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.”
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: “The motive that sent our first
ancestor to this country from his native Irish home was of this
character, _i. e._, a desire for religious freedom; he was a devout
Catholic.” “Settling,” he continues, “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 Carmichaelstown 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.
It was a building of only one story and a half, of hewn logs and rough
boards, and as an instance of the primitiveness of the period when this
Irish pioneer settled in this locality, this building was looked upon as
“an elegant house!” His wife’s name 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 Neill’s burying ground,
near Carmichaelstown. Their descendants are still found in considerable
numbers in Greene and Fayette counties, Pennsylvania.
A prominent Irish Catholic who settled early on Sherman’s 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.
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.
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. Kline’s _Carlisle Gazette_ of November 29,
1797, 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.
Wing’s _History of Cumberland County_ mentions John and Charles McManus,
as settlers in Carlisle in 1762, the latter as “one of the oldest, most
progressive and successful business men in the community.”
“The large and commodious dwelling he erected on East Street,” says
Ganss, one of the historians of Carlisle, “still remains as a monument
of post-colonial massiveness, spaciousness and solidity, with its marble
slab conspicuously placed in the second story, bearing the date of its
erection, 1797, and the name of its builder, and which gives evidence
not only of enterprise and wealth, but cultured taste. Originally, he
was proprietor of one of the largest distilleries in the county, and
amassed a sufficient competence which permitted him to live, if not in
luxury, at least in ease and comfort. After the death of Mrs. Mary
McManus (born 1703, died 1809), the name becomes less prominent,
although that of Charles is still found on the pew list of the Catholic
Church as late as 1823. The descendants drifted to Mexico and
Philadelphia. The former branch of the family, in the course of time,
founded the prosperous and famed banking firm of McManus & Co., an
institution of international reputation and the largest and most
prominent in our sister republic. The Philadelphia family likewise,
achieved more than ordinary success in life.”
Here we have a conspicuous example of the class of men whom Ireland gave
to America in her early days.
John Frazer, who was 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 Pennsylvania militia. His grandson, Robert
Frazer, was a distinguished lawyer at Thornbury, Pa.
John McCord emigrated from Ireland in 1750, and settled in Sherman’s
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 McCord’s Fort.
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 service up to 1778. Their
brother, Thomas, and their mother, joined them from Ireland in 1785.
Robert Guthrie, a name Anglicized from McGrath, was born in Derry;
settled with his family in Lancaster County in 1744. His wife’s name was
Brighid Dougherty, a native of Carndonagh, County Donegal. Their son was
a lieutenant-colonel in Colonel Brodhead’s regiment through the
Revolutionary War. He was in the expedition against the Six Nations, and
with Harbison’s company of rangers in the border wars against the
Indians. His great-grandson was mayor of Pittsburg in 1897.
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. Mary’s 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. Mary’s Church. He died in 1775 and bequeathed his property to his
nephew, Charles, son of Cornelius O’Connor, of Carrigtwohill, County
Cork.
Another family named Connor lived in Ashton Township, Chester County.
Charles Connor died there in 1750.
Thomas G. Connor, son of another Charles Connor, who was born at
Philadelphia in 1786, is buried in Mount Vernon Cemetery, Philadelphia.
His wife’s name was Martha Fitzgerald.
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
Captain George Nagle’s company, in Colonel Thompson’s regiment.” After
the campaign of 1775–’76 he was ordered south as a brigade major for
Gen. John Armstrong. He served with credit down to the winter of 1779,
and on his return in that year he became lieutenant-colonel of Hartley’s
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 on O’Connor’s 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 £3,000.
In a pamphlet issued by Benjamin Franklin in 1744, entitled, _Plain
Talk, or Serious Considerations on the Present State of the City of
Philadelphia and Province of Pennsylvania_, appears a letter written in
that year by Governor Morris of New Jersey, to Governor Clinton of New
York, in which he said: “There are here a Popish chapel and numbers of
Irish and Germans that are Papists, and I am told that should the French
land 1,500 or 2,000 men, they would in that province soon get ten or
twelve thousands together, which would in that case be not a little
dangerous to these and neighboring colonies.”
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.
Acrelius, in his _History of New Sweden_ (as Pennsylvania was sometimes
called prior to the English settlement), writing of 1758, said: “Forty
years back our people scarcely knew what a school was. In the later
times there have come over from Ireland some Presbyterians and some
Roman Catholics, who commenced with school keeping, but as soon as they
saw better openings they gave that up.”
Among the early Philadelphia schoolmasters, the following advertised in
the _Mercury_: Charles Phipps, “from Dublin,” in 1729, and James Conway,
on July 17, 1729. George Brownwell also advertised his school in the
same year. The schoolroom later became a dancing academy, and was opened
by “Theobald Hacket, dancing master, lately come from England and
Ireland.” Alexander Butler advertised his school on November 12, 1741.
On June 21, 1790, John Reilly opened a school at Columbia, and in the
following year his scholars were taken by Francis Dunlevy, who taught
the higher branches. This was continued until 1793, when Reilly gave the
entire school to Dunlevy and opened another school at Mill Creek. It is
stated in the _Magazine of Western History_ for February, 1888, that
this was the first school in the American settlements of the Ohio.
Many of these Irish schoolmasters are mentioned in Wickersham’s _History
of Education in Pennsylvania_.
An Irish schoolmaster taught school at Chester in 1741. Rev. Mr.
Backhouse of that borough, wrote the London Society for Propagation of
the Gospel, that the Quakers had “set up another schoolmaster, one of
their own sort truly, but a native Irish bigoted Papist, in opposition
to one Charles Fortesque.” The name of this Irish schoolmaster is not
mentioned.
John Conly taught “an advanced school” at Byberry, Philadelphia County,
before the Revolutionary War.
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.”
On May 15, 1767, Miss Mary McAllister advertised in the Philadelphia
papers to open a boarding school for young ladies in that city. “Hers
was the first school of the kind in Philadelphia” (Wickersham).
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.
In 1790, a number of Catholics from Maryland settled in Cambria County,
Pennsylvania. “A school was opened there,” says Wickersham, “under the
direction of a schoolmaster named O’Connor.”
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.
James Nowlins taught school at Mauch Chunk. According to Wickersham, he
was one of the first white men who located at that place.
“Paddy” Doyle taught school at Phœnixville. He is mentioned in
Pennypacker’s _Annals of Phœnixville_. A description of him says “his
nationality was revealed by a very decided brogue.”
Robert Williams, an Irishman, was a teacher at Greensburg.
John Sharpless conducted an academy on Second Street, Philadelphia, in
1791.
Rev. S. Magaw opened an academy on Spruce Street in 1800.
Philip Garrett and two other teachers opened a night school at
Philadelphia in 1799, and their advertisement stated it was “for poor
children and would do the teaching themselves.” Two years later their
effort was organized into the “Philadelphia Society for the
Establishment and Support of Charity Schools.”
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.”
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.
In 1761, Doctor Finley was appointed president of Princeton College. He
died in 1766.
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.”
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. “His
name will forever be associated with the great events of the brilliant
Chattanooga campaign.” While in the command at Lookout Mountain, his
son, Capt. Edward Geary, a youth of eighteen, was killed by his side.
William Powers, who was elected a member of the Hibernian Society of
Philadelphia in 1790, is referred to in Campbell’s history of that
society as “a teacher in the university.”
Benjamin Workman, who also joined in the same year, is described as a
teacher of mathematics. He advertised in the _Freeman’s Journal_ on June
28, 1786, as “from the University of Pennsylvania.”
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.
William Findlay, who 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.
Among the members of the Hibernian Society who were elected in 1790,
Francis Donnelly, John Barry, John Heffernan and James Kidd are
described as schoolmasters in Philadelphia.
Patrick Farrall, who joined the Society in 1792, and who is described as
“the first clerk in the office for settling accounts between the United
States and individual states” after independence had been won, is
thought to have been a Pennsylvania schoolmaster.
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.