Chapter XVII: Appendix: Irish Names

Since returning home I have read with great interest the unique historical study of Mr. Michael J. O’Brien on the part played by the Irish in the early history of the Colonies and particularly in the Revolutionary War, founded on an exhaustive examination of Irish names inscribed in army rosters and other records of the period. In order to avoid the suspicion of over-playing his hand, Mr. O’Brien had to confine himself to names like his own, which undeniably indicate Irish birth or descent. He must have passed over many names which are common in every group of Irish throughout the world.

If we take only the names which have become prominent in the recent endeavors to establish the independence of Ireland—De Valera and Marcoviecz do not sound particularly Irish (even the militant lady’s maiden name of Gore-Booth does not much improve the matter); and while Kelly, Ryan, Dunn and Duffy are to the manner born, there was a time when Walsh, Pearse, and Plunkett were foreign names, Norman or Danish; and Kent, McNeil and Griffiths might very well be respectively English, Scotch or Welsh.

In the Regiment we had some good men of Scottish descent, but we had a number who volunteered for the Regiment drawn by Irish race feeling, bearing the names of Johnston, Cowie, Wilson, Bailey, Armstrong, Saunders, Campbell, Thompson, Chambers, Gordon, Ross, Scott, Watson, Stewart, Christy, Finlay, Grimson, Hamilton, Barr, Graham, Gillespie, Black, Walker, Catterson, Robinson, Holmes, Grant, Dunbar, Fraser, Kirk, Patterson, Gould, Wylie, Robinson, Roberts, Donaldson, Ferguson, McMillan, McDonald, McGregor, McPherson, Ogilvie, Craig, Cameron, McAndrews, McLean, McKay, MacIntosh, not forgetting our Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Anderson.

We had three or four score Jews in the Regiment that went abroad but there was a Coen, a Leavy and a Jacobs who were Irish.

Other regimental names that do not sound Irish to the ears of the uninitiate but are familiar in every Irish group are Clifford, Duane, Clark, Freeman, Winters, Phillips, Williams, Cunningham, Curtis, Johnson, Gough, Harrison, Grace, Jones, Loftus, Medler, Matthews, Morrison, Newman, King, Crawford, Biggar, Bambrick, Ring, Rice, Blythe, Gray, Judge, Morgan, Caulfield, Gilbert, Gilgar, Campion, Booth, Humphreys, Cook, Hill, Parks, Hunt, Garland, Gill, Warren, Reed, Hurst, Jenkins, Rogers, Grimes, Summers, Smith, Green, Brown, White, Martin, Mason, Lowe, Roe, Wade, Woods, Goodman, Fleming, French, English, Holland, Thornton, Wall, Travis, Travers, Morgan, Fletcher, Clinton, Richards, Jennings, Lynn, Taylor, Reynolds, Grundy, Stanley, Turner, Edwards, Dean, Meade, Conville, Ward, Clayton, Eustace, Lavelle, Clyne, Battle, Nelson, Wynne, Coppinger, Morton, Oakes, Fullam, Lynott, Lynar, Lysaght, Long, Fennell, Tuers, Birmingham, Hetherington, Temple, Whitty, Granville, Howard, Bealin, Stanley, Vaughan, Adams, Nash, Coneys, Mylott, Brickley, Mitchell, Diamond, De Witt, Hopkins, Quigg, Igo, Taylor, Ferris, Ledwith, Forrestal, Lever, Hoey, Fox, Russell, Sutcliffe, Hillery, Fisher, Kent, Boyce, Bevan, Rothwell, Adkins, Courtney, Mannix, Orr, Harris, Farnan, Hackett, Hopkins, Gaynor, Gunn, Broe, Bush, Goss, Wilde, Cox, Seagriff, Marshall, Davis, Bergen, Singleton, Rankin, Webb, Small. Not all of the possessors of these names in the Regiment were bearers of the Irish racial tradition, but the great majority of them were.

Sometimes the English sounding name was imported directly from Ireland, and the man’s nationality was never in doubt after one heard him speak, as in the case of Mansfield, Bugler, Maddock, Elwood, and others. Sometimes all doubt was removed by the Christian name, as in the cases of Patrick Ames, Patrick Stokes, Patrick Thynne, Patrick Porteous, Patrick Carlisle, Patrick Benson, Patrick Travers, Patrick Fawcett, Patrick Gorham, Patrick Masterson, or Michael Goodman, Michael Douglas, Michael Bowler, Michael Gettings, Denis Richardson, Bernard Clinton, Robert Emmett Mitchell, Bernard Granville, Francis X. Goodwin, John J. Booth.

The future historian who writes of the part played by the Irish element in this war will have a good deal of trouble collecting his data, partly on account of the tendency to bestow on children what our grandparents would call “fancy” names, and partly through the intermarriage of women with Irish names to men whose names indicate a different racial descent. Especially when the religion is the same, the children are very definitely Irish in race feeling. All of the following had the Irish kind of religion, and most of them claim to be of Irish descent; George Lawrence, James Archer, Wilton Wharton, Colton Bingham, Sherwood Orr, Melvin King, Earl Withrow, Lester Lenhart, Archibald Skeats, Dudley Winthrop, Warren Dearborn, Hurlburt McCallum, Harold Yockers, Dallas Springer, Joyce Kilmer, Clifford Wiltshire, Pelham Hall, Elmore Becker, Everett Guion, Lester Snyder; while others in the same category bore names such as Dayton, Lovett, Lappin, Trayer, Shepherd, Harndon, Harnwell, Ashworth, Bradbury, Everett, Adikes, Keyes, Boone, Bibby, Beverly, Aspery, Cornell, Morthurst, Battersby, Dawson, Chamberlain, Cousens, Hasting, Blackburne, Griswold, Bagley, Forman, Myers, Nye, Firman, Weaver, Irons, Garrett, Kyle, Forms, Kear, Alnwick, Boomer, Dobbins, Ogden, Dresser, Frear, Bennett, Cooper, Gracely, Schofield, Fredericks, Walters, Voorhis, Chatterton, Kolodgy, Law, Vail, Field, Throop, Menrose, Hawk, Waddell, Drake, Flint, Elworth, Maryold, Knott, Hagger, Espy, Cuffe, Peel, Stiles, Willett, Leaper, Gauthier and Denair.

A number of volunteers were drawn to the old Irish Regiment by the bonds of a common faith. And in the course of two years spent amongst them it was an easier matter while performing my office as Chaplain to get a line on their personal beliefs than on their racial descent. We had for example Guignon, Bonnard, Pierre, Viens, and Pepin; Mendes, Echeverria, Rodriguez and Garcia; Gardella, Brangaccio, Georgi, Lorelli, Guida, Menicocci, Tricarico, Depietro and Speranza; Romanuk, Ragninny, Hovance, Sypoula, Puttlitz and Ivanowski, with plenty of names like Arenholz, Schmidt, Stumpf, Dietrich, Weick, Schmedlein, Schluter, Leudesdorf and Kahn. Some with names sounding just like these last ones were Irish on the distaff side, such as Almendinger, Winestock, Schwartz, Ettinger, Schroppel, Mehl, Rohrig, Peisel, Hans, Landzert, Clauberg, Ritz, Steinert, Messmer, Zimmerman, Finger, Richter, Herold, Schick, Buechner, Sauer, Beyer, Haerting, Meyer, Roesel, Willermin, Miller, Dryer, Hugo, Wilker, Fisher, Staber, Augustine, Dierenger, Morschhauser, Ritter, Haspel, Becker, and Grauer.

Two small groups of “Irish” struck my fancy—one with Scandinavian names like Drivdahl, Malmquist, and Larsen; and a few of the Vans; Van Pelt, Vanderdonck, Van Wye and Van Benschoten.

One way of estimating the character of the regiment would be to examine the lists of the dead, to find what names preponderate in them. In those lists we find _seven_ men named Kelly; _five_ McCarthy; _four_ O’Neill, O’Brien, and Brennan; _three_ Baker, Brown, Campbell, Cook, Cronin, Daly, Kane, Lynch, McDonald, McKeon, McLoughlin, Martin, Murphy, O’Connor, O’Rourke, Scanlan, Smith, Sullivan and Wynne; _two_ Adkins, Allen, Ames, Boyle, Byrnes, Collins, Coneys, Connelly, Conway, Curtin, Dolan, Dunnigan, Donovan, Dougherty, Farrell, Fitzpatrick, Ford, Gavin, Geary, Gordon, Gray, Gunnell, Hamilton, Hart, Higgins, Johnson, Lane, Leonard McMillan, McKay, McKenna, McSherry, Mahoney, Minogue, Mitchell, Morrissey, Naughton, Peterson, Philips, Quinn, Reilly, Riordon, Robinson, Rooney, Ryan, Scott, Slattery, Thomson, Williams and Walsh.

OFFICERS OF THE NEW YORK CHAPTER RAINBOW DIVISION VETERANS

President, William J. Donovan.
1st Vice Pres., George J. Lawrence,
2nd Vice Pres., T. W. Ferguson,
3rd Vice Pres., John Farrell,
Secretary, Daniel B. J. O’Connell,
Treasurer, Timothy J. Moynahan,
Financial Secretary, John McNamara,
Historian, Francis P. Duffy,
Chaplain, James M. Hanley.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE 165TH INFANTRY

Morgan J. O’Brien, Chairman, (former Presiding Justice of the
appellate division.)
Daniel M. Brady, Vice Chairman, (President of Brady Brass Co.)
John Whelan, Treasurer, (former Corporation Counsel)
Joseph P. Grace, (President W. R. Grace & Co.)
Victor J. Dowling, (Supreme Court Justice)
John D. Ryan, (Chairman Anaconda Copper Co.)
James A. Farrell, (President U. S. Steel Corp.)
Thomas E. Murray, (1st V.P. New York Edison Co.)
James A. McKenna, (Public Accountant)
George McDonald, (Contractor)
Major Thomas T. Reilley, (165th Inf.)
Nicholas F. Brady, (Chairman Brooklyn Rapid Tr. Co.)
Clarence H. Mackay, (Pres. Postal Telegraph Co.)
John J. O’Keefe, (H. L. Horton & Co.)
Louis D. Conley, (former Col. old 69th)
Bryan L. Kennelly, (Real Estate Operator)

WOMEN’S AUXILIARY TO 165TH INFANTRY

U. S. A. Inc.

President. Mrs. George R. Leslie
Vice Pres. Miss Catherine A. Archer
Rec. Sec. Miss Elizabeth M. Hughes
Cor. Sec. Miss Louise Reilley
Fin. Sec. Miss Margaret Casey
Treas. Miss Nora A. Thynne

_Trustees_ Mrs. Theresa Hughes
Mrs. William J. Grady
Miss May A. O’Neill
Miss Mary Duffy
Mrs. V. Merle-Smith

THE ENTRY INTO BELGIUM
]

HEADQUARTERS AT REMAGEN GROUP OF RECIPIENTS OF D. S. C.
]

COLONEL DONOVAN AND STAFF REVIEWING PARADE AT 110TH STREET
]

RECEPTION AT CITY HALL
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Transcriber’s Notes

pg 65 Changed: Chicagoan of Polish decent
to: Chicagoan of Polish descent

pg 117 Changed: The old gentlemen gave a dazed
to: The old gentleman gave a dazed

pg 132 Changed: Around P. C. Anderson there was plently
to: Around P. C. Anderson there was plenty

pg 181 Changed: neat job of infilitration
to: neat job of infiltration

pg 202 Changed: the night of July 29th the bowld Jim
to: the night of July 29th the bold Jim

pg 204 Changed: they were very much harrassed
to: they were very much harassed

pg 208 Changed: their persistance were the famous
to: their persistence were the famous

pg 222 Changed: do something to get out Major back
to: do something to get our Major back

pg 248 Changed: still occupying the postions to our right
to: still occupying the positions to our right

pg 264 Changed: hill just ouside of Exermont
to: hill just outside of Exermont

pg 278 Changed: prepared and strongely wired position
to: prepared and strongly wired position

pg 312 Changed: they do not depise him either
to: they do not despise him either

pg 329 Changed: stars of gold commemmorated
to: stars of gold commemorated

pg 337 Changed: Many of the soldeirs received
to: Many of the soldiers received

pg 342 Changed: likely to be rembered
to: likely to be remembered

pg 362 Changed: but it had reconed without
to: but it had reckoned without