Chapter II: Part 2

PROVIDENCE, Jan. 14, 1786.

Here again “passage” is advertised, it will be noted. Soon after a news item appeared in the _Gazette_, stating that “the ship _Tristram_, Captain Crawford, sails this day for Dublin.” It appears that the _Tristram_ made many voyages to and from Ireland. On April 26, 1788, over two years after the trip just mentioned, the _Gazette_ had the following budget of marine news:

The ship Tristram, Capt. Warner, of this port, is arrived at
Dublin.—The ship Mary, Capt. Rathbun, and Brig Little John, Capt.
Ambrose, of Newport, are also arrived at Dublin.—The Brig Recovery,
Capt. Taggart, of Newport, is arrived at Newry.

In June, 1791, Joseph and William Russell of Providence had an assortment of Irish linens “Just imported in the ship _Tristram_ from Dublin.” The _Gazette_, under date of Providence, April 13, 1776, says: “Capt. Cook, from Belfast, informs that recruiting parties had been beating up there from September till January to reinforce the ministerial army in America, but they had only inlisted ten men.” This helps the reader to form a good idea as to the direction of Irish sympathies at that time.

The quotations in the remainder of this chapter are from the Providence _Gazette_. A news paragraph, dated Newport, states that on “Monday last arrived here the ship _Mary_, Captain Ambrose, in fifty-nine days from Cork.” On February 14, 1789, under the head of Providence, we are told that “On Wednesday also arrived the brig _Happy Return_, Capt. Dring, from Dublin, Isle of May, and St. Eustatia.” The _Happy Return_ has frequent mention, sometimes as arriving from Dublin and again from other ports. But there came a time when she returned no more. The incident occurred in 1790, and is thus narrated: “The brig _Happy Return_, Capt. Dring, of this port (Providence), bound for Dublin, is lost near that port. The crew and a part of the cargo were saved.” In April, 1790, is chronicled the arrival at Dublin of the brig _Sally_, Captain Davis, of Providence, “after a short passage of twenty two days.” In November of the same year, the ship _Tristram_, Captain Warner, is again mentioned as having cleared for Dublin from Providence. Among the arrivals in the port of Providence in May, 1791, was the “ship _Tristram_, Warner, Dublin.” In November, 1791, the _Tristram_, commanded by Captain Holowell, departed from Providence for Newry. December 14, 1792, the brig _Betsy_ left Providence for Newry and in May of the next year, her arrival at Providence is noted “from Newry, which she left the 5th of March, having touched at the Cape de Verds.”

In April, 1796, the brig _Lydia_, Capt. John Cook, arrived at Providence from Cork in forty-nine days. We find it recorded December 21, 1799, that “A ship from Cork put into Newport on Sunday evening last, and sailed next morning. She brought Cork papers to the 24th of October.” Elsewhere it is stated that earlier in that year the ship _Palmyra_, Captain Trotter, of Providence, for Hamburg, put into “the Cove of Cork.”

The schooner _Mayflower_ left Providence for Dublin in February, 1801. In 1809, among the departures from the port of Providence was the “Ship _Neptune_, Staples, Ireland.” The same year it is stated that the “ship _Nancy_, of Rhode Island, 14 days from Richmond for Cork, was spoke July 6, lat. 43:52.” In October, 1809, the brig _Orient_ arrived at New York “53 days from Dublin. Left there among others, ship _Nancy_, Capt. Noyes, just arrived from Providence.” These Rhode Island captains became great favorites in Irish ports. They were frequently entertained and were treated in a hospitable manner generally. In 1811, Capt. Peregrine Howland of Newport, died in Belfast. He was in his thirty-ninth year at the time, and his passing away caused much sorrow. The ship _Robert Burns_, Captain Coffin, arrived at Newport January 3, 1820, “in 39 days from Ireland.” The ship _George Washington_, of Providence, is noted as having arrived at Cork March 26, 1820, “from Madeira in 15 days.” She was commanded by Captain Allen. Under a Newport date of January 6, 1820, we find the following: “Arrived on Tuesday last, in distress, ship _William and Jane_, Brown, from N. York, with flaxseed, bound to Londonderry,—Sailed from N. York, Dec. 24, and next day the ship sprung a leak, which continued to increase, and was compelled to throw over part of the cargo, and put into this port.”

It will thus be seen that flaxseed was exported to Ireland from this country. That is perhaps what Black & Stewart, Irish merchants of Providence, intended to do with the “2000 bushels of good and well clean’d flax seed” they advertised for in 1763.

From facts here adduced it will be seen that for a great many years, until Irish manufacturing industries were crushed by English law, commercial relations existed between Ireland and Rhode Island. Irish goods and Irish passengers were landed on the wharves in Newport and Providence, while outgoing ships took goods and passengers for the old land. Too long have these facts been forgotten or ignored. But a new era has dawned and the sun of investigation will yet bring forth even greater and more interesting developments.

IRISH SETTLERS IN PENNSYLVANIA.

BY MICHAEL J. O’BRIEN, NEW YORK CITY.

John Burns, a native of the city of Dublin, where he was born in 1730, was a prominent character in Pennsylvania history. He emigrated to Philadelphia when quite young. He prospered in business in that city, where we are told “he took a prominent part in all local and national questions, and was honored by his fellow-citizens with many positions of trust.” He was the first governor of Pennsylvania elected after the adoption of the federal constitution, and “retained in a high degree the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens till his death.”

One of the very earliest white settlers in Greene County was Thomas Hughes, who emigrated from Donegal with his wife, Bridget O’Neill, to Virginia. One of his descendants, Thomas Hughes, wrote the memoirs of his family in 1880, in which he said: “The motive that sent our first ancestor to this country from his native Irish home was of this character, _i. e._, a desire for religious freedom; he was a devout Catholic.” “Settling,” he continues, “in the valley of Virginia, in Loudoun County, before the year 1739, Thomas Hughes, son of Felime or Felix, and his wife, with his brother Felime or Felix, all from Inver, in Donegal, Ulster, first laid the foundations of his family in this country.”

“Thomas Hughes was a noted hunter, and in one of his expeditions into the backwoods, which lasted for several months, he spent some time in what is now Greene County, Pennsylvania, the soil and general appearance of which pleased him so well that he determined to make his future home there. This he did in 1771, and was one of the very first white settlers in that country. He located where Carmichaelstown now stands, but several years afterwards exchanged farms with a party named Carmichael, and called his new place Jefferson, after his old county in Virginia.”

His nephew, Felix Hughes, also settled in Pennsylvania, where he erected a fort or blockhouse as protection against the Indians and wild animals. It was a building of only one story and a half, of hewn logs and rough boards, and as an instance of the primitiveness of the period when this Irish pioneer settled in this locality, this building was looked upon as “an elegant house!” His wife’s name was Cinthia Kaighn (or Kane). In 1780, he set out with others to Kentucky to look up lands, but the party was attacked by Indians while descending the Ohio and, after a narrow escape, Hughes returned to Greene County, where he spent the remainder of his days. He and his father were buried in Neill’s burying ground, near Carmichaelstown. Their descendants are still found in considerable numbers in Greene and Fayette counties, Pennsylvania.

A prominent Irish Catholic who settled early on Sherman’s Creek, was Henry Gass. He and his brother erected log cabins on Indian lands in Perry County, but were dispossessed from there in 1750, when they located at Falling Springs.

Patrick Gass, who was born in the latter place in 1771, and who is said to have been the first white man to make an overland trip to the Pacific, is presumed to have been a son of Henry Gass. The original name, of course, was Prendergast.

Among the earlier Irish inhabitants of Carlisle is found the Prendergrass family, whose name is identified with almost all the larger settlements west of Carlisle. Kline’s _Carlisle Gazette_ of November 29, 1797, gave an account of the death of the aged Philip Prendergrass, which occurred two weeks previously, in which it described him as “an old inhabitant of this borough.” The name is found on the “list of taxables” in 1762. He took part in the expedition of Kitanning, in 1756, to repulse the Indians. It was a member of this family, Garrett Prendergrass who, in February, 1770, purchased the ground now occupied by the city of Allegheny, from the Six Nations. The old Prendergrass homestead was near Hanover, and is still occupied by the family. It was built in the last century by an Irishman names Byrnes, who married into the family.

Wing’s _History of Cumberland County_ mentions John and Charles McManus, as settlers in Carlisle in 1762, the latter as “one of the oldest, most progressive and successful business men in the community.”

“The large and commodious dwelling he erected on East Street,” says Ganss, one of the historians of Carlisle, “still remains as a monument of post-colonial massiveness, spaciousness and solidity, with its marble slab conspicuously placed in the second story, bearing the date of its erection, 1797, and the name of its builder, and which gives evidence not only of enterprise and wealth, but cultured taste. Originally, he was proprietor of one of the largest distilleries in the county, and amassed a sufficient competence which permitted him to live, if not in luxury, at least in ease and comfort. After the death of Mrs. Mary McManus (born 1703, died 1809), the name becomes less prominent, although that of Charles is still found on the pew list of the Catholic Church as late as 1823. The descendants drifted to Mexico and Philadelphia. The former branch of the family, in the course of time, founded the prosperous and famed banking firm of McManus & Co., an institution of international reputation and the largest and most prominent in our sister republic. The Philadelphia family likewise, achieved more than ordinary success in life.”

Here we have a conspicuous example of the class of men whom Ireland gave to America in her early days.

John Frazer, who was born at Glassborough, County Monaghan, in 1709, left Ireland in 1735 and located in Philadelphia. In course of time he became a very wealthy man. He was a shipping merchant, owning several vessels engaged in the West Indian trade. He married Mary Smith, who was born in Cleary, County Monaghan. He died in Philadelphia in 1765. His son, Patrick Frazer, commanded a company of the Fourth Pennsylvania, a regiment under the command of Anthony Wayne. He became lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth Pennsylvania, and was brigadier-general of Pennsylvania militia. His grandson, Robert Frazer, was a distinguished lawyer at Thornbury, Pa.

John McCord emigrated from Ireland in 1750, and settled in Sherman’s Valley, Pa. His father also located at Landisburg, Pa., about the same time, and on his farm a fort was erected for protection against the Redmen in the Indian war of 1755. It is still known as McCord’s Fort.

David Milligan came from Ireland to Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, in 1766. He and his two brothers, John and James, served in the Fifth Battalion of Cumberland Militia through the Revolutionary War. David was twice taken prisoner. All these were in active service up to 1778. Their brother, Thomas, and their mother, joined them from Ireland in 1785.

Robert Guthrie, a name Anglicized from McGrath, was born in Derry; settled with his family in Lancaster County in 1744. His wife’s name was Brighid Dougherty, a native of Carndonagh, County Donegal. Their son was a lieutenant-colonel in Colonel Brodhead’s regiment through the Revolutionary War. He was in the expedition against the Six Nations, and with Harbison’s company of rangers in the border wars against the Indians. His great-grandson was mayor of Pittsburg in 1897.

Roger Connor, a native of Cork, settled at Lancaster in 1740. He established a hat factory there and purchased lands in many parts of the province, principally in Lancaster, Carlisle and York. He had Irishmen in his employ, too, and in the Philadelphia _Mercury_ of November 24, 1743, he advertised for “Patrick Dollard, a hatter by trade, aged about twenty years, a lusty, well-set fellow, etc.” Patrick was a redemptioner and had left the service of his countryman before his term had expired. It was Roger Connor who gave the land on which St. Mary’s Church, in Lancaster, was built. His name appears on the list of subscribers to the fund for the relief of the sufferers by the Boston massacre in the Revolution. He died at Lancaster in 1776.

John and Charles Connor also settled in Lancaster about 1740, and are thought to have been kinsmen of Roger. In 1758, Charles went to Philadelphia and his name appears on the list of the early contributors to St. Mary’s Church. He died in 1775 and bequeathed his property to his nephew, Charles, son of Cornelius O’Connor, of Carrigtwohill, County Cork.

Another family named Connor lived in Ashton Township, Chester County. Charles Connor died there in 1750.

Thomas G. Connor, son of another Charles Connor, who was born at Philadelphia in 1786, is buried in Mount Vernon Cemetery, Philadelphia. His wife’s name was Martha Fitzgerald.

Morgan Connor, or O’Connor, was one of the early settlers in Pennsylvania. In the _Pennsylvania Archives_, Vol. X, he is referred to as “among the first to enter the service of his country as lieutenant in Captain George Nagle’s company, in Colonel Thompson’s regiment.” After the campaign of 1775–’76 he was ordered south as a brigade major for Gen. John Armstrong. He served with credit down to the winter of 1779, and on his return in that year he became lieutenant-colonel of Hartley’s regiment and subsequently colonel of the Eleventh Regiment. He was lost at sea in 1780, on a voyage to the West Indies. According to Volume I, No. 47, Register of Wills Office, Philadelphia, letters of administration on O’Connor’s estate were granted to Dennis McCarthy, on September 8, 1780, when McCarthy, Bryan O’Hara and Patrick Byrne gave a bond in the sum of £3,000.

In a pamphlet issued by Benjamin Franklin in 1744, entitled, _Plain Talk, or Serious Considerations on the Present State of the City of Philadelphia and Province of Pennsylvania_, appears a letter written in that year by Governor Morris of New Jersey, to Governor Clinton of New York, in which he said: “There are here a Popish chapel and numbers of Irish and Germans that are Papists, and I am told that should the French land 1,500 or 2,000 men, they would in that province soon get ten or twelve thousands together, which would in that case be not a little dangerous to these and neighboring colonies.”

Edward McGuire, who belonged to the staff of General McGuire in Austria, came to Philadelphia in 1751, with wines, in which he had invested his patrimony. He was the son of Constantine McGuire and Julia MacEllengot of the County of Kerry. He established himself in business in Philadelphia, but subsequently went to Alexandria, Va., thence to Winchester in 1753, where he built a hotel and gave the ground for and built the Catholic Church at Winchester in 1790. He died in 1806. His descendants were lawyers, doctors and ministers, some of whom married into the best old Virginia families.

Acrelius, in his _History of New Sweden_ (as Pennsylvania was sometimes called prior to the English settlement), writing of 1758, said: “Forty years back our people scarcely knew what a school was. In the later times there have come over from Ireland some Presbyterians and some Roman Catholics, who commenced with school keeping, but as soon as they saw better openings they gave that up.”

Among the early Philadelphia schoolmasters, the following advertised in the _Mercury_: Charles Phipps, “from Dublin,” in 1729, and James Conway, on July 17, 1729. George Brownwell also advertised his school in the same year. The schoolroom later became a dancing academy, and was opened by “Theobald Hacket, dancing master, lately come from England and Ireland.” Alexander Butler advertised his school on November 12, 1741. On June 21, 1790, John Reilly opened a school at Columbia, and in the following year his scholars were taken by Francis Dunlevy, who taught the higher branches. This was continued until 1793, when Reilly gave the entire school to Dunlevy and opened another school at Mill Creek. It is stated in the _Magazine of Western History_ for February, 1888, that this was the first school in the American settlements of the Ohio.

Many of these Irish schoolmasters are mentioned in Wickersham’s _History of Education in Pennsylvania_.

An Irish schoolmaster taught school at Chester in 1741. Rev. Mr. Backhouse of that borough, wrote the London Society for Propagation of the Gospel, that the Quakers had “set up another schoolmaster, one of their own sort truly, but a native Irish bigoted Papist, in opposition to one Charles Fortesque.” The name of this Irish schoolmaster is not mentioned.

John Conly taught “an advanced school” at Byberry, Philadelphia County, before the Revolutionary War.

John Downey, who was among the first settlers of Harrisburg, according to Wickersham, taught school at Harrisburg for a number of years. He was also a justice of the peace, town clerk and member of the Assembly. In 1796, he presented Governor Mifflin a plan for a state system of education, “in which he discussed the whole subject of education, showing a wonderful sense of its importance in a government like ours and a clear conception of the nature of the system necessary to make it general.”

On May 15, 1767, Miss Mary McAllister advertised in the Philadelphia papers to open a boarding school for young ladies in that city. “Hers was the first school of the kind in Philadelphia” (Wickersham).

Thomas Neill was a schoolmaster in the Wyoming Valley before the massacre of 1778. He is described as “an Irishman of middle age, learned, a Catholic, a Free Mason, fond of dress, remarkable for his fine flow of spirits and pleasing manners, a bachelor and a schoolmaster.” He lost his life in the massacre of Wyoming.

In 1790, a number of Catholics from Maryland settled in Cambria County, Pennsylvania. “A school was opened there,” says Wickersham, “under the direction of a schoolmaster named O’Connor.”

Wickersham also states that the pioneer settler of northern Cambria County was a Captain Maguire. Other settlers who followed him from Maryland in 1790 were named Kaylor, Burns, McDale and Carroll, the descendants of the latter having been the founders of the present town of Carrolltown. The second white child born in that section is said to have been Michael Maguire. The number of places in Cambria County which bear Irish names indicate the extent of these Irish settlements. For instance, Driscoll, Carrolltown, Kaylor, Dale, Dougherty, Sheridan, Condon and Patton, called after the settlers, and Dysart and Munster, called after Irish places. Immediately to the north of Cambria, in Clearfield County, there are places names Mahaffey, McGee, McCartney, McCauley, Welshdale, Moran, Curryrun, Mitchel, Shawville, Barrett and Donegal, and in the other counties surrounding Cambria, are places called Tyrone, Armagh, Avonmore, McKee, Curryville, Kelley, Fleming, Connor, Daley, Downey, Lavansville, and so on.

James Nowlins taught school at Mauch Chunk. According to Wickersham, he was one of the first white men who located at that place.

“Paddy” Doyle taught school at Phœnixville. He is mentioned in Pennypacker’s _Annals of Phœnixville_. A description of him says “his nationality was revealed by a very decided brogue.”

Robert Williams, an Irishman, was a teacher at Greensburg.

John Sharpless conducted an academy on Second Street, Philadelphia, in 1791.

Rev. S. Magaw opened an academy on Spruce Street in 1800.

Philip Garrett and two other teachers opened a night school at Philadelphia in 1799, and their advertisement stated it was “for poor children and would do the teaching themselves.” Two years later their effort was organized into the “Philadelphia Society for the Establishment and Support of Charity Schools.”

In the settlement of New Londonderry, Chester County, Samuel Blair, an Irishman, established a school in 1740. This settlement was founded fourteen years before by immigrants from Derry and Donegal. Blair is described in Pennsylvania history as “one of the most able, learned, pious, excellent and venerable men of his day.” His academy was called “the school of the prophets,” and “from it there came forth many distinguished men who did honor to their instructor and their country.”

One of the most eminent educators in the province was Dr. Samuel Finley, who arrived from Ireland in 1734 and located in Pennsylvania, where he taught school. In 1744 he founded an academy at Nottingham, Md., where some of the most distinguished men in the country laid the foundation of their education and usefulness. Among his many scholars were such men as Governor Martin of North Carolina, the famous Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia, his brother, Judge Rush, Governor Henry of Maryland, and Doctor McWhorter of New Jersey. It is said “there were no better classical scholars formed anywhere in the county” than in this school. In 1761, Doctor Finley was appointed president of Princeton College. He died in 1766.

Dr. Francis Alison, of Donegal, came to Pennsylvania in 1735, and settled at New London, Chester County, where he opened a school. At the time of its establishment there was a great want of learning in the Middle Colonies, and Doctor Alison is said to have instructed all who came to him “without fee or reward.” A Dr. Patrick Allison, who was born in Lancaster County in 1740, is thought to have been a relative of the Donegal schoolmaster. He held a place “in the very first rank of the American clergy, and had scarcely an equal for his eloquence.”

The father of John W. Geary, governor of Pennsylvania from 1867 to 1873, was an Irishman who had settled early in Franklin County. He became an iron manufacturer, but having failed in business and lost his entire investment in the mines, he opened a select school in Westmoreland County, to which he devoted the remaining years of his life. His son, General Geary, commanded a Pennsylvania regiment in the Mexican War, and was commissioned governor of Kansas in 1856. He fought in the War of the Rebellion and distinguished himself for his bravery at Gettysburg. “His name will forever be associated with the great events of the brilliant Chattanooga campaign.” While in the command at Lookout Mountain, his son, Capt. Edward Geary, a youth of eighteen, was killed by his side.

William Powers, who was elected a member of the Hibernian Society of Philadelphia in 1790, is referred to in Campbell’s history of that society as “a teacher in the university.”

Benjamin Workman, who also joined in the same year, is described as a teacher of mathematics. He advertised in the _Freeman’s Journal_ on June 28, 1786, as “from the University of Pennsylvania.”

Rev. S. B. Wylie, a native of Moylarg, County Antrim, was a teacher in a private academy at Philadelphia in 1797, in which year he fled from the wrath of the British government. He was an early member of the Society of United Irishmen in Belfast. He became professor of languages in the University of Pennsylvania and was vice-provost of that institution. He joined the Hibernian Society in 1811.

William Findlay, who was born in Ireland in 1750, came to Pennsylvania in August, 1763, and taught school in Westmoreland County for several years after his arrival. He was elected to the state Legislature from Westmoreland County, and was a member of Congress from 1791 to 1799, and again from 1803 to 1817. He was a prominent writer and pamphleteer on subjects devoted to the public welfare. He was a member of the Hibernian Society.

Among the members of the Hibernian Society who were elected in 1790, Francis Donnelly, John Barry, John Heffernan and James Kidd are described as schoolmasters in Philadelphia.

Patrick Farrall, who joined the Society in 1792, and who is described as “the first clerk in the office for settling accounts between the United States and individual states” after independence had been won, is thought to have been a Pennsylvania schoolmaster.

Andrew Porter, a member of the Hibernian Society, opened “an English and Mathematical School” in Philadelphia in 1767, in which he taught till 1776, when he was appointed a captain of marines and ordered to the frigate _Effingham_. He was a son of Robert Porter, who emigrated from Derry to New Hampshire in 1720, and who afterwards removed to Montgomery County, Pa. He was transferred from the marine corps to the command of the Fourth Pennsylvania Artillery, which post he held until the close of the war. He fought in several battles of the Revolutionary War at the head of his gallant regiment, and is said to have been personally commended by Washington for his conduct at the battle of Germantown. He became general of Pennsylvania militia, and took a prominent part in all movements for the welfare of his native state. Gov. David R. Porter of Pennsylvania, Gov. Bryan Porter of Michigan, and James M. Porter, secretary of war under Tyler, were grandsons of the exile from Derry, Robert Porter.

EARLY IRISH IN ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

BY FRANCIS J. WARD, ST. LOUIS.

In 1815 the population of St. Louis was 2,000. _Billon’s Annals_ for 1817–’20 states: “The adult male population of that day was about 700. Of American birth 400, French and Spanish 150, and of foreign birth 150. Of these, fully two thirds, or about 100, were Irishmen, some fifteen or twenty European Frenchmen, about the same number English and Scotch, and some ten or twelve Germans.”

The tax list for 1811 shows Auguste Chouteau as the largest taxpayer, the Irish-American firm, McKnight & Brady, second. The first directory of St. Louis (1821) contains 749 names. Of these but few are Germanic. As late as 1827 there were but twenty-seven German families here.

In 1663 Marquis de Tracy was governor-general of all the French possessions in America, and another Franco-Irishman, Chevalier McCarthy, in 1751, was commandant of the French settlement of the Illinois territory, and in 1769 a native Gael, Alexander O’Reilly, had command under the Spanish.

Peter Conley appears as a witness to Laclede’s will. Charles Gratiot was a member of the firm of David McCrae & Co., at Cahokia, from 1771 to 1781. Among the earliest mortgages in St. Louis is that of Pierre Saffray to Joseph O’Neille. Mathew Kennedy, in 1771, executed a bond to Antoine Bernard, and in the will of Jan Louis Lambert, a merchant, who died here in 1771, is found memoranda of an indebtedness due Morrissey & Co. Both Kennedy and Morrissey were prominent merchants here long prior to this.

When Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia, determined to check the progress of the English on the Western frontier, he gave the command to the son of an Irishman, Gen. George Rogers Clark. Virginia was unable to furnish the money to equip Clark’s troops for the Illinois campaign, but an Irish merchant of New Orleans, Oliver Pollock, borrowed $70,000 from Count O’Reilly, once commandant of the Louisiana territory. What Morris did in the East Pollock did in the West for the American cause. To his financial aid the United States owes the success of Clark’s Illinois campaign. That Clark had many soldiers of Irish birth in his army is shown by a deposition taken at Kaskaskia, June 11, 1779, in which are the names of Andrew McDonald, Aaron Barrett, Patrick Shine, Andrew Coil and Tarrance Mooney.

The first American who settled in St. Louis after Clark’s surprise of Kaskaskia, in 1778, was Philip Fine, son of Thomas Fine, an Irish settler in Virginia. He came in 1781. Kaskaskia was the settling place of many Irish in the early days, among them being Robert Morrison, an Irish merchant, who arrived in 1792.

In 1800 occurred the murder of Adam Horne, on the Meramec. The commandant at Carondelet appointed as witnesses to the inventory John Cummings and John Donald, the witness to the order being Bartholomew Harrington.

In 1803 Governor Delassus organized two companies of militia for the protection of New Madrid, and appointed Richard Waters, captain, and George K. Reagan, lieutenant of cavalry, and Robert McCoy, captain, and John Hart, ensign of infantry. William Sullivan obtained the first tavern license issued in the town after its transfer to the Americans, and was appointed by General Harrison constable and coroner, holding in the latter capacity the first inquest. In 1816, when Chouteau laid out the first addition to the town, Sullivan purchased a half block, on which he built a residence, where he died.

Immediately after the transfer of the territory, Colonel Delassus addressed an official note to the new American officials commending, among others, the following officers who had served under him in the French service: James Mackay, commandant at St. Andrew, “an officer of knowledge, zealous and punctual”; also Mr. Mathew McKonel, Robert McKay, “a brave officer,” and Dr. Samuel Dorsey, surgeon of the fort.

After the transfer came the descendants of Irish settlers of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, the Carolinas and Tennessee, a sturdy, vigorous, independent and progressive race, to whom President Roosevelt, himself a descendant on the maternal side, pays tribute in his _Winning of the West_. The fathers of many of them took part in the Revolutionary War, others were those who were banished from Ireland through the same laws that forced Americans to rebel.

Among the latter was Joseph Charless, a native of Westmeath, who sought his fellow refugees, Mathew Carey and William Duane, in Philadelphia. He worked as a compositor on Duane’s _Aurora_, and set up for Carey the first folio edition of the Bible printed in the United States. Shortly afterward he left for Kentucky, coming later with his printer’s outfit on mulebacks to St. Louis, where he began the publication of the first newspaper printed west of the Mississippi, the _Missouri Gazette_, in 1808.

In 1804 came John Mullanphy, the celebrated philanthropist. His third daughter, Jane, married Charles Chambers, son of John Chambers, a United Irishman, who, with Thomas Addis Emmet, Dr. William Macneven and thirteen others, after their release from a political prison, came to America, where they rose to distinction.

James Rankin was the first sheriff of St. Louis under American rule, and the first grand jury contains some Irish names, and many transfers of real estate from early settlers are recorded this year, among them that of Manuel Lisa to Patrick Cullen and Joseph Bent. Eighteen hundred and four was the year when the old Fort Bellefontaine was selected for the establishment of Jefferson Barracks, which, after its abandonment, in 1826, was left in charge of Capt. John Whistler, a native of Ireland, founder of Fort Dearborn, in 1803, now the city of Chicago, and grandfather of the famous American artist, James A. McNeil Whistler. He died in St. Louis in 1829.

This year also saw the departure of Lewis and Clark to the Rocky Mountains, Clark being a brother to Gen. Rogers Clark. Among the party were George Shannon, who afterward became United States attorney for Missouri, and Patrick Gass.

A remarkable Irishman came in 1805—Jeremiah Conners. In 1818 he was the owner of the 40–arpent lots, on which he laid out Washington Avenue. Part of his property he donated to Bishop Dubourg, in 1820, for founding St. Louis University, the first of its kind in St. Louis. At his house was organized the first Irish society established in the city, in 1818.

William Christy, whose people came from County Down, was also a famous man. He laid out the whole section known as North St. Louis. Another large Irish landholder was Patrick McMasters Dillon, who, previous to leaving Ireland, was involved in the Emmet rising. He laid out several additions to the city on lands he purchased, his last being “Dillon’s Fourth Addition,” in 1840, on a tract purchased from Fred Dent, father-in-law of President Grant. One of his daughters, Martha N., married the celebrated Capt. James B. Eads.

Among other large purchasers of real estate in the early years occur the names of James Mackay, James Conway, Mathew Boyse, John Hogan, Hugh O’Neill and John Dougherty. A famous lawyer of this time was Col. Luke E. Lawless, a native of Dublin, who came in 1816, and who, after the resignation of Judge William C. Carr from the Circuit Court, succeeded him. Still another was Nathaniel Beverly Tucker. He became judge of the Circuit Court. One of the family married John Patten Emmet, youngest son of Thomas Addis Emmet, who was appointed professor of chemistry in the University of Virginia by Thomas Jefferson, the son of the union being the celebrated Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet of New York. Another legal luminary was Hamilton Rowan Gamble, whose people came from Belfast. In 1861 he was chosen provisional governor of the state.

In the first House of Representatives of the territory, S. McGrady represented Ste. Genevieve. In the legislative council occurs the name of James Flaugherty. William Neeley became president of the council. The first state Legislature met in the Missouri Hotel, built by Thomas Brady, a famous Irishman of his day.

Col. John O’Fallon, son of Dr. James O’Fallon, native of County Roscommon, surgeon under Washington, came in 1811, and resided with his uncle, General Clark. The name has become so identified with the history of the city as to need no mention. Francis Redford opened, in 1804, the first school for instruction in English. The honor of giving the grounds for its first seat of learning belongs to a native of the Emerald Isle. The proud distinction of being called the “Father of the University of Missouri” belongs to a man whose ancestors came from the County Tyrone, Dr. James Rollins.

The first bank, the Bank of St. Louis, organized in 1813, had as one of its commissioners Thomas Brady, and the second, the Bank of Missouri, had among its directors John McKnight and Mathew Kerr, and the Bank of the State of Missouri, organized in 1837, had among its directors Hugh O’Neill, Edward Walsh, Edward Dobyns and John O’Fallon. A branch of the United States Bank was started in 1819, with John O’Fallon as president.

The Merchants’ Exchange began as a debating Society, in 1836, with Edward Tracy as president and John Ford as secretary. The Millers’ Association, the first of its kind in the West, was established in 1849, among the members being John Walsh. Financial exchanges need telegraphic connections, so along came a Leitrim man, Henry O’Reilly, in 1847, who opened here the first telegraph office west of the Mississippi.

In military life the men of the “Fighting Race” were to the fore. The St. Louis Grays, the first volunteer organization, started in 1832, had for its ensign John P. Riley, but a volunteer company of light infantry preceded it in 1819, having for its captain Henry W. Conway. Other companies were added to the Grays in 1842, forming the First Regiment, St. Louis Legion, among the designations of the companies being “Montgomery Guards,” with Patrick Gorman, captain; “St. Louis Guards,” Daniel Byrne, captain; “Mound City Guards,” John H. Barrett, captain; “Morgan Riflemen,” Henry J. McKillop, captain.

In this review of the “pioneer” Irish in St. Louis, many names necessarily are omitted. Sufficient to mention men of worth in their day, such as John C. Sullivan, collector, in 1814; Judge Thomas McGuire, 1817; Captain McGunnegle, the Rankin Brothers, Hugh, Robert and David, who came hither from Ireland in 1819; Bernard Gillully, who was in partnership with Edward C. Cummings; James Clemens, Patrick Walsh, Richard K. Dowling, Thomas Hanley, Thomas M. Doherty, Mayor Ferguson, William Carr Lane, Bryan Mullanphy, and others.

Such men, indeed, were the “cream of St. Louis society” in the early part of the nineteenth century.

We hear much of the part played by the Irish in the creation and maintenance of the American republic in the military sense, but what they have contributed towards its civil, commercial, manufacturing or educational development is much overlooked and remains unknown to readers of the present day.

SOME IRISH-FRENCH OFFICERS IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.[2]

From “Les Combattants Francais de la Guerre Americaine.”

Footnote 2:

Published in Paris, 1903.

RÉGIMENT DE DILLON.

_État-Major._

_Colonel._

Le comte Dillon (Arthur).

_Colonel En Second._

Le chevalier Dillon (Théobald).

_Lieutenant-Colonel._

Dillon (Barthélemy).

_Major._

O’Moran (Jacques).

_Quartier-Maitre Tresorier._

Moncarelly (Barthélemy).

_Capitaines._

Moore (Gerard). Purdon (Simon). Bancks (Thomas). Nugent (Anselme). Swigny (Paul). Shee (Robert). Moore (Guillaume). O’Neill (Bernard). O’Berin (Michel). Taaffe (Laurent).

_Capitaines En Second._

De Mandeville (Jacques). Macquire (Philippe). Macdermott (Thomas), ainé. O’Reilly (Jean). Kelly (Guillaume). Macdermott (Thomas). Novolan (Christophe). O’Doyer (Denis). Lynck (Isidore).[3] Coghlan (Therence).

Footnote 3:

Possibly intended for Lynch. Some of these attained higher rank during
the war and after.

_Lieutenants._

Greenlaw (Jean-Bernard). Dillon (Thomas). O’Keeffe (Patrice). O’Farel (Claude). De Macdermott (Bernard). Welsh (Michel). Evin (Nicolas). Commerfort (Joseph). Browne (Jean). Duggan (Jean).

_Lieutenants En Second._

Darcy (Louis). Fitz Harris (Guillaume). Browne (Thomas). Taaffe (Christophe). Fennell (Jean). Hussey (Jean).

Le chevalier Whyte Seyslip (Nicolas). Swigny (Edmond). O’Farell (Emanuel). O’Farell (Jacques).

_Sous-Lieutenants._

Maclosky (Jacques). De Morgan (Jean-Baptiste). Mac Sheehy (Patrice). Fitzgerald (Edouard). Shee (Guillaume). O’Farell (Emmanuel). Fitzmaurice (Joseph). O’Reilly (Charles). Macdonald (Jean-Baptiste). O’Meara (Daniel). Khnopff (Louis). Mahony (Denis). Sheldon (Guillaume). O’Moran (Charles). Owens (Henry). Strange (Patrice). Purdon (Henry). Murphy (Patrice). Dehays (Thomas).

RÉGIMENT DE WALSH.[4]

Footnote 4:

The officers of but one battalion of the regiment of Walsh are given
here.

_État-Major._

_Major._

O’Brien (Thadée).

_Quartier-Maitre Tresorier._

Bancelin (Charles).

_Capitaines._

De Fitz Maurice (Thomas). Le chevalier de Walsh (Charles). O’Niel (Jean). De Nagle (Jacques). O’Brien (Jean). D’Arcy (Jacques).

_Capitaines En Second._

Stack (Edouard). Bellew (Laurent). O’Croly (Charles). O’Driscol (Jacques). Le chevalier O’Connor (Armand).

_Lieutenants._

Plunkett (François). O’Riordan (Jacques). Keating (Guillaume). Barry (Richard).

_Lieutenants En Second._

O’Sheil (Jacques). O’Meara (Jean-Baptiste). O’Gorman (Charles). Meighan (Georges). Mac-Carthy (Eugène).

_Sous-Lieutenants._

Keating (Jean). Cruice (James). O’Crowly (Felix). Darell (Philippe). O’Flyn (Jacques). Barker (William). Traut (Thomas). Barry (David). O’Cahill (Louis). Tobin (Jacques).

M. Macarty de Marteigue, commandant of _Le Magnifque_, 1782. Du Fay de Carty, an ensign aboard _Le Magnifque_, 1782. Abbe Maccabe, chaplain of _L’Annibal_, 1779–1781. Roger Morrison, chaplain of _L’Andromaque_, 1778–’79, and of _L’Eveille_, 1780–’82. Abbe Bartholome Omahony (O’Mahony), chaplain of _L’Ivelly_. Abbe Dowd, “Irlandais,” a chaplain of _Le Jason_. Macarty, an ensign aboard _Le Conquerant_, 1780–’82. De Rochefermoy (Mathieu), a lieutenant in the regiment de Bourbonnais.

CONCERNING “THOMAS THE IRISHMAN.”[5]

Editorial in the _Irish-American_, New York, October 14, 1905.

Footnote 5:

On page 121, Vol. V, Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society:
“Thomas the Irishman” is mentioned as in the Dutch records of New
York. Thus, Hon. Peter Stuyvesant, Director-General of New Netherland,
writing to Capt. Martin Cregier, 1663, says: “Your letter by Thomas
the Irishman has just been received.” ... On August 5, 1663, Captain
Cregier writes in his journal: “Thomas the Irishman arrived here at
the Redoubt from the Manhatans.” On September 1, 1663, Captain Cregier
writes: “Thomas the Irishman and Claesje Hoorn arrived with their
yachts at the Kill from the Manhatan,” and on the 17th of the same
month the captain writes: “Thomas the Irishman arrived today.” The
foregoing references may be found in _Documents Relating to the
Colonial History of the State of New York_, edited by Fernow, Vol.
XIII, Albany, 1881.

In the preparation for an exhaustive history of early New York Mr. Dingman Versteeg, archivist of the Holland Society, has been able to trace out many heretofore lacking details of the record of the Irishman who was so prominent here in Governor Stuyvesant’s time.

His name was Thomas Lewis, and he must have gone to Holland from Ireland some time previous to 1657. How long he remained there does not appear, but, in that year, he was sent from Amsterdam under contract to the Dutch West Indies Company as a carpenter to New Amsterdam, as this city (New York) was then called. His name was transformed in the records to Thomas Lodewicksen, a sort of Latin-Dutch combination.

For three years after this he does not seem to have made much stir here, and then he appears as the captain of a bark plying between this city and Albany. A man of such standing in this community at that time was a real captain of industry and a citizen of substance.

The favor and regard in which Lewis was held by Governor Stuyvesant is evidenced by the fact that his bark was used to transport troops in the Esopus war of 1663, and on it Stuyvesant made his headquarters, so dating a number of letters still extant.

Lewis was married to a Dutch wife, Geesje Barents, a member of a prominent and well-known family in this city. He had several children. One of them, Thomas Lodewicksen, Jr., married Frances, daughter of the famous Jacob Leisler, head of the colony, which is another indication of his father’s social prominence.

Lewis died here, on September 14, 1685, and his widow was named executrix of his will by Governor Dongan, April 1, 1686. There are many of his descendants among the various Lewis families scattered over this state, but few of them, perhaps, know that their ancestor was that “Thomas the Irishman” mentioned so frequently in the old Dutch records of Stuyvesant’s time.

AN INTERESTING PIONEER FAMILY.

James and Isaac Savage and their two sisters, came to America from Ireland. Afterward, about 1763, their father, James Savage, being then an aged man, came to this country to Newton, Mass., where the two daughters had settled. There he died and was buried.

His sons, James and Isaac, settled at Woolwich, Me., where James was early killed by the Indians. Isaac married and had a large family. His wife’s name is not known. Among their children was a son, who settled at Wiscasset, Me., another son who settled at Woolwich and another son, James, who also settled at Wiscasset. James (3) married Mary Hilton, who was born at Berwick, Me., in 1721, and lived to be 100 years old. James and Mary had seventeen children. Order of birth is not known.

They were as follows: Isaac, who married Deborah Soule; Abigail, married, June 13, 1765, Robert Lambert; Lydia, married, February 1, 1776, Daniel Ring; Hannah, born 1745, married Thomas McFadden; James, married Annah Young; Ebenezer, born 1753, married Sarah Chase; Abraham, married, in 1783, Patience Young; John, married, in 1783, Susannah Tinkham or Pinkham; Jacob, born in 1759, married, in 1781, Hannah Gray; Mary, married, in 1795, John Card; Charles, married, in 1784, Margaret Corillard, and married, second, about 1785, Margaret Rose Lovejoy; Catherine, died April 24, 1800, unmarried; Edward, born 1776, married, June 6, 1790, Sarah Smith; Andrew, born 1769, married Tamson Tibbetts; Christiana, Daniel, Ann.

EDWARD O’BRIEN’S SCHOOL DICTIONARY.

An interesting historical paragraph recently contributed, states that in 1798 Edward O’Brien printed in New Haven, Conn., his “School Dictionary: Being a compendium of the latest and most improved dictionaries,” which exists in two copies—the British Museum copy (perfect) and the Yale College Library copy (lacking ten pages). This was the first dictionary by an American author published in this country. It has no date, but is thought to have been issued towards the end of 1798. Its author, who taught school in Guilford, Conn., was born there March 10, 1757, and died there August 20, 1836. Soon after its publication its author and the Rev. John Elliott (1768–1824, great-great-grandson of John Elliott, the Indian apostle) prepared the second American dictionary, which was copyrighted in June, 1799, and published in January, 1800.

A PATRIOT OF THE REVOLUTION.

James Stevenson, a native of Ireland, was born in 1750 and was brought to this country when a child. During the Revolutionary War he served as a sergeant in Colonel Evans’ Pennsylvania regiment, was captured by the enemy and held for a year in the notorious British prison ships.

After the war he married Hannah Bull, a daughter of Col. John Bull, of Chester County, Pa., a soldier of the Revolution. They removed to Lawrence County, Pa., Mr. Stevenson dying in Poland, Ohio, in 1834. He left many descendants and a society has been formed among them. It holds annual reunions.

Among his descendants may be mentioned: John H. Stevenson, of Allegheny; Prof. William M. Stevenson, of Pittsburg; Rev. Frank B. Stevenson, of New Castle; Dr. Silas Stevenson; James A. Stevenson and E. S. Stevenson, of New Castle; T. D. Stevenson, of New Bedford, Pa.; Mrs. Rebecca Stevenson Neal, of Pulaski, Pa.; Capt. Thomas S. Calhoun, of Georgetown, Pa.; Thomas S. McCready, of Manchester, Kas.; Homer A. McCready, of Hancock County, W. Va.; Thomas W. Stevenson, of East Liverpool, O.; William E. Stevenson, of Hookstown, Pa., and W. H. Stevenson, of Hookstown.

THE HALEYS OF THE ISLES OF SHOALS.

Andrew Haley was of the Isles of Shoals. He was of Irish blood and had a son, Andrew, who married Elizabeth Scammon, of Kittery, Me., in 1697. Andrew Haley, Sr., early settled on the islands and eventually became styled “King of the Shoals.” He and his descendants seem to have long occupied that portion of the Shoals known as Haley’s Island. In the _Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society_, for 1800, is a paper descriptive of the Shoals, from which paper we extract the following: “The only secure harbour in these islands is Haley’s, which opens to the S. W., having Haley’s island S. E., Malaga N. W., a wall built by Mr. Haley, between 70 and 80 paces in length, on the N. E.... At the close of the year 1800 there were on Haley’s island, three decent dwelling houses, occupied by Mr. Haley, an ingenious and respectable old gentleman of seventy-six, and his two sons, with their families. Mr. Haley has expended a handsome fortune in erecting the expensive wall before mentioned, wharves, and other useful works. Among these are a windmill, rope walk, 270 feet long; salt works erected before the war [Revolution], a bake house, brewery, distillery, built in 1783, and a blacksmith’s and cooper’s shop.”

THE IMPORTATION OF IRISH BUTTER.

Long before the Revolution, and long after that period, Irish pork and butter were imported to this country in great quantities. A Boston paper publishes the following letter, which was dated October 29, 1763, and sent from a leading firm in Boston to parties in Ireland: “This is to Desire you will as soon as possible & without Fail Ship us from Cork 250 Barrels Best Irish Pork & 100 Firkins of good Irish Butter, the weight of each Barrell of Pork to be mark’d on the head, to be well Pack’d. This Article will be very Scarce & Dear here, that we must Depend upon your shipping it with the 100 Firkins of Butter [all] to be here in March if possible & if no oppor’y to this place Ship it to Halifax to the care of Benj. Gerrish Esqr. and as soon as the next May Butter is fit to ship we Desire you will then ship us 100 Firkins more of the best Rose May Butter. We rely on your care to have these articles of the best kind & purchased at the best Rates, which charge to our accott. We beg your attention to this that we may not by any means be disappointed, as we shall be in great want of it. We are with Respect, Gent., Your most hum. Servts, Messrs. Jona. Barnard & Co.”—(From _The Recorder_ [A. I. H. S.], Boston, Mass., March, 1902.)

THE DISTRICT KNOWN AS IRISH TRACT.

A Moravian missionary who went from Pennsylvania to Georgia, in 1743–’44, writes that while in the lower valley of Virginia: “I asked him (Joist Hite) for the way to Carolina. He told me of one which runs for 150 miles through Irish settlements, the district being known as Irish tract.”—(_Virginia Magazine of History and Biography_, October, 1904.)

TWO INTERESTING HISTORICAL FRAGMENTS.

Barnabas Palmer, of Rochester, N. H., was born in Cork or Limerick, 1725, emigrated from there with two brothers, and enlisted under Sir William Pepperill. Barnabas sailed from Portsmouth, N. H.,—one of the force of 3,000 men, 1745, and on the Isle of Cape Breton, under Fort Louisburg, left his right arm. Subsequently he settled in Rochester, N. H., married, had fourteen children, and was a member of the General Court of New Hampshire that ratified the Constitution of the United States. Here is another fragment of history: Lieutenant-General Pepperrell, in 1745, ordered Maj. John Stover to organize a company at Wells, Me., for the Louisburg expedition. The order was promptly carried out. Among the volunteers were Edward Welch, John Conaway, James Gillpatrick, John McDaniel, James Read, Michael Wilson and John Burks (Burke?). They sailed March 24, 1745, for Cape Breton. Some of the company died there. In the fall of 1745 most of the survivors returned to Wells.

WORKMEN FIND AN INTERESTING COIN.

Workmen who were digging in Congress Street [Boston] the other day found an interesting old coin which is said by experts to link the records of Boston currency nearly two centuries ago with a mintage controversy that stirred even the phlegmatic George III, and elicited some of the most famous witticisms of Dean Swift and dignified declarations of Sir Isaac Newton. It is about one third larger than an American quarter and has on the obverse side an idealized head of George III, in the center, surrounded with the words “Georgius Deo Gratia Rex.” Perhaps the intrinsic interest is in the reverse side, which has in the center a symbolic figure of Ireland, bearing a harp, and on the border is stamped “Hibernia—1723.” The first anomaly in this is that, although it was on its face an Irish coin, it was neither coined nor circulated in that country, but, owing to indignant protests of Irish dealers, crystallized by the sarcasms of that witty divine, Dean Swift, it was shipped over to Boston, where it circulated as the “colonial half-penny.” In the old country it was called the “Woods half-penny,” on account of its coinage by a Londoner of that name. This was the chief element of grievance, as Ireland was then approaching the time when the aspiration of a Grattan were to find realization, and Swift argued in his famous Drapier letters that the country should not have these foreign and false coins passed upon it.—(_Boston Transcript_, October 12, 1895.)

DENNIS MACCARTY OF WARREN, R. I.

BY MISS VIRGINIA BAKER, OF WARREN.

Since I forwarded the data relating to Dennis and William Mackarty, I have again examined the probate records of this town, and have made the discovery that the will of Dennis Maccarty of Warren was probated November 7, 1757. As Dennis of Bristol did not die until 1760, it follows that there must have been living in Bristol County two men bearing the same name, both of whom served in the French wars.

I enclose a copy of the will of Dennis of Warren. In 1757, Warren, as you know, included Barrington. You will notice that the legatees mentioned in the will were all Barrington men; therefore, I conclude that that Dennis resided in the west section of the town. Again, the testator mentions no kindred, while Dennis of Bristol had a wife and son. Here is the will mentioned:

“In the Name of God Amen I Dennis Maccarty of Warren in the County of Bristol in the Colony of Rhode Island Labourer being engaged in the expedition against Crown Point; and not knowing what Shall befall me Being now of a Sound and Disposing mind; Thanks be to God; Do make this my last will and Testament in manner following; Principally and first of all I give my soul to the hands of God that gave it and my Body to the earth to be Decently Buried in a Christian manner hoping for a Blessed Resurrection thro the merits of Jesus our only Redeemer; and as to my worldly goods where with it hath Pleased God to Bless me I give the same in the following manner;

“Item. My Will is that my Just Debts and Funeral Charges be Duly and Seasonably Paid by my executor.

“Item. To my loving and well beloved Friend Peleg Richmond I give a Note of hand I have against him of one hundred and thirty-two pounds old tenor Rhode Island currency.

“Item. To my loving and beloved friend John Roger Richmond I give all my wearing apparel.

“Item. To my friend Mary Richmond Juner I give one hundred pounds. To her sister Elizabeth Richmond I give sixty pounds; and to Sarah Richmond I give forty pounds; all to be paid in old tenor Rhode Island.

“Item. To my beloved friend Benjamin Viall I give a note of hand I have against him of Forty Pounds three Shillings old tenor.

“Item. To my beloved friend Thomas Brown I give Thirty Pounds old tenor Rhode Island currency.