Chapter VI: Part 6

“He was a humane man. Under the Duke’s laws, in force from 1665 to
1683, no Christian could keep a slave; but the New Yorkers, being
unable to keep pace with the New Englanders, who habitually used their
services, slaves were allowed to be kept by orders from England. But
in the instructions which Dongan issued May 29, 1686, it was directed
that no cruelty should be practised upon them, and the wilful killing
of Indians and negroes was to be punished with death. We find as well
on October 6, 1687, he proposed to his Council that some means be
found for releasing Spaniards and other free people who were held here
as slaves and that he forbade their masters either to sell or trade
such persons pending their appeal for liberty. Again, July 30, 1688,
he ordered that ‘all Indian slaves within the province, subjects of
the King of Spain, that can give an account of their Christian faith
and say the Lord’s Prayer shall be forthwith set at liberty, and sent
home at the first convenience, and likewise them that shall hereafter
come to this Province.’

“The troubles accumulating in England found their echo here and the
King prohibited the establishing of printing-presses here, and on
January 20, 1687, dissolved the popular Assembly. In that year Dongan
wrote ‘one of the most careful as well as most honest pictures of his
provincial government which an American subordinate ever sent home to
his English sovereign.’ In the course of it he says: ‘I believe for
these seven years past there has not come over into this province
twenty English, Scotch or Irish families.’

“The entire winter of 1687 he spent at Albany, supervising the
protection of the colony against the French, and being without
financial help from the other settlements, he pledged his personal
credit and mortgaged his farm on Staten Island for £2,000 to meet the
expenses of the expedition then raised.

“On March 23, 1688, he was superseded as Governor by Andros, who was
made Governor General of New England in America, comprising all of
British North America, except Pennsylvania. Dongan was offered the
rank of Major General, which he refused in order to remain in New
York. His homestead was at Hempstead, Long Island. He owned a hunting
lodge on his estates at Castleton, Staten Island, which were named
after his original home; and he had property at Martha’s Vineyard as
well. His city residence was on Broadway, between Maiden Lane and Ann
Street, where his flower garden was a special feature. Between these
places he spent his time, seeking to rebuild his fortune, severely
shattered by his expenditures for the protection of the colony he
loved, until the reins of power fell into the hands of Jacob Leisler,
after the flight of James II to France, when Dongan was hunted as a
rebel and enemy of the new régime, and driven to seek refuge on his
brigantine, on which he kept in hiding in the lower Bay. The winds
being adverse, he was unable to sail away, and flying to New York in
secret, thence to New London, to Hempstead, to New Jersey, and to
Boston the first advocate of popular rights was finally forced to
escape the persecutions of the people, whose liberties he had assured,
by sailing to England in 1691. Never repaid any considerable part of
the fortune he had spent to defend the honor of his country and the
safety of her colony, he died, without issue, December 14, 1715, at
the age of eighty-one years. With him the history of Irish activity in
New York may well be said to begin. While he came here as an official,
he identified himself with the Colony and with the City, and grew so
to love it that no honors appealed to him which involved leaving it.
To have been the means of assisting in conferring upon a people
popular government, civic liberty and religious freedom in an age of
despotism and persecution, is an honor which reflects credit upon the
race to which he belonged, as well as upon himself. He has been
characterized by historians as ‘an excellent and prudent magistrate’
(Winsor); ‘a man of integrity, moderation and genteel manners, who may
be classed among the best of our governors’ (Smith); ‘his firm and
judicious policy, his steadfast integrity and his pleasing and
courteous address soon won the affections of the people and made him
one of the most popular of the Royal governors’ (Booth); ‘of a noble,
praiseworthy mind and spirit’ (Gov. Hinckley); ‘a ruler who for
breadth of mind, wide sympathy and executive ability stands far in
advance of his times and measured by the system of government which he
inaugurated, is easily one of the most attractive and momentous
personages in American Colonial History’ (Driscoll). It is significant
that this great Irish pioneer should have been an office holder, a
tradition which the race did not forget when its hour of opportunity
arrived. It may be said at this time that three other royal governors
of the colony were of Irish birth, the Earl of Bellomont, who served
from 1698, and who was the son of Baron Coote of Colooney; William
Cosby, who arrived August 1, 1732, and who was an Equerry of the
Queen, Colonel of the Royal Irish Regiment and the tenth son of
Alexander Cosby of Stradbally, Queens County; and Sir William Tryon,
the last of the line. But no one of these ever identified himself with
the colony or is to be reckoned with as a constructive force.

“After Dongan departs from the scene, we again have a long period of
silence upon Irishmen in New York. The meagerness of detail as to
anything affecting their names, their activities or their achievements
is disheartening. Much of it may be attributed to the lack of wealth
or social standing upon the part of those who immigrated here in the
end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries.
Much may be charged to their desire to conceal themselves from
persecution and worse. There must have been refugees here from
Virginia, New England and the Barbadoes, where penal laws were
savagely enforced. Maryland must have furnished its quota when
religious liberty was abolished. But New York seems never to have been
so favorite a resort for the persecuted as Pennsylvania. Then again
many redemptioners must have come here, when their time of service had
expired. These were the immigrants who were unable to pay their
passage and who on arriving were sold for a specified time to those
who would reimburse the ship captain for their carriage.

“In October, 1700, a number of recruits arrived in New York from
Ireland, and one of them, Cottrill, a former ensign in King James’
army, was shot in the Fort here for participation in a mutiny. It is
evident from reading the record that these men had been impressed into
the service and coming here involuntarily, sought freedom on their
arrival. In the answers which Brigadier Hunter sent to Secretary
Popple, August 11, 1720, he wrote: ‘The inhabitants increase day by
day from New England, and of late from the North of Ireland.’

“Among the North of Ireland emigrants to New York are many who figured
prominently in the religious life of the colony. Rev. Charles Inglis,
afterwards Rector of Trinity Church, came here as a missionary in
1759. In 1766 Philip Embury arrived, and helped to found the John
Street Church. He is among the pioneers of the Methodist Episcopal
Church in America. In that year Paul Runkle, Luke Rose, Jacob Heck,
Peter Barkman and Henry Williams, all referred to as Irish Palatines,
landed. Charles White and Richard Sause, prominent in Methodist
circles, came from Dublin in 1766, and later, John McClaskey and Paul
Hick.

“Major Henry Dawson left Dublin in 1760 and resided here for many
years, serving as Clerk of the Common Council for twenty-six years.

“Among the freemen of the city we find the following significant
names: 1740, Bartholomew Ryan; 1741, John Ryan and John Lamb; 1743,
Patrick Phagan, John McGie, John Christie, John Brannigan, John
Connelly, Andrew Cannon, William Blake; 1744, Andrew Carroll, Anthony
Glin; 1745, Benjamin Daly, John Carr, Bryan Nevin; 1746, Donald McCoy,
Hugh Rogers; 1747, Timothy Allan, Hugh Mulligan, James Welch, Hugh
Gill, John McGoers, Jr., Alexander McCoy; 1748, Philip Hogan, Matthew
Morris; 1749, Alexander Connelly, physician. In 1761 the poll list
included seventy-four characteristic Irish names.

“Immigration from Ireland to the colonies in general did not become
noticeable until 1718. It was then a steady influx, though not very
large in numbers, until 1755, when it fell off and remained of less
amount until after the Revolution. At the outset, the Irish families
immigrating were almost entirely Presbyterians. The first Presbyterian
clergyman in New York was Rev. Francis McKemie, born in Ireland, who
arrived here in 1707. He was a brave and fearless man, whose pulpit
utterances led to his trial for libel, upon which he was acquitted.
The large Catholic exodus did not begin until after our Independence
had been achieved. A prominent citizen of New York in the eighteenth
century was Sir Peter Warren, born in County Meath in 1702, and the
uncle of the famous William Johnson, also born in County Meath in
1715, whose life is a romance. Warren was a very heavy real estate
holder in the city, owning 260 acres here, much of his holdings being
of land which since has become enormously valuable. Warren Street is
named after him. He was a prominent social figure in Colonial life.
Among the names of those who were active in commercial life in New
York City, prior to the Revolution, are many Irishmen, who figured as
some of the most successful and reputable merchants of their time.
Such were the two Wallaces, Alexander and Hugh, who were in business
from 1750, Hugh being the second President of the Chamber of Commerce;
Miles Sherbrooke, one of the founders of the Chamber in 1768, and a
member of the Committee of Correspondence, the advance guard of the
Revolution; Patrick McDavitt, an auctioneer in Kings Street, from
1768; Alexander Mulligan, an importer of Irish goods, beef, linen and
other commodities; Hercules Mulligan, a merchant tailor; Oliver
Templeton, an auctioneer; Daniel McCormick, also an auctioneer. During
the time of the Revolution and following it, we find the names of
Michael Connolly, dealer in lumber; William and James Constable, in
the West Indian, China and Indian trade; the Pollocks, Carlisle,
George and Hugh; John Haggerty, an auctioneer; William Edgar; John
Glover; John W. and Philip Kearney, commission merchandise; John and
Nathan McVickar, linen drapers; Alexander McComb, a fur dealer and
then a land speculator, who invested heavily in city real estate; and
Michael Hogan, in the commission and shipping business, who owned, and
in memory of his birthplace in County Clare, named the northern part
of his holdings, Claremont. All these men were representative,
flourishing men, who stood as high in public esteem as any of the
residents of the city of that day. They were all either Irish by birth
or by immediate descent. How many of their poorer fellow-countrymen
were then here we have no means of knowing, but it is significant that
while the Jews had a synagogue here from 1730, there was no Catholic
place of worship from the time when Dongan had Mass said within the
Fort until the year 1786.

“Lieutenant-General John Maunsell was born in 1724, the son of Richard
Maunsell of Limerick, a member of Parliament from 1741 to 1761.
Commissioned as an ensign in 1741, he was at the sieges of Louisburg,
Quebec, Montreal, Martinique and Havana, during which time he rose to
be Captain and finally in 1761 Major of the 60th or Royal Americans.
He was gazetted for gallantry Lieutenant-Colonel of the 83d Regiment
October 31, 1762, and was thereafter transferred to the 27th Foot
(Iniskillings). He had received for his services a grant of land
adjoining Major Skene’s at Whitehall (old Skenesborough). Coming to
New York City, he married for his second wife Elizabeth Stillwell,
widow of Captain Peter Wraxall, at Trinity Church, June 11, 1763. He
lived here with his wife at Greenwich, in the Ninth Ward, in property
belonging to Oliver DeLancey, until he sailed for England with other
loyalists in May, 1775, leaving his wife behind him. Returning for her
in 1776, he then went to Kinsale, in Ireland, where he had received an
appointment which he had requested in order to avoid serving against
the Colonies. October 19, 1781, he was gazetted Major-General on half
pay in the Irish Establishment. Living in London until 1784 he resided
in New York continuously thereafter, his city house being at 11
Broadway. He was made Lieutenant-General October 12, 1793. He owned a
farm of 60 acres on Harlem Heights, between Morris and Watkins places,
the site now being divided by St. Nicholas Avenue. He died July 27,
1795, and was buried in the Bradhurst vault in Trinity Cemetery.

“Another striking figure of pre-Revolutionary days, and an aggressive
if unpopular one, was Hugh Gaine, the printer. And it is strange that
after Bradford and Franklin, the two great figures in the early
history of printing in America should be those of Irishmen—Gaine in
New York and Matthew Carey in Philadelphia. Gaine has been a
much-abused man and was very unpopular during the Revolutionary
period, but he is an example of a successful business man. Born at
Belfast in 1726, he was apprenticed at an early age to James McGee, a
printer there. He emigrated to New York in 1745 ‘without basket or
burden,’ and secured employment with James Parker at wages of $1.25 a
week. He went into the business of bookselling in 1752 in partnership
with William Weyman, a former apprentice of William Bradford. A
characteristic advertisement of the period is the following: ‘To be
sold by Weyman & Gaine at their House on Hunters’ Key, next door but
one to Mr. Perry’s, Watchmaker; Bibles of different Sizes, with and
without the Common Prayer; gilt and plain Common Prayers of most
sorts, Church and Meeting Psalm Books, History of the New Testament,
History of the Five Indian Nations, Account of the Earthquake at Lima,
Ovid’s Metamorphosis, Virgil, Cornelius Nepos, Mariners’ Compasses,
Scales and Dividers, Writing paper by the Quire or Sheet, also choice
good Bonnet Papers.’ On August 3, 1752, Gaine alone commenced the
publication of the _New York Mercury_ at the same store, the
subscription being twelve shillings per year, and advertisements of a
moderate length were published for five shillings each. He sold books
and stationery as well at this time, and his was one of two stores
where theatre tickets were sold. After various migrations the business
was finally located at the Bible and Crown in Hanover Square in 1745.
During a bitter controversy caused by the attempt of the Presbyterians
to curb what they thought was the undue dominance of the
Episcopalians, a letter in the form of a petition ostensibly coming
from the Irish residents in New York, was sent by a committee for
insertion in the _Mercury_, to be published anonymously; but the
letter was in bad English, misspelled and full of ridiculous
exaggerations—all purposely done—and Gaine refused to print it as a
reflection on the Irish nation, of which he was proud. _The Mercury_,
in 1758, in announcing the fall of Louisburg, printed a wood cut
diagram of the fortress—an unusual piece of enterprise for the times.
That printers did not then consider advertising the principal feature
of their papers may be inferred from his apology in an issue of 1759:
‘We hope those of our customers whose advertisements are omitted this
week will not take it amiss, it being occasioned by the agreeable
advice received from the Fleet and Army at Quebec.’ In this connection
it may be noted that in 1755 he had offered for sale ‘A very few brass
mounted Broad Swords, late the property of his Most Christian Majesty;
so that the purchaser, in case of a French war, will have the
advantage of his enemies, as he can encounter them with their own
weapons.’ He offered for sale at various times corkscrews, razors and
wafers; playing cards, blacking balls and liquid blacking; boots,
pumps and shoes; hogs’ fat, shaving soap and German flutes; a parcel
of choice Irish butter, lottery tickets and patent medicines.

MR. EDMOND J. CURRY.

Of New York City.

A Member of the Society.
]

“Many books issued from his press, including a series of almanacs. But
his bookselling and newspaper furnished his chief source of wealth.
His paper was delivered in the city by messenger. We find him
advertising in 1780: ‘Wanted, a Person that will engage to deliver
this paper to the Customers in Town for twelve months or longer. Good
encouragement will be given. He need not attend more than four hours
every Monday.’ Printing paper being scarce, he continually advertised
for rags to be brought to him for purchase and in 1760 he commenced
advertising in this form: ‘Ready money for clean Linen Rags to be had
at H. Gaines’.’ In 1773 a paper mill was established at Hempstead by
him and two of his friends.

“Among the important printing done by his press was ‘The Votes and
Proceedings of the General Assembly,’ whereof the first volume
appeared in 1764, the second in 1766. Appointed Public Printer by the
colony, January 15, 1768, he also became the official City printer.
General Gage’s famous proclamation of June 12, 1775, was printed by
him, the work being done here that it might remain a secret in Boston
until published. Up to this time Gaine had given every proof of being
in sympathy with the cause of freedom, so that he was forced to fly to
Newark when the British occupied New York in 1776. The authorities
seized his printing plant here and published the _New York Gazette_
therefrom, using his name for a time as proprietor. Tiring of his
exile, he evidently made terms with the invaders, for he returned to
New York and his business was restored to him, the first issue of the
resumed paper dating from November 11, 1776, leaving behind him his
press at Newark, which was promptly seized by the patriots and a paper
printed thereon for some time. From this time on he was a thorough
going Tory, and was the subject of particularly virulent attack from
the Americans, the _Pennsylvania Journal_ in 1777 for example
enquiring: ‘Who is the greatest liar upon earth? Hugh Gaine of New
York.’ But he lived through the turmoil and after freedom was
obtained, he continued doing business. In 1788, against violent
protest, he received the contract for printing the paper money for the
State of New York. He was Treasurer and Vice-President of the St.
Patrick’s Society, a vestryman of Trinity Church and an active Mason.
He owned a country home at Kings Bridge Road, and a large tract of
land at Canajoharie. He bought and sold land in the city, there being
records of twenty-four parcels of land sold by himself or his
executors.

“Gaine died April 27, 1807, at the ripe age of eighty-one, and was
buried in Trinity Churchyard. Two of his children had predeceased him,
and three survived, as well as his second wife. His executors were his
son-in-law, John Kemp, and his friends Richard Harrison and Daniel
McCormick, the latter already referred to. His lines had not fallen in
pleasant places during the Revolution and his abandonment of the
patriot cause was never entirely forgiven, but as a business man his
integrity was never questioned.

“It is not my purpose to refer to Irish activity in the city during
Revolutionary days, for that would be a field worthy of independent
study and treatment. The roll of the martyrs of the _Jersey_ prison
ship, for example, is studded with Irish names. Nor is it pertinent to
our subject, for no pioneers came here then, as the tide of
immigration practically stopped during the war, although it is worthy
of note that Richard Montgomery, destined to undying fame, bought a
farm at Kingsbridge in 1773, and had intended to make this city his
home. He was born at Swords, near Feltrim, Ireland. Like nearly all
the Irish of New York, he did not hesitate a moment before casting his
life and fortune into the balance when the call to arms came.

“But after the declaration of peace the Irish Catholic influx began.
Among those whose names have survived, no one stands higher than
Dominick Lynch. Born in Galway in 1754, he received a thorough
education and went to Bruges in Flanders to open a commercial house,
in which he accumulated a fortune. There he met Don Thomas Stoughton
(afterwards his brother-in-law and Spanish Consul at New York) with
whom he entered into partnership for the establishment of business in
New York. Stoughton came here first, arriving in 1783, and Lynch
followed in 1785, with his fortune in ready money, the largest sum
brought to the colonies in many years. The firm dissolved in 1795.
Lynch lived in luxury, occupying a house on Broadway, near the
Battery, adjoining that of the Spanish Minister. He was a prominent
figure in assisting in the establishment of the first Catholic Church
in New York. Tradition has it that the first Catholic congregation
worshipped in Ann Street, where they were ministered to by Rev.
Ferdinand Farmer, and we find later a record of another composed of
Frenchmen and Spaniards, who met in a building in Warren Street, known
as Vaux Hall, where Rev. Charles Whelan, a Capuchin, was their pastor
in 1784. St. Peter’s Church was incorporated, succeeding them, June
10, 1785. Lynch helped from his private purse to meet their needs and
was one of the trustees and incorporators. He issued an appeal to the
people of Galway for funds to help in building the church, most of the
Irish in the fold coming from that County. He was one of the laymen
authorized by Bishop Carroll to receive subscriptions for the
establishment of Georgetown Academy (now the University) and was one
of the signers of the address on behalf of the Catholics of America to
General George Washington, four being laymen, and Bishop Carroll, the
fifth. One of his sons was baptized in St. Peter’s Church—Alexander
Didacus—born April 23, 1788, and for whom His Excellency Didacus de
Gardoqui, Ambassador of Spain, was a sponsor. He owned two thousand
acres of land adjoining Fort Stanwix on the Mohawk River, where he
laid out a village called Lynchville, which afterwards became the city
of Rome. His county seat was in Westchester County, on the site of the
present Sacred Heart Academy, at Classon-on-the-Sound, said to have
been the place where Mass was first said in that county. He died June,
1825, and was buried in Old Saint Patricks. His son, Dominick, was a
vocalist, musician, musical critic and general society favorite, whose
house was the favored resort of the most brilliant people of his time.
He lived in Greenwich Street, near the Battery, and is thought to have
been instrumental with Lorenzo da Ponte, the librettist of “Don
Giovanni” and “Le Nozze di Figaro,” in having brought to New York the
first Italian Grand Opera troupe under Garcia, when Mme. Malibran
first won success and laid the foundation of her fame.

“Cornelius Heeney, born in Kings County, Ireland, in 1754, was another
contemporaneous successful merchant. He was a bookkeeper for William
Backhous, an English Quaker furrier, at 40 Little Dock (now Water)
Street. John Jacob Astor was a porter and salesman there. When
Backhous retired from business he turned it over to Astor and Heeney,
who afterwards dissolved partnership. He was a very wealthy and a very
charitable man, and his benefactions still continue, through the
agencies he created, to maintain them. He was one of those who took
title to new Saint Patricks, the other being Andrew Morris, a
successful soapmaker, also born in Ireland.

“A trio of great men who came to New York after the rising of ’98 were
Thomas Addis Emmet, Dr. William James McNevin and William Sampson. The
lives, high professional attainments and success of the first two are
too well known to require more than a passing reference. They did
immeasurable good in instilling respect for Irish characteristics and
admiration for Irish genius. Emmet exercised a potent influence on the
early political history of the country. His location in this city,
instead of going to Ohio as he had intended, was due to the advice of
Governor George Clinton, and was followed by his election as
Attorney-General of the State within eight years after his reaching
these shores. The monument to his memory in St. Paul’s churchyard is a
fitting companion to the memorial to General Montgomery. He
collaborated with Doctor MacNevin in the production of ‘Pieces of
Irish History.’ Doctor MacNevin, in the midst of a busy and highly
lucrative practice, and while acting as a professor in a medical
college, found time to establish a bureau to obtain places for Irish
servant girls, and to publish “Directions or Advice to Irishmen
Arriving in America.” William Sampson, the third of the number, was
born in Londonderry, Ireland, January 17, 1764. He held a commission
in the Irish Volunteers, after studying at Dublin University and being
admitted as a barrister. His sympathy with the patriots and his
brilliant professional defense of members of the United Irishmen led
to his arrest after the uprising and his confinement in prison for
some time. After his release he was re-arrested in Portugal, whither
he had gone for safety, and was imprisoned on the complaint of the
British Government. Secretly taken to France, he finally came to New
York, arriving here July 4, 1806. He then practised stenography, as
well as his profession of the law, ranking second only to Thomas
Lloyd, the great reporter of Congress, as a shorthand writer. His
notes furnished the basis of many volumes of reports. But as a lawyer
he was especially successful and made a reputation for wit,
forcefulness, ability and integrity. His daughter married a son of
Theobold Wolf Tone. When Sampson removed to Washington in 1825, he was
presented with an address from the citizens of New York, among the
signers being James Kent and DeWitt Clinton.

“The years after the Revolution were fruitful of steady Irish
arrivals, without much of great note occurring. A careful study of the
statistics of the first third of the nineteenth century, so far as
they are available, would doubtless be productive of good results. By
1833 there were 40,000 Irish-born residents here, it was then
estimated. This growth had been gradual, but hardly remarked, and
certainly was not expected. This may well be realized when we know
that the graveyard in the rear of St. Peter’s Church answered all the
purposes of burial for the Irish Catholics at the outset, and, until
old St. Patrick’s site was bought from St. Peter’s Church in 1801, to
serve for a general Catholic burial ground. It is also worthy of note
that no move for a larger cemetery was made until 1826, when the site
of the present Cathedral was bought at a cost of $5,500 for that
purpose by the parishes of St. Peter’s, St. Patrick’s and St. Mary’s,
but was abandoned after a few years’ trial as being too far out in the
country. Of course, a tremendous tide of Irish immigration set in
after the famine years of 1846, 1847 and 1848. But before that time,
the period of the pioneers had ceased, and that of construction had
begun. It ended in New York with the arrival of Bishop John Hughes.
Under his masterful guidance the position of the Irish here completely
changed; from the dwarfed and apologetic attitude which many of his
people had theretofore assumed, they rose to man’s estate. He asserted
their rights and made them realize the justice of their appeal for
fair treatment and decent consideration. He courageously defended them
from unjust attack and took every possible occasion to announce the
splendor of their history and the value to American citizenship of
their racial characteristics. Impressing himself on the country, and
finally winning its confidence, he did more than any other one man has
ever done to make the Irish people an active, useful, aggressive force
in the community. He pointed out the way by which they have since
risen from poverty, misery and persecution—from an isolation worse
than the Ghetto—to a position so commanding as to seem almost
miraculous.

“There is an impression that Irish immigration is a matter of only
half a century. From this hasty sketch we have seen that it is a
matter of gradual growth, the earlier citizens being successful
merchants, adding to their capital, the later being the industrious,
if humble, whom necessity had driven abroad from a land which no other
force could have induced them to leave. Let us hope that the
inspiration of this Society may lead some one to undertake this
seemingly hopeless task of wresting from the past the record of those
who, today unknown, did the work whose fruits we are all enjoying. All
honor to the early exiles, whose very names are forgotten, and yet
who, hungry, exhausted from toil, hated and despised, with their very
heartstrings throbbing with the grief of a sensitive race justly proud
of its glorious traditions, then scorned and derided,—yet in silence
and resignation built deep and solid the foundations of the free
institutions of our country. Without these pioneers the history of
Irish genius and its accomplishments would have been the less
glorious, but without them there would have been as well a different
tale to write of this latest experiment in human freedom. New York
owes that race a particular debt of gratitude, which gave to the State
its first Governor, George Clinton, the son of a County Longford
emigrant, and his kinsman, DeWitt Clinton, the father of the Erie
Canal; which gave to the city its first mayor, James Duane, an
Irishman’s son; and which gave to the city fame as the scene of the
first successful attempt to conquer a way over the waters by the use
of steam, when the son of a Kilkenny man, Robert Fulton, saw the
fruition of his dreams as the _Clermont_ sailed the Hudson, August 11,
1807.

“Irishmen and their sons have always been fond of the city which to
them symbolized the freedom and opportunity of the West. New York has
been the haven of their hopes. Here their eyes, still dim with tears
at the thought of Erin, first saw the glimmerings of hope and
confidence. She has honored and enriched their sons, and they have not
been ungrateful nor unworthy. From tens of thousands of Irish hearts,
when the hour for the closing of their earthly pilgrimage was near at
hand, has gone up an aspiration for her continued prosperity who had
not forgotten the stranger within her gates. Many an Irishman has
voiced the wish which Diedrich Knickerbocker was represented as
uttering as the expression of the Dutchman’s love: ‘Haply this frail
compound of dust, which while alive may have given birth to nothing
but unprofitable weeds, may form a humble sod of the valley, whence
may spring many a sweet wild flower to adorn my beloved island of
Mannahata!’”

Judge Dowling’s address met with hearty applause and he received many compliments upon the masterly manner with which he handled the difficult subject assigned him.

PRESIDENT-GENERAL QUINLAN: “Ladies and Gentlemen, I have much pleasure in announcing to you that the next speaker of the evening, who comes from the garden spot of the Middle West and who will respond to the toast of ‘The Irish Pioneers of the West and Their Descendants,’ is the Hon. Maurice T. Moloney, Ex-Attorney General of the State of Illinois.”

Hon. Maurice T. Moloney:

“_Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the American Irish Historical
Society_:

“The subject suggested for me to talk on, ‘The Pioneer Irish of the West and Their Descendants,’ is one of great latitude, yet it is one that has not been historically treated as it deserves. I hope, however, in the short time I propose to devote to it, I will not fall into the same line of thought as did one of Moore’s characters. In the Veiled Prophet of Korassan, the great chamberlain, Fadladeen, when about to criticise the young poet’s story, said: ‘In order to convey with clearness my opinion of the story this young man has related, it is necessary to take a review of all the stories that have ever’—and when at this point he was interrupted by the good Princess, he became mortified at not being allowed to show how much he knew about everything but the subject immediately before him. Bearing in mind, then, Fadladeen’s misadventure, still, we should not be unmindful of our migration hither, and some of the causes that led to it.

“The successive misfortunes that have overtaken that unfortunate people ever since Nicholas Brekespear gave a quit-claim deed of them to Henry II constitute even in the blood-stained pages of English history some of the greatest tragedies of ancient or modern times, and should lead some at least of those good people who believe in future rewards and punishments to consign that same Brekespear to a warm abode.

“It is needless, no doubt, to tell Irishmen or their descendants, or those interested in Irish history, of the many migrations from that country. During the latter part of the seventeenth and the first part of the eighteenth centuries, hundreds of thousands of them filled the continental armies and many other thousands, young and old, were banished to the West Indies and the colonies, as helots, under the direction of that brutal, canting knave, Cromwell, and others. I will call your attention, however, for a few moments only, to some of the migrations of the nineteenth century.

“I find on an examination of the Report of the Devon Commission to Parliament in 1845, that in the decade from 1831 to 1841, 430,963 emigrants left Ireland. I further find from an examination of Irish Immigration Statistics, that in the following decade from 1841 to 1851, 1,508,454 left the Island, and from 1851 to 1907, 4,130,015 persons emigrated from that unfortunate country, making a total leaving the Island in seventy odd years of 6,069,432. The present population of that country is about four and a half millions—a little less. What a terrible indictment of England and her seven centuries of oppression! No language that I am capable of using could more eloquently depict her continued infamies than that contained in these statistics.

“Of course, all of these people did not come to this country. Some went to other countries, especially to the Antipodes, but the great bulk of them came to the Great Republic, where many thousands of their kith and kin had preceded them.

HON. HUGH McCAFFREY.

Philadelphia, President McCaffrey File Co.

Vice-President of the Society for Pennsylvania.
]

“It would be interesting as well as instructive to follow up and trace the careers and fortunes of those Irish exiles and their descendants who thronged the shores and trod the soil of the Republic. It has never been done so far as I know. McGee, in the fifties, and Maguire, in the sixties, each wrote a small volume on the subject, and they are of some value to the student of history. Of this great swarm, how many crossed the Alleghanies and steered their course for the West? It is difficult to say. We have not even approximately correct data on the subject.

“I think, however, I am safe in saying that half of those who came to this country within the last named period did so. In the Middle West, in the great states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Iowa,—indeed, in all the great western states—there is not a county, city or village where they or their descendants are not to be found in goodly numbers. Thank Heaven! race suicide has not as yet overtaken them.

“Maguire, in his work written in the sixties, advised his countrymen to settle in the West, especially in the state of California. His advice, no doubt, carried great weight and influenced many of them in seeking Western homes.

“I remember, as a boy in Ireland, reading his lectures on the subject, and subsequently, after graduating at the University of Virginia, I determined to go to California, but straightened conditions intervening, I was compelled to remain in Illinois. Hence, I am fairly familiar with the people of that great State, and I think the history of the Irish there would be fairly typical of them in other Western States.

“And now I think I hear you ask—what of them? What have they done, and what are they doing, in what many of you Eastern gentlemen are pleased to call the ‘wild and woolly West.’ To be frank, taking into consideration their old home conditions, and the circumstances attending their coming, they are doing and have done fairly well. They were mostly of the tenant farming class and day laborers. Manufacturing in Ireland long prior to this time ceased to be a factor, having been either abolished, or prevented by successive English Parliaments. They were of necessity very poor, they and their forebears for centuries having been plundered by heartless tyrants. No people prefer indigence and want to prosperity. It was artificially enforced poverty that compelled them to emigrate.

“On arriving in the West, therefore, they were for the most part forced to occupy the hard lot of the unskilled laborer, and I may say without fear of contradiction, what they undertook to do they did well. They dug our great canals, built our great lines of railroads, erected our telegraph lines from Chicago to San Francisco and helped to operate them. They engaged in farming and stock raising and have been successful in both. There is not a public utility in the West whose physical structure at least does not owe its existence in the main to Irish hands; and let it not be forgotten, too, that gradually, as these men were able to put by a little of their hard earnings, they tried to elevate themselves and their children in the various walks of life. They did not rest content with their lot. They knew their natural capabilities and tried to and did improve them. Many of them, too, were men of initiative. Of course, the rich and the learned, as a rule, were not among them. People of that kind do not have to leave their country to seek homes in other climes. Labor, however, manual or otherwise, is no disgrace; rather is it a badge of respectability.

“‘Honor and shame from no condition rise,
Act well your part, there all the honor lies.’

“Of course many of them,—alas, too many,—fell by the way.

“As to the work done by our people in the West, take as an illustration the Illinois & Michigan Canal, which begins at Chicago on the southern bend of Lake Michigan and enters the Illinois River at La Salle, a distance of a hundred miles. From its inception to its close the work was mainly done by Irish emigrants. It has been to Illinois and the West a great benefit. Not only was this great work done by the labor of Irishmen, but its successful accomplishment in a financial way was due to the exertions of one of them. In 1842 work on the canal had to be abandoned because of the financial condition of the State Treasury. At that time the counties of La Salle, Grundy and De Kalb constituted a Senatorial District, and a young Irishman twenty-six years of age, one Michael Ryan, was elected State Senator from there. He was, even at that early age, easily the peer of any man in the West. So thoroughly did he master the subject both as to the necessities of the canal and its resources that he introduced and carried through the State Legislature, not without opposition, however, a bill enabling the State to borrow one million, six hundred thousand dollars, to complete the work. The Governor at the time, recognizing his great ability, appointed him and a Mr. Oakley agents for the State to proceed to London and borrow that sum—no small amount for those days. They succeeded in doing so. It is said of him (and there are those still living in my home town who knew him well and speak of him with affection) that he was a brilliant man, kind and courteous, an honest man. To him did the State of Illinois mainly owe its success in raising the means to complete that great undertaking.

“Another leading Irishman in Illinois in those days was one William Reddick, a State Senator for many years, a leading temperance advocate, and a man of whom any people might be proud. He left a large fortune to the city of Ottawa for library purposes. Many of the younger emigrants learned trades and became skilled workmen. Many of them engaged in the mercantile business, at the beginning in a small way, but eventually became prosperous. So, too, did they engage in manufacturing. Many of them owned coal mines and of course many, very many, were miners. The Kilgubbin coal shaft, as it was called, a valuable property in the county I reside in, was owned and operated by one Nicholas Duncan, a Cork man.

“Of course, of the hundreds of thousands of Irishmen who have lived and still live with their descendants in the great city of Chicago, it is not possible for me to give more than a passing glance, and say that they are among the leading business men, lawyers, doctors and financiers of that great metropolis. Volumes might be written about them.

“There were not many professional men among those early emigrants. There was one, however, who deserves special mention. His name was E. G. Ryan. He was born in Dublin and came to Illinois in the thirties. He practised law in that State and was recognized at once as being among the leaders of the bar. He afterwards moved to Wisconsin and there became Chief Justice of the Court of Last Resort of that State. He was a profound lawyer, a regular encyclopædia of learning. He was probably the greatest jurist of the West, and there are those who say that he would bear favorable comparison with the great John Marshall. He has been dead for some few years.

“Very many of the descendants of those pioneers entered the different professions. In law and medicine they easily hold their own in the West. The ablest, all-around lawyer I ever met was Thomas A. Moran of Chicago, for a time Judge of the Circuit and Appellate Courts in that State. He, too, has passed out into the Great Beyond.

“Another who made history might also be mentioned.

“In early days, as we say out West, one John H. Mulkey, then about twenty years old, came to the southern part of the State of Illinois from the State of Tennessee, as an itinerant Methodist preacher. Being a man of good sense, he soon abandoned the ministry and took up the study and afterwards the practice of the law. He met with great success. He had a splendid career. He was elected to the Supreme Court and served as an honored member of that body for a number of years. In 1896, while I represented the State, he came to my office (he was then practising law) and sought a continuance of a case in the Supreme Court. I readily consented, and he dictated to my stenographer the agreement for a continuance. While he was doing so it occurred to me that he had a very peculiar name indeed, and when he got through I said rather abruptly, I confess: ‘Judge, where in the world did you get that name? I can’t think to what nation your ancestors could have belonged.’ He looked at me, laughed, and said, ‘I am as Irish as you are, but an ancestor changed the good old Irish name of Mulcahey to Mulkey, and’ he added, ‘he didn’t improve it.’

“Mulkey had a high sense of honor. He had a solicitous regard for the reputation of his profession. He was a scholarly man, a conscientious jurist. He detested a dishonest man and especially a dishonest lawyer. Apropos of this, it may not be uninteresting if I relate a few of the circumstances attending a dissenting opinion which he wrote while on the Bench. It seems that two men, one named Hughes and the other Appleton, were neighbors and both practised law in Chicago. Hughes conveyed the title to a piece of property worth eight to ten thousand dollars to Appleton, without consideration. The latter was merely a trustee. Appleton disposed of the property and converted the proceeds to his own use. The Attorney-General of Illinois filed an information in the Supreme Court setting up these facts and asking for the disbarment of Appleton. On a final hearing that Court denied the application on the ground that the relation of attorney and client did not exist between them. Mulkey not being able to agree with the majority of the Court wrote a unique dissenting opinion, in which among other things, he said: ‘This defense so forcibly reminds me of the old story of the profane bishop who had the good fortune to be a duke also, I cannot refrain from telling it. An acquaintance who happened to overhear him using profane language asked him how it was that he, being a bishop, could be guilty of swearing. “Ah, my friend,” replied his reverence, “I swear as a duke and not as a bishop.” “But,” retorted the other, “when the devil comes to get the duke, what will become of the bishop?” So, in this case, when his Satanic Majesty calls for Appleton the trustee, I should like to know what will become of Appleton the attorney.’ I might add that some years after his admission to the bar, he became a Catholic, and died in that faith.

“I wonder how many Irish names have been mutilated like that of the good judge. I fear too many.

“In the management of railroads, our people have excelled in the West. The children of two Irishmen, brothers, named Egan, born within about thirty miles of where I reside, have been important, if not chief factors in the management of many railroads. They have been connected with the Grand Trunk, the Illinois Central and other roads. I remember well, in 1894, when the great strike, almost an incipient insurrection, occurred in Chicago, that one of these Egans was selected by the officers and directors of all the railroads centering in that great city, to take entire control of their properties and manage them during the strike. This was quite a tribute to the son of a poor Irishman. Another, still comparatively young, might be mentioned. He was born in the town I live in. I remember him as a poor boy, a brakeman on a branch line running through our city. His name is Patrick Houlihan. A brochure has been written on his career and is entitled, I believe, ‘From Water Carrier to General Manager.’ He has on different lines, successively occupied the positions between that of water boy and superintendent, and is now general manager of the Toledo, St. Louis & Western and the Chicago & Alton Railroad Companies, with headquarters at Chicago. He is bright and brainy, with years of usefulness before him. He is a credit to our race.

“In literature, we have fairly well held our own. I do not mean to say that we have written as many novels, good bad and indifferent, as others, but the Rileys, the Finnertys, the Sullivans, the Clearys and Dunns, and men and women of such names have left their impress upon our literature. Many of you no doubt have met and all must have with pleasure, read that Western product, the discoverer of Mr. Dooley and Archie Avenue road, that droll, inimitable writer of ‘dialect’ a philosopher in his way—Finley Peter Dunn, who like other good men, has recently gone wrong, in having against the advice of Greeley and all the sages of the republic, migrated backwards as it were until now Gotham claims him for her own.

“And now a few words as to the tillers of the soil.

“Many of those emigrants settled upon the lands of the West, though under disadvantageous circumstances. There are many townships in my county, and in adjoining counties, and indeed scattered all over the West, that have been settled almost exclusively by them. Those lands are now worth on an average $150 per acre. Measurably, this is true of the Middle West. It is literally true of Illinois.

“Nebraska settlement, as it was called, embracing all that territory from Kansas to Canada, and from the Missouri to the Rocky Mountains, was thrown open for settlement in 1854. A large number of Irish were among the early settlers. In 1857 a convention was held in Buffalo to perfect plans for establishing Irish colonies in the West. Delegates assembled from all over the country. Three large colonies started as a result of this convention—one led by Father Trecy founded St. Patrick’s Colony in Nebraska, now Jackson. Another, under Father Powers, of Pennsylvania, went to Missouri, and a third went to Minnesota. In the latter state, additional Irish colonies have been established. They endured almost untold trials and hardships in a new and wild country. Father Trecy’s colony celebrated its Golden Jubilee in July, 1907, a dozen of the original settlers being present. Greeley County, Nebraska, is practically an Irish county, being settled almost exclusively by Irishmen, especially is this true of the towns of Greeley Center, O’Connor, Spalding and O’Neill.

“Instances of this kind might be indefinitely extended. Notwithstanding this fact, we have been criticised for not going in larger numbers upon the broad prairies and fertile lands of the West. I admit the farmer’s life is the ideal one, but it took something more than hands and limbs and brains, too, to go upon a farm. It required money even when land was cheapest. How could a family in Ireland, turned out on the roadside by the crowbar brigade, who with the greatest difficulty could scrape enough together to pay their passage to America, be expected upon their arrival to purchase land and agricultural implements, to go farming with? It was hardly within the possibilities. Even if the father came alone, as he often did, he was compelled to go to work on the first opportunity to provide for his immediate wants and save something to send to the half-starving family at home or pay the passage to America. And, if it was a son or daughter who managed to come, they were ever striving to send for one more of the family or likely enough, to send the greater part of their hard earnings to pay the exorbitant rent of the heartless landlord. I know whereof I speak. I am a living witness of those happenings. As a boy, I was compelled to leave the land of my birth, and I can say without affectation, that I never experienced more real joy than I did when making my first remittance to Ireland. Though I knew the ultimate destination of most of it was the landlord’s pocket, still I think I had more pleasure in sending than he had in receiving it.

“‘More true joy Marcellus exiled feels,
Than Caesar with a Senate at his heels.’

“Of the gold seekers of ’49 who rushed to the coast, many of them were Irish. Many settled down in different parts of that slope and as you know, many of them became millionaires. I need only mention the names of Flood, O’Brien, Mackey, Phelan and others, to conjure up visions of wealth. But, _cui bono_. The richest people are not always the most interesting even when the wealth is honestly acquired, and here I may remark (though a little foreign to the subject) if the wealth of many of our multi-millionaires were tomorrow turned into the National Treasury, it would not begin to compensate for the moral shame and degradation their practices have brought on the republic. Kerosene colleges will never make straight, or light, Heaven’s pathway.