“Memory, gray old warder, throw open thy portals in welcome
Wide to the dead—our dead”—they loved us well in their lifetime.
Col. Jeremiah W. Coveney.
Born in Cambridge, Mass., 1840; during the Civil War enlisted in 28th
Massachusetts Regiment; was successively commissioned Lieutenant,
Captain, Major, and Lieutenant-Colonel; seriously wounded in 1864, while
Brigade Inspector of the Second Brigade, First Division, Second Corps;
member of the Massachusetts Legislature; surveyor of the port of Boston;
private secretary to Governor Russell; postmaster of Boston; admitted to
the Society March 29, 1897; died in Cambridge, Mass., April 29, 1897.
Rear-Admiral Richard Worsam Meade, U. S. N.
Born in New York City, 1837; appointed Midshipman Oct. 2, 1850; first
sea service in sloop-of-war _Preble_, 1851; warrant as Master and
commission as Lieutenant, 1858; Lieutenant-Commander, 1862; was a
Commander in 1870; commissioned Captain in 1880; became a Commodore in
1892, and Rear-Admiral in 1894; admitted to the Society at its
organization, Jan. 20, 1897, and chosen President-General of the same,
being the first to hold the office; died in Washington, D. C., May 4,
1897.
Henry V. Donovan, M. D.
Born in Lawrence, Mass., 1868; graduated from Harvard University; was
elected to the school board of Lawrence, and rendered excellent service;
admitted to the Society May 25, 1897; died in Lawrence, Mass., Aug. 4,
1897.
Gen. John Cochrane.
Descendant of an officer who served under Washington; President of the
N. Y. Society of the Cincinnati; from 1857 to 1861 was a Congressman
from New York City; was commissioned Colonel of the First U. S.
Chasseurs, June 11, 1861; Brigadier-General of Volunteers, July 17,
1862; in 1864 was nominated at Cleveland, O., for Vice-President of the
United States; had previously been Attorney-General of New York state;
admitted to the Society on its organization, Jan. 20, 1897; died in New
York City, Oct. 7, 1897.
Mr. Laurence J. Smith.
Born in County Meath, Ireland, 1850; member of City Council, Lowell,
Mass., 1881–’86; member Lowell Public Library Board; was made a License
Commissioner of Lowell, 1894; Police Commissioner, 1895; attained the
highest rank in the Foresters of America, having been Supreme Chief
Ranger of the United States; admitted to the Society Feb. 27, 1897; died
in Lowell, Mass., Oct. 23, 1897.
Hon. Owen A. Galvin.
Born in Boston, Mass., 1852; admitted to the bar, 1876; elected to the
Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1881; a State Senator from
Boston during 1882, 1883, and 1884; candidate for President of the
Senate, 1884; candidate for Mayor of Boston, 1889; was U. S. District
Attorney, 1887–’89; admitted to the Society July 15, 1897; died in
Boston, Mass., Dec. 18, 1897.
Hon. Charles B. Gafney.
Born in Ossipee, N. H., 1843; enlisted Sept. 27, 1862, as Second
Lieutenant of Co. B, 13th New Hampshire Volunteers; promoted to First
Lieutenant, June 1, 1863, and to Captain, May 30, 1865; severely wounded
in the thigh at Petersburg, June 15, 1864; was Clerk to the National
Senate Committee on Naval Affairs for eight years; went to Rochester, N.
H., in 1871, and formed a law partnership with Joseph H. Worcester,
which firm became Worcester, Gafney & Snow; was appointed Judge of
Probate for Strafford county; admitted to the Society Feb. 9, 1897; died
in Rochester, N. H., Jan. 25, 1898.
Mr. Andrew Athy.
Born in County Galway, Ireland, 1832; filled public offices of trust and
responsibility in Worcester, Mass., almost continuously during more than
thirty years; was first elected to the Common Council in 1865, and
served thirteen years; represented the city in the Legislature of 1874
and 1875; was a member of the Board of Aldermen from 1881 to 1886, and a
member of the commission to build the new City Hall; candidate for mayor
in 1886. He was a member of the old Jackson Guards at the time of
disbandment, during the Know-Nothing administration of Governor Gardner;
admitted to the Society as a life member March 5, 1898; died in
Worcester, Mass., May 15, 1898.
Mr. John R. Alley.
Born in Dublin, Ireland, 1822; a prominent Boston brewer; life member of
the Society. His grandfather, John Alley, was at one time lord mayor of
Dublin, and his father was a graduate of Cambridge University, England.
Mr. Alley, our deceased associate, had warm Irish sympathies, and it has
been truly said of him that few men in Boston or New England did more
for the Irish cause than he. His purse and voice were always at the
disposal of his fellow-countrymen in the various phases of Irish
movements in this country for the past thirty years. He was an ardent
lover of Ireland, and took a lively interest in her history and
literature. Admitted to the Society June 24, 1897; died in Boston,
Mass., June 21, 1898.
Joseph H. Fay, M. D.
A graduate of the University of Vermont; admitted to the Society March
3, 1898; died in Fall River, Mass., June 25, 1898.
Capt. John Drum.
Born in Ireland, 1840; a veteran of the Civil War; later, commissioned
Lieutenant in the regular army; saw much service in campaigns against
the Indians; military instructor at St. Francis Xavier’s College, New
York City; on the outbreak of hostilities with Spain he was a captain in
the Tenth U. S. Infantry; went with his regiment to Cuba, where he met a
soldier’s death; admitted to the Society July 20, 1897; killed in action
before Santiago de Cuba, July 1, 1898. (The date of his death is given
on page 29 of this volume as July 2.|It should read July 1, as here
stated.)
Mr. John E. Conner.
Born in Bradford, Vt., 1852; chief of police of Chicopee, Mass., 1885 to
1894 and in 1896 and 1897; city marshal of Chicopee at the time of his
death; admitted to the Society June 22, 1898; died in Chicopee, Mass.,
Aug. 25, 1898.
Rev. Philip Grace, D. D.
Born in County Kilkenny, Ireland, 1838; ordained to the Roman Catholic
priesthood at Hartford, Conn., 1862; was attached to various churches in
the diocese of Providence, R. I.; was made a doctor of divinity by Pope
Leo XIII; became rector of St. Mary’s church, Newport, R. I., and passed
away while occupying that position; admitted to the Society March 14,
1898; died in Newport, R. I., Sept. 23, 1898.
Capt. John M. Tobin.
Born in Waterford, Ireland, 1836; was commissioned First Lieutenant in
the Ninth Massachusetts at outbreak of the Civil War; became Adjutant of
the regiment; participated in the battles of Yorktown, Hanover Court
House, Gaines’ Mill, Malvern Hill, and many other engagements; was
wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness; at Malvern Hill he voluntarily
took command of the regiment while Adjutant, and bravely fought it from
3 P. M. until dusk, rallying and reforming the regiment under fire, and
twice picking up the regimental flag—the color-bearers having been shot
down—and placing it in safe hands. In 1863–’64 he was Inspector-General
of a brigade in the First Division of the Fifth Corps, at Bealton, Va.
He was severely wounded at the Battle of Laurel Hill, Va. For
twenty-five years he was engaged as editor and publisher of weekly
papers, and also did much work upon the Boston dailies. In the recent
war with Spain, Captain Tobin was Quartermaster in the First Brigade,
Second Division, First Army Corps; admitted to the Society Jan. 20,
1897; died in Knoxville, Tenn., December, 1898.
Hon. Patrick Walsh.
Born in Ireland, 1840; became editor and proprietor of _The Chronicle_,
Augusta, Ga.; was also manager of the Southern Associated Press; in 1894
he became United States senator from Georgia; was elected mayor of
Augusta, and held the office at the time of his death; admitted to the
Society January 20, 1897; died in Augusta, Ga., March 19, 1899.
Col. Patrick T. Hanley.
Born in Roscommon, Ireland, 1831; was an officer in the Ninth
Massachusetts regiment during the Civil War, being successively
commissioned Lieutenant, Captain, Major, and Lieutenant-Colonel; took
command of the regiment at the Wilderness on the fall of Colonel Guiney;
prominent in Boston business circles; admitted to the Society, November
29, 1898; died in Boston, Mass., March 31, 1899.
Hon. John H. Sullivan.
Born in County Cork, Ireland, 1848; a prominent citizen of Boston,
Mass.; state senator of Massachusetts; member of the Governor’s Council;
sinking fund commissioner of Boston; president of the Columbia Trust and
Safety Deposit Company; died in East Boston, Mass., April 9, 1899.
Hon. Eli Thayer.
Born in Mendon, Mass., 1819; descended from John Alden of Mayflower
fame; elected to congress from the Worcester, Mass., district in 1856;
author of “A History of the Kansas Crusade;” admitted to the Society,
1898; died in Worcester, Mass., April 15, 1899.
William F. Cummings, M. D.
Born in Rutland, Vt., 1870; graduated in medicine at the University of
Vermont, 1893; treasurer of the Rutland County Medical and Surgical
society; admitted to the Society, August 3, 1898; died in Rutland, Vt.,
April 16, 1899.
Mr. Joseph J. Kelley.
Born in Ireland, 1844; served as a member of the school board of
Cambridge, Mass., and in various other positions of honor in that city;
member of the Massachusetts legislature; admitted to the Society, March
29, 1898; died in East Cambridge, Mass., April 29, 1899.
Mr. William Slattery.
Born in Ireland, 1849; graduated from the law school of Harvard
University; became a prominent lawyer of Holyoke, Mass.; associate
justice of the city court; admitted to the Society, June 23, 1898; died
in Holyoke, Mass., July 22, 1899.
Rev. George W. Pepper.
Born in County Down, Ireland, 1833; was ordained to the Methodist
Episcopal ministry in this country; a member of the North Ohio
conference for a period of forty years; commanded a company in the
Eightieth Ohio regiment during the Civil War and later served as a
chaplain; in 1890 was appointed U. S. consul to Milan, Italy, by
President Harrison; admitted to the Society on its organization, January
20, 1897; died in Cleveland, O., August 6, 1899.
Rev. Denis Scannell.
Born in County Kerry, Ireland, 1846; was ordained to the Roman Catholic
priesthood at Alleghany, N. Y., 1870; appointed rector of St. Anne’s
church, Worcester, Mass., 1872, having previously had charge of the
parish in Blackstone, Mass.; served two terms of three years each on the
school board of Worcester; admitted to the Society, November 3, 1898;
died in Worcester, Mass., August 20, 1899.
Mr. Edmund Phelan.
Born in Ireland 31 years ago; at the time of his death he was president
of Newspaper Mailers’ Union, No. 1, Boston, Mass. He was known
throughout the state as a temperance worker in Catholic circles, and
also took much interest in the work of our Historical Society. He died
at his home, 32 Adams street, Roxbury (Boston), Mass., November 29,
1899.