Chapter V: Part 5

Capt. John Montgomery, who is stated in one place to be “an Irishman full of fight,” was one of Clark’s most valued officers, and had been one of the celebrated party of “Long Hunters.”

Col. John Campbell, who was one of the commissioners for the allotment of Clark’s land grant of 149,000 acres, to the men engaged in his Illinois campaigns, was an Irishman by birth, and a man accredited with much force of character. He was a member of the Kentucky convention of 1792, and a member of the legislature. He died without issue. After Campbell came James F. Moore, Alex. Breckenridge, Richard Taylor, and Robert Breckenridge, as land commissioners. James F. Moore had been a soldier under Clark, and also, subsequently, a member of the Kentucky house of representatives.

Here are names that are suggestive of subsequent presidents of the United States. Richard Taylor was a native of Virginia, of Irish extraction. He removed in 1785 to Kentucky; was a soldier of the Revolution, holding the rank of lieutenant-colonel at its close. He was the father of the hero of the Rio Grande, Gen. Zachary Taylor, twelfth president of the United States. Robert Breckenridge, also of Irish extraction, was a member of the Kentucky legislature, and speaker of the house of representatives several times. He was the ancestor of John C. Breckenridge, vice-president with James Buchanan, and subsequently a presidential candidate himself.

Col. Archibald Lochrey was county lieutenant of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and started with his command from Carnahan’s block-house August, 1781, to join Gen. Clark’s Illinois forces, with a company of volunteer riflemen raised by Capt. Robert Orr; two companies of rangers under Capt. Thomas Stockley, and a company of horse under Capt. William Campbell, for the reduction of Detroit, then in the possession of the British. Stockley was met and defeated by Indians in the British service. In fact, the whole of Col. Lochrey’s expedition was defeated, forty-one men being killed, and the rest taken prisoners. When certain facts with regard to the British forces became known at Kaskaskia, it was determined to raise a small American force and make a raid against Fort St. Joseph, a British post situated on the St. Joseph river.

The company consisted of only seventeen men and was commanded by Thomas Brady, a patriotic Irish-American citizen of Cahokia, who had emigrated thither from Pennsylvania, and who was described as being “both restless and daring.” He marched across the country in October and succeeded in eluding the Indian guards and capturing the place, taking a few British prisoners, together with a large quantity of goods. Being over-confident, on his return he was attacked by a force of Pottawattomies and British traders, hastily organized for the purpose, and while lying encamped on the Calumet river, near Chicago, was defeated. Two of his men were killed, two wounded, and ten taken prisoners. Brady, with two others, suceeded in making their escape, and returned to Cahokia. But he did not rest until he organized another expedition to rescue his friends and avenge his defeat. He was joined by a party of Spaniards from the west side of the Mississippi, then Spanish territory, and retook the place without striking a blow, and the Spanish flag for a short time replaced the British. The event was a small one, but Spain had the hardihood to demand the country on account of it.

This Thomas Brady, and one William Arundel (an Irishman from Canada, and an Indian trader in Cahokia in 1783) and Capt. Richard McCarty, already mentioned, and a small party of hunters that joined General Clark’s expedition in 1778, were the only white men in Illinois territory besides the French Canadians, and a few old soldiers, at the time of Clark’s conquest. They resided at Cahokia. Brady was afterwards sheriff of St. Clair county.

Among other names of officers that are likely to have been Irish or Irish-American in Clark’s army, are those of Col. Benjamin Logan, Capt. John Baily, Capt. Robert Orr, Capt. William Campbell, Col. William Davis, Lieut. Martin Carney, Thomas Dalton, and Major Denny.

General Clark wrote a letter to the governor of Virginia (Patrick Henry) from Kentucky on October 12, 1782, in which he said, “I had the pleasure of receiving your letter by Major Walls and Mr. Kearney, the 30th of July past, at which time the gentlemen arrived with stores all safe, after surmounting uncommon difficulties. They arrived in time to save troops from deserting.” This shows that the Irish were pretty well in evidence both in Virginia and the Northwest at that period.

Subjoined is a list of the privates taken from one page only of the printed roster of Clark’s soldiers of the Illinois expedition, that were entitled to receive, each, 108 acres of land, as printed in English’s life of General Clark: Moses Lunsford, Abraham Lusado, Richard Luttrell, John Lyons, Joseph Lyne, Francis McDermott, David McDonald, John McGar, Alex. McIntyre, Geo. McMannus, Sr.; John McMannus, Jr., Samuel McMullen, James McNutt, Florence Mahoney, Jonas Manifee, Patrick Marr, Charles Martin, Nathaniel Mersham, Abraham Miller, John Montgomery, James Monroe, John Moore, Thomas Moore, John Murphy, and Edward Murray.

James Curry was the name of one of Clark’s soldiers who proved himself a rather extraordinary fellow, and a fearless pioneer. A band of Indians had wounded a comrade of his named Levi Teel, in his own house, when Curry was present. Seeing the enemy coming he jumped up into the loft of the house, with the hope of driving them away before Teel could have time to open the door to admit them. He shot three times and killed an Indian every time. He then got down to see what had happened to Teel, and found him transfixed by one of his hands with a spear to the floor. Curry got up again into the loft and tumbled the whole roof down, weight-poles and all, on the Indians, who were standing at the door with spears in their hands. Their chief was killed, and the others ran away.

Curry hurried to Kaskaskia for help, and at last saved himself and companions from death. He was at the capture of Fort Gage and Sackville, the names given by the British to the old French forts. Curry was a great athlete, contending in all sorts of games, and was not unlike Thomas Higgins, another great Irish Indian-fighter of a later date. In all desperate and hazardous services, Clark chose him first of all, to act in places of peril and danger. Curry and Joseph Anderson, who afterwards lived and died on Nine Mile Creek, Randolph county, went out hunting, and the Indians, it is supposed, killed Curry, as he went out from their camp and never returned. This was the sad end of one of our bravest and most patriotic Irish-American heroes, “the noble-hearted James Curry,” as he is styled in history, and whose services were so conspicuous in the conquest of Illinois. His body was never recovered.

Edward Bulger was a private in Capt. Joseph Bowman’s company in the Illinois campaign. He was afterwards an ensign in Capt. William Harrod’s expedition against Vincennes, and in General Clark’s first expedition against the Indians in Ohio. He was mortally wounded in the battle of Blue Licks, 1782, at which time he had been promoted to the rank of major. He was one of the early explorers of Kentucky, where he was with Hite, Bowman, and others in the spring of 1775. These were probably the first white visitors to what subsequently became Warren county. Hugh Lynch was another of this party, and William Buchanan another. Daniel Murray was the name of an Irishman who supplied provisions for Clark’s Illinois army.

One of the forgotten heroic men who did great service to the republic in the Revolutionary War was Oliver Pollock, an Irishman born. He performed the same kind of service in the West that Robert Morris performed in the East. He financed General Clark’s military campaign in Illinois and Indiana, and without his aid they must have been failures. He was born in Ireland in the year 1737 and came to America with his father. On account of his intimacy with General O’Reilly, who was then governor of Cuba, he was able to borrow from the royal treasury of Spain the sum of $70,000, which he lent to the state of Virginia for Clark’s use in the campaigns mentioned. He was not reimbursed, and consequently was not able to make good what he had borrowed, which caused his arrest and imprisonment in Havana. He died in Mississippi in 1823.

In 1777, when Clark was approaching Kaskaskia to surprise the British, then in possession of the fort, he took two men from a party of American hunters led by one John Duff, that he met on the way, to act as his spies. They had left Kaskaskia but a few days before. These men were James Moore and Thomas Dunn, as to whose nationality, from their names, there can be no mistake.

General St. Clair, a Scotsman, was afterwards military commander of the Northwest. He was succeeded by General Anthony (Mad Anthony) Wayne, who conducted the war with the Indians in 1791. Under St. Clair the battle of Fort Henry was fought and resulted in a great American disaster. But General Wayne gained a great victory at the Maumee Rapids on August 20, 1794, which led to the suspension of hostilities.

One of the authorities that we had recourse to in writing these annals is the “Pioneer History of Illinois,” by ex-Governor John Reynolds, a man of Irish parentage, born in Pennsylvania, and who filled nearly every office, legislative, judicial, and administrative, in the state of Illinois. His place of residence was Cahokia, a short distance north of St. Louis, on the Illinois side.

John Reynolds in his “Pioneer Days,” described his father as “an Irishman who hated England with a ten horse-power,” and there is no surmise in saying that he himself hated her just as much, as he was an ardent admirer of “Old Hickory.” Neither did he want to be set down as an Anglo-Saxon. He repulsed the insinuation in the following emphatic language:

“Our old enemies, the English, and their American friends, give us the name of new Anglo-Saxons. It is true the most of the Americans are the descendants of Europeans, but the preponderance of blood is not of the Anglo-Saxon race. There are more of the descendants of the Irish and Germans in the United States than of the English.” If that were true seventy years ago, certainly it is so to a far greater extent now.

We have already alluded, in connection with Curry’s achievements as an Indian fighter, to the name of Tom Higgins. One of his noted encounters with Indians is described in Governor Reynolds’ book, with thrilling effect. This noted Irish-American pioneer resided in Fayette county for many years, where he raised a large family, and died in 1829. He received a pension, pursued farming, and at one time was doorkeeper of the general assembly at Vandalia.

John Edgar was a merchant at Kaskaskia, and at that time the richest man in the territory. His wife was a lady of rare talents, and presided over the finest and most hospitable mansion in Kaskaskia. At this house was entertained General Lafayette, when he visited this country in 1825. Mr. Edgar’s memory is honored by having an Illinois county named for him.

In Mrs. Robert Morrison, Kaskaskia possessed another lady of Irish ancestry who was an ornament to Illinois society at that early day. Mrs. Morrison was reared and educated in the city of Baltimore, and in 1805 she accompanied her brother, Colonel Donaldson, to St. Louis, then in the far-off wilds of the West, whither he was sent as a commissioner to investigate the title lands. She was married the following year to Robert Morrison of Kaskaskia, which place became her residence thereafter. Well educated, sprightly and energetic, she possessed a mind gifted with originality, imagination, and romance. Her delight was in the rosy field of poetry.

Her pen was seldom idle. She composed with a ready facility and her writings possessed a high degree of merit. Her contributions to the scientific publications of Philadelphia, and other periodicals of the period, in both verse and prose, were much admired. Nor did the political discussions of her day escape her ready pen.

She was a member of the Roman Catholic communion, and shed lustre on her co-religionists. The Morrison family is one of the best known, politically and socially, in the state. While Mrs. Edgar entertained General Lafayette at a grand reception, Mrs. Morrison entertained him with a grand ball on the occasion referred to.

The territory of Illinois was organized on the 16th day of June, 1809. Michael Jones and E. Backus were appointed respectively registrar and receiver of the land office in Kaskaskia. At this time one McCawley, an Irishman, had penetrated further into the interior of the territory than any one else—to the crossing of the Little Wabash by the Vincennes road.

The writer cannot resist the temptation to relate an anecdote of Gen. James Shields, a hero of the Mexican War, who cut so conspicuous a figure in old Kaskaskia days. The anecdote he related himself, in a lecture delivered in Chicago shortly before his death. He arrived in Illinois on foot soon after he left Ireland for America, looking for employment. On the way, he fell in with a young man engaged in a similar pursuit, and who was companionable, so they traveled together. Reaching Kaskaskia, Mr. Shields secured employment there, as a school teacher, and remained. His companion was not so successful, and went on, traveling in the direction of St. Louis. Shields rapidly rose from one position of distinction to another, and when the Mexican War was declared he was filling the position of a land commissioner at Washington.

He hastened to Kaskaskia with President Polk’s commission in his pocket, to raise an Illinois regiment, of which he was to be colonel. He was successful in this, went to Mexico, and distinguished himself in several battles, in one of which he was supposed to be mortally wounded, but recovered. He became a general and a hero. When the war was over and he returned to the United States he was lionized and invited to a number of state fairs and cities as an attraction. St. Louis honored him in this way, and made unusual preparations for his reception. The mayor and corporation went out to receive him. His reception was most cordial. The mayor grasped him warmly by the hand and looked him significantly in the face. “Do you not know me, General?” “I do not, Mr. Mayor, who are you?” “I am the man who tramped with you to Kaskaskia, many years ago, and walked on to St. Louis.”

“Good God! I am delighted to see you,” was the exclamation of his distinguished guest.

The Irish not only made history in those early days, but have also written it. To the pen of John B. Dillon of Indiana, we are indebted for the best history of the Northwest; to John Gilmary Shea of New York, we are under obligation for a complete knowledge of the early Catholic missions among the Indians, and ex-Governor Reynolds has narrated for us our own pioneer story, with its varied conditions, its many deprivations and numerous deeds of daring. For many of the incidents in this essay, especially those relating to Gen. George Rogers Clark and his men, and the conquest of the Northwest, I am indebted to the “Life of General Clark,” by Mr. English of Indiana.

Were it not for the fear of making this essay too long, I might show how fifteen to twenty names of Illinois counties have Irish associations; what prominent parts Irishmen and the sons of Irishmen of Illinois took in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, the Mexican War, and the War of the Rebellion; how they filled gubernatorial chairs, prominent positions in state and nation, as the representatives of the people; how they have been foremost in the professions of law, medicine, and divinity. On the muster roll of famous men they have three Logans, the two Reynolds, Carlin, Kinney, Ford, Kane, Shields, Ewing, McLaughlin, Mulligan, Medill, Ryan, and many others too numerous to mention. Not as public and professional men alone has the Irish contingent been valuable to the state of Illinois, but also as tillers of the soil, as miners and manufacturers; for in the infantile condition of our commonwealth the men of hardest muscle and most exacting toil were our Irish immigrants. They did the excavating on our canals, and the grading on our first railroads, and wherever hard work was to be performed, there you were sure to find Paddy with his spade and pipe. May I not claim that that herculean form representing “the Digger,” in the statue of Mulligan, standing at the entrance of the Drainage Canal, near Chicago, answers for the Irish canaler of former as well as of later days?

Nearly fifty years ago Thomas D’Arcy McGee, an Irish-American poet, and at the time of his death a leading statesman of Canada, of wide fame and renowned memory, wrote of the Irish prairie farmer in Illinois as follows:

“’Tis ten long years since Eileen bawn
Adventured with her Irish boy
Across the seas and settled on
A prairie farm in Illinois.

“Sweet waves the sea of summer flowers
Around our wayside cot so coy,
Where Eileen sings away the hours
That light my task in Illinois.

CHORUS—

“The Irish homes of Illinois,
The happy homes of Illinois,
No landlord there
Can cause despair,
Nor blight our fields in Illinois!”

THE IRISH VANGUARD OF RHODE ISLAND.

BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY, BOSTON, MASS.

Irish settlers are found in Rhode Island at a very early period. They were contemporaneous with Roger Williams, John Clark, William Coddington, and other leading men and proved sturdy, energetic members of the community.

Some of these Irish pioneers doubtless came to Rhode Island as soldiers in the Indian wars, and when the latter were over “remained and went not away.” Others, in all probability, came as settlers from St. Kitts, Jamaica, Montserrat, and Barbadoes. During Cromwell’s atrocious regime in Ireland thousands of Irish were transported not only to the continent of North America but also to the West Indies. Other thousands followed them, forced from home by the iniquitous English policy of extermination.

It is not at all unlikely that Rhode Island received many of these hardy refugees and became to them a land of asylum and a permanent home. Nor can it reasonably be doubted that Connecticut, Plymouth and “the Bay” likewise contributed Irish settlers to Rhode Island at early periods and in goodly numbers. In “Winthrop’s Journal,” under date of 1635, is an entry indicating that even as early as that a considerable immigration from Ireland to New England was under way. Thus readeth the entry:

“Another providence was in the voyage of Mr. Winthrop, the younger, and Mr. Wilson, into England, who, returning in the winter time, in a small and weak ship, bound for Barnstaple, were driven by foul weather upon the coast of Ireland, not known by any in the ship, and were brought, through many desperate dangers, into Galloway[5] [Galway] where they parted, Mr. Winthrop taking his journey over land to Dublin, and Mr. Wilson by sea. His ship was forced back by tempest to Kinsale. Mr. Wilson being in Ireland, gave much satisfaction to the Christians there about New England. Mr. Winthrop went to Dublin, and from thence to Antrim in the North and came to the house of Sir John Clotworthy, the evening before the day when divers godly persons were appointed to meet at his house, to confer about their voyage to New England, by whom they were thoroughly informed of all things and received great encouragement to proceed on their intended course.”

Sometimes immigrants from Ireland were welcomed to New England and at other times the contrary was the case.

Under date of September 25, 1634, the Massachusetts records have this entry: “It is ordered that the Scottishe and Irishe gentlemen wch intends to come hither shall have liberty to sitt down in any place Vpp Merimacke Ryver, not possessed by any.” In the Massachusetts records under date of 1640, is another interesting entry, to wit: “It is ordered that the goods of the persons come from Ireland shallbee free from this rate [tax].” And a marginal heading reads: “Irish goods now land free from ye rat[e].”

In the records of Massachusetts, 1652, we find that one David Sellick having craved pardon “for his offence in bringing some of the Irish men on shoare, hath his fine remitted, so as the first optunite be taken to send them out of this jurisdiction.” But where could they be sent? Only to some place where they would be likely to get a better reception. In this connection, Rhode Island, the refuge of so many oppressed by “the Bay,” would naturally suggest itself, at least to a portion of the Irish immigrants thus proceeded against. The writer inclines to the belief that numbers of these Irish, being refused permission to reside elsewhere in New England, finally located in Rhode Island.

THE EARLY LARKINS OF RHODE ISLAND.

The historic Irish name of Larkin[6] is found in Rhode Island as early as 1655. So far as known, Edward Larkin was the first of the name to locate in the colony.[7] In the year mentioned, he was of Newport, R. I. In 1661, he had a quarter share of land in what is now Westerly, R. I. In 1663, he was commissioner from Newport in the “General Court of Commissioners” held at Providence that year. He was an inhabitant of Westerly as early as 1669. In 1671, he and John Mackoone were “called on to see how they stand as to their fidelity to his Majestie and this Colony.” Perhaps these two Irishmen had not hesitated on occasion to forcibly express their opinion regarding English tyranny in Ireland.

Edward Larkin had five children, Mehitable, Hannah, Edward, Roger, and John. The family prospered and in time became very influential throughout the colony. Mehitable, who was probably named after her mother or some of the latter’s relatives, married and had five children. Hannah died without issue, Edward, Jr., married twice and had eleven children, Roger married twice and had four children, John had one child. Roger’s estate inventoried £742, 1s., 9d. It included “2 linen wheels.” In 1755, his widow became an inhabitant of Richmond, R. I. Edward Larkin, Jr., and wife of Westerly sold 100 acres of land to Samuel Lewis in 1701.

In 1705–’07–’15, Edward Larkin, Jr., was a deputy to the General Assembly. His will was proved in 1741. It gives “To wife £100, all household goods and improvements of homestead and profits of saw mill, for life, to bring up the young children, and then the said homestead to go to son Stephen, but the goods and £100 to be free and clear to wife. To son Stephen, the homestead at death of his mother. To son Nicholas, £100 and 50 acres, at death of wife, and saw and grist mill. To son Daniel, a farm at age. To daughter, Elizabeth Babcock, 10 acres where she lives with house and orchard for life, and then to one of her sons as she sees fit. To daughter Penelope, £30. To daughters Tabitha and Lydia, each £50 at eighteen. To son Nicholas, 10 acres of salt marsh. To son Joseph, 50 acres adjoining land formerly given him. To grandson Joseph, my son Edward’s son, 5s., his father having had. To sons John and Samuel, 5s., they having had. To sons, John and Samuel, rest of estate.” The inventory showed, among other things, books, three beds, pewter, loom, linen wheel, woolen wheel, card, seven cows, two pairs of oxen, horse, 37 sheep, etc.

The will of Mary Larkin, widow of Edward, Jr., was proved in 1743. It gives “To son Nicholas, £50, and bonds against him if he is not able to pay them. To son David, great bible, and the mortgage to be cleared off his land, and a house built 16 feet square if he lives to be 21 years of age. To daughter Tabitha, a horse. To daughter Lydia, a little bible and £100. To daughters Tabitha and Lydia, all wearing apparel and a double portion of what is left over the debts. To three sons, the rest equally.”

Descendants of Edward Larkin, the original immigrant, are still found in the state. Many of them take a notable pride in their Irish ancestry. Since the first Edward’s time, other Irish Larkins have come to Rhode Island and have done their share toward the upbuilding of the state.

WILLIAM HEFERNAN, AN EARLY RHODE ISLANDER.

William Hefernan, or Heffernan, was another early Rhode Island settler of whose Irish origin there can be no doubt. He is first heard from at Newport, but in 1671 was an inhabitant of Pettaquamscutt. In May of the latter year “His Majestie’s Court of Justices” met at Pettaquamscutt and “ordered that a warrant bee issued out to William Hefernan, to warne in the inhabitants of this Plantation to attend tomorrow morning, at six of the clock, at the house of Mr. Jireh Bull.”

Notwithstanding the early hour and short notice, the people assembled. “Mr. William Hefernan was chosen and engaged to the office and place of a Conservator of the Peace in jointe commission with Mr. Samuel Wilson and Mr. Jireh Bull.” In 1674, Hefernan is found with his three sons residing in Wickford, R. I. Later he appears to have taken up his residence in Newport, for on August 25, 1676, he was present as a witness at a court martial there on Indians charged with being implicated in King Philip’s designs. A William Hefernan, Jr., was admitted a freeman of the colony by the general assembly in 1724, and another of the name in 1746. The name[8] is variously spelled Hefernan and Heffernan. Now and then it appears as Hefferman and Heffermon, which forms are evidently derivative. John Heffernan of Newport was admitted a freeman in 1759. Descendants of William Hefernan, once numerous throughout Rhode Island, are now believed to be extinct.

MICHAEL KELLY, OF THE ISLAND OF CONANICUT.

The island of Conanicut is situated in Narragansett bay. It has a total length of about nine miles and a width of from one to two miles. It is just within the bay from the Atlantic ocean.

Beaver Tail light on its extreme southern point overlooks the sea, and that portion of the island’s coast frequently resounds with the thunder of the breakers. Indeed, most of the island’s shore is exposed more or less to the billows driven in by old ocean.

The island derives its name from Canonicus, an Indian sachem who formerly resided there. It is, of course, a part of the state of Rhode Island and is comprised in the town of Jamestown. The latter was incorporated in 1678 and named in honor of King James II, then heir to the throne which he ascended two years later. Conanicut is about midway in the bay between Newport, Middletown, and Portsmouth on the east, and North Kingstown and the old District of Narragansett on the west. The first purchase of land on the island by whites was made of the Indians in 1657 by Benedict Arnold and William Coddington.

Michael Kelly[9] figures as a freeman in 1667. His wife’s name was Isabel. In 1669, he had become prominent on the island. Michael has been especially fortunate in that, so far as known, no one has ever had the temerity to label him “English” or “Scotch.” In 1669, he and two others were commissioned by the “Councill” to prepare the inhabitants against possible surprises or attacks by the Indians. The order for this action bears date of August 26, and reads thus:

“Whereas, there are severall out plantations in this Colony, which are not included in any towneship, and they being as lyable or rather more lyable to danger and invasion than where there is more strengh; and the Councill seeing it incumbent on them to provide for their safety, doe heerby order that the Conservators of the Peace at Pettaquomscut, Narragansett or Acquidneesitt or Block Island, and such persons as the Councill shall appoint on the Island Quononicutt, [Conanicut], doe assemble the inhabitants of each of those places and consider among themselves what may bee most suitable for their defence and preservation against any mission or insurrection of the Indians, and forthwith to put it in execution; and that a copie of this order bee sent to the first Conservator of the Peace in each respective place, and the persons appointed for Quononicutt.”

Two days later the following entry appears in the records:

“The persons appointed to execute the Councill’s order of the 26th inst., for the Island of Quononicut, are John Homes, John Remington and Michaell Kelly.”

The fact that Kelly was one of those selected indicates that he must have been a man of considerable influence at the time. In the will of ex-Governor Brenton, probated in 1674, mention is made of “Michael Kaly,” who was no doubt the same individual here described. The following extracts are taken from the will:

“To daughter Sarah Brenton, a farm in Conanicut, in possession of Michael Kaly with house, etc.... To Michael Kaly, 100 acres on Merrimack.... To Michael Kaly, ⅔ and to his wife, ⅓ of £15 due from land granted him at Pattacomscott.”

In 1680, Kelly was taxed £5, 18s. 7½d. He died in that year. It is not known that he left any descendants.

THOMAS CASEY, A PIONEER OF NEWPORT, R. I.

Thomas Casey, a Rhode Island settler, was born about 1636, and died in 1719. That Ireland was his native land is generally conceded. A suggestion has been set up in some quarters, however, that he was of English parentage.

To support this idea, a “tradition” is produced. Yet Casey as a family name is Irish of the Irish. For centuries it has been prominent in the east and south of Ireland. It derives from O’Cathasaigh which has been anglicized O’Casey, Cahasy, Casey, Casie, and Case. Those intent on making out an English, rather than an Irish, parentage for Thomas Casey, the immigrant, declare that “By tradition, he was a son of one of the English planting families in Ulster county, Ireland. His father and mother and all his family were destroyed in the Irish massacre [1641], he, a child, being saved by his uncle and carried to his relatives in Gloucestershire. It is further asserted that he sailed for America from Plymouth, England.”

The “tradition” here noted is radically defective. In the first place, there is no Ulster county in Ireland. Perhaps the province of Ulster was what the writer was aiming at. In the second place, the “Irish massacre” mentioned never happened. For a long period, writers in the English interest asserted that on October 23, 1641, the Irish Catholics rose and slaughtered in cold blood thousands of English and other Protestants then in the country. But the charge is now rejected as untrue by impartial historians. W. J. O’Neill Daunt brands the story of such a massacre as “a thorough and most impudent falsehood,” and as being another of those “stupendous calumnies” circulated by the enemies of the Irish people. Other authoritative writers similarly testify.

“It has been represented,” says Prendergast, a Protestant,[10] “that there was a general massacre [by the Irish], surpassing the horrors of the Sicilian Vespers, the Parisian Nuptials, and Matins of the Valtelline, but nothing is more false.”

Consequently, as there was no massacre by the Irish Catholics, then as charged, Thomas Casey’s “father and mother and all his family” could not have perished in it. In February, 1642, however, a dreadful massacre was ordered—not by the Irish Catholics, but by the English lords justices. The mandate was issued to Lord Ormund, the lords justices signing the fearful instructions, being Dillon, Rotheram, Loftus, Willoughby, Temple, and Meredith.

The mandate for the massacre as issued to Ormund was, “That his lordship do endeavor with his majesty’s forces to wound, kill, slay, and destroy, by all the ways and means he may, all the said rebels, their adherents, and relievers; and burn, waste, spoil, consume, destroy, and demolish all the places, towns, and houses, where the said rebels are, or have been, relieved or harbored, and all the hay and corn there; and kill and destroy all the men there inhabiting capable to bear arms.”

The orders were only too well obeyed. Men, women and children perished alike. The English soldiery made no distinction between age or sex. In their savage fury they committed massacre after massacre. The English garrison of Carrickfergus alone murdered 3,000 men, women and children in that neighborhood. Lord Broghill perpetrated like cruelties in Cork and Waterford. In County Wicklow Sir Charles Coote was guilty of a massacre so horrible that after it, to use his own language, “not a child, were it but a hand high, was left alive.”

It is probable that the family of Thomas Casey, the Rhode Island settler, were Irish Catholics, and if they perished in a massacre it is quite possible it was in the one thus inaugurated by the English. It is quite likely that the author of the “tradition” and “Ulster county” got matters somewhat mixed. Hosts of Irish Catholics fled the country at the period mentioned, and if Thomas Casey’s uncle did so, taking the child with him, it would be entirely in accord with the facts and conditions here described. The statement that Thomas eventually sailed from Plymouth, England, if he did so sail, has no particular significance and proves nothing.

Thomas Casey is first heard of in Rhode Island at Newport. His wife’s name was Sarah. They had, so far as known, three children, Thomas, Adam and Samuel. In 1692, the father and his son, Thomas, witnessed a deed given by James Sweet of East Greenwich, R. I., to Thomas Weaver of Newport. Adam Casey, another son, was a lieutenant in 1742, and in 1750 purchased 50 acres in Scituate, R. I. In 1760, Adam and his son, Edward Casey, sold 100 acres to Nathan Brown of Swanzey, Mass., and removed to Coventry, R. I. Adam Casey’s will was proved in 1765.

Samuel, the third son of Thomas Casey, the immigrant, lived at different times in Newport, Kings Town and Exeter, R. I. He held various town offices. At his death, his personal estate inventoried £2,803 18s. 6d. He had six children; his brother, Thomas, four; and Adam, five. Several members of this noted family have been distinguished in American civil and military life. The family is still represented in Rhode Island.

JOHN DAILEY AND OTHER EARLY RHODE ISLANDERS.

John Dailey, in 1689, bought 90 acres of land in Providence, R. I., and the year following exchanged certain lands with Ann Pratt. Dailey is an anglicized form of O’Dalaighe.[11] In Irish history the O’Dalys figure as powerful chieftains. Some of the name were hereditary poets and antiquarians to the MacCarthys Mor. John Dailey here mentioned of Providence had four children, Joseph, Samuel, Elizabeth and one other, a daughter. In 1703, he deeded to Joseph for “divers good causes,” 40 acres. In 1718, Joseph sold 57½ acres to Peter Ballou with house, orchard, etc., for £336. Some years previously, Samuel had sold 40 acres to Zachariah Jones for £20. John Dailey, Sr., died about 1719.

John Macoone was another Irish settler of Rhode Island. In the records the name is variously written Macoone, Mackoone, McCoon, Mackown, etc. Late generations have sometimes abbreviated it to Coon or Cooney. It probably comes from the old Irish MacCoonan. John, the immigrant, was a resident of Westerly, R. I., as early as 1669. Ten years later he is recorded as taking the oath of allegience. In 1681, he officiated as a juryman. He had, at least, two children, Isabel and John. In some accounts he is said to have had two others, who went from Westerly about 1695 and settled at Oyster Bay, L. I. Isabel married Edward Bliven and had five children. Her death occurred in 1753. Her brother John received a grant of 100 acres in 1692 and 100 more in 1709. In 1724, he and his wife, Ann, deeded land to their sons, John and Daniel.

John Malavery[12] was a resident of Providence as early as 1687. He had 56 acres of land, and other property. In 1704, he had 12 acres laid out in exchange with the town. He died about 1712. His son John was executor. The inventory included 18 loads of hay, 14 barrels of cider, gun, sword, etc. John Malavery, Jr., of Providence died in 1718. In his will he desires his wife to provide things fit and comfortable for his mother in her old age, and authorizes his wife to raise £30, which shall be levied out of his estate. The rest of movable estate to wife and income of land and use of dwelling house for life, while his widow. To sons, John and Nathaniel, equally, but if they died before of age, then the land was to go to Michael Inman, David Phillips and Daniel Mathewson, “my three sisters’ three sons.” The inventory included “4 guns, 2 swords.” A John Malavery of the third generation married Susannah Arnold in 1736.

At a session of the general assembly at Providence, in 1685, Joseph Devett, also spelled Devitt in the records, was a member of a committee appointed to consider and report concerning a petition for settling a “Plantation in the Narragansett and Niantick countries.” The difference between the names Devitt and McDevitt is not great.

Owen Higgins was a resident of Newport, R. I., very early. His wife was born in 1640. In 1701, his son Richard is recorded as a freeman in Newport.

CHARLES MACCARTHY, A FOUNDER OF EAST GREENWICH, R. I.

Charles MacCarthy was a resident of Rhode Island in 1677. When he came to the colony is unknown. He resided on the island of St. Christopher, otherwise known as St. Kitts, before arriving in Rhode Island, a fact mentioned in his will. Some of the recording clerks of those days were not particularly brilliant in writing proper names, Irish or otherwise. They appear to have in a way adopted the phonetic idea of spelling, that is, according to sound. But it frequently happened that some names sounded differently to different clerks and thus, as in the case of Charles MacCarthy, we have a variety of spelling. At the same time it should be said, in justice to the clerks, that there were instances, no doubt, when they should not be held responsible for variations that appear. Orthography was not fixed then as now.

The Rhode Island pioneer of whom we are treating has had his name rendered as Macarte, Macarta, Macarty, Mackarte, and Mecarty. In his will it is “Macarte,” but whether that was the form authorized by him, or whether it was the work of the clerk who drew up the will, cannot now be determined. The same name applied to other early Rhode Island people is also recorded as Maccartee and McCartie. The style “Mac Carthy,” used, for the sake of uniformity, in the caption of this paper, and in the text, is that common to the MacCarthys Mor, the MacCarthys Reagh, the MacCarthys Glas, and other grand divisions of this great Irish clan.

Charles, the Rhode Island settler, had a brother who went from Ireland to Spain. This brother had been exiled and may have been among the Irish troops who, in 1652, after surrendering to Cromwell and Ireton, were allowed to depart and enlist in the Spanish service. These troops embarked for Spain at Kinsale, Waterford, Galway, Limerick, and Bantry. With them also went many of the Irish nobility and gentry who had been ruthlessly dispossessed of their estates. In more propitious times some of these exiles returned from Spain. Charles’s brother did so and from Kinsale wrote to Charles whom he supposed to be still in St. Christopher, urging him to return to Ireland. But Charles had, in the meantime, left St. Christopher and was probably then in Rhode Island. Though long delayed, the letter finally reached its destination, but Charles never went back nor, it is believed, did he and his brother ever meet again.

In 1677, Charles was one of a party of forty-eight settlers to whom a grant of five thousand acres, to be called East Greenwich, was made by the general assembly of Rhode Island. The grant was awarded largely for services rendered during King Philip’s War (1675–’76). This would seem to indicate that Charles MacCarthy had been a participant in that war and it is quite within the bounds of probability that he had seen military service, too, in the Old Land. At a session of the general assembly held at Newport, R. I., May, 1677, it was

ORDERED that a certain tract of land in some convenient place in the
Narragansett country, shall be laid forth into one hundred acre
shares, with the house lots, for the accommodation of so many of the
inhabitants of this Colony as stand in need of land, and the General
Assembly shall judge fit to be supplied.

It was likewise enacted that the said tract be laid forth to contain 5,000 acres. Of this, 500 were to be laid in some place near the sea, as convenient as may be for a town, which said 500 acres “shall be divided into 50 house lots and the remainder of the 5,000, being 4,500, shall be divided into 50 equal shares or great divisions.”

It was further decreed that the persons to whom the grant was made have the rights, liberties, and privileges of a town; also “that they, or so many of them as shall be then present, not being fewer than twelve, on the said land, [are] required and empowered to meet together upon the second Wednesday in April next and constitute a town meeting, by electing a Moderator and a Town Clerk, with such constables as to them shall seem requisite; and also to choose two persons their Deputies to sit in General Assembly, and two persons, one to serve on the Grand Jury, and one on the Jury of Trials in the General Court of Trials.”

Thus was launched the town of East Greenwich. The founders, no doubt, included “men from all parts,” and if names may be taken as a criterion several of them, in addition to Charles MacCarthy, were from Ireland. The date of the incorporation of the town was October 31, 1677, the year following the close of King Philip’s War and the overthrow of the Narragansetts. Later, the boundaries of the town were enlarged by the addition of 35,000 acres on the western border. Facing a great bay, it was hoped by the founders that the town might in time equal or surpass Newport or Providence. In 1741, the town was divided and the western part incorporated as West Greenwich. Both towns exist to-day, East Greenwich with a population of about 3,000, and West Greenwich with a population of between 600 and 700.

The most thickly settled part of East Greenwich is built mainly on a hillside and fronts Greenwich Bay. The town is a favorite summer resort. Some of the early settlers engaged in shipbuilding, and when the town was laid out two locations were set apart for shipyards. The persons named as incorporators of East Greenwich, including Charles MacCarthy, were each required to build within a year, on his lot, a house suitable for habitation, under pain of forfeiture. It was also required that highways be provided “from the bay up into the country” convenient for settlement. In addition to MacCarthy, the founders included Philip Long, Thomas Dungin, and John Strainge—all three names typically Irish. Among the proprietors in 1700 was Anthony Long. About 1732, the town possessed stocks and whipping post, pillory, irons for mutilating ears, branding faces, cropping, etc., and similar appliances rife at that period.

The records of the “General Assembly held at Newport, the 6th of May, 1679,” show that “Charles Mecarte” and two others “being freemen of the towne of East Greenwich, are admitted freemen of the Collony.” It does not appear that Charles ever married, at least the writer has met no record to that effect. Neither wife nor child are mentioned in the copy of the will extant. It is, of course, possible that he may have had both wife and children in the Old Land and that he survived them, but of that nothing definite is known. His will[13] is dated “the 18th day of February, 1682,” and was witnessed by John Knight and Thomas Fry, Jr. It was the first will to be recorded in the probate record book of East Greenwich where it was entered by “John Spenser, Town Clark.” Written over two hundred years ago, its quaint phraseology is a source of much interest at the present time. The will thus begins:

Unto all Christian people unto whome these pents [presents] may com
know yee that I Charles Macarte now of the towne of Est grenwich in
the Colony of Rhod Island and providence planteteons Being in
parfact memory but weake in body doe meake this my lastt will and
testiment.

First, he requests that all his debts be paid. Then he makes John Spencer, Jr., his lawful heir and bequeaths him “my house and Land or Lands in this Towne.” He designates John Spencer, Sr., “father to the aforesaid Spencer, Guardian to his sonn to teak cere that my will be parformed.”

One Pasco Whitford owed Charles a debt. This debt the latter cancels and, in addition, gives Whitford “halfe the sheepe of mine in his keeping.” The other half he gives to Edward Carter, to whom he likewise bequeaths his arms, _i. e._, two guns and a sword and also his chest “with the lock and cea.” To Charles Heseltun, Jr., he bequeaths a young horse “that will be two yere old next Spring branded with IS on the shoulder.” To John Andrew is given “my biggest yron poot” [pot] and four narrow axes. His pewter he bequeaths Susanna Spencer, the same to be delivered to her when she is of age.

All his carpenter and joiner tools are given by testator to William Spencer “which shall be resarved for him till hee is capable unto mak youse of them,” or of age. After disposing of certain clothing and household goods to Susanna Spencer, Sr., he mentions “one piece of brod cloth that I had to make mee a wascoat”; this he gives to his heir. Unto Hannah Long, the younger, is given “one heffer of three yere” old, to be delivered her at his decease, and to “John Garard,[14] a poor Country man of mine” he gives “three bushels of corne to be paid him presently after my desese.” But one of the most striking passages of the entire will is the following:

I have a letter that came from my Brother from Kingsile [Kinsale]
after his return from Spaine Being fersed from home in the war in
which Letter he sent for mee home; but the troubles in Cristifars at
that time fersed me from thence to New England and soe hee herd not
of mee nor I of him.... I will that that letter with another [which]
within it is, be sent unto him with a letter to signifie unto him
how it hath been with mee since and when and where I end my dayes.

Charles then provides that Richard Dunn[15] of Newport, R. I., be added unto John Spencer, Sr., the first mentioned guardian, to carry out the provisions of the will, and “if aither of these soo Before men’oned betrusted should die before that my haire is of edge [age]; then he that doth survive shall heve power; and my will is that hee chuse one to him it being one that my haire doth approve of.” The will goes on to say that “My ould mere [mare] I give to Samuel Bennett and hir foule [foal] or my young mere I give unto Mychell Spenser ... and the rest of my Chatle Goodes and catten [cattle] I give unto John Spenser Senior and all the deapts dowe to mee.... As Concaning [concerning] the Land that I Give unto my haire and the house my will is that the land and house [be] unto him and his lawful haires forever ... and for the Conformation of this my will and that it may apere unto all parsons [persons] unto whome it may come I have sett to my hand and seale this psent 18th day of February 1682.” Charles died soon after, his will being entered in the town records in 1683–’84.

The orthography of Charles MacCarthy’s will must not be severely criticised. It was as correct as that found in the average document of the period in which he lived. Whether it was written by Charles or by someone acting for him, due allowance must be made for the times and conditions and for the fact that educational facilities were very meagre then as compared with those available at the present day.

It is a source of deep regret that so little is known about this Rhode Island pioneer. That he was a man of sturdy character, cannot be questioned. That he was worthy to rank as a founder of a town or a state must also be admitted. He plainly possessed traits and qualities entitling him to a place in the front rank of Rhode Island settlers.

And here we may indulge briefly in a retrospective glance at the status of the MacCarthys[16] in the land of Erin. For from these, unquestionably, the Rhode Island pioneer was descended. Then we will touch upon certain “troubles in Cristifars” which may have been the same as those to which Charles MacCarthy alludes as having forced him to New England.

Burke, Ulster King of Arms, the great authority on the British and Irish peerages, declares that “few pedigrees in the British empire can be traced to a more remote or exalted source than that of the Celtic house of M’Carty.” The learned Dr. O’Brien says that it was “the most illustrious of all those families whose names begin with Mac.” It has also truthfully been declared that “The MacCarthys may proudly defy any other family in Europe to compete with them in antiquity, or accurate preservation of the records of their descent.” Their patrimony was chiefly in Cork and Kerry, where they had strongholds for many centuries. They built over twenty castles there, many of them overlooking “the pleasant Bandon crowned with many a wood.”

These castles were massively constructed, the towers and battlements being equal in grandeur and strength to those elsewhere in Europe. For generation after generation they defied the attacks of time and the elements and proudly reared aloft their stately walls. The ruins of some of them still remain, crowned with ivy, and frequented by appreciative tourists. The MacCarthys have been Princes of Carbery, Earls of Clancarthy, Earls of Muskerry, Earls of Mountcashel, Viscounts of Valentia, and have also held other titles. Their history has been replete with chivalrous deeds, brave men, handsome women, noted clerics, generous benefactors, whole-souled hospitality.

The MacCarthys were the dominant family in Desmond (South Munster), at the period of the Anglo-Norman invasion. The MacCarthy Mor, lord of the elder branch, was generally inaugurated in Kerry. The O’Sullivan Mor and the O’Donoghoe Mor presided at the ceremony. The hereditary judges of the McCarthy Mor were the MacEgans; his captains of war, the O’Rourkes; and his poets and antiquaries, the O’Dalys and O’Quinns. His feudatories also included the O’Donovans and O’Hurleys. Charles, who died in 1770, was styled “the last MacCarthy Mor.” The arms of the family are thus described: “Arg. a stag trippant, attired and unguled or.” One branch of the family had as its motto: “_Forti et fideli nihil difficile_,” and another: “_Ex arduis perpetuum nomen_.” The motto of the MacCarthy Reagh was: “_Fortis ferox et celer_.” “The MacCarthys were a regal and princely house,” observes Burke, and he states that at one period the head of the clan could muster 3,000 men-at-arms. The MacCarthys Reagh constituted the second sept of the clan in point of importance, while the MacCarthys Glas were also a strong branch of the family.

Dermot MacCarthy, feudal lord and founder of the house of Muskerry, was killed in 1367. Cormac MacCarthy, slain in 1494, had been lord of Muskerry for 40 years. Donoch MacCarthy Mor was, in 1556, created Earl of Clancare (Clancarthy), and Viscount Valentia. Cormac Oge MacCarthy became a viscount in 1628. There was a Ceallachan MacCarthy who married Elizabeth Fitzgerald, daughter of the Earl of Kildare, and died 1676. A Charles MacCarthy, born about 1721, was a solicitor, seneschal of the manor of Macroom, recorder of Clonakilty, and clerk of the crown for the county of Cork. A Donoch MacCarthy, lord viscount Muskerry, was an Irish officer exiled to the continent in 1641–’42. He had commanded the king’s forces in Munster against Cromwell. At the restoration of Charles II, Donoch returned to Ireland and contested the right of Florence and Charles McCarthy to the title and dignity of “MacCarthy Mor.” He was created Earl Clancarthy, and died in 1665.