there during the Revolution. He was a valiant soldier and at the time of
his death was a general of state troops. In May, 1771, he married
Charlotta, granddaughter of Pieter Coeymans, the founder of a wealthy
Dutch family. By this marriage McCarty came into the possession of much
land in the Coeymans Patent.
Well-nigh forgotten now is Christopher Stuart, an Irishman and soldier
of the Revolution. He was born in the Old Land, 1748, and settled in
Montgomery County, Pa. He served successively as captain, major and
lieutenant-colonel of Pennsylvania troops, including the Line; took part
in the battle of Long Island, the storming of Stony Point, and in other
actions of the war; died, 1799.
Patrick Googins, “a young Irish weaver,” came to this country about 1722
and settled at Old Orchard, Me. He married Hester Rogers. Her father
gave Patrick as her marriage portion 200 acres there. In years long
after, the place became known as “the old Googins farm.” The farm
remained in the Googins family for four generations. (See an article in
the _Old Orchard Mirror_, 1902.)
One of the founders of the Charitable Irish Society of Boston, Mass.,
1737, was Joseph St. Lawrence. In the records of the Boston selectmen,
that year, appears the following: “Mr. Joseph St. Lawrence from Ireland,
Merchant, having imported upwards of Fifty Pounds Sterling, Prays he may
be Allow’d to Carry on his Business in this Town.” It is presumed the
desired permission was granted.
Charles Thomson, who for nearly fifteen years was secretary of the
Continental Congress, being sometimes referred to as its “Perpetual
secretary,” was born in Ireland, 1729. He participated in various treaty
proceedings with the Indians, and was styled by the latter “The man of
truth.” He married Hannah Harrison whose nephew, William Henry Harrison,
became president of the United States.
Robert Temple arrived at Boston, Mass., from Ireland, in 1717, with a
party of Irish Protestants. He settled on Noddle’s Island, now East
Boston, and had a house there that “contained elegant rooms suitable for
the reception of persons of the first condition.” He commanded a company
in operations against the Indians. He became a member of the Boston
Charitable Irish Society in 1740.
George Taylor, a native of Ireland, died in Providence, R. I., in 1778.
He taught school there for over 40 years, was for a number of years
president of the Town Council and held other positions of trust and
honor. He was a man of public spirit and witnessed events of the earlier
part of the Revolution. The Providence _Gazette_ states that “He was an
honor to the country that gave him birth.”
Col. Israel Angell of the Second Rhode Island regiment in the
Continental Line, has this entry in his diary under date of March 17,
1781: “Good weather. A great parade this day with the Irish, it being
St. Patrick’s. I spent the day on the Point [West Point], and tarried
with the officers.” This diary has been reproduced in printed form by
Edward Field, secretary of the Providence, R. I., Record Commission.
Alexander Black, an Irishman, was a resident of Providence, R. I., as
early as 1762. He was a merchant and was associated in business with
James Black, and later with Alexander Stewart. Alexander Black died in
Providence, 1767. In a notice of his death, which appears in the
Providence _Gazette_, he is declared to have been “A fast friend to the
liberties of America, and studied to promote the public weal.”
James Kavanagh, a native of County Wexford, Ireland, came to Boston,
Mass., in 1780, during the Revolution, but settled at Damariscotta
Mills, Me., and engaged in the lumber business. His son, Edward, became
president of the State Senate of Maine, a member of Congress, United
States charge d’affaires in Portugal, a commissioner to settle the
northeastern boundary of Maine, and acting governor of Maine.
Edmund Fanning, an Irishman, was a victim of the Cromwellian
confiscation, and fled at the time of the surrender of Limerick, 1651,
and settled in Groton, Conn. His uncle, Dominick Fanning of Limerick,
was one of the 21 persons exempted from pardon by Ireton and was
beheaded at that time. D. H. Fanning and Walter F. Brooks, Worcester,
Mass., are descendants of Edmund Fanning, the Groton settler.
Morgan Connor, a Pennsylvania soldier of the Revolution, was
successively lieutenant, captain, major, and lieutenant-colonel
commandant. He served in Col. Samuel Miles’ Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment;
was wounded in the right wrist at Princeton; was called from camp by
Congress in March, 1776, and sent South as brigade major for General
Armstrong; was afterwards lieutenant-colonel of Hartley’s regiment.
John Brown, a native of Ireland, came to this country about 1760. He
settled in Virginia, in the Warm Spring Valley, and had a tract of 400
acres. About 1778 he married Mary Donnelly. He commanded a company in
the Revolution, and after the war was a justice for Bath County, Va.,
sheriff and treasurer of the county, major of the Second Battalion of
militia, and a member of the General Assembly of Virginia.
Daniel Dulany, a native of Queens County, Ireland, was born in 1686. He
was a cousin of Rev. Patrick Dulany, dean of Down. Daniel came to this
country when quite young and settled in Maryland. He was admitted to the
bar in 1710, became attorney-general of the province, judge of
admiralty, commissary-general, agent and receiver-general, and
councillor. He was in the public service of Maryland for nearly 40
years.
Edward Fox was born in Dublin, Ireland, 1752; came to this country,
studied law and eventually settled in Philadelphia, Pa. He held various
positions of prominence there; became secretary of the Bank of the
United States, secretary of the American Fire Insurance Co., recorder of
deeds for the county of Philadelphia, and treasurer of the University of
Pennsylvania. One of his sons married a daughter of Gen. Stephen Moylan.
Cortlandt Schuyler of Albany, N. Y., was captain in “a marching
regiment” of the British Army. He married a handsome Irishwoman in
Ireland, while stationed there, and brought her to Albany about 1763.
Upon his death, she returned to Ireland with her children, “where it is
said their desendants bearing the name Schuyler still live.” (Mrs.
Grant’s _Memoirs of an American Lady_, quoted by Hon. Franklin M.
Danaher of Albany.)
In 1769–’70, Rev. Hezekiah Smith made a tour of South Carolina and
Georgia in aid of Rhode Island College, now Brown University. He says in
his diary of the tour: “Thursday, March 1, 1770, went to Malachi
Murfee’s.” The list of those who subscribed in aid of the college, on
this Southern trip, includes Edward Dempsey, Charles Reilly, Patrick
Hinds, James Welsh, Hugh Dillon, John Boyd, Matthew Roach and Capt. John
Canty.
An officer who came with our French allies during the Revolution was
Isidore de Lynch. He was at one period an aide-de-camp to the Chevalier
de Chastellux. Referring to the return of the French to Boston after the
surrender of the British at Yorktown, Count Segur speaks of “Isidore de
Lynch, an intrepid Irishman, afterwards a General.” Lynch became
commander of the Irish-French regiment of Walsh, and was decorated with
the Cross of St. Louis.
The Dutch records of Albany, N. Y., mention Jan Fyne, “van Waterfort in
Irlandt.” His name likewise appears as Johannes Fine, which in English
would probably be John Finn. He is believed to have been a soldier who
was sent to Albany in 1690. He settled there and is later mentioned as a
cooper. In 1696 he wedded Jopje Classe Van Slyck. His second wife, whom
he married in 1699, was Alida, daughter of Jacob Janse Gardiner of
Kinderhook.
Watson H. Harwood, M. D., of Chasm Falls, N. Y., in a paper contributed
to the _Register_ of the New England Historic, Genealogical Society,
January, 1898, treats of the Clogstons of New Hampshire. He states that
“The Clogston family is of Irish origin,” and that it came to New
Hampshire sometime after 1718. Paul Clogston, a descendant of the
immigrants, died of wounds received at Bunker Hill, 1775. The name is
sometimes written Clogstone.
Blair McClenachan, an Irishman by birth, settled in Philadelphia, Pa.,
at an early age, and became the “largest importer in the city except
Robert Morris”; was a patriot of the Revolution; subscribed, in 1780,
£10,000 in aid of the army; was one of the original members of the First
City Troop; a member of Congress, 1797–’99; was made commissioner of
loans by President Jefferson. One of McClenachan’s daughters married
Gen. Walter Stewart.
One of the early settlers of Peterborough, N. H., was William McNee. He
was born in Ireland, 1711, and before coming to this country married
Mary E. Brownley. In an address delivered at Peterborough, some years
ago, Hon. James F. Brennan of that town said that McNee’s “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.”
Michael Morgan O’Brien, a native of Ireland, became a West India
merchant in Philadelphia, Pa., and was located there as early as 1780.
He was a member of the First City Troop of Philadelphia, of the Friendly
Sons of St. Patrick, the Hibernia Fire Company, and the Hibernian
Society. He died in France, 1804. He bequeathed his books to the “Rt.
Reverend Father in God, John Carroll, R. C., Bishop of Baltimore, as a
testimony of the great respect and esteem I bear him.”
A prominent man in his day was John Patton. He was born in Sligo,
Ireland, 1745, settled in Philadelphia, Pa., and became a merchant
there. A patriot of the Revolution, he was successively major and
colonel of the Sixteenth Pennsylvania regiment, and rendered gallant
service during the war. In 1780 he subscribed £1,000 in aid of the army.
After the war he was an iron manufacturer, and at the time of his death,
1804, was major-general of Pennsylvania state troops.
Christopher Colles, a native of Ireland, was born in 1737. He came to
this country and lectured on pneumatics, inland navigation, water supply
for cities and similar topics. In 1775, he became an instructor in
gunnery and was so employed in the American Continental Army until 1777.
He memorialized the New York Legislature, in 1784, in favor of a canal
from the Hudson River to Lake Ontario. He constructed and operated a
telegraph, in 1812, at Fort Clinton.
One of the victims of the Boston massacre, March 5, 1770, was Patrick
Carr. On that date, British soldiers in Boston, Mass., fired on a
gathering of the people, three of the latter being instantly killed and
five dangerously wounded. Crispus Attucks, the leader of the gathering,
was among the killed and Carr was mortally wounded. A granite monument
stands on Boston Common to commemorate the victims of the British. High
up on the shaft, among the others, appears the name of Patrick Carr.
The _Mercury_ (Philadelphia) of Aug. 28, 1735, reported: “On Monday
last, Capt. Blair arrived from Carick Fargus in Ireland with 168 Irish
passengers and servants and on Monday evening before any of them landed
one of them fell into the river and was drowned.” The next paper
announced: “the body was found, the next tide carried up seven miles
from the mouth of the Schuylkill.” (_American Catholic Historical
Researches_, Philadelphia, Pa., Martin I. J. Griffin, editor.)
From the records of the selectmen, Boston, Mass., Aug. 4, 1736: “Dennis
Sullivant being present Informs, That he with his Wife are lately come
into this Town from South Carolina by land; That he has been in Town
about Five Weeks; That he first Lodg’d at the White Horse Two nights,
and a Fortnight at Mrs. Snowdens and now lodges in Long lane, That he
designs to return to England or Ireland, as soon as he can Conveniently
Obtain a Passage for himself and his said Wife.”
Gen. William Thompson of the Revolution was an Irishman by birth. He
came to this country prior to the War for Independence; served during
the French and Indian War; became captain of a troop of Light Horse; led
a regiment, in 1775, to the American camp at Cambridge, Mass., and
participated in the siege of Boston; had many sharpshooters in his
command; was made brigadier-general in 1776; relieved General Lee in
command of the American forces at New York; died in 1791.
A veteran soldier of the Revolution was Patrick Leonard, who was born in
Ireland, 1740. He came to this country and enlisted in the Patriot
ranks; served in Proctor’s artillery and in the First Regiment,
Pennsylvania Line. He saw much service and took part in the battles of
Bunker Hill, Long Island, White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine,
Germantown and Stony Point; also served, in 1791–’96, under Harmar, St.
Clair and Wayne. He was residing, in 1817, at Cincinnati, Ohio.
A native of County Westmeath, Ireland, John Shee, came to America
between 1742 and 1745; became prominent in Philadelphia, Pa.; a patriot
of the Revolution; commanded the Third Pennsylvania regiment; member of
the Pennsylvania State Board of War; subscribed £1,000 in aid of the
army; is referred to as “a man of excellent manners and good
acquirements”; after the war, became a general of Pennsylvania state
troops; collector of the port of Philadelphia; city treasurer of
Philadelphia.
A native of Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, John Dunlap, was born in
1747. He settled in Philadelphia, Pa.; became printer to Congress, and
to the state of Pennsylvania; published the Philadelphia _Packet_; was
cornet, lieutenant, and commander of the First City Troop; commanded the
cavalry in the Whiskey Insurrection campaign. During the Revolution he
subscribed £4,000 in aid of the Patriot army. He was at one time the
owner of 98,000 acres in the South, in addition to real estate
elsewhere.
One of the earliest Irishmen in this country of whom we have record was
Francis Maguire. Hon. Hugh Hastings, state historian of New York, writes
that Maguire arrived at Jamestown, Va., with Capt. Christopher Newport,
about 1607, remained in the country nearly a year, and returned to
England with Newport. Maguire “wrote an account of his voyage to
Virginia and submitted it to the Privy Council of Spain.” In one account
he is described as an Irishman and a Roman Catholic.
Teague Crehore was a resident of Milton or Dorchester, Mass., as early
as 1640–’50. He is stated to have been stolen from his parents in
Ireland when a child. He died in 1695, aged 55 years. This would show
that he was born about 1640. He had a son Timothy, born in 1660, who
died in 1739 and is buried in Milton, Mass. This Timothy had a son
Timothy, grandson of Teague, who was born in 1689 and wedded Mary
Driscoll of Dorchester, Mass., in 1712. He died in 1755 and is buried in
Milton.
Rev. Samuel Dorrance, an Irish Presbyterian clergyman, arrived in
Voluntown, Conn., 1722, and was installed as pastor of the church there.
His nationality caused some dissatisfaction, and the disgruntled members
of the church drew up a petition for his removal. They were informed,
they said, that “He came out of Ireland” and that since his coming “The
Irish do flock into town.” (Larned’s _History of Windham County, Conn._,
quoted by Rev. James H. O’Donnell in his _History of the Diocese of
Hartford_.)
The “poll list for the election of burgesses for the County of Prince
William,” Virginia, 1731, contains many Irish names, including Darby
Callahan, Edward Barry, John Mead, Thomas Conway, Samuel Conner, Michael
Regan, James Curry, Owen Gilmore, John Murphey, William Hogan, Thomas
Hicks, Michael Scanlon, John Madden, Dennis McCarty, Thomas Jordan,
Richard Higgins, Thomas Welsh, etc. These and other names, constituting
the entire list, are set forth in Boogher’s _Gleanings of Virginia
History_.
A gallant soldier of the Revolution, who has almost been forgotten, was
John Haslett. He was born in Ireland, came to this country and located
in Delaware; was for several terms a member of the State Assembly;
participated in the battles of Long Island and White Plains. On one
occasion, he surprised a British picket, took 36 prisoners, 60 muskets,
and two pairs of colors; became colonel of a Delaware regiment and was
killed at the battle of Princeton, 1777. His son, Joseph, became
governor of Delaware.
Among the many Irish names on the roster of the Commander-in-Chief’s
Guard, during the Revolution, is that of Hugh Hagerty. He served in a
Pennsylvania regiment of the Line, and was transferred at Valley
Forge, March 19, 1778, to the Guard just mentioned. This organization
is sometimes referred to as Washington’s “Life Guard,” and was
composed of picked men. Hagerty participated in the battle of Monmouth
and other engagements of the war. (Godfrey’s recent work on _The
Commander-in-Chief’s Guard_.)
The Dutch records of New York mention Jan Andriessen, “the Irishman.”
Jan was at Beverwyck, now Albany, N. Y., as early as 1645. He is also
referred to as “De Iersman van Dublingh.” His name in English was
probably John Anderson. In 1649 he leased a “bouwerie” or farm. It is
also known that he bought a farm and homestead of Peter Bronck at
Coxsackie, N. Y. In one document his signature is thus attested: “This
is the mark of Jan Andriessen, the Irishman, with his own hand set.” He
died in 1664.
William Hogen, also written Hogan, is heard from in Albany, N. Y., as
early as 1692. The Dutch records state that he was from “Yrland in de
Kings county.” At a mayor’s court held in Albany, May 14, 1700, he was
deemed “convenient and fitt to be one of the fyre masters for ye Citty.”
June 25, 1700, he was on a petit jury to try an action between two
Dutchmen. He also served on a jury in 1703. In 1700 and 1704 he was
elected an assessor. (Hon. Franklin M. Danaher in _Early Irish in Old
Albany, N. Y._)
James Butler came from Ireland, and is heard from at Lancaster, Mass.,
1653. He became the largest landowner in what is now Worcester County,
Mass. He also owned land in Dunstable, Woburn and Billerica, Mass. He
died in 1681. His son, Deacon John Butler, was the first child of Irish
parentage born in Woburn, and settled in Pelham, N. H., and lies buried
there. (From a letter written to the American-Irish Historical Society
by Henry A. May of Roslindale, Mass., a descendant of James Butler the
immigrant.)
A resident of Yarmouth, Mass., as early as 1645, was Teague Jones, who
is stated to have been an Irishman. He was one of the men sent from the
town, in the year just mentioned, against the Narragansett Indians. His
period of service at the time was thirteen or fourteen days. In 1667,
the selectmen of “the towne of Yarmouth returne the name of Teague Jones
for not coming to meeting.” In a “rate” made in 1676 to defray the
expenses of King Philip’s War, Teague was assessed £2 4s, as his share.
He had a son, Jeremiah.
A prominent resident of Albany, N. Y., during the Revolution, was Hugh
Denniston, “a true Irishman.” For many years he conducted the only
first-class hotel and tavern there. It was the first stone house erected
in the place. Denniston was a sturdy patriot and his hotel was a meeting
place for the liberty-loving citizens of Albany. Washington was a guest
at the hotel on his visits to Albany in 1782 and 1783, and was there
presented the freedom of the city.
Charles MacCarthy was a founder of the town of East Greenwich, R. I.,
1677. Like many surnames at that period, his is variously spelled in the
records. Thus, it appears as Macarta, Macarte, Macarty, Mecarty,
Mackarte, etc. In the year mentioned, he was one of a party of
forty-eight settlers to whom a grant of 5,000 acres, to be called East
Greenwich, was made by the General Assembly of Rhode Island. Later, the
area of the town was enlarged by the addition of 35,000 acres on the
western border. Charles’ will is dated Feb. 18, 1682.
The twenty-six original members of the Charitable Irish Society, Boston,
Mass., which organization was founded in 1737, were: Robert Duncan,
Andrew Knox, Nathaniel Walsh, Joseph St. Lawrence, Daniel McFall, Edward
Allen, William Drummond, William Freeland, Daniel Gibbs, John Noble,
Adam Boyd, William Stewart, Daniel Neal, James Mayes, Samuel Moor,
Philip Mortimer, James Egart, George Glen, Peter Pelham, John Little,
Archibald Thomas, Edward Alderchurch, James Clark, John Clark, Thomas
Bennett and Patrick Walker.
Jasper Moylan was a native of the city of Cork, Ireland, and half
brother of Gen. Stephen Moylan. He was educated in France, studied law,
came to this country and attained eminence in his profession in
Philadelphia, Pa. In addition to English, he had a splendid knowledge of
the French and Spanish languages. He was a member of the First City
Troop of Philadelphia. He and his brother John, and their half brother
Stephen, were known in that city as “the three polite Irishmen,” owing
to their elegant manners. Jasper died in 1812.
Among Virginia officers in the Revolution were Maj. William Croghan,
Capt. Ferdinand O’Neal, Capt. Patrick Carnes, Capt. John Fitzgerald,
Capt. Andrew Nixon, Capt. William Barrett, Capt. John Jordan, Capt.
Lawrence Butler, Capt. James Curry, Lieut. Joseph Conway, Lieut. Luke
Cannon, Lieut. Peter Higgins, Lieut. William McGuire, Lieut. Lawrence
Manning, Lieut. John Rooney, Lieut. Matthew Rhea, Ensign William Connor
and others bearing Irish names. Some of these subsequently attained
higher rank than that here given.
Sharp Delany, born in County Monaghan, Ireland, established himself as a
druggist in Philadelphia, Pa., about 1764. He was a patriot of the
Revolution. In 1777, he was a commissioner “to seize the personal
effects of traitors,” and in 1778, was an agent to look after “forfeited
estates.” In 1779, he was colonel of the Second Pennsylvania regiment.
He subscribed £1,000 in aid of the army in 1780; was collector of the
port of Philadelphia; a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and
occupied other honorable positions in life.
John Hamilton, “an Irish servant-man,” was a Redemptioner or indentured
servant who, in 1752, was held by Henry Caldwell of Chester County, Pa.
Hamilton ran away that year and Caldwell advertised to recover him.
Hamilton was then about twenty-two years of age. Caldwell offered a
reward to “whoever takes up said servant, so that his master may have
him again.” Mention of the incident is found in Karl Frederick Geiser’s
recent work on _Redemptioners and Indentured Servants in the Colony and
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania_.
George Taylor, one of the Irish signers of the Declaration of
Independence, was born in the Old Land, in 1716. He came to this country
when twenty years of age. Having a good education, he advanced from the
occupation of laborer in an iron foundry to the position of clerk;
married his employer’s widow, and accumulated a generous fortune. He was
a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly for five consecutive years. In
1770, he was made a judge of the Northumberland County Court, Pa., and
was elected to Congress in 1776.
One of the first settlers of Waterford, Conn., was Thomas Butler. He and
John Butler were there about 1681. Rev. James H. O’Donnell, now of
Norwalk, Conn., says that the “name of Waterford was, no doubt, given to
their new home in honor of the old, the beautiful city on the banks of
the Suir,” in Ireland. He thinks it not unreasonable to infer that the
founders of the Connecticut Waterford were Irish Catholics. Thomas
Butler died in 1701, aged 59 years. John Butler died in 1733, aged 80
years. Thomas was, therefore, born about 1642, and John about 1653.
William Hibbins came from Ireland to Boston, Mass., on the _Mary and
John_, about 1634. He married Mrs. Anne Moore, a widow, whose brother,
Richard Bellingham, was governor of Massachusetts. Mr. Hibbins died in
1654. His wife fell a victim to the witch-hunting fanatics of the period
and was hanged by order of the Massachusetts authorities, in 1656. No
jury could be found to convict her and she suffered death at the hands
of the General Court. She bequeathed her property to her two sons, in
County Cork, Ireland, John and Joseph Moore. (See Cullen’s _Story of the
Irish in Boston_.)