Chapter II: Part 2

In 1611 it is estimated at about two hundred and eighty persons. In 1616 it increased to about four hundred. In 1618 it had increased to six hundred. In 1619 it had dropped to about four hundred. The census of 1620 gives it as eight hundred and eighty-seven. In 1621 it fell to eight hundred and forty-three. In 1622 it had increased to one thousand two hundred and forty, and in 1624 it was reduced to eleven hundred.

An idea can here be formed of the struggles of the first settlers of the Old Dominion against disease, famine, and the attacks of the Indians. In 1621 or 1622, the year is in dispute, there was a terrible massacre of the settlers by the Indians, the number of killed being given as “three hundred and forty-seven men, women and children.”

If names are any indication of the nativity of the bearers, the first Irish settlers arrived in Virginia during this troublesome period. Their condition in the colony could not be much worse than it was in their native land, for about that time the long struggle for the possession of the land, beginning with the Reformation, had taken root, not to end until the war between William and James.

In Hotten’s _Original Lists_ of emigrants, among others is published the names of the following persons arriving in Virginia between 1616 and 1624: John Higgins, John Cannon, John Collins, John Healey, Francis Downing, John Fludd, Tege Lane, “of Corke in Ireland”; Tege Williams, “Irishman”; John French, of Washford “(Wexford) in Ireland”; Thomas Cawsey (Casey), James Connor, James Dore, Ann Mighill, John Duffee, Thomas Doughtie (Dougherty); John Moore, Giles Martin, Thomas Jordan, Francis Butler, Thomas Burns, “and Bridget, his wife”; Thomas Dunn, Edmund Blaney, John Burroughs, “and Bridget, his wife”; John Griffin, William Lacey, Alice Kean, Thomas Farley, A. Conoway, Hugh Hughes, Bryan Rogers, William Joyce, John Haney, Elizabeth Haney, Peter Jordan, Luke Boyse, Thomas Oage, his wife and son.

Some, undoubtedly, of the foregoing came here as the servants of English landed proprietors in Ireland, and there is no doubt that others came as actual settlers, for there is mention later of grants of land to some of them. Let that be as it may, however, here was quite an addition to the scant population of the colony of a liberal mixture of Irish blood with that of the early English settlers.

On the same authority, Hotten, there was a large increase of the same blood some years later, in 1635. Hotten copied his lists from the originals preserved in England. Many of the originals were either lost, mutilated, or destroyed. In consequence, they are incomplete. The period thus partly covered is between 1600 and 1700. The following names are published among hundreds of others in the lists as arriving in Virginia during the year 1635: Richard Hughes, Garrett Riley, Miles Riley, James Bryan, Thomas Murphie, Christopher Carroll, Philip Connor, Jo Dunn.

As the ages of the foregoing are given and the average was twenty years, it is fair to presume that they came over as servants. They are followed by Richard Fleming, Charles McCartee, Owen McCartee, Bryan McGowan, Patrick Breddy, Bryan Glynn, John Neale, William Redman, William Hart, Elizabeth Riley, Daniel Flood, William Hickey, John Herron, Edward Hughes, James Morfey, Robert Bryan, Dennis Hoggan (Hogan), Jo Dermott, Jo Butler, Jo O’Mullen, Charles Gibbon, Richard Kirby, Humphrey Buckley, Olough Berne, Daniel Vaughan, Bryan Hare, Thomas Connier (Connor), Jo Tullie, Donough Gorkie, Gerald Butler, John Griffin, Thomas Purcell, John Duffy, Edmund Butler, James Gavett and John Gavett, “Irishmen”; James Fenton, Thomas Dunn.

Hotten’s book also contains many names, Irish in appearance, of persons who went to Barbadoes during the same period, or later, and states that permission had been given many of them to go to New England and other parts of the English colonies between 1635 and 1680. That many availed themselves of the opportunity, and migrated to Virginia is evident from the names printed in colonial records and the state publications. That the greater part were useful citizens, and not a few of their descendants filled positions of honor and emolument in Virginia, and in the territories settled by her people, is quite clear.

Thomas Jordan, bearing the name both given and proper, borne by one of the emigrants of 1624, was a sheriff of Nansemond county, in 1718, and a public-spirited citizen.

Col. Fleming, a namesake of another of these sturdy immigrants, bore an honorable part in civil and military affairs before and after the Revolution, and has frequent mention in the publications treating of those stirring times.

The McCartys have been prominent in Virginia almost from the earliest period in the history of the colony. Whether or not all were descendants of Owen and Charles McCartee, who came over in 1635, cannot here be determined. The name, with various spellings, has frequent mention in the colonial and state records. It has been represented in the National Congress, and one of the bravest of the Confederates during the Civil War, noted for his courage, was Capt. Page McCarty of Richmond. He was equally noted as a duelist.

In a letter to the writer, some six years ago, Capt. McCarty said there was a belief in the family that the original immigrants of the name came from Kinsale in Cork, but some of the name, as is the custom nowadays, called their ancestors “Scotch-Irish.” He was an exception, however.

In an account of the death and funeral of Washington, by his private secretary, Tobias Lear, a native of New Hampshire, he wrote that the families of McCarty, McClanahan, and Callahan were especially invited to attend the funeral by the widow, at the request of Washington on his death-bed.

Daniel McCarty was a justice for Fairfax county in 1770. Capt. Richard McCarty was in command of an expedition against the Indians in 1779. With him as an associate officer was Captain Quirk. The name is spelled indifferently as McCartee, McCarty, McCarthy, etc., which makes it appear that there were others of the same name later and spelling their names in accordance with the Irish method.

In 1742 there is a record deeding two hundred and ninety-eight acres of land to Dennis Conneirs,—the good old name of Connor was undoubtedly twisted by the scribe. Major William Lynn was an officer in the Spottsylvania militia in 1757. Lynn is a name frequently met in Ireland. Judge Wauhope Lynn, of New York, is a splendid representative of the Irish Lynns of Antrim, in Ulster, Ireland. Daniel Lyon and Daniel Currie were two of the defenders of Hickey’s Fort against the Indians in 1758. Another old Irish name heads a list of signers complaining against the Brunswick county court in 1764. It is Malone, spelled properly, and was borne by Shakespeare’s great Irish commentator, Edmond Malone, who has frequent mention in Boswell’s Johnson, and who flourished in London about the same period as his Virginia namesake.

John Hooe (Hoey), Lynaugh Helm, Henry Gee, William Keenan, Daniel Herring, Daniel McCarty, Philip Nowland (Nolan), Elijah McClenachan, John Grattan, Walter McClerry (Clary), James McLaw, Nicholas W. Curie, Jeremiah Glenn, Jeremiah Early, John Fitzpatrick, William Mead, Charles Lynch, were all magistrates in the several counties of Virginia in 1770.

In a letter of George Mason, written in 1775, declining a nomination to Congress, he writes his excuses to Mr. McCarty and other inquiring friends. Capt. Richard McCarty has frequent mention during the Revolutionary period. As showing the friendship of the Irish people in Ireland for the Americans during that struggle, the following extract, written by an American agent, Philip Mazzei, from France to Governor Jefferson of Virginia, is of interest:

“I shall now tell you how that came about. Mr. Mark Lynch, merchant in Nantes, came to me with a bill I had drawn in Ireland on Penet & Co., D’Acosta having refused to accept it. My old creditor, Mr. John P. Cotter, of Corke, had ordered that in case of non-payment, the bill should be returned without protest or molestation. Mr. Cotter’s generous and delicate behavior had probably prepared Mr. Lynch in my favor and the sight of my situation completed the business. His countenance expressed his sensibility at the bad usage I had met with in that town, and in the most genteel manner offered me the assistance I was in so great need of, on the security I had proposed to others.”

This letter was written in 1780. It is evident from the closing part of the quotation that Mr. Mark Lynch, the Irish merchant in Nantes, had cashed the draft. It recalls a similar act of kindness extended to Ethan Allen by the people of Cork while he was a prisoner on board an English vessel in the harbor of that city. They were so lavish of their hospitality in money and provisions to the American prisoner that the British captain put an end to it, saying at the same time that he would not allow the damned Irish rebels to thus treat the damned American rebels. It also recalls an entry in the diary of John Adams, where he mentions the hospitable treatment he had received in Spain from two Irish merchants located in one of its maritime cities.

Between the years 1700 and 1800, many Virginians bearing distinctive Irish names, and filling honorable positions in civil and military life, are published in the records of the times. They reflected credit on the community. John Daly Burk wrote a history of Virginia, and during the Revolutionary period Thomas Burke was governor of North Carolina, and Ædanus Burke was chief justice of South Carolina. In connection with this it is of interest to note that in the report of the part taken by his regiment, the Thirtieth Virginia Cavalry, in the battle of Bull Run, Col. Radford credits his adjutant, B. H. Burke, with capturing Col. Michael Corcoran, of the Sixty-ninth New York. Beside Col. Radford’s report is that of Lieut.-Col. Henagin of the Eighth South Carolina. Some of the officers of this regiment, Capt. Harrington, Capt. Hoole, Capt. McLeod, and Capt. John C. McClenaghan, are also mentioned. It will be noticed that the name of the colonel—Cash—and the lieutenant-colonel—Henagin,—are also Irish in appearance.

The battery attached to the regiment was commanded by a Capt. Shields, one of whose lieutenants was a McCarty; possibly it may have been Page McCarty, mentioned before. This battery was from Virginia. The adjutant-general of Gen. Beauregard was Thomas Jordan. It will be noticed that this name, given and proper, was borne by one of the immigrants coming over before 1624. Shields and McCarty were also among the early Irish names. Surgeon McClanahan is commended in a letter written by Gen. Robert E. Lee, and in the report of Gen. Stonewall Jackson. He also speaks in the highest terms of his surgeon, Dr. Hunter McGuire. A Francis McGuire was in Virginia in 1608, and a Capt. Francis McGuire, who was a commissioned officer in the Revolutionary War, was the occasion of trouble between the states of Pennsylvania and Virginia.

McGuire was charged with taking away a free negro man from Pennsylvania. The correspondence between the states in consequence, as given in the state papers, is quite lengthy. From this it can be seen that the McGuires have figured from an early period in the history of the Old Dominion down to the present. Dr. Hunter McGuire was by the side of Stonewall Jackson when the latter died, after receiving the fatal wound from a volley fired by his own men at Chancellorsville.

Perhaps no name is more closely connected with Virginia for a certain reason than is that of Lynch. John Lynch was the son of an Irish immigrant who arrived in Virginia in the early part of the eighteenth century. His son, of the same name, was one of the first settlers of the town bearing his name, Lynchburg. His brother, Col. Charles Lynch, was prominent during the Revolution. He commanded a regiment at the battle of Guilford Court House. His son bearing the same name was governor of Louisiana. Col. Lynch was a bitter enemy of the Tories. It is said that the term “Lynch law” originated with him. He was credited with having hung not less than one hundred Tories by his own hand. Hence the expression “Lynch law.” This, however, is disputed by Irish writers, who claim that it originated with a mayor of Galway in the olden times, who, when the sheriff refused to hang his son convicted of murder, took the law into his own hands and executed him himself, following the example of Brutus, who performed a similar act during the existence of the Roman republic. One of the family, whether or not a descendant it is not necessary to know, was Lieut.-Commander William F. Lynch of the navy, who explored the valley of the Jordan some time before the Civil War. He was a officer in the Confederate navy in the War of the Rebellion.

Capt. John Fitzgerald was Washington’s favorite aide. It is stated that he was “the finest horseman in the American army.” His home was in Alexandria. During the trouble with France after the Revolution he was appointed to command the defences of that city. He was a man of the highest character and was universally respected. Col. Alexander McClanahan was one of a family, or clan, which furnished not a few useful men to Virginia for over a century. His brother, Capt. Robert McClanahan, was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1770. This was called one of the bloodiest Indian engagements on record.

Surgeon McClanahan, who has been mentioned in the letter of Gen. Lee quoted, is undoubtedly of the same family. Within a few years, a Miss Virginia McClanahan was president of the Daughters of the American Revolution of the city of Washington.

John Lewis was an immigrant from Ireland who came to Virginia before the Revolution. Two of his sons, Col. Andrew Lewis and Capt. Charles Lewis, were in the battle of Point Pleasant, also. Charles was killed. The colonel afterwards served in the War of the Revolution, reaching the rank of general before the struggle was over.

Major William Croghan was an officer of the Virginia line in the Continental army. The name was borne by many men who had distinguished themselves during the Revolutionary period, and are well known to the readers of American history.

Among other officers of the line were Captains James Currey, Lawrence Butler, Michael Wallace, John McCoy and Matthew Carney; Lieutenants Joseph Conway, Timothy Fealey, Peter Higgins, John Jordan, John Rooney and William McGuire. Luke Cannon, Robert Hayes, William D. O’Kelley, Patrick McElroy and Patrick Lockhart are also mentioned. Major Ferdinand O’Neal was a distinguished officer of dragoons during the same period. The name occurs frequently as O’Neal, McNeil, Neal, Neale, and Neilly.

A Captain Sullivan was also an officer in the Virginia forces, with a Major Charles McGill. His company was known as Sullivan’s Militia. Capt. John O’Bannon was major of Farquier’s battalion of militia of Williamsburg. Col. William Fleming was one of the well-known officers and a representative of the name was among the first settlers in 1635. John Moylan was appointed clothier-general, and as such was sent to Boston to get clothing.

Among those who were killed at Point Pleasant with McClanahan and Lewis were Capt. McBride and Lieut. McGuire, and privates John MacMurdrey, Francis McBride, Hugh Cunningham, John Foley, Andrew McConnell and John O’Neal. About fifty in all were killed in this engagement.

These names are signed to petitions, appeals, or other papers on the records from 1782 to 1786: George Flynn, Malcolm McGee, David Looney, John Adair, Partick Wright, Anthony Geoghegan, Patrick Joyce, James Sullivan, Richard Whelan, James Murphy, Joseph Delaney, William Kelley.

Alexander Drumgoole was sent on a mission to the Cherokee nation by Governor Randolph in 1787.

Major Andrew Donnelly was a gallant officer during the Revolutionary period. Capt. McMahon, who was mentioned, served with Wayne as a major in the expedition against the Indians, and like Gen. Butler, who had served through the Revolutionary War, was killed during that engagement.

Other names appearing on the records, either as magistrates or signers to various papers, were James Corran (Curran), Patrick White, Christopher McConners, Edward McCarthy, Cornelius Conway, Arthur McCann, John McLoghlin, William Flood, Edward McGuire, Anthony Murphy, James Goggins, John Connor, William Brennan, Major Thomas Healey, Capt. Samuel Brady, Col. William Finnie (Feeney), James Dougherty, Joseph Carroll, Archibald Casey, Capt. Daniel Mullins, Patrick Saggert, John Sexton, John McCormick, Thomas Mulledy, David Dungan, Cornelius Brady, Thomas Brannon, Abraham Donovan, Edmond Grady, John Dunn, Francis Kelly, Bernard Gallagher, Thomas O’Hara, William Malone, Dennis Ramsay, Thomas Reardon, George Sweeney, William Fitzgerald, Robert Fitzgerald, Edmund Moran, Dennis Croghan, Philip Boyle, John Butler, Cornelius O’Laughlan, Charles O’Neale, William McManahan, James Connell, Joseph McCaughey, Alexander Leary, Richard Byrne, Thomas McGuire, John Lowery, Joseph Hensey (Hennessey), Anthony Fitzpatrick, Bernard McCord, John McNeill, Henry Garrett, Dan McCarthy, Thomas Burke, Nat Murphy, Charles Connor, Edward Hart, William Danahan, John Casey, James Kelly, Michael Burke, Patrick Wilson, John Cavanaugh, Richard Nugent, Andrew Donnelly, Jr., Lawrence Bryan, Michael Delaney, James Byrne, Michael Tiernan, James Quinn, James Daley, John McEnery, Francis O’Meara, Henry Fitzgerald, John McMullen, James McGonegal, John Hagerty, Pat Donohue, James McCoughlin, Patrick Butler, Cornelius McGuire, Josiah McGuire, Cornelius McKinley, John Lawless, William Doherty, Alexander Dugan, Cornelius Harnett (Hartnett), Patrick Roche, Cornelius Fenny (Feeney), Simon McLaughlan, Thady Kelly and James Murdaugh.

The foregoing, from appearance, were men of standing in the communities in which they lived. As but comparatively few names appear in public records, there must have been many others in Virginia of the same nationality before the beginning of the nineteenth century. Those mentioned were officers in the militia, justices of the peace, judges, or holding other positions which had occasioned their names being printed in the state papers. It will be noticed that the names can be classed as Irish, distinctively. How many more there might be bearing English names, but who may have been as Irish as the others, cannot be determined.

When Ramsay’s _History of the United States_ was written in 1789, or thereabouts, the following Virginians were among those who subscribed for it in order to guarantee its publication: Patrick Gill, William Carroll, Edward Cunningham, James Fleming, H. H. Lacey, John McDermott, John McBride, M. Sullivan, Thomas H. Mitchell, J. C. Vaughan, A. Jordan, W. C. Moore, H. H. Redman, Edward Sexton, Francis Riordan, John Bowery, William Matthews. On examination it will be found that a majority of these surnames appear among the early settlers of the Old Dominion.

Thomas Fleming, whose name has been mentioned, was colonel of the Ninth Virginia regiment. One of its field officers was Major M. Donovan.

It is related in the Historical Collections of Virginia that Gen. Andrew Lewis was born in Ireland, and came here with his father and two brothers. They were obliged to fly from their native land on account of the resistance made by them against being evicted by their landlord.

Another prominent man in Virginia in 1753 was Dr. James O’Fallon. He is supposed to have been the ancestor of the O’Fallons of St. Louis, Mo., who were among the latter city’s first settlers. One of the latter, Col. John O’Fallon, served on the staff of Gen. Harrison at the battle of Tippecanoe. Another well-known Irish name was that of Michael Dillon, whose death is recorded from a fall from his horse in 1704. Richard Donnahan was concerned in Bacon’s Rebellion in 1677, and with him was a Capt. Hubert Farrell, who is mentioned as being one of Bacon’s majors.

Philip Connor was an associate justice of the Provincial court in 1650, and Robert Managan (Monaghan) is recorded as taking an apprentice Sept. 24, 1690.

In the main, the first settlers of Kentucky were Virginians. The wife of Daniel Boone was the first white woman to stand upon the banks of the Kentucky river. This was in June, 1775, and in the September following she had for company Mrs. McCary and Mrs. Hogan.

Col. William Casey, born in Virginia, was one of the pioneers of the dark and bloody ground. Col. Joseph M. Daviess, who fell at Tippecanoe, was born in Virginia. His grandfather was an Irishman and his mother Scotch. It is written of him that he had marked peculiarities of both races. “The hardy self-reliance, the indomitable energy, and imperturbable coolness which had from earliest times distinguished the Scotch, were his; while the warm heart, free and open hand, and ready-springing tear of sensibility, told in language plainer than words that the blood of Erin flowed fresh in his veins.”

It is clear that this eulogy was not written by a “Scotch-Irishman.” His name undoubtedly comes from Wales, so it is fair to presume that he had in his veins commingled the blood of the three kindred races,—the Welsh, the Irish and the Scotch.

William T. Barry, a noted lawyer, a soldier, an educator, and postmaster-general under Jackson, was a Virginian of Irish parentage. Michael Cassidy, born in Ireland, emigrated to Virginia, and finally settled in and became one of the prominent citizens of Kentucky.

The descendants of the Irish settlers in Virginia in many instances became eminent in the southwestern states and territories organized after the Revolution. One of them was Gen. Benjamin Logan, a Virginian, both of whose parents were Irish. He was one of Kentucky’s greatest men. Three counties bear the names of Casey, Daviess, and Logan, in honor of the three men mentioned.

Brig.-Gen. James Hogan, a native of Virginia, served in the Continental army. He was commissioned Jan. 9, 1779.

In March, 1756, the Provincial Assembly of Virginia passed an act making provision for protection against the enemy, the French and Indians, and further enacted a bill providing for the raising of money, £25,000, for the payment of the militia of the several counties, and for provisions furnished by sundry inhabitants of the said counties. Among the names to whom payments were thus made, nearly twenty years before the Revolution, were the following: John Daley, Elizabeth Birk, Richard Murray, James Nevil, John Bryan, John Burk Lane, John McAnally, Alexander McMullen, Bryan Ferguson, John Fitzpatrick, William Cunningham, Robert Carney, Darby Conway, Thomas McNamara, Michael Mallow, Hugh Divar, William McGill, Robert Megary, John Shields, Cornelius Sullivan, Michael Dickie, John Farrell, James Burke, John Jordan, George Farley, Adam McCormick, Thomas Boyne, William Shannon, Bryan McDonnell, Robert Looney, Robert McClanahan, Michael Doherty, Peter Looney, John McNeal, William Curry, John McGowan, Ralph Lafferty, Patrick Frasier, Patrick Campbell, Michael Kelly, Patrick Porter, James Kennedy, Patrick Lowery, Patrick Savage, Patrick McCloskey, Charles McAnally, John Kilpatrick, James Boreland, Hugh Martin, Patrick Cargon, James Mulligan, John Caine, Dennis McNealy, Lawrence Murphy, Dennis Getty, William McMullen, William Garvin, William Doherty, Joseph Looney, Patrick McDade (Dowd), John Casey, John Macky, Thomas Sexton, Head Lynch, Patrick McDavitt, Ambrose Bryan, William Meade, John Riley, Reuben Keef, Jeremiah Early, Joseph McMurty, Patrick Hennessy, Edward O’Hare, Luke Murphy, James Murphy, Patrick Vance, Patrick Hallogan, James McFall, Patrick Johnson, John Patrick Burks, Thomas Dooley, James Dooley, Thomas Maclin, Thomas Connelly, Michael Poore, James Lynch, David Kelly, Michael Lawler, William Collins, Miles Murphy, John Hayes, Richard Burke, Cornelius Mitchell, William Gerrett, Michael Ryan, Garrett Bolin, William O’Donnell, Patrick McKenny, Richard Murphy, Francis Maginnis, Bryan Mooney, John Hickey, John Sullivan, William Murphy, Thomas McGuire, Cornelius Cargill, Michael Dixon, William Splane, Thomas Doyle, Michael Lynn, Edward O’Neal, Thomas McClanahan, James Doyle, John Donnelly, William Fitzgerald, Henry Dooley and Bryan Nolan. The people whose names are here given were soldiers in the militia fighting against the French and Indians between 1738 and 1758, as well as citizens furnishing them provisions.

In the poll for the election of burgesses for the several Virginia counties in 1741 are the following, among other names: Morgan Donnell, Daily Callahan, Edward Barry, John Carfey (Coffey), Simon Carnel, Dennis Connors, Edward Fagin, John Murphy, Patrick Hamericka, Michael Dermond (Dermott), James Cullen, William Butler, Michael Scanlan, Gabriel Murphy, James Dulaney, William Hogan, Henry Murphy, John Madden, Dennis McCarty, Thomas Carney, William Buckley, William Reardon and Philip Nolan.

The greater part of the names here given are in appearance Irish of the Irish, of Gaelic, or of old Norman origin. An examination of the early Virginia records will show, from 1619 to 1790, the entry of some of the most ancient of the Gaelic names peculiar to Ireland, like O’Neil, O’Donnell, O’Brien, O’Connor, accompanied by McMahon, McCarthy, McClanahan, McGuire, etc.

In an address delivered by the venerable Dr. Thomas Dunn English to the members of the American-Irish Historical Society, at one of its annual gatherings in New York several years ago, he stated that when a young man, over half a century before, he practised his profession in western Virginia. He noticed while there the manners, customs, and phrases of the mountaineers, and in later life, when he removed to New York, he was surprised to see the similarity between them and the newly-arrived Irish from the south, east, and west of Ireland. This for the first time caused him to change his opinion as to the nationality of the ancestors of the people in Virginia who had been classed as “Scotch-Irish,” for in every respect they appeared more like the southern Irish whom he had met later in New York.

Enough has been written to show what a large proportion of the people of the Old Dominion before the year 1800 were of Irish descent. The mention of any more names would simply be a tiresome proceeding.

While many of these people were distinguished in Virginia, the greater part of their descendants were more eminent in the territories and states to which they migrated. A distinguished Virginian, although not a native of the state, was Major-General Benjamin F. Kelly of the Union army. He was a native of New Hampshire, but went to West Virginia when a youth. He was the grandson of Darby Kelly, who served three years in the old French War in northern New York under Sir William Johnson. Darby was a soldier, a schoolmaster, and a farmer, and his New Hampshire descendants are, and have been, among the most useful citizens of the old Granite state. Gen. Kelly is credited with raising the first Union regiment and winning the first victory for the Union south of Mason and Dixon’s line during the Civil War. His nephew, Capt. Warren Michael Kelly, commanded a company in the Tenth New Hampshire Infantry, commanded by Col. Michael T. Donohoe, and it is claimed that he led the first white troops into Richmond after its evacuation.

Another distinguished Union officer, a West Virginian, if I am not mistaken, was Gen. Milroy. Every Irishman is aware that this was the good old Gaelic name of Mulroy, and in that form is borne by hundreds of Irish persons in America to-day. On the Confederate side none of the many distinguished officers serving under Gen. Lee had a better reputation as a fighter than Gen. William Mahone. It is claimed that he was opposed to the surrender of Lee, and that his troops were ready, under his direction, to continue the fight.

That writers in time will do justice to those of the Irish race and to Ireland for the part taken in the colonization of the country and in the establishment of the republic, is unquestioned, but Irishmen and the sons of Irishmen must interest themselves in this matter in each state in order to accomplish that end. New England in this respect, through its writers, has made known to the world the part taken by the Pilgrims and Puritans in the building of this nation, and their example can well be followed by people of our own race in laboring with the pen to show that in the same work Irishmen and Irishmen’s sons have taken no small part.

The authorities examined in connection with the writing of this paper are Hotten’s _Original Lists_ of emigrants, the _Virginia Calendar of State Papers_, the _First Republic in America_, Ramsay’s _History of the United States_, Campbell’s _History of Virginia_; _Historical Collections of Virginia_, _William & Mary College Quarterly_, _Gleanings of Virginia History_, Collins’ _History of Kentucky_.

THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.[2]

BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS.

Since the organization of the American-Irish Historical Society, in 1897, with Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, whose father’s mother was Irish, as one of the charter members, and Rear Admiral Richard W. Meade as the first president-general, many important facts have been recorded of the contributions of the Irish element in the upbuilding of this republic.

A distinguished statesman and statistician recently stated that within the memory of men now living upwards of twenty-one millions of immigrants arrived and settled in the United States. This same authority states that almost two thirds of our entire population is represented by English and Irish blood in about equal proportions. In this computation it should always be remembered that England was given credit for many of the earlier Irish emigrants who were obliged to sail from English ports and compelled to adopt English surnames.

It is, however, with thousands of Irish pioneers who immigrated to this country before the time of men living now and who settled many of the towns in or bordering on the Connecticut valley that I wish to occupy the attention of my readers.

Up to a few years ago, the popular opinion seemed to be that the Irish first began crossing the Atlantic after the famine of 1846, or about the time of the building of the canals and railroads. That many Irish men and women came to the Connecticut valley and participated in the formation of the first settlements, that is from 1635 to 1735, practically the first hundred years of American life, the records of the towns will prove.

The descendants of the old Irish settlers here, in many cases, ceased to look upon their ancestors as Irishmen, or at least forgot about, or appeared not to be familiar with, their Irish origin, because of the prejudices that existed respecting the more recent comers from the “ever green isle” that have tended to make them disinclined to acknowledge an ancestry which was so little in general favor and popularity.

As we become more educated, intelligent, and enlightened as a people, however, and become familiar by careful study with the early history of our country, we will learn to our great advantage of the names and deeds of Irishmen who played a prominent part in the establishment of this government. We will appreciate more fully something of the pride that should animate us for being so fortunate as to be able to trace our ancestry back to such worthy relationship.

The people of this race, men and women, born on Irish soil, and their descendants, have been here from the first “prompted by the motives common to all emigration, dissatisfaction with the old order of things and the resolve to obtain a freer and better life in the new land under favorable conditions.”

Here in the Connecticut valley the best, the cleanest, and strongest blood of Europe has come in to strengthen and accentuate the old stock that existed here, and the result has been the enterprising and progressive communities of to-day in the cities and towns of the valley.

A recent publication announced the death of Sir William MacCormic, who passed away recently, as the “celebrated English surgeon,” although he was born in Ireland. Similar freedom has been taken in the case of the Duke of Wellington, Edmund Burke, Goldsmith, Sheridan, Dean Swift, Justin McCarthy, and other famous Irishmen. This is even worse than being called “Scotch-Irish,” as is the fate of many of our famous Americans of Irish ancestry.

We are all Americans and the Irish are all Irish, whether their ancestors were from Spain, or France, or England, or Scotland; they all became Irish as we became Americans, and the Irish who came here in the early days of the colonies represented all the blending of these races. We are all of us the resultant of a great many different, and, apparently, antagonistic races. We commonly became Irish, Scotch, or American as the result of the surroundings of two or three generations.

The first settlements in the Connecticut valley were made from Cambridge, Dorchester, and Watertown, Mass., to the towns of Windsor, Hartford, and Weathersfield in Connecticut. This migration took place in 1634–’35. It was of a wholesale character, almost depopulating those towns in the eastern part of Massachusetts. Along with this exodus there was another from Roxbury, Mass., led by William Pynchon in May, 1636. This migration settled on the eastern bank of the Connecticut in Springfield, Mass. Middletown, Conn., was settled soon after and may possibly have been called after Middletown in Ireland.

Among the early records of Springfield, Mass., we find that Henry Chapin sold to John Riley sixteen acres of land running 120 rods along the west side of the Connecticut river, Nov. 4, 1684, the property being described in the record as “West of the Connecticut River and north from the Riley tract,” which would indicate that the 16 acres was an additional tract to other lands previously owned by some member of the Riley family. The sale was witnessed by Miles Morgan, who made his mark in the form of a pick axe and the deed was recorded by John Holyoke. This is a part of the territory known as “Ireland Parish” and is the present site of the Holy Family Institute for orphan children at Brightside.

Col. John Cummings purchased the territory of Cummington, Mass., of the government, June 2, 1762, for £1,800. This town furnished to American literature the poet William Cullen Bryant. He was the son of Dr. Peter Bryant and was born on Nov. 3, 1794. As a poet he ranks among the best. His productions are marked by great simplicity and clearness of expression, pure morality, a genial and gentle philosophy, and a well-tempered imagination, combined with a superior comprehension. Both names, Cullen and Bryant or Bryan, are distinctively of Irish origin, but are often called English, like many of the earlier Irish immigrants.

Among the Revolutionary soldiers from Cummington, the last survivor was Daniel Timothy, born Jan. 7, 1755. He was in the service during the entire war and lived to be over 100 years old. He was known by the name of “Teague,” which is Irish for Timothy, and this is the name given him in his pension certificate.

Felt’s history states that the town of Greenwich, Mass., was settled about the year 1732, by an Irish colony, and among the names of the first families are Powers, Hynds, Patterson, Cooley, Rogers, and Gibbs. Capt. N. Powers was a descendant of the Powers from Ireland, as was also Mr. Patterson, who died April 19, 1811, at the age of 79 years. In the Revolutionary struggle the men were patriotic, and furnished their full quota for the war.

The settlement of Hadley, Mass., was commenced in 1659, by a company of persons residing in Windsor, Wethersfield, and Hartford, Conn., and is, therefore, one of the oldest towns of the Connecticut valley, and has an interesting history. The original territory of Hadley included the present town of Hadley, Hatfield, Amherst, Granby, South Hadley, and a part of Whately. A portion of the town was called “Patrick’s Swamp,” possibly after some Irishman who resided there. Among the early settlers we find the families of Thomas Coleman and John White.

Among the early settlers of Middlefield, Mass., was Col. David Mack, who defined the boundaries of the town. It was incorporated March 12, 1783. John Ford built the first grist-mill about the year 1780. Here also settled the families of Malachi Loveland, J. Taggart and M. Rhodes.

The district of Williamsburg, Mass., set off from Hatfield, was incorporated a town, Aug. 23, 1775. Early tax lists show Irish names, such as Joseph Carey, Thomas Finton, George Dunn, James Ludden, Edward Curtis, William Finton and Joseph Ludden.

The settlement of Worthington, Mass., was so rapid that from the time the territory was sold at auction, June 2, 1762, the settlers flowed in and became so numerous that the town was incorporated in 1768. Among the first settlers are such names as John Kelley, Thomas Kinne, James Kelley, Jeremiah Kinne, Mathew Finton, and N. Collins. The inhabitants of this, like many other towns, were composed of a mixed population from England, Ireland, and a few from Scotland and France.

The first settlement of Bernardstown, Mass., commenced about the year 1738, and it was here, on May 18, 1676, during the Indian troubles, occurred what is known as the “Falls Fight,” when Capt. Turner with only a comparatively small body of men, attacked and destroyed hundreds of Indians at what has been called in honor of the commander of the forces, Capt. Turner,—who lost his life during the engagement,—Turners Falls.

Major John Burke built one of the first four houses erected in the town, and among the first settlers are the names of Griffin, Lee, King, Gleason, Baker, and Bradshaw. Major Burke was clerk of the town for twenty-two years, and became the first representative in 1764.

The history of many of the towns of western Massachusetts shows that several of them had been set off and named in the first years of the eighteenth century. They had very few inhabitants previous to the coming of the Irish in considerable numbers about 1718. Several towns laid out and named after that time, like Colerain, Montgomery, Gill, and Charlemont, Conway, Monroe, Huntington, were called after places in Ireland from whence the early settlers immigrated.

West of the Connecticut river the territory was divided up into towns soon after the settlement of the boundary line between Connecticut and Massachusetts, which took place in 1713, when the present town of Suffield, formerly in Massachusetts, was thrown into Connecticut, and in 1632 the owners of the tract of land in that territory were given an equivalent tract of six miles square by the Massachusetts legislature, and this territory is included in the present town of Blandford, Mass., one of the first towns almost entirely settled by people from Ireland who arrived in this country in considerable numbers about that time.

These people were Irish Presbyterians who came from Ireland about the year 1718. Francis Brimley, A. M. Collins, Samuel Knox and Patrick Boies came up from Hartford, Conn., and purchased land of Christopher Lawton and Francis Wells, to whom the legislature had conveyed undivided parts of the township.

The first clergyman was Rev. Mr. McClenathan, an Irishman, who received £135 a year for his services. He did not give satisfaction and remained only two years, when he became a chaplain in the army. Rev. James Morton, also an Irishman, was installed as pastor in August, 1748, and preached to the people for twenty years. He retired June 2, 1767, and lived in Blandford, Mass., until his death, which occurred in October, 1793, at the age of 80 years.

Many of the representatives of the town to the legislature for nearly a hundred years after its settlement were native born Irishmen or the sons of Irishmen, among whom were Reuben Boies, William Knox, Timothy Blair, John Ferguson, Daniel Boies, Patrick Boies, Samuel Knox, Daniel Collins, and David Boies. The following are the names among the early families: McClinton, Reed, Brown, Taggart, Blair, Wells, Montgomery, Stewart, Campbell, Ferguson, Boies, Sennett, Wilson, Gibbs, Knox, Young, Carr, Black, Anderson and Hamilton.

Hon. Patrick Boies, a descendant of the Boies family who settled in Blandford, Mass., was the first lawyer admitted to the Hampden county bar, in 1812, and one of the first sheriffs of Hampden county. A daughter of Patrick Boies was the organist in St. Mary’s church, Westfield, Mass., for several years. The first clergyman of the Congregational church of Blandford, was, as stated, an Irishman named McClenathan, one of the petitioners to Governor Shute.

Chester is another of the towns of Hampden county, Mass., settled a few years after Blandford, almost entirely by Irish. The present town formed one of the ten original townships sold at auction by order of the general court, Jan. 2, 1762. About that time the first settlers of the place began to arrive who in all probability were like large numbers of Irish coming to this country at that time, Presbyterians, although the names of some of them would indicate that they were Catholics, such as John and David Gilmore, Thomas Kennedy, Daniel Fleming, William Moore, Thomas McIntire, William Kennedy, John McIntire, James Clark, Andrew Fleming. Other prominent settlers were the Gordons, Hollands, Knoxs, Henrys, Hamiltons, Quiglays, Elders and Bells. This town was incorporated Oct. 31, 1765, when it was called Murrayfield. Among the clergymen who officiated at Chester we find the name of Rev. Andrew McCune.

The first settlers of Granville, Mass., which was first called Bedford, were almost all from Ireland. Following the first settler, Samuel Bancroft, came Daniel Cooley, Thomas Spellman, John Root, Peter Gibbons and Samuel Church. Dr. Holland in his “History of Western Massachusetts” refers to the longevity of the early settlers of this town as quite remarkable. The ancestor of the Cooleys from Ireland died at the age of 90 years; of the Spellmans, who died in 1767, at 93; of the Gibbonses at 92; of the Churches at 95, and of the Roots at 103. Hamilton, Goff, Cortiss, Gibbons, Clark, Moore, Phelan were also early settlers at Granville.

The one hundredth anniversary of the settlement of Rev. Timothy M. Cooley, in 1795, took place in Granville in August, 1895, at which a large number of the descendants of those early Irish settlers were present, when they most fittingly honored the memory of their ancestors. J. G. Holland says that the facts were communicated to him by Rev. Mr. Cooley in 1854, when he was 83 years of age. He was born in Granville and like many of the Cooleys of Hampden county was descended from old Daniel Cooley from Ireland.

Among the early inhabitants of Rowe, Mass., which was settled in 1744, we find the names of Michael Wilson, Henry Gleason, William Taylor, Mathew Barr, and Joseph Thomas. They were a portion of the Irish colony to Worcester county, which after a short time scattered to form new settlements. The first permanent settlement of Shelborne was about 1760 by several Irish families who had lived for a time in Londonderry, N. H. Among them are the names of Joseph Thompson, Patrick Lawson, Robert Wilson, John Taylor, James Ryder, Daniel Nims and Samuel Hunter.

Quite a number of these men were soldiers in the Revolution and also took an important part in Shay’s insurrection. The first settler of the town of Ashfield, Mass., was Richard Ellis, a native of Dublin, Ireland. He was soon followed by Thomas Phillips, whose sister he married. Phillips built a log house for himself and family almost a half mile north of Mr. Ellis. A family named Smith, which had settled in South Hadley, soon joined them and they were followed by other families from time to time so that in ten years they numbered about twenty families and over one hundred people. They labored as none but the pioneers of the forest know how to toil to obtain a comfortable support for their families. The town increased years later in population and prosperity and was incorporated in June, 1765, and ten years later they like thousands of their countrymen took an active part in the Revolution, when they drew up a preamble and resolutions signed by Ellis, Phillips, and sixty-five others, denouncing England.

The settlers of Pelham, Mass., were Irish Presbyterians and in the agreement of the original committee with Col. John Stoddard, of whom the territory was purchased, occurs this passage: “It is agreed that families of good conversation be settled on the premises, who shall be such as the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Ireland or their descendants and none to be admitted but such as bring good and undeniable credentials or certificates of their being persons of good conversation and of the Presbyterian persuasion and confirm to the discipline thereof.”

The Irishmen of Pelham were on the right side in the Revolution. They issued an address to their countrymen in Boston, Nov. 3, 1773, of which the following extract is an illustration: “We are not at present much intimidated with the pompous boasting on the other side of the water or the claim that Great Britain could blow America into atoms.” They unanimously voted their acquiescence in, and support of, a declaration of independence fourteen days before the Declaration of Independence was made at Philadelphia, and throughout the war they furnished from their slender means and resources more than their proportion of men and money for its prosecution.

The town of Chesterfield, Mass., was first occupied about 1760 to 1765 by Simon Higgins, George Buck, Pierce Cowing, Charles Kid, Robert Hamilton, Benj. Kid, Con. Bryan, Thomas Pierce, John Holbard, Jerry Spaulding, William White and David Stearns. They were mostly Irishmen from Pelham and elsewhere. The first pastor called to preach the gospel was Rev. Peter Johnson of Londonderry. They named one of the principal streets of the town, Ireland street. This street was accepted March 17, 1763, and is the only street in the town which has remained unaltered. The people of Chesterfield were patriots in the Revolution and voted, in 1775, to purchase 400 pounds of powder, 400 pounds lead, and 1,200 flints to supply the forty-seven Minute Men who marched to Cambridge upon the Lexington alarm.

Of the territory comprising the original county of Hampshire, Mass., from which the counties of Hampden and Franklin have been set off, the Irish settled a large portion of the area from which the early organized towns were formed, such as Palmer, Chester, and Blandford. Pelham, Colerain, Charlemont, Sunderland, and many districts were later set off and organized into townships, such as Granville, Brimfield, Southwick, Russell, Montgomery, Goshen, Conway, Ware, Amherst, Orange, Gill, Huntington, Rowe, Greenwich, Worthington, and Middlefield.

The history of the towns of Berkshire county, Mass., shows that they were mostly all organized a generation or two after the coming of the Irish, who settled the original territory from 1718 to 1740, and although the names on the town records show that many of them were settled by the sons and grandsons of the settlers from Ireland, we can only guess at the origin of others by their Irish names, such as the Plunketts of Pittsfield and Adams, Patrick Murphy and Michael Sweet of Savoy, with Patrick Tyrell, Whalen, or Phelan, Casey, Kerwin, Kneil, or Neil, Hale, and McHale, Bryan, or Bryant, in several towns of the county.

Isaac Magoon came from Ireland with the colony that settled in Palmer, Mass., in 1727. The farm allotted to him by the legislative commission was at the southwest corner of the Reed estate. He left two sons, Alexander (who also left two sons, Isaac and Alexander), and Isaac who married Lucretia, daughter of John Downing, and had thirteen children. This family owned about 1,400 acres of the best land in Ware, Mass. Several of the descendants of the Magoon family afterwards settled in the Western states, and many of them probably know very little of their Irish ancestry.

Among the very early Irish settlers whose descendants are at present residents of the Connecticut valley, and of whom we have authentic records, a few families deserve special mention because of the prominence to which they have attained in the community. Irish men and women, boys and maidens, were imported to these colonies in the very first years of the settlements, while in June, 1643, an Irish immigration took place that far out-numbered the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts. Of the descendants of these early settlers, Hall J. Kelley, one of the most enterprising men of Palmer, Mass., who developed the village of Three Rivers, was born in New Hampshire, Aug. 24, 1790, and was a descendant of John Kelly, who settled in Newbury, Mass., in 1633. John Riley and his wife, Grace O’Dea, came to this country from Ireland about the year 1624. They settled at Hartford, Conn., where their first two children were born,—John in 1646 and Joseph in 1649, after which they moved to West Springfield, Mass., where Jonathan was born in 1651, and afterwards Mary, Grace, Sarah, Jacob, and Isaac, the dates of whose births are unknown, but all the eight children are named in this order in his will of 1671. With the Rileys came a nephew of Mr. Riley, named John Riley, and a young sister of Mrs. Riley, named Margaret O’Dea. This couple got married at Springfield, Mass., in 1660, and had two daughters, Margaret, born Dec. 21, 1662, and Mary, born June 2, 1665. John died Oct. 24, 1684, and his wife died Aug. 22, 1689. He had two brothers, Richard, who remained in Hartford, and Patrick, who with his wife Bridget moved to Middletown.

Garret and Miles Riley came in 1634 from County Longford, Ireland. Patrick and Richard Riley came to Windsor and Wethersfield, Conn., in 1639. John Riley and wife, Margaret, came to Springfield, Mass., in 1640, where two daughters were born. Mary, born June 2, 1665, married Joseph Ely, June 2, 1685; Margaret, born Dec. 21, 1662, married William McGraney, July 19, 1685.

Bridget Clifford, who died at Suffield, Conn., May 7, 1695, came from Ireland to this country with her brothers, John, aged twenty, and Oliver, eighteen, in the vessel _Primrose_ for Virginia, 1635. John died Dec. 25, 1668.

James Coggin and John Cogan, from Dublin, Ireland, settled at Windsor, Conn., and removed to Hartford in 1641. John Connor, whose parents, Philip and Mary Connor, came from Cork in 1634, was born at Middletown, Conn., June 14, 1686. His son John was taken prisoner at Quebec, 1775.

Robert Smith, born in Ireland 1672, came to Palmer, Mass., 1728, where he died Dec. 21, 1759.

Edward King located at Windsor, Conn., about 1635, and is described as “An Irishman and one of the oldest settlers in this vicinity.”

John Cleary of Hadley, Mass., died in 1691. His son John was born Oct. 4, 1647, while his son John, Jr., was born April 3, 1671, and was slain in Brookfield in 1709. Joseph, son of old John, was born Nov. 30, 1677; and Joseph, son of John 3d, died in 1748. Joseph’s son Joseph was born Sept. 3, 1705.

John Clark was born in Ireland, 1704. He had two sons, John and Moses, living with him at Hadley, Mass.

The following interesting extract is from the records of Northampton, Mass., Sept. 17, 1663: “At a legal Town Meeting there was then granted to Cornelius, the Irishman, three acres of land upon condition that he build upon it and make improvement of it within one year, yet not so as to make him capable of acting in any Town affairs, no more than he had before it was granted to him.”

John Fleming, born in Ireland in 1673, came to America and settled in Palmer, Mass., 1721. Robert Farrell came from Ireland in 1720 and came to Palmer a few years later. Samuel Shaw came from Queenstown, County Cork, in 1720, and to Hampden County, Mass., in 1736.

The first inhabitants of Colerain, Mass., were mostly of those who had immigrated from Ireland in 1718, although many of them, did not leave Ireland until about the time of the settlement of the town in 1736. Some came from the Irish settlement of Londonderry, N. H., and more from Stow, Pelham, Woburn, and Roxbury, Mass., where they had previously settled before coming to Colerain. Holland says, “They were a robust set of men; six foot or more in height with frames of corresponding size; possessing constitutions capable of great endurance and fitted for every emergency.”

Capt. David Hamilton of Blandford, Mass., was born in Ireland, July 11, 1742, and his wife was born July 17, 1752. He immigrated to this country prior to the Revolutionary War, and in that struggle for independence took an active part, being captain of a company in the Continental army. After the war, he purchased a farm in Blandford, on which his thirteen children were born and reared, and hundreds of their descendants have been active forces in the development and prosperity of the community.

The Codmans were descended from William Cod, who came to this country from Ireland, and settled at Amherst, Mass., about 1740. The last syllable of the name was added by his sons, one of whom was Dr. Henry Codman, who died in 1812. Michael Carroll sold land in Hartford to Isaac Graham for £180, May 13, 1728, and his grandson, Michael Carroll, graduated from Harvard in 1813.