DEAR SIR: The Rhode Island members of the American-Irish Historical
Society will observe the anniversary of the battle of Rhode Island
on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 1900.
The celebration will take place at Newport, R. I., and every member
of our Society throughout the country is cordially invited to be
present and participate with us in the exercises of the occasion.
Headquarters for the day and evening will be established at the
Aquidneck House, where a reception committee will be in attendance.
Invitations to be present have been extended the governor of Rhode
Island, the state record commissioner, and the presidents of the
Rhode Island and Newport Historical societies.
During the day many points of historical interest will be visited.
Dinner will be served at 8 p. m. at the Aquidneck. After dinner,
patriotic addresses and other appropriate features will take place.
The battle of Rhode Island, as is well-known, was fought Aug. 29,
1778, the American forces being commanded by Gen. John Sullivan. In
this battle Sullivan repulsed the British and maintained the field.
The anniversary is, therefore, one of note and will, we hope, be
observed by a very large attendance. Please notify the secretary if
you intend to be present.
Fraternally,
PATRICK J. BOYLE (mayor of Newport),
_State Vice-President for Rhode Island_.
THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY
(Editor _The Evening Call_, Woonsocket, R. I.),
_Secretary_.
Aug. 1, 1900.
In response to the foregoing, a number of the members from out of the
state visited Newport and were received by the local members of the
Society. Mayor Boyle presided at the banquet in the evening. He made an
address, as did also Mayor Driscoll of New Haven, Conn.; Hon. James F.
Brennan of Peterborough, N. H.; T. F. O’Malley of Somerville, Mass., and
one or two other gentlemen. A patriotic poem was recited by John J.
Rooney of New York city.
Thomas Hamilton Murray, secretary-general of the Society, announced that
since the annual meeting the following members of the organization had
died: Hon. Andrew J. White, New York city; Hon. William F. Reddy,
Richmond, Va.; Rev. Michael Gilligan, Medford, Mass.; Michael Cavanagh,
Washington, D. C.; Eugene T. McCarthy, Lynn, Mass.; Dr. William H.
O’Hearn, Lawrence, Mass.; Daniel B. Kelley, Haverhill, Mass.; William H.
Quinn, Hallowell, Me., and Hon. John J. Hayes, Boston, Mass. Appropriate
tributes were paid the memory of the foregoing and minutes adopted
expressive of esteem and regret.
The accession of the following new members was announced: Michael F.
Cox, M. D., M. R. I. A., of the senate of the Royal University of
Ireland; Hon. James D. Phelan, mayor of San Francisco; Francis Q.
O’Neill, president of the Hibernian Bank, Charleston, S. C.; M. le Comte
Margerin de Cremont, Paris, France; Rev. James C. Walsh, Providence, R.
I.; Joseph Madden, Keene, N. H.; P. F. Leonard, Cambridge, Mass.; Thomas
O’Hagan, Toronto, Can.; William T. Cox, Elizabeth, N. J.; Christopher S.
Ryan, Lexington, Mass.; Capt. James F. Redding, Charleston, S. C.; Hugh
Ferguson, Charleston, S. C.; Dr. P. F. Gavin, Boston, Mass.; Rev. John
A. Sheridan, Jamaica Plain, Mass.; William J. Storen, Charleston, S. C.,
and P. F. Magrath, Binghamton, N. Y.
It was announced that, in addition to the foregoing, the Knights of St.
Patrick, an influential organization of San Francisco, had joined the
Society in a body and had forwarded their life membership fee.
Congratulations were also announced from the Association Artistique et
Litteraire de Saint-Patrice, of Paris, and a communication was received
from the committee of the Pan Celtic Congress.
The announcement was made, and applauded, that Hon. Edward A. Moseley,
recently president-general of the Society, had been elected to
membership in the Society of the Cincinnati, and that Rev. Joshua P.
Bodfish, of our organization, had been chosen a director of the Bunker
Hill Monument Association.
A communication was read from T. M. Bryan of Montesano, Wash., giving a
sketch of his great-grandfather, John Bryan, an Irishman who came to
this country and served in the patriot ranks during the War of the
Revolution. He is mentioned in the Pennsylvania archives and is believed
to have been at Valley Forge during the terrible winter of 1777‒8.
A letter was also received from Rev. Fred B. Cole, chancellor of the
Protestant Episcopal diocese of Rhode Island, in which he very kindly
offered his services as guide in a contemplated pilgrimage of the
Society to the grave of “Old Parson” MacSparran. Rev. Dr. MacSparran was
an Irishman born toward the close of the seventeenth century, and who
for nearly forty years, was pastor of St. Paul’s church in Narragansett,
R. I. A vote of thanks was tendered Rev. Mr. Cole.
Congratulations were extended the Rev. Austin Dowling, a member of the
Society, on the completion of his history of the Roman Catholic diocese
of Providence, R. I., the same containing much valuable material in the
Society’s line of work.
During the evening, letters regretting their inability to be present
were announced from Governor Gregory of Rhode Island, President Faunce
of Brown University, R. H. Tilley, state record commissioner of Rhode
Island; Hon. John C. Linehan, Concord, N. H.; Joseph Smith, Lowell,
Mass.; Col. D. S. Lamson, Weston, Mass.; James L. O’Neill, Elizabeth, N.
J.; Rev. Owen Kiernan, Fall River, Mass., and from other gentlemen.
The following letter, which had just been received by Secretary T. H.
Murray, aroused special interest when read to the assembled company:
[Illustration: DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION]