animate us for being so fortunate as to be able to trace our ancestry back to such worthy relationship.
The people of this race, men and women, born on Irish soil, and their descendants, have been here from the first “prompted by the motives common to all emigration, dissatisfaction with the old order of things and the resolve to obtain a freer and better life in the new land under favorable conditions.”
Here in the Connecticut valley the best, the cleanest, and strongest blood of Europe has come in to strengthen and accentuate the old stock that existed here, and the result has been the enterprising and progressive communities of to-day in the cities and towns of the valley.
A recent publication announced the death of Sir William MacCormic, who passed away recently, as the “celebrated English surgeon,” although he was born in Ireland. Similar freedom has been taken in the case of the Duke of Wellington, Edmund Burke, Goldsmith, Sheridan, Dean Swift, Justin McCarthy, and other famous Irishmen. This is even worse than being called “Scotch-Irish,” as is the fate of many of our famous Americans of Irish ancestry.
We are all Americans and the Irish are all Irish, whether their ancestors were from Spain, or France, or England, or Scotland; they all became Irish as we became Americans, and the Irish who came here in the early days of the colonies represented all the blending of these races. We are all of us the resultant of a great many different, and, apparently, antagonistic races. We commonly became Irish, Scotch, or American as the result of the surroundings of two or three generations.
The first settlements in the Connecticut valley were made from Cambridge, Dorchester, and Watertown, Mass., to the towns of Windsor, Hartford, and Weathersfield in Connecticut. This migration 45took place in 1634–’35. It was of a wholesale character, almost depopulating those towns in the eastern part of Massachusetts. Along with this exodus there was another from Roxbury, Mass., led by William Pynchon in May, 1636. This migration settled on the eastern bank of the Connecticut in Springfield, Mass. Middletown, Conn., was settled soon after and may possibly have been called after Middletown in Ireland.
Among the early records of Springfield, Mass., we find that Henry Chapin sold to John Riley sixteen acres of land running 120 rods along the west side of the Connecticut river, Nov. 4, 1684, the property being described in the record as “West of the Connecticut River and north from the Riley tract,” which would indicate that the 16 acres was an additional tract to other lands previously owned by some member of the Riley family. The sale was witnessed by Miles Morgan, who made his mark in the form of a pick axe and the deed was recorded by John Holyoke. This is a part of the territory known as “Ireland Parish” and is the present site of the Holy Family Institute for orphan children at Brightside.
Col. John Cummings purchased the territory of Cummington, Mass., of the government, June 2, 1762, for £1,800. This town furnished to American literature the poet William Cullen Bryant. He was the son of Dr. Peter Bryant and was born on Nov. 3, 1794. As a poet he ranks among the best. His productions are marked by great simplicity and clearness of expression, pure morality, a genial and gentle philosophy, and a well-tempered imagination, combined with a superior comprehension. Both names, Cullen and Bryant or Bryan, are distinctively of Irish origin, but are often called English, like many of the earlier Irish immigrants.
Among the Revolutionary soldiers from Cummington, the last survivor was Daniel Timothy, born Jan. 7, 1755. He was in the service during the entire war and lived to be over 100 years old. He was known by the name of “Teague,” which is Irish for Timothy, and this is the name given him in his pension certificate.
Felt’s history states that the town of Greenwich, Mass., was settled about the year 1732, by an Irish colony, and among the names of the first families are Powers, Hynds, Patterson, Cooley, Rogers, and Gibbs. Capt. N. Powers was a descendant of the Powers from Ireland, as was also Mr. Patterson, who died April 19, 1811, at the age of 79 years. In the Revolutionary struggle the men were patriotic, and furnished their full quota for the war.
46The settlement of Hadley, Mass., was commenced in 1659, by a company of persons residing in Windsor, Wethersfield, and Hartford, Conn., and is, therefore, one of the oldest towns of the Connecticut valley, and has an interesting history. The original territory of Hadley included the present town of Hadley, Hatfield, Amherst, Granby, South Hadley, and a part of Whately. A portion of the town was called “Patrick’s Swamp,” possibly after some Irishman who resided there. Among the early settlers we find the families of Thomas Coleman and John White.
Among the early settlers of Middlefield, Mass., was Col. David Mack, who defined the boundaries of the town. It was incorporated March 12, 1783. John Ford built the first grist-mill about the year 1780. Here also settled the families of Malachi Loveland, J. Taggart and M. Rhodes.
The district of Williamsburg, Mass., set off from Hatfield, was incorporated a town, Aug. 23, 1775. Early tax lists show Irish names, such as Joseph Carey, Thomas Finton, George Dunn, James Ludden, Edward Curtis, William Finton and Joseph Ludden.
The settlement of Worthington, Mass., was so rapid that from the time the territory was sold at auction, June 2, 1762, the settlers flowed in and became so numerous that the town was incorporated in 1768. Among the first settlers are such names as John Kelley, Thomas Kinne, James Kelley, Jeremiah Kinne, Mathew Finton, and N. Collins. The inhabitants of this, like many other towns, were composed of a mixed population from England, Ireland, and a few from Scotland and France.
The first settlement of Bernardstown, Mass., commenced about the year 1738, and it was here, on May 18, 1676, during the Indian troubles, occurred what is known as the “Falls Fight,” when Capt. Turner with only a comparatively small body of men, attacked and destroyed hundreds of Indians at what has been called in honor of the commander of the forces, Capt. Turner,—who lost his life during the engagement,—Turners Falls.
Major John Burke built one of the first four houses erected in the town, and among the first settlers are the names of Griffin, Lee, King, Gleason, Baker, and Bradshaw. Major Burke was clerk of the town for twenty-two years, and became the first representative in 1764.
The history of many of the towns of western Massachusetts shows that several of them had been set off and named in the first years of the eighteenth century. They had very few inhabitants previous to 47the coming of the Irish in considerable numbers about 1718. Several towns laid out and named after that time, like Colerain, Montgomery, Gill, and Charlemont, Conway, Monroe, Huntington, were called after places in Ireland from whence the early settlers immigrated.
West of the Connecticut river the territory was divided up into towns soon after the settlement of the boundary line between Connecticut and Massachusetts, which took place in 1713, when the present town of Suffield, formerly in Massachusetts, was thrown into Connecticut, and in 1632 the owners of the tract of land in that territory were given an equivalent tract of six miles square by the Massachusetts legislature, and this territory is included in the present town of Blandford, Mass., one of the first towns almost entirely settled by people from Ireland who arrived in this country in considerable numbers about that time.
These people were Irish Presbyterians who came from Ireland about the year 1718. Francis Brimley, A. M. Collins, Samuel Knox and Patrick Boies came up from Hartford, Conn., and purchased land of Christopher Lawton and Francis Wells, to whom the legislature had conveyed undivided parts of the township.
The first clergyman was Rev. Mr. McClenathan, an Irishman, who received £135 a year for his services. He did not give satisfaction and remained only two years, when he became a chaplain in the army. Rev. James Morton, also an Irishman, was installed as pastor in August, 1748, and preached to the people for twenty years. He retired June 2, 1767, and lived in Blandford, Mass., until his death, which occurred in October, 1793, at the age of 80 years.
Many of the representatives of the town to the legislature for nearly a hundred years after its settlement were native born Irishmen or the sons of Irishmen, among whom were Reuben Boies, William Knox, Timothy Blair, John Ferguson, Daniel Boies, Patrick Boies, Samuel Knox, Daniel Collins, and David Boies. The following are the names among the early families: McClinton, Reed, Brown, Taggart, Blair, Wells, Montgomery, Stewart, Campbell, Ferguson, Boies, Sennett, Wilson, Gibbs, Knox, Young, Carr, Black, Anderson and Hamilton.
Hon. Patrick Boies, a descendant of the Boies family who settled in Blandford, Mass., was the first lawyer admitted to the Hampden county bar, in 1812, and one of the first sheriffs of Hampden county. A daughter of Patrick Boies was the organist in St. Mary’s church, 48Westfield, Mass., for several years. The first clergyman of the Congregational church of Blandford, was, as stated, an Irishman named McClenathan, one of the petitioners to Governor Shute.
Chester is another of the towns of Hampden county, Mass., settled a few years after Blandford, almost entirely by Irish. The present town formed one of the ten original townships sold at auction by order of the general court, Jan. 2, 1762. About that time the first settlers of the place began to arrive who in all probability were like large numbers of Irish coming to this country at that time, Presbyterians, although the names of some of them would indicate that they were Catholics, such as John and David Gilmore, Thomas Kennedy, Daniel Fleming, William Moore, Thomas McIntire, William Kennedy, John McIntire, James Clark, Andrew Fleming. Other prominent settlers were the Gordons, Hollands, Knoxs, Henrys, Hamiltons, Quiglays, Elders and Bells. This town was incorporated Oct. 31, 1765, when it was called Murrayfield. Among the clergymen who officiated at Chester we find the name of Rev. Andrew McCune.
The first settlers of Granville, Mass., which was first called Bedford, were almost all from Ireland. Following the first settler, Samuel Bancroft, came Daniel Cooley, Thomas Spellman, John Root, Peter Gibbons and Samuel Church. Dr. Holland in his “History of Western Massachusetts” refers to the longevity of the early settlers of this town as quite remarkable. The ancestor of the Cooleys from Ireland died at the age of 90 years; of the Spellmans, who died in 1767, at 93; of the Gibbonses at 92; of the Churches at 95, and of the Roots at 103. Hamilton, Goff, Cortiss, Gibbons, Clark, Moore, Phelan were also early settlers at Granville.
The one hundredth anniversary of the settlement of Rev. Timothy M. Cooley, in 1795, took place in Granville in August, 1895, at which a large number of the descendants of those early Irish settlers were present, when they most fittingly honored the memory of their ancestors. J. G. Holland says that the facts were communicated to him by Rev. Mr. Cooley in 1854, when he was 83 years of age. He was born in Granville and like many of the Cooleys of Hampden county was descended from old Daniel Cooley from Ireland.
Among the early inhabitants of Rowe, Mass., which was settled in 1744, we find the names of Michael Wilson, Henry Gleason, William Taylor, Mathew Barr, and Joseph Thomas. They were a portion of the Irish colony to Worcester county, which after a short time scattered to form new settlements. The first permanent settlement 49of Shelborne was about 1760 by several Irish families who had lived for a time in Londonderry, N. H. Among them are the names of Joseph Thompson, Patrick Lawson, Robert Wilson, John Taylor, James Ryder, Daniel Nims and Samuel Hunter.
Quite a number of these men were soldiers in the Revolution and also took an important part in Shay’s insurrection. The first settler of the town of Ashfield, Mass., was Richard Ellis, a native of Dublin, Ireland. He was soon followed by Thomas Phillips, whose sister he married. Phillips built a log house for himself and family almost a half mile north of Mr. Ellis. A family named Smith, which had settled in South Hadley, soon joined them and they were followed by other families from time to time so that in ten years they numbered about twenty families and over one hundred people. They labored as none but the pioneers of the forest know how to toil to obtain a comfortable support for their families. The town increased years later in population and prosperity and was incorporated in June, 1765, and ten years later they like thousands of their countrymen took an active part in the Revolution, when they drew up a preamble and resolutions signed by Ellis, Phillips, and sixty-five others, denouncing England.
The settlers of Pelham, Mass., were Irish Presbyterians and in the agreement of the original committee with Col. John Stoddard, of whom the territory was purchased, occurs this passage: “It is agreed that families of good conversation be settled on the premises, who shall be such as the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Ireland or their descendants and none to be admitted but such as bring good and undeniable credentials or certificates of their being persons of good conversation and of the Presbyterian persuasion and confirm to the discipline thereof.”
The Irishmen of Pelham were on the right side in the Revolution. They issued an address to their countrymen in Boston, Nov. 3, 1773, of which the following extract is an illustration: “We are not at present much intimidated with the pompous boasting on the other side of the water or the claim that Great Britain could blow America into atoms.” They unanimously voted their acquiescence in, and support of, a declaration of independence fourteen days before the Declaration of Independence was made at Philadelphia, and throughout the war they furnished from their slender means and resources more than their proportion of men and money for its prosecution.
The town of Chesterfield, Mass., was first occupied about 1760 to 501765 by Simon Higgins, George Buck, Pierce Cowing, Charles Kid, Robert Hamilton, Benj. Kid, Con. Bryan, Thomas Pierce, John Holbard, Jerry Spaulding, William White and David Stearns. They were mostly Irishmen from Pelham and elsewhere. The first pastor called to preach the gospel was Rev. Peter Johnson of Londonderry. They named one of the principal streets of the town, Ireland street. This street was accepted March 17, 1763, and is the only street in the town which has remained unaltered. The people of Chesterfield were patriots in the Revolution and voted, in 1775, to purchase 400 pounds of powder, 400 pounds lead, and 1,200 flints to supply the forty-seven Minute Men who marched to Cambridge upon the Lexington alarm.
Of the territory comprising the original county of Hampshire, Mass., from which the counties of Hampden and Franklin have been set off, the Irish settled a large portion of the area from which the early organized towns were formed, such as Palmer, Chester, and Blandford. Pelham, Colerain, Charlemont, Sunderland, and many districts were later set off and organized into townships, such as Granville, Brimfield, Southwick, Russell, Montgomery, Goshen, Conway, Ware, Amherst, Orange, Gill, Huntington, Rowe, Greenwich, Worthington, and Middlefield.
The history of the towns of Berkshire county, Mass., shows that they were mostly all organized a generation or two after the coming of the Irish, who settled the original territory from 1718 to 1740, and although the names on the town records show that many of them were settled by the sons and grandsons of the settlers from Ireland, we can only guess at the origin of others by their Irish names, such as the Plunketts of Pittsfield and Adams, Patrick Murphy and Michael Sweet of Savoy, with Patrick Tyrell, Whalen, or Phelan, Casey, Kerwin, Kneil, or Neil, Hale, and McHale, Bryan, or Bryant, in several towns of the county.
Isaac Magoon came from Ireland with the colony that settled in Palmer, Mass., in 1727. The farm allotted to him by the legislative commission was at the southwest corner of the Reed estate. He left two sons, Alexander (who also left two sons, Isaac and Alexander), and Isaac who married Lucretia, daughter of John Downing, and had thirteen children. This family owned about 1,400 acres of the best land in Ware, Mass. Several of the descendants of the Magoon family afterwards settled in the Western states, and many of them probably know very little of their Irish ancestry.
51Among the very early Irish settlers whose descendants are at present residents of the Connecticut valley, and of whom we have authentic records, a few families deserve special mention because of the prominence to which they have attained in the community. Irish men and women, boys and maidens, were imported to these colonies in the very first years of the settlements, while in June, 1643, an Irish immigration took place that far out-numbered the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts. Of the descendants of these early settlers, Hall J. Kelley, one of the most enterprising men of Palmer, Mass., who developed the village of Three Rivers, was born in New Hampshire, Aug. 24, 1790, and was a descendant of John Kelly, who settled in Newbury, Mass., in 1633. John Riley and his wife, Grace O’Dea, came to this country from Ireland about the year 1624. They settled at Hartford, Conn., where their first two children were born,—John in 1646 and Joseph in 1649, after which they moved to West Springfield, Mass., where Jonathan was born in 1651, and afterwards Mary, Grace, Sarah, Jacob, and Isaac, the dates of whose births are unknown, but all the eight children are named in this order in his will of 1671. With the Rileys came a nephew of Mr. Riley, named John Riley, and a young sister of Mrs. Riley, named Margaret O’Dea. This couple got married at Springfield, Mass., in 1660, and had two daughters, Margaret, born Dec. 21, 1662, and Mary, born June 2, 1665. John died Oct. 24, 1684, and his wife died Aug. 22, 1689. He had two brothers, Richard, who remained in Hartford, and Patrick, who with his wife Bridget moved to Middletown.
Garret and Miles Riley came in 1634 from County Longford, Ireland. Patrick and Richard Riley came to Windsor and Wethersfield, Conn., in 1639. John Riley and wife, Margaret, came to Springfield, Mass., in 1640, where two daughters were born. Mary, born June 2, 1665, married Joseph Ely, June 2, 1685; Margaret, born Dec. 21, 1662, married William McGraney, July 19, 1685.
Bridget Clifford, who died at Suffield, Conn., May 7, 1695, came from Ireland to this country with her brothers, John, aged twenty, and Oliver, eighteen, in the vessel Primrose for Virginia, 1635. John died Dec. 25, 1668.
James Coggin and John Cogan, from Dublin, Ireland, settled at Windsor, Conn., and removed to Hartford in 1641. John Connor, whose parents, Philip and Mary Connor, came from Cork in 1634, was born at Middletown, Conn., June 14, 1686. His son John was taken prisoner at Quebec, 1775.
52Robert Smith, born in Ireland 1672, came to Palmer, Mass., 1728, where he died Dec. 21, 1759.
Edward King located at Windsor, Conn., about 1635, and is described as “An Irishman and one of the oldest settlers in this vicinity.”
John Cleary of Hadley, Mass., died in 1691. His son John was born Oct. 4, 1647, while his son John, Jr., was born April 3, 1671, and was slain in Brookfield in 1709. Joseph, son of old John, was born Nov. 30, 1677; and Joseph, son of John 3d, died in 1748. Joseph’s son Joseph was born Sept. 3, 1705.
John Clark was born in Ireland, 1704. He had two sons, John and Moses, living with him at Hadley, Mass.
The following interesting extract is from the records of Northampton, Mass., Sept. 17, 1663: “At a legal Town Meeting there was then granted to Cornelius, the Irishman, three acres of land upon condition that he build upon it and make improvement of it within one year, yet not so as to make him capable of acting in any Town affairs, no more than he had before it was granted to him.”
John Fleming, born in Ireland in 1673, came to America and settled in Palmer, Mass., 1721. Robert Farrell came from Ireland in 1720 and came to Palmer a few years later. Samuel Shaw came from Queenstown, County Cork, in 1720, and to Hampden County, Mass., in 1736.
The first inhabitants of Colerain, Mass., were mostly of those who had immigrated from Ireland in 1718, although many of them, did not leave Ireland until about the time of the settlement of the town in 1736. Some came from the Irish settlement of Londonderry, N. H., and more from Stow, Pelham, Woburn, and Roxbury, Mass., where they had previously settled before coming to Colerain. Holland says, “They were a robust set of men; six foot or more in height with frames of corresponding size; possessing constitutions capable of great endurance and fitted for every emergency.”
Capt. David Hamilton of Blandford, Mass., was born in Ireland, July 11, 1742, and his wife was born July 17, 1752. He immigrated to this country prior to the Revolutionary War, and in that struggle for independence took an active part, being captain of a company in the Continental army. After the war, he purchased a farm in Blandford, on which his thirteen children were born and reared, and hundreds of their descendants have been active forces in the development and prosperity of the community.
53The Codmans were descended from William Cod, who came to this country from Ireland, and settled at Amherst, Mass., about 1740. The last syllable of the name was added by his sons, one of whom was Dr. Henry Codman, who died in 1812. Michael Carroll sold land in Hartford to Isaac Graham for £180, May 13, 1728, and his grandson, Michael Carroll, graduated from Harvard in 1813.
Richard Ellis, the first settler of Ashfield, Mass., and the ancestor of many of the families of that name in the Connecticut valley, was born in Dublin, Ireland, Aug. 16, 1704, and was thirteen years of age when he landed in this country, as stated by one of his descendants, Aaron Smith of Stockton, N. Y. Tradition has handed down the following account of him: Mr. Ellis was the only son of a widow. A native of Ireland who had become a wealthy planter in Virginia, and having no children, made application to a friend in Dublin to send over a youth of promise to be adopted into his family and brought up under his care and patronage. Young Ellis was selected and started for this country. On his embarkation his passage was paid and an agreement made with the captain of the ship to land him safely in Virginia, but the captain proved faithless to his trust, brought the youth to Boston, and there sold him for his passage money. After serving out the time thus unjustly exacted from him he left Boston and settled in Easton, Mass., where he married Bridget Phillips and removed to Ashfield, then called Hunstown, where he probably made a settlement about the year 1742. Here they lived and raised a family of eight children.
One of the most distinguished soldiers of the Revolutionary War from western Massachusetts was Col. Hugh Maxwell, who lived in that part of Charlemont now within the bounds of Heath. Col. Hugh Maxwell was born in Ireland, April 27, 1733. He was a devoted patriot and rendered his adopted country valuable service in the French and Revolutionary wars. He was in the battle near Lake George and at the capture of Fort William Henry. It was chiefly owing to his influence that there was not a Tory in his town. On the Lexington alarm he marched as lieutenant with a company of Minute Men to Cambridge. He was in the battle of Bunker Hill and received a ball through his right shoulder, and although he never entirely recovered from his wound, he served throughout the war, fighting at Trenton, Princeton, and Saratoga. He was also with the suffering army at Morristown, and endured the horrors of Valley Forge. Col. Maxwell enjoyed the friendship of Gen. Washington and other 54distinguished patriots of the Revolutionary struggle. At the age of sixty-six years Col. Maxwell started on a trip to visit the land of his birth, and was lost at sea during the voyage.
Benjamin Maxwell, a brother of Col. Maxwell, also did service in the French and Indian wars, and was a lieutenant in a company of Minute Men in the Revolution. He lived in Heath, in the homestead occupied by his daughter Mary. His sons were Winslow, Benjamin, and Patrick.
For more than a hundred years the descendants of the early settlers of this valley have been spreading out far beyond the borders of New England into the ever-retreating West, to people with thousands of their kit and kin from Ireland, and to develop the fertile fields and reap the harvests of prosperity and of cheerful endurance, daring enterprise and patient perseverance. Their love of liberty, their devotion to religion, their respect for law and order, chastened by sacrifice and suffering, make them ideal citizens to found and develop states and maintain the principles of the institutions established by the fathers of the republic.
Alexander Gilligan was a resident of Marblehead, Mass., in 1674.
Many Irish participated in the settlement of Salem, N. Y., in 1765. (The Salem Book.)
Samuel and Robert Elder, brothers, came from Ireland about 1730 and settled in Falmouth, Me.
In 1746 a marriage license was issued, Spottsylvania, Va., to Patrick Connelly and Ann French.
Dennis Lochlin, of Putney, Vt., was a representative to the General Assembly of that state in 1777.
Lucy Todd O’Brien married, in 1698, John Baylor of Gloucester county, Va. (Virginia Historical Magazine.)
The records of Braintree, Mass., note the birth “6th mo. 18. 1669” of Samuel Daly, a son of John and Elizabeth Daly.
Timothy Hierlehey was captain of the seventh company of the First Regiment of the Colony of Connecticut, 1758.
Rev. James Tate, a Presbyterian minister from Ireland, organized Tate’s Academy, in Wilmington, N. C., about 1760.
At a great fire in Boston, Mass., 1787, among those whose premises were burned were Dennis Welch and Andrew Kalley.
Capt. Wm. McGinnis, with 89 men of Schenectady, N. Y., was at the battle near Fort George, Sept. 8, 1755, and was killed there.
About 1762–65, Rev. Ezra Stiles, of Newport, R. I.,acknowledges having received from Capt. Jno. Nichols a firkin of “Irish butter.”
James Warren settled at South Berwick, Me., as early as 1656. He was a native of Scotland; his wife, Margaret, a native of Ireland.
56On May 14, 1663, Miles More and Michael Rice of New London were accepted as freemen by the General Assembly of Connecticut.
Among the men serving under Capt. John Gilman, New Hampshire, in 1710, were Daniel Lary, Thomas Lary and Jeremiah Connor.
Major William Waters, son of Capt. Edward and Grace (O’Neil) Waters, patented land in Maryland as early as 1663. He left six sons.
We learn in Frothingham’s Charlestown, Mass., that in 1640 “there came over great store of provisions both out of England and Ireland.”
Edwin Larkin was located at Newport, R. I., as early as 1655. His name appears in the “Roule of ye Freemen of ye colonie of everie Towne.”
Several years previous to 1686, “persons from Ireland, picked up at sea and brought hither, have £17 given them.” (Felt’s Annals of Salem, Mass.)
As early as 1636, Edward Brick, or Breck, and his son Robert, “of Galway in Ireland,” are heard from in Dorchester, now a part of Boston, Mass.
In 1659 “John Morrell an Irishman and Lysbell Morrell an Irishwoman were married 31st August by John Endecott,” Governor. (Boston, Mass., Records.)
John Casey, James Brannon, John Bryan and James Moore were among the field officers appointed by the Provincial Congress of North Carolina, in 1776.
Cornelius Conner witnessed a deed (conveyance of real estate), in 1665, by John Clough of Salisbury, Mass. (The Essex Antiquarian, Salem, Mass., Jan., 1902.)
Among the soldiers at Fort William and Mary, N. H., in 1708, were John Foy, Jeremiah Libby, John Neal, Samuel Neal, John Mead and Timothy Blake.
John Donaldson, an Irishman, commanded, during the Revolution, an armed brig of 10 guns and carrying 45 men. He was at one time a resident of Salem, Mass.
Stephen Decatur, Sr., married “a young lady named Pine, the 57daughter of an Irish gentleman.” Stephen Decatur, the distinguished naval officer, was their son.
Samuel Neale, Quaker, was born in Dublin, Ireland, 1729. He came to this country, and in 1772 preached at Newport, R. I. He died in Cork, Ireland, 1792.
John Moore, “formerly of Dublin,” is mentioned in Charlestown, Mass., about 1680. He was a shipwright. (Wyman’s Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown.)
The Massachusetts records show that in 1661 “John Reylean an Irishman & Margaret Brene an Irishwoman were married 15th March by John Endecott Governor.”
From the files of York County, Me., we learn that Thomas Crowley, and his wife Joanna, had a daughter Arpira Sayward who had a son Samuel, born about 1668.
Roger Kelley was representative from the Isles of Shoals at the first General Court of Massachusetts under the new charter, 1692. (Farmer’s Genealogical Register.)
Joseph McDowell and his wife, Margaret O’Neal, came from Ireland to Winchester, Va., about 1743. Two of their sons became distinguished in the Revolution.
Hon. Charles Jackson, Governor of Rhode Island, 1845–’46, was a descendant of Stephen Jackson, a native of Kilkenny, Ireland, who came to this country about 1724.
Col. James Moore, who commanded the First Regiment of North Carolina Continentals in the Revolution, was of the Irish Moores who had settled in that part of the country.
In Felt’s Annals of Salem, Mass., is found mention, 1789, of “John Brenon from Dublin,” who “performs on the slackwire, balances and gives specimens of legerdemain.”
Charles MacCarthy was one of the founders of the town of East Greenwich, R. I., 1677. He had previously resided in St. Kitts. He had a brother who went from Ireland to Spain.
The oldest Irish organization in this country is the Charitable Irish Society, Boston, Mass. It was founded in 1737, and is still enjoying a prosperous existence. Gen. Henry Knox was a member.
Thomas McDonoghue was a resident of Charlestown, Mass., in 581798. John Russell married Mary Malonie in 1772. Russell is heard of as early as 1769. (Wyman’s Charlestown.)
Kennedy O’Brien was one of the early residents of Augusta, Ga. He was a merchant. A deposition made by him in 1741 is mentioned. (Collections of the Georgia Historical Society.)
According to Felt’s Annals of Salem, Mass., Butler Fogarty was a school teacher there in 1792. He gave up his school to become clerk of the Essex bank, but in 1794 went back to teaching.
St. Patrick’s Lodge of Masons was instituted at Johnstown, N. Y., in 1766. Another lodge bearing the same name was located at Portsmouth, N. H., and was chartered March 17, 1780.
Edward Jones, of Wilmington, N. C., a native of Ireland, was elected to the North Carolina House of Commons in 1788 and served until 1791, when he became Solicitor-General of the state.
Edward Rigg, an Irishman, died in New York city, 1786. He was for many years a school teacher there. Edward Fogarty, another school teacher, died in New York city about the same time.
Hon. Edward Kavanagh became governor of the state of Maine on the resignation of Governor Fairfield, 1843. Governor Kavanagh’s father was a native of New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland.
Savage’s Genealogical Dictionary of New England states that in 1654 Edward Welch, “an Irish youth,” was sent over, by the ruling power in England, in the ship Goodfellow, “to be sold here.”
John Campbell, who was twice speaker of the North Carolina House of Assembly, was reared in Coleraine, Ireland. He was “a wise and thrifty man.” (Moore’s History of North Carolina.)
Among the members of Capt. Fullwood’s Company of volunteers, South Carolina, 1775, were William Martin, William McCoy, John Laferty, Patrick Fagan, Robert Reilly and Cornelius Donavan.
It is stated that in 1720 the Irish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, were excused from rents “in consideration of their being a frontier people forming a kind of cordon of defence if needful.”
Allan Mullins, surgeon, son of Dr. Alexander Mullins of Galway, Ireland, was married to Abigail, daughter of John Butler, of New London, Conn., April 8, 1725. (New London Marriage Records.)
In Pearson’s Genealogies, relating to the “Ancient County of 59Albany, N. Y.,” is mentioned Pieter Macarty of Half Moon who, in 1736, married Greefje Rhee. His second wife (1742) was Anna Abt.
Nicholas Rowe is mentioned at Portsmouth, N. H., in 1640, and Matthew Rowe at New Haven, Conn., in 1650. The latter had three sons,—John, Joseph and Stephen. (Farmer’s Genealogical Register.)
Arthur Dobbs, governor of North Carolina, took the oath at Newbern in 1754. “He was an Irishman and had been a member of the parliament of that country.” (Moore’s History of North Carolina.)
Daniel Neil was captain-lieutenant of Frelinghuysen’s Eastern Company of Artillery (New Jersey state troops), and subsequently commanded the same. He was killed at the battle of Princeton, 1777.
In 1674 there were nine Catholic religious confraternities in St. Augustine, Florida, one of them being under the patronage of St. Patrick. (John Gilmary Shea in The Catholic Church in Colonial Days.)
The Fellowship Club was organized at Newport, R. I., in Dec., 1752. The first meeting was held at the Black Horse Inn. John Murphy was admitted to membership in 1803, and William Callahan in 1817.
In Wyman’s Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, Mass., is mentioned Edward Larkin, a wheel-maker. He was admitted an inhabitant in 1638. His wife was Joanna. A son was named John Larkin.
A return of the men enlisted by Lieut. Henry Piercy of the Second Pennsylvania Regiment, 1778, mentions Patrick McQuire, a native of Ireland, 42 years of age, and says that he “has the brogue on his tongue.”
The provincial congress of North Carolina, 1776, appointed James Hogan paymaster of the Third Regiment and also of the three companies of Light Horse. (Wheeler’s Historical Sketches of North Carolina.)
Thomas Burke was chosen governor of North Carolina in 1781. He was an Irishman by birth and had been educated for a physician. He came to America long prior to the Revolution and first settled at Norfolk, Va.
60We learn from the published records of Providence, R. I., that, in 1682, Cornelius Higgins bought of Andrew Harris, of Pawtucket, R. I., 98¼ acres in Scituate, in the “precincts of ye said Towne of Providence.”
John Keeney and Thomas Roach of New London, Conn., were nominated for freemen at the General Court, opened in Connecticut on Oct. 14, 1669. Timothy Forde was nominated for freeman on May 14, 1668.
John, Daniel and Nancy O’Brien were residents of New London, Conn., in 1795. John Callahan and Henry McCabe were there in 1796. Patrick Mann and John Sweeney were residents of Hartford, Conn., in 1799.
It is said of Arthur Dobbs, an Irish governor of North Carolina (1754), that he brought over a few pieces of artillery, one thousand muskets “and a plentiful supply of his poor relations.” (Moore’s North Carolina.)
James Coleman, Maurice Murphey, Jr., Matthew Murphey, John Kenneday, and Francis Kenneday were among the organizers of a military company on the northeast side of the Pee Dee river, South Carolina, in 1775.
On Aug. 16, 1688, at Northfield, Mass., three men, two women and a girl were killed by the Indians. One of the victims was John Clary, father of the John Clary who was killed at Brookfield, Mass., in 1709. (Temple.)
John Neil, from Ireland, was in Scituate, Mass., as early as 1730. He established a pottery thereabouts. Edward Humphries, from Ireland, was a resident of Scituate as far back as 1740. (Deane’s History of Scituate.)
Thomas Donohoe was major of the Sixth Regiment, North Carolina Foot, organized at Hillsborough, 1776. He became a member of the Society of the Cincinnati at the latter’s inception at Newburg, on the Hudson, 1783.
The records of the Church of Christ, Bristol, R. I., note the baptism, in 1712, of Bridget, daughter of James and Bridget Cary. In 1747, is noted the baptism of Michael and Bridget Phillips, children of Michael and Bridget.
Among the old New York families may be mentioned the Van 61Bergens of Catskill and Coxsackie. Elizabeth Van Bergen, born in 1781, married Richard McCarty. One of her children married a daughter of John McCarty.
John Casey of Muddy River (now Brookline, Mass.) was a participant in King Philip’s war, 1675–’76. He took part in the attack on the Indian fort in “the Great Swamp,” Rhode Island, and was wounded in that engagement.
A prominent regiment in the American Revolution was the First Pennsylvania line. The regimental rolls show over 200 typical Irish surnames, some of them being several times repeated, borne by different members of the command.
The 30th of 11th mo., 1642. “John Smith, Gent., his assessment of ——, unto the last county rate, is remitted unto him, upon consideration of the great losses that have of late befallen him in Ireland.” (Boston Town Records.)
In 1767–’68, the British warship Cygnet wintered at New London, Conn. The purser of the ship bore the name John Sullivan. Becoming enamored of civil life as well as of Elizabeth Chapman, he married and settled in New London.
James Stacpole, born in 1652, was probably a son of Philip, of Limerick, Ireland. James was living in Dover, N. H. (Rollinsford), in 1680. He died in 1736. The name is also spelled Stackpole. (Stackpole’s History of Durham, Me.)
Alfred Moore, Sr., of North Carolina, was a son of Judge Maurice Moore and nephew of Col. James Moore who commanded the First Regiment, North Carolina Continentals, during the Revolution. Alfred was a captain in the regiment.
David Flanagan is buried at Bedford, Westchester County, N. Y. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. During the Revolution he was clerk on board a vessel of the American navy. He subsequently became a bookseller, and died in 1805.
At a great Boston fire, 1760, Michael Carroll and Capt. Killeran are mentioned among those whose homes were consumed. Mr. Carroll resided “Towards Oliver’s dock,” while Capt. Killeran was located at “Milk Street and Battery-March.”
John Kelley, of Providence, R. I., died in 1701–’02. His widow, Grace Kelley, refused administration of the estate, and in her stead 62the Town Council appointed Pardon Tillinghast, Jonathan Sprague and James Browne. (Records of the Town of Providence.)
In 1677, 61 families at Salem, Mass., representing 295 persons, who were in needy circumstances owing to King Philip’s war, were given £44 5s from contributions collected in Ireland. This was a portion of “The Irish Charity.” (Felt’s Annals of Salem.)
Gen. Thomas Proctor was born in Ireland, 1739, and settled in Philadelphia, Pa. He entered the Patriot army in the Revolution, and rendered distinguished service at the battle of Brandywine and elsewhere. He was an artillery officer. He died in 1806.
Patrick Mark is mentioned in Charlestown, Mass., in 1685. He was then 55 years of age. His wife was named Sarah. Their children were Sarah, Peter, Hannah and Mercie. A daughter was killed by the Indians in 1691. (Wyman’s Genealogies and Estates.)
Pittston, Me., was incorporated in 1779. Among the early settlers of the town were: Stephen Kenny, William Burke, Thomas Moore, Daniel Ring, Martin Hailey, Thomas Hailey, Joseph Hailey and William Hailey. (Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder.)
James Given, a native of Ireland, born in 1777, participated in the Irish rebellion of 1798. Subsequently he came to this country and located at Fishkill, N. Y. A “useful and prominent citizen for 60 years.” (N. Y. Genealogical and Biographical Record, Jan. 1893.)
James Boies, writing in 1749–’50, from Cork, Ireland, to Samuel Waldo of Boston, Mass., says: “My business here is to carry Passengers & Servants,” meaning, of course, to America. He requests that letters be sent him “to ye care of mr Winthrop, mercht in Cork.”
Lieut.-Col. Goffe, an Irishman, was, in 1760, ordered by Gen. Amherst to take a regiment of 800 men, raised in New Hampshire, and cut a road through the wilderness from “No. 4” to Crown Point, or more properly to the Green Mountains. (History of Springfield, Vt.)
Rev. Ezra Stiles, writing at Newport, R. I., Aug. 9, 1774, says: “Last month arrived at New Castle [Del.] the snow Charlotte, Capt. Gaffney, from Waterford, with 100 passengers, and the ship Hope, Capt. McClenachan, from Newry, with 200.” (Diary of Ezra Stiles.)
Hon. Thomas Dongan, the Irish governor of the province of New York, 1683–’88, was a wise and just man. He founded representative 63government in New York, and the Charter of Liberties given the colonists at that time has greatly served to perpetuate his fame.
In a general return of Col. William Thomson’s regiment of Rangers, Sept. 20, 1775, occur the names Lieutenant Richard Brown, a native of Ireland, and Lieut. David Monaghan. Of the drummers, three were born in Ireland. The command was operating in the South.
A paragraph in the Virginia Historical Magazine states that Davis Stockton came from Ireland, with Michael Woods, and lived for some time in Lancaster county, Pa. About 1734 Stockton went to Albermarle County, Va., where he patented large tracts of land. He died in 1760.
William Preston was born in Ireland, 1730. He was captain of a company of rangers in Virginia in 1755–’56, and was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1766, 1767, 1768 and 1769. During the Revolution he held important commands in southwest Virginia.
Sir William Johnson, an Irishman, “of Johnson Hall, in the County of Tryon, and Province of New York,” in his will, 1774, mentions bequests to William Byrne, of Kingsborough; Patrick Daly (“now living with me”); and Mary McGrah, daughter of Christopher McGrah.
In June, 1794, Capt. Harding arrived at Portland, Me., from Ireland, in the brig Eliza. He brought about 200 passengers, men, women, and children, “chiefly farmers and weavers,” an “honest and industrious set of people.” (Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder.)
Bryan Lefferty was attorney and private secretary to Sir William Johnson and became surrogate of Tryon county, N. Y. Johnson’s will is believed to have been drawn up by him. Sir William’s farm manager was an Irishman named Flood. (Simms’ Frontiersmen of New York.)
In August, 1795, the brig Eliza, Capt. Wm. Fairfield, arrived at Salem, Mass., from Belfast, Ireland, with 89 emigrants. Among them were Samuel Breed, James and Sarah Dalrymple, John and William Lemon, the Dunlap family, and others of note. (Felt’s Annals of Salem.)
64One of the first military organizations in Albany, N. Y., enlisted in the Revolution, included David MCCarthy, James MCCarthy, John McEnry, David Sullivan, William Magie (Magee), Morris Welch, and other men whose names indicate Irish extraction. They signed the roll in June, 1775.
William McMahon was a taxpayer in Falmouth, Me., in 1777. Mention of him is made in the Maine Genealogist and Recorder. The same publication speaks of Edward Clarey and Patrick Manan as having belonged to Capt. John Hill’s military company of Berwick, Me., in October, 1740.
The intentions of marriage between Benjamin Blanchard of Canterbury, N. H., and Bridget Fitzgerald of Contoocook, were posted up “at the Meeting House Door” in Rumford, N. H., March 26, 1739. (John C. Ordway in Salem [Mass.] Press Historical and Genealogical Record, Vol. 2.)
Thomas McLaughlin, of Bedford, N. H., was lieutenant in Capt. John Moore’s company, Col. Stark’s regiment, at the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775. McLaughlin was made captain of the company the morning after the battle, in place of Moore, promoted. (Military Records of New Hampshire.)
A Mrs. Hall and Mr. Keating arrived at New London, Conn., in August, 1770, from Dublin, in the brig Patty. Captain Forbes in the 58th year of his age died at Cork, Ireland, on March 5, 1791. He was a native of Hartford, Conn., and had resided in Ireland for many years prior to his death.
In 1790, Norwich, Conn., had a printer named Major John Byrne. About this time he went to Windham, Conn., where he published the Phœnix or Windham Herald. In 1795 he was the postmaster of Woodstock, Conn., and in 1807 a member of the Aqueduct Company of Windham.
The British evacuated Boston, Mass., March 17, 1776, and the Americans marched in and took possession. Washington, from his headquarters at Cambridge, authorized as the parole for the day: “Boston;” and the countersign: “St. Patrick.” Gen. John Sullivan was brigadier of the day.
Keeney’s Ferry, operated over the Connecticut River at Hartford, Conn., took its name from Richard Keeney, who was granted the privilege in Oct., 1712, by the Assembly. The ferry was discontinued 65by act of the Assembly in May, 1753. (Rev. James H. O’Donnell, Norwalk, Conn.)
Florence Maccarty bought land in Roxbury, Mass., in 1693. He was a provision dealer and contractor in Boston. He subsequently added to his Roxbury purchase, the property becoming known as the “Maccarty farm.” The tract at one time comprised 60 acres. (Drake’s Town of Roxbury.)
John O’Kane came to this country from Ireland in 1752. He was then 18 years of age. He located in or near Albany, N. Y., and married a daughter of Rev. Elisha Kent. On his marriage he is said to have dropped the “O” from his surname. (N. Y. Genealogical and Biographical Record, July, 1878.)
Michael Magee was a member of Capt. Marsh’s Troop of Light Horse, of Essex, N. J., in the Revolution, and was wounded. Thomas Magee was a matross in Capt. Hugg’s Western Company of Artillery, New Jersey. (Official Register of the Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War.)
William Henry came from Coleraine, Ireland, and established a manufactory of arms in Pennsylvania before the Revolution. In 1777 he was deputy commissary general and was active in sending supplies to the Patriot army at Valley Forge. He was elected to Congress in 1784, and died in 1786.
Matthew, John and Thomas Kilpatrick (also written Gillpatrick) came from Ireland in the early part of the 18th century and settled in Warren and Ware, Mass. In time the name was condensed to Patrick. John Patrick, of the family, was commissioned a lieutenant in the Patriot forces, Feb. 5, 1776.
Among the sufferers in the French and Indian war, sometimes called Gov. Shirley’s war (1744–’49), was Michael Dogan, an Irishman. “He listed at Philadelphia, a soldier for Louisbourg, and was taken in his passage by a French” warship. He sickened, recovered, but had a fatal relapse. (Drake.)
James Devereaux was born at Wexford, Ireland, in 1766. He came to Salem, Mass., in 1780, with his uncle, John Murphy. In 1792 Devereaux married Sally Crowninshield of Salem. Later, he commanded the ship Franklin, said to have been the first merchant vessel from the United States to visit Japan.
66Capt. James Neall of New Hampshire had a group of scouts, in 1775, and was engaged in guarding the frontiers of said province. The scouts included Sergt. Philip Johnson, Francis Orr, James Rowe, William Mack and John McMahon. (Military History of New Hampshire, Adjutant-General’s Report, 1866.)
Here are two inscriptions from the Granary Burial Ground, Boston, Mass.: (1) “Here lyes ye body of Sarah Mahoney, Dau’r of Mr. Cain Mahoney, of Marblehead, aged 26 years, Died Nov. 29, 1734.” (2) “Here lies the Body of Mrs. Elizabeth Kelly, wife of Mr. Patrick Kelly, aged 28 years, Died Sept. 25, 1758.”
Andrew Brown was a native of Ireland, born about 1744. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, came to this country and fought in the patriot ranks at the battle of Bunker Hill. In 1777 he was made Muster-Master-General in the Patriot army. He died at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1793. (Drake’s American Biography.)
Hugh Williamson was a member of the North Carolina House of Commons in 1782 and 1785; he was also elected to the Continental Congress. He was a native of Pennsylvania. His father, an Irishman, had been a clothier in Dublin, and came to this country in 1730. (Wheeler’s Historical Sketches of North Carolina.)
George Conn emigrated from Ireland about 1720 and eventually settled in Harvard, Mass. His son, John, was born at Harvard, 1740, and located in Ashburnham, Mass., probably about 1761. John was lieutenant in a company of Minute Men and was with his command at Cambridge, Mass., 1775. He died in 1803.
Patrick Burn, of Wenham, Mass., participated in the Cape Breton expedition (Louisburg), 1744–’49. Later, he and others petitioned for an allowance on account of services and sufferings. The committee of war was ordered to pay the selectmen of Wenham £7 “for the use of said Burn.” (Drake’s French and Indian War.)
From the Town Records of Boston, Mass., Nov. 8, 1737: “Capt. James Finney Messrs. John Karr and William Hall Executed a Bond of the Penalty of Six Hundred Pounds to Indemnify the Town on Accot. of One Hundred and Sixty two Passengers Imported by the said Finney in the Snow Charming Molly from Ireland * * *”
At a meeting in 1744 of the proprietors of the common and undivided lands belonging to the town of Kittery, Me., among those drawing tracts of land were: John Gowen, Nicholas Gowen, Andrew 67Haley, John More, Joseph Mitchell, James Troy, Andrew Neal, and Samuel Ford. (Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder.)
Thomas Butler settled in Kittery, Me., before 1695. He is grandiloquently described by a modern writer as “of the ancient English house of Ormonde.” Perhaps it would have been nearer the point to say that Butler was an Irishman “of the house of Ormonde.” He had a son, Thomas, born at Berwick, Me., 1698.
From the Town Records of Boston, Mass., Nov. 8, 1737: “Hugh Ramsey, John Weire, and William Moore, Executed a Bond of the Penalty of one Thousand Pounds to Indemnify the Town from Charge on acco. of Three Hundred and Eighty One Passengers Imported by Capt. Daniel Gibbs in the Ship Sagamore from Ireland.* * *”
“Daniel ye Son of Darby and Elizabeth Mallonee” was baptized, in Barbadoes, 1679. The same year mention is made of Teag Conner, of the parish of St. Michael, Barbadoes. “Mary ye Wife of Morgan Murphy” of the parish of St. James, Barbadoes, was buried in 1679, as was also “Cornelius ye Son of Dearman Driskell.” (Hotten’s Lists.)
John Kehoo and Edward Dalton, two young Irishmen, came to Salem, Mass., in 1776. “They were both remarkably handsome, and promising men, and by their circumspect conduct and industrious habits, soon gained the respect and confidence of the community.” Kehoo was lost at sea while aboard the privateer Centipede, in 1781.
In Felt’s Annals of Salem, Mass., it is stated under date of April 20, 1681, “a ketch, Capt. Edward Henfield, picked up a boat with Capt. Andrew and six of his crew, 150 leagues from Cape Cod. These persons, so rescued, belonged to a Dublin ship bound to Virginia. She sank on the 18th, with sixteen men and three women, who perished.”
Daniel Gookin “of Cargoline, near Cork, Ireland,” commenced a plantation in Virginia in 1621–’22. He is said to have been born in England and to have “settled in Ireland.” He came to Virginia with fifty men of his own and thirty passengers, and located at a place called Mary’s Mount, near Newport News. (Virginia Historical Magazine.)
68At a town meeting in Boston, March 12, 1771, “A letter from that celebrated Patriot, Dr Lucas of Ireland, owning the Receipt of one transmitted him by a Committee of this Town together with the Pamphlet relative to the horrid Massacre in Boston, March, 5, 1770—was read and attended to with the highest satisfaction.” (Boston Town Records.)
From the Town Records of Boston, Mass., Sept. 19, 1744: “At the Desire of His Excellency the Governour The Select men Sent up to the Almshouse Sixteen Girls & Three Boys & a Woman arrived here yesterday from Cape Breton who were taken About Six Weeks since by a French Privateer [they] being bound from Ireland to Philadelphia * * *”
From the Connecticut Gazette, Jan. 5, 1764: “Just imported from Dublin, in the brig Darby, a parcel of Irish servants, both men and women, to be sold cheap, by Israel Boardman, at Stamford.” The people thus advertised were doubtless of the “Redemptioner” class, to be disposed of for a term of years, to pay for the expense of bringing them over.
From the Boston Selectmen’s Records, Jan. 15, 1715: “Jarvice Bethell, sho maker Late of Ireland who wth his wife came by the way of New found Land into this Town in August Last is admitted an Inhabitt on condition, he finde suretyes to ye Satisfaction of ye Sel. men to ye value of 100 [£], Since its consented yt Mr. Shannon’s bond Shall Suffice.”
Hon. John Fanchereau Grimke was a colonel in the Revolutionary army and judge of the Supreme Court of South Carolina. Early in life he wedded Mary Smith. She was of Irish and English stock, and was the great granddaughter of the second landgrave of South Carolina, and descended on her mother’s side from the famous Irish chieftain, Roger Moore.
Daniel McCurtin, believed to be of Maryland, was in the Patriot army at the siege of Boston. He kept a journal of his observations and experiences. The same has been published and narrates many interesting incidents of the siege. The journal may be found in Papers Relating Chiefly to the Maryland Line During the Revolution, edited by Thomas Balch.
The town of Sterling, Conn., was named in honor of Dr. Henry Sterling, an Irish physician and surgeon, who was located in Providence, 69R. I., before and during the Revolution. When the patriots from Providence destroyed the British armed vessel Gaspee, June 10, 1772, Dr. Sterling responded to a summons to attend the wounded commander of the Gaspee.
Timothy Murphy, an Irish physician, came to this country in 1776 and settled in Monmouth county, New Jersey. He engaged in farming; married Mary Garrison, granddaughter of Richard Hartshorne, of that county, who was a member of the Colonial Council and of the Assembly of the Province. Murphy served in the Patriot army during the Revolution.
Nehemiah Walter was sent by his father from Ireland to America, about 1674, to serve an apprenticeship to an upholsterer in Boston. Having a fondness for books he, with the consent of his father, attended college and graduated in 1680. He settled in Roxbury, Mass., and married Sarah, a daughter of Increase Mather. (N. E. Hist., Gen. Register, Jan., 1853.)
Rev. James Hillhouse was born in Ireland, and in 1720 came to America. He settled in Connecticut and married a great granddaughter of Capt. John Mason. Their son, William Hillhouse, became a member of the Continental Congress and was a cavalry officer in the Revolution. He represented his town in 106 semiannual sessions of the legislature.
Sometime in 1745 as James McQuade and Robert Burns of Bedford, N. H., were returning from Penacook to their homes, whither they went to procure corn for their families, they were fired on by Indians who appeared to be lying in wait for the opportunity. McQuade was shot down and killed, but his companion escaped. (Drake’s French and Indian War.)
The Rev. Robert Morris, who was pastor of the First Church in Greenwich, Conn., in 1785, was “born and brought up in N. York. His parents came from Ireland, the Father a rigid Churchman, his mother a Roman Catholic. He living and being brot up with a Baptist at N. York became one.” (Rev. Ezra Stiles, quoted by Rev. James H. O’Donnell, Norwalk, Conn.)
We find Joseph Manly in Conventry, Conn., in 1786; Patrick Butler in Hartford, and Richard Kearney in New London in 1793. In the list of expenses paid by Connecticut for the capture of Ticonderoga and adjacent posts, occurs the name of an Irishman: “To Patrick 70Thomas, for boarding prisoners, £1, 5s.” (Rev. J. H. O’Donnell in Catholic Transcript, Hartford, Conn.)
On July 2, 1788, Captain Chapman, and nine emigrants from Ireland, were drowned a short distance from the shore of Fisher’s Island. He had just arrived with about 20 emigrants, some of whom were ill. In attempting to land the latter at a spot where they were to be placed in quarantine, all perished. (Rev. J. H. O’Donnell in Catholic Transcript, Hartford, Conn.)
John J. Henry’s parents came from Coleraine, Ireland. John was born in Lancaster, Pa., 1758, and was with Arnold’s expedition to Quebec. He was captured by the British and kept a prisoner for nine months. On being released, he was offered a lieutenancy in the Pennsylvania line, but desired a captaincy in the Virginia line. Ill health interfered somewhat with his military career.
According to Hotten’s Lists, Brian Kelley, aged 20, embarked for Virginia in the vessel Safety, 1635. Among those to be transported to “ye Barbadoes,” 1635, were Dennis MacBrian, Teague Nacton, Dermond O’Bryan and Margaret Conway. They embarked in the Alexander. Mary Driskell, of St. James’ parish, Barbadoes, was buried 1678. Dorothy Callahan, of Barbadoes, was buried Aug. 10, 1679.
Miss Virginia Baker of Warren, R. I., author of a “History of Warren in the War of the Revolution,” writes us: “Perhaps you will be interested to know that the first Irishman known to have settled in Warren was one John O’Kelley. I think he arrived in town prior to 1770.... I have located real estate that he owned.” Miss Baker also informs us that some of his descendants are still to be found in Warren.
Cornelius Merry, an Irishman, of Northampton, Mass., had a grant of land in 1663. He married Rachel Ballard. Their children were John, who “died soon;” John (2d), born in 1665; Sarah, born 1668; Rachel, 1670; Cornelius, Leah, and perhaps others. Cornelius, the father, participated in the “Falls fight” against the Indians. After the war he removed to Long Island, N. Y. (Savage’s Genealogical Dictionary.)
John Lamb, who was captain of a brig called the Irish Gimlet is found at New London, Conn., in 1774; Lawrence Sullivan “of Connecticut” was taken prisoner by the British at the battle of 71Bunker Hill, and was released February 24, 1776; Captain Richard McCarthy of New London, was wrecked in a storm off Plum Island, May 27, 1779, when he and five sailors perished. (Rev. James H. O’Donnell, Norwalk, Conn.)
Capt. Philip Mortimer, who came from Ireland, was one of the selectmen of Middletown, Conn., in 1749. He was a rope maker, was very wealthy, and donated Mortimer cemetery to the town. Being childless, he sent to Ireland for his niece to come out and become his adopted daughter. The son of Capt. John Reid, Mortimer’s partner, was despatched to Boston with a coach and four and escorted her to Middletown.
Glancing through Deane’s “History of Scituate, Mass.,” the other day, we found mention of Richard Fitzgerald, “a veteran Latin schoolmaster.” He wedded Margaret Snowdon, of Scituate, in 1729. Doubtless he was one of the many Irish teachers who abounded in the American colonies at that and subsequent periods. The Society has already published the names, and something concerning the career, of about forty such.
Charles Clinton was a native of County Longford, Ireland, and was born in 1690. He and his friends, numbering about 200, chartered a vessel and sailed from Dublin in 1729 for Philadelphia, Pa. After a passage lasting 139 days the captain, inadvertently or by design, landed them on Cape Cod, Mass. Ninety-six of the ship’s company had died on the voyage. One of Clinton’s sons, George, became governor of New York.
An Irish colony, consisting of sixteen families, was settled about 1740, under the patronage of Sir William Johnson, himself an Irishman, on a tract a few miles southwest of Fort Hamilton, N. Y., in the town of Glen. The settlers erected dwellings, cleared land and planted orchards. Indian hostilities, however, prevented the success of the settlement, and the pioneers returned to Ireland. (J. R. Simms’ Frontiersmen of New York.)
Robert Dunlap was a native of the County Antrim, Ireland, and was born in 1715. He embarked for America in the spring of 1736. The vessel, with nearly 200 emigrants aboard, was wrecked at the Isle of Sable and nearly one half of the passengers perished. The survivors, including Dunlap, managed to reach Canso and were then taken to Cape Ann, Mass. Governor Dunlap of Maine (elected in 1833), was a descendant of Robert, the Irishman.
72The records of Trinity Church, New York city, contain mention of the following marriages: Hugh Kelly and Elizabeth Griffin, 1746; Ralph Steel and Mary Branegan, 1747; John Trotter and Ann Hogan, 1748; John Cusick and Mary Freeman, 1748; John Hurley and Elizabeth Hannon, 1748; Patrick Hawley and Jane Ament, 1748; Jeremiah Dailey and Margaret Fitzgerald, 1748; Patrick Boyd and Mary Peltreau, 1748; Patrick Martin and Rozannah O’Neil, 1748.
The Boston News Letter, Sept. 12, 1720, has an advertisement in which it is stated that an Irish man servant, Edward Coffee, had run away from his master, Stephen Winchester of Brookline, Mass. Coffee was probably a bond servant or redemptioner. He is described as about twenty years of age, with “cinnamon coloured breeches with six puffs tied at the knees with ferret ribbon.” He also had “a wig tied with a black ribbon.” A reward was offered for his capture.
Capt. James Magee, “a convivial, noble-hearted Irishman,” commanded an American privateer in the Revolution. In the winter of 1779 his ship was driven ashore near Plymouth, Mass., during a terrible storm, and 79 of the crew were frozen to death. Twenty-eight of the survivors were rescued by the men of Plymouth. Drake’s Town of Roxbury, Mass., states that in 1798 Capt. Magee bought an estate in Roxbury. In 1819 William Eustis purchased the estate of Magee’s widow.
The Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, Philadelphia, Pa., was instituted on March 17, 1771. No creed lines were drawn, and in the organization “Catholics, Presbyterians, Quakers, and Episcopalians were united like a band of brothers.” Stephen Moylan, brother of the Catholic bishop of Cork, Ireland, was the first president. The Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, New York city, was founded in 1784. Daniel McCormick, a Presbyterian, was the first president.
In 1644, Roger Williams, arriving at Boston, from England, brought with him letters from members of the British parliament to “leading men of the Bay” in which, counseling friendship, mention is made of undesirable “neighbours you are likely to find near unto you in Virginia, and the unfriendly visits from the west of England and from Ireland.” It so happened that, eventually, Roger Williams 73himself became “undesirable” and “unfriendly” to the self-sufficient rulers of “the Bay”
Thomas Healey is mentioned as of Cambridge, Mass., in 1635, and William Healey in 1645. John Joyce was an early resident of Lynn, Mass., and removed to Sandwich, Mass., about 1637. David Kelly was of Boston as early as 1664, and belonged to the artillery company there. Stephen Hart was of Cambridge, Mass., in 1632; Edmund Hart of Weymouth, Mass., 1634; John Hart of Salem, Mass., 1638; Thomas Hart of Ipswich, Mass., 1648. (Farmer’s Genealogical Register.)
In a Virginia regiment, of which George Washington was colonel, long before the Revolution, appear the following surnames: Barrett, Bryan, Burns, Burke, Carroll, Coleman, Conner, Connerly, Conway, Coyle, Daily, Deveeny, Devoy, Donahough, Ford, Gorman, Hennesy, Kennedy, Lowry, McBride, McCoy, McGrath, McGuire, McKan, McLaughlin, Martin, Moran, Murphy, Powers, etc. The regiment participated in the struggles against the French and Indians. (Virginia Historical Magazine.)
Dennis Rochford, of County Wexford, Ireland, and his wife Mary, came to Pennsylvania with William Penn in 1682, on the ship Welcome. All or nearly all the passengers were Quakers. Two daughters of Dennis and Mary died on the voyage. The passengers were described as “people of consequence” and as “people of property.” Dennis was a member of the Assembly in 1683. (Scharf-Wescott History of Philadelphia, Pa., quoted in Vol. VI, Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society.)
In the “Great Swamp fight” in Southern Rhode Island, during King Philip’s war, 1675–’76, were the following soldiers from Connecticut, among others: James Murphy, Daniel Tracy, Edward Larkin, James Welch and John Roach. The town of Norwalk, Conn., subsequently gave Roach, as a gratuity, a tract of land “consisting of twelve acres more or less, layed out upon the west side of the West Rock, so called.” In the Norwalk records Roach is spoken of as a soldier in the “Direful Swamp Fight.”
Eaton’s Annals of Warren, Me., mention two Irish schoolmasters there. They were John O’Brien and John Sullivan. O’Brien was “a native of Craig, near Cork,” and taught in Warren for many years, beginning at about the close of the Revolution. He was “an 74elegant penman and a good accountant.” He married a daughter of Col. Starrett. Sullivan was a native of Dublin, Ireland, and began teaching in Warren about 1792. He was of “never failing good humor.” He died in Boston, Mass.
Martin I. J. Griffin of Philadelphia, Pa., mentions Thomas Burke, the one-eyed member of the Continental Congress and governor of North Carolina, of whom Wheeler’s Historical Sketches of North Carolina says: “No public functionary was ever employed by the state in more troubled times, none more active or talented, none suffered more, none less known to posterity. He was a native of Ireland and of the most finished education.” It was said of him that he publicly professed and openly avowed the Catholic faith.
Here is an example of how certain names sometimes undergo a change: A legislative act was passed in 1806 providing that “John O’Neil, Jun., of Madison, in the county of Kennebec [Maine], shall be allowed to take the name of John Neil; James O’Neil, of said Madison, shall be allowed to take the name of James Neil; Samuel O’Neil, of Norridgewalk, shall be allowed to take the name of Samuel Neil.” (From List of Persons whose Names Have Been Changed, etc., published by the state of Massachusetts, Boston, 1893.)
George Berkeley, “the Kilkenny scholar,” Dean of Derry and later Bishop of Cloyne, visited Boston in 1731. His visit is thus mentioned in John Walker’s manuscript diary (in possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society): “Sept. 12, 1731; in ye morn Dean George Barkley preacht in ye Chapell from ye 1st Epistle to Timothy, ye 3d Chap., Verse 16, and a fine Sermon, according to my opinion I never heard such an one. A very great auditory.” By the “Chapell” was meant the King’s Chapel, still in use in Boston.
From an entry in the New England Historic, Genealogical Register, Jan., 1893, we learn that Capt. John McCarty of New London, Conn., died while on a return voyage from the West Indies in 1804. His wife died soon after, leaving four young children, including Elizabeth, who married Samuel Forman, of Syracuse, N. Y.; Rebecca, who married Schuyler Van Rensselaer of Albany, N. Y., and Abby, who married Sanders Van Rensselaer, brother to Schuyler. Capt. Richard McCarty, believed to be father or brother of Capt. John, was lost at sea in 1779.
75At a meeting of the selectmen of Boston, Mass., April 15, 1737, a communication was mentioned as having been received from Capt. Samuel Waterhouse. The latter stated that he was “twelve weeks from London and seven from Cork; that smallpox had broken out on the voyage, afflicting four of his ship’s company.” One of these was put ashore, one died at sea, and two recovered. The ship having been cleansed, the Boston selectmen gave him permission to “come up from Nantasket to Spectacle Island” and drop anchor near the hospital there. (Report of the Boston Record Commission.)
Hon. James Buchanan, president of the United States, has left this statement concerning himself: “My father, James Buchanan, was a native of the County Donegal, in the Kingdom of Ireland. His family was respectable but their pecuniary circumstances were limited. He emigrated to the United States before the date of the Definitive Treaty of Peace with Great Britain; having sailed from —— [no port stated] in the brig Providence, bound for Philadelphia, in 1783. He was then in the 22d year of his age.” (Quoted in George Ticknor Curtis’ Life of James Buchanan, President.)
In a volume published by the state of New York (Albany, 1860), record is found of marriage licenses, issued by the secretary of the province, previous to 1784. Among the names mentioned are: Edward Briscow and Jane McDermont, 1736; Matthew Sweeny and Mary Thorn, 1756; Patrick Hyne and Hannah Van Sice, 1757; Andries Van Schaick and Alida Hogan, 1757; Owen Sullivan and Hannah Orstin, 1759; Wynant Van Zant and Jane Colgan, 1760; Rynear Van Yeveron and Hannah Hogan, 1772; John Moore and Mary Van Dyck, 1772; Martin Van Haugh and Judith Carroll, 1775.
In the Minutes of the Boston Selectmen, 1727, we find mention of the following “Strangers warned to Depart Accordn to Law”: John White, an Irishman from Dedham; Robert Phenne, an Irishman from Wells; William Nugel, an Irishman from Philadelphia; Robert Sterling, an Irishman from Rutland; Patrick Jorden from Virginia; James Dawley, an Irishman from Lisborn; Joseph Doyle from Rhode Island. These men were doubtless worthy enough, but, perhaps, could find no one to “go their bond,” and thus secure the town against the possibility of their becoming, at some time, a public charge.
76For the “expedition against Crown Point,” 1756, New Hampshire raised a regiment of 700 men, commanded by Col. Nathaniel Meserve of Portsmouth. In this regiment were included the following: Daniel Murphy, James Meloney, Darby Sullivan, John McMahone, Daniel Kelley, James O’Neil, Jer. Connor, Daniel Carty, Benjamin Mooney, Michael Johnson, Darbey Kelley, John Meloney, James Molloy, James Kelly, John Welch, Thomas Carty, William Kelley, Bryan Tweny (Sweeny?), James McLaughlin, John McLaughlin, Thomas McLaughlin, and others bearing typical Irish names. (Military History of New Hampshire, Adjutant-General’s Report, Concord, 1866.)
From the Boston Selectmen’s Records, Aug. 9, 1736: “By a List from the Impost office, It appearing that Nineteen Transports were just Imported from Cork in Ireland, in the Brigt Bootle, Robert Boyd Commander, accordingly the said Master was sent for, Who appear’d And the Select men Ordered him to take effectual Care to prevent any of the said Transports from coming on Shoar from said Vessell, the said Master promised Accordingly that they should not come on Shoar, That he was obliged by his orders to Carry them to Virginia, Whither he was bound, and that in the meantime he would keep a Strict Watch on board his said Vessell to prevent their escape.”
James Cochran, an Irish boy, is mentioned in the Massachusetts records. He was captured by Indians, but escaped and brought back a couple of scalps as evidence of his experience. The Boston News Letter, April 29, 1725, says of him: “James Cochran, ye youth that came into Brunswick with two scalps, came to town on Monday last, and on Tuesday produced ye same scalps before ye Honorable Lieutenant Governor and Council, for which he received a reward of two hundred pounds. And for ye further encouragement of young men and others to perform bold and hardy actions in ye Indian war, His Honor ye Lieutenant Governor has been pleased to make him sargeant in ye forces.”
A gallant officer, who has almost been forgotten, was Gen. John Greaton of the Revolution. He was a native of Ireland. Augustus Parker, writing in the Boston Transcript, says of him that he belonged to the first company of Minute Men raised in America, in 1775, and was chosen major, lieutenant-colonel, and colonel of Heath’s regiment. After the battle of Lexington he was engaged in the skirmishes 77about Boston, until he joined that memorable expedition to Quebec in the winter through the woods of Maine, where the army suffered untold hardships. He served through the war, was one of Washington’s most trusted officers, was mustered out October, 1783, and died the following December, worn out in the service of his country. Gen. Greaton’s father kept the Greyhound tavern on Washington street, opposite Vernon street, in Roxbury, Mass.
Rev. Cotton Mather was born in Boston, Mass., Feb. 12, 1663. He was a Puritan, hard and fast. In 1700 he delivered a sermon in honor of the arrival of Gov. Bellomont, calling it a “Pillar of Gratitude.” In this sermon occurs the following: “There has been formidable Attempts of Satan and his Sons to Unsettle us: But what an overwhelming blast from Heaven has defeated all those attempts.... At length it was proposed that a Colony of Irish might be sent over to check the growth of this Countrey: An Happy Revolution spoil’d that Plot: and many an one of more general consequence Than That!” Mather was rather late in his opposition to Irish comers, for they had been arriving in this “Countrey” before he was born. Were he alive to-day he would doubtless realize that instead of checking the country’s growth, they have greatly contributed to that growth.
Passing through Bridgeport, Conn., by train recently, we recalled the Rev. Robert Ross of that place. He was a son of Irish parents, and was ordained to the Congregational ministry in 1753. His biographer states that he was a remarkable man, six feet in height and well proportioned. His presence was imposing, and his ruffled shirt, wig and cocked hat seemed peculiarly in keeping with it. But he most strongly impressed himself upon the community through the warmth of his patriotism, and the decisiveness of his political convictions. He became a man of influence on the patriotic side and proportionally obnoxious to the royalists. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War he preached on the text, “For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.” A company of soldiers, raised to join the invasion of Canada in the fall of 1775, mustered in his door-yard and was commended to God in a fervent prayer by him before starting on their expedition.
The dangers encountered by Irish immigrants who came over in the old days of sailing vessels is well illustrated by the following incident: The ship Lime with 123 passengers sailed from Portrush, 78Ireland, July 26, 1738, bound for Boston. Three days after leaving Portrush she was leaking badly, so she put into Killybegs where twelve days were spent making repairs. She again sailed, but had to put into Galway to be again repaired. While at Galway, John Cate, the master, died of smallpox, and Matthias Haines, the only mate, was afflicted with the same disease. While at Killybegs and Galway 25 of the passengers deserted the ship, and but little blame could attach to them for so doing. With the captain dead and the mate sick, the contractors hired Gabriel Black as master of the vessel. She finally sailed from Galway on Sept. 19, and reached Boston harbor Nov. 16, 1738. Mention of the incident may be found in the N. E. Historic, Genealogical Register, Oct., 1897.
In 1630, Governor John Winthrop and others of the Massachusetts Bay Colony “hired and dispatched away Mr. William Pearse, with his ship of about two hundred tons, for Ireland to buy more” provisions. As he did not return as soon as expected, “many were the fears of people that Mr. Pearce who was sent to Ireland to fetch provisions, was cast away or taken by pirates.” In February, 1631, however, he arrived at Boston, Mass., bringing the following supplies: “34 hogsheads of wheat meal, 15 hogsheads of peas, 4 hogsheads of oatmeal, 4 hogsheads of beef and pork, 15 cwt. of cheese, butter-suet, etc. These supplies were in good condition, and a day of thanksgiving was ordered by the governor.” (Frothingham’s Charlestown and Drake’s Boston.) A second ship appears to have arrived about this time, for the colonists near by “lifted up their eyes and saw two ships coming in, and presently the newes came to their eares, says one among them, that they were come from Ireland full of victualls.”
In Stackpole’s History of Durham, Me., is an interesting reference to Martin Rourk, at one time town clerk of that place. Rourk was born in Ireland about 1760, and came to America about 1773. He spent two years in his uncle’s store at St. John’s, and went to Boston, Mass., in 1775. He became clerk in the company of Capt. Lawrence of the Patriot army, and subsequently married his widow. In May, 1775, Martin Rourk is mentioned as in a picket guard, having enlisted in April of that year. He reënlisted several times, was at Ticonderoga in 1776, and is mentioned as a sergeant after 1777. He settled in Durham, Me., about 1784, and in 1796 bought a twenty-acre lot of Thomas Mitchell, was town clerk in 1790–1807, and is 79spoken of as an excellent penman. He was also “the foremost school teacher” of Durham. He died in 1807. His children were Jane, John, Hannah, William, David, Samuel, Silence, Cyrus, and Jacob H. Some of these had the name changed to Roak before 1820. John, one of the sons, wedded Joanna Larrabee and had seven children.
Some recent writers on immigration to the United States from Ireland have very materially underestimated the numbers of the Irish who came here even since 1790, and it seems proper now to call attention to some important facts which throw light on the matter, and endeavor to correct the erroneous impressions produced by misleading statements.
It will not be difficult to show that the Irish have come to this country since 1790 in much greater numbers than available records, statistics, or estimates show, and that their descendants are much more numerous than many suppose them to be. The same might be said of the Irish who arrived here before the period just referred to, and particularly before the Revolution—a fact to which I briefly called attention in a little work written several years ago. In this paper, however, consideration will be confined to the Irish who arrived here since 1790 and their descendants.
Until September, 1819, there was no supervision of immigration by the national government, and no records were kept by federal officers of the arrival of immigrants. For the numbers, therefore, of those who came here from 1790 to 1820 we are practically left without official or positive information, and the statements or conjectures of the writers who have dealt with this subject not only betray their imperfect knowledge, but show that they failed to take into consideration some weighty facts essential to the formation of correct estimates.
Thomas Cooper, an Englishman who visited this country in 1794, tells us that “emigration of all kinds from Europe to the United States amounted at that time to about 10,000 a year.” Samuel Blodgett, Jr., however, writing in 1810, assumed that the number of 81immigrants did not average more than 4,000 a year for the previous ten years, but he gave a table of the population, in one column of which the number of “freemen and slaves” who entered the United States in 1804 was put down at 9,500. Blodgett says that he relies on “the best records and estimates at present attainable,” but he fails to tell us where those records were to be found, or by whom they were kept. A. Seybert, an ex-member of congress, who wrote in 1818, says that the statements in Blodgett’s work “are deficient in details; they consist chiefly of general results and the estimates of the author. Though many of his tables are ingeniously constructed, they do not furnish sufficient data for legislators.” Seybert, while admitting the correctness of Cooper’s estimate of 10,000 arrivals during the year 1794, differs from him with regard to the immigration for the following years up to 1817, and assumes that 6,000 persons only, on the average, arrived here annually from 1790 to 1810. He, however, furnishes us with a statement of the number of passengers who arrived at ten of the principal ports of the United States in 1817, which shows the entrance in that year of 22,240 immigrants, of whom 11,977 came from Britain and Ireland; 4,169 from Germany; 1,245 from France, and 2,901 from British America.
Professor Tucker, another ex-congressman, in a work published in 1843, says, commenting on Seybert’s estimate, “Since an account has been taken of the foreign immigrants who arrive in our seaports as well as from the intrinsic evidence afforded by the enumerations themselves, we must regard his estimate as much too low.” Tucker admits that “our estimates of the whites who migrated hither before 1819 are purely conjectural,” but yet he adopts Seybert’s estimate of 6,000 a year from 1790 to 1810—a total of 120,000—and assumes that from the last named year until 1820, 114,000 immigrants arrived, thus making the total number who came here between 1790 and 1820, 234,000.
He, however, remarks in a note that he could not go beyond this estimate “on account of his respect for Dr. Seybert’s opinion,” but he “could not give a less number because of his regard for the progressive increase of immigration before and after the three years of the war of 1812–1815.” J. D. B. DeBow, superintendent of the census of 1850, in one of his volumes published in 1854, relies on Prof. Tucker’s estimates for the number of those who arrived here during the thirty years preceding 1820, while W. J. Bromwell of the state department, writing in 1856, raises the number to 250,000.
82It will be observed that these “estimates” are in fact merely conjectures, and that in the only year (1817) during the entire period from 1790 to 1820 for which actual figures are given, the returns from only ten ports show the arrival of more than twice the average annual number of immigrants estimated by the writers above referred to. It seems, then, evident that the immigrants from 1790 to 1820, and particularly those of Irish birth or blood, were much more numerous than the writers quoted seem willing to admit, and we are amply justified in coming to this conclusion by several substantial reasons.
Professor Tucker, who estimates the number of immigrants between 1790 and 1820 at 234,000, “calculated after a very laborious analysis the number of foreigners and their descendants to be above 1,000,000 in 1840.” Now, according to his own tables, the total number of immigrants who came here between 1790 and 1840 amounted to 949,346, and yet of all these people—over seventy-five per cent. of whom were adults—and their descendants, he would have us believe that there could only be found alive in 1840 the number just given. The total population had increased, within the period named, from 3,929,827 to 17,069,453—more than four hundred per cent.—while the descendants of the immigrants increased, according to him, only five per cent.
We shall see later that, even after the passage of the act of Congress of 1819—which directed the collectors of customs at the seaports of the United States to forward quarter-yearly lists of all the passengers arriving at their respective ports to the state department at Washington—the number of immigrants reported was for many years very considerably less than that of those who actually came here. One careful and reliable writer, Dr. Chickering, estimates the number of those not accounted for at fifty per cent. of those reported. Bearing this in mind it will seem almost certain that, before the time when returns of immigrants were required by law, their numbers were underestimated in a far greater proportion.
Large numbers of people left Ireland for America between 1790 and the beginning of the War of 1812. During the century preceding the year first named half a million of Irishmen—more than the number of Huguenots who left France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes—went to that country and joined her armies to escape the English penal laws and avenge the violation of the Treaty of Limerick. This fact is attested by the French military records. 83But after the outbreak of the Revolution in France the flight of the “Wild Geese” was checked, and comparatively few entered the Revolutionary or Imperial armies.
Meanwhile the situation in Ireland was almost as gloomy as before. Though as a consequence of the American and French revolutions the penal laws had been somewhat relaxed, and in 1793 Catholics had been allowed to vote at parliamentary elections, they were still persecuted and harassed in almost every conceivable manner by the Loyalist faction. In Armagh county murders, house burnings, and still more abominable crimes were of constant occurrence, and many thousands of the people were driven from their homes, some taking refuge in the South, some flying to Scotland, and a large number coming to America. An idea of the condition of things at that time in some parts of Ireland may be formed from reading the declaration of Lord Gosford, governor of Armagh county, and thirty magistrates, issued on Dec. 28, 1795.
“It is,” they said, “no secret that a persecution accompanied with all the circumstances of ferocious cruelty, which have in all ages distinguished that calamity, is now raging in this county. Neither age nor sex, nor even acknowledged innocence is sufficient to excite mercy or afford protection. The only crime which the unfortunate objects of this persecution are charged with is a crime of easy proof, indeed, it is simply a profession of the Roman Catholic faith.” The Presbyterians, who had for a long time been excluded from power and position by the “Sacramental Test Act,” and many of whom had, during the eighteenth century, emigrated to America, were also much dissatisfied with their condition and that of the mass of their countrymen.
“The journals of those days,” we are assured by a careful writer on this subject, “show that the Northern Presbyterians were not sharers in the disgrace or afraid to denounce the dominant faction. Neither must we forget that Presbyterianism was socially, though not religiously, outlawed almost to the extent of Catholicism.”
But the English government, which had absolute control of the so-called Irish Parliament, turned a deaf ear to all demands for justice and encouraged the Loyalists to continue their atrocious deeds. Under these circumstances, a number of prominent and patriotic men of all denominations, who had formed the United Irish Society a few years before, for the purpose of bringing about a union of Irishmen of all religious persuasions with the object of effecting a 84reform in the Parliament, now becoming convinced of the hopelessness of attaining their purpose by peaceful methods, resolved to imitate the example of the American Revolutionists and make an effort to achieve the independence of their country. The movement was unsuccessful, though its suppression in 1798 cost the English government the lives of over 20,000 of the latter’s mercenaries.
Multitudes of the patriots who had taken part in the insurrection escaped to America, a considerable proportion of these going in fishing schooners to Newfoundland, where their descendants are to be found in great numbers to-day, notwithstanding the large emigration from that island to the United States. The failure of Robert Emmet’s effort in 1803 for the freedom of his native land also led to renewed proscription and the flight of thousands across the Atlantic. No records of the numbers of Irish who came here during the period referred to are available, or could in fact under the circumstances be compiled. The notices, however, in the newspapers of the time of the arrivals of immigrants and the accounts of events then occurring in those parts of North America still held by the English, as well as in the United States, throw considerable light upon the subject.
Between 1652 and 1658, over 60,000 Irish—almost all adults—were by order of the Cromwellian government transported to the West Indies and the English colonies—a larger number than the total population of these dependencies at that time. Many thousand of those sent to the West Indies gradually found their way to this country through the Atlantic and Gulf ports, but the fact that proscriptive laws against Catholics, modeled after the English penal laws, were enforced in most of the colonies, prevented many others from coming here before the Revolution. It may be remarked in passing that to the feeling excited among the French colonists on the St. Lawrence by these enactments and by later mischievous displays of religious intolerance, is due the fact that Canada still remains subject to Britain, and that the Starry Flag does not wave over all the territory between the Gulf and the Pole.
After the Revolution, however, and when it became evident that religious liberty would be allowed by law to all the people of this Republic, the descendants of the expatriated Irish in the West Indies came to the United States in considerable numbers to escape the insalubrious climate, the almost constant turmoil caused by the conflicts waged there between European powers, the troubles and 85dangers arising from the frequent plots and uprisings of the colored population, and especially to be rid of English rule.
To show the difficulties and dangers to which those living in the West Indian islands were exposed, an incident which occurred on the island of Montserrat in 1768 may be briefly mentioned. The negroes of that island formed a plot to massacre the whites, and decided to carry out their project on St. Patrick’s day, “which,” we are informed, “the inhabitants generally assembled together to commemorate”—a fact which proves their origin. It was arranged that “the negroes allowed within the building (where the festivities were to be held) were to secure the swords of the gentlemen participating and those without were to fire into the hall and put every man to death. They were then to cast lots for the ladies, whom they intended to carry to Puerto Rico in the vessels that lay in the harbor.” The plot happily failed, through a warning given by a faithful servant to one of the intended victims, and several negroes were executed for complicity in it. The Irish in the West Indies sympathized warmly with the American Revolutionists, and this made them objects of distrust and hatred to the English. We are told that “from many letters found in American prize ships, it was discovered that a traitorous correspondence had been carried on between British subjects and the revolted colonies in North America.” The merchandise and stores of those suspected of sympathy with the Americans were confiscated by the English.
The vindictive animosity displayed by Admiral Lord Nelson while in the West Indies against the Americans and their sympathizers excited the bitterest indignation among the people there. Nelson—whose feeling toward the Americans, trading with these islands, may be judged from an expression in one of his letters, “I hate them all,” and his declaration in another, “I, for one, am determined not to suffer the Yankees to come where my ship is”—did his utmost to ruin American commerce in that quarter, and even went so far as to complain to the English government of his superior officers because they failed to encourage and abet his malignant efforts. His bitterness against the Irish may be easily inferred from one of his letters written from the island of St. Kitts, on March 18, 1785, in which he says: “Yesterday being St. Patrick’s Day, Irish colors with thirteen stripes on them were hoisted all over town. I was engaged to dine with the president, but sent an excuse, as he suffered those colors to fly.” It is not to be wondered at that numbers 86of the West Indian Irish sought a home under the flag with the “thirteen stripes,” to which they had so patriotically shown their attachment.
It may be remarked here that Seaman, referring to the period just before 1790, says that “the proportionately rapid increase of the population of the Southern states proved that they had received considerable accessions of immigrants from the West Indies.” The great majority of these were no doubt descendants of the transported victims of Cromwell’s despotism. The able historian of South Carolina, Dr. Ramsay, tells us that in 1791 a number of Catholics, “chiefly natives of Ireland, associated themselves together for public worship, and put themselves under the care of Bishop Carroll,” and adds that “The troubles in France and the West Indian islands soon brought a large accession to their numbers.”
A considerable number of Irish immigrants arrived here between 1800 and 1815 from the remnant of North American territory still subject to England, and especially from Newfoundland. From a very early period, Irish fishermen had been accustomed to visit the shores of that island, and not seldom did they bring with them proscribed and persecuted priests, who sought shelter there from the fanatical “priest hunters” employed in enforcing the English penal laws in Ireland. But even there were they harassed and hounded and the exercise of their faith prohibited, and it was not until after the achievement of American Independence that Catholics were permitted to openly profess the principles and practice the duties of their religion. In 1784, the then governor, Vice-Admiral Campbell, issued an order allowing “All persons inhabiting the island to have full liberty of conscience and free exercise of all such modes of religious worship as are not prohibited by law.”
It seems probable that this official acknowledgment of the right of liberty of conscience was hastened, not only by the triumph of the American “rebels,” but also by the fact that in 1776 an attempt was made by the Irish in Newfoundland to aid the Americans by sympathetic movements, which clearly indicated their disposition to make common cause with Washington and his compatriots.
The large numbers of Wexford and other insurgents, who had escaped to Newfoundland after the failure of the insurrection of ’98, and who, though defeated, had not lost heart or hatred of their oppressors, became so numerous in 1799 that they formed a plan to expel the English from the island, resolving in case of failure to “set off 87for the United States.” They succeeded in extending the United Irish organization, not only among a very considerable number of the people, but also among a large proportion of the soldiers composing the Royal Newfoundland regiment, then stationed in St. John’s, the capital.
The movement was unsuccessful, owing to the timidity or treachery of some among the military. Five soldiers were hanged, seven sent to Halifax to be shot, many others carried to the same place “to be there dealt with,” and the regiment was removed from St. John’s and replaced by another. Ogden, the governor, in a letter written in July, 1800, says, “We do not know, nor was it possible to ascertain how far this defection and the United (Irish) Oath extended through the regiment.” He admits that “the defection was very extensive, not only through the regiment, but through the inhabitants of this and all the out-harbors, particularly to the southward, where the people almost to a man had taken the United (Irish) Oath, which is ‘to be true to the old cause, and to follow their heads of whatsoever denomination.’” He supposes that the plans “are not given up, but only waiting a proper opportunity to break through,” and adds that, according to statements made by a United Irishman, who was only a “novice,” the movement had been undertaken “in consequence of letters received from Ireland.” He further demands a reinforcement of troops—1,500 men—which will be needed “while Ireland is in such a state of ferment as it has been, and is likely to continue, until the business of the Union is settled, for the events of Ireland have heretofore, and will henceforth, in a great measure, govern the sentiments and actions of the far greater majority of the people in this country.”
The unsatisfactory outcome of this movement caused numbers of the United Irishmen of Newfoundland to seek shelter in the United States. “American traders came disguised, sold and bartered their goods in the outports and stole away the men as usual,” about this time, just as during the closing years of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th, the French smugglers carried over to France the “Wild Geese.” It is, of course, impossible to ascertain the number of those who came here at the period and under the conditions above referred to, but it is evident that there were many thousands of them.
In 1804, Irish immigrants to the number of 670 are reported as arriving at St. John’s on their way to the United States, and for 88several years after thousands of their countrymen chose the same route to our shores. During the war of 1812 many of the Irish who had remained on the island went to serve on American privateers against the English, and many of these ships were commanded by Irishmen.
The large number of Irish who entered the United States from British North America within the period considered is not taken into account by our authorities on immigration, and their estimates of the direct immigration from Ireland and Britain are also very evidently far too low. They do not seem to remember that, there being no supervision of vessels carrying passengers until a much later period, the ships for America were crowded to a degree which in our day would hardly be thought possible.
Wolfe Tone, in his “Memoirs,” gives us an idea of the manner in which passengers were packed in vessels bound for the United States. Speaking of his voyage from Belfast to Wilmington, Delaware, in 1795—which occupied upwards of eight weeks—he says: “The slaves who are carried from the coast of Africa have much more room allowed them than the immigrants who pass from Ireland to America, for the avarice of the captains in that trade is such that they think they never can load their vessels sufficiently, and they trouble their heads in general no more about the accommodation and storage of their passengers than of any other lumber aboard.” There were over 300 immigrants on board the ship on which he sailed, but when off the banks of Newfoundland, she was stopped by three English frigates, and fifty of her passengers carried off by the “press-gangs” to serve in the navy of their persecutors. Tone narrowly escaped being among the number of those taken.
Many of the captains of emigrant ships at that time were thoroughly unscrupulous. A few years before the incidents just referred to occurred, the captain of a vessel, who had undertaken to carry a body of emigrants from Dunleary (now Kingstown), Ireland, to Charleston, S. C., landed eighty of them on the island of Inagua, near Dominica, in the West Indies, telling them it was well inhabited, and that provisions were plentiful. When, after having landed, they found that they had been deceived by the captain, and attempted to get on board the vessel again, they were fired on and one of them killed. They were, however, rescued a short time after by a passing American vessel, being, as might be supposed, “all in a most distressed condition.” It was not only the poorer people of Ireland 89who even then sought a free home in this land. Many persons of means were always to be found among those who came direct from thence. In 1798, a ship arrived at Norfolk, Va., from that country “with 426 passengers, chiefly tradesmen and persons of property.”
In the absence of any authentic records of immigration during the thirty years preceding 1820, we are justified, when endeavoring to form anything like an approximately correct estimate of the arrivals from Ireland during that period, in taking into consideration the strength of the Irish element here at that time, and the importance attached to the movements of Irish Americans in aid of their struggling kindred in the Old Land. Branches of the United Irish Society were established here soon after the organization of that body in Ireland. “Its headquarters were in Philadelphia, where Mathew Carey and other good men gave it aid and impulse. The publications of the Irish society were reprinted in the city just named as early as 1794, and funds were collected and arms promised.”
The strength and influence of this organization excited the uneasiness of the English government, and its minister here, Sir Robert Liston, used every effort to check the progress of the sympathetic movement. He was unfortunately enabled to attain his object, to a great extent, through his close intimacy with the highest officers of our government. In 1798, the “Alien Act” was passed in Congress, by a small majority. By this enactment, the president could order any alien he deemed dangerous to quit the country, others were to be licensed to remain during his pleasure, and neglect to obtain a license was made an offense punishable by three years’ imprisonment, and perpetual disqualification for citizenship. Fourteen years was fixed as the time necessary for an alien to reside here before he could become a citizen. This law excited deep indignation, and was strongly denounced by many independent journals. In order to prevent hostile criticism, the “Sedition Law” was passed, by which a fine of $2,000 was imposed upon any one who should write or publish a letter against the government, either house of Congress, or the president. Many were tried and several punished under these acts, and some had to fly the country to escape the threatened penalties.
The English minister was jubilant. In a letter to the governor-general of Canada, written in 1799, he gleefully told how some supporters of the coercive measures had “taken the law into their own hands, and flogged one or two of the printers of the newspapers 90whose comments had offended them,” and he remarked that this proceeding had “given rise to much animosity, to threats, and to a commencing of armed associations among those opposed to these laws, particularly among the United Irishmen,” adding, “Some apprehend that the affair may lead to a civil war.”
The Alien and Sedition laws were repealed three years later, the bill for that purpose being introduced by Senator Smilie, a native of Newtonards, Down county, Ireland, and a veteran of the Revolution. In 1812 he was a member of the foreign affairs committee, and prepared the bill authorizing President Madison to raise an army to fight the English.
Among the many prominent United Irishmen who arrived here about this period were Napper Tandy, Archibald Hamilton Rowan, Mathew Carey, Dr. Reynolds, Dr. Robert Adrian, who became professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in Columbia college, and later was made vice-provost of the University of Pennsylvania. There came at the beginning of the nineteenth century, Thomas Addis Emmet, afterward attorney-general of New York state; Dr. William J. Macneven; Counselor Sampson; W. Theobald Wolfe Tone, a worthy son of his heroic father; Nicholas Grey, who had been adjutant to General Harvey, commander of the Wexford insurgent army in ’98; Henry Jackson, John Cormack, and many others. Alexander Porter, another of these immigrants, was too young in ’98 to become a member of the organization in Ireland, but his father, Rev. W. Porter, a Protestant minister of Newtonards, Down, had been hanged at his own door for his patriotism during the insurrection. Mr. Porter was later chosen United States senator from the state of Louisiana.
During the war of 1812–’15, large numbers of Irish joined the armies of the republic and shared in the victories as well as the defeats of that conflict. When General Scott and his small force was overpowered at Queenstown Heights by a greatly superior body of English and compelled to surrender, a number of the Irish prisoners of war were separated from their comrades and sent in irons to England “in order to be tried and executed for the crime of high treason.” The United States government, however, threatened to retaliate, and because of this fact, the men were ultimately released and allowed to return to this country. Many Irish also fought under Harrison, one of them (Mason) being credited with having killed the Indian chief, Tecumseh, at the battle of the Thames, and among the 91gallant men who under Andrew Jackson so decisively defeated the English at New Orleans on January 8, 1815, were numbers who had been born in his father’s native land, including several veterans of the insurrection of ’98.
While the war lasted, immigration from Europe was checked, but very soon after the restoration of peace, immigrants, particularly from Ireland, began to come here in far greater numbers than ever before. The English, however, notwithstanding the treaty of Ghent, were still bitterly hostile to the Americans, and their press indulged in the coarsest abuse of our institutions and public men. Inflamed by jealousy of this republic, and anxious to prevent the Irish from emigrating to it, the English parliament in 1816 passed a law which prohibited British vessels from carrying more than one passenger for every five tons burden to the United States, while allowing them to carry one passenger for every two tons to any other part of the world.
But this law did not produce the desired effect. Professor Smith says that “from Great Britain (and Ireland) the number of emigrants for the year 1815 was only 2,081. The next year it rose to 12,510; in 1817 to 20,634; in 1818 to 27,787, and in 1819 to 34,789.”
Holmes says, speaking of the year 1816: “In this and the preceding year there was a great emigration from Ireland and England to America. This year 1,192 American and foreign vessels arrived at New York, bringing to that port alone 7,122 passengers.” From the same authority we learn that the returns of vessels and passengers at Baltimore showed the arrival at that port early in October, 1816, of 1,878 passengers; those reported being estimated at probably three fourths of the whole number that arrived. From another source we find that “within three weeks, in the month of September, 1816, about 2,000 immigrants arrived in the United States.” Similar notices may be frequently found in the newspapers of those times.
The English authorities, while endeavoring to prevent the Irish from coming to the United States, exerted themselves vigorously to promote emigration to Canada. Municipal bodies, local organizations, and various societies contributed funds to assist those intending to emigrate, and at the same time liberal grants of land and other inducements were offered to prospective settlers in Canada. As a result of these efforts, the immigrants from Ireland and Britain to Canada out-numbered, for many years, those who came to the United States. The great majority of the Irish, however, soon found their 92way to this country, and especially to New York, where work was progressing at that time on the Erie and Champlain canals. Of all these, no account was taken by officials or writers on emigration at the time, and but little by those who wrote later on the subject, though one writer admits that there was even more recently “considerable overland immigration, much of which escapes attention.”
It seems evident, taking all the facts above cited into consideration, that the estimates of those writers of the number of immigrants, and particularly of Irish immigrants who arrived here between 1790 and 1820, are very much too low, and it appears very reasonable to assume that Dr. Chickering’s estimate of the number of immigrants who came here after 1820—that is 50 per cent. more than the officially reported number of arrivals—must be largely increased when we are endeavoring to ascertain how many immigrants landed on our shores before the date just mentioned, and before any attempt was made to obtain the number of those who arrived in the United States, even through our Atlantic ports.
In order to reach an approximately correct conclusion as to the proportion of the immigrants of different nationalities embraced in this aggregate, we must be guided “by the relations then existing between the United States and the countries from which persons emigrated,” to quote the words of the last-named writer when speaking of the number of immigrants. There is no need to dwell on those relations. The bitter feeling with which the English had regarded the Americans from the days of the Revolution, lost none of its intensity during the period under consideration, and the feeling was frankly and fully reciprocated by the great mass of the American people. As a consequence, there were but few English among the immigrants to this country at that time.
The Irish, however, who had always sympathized with our republic in its struggles, and gloried in its triumphs, came here in large and constantly increasing numbers all through the thirty years preceding 1820, as well as afterwards. Many thousands of French, Germans, and others arrived here during the period, but the great majority were undoubtedly Irish. It seems clear that the immigrants were more than twice as numerous during the period considered as the commonly received estimates or conjectures would lead us to believe, and it appears evident from the facts above cited that at least two thirds of the total were of Irish birth or blood—including those from the West Indies, Newfoundland, and Canada.
93That number seems very small now, when we think of the enormous immigration of later years, and our population of 80,000,000. But it should be remembered that the white population of this country in 1790 was only 3,172,464. Of this total, those between the ages of twenty and fifty numbered less than two fifths, or 1,268,986. Now the immigrants who sought our shores in those days were almost all in the prime of life. Children and aged and weakly people, being unable to undergo the difficulties and hardships certain to be encountered in a strange and new land, were left behind. Among the new arrivals marriages took place in far greater proportion than among the descendants of the earlier immigrants, and the children of the former were proportionately more than twice as numerous as those of the latter. This continued to be the case down to a much later period. During the years 1849, 1850, and 1851, the marriages among the native born in Massachusetts were at the rate of 220 in 10,000, while those of the foreigners (mostly Irish) were in the proportion of 450 in 10,000. The children born to native parents in the same state during the same years numbered 47,982, or 578 in 10,000, while those of immigrants amounted to 24,523, or 1,491 in 10,000. That is more than twice and a half as many. It is impossible to determine accurately how much the population of the United States was increased by the immigrants who arrived here between 1790 and 1820, and their descendants, but careful investigators have furnished us with estimates, which maybe fairly regarded as approximately correct.
Some writers who gravely state that “the mortality among Catholics is greater than among Protestants,” and who complacently assert that “the vitality of the Irish is very low,” have, as might be expected from these expressions, glaringly underestimated the number in 1820 of the immigrants and their descendants who arrived here during the period under consideration. Dr. Chickering says that they then numbered 1,430,906 out of a total population of 9,638,131.
But the Hon. F. Kapp, one of the commissioners of immigration for the state of New York, allowing a yearly increase of 1.38 per cent. for the descendants of the earlier immigrants, shows that at this rate the population—excluding slaves because their numbers have no bearing on the question—of 3,231,930 in 1790, would have only increased to 3,706,674 in 1800, to 4,251,143 in 1810, and to 4,875,600 in 1820, instead of amounting to 8,100,056, the total population including slaves being 9,638,131. Assuming his estimate 94to be nearly correct, his declaration that “immigration has enabled this country to anticipate its natural growth some forty years’” seems reasonable.
A similar estimate was made by Louis Schade of Washington, D. C., and by Hon. M. W. Closkey, ex-postmaster of the United States house of representatives, who shows that the rate of increase of our population (1.38 per cent.) was greater than that of any European nation, and proceeds to estimate what the numbers of our people would have been at each census up to 1850 had immigration been prohibited when the constitution was adopted in 1789. The estimates just quoted together with the facts above stated seem to prove that the number of the immigrants arriving here between 1790 and 1820 were absurdly underestimated by most of those who wrote on the subject.
The same remark applies to some extent to several writers who have dealt with the question of immigration after 1820, and even the official reports and statistics down to a comparatively recent period were admittedly defective in important respects, and failed to mention or enumerate a large proportion of the immigrants to this country. This subject will, however, be dealt with in another paper.
Individual Irishmen appeared early on the scene in Illinois. They came in a military capacity. Having no government of their own to serve, they served others. The Irishman who had the distinction of first figuring in our annals was a Chevalier Macarty, who succeeded LaBussoniere in 1751, in the command of the first French fortress erected in the Mississippi valley—that of Chartres. He came from New Orleans with a small military force, and remained in charge until 1764, when he delivered up that stronghold to the English, according to the treaty of 1763, by which France yielded up all her Canadian possessions by right of conquest to her ancient enemy.
Canada at that time extended to the Ohio river on the south and to the Mississippi on the west. There was not yet any map bearing the name of the Empire state of the West. There was only a tribe of Indians inhabiting a portion of the immense Northwest named the “Illini,” that had its name given to the territory at the dividing up. Beyond the Mississippi was Spanish territory.
Under the French and Spanish systems of colonization at that date, Indian missions, military posts and towns went together. Old Kaskaskia, in what is now Randolph county, was the first seat of civilization in the great Mississippi basin, and was for a time the capital of the territory. Here many stirring events took place for many eventful years. In addition to a mission and a fort near by, it was made of greater importance with a legislature.
Pere Marquette, the apostle of several states, laid its foundation in the year 1675, one hundred years before the breaking out of the war for American independence. Here savages and whites commingled. Also, the soldiers of France, Great Britain and America. And wherever there are soldiers there is to be found the ubiquitous Irishman. There was to be found French contentment, savage 96resentment and pioneer endurance. Vincennes, Pittsburg and Detroit were its nearest neighbors on the great Western expanse. But, like the sites of Tyre and Sidon, famous in ancient history, it exists no more, the encroaching waters of the Mississippi having washed it away and made it a memory.
After the capitulation of Quebec in 1763 the British claimed ownership of the whole of the French territory known as Canada, and prepared to garrison all the forts the French had erected, including Detroit, Peoria, Vincennes, Chartres, Cahokia, Kaskaskia, etc. The last-named three were situated on the Mississippi river, and somewhat contiguous.
On the 27th day of February, 1764, a Major Loftus of the British army, then on duty in Florida, was ordered to proceed to Fort Chartres and take possession of it. His name indicates his Irish origin, but if there be any mistake in this, there certainly was not in his soldiers. They were of the Twenty-second British regiment, and were mostly Irishmen. Here, then, was presented the peculiar spectacle of one Irish commander in the service of a country not his own being required to evacuate his command to another Irishman in the service of a different country not his own. It reminds the writer somewhat of the siege of Quebec by Richard Montgomery, an Irishman in the service of the United States, when he asked its British commander, Sir Guy Carleton, another Irishman, and an old schoolmate, to surrender to the Continental Congress. But Major Loftus was not fortunate any more than General Montgomery. On the way he and his command were attacked by the Indians, who killed many of the soldiers, the remainder escaping down the Mississippi. Thus was the first Irish blood spilled in the Mississippi valley.
Then another Irish officer, also in the British service, named George Croghan, was ordered by Governor Murray to go forward and secure the desired possession. Croghan had been quite a conspicuous figure in the British interest in those days in America. He ranked as major, and had been for many years a trader among the Western Indians. Hardly another white man was in the prairie country before him. In describing the country afterwards, he said it looked like an ocean. The ground was exceedingly rich and full of all kinds of game, and at any time, in half an hour, he could kill all he wanted. He was commanded to go from Fort Pitt to make the way clear for the British advance to Forts Cahokia and Chartres. It was not the French alone that were to be considered, but the 97Indian chieftains as well. He first sent forward a Lieutenant Fraser to see the way clear, but the latter received rough treatment at Kaskaskia and returned unsuccessful.
It was said that Chief Pontiac was egged on to kill him, but he escaped without serious injury. Then Colonel Croghan, who was also a British deputy superintendent of Indian affairs, went forward himself. He left Fort Pitt (now Pittsburg) on May 15, 1765, accompanied by a party of friendly Indians. His progress was uninterrupted until he arrived at a small promontory on the Wabash, where he disembarked. On June 8, six miles below the stream he was suddenly attacked by a band of Kickapoos, eighty in number. In the fight which followed Croghan lost two white men and three Indians, while most of his party, including himself, were wounded. A surrender was unavoidable, and the victorious Kickapoos plundered the entire party. Subsequently the Indians confessed they had made a great mistake, and expressed sorrow for what had happened. They supposed, they said, that the friendly Indians accompanying Croghan were their deadly enemies, the Cherokees. They brought their prisoners in safety to Vincennes on the Wabash, where the Indians, many of whom had friendly acquaintance with Croghan, strongly condemned the Kickapoos, and the latter in turn expressed deep sorrow for what they persisted in calling a blunder.
Further on the way he received a message from St. Ange, the late French commander, cordially inviting him to advance to Fort Chartres. He had proceeded but a short distance on his way, however, when he was met by a delegation of chiefs, representing various tribes of Indians, among whom was the hitherto implacable Pontiac, the great warrior, at the head of a large band of Ottawa braves, offering their services as an escort. At this juncture, and under this condition of things, Croghan did not deem it necessary to proceed further in person, the British claim to the territory being acknowledged by both French and Indians. This happy result showed that the Irishman must have used his diplomatic powers to excellent advantage. He then betook himself to Detroit to attend to other important business in the interest of his royal master, leaving his command in charge of another officer.
Accompanied by Pontiac, Croghan crossed to Fort Miami and, descending the Miami, held conferences with the different tribes dwelling in the immense forests which sheltered the banks of the stream. Passing thence up the Detroit, he arrived at the fort on 98the 17th of August, where he found a vast concourse of neighboring tribes. The fear of punishment and the long privations they had suffered from the suspension of their trade had banished every thought of hostility, and all were anxious for peace and its attendant blessings. After numerous interviews with the different tribes in the old town hall where Pontiac first essayed the execution of his treachery, Croghan called a final meeting on the 27th of August. Imitating the forest eloquence with which he had long been familiar, he thus addressed the convention:
“Children, we are very glad to see so many of you present at your ancient council fire, which has been neglected for some time past. Since then high winds have blown and raised heavy clouds over your country. I now by this belt rekindle your ancient fires and throw dry wood upon them that the blaze may ascend to heaven, so that all nations may see it and know that you live in peace with your fathers, the English. By this belt I disperse all the black clouds from over your heads that the sun may shine clear on your women and children, and that those unborn may enjoy the blessings of this general peace, now so happily settled between your fathers, the English, and you and all your younger brethren toward the sunsetting.”
The following was Pontiac’s reply: “Father, we have all smoked together out of this peace pipe, and as the great Spirit has brought us together for good, I declare to all the nations that I have made peace with the English. In the presence of all the tribes now assembled I take the king of England for my father and dedicate this to his use that henceforth we may visit him and smoke together in peace.”
The object of Croghan’s visit being thus accomplished he was prepared to depart, but before doing so he exacted a promise from Pontiac that the following spring he would appear at Oswego and enter into a treaty with Sir William Johnson in behalf of the Western nations associated with him in the late war.
In September, 1768, came John Wilkins, lieutenant-colonel of “His Majesty’s Eighteenth or Royal Regiment of Ireland,” and commandant throughout the Illinois country. Several companies of this regiment came with him from Philadelphia and occupied quarters at Kaskaskia. The experience of those troops was not good, but it was common to that of all new comers in the aguish “American Bottom.” The sickness among them was not only very great, but 99very fatal. At one time, out of five companies only a corporal and six men were found fit for duty.
Capt. Hugh Lord became the next commander of the Royal Irish regiment, and continued so until the year 1775. The British governor at Kaskaskia at this time was a Chevalier Rocheblave, strange to say, a Frenchman. It was at this time that the colonists began to defy George III, and the Irish soldiers of the old French outposts were persistent in showing sympathy for them, and their leaning toward the American cause was such that poor old Rocheblave declared it worried him to see men of British birth giving him more trouble than the French. After a time most of the Irish soldiers of Britain were drawn off for service elsewhere, and the French residents were organized into militia. Their captain was one Richard McCarty, a resident of Cahokia. There was another McCarty who built a water mill on the Cahokia creek near Illinoistown at a later date, who was known as “English McCarty.”
In 1777 Irish-Americans began to appear on the scene, with the invasion of Gen. George Rogers Clark, the Virginian. What Clark’s ancestry was remains in some doubt. His biographer, English, thinks his ancestors came from Albion, but is able to give no particulars. At any rate, he conquered that portion of British territory that had formerly belonged to the French, and from which five sovereign states of the Union have been carved. His army was composed of Virginians and Pennsylvanians, many of whom were Irish either by birth or by blood. He was materially assisted by the French settlers, under the leadership of Father Gibault, the republican priest of Kaskaskia. To the latter and one Col. Francis Vigo, a native of Sardinia, who was married to an Irish lady (a Miss Shannon), was the success of the Virginian invasion mostly due, and the annexation of the prairie country to American territory.
Clark affiliated very closely with the Irish. It is due to him to say that he was a brave and generous man, whose services to his young country can never be forgotten. His invasion of this wilderness and its conquest, it must be remembered, was under the direction of Gov. Patrick Henry of Virginia, and to him alone he was responsible. The first of his Irish relatives to deserve notice was William Croghan, a nephew of Maj. George Croghan, the British officer already alluded to. He cherished no love in his heart for Great Britain or her monarch. He had resigned the British for the American service. He left Ireland for America when quite young, 100and was long in the employ of the British as an Indian agent, like his uncle. He joined the American forces at Pittsburg and witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. He married Lucy Clark Rogers, sister of the famous general. When he joined the American forces he was assigned to Colonel Werder’s Virginia regiment, shortly after the battle of Long Island, and continued in active service for years.
He was promoted to the rank of major in 1778, and was assigned to Col. John Neville’s Fourth Virginia regiment and participated in the battle of Monmouth. He marched with the Virginia troops to Charleston, S. C., where the whole American army at that place was compelled to surrender to the enemy. In 1781 he was paroled and went to Virginia with his friend, Col. Jonathan Clark, brother of the general, and for a time was the guest of Colonel Clark’s father in Caroline county. It was there he met the woman who was destined to be his wife. He was afterwards a delegate to the Kentucky convention of 1789–’90, and was one of the commissioners to divide the land allotted to the soldiers engaged in the conquest of the Northwest. He left six sons and two daughters.
One of his daughters became the wife of Thomas Jessup, adjutant-general, U. S. A. His son George married a Miss Livingston, of the noted New York family. This son George greatly distinguished himself at the battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, and subsequently in the Mexican War. He was a major at the time of his defense of Fort Stephenson at Lower Sandusky, and Congress presented him with a medal for his gallantry. A splendid monument has been erected to his memory at Fremont, Ohio. The elder Croghan died in 1822, and his widow in 1838.
Frances Eleanor Clark, youngest daughter of the old hero, married Dr. James O’Fallon, whom the memoir says was a finely-educated Irishman who came to America shortly before the Revolution. He was an officer during the War for Independence, and was the founder of the well-known O’Fallon family of St. Louis, which has been so conspicuous in the history of that great city. There is also a town named after one of the members of this family in St. Clair county, this state. To his two grandsons, John and Benjamin O’Fallon, General Clark willed 3,000 acres of land.
Another nephew and heir of the general was George Rogers Clark Sullivan, who was honorably identified with Indian affairs during the territorial period, and who left a long line of prominent descendants, after one of which is named Sullivan county in that state.
101In Gen. George Rogers Clark’s force for the conquest of Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes were many men with Irish names, and when we take into account the Irish then so very numerous in Pennsylvania and Virginia, it would not be surprising if one half of it was composed of Irishmen and Irish-Americans. In this force were 236 privates, besides officers. Some of the names of the latter are as follows: Major Thomas Quirk (who was originally a sergeant in Captain McHarrod’s company and rendered some military service on the frontier before and after the Illinois campaign). Clark’s biographer says, “Quirk was a brave and a fine-looking Irishman.” He died in Louisville, Kentucky, in the fall of 1803. He was allotted 4,312 acres of land for his valuable army services.
Capt. John Montgomery, who is stated in one place to be “an Irishman full of fight,” was one of Clark’s most valued officers, and had been one of the celebrated party of “Long Hunters.”
Col. John Campbell, who was one of the commissioners for the allotment of Clark’s land grant of 149,000 acres, to the men engaged in his Illinois campaigns, was an Irishman by birth, and a man accredited with much force of character. He was a member of the Kentucky convention of 1792, and a member of the legislature. He died without issue. After Campbell came James F. Moore, Alex. Breckenridge, Richard Taylor, and Robert Breckenridge, as land commissioners. James F. Moore had been a soldier under Clark, and also, subsequently, a member of the Kentucky house of representatives.
Here are names that are suggestive of subsequent presidents of the United States. Richard Taylor was a native of Virginia, of Irish extraction. He removed in 1785 to Kentucky; was a soldier of the Revolution, holding the rank of lieutenant-colonel at its close. He was the father of the hero of the Rio Grande, Gen. Zachary Taylor, twelfth president of the United States. Robert Breckenridge, also of Irish extraction, was a member of the Kentucky legislature, and speaker of the house of representatives several times. He was the ancestor of John C. Breckenridge, vice-president with James Buchanan, and subsequently a presidential candidate himself.
Col. Archibald Lochrey was county lieutenant of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and started with his command from Carnahan’s block-house August, 1781, to join Gen. Clark’s Illinois forces, with a company of volunteer riflemen raised by Capt. Robert Orr; two companies of rangers under Capt. Thomas Stockley, and a company 102of horse under Capt. William Campbell, for the reduction of Detroit, then in the possession of the British. Stockley was met and defeated by Indians in the British service. In fact, the whole of Col. Lochrey’s expedition was defeated, forty-one men being killed, and the rest taken prisoners. When certain facts with regard to the British forces became known at Kaskaskia, it was determined to raise a small American force and make a raid against Fort St. Joseph, a British post situated on the St. Joseph river.
The company consisted of only seventeen men and was commanded by Thomas Brady, a patriotic Irish-American citizen of Cahokia, who had emigrated thither from Pennsylvania, and who was described as being “both restless and daring.” He marched across the country in October and succeeded in eluding the Indian guards and capturing the place, taking a few British prisoners, together with a large quantity of goods. Being over-confident, on his return he was attacked by a force of Pottawattomies and British traders, hastily organized for the purpose, and while lying encamped on the Calumet river, near Chicago, was defeated. Two of his men were killed, two wounded, and ten taken prisoners. Brady, with two others, suceeded in making their escape, and returned to Cahokia. But he did not rest until he organized another expedition to rescue his friends and avenge his defeat. He was joined by a party of Spaniards from the west side of the Mississippi, then Spanish territory, and retook the place without striking a blow, and the Spanish flag for a short time replaced the British. The event was a small one, but Spain had the hardihood to demand the country on account of it.
This Thomas Brady, and one William Arundel (an Irishman from Canada, and an Indian trader in Cahokia in 1783) and Capt. Richard McCarty, already mentioned, and a small party of hunters that joined General Clark’s expedition in 1778, were the only white men in Illinois territory besides the French Canadians, and a few old soldiers, at the time of Clark’s conquest. They resided at Cahokia. Brady was afterwards sheriff of St. Clair county.
Among other names of officers that are likely to have been Irish or Irish-American in Clark’s army, are those of Col. Benjamin Logan, Capt. John Baily, Capt. Robert Orr, Capt. William Campbell, Col. William Davis, Lieut. Martin Carney, Thomas Dalton, and Major Denny.
General Clark wrote a letter to the governor of Virginia (Patrick Henry) from Kentucky on October 12, 1782, in which he said, “I 103had the pleasure of receiving your letter by Major Walls and Mr. Kearney, the 30th of July past, at which time the gentlemen arrived with stores all safe, after surmounting uncommon difficulties. They arrived in time to save troops from deserting.” This shows that the Irish were pretty well in evidence both in Virginia and the Northwest at that period.
Subjoined is a list of the privates taken from one page only of the printed roster of Clark’s soldiers of the Illinois expedition, that were entitled to receive, each, 108 acres of land, as printed in English’s life of General Clark: Moses Lunsford, Abraham Lusado, Richard Luttrell, John Lyons, Joseph Lyne, Francis McDermott, David McDonald, John McGar, Alex. McIntyre, Geo. McMannus, Sr.; John McMannus, Jr., Samuel McMullen, James McNutt, Florence Mahoney, Jonas Manifee, Patrick Marr, Charles Martin, Nathaniel Mersham, Abraham Miller, John Montgomery, James Monroe, John Moore, Thomas Moore, John Murphy, and Edward Murray.
James Curry was the name of one of Clark’s soldiers who proved himself a rather extraordinary fellow, and a fearless pioneer. A band of Indians had wounded a comrade of his named Levi Teel, in his own house, when Curry was present. Seeing the enemy coming he jumped up into the loft of the house, with the hope of driving them away before Teel could have time to open the door to admit them. He shot three times and killed an Indian every time. He then got down to see what had happened to Teel, and found him transfixed by one of his hands with a spear to the floor. Curry got up again into the loft and tumbled the whole roof down, weight-poles and all, on the Indians, who were standing at the door with spears in their hands. Their chief was killed, and the others ran away.
Curry hurried to Kaskaskia for help, and at last saved himself and companions from death. He was at the capture of Fort Gage and Sackville, the names given by the British to the old French forts. Curry was a great athlete, contending in all sorts of games, and was not unlike Thomas Higgins, another great Irish Indian-fighter of a later date. In all desperate and hazardous services, Clark chose him first of all, to act in places of peril and danger. Curry and Joseph Anderson, who afterwards lived and died on Nine Mile Creek, Randolph county, went out hunting, and the Indians, it is supposed, killed Curry, as he went out from their camp and never returned. This was the sad end of one of our bravest and most patriotic Irish-American heroes, “the noble-hearted James Curry,” as he is styled in history, 104and whose services were so conspicuous in the conquest of Illinois. His body was never recovered.
Edward Bulger was a private in Capt. Joseph Bowman’s company in the Illinois campaign. He was afterwards an ensign in Capt. William Harrod’s expedition against Vincennes, and in General Clark’s first expedition against the Indians in Ohio. He was mortally wounded in the battle of Blue Licks, 1782, at which time he had been promoted to the rank of major. He was one of the early explorers of Kentucky, where he was with Hite, Bowman, and others in the spring of 1775. These were probably the first white visitors to what subsequently became Warren county. Hugh Lynch was another of this party, and William Buchanan another. Daniel Murray was the name of an Irishman who supplied provisions for Clark’s Illinois army.
One of the forgotten heroic men who did great service to the republic in the Revolutionary War was Oliver Pollock, an Irishman born. He performed the same kind of service in the West that Robert Morris performed in the East. He financed General Clark’s military campaign in Illinois and Indiana, and without his aid they must have been failures. He was born in Ireland in the year 1737 and came to America with his father. On account of his intimacy with General O’Reilly, who was then governor of Cuba, he was able to borrow from the royal treasury of Spain the sum of $70,000, which he lent to the state of Virginia for Clark’s use in the campaigns mentioned. He was not reimbursed, and consequently was not able to make good what he had borrowed, which caused his arrest and imprisonment in Havana. He died in Mississippi in 1823.
In 1777, when Clark was approaching Kaskaskia to surprise the British, then in possession of the fort, he took two men from a party of American hunters led by one John Duff, that he met on the way, to act as his spies. They had left Kaskaskia but a few days before. These men were James Moore and Thomas Dunn, as to whose nationality, from their names, there can be no mistake.
General St. Clair, a Scotsman, was afterwards military commander of the Northwest. He was succeeded by General Anthony (Mad Anthony) Wayne, who conducted the war with the Indians in 1791. Under St. Clair the battle of Fort Henry was fought and resulted in a great American disaster. But General Wayne gained a great victory at the Maumee Rapids on August 20, 1794, which led to the suspension of hostilities.
105One of the authorities that we had recourse to in writing these annals is the “Pioneer History of Illinois,” by ex-Governor John Reynolds, a man of Irish parentage, born in Pennsylvania, and who filled nearly every office, legislative, judicial, and administrative, in the state of Illinois. His place of residence was Cahokia, a short distance north of St. Louis, on the Illinois side.
John Reynolds in his “Pioneer Days,” described his father as “an Irishman who hated England with a ten horse-power,” and there is no surmise in saying that he himself hated her just as much, as he was an ardent admirer of “Old Hickory.” Neither did he want to be set down as an Anglo-Saxon. He repulsed the insinuation in the following emphatic language:
“Our old enemies, the English, and their American friends, give us the name of new Anglo-Saxons. It is true the most of the Americans are the descendants of Europeans, but the preponderance of blood is not of the Anglo-Saxon race. There are more of the descendants of the Irish and Germans in the United States than of the English.” If that were true seventy years ago, certainly it is so to a far greater extent now.
We have already alluded, in connection with Curry’s achievements as an Indian fighter, to the name of Tom Higgins. One of his noted encounters with Indians is described in Governor Reynolds’ book, with thrilling effect. This noted Irish-American pioneer resided in Fayette county for many years, where he raised a large family, and died in 1829. He received a pension, pursued farming, and at one time was doorkeeper of the general assembly at Vandalia.
John Edgar was a merchant at Kaskaskia, and at that time the richest man in the territory. His wife was a lady of rare talents, and presided over the finest and most hospitable mansion in Kaskaskia. At this house was entertained General Lafayette, when he visited this country in 1825. Mr. Edgar’s memory is honored by having an Illinois county named for him.
In Mrs. Robert Morrison, Kaskaskia possessed another lady of Irish ancestry who was an ornament to Illinois society at that early day. Mrs. Morrison was reared and educated in the city of Baltimore, and in 1805 she accompanied her brother, Colonel Donaldson, to St. Louis, then in the far-off wilds of the West, whither he was sent as a commissioner to investigate the title lands. She was married the following year to Robert Morrison of Kaskaskia, which place became her residence thereafter. Well educated, sprightly 106and energetic, she possessed a mind gifted with originality, imagination, and romance. Her delight was in the rosy field of poetry.
Her pen was seldom idle. She composed with a ready facility and her writings possessed a high degree of merit. Her contributions to the scientific publications of Philadelphia, and other periodicals of the period, in both verse and prose, were much admired. Nor did the political discussions of her day escape her ready pen.
She was a member of the Roman Catholic communion, and shed lustre on her co-religionists. The Morrison family is one of the best known, politically and socially, in the state. While Mrs. Edgar entertained General Lafayette at a grand reception, Mrs. Morrison entertained him with a grand ball on the occasion referred to.
The territory of Illinois was organized on the 16th day of June, 1809. Michael Jones and E. Backus were appointed respectively registrar and receiver of the land office in Kaskaskia. At this time one McCawley, an Irishman, had penetrated further into the interior of the territory than any one else—to the crossing of the Little Wabash by the Vincennes road.
The writer cannot resist the temptation to relate an anecdote of Gen. James Shields, a hero of the Mexican War, who cut so conspicuous a figure in old Kaskaskia days. The anecdote he related himself, in a lecture delivered in Chicago shortly before his death. He arrived in Illinois on foot soon after he left Ireland for America, looking for employment. On the way, he fell in with a young man engaged in a similar pursuit, and who was companionable, so they traveled together. Reaching Kaskaskia, Mr. Shields secured employment there, as a school teacher, and remained. His companion was not so successful, and went on, traveling in the direction of St. Louis. Shields rapidly rose from one position of distinction to another, and when the Mexican War was declared he was filling the position of a land commissioner at Washington.
He hastened to Kaskaskia with President Polk’s commission in his pocket, to raise an Illinois regiment, of which he was to be colonel. He was successful in this, went to Mexico, and distinguished himself in several battles, in one of which he was supposed to be mortally wounded, but recovered. He became a general and a hero. When the war was over and he returned to the United States he was lionized and invited to a number of state fairs and cities as an attraction. St. Louis honored him in this way, and made unusual preparations for his reception. The mayor and corporation went 107out to receive him. His reception was most cordial. The mayor grasped him warmly by the hand and looked him significantly in the face. “Do you not know me, General?” “I do not, Mr. Mayor, who are you?” “I am the man who tramped with you to Kaskaskia, many years ago, and walked on to St. Louis.”
“Good God! I am delighted to see you,” was the exclamation of his distinguished guest.
The Irish not only made history in those early days, but have also written it. To the pen of John B. Dillon of Indiana, we are indebted for the best history of the Northwest; to John Gilmary Shea of New York, we are under obligation for a complete knowledge of the early Catholic missions among the Indians, and ex-Governor Reynolds has narrated for us our own pioneer story, with its varied conditions, its many deprivations and numerous deeds of daring. For many of the incidents in this essay, especially those relating to Gen. George Rogers Clark and his men, and the conquest of the Northwest, I am indebted to the “Life of General Clark,” by Mr. English of Indiana.
Were it not for the fear of making this essay too long, I might show how fifteen to twenty names of Illinois counties have Irish associations; what prominent parts Irishmen and the sons of Irishmen of Illinois took in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, the Mexican War, and the War of the Rebellion; how they filled gubernatorial chairs, prominent positions in state and nation, as the representatives of the people; how they have been foremost in the professions of law, medicine, and divinity. On the muster roll of famous men they have three Logans, the two Reynolds, Carlin, Kinney, Ford, Kane, Shields, Ewing, McLaughlin, Mulligan, Medill, Ryan, and many others too numerous to mention. Not as public and professional men alone has the Irish contingent been valuable to the state of Illinois, but also as tillers of the soil, as miners and manufacturers; for in the infantile condition of our commonwealth the men of hardest muscle and most exacting toil were our Irish immigrants. They did the excavating on our canals, and the grading on our first railroads, and wherever hard work was to be performed, there you were sure to find Paddy with his spade and pipe. May I not claim that that herculean form representing “the Digger,” in the statue of Mulligan, standing at the entrance of the Drainage Canal, near Chicago, answers for the Irish canaler of former as well as of later days?
Nearly fifty years ago Thomas D’Arcy McGee, an Irish-American poet, and at the time of his death a leading statesman of Canada, of 108wide fame and renowned memory, wrote of the Irish prairie farmer in Illinois as follows:
Irish settlers are found in Rhode Island at a very early period. They were contemporaneous with Roger Williams, John Clark, William Coddington, and other leading men and proved sturdy, energetic members of the community.
Some of these Irish pioneers doubtless came to Rhode Island as soldiers in the Indian wars, and when the latter were over “remained and went not away.” Others, in all probability, came as settlers from St. Kitts, Jamaica, Montserrat, and Barbadoes. During Cromwell’s atrocious regime in Ireland thousands of Irish were transported not only to the continent of North America but also to the West Indies. Other thousands followed them, forced from home by the iniquitous English policy of extermination.
It is not at all unlikely that Rhode Island received many of these hardy refugees and became to them a land of asylum and a permanent home. Nor can it reasonably be doubted that Connecticut, Plymouth and “the Bay” likewise contributed Irish settlers to Rhode Island at early periods and in goodly numbers. In “Winthrop’s Journal,” under date of 1635, is an entry indicating that even as early as that a considerable immigration from Ireland to New England was under way. Thus readeth the entry:
“Another providence was in the voyage of Mr. Winthrop, the younger, and Mr. Wilson, into England, who, returning in the winter time, in a small and weak ship, bound for Barnstaple, were driven by foul weather upon the coast of Ireland, not known by any in the ship, and were brought, through many desperate dangers, into Galloway[5] [Galway] where they parted, Mr. Winthrop taking his journey over land to Dublin, and Mr. Wilson by sea. His ship was forced back by tempest to Kinsale. Mr. Wilson being in Ireland, gave much satisfaction to the Christians there about New England. Mr. Winthrop 110went to Dublin, and from thence to Antrim in the North and came to the house of Sir John Clotworthy, the evening before the day when divers godly persons were appointed to meet at his house, to confer about their voyage to New England, by whom they were thoroughly informed of all things and received great encouragement to proceed on their intended course.”
Sometimes immigrants from Ireland were welcomed to New England and at other times the contrary was the case.
Under date of September 25, 1634, the Massachusetts records have this entry: “It is ordered that the Scottishe and Irishe gentlemen wch intends to come hither shall have liberty to sitt down in any place Vpp Merimacke Ryver, not possessed by any.” In the Massachusetts records under date of 1640, is another interesting entry, to wit: “It is ordered that the goods of the persons come from Ireland shallbee free from this rate [tax].” And a marginal heading reads: “Irish goods now land free from ye rat[e].”
In the records of Massachusetts, 1652, we find that one David Sellick having craved pardon “for his offence in bringing some of the Irish men on shoare, hath his fine remitted, so as the first optunite be taken to send them out of this jurisdiction.” But where could they be sent? Only to some place where they would be likely to get a better reception. In this connection, Rhode Island, the refuge of so many oppressed by “the Bay,” would naturally suggest itself, at least to a portion of the Irish immigrants thus proceeded against. The writer inclines to the belief that numbers of these Irish, being refused permission to reside elsewhere in New England, finally located in Rhode Island.
The historic Irish name of Larkin[6] is found in Rhode Island as early as 1655. So far as known, Edward Larkin was the first of the name to locate in the colony.[7] In the year mentioned, he was of Newport, R. I. In 1661, he had a quarter share of land in what is now Westerly, R. I. In 1663, he was commissioner from Newport in the “General Court of Commissioners” held at Providence that year. He was an inhabitant of Westerly as early as 1669. In 1671, 111he and John Mackoone were “called on to see how they stand as to their fidelity to his Majestie and this Colony.” Perhaps these two Irishmen had not hesitated on occasion to forcibly express their opinion regarding English tyranny in Ireland.
Edward Larkin had five children, Mehitable, Hannah, Edward, Roger, and John. The family prospered and in time became very influential throughout the colony. Mehitable, who was probably named after her mother or some of the latter’s relatives, married and had five children. Hannah died without issue, Edward, Jr., married twice and had eleven children, Roger married twice and had four children, John had one child. Roger’s estate inventoried £742, 1s., 9d. It included “2 linen wheels.” In 1755, his widow became an inhabitant of Richmond, R. I. Edward Larkin, Jr., and wife of Westerly sold 100 acres of land to Samuel Lewis in 1701.
In 1705–’07–’15, Edward Larkin, Jr., was a deputy to the General Assembly. His will was proved in 1741. It gives “To wife £100, all household goods and improvements of homestead and profits of saw mill, for life, to bring up the young children, and then the said homestead to go to son Stephen, but the goods and £100 to be free and clear to wife. To son Stephen, the homestead at death of his mother. To son Nicholas, £100 and 50 acres, at death of wife, and saw and grist mill. To son Daniel, a farm at age. To daughter, Elizabeth Babcock, 10 acres where she lives with house and orchard for life, and then to one of her sons as she sees fit. To daughter Penelope, £30. To daughters Tabitha and Lydia, each £50 at eighteen. To son Nicholas, 10 acres of salt marsh. To son Joseph, 50 acres adjoining land formerly given him. To grandson Joseph, my son Edward’s son, 5s., his father having had. To sons John and Samuel, 5s., they having had. To sons, John and Samuel, rest of estate.” The inventory showed, among other things, books, three beds, pewter, loom, linen wheel, woolen wheel, card, seven cows, two pairs of oxen, horse, 37 sheep, etc.
The will of Mary Larkin, widow of Edward, Jr., was proved in 1743. It gives “To son Nicholas, £50, and bonds against him if he is not able to pay them. To son David, great bible, and the mortgage to be cleared off his land, and a house built 16 feet square if he lives to be 21 years of age. To daughter Tabitha, a horse. To daughter Lydia, a little bible and £100. To daughters Tabitha and Lydia, all wearing apparel and a double portion of what is left over the debts. To three sons, the rest equally.”
112Descendants of Edward Larkin, the original immigrant, are still found in the state. Many of them take a notable pride in their Irish ancestry. Since the first Edward’s time, other Irish Larkins have come to Rhode Island and have done their share toward the upbuilding of the state.
William Hefernan, or Heffernan, was another early Rhode Island settler of whose Irish origin there can be no doubt. He is first heard from at Newport, but in 1671 was an inhabitant of Pettaquamscutt. In May of the latter year “His Majestie’s Court of Justices” met at Pettaquamscutt and “ordered that a warrant bee issued out to William Hefernan, to warne in the inhabitants of this Plantation to attend tomorrow morning, at six of the clock, at the house of Mr. Jireh Bull.”
Notwithstanding the early hour and short notice, the people assembled. “Mr. William Hefernan was chosen and engaged to the office and place of a Conservator of the Peace in jointe commission with Mr. Samuel Wilson and Mr. Jireh Bull.” In 1674, Hefernan is found with his three sons residing in Wickford, R. I. Later he appears to have taken up his residence in Newport, for on August 25, 1676, he was present as a witness at a court martial there on Indians charged with being implicated in King Philip’s designs. A William Hefernan, Jr., was admitted a freeman of the colony by the general assembly in 1724, and another of the name in 1746. The name[8] is variously spelled Hefernan and Heffernan. Now and then it appears as Hefferman and Heffermon, which forms are evidently derivative. John Heffernan of Newport was admitted a freeman in 1759. Descendants of William Hefernan, once numerous throughout Rhode Island, are now believed to be extinct.
The island of Conanicut is situated in Narragansett bay. It has a total length of about nine miles and a width of from one to two miles. It is just within the bay from the Atlantic ocean.
Beaver Tail light on its extreme southern point overlooks the sea, and that portion of the island’s coast frequently resounds with the 113thunder of the breakers. Indeed, most of the island’s shore is exposed more or less to the billows driven in by old ocean.
The island derives its name from Canonicus, an Indian sachem who formerly resided there. It is, of course, a part of the state of Rhode Island and is comprised in the town of Jamestown. The latter was incorporated in 1678 and named in honor of King James II, then heir to the throne which he ascended two years later. Conanicut is about midway in the bay between Newport, Middletown, and Portsmouth on the east, and North Kingstown and the old District of Narragansett on the west. The first purchase of land on the island by whites was made of the Indians in 1657 by Benedict Arnold and William Coddington.
Michael Kelly[9] figures as a freeman in 1667. His wife’s name was Isabel. In 1669, he had become prominent on the island. Michael has been especially fortunate in that, so far as known, no one has ever had the temerity to label him “English” or “Scotch.” In 1669, he and two others were commissioned by the “Councill” to prepare the inhabitants against possible surprises or attacks by the Indians. The order for this action bears date of August 26, and reads thus:
“Whereas, there are severall out plantations in this Colony, which are not included in any towneship, and they being as lyable or rather more lyable to danger and invasion than where there is more strengh; and the Councill seeing it incumbent on them to provide for their safety, doe heerby order that the Conservators of the Peace at Pettaquomscut, Narragansett or Acquidneesitt or Block Island, and such persons as the Councill shall appoint on the Island Quononicutt, [Conanicut], doe assemble the inhabitants of each of those places and consider among themselves what may bee most suitable for their defence and preservation against any mission or insurrection of the Indians, and forthwith to put it in execution; and that a copie of this order bee sent to the first Conservator of the Peace in each respective place, and the persons appointed for Quononicutt.”
Two days later the following entry appears in the records:
“The persons appointed to execute the Councill’s order of the 11426th inst., for the Island of Quononicut, are John Homes, John Remington and Michaell Kelly.”
The fact that Kelly was one of those selected indicates that he must have been a man of considerable influence at the time. In the will of ex-Governor Brenton, probated in 1674, mention is made of “Michael Kaly,” who was no doubt the same individual here described. The following extracts are taken from the will:
“To daughter Sarah Brenton, a farm in Conanicut, in possession of Michael Kaly with house, etc.... To Michael Kaly, 100 acres on Merrimack.... To Michael Kaly, ⅔ and to his wife, ⅓ of £15 due from land granted him at Pattacomscott.”
In 1680, Kelly was taxed £5, 18s. 7½d. He died in that year. It is not known that he left any descendants.
Thomas Casey, a Rhode Island settler, was born about 1636, and died in 1719. That Ireland was his native land is generally conceded. A suggestion has been set up in some quarters, however, that he was of English parentage.
To support this idea, a “tradition” is produced. Yet Casey as a family name is Irish of the Irish. For centuries it has been prominent in the east and south of Ireland. It derives from O’Cathasaigh which has been anglicized O’Casey, Cahasy, Casey, Casie, and Case. Those intent on making out an English, rather than an Irish, parentage for Thomas Casey, the immigrant, declare that “By tradition, he was a son of one of the English planting families in Ulster county, Ireland. His father and mother and all his family were destroyed in the Irish massacre [1641], he, a child, being saved by his uncle and carried to his relatives in Gloucestershire. It is further asserted that he sailed for America from Plymouth, England.”
The “tradition” here noted is radically defective. In the first place, there is no Ulster county in Ireland. Perhaps the province of Ulster was what the writer was aiming at. In the second place, the “Irish massacre” mentioned never happened. For a long period, writers in the English interest asserted that on October 23, 1641, the Irish Catholics rose and slaughtered in cold blood thousands of English and other Protestants then in the country. But the charge is now rejected as untrue by impartial historians. W. J. O’Neill Daunt brands the story of such a massacre as “a thorough and most impudent falsehood,” and as being another of those “stupendous 115calumnies” circulated by the enemies of the Irish people. Other authoritative writers similarly testify.
“It has been represented,” says Prendergast, a Protestant,[10] “that there was a general massacre [by the Irish], surpassing the horrors of the Sicilian Vespers, the Parisian Nuptials, and Matins of the Valtelline, but nothing is more false.”
Consequently, as there was no massacre by the Irish Catholics, then as charged, Thomas Casey’s “father and mother and all his family” could not have perished in it. In February, 1642, however, a dreadful massacre was ordered—not by the Irish Catholics, but by the English lords justices. The mandate was issued to Lord Ormund, the lords justices signing the fearful instructions, being Dillon, Rotheram, Loftus, Willoughby, Temple, and Meredith.
The mandate for the massacre as issued to Ormund was, “That his lordship do endeavor with his majesty’s forces to wound, kill, slay, and destroy, by all the ways and means he may, all the said rebels, their adherents, and relievers; and burn, waste, spoil, consume, destroy, and demolish all the places, towns, and houses, where the said rebels are, or have been, relieved or harbored, and all the hay and corn there; and kill and destroy all the men there inhabiting capable to bear arms.”
The orders were only too well obeyed. Men, women and children perished alike. The English soldiery made no distinction between age or sex. In their savage fury they committed massacre after massacre. The English garrison of Carrickfergus alone murdered 3,000 men, women and children in that neighborhood. Lord Broghill perpetrated like cruelties in Cork and Waterford. In County Wicklow Sir Charles Coote was guilty of a massacre so horrible that after it, to use his own language, “not a child, were it but a hand high, was left alive.”
It is probable that the family of Thomas Casey, the Rhode Island settler, were Irish Catholics, and if they perished in a massacre it is quite possible it was in the one thus inaugurated by the English. It is quite likely that the author of the “tradition” and “Ulster county” got matters somewhat mixed. Hosts of Irish Catholics fled the country at the period mentioned, and if Thomas Casey’s uncle did so, taking the child with him, it would be entirely in accord with the facts and conditions here described. The statement that Thomas 116eventually sailed from Plymouth, England, if he did so sail, has no particular significance and proves nothing.
Thomas Casey is first heard of in Rhode Island at Newport. His wife’s name was Sarah. They had, so far as known, three children, Thomas, Adam and Samuel. In 1692, the father and his son, Thomas, witnessed a deed given by James Sweet of East Greenwich, R. I., to Thomas Weaver of Newport. Adam Casey, another son, was a lieutenant in 1742, and in 1750 purchased 50 acres in Scituate, R. I. In 1760, Adam and his son, Edward Casey, sold 100 acres to Nathan Brown of Swanzey, Mass., and removed to Coventry, R. I. Adam Casey’s will was proved in 1765.
Samuel, the third son of Thomas Casey, the immigrant, lived at different times in Newport, Kings Town and Exeter, R. I. He held various town offices. At his death, his personal estate inventoried £2,803 18s. 6d. He had six children; his brother, Thomas, four; and Adam, five. Several members of this noted family have been distinguished in American civil and military life. The family is still represented in Rhode Island.
John Dailey, in 1689, bought 90 acres of land in Providence, R. I., and the year following exchanged certain lands with Ann Pratt. Dailey is an anglicized form of O’Dalaighe.[11] In Irish history the O’Dalys figure as powerful chieftains. Some of the name were hereditary poets and antiquarians to the MacCarthys Mor. John Dailey here mentioned of Providence had four children, Joseph, Samuel, Elizabeth and one other, a daughter. In 1703, he deeded to Joseph for “divers good causes,” 40 acres. In 1718, Joseph sold 57½ acres to Peter Ballou with house, orchard, etc., for £336. Some years previously, Samuel had sold 40 acres to Zachariah Jones for £20. John Dailey, Sr., died about 1719.
John Macoone was another Irish settler of Rhode Island. In the records the name is variously written Macoone, Mackoone, McCoon, Mackown, etc. Late generations have sometimes abbreviated it to Coon or Cooney. It probably comes from the old Irish MacCoonan. John, the immigrant, was a resident of Westerly, R. I., as early as 1669. Ten years later he is recorded as taking the oath of allegience. 117In 1681, he officiated as a juryman. He had, at least, two children, Isabel and John. In some accounts he is said to have had two others, who went from Westerly about 1695 and settled at Oyster Bay, L. I. Isabel married Edward Bliven and had five children. Her death occurred in 1753. Her brother John received a grant of 100 acres in 1692 and 100 more in 1709. In 1724, he and his wife, Ann, deeded land to their sons, John and Daniel.
John Malavery[12] was a resident of Providence as early as 1687. He had 56 acres of land, and other property. In 1704, he had 12 acres laid out in exchange with the town. He died about 1712. His son John was executor. The inventory included 18 loads of hay, 14 barrels of cider, gun, sword, etc. John Malavery, Jr., of Providence died in 1718. In his will he desires his wife to provide things fit and comfortable for his mother in her old age, and authorizes his wife to raise £30, which shall be levied out of his estate. The rest of movable estate to wife and income of land and use of dwelling house for life, while his widow. To sons, John and Nathaniel, equally, but if they died before of age, then the land was to go to Michael Inman, David Phillips and Daniel Mathewson, “my three sisters’ three sons.” The inventory included “4 guns, 2 swords.” A John Malavery of the third generation married Susannah Arnold in 1736.
At a session of the general assembly at Providence, in 1685, Joseph Devett, also spelled Devitt in the records, was a member of a committee appointed to consider and report concerning a petition for settling a “Plantation in the Narragansett and Niantick countries.” The difference between the names Devitt and McDevitt is not great.
Owen Higgins was a resident of Newport, R. I., very early. His wife was born in 1640. In 1701, his son Richard is recorded as a freeman in Newport.
Charles MacCarthy was a resident of Rhode Island in 1677. When he came to the colony is unknown. He resided on the island of St. Christopher, otherwise known as St. Kitts, before arriving in Rhode Island, a fact mentioned in his will. Some of the recording clerks of those days were not particularly brilliant in writing proper names, Irish or otherwise. They appear to have in a way adopted 118the phonetic idea of spelling, that is, according to sound. But it frequently happened that some names sounded differently to different clerks and thus, as in the case of Charles MacCarthy, we have a variety of spelling. At the same time it should be said, in justice to the clerks, that there were instances, no doubt, when they should not be held responsible for variations that appear. Orthography was not fixed then as now.
The Rhode Island pioneer of whom we are treating has had his name rendered as Macarte, Macarta, Macarty, Mackarte, and Mecarty. In his will it is “Macarte,” but whether that was the form authorized by him, or whether it was the work of the clerk who drew up the will, cannot now be determined. The same name applied to other early Rhode Island people is also recorded as Maccartee and McCartie. The style “Mac Carthy,” used, for the sake of uniformity, in the caption of this paper, and in the text, is that common to the MacCarthys Mor, the MacCarthys Reagh, the MacCarthys Glas, and other grand divisions of this great Irish clan.
Charles, the Rhode Island settler, had a brother who went from Ireland to Spain. This brother had been exiled and may have been among the Irish troops who, in 1652, after surrendering to Cromwell and Ireton, were allowed to depart and enlist in the Spanish service. These troops embarked for Spain at Kinsale, Waterford, Galway, Limerick, and Bantry. With them also went many of the Irish nobility and gentry who had been ruthlessly dispossessed of their estates. In more propitious times some of these exiles returned from Spain. Charles’s brother did so and from Kinsale wrote to Charles whom he supposed to be still in St. Christopher, urging him to return to Ireland. But Charles had, in the meantime, left St. Christopher and was probably then in Rhode Island. Though long delayed, the letter finally reached its destination, but Charles never went back nor, it is believed, did he and his brother ever meet again.
In 1677, Charles was one of a party of forty-eight settlers to whom a grant of five thousand acres, to be called East Greenwich, was made by the general assembly of Rhode Island. The grant was awarded largely for services rendered during King Philip’s War (1675–’76). This would seem to indicate that Charles MacCarthy had been a participant in that war and it is quite within the bounds of probability that he had seen military service, too, in the Old Land. At a session of the general assembly held at Newport, R. I., May, 1677, it was
119Ordered that a certain tract of land in some convenient place in the Narragansett country, shall be laid forth into one hundred acre shares, with the house lots, for the accommodation of so many of the inhabitants of this Colony as stand in need of land, and the General Assembly shall judge fit to be supplied.
It was likewise enacted that the said tract be laid forth to contain 5,000 acres. Of this, 500 were to be laid in some place near the sea, as convenient as may be for a town, which said 500 acres “shall be divided into 50 house lots and the remainder of the 5,000, being 4,500, shall be divided into 50 equal shares or great divisions.”
It was further decreed that the persons to whom the grant was made have the rights, liberties, and privileges of a town; also “that they, or so many of them as shall be then present, not being fewer than twelve, on the said land, [are] required and empowered to meet together upon the second Wednesday in April next and constitute a town meeting, by electing a Moderator and a Town Clerk, with such constables as to them shall seem requisite; and also to choose two persons their Deputies to sit in General Assembly, and two persons, one to serve on the Grand Jury, and one on the Jury of Trials in the General Court of Trials.”
Thus was launched the town of East Greenwich. The founders, no doubt, included “men from all parts,” and if names may be taken as a criterion several of them, in addition to Charles MacCarthy, were from Ireland. The date of the incorporation of the town was October 31, 1677, the year following the close of King Philip’s War and the overthrow of the Narragansetts. Later, the boundaries of the town were enlarged by the addition of 35,000 acres on the western border. Facing a great bay, it was hoped by the founders that the town might in time equal or surpass Newport or Providence. In 1741, the town was divided and the western part incorporated as West Greenwich. Both towns exist to-day, East Greenwich with a population of about 3,000, and West Greenwich with a population of between 600 and 700.
The most thickly settled part of East Greenwich is built mainly on a hillside and fronts Greenwich Bay. The town is a favorite summer resort. Some of the early settlers engaged in shipbuilding, and when the town was laid out two locations were set apart for shipyards. The persons named as incorporators of East Greenwich, including Charles MacCarthy, were each required to build within a year, on his lot, a house suitable for habitation, under pain of forfeiture. 120It was also required that highways be provided “from the bay up into the country” convenient for settlement. In addition to MacCarthy, the founders included Philip Long, Thomas Dungin, and John Strainge—all three names typically Irish. Among the proprietors in 1700 was Anthony Long. About 1732, the town possessed stocks and whipping post, pillory, irons for mutilating ears, branding faces, cropping, etc., and similar appliances rife at that period.
The records of the “General Assembly held at Newport, the 6th of May, 1679,” show that “Charles Mecarte” and two others “being freemen of the towne of East Greenwich, are admitted freemen of the Collony.” It does not appear that Charles ever married, at least the writer has met no record to that effect. Neither wife nor child are mentioned in the copy of the will extant. It is, of course, possible that he may have had both wife and children in the Old Land and that he survived them, but of that nothing definite is known. His will[13] is dated “the 18th day of February, 1682,” and was witnessed by John Knight and Thomas Fry, Jr. It was the first will to be recorded in the probate record book of East Greenwich where it was entered by “John Spenser, Town Clark.” Written over two hundred years ago, its quaint phraseology is a source of much interest at the present time. The will thus begins:
Unto all Christian people unto whome these pents [presents] may com know yee that I Charles Macarte now of the towne of Est grenwich in the Colony of Rhod Island and providence planteteons Being in parfact memory but weake in body doe meake this my lastt will and testiment.
First, he requests that all his debts be paid. Then he makes John Spencer, Jr., his lawful heir and bequeaths him “my house and Land or Lands in this Towne.” He designates John Spencer, Sr., “father to the aforesaid Spencer, Guardian to his sonn to teak cere that my will be parformed.”
One Pasco Whitford owed Charles a debt. This debt the latter cancels and, in addition, gives Whitford “halfe the sheepe of mine in his keeping.” The other half he gives to Edward Carter, to whom he likewise bequeaths his arms, i. e., two guns and a sword and also his chest “with the lock and cea.” To Charles Heseltun, Jr., he bequeaths a young horse “that will be two yere old next Spring branded with IS on the shoulder.” To John Andrew is given “my 121biggest yron poot” [pot] and four narrow axes. His pewter he bequeaths Susanna Spencer, the same to be delivered to her when she is of age.
All his carpenter and joiner tools are given by testator to William Spencer “which shall be resarved for him till hee is capable unto mak youse of them,” or of age. After disposing of certain clothing and household goods to Susanna Spencer, Sr., he mentions “one piece of brod cloth that I had to make mee a wascoat”; this he gives to his heir. Unto Hannah Long, the younger, is given “one heffer of three yere” old, to be delivered her at his decease, and to “John Garard,[14] a poor Country man of mine” he gives “three bushels of corne to be paid him presently after my desese.” But one of the most striking passages of the entire will is the following:
I have a letter that came from my Brother from Kingsile [Kinsale] after his return from Spaine Being fersed from home in the war in which Letter he sent for mee home; but the troubles in Cristifars at that time fersed me from thence to New England and soe hee herd not of mee nor I of him.... I will that that letter with another [which] within it is, be sent unto him with a letter to signifie unto him how it hath been with mee since and when and where I end my dayes.
Charles then provides that Richard Dunn[15] of Newport, R. I., be added unto John Spencer, Sr., the first mentioned guardian, to carry out the provisions of the will, and “if aither of these soo Before men’oned betrusted should die before that my haire is of edge [age]; then he that doth survive shall heve power; and my will is that hee chuse one to him it being one that my haire doth approve of.” The will goes on to say that “My ould mere [mare] I give to Samuel Bennett and hir foule [foal] or my young mere I give unto Mychell Spenser ... and the rest of my Chatle Goodes and catten [cattle] I give unto John Spenser Senior and all the deapts dowe to mee.... As Concaning [concerning] the Land that I Give unto my haire and the house my will is that the land and house [be] unto him and his lawful haires forever ... and for the Conformation of this my will and that it may apere unto all parsons [persons] unto whome it may come I have sett to my hand and seale this 122psent 18th day of February 1682.” Charles died soon after, his will being entered in the town records in 1683–’84.
The orthography of Charles MacCarthy’s will must not be severely criticised. It was as correct as that found in the average document of the period in which he lived. Whether it was written by Charles or by someone acting for him, due allowance must be made for the times and conditions and for the fact that educational facilities were very meagre then as compared with those available at the present day.
It is a source of deep regret that so little is known about this Rhode Island pioneer. That he was a man of sturdy character, cannot be questioned. That he was worthy to rank as a founder of a town or a state must also be admitted. He plainly possessed traits and qualities entitling him to a place in the front rank of Rhode Island settlers.
And here we may indulge briefly in a retrospective glance at the status of the MacCarthys[16] in the land of Erin. For from these, unquestionably, the Rhode Island pioneer was descended. Then we will touch upon certain “troubles in Cristifars” which may have been the same as those to which Charles MacCarthy alludes as having forced him to New England.
Burke, Ulster King of Arms, the great authority on the British and Irish peerages, declares that “few pedigrees in the British empire can be traced to a more remote or exalted source than that of the Celtic house of M’Carty.” The learned Dr. O’Brien says that it was “the most illustrious of all those families whose names begin with Mac.” It has also truthfully been declared that “The MacCarthys may proudly defy any other family in Europe to compete with them in antiquity, or accurate preservation of the records of 123their descent.” Their patrimony was chiefly in Cork and Kerry, where they had strongholds for many centuries. They built over twenty castles there, many of them overlooking “the pleasant Bandon crowned with many a wood.”
These castles were massively constructed, the towers and battlements being equal in grandeur and strength to those elsewhere in Europe. For generation after generation they defied the attacks of time and the elements and proudly reared aloft their stately walls. The ruins of some of them still remain, crowned with ivy, and frequented by appreciative tourists. The MacCarthys have been Princes of Carbery, Earls of Clancarthy, Earls of Muskerry, Earls of Mountcashel, Viscounts of Valentia, and have also held other titles. Their history has been replete with chivalrous deeds, brave men, handsome women, noted clerics, generous benefactors, whole-souled hospitality.
The MacCarthys were the dominant family in Desmond (South Munster), at the period of the Anglo-Norman invasion. The MacCarthy Mor, lord of the elder branch, was generally inaugurated in Kerry. The O’Sullivan Mor and the O’Donoghoe Mor presided at the ceremony. The hereditary judges of the McCarthy Mor were the MacEgans; his captains of war, the O’Rourkes; and his poets and antiquaries, the O’Dalys and O’Quinns. His feudatories also included the O’Donovans and O’Hurleys. Charles, who died in 1770, was styled “the last MacCarthy Mor.” The arms of the family are thus described: “Arg. a stag trippant, attired and unguled or.” One branch of the family had as its motto: “Forti et fideli nihil difficile,” and another: “Ex arduis perpetuum nomen.” The motto of the MacCarthy Reagh was: “Fortis ferox et celer.” “The MacCarthys were a regal and princely house,” observes Burke, and he states that at one period the head of the clan could muster 3,000 men-at-arms. The MacCarthys Reagh constituted the second sept of the clan in point of importance, while the MacCarthys Glas were also a strong branch of the family.
Dermot MacCarthy, feudal lord and founder of the house of Muskerry, was killed in 1367. Cormac MacCarthy, slain in 1494, had been lord of Muskerry for 40 years. Donoch MacCarthy Mor was, in 1556, created Earl of Clancare (Clancarthy), and Viscount Valentia. Cormac Oge MacCarthy became a viscount in 1628. There was a Ceallachan MacCarthy who married Elizabeth Fitzgerald, daughter of the Earl of Kildare, and died 1676. A Charles 124MacCarthy, born about 1721, was a solicitor, seneschal of the manor of Macroom, recorder of Clonakilty, and clerk of the crown for the county of Cork. A Donoch MacCarthy, lord viscount Muskerry, was an Irish officer exiled to the continent in 1641–’42. He had commanded the king’s forces in Munster against Cromwell. At the restoration of Charles II, Donoch returned to Ireland and contested the right of Florence and Charles McCarthy to the title and dignity of “MacCarthy Mor.” He was created Earl Clancarthy, and died in 1665.
It is to be regretted that we do not know the name of the brother of Charles MacCarthy, the Rhode Island settler—the one to whom he refers in his will as having written from Kinsale. Did we have access to that letter which Charles of Rhode Island received, the desired knowledge would, no doubt, be obtained. But at this distance of time, all efforts to locate the letter have failed.
It seems reasonable to conclude that the brother of the Rhode Island pioneer was a man of some prominence—possibly of much prominence. It has been suggested that he was Donoch, Earl Clancarthy, just mentioned, but this could hardly have been so, as the Earl died in 1665 and Charles of Rhode Island, when he made his will in 1682, speaks of his brother as still living.
There was another Donoch MacCarthy, descendant of the first named, who was privately married when but sixteen years of age to Lady Elizabeth Spencer, daughter of Robert Spencer, Earl of Sunderland. It may be recalled, purely as a coincidence, that Charles MacCarthy of East Greenwich, R. I., was an intimate friend of the Spencers of that town and made one of them his heir. It is quite possible that John Spenser,[17] the Rhode Island settler, and intimate friend of Charles MacCarthy, was an Irish officer who, like many other chivalrous spirits of his time, was obliged by the fortunes of war to leave Ireland and reside in other parts. On the arrival of James II, in Ireland (1688), this second Donoch MacCarthy was one of the Irish officers who received him at Kinsale. At the fall of Cork in 1690, MacCarthy was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He had succeeded to the title of Earl Clancarthy 125and was a man of immense estate. All this was forfeited owing to his adhesion to the cause of James II. In 1694, he escaped from the Tower and fled to France. Upon rashly going back to England in 1698 he was rearrested and exiled. He died in 1704 at a locality in Hamburg. If Charles MacCarthy of Rhode Island was “forced from home” at the same time as his brother, it would be interesting to know why one went to Spain and the other to the island of St. Christopher. The whole matter, however, is wrapped in mystery. Charles tells us that his brother returned “from Spaine,” which statement reminds us of a prominent fact. King Charles II in a famous declaration mentions a large number of Irish “restorees,” who were to be given back their former estates in Ireland for having “Continued with Us or served faithfully under Our ensigns beyond the Seas.” Among these Irish restorees is mentioned Col. Charles MacCarthy of County Cork, and Capt. Charles MacCarthy, also of Cork. In another place Charles II mentions Charles James MacCarthy, Viscount Muskerry.
A fourth Charles MacCarthy is mentioned during the Cromwellian settlement as a “Papist,” whose property was to be confiscated. These four Charles MacCarthys were all Irish officers or leading gentlemen, and the Rhode Island settler may have been one of them.
Yet another point: Charles of Rhode Island tells us that his brother, who was again in Ireland, had written from Kinsale asking him to return. Why? It may be that Charles and his brother were both “restorees,” as defined in the King’s Declaration above mentioned.
At what period Charles MacCarthy left Ireland and located in St. Christopher, or St. Kitts, is problematical. If we knew the time of his coming to New England we might be able to approximate the St. Kitts date. It is assumed, however, that he was in St. Kitts as early as 1650. In an old French atlas by Sanson, published that year, Montserrat is described as having been settled by Irish. Rev. Andrew White, S. J., who accompanied the first colonists to Maryland, in 1634, makes a like statement. He adds that these Irish Catholics had gone first to Virginia, but being refused permission to land had taken possession of Montserrat. Large numbers of Irish are heard from in St. Kitts in 1650. They were visited by Father John Destriche (also written De Stritch) disguised as a trader to protect him from persecution, or even death, at the hands of the English officials who had no tolerance for a priest of the Church of Rome.
126In time he collected on that and the neighboring islands a flock of 3,000 Catholics for whom he conducted religious services in the depths of the forest. Persecution at the hands of the English, however, soon broke up this condition of affairs and dispersed the Irish to New England and other parts along the coast. Were these the “troubles in Cristifars” that obliged Charles MacCarthy to leave that place? It is possible. Be that as it may, his coming was of benefit to Rhode Island, it being at a time when stout hearts, strong arms, and vigorous characters were especially desired in the colony.
Constant Maguire settled in Rhode Island prior to 1750. His first name as here given was probably an abbreviated form of Constantine. He was a native of the County Fermanagh, in Ireland, was evidently a man of education and seems to have taken much interest in matters pertaining to genealogy.
In one record book he is described as “Constant Maguire, son of John, son of Constantine, the younger, natives of the County Fermanagh.”
It should here be stated that Fermanagh was the ancient patrimony of the Maguires. Thomas Maguire, lord of Fermanagh, died in 1430. He was described by the Irish annalists as “a man of universal hospitality toward poor and mighty, founder of monasteries and churches, ... peacemaker for many chiefs and septs, beloved by all conditions for the excellence of his administration.”
Bryan, another of the Maguires, was made baron of Enniskillen in 1627. The title was forfeited by his son, Connor, attainted by British law in 1644.
Constantine, or Constant, the Rhode Island settler, located in Warwick, R. I., but later removed to East Greenwich, R. I. His wife’s name was Ruth. Among their children were Mary, born February 16, 1750; Mercy, born March 28, 1753; and John, born April 19, 1755. Mary was born in Warwick and the others in East Greenwich.
Another numerous family in East Greenwich and vicinity were the Boyds. Some of them were born in Ireland; all are believed to have been of Irish blood. Several bore the name Andrew. One Andrew Boyd is mentioned as having been born in the County Antrim, Ireland, of which his mother, Sarah (Moore) Boyd, was also a native. Another Andrew, probably of the same stock, is thus 127mentioned in the records of the Rhode Island Assembly, October, 1776:
In Council was read the return of Andrew Boyd, clerk of the company of Kentish Guards, choosing Christopher Greene, of Warwick, son of Nathaniel, second lieutenant of said company, in the room of Thomas Holden, who refused.
The action of the Guards was approved. The East Greenwich records show the marriage of Andrew Boyd and Abigail Moor in 1763; Mrs. Sarah Boyd and a Mr. Weeden in 1783; Andrew Boyd and Elizabeth Spencer in 1788; William Boyd and Freelove Arnold, daughter of Capt. Thomas Arnold, in 1792; Hannah Boyd and Capt. Michael Spencer in 1805; William Boyd and Rhoda Andrews in 1819. In the Warwick records is found noted the marriage, in 1797, of Catherine Boyd and Timothy Bentley. In 1798, Hannah Boyd and Darius Havens were married.
A brother of the Baron Kinsale, of Ireland, settled in Newport, R. I., about 1720. Some hold that he was married in the old country; others, that his wife was a Newport woman.
They had a son[18], Thomas, born in Newport, who early displayed a love for the sea. In due time he was bound an apprentice to Captain Beard. The latter had command of a Newport merchantman and ranked among the ablest captains of his day.
Thomas de Courcy, the apprentice, advanced rapidly in nautical accomplishments and became a general favorite. After serving under Captain Beard, he enlisted in the navy and participated in the honor of taking Porto Bello in 1740.
The manner in which he succeeded to the title and estates of his uncle is thus told by himself. He was serving aboard Admiral Vernon’s flagship. The latter was returning to England from the West Indies. While on the voyage they fell in with a merchantman bound from London to Jamaica. She was spoken and on inquiry, her captain sent aboard the flagship two late papers for the gratification of the admiral. The latter read them attentively. Suddenly he exclaimed:
“Ah! the Baron of Kinsale is dead!”
128A steward overhearing the remark quickly carried the news to a gallant young tar in the forecastle whose name was De Courcy.
“Is he dead? Then by the powers! something will come to me,” was the reply.
The incident was reported to Admiral Vernon who immediately sent for De Courcy. The following conversation then ensued between the two:
“My lad, what is your name?”
“De Courcy, sir.”
“Where were you born?”
“In Newport, Rhode Island, sir.”
“Are you related to the late Thomas de Courcy, Baron of Kinsale?”
“He was my uncle, sir—he was my father’s eldest brother.”
“What induced your father to leave Ireland and settle at Newport?”
“That reason was my father’s secret, your Honor, and not mine.”
“Well, my lad, return to your station, and whatever may be your change of condition hereafter, I hope you will continue to do your duty faithfully till you shall be discharged.”
“Your Honor may rely on that!”
The foregoing anecdote was told by De Courcy, many years after, to Captain Benjamin Pearce of Rhode Island who dined with him at Kinsale. The Baron always entertained great affection for Newport, his native place. It is told of him that no Rhode Islander ever, to his knowledge, came within fifty miles of his residence without being invited to partake of his hospitality. To Captain Beard of Newport his former commander, he annually sent a cask of rare old wine. For years the people of Newport took a special interest in all that concerned their distinguished townsman, The Right Honorable Thomas de Courcy, Lord Baron Kinsale.
Edward Thurston writing from Newport, R. I., March 5, 1767, to James Coggeshall informs the latter that “Mac Gee the baker has failed.” Mac Gee was, no doubt, quite an important personage in the community.
Under date of November 15, 1764, is recorded at Newport the marriage of “John Robinson of Ireland and Mary Cawdry of Newport.” Rev. Ezra Stiles performed the ceremony.
129Richard Field, a native of Dublin, Ireland, resided in Newport. He died in 1769.
Another prominent Newport family were the Dillons. James Dillon was a native of the County Roscommon. His wife died at Newport in 1799 and was laid away in Trinity churchyard.
Thomas Green advertised in the Newport Mercury, August, 1772, that he had for sale Irish poplins, sheetings, and other goods. He also announces “Lately come to hand, a trunk of choice Irish linens.” In May, 1793, Thomas Green & Son advertise in the Mercury that “at the sign of the buck, near the red market” they have for sale, Irish linens and muslins “at 14½d. and upward.” In the Mercury of April 27, 1772, appears a legal notice regarding “the estate of Edward Keeney, late of Newport, shipwright, deceased.” Students of Irish names will recognize in Keeney a typical one.
Moses M. Hays, a Hebrew, advertises under date of August 3, 1772, that he has, among other goods, “a few barrels of Irish beef for sale.” That is, beef from Ireland.
The name Murphy has figured in Newport from an early period. Frequently it appears as Murfey. The original comers were, of course, from Ireland. They, doubtless, arrived directly from the old country, from some of the colonies adjacent to Rhode Island or by way of the West Indies. Many of the Newport Murphys have been mariners, and some of them figured prominently in the Revolution. Edward Murphy died at Newport in 1809, “in the 62d year of his age.” In March, 1809, the death also occurred at Newport of “Phœbe Murfey, comfort of Capt. John Murfey, aged 29.” The Providence Gazette of February 17, 1810, announces the marriage at Mansfield, Conn., of “Capt. John Murfey of Newport to Miss Adaliza Southworth, daughter of Capt. Samuel Southworth.”
An entry in Trinity church Annals, Newport, states that on “May 1, 1775, Lieut. James Conway died and was buried in the churchyard, aged 45 years.” Conway was lieutenant of marines on the man-of-war Rose, which was then in the bay. He was probably of Irish origin. Another entry in the same annals informs us that on “October 5, 1783, Gilbert Eames died and was buried in the churchyard.” He was a native of the County Limerick, Ireland, and was 54 years of age at the time of his death. For several years prior to the reduction of Granada by the French in 1779, Mr. Eames had been a member of the Honorable Council for the island.
Rev. Erasmus Kelly, a native of Pennsylvania, was born in 1748, 130and came to Newport about 1771. On the outbreak of hostilities he removed to Warren, R. I. When the British overran the latter town they burned the house in which he resided together with its contents. He removed to Connecticut and later to Pennsylvania. At the close of the Revolution, he returned to Newport, and died there on November 7, 1784.
In February, 1801, there died in Newport, Mrs. Lucia C. Grattan. She was the widow of Colonel Grattan, cousin-german to Henry Grattan, the Irish orator. Her brother was Lord Viscount Falkland. An obituary notice states that “Her remains were interred with every mark of respect.”
Among the Newport marriages noted in the Trinity church records are the following: Miles Coursey to Abigail Williams, December 13, 1713; William Cook to Catherine Fallon, August 20, 1723; John Murphy to Mary Casside, March 1, 1732; James Gallagher to Bathsheba Fairchild, March 21, 1736; John Rourk to Ann Drower, January 23, 1742; Patrick Delaney to Margaret McFarling, October 29, 1742; Patrick Rogers to Eleanor Dowling, October 29, 1742; Edward Murfee to Catherine Fitzgerald, October 25, 1743; Patrick Durfey to Elizabeth Lacy, January 17, 1748; Patrick Cenfill to Meriam Powers, October 15, 1752; Edward Pye to Deborah Bourke, January 4, 1756; John Brown to Mary Kelly, March 13, 1756; Thomas Collins to Margaret Bourke, May 29, 1756; John Dwyer to Elizabeth McDaniel, October 10, 1756; Thomas Holland to Mary Dwyar, June 1, 1775; James Dillon to Sarah Dupay, October 13, 1778; James O’Brien to Margaret Dunton, November 23, 1778.
In the records of Newport, the following additional early marriages are noted. To simplify matters the writer gives only the year in which each marriage took place: William Mackey and Eliza George, 1737; Ebenezer Murphy and Mercy Reynolds, 1739; Michael Sullivan and Elizabeth High, 1740; John Lashley and Katherine McKane, 1740; Robert Odlin and Mary Conner, 1742; Patrick Farrell and Rachel Beere, 1742; John Mulholland and Elizabeth Hooper, 1742; James Harkins and Amy Higgins, 1743; Timothy Egan and Hester Wilson, 1745; James Murphy and Margaret Pitman, 1746; John Vial and Elizabeth Donnelly, 1747; John Donnelly and Jane Mence, 1747; Joseph Tally and Elizabeth Naps, 1747; George Smith and Sarah Tally, 1747; William Byrn and Jemima Jant, 1747; Daniel McGow (or McGowan) and Miss Donnelly, 1747; Jeremiah Ross and Mary Brayton, 1749; Elisha Newcome and Elizabeth 131O’Brien, 1751; James Hickey and Mary Carr, 1752; Thomas Jones and Mary Higgins, 1753; John Dyer and Mary Hickey, 1754; Jeremiah Heffernan and Elizabeth Mackee, 1755; William Cowdry and Mary Murphy, 1756; Michael Ryan and Leah Kelly, 1756; John Magee and Phebe Fairchild, 1758; Mr. Ross and Katherine McGowan, 1758; John Wyatt and Martha Magrah, 1759; John Fairbanks and Amey Heffernan, 1760; Alexander Mullen and Mary Chapman, 1760; James Bourk and Eleanor Whiting, 1761; Edward Kenney and Patience Chadwick, 1762; Nathaniel Locke and Mary Burk, 1764; Daniel Dennison and Amey Murphy, 1766; Lawrence Carroll and Susannah Holden, 1768; Daniel Read and Ann McMahon, 1793; Eleazer Read, Jr., and Elizabeth Murphy, 1795.
From which it will be seen that the Irish began coming to Newport, and were numerous there, at much earlier periods than has been generally supposed.
The following is a list of Irish surnames found in the official records[19] of Rhode Island, and in books, papers, and documents relating to the history of the latter. The names appear as early as the year mentioned in each case, but in some instances may have been represented at even an earlier period:
The following is a list of historical papers and addresses, prepared by members of the Society, or by friends of the organization. Many of these contributions have been published in the books and pamphlets issued by the Society, a few have appeared in other publications, while some remain in the Society’s archives to be published in the future:
The following is a list of books and pamphlets thus far issued under the auspices of the society:
Adams, Hon. Samuel, president and treasurer of the Adams Dry Goods Co., 339–355 Sixth Avenue, New York city; director, Garfield National Bank, New York; member of the New York Chamber of Commerce; an ex-senator of Colorado.
Adams, T. Albeus, president of the Gansevoort Bank, Fourteenth Street and Ninth Avenue, New York city; also president of Adams & Co; president of the Adams Bros. Co.; president of the Manhattan Refrigerating Co.; director, Mercantile National Bank.
Ahern, John, 5 Highland Street, Concord, N. H.
Aspell, John (M. D.), 139 West 77th Street, New York city; member of the Academy of Medicine; of the County Medical Association, and of the Celtic Medical Society; recently president of the latter; visiting surgeon to St. Vincent’s Hospital.
Bannin, Michael E., of Converse, Stanton & Co., dry goods commission merchants, 83 and 85 Worth Street, New York city; member of the Merchants Association, New York; director, Merchants Trust Co.; director, the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank; director, the Catholic Summer School (Cliff Haven); member of the Merchants and Catholic clubs, New York, of the Montauk Club, Brooklyn, and of the Brooklyn Arts and Science Institute; director, the Columbian National Life Insurance Co.
Bannon, Henry G., 107 East 55th Street, New York city; president of the Irish National Club; secretary, Celtic-American Publishing Co.
Barrett, Frank B., 254 Fourth Avenue, New York city; with Pierce, Butler & Pierce Manufacturing Co.
Barrett, Michael F., of Barrett Bros., wholesale and retail dealers in teas, coffees, etc., 308 Spring Street and 574 Hudson Street, New York city.
Barry, Hon. Patrick T., 87–97 South Jefferson Street, Chicago, Ill. (Life member of the Society); advertising manager, Chicago Newspaper Union; director, First National Bank of Englewood, Ill.; director, The Chicago Citizen Company; has been a member of the State Legislature of Illinois; prominently identified with educational interests.
147Barry, Rev. Michael, Oswego, N. Y.
Batters, Henry W., educator, Waterbury, Conn.
Bennett, Richard, 206–208 Broadway, New York city.
Bodfish, Rev. Joshua P. L., Canton, Mass.; formerly chancellor of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Boston; a director of the Bunker Hill Monument Association.
Boyle, Hon. Patrick J., now serving his tenth term as mayor of Newport, R. I.
Brady, Rev. Cyrus Townsend (LL. D.), 455 East 17th Street, Flatbush, Brooklyn, N. Y.; member of the Society of Colonial Wars, of the Sons of the Revolution, of the Military Order of Foreign Wars, and of other patriotic organizations; chaplain of the First Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, war with Spain; formerly Protestant Episcopal archdeacon of Pennsylvania; author of For Love of Country, For the Freedom of the Sea, Stephen Decatur, Commodore Paul Jones, Border Fights and Fighters, and other works.
Brady, Owen J., The H. B. Claflin Co., 224 Church Street, New York city.
Brady, Patrick, 445 Seventh Avenue, New York city.
Brandon, Edward J., city clerk, Cambridge, Mass.
Brann, Rev. Henry A. (D. D.), 141 East 43d Street, New York city (Life member of the Society).
Bree, Hon. James P., lawyer, 902 Chapel Street, New Haven, Conn.; state auditor of Connecticut; recently a senator.
Brennan, Hon. James F., lawyer, Peterborough, N. H.; a trustee of the New Hampshire State Library.
Brennan, James F., contractor, 2½ Grove Street, New Haven, Conn.
Brennan, Michael, Hotel San Remo, Central Park West, New York city.
Brennan, P. J., 788 West End Avenue, New York city.
Breslin, T. J., Fries-Breslin Co., Camden, N. J.
Britton, Thomas P., 1221 Lexington Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio.
Broderick, William J., 52 Morton Street, New York city.
Brosnahan, Rev. Timothy, rector of St. Mary’s church, Waltham, Mass.
Burke, Robert E., recently city solicitor, Newburyport, Mass.
Burr, William P., lawyer, 35 Nassau Street, New York city.
Buttimer, Thomas H., lawyer, Hingham and Boston, Mass.
Byrne, C. E., of the C. E. Byrne Piano Co., East 41st Street, New York city.
Byrne, Major John, 45 Wall Street, New York city; director, Detroit City Gas Co.; president, Shawmut Coal & Coke Co.; chairman Board of Directors, Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern R. R. Co.; president, Kersey Mining Co.; president, Kersey R. R. Co.; chairman Board of Directors, Shawmut Mining Co.; trustee, Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank of New York city.
Byrne, Joseph M., insurance, 800 Broad Street, Newark, N. J.
148Byrne, Rt. Rev. William (V. G., D. D.), rector of St. Cecilia’s church, St. Cecilia Street, Boston, Mass.
Byrns, John, 734 Lexington Avenue, New York city.
Cahill, John H., 15 Dey Street, New York city.
Cahill, M. J., dry goods merchant, Essex Street, Lawrence, Mass.
Cahill, Thomas M. (M. D.), 60 Edwards Street, New Haven, Conn.; son of the late Col. Thomas W. Cahill who commanded the Ninth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry (an Irish regiment), in the Civil War.
Calnin, James, 101–107 Lakeview Avenue, Lowell, Mass.
Campbell, James C., post-office, Cleveland, Ohio.
Cannon, Thomas H., of the law firm Cannon & Poage, Stock Exchange Building, Chicago, Ill.
Carbray, Hon. Felix, Benburb Place, Quebec, Canada; member of the Royal Irish Academy; Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, Ireland; member of the Quebec Harbor Commission and of the Quebec Board of Trade; consul for Portugal at Quebec, and dean of the Consular Corps; trustee of St. Patrick’s church, and of St. Bridget’s asylum; has represented his district in the parliament of the Province of Quebec. He was one of the pioneers in the lumber trade between the St. Lawrence and South America; has engaged in the general commission and shipping business, and has been a member of the successive firms: Carbray & Routh; Carbray, Routh & Co.; and Carbray, Son & Co.
Carmody, T. F., lawyer, Waterbury, Conn.
Carney, Michael, of M. Carney & Co., Lawrence, Mass.
Carroll, Edward, Leavenworth National Bank, Leavenworth, Kansas.
Carroll, John L., 18 State Street, Newark, N. J.
Carter, Hon. Thomas H., Helena, Mont.; recently a U. S. senator.
Casey, Stephen J., Exchange Building, 53 State Street., Boston, Mass.; Boston manager of the Empire State Surety Co.
Cassidy, John J., Inspector of Buildings, Wilmington, Del.
Cassidy, Patrick (M. D.), Norwich, Conn.; was surgeon-general on the staff of Gov. Luzon B. Morris of Connecticut, ranking as brigadier-general.
Chittick, Rev. J. J., Hyde Park, Mass.
Clancy, Laurence, dry goods merchant, West Bridge Street, Oswego, N. Y.; trustee, Oswego County Savings Bank; director, electric street railway; member, Normal school board; has repeatedly declined a nomination for mayor of Oswego.
Clare, William F., lawyer, 149 Broadway, New York city.
Clark, Rev. James F., New Bedford, Mass.
Clarke, James, of James Clarke & Co., booksellers and publishers, 3, 5 and 7 West 22d Street, New York city.
Clarke, Joseph I. C., Sunday editor New York Herald, Herald Square, New York city.
149Clarke, Robert, 27 Harbor Street, Cleveland, O.
Clary, Charles H., Hallowell, Me.; a descendant of John Clary, “of Newcastle, province of New Hampshire,” who married Jane Mahoney, of Georgetown, Me., in 1750. Four children were born to them before 1760. Mr. Clary of Hallowell, Me., here mentioned, was one of the founders of the Clary Reunion Family which meets annually.
Cleary, James, 120 Liberty Street, Cleveland, O.
Coffey, John J., Neponset (Boston), Mass.; served during the Civil war in the Twenty-eighth Massachusetts Infantry (the Faugh-a-Ballagh regiment), which formed part of Meagher’s Irish Brigade, First Division, Second Corps; participated in the valorous charges of the brigade against the Confederates at Marye’s Heights; was wounded at Gettysburg and still carries the bullet in his body. His brother, Michael J., was color sergeant of the Irish flag of the regiment and carried it until he fell mortally wounded at the second battle of Bull Run.
Coffey, Rev. Michael J., East Cambridge, Mass.
Coghlan, Rev. Gerald P., 2141 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
Cohalan, Daniel F., lawyer, 271 Broadway, New York city.
Coleman, Bernard F., 38 East 69th Street, New York city.
Coleman, James S., 38 East 69th Street, New York city; of Coleman, Breuchaud & Coleman.
Coleman, John, capitalist, Louisville, Ky.
Collins, James M., 6 Sexton Avenue, Concord, N. H.
Collins, Hon. John S., Gilsum, N. H.; manufacturer of woolens; an ex-state senator of New Hampshire.
Collins, Hon. Patrick A., mayor of Boston, Mass.; formerly a member of Congress, and later U. S. Consul General at London, England.
Collins, William D. (M. D.), Haverhill, Mass.
Conaty, Bernard, 30 Cypress Street, Providence, R. I.
Conaty, Rev. B. S., 340 Cambridge Street, Worcester, Mass.
Conaty, Rt. Rev. Thomas J. (D. D.), Bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Los Angeles, Cal.
Condon, Edward O’Meagher, Custom House, New Orleans, La.; connected with the office of the U. S. Supervising Architect, Washington, D. C., as an inspector of public buildings; served in the Union army during the Civil War.
Coney, Patrick H., lawyer, 316 Kansas Avenue, Topeka, Kan. He entered the Union army in 1863, at the age of 15 years, enlisting in the One Hundredth and Eleventh New York Infantry. He was detailed as dispatch bearer on Gen. McDougall’s staff, promoted as an orderly dispatch bearer on Gen. Nelson A. Miles’ staff, served in this capacity on to Appomatox and Lee’s surrender, and was transferred June 5, 1865, to Company H, Fourth New York Heavy Artillery. He served until October 5, 1865, when he was honorably discharged at Hart’s Island, 150N. Y. He was wounded at the battle of Peach Orchard in front of Petersburg, Va., on June 16, 1864, and rejoined his command from the hospital after sixty days’ convalescence. In addition to his law practice, he is general manager of the American Investment and Development Co., which is engaged in the promotion and development of 11,000 acres of mineral, gas, and oil lands in Benton county, Mo. Gen. Nelson A. Miles is president of the company.
Conlon, William L., Portsmouth, N. H.
Connery, William P., Wheeler and Pleasant Streets, Lynn, Mass.; recently candidate for mayor of Lynn.
Connolly, James, Coronado, Cal.
Connolly, Rev. Arthur T., Center and Creighton Streets, Roxbury (Boston), Mass.
Connor, Michael, 509 Beech Street, Manchester, N. H.
Conway, James L., 113 Worth Street, New York city.
Cooke, Rev. Michael J., Fall River, Mass. (Life member of the Society.)
Corcoran, John H., dry goods merchant, 587 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Mass.
Coughlin, John, 177 Water Street, Augusta, Me.
Cox, Michael F. (M. D., M. R. I. A.), 26 Merrion Square, Dublin, Ireland.
Cox, Michael H., 54 Commerce Street, Boston. Mass.
Cox, William T., 12 South Second Street, Elizabeth, N. J.; owner of Cox’s Towing Line; for three years chairman of the fire commissioners of Elizabeth; ex-chief of the Elizabeth Volunteer Fire Department.
Coyle, Rev. James, Taunton, Mass.
Coyle, Rev. John D., 79 Davenport Avenue, New Haven, Conn.
Crane, John, of Crane & MacMahon, Maritime Building, 8–10 Bridge Street, New York city; a veteran of the Civil War; member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion.
Crimmins, Hon. John D., 40 East 68th Street, New York city; a Life member of the Society; president-general of the organization in 1901 and 1902; a member of the New York Municipal Art Commission. Mr. Crimmins served as a park commissioner of New York city from 1883 to 1888, during which time he was treasurer and president of the board. He was a member of the Board of Visitors to West Point in 1894, and presidential elector (Democratic), in 1892 and 1904. He was appointed by President Roosevelt and served as a member of the Greater New York Charter Revision Commission. In 1894, he was a member of the New York State Constitutional Convention. Mr. Crimmins is a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce, and is officially connected with many railway, realty, and banking corporations. He is president of the Essex and Hudson Land Improvement Co.; president of the Port Richmond and Bergen Point Ferry Co.; president of the Bergen Point and Staten Island Ferry Co.; vice-president of the City Trust 151Co. of New York; vice-president of the Title Insurance Co. of New York; vice-president of the New York Mortgage and Security Co.; director of the Fifth Avenue Bank of New York, and also a director in the following companies: New York City Railway Co., Metropolitan Securities Co., the Century Realty Co., and the Chelsea Realty Co. He is prominently identified with the charities of the Roman Catholic Church as well as with non-sectarian charities. He is chairman of the executive committee of the trustees of St. Patrick’s Cathedral; member of the board of managers of the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum; member of the board of managers of St. Vincent’s Hospital; member of the board of trustees of St. John’s Guild, and also of the Provident Loan Society of New York. Mr. Crimmins is also a director of the City and Suburban Homes Co. of New York, which has for its object to provide model homes at reasonable cost for working people. He is a member of the following clubs: Catholic, Metropolitan, Lawyers, Democratic, Manhattan, and of the Wee Burn Golf Club, of which he was formerly president. He is likewise a member of the board of managers of the Sevilla Home for Children, a non-sectarian charity, and is also one of the managers of the Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents.
Crimmins, Lieut. Martin L., of the Nineteenth U. S. Infantry; a son of Hon. John D. Crimmins, of New York city.
Cronin, Capt. William, Rutland, Vt.
Croston, J. F. (M. D.), Emerson Street, Haverhill, Mass.
Cummings, Matthew J., Overseer of the Poor, Providence, R. I.
Cummins, Rev. John F., Rosindale (Boston), Mass.
Cunningham, James, 277 Congress Street, Portland, Me.
Curran, James, of the James Curran Manufacturing Co., 512–514 West 36th Street, New York city; a veteran of the Civil War.
Curry, Capt. P. S., contractor and builder, Lynn, Mass.; a veteran of the Civil War.
Curry, E. J., 69–71 East 89th Street, New York city.
Curtin, Jeremiah, Bristol, Vt.; author of Hero Tales of Ireland, Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland, Myths and Folk-Tales of the Russians, Western Slavs and Magyars; translator of works of Henryk Sienkiewicz. Mr. Curtin was acting U. S. Consul-General in Russia, 1865–’66; actively connected with the Bureau of Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, 1883–’91. He is one of the greatest of living philologists and linguists.
Daly, Hon. Joseph F. (LL. D.), Wall Street, New York city; Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, New York, 1890–’96; Justice of the New York Supreme Court, 1896–’98; member of the Board of Managers, Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum; member of the Advisory Board, St. Vincent’s Hospital.
152Danaher, Hon. Franklin M., Albany, N. Y.; member of the State Board of Law Examiners; many years Judge of the City Court of Albany.
Danvers, Robert E., 349–351 West 58th Street (the St. Albans), New York city; dealer in iron and steel.
Dasey, Charles V., Board of Trade Building, Broad Street, Boston, Mass.; steamship and insurance agent; general Eastern agent, Anchor Line S. S. Co., and of the Italian Royal Mail S. S. Co.; general agent, Insular Navigation Co.; general agency for ocean travel.
Davis, Dr. F. L., Biddeford, Me.
Davis, Hon. Robert T. (M. D.), Fall River, Mass. He was born in County Down, Ireland, 1823; was a member of the Massachusetts State Constitutional Convention, 1853; a state senator, 1858–1861, and member of the National Republican Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for president in 1860. In 1873, Dr. Davis was elected mayor of Fall River. In 1882, he was elected to Congress, and was reëlected in 1884 and 1886. He has been prominently identified with the manufacturing interests of Fall River, has been president of the Wampanoag and Stafford mills, and has also been officially connected with the Merchants’, Robeson and other mills.
Day, Joseph P., 932 Eighth Avenue, New York city.
Deeves, Richard, of Richard Deeves & Son, builders, 305–309 Broadway, New York city.
Delahanty, Dr. W. J., Trumbull Square, Worcester, Mass.
Delehanty, Hon. F. B., Judges’ Chambers, Court House, City Hall Park, New York; a Judge of the City Court.
Dempsey, George C., Lowell, Mass.
Dempsey, William P., treasurer and manager, the Dempsey Bleachery and Dye Works, Pawtucket, R. I.
Devlin, James H., 35 Parsons Street, Brighton (Boston), Mass.
Dixon, Richard, insurance, 52–54 William Street, New York city.
Donahoe, Col. John P., Wilmington, Del.
Donahue, Dan A., Essex Street, Lawrence, Mass.
Donoghoe, D. F. (M. D.), Holyoke, Mass.
Donovan, Daniel, 21 High Rock Street, Lynn, Mass.; an authority on heraldry, armorial bearings, etc., particularly as the same relate to Ireland.
Donovan, Henry F., editor and proprietor The Chicago Eagle, Teutonic Building, Chicago, Ill.; late colonel and inspector-general, Illinois National Guard.
Donovan, John W., of Larkin, Donovan & Co., real estate, mortgages, and insurance, 1228 Amsterdam Avenue, New York city.
Donovan, Col. William H., Lawrence, Mass.; commander of the Ninth Regiment, M. V. M.; served with the regiment in Cuba during the recent war with Spain.
153Doogue, William, Superintendent of Public Grounds, Boston, Mass.
Dooley, Michael F., Treasurer of the Union Trust Co., Providence, R. I.
Doran, Patrick L., Salt Lake City, Utah.
Dowd, James J., insurance, High Street, Holyoke, Mass.
Dowling, Hon. M. J., Olivia, Minn.
Dowling, Rev. Austin, Warren, R. I.
Doyle, Alfred L., of John F. Doyle & Sons, real estate agents, brokers and appraisers, 45 William Street, New York city.
Doyle, James, 50 Front Street, New York city; present oldest member of the flour trade in New York; member of the N. Y. Produce Exchange from the beginning; member of the Board of Managers of the Exchange, 1897–1901. He and his son, Nathaniel, are associated in trade as James Doyle & Company.
Doyle, John F., of John F. Doyle & Sons, 45 William Street, New York city. (Life member of the Society.)
Doyle, John F., Jr., of John F. Doyle & Sons, 45 William Street, New York city.
Doyle, John M., 14 South Third Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
Doyle, Nathaniel, of James Doyle & Co., flour, etc., 50 Front Street, New York city; member of the board of managers, N. Y. Produce Exchange; secretary of the exchange; member of the New York Club, Fifth Avenue and 35th Street.
Drummond, M. J., of M. J. Drummond & Co., 182 Broadway, New York city.
Duggan, John T. (M. D.), Worcester, Mass.
Dunn, Hon. Robert C., publisher of The Union, Princeton, Minn.; candidate in 1904 for governor of Minnesota.
Dunne, F. L., 328 Washington Street, Boston, Mass.
Dyer, Dr. William H., Dover, N. H.
Editor of “The Rosary Magazine,” Somerset, O. (Life membership in the Society. See page 25 of this volume.)
Egan, James T., lawyer, Banigan Building, Providence, R. I.
Egan, Maurice Francis (LL. D., J. U. D.), Professor of English Language and Literature, Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C.
Egan, Rev. M. H., rector, Church of the Sacred Heart, Lebanon, N. H.
Egan, Hon. Patrick, 271 Broadway, New York city; recently U. S. Minister to Chile.
Ellard, George W., 180 Lisbon Street, Lewiston, Me.
Emmet, Dr. J. Duncan, 91 Madison Avenue, New York city.
Emmet, Robert, 54 West 53d Street, New York city.
Emmet, Thomas Addis (M. D., LL. D.), 89 Madison Avenue, New York city (Life member of the Society); grand nephew of the Irish patriot, Robert Emmet.
154Eustace, Hon. Alexander C., of the law firm A. C. & J. P. Eustace, 334 East Water Street, Elmira, N. Y.; during the past fifteen years identified, as attorney or counsel, with many of the most important litigations before the courts in southern and western New York; was for three years, prior to 1893, president of the New York State Civil Service Commission.
Fallon, Hon. Joseph D. (LL. D.), 789 Broadway, South Boston, Mass.; justice of the South Boston Municipal Court; vice-president, Union Institution for Savings.
Fallon, Hon. Joseph P., 1900 Lexington Avenue, New York city; justice of the Ninth District Municipal Court.
Farley, Charles J., Department of Docks, New York city.
Farrell, James P., 95th Street and Shore Road, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Farrell, John F., Brander-Walsh Co., 89 Worth Street, New York city.
Farrell, John P., 230 Grove Street, New Haven, Conn.
Farrell, J. T. (M. D.), 16 Messer Street, Providence, R. I.
Farrelly, Frank T., 424 Main Street, Springfield, Mass.
Farrelly, Stephen, American News Co., New York city. (Life member of the Society.)
Fay, Martin, 55 Bainbridge Street, Roxbury (Boston), Mass.
Feeley, William J., treasurer of the W. J. Feeley Co., silversmiths and manufacturing jewelers, 185 Eddy Street, Providence, R. I.
Ferguson, Hugh, of Hugh Ferguson & Co., George Street, Charleston, S. C.
Finen, Rev. J. E., Tilton, N. H.
Finerty, Hon. John F., 69 Dearborn Street, Chicago, Ill.; editor of the Chicago Citizen; ex-member of Congress.
Finn, Rev. Thomas J., East Port Chester, Conn. (Hawthorne P. O.)
Fitzgerald, Rev. D. W., Penacook (Concord), N. H.
Fitzgerald, Hon. James, New York city; a justice of the New York Supreme Court.
Fitzpatrick, Edward, on the staff of the Louisville, Ky., Times; a resident of New Albany, Ind.; member of the committee to select books for the New Albany public library; was, from 1878 to 1885, Indiana correspondent of the Louisville Courier-Journal, reporting the legislature two terms, 1883–’85, for that paper, and at the same time was assistant to the chief clerk in the House of Representatives; was appointed a clerk in the U. S. Q. M. Depot at Jeffersonville, Ind., in 1885, but resigned to re-enter the employ of the Courier-Journal as political reporter in Louisville; was for four years on the Louisville Post; returned to the Courier-Journal; was transferred to the Times (the afternoon edition of the Courier-Journal), and has been on that paper for eleven years past. He is a keen and forceful writer, and is one of the ablest men in American journalism.
155Fitzpatrick, John B., real estate, etc., 23 Court Street, Boston, Mass.; has been deputy sheriff of Suffolk county, Mass.
Fitzpatrick, Thomas B., senior member of the firm Brown, Durrell & Co., importers and manufacturers, 104 Kingston Street, Boston, Mass.; Rand McNally Building, Chicago, Ill., and 11–19 West 19th Street, New York city; president of the Union Institution for Savings, Boston, and a director in the United States Trust Co. of that city.
Fitzpatrick, Rev. William H., 2221 Dorchester Avenue, Boston, Mass.
Flanagan, Andrew J. (D. D. S.), Main Street, Springfield, Mass.
Flannery, Capt. John, Savannah, Ga.; of John Flannery & Co., cotton factors and commission merchants; was a non-commissioned officer of the Irish Jasper Greens in garrison at Fort Pulaski, 1861; was later lieutenant and captain, C. S. A., serving under Gen. Joe Johnston and General Hood; became a partner, 1865, in the cotton firm, L. J. Guilmartin & Co., having a line of steamers from Charleston, S. C., to Palatka, Fla.; bought out the business in 1877; founded the house of John Flannery & Co.; became director and president of the Southern Bank of the State of Georgia; is ex-president of the Southern Cotton Exchange; captain, 1872–’98, of the Jasper Greens.
Fogarty, James A., 264 Blatchley Avenue, New Haven, Conn.; recently a police commissioner of New Haven.
Fogarty, Jeremiah W., Registry of Deeds, Boston, Mass.
Ford, Hon. Peter J., 501 Rodney Street, Wilmington, Del.
Fox, John J., 1908–10 Bathgate Avenue, New York city.
Foy, Julius L., lawyer, Rialto Building, St. Louis, Mo.
Franklin, A. H., 56 West 33d Street, New York city.
Gaffney, Thomas St. John, lawyer; member of the French Legion of Honor; 41 Riverside Drive, New York city.
Galligan, Edward F. (M. D.), Taunton, Mass.
Gallagher Patrick, contractor and builder, 11 East 59th Street, New York city. (Life member of the Society.)
Gargan, Hon. Thomas J., of the law firm Gargan, Keating & Brackett, Pemberton Building, Boston, Mass.; Life member of the Society, and president-general of the same in 1899 and 1900; member of the Boston Transit Commission; director, United States Trust Co.; director, the Columbian National Life Insurance Co.
Garrigan, Rt. Rev. Philip J. (D. D.), bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Sioux City, Iowa.
Garvan, Hon. Patrick, 236 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, Conn. (Life member of the Society.)
Garvey, Patrick J., lawyer, Holyoke, Mass.
Gavin, Michael, of M. Gavin & Co., wholesale grocers and cotton factors, 232–4 Front Street, Memphis, Tenn.
Gavin, Dr. P. F., 331 Broadway, South Boston, Mass.
156Geary, William M., headquarters K. of C., New Haven, Conn.
Geoghegan, Charles A., 537–9 West Broadway, New York city.
Geoghegan, Joseph, Salt Lake City, Utah (Life member of the Society); vice-president of the board of education, Salt Lake City; director of the Utah National Bank; director of the Utah Loan and Building Association; director of the Butler Liberal Manufacturing Co.; all three concerns of Salt Lake City; also director in many other corporations. He is general agent in Utah for Swift & Co., of Chicago; Borden’s Condensed Milk Co., of New York; the American Can Co., of New York, and the Pennsylvania Salt Mfg. Co., of Philadelphia. He is broker for the following: the Western Sugar Refining Co., of San Francisco, Cal.; the Utah Sugar Co., of Lehi, Utah; the Amalgamated Sugar Co., of Ogden, Utah; the Idaho Sugar Co., of Idaho Falls, Idaho, and the Fremont County Sugar Co., of Sugar City, Idaho.
Geoghegan, Joseph G., 20 East 73d Street, New York city. (Life member of the Society.)
Geoghegan, Walter F., 537–539 West Broadway, New York city.
Giblin, William, Mercantile Safe Deposit Co., 120 Broadway, New York city.
Gillespie, George J., of the law firm Gillespie & O’Connor, 56 Pine Street, New York city; trustee, Catholic Summer School (Cliff Haven); president of the Champlain Club there; member of the board of managers of the Catholic Club, New York city; member of the board of managers of the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum; vice-president of the Particular Council, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, New York city; recently tax commissioner of the city of New York. (Life member of the Society.)
Gilman, John E., 43 Hawkins Street, Boston, Mass.; was recently appointed Adjutant-General on the staff of the national commander-in-chief, Grand Army of the Republic. In August, 1862, Mr. Gilman enlisted in Co. E, Twelfth Massachusetts Infantry (Webster Regiment), and participated in the campaigns under Generals Pope, McClellan, Burnside, Hooker and Meade up to the battle of Gettysburg, Penn., where, on July 2, 1863, his right arm was shot off near the shoulder. Securing his discharge from the army on September 28, 1863, he returned to Boston. In 1864, he entered the service of the state and served in various departments until 1883, when he was made Settlement Clerk of the Directors of Public Institutions of Boston. He was appointed Soldiers’ Relief Commissioner April 2, 1901. He has been a comrade of Posts 15, 7, and 26, G. A. R., since 1868, being commander of the latter post in 1888. He was Department Inspector of the Massachusetts G. A. R. in 1895; Junior Vice-Commander in 1896; Senior Vice-Commander in 1897; Delegate at Large in 1898; and Department Commander in 1899.
157Goodwin, John, of the John Goodwin Co., dressmakers’ supplies, 70–72 West 23d Street, New York city. (Life member of the Society.)
Goff, Hon. John W., Recorder, New York city.
Gorman, Dennis J., assessors’ office, City Hall, Boston, Mass.
Gorman, William, lawyer, Stephen Girard Building, Philadelphia, Pa.; member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the American Academy of Social and Political Science, the Alumni Association of the University of Pennsylvania, and other organizations. He is officially connected with the Commonwealth Title Insurance and Trust Co., of Philadelphia. (Life member of the Society.)
Gray, Dr. Joseph F., 10 North Hammels Avenue, Rockaway Beach, L. I., N. Y.
Griffin, Martin I. J., 2009 North 12th Street, Philadelphia, Pa.; editor and publisher American Catholic Historical Researches.
Griffin, Rev. P. J., Holyoke, Mass.
Griffin, Rt. Rev. Mgr. Thomas (D. D.), St. John’s church, Worcester, Mass.
Guiney, John, Biddeford, Me.
Haggerty, J. Henry, of the Haggerty Refining Co., oils, 50 South Street, New York city.
Haigney, John, 439 Fifty-eighth Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Hall, Edward A., 66 Spring Street, Springfield, Mass.; secretary and treasurer of the Automatic Postal and Commercial Service Co.; director, Springfield Coöperative Bank; vice-president, Mercy Hospital Corporation; chairman of board of directors, Connecticut Valley Historical Society; secretary, Good Shepherd Corporation; president, Central Council of the St. Vincent de Paul society of the Roman Catholic diocese of Springfield, Mass. Mr. Hall has devoted close attention to the history of the Irish element in western Massachusetts, and has written much and interestingly on the subject.
Hanlon, Marcus, P. O. Box 1920, New York city.
Hanrahan, John D. (M. D.), Rutland, Vt.; surgeon in the U. S. Navy during the Civil War; ex-postmaster of Rutland; first president of the Rutland County Medical and Surgical Society.
Harbison, Hon. Alexander, Hartford, Conn., recently mayor of Hartford.
Harrington, Rev. J. C., rector of St. Joseph’s church, Lynn, Mass.
Harrington, Rev. John M., Orono, Me.
Harrington, William, Manchester, N. H.
Harris, Charles N., 89 Madison Avenue, New York city.
Harrison, A. J., 514 East 23d Street, New York city.
Harson, M. Joseph, Catholic Club, 120 Central Park South, New York city; member of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
158Hart, Frank M., 62 Ascension Street, Passaic, N. J.
Harty, Rev. John, rector of the church of the Sacred Heart, Pawtucket, R. I.
Haverty, Frank, 361 West 27th Street, New York city.
Hayes, John, Concord Street, Manchester, N. H.
Hayes, John F. (M. D.), 15 South Elm Street, Waterbury, Conn.
Hayes, Nicholas J., Fire Commissioner, 157–159 East 67th Street, New York city.
Hayes, Col. Patrick E., Pawtucket, R. I.
Hayes, Timothy J., 688 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Healy, John F., general superintendent of the Davis Coal and Coke Co., Thomas, Tucker county, West Virginia.
Healy, Col. John G., insurance, 117 Sherman Avenue, New Haven, Conn.; a captain in the Ninth Connecticut Infantry, April, 1862, to October, 1864. Upon the consolidation of the regiment, in the latter year, into the Ninth battalion he, being the senior captain, was given command of the latter. On December 1, 1864, he was promoted lieutenant-colonel and as such commanded the battalion until the same was mustered out. Since the war he has been vice-president of the Nineteenth Army Corps Association. When Luzon B. Morris was governor of Connecticut, Col. Healy served on his staff as assistant adjutant-general. Col. Healy is a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, of the Army and Navy Club of Connecticut, and of the Second Company of the Governor’s Foot Guard, New Haven.
Healy, Richard, Main Street, Worcester, Mass.
Hennessy, Dr. Daniel, Bangor, Me.
Hennessy, Michael E., on the staff of the Boston Daily Globe; a newspaper man of wide experience and exceptional ability. One of the most highly valued men on the Globe, he is regularly assigned to “cover” events of national importance and annually travels thousands of miles in the service of his paper.
Henry, Charles T., 120 Liberty Street, New York city.
Hickey, James G., manager of the United States Hotel, Boston, Mass. (Life member of the Society.)
Hickey, Michael J., manufacturer, Haverhill, Mass.
Hickey, Rev. William A., Clinton, Mass.
Hicks, Michael, 147 West 121st Street, New York city.
Hogan, John W., lawyer, Providence, R. I.; recently a candidate for Congress.
Holland, John P., 65 Nelson Place, Newark, N. J.; inventor of the submarine torpedo boat.
Horigan, Cornelius, Biddeford, Me.; has been a member of the state legislature of Maine.
159Howes, Osborne, secretary and treasurer of the Board of Fire Underwriters, 55 Kilby Street, Boston, Mass. He is a descendent of David O’Killia (O’Kelly), who settled on Cape Cod as early as 1657, and who is mentioned in the old Yarmouth, Mass., records as “the Irishman.” The records show that at the close of King Philip’s War, O’Killia was assessed his proportionate part toward defraying the expenses of that struggle.
Hughes, Rev. Christopher, Fall River, Mass.
Hurley, John E., Remington Printing Co., Providence, R. I.
Jameson, W. R., 1786 Bathgate Avenue, borough of the Bronx, New York city.
Jenkinson, Richard C., 678 High Street, Newark, N. J.; of R. C. Jenkinson & Co., manufacturers of metal goods; candidate for mayor of Newark in 1901; was president of the Newark Board of Trade in 1898–’99 and 1900; has been a director in the Newark Gas Co.; was president of the New Jersey Commission to the Pan-American Exposition, and one of the vice-presidents of the Exposition, representing the state of New Jersey by appointment of Governor Voorhees.
Jennings, Michael J., 753 Third Avenue, New York city.
Johnson, James G., of James G. Johnson & Co., 649, 651, 653 and 655 Broadway, New York city.
Jordan, Michael J., lawyer, 42 Court Street, Boston, Mass.
Joyce, Bernard J., salesman, 82 Devonshire Street, Boston, Mass.
Kane, Dr. John, Lexington, Mass.
Keating, Patrick M., of the law firm Gargan, Keating & Brackett, Pemberton Building, Boston, Mass.
Keenan, John J., Public Library, Copley Square, Boston, Mass.
Kehoe, John F., 26 Broadway, New York city; officially connected with many corporations. (Life member of the Society.)
Kelly, Eugene, Temple Court Building, New York city.
Kelly, John F., 284 West Housatonic Avenue, Pittsfield, Mass.
Kelly, Michael F. (M. D.), Fall River, Mass.
Kelly, T. P., 544 West 22d Street, New York city; of T. P. Kelly & Co., manufacturers of black leads, foundry facings, supplies, etc.; mills in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.
Kelly, William J., 9 Dove Street, Newburyport, Mass.
Kelly, William J., insurance, Kittery, Me., and Portsmouth, N. H.
Kenedy, P. J., 3 and 5 Barclay Street, New York city.
Kennedy, Charles F., Brewer, Me.
Kennedy, Daniel, 197 Berkeley Place, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Kennedy, Roderick J., 924 Sixth Avenue, New York city.
Kenney, James W., Union Brewing Co., Roxbury (Boston), Mass.; vice-president and director, Federal Trust Co., Boston.
160Kent, Daniel V., Kansas City, Mo.
Kerby, John E., architect, 452 Fifth Avenue, New York city.
Kiernan, Patrick, 265 West 43d Street, New York city.
Killoren, Hon. Andrew, Dover, N. H.; recently a senator of New Hampshire.
Kilroy, Patrick, lawyer, Main Street, Springfield, Mass.
Kilroy, Philip (M. D.), “Glen Rath,” Springfield, Mass.
Kinney, Thomas I., Whitney Avenue, New Haven, Conn.; recently candidate for mayor of New Haven.
Kinsela, John F., 509 Gorham Street, Lowell, Mass.
Kinsella, James E., 1337 St. Clair Street, Cleveland, O.
Kivel, Hon. John, Dover, N. H.
Knights of St. Patrick, San Francisco, Cal. (Life membership.)
Lally, Frank, 161 Saratoga Street, East Boston, Mass.
Lamb, Matthew B., 516 Main Street, Worcester, Mass.
Lamson, Col. Daniel S., Weston, Mass.; Lieutenant-Colonel commanding Sixteenth Regiment (Mass.), 1861; A. A. G., Norfolk, 1862; served on staff of General Hooker; is a member of the Society of Colonial Wars, Sons of the American Revolution, and Military Order of the Loyal Legion; one of his ancestors landed at Ipswich, Mass., in 1632, and received a grant of 350 acres; another ancestor, Samuel, of Reading, Mass., participated in King Philip’s War and had a son in the expedition of 1711. Another member of the family, Samuel of Weston, commanded a company at Concord, Mass., April 19, 1775, and was major and colonel of the Third Middlesex Regiment for many years, dying in 1795.
Lappin, J. J., 7 Grant Street, Portland, Me.
Lavelle, John, Inquiry Division, Post-office, Cleveland, O.
Lawler, Thomas B., 70 Fifth Avenue, New York city; with Ginn & Company, publishers; member of the American Oriental Society and of the Archæological Society of America.
Lawless, Hon. Joseph T., lawyer, Norfolk, Va.; recently Secretary of State, Virginia.
Leahy, Matthew W., 257 Franklin Street, New Haven, Conn.
Leary, William, 450 Fifth Avenue, New York city.
Lee, Hon. Thomas Z., of the law firm Barney & Lee, Industrial Trust Building, Providence, R. I.
Lenehan, John J., of the law firm Lenehan & Dowley, 165 Broadway, New York city. (Life member of the Society.)
Lenihan, Rev. B. C., Fort Dodge, Iowa.
Lenihan, Rt. Rev. M. C., bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Great Falls, Mont.
Leonard, Peter F., 343 Harvard Street, Cambridge, Mass.
161Linehan, Hon. John C., Concord, N. H.; State Insurance Commissioner of New Hampshire; Treasurer-General of the Society; has been a member of the Council of the Governor of New Hampshire; commander of Brown Post, No. 31, G. A. R., for three years; commander of the G. A. R., Department of New Hampshire, two years; president of the N. H. Veteran Association, two years; Junior Vice Commander-in-Chief; member of Pension Committee of the National Encampment; director of the Gettysburg Battlefield Association, ten years; recently a leading candidate at Buffalo, N. Y., for National Commander-in-Chief; president, board of trustees of New Hampshire State Industrial School; recipient of an honorary degree from Dartmouth College. He is an authority on the early history of the Irish in New England, and has written many articles on the subject.
Linehan, John J., manufacturer, Springfield, Mass.
Linehan, Rev. T. P., Biddeford, Me.
Linehan, Timothy P., Wolfe Tavern, Newburyport, Mass.
Lonergan, Thomas S., Hotel Raleigh, Broadway, New York city.
Loughlin, Peter J., Court House, Chambers Street, New York city.
Lovell, David B. (M. D.), 32 Pearl Street, Worcester, Mass.
Luddy, Timothy F., Waterbury, Conn.
Lyman, William, 51 East 122d Street, New York city.
Lynch, Bernard E., lawyer, 42 Church Street, New Haven, Conn.
Lynch, Eugene, 24 India Street, Boston, Mass.
Lynch, J. H., Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Lynch, John E., school principal, Worcester, Mass.
Lynch, Thomas J., lawyer, Augusta, Me.
Lynn, John, 48 Bond Street, New York city.
Lynn, Hon. Wauhope, 257 Broadway, New York city; recently a judge of one of the New York courts.
MacDonnell, John T. F., paper manufacturer, Holyoke, Mass.
Madden, Joseph, Keene, N. H.
Magenis, James P., lawyer, 62–65 Chadwick Building, Tremont Street, Boston, Mass.
Magrane, P. B., dry goods merchant, Lynn, Mass.
Magrath, P. F., 244 Front Street, Binghamton, N. Y.; with the George A. Kent Company, Binghamton, wholesale cigar manufacturers. He has been connected with this house for the past twenty-six years, for nineteen of which he has been its Eastern representative. (Life member of the Society.)
Maguire, P. J., 204 Madison Street, New York city.
Maher, Stephen J. (M. D.), 212 Orange Street, New Haven, Conn.
Mahony, William H., dry goods, 844 Eighth Avenue, New York city. (Life member of the Society.)
162Malloy, Gen. A. G., El Paso, Texas; a veteran of the Mexican and Civil wars; during the latter conflict he was successively major, colonel and brigadier-general; has been collector of the port of Galveston.
Maloney, Cornelius, publisher of the Daily Democrat, Waterbury, Conn.
Maloney, Dr. Thomas E., North Main Street, Fall River, Mass.; state commissioner on veterinary medicine.
Maneely, John, 309–311 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
Marshall, Rev. George F., rector of St. Paul’s church, Milford, N. H.
Martin, Hon. John B., penal institutions commissioner, 762 Fourth Street, South Boston, Mass.
McAdoo, Hon. William, President-General of the society; police commissioner of the city of New York; ex-member of Congress; ex-assistant secretary of the navy; member of the law firm McAdoo & Crosby, 25 Broad Street, New York city.
McAleer, Dr. George, treasurer Bay State Savings Bank, Worcester, Mass.
McAlevy, John F., salesman, 26–50 North Main Street, Pawtucket, R. I.
McAuliffe, John F., care the Livermore & Knight Co., Westminster Street, Providence, R. I.
McCaffrey, Hugh, manufacturer, Fifth and Berks Streets, Philadelphia, Pa. (Life member of the Society.)
McCall, John A., president of the New York Life Insurance Co., New York city. (Life member of the Society.)
McCarrick, James W., Clyde’s Steam Lines, Norfolk, Va.
McCarthy, Charles, Jr., Portland, Me.
McCarthy, George W., of Dennett & McCarthy, dry goods, Portsmouth, N. H.
McCarthy, Patrick J., lawyer, Industrial Trust Building, Providence, R. I.; has been a member of the General Assembly of Rhode Island.
McCaughan, Rev. John P., Holyoke, Mass.
McCaughey, Bernard, of Bernard McCaughey & Co., house furnishers, 93 to 105 North Main Street, Pawtucket, R. I.
McCauley, Terence, 116 Birch Street, Cleveland, O.
McClean, Rev. Peter H., Milford, Conn.
McConway, William, The McConway & Torley Co., Pittsburg, Pa. (Life member of the Society.)
McCormick, Edward R., 15 West 38th Street, New York city.
McCoy, Rev. John J., rector of the Church of the Holy Name, Chicopee, Mass.
McCreery, Robert, room 427, Produce Exchange, New York city.
McCullough, John, 55 Maxfield Street, New Bedford, Mass.
McDonald, Mitchell C., care Navy Department, Washington, D. C.; paymaster U. S. N.
McDonnell, Robert E., lawyer, 206 Broadway, New York city.
163McDonough, Hon. John J., Fall River, Mass.; justice of the second district court of Bristol county, Mass.
McEldowney, W. A., 225 Sixth Street, Ashland, N. J.
McElroy, Rev. Charles J., rector of St. Mary’s church, Derby, Conn.
McEvoy, John W., 137 Central Street, Lowell, Mass.
McGann, James E., real estate, 902 Chapel Street, New Haven, Conn.
McGauran, Michael S. (M. D.), Lawrence, Mass.
McGillicuddy, Hon. D. J., of the law firm McGillicuddy & Morey, Lewiston, Me.; ex-mayor of Lewiston.
McGinness, Col. John R., ordnance corps, U. S. A.; care War Department, Washington, D. C.
McGolrick, Rev. E. J., 84 Herbert Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.
McGolrick, Rt. Rev. James (D. D.), bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Duluth, Minn. (Life member of the Society.)
McGovern, Joseph P., of J. P. McGovern & Bro., fur brokers, 193 Greene Street, New York city.
McGowan, James, Wall Street, New York city. (Life member of the Society.)
McGowan, P. F., manufacturer, 224 East 12th Street, New York city; member of the board of education. (Life member of the Society.)
McGuire, Edward J., lawyer, 52 Wall Street, New York city.
McGurrin, F. E., of F. E. McGurrin & Co., investment bankers, Security Trust Building, Salt Lake City, Utah; president of the Salt Lake Security & Trust Co.
McIntyre, John F., of the law firm Cantor, Adams & McIntyre, 25 Broad Street, New York city.
McKelleget, George F., of the law firm R. J. & G. F. McKelleget, Pemberton Building, Boston, Mass.
McKelleget, Robert J., of the law firm R. J. & G. F. McKelleget, Pemberton Building, Boston, Mass.
McLaughlin, Edward A., lawyer, Tremont Building, Boston, Mass.; was for several years clerk of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
McLaughlin, Henry V. (M. D.), Kent Street, Brookline, Mass.
McLaughlin, John, builder, 348 East 81st Street, New York city.
McLaughlin, Marcus J., 250 West 25th Street, New York city.
McLaughlin, Thomas, Hallowell, Me.
McLaughlin, Thomas F., 19 East 87th Street, New York city.
McMahon, James, 51 Chambers Street, New York city.
McMahon, Rev. John W. (D. D.), rector of St. Mary’s church, Charlestown (Boston), Mass.
McManus, Col. John, clothing merchant, 145–147 Westminster Street, Providence, R. I.; served on the staff of Governor Davis, of Rhode Island.
164McManus, Gen. Thomas, 333 Main Street, Hartford, Conn.; adjutant and major of the Twenty-fifth regiment, Connecticut infantry, in the Civil War; recently quartermaster-general of Connecticut with the rank of brigadier-general.
McManus, Michael, clothing merchant, 670 Washington Street, Boston, Mass.
McManus, Rev. Michael T., rector of St. Mary’s Church of the Assumption, Brookline, Mass.
McNamee, Hon. John H. H., 51 Frost Street, Cambridge, Mass.; recently mayor of Cambridge.
McOwen, Anthony, 515 Wales Avenue, borough of the Bronx, New York city.
McPartland, John E., Park Street, New Haven, Conn.
McWalters, John P., 141 Broadway, New York city.
McQuade, E. A., 75–77 Market Street, Lowell, Mass.
McQuaid, Rev. William P., rector of St. James church, Harrison Avenue, Boston, Mass.
McSweeney, Edward F., 4 Liberty Square, Boston, Mass.
Meade, Richard W., 621 Broadway, New York city; son of the first president-general of the society.
Mellen, James H., 119 Providence Street, Worcester, Mass.; has been a member of the Massachusetts legislature.
Mellen, Dr. W. M. E., Chicopee, Mass.; ex-mayor of Chicopee.
Milholland, John E., Witherspoon Building, Philadelphia, Pa.; president of the Batcheller Pneumatic Tube Co., of Philadelphia; president of the Pneumatic Dispatch Manufacturing Co., of Pennsylvania; director in the Pearsall Pneumatic Tube and Power Co., of New York, and a director in the Pneumatic Transit Co., of New Jersey. Under him the successful pneumatic tubes of the large diameter have been constructed, and it is largely due to his energy and effort that the U. S. post-office department now considers a part of its general delivery system the pneumatic tube service. He is a member of the Transportation Club of New York, the New York Press Club, the Republican Club, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, and a number of other organizations.
Molony, Henry A., of Molony & Carter, 16 New Street, Charleston, S. C.
Monaghan, Hon. James Charles, chief of the Bureau of Statistics of the U. S. Department of Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C.; formerly U. S. consul at Mannheim and at Chemnitz; recently professor of Commerce, University of Wisconsin.
Monaghan, Rt. Rev. John J. (D. D.), bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Wilmington, Del.
Montfort, Richard, Louisville, Ky.; chief engineer of the Louisville & Nashville R. R.
165Montgomery, Gen. Phelps, 39 Church Street, New Haven, Conn.
Moore, O’Brien, president and general manager of The Citizen Printing and Publishing Co., Tucson, Ariz. On the breaking out of the war with Spain, he entered the service as lieutenant-colonel of the Second West Virginia Infantry. After a year’s service, and peace being declared with Spain, he became lieutenant-colonel of U. S. Volunteers for the operations in the Philippines, where he served for eighteen months, until his regiment was mustered out. He then settled in Tucson, and is now head of a valuable newspaper plant, which issues a daily and a weekly. (Life member of the Society.)
Moran, Col. James, Providence, R. I.; a veteran of the Civil War. He was appointed second lieutenant in the Third regiment, Rhode Island Volunteers, by Special Orders 53, A. G. O., R. I., Aug. 27, 1861; was commissioned second lieutenant, Fifth Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, Nov. 5, 1861; mustered in, Dec. 16, 1861; in command of Company A, from Aug. 8, 1862, until Sept. 20, 1862; assumed command of Company D, Sept. 26, 1862; was commissioned captain and mustered in as such Feb. 14, 1863; on General Court Martial, July, 1863; in command of Fort Amory, at Newberne, N. C., from Sept. 1, 1863, until Oct. 15, 1863; assumed command of Post, at Hatteras Inlet, N. C., April 21, 1864; in command of Forts Foster and Parke, at Roanoke Island, from May 2, 1864, until January, 1865; mustered out Jan. 17, 1865. In May, 1873, he was commissioned colonel of the Rhode Island Guards regiment, and in June, 1887, became colonel of the Second regiment, Brigade of Rhode Island Militia.
Moran, Dr. James, 333 West 51st Street, New York city.
Morgan, John, 44 West 46th Street, New York city.
Morrissey, Very Rev. Andrew (C. S. C., LL. D.), president of the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.
Morrissy, Thomas, 48–50 West 14th Street, New York city.
Moseley, Edward A., Washington, D. C.; president-general of the Society in 1897 and 1898. He succeeded to the position, in the former year, on the death of Admiral Meade, who was the first president-general of the organization. Mr. Moseley is secretary of the U. S. Interstate Commerce Commission. He is ninth in descent from Lieut. Thaddeus Clark, who came from Ireland, and died in Portland, Me., May 16, 1690. Clark was lieutenant of a company of men engaged in the defence of Falmouth, now Portland, during the Indian War. He fell into ambuscade with his company while making a reconnoitre, and was killed with twelve of his men. Mr. Moseley is also a descendant of Deputy-Governor Cleeves (or Cleaves), a founder of Portland, formerly Falmouth, and is sixth in descent from Lieut. John Brown, of Belfast, Me., who came with his father from Londonderry, Ire., and was one of the settlers of Londonderry, N. H.; Brown was chairman of the first 166Board of Selectmen of Belfast, Me., chosen Nov. 11, 1773, ’74 and ’75; he removed from Londonderry, N. H. While residing there he had been a commissioned officer in the Provincial Army, and had served in the French War. Mr. Moseley is also of patriotic Revolutionary stock, and is a member of the Society of the Cincinnati.
Moynahan, Bartholomew, lawyer, 120 Broadway, New York city; official stenographer to the New York Supreme Court.
Mullen, John F., 26 Trask Street, Providence, R. I.
Murphy, D. P., Jr., 31 Barclay Street, New York city.
Murphy, Edward J., of the Edward J. Murphy Co., real estate brokers, Springfield, Mass.
Murphy, Frank J., 44 Boston Street, Salem, Mass.
Murphy, Fred C., of the Edward J. Murphy Co., Springfield, Mass.
Murphy, James R., lawyer, 27 School Street, Boston, Mass.
Murphy, Hon. John R., lawyer, Boston, Mass.
Murray, John F., captain of police, Cambridge, Mass.; residence, 9 Avon Street.
Murray, Michael J., lawyer, 27 School Street, Boston, Mass.
Murray, Thomas Hamilton, 36 Newbury Street, Boston, Mass.; Secretary-General of the Society; a newspaper man of twenty years’ experience, during which he has been editorially connected with journals in Boston and Lawrence, Mass., Providence, R. I., and Bridgeport and Meriden, Conn.; has devoted much attention to historical research, particularly in relation to the Irish element in American history, and has delivered addresses on the subject before the New England Historic, Genealogical Society; the Rhode Island Historical Society; the Phi Kappa Sigma of Brown University; the Boston Charitable Irish Society (founded 1737), and other organizations; is the author of a number of papers, pamphlets and books.
Naphen, Hon. Henry F., lawyer, 42 Court Street, Boston, Mass.; member of the Boston School Board, 1882–5; state senator, 1885–6; member of Congress, 1899–1903.
Neagle, Rev. Richard, Malden, Mass.
O’Beirne, Gen. James R., 290 Broadway, New York city. In military life he has held every commissioned rank up to brevet brigadier-general of volunteers; has also been provost marshal, District of Columbia; deputy U. S. marshal, District of Columbia; register of wills, District of Columbia; editor Sunday Gazette, Washington, D. C.; special agent U. S. Indian affairs; special agent U. S. treasury department; assistant U. S. commissioner of immigration at New York city; commissioner of charities, New York city; commander U. S. Medal of Honor Legion. In business life has been president of Yonkers Electric Light Co.; secretary of Flemington Coal and Coke Co. of West Virginia, and treasurer of Manhattan Distilling Co. In social life, president of the United Irish societies 167of New York city and vicinity, and member of various clubs and other organizations.
O’Brien, Hon. C. D., lawyer, Globe Building, St. Paul, Minn.; prosecuting attorney of Ramsey county, Minn., from 1874 to 1878; assistant U. S. district attorney from 1870 to 1873; mayor of St. Paul from 1883 to 1885.
O’Brien, Rev. James J., Somerville, Mass.; a son of the late Mayor Hugh O’Brien of Boston, Mass.
O’Brien, John D., Bank of Minnesota Building, St. Paul, Minn.; of the law firm Stevens, O’Brien, Cole & Albrecht.
O’Brien, Capt. Laurence, 70 Beach Street, New Haven, Conn.; a veteran of the Civil War. He enlisted in the Ninth Connecticut Infantry (an Irish regiment), Aug. 30, 1861; assisted Capt. Patrick Garvey in organizing Company B, and was commissioned first lieutenant of the company. He was made captain of Company D, Oct. 15, 1862, and participated with his regiment in all the movements of the latter. At one period during the war he was provost marshal and military judge of the Parish of St. James, Louisiana. He became identified with the Fenian movement, and in 1867 went to Ireland, like many other gallant officers, in furtherance of the cause of Irish freedom. The Croffut-Morris history of Connecticut in the Civil War speaks of Captain O’Brien as “a brave and efficient officer, and fertile in expedients.”
O’Brien, Hon. Morgan, J. (LL. D.), 42 West 44th Street, New York city; a justice of the New York Supreme Court; trustee of the New York Public Library.
O’Brien, Patrick, contractor and builder, 399 South Broadway, Lawrence, Mass.
O’Brien, Thomas, real estate and insurance, 155 Main Street, Pawtucket, R. I.; an alderman of the city of Pawtucket in 1895, 1896, 1897 and 1898; member of the General Assembly of Rhode Island in 1899–1900 and 1902.
O’Byrne, M. A., 370 West 118th Street, New York city.
O’Callaghan, P. J., Lawrence, Mass.
O’Callaghan, Rev. Denis (D. D.), rector of St. Augustine’s church, South Boston, Mass.
O’Connell, J. C. (M. D)., Medical Board, U. S. Pension office, Washington, D. C.; brother of Col. John J. O’Connell of the Thirtieth U. S. Infantry.
O’Connell, John, 302 West End Avenue, New York city.
O’Connell, John F., 306 Broadway, Providence, R. I.
O’Connell, P. A., vice-president of the Wm. Filene’s Sons Co., dry goods, 453–463 Washington Street, Boston, Mass.
O’Connor, Edward, 302 Broadway, New York city.
O’Connor, Hon. J. J., 414–416 Carroll Street, Elmira, N. Y. (Life member of the Society.)
168O’Doherty, Rev. James, Haverhill, Mass. (Life member of the Society.)
O’Doherty, Hon. Matt., Louisville, Ky.; a judge of the Circuit Court.
O’Donnell, Rev. James H., Norwalk, Conn.
O’Donnell, Hon. John B., lawyer, Northampton, Mass.; ex-mayor of Northampton.
O’Donovan, Jeremiah (Rossa), editor The United Irishman, 15 Vandewater Street, New York city.
O’Dwyer, Hon. E. F., 37 West 76th Street, New York city; chief justice of the City Court of New York.
O’Farrell, P. A., Waldorf-Astoria, New York city. (Life member of the Society.)
O’Flaherty, James, advertising, 22 North William Street, New York city.
O’Flaherty, John (M. D.), Hartford, Conn. (died July 31, 1904); served during the Civil War as assistant surgeon One Hundred and Seventieth Regiment, New York Volunteers (of Corcoran’s Legion); was mustered out June 15, 1865; located in Hartford; was a member of the State, County and City medical societies, and was elected president of the last named on Jan. 4, 1904. He was one of the promoters of St. Francis’ Hospital, Hartford, took a great deal of interest in its affairs, and had been president of its staff; was also a member of the city board of health. Dr. O’Flaherty leaves a wife and three daughters,—Miss Mary P. O’Flaherty, teacher of Greek in the Holyoke, Mass., High school; Miss Anna P. O’Flaherty, a teacher at the New Park Avenue school; and Dr. Ellen P. O’Flaherty of Hartford, who had of late assisted her father in his practice. Dr. O’Flaherty was twice married, his first wife, who died in 1880, having been Miss Hannah Pembroke, a teacher in the South School District. In 1886, Dr. O’Flaherty married Mrs. Ellen Duggan of Hartford.
O’Gorman, Hon. J. A., 312 West 54th Street, New York city; a justice of the New York Supreme Court.
O’Gorman, Thomas A., The O’Gorman Co., dry goods, Providence, R. I.
O’Hagan, Thomas (Ph. D.), 151 Mutual Street, Toronto, Canada.
O’Keefe, Edmund, superintendent of buildings, New Bedford, Mass.
O’Keefe, John A., lawyer, Lynn, Mass.; formerly Principal of the Lynn High school.
O’Leary, Jeremiah, 275 Fifty-eighth Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.
O’Leary, P. J., 161 West 13th Street, New York city.
O’Loughlin, Patrick, lawyer, 23 Court Street, Boston, Mass.
O’Malley, Thomas F., lawyer, 21 Dane Street, Somerville, Mass.
O’Meara, Maurice, of the Maurice O’Meara Co., paper manufacturers, 448 Pearl Street, New York city.
O’Neil, Hon. Joseph H., president of the Federal Trust Co., Boston, Mass.; formerly a member of Congress; was later U. S. Treasurer at Boston.
O’Neil, Rev. John P., Peterborough, N. H.
169O’Neill, Rev. Daniel H., 935 Main Street, Worcester, Mass.
O’Neill, Rev. D. P., Westchester, N. Y.
O’Neill, Francis Q., Charleston, S. C., of the firm Bernard O’Neill & Sons (house founded in 1845); president of the Hibernia Trust and Savings Bank, Charleston; president of the Standard Truck Package Co.; president of the Riverside Paper Box Factory; director, First National Bank; director, Equitable Fire Insurance Co.; an alderman of Charleston, and mayor pro tem. of the city; president of the Charleston Country Club; member of the Board of Trustees of the College of Charleston.
O’Neill, James L., 220 Franklin Street, Elizabeth, N. J.; connected with the Elizabeth post-office for the past fifteen years; has been president of the Young Men’s Father Mathew T. A. Society, and treasurer of St. Patrick’s Alliance, Elizabeth. He was one of the prime movers in the projection and completion of a monument to the late Mayor Mack of Elizabeth.
O’Rourke, Hon. Jeremiah, of J. O’Rourke & Sons, architects, 756 Broad Street, Newark, N. J.; U. S. Supervising Architect under President Cleveland. (Life member of the Society.)
O’Rourke, John F., consulting and contracting engineer, 26 Nassau Street, New York city.
O’Sullivan, Humphrey, treasurer of the O’Sullivan Rubber Co., Lowell, Mass.
O’Sullivan, James, president of the O’Sullivan Rubber Co., Lowell, Mass.
O’Sullivan, John, with the H. B. Claflin Co., Church Street, New York city.
O’Sullivan, Sylvester J., 66 Liberty Street, New York city, manager of the New York office of the United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co., of Baltimore, Md.
Owens, Joseph E., of the law firm Ketcham & Owens, 189 Montague Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Patterson, Rev. George J., rector of St. Vincent’s church, South Boston, Mass.
Perry, Dr. Charles J., World Building, New York city.
Phelan, Hon. James D., Phelan Building, San Francisco, Cal.; recently mayor of San Francisco.
Phelan, James J., 16 Exchange Place, New York city; president of the Traders’ and Travelers’ Accident Co.; treasurer of the King’s County Refrigerating Co., Astoria Cordage Co., and the Pontiac Building Co.; director in the Stuyvesant Insurance Co. When Ferdinand de Lesseps contracted to build the Panama canal, Mr. Phelan became treasurer and manager of the American Contracting and Dredging Co., in which he was associated with the late Eugene Kelly, H. B. Slaven and others. 170This company contracted for and built fifteen miles of the canal. In 1891, Mr. Phelan was appointed treasurer of the Department of Docks of the city of New York, which office he held for five years.
Phelan, John J., lawyer, 7 Wall Street, New York city; graduate of Manhattan College, and of the Columbia Law School; member of the Xavier Alumni Sodality, the N. Y. Catholic Club, and the Manhattan Alumni Society.
Phelps, H. Warren, the Phelps Real Estate Agency, 20 East Broad Street, and 88 Pugh Avenue, Columbus, O.; member of the Old Northwest Genealogical Society, of Columbus.
Philbin, Eugene A., of the law firm Philbin, Beekman & Menken, 111 Broadway, New York city.
Piggott, Michael, 1634 Vermont Street, Quincy, Ill.; a veteran of the Civil War. He was made second lieutenant of Company F, Western Sharpshooters, in 1861, while at Camp Benton, St. Louis, Mo.; was promoted first lieutenant, and while at Fort Donaldson, in the spring of 1862, was made captain; lost a leg at Resaca, Ga., in May, 1864; was subsequently connected with the U. S. Revenue Service; messenger in the National House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.; was made postmaster of Quincy, Ill., during President Grant’s first term, and held the position for over sixteen years; was appointed Special Indian Agent by President Harrison, and in that, as in every position held, displayed eminent ability.
Plunkett, Thomas, 257 Sixth Street, East Liverpool, O.
Power, Rev. James W., 47 East 129th Street, New York city.
Powers, Patrick H., president of the Emerson Piano Co., Boylston Street, Boston, Mass.
Prendergast, W. A., 20 Nassau Street, New York city.
Quinlan, Daniel J., 53 East 127th Street, New York city.
Quinlan, Francis J. (M. D.), 33 West 38th Street, New York city; was for a number of years surgeon in the U. S. Indian Service; recently president of the New York Celtic Medical Society.
Quinlan, Col. James, 120 Liberty Street, New York city; a veteran of the Civil War; served in the Eighty-eighth New York regiment (of Meagher’s Irish Brigade); member of the U. S. Medal of Honor Legion.
Quinn, John, lawyer, 120 Broadway, New York city.
Quinn, W. Johnson, manager of the Hotel Empire, New York city.
Quinton, Gen. William (U. S. A., retired), care of U. S. War Department, Washington, D. C.
Regan, John H., lawyer, 422 55th Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Regan, W. P., architect, Lawrence, Mass.
Reilly, Robert J., Cedar Street, Bangor, Me.
Richardson, Stephen J., 1785 Madison Avenue, New York city; editor The Gael.
171Roche, James Jeffrey (LL. D.), editor of The Pilot, 211 Tremont Street, Boston, Mass.
Rooney, John Jerome, of Rooney & Spence, customs and insurance brokers, forwarding agents, 66, 68 and 70 Beaver Street, New York city.
Rorke, James, 40 Barclay Street, New York city.
Roosevelt, Hon. Theodore, president of the United States, White House, Washington, D. C.
Ryan, Charles V., Springfield, Mass.
Ryan, Christopher S., Lexington, Mass.
Ryan, James T., 68 William Street, New York city.
Ryan, John J., 158 East 95th Street, New York city.
Ryan, Michael, 377 Broadway, New York city.
Ryan, Michael J., Waterbury, Conn.
Ryan, Most Rev. Patrick J. (D. D.), Archbishop of Philadelphia, Pa.; the Cathedral, Philadelphia.
Ryan, Nicholas W., 1444 Boston Road, borough of the Bronx, New York city.
Ryan, Richard, Rutland, Vt.
Ryan, Hon. William, of Wm. Ryan & Co., grocers, Port Chester, N. Y.
Sanders, Col. C. C., Gainesville, Ga.; president of the State Banking Co. of Gainesville; alternate commissioner to World’s Fair, Chicago, Ill., 1893; vice-president for Georgia, American Bankers’ Association. Col. Sanders is of Irish and English ancestry. On the maternal side, he is descended from Thomas and Theodosia M. Smyth who emigrated from Ireland, in 1793, landing in Charleston, S. C. They settled in Jones county, Ga. Thomas died Nov. 28, 1799. On the paternal side, Colonel Sanders is a descendant of Rev. Moses Sanders who emigrated from England, with two brothers, John and David, and arrived in Petersburg, Va., 1765. They embraced the Patriotic cause in the Revolution and were active in operations against the British. Col. Sanders, the subject of this sketch, graduated from the Georgia Military Institute, in June, 1861; entered the Confederate service; was made lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-fourth regiment of infantry, Georgia volunteers, August, 1861; served under General Lee in the Peninsular campaign, in the seven days’ battles around Richmond, Va., and was among the bravest of the brave; commanded his regiment at Malvern Hill and at Marye’s Heights, Fredericksburg, where the Twenty-fourth was a part of the Confederate forces that received the valorous charges of Meagher’s Irish Brigade. He also commanded the regiment at the battles of Chancellorsville and Antietam, at which latter conflict he was placed in command of Wofford’s Brigade. While in this position he met a bayonet charge from the Federals by a counter bayonet charge, and in the desperate fighting that ensued, fifty-eight per cent. of Sanders’ heroic force was swept away. Colonel Sanders also led the 172Twenty-fourth at Cedar Creek, Chickamauga, Knoxville, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, and Sailor’s Creek. On Apr. 6, 1865, Ewell’s corps, to which Colonel Sanders’ regiment was then attached, was captured, and Colonel Sanders was sent as a prisoner of war to Washington, D. C. Writing of Meagher’s Irish Brigade, Colonel Sanders says: “I was in command of the Twenty-fourth Georgia regiment, with other troops, at the foot of Marye’s Heights, receiving the five heroic and gallant charges of the Irish Brigade, whose prodigies of valor have filled the country with admiration. I saw the devoted Irish charge up to our breastworks, to be mowed down by a line of Confederate fire that no soldiers could withstand. I saw the Irish battalions cut down like grain before the reaper, yet the survivors would magnificently close up their ranks only to have huge gaps again cut through them. When forced back they rallied and came bravely on again, only to be riddled with bullets and torn by artillery. Their fifth charge was made with greatly decimated ranks that slowly recoiled like the waves of a tempestuous sea. When twilight descended upon the scene, a spectacle was presented unequaled in warfare. At least three fourths of my command was composed of men of Irish descent and knew that the gallant dead in our front were our kindred of the land beyond the sea. When, one by one, the stars came out that night, many tears were shed by Southern Confederate eyes for the heroic Federal Irish dead.” During the war Colonel Sanders was offered the rank of brigadier-general but declined the same.
Sasseen, Robert A., 50 Pine Street, New York city; insurance investments. (Life member of the Society.)
Shahan, Very Rev. Thomas J. (S. T. D., J. U. L.), professor of Church History, Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C.
Shanahan, Very Rev. Edmund T. (Ph. D., S. T. D., J. C. L.), professor of Dogmatic Theology, Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C.
Shanley, John F., 17 Washington Street, Newark, N. J.
Shanley, Thomas J., 344 West 87th Street, New York city.
Shea, John B., 19 Maiden Lane, New York city.
Sheedy, B. D. (M. D.), 10 West 46th Street, New York city.
Sheran, Hugh F., 46 Woodbine Street, Roxbury (Boston), Mass.
Sheridan, Rev. John A., 97 South Street, Jamaica Plain (Boston), Mass.
Sherman, P. Tecumseh, of the law firm Taft & Sherman, 15 William Street, New York city; member of the Union League Club, and of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion; son of the late Gen. William T. Sherman.
Shine, Jerome, 137 West Clinton Street, Cleveland, O.
Shuman, A., merchant clothier, 440 Washington Street, Boston, Mass.
Slattery, John J., president Todd-Donigan Iron Co., Louisville, Ky.
173Sligo Social Club, Roxbury (Boston), Mass. (M. J. Mulroy, secretary, 24 Faxon Street, Roxbury.)
Smith, James, 26 Broadway, New York city.
Smith, Rev. James J., 88 Central Street, Norwich, Conn.
Smith, Joseph, secretary of the Police Commission, Lowell, Mass.
Smith, Dr. Thomas B., Wyman’s Exchange, Lowell, Mass.
Smith, Thomas F., clerk of the City Court, 32 Chambers Street, New York city.
Smyth, Rev. Thomas M., East Liverpool, O.
Smyth, Philip A., 11 Pine Street, New York city.
Smyth, Rev. Hugh P., rector of St. Joseph’s church, Roxbury (Boston), Mass.
Smyth, Rev. Thomas, Springfield, Mass.
Somers, P. E., manufacturer, 17 Hermon Street, Worcester, Mass. (Life member the Society.)
Spellman, John H., 109-111 Park Row, New York city.
Spillane, J. B., managing editor Music Trade Review, Metropolitan Life Building, 1 Madison Avenue, New York city.
Steele, Hon. John H., Phenix Building, Minneapolis, Minn.
Storen, William J., 232 Calhoun Street, Charleston, S. C.
Sullivan, James E. (M. D.), Vice-President-General of the Society, Banigan Building, Providence, R. I.
Sullivan, James Mark, lawyer, Exchange Building, New Haven, Conn.
Sullivan, John B., contractor, New Bedford, Mass.
Sullivan, John J., 61-63 Faneuil Hall Market, Boston, Mass.; of Doe, Sullivan & Co.
Sullivan, Dr. M. B., Dover, N. H.; formerly a state senator.
Sullivan, M. F. (M. D.), Oak Street, Lawrence, Mass.
Sullivan, Patrick F., of Sullivan Bros., 68 Pemberton Square, Boston, Mass.
Sullivan, Hon. Richard, lawyer, Hemingway Building, Tremont Street, Boston, Mass.; an ex-senator of Massachusetts.
Sullivan, Roger G., cigar manufacturer, 803 Elm Street, Manchester, N. H.
Sullivan, Dr. T. P., 318 South Main Street, Fall River, Mass.
Sullivan, Timothy P., Concord, N. H.; furnished granite from his New Hampshire quarries for the new National Library Building, Washington, D. C.
Supple, Rev. James N., rector of St. Francis de Sales church, Charlestown, (Boston), Mass.
Sweeney, Rev. Timothy P., St. Patrick’s church, Fall River, Mass.
Sweeny, William Montgomery, 120 Franklin Street, Astoria, L. I., N. Y.
Swords, Joseph F., superintendent U. S. Reservation, Sulphur, Indian Territory. He is a descendant of Cornet George Swords, one of the A. D. 1649 officers in the service of Kings Charles I and Charles II in Ireland. 174Joseph F. Swords is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. He is of the fourth American Generation from Francis Dawson Swords, graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, 1750, who was exiled from Ireland, 1760, and who served in the Patriot Army throughout the War of the Revolution.
Tack, Theodore E., 52 Broadway, New York city.
Teeling, Rt. Rev. Arthur J., rector of St. Mary’s church, Lynn, Mass.
Thompson, Frank, 1867 Seventh Avenue, New York city.
Thompson, Frank V., 116 Princeton Street, East Boston, Mass.
Thompson, James, of James Thompson & Bro., Louisville, Ky.
Thompson, Robert Ellis (Ph. D.), president Central High school, Philadelphia, Pa.; recently a professor in the University of Pennsylvania.
Tierney, Dennis H., real estate and insurance, 167 Bank Street, Waterbury, Conn.
Tierney, Edward M., Elmira, N. Y.
Tierney, Miles, 317 Riverside Drive, New York city. (Life member of the Society.)
Toale, Patrick P., Toale P. O., Aiken county, S. C.
Toland, M. A., 148 West Canton Street, Boston, Mass.
Toomey, A. J., F11 Produce Exchange, New York city.
Travers, Ambrose F., vice-president of the Travers Brothers Co., cordage, etc., 41 Worth Street, New York city.
Travers, Francis C., president of the Travers Brothers Co., 41 Worth Street, New York city.
Travers, Vincent P., treasurer of the Travers Brothers Co., 41 Worth Street, New York city.
Vail, Roger, associate editor of the Irish Standard, Minneapolis, Minn.
Ver Planck, William Gordon, 149 Broadway, New York city; of the law firm Young, Ver Planck & Prince.
Vincent, John, lawyer, 45 Cedar Street, New York city; was first assistant district attorney under the late Hon. John McKeon for two years, and on his death was appointed by the court as his successor ad interim.
Vredenburgh, Watson, Jr., civil engineer, 32 Broadway, New York city.
Waldron, E. M., builder, Newark, N. J.
Walker, William O’Brien, 90 Wall Street, New York city; a descendant of the Revolutionary O’Briens of Machias, Me.
Wallace, Rev. T. H., Lewiston, Me.
Waller, Hon. Thomas M., ex-governor of Connecticut, 15 Wall Street, New York city.
Walsh, James A., Lewiston, Me.; agent Lewiston Bleachery.
Walsh, Philip C., 260 Washington Street, Newark, N. J.; of Walsh’s Sons & Co., dealers in irons and metals.
Walsh, Philip C., Jr., 260 Washington Street, Newark, N. J.
Walsh, P. J., 503 Fifth Avenue, New York city.
175Walsh, Wm. P., 247 Water Street, Augusta, Me.
Ward, Edward, Kennebunk, Me.
Ward, John T., Kennebunk, Me.
Ward, Michael J., Brookline, Mass.
Wilson, Hon. Thomas (LL. D.), general counsel for the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway Co., St. Paul, Minn.; was chief justice of the Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1864-9; member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, 1880; member of the Minnesota Senate, 1883; member of Congress, 1887-9.
Woods, John J., 54 Federal Street, Newburyport, Mass.
Wright, Henry, 584 East 148th Street, New York city.
Zabriskie, George A., 123 Produce Exchange, New York city.
The Society was organized on January 20, 1897, and now has members in twenty-seven states, the District of Columbia, two territories and two foreign countries.
The first president-general was the late Rear-Admiral R. W. Meade, U. S. N. (retired).
Briefly stated, the object of the organization is to make better known the Irish chapter in American history.
There are two classes of members in the organization,—Life and Annual. The life membership fee is $50 (paid once). The fee for annual members is $5, paid yearly. In the case of new annual members, the initiation fee, $5, also pays the membership dues for the first year.
The board of government comprises a president-general, a vice-president-general, a secretary-general, a treasurer-general, a librarian and archivist, and an executive council. There are also state vice-presidents.
The Society has already issued several bound volumes and a number of other publications. These have been distributed to the members and to public libraries; also to historical organizations and to universities. Each member of the Society is entitled, free of charge, to a copy of every publication issued from the time of his admittance. These publications are of great interest and value, and are more than an equivalent for the membership fee.
The Society draws no lines of creed or politics. Being an American organization in spirit and principle, it welcomes to its ranks Americans of whatever race descent, and of whatever creed, who take an interest in the objects for which the Society is organized. Membership application blanks will be furnished on request.
The membership includes many people of prominence, and has been addressed by many distinguished men. It occupies a position in the front rank of American historical organizations.
1. Treasurer-General of the Society, and State Insurance Commissioner of New Hampshire.
2. This paper deals chiefly with that portion of the Connecticut valley within the state of Massachusetts.
3. Secretary-General of the Society.
4. This paper recently appeared in the columns of The Pilot, Boston, Mass. The writer is a member of the American-Irish Historical Society.
5. Very plainly not Galloway in Scotland.
6. The O’Larkins were chieftains in the present Irish counties of Wexford and Galway. They had a castle and fortress at Carn, now the headland called Carnsore Point, Wexford. That and the adjacent territory was at one period known as “O’Larkin’s country.”
7. See Austin’s Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island, a work of great value and interest.
8. See “The Stem of the Heffernan Family,” in O’Hart’s Irish Pedigrees. The clan is a very old one in Irish history and has produced many people of note.
9. The O’Kellys, from which come the names Kelly and Kelley, were of great eminence in Ireland. An O’Kelly commanded the Connaught division at the battle of Clontarf, A. D. 1014. O’Kellys were princes of Hy-Maine, Ireland, down to the reign of the English Queen Elizabeth. Twelve of the name were distinguished in the Spanish service, between 1718 and 1788, as officers in the Irish regiments of Irlanda, Hibernia, Ultonia, and Limerick.
10. In his work on the Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland.
11. The form O’Dalaighe has been anglicized O’Daley, O’Daly, Daly, Daley, Daily, Dailey, Dayly, etc. The ancestor of the O’Dalys of Meath, Ulster and Connaught was Adam, brother of Fargal, monarch of Ireland. Fargal was killed in battle, A. D. 718. (See Annals of the Four Masters, O’Hart’s Irish Pedigrees, and similar authoritative works.)
12. This name also appears in Ireland as Lavery and O’Lavery.
13. The greater part of the will was reproduced in the Narragansett Historical Register, James N. Arnold, editor, Providence, April, 1891.
14. The names Gerard and Gerrard are found in Ireland. This name Garard, however, may have been Garratt or Garrett, and therefore derived from Garritty or MacGeraghty.
15. Dunn,—a typical Irish name; from the Irish O’Duin, and anglicized O’Dunn, Dun, Dunn, Dunne and Doyne. The sept was prominent, in the olden time, in Kildare and Queen’s.
16. For interesting mention of the MacCarthys, see Burke’s Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages (London, 1866); O’Hart’s Irish Pedigrees (Dublin, 1881); Burke’s Vicissitudes of Families (London, 1859-60); Lodge’s Peerage of Ireland (Dublin, 1789); Burke’s Landed Gentry (London, 1871); Burke’s General Armory (London, 1884); Washbourne’s Book of Family Crests (London, 1882); the Royal Book of Crests, London, (Macveigh); O’Hart’s Irish Landed Gentry (Dublin, 1877); Howard’s Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica; Nichols’ Topographer and Genealogist (London, 1853); the Complete Peerage (edited by G. E. C.), (London, 1893); the Book of Dignities (London, 1894); Cusack’s History of the City and County of Cork (Dublin and Cork, 1875); Prendergast’s Ireland from the Restoration to the Revolution (1660 to 1690), (London, 1887); Amory’s Transfer of Erin (Philadelphia, 1877); John O’Kane Murray’s Prose and Poetry of Ireland (New York, 1882); Douglas Hyde’s Literary History of Ireland (London, 1899); An Historical Pedigree of the McCarthys, by D. McCarthy (Exeter, Eng., 1880); Lower’s Patronymica Britannica (London, 1860).
17. The Spencer name is found in Ireland for many generations, and appears under both spellings. Bearers of the name were among the “Forfeiting Proprietors” and other Irish who, during the Cromwellian regime, were ordered to migrate “To Hell or to Connaught.”
Many descendants of English settlers in Ireland became thoroughly Irish, some dropped their English surnames and assumed Irish ones, wedded Irish wives, were rated as “Papists,” and dressed “after ye Irishe fashion.”
18. The author is indebted for the facts in this sketch mainly to Peterson’s History of Rhode Island.
19. Including the Records of the General Assembly and Arnold’s Vital Record of Rhode Island. Other works consulted include Bodge’s Soldiers in King Philip’s War.