we are not seeking to inject a foreign story with foreign prejudices and
old world bitterness into your history; we are not asking for any place
in that history which we do not deserve; we are not asking you to
subvert the facts of American history; we are making no special plea for
our nationality or our race; but we are demanding justice and we are
going to get it.
You younger members will live to see the time when, a convention of
historians being called in the city of New York, as was the other day,
your honored President will be invited to fill an enviable place in that
convocation; and when the heads of our great universities, when the men
who stand for the most learned in America, undertake to pass upon the
historical phases of that period of our history from the beginning up to
1860, Ireland and Irish men and women will be given their proper place.
(Applause.)
We need no vindication after 1860. We vindicated our place in American
history on every battlefield of the Civil War. We were at Bull Run, at
Fredericksburg, at Gettysburg and Appomattox. They cannot rub the Irish
names off the records of the Civil War because they are too numerous.
There was scarcely a home in Ireland in any county or parish which had
not its representative under that flag when it was embattled and
endangered on the fields of the South. (Applause.)
And I repeat it now; I have said it before and I repeat it now, that
that horrible, fratricidal, prolonged and bloody conflict did as much
for the Irish in America as it did for the negro whom it freed. It
vindicated the patriotism and gratitude and loyalty of the Irishman, and
the valor and chivalry of his race displayed by him under that flag,
from the beginning to the close of the war, was second to none. And in
every sacrifice that has been made to found or perpetuate this nation,
Irish men and Irish women, Irish courage and Irish conscience, a never
changing faith in God, a high Celtic idealism, which is the salt that
gives savour to the gross materialism of the age, a firm belief in the
divine and national mysteries, sound morals and gratitude, and devotion
to American ideals, have played a most prominent part in the history of
this, our beloved country. (Applause.)
PRESIDENT-GENERAL QUINLAN: I will be most grateful to Mr. McAdoo, if,
before the next annual meeting of this Society, he will have the time
and inclination to pen down the beautiful remarks that are in his brain
tonight regarding the Irish in North Carolina.
His magnificent speech gives me a cleavage in my continuity of thought.
There is a Society in the history of the city known as “St. Andrew’s.”
This Society has $250,000 in its treasury. The illustrious Scotchmen
have sought, by money, by force of will and by power, to perpetuate the
traits and achievements of their race and they have done so.
Now I would appeal to all of you that when you feel the desire or when
an occasion presents itself, you will aid us in the way the Scotchmen
have aided their Society, by making a contribution to the American Irish
Historical Society in order that we, too, may have an opportunity of
exploiting our literary geniuses. This matter, ladies and gentlemen, I
lay before you for your consideration and hope it may receive from you
assimilative thought.
The most famous Irish societies in this country, the Hibernian Society
in Boston, the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick in Philadelphia and the
Friendly Sons of St. Patrick in this city, were all founded and brought
about by the intense patriotism and zeal of Irish Protestants. It has
been most gratifying for us to hear tonight that force and eloquence
from one who came from the Province of Ulster. Now we will hear a
re-echo, probably equally as eloquent, from one who came from a
neighboring county in Ireland and settled within the borders of New York
State. I have much pleasure in presenting to you the Rev. J. Havergal
Sheppard, D. D., a member of our Society and the next speaker on the
program, whose subject is
THE IRISH IN PROTESTANT DENOMINATIONS IN AMERICA.
_Rev. J. Havergal Sheppard, D. D.:_ Mr. President-General, Ladies and
Gentlemen, Honored Guests and Fellow Members of the American Irish
Historical Society: I esteem it a very great honor that you have
conferred upon me tonight in asking me to speak at this, your annual
gathering. I must confess that I feel somewhat embarrassed in facing
such a body of distinguished Irishmen and their friends. It has not
often been my lot to meet so many “Sons of the Ould Sod” or those whose
Sires settled on these shores in the passing years as it is tonight.
Nevertheless I am proud to be one of you on this occasion; in fact, I
feel like a fellow countryman of mine, who was in the company of an
Englishman and a Scotchman. They were complimenting each other, when the
Englishman asked the Scotchman if he were not a Scotchman what would he
be, and he answered, an Englishman. Then the Scotchman, not to be
outdone, asked the Englishman if he was not an Englishman what he would
be, and, of course, he answered a Scotchman. Then they turned to Pat,
who had been listening to their expressions of friendship, and they
asked him, “Pat, if you were not an Irishman, what would you be?” And
he, in turn, in true Celtic fashion, answered, “If I was not an Irishman
I would be ashamed of myself.” So if I was not an Irishman, after this
gathering and greeting and what the Irish have done for this country, I
would be ashamed of myself.
An old philosopher once said, “Let us give the past to oblivion, the
present to duty, the future to Providence,” and I am sure we agree with
him in two of his propositions, but we differ with his first. We are
willing to give the present to duty and trust the future to Providence,
but never give the past to oblivion; not until, at least, every true
American knows the Irish chapter in American history. And it is such a
body as this that will hasten that glad day for the Irish race, when men
will know that we have as much right to these shores as any race that
ever landed here. That starry flag, with its red for love and its white
for law and its blue for the hope that our fathers saw in a larger
liberty, has been consecrated with the blood of the liberty-loving sons
of the sod.
There has never been a battle for right against wrong but “That rascal,
Pat,” has been to the front, not only to fight as a private soldier, but
to often lead the van as a commanding officer. We find him on the bench
and at the bar pleading as an able lawyer; before the altar or in the
pulpit, performing the sacred duties of religion. In fact, wherever you
go or whatever profession or trade you enter you will find “That Rascal,
Pat.” They are no newcomers to these shores, for shortly after that
memorable landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock they made their way
across the trackless main for this new land.
It was not the lure of gold but the love of liberty that brought them.
Down-trodden and oppressed in the land of their birth, whether Roman
Catholic or Non-conformist, by unjust and tyrannical laws passed by a
government that had no sympathy with the suffering Irish, every possible
means of culture were denied them, until life in the land they loved
became unbearable; so those who were able to muster enough money and
courage crossed the briny deep, with many sad farewells and
heartbreaking partings.
It is true that many of those early settlers were from the north and
had, undoubtedly, been descendents of men who settled there from
Scotland and other parts of Britain and Europe; but they had been
residents of Ireland for several generations before they emigrated here,
and by the right of birth were “Sons of the Sod.” Many Americans of
later days, as well as British historians, have given the glory to
Scotland for what they did for America, and they always speak of them as
Scotch-Irish, and when you ask the reason this is done they will tell
you it is to distinguish between them and the Roman Catholic Irish, but
supposing we follow that method in our historic research. We would have
to say that every Episcopalian was an Englishman, that every
Presbyterian was a Scotchman and every Roman Catholic was an Italian.
But again they answer: These people came originally from Scotland, hence
they are Scotch-Irish; but taking that for granted, which is not the
whole truth, as we have many other races in Ireland, most of those early
Scotch settlers bear Highland names and were not the Scotch Highlanders,
the same race by blood, as the original Irish, and the only thing that
made them Scotch was the fact of birth in Scotland; hence when they
arrived back in Ireland they became Irish by the same right that they
were Scotch, that of birth. In fact, they became more Irish than the
Irish themselves. I think enough has been said to introduce my subject
tonight.
It is my purpose to put on record a few facts in regard to the great
part our fellow countrymen played in the Protestant denominations, in
America. As I have already stated, most of the early Irish settlers on
these shores came from Ulster and were of the Presbyterian faith. Cotton
Mather says that previous to 1640 four thousand Presbyterians had
arrived in New England, and there is no doubt that many of these came
from Ireland. As early as 1662 a group of Irish and Scotch Presbyterians
worshipped in Jamaica, Long Island, and it is claimed that this was the
first church of that denomination on this continent.
Between 1670–1680 a body of Presbyterians settled on the eastern bank of
the Elizabeth River in Virginia, who had with them their pastor from
Ireland, who continued to labor among them until his death in 1683.
Later one hundred families from Ireland settled Londonderry, New
Hampshire, bringing their pastor, Rev. James McGregore, who faithfully
and affectionately labored for their good.
As early as 1680 several families of Irish Presbyterians settled in the
lower counties of Maryland and erected several houses of worship, as a
letter from one of them, Colonel William Stevens, was presented in 1680
to the Laggan Presbytery in Ireland, requesting that a minister by sent
to labor in Maryland, and in 1683 the Rev. Francis Makemie arrived by
the way of Barbadoes and founded the church at Snow Hill. For several
years he labored as an itinerant preacher or missionary, founding
churches or strengthening those already started.
“This pioneer of the church,” says a Presbyterian authority, “was born
in County Donegal, Ireland, and was so earnest, fearless and
indefatigable that he persevered so well in obtaining fellow laborers,
though he must cross the ocean for them, and in 1704 brought out two
young men, one being John Hampton, a fellow countryman. He was
instrumental in organizing the first classical assembly of the
Presbyterian church in America, 1706.”
Under the name of the “Presbytery of Philadelphia,” with the Presbytery
of Dublin as a model, Makemie being elected moderator and thus logically
becoming the founder of organized Presbyterianism in America.
In 1716 there arrived in New York the Rev. William Tennent with his
three sons, Gilbert, William, Jr., and John, from the County Armagh.
After a period of labor in New York State he was called to the pastorate
of the Presbyterian church at Neshiminy, Penn., where he established
“The Log College” in 1726, himself an eminent scholar. He trained a
number of godly and useful young men for the ministry, among who were
Samuel Blair and his own three sons. This college was the foundation of
which the present Princeton University was built and all those whom I
have mentioned, as well as others who graduated, became leaders in the
denomination. It would be superfluous for me to weary you with an
account of all the great Presbyterian ministers who came to our shores
from the Emerald Isle. Suffice to say that the names of Makemie, Mackie,
Hampton, Tennent, Blair, Drs. Neill, Junkin, Elliott, Murry, Allison,
Potts, Patterson and Hall stand out in letters of gold in the successful
history of that church.
1760. A party of Irish emigrants might be seen at the Custom House Quay
in Limerick, preparing to leave their native land for these congenial
shores. One of the company, a young man with thoughtful look and
resolute bearing, entered the vessel and from the deck preached a
farewell sermon to those friends who were to be left behind. This was no
other than Philip Embury, who was destined to play a prominent part in
the Methodist denomination in America. It was in 1766 that he first
conducted services in New York in his own house to five people. As the
congregation increased he removed to a rigging loft, then building with
his own hands the first Methodist church in the new world, which was
called “Wesley Chapel” after the founder of the denomination in the old
land. It was situated on John street, and on Oct. 30th, 1768, Embury
preached the sermon of dedication.
Sometime in 1770, after Rev. Robert Williams, another fellow countryman
arrived in New York, he removed to Camden Valley with several Irish
families, then a vast wilderness, and organized the Methodist society at
Ashgrove, which was named after another Irishman, Thomas Ashton, and
there he labored until his death in 1773. At the age of 45 years his
remains, after several removals and not even a stone to mark the spot
where slept the silent dust, now rests under a marble shaft erected by
the National Local Preachers’ Association of the Methodist Episcopal
church in the village cemetery at Cambridge, N. Y., on which the
following inscription appears: “Philip Embury, the earliest American
minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, here finds his last resting
place.” Born in Ireland, an emigrant to New York, Embury was the first
to gather a little class in that city to set in motion a train of
influences which resulted in the founding of the John street church, the
cradle of American Methodism, the introduction of a system which has
beautified the earth with salvation and increased the joys of heaven.
It is worthy of note that this inscription was penned by a famous fellow
countryman of Embury, the Rev. Dr. John Newell Maffitt, the
silver-tongued orator of southern Methodism.
[Illustration:
HONORABLE CHARLES ALEXANDER,
Of Providence.
Vice-President of the Society for Rhode Island.
]
Simultaneously with Embury’s ministry in New York another Irishman, Rev.
Robert Strawbridge, who was born at Drumsnagh, County Leitrim, and who,
like Embury, had been a preacher in Ireland, settled at Sams Creek,
Frederick County, Maryland, where he organized several Methodist
societies. He had all the characteristic traits of his fellow
countryman. He was generous, energetic, versatile and somewhat
intractable to authority. During his life he was poor and his family
were often straitened for food. His members appreciated his genuine zeal
and self-sacrifice, so they took care of his little farm gratuitously in
his absence.
Strawbridge founded Methodism in Baltimore and Hartford counties, where
he raised up several preachers, among who were numbered Owen,
Stephenson, Perigau, Webster, Watters, Gatch, Haggerty, Durbin and
Garrettson. We discover him penetrating into Pennsylvania and then
arousing the population of the eastern shore of Maryland. We trace him
at last to the upper part of Long Green, Baltimore County, where an
opulent and generous public citizen, who admired his character and
sympathized with his poverty, gave him a farm free of rent for life. It
was during one of his visiting rounds to his spiritual children that he
was taken sick at the home of Joseph Wheeler and died in the summer of
1781. His grave may be seen today in the Mount Olivet cemetery at
Baltimore, where his greatest success was achieved.
Robert Williams, with whom we became acquainted on his arrival in New
York and whose passage was paid from Ireland by his friend, Thomas
Ashton, and who took charge of the John street church, New York, after
Embury, was the pioneer Methodist in Virginia, forming a society in
Norfolk, 1772, which was the germ of the denomination in the state. In
1773 he traveled in various sections of the state, preaching and forming
societies, then extending his ministry into North Carolina, where he
also was the first to plant Methodism. A signal example of his
usefulness was the conversion of Jesse Lee, the heroic founder of
Methodism in New England. He died on the 26th of September, 1775.
“He was a plain, pointed preacher, indefatigable in his labors,” says a
historian of the church, and another says, “His grave is unknown but he
will live in the history of the Methodist church forever.”
Time would fail me to tell of all the Sons of Erin who labored in those
early days for the success of the Methodist cause, but enough has been
said to prove, at least, that Irishmen can claim a large place in the
founding of that denomination on these shores.
In the year of 1809 there came to America from Ballymena, County Antrim,
Ireland, Thomas Campbell and his son Alexander. They were men of
sterling character, marked ability and decided convictions. For several
years they were active and successful workers in the Baptist
denomination and in 1823 Alexander Campbell established the _Christian
Baptist_ and continued as its editor until his break with that
denomination on doctrinal grounds, and in 1827 he organized the Church
of the Disciple of Christ. So successful became his ministry that a
college was demanded for the training of young men for the ministry and
in 1840 he established Bethany College at Bethany, West Virginia, which
has sent out in the world more than eleven thousand graduates in the
past seventy years, and the denomination which he founded ranks fifth in
the protestant denominations in America, with a membership of over one
million and a half.
He died March 4th, 1866, and his remains rest in Bethany, West Virginia.
I wish I had time to tell you of those of Irish birth who filled
prominent positions in the pulpits of these denominations in later
years. At one period three of Erin’s sons adorned the pulpits of New
York City: Rev. Dr. George S. Rainsford, of St. George’s Protestant
Episcopal Church; Rev. Dr. John Hall, of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian
Church, and Rev. Dr. Henry M. Gallagher, of the Hanson Place Baptist
Church of Brooklyn.
I have presented these facts, not to arouse religious strife, but rather
to give glory to the land of my birth for what her sons have done on
these shores, in peace as well as in war.
I am happy to say we are not here representing any sect but a country;
in fact, we are all Irishmen tonight.
We have done much for America and well may we be proud of it, but never
forget that America has done much for us.
When it was impossible for us to develop the latent powers born in our
race in the land we loved we found the opportunities so badly needed
under the folds of that starry banner, to the joy of every true Irish
heart in this and the old land.
I hope that we will get to know each other as the years go by and that
this organization will grow and flourish to the true glory of “Dear Old
Ireland.”
God bless you, I say, however you pray;
Your faith will ne’er meet my derision.
Can’t we kindly talk o’er this matter, asthore,
And band curse, strife and division.
And we’ll love one another, my Catholic brother,
Like loyal-souled Irishmen ever.
And the heathenish strife that’s consuming our life,
We’ll bury it forever and ever.
PRESIDENT-GENERAL QUINLAN: Ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow will soon be
here, when we can all rest, but an intellectual treat such as you have
tonight is seldom offered this assemblage to participate in. One of the
great features of this Society is to have annual meetings, and these are
prefaced by holding Executive Council meetings at different places. Last
summer the Executive Council met in the city of Providence, and while
there one of our number entertained us with that pure Celtic
hospitality. This gentleman is one of the few who has participated in
every event since his advent into the Society, and it is he, Alexander,
who entertained the Executive Council in his princely style at
Macedonia. I now present to you, Ladies and Gentlemen, Colonel Charles
Alexander of Providence, Vice-President of the Society for the State of
Rhode Island.
HON. CHARLES ALEXANDER: Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is
indeed a privilege and an honor for me to meet you tonight for the first
time as a new member.
I met one of the gentlemen of this association a few days ago, and
calling him by name I said, “Do you know that I have been railroaded to
the speakers table January 8th?” He said, “That is good,” but I said,
“No, that is bad, for I don’t know what to say.”
It reminded me very much of the story of two men who met. One said to
the other, “I have been married since I met you last.” “That is good.”
“Not so good; my wife has a temper.” “That’s bad.” “Not so bad; she’s
got some money.” “That’s good.” “Not so good; I put the money into sheep
and they all died.” “That’s bad.” “Not so bad; I got the wool.” “That’s
good.” “Not so good; I put the proceeds of the wool into a tavern, and
the tavern burned to the ground.” “That’s bad.” “Not so bad; my wife
burned with it.”
Mr. Toastmaster, I am from Rhode Island, and you know what that means,
Ladies and Gentlemen. It means that the hand of good cheer is always
extended to anyone visiting our shores. (Applause.)
I will take but a very few moments of your time.
The first tablet to be placed in the State House of Rhode Island in
honor of an eminent Rhode Islander is that of John Sullivan. It occupies
a conspicuous niche near the main entrance, and was placed there by this
Society. Our State House has ample provision for many more such
memorials, but this is the only one which has been erected at the
present time.
The American Irish who are making history today will be memorialized by
the descendants of some of the present gathering because of their
achievements, many of whom, I trust, are at this hour here assembled.
This Society has reason to be proud of the exploits of those whose
worthy deeds it celebrates on every such occasion, and the whole country
should share with it such pride. In all the wars in the country’s
history, they have occupied a position to be proud of, throughout the
peaceful periods, in the halls of legislation and in public life; but
the honors to be celebrated are not as yet all achieved.
Americans of Irish descent are making new names every day, contributing
new achievements to the record of the country’s service, which future
meetings of this organization in years to come will surely celebrate.
The achievements of the past will be a stimulation in the future to
every member to become worthy of the tribute of this Society; and from
this fact will be no small incentive to exalted service. So I say—from
the present generation—right from around this board, history will select
for remembrance and fame more honorable names to add to the roll, which
it will be the privilege and the duty of this Society to preserve.
Ladies and Gentlemen, you are a friend to man, and this association
means something. You are a friend to man, and may I be permitted to
recite just two or three verses in that line? They emanate from the pen
of a gentleman who has the ability to put splendid thoughts into words.
There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
In the place of their self-content;
There are souls, like stars, that dwell apart,
In a fellowless firmament;
There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths
Where the highways never ran;
But let me live by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
Let me live in a house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by—
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner’s seat,
Or hurl the cynic’s ban—
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
I see from my house by the side of the road,
By the side of the highway of life,
The men who press on with the ardor of hope,
And the men who are faint with the strife.
But I turn not away from their smiles or their tears—
Both parts of an infinite plan;—
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.