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COMPENDIUM of IRISH IMMIGRANTS to AMERICA
By Jeannette Holland Austin
General John Adams
The father and mother of General John Adams came direct from Ireland and settled in Nashville. Their son was graduated from West Point. When the last war began he gave his services to the C. S. A. He was a gallant and brave soldier. His death on horseback on the top of the Federal breastworks at Franklin was as remarkable a piece of heroism as the war witnessed.
Source: THE IRISH IN SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA, ALABAMA, LOUISIANA AND TENNESSEE. BY HON. PATRICK WALSH, AUGUSTA, GA. Published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
William Alld
was born in Ireland in 1723, and was one of the early settlers. The blood mixed by marriage with Swan, Metcalf, Worcester, Way and Whitten.
Source: The Irish Piioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Dr. Francis Alison,
of Donegal, came to Pennsylvania in 1735, and settled at New London, Chester County, where he opened a school. At the time of its establishment there was a great want of learning in the Middle Colonies, and Doctor Alison is said to have instructed all who came to him without fee or reward. A Dr. Patrick Allison, who was born in Lancaster County in 1740, is thought to have been a relative of the Donegal schoolmaster. He held a place "in the very first rank of the American clergy, and had scarcely an equal for his eloquence."
"Francis Alison was born in Ireland, and was a graduate of the University of Glasgow. Upon his arrival in America he was for a time tutor in the family of the father of John Dickinson. His first attendance in the Synod of Philadelphia was in A. D. 1737.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI; The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. VIII.
John Allison,
Franklin County, was born in Antrim township, that County, December 23, 1738. His father, William Allison, was a native of the north of Ireland, where he was born on the 12th of November, 1693 ; came to America about 1730, and located in the Cumberland Valley, where he died on the 14th of December, 1778. He married Catharine Craig, and their children were William, John, Patrick, Agnes, m. Robert McCrea, Robert, and Catharine, m. James Hendricks. John, the second son, received a thorough English and classical education, chiefly under the care of the Scotch-Irish Presbyterian ministers of the locality. As early as October, 1764, he was appointed one of the Provincial magistrates for Cumberland County, and reappointed in 1769. At a meeting of the citizens of that County, held at Carlisle on July 12, 1774, he was appointed on the Committee of Observation for Cumberland, and be- came quite active in the struggle for independence. He was a member of the Provincial Conference held at Carpenters' Hall, 18th of June, 1776, and appointed by that body one of the judges of the election of members to the first Constitutional Convention for the second division of the County, at Chambersburg. He was in command of one of the Associated battalions of Cumberland County during the Jersey campaigns of 1776 and 1777, and a member of the General Assembly in 1778, 1780, and 1781. In the latter year he laid out the town of Greencastle, which has grown to be one of the most flourishing towns in the Cumberland Valley In 1787 he was chosen a delegate to the Pennsylvania Convention to ratify the Federal Constitution, and in that hody seconded the motion of Thomas McKean to assent to and ratify it. At the first Federal Conference, held at Lancaster in 1788, he was nominated for Congress, but defeated at the election that year. Colonel Allison died June 14, 1795, and his remains rest in Moss Spring Presbyterian Church graveyard, one-half a mile east of the town of Greencastle.
He married, November 3, 1768, Elizabeth Wilkins, born November 11, 1748; died November 19, 1815. They had a family of thirteen children, iive sons and eight daughters. Of the latter, Mary m. Colonel Andrew Henderson, of Huntingdon County; Margaret m. Samuel McLanahan, of Greencastle ; Nancy m. Elias Davidson, of near Greencastle; and Elizabeth m. Dr. John Henderson, of Huntingdon. Of their sons, Robert, b. March 10, 1777 ; d. December 2, 1840; removed to Huntingdon in 1796; studied law; was captain of a volunteer company in the War of 1812-14; in 1830 elected to Congress, where he served one term ; married Mary, daughter of Benjamin Elliott (see Penna. Mag., II. p. 326), leaving eight children. The re- maining children of Colonel Allison died in infancy, or were unmarried. He was a ruling elder in the Presbvterian Church, and of great prominence during the Revolutionary era. The bold stand he took in the Convention, when not only his colleague but almost his entire constituency were opposed to the ratification, shows him to have been a man of great force of character and of determined views.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. X.
Stephen L. Armour,
" one of the leading furniture dealers and upholsterers of the city of Chester (PA), and one of her most enterprising, energetic and successful business men, is a son of John and Ruth A. (Jenkins) Armour, and a native of Cecil County, Maryland, where he was born December ig, 1839. The family is of Celtic origin, and was planted in America by Samuel Armour, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who was born in County Armaugh, Ireland, but when twelve years of age left his native land, and, crossing the broad Atlantic, located in Cecil County, Maryland, where he afterward married and reared a large family. He lived to be eighty-four years of age, and his wife, whose maiden name was Ann Mahoney, died at the age of eighty-seven. One of their sons was John Armour (father), who was born at the old homestead in Cecil County, Maryland, in 1813, and died in 1879, aged sixty-six, at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, where he had resided for upward of twenty years. He was a stonemason by occupation, and an excellent workman. Many substantial stone walls yet stand along the Brandywineas monuments to his superior workmanship. For several years he was foreman on the fishing shore of the Chesapeake & Potomac, and oc- cupied a similar position for some time on the Albermarle sound. He was a large, stout man, over six feet in height, was always called Big John Armour by the fishermen, and was widely known and everywhere greatly re- spscted. Politically he was an old line Whig and later became a Republican. In 1839 he married Ruth A. Jenkins, a native of Cecil County, Maryland, who died December 24, 1890, at the advanced age of seventy-six years. They had a family' of six sons and one daughter.
Stephen L. Armour grew to manhood in his native County, obtaining his education in the common schools and at the academy in West Nottingham. Leaving school he learned the trade of blacksmith, at which he worked until 1864, when he enlisted in Co. I, 7th Delaware Militia, on an emergency call, and reenlisted in Co. B, 40th New Jersey infantry, in October of the same year. With that organization he served until the close of the war, and after being mustered out of service returned to Wilmington, Delaware, where he carried on blacksmithing one year, and then removed to Crossville, Cumberland County, Tennessee. At the latter place he established himself in the wheel wrighting and blacksmithing business, and also eagaged to some extent in stockraising. He remained there four years, serving as deputy sheriff of the County during the last year of his stay, and then returned to Wilmington, Delaware, which he again left in 1871 to settle permanently at Chester, Dela ware County, Pennsylvania. For three years after coming to this city he was employed with the Bradley Brothers in their ice and feed business, and after they sold out remained an- other three years with their successors. In 1878 Mr. Armour embarked in the flour, feed and commission business on his own account at No. 229 Penn street.
On June 16, 1879, he purchased an Adams steam feather renovator and began renovating feathers at No. 229 Penn street. In the spring of 1882, he bought the old Thatcher property, at the corner of Concord avenue and Miner street, and removed his business to that point, where he has ever since successfully conducted the combined business of mattress making, feather renovating and upholstering. In October, 1889, he rented the store room at No. 138 West Thirdstreet, and in addition to his other business engaged in the furniture trade, which hasproved very successful under his careful and energetic management. He now has a large and remunerative business, but it has not come by chance or accident. It is the result of steady, persistent effort, backed up by a determination to succeed in defiance of all ad- verse circumstances. On the 26th of December, 1866, Mr. Armourwas married to Emma Veasey, a daughter of John T. Veasey, of Northeast, Maryland. To them was born one child, a son, named Frank,who married and is now time clerk at the Penn Steel Casting Company. "
Source: Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley (1894).
Major-General John Armstrong
John Armstrong was born in the north of Ireland in the year 1720. He emigrated to Pennsylvania some time between the years 1745 and 1748, and settled in the Kittatinny Valley, west of the Susquehanna River, then tlie frontier of the province. He was well educated, and by profession, a surveyor. In 1750, when Cumberland County was formed, Messrs. Armstrong and Lyon, by direction of the Proprietaries, laid out the town of Carlisle. It was resurveyed by Mr. Armstrong according to its present plan in 1712. In 1763 his office in Carlisle with all his books and papers therein was destroyed by fire ; a great public loss severely felt for many years afterward in the adjustment of boundaries of tracts of land in the large district in which he was the public surveyor.
Source: By William M. Darlington of Pittsburgh, PA (Centennial Collection); The Pennsylvania History and Biography, Vol. I. (1877).
Moses Austin
" was born in Connecticut. Early in life he went to Philadelphia, later to Virginia, and still later to Missouri, or what is now known as Missouri. While here his adventurous nature was attracted toward Texas by the reports of Nolan, Magee and their successors. His ventures heretofore had been failures, and he became interested in the founding of a colony in the territory coveted by all who had seen or heard of it. With this object in view, and desirous of securing permission from the proper authorities, he made a journey to San Antonio de Bexar in December, 1820.
His residence in Missouri, then under the dominion of Spain, familiarized him with the language and customs of its people. His mission was successful. He returned to his home, but like Moses, he was not destined to see the promised land, for he died shortly afterwards, transmitting to his son, Stephen F. Austin, the duty of executing his plans.
His application for his grant of land for a colony had been approved by the Spanish power, about eight months before its fall, and the fact that this concession had been made, while the memories of the invasions of Nolan, Magee and Long were still fresh, proves that Austin was a man of tact and resources. His daughter had married James Bryan, so that here in the beginning, the Saxon and the Gael intermixed. Three sons, the product of this union, William J., Moses A., and Hon. Guy M. Bryan, have been among its most honored citizens.
Not only was the application of Austin for land for a colony granted, but a special commissioner was sent to the United States with instructions to conduct the first band of immigrants into the country. Stephen F. Austin returned with the commissioner to secure a transfer of the grant made to his father, and was accompanied by fourteen persons, all of whom became settlers. Of these were Erwin, Barre, Beard, Belew and Dr. James Hewitson. The latter was born in Ireland, the others bear Irish names."
Source: The Irish Pioneers of Texas by Hon. john C. Linehan,, Concord, N. H., published by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Bagge, Edmund
(d. 1734), Essex County; son of Luke Bagge, of Start, County Waterford, Ireland. Source: Virginia Magazine, XII, 290-300.
Bagge, Rev. John
(d. 1726), Essex County; brother of Leonard Bagge, of Kilbree, County Waterford, Ireland. Source: Virginia Magazine, XII, 299-300.
Thomas Mallaliue Bailey, D. D.,
was born at Grace Hill, County Antrim, Ireland, December 27, 1829. " His parents were Joseph and Margaret (Warden) Bailey,both of Scotch-Irish descent. They had eleven children, ofwhom the subject of this sketch was the youngest. Until his fifteenth year Thomas Bailey attended the villageacademy. A natural taste for outdoor life made him desire to become a farmer, which was the occupation of his father, but the latter preferred for him the occupation of a merchant, andapprenticed him to a firm in Ballymena, four miles from hishome. Here he worked for four years, walking home every Saturday night. By close and systematic attention to his workhe won the confidence and esteem of his employers, and formed those careful business habits which have characterized himthrough life. He was next employed by Baker Brothers, a firmof well-known Quaker merchants in Dublin. They promoted him rapidly and soon made him superintendent of the store, a position which he held for three years. During this time hestudied at night, preparing himself to enter Trinity college. Hechanged his mind, however, and went to London, where hepursued a course of study in the British and Foreign Society School Preparatory to going abroad as a missionary. He was at this time a Moravian in religious faith. After finishing theprescribed course he was sent out by the society as a missionaryto the island of St. Thomas, in the Danish West Indies. Heentered upon what he expected to be his life work, but an attackof fever undermined his health and his physician ordered himto Santa Cruz, where he energetically and successfully ministeredto churches and gathered the young into Bible schools. Whilea missionary in Santa Cruz he became acquainted with Baron Joseph von Bretton and his wife, and her sister, Miss Alice Kierulff. For the latter he formed a strong attachment and theywere married in the home of the baron. She was his faithfuland effi cient help meet until her death in 1886.
About the time of his marriage his religious views underwent a change. He resigned his position as missionary and with his wife,cameto America. Of the seven children of Dr. Bailey by his first wife six were living in 1907. Before her marriage the present Mrs. Baileywas Sue McMillan, of Barnwell County, South Carolina. Shestudied under Dr. W. B. Johnson, one of the leading educatorsin the state, and is a woman of superior graces and fine intellectual attainments.
Source: Men of Mark of South Carolina by J. C. Hemphill (1908), Volume I.
John Barry.
Distinguished naval officer; born in Wexford County, Ireland, 1745. "At the outbreak of the Revolution he abandoned the finest ship and the finest employ in America to enter the service of the republic; was appointed by Congress, in 1776, to prepare for sea a fleet which sailed from Philadelphia, Pa.; rendered brilliant service while commanding successively the U. S. Lexington, the U. S. S. Raleigh, and the U. S. S. Alliance; was publicly thanked by Washington; became senior officer of the Navy; died at Philadelphia, 1803."
Source: The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) By Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Rev. John E. Barry, V. G.
" was born in Eastport, Me., August, 1836; educated at Holy Cross College, Worcester, Mass., and the Grand Seminary, Montreal; ordained to the Catholic priesthood at Portland, Me., in 1864, by Bishop Bacon; was made pastor of the Catholics of Concord, N. H., in 1865. Under his direction 184St. Johns church, that city, was built, he remaining rector of the same until his death. He visited Europe in 1874, and was a personal attendant of Bishop Bacon of Maine on the return voyage of that dignitary, who died in New York soon after he reached this country. From the death Bishop Bacon on Nov. 5, 1874, until June, 1875, Father Barry administered the affairs of the diocese of Portland until Bishop Healey was appointed. Father Barry was for a number of years a member of the school board of Concord; was three times appointed a trustee of the New Hampshire asylum for the insane, and bore a prominent part in the advancement of the interests of the New Hampshire Historical Society. At the time of his death he was Vicar-General of the diocese of Manchester, N. H. He was accidentally killed by a cable car while crossing Broadway, New York City, Nov. 14, 1900."
Source: NECROLOGY OF THE SOCIETY of members who died during the year 1900, published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
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.
Note: The authorities examined in connection with the writing of this paper are Original Lists of Emigrants by Hotten, the Virginia Calendar of State Papers, the First Republic in America, History of the United States by Ramsay, History of Virginia by Campbell; Historical Collections of Virginia, William & Mary College Quarterly; Gleanings of Virginia History; and History of Kentucky by Collins.
Source: EARLY IRISH SETTLERS IN VIRGINIA. BY HON. JOHN C. LINEHAN, CONCORD, N. H. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Thomas Barton
was born in Ireland, in the year 1730. He received his education at Trinity College, Dublin. Shortly after he graduated, he came to this country, and engaged as an assistant tutor in the Academy of Philadelphia, where he reemained for two years."
Source: Authenic History of Lancaster County, State of Pennsylvania by J. I. Mombert, D. D., Member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (1869).
John Bayley.
" Raphoe Barony. On the 16 August, 1698, John Bayley Esq., of Ballinaclough, in the County of Tipperary, Ireland, by a patent of that date, was by the Lords Proprietors of Carohna created a Landgrave. The entry in the minutes is "John Bayley "Esq. had another Patent for Landgrave granted him dated the 16 of August, 1698, for which he is to pay PDS 100.0.0 in Ireland. This is the first mention of John Bayley in that connection and it does not appear for what service or position the dignity of Landgrave was bestowed upon him. The PDS 100. was not for the dignity which under the fundamental Constitutions was not purchasable and does not appear ever by the Proprietors to have been sold, but was in consideration of the reduced rent at which at that date the Proprietors issued the grants to lands at a quit rent thereon. The name is subsequently variously spelt in the old records, viz Bayley, Bayly, Bailey and Baily.
The correct spelling seems to have been Bayley, as used in his patent, although the form Bailey is the more common. The original John Bayley, so far as the record discloses, does not appear to have come to Carolina to take out the lands to which he was entitled under his land patent.
On his death his landgraveship descended to his son and heir of the same name. This last also does not appear to have come to Carolina, but on 9th of November, 1722, he executed a power of attorney to one Alexander Trench of Charles Town empowering the latter to take possession of and sell and dispose of the lands in Carolina to which the former was entitled under the patent issued to his father. Trench, if not then living in Charles Town, seems to have soon proceeded there and arranged to have surveyed out and to dispose of the lands. The method pursued by him in so doing seems to have been unique as practiced by him and by the second Landgrave, Bellinger. The patent as Landgrave entitled the holder to four baronies of 12,000 acres each, or 48,000 acres in all. The course pursued under the instructions of the Proprietors from the settle- ment of the colony was that in all such cases an application was to be made for a grant and a specific grant made before the applicant became entitled to the land, i.e. the party holding a patent, or receipt, or certificate, entitling him to a grant made application to the council for a grant. Thereupon a warrant was issued to the Surveyor General to survey for the applicant out of land not already granted the acreage for which he applied. The Surveyor General having surveyed the land made a plat with his certificate of survey annexed and a grant was then issued to the applicant by the Governor and the deputies of the Proprietors for the land described in the plat and certificate. Copies of the plat and certificate were kept in the records of the Surveyor Generals office. Alexander Trench does not seem to have followed this course. He would have a parcel of land surveyed out for an intending purchaser from him and then annex the plat to a deed of conveyance direct from himself as attorney for John Bayley to the purchaser as made for land to which Bayley was entitled under his patent. No direct grant from the Lords Proprietors would thus appear for that specific parcel of land."
Source: The Baronies in South Carolina published in the South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. 15.
John Beatty,
" proprietor of the leading coal and feed business at Morton, this County, and one of the most enterprising and successful business men of that section, is a son of William P. and Martha (Hannum) Beatty, and a native of Springfield township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, where he was born February 23, 1856. The Beatty family is of Scotch-Irish origin, its first representative in America being Thomas Beatty (great- grandfather), who was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, but left the Emerald Isle while yet a boy to try his fortune in the new world, and settled in Delaware County, where William Beatty (grandfather) was born. His grandfather served as a soldier in the American army during the war of 1812, was afarmer and edge tool maker, and a member of the Presbyterian church at Middletown, this County. His son, William P. Beatty (father), was born on the old Beatty homestead in Springfield township, in 1828, and after attaining manhood succeeded his father in the manufacture of edge tools, and followed that business all his life. His death occurred at his home in his native township, Februar}', 1878, after an active and useful life spanning half a century. Politically he was a Jacksonian democrat, and filled the office of school director one term in his township. In 1852, he married Martha Hannum, a daughter of Edwin Hannum, and a native of Delaware County."
Source: Biographical and Historical Cyclpedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley (1894).
Alfred Duncan Bernard,
" lawyer and political economist, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, arch 25, 1868. He was the son of Richard Bernard, born in Bandon, County Cork, Ireland, 1840, and Frances Duncan Bernard. He was educated in the grade schools, Baltimore City College, Loyola College, and the University of Maryland, from which he graduated in 1889, receiving the degree of LL.B. Through his connection with the law firm of Richard Bernard & Son, Alfred D. Bernard became an ardent student of political economy. The real estate transactions of the office naturally led him to the study of real estate values in Baltimore and the counties. But the study soon spread and he became interested in land values all over the country. In con- junction with his profession, Mr. Bernard continued the study of real estate, as an avocation, for many years, until 1904, when the great Baltimore fire brought about the need for a Burnt District Commission, upon which Mr. Bernard was appointed. Mr. Bernard served so efficiently in this capacity that when the work of the commission was completed, he was retained by the city officials as real estate expert for the Appeal Tax Court. While holding this position, Mr. Bernard, with his colleague, Mr. Thomas J. Lindsay, devised a system of real estate valuation known as the Lindsay-Bernard Rule, which is employed exclusively by the Baltimore Tax Court. Following the death of Mr. Bernard the Mayor of Baltimore said: "We will not be able to replace him."
Source: Genealogical and Memorial Encyclopedia of the State of Maryland by Richard Henry Spencer. (1919)
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. Marys church, Westfield, 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."
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Samuel Blair
" In the settlement of New Londonderry, Chester County, Samuel Blair, an Irishman, established a school in 1740. This settlement was founded fourteen years before by immigrants from Derry and Donegal. Blair is described in Pennsylvania history as one of the most able, learned, pious, excellent and venerable men of his day. His academy was called the school of the prophets, and from it there came forth many distinguished men who did honor to their instructor and their country."
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
Edward Braddock,
Major-General and Commander in Chief of the British forces in America, arrived in Virginia with two regiments from Ireland, in February 1755.
Source: History of Virginia, From Its Discovery Till the Year 1781 with Biographical Sketches of All the Most Distinguised Characters that Occurred in the Colonial, Revolutionary, or Subsequent Period of our History by J. W. Campbell, Petersburg, (Va.) Published by J. W. Campbell (1813).
Hon. James D. Brady.
" Born in Portsmouth, Va., in 1843; resided there until 1859, when he removed to New York; entered the Union army in July, 1861, as a private; commanded Company B of the Sixty-ninth New York Volunteers in the famous charge of the Irish Brigade at Fredericksburg, where he was wounded. Subsequently, he was promoted to the ranks of major and Lieutenant-Colonel. After the war he returned to Virginia, and for more than a quarter of a century took a leading part in public affairs. For ten years he was the secretary and chairman of the Republican State Committee, and was a delegate from Virginia to many of the National Republican Conventions. He was representative in the Forty-ninth Congress from the Fourth Virginia District. Later, he was appointed collector of internal revenue for the Second Virginia District. He died at Petersburg, Va., Nov. 30, 1900."
Source: NECROLOGY OF THE SOCIETY of members who died during the year 1900, published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Nathaniel Breading
" of Fayette County, was born in Little Britain township, Lancaster County, March 16, 1751. His grandfather, David Breading, came to Pennsylvania from near Coleraine, County Londonderry, Ireland, about 1728. His son James married Ann Ewing, and they were the parents of the subject of this sketch. Nathaniel received a classical education, afterwards took charge of the Newark Academy, Delaware, and also taught school in Prince Edward County, Virginia. At the outset of the Revolution, he returned to Pennsylvania, and was acting commissary under General James Ewing, who was in command of a portion of the Associated battalions during the years 1777 and 1778. In 1784 he removed to Luzerne township, Fayette County, and shortly after was appointed a justice of the peace, and, November 6, 1785, one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas. On the 5th of March, 1785, he was appointed by the Assembly one of the commissioners to survey the lands recently purchased from the Indians north and west of the Ohio and Alleghany Rivers to Lake Erie, as also to assist in running the boundary-lines between Pennsvlvania and Virginia. He was a delegate to the Pennsylvania Convention to ratify the Federal Constitution, but in deference to his constituents did not sign the ratification. He served as a member of the Supreme Executive Council from November 19, 1789, until the dissolution of that body by the adoption of the Constitution of 1790. He was commissioned one of the associate judges of Fayette County, August 17, 1791, and served continuously during the several changes of administration until his death, a period of thirty years, perchance the longest term of any who filled that honorable position. During the excitement in Western Pennsylvania consequent upon the enforcement of the excise laws, Judge Breading, although these were obnoxious to him, took a bold stand in the maintenance of law and order. As the result, much of his property was burned by the insurgents. He was one of the delegates from the County to the conference held at Pittsburg, September 7, 1791, to take measures towards suppressing the threatened insurrection. Apart from the public positions Judge Breading filled so faithfully and honorably, he wa3 engaged in various enterprises looking to the development of the "West- ern country. He died on the 21st of April, 1821, and few men have passed off the stage of life more sincerely lamented.
Judge Breading married, in 1784, Mary Ewing, daughter of General James Ewing of the Revolution. She died August 31, 1845, aged seventy-eight years, and their children were George; Mary Ann, m. James Hogg; James Ewing ; Sarah, m. Dr. James Stevens, of Washington, Pennsylvania; Harriet, m. Dr. Joseph Gazzam ; Margaret, m. Dr. Joseph Trever, of Connellsville; Elizabeth, m. Rev. William B. Mcllvaine; and William, a lawyer, who died early in life unmarried."
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. X.
Rev. Thomas W. Broderick.
" Born in Willimantic, Conn., May 1, 1850; was educated at Terrebonne College, Canada, finishing his studies in Belgium; was rector of St. Peters Catholic church, Hartford, Conn., for sixteen years, until his death in that city, Aug. 12, 1900."
Source: NECROLOGY OF THE SOCIETY of members who died during the year 1900, published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Matthew Brown,
" of Northcumberland County, the eldest son of John Brown emigrated from the Province of Ulster, Ireland, to America in 1720. He was Lorn in Paxtang Township, Lancaster (now Dauphin) County, Pennsylvania on November 6, 1732. About 1760 he settled near Carlisle, but subsequently removed to White Deer Hole Valley. His name appears on the tax list for 1775 as being in possession of sixty acres. He was one of the first overseers of the poor for White Deer Township, Northumberland County, and in February, 1776, one of the Committee of Safety for the County. In June following he was a member of the Provincial Conference, and in July 15, 1776, member of the Convention from Northumberland. In the autumn of that year he entered the army as a private soldier. Contracting the camp fever while campaigning in the Jerseys, he returned home, where he died on the 22d of April, 1777, and lies buried in a field, once part of his property, near Elimsport, Lycoming County.
His wife, Eleanor, survived him thirty-seven years, dying August 9, 1814. He left eight children, the youngest of whom, Matthew, was born in White Deer in 1776, wdth his brother Thomas, were adopted by their Uncle William Brown, who resided near Harrisburg. The former became a Doctor of Divinity, and President of Jefferson College, Canonsburg."
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. III (1879).
William Brown
" of Dauphin County, was born in 1733, on the Swatara, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. His grandfather, James Brown, came with his brother John from the north of Ireland to Pennsylvania in 1720, and, while he settled on the Swatara, subsequently Hanover township, the latter located in Paxtang township in Lancaster County.
John Brown was the father of another William Brown, no less eminent than his distinguished cousin. The former was designated as " William Brown, of Paxtang while the subject of our sketch as " Captain William Brown." He was educated at the school of Rev. John Blair, became quite prominent on the frontiers, and was an officer in Rev. Colonel Elders battalion of rangers during the French and Indian war. He was one of the prime movers at the Hanover meeting of June 4, 1774, and probably the author of the celebrated resolutions there passed (see Egles " History of Dauphin County, p. 78). He recruited a company of Associators, and was in active service during the Jersey campaign of 1776, as well in aud around Philadelphia in 1777 and 1778. In 1779 he commanded a company of rangers in the expedition to the West Branch against the Indians and Tories, who were threatening the exposed frontiers. At the close of the Revolutionary war he became quite influential in public affairs, and his utmost efforts were employed to secure the erection of the new County of Dauphin. He was a delegate to the Pennsylvania Convention to ratify the Federal Constitution of 1787, but did not sign the ratification. He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1789-90, and under that instrument represented his County in the Legislature in 1792 and 1793. He was chosen one of the Presidential electors in 1797, voting for Mr. Jefferson. Captain Brown died July 20, 1808, at the age of seventy-five, and is interred in Old Hanover Church graveyard. He married and left descendants, but they followed the footsteps of their Scotch-Irish neighbors and passed westward. He left an imperishable record, nevertheless, of a pure patriot and faithful officer in the early history of our State. "
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. X.
James Buchanan,
"the Honorable, was born in Franklin County on the 23d day ofApril, 1791. His birth-place was a wild and romantic spot in a gorge of the Cove, or North Mountain, about 4 miles west of Mercersburg, and bearing the peculiar, but not in appropriate name of Stony-batter. His father, James Buchanan, senior, was anative of Ireland, and one of the most enterprising, intelligent and influential citizens of that part of the State. His mother, Elizabeth Speer, remarkable for her superiorintellect and genuine piety, was born in the Southern part of Lancaster County. Five years after his birth his parents removed into the town of Mercersburg, thenrecently laid out, where he was brought up and fitted for college. He entered DickinsonCollege, Carlisle, then under the Presidency of the Rev. Dr. Davidson, in the year 1805, being at the time in his 15th year.
In 1809, he graduated with distinction; and in the same year, commenced the study of law in Lancaster, in the office of James Hopkins, Esq. Three years after, or in 1812, he was admitted to the bar. He at onco opened an office in Lancaster, and was almost immediately successful in obtaining business; his studious habits, his fine abilities, his agreeable manners and conduct and deportment, all combining to attract clients to him. He, in a very short time, tof>k his place among the foremost at the bar, and had the command of as much business an he could attend to. There were soon very few important cases, either in Lancaster, or the neighboring counties, in which he was not employed; or at least, in which there was not an effort made to secure his services. In a very few years, besides deservedly acquiring the reputation of being one of the ablest and best lawyers in the State, or in the country, he had, frombeing the possessor of very little, amassed what he considered a competence, and withdi-ew almost entuely from practice.
His first public employment of any kind was that of prosecutor for Lebanon County, a position to which lie was appointed in 1813, by Jared Ingersoll, Esq., then Attorney General of the State, under Governor Snyder. This office he probably retained but a short time. In the next year, at the early age of 23, and only two years after his admission to the bar, he was nominated by his friends for the State Legislature, and elected. In the following year, or 1815, he was again nominated and elected. In both the sessions of the Legislature in which he sat, he was one of the most prominent members; by the .sensibleness and justness of his views, and the force of his high character and eminent abilities, exerting, though so young a man, not a little influence. He was always, as on a more extended arena, in after life, at his post, and took an interest in eveiything that was done. His mode of expressing his views, was then, as afterwards, clear and convincing. In the same year in which he was first elected to the Legislature, he went as a private in a company of volunteers to Baltimore, to aid in defending it against an anticipated attack from the British; and thus he early, by a voluntary exposure of himself to danger, gave evidence of that fire of sincere and true patriotism, which, till the last day of his life, glowed fervidly in his bosom. In the year 1820, his fellow citizens of the Congressional District in which he lived, (composed of the counties of Lancaster, Chester and Delaware,) and without solicitation from him, confened on him the further honor of electing him to the National House of Representatives. They elected him again in 1822, 1824, 1826 and 1828; when he declined further re-election. His tenure of service in the House expired on the 3d of March, 1831. During nearly all the time that he was a member of the House, he was a member of the Judiciary Committee; and in the last Congress to which he was elected, he succeeded Daniel Webster as chairman of that Committee. Moreover, he was, from almost his first entrance into the House, one of its most prominent and leading members, taking mnk witli such men as Randolph, McDuffie, P. Barbour and others, and expressing his views in a clear and forcible manner on all the important (luestions that came before it. His speeches then, as since, were models of lucidness, chastencss and force. One of the most remarkable of them was that delivered at the Bar of the Senate, at the conclusion of the trial of Judge Peck; he being chaii-man of the able committee appointed to conduct the case before the Senate. This speech has rarely been excelled in ability and eloquence. In the same year in which he ceased to be a member of the House, he was sent by President Jackson as Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. Petersburg; where he made a most favorable impression, both for himself and his country, and where he negotiated the first Commercial Treaty, which this government ever had with that of Russia. In 1833, he returned from Russia; and in this same year he was elected by the Legislature of Pennsylvania to fill a vacancy in the Senate of the United States occa- sioned by the resignation of William Wilkins. who had been appointed to succeed him at the Court of the Czar. He was afterwards twice elected for the full terms of six years; though soon after his secoud election, he resigned to take a place in the Cabinet of President Polk, His whole time of service in the Senate, was the same as it had been in the House; viz, 10 years. In the body of which he was now a member, he took a similarly high rank to that which he had occupied in the House. He frequently measured arms with Clay, "Webster and others, and without discredit or disadvantage to himself.
He was, during most of the time, the principal leader of the Administration party, and expressed himself at large, and very ably, on all the important questions under discussion. During most of the time, he was chairman of the important Committee on Foreign Relations. In 1845, he was tendered by the then recently inaugurated President, James K. Polk, the position in his Cabinet of Secretary of State. This position he occupied with great honor to himself and advantage to the country. While in the State Department, the Oregon Boundary Question was finally settled, the war with Mexico was carried on and successfully terminated, and California acquired. In 1849, on the expiration of Mr. Polks Presidential term, Mr. Buchanan retired to his home at "Wheatland, whei-e he remained till 1853, when President Pierce tendered him, of his own accord, the Mission to the Court of St. James. This Mission he was averse to acceiiting, but, on its being pressed upon him, he at length accepted it. He remained in England till the Spring of 1856. "While there he was treated with marked respect by all classes, from the Queen down. Lord Clarendon had reason to respect his abilities. "
Source: Authenic History of Lancaster County, State of Pennsylvania by J. I. Mombert, D. D., Member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (1869).
John Daly Burk
" Another Irishman who came to Virginia and left his impress was John Daly Burk, of Petersburg, Va. He was born in Ireland, and educated at Trinity college, Dublin. Because of his political opinions and affiliations he was compelled to leave the country (1797) while yet a student at college. He first tried his fortune in Boston, and afterwards in New York. But he received no encouragement. His love for Ireland and his ardent democracy made against his success at the North, and he finally came to Virginia. Here he became the friend of Jefferson and John Randolph, both of whom encouraged the brilliant young refugee.
He was a lawyer, poet, dramatist and historian, and was undoubtedly one of the most accomplished men in the state during his day. His history of Virginia in four volumes was the first comprehensive history of the state written, and is regarded as one of the best ever compiled. He also wrote A History of the Late War in Ireland, with an account of the United Irish Association, from the first meeting in Belfast, to the landing of the French at Killala (8 vols., 1779, Philadelphia). Before he completed the fourth volume of the history of Virginia he was killed in a duel with a French gentleman at the Campbell Bridge, Chesterfield County, Virginia, on the 11th of April, 1808.
Source: Some Irish Settlers in Virginia by Hon. Joseph T. Lawless, Richmond, Virginia, published by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
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."
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
William C. Burks
" Another judge of the supreme court of appeals was William C. Burks, of whose ancestors little is known except that they were Irish. He died recently, mourned by the profession which he had so signally adorned by the profundity of his juridical learning and the simplicity and spotlessness of his life. His opinions are as highly regarded as those of any man who sat upon the bench of that court within a half century. He was of weak frame and never enjoyed good health. Yet his capacity for labor was truly remarkable. He was one of the early presidents of the Virginia Bar Association, which he was largely instrumental in organizing; and until the time of his death was one of the editors of the Virginia Law Register, the organ of the profession in this state."
Source: Some Irish Settlers in Virginia by Hon. Joseph T. Lawless, Richmond, Virginia, published by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
David H. Burns,
the popular proprietor of the leading marble works in the city of Chester, and one of her most re- spected and useful citizens, was born October 31, 1850, at Bordentown, New Jersey, and his parents were George and Martha ( Duncan) Burns. The family is of Scotch-Irish descent, the father and mother both being natives of the Emerald Isle, and both being born in the city of Belfast. George Burns (father) was a cotton spinner by trade, and followed that occupation in County Down, Ireland, until 1835, when he came to the United States and settled at Bordentown, New Jersey. There he re sided until 1853, when he removed to Lenni, Pennsylvania."
Source: Biographial and Historical Cyclopedia of Delaware, Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley (1894).
John Burns,
" a native of the city of Dublin, where he was born in 1730, was a prominent character in Pennsylvania history. He emigrated to Philadelphia when quite young. He prospered in business in that city, where we are told he took a prominent part in all local and national questions, and was honored by his fellow-citizens with many positions of trust. He was the first governor of Pennsylvania elected after the adoption of the federal constitution, and retained in a high degree the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens till his death."
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
James Burnside
was born in Ireland in 1743, died 1755 near Bethlehem, where his remains rest. Twice Representative of Northampton County in the Assembly.
Source: A Collection of Upwards of 30,000 Names of Germans, Swiss, Dutch, French, and Other Immigrants in Pennsylvania 1727 to 1776 With A Statement of the names of Ships, whence they sailed, and the date of their arrival at Philadelphia by Prof. I. Daniel Rupp. (1876).
Colonel John Butler
"In the History of New York during the Revolutionary War, by Thomas Jones, Edited by Edward F. de Lancey. and lately published bv the Historical Society of that State, we find the following: Colonel John Butler is the son of a Lieutenant Butler, a native of Ireland, who came to N. Y. in 1711. He was not a far distant relation of the Ormond family. The Army then sent out was for the reduction of Canada. It was in the reign of Queen Anne. He was even then a Lieutenant. The expedition failed. Butler exchanged his Lieutenancy from a marching regiment into one of the Indenpendent Companies stationed in the Colony of New York."
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine, Vol. ii. pp. 349, 473; Vol. III. p. 120); Vol. III (1819)
Thomas Butler
(father of the family) " was born in Kilkenny, Ireland, April 6, 1720, and was married there in 1742. Colonel Richard Butler, Colonel William Butler, and Captain Thomas Butler were born in Ireland. The family then emigrate to Cumberland Valley, settling at Carlisle, Penna., where Lieutenant Percival Butler was horn, as well as Lieut. Edward Butler, the youngest son. Thomas Butler, the father, belonged to the Church of England, and was prominent in securing tlie building of the original (St. Johns) Episcopal Church, which stood on the northeast corner of the public square at Carlisle. There is a petition on file, in the State Department at Harrisburg, signed by Robert Callender, George Croghan, Thomas Smallman, and Thomas Butler in 1765, "on behalf of the members of the Church of England in Cumberland County," representing that they had in part erected a church in Carlisle, but from the smalhiess of their number, and so forth, they were unable to finish it, and praying relief; wdiich was granted by including the enterprise in the lottery Act of February 15 of that year. F. P. Blair relates an anecdote of 1781, when the Indians became troublesome on the frontiers, derived from a letter belonging to an old Pennsylvania friend of the Butler parents, who brought it with him from Ireland."
"While the five sons," says the epistle, "were absent from home in the service of the country, the old father took it into his head to go also. The neighbors remonstrated, but his wife said: 'Let him go; I can get along without him, and have something to feed the army in the bargain; and the country wants every man who can shoulder a musket.'" It was doubtless this extraordinary zeal of the family General "Washington had in mind, when at his own table, surrounded by a large party of officers, he gave as a toast, "The Butlers and their five sons." This anecdote rests upon the authority of General Finley, of Cincinnati, who long survived his comrades in arms, and delighted to talk of their martial deeds. Gen Lafayette, in a letter still extant in the possession of a lady connected by marriage with the Butlers, wrote: " When I wished a thing well done, I ordered a Butler to do it."
"
I. General Richard Butler, the oldest, was recommended by the Pennsylvania Convention of 1770 for Major of the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment, and was elected by Congress and commissioned July 20, 1776. He was promoted LieutenantColonel, and then, June 9, 1777, was transferred to Morgans celebrated rifle command, wiiich owed to him much of its high character. The cool disciplined valor, that gave steady and deadly direction to their rifles, was derived principally from this officer, who devoted himself to the drill of his men. Personally he knew no fear. lie was by the side of General Arnold in the attack on the Brunswickers camp at Saratoga, when Arnold was wounded. He was promoted Colonel of the 9th, and commanded the left in Waynes attack on Stony Point. Under the arrangement of 1781, he was placed in command of the 5th, and assigned to Waynes detachment, which, after the captnre of Cornwallis, was moved to Georgia, and only returned after the echo of the last gun of the Revolution had died away forever. After the war he was constantly employed on public business, particularly in negotiations with the Indians; and was commissioner for the purchase of the Erie triangle, and so forth. Upon the erection of Allegheny County, he was appointed Lieutenant of the County and one of the Judges of its several courts, and, on the adoption of the State Constitution of 1790, became the lirst State Senator from that County. A year afterward, November 4, 1791, he fell at the defeat of St. Clair.
General Richards son William died a Lieutenant of the Navy early in the war of 1812. Another son, Captain James Butler, conmianded the Pittsburgh Blues in the war of 1812, and was particularly distinguished in the battle of Mississinnawa; he died in Pittsburgh in April, 1842. General Butlers daughter married Isaac Menson, forty years ago a leading and enterprising citizen of Fayette County, owner of the Mt. Braddock estate near Uniontown. She was an educated lady of the old school, a devoted member of the Episcopal Church, noted for her charity, and admired for the dignity of her character and the rich endowments of her head and heart. She died some four years ago, in Uniontown, in the ninety-sixth year of her age.
II. William Butler entered the Revolutionary War as Captain in Colonel Arthur St, Clairs Battalion, January 5, 1776, and was promoted Major October 7, 1776, serving during the campaign in Canada. Upon the organization of the Pennsylvania Line he was promoted, September 30, 1776, Lieutenant-Colonel of the 4th Regiment. Shortly after the battle of Monmouth he was ordered to Schoharie, New York, with his regiment and a detachment of Morgans Rifles, to defend the frontiers of New York from Indian incursions. Simms History of Schoharie County gives an interesting account of the activity of this comniand during the winter of 1778-1779.
In June, 1779, he joined General James Clinton, and came down the river to take part in Sullivans expedition. He was the favorite of the family, and was hoasted of hy this race of heroes as the coolest and bravest man in battle they had ever known. When the army was greatly reduced in rank and tile, and there were many superfluous oflicers, they organized tliemselves into a separate corps, and elected him to the command. General "Washington, however, declined re- ceiving this novel corps of commissioned soldiers, but in a testimonial, of which they were very proud, did honor to their devoted patriotism. He retired from the service January 1, 1783, and died in Pittsburgh in 1789, and was buried in Trinity Churchyard.
Colonel Wm. Butler had two sons. One died in the navy; the other was a subaltern officer in "Waynes Army in the battle with the Indians in 1794.
III. Captain Thomas Butler was a student of law in the office of Judge Wilson, when, January 5, 177G, he was commissioned 1st Lieutenant of his brother Williams company in Colonel Arthur St. Clairs Battalion, and October 4, 1776, was promoted Captain in the 3d Pennsylvania. At the battle of Brandywine he received the thanks of General Washington on the field, through the commanders aid General Hamilton, for his intrepid conduct in rallying some retreating troops, and checking the enemy by a severe fire; and at Monmouth General Wayne thanked him for defending a defile in the face of a severe fire from the enemv, while the regiment of Colonel Richard Butler made crude its retreat. At the close of the war, he became a farmer, but entered the army again as Major in 1791.
At the defeat of St. Clair, he headed a bayonet charge on horseback, though his leg had been broken by a ball. It was with great difficulty that his surviving brother Edward removed him from the field. In 179-i he was Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the 4th sub-legion at Fort Fayette, Pittsburgh, which he prevented the insurgents from taking more by his name and threats than by his force. In 1803, he was arrested by the comniandino; General Wilkinson, at Fort Adan)s on the Mississippi, and sent to Maryland, where he was tried hy a courtmartial, aud acquitted of all the charges save that of wearing his hair. He returned to New Orleans and took command, but was rearrested. lie died September 7, 1805, aged 57. Out of the arrest and persecution of this sturdy veteran, Washington Irving (Knickerbocker) lias worked up a fine piece of burlesque, in which the character of General Wilkinson is inimitably delineated in that of the vain and pompous General Von Poffenburgh.
Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Butler had three sons. The oldest was Judge Butler; the second, Colonel Robert Butler, was the Chief of Staff of General Jackson throughout the war of 1812; while the third, William E. Butler, also served in the Army of General Jackson.
IV. Percival Butler was commissioned 1st Lieutenant in the 3d Pennsylvania, the regiment of Colonel Thomas Craig, September 1, 1777, when he was only eighteen years old. He wintered at Valley Forge, served in the battle of Monmouth, and was at the capture of Cornwallis. He went south with Wayne, and remained there until the close of the war. He emigrated to Kentucky in 1784, and married Miss Hawkins, of Lexington, sister-in-law of Colonel Todd, who was killed in the battle of Blue Licks. He was the only survivor of the old stock when the war of 1812 began. He was made Adjutant-General of Kentucky, and in that capacity joined one of the detachments of troops sent off from that State.
Percival Butler had four sons: first, Thomas, who was a Captain and aid to General Jackson at New Orleans; next, General William 0. Butler, who distinguished himself greatly in the war of 1812, and was candidate for Vice-President in 1848; third, Richard, Assistant Adjutant-General of Kentucky during the war of 1812; and fourth, Percival Butler, a distinguished lawyer, who was not of age to bear arms in the war of 1812.
V. Edward Butler, the youngest of the five brothers, was too young to enter the army at the first stages of the Revolution, but at an early age was made an Ensign of his brother Richards 9th Pennsylvania Regiment. January 28, 1779, he was promoted Lieutenant, and continued in the army until the close of the Revolution, being then, 1783, a Lieutenant in the 2d Pennsylvania. He was a Captain at the defeat of St. Clair, and subsequently was Adjutant-General of the Army of General Wayne. Of these five brothers four had sons, all of whom, with one exception, were engaged in the military or naval service of the country during the war of 1812. Of the second generation nine at least served in the Mexican War, Major-General William O. Butler being second in command in the battle of Alonterey, under General Zachary Taylor."
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. VII.
Rev. James Caldwell,
a Patriot of the American Revolution by James O.Neill, Elizabeth, N. J. EV.
"The territory now occupied by Elizabeth, N. J., was formerly the abode of savage tribes unknown to fame; whence they came and how long they had dwelt on these shores are questions that neither authentic history nor plausible tradition pretends to answer. They have since passed away without memorial.
It was on Sunday, the 6th day of September, 1609, that the eye of the stranger from the old world first saw this site. Three days before, a two-masted schooner called the Half Moon, under the command of the renowned Henry Hudson, cast anchor in Sandy Hook bay. The adventurous craft was manned by twenty men, Dutch and English, in the service of the East India Company. Their design was to explore a passage to China and the Indies by the northwest.
On Sunday, the 6th, John Coleman and four other men were sent out in a boat to explore the harbor, sailing through the narrows that they found. The narrow river through which they sailed was the Kills between Bergen Point and Staten Island and the open sea was Newark bay. The site of the town that bordered on the bay was, of course, in full view. These five men are believed to have been the first European discoverers of this particular spot. Coleman was slain the same day, on his return, by the treacherous arrow of one of the natives. It is not at all unlikely that Coleman was an Irishman, as his name bears the Celtic tone, and as there is nothing to verify it to the contrary.
The most distinguished man of Irish descent who identified himself completely with this old city was the Rev. James Caldwell, the eighth pastor of the First Presbyterian church. The Rev. Mr. Caldwell was a Virginian. His father, John Caldwell, came to this country with four sisters and his wife and several children, from the County Antrim, Ireland. He settled first at Chestnut Level, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Soon after, he removed to the new settlements in the southern part of Virginia and located on Cub creek, a branch of the Staunton river, in what is now known as Charlotte County. Here in the wilderness, James, the subject of this sketch, the youngest of seven children, was born in April, 1734. The place was generally known as the Caldwell Settlement or Cub Creek. A daughter of one of his brothers, also born here, was the mother of the Hon. John Caldwell Calhoun of South Carolina, the well-known senator and leading statesman of the South.
James was prepared for college under Rev. John Todd Caldwell and entered the College of New Jersey. He came hither when the college was at Newark and formed the acquaintance, while there, of a young maiden to whom he was afterwards married. He graduated in September, 1759, and on Sept. 17, 1760, he was ordained. He received a call from the Presbyterian church of this town in November, 1761, which he accepted. He was duly installed in March, 1762, with an annual salary of PDs 160. He was at that time in the twenty-seventh year of his age, a young man of prepossessing appearance and of more than ordinary promise as a preacher of the gospel. In the year of 1775, charges were preferred to the Presbytery by former members of the congregation affecting the orthodoxy of their pastor, Mr. Caldwell, which, however, were found to be of trivial import and not affecting at all his soundness in the faith. Whatever uneasiness may have grown out of this matter, it was speedily forgotten in the rush of events that preceded and precipitated the War of the Revolution.
On the question then at issue the position of Mr. Caldwell was a matter of public knowledge. He waited not to learn how the struggle was likely to terminate; his ardent temperament was for his country, for liberty, for independence. In all his prayers, often in his sermons and exhortations, and in all his pastoral intercourse, no religious society in the land took a bolder move or stand, and few were more efficient for the cause of their country than Reverend Caldwell and his congregation. And not a little of this patriotism was owing to the fervent zeal of their pastor. Among his congregation at the commencement of the Revolution were such men as William Livingston, Governor of the State; Elias Boudinot, afterwards president of the Continental Congress; Abraham Clark, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; Hon. Robert Ogden, speaker of the assembly at an earlier day, with his three sons, Robert, Matthias and Aaron (the two last distinguished officers in the United States army); Hon. Stephen Crane, speaker of the assembly; Elias Dayton and his son Jonathan, both of them subsequently general officers of the army and the latter, speaker of Congress. From this one congregation went forth about forty commissioned officers and privates to fight the battles for independence.
Among the men belonging to the militia of Elizabeth who enlisted on board of the different sloops as volunteers, in order to take the ship Blue Mountain Valley, January 22, 1776, under the command of Colonel Dayton, are to be found the following good old Irish names: Sergeant Thomas Quigley, Thomas McCarty, Timothy B. Stout, James Clancey, Timothy Burns, Moses Connell and William Higgins.
Among the commissioned officers of the congregation of Reverend Caldwell in the army are found a Captain David Lyons, and Captain Matthias Lyons, Irish or of Irish descent, without a doubt.
In April, 1776, Regiment of Colonel Dayton, that had been quartered in the town during the preceding winter, received orders to march to the relief of the Northern army then besieging Quebec. As most of the officers and many of the privates were members of the congregation of Reverend Caldwell, an ardent desire was expressed for his services as their chaplain.
Lieutenant Elmer in his diary, April 28, said: "Members of the Presbyterian meeting set about with Reverend Caldwell going to Quebec with us, which was agreed upon after some debate. Drank tea at Colonel Daytons, then went to Major Spencer to lodge." So it was determined that Reverend Caldwell, whose consent was readily obtained, should accompany his townsmen on their Northern expedition.
The troops left the town the following day, but Colonel Dayton and Reverend Caldwell did not join them until Saturday, May 11, at Albany, N. Y. The Jersey Brigade to which the regiment was attached was stationed the most of the season in the Mohawk valley. On the 16th of June Reverend Caldwell was at Johnstown and at German Flats in July, preaching twice every Sunday and taking an active part in military operations.
In July, as already related, the British troops had taken possession of Staten Island. The people of the town became greatly alarmed for their personal safety, and their relatives in the Northern army became exceedingly anxious for their friends at home.
Reverend Caldwell returned to his family and people early in the autumn, where his services were pressingly needed. On the retreat of the American, and the advance of the British, army the last week of November, 1776, Reverend Caldwell took his family up into the mountains and found a home for them in the town of New Providence. From this time forward Reverend Caldwell was occupied more or less continually in the service of his country to the close of his life.
The enemy having vacated the town at the end of the first week in January, he returned to his charge and resumed his ministrations, mingling the duties of the pastor and the soldier together. At various times through the long years of the war, during which his congregation were greatly scattered and their means of subsistence for the most part considerably diminished, Reverend Caldwell served not only as chaplain of the Jersey Brigade but as assistant Commissary-General from the first of April, 1777, to April, 1779. Instead of a regular salary, he received for his pastoral service only what was contributed by the congregation on Sunday.
His church was burned down on the night of Tuesday, January 25, 1780, and the services of the congregation were thenceforth held in the red storehouse of Colonel Hatfield. It is probably while preaching here, or it may have been at an earlier date, that Reverend Caldwell (as related by Reverend McDowell) preached with his pistols lying on each side of him in the pulpit, and the sentinels had to keep watch during time of service.
The Sunday found him, whether at home or in camp, ready to proclaim the gospel with its message of mercy and comfort to his fellow men, while he was ever watchful at other times to improve every opportunity to promote the spiritual welfare of citizens and soldiers. He was held, therefore, in the highest esteem by officers and men, confided in by all, and regarded with enthusiastic love by the rank and file. No one, consequently, save his parishioner, Governor Livingston, was more feared and hated by the Tories and the British. Gladly would they have kidnapped him if they could.
At the fall ejection of 1780, Caldwell was chosen by his fellow-citizens a member of the State Council. He continued in the discharge of his various duties to which he was called until the autumn of 1781. The last record made of him by the Presbytery was at their meeting, May 7, 1782. It is in these words: "The Rev. James Caldwell departed this life, falling by the hands of a cruel murderer on the twenty-fourth day of November of 1781. The circumstances attending this mournful event were very fully announced in the public prints at the time. Rivington of New York, in his Gazette (a Tory journal of that time), said: "The Rev. Caldwell was shot dead without any provocation at the Point (now Elizabeth Port) by a native of Ireland named Morgan." Note the sting this allegation placed to an Irish name.
The New Jersey Journal and the New Jersey Gazette devoted much space to the murder at the time, but they never mentioned the name of murderer nor claimed him to have been Irish. These are the only accounts written and published at the time. As that of the New Jersey Gazette is the most particular and was written after sufficient time had been allowed to obtain by means of the inquest of the coroner, and from other sources, the exact state of the case, it is apparently the most to be relied upon. It was generally affirmed at the time that the murderer, as intimated in the New Jersey Journal, was bribed by the British enemy to do the dreadful deed. And it is not strange that it should have been believed, as it was known that the British had offered a reward for the apprehension or assassination of Governor Livingston, and as no other reason could be assigned for the murder.
The body of Rev. Mr. Caldwell was carried to the public house at the Point, now Red Jacket Hotel. A homely ambulance was obtained and the body was slowly brought to town. A crowd of people, greatly excited, gathered by the way. The mournful cortege, tradition says, passed through Water street, now Elizabeth avenue, to Broad street; then to Jersey street; and then to the residence of Mrs. Noll. The day following, when the people gathered for public worship, the place where they met might well have been named Bochim, the Weeping Place. The people were crushed under the sad calamity."
The funeral service was held on Tuesday, the 27th, the whole town suspending all business and gathering in uncontrollable grief at the house of Mrs. Noll. An opportunity was given to the people to view the corpse in front of the house in the open street. After all had taken their last look and before the coffin was closed, Dr. Boudinot came forward leading nine orphan children, and placing 94them around the bier of the parent, made an address of surpassing pathos to the multitude in their behalf. It was an hour of deep sorrow. The procession then slowly moved to the grave and laid his body by the remains of his wife. Over his body was placed a marble slab with the following inscription:
"Sacred to the memory of Rev. James Caldwell and Hannah, his wife, who fell victims to their countrys cause in the year 1781. He was a zealous and faithful pastor of the Presbyterian church in this town, where, by his evangelical labors in the gospel vineyard and his early attachment to the civil liberty of his country, he has left in the hearts of his people a better monument than brass or marble. Here also lies the remains of a woman who exhibited to the world a bright constellation of female virtues. On that memorable day never to be forgotten, when a British foe invaded this fair village and fired even the Temple of the Deity, this peaceful daughter of heaven retired to her hallowed apartment, imploring heaven for the pardon of the enemy;in that sacred moment she was by the bloody hand of a British ruffian despatched, like her divine Redeemer, through a path of blood to her long wished for native skies."
Source: THE IRISH IN SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA, ALABAMA, LOUISIANA AND TENNESSEE. BY HON. PATRICK WALSH, AUGUSTA, GA. Published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Thomas Campbell,
born in Ireland, February i, 1763, was the first to break away from the prevalent ideas of the church. He was educated in the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and became a minister of the Scotch Seceder (Presbyterian) Church. His labors as preacher and teacher impaired his health. April 8, 1807, under advice from his physician, he made a voyage to this country, leaving his son, Alexander, in charge of his school and family. In thirty-five days he landed in Philadelphia, and soon afterward in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Finding here, as in Europe, a multiplicity of religious sects, and impressed with the resultant evils he determined upon an effort to unite the people. His broad, tolerant spirit soon drew many godly persons from variant parties into the movement. August 7, 1807, the "Christian Association " of Washington County, Pennsylvania, was formed. From this was issued the " Declaration and Address" written by Thomas Campbell, and published in 1809. "It was a remarkable production for its catholicity, its supreme exaltation of the word of God, its clear, unequivocal statement of the only apparent practi- cal ground of union, and its enunciation of all the principles of the rising eligious movement." The same fall his family jomed him.
He was born September 12, 1788, in the County of Antrim, Ireland. His ancestors were, one side, Scotch, and on the other. Huguenots. The son, like the father, was deeply impressed with the evils of sectism, and was imbued with a profound reverence for the word of God. The two became inseparable in a common purpose, in full accord with the principles of the address; but the application of them to the solution of questions of faith and practice was the work of years. Earnest study of the Bible led both, with others, to substitute immersion for affusion; and June 12, 1812, they were immersed by a Baptist minister. Having discarded infant baptism, they became identified with the Redstone (Baptist) Association, stipulating, however, that they should be bound by no human creed In this connection they would have continued to labor as ministers, but some of its members, intolerant of innovations, annoyed them much by proscriptiveness, and they withdrew, uniting with the Mahoning Association, where they had greater freedom of utterance. This step inaugurated the new movement in the great Ohio river valley, where, ever since, a strong center has been maintained. Walter Scott, born in Scotland, October 31, 1797, a young man of fine culture and genius, became a most helpful co-adjutor. Likewise, the Creaths, Bosworths, Johnsons, and others pushed forward the work, bringing over whole churches, mostly Baptist.
Source: The History of Kentucky from Its Earliest Discovery and Settlement by Z. F. Smith. (1895.
Colonel John Campbell
The first survey made of Louisville was in 1773 by Captain Thomas Bullitt; his associates were John Fitzpatrick, James, George and Robert McAfee. Dr. John Connolly owned two thousand acres of land in Louisville in 1773. Colonel John Campbell, a native of Ireland and a resident of Louisville about this time, was afterward a member of the first state constitutional convention, held in Danville in 1797.
Colonel Campbell was an Irish Presbyterian and proud that he was Irish. He never mentioned once in any of his letters or speeches that he was Scotch-Irish, though he made many speeches and wrote many letters. He was speaker of the Kentucky house of representatives and afterward a member of Congress. He was often a delegate to the Presbyterian Synods in Kentucky and was always spoken of as an Irishman, without any prefix, though he was born in the province of Ulster. Colonel Campbell was a pioneer of whom the Irish might well feel proud. He was an intense patriot, and being a large landowner, sent for many of his countrymen to come to Louisville, and this was another cause for swelling the early Irish immigration to Kentucky.
Source: Early Irish Settlers in Kentucky by Edward Fitzpatrick, Louisville, Kentucky, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Hugh Cargill,
A Friend of Liberty by Thomas F. O.Malley, Sommerville, Mass. " Hugh Cargill was born in Ballyshannon, Donegal, Ireland, about 1739, and came to Boston in 1774, in connection with the British troops; probably a soldier in one of the regiments. Concerning his early life in Boston little is known other than that he soon espoused the cause of the patriots and left the British service. April 19, 1775, found him at Concord, Mass., with the Provincial forces. When the enemy fired the court house and endangered the records, Cargill, with one Bullock, assisted in removing them to a place of safety.
The events of that day hastened the recruiting of companies and the formation of regiments. Cargill at once joined Captain Abishia Browns company which had been raised in the region around Concord and Lexington. His military experience and training made him a valuable man in the newly-organized command, and he was at once made a non-commissioned officer, being the fourth in the list of sergeants of the company. The Company of Captain Brown was attached to the regiment of Colonel Nixon in Middlesex County and was one of the few companies of that command engaged at Bunker Hill.
At the conclusion of his service in the army Mr. Cargill settled in Boston and engaged in the business of a taverner or innkeeper. In the first Boston Directory (1789) he is described as a retailer with a place of business on Cambridge street. After many years of close application to business, and by careful management and economy, he accumulated considerable money.
In 1790 he purchased from David Hyde the estate in which he carried on his business. The property consisted of a two-story house on the westerly side of Cambridge street and bounded southerly on Alden lane. In 1798 at the time of the levy of the direct tax it was valued at $3,300.
During the early part of the year 1790, Mr. Cargill retired, and sold his business to one Smith Coleman, evidently a fellow countryman. In June, 1790, we find the latter applying for a license to sell spirituous liquors at the house on Cambridge street which was licensed last year under the improvement of Hugh Cargill who is removed.
Early in 1796, Cargill took up his residence in historic Concord. There the early days of his life on this side of the Atlantic had been spent; there he saw his first service as an American soldier, and there he was destined to end his days. In April, 1797, he purchased an extensive tract of land near the middle of the town, known as the Stratton farm, and made it his home.
On November 27, 1798, he married Rebecca, daughter of Robert Estabrook, of Concord, the knot being tied by the Rev. Ezra Ripley. Within two weeks after his marriage he was seized with an illness which ended his life on January 12, 1799.
His will, which is on file in the probate office at Cambridge, Mass., bears the date of December 6, 1798, and was witnessed by Jacob Brown, Obadiah Hall and Paul Adams. The last named married the widow.
By the will his widow was given the free use and improvement of all the real estate, that he should die possessed of, during her natural life or so long as she remained his widow. Upon her decease or marriage he gave the Cambridge street estate to Samuel Chamberlain, providing he pay to Hugh Cargill Maloney, son of Cornelius Maloney of Boston, and Hugh Cargill Barrett, son of Benjamin Barrett of Carlisle, each the sum of three hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents. The remainder of the estate, the will continues:
" I give and bequeath to the inhabitants of the town of Concord and successors forever the residue of my real estate that I shall dye seized of in said Commonwealth of Massachusetts; to come into possession of the same at the decease or marriage of my wife above named and not before and the income thereof to be solely applied for the support of the poor of said town of Concord, and my will is that the care of the principal and income of said estate be under the particular direction of the selectmen of Concord for the time being; and that the said income be uniformly and annually delivered by them to the poor of said town to whom they shall think the proper objects of it; the sale of part of said estate if thought best by the inhabitants of Concord when they are in possession and the interest of the money coming by said sale to be applied as above ordered I am content with: But the farm I give to the town, called the Stratton farm, lying in the middle of the town of Concord, I entail the same to be improved as a poor house and the land to be improved by and for the benefit of the poor; and to be under the special direction and care of the overseers of the poor of the town of Concord for the time being for the purposes aforesd for ever."
His widow, Rebecca Cargill, on December 27, 1800, in anticipation of her marriage to Paul Adams (which occurred August 2, 1801), executed releases to the town of all her interest in the estate devised, and thus vested the gift. The estate is still used as a poor farm.
The remains of Mr. Cargill rest on the westerly slope of the Old Hill burial ground in Concord, close by the grave of his wife, Rebecca Cargill Adams, who died March 5, 1838. His grave is marked by a slab surmounted by an urn in relief, on which is inscribed the initials of his name. Beneath is the following inscription:
"Here lies Interred the remains of Mr. Hugh Cargill late of Boston who died in Concord Janry 12, 1799, in the 60th year of his age. Mr. Cargill was born in Ballyshannon in Ireland came into this country in the year 1774, destitute of the comforts of life but by his industry & economy he acquired a good estate and having no Children he at his death devised his estate to his wife Mrs. Rebecca Cargill, and to a number of his Friends & Relations by Marriage & Especially a large and Generous Donation to the Town of Concord for Benevolent and Charitable urposes."
Source: The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
James Henry Carlisle,
LL.D., educator, was bornat Winnsboro, Fairfield County, South Carolina, May4, 1825. His parents were William and Mary Anne (Buchanan) Carlisle, who came to America from County Antrim, Ireland, about 1818. His father was a physician of excellent character and attainments, and his mother, though for many years an invalid, was a woman of firm yet gentle character and exerted a powerful influence for good upon the mental and spiritual life of her son. In early life, James Carlisle lived in the country. He had no regular tasks which involved manual labor to perform, and his tastes and interests were those common to boys of his age and place. His health was good and he had no special difficulties to overcome in securing an education. He studied in the common schools of Mount Zion, Winnsboro, and Camden, in South Carolina, and after securing his preparatory education he entered the South Carolina college at Columbia, from which he was graduated as second honor man with the degree of A. B., in December, 1844. Want of means prevented him from taking a post-graduate course and compelled him to enter at once upon the active work of life. Conditions, as well as personal inclination, favored his becoming an educator, and in January, 1845, he commenced teaching in Columbia, South Carolina.
In 1854, Wofford College, Spartanburg, South Carolina, was organized, and Mr. Carlisle was elected professor of mathematics, which position he held until 1890, when he became professor of moral science and astronomy. In 1875 he was chosen president of the college. He discharged the duties of that office until 1902, when he resigned and became president emeritus. In 1872, the degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by the Southwestern university, Georgetown, Texas.
On December 12, 1848, he married Miss Margaret Jane Bryce, daughter of Robert and Jane (Shand) Bryce, of Columbia, South Carolina. Of their three children, two are living in 1907. The address of Doctor Carlisle was Number 174 College Hill, Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Source: Men of Mark of South Carolina by J. C. Hemphill (1908), Volume I.
Colonel William Casey
, born in Virginia, was one of the pioneers of the dark and bloody ground. Colonel Joseph M. Daviess, who fell at Tippecanoe, was born in Virginia. His grandfather was an Irishman and his mother Scotch.
Note: The authorities examined in connection with the writing of this paper are Original Lists of Emigrants by Hotten; the Virginia Calendar of State Papers, the First Republic in America; History of the United States by Ramsay; History of Virginia by Campbell; Historical Collections of Virginia, William & Mary College Quarterly, Gleanings of Virginia History, History of Kentucky by Collins.
Source: EARLY IRISH SETTLERS IN VIRGINIA. BY HON. JOHN C. LINEHAN, CONCORD, N. H. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Michael Cavanagh.
"
Born in County Waterford, Ireland.
At the close of the Civil War, Mr. Cavanagh enlisted in the general service of the United States, and was employed at the war department. From the general military service he was transferred to the civil service, where he remained until the time of his death, a period of many years. He was on the pension rolls of the United States army, up to his death, for disabilities received while in the military service. He was the author of Memoirs of General Thomas Francis Meagher and Sketches of Waterford Celebrities, and wrote many articles for the press. He died in Washington, D. C., June 21, 1900.
Source: NECROLOGY OF THE SOCIETY of members who died during the year 1900, published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Henry Chapin.
"
Among the early records of Springfield, Mass., 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."
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
John Clark was born in Ireland, 1704. He had two sons, John and Moses, living with him at Hadley, Mass.
Charles Carroll of Carrollton.
In his Chronicles of Baltimore, Scharf says "On the 13th of January, 1695, CharlesCarroll surveyed one thousand acres of land lying in Baltimore County, on the north sideof Patapsco river, in the woods -upon Jones Falls, andon the west side of the said Falls, which was called Ely O.Carroll. The origin of the name given to this tract of land is of peculiar interest, being closely linked with the earliest history of Erin. Helia, or Ely O.Carroll, wasthe name given to an extensive tract of country in Ireland, comprising Kings County, portions of Queens County and Tipperary. O.Hart, in his book of "Irish Pedigrees," says: " The Territory of Ely got its name from Eile, oneof its princes in the fifth century; and from being possessed by the O.Carroll family, was called Ely O.Carroll; that comprised the present barony of Lower Ormond,in the County Tipperary, with the Barony of Clonlisk, and part of Ballybrit, in the Kings County, extending to Slieve Bloom Mountains, on tlie borders of the Queens County."
"The O.Carroll families descended from Kian, the third son of Olioll Olium, King of Munster. According to Sir William Beatham, Ulster King-at-Arms, the grants of land made to Charles Carroll werein name and extent the same as those lost by his father in Ireland, namely, twenty thousand acres in each tract, Ely O.Carroll, Doughoreagan and Carrollton. The history of this powerful Irish clan is given very fully by Sir William Beatham, in his "Irish Antiquarian Researches."
About the year 1688, Charles O.Carroll is said tohave come to this country from Ireland. His coming was through the influence of Lord Powis, of the Court of James II, King of England. Mr. Charles O.Carroll had been Secretary to Lord Powis, and through his in-fluence superseded Colonel Henry Darnall, as Registerof the Land Office under the Proprietary Government. Although a Roman Catholic, he seems also to have maintained his influence with the rulers of the Province,appointed by William and Mary.
Much that is of an interesting nature relating to the ancient clan of O.Carroll, is given in the O.Hart "Irish Pedigrees," before referred to. The original name of the family was Cearbheoil, which was that borne by one of its chiefs, and whose posterity afterward changed it to O.Carroll, the being finally dropped. The firstone of the family who assumed the name of O.Carroll,was Klonach, the son of the above-named chief.
The following order for a land-grant, appears among the early records of the Proprietary: " In behalf of his her Lord Proprietary of this province, you are hereby required to reserve for the use of his lordship, the quantity of fifteen thousand acres of land,if the same can be found together in one entire tract,otherwise, no less than ten thousand acres, lately surveyed for Charles Carroll, Esq., in Prince Georges County, the same to be laid between such metes andbounds as may be most profitable to his lordship."Lib. B. B., folio 81.
And the following, transmitted from the past, wears a good deal of interest also upon its face: C. Baltimore. Instructions, power and authority to be observedand puisued by Charles Carroll, my agent and Receiver-General in Maryland, given by me this, the 12th day of September, 1712. " You are also hereby ordered and empowered, yearly topay, in tobacco, the several allowances heretofore made by me, to the several persons and officers hereinaftermentioned, viz: Major Nicholas Sewall, 12,000 pounds of tobacco. Major Nicholas Sewall, 3,000 pounds of tobacco, Henry Sewell, 3,000 pounds of tobacco, for assistance to his father, in shipping at Patuxent. To my officer at Patuxent, 6,000 pounds of tobacco. To my officer at Potomac, 6,000 pounds of tobacco. To my officer at Annapolis, 3,000 pounds of tobacco. To my officer at Oxford, 3,000 pounds of tobacco. Mr. Anthony Neale, 3,000 pounds of tobacco, a gift or token of respect. Mr. Robert Brooke, 8,000 pounds of tobacco, for him and his brethren, being eight in number. Mr. James Haddock, 1,000 pounds of tobacco. Mr. George Mason, 1,000 pounds of tobacco. To yourself, 12,000 pounds of tobacco, for your advice and trouble about my law concerns. Mr. Cecil Butler, 4,000 pounds of tobacco. Mr. James Carroll, 10,000 pounds of tobacco, for keeping my rent rolls in order. " I hereby grant a hundred acres of land to William Richardson, in Anne Arundel County, in lieu of a certificate of a former grant, which his father alleges to have received of Heathcott, but which never appeared." I also impower you, the same as I impowered my late agent, Henry Darnell, upon the Crown Secretary and Chancellors, taking for their own use the fees properly belonging to my land office, order and direct thatan addition should be made to the price of warrants as to make up for the difference taken by the said Secretary and Chancellor, and to take and receive to, andfor his and your own proper use and behoof. " You are to grant Cecil Butler a warrant for five hundred acres of land; you are also to grant him a lease for the plantation of St. Johns, near the city of St. Marys. " You are to grant Henry Wharton one hundred andforty-six acres of land. You are to grant Henry Sewell two or three hundred acres ol escheat land. You are to grant Gerard Stye five hundred acres of escheat land,in consequence of a piece of five hundred sold by Charles Calvert to his father, which was in my Manor, but for which I have given Captain Richard Smith a compensation.I do hereby also confirm a grant passed by Colonel Henry Darnell, to yourself, of two hundred acres of land near the city of St. Marys." In the same order is noticed the petition of Robert Goldsborough, and his wife Elizabeth, for an additional land grants. The order terminates thus: " When the land that Sir John Old Castle formerly held, shall be adjudged mine, I order Colonel William Digges mayhave a patent for the same as a gift of C. Baltimore."The business talent and capacity of this first Charles Carroll, is made evident, and was handed down as a precious inheritance for two generations at least.
His son, Charles Carroll, was born in the year 1702, succeed- ing to the rich estates of his father, which he retained by his energy and wise management. He married Elizabeth Brooke, and was residing at Annapolis, when Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, their son and only child, was born. This event occurred on the 20th day of September, 1737. With the customary zealousness of a Catholic, Mr. Charles Carroll sent his son, the subject of this sketch, to the College of Saint Omer, in Flanders. The boy, then eight years of age, remained for about six years under the immediate instruction of the Jesuit Fathers of that Institution. He was afterward placedwith the French Jesuits at Eheims, for the purpose of continuing his classical studies. Here, however, he didnot remain long; he entered the College of Louis Ic Orafidy at Paris, in the following year. Two years were spent at this Institution; the young man then proceeding to Bruges, remained there awhile, engaged in the study of the civil law. He afterward returned to Paris, where he remained until the year 1757. The influence of wealth upon the common order of men was as great in the past as in the present. By those people whowere blind alike to virtues and talents, Mr. Carroll was sought and flattered, and courted as a young man of wealth and fashion. The French society; moralsbelonged to the French-school of morality, and Paris, with its thousand fascinations, was a dangerous eddy to be caught in. Seen through the hallowingradiance of distant time, the virtues of those whom we have elevated to the ideal standard of heroes, seem, in their sublimity, to have been proof against the commonassaults of the "flesh and the devil." That our heroes succumbed occasionally, however, to the powers of evil, is beyond a doubt. According to his own statements, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, yielded to the seductive teachings of the times, and imbibed, though not to an ineradicable degree, the poisonous doctrines of Voltaire, in opposition to his earlier training. In this respect Mr. Carroll merely adopted the skeptic tone of the circle in which he moved. It must,however, be remembered that a deeply implanted faithdoes not easily perish. His faith was only sullied anddimmed by the corrupting dust of infidelity.
Many years before his death he sought to make amends,by every means in his power, for the sins of his youthand ignorance, while in the frivolous city of Paris. In1757 he went again to London, where he remained,devoting his time to the study of the civil law, at the Temple. In the year 1764, Mr. Carroll returned to his native land. The heavy taxation demanded by England of her struggling colonies, now caused a universal murmurfrom every quarter of the land. In the common troublethe tie between the Colonies was strengthened; religious differences seemed for the time almost forgotten, as sideby side they ranked themselves against the mother-land. The feeling that had been long growing was fully de-veloped and matured by the Stamp Act of 1765. Annals of Annapolis by Ridgely the following extract is made: "On the 27th of August, in this year, a considerablenumber of people,"Asserters of British American privileges, met at Annapolis, to show their detestation of and abhorrence to some late tremendous attacks on liberty, and their dislike to a certain late arrived officer, a native of this province " They curiously dressed up the figure of a man,which they placed in' a one-horse cart, malefactor like,with some sheets of paper in his hands, before his face! In that manner they paraded through the streets of the town till noon, the bell at the same time tolling a sol-emn knelJ, when they proceeded to the hill, and aftergiying it the Mosaic Law at the whipping post, placed it in the pillory, from whence they took it and hungit on a gibbet, there erected for that purpose, and set fire to a tar-barrel underneath, and burnt it till it fell intothe barrel. By the many significant nods of the head,while in the cart, it may be said to haye gone off very penitently."
This stern resistance was carried on in so defiant amanner, that newly arrived vessels, fully freighted withyaluable goods, were forced to return to England withtheir cargoes untouched. The Stamp Act was repealedand quiet was restored for the time. In the year of 1768, Charles Carroll was married to Miss Mary Darnell, whose family name is in the earliest pages of Colonial history. She was the daughter of Henry Darnell. Mr. Carroll is said to have loved, before this, a Miss Cooke, of Maryland, to whom he would doubtless have married had she lived; she died, however,in 1766, and he married in 1768. He is described as a man of medium height, of pale and intellectual countenance, j enetrating grey eyes and delicate features. His manner was dignified andcourtly.
On the 9th of May, in the year 1769, a meeting was called at Annapolis for the purpose of forming non-importation associations. The call was duly responded toby representatives, in large numbers, from all of thecounties. The resolutions were passed and carried in cooperation, and for a while the rules were strictly adheredto, but gradually, owing to the want of general cooperation, the work was rendered ineffectual, and finally abandoned.
At this time, the State of Maryland was debating The Proclamation Act. The colonists had, for a considerable time, complained of the exorbitant fees of some of the Colonial offices, the abuses in their collection, and the uncertainty of commutation.Before this time the Assembly had usually regulated the fees by temporary acts, thus retaining a power overthe office-holders whose appointments were held underthe Proprietary. These acts were allowed to expire, and Governor Eden issued a proclamation declaring that the fees should be regulated according to the expired acts. This caused an indignant outburst from the people, whose representatives were numberedamong the men distinguished for intellectual attainments. Daniel Dulany, the eminent lawyer, Mr. Hammond, and other men of note advocated the Act as strenuously as it was opposed by Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Samuel Chase and William Paca. Thefiercest resistance was made against the reductionoffees by those most interested as office holders, among them were Daniel Dulany, Secretary of the Province; Walter Dulany, Commissary General, and the Land Officers, Calvert and Stewart. Their opponents, however, proved as strong in eloquence, and more effectivein other respects. The people were sustained almost universally by the lawyers of the State, while the Governor was supported by the officers, the Episcopal clergy and those who adhered to them or their cause.
Injustice it was that aroused the ire of Charles Carroll, of Carrolton. Rights infringed and compacts broken, warned the faithful young sentinel of further danger; and but for the tyrannous conduct of the British government, Charles Carroll might have proved himself as faithful and valuable a royalist as he wasafterward a dangerous rebel. The sword had not yetbeen resorted to; yet the pen, that mighty arbiter in behalf of the weak against the strong, the protector of the oppressed and avenger of wrong, did its work. As mighty needs require mighty remedies, strong souls areraised up in the hour of trouble in the Nation to battle inits defence. The questions of the hour were discussedin public print, through the means of pamphlets and in the columns of the Maryland Gazette, which was a leading journal in its day, and served as a battle or dueling ground, as the case might be, where learning and wit were the formidable weapons brought into use.
On every side rose new foes who cast upon him the name of "Jesuit,""Papist," and whatever other epithet might arouse the indignation of the people. They failed, however,intheir designs, and although he was taunted with the reminder that as a disfranchised man he was unable to "cast his puny vote," his resolve was unshaken.
From this time, 1770, to the year 1774, there was a continual agitation of the tax question and on the l4th of October,1771, the brig Peggy Stewart arrived at Annapolis. In its cargo were a few packages of tea consigned to Thomas Williams and company, the duty having been paid by the owner of the vessel, Mr. Anthony Stewart. The indignation of the people was loudly expressed,nor was it soothed by the humble apologies of the delinquents. By the advice of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Stewart was forced to set fire to his vessel, and in the presence of a multitude of people, the vessel was burned to the edge of the water. The actors in this andother dramas of the kind were the leading citizens of Maryland.
Among the distinguished men chosen upon this occasion to act in behalf of the people was Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, whose title of Carrollton from the family estates in Frederick County, was adopted in contradiction to Charles Carroll, barrister. The last named gentlemen was also a native of Annapolis, and said by some to be remotely related to the Carrolls of Carrollton in the "old land." He was a gentleman of learning, refinement and honorable position, yet not so well off in the matter of lands and goods as the subject of this sketch. On the 12th day of December the Convention ad- journed to meet again at the City of Annapolis, on the 24th of April, 1775. The Revolution, however, broke into war before the Convention met. On the 28th of June, 1776, the delegates, in behalf of tlie Province, met for the purpose of declaring their intention of proclaiming the Colonies free and independent.
Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, assisted in forming the Constitution of Maryland in 1776. Mr. Carroll, having retained his seat in the Marylantl Convention, was chosen as Senator to the First Senate of Maryland,under the Constitution in 1776, and in 1777 reappointed delegate to Congress. In 1778, he resigned the office, but was re-elected in 1781. During his public career his various talents were frequently brought into play,and served well the country for whose good he strove so nobly.
About the year 1784, he took an active part in a conference " upon the subject of opening and improvingthe navigation of the river Potomac, and concerting a plan for opening a proper road between the waters ofthe Potomac and the most convenient Western waters.
Thus early was introduced the subject of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, in which General Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette were deeply interested. In 1788, he was elected to the Senate of the United States, where he served faithfully until 1791. During this time, he took an active part in the support of the Federal party at New York, with Jay and other noted men of the period. In 1791, he was sent again to the Senate of Maryland,where he remained until 1801. In the year 1797, he was chosen as one of the Commissioners to settle the disputed boundary line between the States of Maryland and Virginia. In the year 1828, he, the only signer of the Declaration of Independence living,laid the first stone of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. With spade in hand, he broke the earth for the great iron rails that were in the coming time to bear fromMaryland, to all portions of the Union, the triumphs of enterprise: success, wealth, fame!
Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, had two daughters and one son. Miss Catharine Carroll became the wife of Robert Goodloe Harper, the distinguished Virginia soldier-lawyer, who was a patriot and a philanthropist. The eldest daughter married an English gentlemannamed Richard Caton. The only son, Mr. Charles Carroll, first loved and " courted " Miss Nelly Custis,who preferred the name of Lewis to that of Carroll. After this the young heir discovered his destined wifein the city of Philadelphia. The young lady in question was Miss Harriet Chew, the sister of the wife of Colonel John Eager Howard. The family of MissChew were Episcopalians, and insisted that the marriage should be performed according to the ritual of the Church of England, by the venerable Bishop White. Mr. Carroll was finally induced to accede to the wishesof the family. The preparations completed, the ceremony was to take place in a few moments, when Mrs.Caton arrived, accompanied by Arcbhishop Carroll, of Baltimore. After a few moments conversation with hissister, Mr. Carroll changed the order of approaching events by deciding in favor of the faith of his fathers,and Bishop Carroll performed the marriage ceremony according to the Roman ritual, after which Bishop White performed the service of the Church of England. The daughters of Mr. Richard Caton, four noted beauties, made what are termed brilliant matches. Mary Anne married Robert Patterson, the brother-in-law of Jerome Bonaparte. This lady afterward becoming a widow, visited England for her health, and soonbecame the wife of the Marquis of Wellesly, the brother of the Duke of Wellington, and at that timethe Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Her portrait was painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence. So noted was shefor her beauty and accomplishments that the late Bishop England in "toasting " the last survivor of the Declaration of Independence, offered the following tribute: "Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, in the land from which his father fled in fear, his daughtersdaughter reigns a queen."
Louisa Catharine Caton married Sir Harvey Felton, Aid-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington; upon his death, she married the eldest son, the Marquis of Carmarthen, who afterward succeeded to the title of his father. Elizabeth J. Caton married Baron Stafford, the descendant of that Stafford who was beheaded in the reignof Charles II, of England, for his supposed favor to the"Popish plot."
Emily Caton became the wife of John McTavish,a Scotch gentleman living at that time in Canada. On Wednesday, the 14th of November, 1832, in the 96th year of his age, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, passed away from the earth. He died at the house of his daughter in Pratt street, Baltimore, in that portion of the city now known as Old Town.
Source: Biographical Sketches of Distinguished Marylanders by Esmeralda Boyle (1877).
William Carson
of Lenni Pennsylvania, served during the civil war as a member of Knapps light artillery, is a son of William and Esther (Wright) Carson, and was born June 13, 1836, at Kingsessing, now known as Paschalville, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. His paternal grandfather, Hugh Carson, came alone from Belfast, Ireland, and settled near Oxford, Chester County, this State, being then only sixteen years of age. He lived in that vicinity for a number of years, but finally moved to the old Wilcox paper mills, now known as Glen Mills, where he passed the re mainder of his life and died at an advanced age.
He married Margaret Blank, who was born near the Brandywine battlefield, on the night of the battle, and reared a family of six children, two sons and four daughters : Nancy Newill, Mary McGuiggan, Elizabeth Jones, Margaret, William and John. William Carson (father), was born February 14, 1800. William Carson died in Delaware County, in 1879, at the age of seventy-nine years.
By his first wife, Esther Wright, he had a family of eight children, five sons and three daughters: James, a miller by trade, who died at the age of twenty-one; John D.,a carpenter and contractor, who resides in the City of Springfield, Illinois; Mary, who married Robert Hamilton, and after his death wedded Robert Brown ; Margaret, deceased in childhood; William, whose name heads this sketch ; Robert, a carpenter residing at Decatur, Illinois; Isaac, deceased in childhood, and Esther, who also died at an early age. Mrs. Esther Carson died in 1845, aged forty- one years, and Mr. Carson afterward married Gertrude Clark; no children. William Carson grew to manhood princi pally in Delaware County.
Source: Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley (1894).
Stephen Chambers
of Lancaster County, was a native of the north of Ireland, where he was born about 1750. He came to Pennsylvania prior to the Revolution. Fithian, in his journal of date July 20, 1775, met him at Sunbury, lawyer, serious, civil, and sociable." At the outset of the war he entered the service, was appointed First Fieutenant of the Twelfth Regiment of the Line, October 16, 1776, and was promoted to Captain in 1777. He was chosen to the General Assembly from the County of Northumberland in 1778, and while in attendance thereon was admitted to the Philadelphia bar, March 6, 1779. He was admitted to the Lancaster bar in 1780, removing there the same year, and to that of York, April 23, 1781. In 1779 he was a member of the Republican Society of Philadelphia, whose object was the revision of the Constitution of 1776. He was also one of the original members of the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati.1 He represented Lancaster County in the Council of Censors, 1783-84, and was a delegate to the Convention of November 20, 1787, to ratify the Federal Constitution. At the constituting of Lodge 22, Ancient York Masons, at Sunbury, December 27, 1779, he became its first Worshipful Master, and the warrant for that body was produced and presented by him at " his own proper cost and charges." In May, 1789, he was challenged by Dr. Reiger, of Lancaster, for some offence said to have been given at Stake tavern in that town. The duel took place on Monday, May 11, 1789, and Mr. Chambers was seriously wounded, dying on Saturday following, the 16th. Thus perished one of the most bril liant legal minds of the bar, an event which agitated the public mind for years afterwards as an unwarranted and cold-blooded murder. Captain Chamberss sister Jane married Judge John Joseph Henry.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. XI.
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.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
John Edward Clyde,
a retired business man, and ex-burgess of the City of Chester, who ranks with the oldest and most highly esteemed citizens of Delaware County, is the youngest son of Thomas and Henrietta (Mifflin) Clyde, and was born February 4, 1816, at No. 119 Race street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Thomas Clyde (father) was a native of Ireland, born of Scotch-Irish parents in 1780, and remained in his native country until nineteen years of age.
He early evinced remarkable business ability, and in the closing year of the eighteenth century left the Emerald Isle and sailed for America, with the avowed determination of making a home and fortune in the new world. After a long and tedious voyage he landed at Philadelphia, where he settled and continued to reside for many years. He was very energetic and enterprising, and soon engaged in the grocery business on a small scale, in which he met with great success, and continued to enlarge the sphere of his operations until he owned one of the leading grocery stores on Race Street. In Ireland his ancestors had been agriculturists, but he seemed born with a genius for commercial pursuits.
In 1826, he removed to what is now the City of Chester, where he continued his mercantile career, and was one of the pioneer merchants of this city. He introduced new methods and pushed his business in all departments, becoming one of the largest general merchants in Chester at that day. In 1844, he purchased the Washington hotel, which he afterward sold to Jno. G. Dyer. In about 1843 he disposed of his various mercantile interests and retired from all connection with business affairs, spending his last years in quiet comfort at his home in this city.
His death occurred in 1856, when he was well advanced in the seventy-sixth year of his age. During the War of 1812 he served for a time in the American Army, being present with the forces at Dupont.
In 1813, Thomas Clyde married Henrietta Mifflin, a native of Philadelphia, and a daughter of John Ashmead Mifflin. By that union he had a famil}' of three children, two sons and a daughter: Samuel A., John Edward, the subject of this sketch, and Arabella, who married Jrio. G. Dyer. Along with his own children, Thomas Clyde also reared and educated his nephew and namesake, the late Thomas Clyde, of Philadelphia, who became one of the largest shipowners of this country, and whose name is familiarly known all over the world.
Source: Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley (1894).
The 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 PDS 180, May 13, 1728, and his grandson, Michael Carroll, graduated from Harvard in 1813.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
William Codman.
The Codmans 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 PDS 180, May 13, 1728, and his grandson, Michael Carroll, graduated from Harvard in 1813.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
John Coffee,
"Indian fighter, planter and Congressman, was born in the State of Virginia, in 1780, and when a small boy his father removed with his family to Hancock County, Ga. The family is said to be of Irish descent. There is a family tradition that early in the settlement of America two brothers came from Ireland, and from these two brothers originated all the people of that name now in the country. Eachof these two brothers had a son who became famous during the Indian wars, each of these sons being named John, and each of them rising to the rank of general. There is much confusion in the public mind over these two Johns. General John Coffee, of Tennessee, a cousin of General Coffee, of Georgia, was the right-hand man of Jackson in the Creek campaign and in the New Orleans campaign. He was an able soldier and made a most brilliant record. After the War of 1812, he moved to Alabama and resided in that State until his death. General John Coffee, of Georgia, was not associated with General Jackson in his campaigns, but later on he became a personal friend of that dis- tinguished man. His military services appear to have been rendered to the State of Georgia in connection mainly with the Indian troubles of the first twenty-five years of the nineteenth century. In his youth he moved from Hancock County to Telfair County, which at that time had an area of about eight hundred miles with seven hundred and fifty inhabitants. It was then a frontier country, abounding in vast forests and great quantities of game.
General Coffee, young, active and fond of the hunt, became a leader in these sports, and from this it was natural, when troubles came involving military service, that he should become a leader among the people of his section. Most of his military service was rendered in South Georgia and Florida, and as it was a wilderness country, he is said to have cut out and built a road for the transport of supplies, which for half a century was known as the "Old Coffee Road," and a part of it is recognized on the records of the State as the boundary line of Berrien and Coffee counties." General Coffee died on September 25, 1836, at his home four miles southeast of Jacksonville, and was buried there.
Source: Men of Mark of Georgia, Volume 2.
James Coggin and John Cogan, from Dublin, Ireland, settled at Windsor, Conn., and removed to H
artford 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.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Thomas Collins.
Among the distinguished lawyers of Pittsburgh in thevdecennial of 1790 to 1800 was Thomas Collins, a native of Ireland, born in Dublin in the year 1774. He received his education at Trinity College, Dublin, where he was matriculated. He was admitted to the bar of Allegheny County, December 3, 1794, soon after his arrival. He quickly rose in practice, and became engaged in important causes, his name appearing frequently in Yeates and other early reports of cases decided in the courts of Allegheny and in the western Circuit Courts of the Supreme Court.
He was admitted to the bar of Beaver County at the first term after its organization, in February, 1804, his name being second on the list, following that of Alexander Addison, and in company with Steele Semple, Alexander W. Foster, John B. Gibson, William Wilkins, Henry Baldwin, and other celebrities of that day. He was one of the early bar who rode the circuit of the western counties. Much of his practice afterwards fell within Butler County, when, by marriage, he became interested for the lands of his father-in-law, Colonel Stephen Lowrey.
Mr. Collins was married twice. His first wife, Susan Charles B. Flandreau, of St. Paul, Minnesota, whose brilliant services in defending New Ulm, Minnesota, in 1862, against the murderous attack of the Sioux Indians, made him conspicuous in the Northwest.
Sarah Collins, the youngest daughter of Thomas Collins, on the 4th of December, 1834, married Wilson McCandless, Esq., who was admitted to the Allegheny Bar on June 15, 1831, and after an extensive practice in partnership, first, with W. W. Fetterman, Esq., and afterward with William B. McClure, Esq.,his brother-in-law, became Judge of the United States District Court of the Western District of Pennsylvania, in which he presided with dignity until his death, on the 30th day of June, 1882.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. III. Margaret Colvert late of Dublin came in "The Lion of Liverpool in 1683.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. VII.
David Hayfield Conyngham
The Germantown Road. "A large old double house, of stone, standing somewhat back from the line of the avenue, now bears the number 4634. The old Bringhurst House was nearly opposite to it. For more than thirty years past it has been owned and occupied by the late Isaiah Hacker and his family. Long ago it was erected as a place of residence by David Hayfield Conyngham, who was born at Letterkenny, Ireland, on the 21st of March, 1750-1751, and who was a son of Edmond Conyngham, of Letterkenny, Esquire, and his wife Martha, daughter of Robert Ellis, of Philadelphia. Eedmond Conyngham came here in 1756, and was one of the original members of the firm of J. M. Nesbit & Co. He returned to Ireland in 1767, and died in 1785. David remained here, and on the 4th of December, 1779, married, at Whitemarsh, Mary, daughter of William and Mary West. She died August 27, 1820. He was a partner in the old house which, under the name of J. M. Nesbit & Co., became so distinguished during the Revolution.
The title was changed after 1783 to Conyngham, Nesbit & Co. David H. was descended from William Conyngham, Bishop of Argyll, 1539, and was therefore of the same line of de- scent as the Marquess Conyngham of Ireland. He was first cousin to William Conyngham, created Baron Plunket, the eminent Chief-Justice and Lord Chancellor of Ireland, 1820-1841, and also of Captain Gustavus Conyngham of the U. S. Navy, 1776-1783. He was father of the Hon. Redmond Conyngham of Lancaster Co., and the Hon. John N. Conyngham of Wilkes-Barrd He died on the fifth of March, 1834, and was buried in the grounds of our Christ Church.
It is also shown that Mud Island, as the iconoclasts of our day style it, was, by the heroes of 1776, called Governors Island. Conyngham, together with some friends, rescued Dr. Kearsley and Jabez Maud Fisher from the mob in the beginning of the Revolution, and afterward saw the latter in London. Fisher was a brother of Joshua, Samuel R., and Miers Fisher, and died in England in 1778. After Mr. Conyngham left the house, and perhaps immediately, Miss Hannah, a maiden sister of John and Charles J. Wister, occupied it for a dozen years or more. In 1832 Samuel Taylor and William Rainey sold the house and lot to Alexander Prevost, who, in 1835, sold to the Rev. William Neill, pastor of the old Presbyterian Church.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. VI.
Travers Cook
(d. 1759), Stafford County; states in his will that there is a large balance due him from his uncle, Thomas Youghall, of the Kingdom of Ireland, on account of the rents and profits of his estate there. Stafford Records. (It is probable that the compiler made an error in his notes from the will of Travers Cooke, and that "uncle Thomas Youghall" should read "uncle Thomas Cooke of Youghall." The will of Thomas Cooke, of Youghal, County Cork, gent., was proved in Dublin in 1750; that of John Cooke, of Youghal, Esq. proved in Dublin in 1713, and a copy of the will of John Cooke, of Overwharton parish, Stafford County, Va., the father of Travers Cooke, was proved in December, 1735.
Source: Some Emigrants to Virginia. Memoranda in Regard to Several Hundred Emigrants to Virginia During the Colonial Period Whose Parentage is Shown or Former Residence Indicated by Authentic Records by W. G. Stanard (1911).
Thomas Craig,
Colonel of the 3d Pennsylvania Regiment. He was born in the present Northampton County on Jan. 10th, 1740. His parents, Thomas and Mary, were natives of Ireland. Thomas entered the army early in the Revolutionary war, and was in the expedition to Canada commanded by Arnold. He was in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth, and was at Valley Forge. He died at Allentown, Lehigh Co., Jan. 20, 1832, aged 93. He was a Captain on Jan. 5, 1776; Major on Sept. 7, 1776; and Colonel in 1777.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. II (1877).
John Joseph Craven
was an Irishman by birth and parentage.
"Patrick Craven, the father of John Joseph Craven, a native of County Roscommon, Ireland, was born in 1818, being one of a family of six children, all deceased, the names of the other members having been as follows: John, Michael, Ellen, Bridget and Mary. He married Mary Doyle, born in County Roscommon, Ireland, in 1832, now (1917) living in Ireland, aged eighty-five years, daughter of Larry and Bridget (Moran) Doyle. Children: Martin, deceased ; Thomas, a resident of Phil- adelphia, Pennsylvania ; Bridget, became the wife of David Maley, of Holyoke, Massachusetts; Maria, became the wife of Fred Chamberlain, of Waterbury, Connecticut; Patrick, died young; Ellen, became the wife of Thomas Smalley, of Holyoke, Massachusetts ; John Joseph, of whom further ; and Annie, became the wife of William Finnegan, resides in Ireland. Patrick Craven, father of these children, died at his home in Ireland, July, 1900, aged eighty-two years. John Joseph Craven was born in Cooleygarry, County Roscommon, Ireland, June 29, 1869."
Source: Encyclopedia of Massachusetts, Biographical-Genealogical (1916), pp. 111-113.
Colonel George Croghan,
an Irishman, writing in his journal June 1, 1765, says: "We arrived within a mile of the falls of the Ohio (Louisville) where we encamped after coming 50 miles this day." This was even before the time of Daniel Boone. Colonel Croghan was a connection by marriage of General George Rogers Clark, who reduced the British possessions in the entire Northwest and made it first possible for the United States, instead of England, to acquire this territory. If General Clark was not an Irishman himself, his records show that he had many Irishmen with him as soldiers. His sister married William Croghan.
Source: Early Irish Settlers in Kentucky by Edward Fitzpatrick, Louisville, Kentucky, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
John Cross,
immigrant ancestor, and grandfather of Mrs. Sarah P. Trippe, was born in County Antrim, Ireland, 1730, and died in Baltimore, Maryland, September 29, 1807. He settled in Cecil County, Maryland, 1772. He married Jane Young, also an immigrant, born in County Monaghan, Ireland, 1743, died in Baltimore, Maryland, March 6, 1826. Andrew, son of John and Jane (Young) Cross, and father of Mrs. Trippe, was born in Cecil County, Maryland, October 4, 1772, and died in Baltimore, September 23, 1815. H emarried Rachel, born Dece(VI) Andrew Cross, son of Joseph Everitt and Sarah Patterson (Cross) Trippe, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, November 29, 1839. He was educated at private schools, and at Newton University, Baltimore, later becoming a student at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in 1857 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and the same institution conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts in i860. Having studied law under J. Mason Campbell, of Baltimore, son-in-law of Chief Justice Taney, for three years, he was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one years, in 1861. Very shortly afterward he went to Virginia, there joining the famous Maryland company of Captain William H. Murray, Confederate States Army. His military record from the very outset was an honorable, gallant and distinguished one. He was advanced to the rank of lieutenant of artillery and ordinance officer in May, 1863, but entered into the battle of Gettysburg with his old company. On the third day of this struggle, at Culps Hill, he was severely wounded.
Source: Genealogical and Memorial Encyclopedia of the State of Maryland by Henry Spencer (1919).
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 (son of Joseph) was born Sept. 3, 1705.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Major-General Patrick R. Cleburne
The Irishman who won the most distinction on the Confederate side and gained the highest rank was Major-General Patrick R. Cleburne. He was formerly a private in the English army and when his connection with it ceased he came to this country and at the time of the breaking out of the war was a practising lawyer in Helena, Arkansas. He assisted in raising a regiment of Arkansas troops and became its colonel. His regiment was united with the Army of Tennessee, was at Bowling Green, Ky., in the command of General Hardee, under General Albert Sidney Johnson, and went with it to Shiloh.
General Cleburne commanded a brigade that day composed principally of Tennesseeans, which fought in Hardees Corps and which composed the front line of battle. The Regiment of General Bates, the Second Tennessee Infantry, C. S. A., composed its extreme left. He was from that time on identified with the Army of Tennessee and its campaigns and battles. He was subsequently promoted and commanded what is known as the Cleburne Division, was an active and efficient factor in the Army of Tennessee until he was killed in the charge on the Federal breastworks at Franklin, November 30, 1864.
Source: THE IRISH IN SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA, ALABAMA, LOUISIANA AND TENNESSEE. BY HON. PATRICK WALSH, AUGUSTA, GA. Published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Bridget Clifford
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 on Dec. 25, 1668.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
James Coggin and John Cogan
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.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Dennis Conneirs (Connor)
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 Fort against the Indians in 1758. Another old Irish name heads a list of signers complaining against the Brunswick County court in 1764.
Note: The authorities examined in connection with the writing of this paper are Original Lists of Emigrants by Hotten, the Virginia Calendar of State Papers, the First Republic in America, History of the United States by Ramsay; History of Virginia by Campbell; Historical Collections of Virginia, William & Mary College Quarterly, Gleanings of Virginia History, History of Kentucky by Collins.
Source: EARLY IRISH SETTLERS IN VIRGINIA. BY HON. JOHN C. LINEHAN, CONCORD, N. H. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Morgan Connor, or O.Connor,
was one of the early settlers in Pennsylvania. In the Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. X, he is referred to as "among the first to enter the service of his country as Lieutenant in the Company of Captain George Nagle, in the regiment of Colonel Thompson." After the Campaign of 1775 to 1776, he was ordered south as a Brigade Major for General John Armstrong. He served with credit down to the winter of 1779, and on his return in that year he became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Hartley regiment and subsequently Colonel of the Eleventh Regiment. He was lost at sea in 1780, on a voyage to the West Indies. According to Volume I, No. 47, Register of Wills Office, Philadelphia, letters of administration of the O. Connor estate were granted to Dennis McCarthy, on September 8, 1780, when McCarthy, Bryan O. Hara and Patrick Byrne gave a bond in the sum of PD 3,000.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
Roger, John, and Charles Connor
Roger Connor, a native of Cork, settled at Lancaster in 1740. He established a hat factory there and purchased lands in many parts of the province, principally in Lancaster, Carlisle and York. He had Irishmen in his employ, too, and in the Philadelphia Mercury of November 24, 1743, he advertised for Patrick Dollard, a hatter by trade, aged about twenty years, a lusty, well-set fellow, etc. Patrick was a redemptioner and had left the service of his countryman before his term had expired. It was Roger Connor who gave the land on which St. Marys Church, in Lancaster, was built. His name appears on the list of subscribers to the fund for the relief of the sufferers by the Boston massacre in the Revolution. He died at Lancaster in 1776.
John and Charles Connor also settled in Lancaster about 1740, and are thought to have been kinsmen of Roger. In 1758, Charles went to Philadelphia and his name appears on the list of the early contributors to St. Marys Church. He died in 1775, and bequeathed his property to his nephew, Charles, son of Cornelius O.Connor, of County Cork.
Another family named Connor lived in Ashton Township, Chester County. Charles Connor died there in 1750.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
Thomas G. Connor,
son of another Charles Connor, who was born at Philadelphia in 1786, is buried in Mount Vernon Cemetery, Philadelphia. The name of his wife was Martha Fitzgerald.
Rev. Timothy M. Cooley
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.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
William Ashmead Courtenay (Gourtenay)
was born in Charleston, South Carolina, February 4, 1831. His grandfather, Edward Courtenay, who came to Charleston in 1791, was a native of Newry, County Down, Ireland; he was a member of the Protestant family of that name which, long resident in the north of Ireland, was a branch of the historic family of that name in England, dating back to the NormanConquest. He was an excellent scholar and able teacher, whofor many years conducted one of the best and most widely known schools of the higher grade in Charleston.
William A. Courtenay had only a limited education, and entered upon a business life in his fifteenth year. Previous to the war, he, with his elder brother, the late S. Oilman Courtenay,conducted a large publishing and book selling business on Broadstreet, Charleston. Mr. Courtenay was a book man; in the wider sense as applied by James Russell Lowell to himself. He enjoyed the personal friendship and esteem of such leaders inthe literary life of the Old South as William Gilmore Simms,Henry Timrod, and William J. Grayson. The war, however,destroyed this book business.
From early manhood Mr. Courtenay had been an enthusiastic member of the Washington Light infantry, a corps which furnished several general officers to the Southern Confederacy.In the War between the States he responded to the first call to arms, served with fidelity in South Carolina and Virginia, and rose to the rank of captain. Returning home from the war, William A. Courtenay became, and for many years continued,active in the shipping business, managing steamship lines toBaltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, with their related commercial connections. During this active period, Mr. Courtenay became president of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, for three years. In 1879, he was elected Mayor of Charleston and served eight years. Later he removed to theupper section of South Carolina and founded a cotton mill enterprise at Newry, where he lived until his removal to Columbia several years ago. Ten years of success have crowned this effort in a new field. Mr. Courtenay represented South Carolina on the Peabody Education trust; he has received the degree of LL. D. from the University of Tennessee, and also from the South Carolina college. His deep interest in education during his mayoralty, when he served as a school commissioner, induced the commissioners to name one of their new school houses after him.
As Mayor of Charleston, Doctor Courtenay was a working official and left enduring proofs of his devotion to the public interest. Perhaps his greatest public service was rendered when the city of Charleston was nearly destroyed by the earthquake of August 31, 1886. The city had survived four bombardments and many cyclones, and the world had come to regard the spirit of her people as invincible. But up to that time so disastrous an earthquake had never occurred in the United States.
Source: Men of Mark of South Carolina by J. C. Hemphill (1908), Volume I.
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.
Note: The authorities examined in connection with the writing of this paper are Original Lists of Emigrants by Hotten, the Virginia Calendar of State Papers, the First Republic in America,
History of the United States by Ramsay,History of Virginia by Campbell; Historical Collections of Virginia, William & Mary College Quarterly, Gleanings of Virginia History, History of Kentucky by Collins.
Source: EARLY IRISH SETTLERS IN VIRGINIA. BY HON. JOHN C. LINEHAN, CONCORD, N. H. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Colonel John Cummings
purchased the territory of Cummington, Mass., of the government, June 2, 1762, for PD 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.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Thomas Cunningham was a native of Ireland. The blood mixed by marriage with Robbe, McKean, Treadwell, Hale, Goodhue, Jackson, Caldwell, Porter and Bishop.
John Belford Daly, Father,
rector of the Holy Family Parish of Brightside, Holyoke (organized in 1903) was a native ot Massacusetts. He was a son of Timothy Daly, who was born in County Cork, Ireland, and died February 1, 1870 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
Source: Encyclopedia of Massachusetts Biographical-Genealogical (1916), pp. 55-56.
Thomas Davidson
immigrated from Ireland with his brother John Davidson and Matthew Wright. By marriage the blood went into Patrick, Hoar, Dodge, Clark, Cutter and Nichols.
Source: The Irish Piioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Henry L. Donaldson,
a prominent real estate dealer of Chester, and a notary public of the city for twenty years, is a son of John and Eleanor (Shearer) Donaldson, and was born in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 10, 1827. John Donaldson (father) was a native of County Donegal, Ireland, which he left about 1820 to emigrate to America. After his arrival in this country he located in Philadelphia, where he remained until 1832, when he came to Delaware County, settling in Ridley township, at what is now Crumlynn. There he resided until his death, in 1855, when in the sixtyfifth year of his age. By occupation he was a stone mason. He was a member of the Episcopal church, and a democrat in politics. He married Eleanor Shearer, a daughter of Captain John Shearer, and a native of the city of Chester. She was a member of the Presbyterian church, and died in 1866, after an active and useful life, spanning three quarters of a century.
To their union was born a family consisting of two sons and one daughter: George B., Henry L , and Anna S. Captain John Shearer (maternal grandfather) commanded one of the larger sailing vessels on the Delaware river for many years, and was among the best known and most popular river men in his day. Henry L. Donaldson was principally reared in Delaware County, to which his parents removed when he was about five years of age, and received an excellent English education in the public schools here. After leaving school he engaged in teaching, which occupation he followed in this County for a period of thirteen years, becoming very popular as a teacher, and widely known on account of his earnest educational work. In 1861, he became a bookkepper in the Delaware National Bank of Chester, and was connected with that well- known financial institution for more than seven years, after which he embarked in the real estate business in this city.
On June 21, 1855, Mr. Donaldson was united by marriage to Catharine A. Sample, a daughter of Hugh C. Sample, of Ridley township, this County. To Mr. and Mrs. Donaldson was born a family of five children, two sons and three daughters: Sarah, who married George Compton, of this County, and now resides in Chester County; Eleanor S. , wedded William W. Dauman, of Chester County, who now lives at Erie, this State; Henry, married Emma Walters, and resides in the city of Philadelphia, where he is engaged in the painting business; Frank H., wedded Laura B., daughter of William H. Moore, of this city, and is engaged in business, with his father; and Bertha, who became the wife of William S. Riley, also of Chester, where they reside. Politically Mr. Donaldson is a republican, and for many years took an active interest in lo- cal politics. He served as a member and secretary of the board of directors of the poor of this County from 1881 to 1887, and was only absent from one meeting during his entire term of service.
Source: Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley (1894).
Thomas Dillon
was born in Ballyduff, County Kerry, Ireland, in 1835, and died at his home, corner of Chestnust and Appleton Streets, in Holyoke (Mass), June 3, 1916. He came to the United States in 1916.
Source: Encyclopedia of Massachusetts, Biographical-Genealogical (1916), pp. 43-45.
Major Andrew Donnelly
was a gallant officer during the Revolutionary period. Captain McMahon, who was mentioned, served with Wayne as a major in the expedition against the Indians, and like General Butler, who had served through the Revolutionary War, was killed during that engagement.
Note: The authorities examined in connection with the writing of this paper are Original Lists of Emigrants by Hotten, the Virginia Calendar of State Papers, the First Republic in America, History of the United States by Ramsay; History of Virginia by Campbell; Historical Collections of Virginia, William & Mary College Quarterly, Gleanings of Virginia History, History of Kentucky by Collins.
Source: EARLY IRISH SETTLERS IN VIRGINIA. BY HON. JOHN C. LINEHAN, CONCORD, N. H. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Dorrance
Among the old, honored names in Rhode Island is that of Dorrance. It has figured prominently for a long period. About 1715 or 1720, George Dorrance and his two sons: George and James, who came from Ireland to the colony and settled in what is now the town of Foster. They bought a large tract of land which subsequently became known as the Dorrance Purchase. This tract was at that time supposed by some to be within the jurisdiction of Connecticut. When, however, the boundary between Rhode Island and Connecticut was finally settled, the Dorrance Purchase was decided to be a part of Rhode Island. The controversy had lasted sixty-five years and was not definitely adjusted until 1728.The territory thus acquired by Rhode Island was commonly known as Head Lots and included, as has been stated, the great Dorrance property. Later, it was comprised in the town of Scituate, R. I., and when, in 1781, Foster was set apart from Scituate, the Dorrance Purchase was comprised in the boundaries of the new town thus created.
Soon after their arrival from the old country, the Dorrances, with true Irish enterprise, erected a sawmill at a stream on their estate. This stream was called Quandock brook. Here they sawed lumber for building purposes for themselves, and also for their neighbors. Subsequently, a grist mill was added, and the locality became widely known as the Dorrance Mills.
The elder George Dorrance from Ireland, was born in 1675. He died at his home on the Purchase in 1754, at the age of seventy-nine years, and was buried on the Plains, near Oneco, Conn.
His son, Captain George, also from Ireland, settled on the northern part of the Purchase, on the road going west by Tylers store into Connecticut. This was later named the Brooklyn road.
Captain George obtained his military title for valuable services rendered. He passed away in 1793, and was buried with his father. He left two sons, George and Alexander, and some say a third, named John.
James Dorrance, the other son of the elder George from Ireland, located in the central portion of the Dorrance Purchase and built a substantial dwelling. It fronted south and comprised two stories. In the centre of the house was a huge stone chimney, measuring 10 by 18 feet. In each room was a large, old-fashioned fireplace. In the great east room downstairs was one ten feet wide and six feet high, constructed on the same plan as many in Ireland. There was a large oven in the back. Those were the days of the spinning-wheel, and of blazing logs whose flame mounted up the great chimney and shed light over the family group after nightfall.
They were a sturdy race, the Dorrances, and worthy representatives of Irish pluck, energy and progressiveness. This James was one of the sons who came from Ireland. He died in 1779, while our Revolution was still in progress, at the venerable age of ninety-six years, a good instance of Irish longevity. He was buried with his father and brother, and was sincerely mourned by all the country roundabout. He left two sons, James and Michael Dorrance.
The third George Dorrance, or grandson of the first George, the immigrant, had extensive military experience, and was known as Major Dorrance. He erected a house near the old homestead. It was two stories high in front and one in the rear, with a lean-to roof. Like the other house just mentioned, it had an enormous stone chimney. Major Dorrance died in 1827 or 1828, aged seventy-seven years. He left considerable property, but no children.
The most eminent member of this famous Dorrance family was John, who was born about 1747. He entered Rhode Island college, now Brown university, and was graduated in 1774. On that occasion he delivered an oration on The Necessity and Advantages of Cultivating our Own Language. He also participated in a syllogistic dispute in Latin, taking the affirmative on the question: Should the Dictates of Conscience Always be Obeyed?
He was twice married. His first wife was Polly Whitman, daughter of Jacob Whitman of Providence, who owned the Turks Head property. His second wife was Mrs. Amy Clark, widow of Dr. John Clark and daughter of Commodore Esek Hopkins. John Dorrance had previously removed from Foster to Providence and lived at the corner of Westminster and Exchange streets, where the National 154Exchange bank was afterward located. He studied law and in 1794 was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Providence County. This eminent position he also filled by annual election until 1801. He was then defeated. The defeat was owing to the bitter opposition of Gov. Arthur Fenner, which arose over a lawsuit between the two.
Judge Dorrance was likewise a member of the General Assembly for several terms. In 1789 he was an assistant (senator) to Gov. John Collins, and, with George Sears, was appointed by the Assembly a committee to audit the accounts of the late intendants of trade for the ports of Newport and Providence. In 1790, his name appears as a member of the Providence Society for the Abolition of Slavery. The Rhode Island American, Jan. 8, 1811, notes his election as a director of the Exchange bank of Providence. In 1792 or 1794 he was a candidate for Congress and received a flattering vote.
Speaking of Judge Dorrance, Dr. Pardon Bowen declared that he possessed an adequate law knowledge and was a man of the strictest integrity. The judge died June 29, 1813. The Providence Gazette, in its issue of July 3, the same year, had a notice of his death, and after stating that "the Honourable John Dorrance" had departed this life, it went on to say: Judge Dorrance was descended from Irish parentage, but was himself born in Foster, in this state. He received a degree from Rhode Island college, and afterwards became a tutor and since a member of the corporation of that institution.
Continuing, it states that he was of unblemished integrity and undeviating patriotism; that for many years he was a member of the State Legislature from Providence, both in the Senate and as a Representative. It likewise chronicled the fact that for the last sixteen years of his life, the citizens of the town (Providence), manifested their confidence in him by making and continuing him president of the town council.
The obituary notice referred to thus concludes: "His intimate knowledge of the science of jurisprudence made him the adviser of all who were in distress. His life was marked by an honesty that neither power nor wealth could swerve from its duty. The death of Judge Dorrance was deeply regretted throughout the state. He left a widow and a large train of relatives. The deceased was prominent all through the Revolution, and by his patriotic activity rendered incalculable service to the cause of liberty.
There was also a Samuel in the Dorrance family at an early period. His name is found in the records in 1734. At the period of the Revolution, the records, 1775, show that George Dorrance, probably a grandson of the senior Irish immigrant, was an Ensign in the company of the Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment of Providence.
In 1780, a George Dorrance was appointed lieutenant of the second company of Scituate. In 1781, George Dorrance, Jr., was captain in a Scituate company. The same year Captain George Dorrance had a company in a regiment raised by act of the General Assembly. In 1782, George Dorrance, Jr., was commissioned major of the Third regiment of militia in the County of Providence. There is not much doubt but that in all the operations throughout Rhode Island during the Revolution, these and other members of the Dorrance family took an active part.
Alexander, another grandson of the senior Dorrance from Ireland, settled in the northerly section of the Dorrance Purchase on the road running through the centre of Head Lots and at right angles with the Brooklyn road. He died in 1840 leaving two sons, Palmer and Frink. Palmer Dorrance was born at the old homestead in Foster in 1804. He embarked in business at an early age, went to New York, and engaged in the rubber trade with Erastus Corning, his brother-in-law.
In 1831, he located in Providence and engaged in the boot and shoe business on Weybosset Street, nearly opposite the present post-office. In 1833 he returned to Foster, his native town, and was in business there until 1839, when he removed to the northerly part of Foster, bought the Colonel Hopkins property and conducted a tavern and store for several years. In 1847, he removed to Apponaug, R. I., and was in the hotel business there, and at Natick and Buttonwoods, until 1854. At the time of his death, 1873, he was engaged again in Providence.
The second James Dorrance, grandson of the first George from Ireland, was born in 1762, and resided on the homestead in Foster until his death, at the age of seventy-one years. He had a son, Abram, who passed away in 1859, leaving no heirs. He used to say there was stone enough in the old chimney to wall in the farm.
Michael Dorrance, a son of the first James, who immigrated with his father from Ireland, was a native of Foster, and erected a substantial dwelling on the southerly part of the Purchase. He left two sons, George and James. The former became a man of much 156prominence, and was commissioned as Captain in 1834. Michael, the father, passed from earth in 1874, being then seventy-three years of age. The father-in-law of Michael, Mr. Placet, was town treasurer of Foster from 1810 to 1828, and later represented the town in the General Assembly. For many years he was cashier of the Mount Vernon National bank, and was also in charge of the Mount Vernon post-office. He died at Foster in 1849.
In the preparation of this article, I have received much material from Casey B. Tyler, who is well acquainted with the history of the Dorrances, and is likewise excellently posted on that of many other prominent Rhode Island families. Mr. Tyler also sent me the following interesting facts relating to the subject of this sketch:
"I have had in my possession," he says, "a pane of glass which Susanna [Dorrance] Wells presented me many years ago, which she said came from the old country (Ireland), and was originally set in a lead sash and brought from Ireland by her great-great-grandfather, George Dorrance, and used in the same old house for many years, until replaced by a wood sash and a 6 by 8 glass. This old pane of glass is yellowish and coarse and in diamond shape, and measures four inches on each side. She also said that she kept a part of the sash for a long time, but the boys used it up making shot and bullets to hunt with. This Susanna Dorrance was born in 1799, and married Jeremiah Wells, son of Benjamin Wells at Foster, and lived to a good old age, a very intelligent and highly-esteemed woman."
Major George Dorrance, who lived in the other old house, and who died in 1827, aged seventy-seven years, without children, had many articles which came from Ireland with his ancestors. They were sold at auction in 1833 by Palmer Dorrance, one of the heirs-at-law. Among the rest was an old-fashioned solid mahogany double-bureau, which was purchased by John Tyler, who had the old brass trimmings taken off, and had it made into two nice bureaus with more fashionable trimmings.
One of these bureaus was later owned by his granddaughter, Matilda Rathbun, in Mossup Valley, and highly prized. The other came into possession of his grandson, Albert Tyler, near the Centreville, R. I. depot. These two bureaus were altered by Israel Lyon in 1833, while he carried on the carriage business in the basement of the house in Foster, where his brother, Hon. Sheldon P. Lyon, lived nd died.
An old fashioned silver tankard, holding two quarts, with a cover like a Brittania teapot cover, was sold at the same time, and it was a wellknown fact that Major Dorrance, when first born, was very small, and was put into that tankard, and the cover shut down, although he was a man afterward six feet two inches in height. John Tyler always regretted not buying the tankard.
The Dorrance Mills remained in the Dorrance family down to 1808. During the next few years the mills changed hands several times. In 1813 they were sold to Peleg Place, whose daughters married Dorrances. Mr. Place occupied the mill property until 1824, the balance of the estate, or most of it, still remaining in the Dorrance family.
In 1824, Mr. Place sold the mills to Stephen Potter, who put up another building, introduced water looms, and made cotton cloth for several years.
George Dorrance and Phebe (Place) Dorrance left several sons. One of them was named Thomas G., and another Albert L. The latter became an influential farmer on the homestead inherited from his grandfather. He died, leaving a widow and two daughters.
The Dorrance name is still found in Rhode Island, and Dorrance street, a leading thoroughfare in Providence, helps perpetuate it. Bearers of the name, descendants of the immigrants, are likewise found, some of them in Providence. The old dam at Dorrance mills was long since demolished. The original dwellings have long been ruins, the great chimneys being the last to go, but the history and the memories of the Dorrance Purchase still form one of the charms of that section of the state.
Source: Sketch of an Early Irish Settlement in Rhode Island by Thomas Hamilton Muarry, Woonsocket, R. I., published by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
John Downey,
who was among the first settlers of Harrisburg, according to Wickersham, taught school at Harrisburg for a number of years. He was also a justice of the peace, town clerk and member of the Assembly. In 1796, he presented Governor Mifflin a plan for a state system of education, in which he discussed the whole subject of education, showing a wonderful sense of its importance in a government like ours and a clear conception of the nature of the system necessary to make it general.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
Daniel Dulany.
From two gentlemen, one the lineal descendant of Daniel Dulany the elder, the other coming fromDaniel the younger, the following authentic information is obtained. That culled from the leaves of a family history, is quoted first: "The Dulanys of Maryland, were the Delaneys in Ireland, whence theirancestor came. He was in some way related to thewell-known Dr. Patrick Delaney, the friend of Swift,whose name often appears in contemporary literature. The story is, that young Delaney ran away from his friends without money and indentured himself, as it was called, for passage money in plain English he agreed to be sold into servitude for a time on his arrival on this side to pay his way. His time was bought by a gentleman, a lawyer, in one of the lower counties and he went into service at the residence of his master. It was proved, however, that he was seen read-ing Latin by the firelight in the servants quarter, which fact led to an investigation, when it was discovered that he was master of what was consideredafine education in those days. His studiousness anderudition so wrought on his master, that he took himinto his office, and after making him a lawyer, bestowed upon him his daughter in marriage." So runs the family story; and it was thus that Daniel Dulany, the Irish servant, became the great barrister, and the pro-genitor of one of the most aristocratic families of the Colony of Maryland.
This romantic story from the pen of an honorablerepresentative of the "great barrister," gives a two fold interest to the hero, who in a false position, and under difficulties, still preserved his noble ambition. Inthe account given by the second gentleman referred to,as the descendent of the younger Daniel, the youthfulemigrants departure from home without "a leave of absence" is partly explained: The elder Daniel Dulany was born in Queen County, Ireland. He was cousin german to Patrick Delaney, mentioned frequently in connection with Dean Swift.
The name of Dulany, like many others, and especiallythose of Ireland, has undergone the changes of timeand circumstance. After the Siege of Athlone, wherethe Prince of Orange was defeated, in 1690, a portionof the Delaney family left Ireland and settled inLondon. Two of the name, said to be cousins, were engaged in this battle. The crest is an uplifted arm and dagger. The arms a lion rampantinquartered shield. One of this family, in 1778, was Felix O. Dullany,(Roman Catholic) Bishop of Ossory, in Ireland. The Dulanys of Maryland were Protestants, however,having left the ancient faith. Prom the same greatclan in the Kings and Queens counties came the O.Delans and the Delanos; of the same race alsoisthe present distinguished editor of the London Times,Mr. Delane. O.Hart thus refers to the name: " O.Dubhlaine, or Delaney, Chiefs of Tuath-anToraidh: and a clan of note in the barony of UpperOssory, Queens County, and also in Kilkenny."
Daniel Dulany was entered at the University of Dublin; but in consequence of his father having married a second time, he left the college withouttaking his degree. In 1710, he was admitted to the Bar of Maryland. His first wife was a daughter of Colonel Carter,of Calvert County, Maryland, by her he had no children.His second wife w^as Rebecca, daughter of Colonel Walter Smith, of Calvert County. His third wife was the sister of Governor Edward Lloyd, of Maryland."
He was honorably interred in the vault near the north entrance of Saint Annes Church at Annapolis. His pall was supportedby his Excellency, the Governor of Maryland, four ofthe Honorable Council and the Worshipful Mayor of Annapolis.
Daniel Dulany "the greater" was the son of DanielDulany the first, by the second marriage. He was educated at Eton, and at Clare Hall, Cambridge, England. He was afterward of the Temple. He was admitted to the Bar of Maryland in the year 1740. His wife was Miss Tasker, the sister of Colonel Benjamin Tasker,Jr. He died in the city of Baltimore, March the 19th,1797, aged 75 years and 8 months.
In Saint Pauls church, Baltimore, there is a monu-ment erected to his memory. His mortal remains are supposed to be interred elsewhere. A statue of this great man once stood in the Episcopal Church of Saint Anne,at Annapolis. An accidental fire destroyed this venerable building in 1856, and the statue was reduced to lime. This church was named in commemoration of Queen Anne, of England. In the lofty steeple of the church hung a deep-toned bell, presented by that royal lady.
Source: Biographical Sketches of Distinguished Marylanders by Esmeralda Boyle (1877).
George Duncan
was born in Ireland and was the ancestor of all of that name in this section. Shortly after immigrating he married Mary Bell of Ballymony, and their progeny married into the Taggart, Todd, Black, McClellan, Moore, Wallace, Wells and Cummings families.
Source: The Irish Pioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
John Elder
was born in the County of Antrim, Ireland, in the year 1706. His father, Robert Elder, migrated to America about the year 1730, and settled a few miles North of what is now Harrisburg, Pa. He brought all his family with him, except his son Joliii, the eldest of his children, who was left with his uncle, the Rev. John Elder, of Edinburgh, to complete his studies for the ministry. He (the son) was licensed to preach in the year 1732; and, sometime after, (probably in 1736,) agreeably to previous arrangements, followed his father and family to America. In August, 1737, the churches in Pennsboro and Paxton, Pa., applied to the Newcastle Presbytery for a candidate, and Mr. Elder was sent in answer to the request. On the 12th of April, 1738, the peopleof Paxton and Derry invited him to become their pastor; and, about the same time, hewas called to one or two other places. He accej)ted the call from Paxton and Derry, and was ordained and installed on the 22d of November following. As Mr. Elder resided on the frontier of the Province, the members of his congregation were generally trained as "Rangers" in defence against the Indians. Many a family mourned for its head, shot down by a concealed foe, or carried away captive.
Source: Authenic History of Lancaster County, State of Pennsylvania by J. I. Mombert, D. D., Member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (1869).
Richard Ellis
Quite a number of these men were soldiers in the Revolution and also took an important part in Shays 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.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
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.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Thomas Fawcett,
Irish Quaker, American Pioneers
CONTRIBUTED BY THOMAS PLUNKETT, EAST LIVERPOOL, OHIO.
The following article possesses sufficient historical interest, I think, to merit a place in the Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society. The article was evidently written by some one well acquainted with the Fawcett family and appeared in the Tribune of East Liverpool, Ohio, Aug. 9, 1900. It interested me and I thought it might also interest my fellow members of the Society. I therefore send it to you.
There has just been erected and completed a granite memorial monument in Riverview Cemetery an illustration of which is given below, which is worthy of mention in the Tribune. It will be found to the right of the main driveway, and about midway in the section which slopes gently to the south, and faces the city which was founded by Thomas Fawcett about 1800 just one hundred years ago. Here, in a beautiful lot, have been placed the remains of these old pioneers, which were buried in the old cemetery now going to ruin, and soon to be abandoned. The Tribune takes pleasure in illustrating the memorial and giving the several inscriptions:
South Inscription.
"Thomas Fawcett, a Quaker, was born in Ireland in 1747; died in 1820"br>
Isabella Snodgrass, his wife, was born in Ireland in 1754; died in 1825. "
.
These two were married in Ireland in 1772. All their children (eight) were born in Pennsylvania.They emigrated to Ohio in 1795. This pioneer platted Fawcettstown, now East Liverpool, in 1798.
The following memorial was erected by the fourth generation in 1900.
"North Inscription. Joseph Fawcett. Esther White, his wife. 1773-1825. Their children: Elizabeth Fawcett Warrick. Robert E. Fawcett. 1801-1834. 1803 - Nancy Fawcett. Thomas Fawcett. 1809-1834. 1813.
Joseph W. Fawcett, Jr. Daniel W. Fawcett. 1817-1820
West Inscription. Joseph Hamilton. Mary Fawcett, his wife. 1780-1836.
East Inscription. Julia Humrickhouse 1815-1878.
Julia Fawcett-Humrickhouse 1848-1876.
The late James H. Goodwin, a descendant of Abigail Fawcett, daughter of Thomas Fawcett, had in his possession the oldest record of the family of Thomas Fawcett. He had special interest in matters historical, and gathered all the data he could find relating to the Fawcetts and Smiths. He offered to donate a lot in Riverview cemetery and share the expense of removing these old pioneers to a place where their remains could sleep in peace, and rest undisturbed forevermore.
This matter was very dear to his heart, and he contemplated doing just what has been done, when death claimed him so suddenly the night of the election of President McKinley in November, 1896. He had in his possession the original deed granting to Isaac Craig, of Pittsburgh, Pa., sections Nos. 23 and 24, in range No. 1, township No. 5, bought December 6, 1796, the deed being dated at Philadelphia, Pa., August 30, 1798, signed by John Adams, US President.
Also the deed from Isaac Craig to Thomas Fawcett, conveying the same sections of land containing 1,090 75 or 100 acres for the consideration of $3,651.00 cash; both deeds are in a good state of preservation, having been written on parchment.
These relics had been in possession of John Fawcett of Wooster, Ohio, and at his death fell into the hands of Mrs. Julia Humrickhouse, thence to her son George, deceased, and through his wife, Mrs. Clara B. Humrickhouse, to James H. Goodwin.
Thomas Fawcett and his wife, Isabella, were among the earliest settlers in Chartier Valley, Washington County, Pa., and lived there until about 1795, when they moved to this place, then a part of the Northwest Territory. His daughter, Abigail Fawcett, married Joseph Smith, father of the late Wm. G. Smith, and through this union James H. Goodwin, George S. Goodwin, Henry S. Goodwin, Homer S. Knowles, Mrs. Jno. N. Taylor, Mrs. Esther Thomas, Mrs. Louisa Anderson, Mrs. Susan Harker, and all their children, are descended from Thomas Fawcett.
The eldest of of Thomas Fawcett, Joseph, married Esther White, and their daughter, Elizabeth, married the late George Anderson, on whose farm Riverview cemetery is located. Of their children four are living; Matthew Anderson, John Anderson and Miss Lizzie Anderson of this city, and Joseph Anderson, living in Colorado. The children of Thomas Fawcett Anderson, deceased, also live with their mother in this city. Mary Fawcett, another daughter of Joseph and Esther White, married William Hill, deceased, and two of her children are living here: Mrs. Mary Hill-Andrews, of Seventh street, and George Hill, on the old farm north of town.
Julia Fawcett-Humrickhouse was another daughter, and a sister of Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Hill. She made her home before her marriage with her brother John, who married Julia R. Larwell. Miss Rest Humrickhouse, daughter of Mr. George A. Humrickhouse, this city, is the only living descendant of this branch of the Fawcett family.
Through Elizabeth Fawcett, who married John Nessly, are descended Mrs. Matilda Wallace of Hammondsville, Mrs. Judith McCoy of McCoys Station, Jefferson County, and Mrs. Nancy Nessly Winstanley, who was born in Jefferson County and moved to Cabrey, Ill. Her brother, Rev. John F. Nessly, is a minister of the Pittsburgh M. E. conference.
Thomas Fawcett Family Record
Thomas Fawcett was born in Ireland, June 11, 1747.
Isabella Snodgrass was born in Ireland, March 1, 1754.
Thomas Fawcett and Isabella Snodgrass were married in Ireland, February 26, 1772.
Their children were all born in the Chartier Valley, Pennsylvania:
Joseph was born January 16, 1773; Thomas was born Sept. 13, 1774;
Abigail was born July 15, 1778; Mary was born June 30, 1780; Elizabeth was born April 15, 1782; John was born January 13, 1784;
Isabella was born June 4, 1792; Benjamin was born July 2, 1794;
Thomas Fawcett, Sr., died September 19, 1820; Isabella Fawcett, Sr., died December 4, 1825
Joseph Fawcett was married to Esther White;
Thomas Fawcett was married to Sarah Hamilton;
Abigail Fawcett was married to Joseph Smith;
Mary Fawcett was married to Joseph Hamilton;
Elizabeth Fawcett was married to John Nessly;
John Fawcett was married to Julia R. Larwell;
Benjamin Fawcett was married to Hannah Zane;
Isabella Fawcett did not marry.
Source: The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
John Ferguson
was born in Ireland in 1704, and came to this country with the Smiths, Wilsons and Littles. The blood infused into Morison, Stuart, Duncan, Miller, Moore, Evans and Whiting.
Source: The Irish Piioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Dr. Samuel Finley
One of the most eminent educators in the province was Dr. Samuel Finley, who arrived from Ireland in 1734 and located in Pennsylvania, where he taught school. In 1744, he founded an academy at Nottingham, Md., where some of the most distinguished men in the country laid the foundation of their education and usefulness. Among his many scholars were such men as Governor Martin of North Carolina, the famous Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia, his brother, Judge Rush, Governor Henry of Maryland, and Doctor McWhorter of New Jersey. It is said there were no better classical scholars formed anywhere in the County than in this school. Samuel Finley died in 1766.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
William Findley
of Westmoreland County, was born in 1741, near Londonderry, province of Ulster, Ireland. His grandfather was a native of Scotland, but settled early in life in the north of Ireland, and was one of the brave men who assisted in the heroic defence of Derry. The grandson received a fair English education, and came to Pennsylvania in 1763. Owing to the Indian troubles on the frontiers he remained within the settlements, where he taught school. At the beginning of the Revolution he was in the Cumberland Valley. He served as a Captain in the Militia in the years 1776 and 1777 under Colonel John Findlay, the period of the invasion into Pennsylvania, and was at the battle of the Crooked Billet. Towards the close of the war he removed with his family to Western Pennsylvania and took up a tract of land in Westmoreland County, on which he resided until his death. Here he became prominent in political affairs, his first entry upon the scene being in the character of a member of the Council of Censors. In this body he voted invariably against the party which professed Federalism. He served in the General Assembly from 1784 to 1788 ; was a delegate to the Convention to ratify the Federal Constitution in 1787, one of its bitterest opponents, and did not sign the ratification. He was one of the members of the Anti-Constitution party who were mobbed in Philadelphia on the evening of the 6th of November that year. At the Harrisburg Conference in September, 1788, with Smilie and Gallatin, he was a leading spirit, and this trio almost accomplished the total defeat of the Constitutionalist ticket, electing two of the eight Congressmen, the parties being evenly balanced. He served as a member of the Supreme Executive Council from November 25, 1789, until the Constitution of 1790, of the Convention to form which he was a member, went into effect. He was elected a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1790, at the same time a member of the Second Congress. He was re-elected to the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Congresses, and then, after an interval of two terms, during which period he served in the State Senate, to the Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Congresses, serving a longer time in that representative body than any other person from Pennsylvania. During the so-called Whiskey Insurrection of 1794 he took a decided part, and as an apology for his share in it we are indebted to him for one of the most impartial histories of that transaction. He was as forcible a writer as a speaker, and the newspapers of the day contained many political articles from his pen. He was a shrewd politician without being a demagogue, and no man in Western Pennsylvania had as strong hold upon the people or was more popular than William Findley. He was a statesman of whom Pennsylvania should be proud. Mr. Findley died at his residence in Unity township, Westmoreland County, on the 5th of April, 1821, in the eightieth year of his age. He was twice married. By his first wife he had three children, David, an officer in the United States army; Nellie, m. Carothers; and Mary, m. John Black. His second wife was a Widow Carothers, whose son by her first husband married Nellie Findley.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. XII.
William Findlay
was born in Ireland in 1750, came to Pennsylvania in August, 1763, and taught school in Westmoreland County for several years after his arrival. He was elected to the state Legislature from Westmoreland County, and was a member of Congress from 1791 to 1799, and again from 1803 to 1817. He was a prominent writer and pamphleteer on subjects devoted to the public welfare. He was a member of the Hibernian Society.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
Mr. Robert Finney
was a Ruling Elder in the Elk Eiver Presbyterian Congregation (now known as the Rock Church, Maryland), and the first Ruling Elder and chief founder of the New London Presbyterian Church in Chester County. In 1733, he bought a tract of nine hundred acres of land called "Thunder Hill," in Few London Township, where he passed the rest of his life. Mr. John Finney took up his abode in New Castle, and in the charter of Few Castle City, dated May 28, 1724, was constituted by Sir William Keith one of the first Assistants and Members of Common Council. In 1725 he is described as " Chirurgeon," and in 1733 as a Practitioner in Physick." He followed his profession with success for fifty years, and became the wealthiest owner of real estate in the vicinity, possessing half a dozen of the principal houses in the town of Xew Castle, and about thirty tracts of land, comprising several thousand acres, iu Isew Castle, St. Georges and Appoquinimink Hundreds, in New Castle County. In 1751 and 1761 he also purchased land in Londonderry Township, Chester County, Pa. In 1738, he was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the County of New Castle, and served as a Judge of the Orphans Court for many years. In 1739 he was named Collector of duties imposed on " convicts, and poor and impotent persons, imported" within the limits of Xew Castle County,f During July, 1747, a French or Spanish privateer, by cruising for some time between the Capes, and plundering two plantations four miles above Bombay Hook, affrighted the inhabitants of New Castle, and Doctor Finney, with Mr. Jehu Curtis, a fellow-magistrate, " arming what men they could on the occasion," made ready to defend their town against the enemy. The foreign vessel did not return, but capturing " a valuable ship in the bay, bound to Philadelphia from Antigua," sailed out to sea. After the calamitous defeat of General Braddock a party of French and Indians destroyed some of the settlements near the river Susquehanna, killing a number of persons and taking others prisoners, and, crossing the Allegheny Mountains, threatened residents of the eastern part of Pennsylvania. To be prepared for so serious an emergency, Governor Morris issued commissions for officers of companies of militia to be re- cruited in the Province, and Doctor Finney was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Upper Regiment of Kew Castle County.
In 1758, Colonel Finney also acted as Commissioner of the Lower Counties in equipping three companies of soldiers required by Governor Denny to engage in a fresh campaign against their old enemy. During the following year, with Vincent Lockerman and David Hall, he was named, by General Assembly, Trustee of PDS 1200 raised "for the Kings use," which were appropriated agreeably to their instructions. And on the 7th of May, in company with George Monro, Cassar Rodney, Joseph Caldwell, David Hall, and Jacob Kollock, Junior, he was appointed a Commissioner to dispose of a sum of PDS 7000, provided by Act of Assembly, in "levying, clothing, and paying one hundred and eighty men, to be employed in conjunction with a body of His Majestys British troops, and the forces of the colonies to the southward of Isew Jersey," in offensive operations against their adversaries. Under the same Act he was also nominated, with William Tills. and George Monro, a " Trustee and Agent for the public" to receive bonds from the Trustees of the General Loan Office of New Castle County for duly emitting bills of credit of the Government for PDS 10,000.
And by Acts of Assembly passed October 31, 1761, and November 2, 1762, the Trustees of the same Office were required to enter into bond in the sums of PDS5000 and PDS6000 respectively, " in the names of William Till and John Finney, Esquires," for the proper use of certain moneys granted the Government by Parliament. Mr. Finney and his nephew, Thomas McKean, were among the signers, in the Lower Counties, of the " Proclamation" of King George III. in 1764.
During the same year we find his name appended to a recom- mendation of a fellow-townsman to Governor Hamilton for the position of Clerk of the Market at New Castle, in which, also, he was joined by Mr. McKean, and by David and Archibald Finney. On the 31st of October, 1764, he was constituted one of the original Trustees of New Castle Common, a tract of land comprising a thousand and sixty-eight acres, surveyed to the inhabitants of iS ew Castle in 1704, in pursuance of a warrant from "William Penn, but by degrees appropriated and partially inclosed by persons who owned contiguous ground. The charter is confirmed by Thomas and Richard Penn to "John Finney, Richard McWilliam, David Finney, Thomas McHean, George Read, and George Monro, Esquires, John Van Gezel, Zachariah Van Leuvenigh, Slator Clay, John Yeates, Nathaniel Silsbee, Daniel McLonen, and Robert Morrison, Gentlemen, thirteen of the present Inhabitants of the Town of Xew Castle." Among the public positions held by Doctor Finney was that of Naval Officer for the Port and District of New Castle. This he resigned in 1773, a few months before his death. During the earlier period of his residence in New Castle he lived in a house on Front or Water Street, facing the river, with grounds extending backward to the Green; afterwards, however, he removed to a mansion bought by him in 1738, on the north corner of Wood (now Delaware) and Beaver (now Yine) Streets, purchased in 1832 by Major John Moody.
The first wife of Mr. Finney was Elizabeth French who died about 1740 ; and Mr. Finney married, secondly, Sarah Richardson, who died not long before her husband, leaving no issue. Doctor Finney died in March. He devised the bulk of his estate to his son David, the house where he then dwelt to his two daughters, and to his "brother Robert Finney all his medicines and what books of physick and surgery he desired, also his surgical instruments. " His death was made the subject of an elegy by his friend John Parke, afterwards an officer in the Army of the Revolution, "addressed to the Honorable David Finney, Esquire, one of the Supreme Judges of the State of Delaware.
Doctor John and Elizabeth Finney had at least four children : David, m. Ann Thompson; Robert, d.s.p. in 1771; Elizabeth, " of the Town of New Castle, spinster," May 30, 1788, when she parted with her interest in her fathers house on Wood and Beaver Streets to her brother-in-law John Finney; and Anna Dorothea, b. in 1735 ; m. John Finney.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. IV (1880).
Joseph Fisher & Elizabeth Fisher,
his wife late of Stillorgin near Dublin in Ireland, yeoman, borne in Elton in Chesshire in old England came in ditto ship. [Children] Moses, Joseph, Mary, [and] Marths Fisher. Arrived in the ship "The Lion of Liverpoole" in 1683.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. VII.
Miss Fitzgerald
From The Recorder (A. I. H. S.), Boston, Mass., December, 1901.
Portsmouth, R. I., was settled in 1638. Nine years later it was the most populous town in the colony. Here Eleazar Slocum was born on the 25th day of the 10th month 1664. He resided there until some twenty years of age when he removed to Dartmouth Township, now included in the City of New Bedford, Mass.
In Dartmouth, he wedded an Irish girl named Elephell Fitzgerald. Concerning her there are two theories. The first is that she was the daughter of an Irish earl and came to this country with her sister, who was eloping with an English officer
There were doubtless large numbers of these Irish girls brought over. The majority of them were, without question, Roman Catholics. Frequently their fate was a hard and cruel one. Thebaud, in his Irish Race in the Past and the Present, writing on the subject says:
"Such of them as were sent North were to be distributed among the saints of New England, to be esteemed by the said saints as idolaters, vipers, young reprobates, just objects of the wrath of God; or, if appearing to fall in with their new and hard task-masters, to be greeted with words of dubious praise as brands snatched from the burning, vessels of reprobation, destined, perhaps, by a due initiation of the saints to become vessels of election, in the meantime to be unmercifully scourged with the besom of righteousness, at the slightest fault or mistake."
Some, however, met a better fate. Their lines fell in more fortunate places. In many cases they were kindly treated and, in time, married into the families of their recent masters. Some of them, too, reared large families of manly sons and womanly daughters and lived to a happy old age. Many of their descendants must exist today in high places. Perhaps some are not aware of their maternal Irish descent, while a few may be reluctant to acknowledge it if they are. Yet, many of these Irish girls were descended from the old nobility and clansmen whose names and fames had ranked with the most illustrious in Europe.
The marriage of Miss Fitzgerald to Eleazar Slocum took place about 1687. Their children were Meribah, born in 1689; Mary, born 1691; Eleazar, born in 1693/1694; John, 1696/1697; Benjamin, 1699, and Joanna, 1702. There was also another child named Ebenezer. In 1699 the husband and father is recorded as giving PDS 3 toward building a Quaker meeting house. His will was proved in 1727. It makes the following provisions concerning his wife:
"
Item. I give and bequeath Elephell, my beloved wife, the sum of twenty pounds [per] annum of Good and Lawful money of New England, to be paid Yearly and Every Year By my Executrs During her Natural life.
Item. I give and bequeath to Elephell my beloved wife an Indian girl named Dorcas During the time she hath to Serve by Indenture,she fulfilling all articles on my behalf.
Item.I give and Bequeath to Elephell my beloved wife, The great low room of my Dwelling house with the two bedrooms belonging together with the Chamber over it and the Bedrooms belonging thereto, and the Garrett and also what part of the NW Addition she shall Choose and one half of the cellar, During her Natural life.
Item. I will that my executors procure and supply Elephell my wife with firewood sufficient During her Natural life, And whatsoever Provisions and Corn shall be left after my Decease, I give to Elephell my wife for her support, and also the hay for Support of the Cattle. The above gifts and Bequests is all and what I intend for Elephell my wife instead of her thirds or Dowry.
To his son Eleazar he bequeathed the northerly part of the homestead farm, 100 acres, with house, barns, orchard, etc.; to son Ebenezer, the southerly part of the homestead farm "on which my dwelling house stands." To Eleazar and Ebenezer he also gives other lands, and to Ebenezer, in addition one pair of oxen, a pair of steers, eight cows, two heifers and PDS 12. The remainder of the horses, cattle, etc., he gives to Eleazar and Ebenezer. The inventory shows PDS 5,790 18s 11d personal estate.
His widow, Elephell (Fitzgerald) Slocum, made a will the 19th day of the first month called March 1745/1746. It was proved October 4, 1748. Joanna, one of her daughters, married Daniel, son of 66John Weeden of Jamestown, R. I. A son of theirs was named Gideon Slocum Weeden.
The late Esther B. Carpenter of Wakefield, R. I., author of a delightful volume of sketches entitled South County Neighbors, once alluded to Miss Fitzgerald in a note to the writer. Miss Carpenter said that she remembered to have heard her maternal grandmother say that she valued her Irish line of descent from Miss Fitzgerald above any other she could claim. This Irish connection had always been a common remark in the family. The grandmother in question had named one of her daughters Alice Joanna after her Irish ancestress, whose daughter Joanna had married a Weeden as already stated. Many of the Weeden, Slocum and other families now in Rhode Island trace descent back to Elephell, the gentle Irish girl. Descendants of Elephell (Fitzgerald) Slocum are found today in New Bedford, Mass. The writer recently conversed with one of them.
Source: The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume VI.
Captain John Fitzgerald
was a favorite aide of George Washington. 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. Colonel Alexander McClanahan was one of a family, or clan, which furnished not a few useful men to Virginia for over a century. His brother, Captain Robert McClanahan, was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1770. This was called one of the bloodiest Indian engagements on record.
Note: The authorities examined in connection with the writing of this paper are Original Lists of Emigrants by Hotten, the Virginia Calendar of State Papers, the First Republic in America, History of the United States by Ramsay, History of Virginia by Campbell; Historical Collections of Virginia, William & Mary College Quarterly, Gleanings of Virginia History, History of Kentucky by Collins.
Source: EARLY IRISH SETTLERS IN VIRGINIA. BY HON. JOHN C. LINEHAN, CONCORD, N. H. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Nicholas Fitzpatrick
"Married, on Wednesday evening last, by the Rev. Dr. Gallaghar, Mr. Nicholas Fitzpatrick, store keeper, of this city, to Miss Eleanor Haly, late from Ireland. (Monday, January 5, 1801.)"
Source: Marriage Notices in the South Carolina Gazette and Its Successors (1732-1801) gy A. S. Salley, Jr.
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.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
John Frazer,
born at Glassborough, County Monaghan, in 1709, left Ireland in 1735 and located in Philadelphia. In course of time he became a very wealthy man. He was a shipping merchant, owning several vessels engaged in the West Indian trade. He married Mary Smith, who was born in Cleary, County Monaghan. He died in Philadelphia in 1765. His son, Patrick Frazer, commanded a company of the Fourth Pennsylvania, a regiment under the command of Anthony Wayne. He became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifth Pennsylvania, and was Brigadier-General of the Pennsylvania Militia. His grandson, Robert Frazer, was a distinguished lawyer at Thornbury, Pa.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
Joseph Galloway,
a native of Maryland, but long a resident of Pennsylvania before the Revolution, was one of the best informed men in the colonies, and probably, with the exception of Franklin, had no equal as to his accurate knowledge relating to the general condition of affairs in the country. He was an early and active sympathizer in the American cause until the Declaration of Independence, when he became a Loyalist. During a visit to England,he was examined in June, 1779, before an investigating committee of the House of Commons, and his testimony has been frequently published. When asked as to the composition of the Rebel Army, his answer was "The names and places of their nativity being taken down I can answer the question with precision,there were scarcely one fourth natives of America; about one half Irish,the other fourth were English and Scotch." He might have stated more in detail, that the fourth part was composed of some English, very few Scotch, and more Germans, or Dutch, as they were called, from Pennsylvania and the valley of Virginia, who formed the brigade under the command of General Muhlenberg, and the Eighth Virginia Regiment.
The testimony of Galloway testimony was in relation to his experience while superintendent of the police in Philadelphia during the British occupancy.
Tom L. Galloway,
a prominent real estate dealer at Prospect Park, this County, and a well known contractor and builder, whose work may be seen in various parts of Delaware County, is a native of County Antrim, Ireland, where he was born March 24, 1847. The family is of ancient Irish lineage, and have lived in that County for many generations. His father, Charles Galloway, was born and reared, and there spent his life engaged in the grocery business. The grandfather died in Ireland, when lacking less than three months of being a centenarian.
Source: Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley. (1894)
James Gardner,
a retired business man of the city of Chester, who has won his fortune by his own unaided efforts, and is now quietly enjoying the fruits of an active and successful career, is a son of Samuel and Mary (Campbell) Gardner, and was born August 15, 1838, in the City of Belfast, Ireland. His father was also a native of Belfast, and died there when the subject of this sketch was a small child. His mother was born in Scotland, and died in Belfast, Ireland, in 1875. Samuel Gardner was of Scotch-Irish descent.James Gardner came to the United States in 1850, when twelve years of age, and located n Delaware County, near the city of Chester.
Source: Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley. (1894)
Henry Gass
A prominent Irish Catholic who settled early on Sherman Creek, was Henry Gass. He and his brother erected log cabins on Indian lands in Perry County, but were dispossessed from there in 1750, when they located at Falling Springs.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
Patrick Gass,
who was born in the latter place in 1771, and who is said to have been the first white man to make an overland trip to the Pacific, is presumed to have been a son of Henry Gass. The original name, of course, was Prendergast.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
John W. Geary
The father of John W. Geary, governor of Pennsylvania from 1867 to 1873, was an Irishman who had settled early in Franklin County. He became an iron manufacturer, but having failed in business and lost his entire investment in the mines, he opened a select school in Westmoreland County, to which he devoted the remaining years of his life. His son, General Geary, commanded a Pennsylvania regiment in the Mexican War, and was commissioned governor of Kansas in 1856. He fought in the War of the Rebellion and distinguished himself for his bravery at Gettysburg. While in the command at Lookout Mountain, his son, Captain Edward Geary, a youth of eighteen, was killed by his side.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
Rev. Michael Gilligan.
Born in Sligo, Ireland, Dec. 26, 1845; came to America with his parents in 1847. The family settled in Salem, Mass. Michael, the subject of this sketch, attended school there, subsequently entering St. Charles College, Ellicott City, Md., and St. Marys Seminary, Baltimore, being ordained to the Catholic priesthood at the latter institution. In November, 1886, he assumed charge of St. Josephs church, Medford, Mass., and continued as rector until his death. He died Feb. 18, 1900, at Norfolk, Va.
Source: NECROLOGY OF THE SOCIETY of members who died during the year 1900, published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Captain J. Campbell Gilmore, freight agent of the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, vice president of the Ridley Park Brick Manufacturing Company, and Captain of the Veteran Corps of the 1st Regiment, National guards of Pennsylvania, is the eldest son of Andrew and Sarah A. (Semple) Gilinore, and was born in the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 22, 1856.
The Gilmores are of Scotch-Irish descent, and on the family roll are the names of a number of men who have won prominence in medicine, the pulpit, and other professions. James Gilmore, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Aghadowey, Ireland, where he was reared and educated. In early manhood he left his native country, with a number of compatriots, to seek a new home in the new world, but re- turned to Ireland in 1851, and died in 1872, in the old homestead where his wife was born, in Killure. He was a man of means, married Mary Campbell, daughter of Samuel and Martha McCandless Patterson, of Killure, and had a family of eight children, whom he carefully reared and educated. They were: Mary, Martha, Jane, Elizabeth, three died in infancy, and Andrew Gilmore (father).
Source: Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley. (1894)
John Godsell
(d. 1678), Lancaster County, Virginia. His daughter lived at Charleville, Ireland. Lancaster Records.
Source: Some Emigrants to Virginia. Memoranda in Regard to Several Hundred Emigrants to Virginia During the Colonial Period Whose Parentage is Shown or Former Residence Indicated by Authentic Records by W. G. Stanard (1911).
Charles Gookin
of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
In the beginning of this year, 1709, Governor Evans was removed and Charles Gookin appointed his successor. Gookin was a native of Ireland and somewhat advanced in years. He had been formerly in the army and was, in the language of Penn, a man of pure morals, mild temper and moderate disposition. When he arrived, the legislature was in session. The Assembly, instead of Avaiting for the propositions of the Governor, hastened to present to him a statement of grievances in which they repeated the weightiest of their complaints against his predecessor, and demanded immediate satisfaction.
Source: Authenic History of Lancaster County, State of Pennsylvania by J. I. Mombert, D. D., Member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (1869).
Daniel Gookin
(in Virginia 1621, &c.); of "Marys Mount," near Newport News; formerly of Cargoline, Cork, Ireland; son of John Gookin, of Ripple Court, Kent.
Source: Virginia Magazine, Vol XI, pg 71.
George Gordon
(d. 1756), Westmoreland County, Virginia; bequeathed lands at Sheepbridge, Clogheramer, Lisduff, Carmern and Daryoghly, all in County Down, Ireland. Westmoreland Records.
James Gordon
(1714-176S), Lancaster County, Virginia; son of James Gordon, gent., "of Sheepbridge and Lisduff, in the Lordship of Newry, County Down, Ireland." Source: William and Mary, XII, II. Hayden, 248.
Samuel Gordon
and wife (Eleanor Mitchell) were born in the County Tyrone, Ireland, as were also his father and mother; they are all buried in the old cemetery on the hill. By marriage the blood intermixed with Holden, Kimball, Barnes, Pierce, Cochran, Dickey, White, Brooks and Hurd.
Source: The Irish Piioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Colonel Grace,
of the Tenth Tennessee, was an Irishman, a splendid soldier, and was killed at the head of his regiment at the battle of Jonesboro, Ga. Lieutenant-Colonel O. Neil, of the same regiment, a brave soldier, survived the war but died since. Company E of the Second Tennessee Regiment was a company composed of Irishmen enlisted by Captain Casper W. Hunt and served most gallantly throughout the entire war. This company and the Tenth and Fifteenth regiments all served under General Bates composed of Irishmen.
Source: THE IRISH IN SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA, ALABAMA, LOUISIANA AND TENNESSEE. BY HON. PATRICK WALSH, AUGUSTA, GA. Published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
John Grace
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 ; 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.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Frederick Grady
of Holyoke (Mass) in 1917, leader of the Holyoke City Band, young in years. James Grady, the grandfather of Frederick, was born in County Limerick, Ireland and emigated to the United States, settling in Holyoke. He married in Ireland, Bridget Quirk, also a native of County Limerick, and they were the parents of two sons: Henry and James.
Source: Encyclopedia of Massachesetts, Biographical-Genealogical (1916), pp 73-75.
James Gregg
emigrated from Ireland to Londonderry in 1718, and was the ancestor of all of the name in this section. The family intermixed with Steele, Gibbs, Hutchins, Nelson, Macy and Wright.
Source: The Irish Piioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
John Grier
of Bucks County, the eldest son of Nathan and Agnes Grier, early immigrants from Ireland, who set tled in Plumstead, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, was born in the year 1744, Brought up as a farmer, he nevertheless received a good classical education. Two of his brothers, James and Nathan, became able and prominent Presbyterian ministers, and Mr. Grier was for many years a trustee of Old Neshaminy Church. With the exception of being a member of the Convention of July 15, 1776, he never would accept a public office. During the War of the Revolution he was an active Whig, assisting in the organization of the associators and other troops. He died on the 11th of June, 1814, and was buried in Xeshaminy Church graveyard. Mr. Grier married Jane daughter of Captain John Hays of the "Irish Settle ment," by whom he had ten children, among whom were the Reverend Matthew B. Grier, D.D., of Philadelphia, and Reverend John Hays Grier of Jersey Shore.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. III (1879).
Jacob Grosh,
a native of Lancaster County, was born January 2."5th, 1777, of German Moravian parents. He was a member of the Legislature during eleven years. and subsequently was twice appointed Associate Judge of Lancaster. He died at his residence, in Marietta, November, 1860. Hand, Edward, was born December 31st, 1744, at Clydafi", Kings County. Province of Leinster, Ireland. He died at his farm, "Rockford," near Lancaster. September 3d, 1802. In 1767, he received the appointment of Surgeon Mate, or Surgeon, to the 18th Royal Irish Regiment of foot, and sailed with that regiment from the Cove of Cork, May 20th, 1767, and arrived at Philadelphia, July 11th. He was Ensign in the s;unc regiment, and the He went with the 18th to Fort Pitt, and returning to Philadelphia in 1774, he resigned his commission, and received a regular discharge from Ireland. In the same year lie came to Lancaster, with recommendations, in order to practise his profession of Physic and Surgery. In 1775 he married. His first American commission bears date June 1775. He was on Prospect Hill, 20th August following. He left Lancaster, Lieutenant Colonel of the First Battalion of Pennsylvania Riflemen, famous for its exploits dunng the war. He rose to the rank of Adjutant General, still retaining that of Brigadier General. He was the Adjutant General at the battle of Yorktown, and marched with the troop sback to Philadelphia, where the Army was disbanded. After the war he resumed the practice of medicine. In 1798 he was appointed Major General in the Provisional Army.
He assisted in accomplishing the independence of his adopted Country, with zeal, ability and fidelity, high in public esteem. As a physician venerated, in private life respected and beloved, he died lamented by all who knew him, especially by the poor, to whom he gave professional aid gratuitously; and when successive generations shall have passed away, his name and his fame shall survive in the history of his countrys glory.
Source: Authenic History of Lancaster County, State of Pennsylvania by J. I. Mombert, D. D., Member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (1869).
Robert Guthrie, a name Anglicized from McGrath,
was born in Derry; settled with his family in Lancaster County in 1744. The name of his wife was Brighid Dougherty, a native of Carndonagh, County Donegal. Their son was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the regiment of Colonel Brodhead, throughout the Revolutionary War. He was in the expedition against the Six Nations, and with Harbisons Company of Rangers in the border wars against the Indians. His great-grandson was mayor of Pittsburg in 1897.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
The Haleys of the Isles of Shoals
Andrew Haley was of the Isles of Shoals. He was of Irish blood and had a son, Andrew, who married Elizabeth Scammon, of Kittery, Me., in 1697. Andrew Haley, Sr., early settled on the islands and eventually became styled King of the Shoals. He and his descendants seem to have long occupied that portion of the Shoals known as Haleys Island. In the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, for 1800, is a paper descriptive of the Shoals, from which paper we extract the following: "The only secure harbour in these islands is Haleys, which opens to the S. W., having Haleys Island S. E., Malaga N. W., a wall built by Mr. Haley, between 70 and 80 paces in length, on the N. E. At the close of the year 1800 there were on Haleys island, three decent dwelling houses, occupied by Mr. Haley, an ingenious and respectable old gentleman of seventy-six, and his two sons, with their families. Mr. Haley has expended a handsome fortune in erecting the expensive wall before mentioned, wharves, and other useful works. Among these are a windmill, rope walk, 270 feet long; salt works erected before the war [Revolution], a bake house, brewery, distillery, built in 1783, and a blacksmiths and coopers shop."
Source: The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume VI.
Captain 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.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
John J. Hare,
a leading jeweler of South Chester, who is now serving his sec- ond term as justice of the peace, is the only son of Michael and Catharine (McCullough) Hare, and was born in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November l0, 1858. His par- ents were natives of County Tyrone, Ireland, and both came to the United States in early life, and were married in this country. Michael Hare died in Philadelphia in May, 1859, at the early age of twenty-one, when the subject of this sketch was only seven months old. His wife survived him nearly a quarter of a century, dying in the city of Philadelphia in 1882, in her forty-fourth year.
Source: Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley. (1894).
John Harris
of Cumberland County, was the son of James Harris and Jenutte McClure, a native of Donegal, Ireland, born in 1723. He emigrated to Pennsylvania early in life and located in Lancaster County. About 1765, he removed to Cumberland County, settling in Fermanagh Township. He was a member of the Provincial Conference which met at Carpenters Hall, on June 2nd, 1776, and of the subsequent Convention of July 15. He was appointed sub-lieutenant of the County March 12, I 1777, and served as a member of the Assembly from 1777 to 1781. He acted as one of the commissioners which met at New Haven, Conn., November 22, 1777, for the purpose of regulating the price of commodities in the States. He died on the 28th of February, 1794, and lies interred in the Presbyterian burying ground at Mifflin. Harris was twice married ; first to Jane Poer, and secondly to Jane Harris, a cousin. By the latter he had six children.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. III (1879).
Robert Henry
"In July, 1802, on motion of Joseph Spencer, and the production of his County court license, Robert Henry, Esq., became an attorney of the court. This singular, versatile and able man has left his impress upon Buncombe County and Western North Carolina. Born in Tryon (afterward Lincoln) County, North Carolina, on February 10, 1765, in a rail pen, he was the son of Thomas Henry, an emigrant from the north of Ireland. When Robert was a schoolboy he fought on the American side of Kings Mountain, and was badly wounded in the hand by a bayonet thrust. Later he was in the heat of the fight at Cowans Ford, and was very near General William Davidson when the latter was killed. After the war he removed to Buncombe County and on the Swannanoa taught the first school ever held in that County. He then became a surveyor, and after a long and extensive experience, in which he surveyed many of the large grants in all the counties of western North Carolina and even in middle Tennessee, and participated in 1799, as such, in locating and marking the line between the State of North Carolina and the State of Tennessee, he turned his attention to the study of law. In January, 1806, he was made solicitor of Buncombe County. He it was who opened up and for years conducted as a public resort the Sulphur Springs near Asheville, later known as Deaver Springs and still more recently as Carrier Springs. On January 6, 1863, he died in Clay County, N. C, at the age of 98 years, and was undoubtedly the last of the heroes of Kings Mountain."
Source: Western North Carolina: A History from 1730-1913 by John Preston Arthur.
Brigadier-General James Hogan,
a native of Virginia, served in the Continental army. He was commissioned Jan. 9, 1779.
Note: The authorities examined in connection with the writing of this paper are Original Lists of Emigrants by Hotten, the Virginia Calendar of State Papers, the First Republic in America, History of the United States by Ramsay, History of Virginia by Campbell; Historical Collections of Virginia, William & Mary College Quarterly, Gleanings of Virginia History and History of Kentucky by Collins.
Source: EARLY IRISH SETTLERS IN VIRGINIA. BY HON. JOHN C. LINEHAN, CONCORD, N. H. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Nathaniel Holmes
was born in Coleraine, Ireland, as was also his father. Thus we have three generations of this family which lived in Ireland. He was an early settler and by marriage the blood mixed with Whittemore, Adams, Clement, Swasey, Leach, Kimball, Dickey, Hall, Griffin, Gregg, Miller, Aiken, Bruce, Sewall, Smith, Newton and Livingston.
Source: The Irish Pioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Captain Thomas Holmes
came from Waterford, in Ireland. He was one of the people called Quakers, and Surveyor-General of the province,appointed by commission from the proprietor, bearing date the 18th ofthe second month, 1682.
Source: Authenic History of Lancaster County, State of Pennsylvania by J. I. Mombert, D. D., Member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (1869.
Thomas Hughes, Felix Hughes, and Bridget O.Neill
One of the very earliest white settlers in Greene County was Thomas Hughes, who emigrated from Donegal with his wife, Bridget O.Neill, to Virginia. One of his descendants, Thomas Hughes, wrote the memoirs of his family in 1880, in which he said that his motive for coming to this country from his native Irish home was for religious freedom. He settled in the valley of Virginia, in Loudoun County, before the year 1739, Thomas Hughes, son of Felime or Felix, and his wife, with his brother Felime or Felix, all from Inver, in Donegal, Ulster, first laid the foundations of his family in this country.
Thomas Hughes was a noted hunter, and in one of his expeditions into the backwoods, which lasted for several months, he spent some time in what is now Greene County, Pennsylvania, the soil and general appearance of which pleased him so well that he determined to make his future home there. This he did in 1771, and was one of the very first white settlers in that country. He located where Carmichaels town now stands, but several years afterwards exchanged farms with a party named Carmichael, and called his new place Jefferson, after his old County in Virginia.
His nephew, Felix Hughes, also settled in Pennsylvania, where he erected a fort or blockhouse as protection against the Indians and wild animals. The name of his wife was Cinthia Kaighn (or Kane).
In 1780, he set out with others to Kentucky to look up lands, but the party was attacked by Indians while descending the Ohio and, after a narrow escape, Hughes returned to Greene County, where he spent the remainder of his days. He and his father were buried in Neills burying ground, near Carmichaelstown. Their descendants are still found in considerable numbers in Greene and Fayette counties, Pennsylvania.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
Roy John Hunter.
Two generations of Hunters have con ducted a harness and saddlery business in Holyoke, Massachusetts, John T. Hunter, the founder, who learned the trade with his father, Thomas Hunter, in Canada, and Roy J. Hunter, son of John T. Hunter, who succeeded his father and is now head of the business known as Roy J. Hunter, long known under the firm name John T. Hunter & Son. Thomas Hunter was brought from his native Tyrone County, Ireland, by his parents when a child of three years. His parents settled in Huntingdon, Canada, on coming from Ireland, and there he was educated in the public schools and learned the saddler trade. After becoming an expert workman he was employed for some time in Malone and Bangor, New York, then re- turned to Huntingdon, Canada, and established a harness making business which he successfully conducted until his death, August 29, 1899, at sixty-five years of age. He was a man highly respected, and for many years was prominent in St. Johns Episcopal Church which he served as warden. He was one of the old time residents of Huntingdon, and when finally laid at rest in the churchyard of the church.
He married Martha Fulton, born in Belfast, Ireland, died in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in September, 1913, daughter of George and Margaret Fulton. Thomas and Martha Hunter were the parents of nine sons and daughters: Mary, born January 3, 1852, married Clinton Smith; John T., of further mention; Margaret, born June 3, 1856, married Robert Fortune ; Fannie, born May 23, 1858, married Daniel E. Sparks ; George, born November 27, 1859; Thomas, born March 13, 1862; Charles, born March 15, 1864; William, born July 9, 1866; Martha, born July 3, 1869. Martha (Fulton) Hunter married (second) Nathan Spanow, and they were the parents of: John, Jonathan, William, Fannie, Elizabeth and Charles Spanow.
Source: Encyclopedia of Massachusetts, Biographical-Genealogical (1916), pp. 80-81.
George Hutchinson.
George Hutchinson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland; married in Tyrone County, Ireland, previous to 1755; and came to Pennsylvania not later than 1756, and resided for a period at or near Kingsessing, near Philadelphia; had a store in Second Street, Philadelphia; had a daughter Sarah Hutchinson, who married in Philadelphia.
Source:The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. II (1877).
Matthew Irvine, M. D. by John Blair Linn
Dr. Matthew Irvine, the younger brother of General William Irvine, was born in Ireland, and came out to Philadelphia when a boy in a vessel commanded by Captain George, father of James George, mentioned by Dr. Johnson as a ship car penter, afterwards residing in Charleston, S. C. James and Matthew, according to Dr. Johnson, had their boyish battles, and parting in Philadelphia did not meet until after the Revolution, when Dr. Irviue became a citizen of Charleston, when they shook hands as old acquaintances and continued good friends ever after. Dr. Matthew studied medicine with his brother at Carlisle; then a frontier town of Pennsylvania, alive with the bustle and confusion of troop trains, emigrants to the West, and noisy wagoners; its strange scenes and queer characters affording a scope for his irrepressible love of fun. Mrs. Irvine, widow of the General, with whom he was a great favorite, in her old age, never tired talking of his escapades.
He had not completed his studies in July, 1775, when Captain James Chambers came down the road from Falling Spring, now Chambersburg, with rattling drum and screaming fife, with a company on the way to Boston. Books were dropped and the doctor sped for the camp at Cambridge ; where his insatiable love of adventure soon enrolled himwith the bold spirits Arnold selected for the expedition to Canada.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. V (1881.
Rev. John C. Ivers
was the first American-born son of the family. His great-grandfather, Joseph Ivers, never left the "Old Sod", but his son, John, did, and spent twenty-seven years of his life in Springfield, Massachusetts.
John Ivers, born in Tinreyland, County Carlow, Ireland, came to the United States in 1870. He was married in Ireland to Bridget Murphy, also born in Tinreyland, the daughter of Richard Murphy. They were the parents of Richard, John, James, Charles, Mary, and Kate.
Source: Encyclopedia of Massachusetts, Biographical-Genealogical (1916), pg. 41-43.
Stephen Jackson
of Providence, Rhode Island.
From a Publication of the Rhode Island Historical Society, October, 1894. Stephen Jackson of Providence, R. I., was born in 1700, in Kilkenny, Ireland. He came to America, it is said, in 1724, to escape political persecution. He married, 1725, August 15, Anne Boone, daughter of Samuel and Mary Boone, of North Kingstown, R. I. He hired land in Providence in 1745, and at this period is called schoolmaster. He bought and sold several parcels of land subsequently. In 1762, he and his son, Samuel, bought of Stephen Hopkins, land on the new street, called Benefit Street, where they were then living. Stephen Jackson died, 1765, July 22, and was 32buried in the North burial ground. His wife, Anne, was born, 1709, September 18. She died at Pomfret, Conn., 1782, January 30. Stephen and Anne (Boone) Jackson had children as follows:
1. George, b. 1727; m. Lydia Harris, daughter of Toleration and Sarah (Foster) Harris. He died
1769, March 1. His will mentions wife Lydia, daughter Lydia and son Joseph. He was a noted
commander.
2. Samuel, b. 1729; d. 1811, Sept. 6.
3. David, b. ; m. Deborah Field, 1751, Oct. 9.
4. Richard, b. 1731, May 10; m. Susan Waterman, 1760, Dec. 31, daughter of Nathan and Phebe (Smith) Waterman. He died 1818, Dec. 29. The births of his seven children are upon record. His son, Nathan W., was many years town clerk; Stephen was cashier of Exchange Bank; and Richard was President of Washington Insurance Company. (the son of Richard, Jr., Charles was Governor of Rhode Island.)
5. Anne, b. 1736, May 12; d. 1753, Nov. 20.
6. Judith, b. 1738, Nov.; m. Simeon Thayer, 1759, Feb. 7. She died 1771, April 28.
7. Mary, b. ; m. Ezekiel Burr, 1759, Nov. 7, son of David and Sarah.
8. Elizabeth, b. 1743, May 23; m. William Lanksford, 1766, April 21. She died 1812, Jan. 27.
9. Susannah, b. ; d. 1772, June.
10. Thomas, b. 1747; m. Mary Brown, 1778, Sept. 14, daughter of Richard. He died on March 17, 1807. The will of his widow (in 1834) mentions his son Samuel, grandchildren, etc.
11. Sally, b. 1753; m. Tilly Merrick Olney, 1772, Feb., daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Mawney) Olney. She died in 1785, Sept.
12. Nancy, b. 1756, Nov. 8; m. (1) John Angell, 1785, April 3; m. (2) Simeon Thayer; m. (3) Darius Daniels. She died in 1803, March 9.
Source: The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. VII) by Various and Thomas Hamilton Murray
Daniel Jackson,
b. 1742, April 2; m. Roby Hawkins, 1765, Nov. 4. He died 1806, May 21. His will mentions children Samuel, John T. (father of Daniel, Ephraim, and Benjamin M., etc.), Benjamin M., Amey (wife of Bernon Dun), Ruth (wife of Lewis Bosworth), and Polly.
Source: The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. VII) by Various and Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Sir William Johnson
was born in Ireland in theyear 1714, came to America about 1734, and diedin1774. His son, sir John Johnson, was appointed majorgeneral in the same year in which his father died, and Governor of Canada in 1796.
Source: History of Virginia, From Its Discovery Till the Year 1781 with Biographical Sketches of All the Most Distinguised Characters that Occurred in the Colonial, Revolutionary, or Subsequent Period of our History by J. W. Campbell, Petersburg, (Va.) Published by J. W. Campbell (1813).
William Johnston
was the fourth son of Robert Johnston, Sr., and was born two miles from Druhmore, the County town of Down County, Ireland, July 26, 1807, his ancestors having emigrated from Scotland to Ireland in 1641. He came with the family of his father to Charleston, South Carolina, in December, 1818, and settled in Pickens District, South Carolina. About 1828, he moved to Buncombe County and married Lucinda, the only daughter of James Gudger and his wife Annie Love, daughter of Colonel Robert Love of Waynesville, March 18, 1830, and settled in Waynesville, where he accumulated a large fortune. About 1857, he moved with his family to Asheville. After the Civil War he, with the late Colonel L. D. Childs of Columbia, South Carolina, became the owner of the Saluda factory, three miles from that City. It was burned, however, and Mr. Johnston returned to Asheville, where he died.
Source: Western North Carolina: A History from 1730-1913 by Preston Arthur.
Martin Joseph Judge
, Paper Manufacturer, of Holyoke, Massachusetts, was a descendant of a fine old Irish family, the members of which have always occupied positions of honor and regard in the communities where they have made their homes, being industrious and enterprising, willing to sacrifice their own interests, if needs be, in order to promote the welfare and
development of their respective places of residence. John Judge, grandfather of Martin J. Judge, was born, lived and died in Ireland, his death occurring in the late seventies, at the advanced age of eighty-four years. He married Ellen Dunbar and among their children was Anthony, of whom further. Anthony Judge, father of Martin J. Judge, was born in County Mayo, Ireland, about the year 1803, and died at South Hadley Falls, Massachusetts, in 1903, al- most a centenarian. He followed the occupation of farming, as his forebears had done for centuries, but the times were very- hard in Ireland, owing to the excessive oppressions wrought upon the people by the British government, and Mr. Judge, like so many of his fellow countrymen, had a difficult time in making a livelihood.
Source: Encyclopedia of Massachusetts, Biographical-Genealogical (1916), pp. 30-31.
Daniel B. Kelley
Born in Newburyport, Mass.; was graduated from Niagara College and the Yale Law School; opened a law office in Haverhill, Mass., and acquired an extensive practice; died in Haverhill, June 10, 1900.
Source: NECROLOGY OF THE SOCIETY of members who died during the year 1900, published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
John Kelly
Among 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.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Major-General Benjamin F. Kelly
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. General Kelly is credited with raising the first Union regiment and winning the first victory for the Union south of Mason and Dixon line during the Civil War. His nephew, Captain Warren Michael Kelly, commanded a company in the Tenth New Hampshire Infantry, commanded by Colonel Michael T. Donohoe, and it is claimed that he led the first white troops into Richmond after its evacuation.
Note: The authorities examined in connection with the writing of this paper are Original Lists of Emigrants by Hotten, the Virginia Calendar of State Papers, the First Republic in America, History of the United States by Ramsay,, History of Virginia by Campbell; Historical Collections of Virginia, William & Mary College Quarterly, Gleanings of Virginia History, History of Kentucky by Collins
Source: EARLY IRISH SETTLERS IN VIRGINIA. BY HON. JOHN C. LINEHAN, CONCORD, N. H. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Michael W. Kelliher, M. D.
Born in Palmer, Mass., Feb. 20, 1864; studied for two years at the University of Vermont; was graduated in medicine from the University of New York in 1886; took a post-graduate course, and then located in Pawtucket, R.I.; was appointed medical examiner for Pawtucket and Lincoln, R.I., by Governor Davis in 1890, for a term of six years; was elected to the Pawtucket school board for three years; was a member of the Rhode Island Medical Society; died in Pawtucket, Oct. 31, 1900.
Source: NECROLOGY OF THE SOCIETY of members who died during the year 1900, published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Alexander Kennedy
(d. 1760), Elizabeth City County; bequests to Christ Church parishh, Cork, Ireland; to the poor of that city, &c.
Source: Elizabeth City Records.
James Kenney,
father of Edward James Kenney, was born in County Kerry, Ireland, in 1817. In the middle of the nineteenth century, when famine drove so many thousands from Ireland to North America, he followed the current of emigration to St. John, New Brunswick, where he lived for two years. Believing that the opportunities for himself were greater in the United States he came to Boston, and later to Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1847, he found employment at his trade. He was a skillful mason, and during the years that fol- lowed he worked with his trowel on many of the buildings erected in Holyoke. He was a man of strong, sturdy character, upright and capable, and he won a place of respect, esteem and honor in the community through a long, active and arduous life. He died in Holyoke, Massachusetts in 1907, over ninety years of age. He was married in Holyoke to Catherine Carmody, also a native of County Kerry, Ireland. One son grew to manhood, Edward James.
Edward James Kenney married, in Holyoke, 1896, Claudia Dionne, who was born in Frazerville, Province of Quebec, Canada.She is a daughter of Benjamin Dionne, adescendant of the French who were pi- oneers in Quebec. They have one child, James, born in Holyoke, December 5, 1904.
Source: Encyclopedia of Massachusetts, Biographical-Genealogical (1916).
Simon Kenton, the companion of Daniel Boone,
and who came to Kentucky in 1771, was of Irish parentage. His father was born in County Donegal. Another Irish companion was Michael Stoner. The story of Kenton life was even more romantic than Boones. While yet a minor he fled from his state because he believed he had killed a rival for the hand of a fair Virginia damsel, and, coming to the wilds of Kentucky, assumed the name of Simon Butler. To recount his many deeds of personal bravery and privation would fill a volume. Indeed, it was asserted by many that he was the greatest Indian fighter the country ever produced.
In 1782, hearing that the man he had struck down with his fist was still alive, he resumed his name, and in 1795 served as Major under General Anthony Wayne. He founded Kenton Station and Maysville, and planted the first corn raised in the state north of Kentucky river. Michael Stoner, one of his companions, and Thomas Kennedy, another Irishman, built a cabin and made some improvements on Stoners fork of Licking River, in Bourbon County, in 1774. Future generations are indebted to men of Irish blood for many of the early settlements of this state, made under so much difficulty, and it would be impossible to fully treat the subject in one paper or in a dozen, so romantic are many of the characters.
Source: Early Irish Settlers in Kentucky by Edward Fitzpatrick, Louisville, Kentucky, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Edward King
located at Windsor, Conn., about 1635, and is described as an Irishman and one of the oldest settlers in this vicinity.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
General Andrew Lewis
Perhaps the most distinguished man of Irish birth who identified himself completely with Virginia, was General Andrew Lewis, who was born in Ireland about 1720, and came to Virginia with his parents in 1732. John Lewis, the father, was the first white man who fixed his home in the mountains of West Augusta.
Andrew Lewis served as a major in the regiment commanded by General Washington in the Ohio campaign of 1754 and 1755. He served with valor in the French and Indian wars, and was highly regarded by Washington, at whose suggestion he was appointed a Brigadier-General in the Continental army. Four of his brothers served in the Revolutionary War, one of them, Colonel Charles Lewis, being killed at Point Pleasant. No better evidence of the value which Virginia placed on the services of this Irishman could be wished than the fact that she has deemed his effigy worthy to stand for all time beside the immortal group of Henry, Mason, Marshall, Nelson and Jefferson, which surrounds the heroic equestrian statue of Washington in the Capitol Square at Richmond.
Descendants of John Lewis, the father of General Andrew Lewis, are numerous in the state at this day. Some of them have been very distinguished men: John F. Lewis, who died recently, was lieutenant-governor of Virginia, and a senator of the United States. Lunsford L. Lewis, his half-brother, was president of the supreme court of appeals of Virginia for twelve years, retiring from that office a few years ago. Dr. Lewis Wheat is a well-known practising physician of Richmond. Judge John Lewis Cochran, whose 162mother was a great-granddaughter of John Lewis, father of General Andrew Lewis, and whose great-grandfather, with his wife, nee Susanna Donnelly, came to America about 1742, was a gallant soldier in the Confederate army, and a distinguished lawyer and judge. James C. Cochran, brother to the foregoing, was a colonel of Confederate militia in the late war. Henry King Cochran served as a surgeon in the Confederate service throughout the war. William Lynn Cochran was a Major in the Confederate service, and a lawyer by profession. Howard Peyton Cochran was a captain in the same service. It is claimed that there were one hundred and five of the Lewis family in the service of the Confederate states
Source: Some Irish Settlers in Virginia by Hon. Joseph T. Lawless, Richmond, Virginia, published by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
John Lewis was an immigrant from Ireland who came to Virginia before the Revolutiono of his sons, Colonel Andrew Lewis and Captain 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.
Note: The authorities examined in connection with the writing of this paper are Original Lists of Emigrants by Hotten, the Virginia Calendar of State Papers, the First Republic in America, History of the United States by Ramsay,, History of Virginia by Campbell; Historical Collections of Virginia, William & Mary College Quarterly, Gleanings of Virginia History, History of Kentucky by Collins.
Source: EARLY IRISH SETTLERS IN VIRGINIA. BY HON. JOHN C. LINEHAN, CONCORD, N. H. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Hon. John J. Linn
was born in County Antrim, Ireland, 1798; a pioneer settler of Texas; was a member of the Texan Congress; and author of Reminiscences of Fifty Years in Texas.
The stream on whose bank he was killed is known as Nolans Creek, and Nolan County, Texas, was named in his memory. Three of his associates, judging from their names, were of his blood, namely, Michael Moore, William Dandlin and Simon McCoy. John Henry Brown, author of the History of Texas, quotes the following from a Mr. Quintero: "The diary kept by Nolan, and many of his letters which are in my possession, show conclusively that he was not only a gallant and intelligent gentleman, but an accomplished scholar. He was thoroughly acquainted with astronomy and geography. He made the first map of Texas, which he presented to the Baron Carondelet, on returning from his first trip in 1797."
He was followed four years later by Captain Zebulon Pike. A third invasion was that of the party led by A. W. Magee, a native of Massachusetts, a graduate of West Point, and an ex-officer of the United States Army. This expedition ended badly for those engaged. Seventy or eighty of them who were captured by the Spaniards were shot and buried in one grave. They had rendered material aid, however, to the Mexican patriots in their struggle for independence.
In 1822, thirteen years after their death, the Governor of Texas, under the new republic of Mexico, collected their bleached bones, and had them interred with military honors. A tablet on an oak tree, near the place of sepulchre, bore the inscription: "Here lie the braves who, imitating the immortal example of Leonidas, sacrificed their fortunes and their lives contending against tyrants." It is not possible to make an estimate of the number in this expedition who were, like Nolan and Magee, of Irish origin, as their names are not given, but that there were many, the record of those who followed proves. From 1813 to 1819 others followed in the steps of Nolan and Magee.
Among them were the parties led by Perry and Young. The latter had served in the United States Army during the war of 1812. He took an active part in the Mexican war of Independence, and lived to see them throw off the Spanish yoke. Perry was not so fortunate. In his last fight with the enemy every man in his command was killed, and preferring death to capture, he took his own life, blowing out his brains. Another expedition left Natchez, the headquarters of the ill-fated Nolan, on the 17th of June, 1819. It numbered three hundred men. and was under the command of Dr. James Long, a native of Tennessee, and surgeon in the brigade of Carroll during the war of 1812 and 1815.
Source: The Irish Pioneers of Texas by Hon. john C. Linehan,, Concord, N. H., published by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Benjamin Logan.
The parents of Benjamin Logan, were born in Ireland, and when young, removed to Pennsylvania, where they intermarried ; and shortly afterwards, sought, and found, a pcrmanent settlement in the County of Augusta, and colony of Virginia. There, Benjamin became their first born; and there, by the practice of industry, and the observance of economy, as cultivators of the soil, in which they had acquired the fee- simple estate ; they became independent livers, with a growing offspring. At the age of fourteen years, Benjamin, lost his father, by untimely death; and found himself prematurely burdened with a numerous fraternal family under the aid of a prudent mother, to whom,he was a most affectionate and dutiful son. Neither the circumstances of the country, then newly settled, nor the pecuniary resources of the father, had been favourable to the education of the son: nor is it to be supposed that the widowed mother.
The father of Benjamin, died intestate, and as a consequence of the laws then in force, his lands descended to him by right of primogeniture, to the exclusion of his brothers, and sisters. So far from availing himself of this circumstance, Logan, with a noble disinterestedness of temper, a provident view to the future welfare of the family, and with the consent of his mother, sold the land, not susceptible of division, and distributed the price with those, whom the law had disinherited. To provide for his mother, an equally comfortable residence, he united his funds to those of one of his brothers, and with the joint stock purchased another tract of land on a fork of James river; which was secured to the parent during her life, if so long she should choose to reside on it, with remainder to the brother, in fee simple. Nor had the attention of Benjamin Logan been all this time confined to the circle of his own family; but the heart thus partaking of the finer feelings of filial, and fraternal affection, was equally open to the impressions of public duty. At the age of twenty-one, he had accompanied Colonel Beauquette, in his expedition against the Indians of the north, in the capacity of sergeant. Having seen his mother, and family, comfortably settled on James river; he deterniined next to provide for himself, a home, and purchased land on the waters of Holston, near where Abbington now stands. There, he improved a farm, took to himself a wife, and enlarged his property.
In 1774, he served on the expedition of Lord Dunmore, to the northwest oi Ohio, to which allusion has been made. Early in the ensuing year, he resolved to push his fortune in Kentucky; and set out, two or three slaves only with him, to see the lands, and make a settlement. In Powell valley, Logan, met with Boone, Henderson, and others, on a similar adventure, already noticed,and with them, he traveled through the barren parts of the wilderness; but not approving of the foundation, on which they were building, he parted from them, on their arrival in Kentucky,and turning wellwardly, a few days journey, pitched his camp, where he after- wards built his fort; and where he, and William Galaspy, taised a small crop of Indian corn, in the same year. Delighted with the country around him, and ever attentive to the interest of his connexions, he selected places for them; which he marked,and in the latter end of June, returned, without a companion, to his family on Holston.
In the fall of the year, he removed his cattle, and the residue of his slaves, to his camp; and leaving them, in the care of Galaspy, returned to his home, alone, in order to remove his family. These journeys, attended with considerable peril, and privation, evince the enterprise and hardihood of his mind, as well as his bodily vigour, and activity. His subsequent transactions will be mingled with the general history, Perhaps, nothing contributes more to the perspicuity of history, than a due regard to the order of events: certainly there is nothing more conducive to its utility. After the details already given in relation to the interior establishments, and the particular persons, by whose means they were principally effected, it next occurs, in order, to treat of those events wliich transpired on the Ohio frontier.
Source: Ancient Annals of Kentucky or, Introduction to the History and Antiquities of the State of Kentucky by C. S. Rafinesque, A. M.,Ph.D.
William M. Logan
went to Texas in 1826, one of a family which has given eminent men to the nation for over a century. With him were several of the Moore family. In an Indian fight reported by the celebrated James Bowie, Dec. 10, 1831, he mentions for bravery the names of ten persons; three of them were Matthew Doyle, Daniel Buchanan, wounded, and Thomas McCaslin, who was killed.
Source: The Irish Pioneers of Texas by Hon. John C. Linehan,, Concord, N. H., published by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Alexander Lowrey
of Lancaster County, the son of Lazarus Lowrey, was born in the north of Ireland, in December, 1727. His parents, with several elder children, came to America in 1729, and settled in Donegal Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. His father became an Indian trader, which occupation Alexander entered about 1748, in partnership with Joseph Simon of the town of Lancaster, the fur trade with the Indians being at that period quite lucrative. In May, 1777, he was appointed one of the commissioners to procure blankets for the Army. In
1776, he commanded the Third Battalion of the Lancaster County Associators, and was in active service in the Jerseys during that year. As senior Colonel he commanded the Lancaster County Militia in the battle of Brandywine. At the close of the Eevolution, Colonel Lowrey retired to his fine farm adjoining Marietta. Under the Constitution of 1789-1790, he was commissioned by Governor Mifflin, justice of the peace, an office he held until his death, which occurred on the 31st of January, 1806.
His remains lie interred in Donegal Church graveyard. Colonel Lowrey was married three times: first to Mary Waters, in 1752 ; next to Mrs. Ann Alricks, widow of Hermanus Alricks, of Cumberland County ; and lastly, to Mrs. Sarah Cochran, of York Springs, in 1793. He left two sons and three daughters by his first wife. The sons settled near Frankstown, leaving numerous descendants. His daughter Elizabeth married Daniel Elliott, of Cumberland County, who afterwards removed to Pittsburgh, and was engaged in Indian trade with his father-inlaw. The daughter Mary married John Hay, who also went to Pittsburgh. Margaret, the youngest, married George Plumer, who settled in " Westmoreland County, and represented that district in the Legislature and in Congress for many years. By his second wife he had one child, Frances, who married Samuel Evans, of Chester County, but they lived and died on the homeplace of Colonel Lowrey. Mrs. Evans had sons and daughters, and was a woman of great force of character and intelligence. Colonel Lowrey was a remarkable man in many respects, and his life was an eventful one, whether considered in his long career in Indian trade, a patriot of the Revolution, or the many years in which he gave his time and means to the service of his country. He was greatly beloved by his neighbors, and during his long life shared with his associate and friend Colonel Galbraith, the confidence and leadership accorded to both in public, church, and local affairs.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. IV (1880).
Dr. William Lynn
(d. 1758), Spotsylvania County, Virginia; brother of Charles and Audley Lynn, of Ireland; kinsman of Moses Lynn in Strabane and Lieutenant Mathew Lynn, near Londonderry, Ireland. Source: Spotsylvania County Records.
Matthew Lyon
"
No one will venture to say that Matthew Lyon, born in County Wicklow, in 1746, was a Scotch-Irishman, though I have heard lately that some of his descendants are now claiming that rather peculiar distinction. Matthew Lyon brought the first printing office across the mountains to Kentucky, and it did not come in a railroad train either. It was fetched in a jolt wagon and a good deal of the type was pied before it ever got here. From this type and press the first newspaper ever printed in Louisville was issued." The father of Matthew Lyon was executed in Ireland for alleged treason in 1765. The boy, aged thirteen years, was bound by himself to the captain of the vessel which brought him across the ocean, to work for twelve months to pay for his passage.
A Connecticut farmer gave the captain two bulls for the service of Matthew Lyon, and he worked out his time faithfully with that farmer.
Lyon County, Ky., is named for him, and his remains lie buried at Eddyville, which town he founded. Matthew Lyon, though once sold for two bulls, took no mean part in the making of history for his country, not only in Kentucky, but also in Vermont, where he went after working out his time with the Connecticut farmer. He belonged to the Green Mountain Boys, was a colonel in the Revolutionary War, and afterwards a member of Congress 142from the Granite state as well as from Kentucky. In 1798 he was prosecuted under the Alien and Sedition laws and fined one thousand dollars and confined in jail for four months. While in jail he was elected to Congress, and by his vote broke the deadlock which elected Jefferson president.
Source: Early Irish Settlers in Kentucky by Edward Fitzpatrick, Louisville, Kentucky, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
John 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, Colonel 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. Colonel 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. 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.
Note: The authorities examined in connection with the writing of this paper are Original Lists of Emigrants by Hotten, the Virginia Calendar of State Papers, the First Republic in America, History of the United States by Ramsay,, History of Virginia by Campbell; Historical Collections of Virginia, William & Mary College Quarterly, Gleanings of Virginia History, History of Kentucky by Collins
Source: EARLY IRISH SETTLERS IN VIRGINIA. BY HON. JOHN C. LINEHAN, CONCORD, N. H. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Mark Lynch
"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. The generous and delicate behavior of Mr. Cotter 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.
Note: The authorities examined in connection with the writing of this paper are Original Lists of Emigrants by Hotten, the Virginia Calendar of State Papers, the First Republic in America, History of the United States by Ramsay,, History of Virginia by Campbell; Historical Collections of Virginia, William & Mary College Quarterly, Gleanings of Virginia History, History of Kentucky by Collins.
Source: EARLY IRISH SETTLERS IN VIRGINIA. BY HON. JOHN C. LINEHAN, CONCORD, N. H. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Captain Mike Lynch
General Clement A. Evans, one of the best and bravest officers of the Confederate army, sends the following:" In the beginning of the war the Irish boys who were scattered over the South fell in with the companies as they were formed. One company went from my native County, Stewart, electing for its captain a young Irishman, Captain Mike Lynch, who made a reputation in the 21st Georgia regiment of Doles Brigade for skilful courage and kindness known throughout the command. Captain Lynch was full-blooded Irish, with all the mellow accent of the Emerald Isle."
Source: THE IRISH IN SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA, ALABAMA, LOUISIANA AND TENNESSEE. BY HON. PATRICK WALSH, AUGUSTA, GA. Published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Colonel Matthew Lyon,
was born in Wicklow County, Ireland, in 1746. His father, for being engaged in conspiracy against the English government, was tried, condemned and executed. To secure his passage, Matthew bound himself to a sea captain to work for twelve months after his arrival in America. The captain sold him to a Connecticut farmer for two bulls; he served his time faithfully and became a free man. His favorite by-word was forever after "By the bulls that bought me." It is worthy of record that Rudyard Kipling has put these words in the mouth of one of his recently created characters, without, however, giving Matthew proper credit. It is very evident that Colonel Lyon never forgot the execution of his father, for he was, up to the day of his death, an inveterate hater of the English government.
After he gained his freedom, he made his home in Vermont. He founded the town of Fairhaven in 1783, where he built saw and grist-mills, an iron foundry, engaged in paper making from basswood, and a variety of other occupations. He served in the Vermont legislature ten years, and for some time was assistant judge. He served in Congress from his adopted state. He was one of the first arrested under the alien and sedition laws, was convicted of a libel on the president, John Adams, fined one thousand dollars, and served a jail sentence in addition.
While in Congress, on the thirty-sixth ballot he decided the protracted seven days of voting for president by casting his vote and that of Vermont for Thomas Jefferson, making him president in preference to Aaron Burr. Shortly after the beginning of the present century he went to Kentucky with his family. He served in the legislature of his newly adopted state, and from it, between 1803 and 1811, was in Congress eight years.
Eighteen years after his death Congress voted to refund with interest the amount of the fine inflicted on him in 1798. This was done on July 4, 1840. He had a son of the same name who was the father of General H. B. Lyon. Colonel Chittenden Lyon, the oldest son of Matthew, represented his State in Congress for eight years, and was fully as impetuous and honest as his father. Of Matthew Lyon, Governor John Reynolds, of Illinois, said, "His Irish impulses were honest, and always on the side of human freedom. His leading trait of character was his zeal and enthusiasm, almost a madness itself in any cause he espoused."
Source: IRISH PIONEERS AND BUILDERS OF KENTUCKY. BY HON. JOHN C. LINEHAN. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Judge Peter Lyons
was born in Ireland, and came to Virginia in his early life. He was made a Judge of the General Court in 1779, becoming also a Judge of the first Court of Appeals. He served as such until his death, July 30, 1809. As a jurist he ranked high. Among his colleagues on the bench were Chancellor Wythe, Edmund Pendleton, St. George Tucker and Spencer Roane. His descendants for several generations were eminent in the professions, and some of them lived in Virginia. James Lyons, Jr., who was a Colonel on the staff of Governor O. Ferrall, is the oldest male descendant in the direct line. He married a daughter of William Wirt Henry, grandson of Patrick Henry, and by her has several children living.
Source: Some Irish Settlers in Virginia by Hon. Joseph T. Lawless, Richmond, Virginia, published by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Colonel David Mack
Among the early settlers of Middlefield, Mass., was Colonel 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.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Rt. Rev. John Thomas Madden
was the son of Thomas and Julia (McCormick) Madden. His father was born in Kildare, Ireland in 1822. About 1843, Thomas Madden came to Canada, thence to the United States. He first resided in Hinsdale and Leicester, and finally in Worcester, Massachusetts where he died in 1905. In 1845, Thomas married Julia McCormick, and had two sons, Michael J. and John Thomas; also daughters, Mary Elizabeth and Catherine, both deceased.
Source: Encyclopedia of Massacusetts, Biographical-Genealogical (1916)., pp. 46-47.
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.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Captain Maguire
Wickersham also states that the pioneer settler of northern Cambria County was a Captain Maguire. Other settlers who followed him from Maryland in 1790 were named Kaylor, Burns, McDale and Carroll, the descendants of the latter having been the founders of the present town of Carrolltown. The second white child born in that section is said to have been Michael Maguire. The number of places in Cambria County which bear Irish names indicate the extent of these Irish settlements. For instance, Driscoll, Carrolltown, Kaylor, Dale, Dougherty, Sheridan, Condon and Patton, called after the settlers, and Dysart and Munster, called after Irish places. Immediately to the north of Cambria, in Clearfield County, there are places names Mahaffey, McGee, McCartney, McCauley, Welshdale, Moran, Curryrun, Mitchel, Shawville, Barrett and Donegal, and in the other counties surrounding Cambria, are places called Tyrone, Armagh, Avonmore, McKee, Curryville, Kelley, Fleming, Connor, Daley, Downey, Lavansville, and so on.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
General William Mahone
was a descendant of an Irish progenitor who settled in Virginia in colonial days. Judge Anthony Kiely is of Irish lineage, and you know his history. After his appointment as minister to Austria by Mr. Cleveland, and the indication on the part of Francis Joseph that he was at Vienna persona non grata, Mr. Kiely was made one of the Judges of the International Court at Cairo, Egypt, and became its President.
Source: Some Irish Settlers in Virginia by Hon. Joseph T. Lawless, Richmond, Virginia, published by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
William John Mahoney
was descended from an old and honorable family of Ireland. His great-grandfather, John Mahoney, resided in County Waterford, Ireland. His wife was a Miss Vail. Their son, John Mahoney, was born 1789-1790, in County Waterford, Ireland, and died in Holyoke, Massachusetts, January 16, 1891, aged one hundred and one years.
Source: Encyclopedia of Massachusetts, Biographical-Genealogical (1916). pp.91-91.
Colonel Hugh Maxwell
One of the most distinguished soldiers of the Revolutionary War from western Massachusetts was Colonel Hugh Maxwell, who lived in that part of Charlemont now within the bounds of Heath. Colonel 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. Colonel Maxwell enjoyed the friendship of General Washington and other distinguished patriots of the Revolutionary struggle. At the age of sixty-six years Colonel 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 Colonel 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.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
James Maygood
"l
Beneath | This Stone in Hope of a Glorious Resurrection I Rests the Mortal remains of | James Magwood | a native of the County of | Amiagh. Ireland, j Who departed this life I October 30th Ann. Domi. 1824 | Aged 2 Years. [In Magwood enclosure E. of Church.]"
Source: REGISTER OF ST. ANDREWS PARISH, BERKELEY County,SOUTH CAROLINA. 1719-1774. Copied and Edited by Mabel L. Webber.
Hugh McCaffery,
proprietor of the well known McCaffery house. Third and Kerlin streets, Chester, is a son of Hugh and Emma (Brady) McCaffery, and was born in County Cavan, Ireland, July 18, 1848. His parents were both natives of the same County, and resided there until removed by death, the father dying in 1885, at the age of seventythree, and the mother passing away during the same year, aged seventy. They were members of the Catholic church, and the parents of nine children. Hugh McCaffery was reared in his native country until he had attained the age of fif- teen years, receiving a good practical education in the National schools of Ireland. When fifteen he left the Emerald Isle and made his way to America, settling in Philadelphia. Two years later he began learning the trade of cooper, at which he worked in that city until 1868. He then came to Chester, Delaware County, where he worked at his trade until 1885, and in May of the latter year embarked in the hotel business as proprietor of what is known as McCaffery hotel, at the corner of Kerlin and Third streets. Here he has continued a successful business ever since, and has become widely known and quite popular with the traveling public, being well qualified for the business, and a thorough master of the art of entertaining. In 1872 Mr. McCaffery was united in marriage to Mary McGolrick, of the City of Chester, who has proved herself an intelligent and useful conipanion, and materially aided Mr. McCaffery in the positive financial success which he has attained in life. They are members of the Catholic church, and in politics Mr. McCaffery is an ardent democrat, always giving his party a loyal support on National and State issues. He is very pleasant and genial in manner, and has the satisfaction of knowing that by industry and good management he has succeeded in life beyond many others, though he had only his own energy and ability to de- pend on when he began.
Source: Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley (1894).
Eugene T. McCarthy
Born in Peabody, Mass., Dec. 4, 1859; was graduated A. B. from Bowdoin College, 1882; admitted to the Massachusetts bar, 1884; formed a partnership with Henry H. Hurlburt, a prominent lawyer, at Lynn, Mass., 1892; enjoyed a large and lucrative practice; died in Lynn, May 26, 1900.
Source: NECROLOGY OF THE SOCIETY of members who died during the year 1900, published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Daniel McCarty
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 Captain Page McCarty of Richmond. He was equally noted as a duelist. In a letter to the writer, some six years ago, Captain 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. Captain 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.
Note: The authorities examined in connection with the writing of this paper are Original Lists of Emigrants by Hotten, the Virginia Calendar of State Papers, the First Republic in America, History of the United States by Ramsay,, History of Virginia by Campbell; Historical Collections of Virginia, William & Mary College Quarterly, Gleanings of Virginia History, History of Kentucky by Collins
Source: EARLY IRISH SETTLERS IN VIRGINIA. BY HON. JOHN C. LINEHAN,CONCORD, N. H. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Dennis MacCarty
of Warren, Rhode Island by Miss Virginia Baker of Warren. "Since I forwarded the data relating to Dennis and William Mackarty, I have again examined the probate records of this town, and have made the discovery that the will of Dennis Maccarty of Warren was probated on November 7, 1757. As Dennis of Bristol did not die until 1760, it follows that there must have been living in Bristol County two men bearing the same name, both of whom served in the French wars. I enclose a copy of the will of Dennis of Warren. In 1757, Warren, as you know, included Barrington. You will notice that the legatees mentioned in the will were all Barrington men; therefore, I conclude that Dennis resided in the west section of the town. Again, the testator mentions no kindred, while Dennis of Bristol had a wife and son. Here is the will mentioned:
"In the Name of God Amen I Dennis Maccarty of Warren in the County of Bristol in the Colony of Rhode Island Labourer being engaged in the expedition against Crown Point; and not knowing what Shall befall me Being now of a Sound and Disposing mind; Thanks be to God; Do make this my last will and Testament in manner following; Principally and first of all I give my soul to the hands of God that gave it and my Body to the earth to be Decently Buried in a Christian manner hoping for a Blessed Resurrection through the merits of Jesus our only Redeemer, and as to my worldly goods wherewith it hath Pleased God to Bless me I give the same in the following manner;
Item. My Will is that my Just Debts and Funeral Charges be Duly and Seasonably Paid by my executor.
Item. To my loving and well-beloved Friend Peleg Richmond I give a Note of hand I have against him of one hundred and thirty-two pounds old tenor Rhode Island currency.
Item. To my loving and beloved friend John Roger Richmond, I give all my wearing apparel.
Item. To my friend Mary Richmond June, I give one hundred pounds. To her sister ElizabethRichmond, I give sixty pounds, and to Sarah Richmond, I give forty pounds; all to be paid in old tenor Rhode Island.
Item. To my beloved friend Benjamin Viall I give a note of hand I have against him of Forty Pounds three Shillings old tenor.
Item. To my beloved friend Thomas Brown, I give Thirty Pounds of old tenor Rhode Island currency.
To my Trusty and Beloved Friend Solomon Townsend of Warren, Clerk, whom I make executor of my last will and Testament I give and bequeath all the Remainder of my money, Bills, notes, Bonds, and wares that Shall Remain and become Due After the above Legacies are Paid. And I Do Ratify and confirm this to be my last will and testament. In Witness hereof I have Set my hand and 61Seal this Thirtieth Day of April in the Twenty-ninth year of the reign of His Majesties Anno Domini Seventeen Hundred and Fifty-Six."
His Mark. Dennis X Maccarty. Signed, Sealed, Published, and delivered by sd. Dennis Maccarty to be his last Will and Testament. In presence of Constant Viall. David Allen, Jr. Samuel Viall. Probated November 7, 1757.
Source: The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. VI) by Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Captain Page McCarty
of Richmond, Va., writes: "I learned something of Irish-Americans from the papers of my father, governor of Florida at one time, and member of Congress in 1839. The Scotch-Irish appear to have established a theory of preemption or monopoly, and of that I learned but little. O.Brien, of the staff of General Washington was from Alexandria, Va. Colonels McClanahan and Andrew Wagoner and Major Richard McCarty, of the Revolution, were descendants of a small group of Irishmen who named the little town of Kinsale on the Potomac about 1662. Daniel McCarty, speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses 1715, was of this set of people, and grandson of McCarty, of Clenclare, though 166I see that some of his kin are trying to Scotch-Irish him also. The main immigration of Irish was through Philadelphia and Charleston, S. C., and they penetrated to the mountains with the most adventuresome pioneers and met in the valley that extends from the Peaks of Otter to the headwaters of the Tennessee River."
Source: Some Irish Settlers in Virginia by Hon. Joseph T. Lawless, Richmond, Virginia, published by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Captain Richard McCarty
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. Captain Richard McCarty has frequent mention during the Revolutionary period.
Note: The authorities examined in connection with the writing of this paper are Original Lists of Emigrants by Hotten, the Virginia Calendar of State Papers, the First Republic in America, History of the United States by Ramsay,, History of Virginia by Campbell; Historical Collections of Virginia, William & Mary College Quarterly, Gleanings of Virginia History, History of Kentucky by Collins
Source: EARLY IRISH SETTLERS IN VIRGINIA. BY HON. JOHN C. LINEHAN, CONCORD, N. H. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
John McClure
of the City of Chester, was for many years connected with railway construction in this State and later as a successful farmer in Lower Chichester township, this County. He is the youngest son of John and Sarah (Oliver). McClure, and was born in County Donegal, Ireland, in the year 1816. The elder John McClure was a farmer by occupation and a member of the Episcopal church. He was twice married. By his first wife he had three sons and a daughter : Andrew, James, William and one other. By his second wife, Sarah Oliver, he had two sons and a daughter. The sons were Thomas and John and the daughter was Jane. John McClure was reared in his native County of Donegal until his eleventh year, and obtained a good practical education, after which he learned the trade of carpenter. In 1837 he came to America and soon afterward engaged in railroad construction work, be- coming foreman of a gang of men when only twenty-one years of age. He followed railroad construction for a period of eighteen years, having charge of large bodies of men during much of that time. During this period he carefully saved his wages and purchased a a fine farm of fifty-five acres in Lower Chichester township, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, which he still owns and upon which he resided for nearly thirty years. In 1877, he removed to the city of Chester, where he nowlives retired from all active business, and en- joying the fruits of a successful life whose activities extended over more than forty years. In politics Mr. McClure is a stanch republican, and while never taking a very active part in political affairs, has always supported the general policy of his party and been an earnest protectionist. He is a member of the Presbyterian church and has reared his family in that faith. On July 22, 1852, John McClure was married to Fannie M. Williams, by whom he had seven children: John C, born July 13, 1853, ,and died August 15th of the same year; William J., born June 20, 1854; Oliver C, born January 10, 1856, was educated at Lafayette College, studied law and practiced for a number of years at the bar of this County and in Philadelphia, dying June 29, 1883; George W., deceased at the age of nineteen months ; John A., born June 30, i860, was a machinist by trade, and died May ig, 1888; Robert G., born June 20, 1862, was a salesman and clerk for some time, and died June 29, 1882, at the age of twenty-three; and David B., who was born April 20, 1865. On the 6th of February, 1870, Mrs. Fannie M. McClure passed peacefully to the tomb, sincerely mourned by her family and a large circle of devoted friends, who had been won b}' her kindness of heart and many estimable qualities. In 1877 Mr. McClure was again married, this time wedding Anna Likens, a daughter of Daniel Likens, and a native of Delaware County. She is now in the sixty-fifth year of her age. They have had no children, and reside in their comfortable home at 711 West Third street, in the city of Chester, surrounded by all the comforts and many of the luxuries of modern life, and highly respected as among the best citizens of Delaware County.
Source: Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley (1894).
John McCord
emigrated from Ireland in 1750, and settled in Shermans Valley, Pa. His father also located at Landisburg, Pa., about the same time, and on his farm a fort was erected for protection against the Redmen in the Indian war of 1755. It is still known as the McCord Fort.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
Davison McDowell.
In Memory of | Davison McDowell | who departed this life, on Jan 29, A. D. 1842 | aged 58 years and 10 months| He was bom in Newry Ireland | where he resided until nearly grown | Then removed to this country and settled in Georgetown district S. C. | where he spent the remainder of his life |.
Source: REGISTER OF ST. ANDREWS PARISH, BERKELEY County,SOUTH CAROLINA. 1719-1774. Copied and Edited by Mabel L. Webber.
Ephraim McDowell "The McDowell Family. Judge Avery goes on to give some account of the McDowells : Ephraim McDowell, the first of the name in this country, having emigrated from the north of Ireland, when at the age of 62, accompanied by two sons, settled at the old McDowell home in Rockbridge County, Virginia. His grandson Joseph and his grandnephew "Hunting John" moved South about 1760, but owing to the French and Indian War went to the northern border of South Carolina, where their sturdy Scotch-Irish friends had already named three counties of the State, York, Chester and Lancaster. One reason for the late settlement of these Piedmont regions was because the English land agents dumped the Scotch-Irish and German immigrants in Pennsylvania, from which State some moved as soon as possible to the unclaimed lands of the South."
Source: Western North Carolina: A History from 1730-1913 by John Preston Arthur.
Thomas A. McDowell,
one of the most enterprising, successful and useful citizens of South Chester, and the leading contractor for plasterer work in that borough, who for twelve years was a member of the borough council, is a son of John and Agnes (McQuillin) McDowell, and was born September 7, 1854, at Rockdale, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
John McDowell (father) was a native of County Antrim, in the province of Ulster, Ireland, where he grew up and received a good education in the National schools. In 1846 he crossed the broad Atlantic to find a new home in America. Shortly after landing in this country, he settled at Rockdale where he lived until 1871, when he moved to South Chester where he died in 1885, at the age of sixty-five years.
In 1840, he married Agnes McQuillin, a native of Ulster province, Ireland, and a daughter of William McQuillin. To that union was born six children : James, William J., Thomas A., the subject of this sketch ; Elizabeth, Archie and Wesley S. Mrs. Agnes McDowell has been a member of tlie Methodist Episcopal church for fifty years, and now resides at Front and Morton, being in the seventy-fifth year of her age. Thomas A. McDowell was reared princi- pally at Rockdale, Middletown township, this County, and received a good practical education in the public schools. At the age of eighteen he left school and went to Philadelphia as anapprentice to the plasterer trade, under John Cannon. After completing his apprenticeship he worked as a journeyman for a few Years. In 1878, he established himself permanently in South Chester.
On the 20th of June, 1877, Mr. McDowell was united in marriage to Susanna McCoy, a daughter of Emer E. McCoy, of Coatsville, Chester County, this State.
Source: Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley (1894).
Edward McGuire
who belonged to the staff of General McGuire in Austria, came to Philadelphia in 1751, with wines, in which he had invested his patrimony. He was the son of Constantine McGuire and Julia MacEllengot of the County of Kerry. He established himself in business in Philadelphia, but subsequently went to Alexandria, Va., thence to Winchester in 1753, where he built a hotel and gave the ground for and built the Catholic Church at Winchester in 1790. He died in 1806. His descendants were lawyers, doctors and ministers, some of whom married into the best old Virginia families.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
Francis McGuire
The battery attached to the regiment was commanded by a Captain 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 General 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 General Robert E. Lee, and in the report of General 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 Captain 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.
Note: The authorities examined in connection with the writing of this paper are Original Lists of Emigrants by Hotten, the Virginia Calendar of State Papers, the First Republic in America, History of the United States by Ramsay, History of Virginia by Campbell; Historical Collections of Virginia, William & Mary College Quarterly, Gleanings of Virginia History, History of Kentucky by Collins.
Source: EARLY IRISH SETTLERS IN VIRGINIA. BY HON. JOHN C. LINEHAN,CONCORD, N. H. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Dr. Hunter McGuire
was medical director of the Corps of Stonewall Jackson and the intimate friend of that great soldier, is of Irish lineage. His great-grandfather, Ed. McGuire, left Ordfest, County Kerry, in 1756, and settled in Winchester, Va.
Source: Some Irish Settlers in Virginia by Hon. Joseph T. Lawless, Richmond, Virginia, published by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Samuel McIlvain,
one of the leading contractors and builders of the city of Chester, whose handiwork may be seen in many of the fine buildings that add beauty to our streets and increase our reputation as a city of elegant homes, is a son of Andrew and Martha McIlvain,and was born near Londonderry, Ireland, in 1841. Andrew McIlvain was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and was engaged in the manufacturing business in Ireland, where he died when the subject of this sketch was only ten years old. The latter was reared on the Emerald Isle and received a limited education in the National schools of his native country, after which he learned the trades of stone mason and brick layer, and continued to work at those occupations until 1875, when he brought his mother to America, having come himself in 1865. He in 1865 located in the city of Chester, Delaware County.
Source: Biographical and Historial Cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley (1894).
John McKean
was born in Ballymony, Ireland, in 1714, and was the ancestor of all the McKeans in this section. His son James lived and died on the David Blanchard place.
Source: The Irish Piioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
R. McKim
was a native son of New York and a resident of the city of New York during more than the last quarter of a century of his long and useful life. He was a veteran surgeon of the Union Army, holding the rank of major. He was a man of considerable means and for many years preceding his death lived a retired life in the city of New York, devoting himself to the pursuits congenial to a man of culture and refined tastes. His progenitors were men of wealth and prominence in the business affairs of Philadelphia and Baltimore, descendants of Sir John McKim, born in Londonderry, Ireland, in 1655, knighted by his King for valiant service during the historic siege of Londonderry, raised July 30, 1689. Sir John McKim had by his second wife sons, Alexander and Thomas, the latter the founder of his line in America from whom descend the Philadelphia and Baltimore McKims.
Source: Genealogical and Memorial Encyclopedia of the State of Maryland by Richard Henry Spencer (1919).
Judge Thomas McKim
was born in Londonderry, Ireland, October 10, 1710, died at Brandywine, Delaware, in September, 1784. He came to this country, October 3, 1734, landing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he resided until about 1739, when he moved to Brandywine, Delaware, where he resided until his death. He was a man of influence in his community, a justice of the Court of General Sessions and judge of the Court of Common Pleas for many years.
He left children: John, of further mention; Robert, Eliza, Alexander, and Jane, all born in Brandywine, Delaware. John McKim, of the second American generation, son of Judge Thomas McKim, was born in Brandywine, Delaware, in 1742, died in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1819. In 1785 he located in Baltimore, there rising to eminence in commercial life. He was the founder and first president of the Union Manufacturing Company of Baltimore, organized in 1808, a company which operated one of the first cotton millsbuilt in the United States and is still one of the successfulmanufacturing corporations of the city. He was also president of the Baltimore Water Company and one of the openhanded, public-spirited men of his day. His greatest philanthropy was the founding and endowment of a freeschool for the education of children of both sexes without regard to religious creed, an institution known as "The McKim School," a worthy monument to a worthy man. He married Margaret Duncan, daughter of Isaac and Margaret Duncan, of Philadelphia. She bore him two sons, Isaac and William Duncan. The eldest son, Isaac McKim, was born in Philadelphia in 1775, and came to Baltimore with his father in 1785. He entered the counting house of his father at an early age and developed those qualities which made him the in-dustrious, energetic, intelligent and successful merchant which he afterward became. He was a great shipping merchant in the East India trade. He took great pride in hisvessels and had some of great celebrity as fast sailers. In1836 he built one of the first of the clipper ships, the widely known Ann McKim,which was named after his wife. During the War of 1812, he was in active service as an aidede-camp to General Samuel Smith, commander in chief ofthe forces defending Baltimore, and advanced $50,000 to thecity to aid in its defense.
He was one of the promoters of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and one of its first board of directors. He took awarm interest in politics and was a prominent and influentialmember of the Democratic party. He served as State Senator and was twice elected to Congress, of which he wasamember at the time of his death. He was eminently socialin his nature and his generous and elegant hospitality was freely extended to a large circle of friends, as well as to all strangers who were in any way entitled to it. He died in 1838, at the age of sixty-three.
William Duncan McKim, youngest son of John and Margaret (Duncan) McKim, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1779, died in Baltimore, Maryland, in November, 1834. After completing his education he joined his father in his various business enterprises and became one of the leaders of the commercial world. He was one of the founders of the Baltimore Gas Company, which he ably served as a director, also serving in that capacity in various banks, insurance companies and several public institutions of the city. Like his father, he was a man of noble, generous impulse and identified with many philanthropic movements. He married, in 1806, Susan Hazlett, of Caroline County, Maryland, whose ancestors, like his own, came from Londonderry, Ireland. They were the parents of six children: John, Hollins, Isaac, Hazlett, Margaret, married Alexander Gordon, and Robert. Robert McKim, youngest child of William Duncan and Susan (Hazlett) McKim, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, May 25, 1816, died in New York City, April 23, 1893. He was a man of wealth and education, his connection with the business world that of an investor only. He married, November 7, 1838, Charlotte Vanderburgh, daughter of Dr. Federal Vanderburgh, and granddaughter of Colonel James Vanderburgh, an officer of the Continental Army during the Revolution. They were the parents of Susan Hazlett, born August 11, 1839, married, in November, 1859, William Mackay; Robert Vanderburgh, of further mention; Mary Helen, born September 14, 1843, died June 12, 1884, married, October, 1867, Richard Church; Clarence, born July, 1 853, married, December, 1887, Caroline Lawrence; deceased; Laura Vanderburgh, born July 22, i860, married,November 26, 1884, S. Morris Pryor. Robert Vanderburgh McKim, eldest son of Robert andCharlotte (Vanderburgh) McKim, was born at Rhinebeck,Dutchess County, New York, August 19, 1841, died in NewYork City, October 20, 191 5. He was educated in Baltimore and New York City schools, chose medicine as his profession, receiving his M.D. from New York Medical College.At the outbreak of War between the States, he offered hisservices to the Federal government and was commissioned assistant surgeon of the Fifty-seventh Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, in October, 1861. In February, 1862,he was commissioned surgeon with the rank of major and sawhard service with the Army of the Potomac during the SevenDays fighting of the Peninsular campaign at Second Bull Run and Antietam. He was acting brigade surgeon duringthis period and later was in charge of a division hospital at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He ever retained his interest inthe militia and from March 5, 1883, until his resignation,honorable discharge, January, 1898, was brigade surgeon onthe staff of General Louis Fitzgerald, commanding the First Brigade, New York National Guard. He was a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the UnitedStates, the Colonial Order, the Union Club, the MetropolitanClub, and secretary of the Kennel Club of New York. Hewas a man of highest character and agreeable personality,highly esteemed by his professional brethren and dear to anextensive circle of friends.
Dr. McKim married, at Baltimore, December 28, 1858,Mary Schroeder Albert, who died at sea, May 17, 1907,daughter of Jacob and Eliza Margaret (Shroeder) Albert, of Baltimore. Dr. and Mrs. McKim were the parents of sevenchildren: Robert Albert, born September 15, 1863, married, February 28, 1889, Caroline Ransom; Mary Albert, born May 30, 1865, married, April 28, 1888, George C. Wilde, of Baltimore; Albert Vanderburgh, born February 14, 1867; Susan Isabel, born March 10, 1869, died in 1872; William Julian Albert, born September 3, 1870, married, November 9, 1893, Maud S. Lee; Charlotte Albert, born August 7, 1872, died in 1881; Augustus Albert, born 1875, died 1879.
Source: Genealogical and Memorial Encyclopedia of the State of Maryland by Henry Spencer (1919).
William McNee
, born in Ireland in 1711, was one of the settlers of the town. Before he came to this country he married Mary E. Brownley, by whom he had all his children. His descendants have now reached the eighth generation, but unfortunately the name is entirely lost. The first and second generations retained the name, but the third changed it to Nay. They intermixed with Cunningham, Taggart, Millikin, Swan, Upton, Weston, Davidson, Turner, Miller, Gilbert, Frost, Buss, Wood, Felt, Cross, Porter, Jaquith, Vose, Adams, Young, Balch, Perkins and Hapgood.
Source: The Irish Pioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Collin McKinney
Collin McKinney of Texas, on the Red river, was the oldest man who signed the Texan Declaration of Independence, being seventy when he affixed his name to it. Captain Thomas William Ward went to Texas, in 1835. He was a native of Ireland and at the outbreak of hostilities in Texas was a member of the New Orleans Grays. He commanded an artillery company at the capture of San Antonio, where he lost a leg. He lived in Texas until his death in 1872, onored and respected by his fellow-citizens. Elijah Rourk went from North Carolina to Texas in 1821. He was one of the pioneers of the state. While in company with David McCormick and two others, on his way to San Antonio to market a drove of hogs, he was killed by Indians, Dec. 25, 1829. The son of Rourk, who was with him, and McCormick made their escape. The former died as late as 1892. He had served in the War for Independence, and in himself was a living reminder of the sufferings of the early colonists of Texas.
Source: The Irish Pioneers of Texas by Hon. john C. Linehan,, Concord, N. H., published by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Captain John McMahon
Captain John Flannery, a native of Ireland, who commanded the Irish Jasper Greens in the Civil War, writes:
"Savannah furnished to the Georgia regiment for the Mexican War one company of volunteers, something over ninety men, a very large majority of them natural-born Irishmen. That company was 101the Irish Jasper Greens, under Captain Henry R. Jackson, who, on being promoted, was succeeded by Captain John McMahon, a native-born Irishman."
Source: THE IRISH IN SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA, ALABAMA, LOUISIANA AND TENNESSEE. BY HON. PATRICK WALSH, AUGUSTA, GA. Published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Colonel Robert McMillan
of the Twenty-fourth Georgia Infantry, went from Habersham County and was a gallant officer. He was born in Ireland, as was his brother, a gallant private in a company commanded by my father, who was himself of Irish lineage. The son of Colonel McMillan, Garnett, was born in Elbert County, Georgia, but was of pure Irish blood. He was Major in the regiment of his father. He was elected to Congress in 1872, but died before he took his seat. " I am of Irish extraction on both sides, I am proud to say. I was first a Private, then a Lieutenant and then a Captain, and finally a Colonel in the Confederate Army.
Source: THE IRISH IN SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA, ALABAMA, LOUISIANA AND TENNESSEE. BY HON. PATRICK WALSH, AUGUSTA, GA. Published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
John Mercer
(1704-1768), Stafford County, Virginia; born in Churchstreet, Dublin, Ireland; son of John and Grace (Fenton) Mercer of that city.
Source: Virginia Magazine, Vol. XIV, 232-234.
Ann Milcom
of Armaugh, widow, in Ireland. Came in the ship called the " Antilope." The Mr., Edward Cooke. Arrived the 10th Month, 1682, in this river. Children, Jane, Grace, and Mary Milcom. Servant, Francis Sanders, to serve 4 years; loose the 10th of the 10th month, 1686.To have 50 acres of land.
Source: A Partial List of the Families Who Resided in Bucks County, Pennsylvania Prior to 1687, with the Date of Their Arrival published in The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. IX.
David Milligan
came from Ireland to Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, in 1766. He and his two brothers, John and James, served in the Fifth Battalion of Cumberland Militia through the Revolutionary War. David was twice taken prisoner. All these were in active 40service up to 1778. Their brother, Thomas, and their mother, joined them from Ireland in 1785.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
Millers
There were two distinct families of Millers in town, remotely related; the ancestors of both, however, came from Ireland. Back to these people our president of this day and all of the name hereabouts trace their ancestry. They intermarried with Patterson, Burns, Campbell, Vickery, Johnson, Mead, Shipman, Templeton, McFarland, White, Duncan, Davis, Ropes, Wilkins, Phelps, McCoy, Thompson, Cunningham, Taggart, Gowing, Clark, Gregg, Holt, Sanderson, Wilder and Scott.
Source: The Irish Piioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Captain James Mitchell
"Captain James Mitchell, son of the Irish exile, served with me directly on my staff. He was a brilliant young gentleman, graceful in bearing, handsome and of unsurpassed courage. His battle record is as good as that of our bravest men. His brother (I think) served in Charleston as captain at Fort Sumter. His father was a very ardent supporter of secession. Captain James Mitchell expressed to me, at the battle of Fredericksburg, his deep regret that Confederate Irishmen were confronted by the brave command of Meagher. "
Source: THE IRISH IN SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA, ALABAMA, LOUISIANA AND TENNESSEE. BY HON. PATRICK WALSH, AUGUSTA, GA. Published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Major Mitchell,
a son of the Irish patriot John Mitchell, and who was one of "the most gallant soldiers in the Confederate army. He had in him the patriotic fire, the ardent love of liberty and the devotion to principle which characterized his distinguished father. He was desperately wounded in battle, but recovered and served to the close. He was always at the post of duty and in every particular an ideal soldier.
Source: THE IRISH IN SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA, ALABAMA, LOUISIANA AND TENNESSEE. BY HON. PATRICK WALSH, AUGUSTA, GA. Published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Thomas J. Michie
Thomas J. Michie of Virginia was a jurist. Among the judges of the present Supreme court of Appeals of Virginia is John W. Riely, who was a Major in the Confederate service, and whose ancestors were Irish. The speaker of the House of Delegates, session of 1897/1898, was John F. Ryan. A late governor of Virginia was Philip W. McKinney, of Irish descent. His successor was Charles T. O. Ferrall, a man of Irish descent. Among the state officers of Irish descent may be mentioned P. H. O.Bannon, public printer; John Bell Bigger, clerk of the House of Delegates; Major B. W. Lynn, superintendent of the penitentiary, and the writer (Secretary of State Lawless), both of whose parents were born in Galway, and came to America after the black famine.
Source: Some Irish Settlers in Virginia by Hon. Joseph T. Lawless, Richmond, Virginia, published by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Joseph Montgomery,
the son of Robert and Sarah Montgomery, was born in the County of Armagh, Ireland, in the year of 1732. His parents removed to America and settled in what is now Dauphin County, about 1737 or 1738. Joseph received a classical education, and graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1755. In 1760 both the colleges of Philadelphia and Yale conferred on him the degree of A.M.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine, History and Biography, Vol. I (1877).
Rev. Joseph Montgomery
was the son of John and Martha Montgomery, natives of Ireland. He was born on September 23, 1733 in Paytang Township, Lancaster (now Dauphin) County, and died at Harrisburg on October 14, 1794. He married, 1st.. Elizabeth, the daughter of Andrew Reed, of Trenton, and a sister of President Joseph Reed, of Pennsylvania. She died at Georgetown. Md., in March, 1760, the funeral discourse being delivered by the Rev. Elihu Spencer. He married. 2dly, Rachel Boyce, the widow of Angus Boyce, and sister of Dr. Benjamin Rush, born in 1741. She died at Harrisburg, July 28, 1793. By his first wife, he had one daughter, Sarah, born July, 1768. She married Colonel Thomas Forster, and died July 27, 1808. at Erie. By his second wife he had (1), Eliza- beth, born July 17, 1770, married Samuel Laird, and died Oct. 12. 1814, at Harrisburg; and (2) John, born Dec. 23, 1771. At the close of his term in Congress, Mr. Montgomery served in the Pennsylvania Assembly as a member from Lancaster County.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. II.
General Richard Montgomery
Born near Raphoe, Donegal County, Ireland, 1736; became a distinguished American soldier; was appointed a brigadier-general by the Continental Congress: Acting Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Department; invaded Canada; captured St. John, took Montreal, and laid siege to Quebec; was promoted to the rank of major-general; killed, on Dec. 31, 1775, while attempting to carry Quebec by storm. Hon. John D. Crimmins, President-General of the American-Irish Historical Society, has the last letter that Montgomery is known to have written. It is a demand on the British commander of Quebec to surrender.
Source: Published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Andrew Moore.
Some account of a Mooro family, the descendants of Andrew Moore, who came from Ireland in 1723, and settled in Sadibury, Pennsylvania, will be found in the Biographical History of Lancaster County, Pa. by Harris.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. I. (1877).
John Moore
immigrated from Ireland in 1718, and is the ancestor of all of the same name here. The blood mixed by marriage with Jewett, Priest, Taggart, Woodward, Smith, Gregg, Dinsmore, Wood, Steele, Turner, Holmes, Burnham, Jordan and Phelps.
Source: The Irish Pioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Nicholas Moore,
who died in 1689, and left descendants in Pennsylvania, is noticed in the History r.f Byberry and Moreland. He was a man of wealth and prominence. The Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, Vol. II, containing Pennsylvania marriages, record the marriages of 59 persons by the name of Moore.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. I. (1877).
Captain William Moore
"He was from Ulster County, Ireland, and was the first white man to settle west of the Blue Ridge in Buncombe (County, North Carolina. He was with his brother-in-law, Griffith Rutherford when that officer came through Buncombe in 1776 on his way to punish the Cherokees, and was struck with the beauty and fertility of the spot on which he afterward settled, six and a half miles west of Asheville, the present residence, remodeled and enlarged, of Dr. David M. Gudger. He was a captain of one of the companies of General Rutherford. He returned in 1777, and built a fort on the site above referred to, obtaining a grant for 640 acres from Governor Caswell soon afterwards, for "land on Hominy creek, Burke County." But he had to leave his new home for the Revolutionary War, in which he served gallantly, returning at its close with his own family; his wife being the sister of General Rutherford, and five others. He had three sons, William, Samuel, and Charles, and three daughters, all of whom married Penlands, brothers. William and Samuel moved to Georgia, and Charles, the youngest, fell heir to the homeplace. Of him Colonel Allen T. Davidson says in The Lyceum for April, 1891, page 24, that he had been born in a fort on Hominy creek "and was one of the most honorable, hospitable, open-hearted men it was my good fortune to know, whom I was taught by my parents to revere and respect; and I can now say I never found in him anything to lessen the high es- timate placed upon him by them."
Source: Western North Carolina: A History from 1730 to 1913 by John Preston Arthur.
Andrew Moreland
In Memory of Andrew Moreland. Born in County Down, Ireland, on Oct. 22nd 1789, Died Feb" 16th 1863. [Standing E. of Church.]
Source: REGISTER OF ST. ANDREWS PARISH, BERKELEY County,SOUTH CAROLINA. 1719-1774. Copied and Edited by Mabel L. Webber.
Samuel Morison
and wife emigrated from Ireland, leaving their parents, but taking with them eight children, who were all born there. From them descended all that family in this section who spell their name with one r, including our poet of today, and the venerable gentleman whom we are proud to have with us here, who delivered the oration at our centennial fifty years ago. By marriage their blood went into the following named families: Steele, Mack, Knight, Johnson, Bassett, Williams, Mitchell, Smith, Moore, Todd, Wallace, Hale, Graham, Felt, Wilcox, Holmes, Buxton and Wells.
Source: The Irish Pioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Henry Frederick Morrow
, a business man of many years, and one of the most active prohibition leaders of Chester City and Delaware County, (Pennsylvania) is a son of John and Ann S. (Rowland) Morrow, and was born in Wilmington, Delaware, August 28, 1833. John Morrow was of Scotch-Irish descent, and came in 1824 from his birthplace, near Belfast, Ireland, to the Brandywine creek, near Wilmington, Delaware, in which city he died on January 19, 1861, when in the sixty-second year of his age. He was a Pres- byterian and a prominent Free Mason, and during the latter part of his life was engaged successfully in the real estate business. He married Ann S. Rowland, a native of Pikeland township, Chester County, and who died at Chester, May 5, 1871, aged seventy-six years. Mrs. Morrow was a Presbyterian, and her father, John Rowland, was a grandson of John Rowland, who came over in the ship "Welcome," with William Penn, in 1682. His son built the first grist mill in Tredyfrin township, Chester County, in 1744.
Henry F. Morrow was reared in Wlmington, Delaware, received a good English education, and became an apprentice to John L. Hadden, of that city, to the trade of tinsmith, on February 21, 1848. After completing his trade he and his brother, W. J. Morrow, were engaged in the tin and stove business until i860. On June 20, 1860, Mr. Morrow came to Chester, where he was in the cement and roofing business up to 1872, since which time he has acted as a general agent. He now represents an improved metal for bearings. On April 16, 1861, Mr. Morrow married Mary Frances Belt, daughter of William Belt, of Wilmington. They have one child, a daughter, named Mary L. Henry F. Morrow and his family are all members of the Presbyterian church, and in politics Mr. Morrow was a republican, having voted for Fremont in 1856, but has been identified with the Prohibition party ever since its organization. He served for some time as chairman, and is now secretary of the count}' Prohibition committee, and in the days of temperance organizations, before the organization of the Prohibition party, he was recog- nized as one of the foremost temperance men in eastern Pennsylvania. In 1839 he connected himself with the Juvenile Temperance Society of the Hanover Street Presbyterian Church, and has always been a total abstainer.
Source: Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania by Samuel T Wiley (1894).
James Mountain
To the Irish nation "Western Pennsylvania is indebted for some of its best early population, men of stalwart frame and hardy constitution ; vigorous in intellect, firm in principle, religious in conviction, honest, determined, and in- trepid, yet somewhat rough in manner. These men came chiefly from the north of Ireland, whose ancestors went over from Scotland, and were generally known here as the Scotch-Irish. They emigrated to America to find a home, liberal in religion, free from tyranny, and exempt from heavy burdens. Among the eminent men of this body of immigrants was James Mountain. Born in the north of Ireland in the year 1771, he received a liberal education there, became a tutor in the family of an Irish gentleman, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in his native country, and emigrated alone to the United States. The ship in which he sailed was wrecked on the American coast, and with it he lost all his possessions, leaving him without means. Coming without companions, no one is now found to tell much of his early life. The first knowledge of him, in "Western Pennsylvania, we possess is that, on the 28th of April, 1796, David Johnson and he were employed by the trustees of the Canonsburg Academy to teach the Greek and Latin languages, commencing on the 2d of May, 1796, at a salary, each, of ninety pounds a year. In an advertisement of the trustees of that academy, published in the Western Telegraph and Washington Advertiser, dated June 9, 1796, we find the fol lowing account of Mr. Mountain.
"The characteristics and literary accomplishments of Messrs. Johnson and Miller are too well known in this County to need any recommendations. Mr. Mountain is a young gentleman from Ireland, who, after he finished his education, has been in the habit of teaching for several years, and has such an accurate knowledge of the Latin and Greek authors, of their references to antiquities, and Buch a perspicuous easy manner of communicating his ideas, and, withal, is so attentive to the duties of his station, as render him every way capable of filling the office of tutor with respectability and profit."
On the 14th of November, 1796, an usher was appointed to assist Mr. Mountain, whose salary was increased ten pounds for the year. But the whole salary being inadequate, as Mr. Mountain thought, his services as an instruc- tor in the classical department of the academy came to an end in April, 1797. How long he continued in Canonsburg, and with whom he studied law, if at all here, is unknown. He was admitted to practice in Washington County at November Term, 1801, and in Pittsburgh, December 28th of the same year. He was admitted also in Fayette County in 1802. He was one of the long list of eminent Pittsburgh lawyers admitted to the bar of Beaver County at February Term, 1804, of the first court held there. His name is fre quently seen in the early reports of cases in the Supreme Court.
On the 24th of March, 1803, he married Agnes Gilkison, a lady whose parents came from Virginia, and lived on a farm near Pittsburgh owned by Henry Heth, her maternal grandfather, and afterwards the property of Jacob Negley. Having lost her parents at an early age, she was adopted and raised by her aunt, the wife of General Adamson Tannehill, in whose family she was found and courted by Mr. Mountain. At one time, after their marriage, they lived in one of a row of frame houses on the south side of Penn Street, near to Cecil Alley. James Mountain died early, September 13, 1813, when only forty-two years of age, and was buried in the graveyard of the First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. XIII.
Thomas Neill
was a schoolmaster in the Wyoming Valley before the massacre of 1778. He is described as an Irishman of middle age, learned, a Catholic, a Free Mason, fond of dress, remarkable for his fine flow of spirits and pleasing manners, a bachelor and a schoolmaster. He lost his life in the massacre of Wyoming.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
Colonel John Nixon
(Centennial Collection) was baptised on April 17, 1734/1735, when two years of age. His father, Richard Nixon, is believed to have been a native of Wexford County Wexford, Ireland.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. I (1877).
Lewis Nicola. The undersigned, who is at present engaged in collecting data for a history of Brigadier-General Lewis Nicola or Nicolas (who was Colonel of the Invalid Corps, Continental Army, during the Revolution), his ancestors, and descendants, would be greatly obliged to any one who could furnish him with any information regarding the said Lewis Nicola or Nicolas, or the descendants of his six daughters, who were:
1st. Charlotte, born in Ireland, Feb. 9, 1761, married at St. Peters Church, Phila., March 1, 1781, Dr. Matthew Maus, Surgeon of the Invalid Corps, who died at Georgetown, D. C. (where he had been settled for some time), on the 24th of Sept. 1787, leaving issue by his wife three children, Louisa, John Nicola?, and Gustavus. She married 2dly Dr. Wm. Cozens, of Phila., who afterwards removed to Washington, D. C, where he died in 1819, leaving issue by his wife, who died at the same place in 1830, four children, Harriet, Lewis. Gustavus. and Horatio.
2d. Margaret, born in Ireland, March 1, 1764, and married a Mr. Bigham, by whom she had two daughters, Jane and Charlotte.
3d. Jane, born in Ireland on Feb. 28, 1765, and married June 17, 1782, Tatmage Hall, who, on Sept. 25, 1777, was appointed Ensign of the 7th Connecticut Infantry, and at the close of the war was Lieutenant and Paymaster of the Invalid Corps. He lived iu the South, where he died in 1793, leaving issue by his wife four children, Lewis Nicola, born May 23, 1783, and baptized at St. Peters Church, Fhila.. Hannah, who married in Charlestown, South Carolina, a Dr. Jones, William, and Catharine.
4th. Mary, born in Ireland, April 14, 17GG, and married June 9, 1755, Captain Thomas Nash, 3d, of the Green Farm, Fairfield, Conn., who died June 29, 1815, leaving issue by his wife, who died in Fhila., aged 6O, four children: William Burr, M.D., Lewis Nicolas, Harriet, who married Wm. Chrystie, of Phila., and Delia, who married Wm. Cozens, of Phila.
5th. Ann, born in Northampton County, about 1770-1, and married July 19, 1790, John Fisher. She died Jan. G, 1793, leaving issue one child. Eliza.
6th. Sarah, born at Phila., Nov. 15, 1779, and baptized at St. Peters Church, Phila., married at the same church Dec. 22, 179G, Jacob Webb, a sea captain of Rootlaud, Maine. She survived her husband, by whom she had one son, who was also a sea captain, and was for a loug time supposed to have been lost at sea, but who afterwards returned to Rootland. his native place.
Source: Notes and Queries, The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. IV (1880).
Philip Nolan
can well be styled the original Texan Ranger. He was one of the first, if not the very first, of the adventurous spirits to explore Texas, and whose daring and persistent bravery finally added the Lone Star State to the American Union. His romantic career and tragic fate, it is said, furnished a name for Man Without a Country by Edward Everett Hale. He was of direct Irish origin and a citizen of the United States. He left Natchez, Miss., in the summer of 1797, ostensibly to buy horses, but in reality to reconnoitre and survey the country. A second trip was made in 1800. He was accompanied by thirty armed men. The viceroy of Mexico, looking on his movements with suspicion, issued orders to arrest any foreigners who might enter the Spanish province.
He had been informed that a number of them had gone into Texas, and that Philip Nolan was considered the most dangerous among them; that he was authorized by General Wilkinson to reconnoitre the country, and make maps of it, and that it was of the utmost importance that he be captured and disposed of. In accordance with these instructions an expedition was fitted out to secure him.
It was composed of one hundred men, sixty-eight of whom were regulars, well armed, and possessed of one field piece. It started in pursuit on March 4, 1801. Two weeks later they reached the point where he had entrenched himself on the bank of a river. The Spanish commander thereupon sent a messenger, "Mr. William Barr, an Irishman," who had joined his command as interpreter, to summon Nolan to surrender. Nolan and his men determined to fight, and at daybreak next morning, began the engagement by firing on the Spaniards. The contest lasted until nine a. m., when Nolan was struck and killed by a cannon ball. His party then surrendered.
James Nowlins taught school at Mauch Chunk. According to Wickersham, he was one of the first white men who located at that place.
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Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
Edward O.Brien
Edward O.Briens School Dictionary was published in 1798 in New Haven, Connecticut. It was a compendium of the latest and most improved dictionaries that exist in two copies, one in the British Museum, and another, in the Yale College Library. This was the first dictionary by an American author published in this country. It has no date, but is thought to have been issued towards the end of 1798. Its author, who taught school in Guilford, Conn., was born there March 10, 1757, and died there August 20, 1836. Soon after its publication its author and the Rev. John Elliott (1768–1824), great-great-grandson of John Elliott, the Indian apostle) prepared the second American dictionary, which was copyrighted in June, 1799, and published in January, 1800.
Source: The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume VI.
James W. O.Brien
Born in Charlestown, Mass., in 1845; attended Mt. St. Marys College, Emmitsburg, Md., and Boston University, at which latter institution he studied law; became a member of the Charlestown city council, and of the board of public library trustees; was nominated by Gov. B. F. Butler of Massachusetts, in 1883, to be judge of the Charlestown district court, but owing to the political complexion of the Governors Council, the nomination was not confirmed; an able lawyer and valued citizen; died in Boston, Mass., Dec. 22, 1900.
Source: NECROLOGY OF THE SOCIETY of members who died during the year 1900, published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Rev. Michael O. Brien
Born in Ballina, County Tipperary, Ireland, May 1, 1825; completed his classical studies at Killaloe, and took his theological course at All Hallows College, Dublin; came to New York in 1848; affiliated with the diocese of Buffalo, N. Y., and was ordained to the priesthood in 1849; was made pastor of St. Patricks Church, Rochester, N. Y., in 1854; in 1859 was made one of the vicars general of the Buffalo diocese. At the time of his death, Aug. 28, 1900, while on a visit to Ireland, he was rector of St. Patricks Church, Lowell, Mass., and had been for several years.
Source: NECROLOGY OF THE SOCIETY of members who died during the year 1900, published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Dr. James O.Fallon.
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. Louis, Mo., who were among the first settlers. One of the latter, Colonel John O.Fallon, served on the staff of General 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 Bacons Rebellion in 1677, and with him was a Captain Hubert Farrell, who is mentioned as being one of his Majors.
Note: The authorities examined in connection with the writing of this paper are Original Lists of Emigrants by Hotten, the Virginia Calendar of State Papers, the First Republic in America, History of the United States by Ramsay,, History of Virginia by Campbell; Historical Collections of Virginia, William & Mary College Quarterly, Gleanings of Virginia History, History of Kentucky by Collins.
Source: EARLY IRISH SETTLERS IN VIRGINIA. BY HON. JOHN C. LINEHAN,CONCORD, N. H. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
William O.Halloran
(Civil War Battles)
"And before the day was over the Jackson Guards, composed of eighty-five Irishmen, was organized, made up from the clerks of the stores of John Ryan, Meyers and Hayden. They elected as captain, William O.Halloran, one of the bravest soldiers that ever lived. His deafness interfered with his service, however, and James H. Neal, brother of Captain T. B. Neal, now of Atlanta, was elected to the captaincy, with Dennis S. Meyers, John Keely, Peter Fenelon and John McGhee as lieutenants. This company went through the war hardly ever missing a battle, and when hostilities were concluded, the remnant came back home, eleven men out of the eighty-five, who had gone to the front. In thus directing the action of the Irish people of Atlanta, Father Hassan was prominent. The policy was to be true to the Union while it lasted; but when the state spoke, it then became their duty to do what they could."
Source: THE IRISH IN SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA, ALABAMA, LOUISIANA AND TENNESSEE. BY HON. PATRICK WALSH, AUGUSTA, GA. Published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
William H. O’Hearn, M. D.
Born in Lawrence, Mass., about thirty years ago; was graduated from the University of the City of New York in 1891; was also an alumnus of Bellevue Hospital Medical College; died in his native city June 4, 1900.
Source: NECROLOGY OF THE SOCIETY of members who died during the year 1900, published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Barnabas Palmer
of Rochester, N. H., was born in Cork or Limerick, in 1725, emigrated from there with two brothers, and enlisted under Sir William Pepperill. Barnabas sailed from Portsmouth, N. H.,one of the forces of 3,000 men, 1745, and on the Isle of Cape Breton, under Fort Louisburg, left his right arm. Subsequently, he settled in Rochester, N. H., married, had fourteen children, and was a member of the General Court of New Hampshire that ratified the Constitution of the United States. Here is another fragment of history: Lieutenant-General Pepperrell, in 1745, ordered Major John Stover to organize a company at Wells, Me., for the Louisburg expedition. The order was promptly carried out. Among the volunteers were Edward Welch, John Conaway, James Gilpatrick, John McDaniel, James Read, Michael Wilson, and John Burks (Burke). They sailed on March 24, 1745, for Cape Breton. Some of the companies died there. In the fall of 1745, most of the survivors returned to Barnabas.
Source: The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. VI) by Thomas Hamilton Murray.
William Paterson
Governor of New Jersey from 1790 until 1793, was the son of Eichard Paterson, an emigrant from the north of Ireland, who is supposed to have landed in Philadelphia in 1747. He went first to Trenton and re- mained there until the spring of 1749; but settled finally at Princeton in May, 1750; remaining there engaged in mercantile and manufacturing industries until 1779, when he re- moved to Raritan, where he died 1781. His eldest son William was, according to tradition, was born at sea on the voyage to America. One authority seems to favor the idea that he was born before his parents emigrated to America in 1745.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. III (1879).
James Patton
The Eagle Hotel. This was built by the late James Patton, father of the late James W. Patton, and grandfather of the late Thomas W. Patton. He was born in Ireland February 13, 1756, and came to America in 1783. He was a weaver, but soon became a merchant. In 1791, he met Andrew Erwin, who married his sister and became his partner in business. In 1807, they moved to the Swannanoa at what is known as the Murphy place, where they remained till 1814, when they moved to Asheville, Mr. Patton opening a store and the Eagle Hotel, the central or wooden part. In 1831, he bought and improved the Warm Springs, and died at Asheville September 9, 1846. 3 James W. Patton was born February 13, 1803, and died in December, 1861. His life was full of good deeds. His son, Thomas W. Patton, was foremost in all good works, and in 1894 came to the rescue of Asheville in a crisis of her affairs as mayor on an independent ticket.
Source: Western North Carolina: A History from 1730-1913 by John Preston Arthur.
John Prentiss Poe
The Poe family has long been identified with Maryland, and has contributed many distinguished citizens to that commonwealth. Burkes "Landed Gentry" gives an extended account of the ancestry of this family, and shows that Dr. Poe, physician to Queen Elizabeth, who came from Donegal, was a member thereof. David Poe, of Dring, Ireland, died in 1742. He was a son of John Poe, for whom he named a son. This son, John Poe, grandson of John Poe, married, in September, 1741, Jane McBride, of Ballymoney, County Antrim, sister of that McBride who was Admiral of the Blue and a member of Parliament for Plymouth in 1785.
In 1743 John Poe and his wife set out for America, and arrived at New Castle, Delaware, accompanied by two sons, David and George. They located first in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and afterwards removed to Cecil County, Maryland, later to Baltimore, where John Poe died in 1756. The first city directory of Baltimore, published in 1796, contains the name of Jane Poe, widow, German street, between Harvard and Hanover. This property was owned by the family. She died July 17, 1802, aged ninety-six, and is buried in Westminster Churchyard, lot 129. Their eldest son, David Poe, married Elizabeth Cairnes, and they were the parents of David Poe, who married Elizabeth Arnold. Edgar Allan Poe, the poet, was born of this marriage, in Boston, Massachusetts, January 19, 1809.
George Poe, second son of John and Jane (McBride) Poe, was born in Ireland, and was brought by his parents to America when only two months old. The family afterward re- moved to Cecil County, Maryland, where, about 1773, George Poe married Catherine Dawson. Soon after their marriage they moved to Baltimore and lived first on Thomas Street, Fells Point, west of Broadway, as it is now, and afterwardon their own property, No. 183 Market street. This lotis now on the south side of Baltimore street, about three doorseast of Hanover street. He was a private in company of Captain Case, on duty, 1775-1776. David Poe, his brother, wasasergeant, later in Captain McClellans Company. David Poe was,Lieutenant; George Poe, Sergeant, and William Poe,Private. On June n, 1776, George Poe was commissionedcaptain in the Thirty-fourth Battalion, militia of FrederickCounty. George Poe died at the home of his son, Jacob Poe,at Elmwood, Frederick County, August 20, 1823, aged abouteighty-two years, and was buried in the burying ground ofthe Brick Meeting House, near Walkersville, same County.The loss of the family Bible by fire makes it impossible togive the exact date of his birth. Catherine (Dawson) Poe, his wife, was born in Cecil County, Maryland, May 13, 1742,and died at the home of her son Jacob, which was then atHavre de Grace, Maryland, August, 1806, and was buried inlot No. 129, Westminster Churchyard, Baltimore. Children:Jacob, mentioned below; George, born November 14, 1778,died July 21, 1864; Harriet, March 28, 1785, died January 61 8 16; Stephen, died in infancy.
Jacob Poe, eldest child of George and Catherine (Dawson) Poe, was born October 1 1, 1775, on Thomas street, Balti-more. As a young man he was employed by a merchant, andmade several voyages as supercargo; afterward he becameafarmer, first near Havre de Grace, and in 1817 at Elmwood,Frederick County. He married, in Baltimore, January 4,1803, Bridget Amelia Fitzgerald Kennedy, daughter of Johnand Amelia (Fitzgerald) Kennedy, born June 10, 1775, inCounty Tipperary, Ireland. Her father sailed from Dublinin the ship "Neptune," April 30, 1784, and landed at Baltimore, May 30, following. Her mother was Amelia, daughter
Jacob Poe, eldest child of George and Catherine (Dawson) Poe, was born October 1 1, 1775, on Thomas street, Balti-more. As a young man he was employed by a merchant, andmade several voyages as supercargo; afterward he becameafarmer, first near Havre de Grace, and in 1817 at Elmwood,Frederick County. He married, in Baltimore, January 4,1803, Bridget Amelia Fitzgerald Kennedy, daughter of Johnand Amelia (Fitzgerald) Kennedy, born June 10, 1775, inCounty Tipperary, Ireland. Her father sailed from Dublinin the ship "Neptune," April 30, 1784, and landed at Baltimore, May 30, following. Her mother was Amelia, daughter of George Fitzgerald, counselor at law. She died at Salisbury, Eastern Shore, Maryland, 1790. John Kennedy died at St. Croix, West Indies, while on a visit to his brother James.
Jacob Poe died at the home of his son, Neilson Poe, Lexington street, Baltimore, July 25, i860, aged eighty-five years. He was buried at the Brick Meeting House, near Walkersville. Bridget A. F. (Kennedy) Poe died December 25, 1844, at her home, Elmwood, Frederick County, and was buried in the Brick Meeting House Churchyard. Children, first six born in Baltimore: George, November 10, 1803, died February 6, 1804; John, March 4, 1805, died September 12, 1807; George, March 20, 1807, died January 10, 1879; Amelia and Neilson (twins), August 11, 1809, former married Dr. Charles Goldsborough, and died November 2, 1883; James Mosher, January 3, 18 12, died October, 1885; Harriet Clemm, August 6, 1 8 17, in Frederick County, Maryland, died December 1, 1878. Neilson Poe, son of Jacob and Bridget A. F. (Kennedy) Poe, was born August 1 1, 1809, in Baltimore, and in early life was a student at law in the office of William Gwynn, a noted counselor and editor of the "Federal Gazette." Afterward, he was assistant editor, then editor and owner of the Frederick "Examiner, 1 ' and on his return to Baltimore, in 1835, became editor and proprietor of the Baltimore "Chronicle."
He was admitted to the bar before attaining his majority, and practiced in Baltimore until 1878, when, at the request of Governor Carroll, he accepted the chief judgeship of the Orphans Court, which place he filled until shortly before his death, January, 1884. He was a constant contributor to many journals, and was distinguished by the beauty of his style and elegance of his diction. He married at Elmwood, November 30, 1831, Josephine Emily Clemm, daughter of William, Jr., and Harriet (Poe) Clemm, born August 13, 1808, at Mount Prospect, Baltimore County, the home of hergrandfather, Colonel William Clemm. She died January13, 1889. Children: Amelia, born October 1, 1832, in Frederick County; Neilson, September 6, 1834, in FrederickCounty, married, November 7, 1867, Alice Henrietta Morris;John Prentiss, mentioned below; Josephine Clemm, March10, 1838, in Baltimore, married, April 10, i860, George Gibson Casey; Harriet Clara, July 4, 1840, in Frederick County,died May 1, 1846; William Clemm, December 4, 1843, in Frederick County, married, October 13, 1868, Eleanora Hennen Robertson, died January 20, 1906; Kennedy, May 3, 1845, died February 26, 1846; Robert M., January 31, 1847,in Baltimore, married, November 27, 1872, Sarah Graham Wingate, died April 10, 1884; Charles, August 4, 1851, in Baltimore, married, October 10, 1877, Ellen E. Conway.
The character and career of John Prentiss Poe are described in a memorial address delivered by Honorable Henry D. Harlan, November 11, 1909,at the University of Maryland, as follows:&uot;
John Prentiss Poe was born August 22, 1836, in Baltimore. He grewup under happy influences, having before his eyes a rare example of domesticfelicity, refinement, culture and the many graces of Christian character. His first teacher was his accomplished mother. For a short while he was a pupil in the public schools of Baltimore, and at an early age entered the French and English Academy of Professor Boursaud. Later he attended St. Marys College, and subsequently matriculated at Princeton College, from which he graduated with the class of 1854, being then in his eighteenth year. On the fiftieth anniversary of his graduation his Alma Mater conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws."
On his return from college, the young graduate secured a clerkship in a bank, and during this time read law under the supervision of his father. He was appointed librarian of the Law Library, where he had an excellent opportunity to pursue his studies and familarize himself with the literature of the law. He was admitted to the bar of Baltimore in the superior court on the twenty-first anniversary of his birth August 22, 1857 and in December of that year was admitted to the Court of Appeals of Maryland, and to the Supreme Court of the United States in the succeeding January.
Sources: Genealogical and Memorial Encyclopedia of the State of Maryland by Richard Henry Spencer (1919); Polk and Pollock."The Scotch-Irish Immigration to Pennsylvania, Polk and Pollock. In Vol. II., p, 168, of the Pennsylvania Magazine;
The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. V (1881);
Pollock Genealogy.A biographical Sketch of Oliver Pollock, Esq., of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, United States Commercial Agent at New Orleans and Havana,. 1776-1774. With genealogical notes of his descendants. Also genealogical sketches of other Pollock families settled in Pennsylvania. By Rev. Horace Edwin Harden. Harrisburg, Pa., Ib83. 8vo. 59 pages; The Pennsylvania Pollocks;
," says the author, " are all of Scotch-Irish descent, The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. VIII.
General Robert Porter
emigrated to America from Ireland, in the year 1720. He came from what is known as the Isle of Bert, which is distant about nine miles from the city of Londonderry. The ruins of the dwelling which his father occupied may yet be seen. The original farm has been divided into several parts, and continues to be occupied and cultivated by those of the same family. It is a bold and picturesque country, and a fit place for the rearing of men of energy and decision.
He landed at Londonderry, New Hampshire, and soon afterward purchased and settled on a farm in what is now "Worcester Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, about four miles distant from Morristown. He occupied this farm until the day of hi3 death, which took place on the 14th of July, 1770, in the seventy-second year of his age. The records of the church show that in 1741 he was an Elder of the Norriton Presbyterian Church. He reared a large family of nine sons and five daughters. Some of his sons moved westward and southward. Those who stayed and those who went, became generally farmers or tradesmen.
The most successful and prominent of his sons was Andrew, born on his fathers farm on the 24th of September, 1743. The only correct sketch of his life, and that a very meagre one, was given to the public in 1824 by Mr. Thomas J. Rogers in his American Biographical Dictionary. The dates and facts mentioned in this sketch have been generally accepted as correct by all branches of General Porters family, and I will give the substance of it here, before proceeding to add some facts not heretofore published.
In the spring of 1767, he removed to Philadelphia and took charge of an English and mathematical school, that he conducted with much reputation until the spring of 1776, when at his countrys call, he bade farewell to these peaceful avocations to enter into her service. During his residence in Philadelphia, he had made much progress in his mathematical studies, and had become an accurate astronomer. On the 19th of June, 1776, he was commissioned by Congress a captain of mariues, and ordered on board the frigate Effingham. At this time, his school contained about one hundred scholars and enabled him to support comfortably a family of five children who had recently lost their mother but all considerations of family and self seem to have been lost in the cause of his country. Not finding among the marines an opportunity of rendering the service he desired, he was shortly after transferred to the artillery; a corps in which, from his previous studies, he was- qualified to be more useful. He continued to serve as a captain of artillery until the 13th of March, 1782, when he was promoted to a majority, to rank as such from the 19th of April, 1781. He was subsequently promoted successively to the ranks of Lieutenant-Colonel, Lieutenant-Colonel commandant, and colonel of the fourth or Pennsylvania Regiment of Artillery, which latter station heheld at the disbanding of the array. "While in the army, he was personally engaged in the cannonade at Trenton, and in the battles of Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown. In the last-mentioned action, nearly all of his company were killed or taken prisoners, and in thefirst, he received on the field in person, the commendation ofGeneral "Washington for his conduct in the action. In themonth of April, 1779, he was detached with his company to join General James Clintons brigade in the operations underGeneral Sullivan against the Indians. He left the grandpark of artillery at Pluckamin on the 6th, and arrived at Albany on the 13th, of May, where he joined General Clinton,with whom he proceeded to Canajoharie on the MohawkRiver. From this point, the troops were marched to thehead of the Otsego Lake. The idea wa3 here originated ofdamming the outlet of the lake to collect a sufficiency of water for the conveyance of the troops in boats to Tiogapoint, where they were to join General Sullivans army.The experiment was tried. The water in the lake was raisedby stopping the outlet to the height of three feet, and anartificial freshet created which answered the purpose, andthe effect of which on the river was felt as far down asNorthumberland. The troops arrived safely at Tioga Point,joined General Sullivan, and having by the battle of the 29th of August and the subsequent destruction of the Indian townsand cornfields, accomplished the object of the expedition, theartillery rejoined the main army and wintered at Morristown."When the siege of Yorktown was determined on, ColonelPorter was ordered to proceed to Philadelphia and superintend the laboratory at which the various kinds of ammunition for that siege were prepared. He remonstrated against being thus removed from a station in which he might dis- tinguish himself in the field, to the superintendence of whatwas generally considered a mere chemical laboratory. His objections were silenced in a letter written to him by the Commander-in-Chief, in wcan render your country the most efficient services. Our success depends much on the manner in which our cartridges, i bombs, and matches are prepared. The eye of science is required to superintend their preparation; and if the information of General Knox, who knows you well and intimately, is to be depended on, there is no officer in the army better qualified than yourself for the station I have assigned you."
The grand object for which the American patriots had taken up arms having been accomplished by the peace of 1783, and the army having been disbanded, Colonel Porter retired to private life, and to the cultivation of his farm.
He shortly after retired to his farm in Norristown Township, Montgomery County, within a few miles of the place of his nativity, on which he continued to reside until the spring of 1809. In the year 1800 he was appointed in conjunction with Generals Irvine and Boude to settle the controversies of the Pennsylvania claimants in the seventeen townships in the County of Luzerne, but resigned the situation in the next spring. In the same year he was appointed Brigadier-General of the first brigade, second division of Pennsylvania Militia; and shortly after, on the removal of General Peter Muhlenberg to Philadelphia, he was made Major-General of the division.
In the month of April, 1809, Governor Snyder selected him to fill the office of Surveyor-General of Pennsylvania, which situation he held until his decease. He found the office inhich the latter said: "You say youare desirous of being placed in that situation in which you much disorder, remodeled it, and brought order and system out of confusion.
During the years 1812 and 1813, he declined the situations of Brigadier-General in the Army, and Secretary at War of the United States, both of which were offered to him by President Madison, believing that his advanced age would prevent the execution of the duties of either situation with that efficiency which the public good and his own reputation required.
It has been stated in the preceding sketch, that Colonel Porter took part in running the boundary line between Pennsylvania and Virginia, and also in establishing the western boundary of Pennsylvania. The completion of the western termination of Mason and Dixons Line in 1784 was a work of much difficulty, and some of the first men in each of the adjoining States were employed in it. Virginia appointed the Rev. James Madison, Bishop of Virginia, Rev. Robert Andrews, John Page, and Andrew Ellicott, of Maryland. Pennsylvania appointed John Lukens, the Rev. John Ewing, D.D., David Rittenhouse, and Thomas Hutchins.
The Pennsylvania Commissioners say they undertook the task from "an anxious desire to gratify the astronomical world in the performance of a problem which has never yet been attempted in any country, and to prevent the State of Pennsylvania from the chance of losing many hundred thousands of acres, secured to it by the agreement at Baltimore." Colonel Porter was not one of the commissioners appointed for the running of this line. He acted, throughout, as commissary; and as the western end of the line terminated many miles from any settlement, and as roads through that country were then almost unknown, the difficult nature of his duties may be estimated. He took part however in the scientific work of the commissioners, and the huge calculations, apparently from his own astronomical observations, which are found among his papers now lying before the writer, show the interest he felt in the work.
The commissioners from Pennsylvania and from Virginia, who met in Baltimore in 1779, concluded their labors on the 31st of August of that year, by agreeing "to extend Mason and Dixons line due west five degrees of longitude, to be computed from the River Delaware, for the southern boundary of Pennsylvania ; and that a meridian drawn from the western extremity thereof to the northern limit of said State, be the western boundary of Pennsylvania forever." When the end of Mason and Dixons line had been reached, it was marked by setting up an unlettered white oak post and around this post was placed a pyramid of stones. Near by, stood two oak trees, in each of which six notches were cut. The work of running the western boundary of the State commenced at this point.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. IV (1880).
Samuel Potts, born in Kings County, Ireland, about 1690 to 1695, came to America, and further trace of him is lost; but he also comes too late to have had a daughter married in 1705.
Source: The Pittsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. XII.
Prendergrass Family
Among the earlier Irish inhabitants of Carlisle is found the Prendergrass family, whose name is identified with almost all the larger settlements west of Carlisle. Carlisle Gazette of November 29, 1797 by Kline, gave an account of the death of the aged Philip Prendergrass, which occurred two weeks previously, in which it described him as an old inhabitant of this borough. The name is found on the list of taxables in 1762. He took part in the expedition of Kitanning, in 1756, to repulse the Indians. It was a member of this family, Garrett Prendergrass who, in February, 1770, purchased the ground now occupied by the city of Allegheny, from the Six Nations. The old Prendergrass homestead was near Hanover, and is still occupied by the family. It was built in the last century by an Irishman names Byrnes, who married into the family.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
Thomas Procter
was born in Ireland in the year 1739. He was the eldest son of Francis Procter, who immigrated to this country some years before the Revolution, and took up his residence in Philadelphia. In this city Thomas also settled, was married to Mary Fox on the 31st of December, 1766, and quietly pursued the avocation of a carpenter, the chosen craft of his younger years, until the drum taps of the Revolution summoned him to his natural calling, that of a soldier, for which the elements of his character and his ardent impulsive nature so well fitted him.
To Thomas Procter belongs the honor of raising and com- manding in the Revolution the first and only regular organization of Pennsylvania artillery. On the 27th of October, 1775, he applied to the Council of Safety to be appointed to the captaincy of an artillery company which it had been de termined by the provincial authorities should be raised and employed at Fort Island in the Delaware, for the defense of the province. In this application he was successful, receiving, on the same day, a commission as Captain of Artillery with authority to recruit a company. Two months later, in December of the same year, he is found stationed at Fort Island in command of about 90 men in active defence of the Delaware River. At this point he served through the next spring and summer, performing, however, in addition at the behest of provincial and State authorities sundry commissions in Philadelphia and at other points in the vicinage.
In the mean time the services performed by the artillery became so well appreciated, that on August 14, 1776, it was determined to increase this branch of the service by augmenting the number of men employed in it to 200, and dividing the body thus created into two companies ; John Martin Strobogh being appointed to the captaincy of the first, and Thomas Forrest to that of the second, Procter assuming tho general command with the rank of Major. On the 31st of July, 1776, the rank and file of the Procter Company consisted of 114 men, all told, with 12 musicians of this number 3 were sick in town, 7 on furlough, and 3 recently discharged, being apprentices. 1 recruiting parties. Proctor continued his service to the end of the war.
On the 10th of March, 1791, he was commissioned by Major Genl. Knox, Secretary of War, to undertake a journey into the Indian County of the North West, bearing messages from the Secretary of War to the several Indian nations inhabiting the waters near Lake Erie, the Miamis and the Wabash,for the purpose of establishing peace and a friendly inter- course between the said nations and the U. S. of America.
Upon this journey Colonel Procter set out from Philadelphia on the 12th of March, 1791, in the midst of a heavy rain. Hespent about two months among the Indians, and has recorded the incidents of his perilous trip and the success of his undertaking in an exhaustive and interesting journal now in print. The closing years of Procters life were harassed with financial troubles, a consideration of which, though interesting, is far beyond the scope of this article. He experienced great difficulty in securing a settlement of his accounts with the State, with whom, in addition, he was engaged in a vexatious lawsuit, by his Attorney, William Bradford, Jr., in regard to the possession of Hog Island, in the Delaware.
On the 18th of May, 1779, a military lodge of Masons was instituted in his artillery regiment, with Colonel Procter as Master. This was just before the departure of the regiment for a participation in the invasion of the Indian country under llivan. Two subordinate officers of the command of Sullivan, both of whom were Masons, were killed in an affray with the Indians, and there in the heart of the wilderness the Procter lodge met and buried them with Masonic honors.
General Procter took a prominent part in the effort made by the Grand Masonic Lodge of Pennsylvania, but which failed to secure the election of Washington as "General Grand Master of the United States." At the funeral solemnities, in Philadelphia, on the 26th of Dec. 1799, incident to the death of General Washington, Genl. Procter was appointed "Master of Ceremonies" on be- half of the Masons.
Death closed the busy life of Procter, on Sunday the 16th day of March, 1806. He died at his residence in Arch Street between Fourth and Fifth, and was buried at 3 O.clock P. M. on the following Tuesday afternoon, with military and Masonic honors.
Sources: PA Archives 2d Serv., vol. 12; The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. IV (1880).
Andrew Porter,
a member of the Hibernian Society, opened an English and Mathematical School in Philadelphia in 1767, in which he taught till 1776, when he was appointed a Captain of Marines and ordered to the frigate Effingham. He was a son of Robert Porter, who emigrated from Derry to New Hampshire in 1720, and who afterwards removed to Montgomery County, Pa. He was transferred from the marine corps to the command of the Fourth Pennsylvania Artillery, which post he held until the close of the war. He fought in several battles of the Revolutionary War at the head of his gallant regiment, and is said to have been personally commended by Washington for his conduct at the battle of Germantown. He became General of Pennsylvania Militia, and took a prominent part in all movements for the welfare of his native state. Gov. David R. Porter of Pennsylvania, Gov. Bryan Porter of Michigan, and James M. Porter, secretary of war under Tyler, were grandsons of the exile from Derry, Robert Porter.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
The Preston family in Virginia
is a distinguished one. Its propositus John Preston was born in Ireland, and came to Virginia in 1735. He married Elizabeth Patton before coming to America. She was a sister of Colonel James Patton, also of Irish birth. The latter was killed in Virginia by the Indians in 1753, leaving two daughters, from whom descended John Floyd and John B. Floyd, governors of Virginia; Hon. James D. Breckinridge of Louisville, Ky., and Colonel Wm. P. Anderson of the United States army.
John Preston left one son, William, and four daughters, from whom are descended some of the most distinguished men in American history. Dr. R. A. Brock in his Virginia and Virginians says, "Scarce another American family has numbered as many prominent and honored representatives as that of the yeoman-founded Preston, with its collateral lines and alliances.
" In support of this claim he continues: "It has furnished the National government a vice-president [Hon. John Cabell Breckinridge], has been represented in several of the executive departments and in both branches of Congress. It has given Virginia five Governors: McDowell, Campbell, Preston and the two Floyds, and to Kentucky, Missouri and California, one each, in Governors Jacobs, B. Gratz Brown and Miller; Thomas Hart Benton, John J. Crittenden, William C. and William Ballard Preston, leading moulders of public sentiment; the Breckinridges, Dr. Robert J. and William L., distinguished theologians of Kentucky; Professors Holmes, Venable and Cabell, of the University of Virginia, besides other distinguished educators."
Source: Some Irish Settlers in Virginia by Hon. Joseph T. Lawless, Richmond, Virginia, published by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
John Purslow,
of Dublin, in Ireland, husbandman. Arrived in Delaware River in the " Phenix," the Mr., Mathew Shaw, in the 6th Month, 1677.br>
Source: A Partial List of the Families Who Resided in Bucks County, Pennsylvania Prior to 1687, with the Date of Their Arrival published in The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. IX.
William H. Quinn
Came to this country, an orphan, when but nine years of age; went to Hallowell, Me., when twenty-three years old, locating permanently there in 1877; became prominent in business life; served on the Hallowell board of aldermen. "Whatever word he gave was the equal of a bond doubly secured." He died in Hallowell, July 11, 1900, aged fifty years.
Source: NECROLOGY OF THE SOCIETY of members who died during the year 1900, published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
John Ralston
of Northampton County, the second son of James and Mary Ralston, was born in Allen Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, in 1735. His parents, natives of Ireland, were among the earliest settlers in the so-called "Irish Settlement," and his father a prominent man in church and local affairs. John received a thorough English education, and engaged in farming and in mercantile pursuits. He was a member of the Convention of July 15, 1776, and from 1776 to 1779 served in the General Assembly. He was commissioned paymaster of the Northampton County Militia on February 16, 1781, and ou the 3d of March following appointed one of the Auditors of Depreciation Accounts. Until the close of the war Major Ralston was an active participant. He died on his farm 5th of February, 1795, leaving a large family. His wife was Christiana, daughter of James King, of the "Irish Settlement," born in 1745, died 2d December, 1826. His sister Jane married the Rev. John Rosbrough, who was so brutally murdered by the Hessians on the 2d of January, 1777, near Trenton, E". J.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine History and Biographu, Vol. IV (1880).
John Ray
was born at Drim Stevlin, Donegal, Province of Ulster, Ireland on March 17, 1792.
His parents were Daid and Lucy (Atherson) Ray, strict Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. At the age of twenty, John Ray came to America with the consent of his parents, landing in Philadelphia on October 27, 1812. In 1833, he married Miss Bethenia G. Lavender of Virginia by whom he had six dhilren. Mr. Ray died on July 21, 1868, and was buried in the cemetery in Newton, Georgia.
Source: Men of Mark of Georgia, Vol. 2.
Hon. William F. Reddy
Born in Waterford, Ireland; was educated in private schools in Ireland and England, and graduated at St. Johns University, Waterford. He came directly from Ireland to Richmond, Va., and prepared himself there and at the University of Virginia for the practice of law. Attained distinction at the bar; was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1895 and 1897; was placed on important committees, including Courts of Justice, Counties, Cities and Towns, and Officers and Offices at the Capitol; was at one time a member of the Richmond Light Infantry Blues; died in Richmond, Jan. 24, 1900, aged thirty-six years.
Source: NECROLOGY OF THE SOCIETY of members who died during the year 1900, published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Ridgway Family
The Ridgways of Pennsylvania claiming descent from the Ridgways of Ireland, these notes may interest them, as they are apparently the result of original research in the Irish Records. Recorded in the English. Notes & Queries 1th S. II. pp. 255-256, under the title of the " First Protestant Colony First Protestant Colony Planted in Ireland." They are not found in the index under Ridgway."
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. XII.
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.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
John Roach
was the distinguished manufacturer and iron ship builder, who won world-wide fame by his gigantic operations, and forever linked his name with maritime architecture in America. He was born at Mitchellstown, County Cork, Ireland, on Christmas day, 1813, and died at his residence in New York city January 10, 1887, having come to America when only sixteen years of age.
Source: Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley (1894).
William Robbe,
both of his wives, and seven children were all born in Ireland, three generations of the family having lived there. From them all of the name in town trace their origin. They mixed by marriage with Taggart, Whittemore, Farnsworth, Mussey, White, Redding, Chapman, Gowing, Livingston, Morrison, Moore, Follansbee and Swallow.
Source: The Irish Pioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Dennis Rochford
" of the County of Wexford, Ireland, and wife Mary, daughter of John Heriott, and daughters Grace and Mary. Both of the latter died at sea.
Source: Biographial and Historical Cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylania by Samuel T. Wiley (1894).
Joseph Rourke
As nearly as data can at present be collected, the first known Irishman to see this part of the country was Joseph Rourke, a soldier who served in one of the companies attached to a regiment in command of General Putnam in the Revolutionary War. He was with Putnam through most of his campaigns and took such a liking to that dashing soldier that he refused to serve under the command of any other captain. It was this fascination which led him to follow Putnam to his home in Brooklyn, this state, and he was seriously wounded in the retreat of the Revolutionary troops from Horseneck to Stamford, Conn., in 1779.
During his service in the Revolutionary army Rourke met and formed the acquaintance of a son of Gideon Hotchkiss, the great-great-grandfather of Judge George H. Cowell of this city, and in 1784 he accompanied young Hotchkiss to the family residence, then situated about three miles southeast of Prospect Centre. Remaining here for about twelve or thirteen years, he learned of the intended uprising in his native country, which culminated in the rebellion of 1798, and left on the old stage line for Derby, Conn., thence by way of the Sound for New York, with a view of reaching the scene of the conflict in time to render what service he could to the cause of the Irish patriot party. Whether he reached the scene of operations and met the fate of many of his countrymen who had dared throw down the gauge of battle to the enemies of Ireland will never be known, but sufficient information has been obtained to satisfy me that the story of his visit to these parts is founded on fact.
Judge Cowell can tell many reminiscences of the characteristics of the man, which he often heard related by his maternal grandmother. "There is nothing strange about this,&uot; said Judge Cowell, when asked about the matter; "everybody knows that the Irish people had been fleeing to all parts of the world to shun the persecution to which they were subjected at home for centuries prior to that time, and it is the most reasonable thing in the world to believe that some of them should show up in these parts. It is a well-established fact that there were a large number of Irishmen in the Revolutionary War, not only in the rank and file, but as captains and generals. Were not several of the signers of the Declaration of Independence Irishmen?"
"Joseph Rourke was not the only one of his race who came along here after the close of the Revolutionary War, but he is the only one I have a good recollection of hearing talked of when I was a boy. What made the old people remember him so well was the fact that in addition to being a brave soldier he was an excellent shoemaker and earned his living during his stay here by going among the farmers, repairing and making new footwear, and the handsomest footwear ever worn in this state by the forefathers of many of the old American families of this section was put up by Joseph Rourke."
Source: An Early Irishman of Waterbury, Conn. by Martin Scully, of Waterury, published by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
James Ryan
the grandfather of Minnie A. (Ryan) Dwight, was a native of Ireland, a representative of one of the old and honored failies of Ireland, entitled to bear a coat-of-arms. He came to the United States in 1851 and located in Whately, Massachusetts, then to North Hadley, Massachusetts where he died at the age of ninety-years. His wife, Ellen (Powers) Ryan, bore him thirteen children, all but two, who died in infancy, lived to be over seventy years of age.
Source: Encyclopedia of Massachusetts, Biological-Genealogical (1916), pg 29-30.
James and Isaac Savage
and their two sisters, came to America from Ireland. Afterward, about 1763, their father, James Savage, being then an aged man, came to this country to Newton, Mass., where the two daughters had settled. There he died and was buried.
His sons, James and Isaac, settled at Woolwich, Me., where James was early killed by the Indians. Isaac married and had a large family. The name of his wife not known. Among their children was a son, who settled at Wiscasset, Me., another son who settled at Woolwich and another son, James, who also settled at Wiscasset. James (3) married Mary Hilton, who was born at Berwick, Me., in 1721, and lived to be 100 years old. James and Mary had seventeen children. Order of birth is not known.
They were as follows: Isaac, who married Deborah Soule; Abigail, married, June 13, 1765, Robert Lambert; Lydia, married, February 1, 1776, Daniel Ring; Hannah, born 1745, married Thomas McFadden; James, married Annah Young; Ebenezer, born 1753, married Sarah Chase; Abraham, married, in 1783, Patience Young; John, married, in 1783, Susannah Tinkham or Pinkham; Jacob, born in 1759, married, in 1781, Hannah Gray; Mary, married, in 1795, John Card; Charles, married, in 1784, Margaret Corillard, and married, second, about 1785, Margaret Rose Lovejoy; Catherine, died April 24, 1800, unmarried; Edward, born 1776, married, June 6, 1790, Sarah Smith; Andrew, born 1769, married Tamson Tibbetts; Christiana, Daniel, Ann.
Source: The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume VI.
Abial Sawyer
was born in Ireland in 1721, where also his wife was born in 1726. From them all of the name about here trace their origin, intermixing by marriage with Gregg, Bailey, Scott, Farnsworth, Howard and Nichols.
Source: The Irish Piioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
William Scott
immigrated in 1736 from Coleraine, Ireland, where all his children were born, among them William, who settled here the same year. This man and his father were Irish, as was also Alexander Scott, progenitor of another branch which settled here and immigrated at the same time. From these families sprang every person of the name in town, among them our efficient toastmaster,[12] and by marriage the blood has mingled with Cochran, Robbe, Wills, Maxfield, Cummings, Ramsey, Whitney, Lincoln, Loomis, Gray, Bullard, Jewett, Fuller, Bowers, Orr, Allyn, Blanchard, Clark and Ramsdell.
Source: The Irish Pioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Sherer, Joseph
of Lancaster County, the son of Samuel Sherer, was a native of the north of Ireland, born in 1731. His parents came to America in 1734, locating in Paxtang Township, Lancaster, now Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He was the recipient of an ordinary English education, and brought up as a farmer. During the French and Indian war he served as a non-commissioned officer, doing duty on the then frontiers. At the commencement of the Revolution he commanded a company in Colonel Burds Battalion of Associators, whose farms adjoined at Tinian, now Highspire. Captain Sherer was a member of the Lancaster County Committee, and a member of the Convention of July 15, 1776. While in attendance on this body he took ill, returned home, and died on the 1st or 2d of December following. His remains were interred in the burying-ground of Paxtang Church, of which he was a member. He left a wife, Mary, and eight children. Captain Sherer was a man of influence on the frontiers prior to the Revolution, brave, energetic, and spirited.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. IV (1880).
James Smith,
the progenitor of all the Smiths in this section, was from Ireland. His son Robert was born in Moneymore, Ireland, and with his four children, John, Sarah, Mary and William, all born near Lough Neagh, came to this country in 1736. Thus we find that three generations of this family were from Ireland. Dr. Smith, the historian of our town, was a descendant of this family. By marriage the blood went into Bell, McNee, Morison, White, Annan, Dunshee, Fletcher, Smiley, Burns, McCrillis, Emery, Findley, Pierce, Russell, Barker, Fifield, Cavender, Walker, Gordon, Fox, Foster, Reynolds, Kilbourne, Jones, Leonard, Blanchard, Lewis, Cheney and Dearborn.
Source: The Irish Pioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
James Smith
of York County, Pennsylvania was born in the north of Ireland, September 17 1719. His father, John Smith, was a well-to-do farmer, but, induced by his brothers who had previously emigrated to this country and settled in Chester County, and having a large family, he came to Pennsylvania in 1729, locating on the west side of the Susquehanna in what is now York County. He died in the neighborhood of York in 1761. His eldest eon, George, studied law at Lancaster, but shortly after his admission to the bar (1740) was drowned in the Susquehanna while bathing. The third son, Arthur, was a farmer, and having a large family removed to Western Pennsylvania prior to the Eevolution. James, the second son, received a liberal education, having been placed under the charge of the Eev. Dr. Alison, Provost of the College of Philadelphia. After completing his studies in Philadelphia, he began that of law at Lancaster, where he was admitted to the bar in 1745. He subsequently went to the Cumberland Valley where he practised both law and surveying, remaining four or five years, and then permanently located at York. When the mutterings of the storm of the Revolution were heard, Mr. Smith became one of the firmest advocates for independence. He was chosen a member of the Provincial Deputies, July 15, 1774, and was the author of the " draught of instructions" to the Provincial Assembly. He was a member of the Provincial Convention of January 23, 1775 ; of the Provincial Conference of June 18, 1776 ; and of the Convention of 15th of July following. In 1775, he was commissioned colonel of the First Battalion of Associators of York County, and throughout the Revolutionary struggle was largely instrumental in organizing troops for the patriot army. In 1776, he was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress, and his name is affixed to the Declaration of Independence. He served in that body the following year, when he declined a re-election. He was elected a member of the Assembly in 1779, and November 20, 1780, commissioned judge of the High Court of Appeals. The Supreme Executive Council appointed Colonel Smith a brigadier-general of the Pennsylvania Militia, May 23, 1782, vice General Potter promoted. He was appointed one of the counsellors on the part of Pennsylvania in the controversy between that State and Connecticut, February 16, 1784. In the following year the Assembly elected him to Congress, in the place of Matthew Clarkson resigned, but his advanced age obliged him to decline a re-election. General Smith relinquished the practice of law in 1801, and from that period until his death lived in quiet retirement. He died at York on the 11th day of July, 1806. With an uncommonly retentive memory, with a vein of good humor and a fund of anecdotes, his excellent conversational powers drew around him many who enjoyed his sharp wit and lively manners, and made his old age bright and genial. General Smith married about 1760, Eleanor, daughter of John Armor, of New Castle, Delaware. She and two children survived him several years.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. IV (1880).
John Smiley,
after his marriage, immigrated from Ireland. The blood by marriage went into Miller, Hovey, Parker, McCoy, Wilson and Leonard.
Source: The Irish Piioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Joseph Smith
(d. 1728), Essex; mentions in his will his deceased brother, John Smith, late of Bidford, merchant, and his brother James Smith, of Rosse, Ireland.
Source: Essex County, Virginia Records; Some Emigrants to Virginia. Memoranda in Regard to Several Hundred Emigrants to Virginia During the Colonial Period Whose Parentage is Shown or Former Residence Indicated by Authentic Records by W. G. Stanard (1911).
Robert Smith
Robert Smith, born in Ireland 1672, came to Palmer, Mass., 1728, where he died Dec. 21, 1759.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Thomas Steele
was born in Ireland in 1694, and came here in 1718. The blood mixed by marriage with Gregg, Mitchell, Wilson, Smith, Ramsey, Swan, Senter, Willey and Rice. With another branch of the Steeles which emigrated from Ireland was the father of the late John H. Steele, Governor of our State in 1844 and 1845.
Source: The Irish Pioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
William C. Sproul,
one of the proprietors and editors of the Chester Times, and a graduate of Swarthmore college, is a son of William H. and Dora D. (Slokom) Sproul, and a native of Octoraro, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, wherehe was born on September 16, 1870. The Sprouls are of Scotch-Irish origin, and the first representative of the family in America, of whom we have any ac- count, was James Sproul, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch. He was born in County Armagh, Ireland, in 1787, and came to the United States while yet young. He re- ceived a good education, and after attaining manhood engaged in the development of the iron industry, becoming one of the earliest iron founders in Pennsylvania. After a life of unusual activity and phenomenal success, he died at his home in Lancaster County, this State, in 1847, aged sixty years. He left a large estate at his death, including sixteen hundred acres of land in Lancaster County and four hundred acres in Chester County. He married and reared a family of children, one of his sons being William H. Sproul (father), who was born in Sadsbury township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
He married Dora D. Slokom, a daughter of Samuel Slokom and a native of Sadbury township, Lancaster County, where they continued to re- side until 1874, when Mr. Sproul removed with his family to the city of Negaunee, Michigan, near Lake Superior, at which place he had purchased some iron interests. He remained in Michigan until 1882, when he returned to Pennsylvania, and in the following year located in the city of Chester, having become largely in- terested in the Chester rolling mills.
The father of Mrs. Dora Sproul, Samuel Slokom (maternal grandfather), was a native of Sadsbury township, Delaware County, where he was born in 1817 and died in 1889. In early life he was engaged in agricultural pursuits, but re tired early, being a very wealthy man. He was of English descent, a Quaker in religion, and held the highest esteem of his fellow citizens. At the time of his death he was regarded as the wealthiest man in Lancaster County. William C. Sproul was taken to Michigan by his parents when only four years of age, where he later attended public and private schools until the family returned to Pennsylvania in 1882. After coming to this city with his parents in 1883, he became a student in the Chester high school, from which he was graduated in 1887. In the fall of that year he en tered Swarthmore college, from which he was graduated with high honors in June of 1891. From his earliest years Mr. Sproul had manifested a decided taste for newspaper work, and when only twelve years of age purchased a small hand press and printed a little paper of his own.
In January, 1892, Mr. Sproul was united in marriage with Emeline W. Roach, youngest daughter of John Roach, the eminent shipbuilder, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. To Mr. and Mrs. Sproul has been born one child, a daughter, named Dorothy Wallace.
Source: Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley (1894).
James Stevenson,
a native of Ireland and patriot of the Revolution, was born in 1750 and was brought to this country when a child. During the Revolutionary War he served as a sergeant in the Pennsylvania Regiment of Colonel Evans, was captured by the enemy and held for a year in the notorious British prison ships.
After the war he married Hannah Bull, a daughter of Colonel John Bull, of Chester County, Pa., a soldier of the Revolution. They removed to Lawrence County, Pa., Mr. Stevenson dying in Poland, Ohio, in 1834. He left many descendants and a society has been formed among them. It holds annual reunions.
Among his descendants may be mentioned: John H. Stevenson, of Allegheny; Prof. William M. Stevenson, of Pittsburg; Rev. Frank B. Stevenson, of New Castle; Dr. Silas Stevenson; James A. Stevenson and E. S. Stevenson, of New Castle; T. D. Stevenson, of New Bedford, Pa.; Mrs. Rebecca Stevenson Neal, of Pulaski, Pa.; Captain Thomas S. Calhoun, of Georgetown, Pa.; Thomas S. McCready, of Manchester, Kas.; Homer A. McCready, of Hancock County, W. Va.; Thomas W. Stevenson, of East Liverpool, O.; William E. Stevenson, of Hookstown, Pa., and W. H. Stevenson, of Hookstown.
Source: The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume VI.
Colonel John Stoddard
The settlers of Pelham, Mass., were Irish Presbyterians and in the agreement of the original committee with Colonel 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.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
General Sullivan
(Memoir) by Thomas C. Amory (Centennial Collection), the son of Major Philip O.Sullivan Beare, of Ardea, on the river Kenmare in Ireland, an officer of the Army that surrendered at Limerick in 1691, was born the year of that surrender in Ireland, and, having enjoyed the advantages of a liberal education, in early manhood sought in America an asylum from political and religious persecutions. At Somersworth in New Hampshire and at Berwick in Maine, he devoted the residue of his life, which was prolonged to his one hundred and fifth year, to the education of youth. Of his six children four took an active part in the Revolutionary War.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. II.
John Swan
came from Ireland, and the family mixed by marriage with Parker, Stuart, Gilchrest, Morse, Caldwell, Alld, Sawyer, Graham, Chamberlain, Nay, Hoyt, Steele, Hannaford, Moore, Mitchell, Cutter and White.
Source: The Irish Pioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Peter Sweeney
A young man of twenty when he left England, and came to Baltimore, Peter Sweeney, in the land of his adoption, proved his ability as business man, and in Baltimore took an active part in many movements designed to advance the in- terests of the city. Peter Sweeney was born in Ireland, in 1820, but when a lad, was taken by his parents to England, and there was educated. In 1840, he came to the United States, coming of course on a sailing vessel, the passage being unusually long and tedious. He landed in New York City, there entering the employ of Charles Taylor, a pork packer, from whom he acquired a thorough knowledge of the business. Having possession of the requisite capital after a few years in business, he left New York, and established a wholesale pork packing house in Baltimore, his plant located on then, Louisiana avenue, now, Lexington street, on the site now occupied by Jacob C. Schafer Company. He prospered abundantly, his business being a most extensive one, and he the leading man of his business in the city. He executed large contracts with the English Government, shipping large quantities of meat to England, and to the British Army in Russia.
During the Civil War Mr. Sweeney warmly sympathized with the South and aided the Confederate cause all in his power without actually taking part in the conflict. Just after the war was declared, one Sunday morning while walking along Fayette street on his way to the postoffice, Mr. Sweeney was pointed out as a "Southern Sympathizer." This was in the days of the "Bloody Tubs," the "Rip Raps," and the "Plug Uglies," therefore a crowd quickly gathered, ripe for anything. Bricks were thrown from the piles around the old Court House, then being torn down to make way for the new City Hall, Mr. Sweeney taking refuge in the Barnum Hotel.As he was going up the steps one of the gang kicked at him,but Mr. Sweeney caught the rowdys foot and sent him sprawling. In the hotel his injuries were given care by the ladieswho knew him, and two hours later, he left the hotel to be immediately arrested upon a warrant sworn out by the man who had come to grief at his hands. Influential friends soon secured his release and the affair blew over. On one electionday, when going to Perkins drug store on Howard street, nearFranklin, to cast his vote, a ruffian sneaked behind to sta 1 him, but a friend interfered with a knockout blow which gave Mr. Sweeney time to escape to the drug store. But these werewar times and when the conflict was over all was well againand the wounds of war soon healed.
Mr. Sweeney was a Democrat in politics, and a devout Catholic, a member of the Cathedral congregation. He wasa liberal contributor to church and charity, a founder of theSociety of St. Vincent de Paul, member of the Young Catholic Friends Society, the Hibernian Society, and a member of other organizations. He married Miss Chatterton, who diedin England, they the parents of: Alice Sweeney, who married William Francis Clautice {q. v.). He later marriedMargaret Hart, May 4, 1853, to which union was born MaryMaud, and she married William K. Miller, November 13, 1883.
Source: Genealogical and Memorial Encyclopedia of the State of Maryland by Richard Henry Spencer (1919).
Philip Syng
was born in Ireland in November, 1703, and arrived at Annapolis, Md., September 29, 1714 (0. S.), in company with his father, Philip Syng, who died there. May 13, 1739, aged 63 years. He settled and married in Philadelphia, where ho acquired excellent reputation as a silver- smith, his skill being attested by several good works of art yet in e-xistence, among the number an inkstand (preserved in Independence Hall), made in 1752 for the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, and used by the Conti- Dental Congress during its sessions in Philadelphia, and at the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He was one of the grantees of the charter of the Library Company of Philadelphia, a Member of the Junto, and as an original Member of the American Philosophical Society, and of the noted Fishing Club styled " the Colony in Schuylkill." He made the science of electricity " a subject of constant study and laborious experiment for many years," and, according to James Parton, " imparted to Franklin valuable suggestions and discoveries," which the latter " acknowledged and applauded," contriving, " for example, an electrical machine, similar to those used in Europe, of which he had never heard." He promoted the organization of the " Association Battery of our City, elsewhere referred to. He was appointed Provincial Commissioner of Appeal for Philadelphia in 1764. He signed the Non-Importation Resolutions of 1765. He was a Vestryman of Christ Church from 1747 to 1749, and a Trustee of the College and Academy of Philadelphia from their foundation until 1773. He died May 8, 1780, and was buried in Christ Church Ground, where Mrs. Syng had been interred October 3, 1786. (Facts very courteously supplied me by Mr. Syngs great-great-grandion, Philip S. P. Conner, Esq.).
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. 5 (1881).
Matthew and James Templeton
came from Ireland, and their blood intermixed by marriage with Holmes, Miller, Robbe, Wilder and McCoy.
Source: The Irish Pioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Rev. John Thompson
(d. 1772), Culpeper County; born at Muckroe Abbey, near Belfast, Ireland.
Sources: " Rootes of Rosewall," p. 33; Some Emigrants to Virginia. Memoranda in Regard to Several Hundred Emigrants to Virginia During the Colonial Period Whose Parentage is Shown or Former Residence Indicated by Authentic Records by W. G. Stanard (1911).
Daniel Timothy
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.
Source: THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. IV) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Andrew Todd
was born in Ireland in 1697, and married a daughter of John Moore. Their progeny married with Morison, Miller, Taggart and Brown.
Source: The Irish Piioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
James Trimble
was born in Pbiladelpbia, July 19th, 1755, a son of Alexander Trimble, we know but little ; he was supposed to have come from the north of Ireland, was a Protestant, and a member of the Second Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, Pa., then under the care of the Rev. Gilbert Tennent, of whom it is said he was a relative. Alexander Trimble was married to Eleanor Rogers, of Abington, June the 20th, 1754. Of the date of his death we have no knowledge, except that it was prior to the year 1769, as we find a record on the church books of his widow, Eleanor Trimble, being received by baptism and profession of faith into the church on the 5th of May, 1769. James was the eldest of several children, and we find, though very young at the time of his fathers death, he manifested all those qualities of mind and heart for which he was so justly noted throughout a long life devoted to the service of his country. " "When but a mere boy he assisted his mother in the care of a store. One day a gentleman, pro- bably Mr. Tilghman, Secretary of the Land Office under the Proprietors, called and made some purchases ; when young Trimble made out his bill, the gentleman was so much pleased with his writing and business style that he at once took measures to secure his services in his department. Mr. Hamilton states that he was apprenticed as a clerk in the Land Office about 1770, when he was fifteen years old." The endorsement upon the archives of the Board of War and Council of Safety recently recovered, indicates that he was subordinate clerk in the State Council as early as 1775, and when Colonel Timothy Matlaek became the first Secretary of the Commonwealth (Colonel Records, vol. 11th, page 174), March 6, 1777, James Trimble became Deputy Secretary, and so continued down to January of 1837.
On the 22d of April, 1782, he married Clarissa, widow of John Hastings ; her maiden name was Claypoole. She was a descendant of James Claypoole, an intimate friend of Wm.Penn, and brother to John Claypoole that married Elizabeth, daughter of Oliver Cromwell. She died in Lancaster, Feb. 6, 1810. Of their eleven children two only survived them. Dr. James Trimble, who died in Huntingdon County, in l838, and Thomas R.,who died in Chester County, in 1868.
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. 5 (1881).
Joseph Turner
and wife immigrated from Ireland with their sons Thomas, Joseph and William, who were all born there. The blood by marriage went into Wellman, Sanders, Shedd, Converse, Nichols, Goodhue, Nutting, Taggart, Davis and Preston.
Source: The Irish Pioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Robert Turner
late of Dublin in Ireland, merchant, came in ye Lion of Liverpoole, John Crumpton Mr arrived here in 1683. [Children] Martha Turner. Arrived in the ship The Lion of Liverpoole
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. VII.
Brigadier-General R. C. Tyler
Next to him in our Army was Brigadier-General R. C. Tyler, an Irishman by birth and an American by adoption. General Tyler was living in Memphis as a levee contractor when the war broke out and enlisted as a private, became quartermaster of his regiment, went with it into the battle of Belmont, its first engagement, and so distinguished himself that it was but a short time until he was made Colonel, and on its consolidation with the Thirty-seventh he became colonel commanding the consolidation. The regiment was assigned to General Bates original brigade and Tyler was a part of it as colonel until after the battle of Chickamauga, in which he again distinguished himself and under the recommendation of General Bate he was made brigadier-general and put in command of his old brigade, Bate having been in the meanwhile promoted to a Major-Generalship.
General Tyler was wounded at Missionary Ridge and being unfit for field duty, was assigned to the command at West Point, Ga. He was in command of the fort there when the surrender of the armies of Generals Lee and Johnston. When General Wilson with his cavalry demanded a surrender of the fort, Tyler refused to give it up, though with but a handful of men against thousands, and fell while defiantly fighting against such odds rather than surrender.
Source: THE IRISH IN SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA, ALABAMA, LOUISIANA AND TENNESSEE. BY HON. PATRICK WALSH, AUGUSTA, GA. Published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
William Waddell
"was the father of Moses Waddell, emigrated from the north of Ireland in 1766 to make a new home in America. He was accom- panied by his wife, Sarah Morrow Waddell, and five daughters. Entirely without means, he accepted the enforced landing of his vessel at Charleston, and finally located in Rowan County, N. C. His first years were very hard. On July 29, 1770, Moses Waddell was born in Rowan County. At six years of age he became a pupil of one Mr. McKown, an excellent teacher. As the school was more than three miles from his fathers house, andMoses was a feeble little fellow, he was not able to attend morethan half the time, but he learned to read accurately and to write a fair hand. In 1778, when he was eight years old, he was entered at the boarding school of Mr. James McEwen. This school was founded by Rev. James Hall, and called byhim, "Clios Nursery." Though only eight years old, Moses was at once put at the study of Latin. Among his classmates was Edward Harris, who became Supreme Court judge of North Carolina for life; David Purviance, and Richard King, whowere ministers of the gospel ; and James Nisbet and Joseph Guy, who were successful physicians and members of the State Legislature. This school, then under the superintendence of Francis Cummins, was suspended May 12, 1780, because of the surrender of Charleston to the British. The school was resumed in April, 1782, under the direction of Mr. John Newton, and Moses Waddell continued upon attendance in this school until the summer of 1784, and though only fourteen years old at that time, he had completed the study of Latin, Greek, arithmetic, Euclids Elements, geography, moral philosophy and criticism. He became greatly attached to his teacher, and in later years gave to one of his sons the name of John Newton, as a token of his esteem. Application was made to Dr. Hall for the services of one of the best linguists to become an instructor in the academy newly established at Camden, S. C. Dr. Hall wanted Moses Waddell to accept the position, but his father, while appreciating the compliment, thought he was too young. The youth then became a teacher in Iredell County, North Carolina, where he gave great satisfaction. But the failure of his health compelled him to abandon the school. Upon recovery, he resumed his teaching until the latter part of 1786, when he came on a prospecting tour to Greene County, Ga., then a frontier settlement. He was so delighted with this section that he induced his parents to change their location and join him in Georgia.
Source: Men of Mark in Georgia, Vol. 2.
John Wallace
came to Londonderry from County Antrim, Ireland, in 1719, and was the ancestor of the name here. The blood is mixed with Mitchell, Noone and Spline.
Source: The Irish Piioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Matthew Watson,
An Irish Settler of Barrington, R. I., 1722 by Thomas Hamilton Murray.
The town of Barrington is picturesquely located in eastern Rhode Island. It has a fine outlook on Narragansett bay and also borders on the Warren[43] river. It was incorporated by Massachusetts in 1718. In 1746 to 1747, the territory came under the jurisdiction of Rhode Island, and Barrington was merged with Warren. In 1770 Warren was divided and Barrington again incorporated, this time by Rhode Island. There are several historic sites in the town, many pleasant drives and a number of interesting caves, woods and districts. The present population is between 1600 and 1700.
One of the earliest Irish settlers in Barrington was Matthew Watson. He located there over 175 years ago and reminiscences of his life and times are still current among the people. Matthew was born in Ireland in 1696. His people are believed to have been Presbyterians, an element that has given many sturdy patriots to the cause of Irish nationality.The family left Ireland for America about 1712. They landed in Boston.
The Watson family here mentioned consisted of Matthew, his father and mother, four brothers and one sister. Sometime after arriving in Boston the family removed to Leicester, Mass. Matthew came to Barrington in 1722, being then in his 26th year. He entered the employ of John Read, a brickmaker, and rapidly attained great proficiency in the business, winning the confidence of his employer and the esteem of his associates. In the course of time he fell in love with the daughter of his employer, Bethiah. His affection was reciprocated and the two soon became engaged.
Subsequently Matthew purchased the farm of his father-in-law and conducted the brick-making business on an extensive scale. He erected a commodious brick mansion house which became known to the country round about as the Great Watson Mansion, embellished the grounds and amassed a fortune of $80,000.[48]
By some it is held that the father of Matthew had also located in Barrington. The original Watson property comprised a very large part of the town. The homestead has since been greatly reduced, however, by dividing it among the children, by bequests and by extensive sales to newcomers. The estate at present comprises about fifty acres, tillable and woodland, held by descendants of Matthew. The land is very productive. There is one six-acre lot, nearly as level as a floor, and which produces rich crops of hay, although it has not been dressed in the past thirty years.[49] Underneath 132the greater part of the estate is a stratum of the best quality of blue clay within four to six feet of the surface.
This stratum underlies nearly the entire town, cropping out on the bay and river shores. The principal industry of Barrington is brick-making, which has been carried on for an indefinite period. At present 30,000,000 are produced annually. The labor in the old brick-yards of the Watson family was done chiefly by slaves of whom Watson owned nearly fifty. All these he manumitted some time before his death. The continuous transportation of brick to the bay, by these slaves, for shipment gradually wore a roadway more than six feet in depth.[50] By plowing and cultivation this has long since been mostly filled in, though there are still places where the old roadway shows two or three feet deep. Some time in the eighteenth century a law was passed ordaining that bricks should be made of certain specified dimensions. Matthew Watson, the settler, considered this requirement as very unjust, and so decided not to change the size of his product. In order to escape prosecution, however, he ceased calling his goods brick, but instead styled them Watsons Ware. As there was no law regarding Watsons Ware the plan succeeded, and the old gentleman continued making and selling brick at their former dimensions. The Great Watson Mansion was for a long period visited by people who had heard of its dimensions and sumptuous furnishings and who desired to feast their eyes upon so much grandeur.
Matthew, born in 1696, died in 1807; having completed 110 years of life and started on his 111th.
It is said that up to the day of his death, his faculties were unimpaired, 133except for blindness. On the day that he was 100 years old he called for his saddle horse, mounted without assistance and rode off briskly for a couple of miles. Upon his return, the negro servant being absent, and the great gate unopened, he touched up his horse and cleared it at a bound.
Further interesting facts regarding Matthew Watson are found in an article published some years before his death. It was written at Barrington and reads as follows:"There is now living in this town Matthew Watson, Esq., in the 105th year of his age, in a pretty good state of health, and in the enjoyment of his faculties, except being blind. He was born in Coleraine in the province of Ulster, in the north of Ireland, in March, A. D. 1696, from whence he, with his father and mother, four brothers and one sister, migrated and arrived at Boston, A. D. 1712, from whence they removed to and settled in Leicester, in the County of Worcester (Mass.), where he hath one brother, Deacon Oliver Watson, now living. Mr. Watson came to this town A. D. 1722, where by his industry he acquired a pretty handsome fortune. He hath sustained the office of a Justice of the Peace in the town, and was formerly a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Bristol. He hath been a member of the Congregational church in this town between seventy and eighty years without censure. He hath ten children now living, the youngest of whom is fifty-three years of age, all in a married state, except his eldest and youngest daughters, who are widows. He was born in the seventeenth, lived through the eighteenth and is now progressing in the nineteenth century."
The foregoing extract was found, in 1893, by the writer while engaged in examining files of the Providence Gazette at the rooms of the Rhode Island Historical Society in Providence. As the article was written at Barrington during the lifetime of the centenarian, some, at least, of the facts were probably obtained from his own lips. The extract may therefore be considered as authoritatively settling certain data which have long been in dispute.
Matthew is said to have had fifteen children, ten of whom were living at the time of his decease.[53] The names of these ten were Abigail, Mary, Rachel, Mercy, Bethiah, Matthew, Lydia, William, John and Samuel. There were also many grandchildren and great 134grandchildren. In the Vital Record of Rhode Island by Arnold appears an entry under Barrington which states in substance that Robert Watson and Mary Orr married at Londonderry, Ireland in 1695. They were probably the parents of Matthew, the Barrington settler, who had the names recorded for purpose of reference; or they may have been so recorded by some other member of the family. The centenarian was twice married.[54] Bethia, his first wife, died in 1778, leaving ten children. One of the descendants of Matthew, John Watson, married Ann Waterman, daughter of Captain Asa Waterman, of Rhode Island, who was Assistant Commissary-General during the Revolution. She was related to Governor Cooke of Rhode Island.
Among the descendants of the centenarian were the following: Robert S. W. Watson who wedded Patience Blygh. He was born in 1804; Annie Cooke Watson, born in 1831; Dr. S. T. Watson, born 1832; John W. Watson, 1835; Mary H. Watson, 1837; Henry H. Watson, 1839; Robert S. Watson, 1843; Emily F. Watson, 1845; Robert S. Watson, 1846; Charlotte A. Watson, 1850.
Nearly every generation of the family has had a Matthew in it. A second Matthew Watson was born in 1741. A Matthew Watson of a later generation married Abby B. Wheaton, of Providence, in 1818. The Providence Directory for 1844 shows Matthew Watson, manufacturer, rear of the bank of Roger Williams, and gives his residence as Angell street. In February, 1892, the following interesting communication appeared in the Providence Journal. Its author is thought to have been Matthew Watson, of Providence, a recent representative of the name.
Source: The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Hon. Andrew J. White
Born in Brooklyn, N. Y., June 5, 1845; was appointed police justice, New York city, in 1881, by Mayor Grace; resigned in 1893 to accept the appointment of dock commissioner from Mayor Gilroy; was a member of the Manhattan and Democratic Clubs and of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick; admitted to the Society Jan. 19, 1899; died Jan. 23, 1900, in New York City.
Source: NECROLOGY OF THE SOCIETY of members who died during the year 1900, published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Major John White (vol. ii. p. 236, 359; iv. 130)."I happen to have the following note in regard to Major John White, aid to General Sullivan. He was a native of Ireland, but came to this country leaving his wife in good circumstances in England. His wound at Germantown, Oct. 4th. proved fatal on the 10th, when he was buried close to General Nash. I found this, last summer (1879), in the Knox Papers. New England Genealogical Society, Boston. The above was the substance. H. P. J."
Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. IV. (1880)
Patrick White
All the Whites in town, including the marshal of this day, are descendants of Patrick White, who was born in Ireland in 1710. By marriage they intermixed with Stuart, Shearer, Gregg, Upton, Cram, Stearns, Carley, Parker, Grant, Dennis, Goodwin, Farmer, Perry, Swan, Pierce, Fisk, Washburn, Whittemore, Shattuck, Leighton, Burns, Alld, Grimes, Loring, Holmes, Mitchell, Scott, Cunningham, Lakin, Spafford, Longley, Kyes and Tenney.
Source: The Irish Piioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Micajah Williamson
Source: Men of Mark in Georgia, Vol. 2.
Matthew Wilson, D.D., of Lewes, Delaware
Among the prominent men in the State of Delaware, during the formative period of the republic, was Matthew Wilson, D.D., of Lewes. As a scholar, civilian, physician, educator, and divine, he was surpassed by few in America. His parents, James and Jean Wilson, came from the north of Ireland, and settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and in East Nottingham Township, on the 15th of January, 1731, he was born.
Source: By the Rev. Edward D. Neill. The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. VIII.
William Wilson
immigrated from County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1737, with his wife, daughter and son Robert, who was born in that County, and commanded a party of men organized to go to Lexington, armed, as our town history says, with guns, pitchforks and shillelahs. The blood by marriage went into Swan, Steele, Johnson, Hunter, Lee, Gibbon, Scott, Jackson, Sherwood, Fisk and Taintor.
Source: The Irish Piioneers and Founders of Peterborough, New Hampshire by James F. Brennan, of Petersborough, pubished by The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary-General. Volume II.
Benjamin Workman,
who also joined in the same year, is described as a teacher of mathematics. He advertised in the Freemans Journal on June 28, 1786, as from the University of Pennsylvania.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
John B. Wright
Born in Charlestown, Mass., February, 1854; began his career as a newspaper man by gathering information for the Charlestown Advertiser. Later, he was in the offices of the Boston News and the Woonsocket (R. I.) Patriot. In 1876 he joined the reportorial staff of the Boston Herald, and for more than a decade faithfully and brilliantly served that paper. Mr. Wright was one of the most expert reporters of current events ever known in the state; became private secretary to Gov. B. F. Butler of Massachusetts. In 1889 he became editor and part owner of the Gazette, a daily paper of Haverhill, Mass., which position he held up to the time of his death. He passed away in Haverhill, Oct. 17, 1900.
Source: NECROLOGY OF THE SOCIETY of members who died during the year 1900, published in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. III) Editor: Thomas Hamilton Murray.
Rev. S. B. Wylie,
a native of Moylarg, County Antrim, was a teacher in a private academy at Philadelphia in 1797, in which year he fled from the wrath of the British government. He was an early member of the Society of United Irishmen in Belfast. He became professor of languages in the University of Pennsylvania and was vice-provost of that institution. He joined the Hibernian Society in 1811.
Source: Irish Settlers in Pennsylania published by THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, Secretary-General. VOLUME VI.
Wilson B. Young
of Rutledge, Delaware County, was a graduate of the Pennsylvania Military academy, is a son of Richard and Wilhelmina (Pyle) Young, and was.born January 27, 1867, in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The family is of Scotch-Irish descent, and was planted in America by Alexander Young, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who came over from the north of Ireland, and soon afterward settled in Philadelphia. There he engaged in the wholesale whisky trade, which he conducted until his death.
Source: Biographical and Historical Ccyclopedia of Delaware County Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley (1894).
Zane Family
Copies of memoranda relative to the Zane familv, in possession of George Vaux, of Philadelphia. These memoranda all bear the marks of being very ancient, but there is nothing to indicate when they were prepared. There are five in all, one of them being written on the back of the title page of a New Testa ment, which has evidently been torn from a Bible. The printed date has unfortunately been lost from the lower part of the page. Robert Zane came from Ireland to America in the year [date torn off] landed at Elsinburra near Selam in West Jersey and stayd there about 4 years, in which time he tuck a canew and went in sa'rch of a settle- ment & padled along the side of the river & up the creeks till at last he chose a place up Newton Creek in gloster County, which place is called Newton, here he settled having only one child whose name was Nethaniel and was about 2 years old when they landed. Afterward, he marred one of Hinry Willises Daughters by whom he had Sons & Daughters Namly Nathan, Robert, Ester, Elnathan & Rachel.
Ester marred Joshua Delaplan & left 2 sons namly Joshua & Joseph in New York. Rachel marred Joshua Pine on long Island and after his Death marred Jonathan Peasley by him she had one daughter named Elizabeth. And Nathan had 3 children Elizabeth Nathan & Nethaniel. Eliza- beth married somewhere in Merland & I never knew her Nathan died before he marred a sober young man. Robert marred in the Jerseys and has many children Sons & Daughters. My grandfather afterwards married.
Source: Biographical and Historical Ccyclopedia of Delaware County Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley (1894).
Robert Zane
of Newtown came into America in the year 1673 he was three times married; his last wife was Hinrey Willises Daughter by whom he had 5 children namely Robert Nathan Elnathan Hester & Rachel.Nethaniel Zane of Newtown in West Jersey was by his first wife: who she was and from whence thers no ac[count] he Died the last day of the 12th month 1728/29 aged 55 years and left 8 children namely Margrit, Abegall Josep, Hannah, Jonathan, Ebenezear, Isaac and William which were all living when the youngest (namely Wm) was about 34 years old. Isaac was born on the 3rd day of the month 1711.
1734. Sarah Elfreth, the daughter of Hinrey Elfreth and had 8 children by the time he was 40 years old Namely Hannah, Phebe (who died be- tween 3 & 4 years old) Isaac (he also Died under 2 years old) John, Isaac, Danel (Died under 2 years old) Phebe (she Died under 2 years old) Danel the oth son was born about the time of this was writ. After the Death of the above, the said Nethanial Zane, Grace, his widow, who was a Daughter of William Rakestraw married David Price at Merian and she died the 6th Day of the 10th month 1741 The Time of births of the children of Isaac & Sarah Zane.
Sources: Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Delaware County Pennsylvania by Samuel T. Wiley (1894; The Pennsylvania Magazine on History and Biography, Vol. XII.
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