Chapter I: Part 1

HON. JOHN C. LINEHAN.

A Founder of the Society, and the first Treasurer-General of the same.
Born in Macroom, County Cork, Ireland, Feb. 9, 1840. Died in
Penacook (Concord), N. H., Sept. 19, 1905.
]

THE JOURNAL
OF THE
AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

BY

THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY,

_Secretary-General_.

VOLUME V.

BOSTON, MASS.,
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY,
1905.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

The present is the fifth volume of the JOURNAL of the American-Irish Historical Society. I desire to acknowledge the many courtesies received during its preparation, and to express my deep appreciation of the same. This volume sets forth the work done by the organization during the year, presents several historical papers of value and contains other matter of interest. All the volumes of the JOURNAL thus far issued have received a cordial welcome and have been the recipients of the most gratifying praise. It is hoped that the present work will be equally well received. The Society continues to enjoy a prosperous existence, has no indebtedness, and is constantly adding new members to its roll.

T. H. MURRAY.

BOSTON, MASS.,
Dec. 15, 1905.

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY, A. D. 1905.

_President-General_,
=Hon. John D. Crimmins=,
New York City.

_Vice-President-General_,
=Hon. Joseph T. Lawless=,
Norfolk, Va.

_Secretary-General_,
=Thomas Hamilton Murray=,
36 Newbury St., Boston, Mass.

_Treasurer-General_,
=Hon. John C. Linehan=,[1]
Concord, N. H.

_Librarian and Archivist_,
=Thomas B. Lawler=,
New York City.

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL,

The foregoing and

=Hon. William McAdoo=, New York City. =Hon. Thomas J. Gargan=, Boston, Mass. =Thomas Addis Emmet, M. D.=, New York City. =Rev. John J. McCoy=, Chicopee, Mass. =Patrick F. Magrath=, Binghamton, N. Y. =Edward J. McGuire=, New York City. =Stephen Farrelly=, New York City. =James L. O’Neill=, Elizabeth, N. J. =Cyrus Townsend Brady=, New York City. =Major John Crane=, New York City. =Thomas J. Lynch=, Augusta, Me. =Francis C. Travers=,[2] New York City. =M. Joseph Harson=, New York City. =Col. John McManus=, Providence, R. I. =Hon. Patrick Garvan=, Hartford, Conn. =John J. Lenehan=, New York City. =John Jerome Rooney=, New York City. =Hon. William Gorman=, Philadelphia, Pa. =Hon. Francis Q. O’Neill=, Charleston, S. C. =James Connolly=, Coronado, Cal.

STATE VICE-PRESIDENTS.

Maine—=James Cunningham=, Portland. New Hampshire—=Hon. James F. Brennan=, Peterborough. Vermont—=John D. Hanrahan, M. D.=, Rutland. Massachusetts—=Hon. Joseph H. O’Neil=, Boston. Rhode Island—=Thomas A. O’Gorman=, Providence. Connecticut—=Dennis H. Tierney=, Waterbury. New York—=Joseph I. C. Clarke=, New York City. New Jersey—=John F. Kehoe=, Newark. Pennsylvania—=Hugh McCaffrey=, Philadelphia. Delaware—=John J. Cassidy=, Wilmington. Virginia—=James W. McCarrick=, Norfolk. West Virginia—=John F. Healy=, Thomas, Tucker County. South Carolina—=Henry A. Molony=, Charleston. Georgia—=Capt. John Flannery=, Savannah. Ohio—=John Lavelle=, Cleveland. Illinois—=Hon. P. T. Barry=, Chicago. Indiana—=Very Rev. Andrew Morrissey, C. S. C.=, Notre Dame. Iowa—=Rt. Rev. Philip J. Garrigan, D. D.=, Sioux City. Montana—=Rt. Rev. M. C. Lenihan, D. D.=, Great Falls. Minnesota—=Hon. C. D. O’Brien=, St. Paul. Missouri—=Julius L. Foy=, St. Louis. Kentucky—=John J. Slattery=, Louisville. Tennessee—=Michael Gavin=, Memphis. Kansas—=Patrick H. Coney=, Topeka. Utah—=Joseph Geoghegan=, Salt Lake City. Texas—=Gen. A. G. Malloy=, El Paso. California—=John Mulhern=, San Francisco.

OTHER VICE-PRESIDENTS.

District of Columbia—=Hon. Edward A. Moseley=, Washington. Arizona—=Col. O’Brien Moore=, Tucson. Indian Territory—=Joseph F. Swords=, Sulphur.

Canada—=Hon. Felix Carbray=, Quebec. Ireland—=Dr. Michael F. Cox=, Dublin.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1905.

THE ANNUAL MEETING AND DINNER.

The Society held its annual meeting and dinner on Tuesday evening, Jan. 24, 1905, at the Hotel Manhattan, 42d Street and Madison Avenue, New York City. In the unavoidable absence of the President-General, until late in the evening, Hon. Morgan J. O’Brien of New York presided. Thomas Hamilton Murray of Boston, Mass., Secretary-General of the Society, attended to the duties of the latter office. The following is a copy of the notice for the event:

AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING AND DINNER.

DEAR SIR: The annual meeting and dinner of the American-Irish
Historical Society will take place at the Hotel Manhattan, 42d
Street and Madison Avenue, New York City, on Tuesday evening, Jan.
24, 1905.

A reception committee will be on duty at the Manhattan as early as 3
p. m., to greet members of the Society and their guests, especially
those coming from other cities and states.

At 6.30 p. m. members and guests will be received by the officers of
the Society.

At 7 p. m. the annual meeting will be called to order.

At 8 p. m. the line will be formed and proceed to the annual dinner.

Tickets for the dinner will be $3.50 each, and are now ready for
delivery. A dinner committee of New York members of the Society has
been appointed and consists of Mr. John F. Doyle, 45 William Street;
Major John Crane, 10 Bridge Street; Hon. Samuel Adams, 339–355 Sixth
Avenue; Dr. J. Duncan Emmet, 103 Madison Avenue; Mr. James Curran,
512 West 36th Street; Mr. Thomas B. Lawler, 70 Fifth Avenue; Mr.
John Goodwin, 70 West 23d Street; Mr. James O’Flaherty, 22 North
William Street, and Mr. P. Tecumseh Sherman, 15 William Street.

Checks for dinner tickets should be made payable and forwarded to
Mr. Doyle of the committee, at his address here given.

During the dinner, selections will be rendered by one of the best
orchestras in New York City, and there will also be vocal numbers by
eminent soloists. The after-dinner exercises will include a number
of brief addresses along the Society’s line of work by Hon. Hugh
Hastings, State Historian of New York; Mr. Osborne Howes, Treasurer
of the Boston Board of Fire Underwriters, and by other gentlemen.
Mr. Howes, here mentioned, is a descendant of an Irishman who
settled on Cape Cod, Mass., as early as 1657—nearly 250 years ago.

Kindly state, as soon as possible, whether you intend to be present
with us on the forthcoming occasion.

Members may bring personal guests.

Fraternally,
WILLIAM MCADOO,
_President-General_.

THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY,
_Secretary-General_,
36 Newbury Street, Boston, Mass.

The attendance was one of the largest ever present at a like event under the auspices of the Society. The business session was of more than usual interest, the annual reports elicited the closest attention, and the whole affair was marked by a most commendable degree of enthusiasm.

Secretary-General Murray stated in his annual report that the following members of the Society had died during the year:

Capt. James F. Redding, Charleston, S. C. Mr. Bernard Foley, Boston, Mass. Mr. Patrick Farrelly, New York City. Rev. John F. Redican, Leicester, Mass. Mr. Patrick Brady, New York City. Rev. Francis D. McGuire, Albany, N. Y. John O’Flaherty, M. D., Hartford, Conn. Mr. Joseph P. Flatley, Boston, Mass. Mr. John H. Spellman, New York City, and Hon. John M. Fitzsimons, New York City.

The Secretary-General paid an appropriate tribute to each of the foregoing, and fitting action in honor of the deceased was taken by the Society.

It was stated by the Secretary-General that during the year the following-named gentlemen had become Life members of the organization, each paying $50:

Mr. George J. Gillespie, New York City. Mr. Robert A. Sasseen, New York City. Mr. P. E. Somers, Worcester, Mass. Mr. Stephen Farrelly, New York City. Hon. Patrick Garvan, Hartford, Conn. Rev. Henry A. Brann, D. D., New York City. Hon. Jeremiah O’Rourke, Newark, N. J., and Mr. Patrick Gallagher, New York City.

The Secretary-General stated that during the year he had opened temporary headquarters at 509 Fifth Avenue, New York, for the purpose of securing new members and inducing members in arrears to settle their indebtedness. Although able to devote but a few weeks to the work, the result was very satisfactory.

During the year the Secretary-General collected and remitted to the Treasurer-General, $1,247. “The Society is today,” said Mr. Murray, “in as prosperous a condition as at any period since its formation, and we hopefully look forward to many years of continued prosperity and usefulness.”

Hon. John C. Linehan of Concord, N. H., Treasurer-General of the Society, in his annual report stated that the total resources of the Society for the year were $2,341.17; and the total expenditure, $1,248.80, leaving a balance in the treasury, Dec. 31, 1904, of $1,092.37.

The committee appointed to audit the Treasurer-General’s accounts, reported the same as correctly kept and that all expenditures were accompanied by proper vouchers.

The annual reports were unanimously accepted and adopted.

Mr. Joseph Smith of Lowell, Mass., moved as the sense of the Society, that the latter heartily approves the project to erect a monument in Washington, D. C., to Commodore John Barry. The motion was unanimously adopted.

The annual election of officers for the Society then took place and resulted in the choice of the gentlemen whose names are given on pages 5, 6 and 7 of this volume.

The following were elected to membership in the Society:

Hon. Hugh Hastings, State Historian of New York, Albany, N. Y. Rev. James J. Baxter, D. D., Boston, Mass. Mr. T. Vincent Butler, New York City. Mr. Michael J. Morkan, Hartford, Conn. Mr. Edward R. Carroll, New York City. Mr. John Jay Joyce, New York City. Mr. D. H. McBride, New York City. Mr. P. H. Garrity, Waterbury, Conn. Mr. G. W. Lembeck, Jersey City, N. J. Mr. T. F. Donnelly, New York City. Mr. Patrick Murray, New York City. Mr. Arthur McAleenan, New York City. Hon. Lawrence O. Murray, Washington, D. C. Mr. Thomas Kenney, Worcester, Mass. Thomas F. Kenney, M. D., Vienna, Austria. M. X. Sullivan, Ph. D., Providence, R. I.

THE ANNUAL DINNER.

Upon the adjournment of the business meeting, the Society and guests proceeded to the banquet room for the annual dinner. One hundred and forty-five gentlemen participated.

Among those seated at the head table with Hon. Morgan J. O’Brien, the presiding officer, were: Rev. Henry A. Brann, D. D., New York City; Hon. Joseph F. Daly, New York City; Mr. Osborne Howes, Boston, Mass.; Hon. John C. Linehan, Concord, N. H.; Hon. Hugh Hastings, Albany, N. Y.; Thomas Addis Emmet, M. D., New York City; Mr. M. F. Dooley, Providence, R. I.; Mr. John F. Doyle, New York City; Mr. Stephen Farrelly, New York City, and Mr. Joseph I. C. Clarke, New York City.

After grace had been said the company devoted itself to the fine menu.

During the repast music was furnished by an orchestra. There was also singing by the entire company, in chorus, and solo singing by Mr. John W. Donovan of New York; Mr. Joseph M. Byrne of Newark, N. J., and Hon. John C. Linehan of Concord, N. H.

At an interval during the dinner, Mr. Joseph Smith of Lowell, Mass., alluding to the approaching departure of James Jeffrey Roche, LL. D., for Genoa, Italy, as United States Consul, moved that the Society bid him God-speed on his journey and wish him a brilliant career in his new sphere of duty. The motion was adopted.

While the post-prandial exercises were in progress, Hon. William McAdoo arrived and the chair was yielded him by Judge O’Brien.

The paper of the evening was by Hon. Hugh Hastings, State Historian of New York, who took for his subject: “Thomas Dongan and the Earl of Bellomont, Governors of New York.” The paper was one of great merit and was frequently applauded.

Several brief addresses were made during the evening, having a bearing on the Society’s line of work.

While the dinner was under way, a toast to President Roosevelt, “one of our members,” was proposed by Hon. Thomas Z. Lee of Providence, R. I., and drank amid great enthusiasm.

The following letter written by President Roosevelt to Mr. William M. Sweeny of Astoria, L. I., N. Y., a member of the Society, was read to the company by Judge O’Brien:

_My Dear Mr. Sweeny_: Replying to your letter of the 14th inst., I
would say that my Irish ancestors came to Pennsylvania early in the
seventeenth century. They included John Potts and his wife,
Elizabeth McVaugh (so set down in the records; I do not know what
the real name was); John Barnhill, whose wife was Sarah Craig, and a
man named Lukens, who may have been a German from the Palatinate.

They were all of them humble people, farmers, merchants, etc.,
although Sarah Craig is put down as being descended on her mother’s
side, through the Barnwalls, from various well known Irish families,
both of the pale and outside the pale, the Butlers, the Fitzgeralds,
O’Neills and O’Briens. But about this more illustrious descent I
fear I cannot give you any specific particulars.

Sincerely yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

The reading of the foregoing letter was received with great applause.

Letters expressing regret at inability to attend the dinner were received from the following:

Hon. John D. Crimmins, New York City. Gen. M. V. Sheridan, U. S. A. (retired), Washington, D. C. Rt. Rev. Philip J. Garrigan, D. D., Sioux City, Ia. Rev. Christopher Hughes, Fall River, Mass. James E. Sullivan, M. D., Providence, R. I. Mr. P. Tecumseh Sherman, New York City. Mr. George W. McCarthy, Portsmouth, N. H. Rev. James Coyle, Taunton, Mass. Daniel J. Phelan, M. D., New York City. Hon. Edward A. Moseley, Washington, D. C. Hon. Thomas J. Gargan, Boston, Mass. Col. James Moran, Providence, R. I., and John D. Hanrahan, M. D., Rutland, Vt.

PATRIOTIC PILGRIMAGE TO LEXINGTON, MASS.

INTERESTING OBSERVANCE BY THE SOCIETY OF THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE
OF APRIL 19, 1775.

The Society held an interesting observance, April 19, 1905, the date being the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, Concord and Cambridge, fought in 1775. The programme comprised a patriotic pilgrimage to Lexington, and other features of interest.

The Boston members, and their guests, went out to Lexington in automobiles, leaving Boston about 10.15 a. m. Each member and guest wore a neat badge, specially designed for the occasion, and comprising the Revolutionary colors buff and blue. Each badge bore the initials of the Society, “A. I. H. S.,” and the inscription, “Lexington, 1775–1905.”

Reaching Cambridge, the party stopped at the City Hall there and a call was made on Hon. Augustine J. Daly, mayor of Cambridge. All the members of the party were introduced to the mayor, who was assisted in receiving by City Clerk Edward J. Brandon, J. Edward Barry, president of the board of aldermen; Mr. Edward A. Counihan, mayor’s clerk, and other officials.

After the introduction and greetings, lunch was served. Leaving Cambridge city hall, the party started for Lexington. Many historic points were passed, including Harvard College, the Old Elm, where Washington took command of the American Army, and a number of memorial tablets.

Arriving at the Lexington town hall, the party was warmly welcomed by Mr. George W. Taylor, chairman of the board of selectmen, and by other officials of the town. All then walked to the battle monument on the village green, where the Society placed a laurel wreath to the memory of the patriotic dead. This wreath measured about three feet in diameter, and was tied with buff and blue ribbon.

Assembled around the monument at this time, in addition to the members of the Society, was a large gathering of the people of Lexington, and visitors from out of town. After the wreath had been put in place on the monument, an oration was delivered by City Clerk Brandon of Cambridge, who dwelt upon the objects of the Society and the lessons of patriotism inculcated by the observance of the day. Mr. Brandon’s remarks were frequently applauded and at the close he was given an ovation. The Society was then grouped, with the monument as a background, and a large photograph of the whole taken.

The Society and guests, escorted by Chairman Taylor of the board of selectmen, then proceeded to the latter’s beautiful residence, “Larchmont,” where they were hospitably entertained. The ladies of the party were specially taken charge of by Mrs. Taylor, while the gentlemen were waited upon by Mr. Taylor and his talented daughter, Miss Amy Ethel Taylor. An elaborate lunch was served, and then followed congratulatory and patriotic addresses by a dozen or more of the visitors.

Following the lunch and the speech-making there was vocal and instrumental music, the whole affair being one of great enjoyment.

Members of the Society were present, during the day, from Boston, Cambridge, Lowell, Lexington and Springfield, Mass.; Providence and Pawtucket, R. I.; Hartford, Conn.; and New York City.

Among those participating in the exercises were: Hon. Patrick Garvan of Hartford, Conn., and his daughters, the Misses Agnes and Genevieve Garvan; Mr. and Mrs. Fred C. Murphy, Springfield, Mass.; Mr. and Mrs. T. H. Murray, Boston, Mass.; Mr. and Mrs. Charles V. Ryan, Springfield, Mass.; Miss M. Olive Murphy, Boston, Mass.; Mr. T. Vincent Butler, New York City; Mr. Patrick Carter, Providence, R. I.; Mr. John F. Kinsela, Lowell, Mass.; Mr. J. J. Cassidy, Lowell, Mass.; Mr. Bernard McCaughey, Pawtucket, R. I.; Mr. T. P. Kelly, New York City; Mr. Bernard J. Joyce, Boston, Mass.; Mr. M. H. Cox, Mr. Joseph F. O’Connell and other Boston people; Mr. Christopher S. Ryan, Mr. Orlando Bowman and Rev. M. H. Owens, all of Lexington, Mass., Mr. T. F. Gorman, Boston, Mass., and a number of others.

The following is a copy of a letter from Selectman Taylor in connection with the foregoing event, and received previous thereto:

│ OFFICIAL │OFFICE OF SELECTMEN.
│ SEAL. │

│GEO. W. TAYLOR, │ Selectmen of
│H. A. C. WOODWARD, │ Lexington.
│FRANK D. PEIRCE, │

LEXINGTON, MASS., Mar. 24, 1905.

_Thomas Hamilton Murray, Esq.,
Sec’y of the American-Irish Historical Society,
36 Newbury St., Boston, Mass._

MY DEAR SIR: Your favor of the 22nd inst., relative to a patriotic
pilgrimage of the American-Irish Historical Society on April 19th,
is at hand.

As Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, I shall be most happy to
receive you at the Town Hall at noon, and will also be glad to
attend your exercises on the Common, after which I should be
pleased, if you find it convenient, to have you make an informal
call at “Larchmont,” my home on Bedford Street, where I had the
pleasure of meeting so many of your Society three years ago.

Very truly yours,

_Chairman, Board of Selectmen,
Town of Lexington._
]

SOME INTERESTING HISTORICAL PAPERS.

GOODY GLOVER, AN IRISH VICTIM OF THE WITCH CRAZE, BOSTON, MASS., 1688.

BY HAROLD DIJON.[3]

Leonard Scot, in his _Discoverie of Witchcraft_, gives this definition of a witch: “The sort of such as are said to be witches are women which be commonly old, lame, bleare-eied, pale, fowle, and full of wrinkles; poore, sullen, superstitious, and Papists; or such as know no religion.” Ralph Hoven, an Anglican divine, concedes: “All Papists be not witches, but commonly all witches be the spawn of the Pope.”

The Rev. Josiah Templie, in a sermon preached at Rye in 1619, says: “Because of witchcraft we have divers mischiefs and disorders; and witches they be so long as there be Papists, drabs of the strumpet Pope,” and so on. Oates, in _The Witchcrafts of the Roman Jezebel_—a folio that brought him a considerable fortune,—repeats the foregoing statements in language not printable.

John Cunliffe of Preston complained in 1596 that witchcraft was made a plea for “burning those of the Old Religion; in moste parte they who be in great povertie.” How many of those burned for witchcraft in England were Catholics, it is not impossible to ascertain. Much material appertaining to the subject waits to be investigated.

The opinion fostered in England that a witch, a devil, and a Catholic were different terms for the same thing, was as sedulously cared for in New England; and we find Cotton Mather, in his _Magnalia_, and in a sermon preached in Old North Church, Boston, using virtually Scot’s definition of a witch to describe the subject of this sketch.

“Glover,” he says, “was a scandalous old Irishwoman, very poor, a Roman Catholic and obstinate in idolatry.”

A Boston merchant, one Robert Calef, who knew Mrs. Glover, writes of her in _More Wonders of the Invisible World_, printed in London in 1700. The sympathy he expresses for her was bold for the time, prevented the publication of the work in Boston, brought on him the vituperations of Cotton Mather, and caused the book to be burned in Harvard College yard, by order of Harvard’s president, Dr. Increase Mather.

Calef says: “Goody Glover was a despised, crazy, poor old woman, an Irish Catholic, who was tried for afflicting the Goodwin children. Her behavior at her trial was like that of one distracted. They did her cruel. The proof against her was wholly deficient. The jury brought her guilty. She was hung. She died a Catholic.”

Drake, in his _Annals of Witchcraft in New England_, makes the following comment on this passage: “Glover was not a crazy person, as we now understand the word; it was not meant that she was insane, but simply that she was weak and infirm.” We have not lost the old meaning of the word; and such expressions as “a crazy table,” “a crazy structure,” are quite common.[4]

Ann Glover [commonly called Goody Glover] and her daughter had been living in Boston for some years prior to her execution in 1688. It is not known what part of Ireland she came from. She herself has stated that she and her husband were sold to the Barbadoes in the time of Cromwell. She also related that, shortly after the birth of her daughter, her husband was “scored to death and did not give up his religion, which same I will hold to.”

How Mrs. Glover came to be in Boston can only be conjectured. It is possible she came in that train of servants and Indian slaves brought to the Puritan Colony from the Barbadoes, some of whom fell to the Rev. Mr. Parris, of Salem fame. Little is known of her life in Boston before 1682, beyond the fact that the presence of a Catholic in a community that looked upon itself as “the only Christian people” gave great umbrage.

In 1682 a woman who had labored in vain to convince Mrs. Glover of her “Papistical errors,” accused her of witchcraft; and, dying shortly after, prophesied that “Goody Glover would be hung.” The prophecy was not forgotten.

The mother and daughter were wretchedly poor, and barely able to make a scant living by washing the clothes of such as could be induced to employ a “Papist.” Among those who employed them was the family of John Goodwin. John Goodwin had come to Boston from Charlestown, and was the father of four children—Nathaniel, Martha, John and Mercy,—all of whom were to be in the plot which did to death two harmless women, and which “sadly perplexed and befooled Cotton Mather.”

Cotton Mather, who was charged in 1693 with being “the chief cause, promoter and agent, and favourer of the prosecutions for witchcraft”! Cotton Mather, who “countenanced the executioners by his presence, and in various ways urged the terrible work of blood in Salem”! Cotton Mather, who, from being extolled for sanctity and learning, has come to be scoffed at as an “ignoramus, vain and mendacious”! Such was the pastor of Old North Church, of which the Goodwins were “pillars.”

In 1687 Martha Goodwin, who was then a child of twelve years, charged Mrs. Glover’s daughter with having purloined some clothes. The charge was indignantly repelled, and accusation was made that Martha wished to get Mrs. Glover into trouble. And then the daughter cried out: “You may have us whipped, but to the sermons we will not go.” Hereupon, Martha fell into a fit, which the “learned physicians of Boston declared to be diabolical.”

I think you will agree with me, when Martha’s pranks are further displayed, that the little girl had an attack of nerves and temper. What between tirades against witches, Catholics, Baptists and Quakers, and long sermons and long faces, the whole community was in a highly nervous state. Cheerfulness was sinfulness. Read of that monstrous Pharisee of five years old lauded in the _Magnalia_. She never laughed; she prayed her mother might be one of the elect, even as she was.

Mrs. Glover and her daughter were now in sorer straits than ever. No one would employ them, and had it not been for some secret aid they received from the Calefs, who were not bereft of reason and humanity, they must have starved. Even as it was, the treatment the daughter received—“stonings and revilings”—turned her brain, and she died a lunatic, frightened to death.

In the meanwhile, the lost clothes were found, by a woman employed in the Goodwin household, “stuck under a wardrobe.” This discovery led to no good results for Mrs. Glover, for now Mercy and the two Goodwin boys had fits “like unto those of the maid Martha”; and then Martha took it into her head to be again “afflicted.” The children asserted that the spirit of Goody Glover struck them with blows, cut them with knives, strangled them and sat on their chests. At devotions they pretended they could hear nothing of what was said. “Goody Glover stopped their ears! Goody Glover would have them worship her idols!” was their cry.

All this was so much gospel to a people saturated with prejudice; and the Boston and Charlestown ministers held a fast at Mr. Goodwin’s house. “The fast did greatly relieve the children.” Which goes to prove that if Mr. Goodwin had “whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed,” they would have been permanently cured.

But now “the magistrates, long annoyed by the presence of an obstinate Papist in Boston, ordered Goody Glover to be taken into custody.” A search was made of her house, “and certain images were found in secret.” It is not difficult to conjecture what they were. Beads or medals, maybe; certainly a cross or crucifix was one of them.

She was “loaded with chains” and placed in a prison. As no provision was made to feed prisoners in Massachusetts at that time, her condition must have been one of great distress. It is said that the Calefs continued to succor her, and there is a statement that a Dame Nourse of Salem, visiting Boston, gave her some aid. Can this be the explanation of Mather’s inexorable pursuit of Rebecca Nourse?

To relieve the tedium of an existence deprived of innocent amusements, the Goodwin children renewed their deceptions, and Cotton Mather, “to relieve the distress of the afflicted John Goodwin, took Martha to his house to live.” Now it was that the cunning mischief-maker befooled Cotton Mather to the top of his bent. Page after page of the ponderous _Magnalia_ is occupied with a grave recital of the pranks played by this child in the minister’s house. “She screamed with pain, and cried that Glover’s chains were about her leg.... To prevent the escape of the prisoner’s spirit, to afflict the child, they put other chains on Glover.... They chained the Papist till she could not move and she did spew blood.”

Martha would not allow the spirit to be confined. She said Goody Glover brought her a horse to ride, and her pastor tells us “she would make all the motions of a person who rides, about the room and up the stairs, like one astraddle of a horse.”

Imagine the impish glee of the child at seeing the most important person in the Colony following her about in her horseplay, with looks of awe! Her terrible precocity taught her to play on his hatred of Mrs. Glover’s creed. “While possessed of the devil and Mrs. Glover,” he says, “she could read Popish books, but not books against Popery.” In the pastor’s study “she would become calm, and no longer afflicted. This was witnessed by divers persons, and many times.” When asked why she was not afflicted in the pastor’s study, the child replied, with a thorough reading of Mather’s greatest weakness—his vanity, “Your study is too holy a place for the devil or Glover to enter.”

The trial of Mrs. Glover was a farce. Pounded with questions on all sides, the poor woman was only able to answer her tormentors in Irish. “This she was instigated to do by the devil,” says Cotton Mather. There be no doubt that, owing to her great age, her sufferings in prison, the confusion of the court, which was added to by the screams of pretended pain from the Goodwin children, Mrs. Glover was temporarily deprived of English, “for which she never had a great facility.” One question, however, she did give answer to in English. They asked her if it was true that she was a Papist, “and showed to her an idol which was secret in her house. She snatched at it with a joy that was diabolical, and said: ‘I die a Catholic!’” Considering the material of which it was composed, it is no wonder that the jury, after this declaration of Faith, found her guilty.

The magistrates visited her in prison that night, “and they found her agreeable to their questions.” They asked her what would become of her soul after she was hanged. The simple and much-tried woman had the humility Cotton Mather lacked. “You ask me a very solemn question, and I can not tell what to say to it. I trust in God,” she replied. Cotton Mather also visited her in prison.... He asked her to say the Lord’s Prayer; for the common belief was that this could not be done by a Catholic or a witch. “She recited the _Pater Noster_ to me in Latin,” he says, “and in Irish, and in English, but she could not end it.” Of course she could not end it in Cotton Mather’s way.

She caused Mather to wonder that she repeated in a voice “marvellous strong” the petition, “deliver us from evil.” He considers this to be a sign that she “reproached the devil for deserting her to be hung.” Poor, befogged man, whose conceit would not permit him to see that it was he himself she petitioned to be delivered from; for he argued with her to destroy her Faith. She refused Mather’s spiritual ministrations, and he feels assured that her “Catholic spirits” will not permit her to accept them, and he predicts to her, her speedy and eternal damnation.

The proffering of these several consolations increased Mather’s habitual satisfaction with himself, and he says: “Comforted at having performed a solemn duty” [the consigning of a soul to perdition], “I returned to my house.” Arrived there, he found the “Maid Martha galloping about the room on the horse, her feet not touching the ground, which was a great wonder.”

Mrs. Glover was hanged on the following day. “There was a great concourse of people to see if the Papist would relent.... Her one cat was there, fearsome to see. They would to destroy the cat, but Mr. Calef would not [permit the cat to be killed]. Before her execution she was bold and impudent [!] making to forgive her accusers and those who put her off.... She predicted that her death would not relieve the children, saying it was not she afflicted them.” This was construed into a threat; and the children continued their sport, till, “a very strict fast being held, they were completely restored.” After recounting the details of this “joyful restoration,” Cotton Mather becomes more than usually prolix in a relation of the _piety_ of his protegés.

It is not denied that before and after the execution of Ann Glover there was a vast number of arrests and executions of reputed witches and wizards in New England, beginning in 1647, under John Winthrop, and culminating in the Salem massacre of 1692. It is not denied that neither age, sex, nor condition was spared. Some were children—one but four years old,—others of eighty and beyond; one was a minister; many were the most reputable people in the Massachusetts Colony.

What is asserted is that Ann Glover was put to death not so much because she was reputed a witch, as for the certainty that she was a Catholic. All we know of her is in the words of her enemies and executioners, except what is found in the scant record of Robert Calef, who exposed himself to utter ruin by his defence of her. The little we know, however, confirms the truth of my assertion.

It was only when all attempts to move Mrs. Glover’s “obstinate Papacy” had failed, that she was first accused of witchcraft in 1682. That the Goodwins were in the league “to bring her out of the burning”—that is, to induce her to forswear the Faith—may be inferred with safety from what took place in 1687. When her daughter was accused of theft by Martha Goodwin, she does not say, “You may have us whipped, but we are innocent of stealing”: this she had asserted before. She cries out: “You may have us whipped, but we won’t go to the sermons.” Does not this outburst unfold a tale of antecedent persecution suffered for religion’s sake?

A fast “had greatly relieved the Goodwin children”; the tempest they had aroused was lulled, and what happened? “The magistrates, long annoyed by the presence of an obstinate Papist in Boston, ordered Goody Glover to be taken into custody,” says Drake. At her trial there was not even such evidence to prove her a witch as would satisfy the gullible magistrates. It was only when Goody Glover made the declaration that she would die a Catholic that “the jury brought her guilty.”

It went hard with the magistrates and Cotton Mather that a poor old Catholic, a “scandalous Irishwoman,” withstood the doctrine of the self-reputed “saints”; and even now Goody Glover could have saved her life had she “relented.” The magistrates went to her on her last night alive, to beat down her opposition by questions of her soul. They failed, and Cotton Mather took their place.

He was above the law in the cheerless Colony. When, in 1692, the jury brought in poor Rebecca Nourse innocent of witchcraft, he had them sent to reconsider the evidence: at his beck they found her guilty. Then the governor, Sir William Phipps, pardoned her. In defiance of the pardon, Cotton Mather had her hanged, and saw her die on Witches’ Hill at Salem; and, “sitting on his black horse, he rebuked those who did bewail her; for she was an excellent woman.”

In view of this exhibition of his arbitrary power, is it too much to say that, had Goody Glover “relented,” in his vainglory over the conquest of a broken-down old woman, Cotton Mather would have had her set free? But the old Irishwoman conquered Cotton Mather. “She died a Catholic”; and, imitating her Divine Master, she died forgiving her enemies,—all those from whom she had suffered grievous wrong.

CAPT. DANIEL NEILL, AN ARTILLERY OFFICER OF THE REVOLUTION.

BY GEN. J. MADISON DRAKE[5].

It has never been generally known that the first cannon shot at the enemy, after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by Congress, at Philadelphia, on the evening of July 4, 1776, was fired in Elizabeth, N. J., then known as Elizabethtown, and as the present time seems opportune for the revivication of local incidents in the war for independence, I will narrate an exciting episode to awaken additional interest.

Up to February, 1776, the state of New Jersey, or province as it then was, had no artillery organization, and the importance of that arm of the service being acutely felt, the Provincial Congress, in session at Burlington, on the 13th of that month, adopted the following resolution:

_Resolved_, That two complete artillery companies be raised in this
colony.

The ordinance provided that the term of enlistment should be for one year, and that one company should be stationed in the eastern part of the province, the other in the western. Each company was to consist of a captain, one captain-lieutenant, two second lieutenants, four sergeants, four corporals, and one hundred and fifty matrosses. (The last term was at that time used to denote gunners’ mates, or soldiers in a train of artillery, who assisted in loading, firing and sponging the guns.) The day following the passage of the ordinance the first or eastern company was organized in Newark by the election of the following officers:

Captain—Frederick Frelinghuysen.

Captain-Lieutenant—Daniel Neill.

Second Lieutenants—Thomas Clark and James Heard.

Captain Frelinghuysen served but one month and resigned—Lieutenant Neill succeeding him.

Shepard Kollock, born in Delaware in 1750, after learning the “art preservative of all arts” in Philadelphia, came to Elizabethtown after the war had commenced, and joined Captain Neill’s battery. He was with it when it attacked and destroyed a British gunboat off this city, and by his distinguished gallantry on that occasion was promoted to the first lieutenancy.

At the close of the campaign in 1778, General Knox, commanding the American artillery, advised Lieutenant Kollock to establish a newspaper in Elizabethtown, as he would thereby be able to render great service to the patriot cause. Lieutenant Kollock liked a soldier’s life, and did not want to leave the army, but General Knox finally prevailed upon him to engage in the newspaper enterprise, so he resigned, and securing a rude outfit located in Chatham, a much safer place than Elizabeth was at that period, and for some years afterwards Lieutenant Kollock continued the publication of the New Jersey _Journal and Political Intelligencer_ at Chatham, until peace was declared, when he removed his plant to Elizabeth, where it has since remained.

Captain Neill, a young man born in Ireland, by untiring energy and devotion to duty, quickly got his command in good trim for the active service it was soon to engage in. In the latter part of June Captain Neill, who had been stationed in Newark, N. J., being ordered to Elizabeth, took possession of the earthworks at what is now the foot of Elizabeth Avenue, where he made a comfortable camp. To relieve his men from ennui when not engaged in drilling, Captain Neill caused them to throw up more earth, thus adding to the strength of the redoubt. He placed his four guns so they would command the sound, narrow at that point, as well as the entrance to the Elizabeth River, then known as “Mill Creek.”

William Livingston, a resident of Elizabeth, who resigned his seat in the Provincial Congress at Burlington, to be made commander-in-chief of the New Jersey militia, overjoyed at the presence of Captain Neill’s battery, on the morning of July 4, 1776, wrote General Washington as follows:

... We now have two field pieces, 18 pounders, with a part of
Captain Neill’s company of artillery in this province.

Shortly after the mounted courier had set out with the dispatch for Washington’s headquarters in New York, American piquets posted on the ground now occupied by the buildings of the Singer Company, were surprised to see a large British gunboat lying off the southern end of Shooters’ Island. They at once sent word to General Livingston, whose home on Morris Avenue is now occupied by the family of Senator Kean.

Early in the evening General Livingston mounted his horse, ever saddled, and rode to the lower part of the town, where he had a conference with Captain Neill, who had already taken steps to repel an attack, in case the vessel meditated mischief.

The sudden appearance of the gunboat in our waters was a great surprise to our soldiers, as no British vessel had been hereabouts since Washington occupied New York City and Long Island. The gunboat was a part of Admiral Lord Howe’s fleet, just arrived from England, and that day anchored off Cliffton, Staten Island. The British army at once landed on the eastern shore of the island, gladly welcomed by the supporters of British oppression.

Along towards the middle of the night the gunboat was seen coming slowly through the Achter Koll, opposite the Singer factory. In the soft moonlit night the craft was plainly distinguishable to our argus-eyed soldiers keeping watch and ward along the shore. As any effort they could make against the ship with their smooth-bore muskets would be innocent, they maintained a painful silence, feeling assured that when it reached the battery our guns would give a good account of themselves.

The commander of the vessel, in blissful ignorance of the possession of artillery by the Americans, sailed unconcernedly and tranquilly over the placid waters. Like most British officers at that period of the war, he had profound contempt for American militiamen, whom he did not consider foemen worthy of his steel.

Captain Neill, who had been on the _qui vive_ for some time, on learning of the vessel’s approach, impatiently awaited a closer proximity in order that his shots might be fully effective and his welcome to the stranger more hearty, if less hospitable. His guns, ready shotted, were admirably posted close to the water, and matches already lighted by the fire-workers.

It was only when the vessel, but slowly making its way through the silver-rippled water, owing to the lightness of the breeze, reached a point directly opposite the redoubt occupied by Captain Neill, that his dogs of war were loosened, and from their brazen throats belched forth sheets of bright red flame, preceded by iron missiles, which swept the deck of the craft, carrying death, destruction and dismay to the hitherto confident and unsuspecting crew.

The salvo, like a clap of thunder from a serene sky, awoke echoes, which were followed by a rain of merciless iron, utterly demoralizing the officers and crew, and creating scenes of indescribable confusion and terror. A state of chaos ensued; discipline was thrown to the winds—it was every man for himself. The distracted sailors, finding themselves in a trap and seeing no way of escape save by surrender, deserted the vessel by jumping overboard, at least those who had not been killed or maimed by the well-directed fire of our artillerymen.

Those who thus sought safety by springing into the water, endeavored to reach either shore; most of them, however, struck out for the Jersey side on account of its nearness. Some succeeded in gaining the Staten Island shore, but many failed to reach either.

Meanwhile the gunboat, totally disabled, drifted with the outgoing tide, no attempt being made by any one on board to work any of the fourteen guns with which she was armed.

When Captain Neill, true-hearted soldier that he was, saw the desperate helplessness of the British sailors, and their attempts to save themselves, he ceased firing and sent men to rescue them from watery graves. The gunboat was carried by the tide beyond the mouth of the Elizabeth River, and, being in flames, went down to Davy Jones’ capacious locker just after passing the spot now occupied by the Dry Dock Company.

Some thirty years ago, oystermen raked up a large number of British coins and many other articles from this spot, and many believed the treasure was at one time possessed by the sailors of the ill-fated gunboat.

General Livingston, who had remained with Captain Neill and witnessed the attack and destruction of the vessel, at once wrote the following dispatch to General Washington, sending it off post-haste:

ELIZABETHTOWN, July 4, 1776.
Midnight.

One of the enemy’s sloops of war, mounting fourteen guns, having
this evening run up to this point, was attacked from the shore by
the twelve-pounders, a great number of her men killed, she set on
fire and entirely destroyed.

As Captain Neill’s attack on the British gunboat occurred about midnight, July 4, 1776, there can be no shadow of doubt that his guns were the first ones fired after the immortal Declaration of Independence was adopted, the Congress in session at Philadelphia having formally performed this act between nine and ten o’clock that evening. It was the first exploit of the new-born nation, and a gallant young Irish patriot, a citizen of this province, carried it to success.

Captain Neill and his battery was shortly after assigned to Col. Thomas Proctor’s[6] regiment of artillery, and subsequently to the brigade of artillery commanded by General Knox.[7] The battery participated in the battles of Trenton, Assinpink Creek, Princeton and Monmouth.

But it was at Princeton that the heroic Neill sealed his devotion to the cause of American liberty and independence with his life’s blood. He was instantly killed by a British sharpshooter just after Hugh Mercer, a Scotsman, was mortally wounded.

In view of the important services rendered by this patriotic son of the Emerald Isle to the cause of American freedom, it would seem especially fitting at this time that a proper recognition of Captain Neill’s devotion to the interests of this community in a dark hour of its history should be made by our citizens.

Daniel Neill nobly gave all he possessed for the benefit and enrichment of posterity, and it behooves us to recognize the value of his splendid services in our behalf by erecting a suitable monument, marking the spot in our town where he struck a deadly and brilliant blow at the ruthless enemies of our blessed land.

Shall it be done?

RICHARD DEXTER, ONE OF BOSTON’S IRISH PIONEERS.

BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY.

Richard Dexter was admitted a “townsman” of Boston, Mass., in 1641. He was an Irishman and came to this country with his wife Bridget. Less worthy people have been adequately chronicled. Of Richard Dexter, however, but little has been said. He may be ranked as a forgotten pioneer.

In the New York _Genealogical and Biographical Record_, January, 1891, is a brief paper on “The Dexter Family.” In that it is stated that “Richard Dexter, the pioneer, with his wife, Bridget, came from Ireland, where his fathers had lived for upwards of 400 years.”

The descendants of Richard and Bridget have been very numerous, many of them attaining prominence in civil, military and educational life. F. Gordon Dexter, a wealthy Boston man, is mentioned as one of these descendants, as is also the late George Dexter of Albany, N. Y. Mention of others will hereinafter be found.

In Vol. III, page 181, of a work published by Munsell on _American Ancestry_ (Albany, N. Y., 1899), it is stated that John Dexter, the only son of Richard, the immigrant, was born in 1639 and probably in Ireland. He was doubtless brought to this country by his parents while still an infant.

The Irish Dexters derive their descent from Anglo-Norman sources and are first heard of in Ireland about A. D. 1169, or more than seven centuries ago. The name has variously appeared in Ireland as De Exeter, D’Exeter, Dexeter, Dexetra, Dexter, etc.

Some of the family, especially those settling in Mayo, in the kingdom of Connaught, assumed the surname Mac Jordan (descendant of Jordan), after an ancestor—Jordan Teutonicus, or Jordan De Courcy, a brother of John De Courcy, Earl of Ulster. These Dexters were commonly known as Dexter-Mac Jordans, and sometimes as Mac Jordan-Dexters. Much of the history of the Dexters must be sought under the names Jordan and Mac Jordan.

The pioneer Dexters in Ireland soon fell in with the people and though, at first, conflicts ensued between them and the old native clans, their descendants eventually became “as Irish as the Irish themselves.” The fact that they were of the same religious faith greatly assisted, of course, in bringing this about.

Richard Dexter, son of Stephen Dexter, wedded, in 1272, Lady Penelope O’Connor, a daughter of the ruler of the Irish kingdom of Connaught. The Dexter-Mac Jordans became lords of Athleathan, in Mayo, Connaught, and built one of their strongest castles there. Stephen Dexter, son of one of the lords of Athleathan, was a Dominican monk, and wrote the _Annals of Multifernan_.

The Dexter-Mac Jordans also had possessions in the Irish principality of Meath, where they built Castle Jordan. About 1274 they founded an abbey in Mayo. In De Burgo’s time the Dexter family had reached its thirteenth generation in Ireland.

In common with other great Irish families, the Dexters suffered much at the hands of the English enemy, a large part of their choicest property being seized and confiscated. While some of the Irish Dexters took the name Mac Jordan, others, it would appear, did not, for we find Dexters prominently mentioned in the Munster counties of Cork and Limerick.

It is a well-known fact that at one time the Irish living within the pale were obliged by law to drop their Irish surnames and assume others. Possibly, some of the Dexters bearing the name Mac Jordan came under the operation of this enactment and went back to their original name of Dexter. Be that as it may, it is certain that several of the Irish Dexters of Munster were unscrupulously victimized during the Cromwellian and Williamite regimes.

Thomas Dexter of Cloyne, Cork, was among the forfeiting proprietors under the Cromwellian settlement. He was of the Barony of Imokilly. Stephen Dexter of the Parish of Templemurry, County Limerick, also suffered at the same time and in like manner. William Dexter, likewise of Templemurry, was similarly treated by the rapacious foe.

What part of Ireland Richard Dexter, the Boston pioneer, came from we do not know. It is reasonable to conclude, however, that he was from either Munster or Connaught—the south or the west, since it is in these two provinces the Irish Dexters are mainly found. Neither do we know the maiden name of his wife, Bridget. Richard Dexter was admitted a townsman of Boston on “the 28th day of the twelfth month, 1641.” At the meeting where this action was taken there were present: Richard Bellingham, John Winthrop, William Tynge, Captain Gibbones, Valentine Hill, Jacob Eliot, James Penn and John Oliver.

According to Savage’s _Genealogical Dictionary_, Richard Dexter, the pioneer, was of Charlestown, Mass., in 1644. Munsell’s _American Ancestry_ states that he was born in 1606, which would make him about thirty-five years of age on his arrival in Boston from Ireland. He bought a large amount of land on “Mystic side,” and must, at the outset, have been a man of considerable means. In 1648 his name appears signed to a petition relative to the laying out of a highway in Charlestown, Mass. The petition thus quaintly concludes: “So shall wee be bound to pray as we desire dayly to doe for yr prsptie & peace temporall & Eternall.”

On “the 14th of the third month, 1650,” Richard Dexter purchased of Robert Long of Charlestown five lots on “Mystic side.” In 1654 John Palmer mentions the sale to Dexter of five acres of “arable land” in Charlestown, which land had at one time belonged to Maj. Robert Sedgwick. Richard Dexter also purchased other pieces of land, chiefly upland, in Charlestown at various times. In 1663 he became owner of forty acres in Malden, Mass., buying the same of Edward Lane of Boston. This latter property was increased from time to time, and much of it remained in possession of descendants of Richard down to as late a period as 1854.

In 1651, Richard’s wife, Bridget Dexter, signed a petition of Malden and Charlestown women. This was called “The petition of Many Inhabitants of Malden and Charlestown on Mestickside.” A record is extant showing that “Thomas Molton of Malden, Planter,” sold to Richard Dexter five acres of upland. “It is scituate on mistik syde nere the south springe.” Richard Dexter, the pioneer, died at Charlestown in 1680.

John Dexter, the only son of Richard, was born in 1639. He is spoken of as “of Charlestown and Malden.” He was killed in the latter place in 1677. His wife’s name was Sarah. They had several children, including a son, who was named Richard. This Richard is mentioned as “of Lynn and Malden.” He was born in the latter place in 1676, and died there in 1747. John Dexter of the family was a selectman of Malden for many years, and in 1717 was commissioned captain of a company of Foot by Governor Shute. This John Dexter died in 1722. He had eight children.

Another John Dexter of Malden, of the same family, was born in 1705 and died in 1790. He had thirteen children, was clerk of the town for several years, a patriot of the Revolution and delegate to the Provincial Congress.

The Rev. Samuel Dexter was born in 1700, dying in 1755. He was a brother of Selectman John of Malden. This Samuel graduated at Harvard College, 1720, and subsequently taught school at Taunton, Lynn, Malden, and elsewhere in Massachusetts. He eventually located in Dedham, Mass. He had a son, also named Samuel, who became an eminent merchant of Boston, and died in 1810.

This second Samuel left a bequest to Harvard University, on which bequest was subsequently founded the Dexter lectureship. He became a member of the Council of Massachusetts. He was “an active and sagacious leader on the popular side, and a man of marked ability.”

Another member of this distinguished family was Richard Dexter, a physician at Topsfield, Mass. He was born in 1713 and died in 1783. This Richard was a brother of the Rev. Samuel Dexter, and wedded Mehitable Putnam, a sister of Gen. Israel Putnam.

Two members of the Dexter family, William and Richard, descendants of Richard, the Irishman, were members of a Malden company of Minutemen that marched to Watertown, Mass., April 19, 1775, in response to the Lexington alarm. John Dexter, probably the one just mentioned, was with Captain Blaney in the Point Shirley expedition, 1776, and later was lieutenant aboard the brigantine _Hawke_. William Dexter of Malden, who responded to the Lexington alarm was with Colonel Brooks’ regiment of guards at Cambridge from February to April, 1778. Thus we see these descendants of the immigrant Richard were as ready to oppose British tyranny as their Irish ancestors had been.