Chapter IX: Part 9

“I had taken my perch upon the booms so as to have a chance of clearly seeing the working of the frigate, as well as the different objects of curiosity within my range.... The anchor was let go and the cable spun out to its entire length with the most fearful swiftness. But when all was out the frigate still went, stern-on, toward the bluff, as though the anchor was yet at the cathead. When she had drifted so as to be without the shelter of the Peak and exposed to the wind and heavy swell, both driving her on to inevitable destruction, unless suddenly checked in her course, none was so blind as not to see the peril, the almost instant annihilation with which the frigate was threatened, and in a twinkling it was known that the anchor had not taken hold, but was dragging.

“What means were adopted for the safety of the ship I know not, for my curiosity had full employment in following the old commodore [Sir George Collier] about the deck in his mad ravings. I have read and heard much of the coolness, intrepidity and readiness of the English naval officers in all sudden cases of emergency and danger; and this commodore was one of the oldest in commission and a staunch veteran in the service. He had seen long service, fought many a fight, been slashed and cut to disfiguration—as his numerous scars plainly told—had had one of his legs broken at three different places, at three separate periods between the hip and knee, each setting worse than the last, making his leg crooked, more crooked, most crooked.

“When he saw that the frigate was gathering sternway toward the bluff, he raved, stormed and swore at the ship, cable, anchor, officers, men, boys, hell and the devil, clinching each oath separately by a whack of his cane at and on everything within his reach. Now he was running toward the wheel at the stern, then furiously driving across the deck to the hawseholes at the bow, tacking first to larboard, then to the starboard side of the ship; yelling at the first lieutenant for not making the anchor hold on, swearing at the anchor for not obeying the lieutenant, damning the cable for not being longer, the water for being so deep, the bottom for lying so low; and, at last, when he had nothing else to crisp with his red-hot blessings, he blasted his own eyes, heart, liver and lights, winding up with a curse upon the prisoners, conveying their souls in a trice to the lower regions without benefit of clergy, for being the cause of all the disasters in store for him and his frigate—henceforth and forever.

“I was as fully sensible of the danger of our situation as any one, but I could not suppress my laughter at the antics which this hero of many wars was cutting about the decks. I have no simile nor comparison for his movements, for, verily, there is none. It was not a hitch-and-go-ahead, nor a half-hitch and side lurch; neither was it a back-and-fill, balance-haul or a bob-and-hop, straddling slide. No more like a cock-and-primed, tip-toe dance than a toe-and-heel, fore-and-after is like a cut-and-thrust, forward-spring, a back-staggering or blinker-wiper. It partook of the whole in about equal parts. In fact, I could liken his run with his crooked leg to nothing but the effort of the crab to walk upright upon a slippery surface, doggedly intent to win the wager of the half-blown terrapin, who, in the same attitude, is being balked in his first trial at the double-shuffle by attempting it in a wig, gown and Wellingtons instead of short-cuts and pumps and going at it with sleeves rolled up as an honest one should.

“At last the second anchor brought her up, and lucky it was that it did, for she had drifted within a few minutes’ distance of the bluff, where the frigate would not have held together five minutes. With the freshened winds and lashing waves throwing the spray mast-high, every soul on board must have been lost, for the water was deep and the first thing the frigate would have struck was the perpendicular cliff—three hundred feet high and of unknown depth below.”

After this narrow escape Sir George transferred his prisoners to the sloop of war _Pheasant_ and, after replenishing his stores, resumed his chase after the Yankee frigate. Just what course was pursued by the commander from this point is not shown in American or British records. It is a fact, however, that the presence of the _Constitution_ in European waters was known in many ocean ports and that several British cruisers were sent out from Lisbon, Gibraltar and other nearby ports to intercept her.

It was, undoubtedly, by means of this “wireless marine telegraphy” that Sir George so shaped his course, after leaving Fayal, that he arrived off Port Praya, March 10, 1815, only a few hours after the _Constitution_ with her two prizes, the _Cyane_ and _Levant_, had entered that harbor. The miraculous escape of the American frigate from Sir George’s overwhelming force in the offing of Port Praya is a matter of history. It is recorded that he was so chagrined over the extraordinary escape of the _Constitution_—after he had so successfully followed her, by means of the first “marine wireless,” across the Atlantic—that ten years afterward, on being reminded of the incident, he committed suicide.

SKETCHES OF WILLIAM DUNLAP, THOMAS P. JOHNSON AND THOMAS SHARP,
DISTINGUISHED IRISH AMERICANS DURING REVOLUTIONARY TIMES.

BY JAMES L. O’NEILL OF ELIZABETH, N. J., A MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE
COUNCIL.

The following short series of articles relate to distinguished people of our race who played prominent parts in the stirring scenes during the Revolution, and whose memoirs are full of interesting anecdotes and descriptions of those times.

William Dunlap, son of Samuel Dunlap, who was a native of Ireland, Thomas P. Johnson, one of the prominent members of the New Jersey Bar 100 years ago, and others are referred to. Mr. Dunlap himself, in his memoirs, gives a graphic description of Revolutionary scenes in New Jersey. Another of the articles is a history by Thomas Sharp, a member of the Society of Friends, of Newton, Gloucester County, N. J. The brief history is here quoted exactly as compiled by the ancient author, and its quaint language, with its disregard for spelling and construction, is interesting. Thatcher, a military writer of that time, gives a characteristic anecdote of Washington, which is here appended.

REVOLUTIONARY TIMES IN PERTH AMBOY.

Perth Amboy, N. J., was the home of Governor Franklin, who was made a prisoner by the Colonials in the Revolution, and sent to Connecticut for safe-keeping.

William Dunlap, painter and author, was also a native of Perth Amboy, and a graphic description of “olden times” is contained in his own memoirs in his “History of the Arts of Design.” He says:

“I was born in the city of Perth Amboy and province of New Jersey. My father, Samuel Dunlap, was a native of the north of Ireland and son of a merchant of Londonderry. In youth he was devoted to the army and bore the colors of the Forty-seventh Regiment, ‘Wolfe’s Own,’ on the Plains of Abraham. He was borne wounded from the field on which his commander triumphed and died. After the French war, Dunlap, then a lieutenant in the Forty-Seventh, and stationed at Perth Amboy, married Margaret Sargent, of that place, and retired from the army to the quiet of a country town and country store. The 19th of February, 1766, is registered as the date of my birth, and being an only child, the anniversary of the important day was duly celebrated by my indulgent parents. Of education I had none, in the usual sense of the word, owing to circumstances I shall mention, and much of that which is to the child most essential was bad.

“Holding negroes in slavery was, in those days, the common practice, and the voices of those who protested against the custom were not heeded. Every house in my native place where any servants were to be seen swarmed with black slaves. My father’s kitchen had several families of them, of all ages and all born in the family except one, who was called a new negro, and who had his face tattooed. His language was scarcely intelligible, though he had been long in the country, and was an old man. These blacks indulged me, of course, and I sought the kitchen as the place to find playmates and amusements suited to my taste. Thus in the mirth and games of the negroes, and the variety of visitors of the black race who frequented the place, my desires were shaped. This may be considered my first school, and, indeed, such was the education of many a boy in the states where the practice of slavery continued. The infant was taught to tyrannize, the boy was taught to despise labor, the mind of the child was contaminated by hearing and seeing that which, perhaps, was not understood at the time but which remained in the memory. These kitchen associations were increased during a part of the Revolution by soldiers, who found their mess fare improved by visiting the negroes, and by servants of officers billeted in the house.

“Perth Amboy being now in the possession of the British, my father returned with his family to his home, and I saw in my native town, particularly after the battles of Princeton and Trenton, all the discomforts of a crowded camp and garrison. An army which had recently passed in triumph from the sea to the banks of the Delaware, and chosen its winter quarters at pleasure, was now driven in, crowded upon a shore washed by the Atlantic, and defended by the guns of the ships which had borne it thence.

“I have elsewhere compared the scenes I now witnessed to the dramatic scenes of Wallenstein’s Lager. Here was centered in addition to the soldiery cantoned at the place all those drawn in from the Delaware, Princeton and Brunswick, together with the flower of the army, English, Scotch, and German, which had been brought in from Rhode Island. Here was to be seen a party of the Forty-Second Highlanders in national costume, and there a regiment of Hessians, their dress and arms a wide contrast to the first. The slaves of Anspach and Waldeck were there, the first somber as night, the second gaudy as noonday. Here dashed by a party of the Seventeenth dragoons, and there scampered a party of Yagers. The trim, neat and graceful English Grenadier, the careless and half-savage Highlander, with his flowing robes and naked knees, and the stiff German, could hardly be taken as members of one army. Here might be seen soldiers driving in cattle, and others guarding wagons loaded with household furniture instead of the hay and oats they had been sent for.

“The landing of the grenadiers and light infantry from the ships which transported the troops from Rhode Island; their proud march into the hostile neighborhood, to gather the produce of the farmer for the garrison; the sound of the musketry, which soon rolled back upon us; the return of the disabled veterans who could retrace their steps; and the heavy march of the discomfited troops, with their wagons of groaning wounded, in the evening, are all impressed on my mind as pictures of the horrors and the soul-stirring events of war.

“These scenes and others more disgusting—the flogging of English men and thumping and caning of German—which even my tender years could not prevent me from seeing all around, and the increased disorder among my fathers’ negroes, from mingling with the servants of officers, these were my sources of instruction in the winter of 1776–1777.”

JAMES H. DEVLIN. Jr.,

Of Boston, Mass.

President of the Boston Charitable Irish Society, now in its 172d
Year.
]

THOMAS P. JOHNSON, NOTED LAWYER ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

Among the distinguished men who have adorned the New Jersey bar few, in their day, were held in higher repute for eloquence and extensive legal knowledge, and especially for intellectual vigor and versatility of talent, than Thomas P. Johnson.

He was born about the year 1761. His parents were Friends. His father, William Johnson, a native of Ireland, emigrated to this country about 1747. He married Ruth Potts, of Trenton. Thomas was their second child. When he was quite small the family removed to Charleston, S. C., where the father established a flourishing boarding-school and gained much repute by his lectures on various branches of Natural Philosophy. His fondness for such studies seemed to have been inherited by the son, who even in his later years continued to turn his attention to them. The father died in the South, after a residence of some years there. The mother, with five children, returned to her native state, and with the aid of her brother opened a store in Trenton. There Thomas was placed an apprentice to a carpenter[3] and joiner. After following this business some time he was compelled, by a rupture of a blood vessel in the lungs, to abandon it. He then engaged in teaching in Hunterdom County and afterwards in Bucks County, Pa.—later then in Philadelphia. For this profession he had rare qualifications. Few men had such powers of communication; few could so simplify truth, and throw an interest around it to captivate the youthful mind.

Footnote 3:

The annexed anecdote was communicated to the compiler by a resident of
Trenton: At one of the neighboring courts a dispute arose between
Johnson and his opponent respecting a point of law, during which the
latter remarked in a taunting, derisive manner, “That he was not to be
taught law by a carpenter.” “May it please your honors,” replied Mr.
Johnson, “the gentleman has been pleased to allude to my having been a
carpenter. True, I was a carpenter. I am proud of it. So was our Lord
and Saviour. And I could yet, given a block of wood, a mallet and a
chisel, hew something that would very much resemble that gentleman’s
head. True, I could not put in brains, but it would have more
manners.”

While in Philadelphia a mercantile house took him in partnership, and sent him to Richmond, Va., where the firm opened a large store. There he became well acquainted with Chief Justice Marshall, and often had the privilege of listening to the first lawyers in the Old Dominion. This probably led to his turning his thoughts to the bar. After a few years the loss of his store and goods by fire caused him to return to the scenes of his youthful days. He took up his residence at Princeton, there married a daughter of Robert Stockton, and entered his name as a student of law in the office of the Hon. Richard Stockton. In due time he was admitted to the bar as an attorney and counselor. His career was brilliant. Whether arguing points of law, or spreading a case before a jury, he was always heard with fixed attention and lively interest. So lucid was he in arranging and expressing his thoughts, so quick to seize hold of strong points in a case, and, when he pleased, so well able to touch the chords of feeling, that he rarely failed to produce an impression.

He was no indifferent student of the great political questions. With the majority of the New Jersey bar, he belonged to the Washington school, and exerted all his energies in what he honestly conceived to be his country’s real interests. For his brethren of the New Jersey bar he cherished a warm attachment, and they were forward in evincing their high esteem of his worth. A few years before his death a number of them obtained the services of an artist and had a full-length portrait of him executed. This now hangs over the judge’s chair in the court-room at Flemington. He died March 12, 1838.

HISTORY OF NEWTON, GLOUCESTER COUNTY, N. J.

Newton, Gloucester County, N. J., was early settled by the society of Friends. The following history was written by Thomas Sharp, the first conveyancer and surveyor of the county:

“Let it be remembered. It having wrought upon ye minds of some,
Friends that dwelt in Ireland, a pressure having laid upon them for
some years which they could not get from under the weight of until
they gave upp to leave their friends and relations there, together
with a comfortable subsistence to transport themselves and familys
into this wilderness part of America, and there by expose themselves
to difficulties, which, if they could have been easy where they were,
in all probability might never have been met with; and in order
thereunto, sent from Dublin in Ireland to one Thomas Lurtin a friend
in London commander of a Pink, who accordingly came, and made an
agreement with him to transport them and their familys into New
Jersey, viz.; Mark Newby and family. Thomas Thackarg and family,
William Bate and family, George Goldsmith an old man, and Thomas
Sharp, a young man, but no familys; and whilst the ship abode in
Dublin harbor providing for the voyage, said Thomas Lurtin was taken
so ill that could not perform ye same, so that his mate, John Dagger,
undertook it. And upon the 19 day of September, in the year of our
Lord, 1681, we sett sail, from the place aforesaid, and through the
good Providence of God towards us we arrived at Elsinburg, in the
country of Salem, upon the 19 day of November following, where we were
well entertained at the houses of the Thomsons, who came from Ireland
about four years before, who, by their industry, were arrived to a
very good degree of living, and from thence we went to Salem, where
were several houses yet were vacant of persons who had left the town
to settle in ye country, which serve to accommodate them for ye
winter, proving moderate, we at Wickacog, among us, purchased a boat
of the Swansons, and so went to Burlington to the commissioners, of
whom we obtained a warrant of ye surveyor general, which then was
Daniel Leeds; and after some considerable search to and fro in that
then was called the third or Irish tenth, we at last pitched upon the
place now called Newton, which was before the settlement of Phila; Pa;
and then applied to S,d Surveyor, who came and laid it out for us; and
the next Spring, being the beginning of the year 1682 we all removed
from Salem together with Robert Lane, that had been settled there, who
came along from Ireland with the Thomsons before hinted, and having
expectation of our coming only bought a lot in Salemtown, upon the
which he seated himself until our coming, whose proprietary right and
ours being of the same nature, could not then take it up in Fenwicks
tenth, and so began our settlement; and although we were at times
pretty hard bestead, having all our provisions as far as Salem to
fetch by water, yet, through the mercy and kindness of God, we were
preserved in health and from any extreme difficulties.

“And immediately there was a meeting sett upp and kept at the house of
Mark Newby, and in a short time it grew and increased, unto which
William Cooper and family, that lived at the Poynte resorted, and
sometimes the meeting was kept at his house, who had been settled
sometime before. Zeal and fervency of spirit was what, in some degree,
at that time abounded among friends, in commemoration of our
prosperous success and eminent preservation, both in our coming over
the great deep as also that whereas we were but few at that time, and
the Indians many, where by it put a dread upon our spirits,
considering they were a savage people; but ye Lord, that hath the
hearts of all in his hands, which cannot be otherwise accounted but to
be the Lord doings in our favor, which we had cause to praise his name
for.

“And that the rising generation may consider that the Settlement of
the country was directed by an impulse upon tranquility, but rather
for the posterity yet should be after, and that the wilderness being
planted with a good seed, might grow and increase to the satisfaction
of the good husbandman. But instead thereof, if for wheat it should
bring forth tares, they themselves will suffer loss.

“This narration I have thought good and requisite to leave behind, as
having had knowledge of things from the beginning.”

ANECDOTE OF WASHINGTON.

Thatcher, in his Military Journal, gives a vivid description of the sufferings of the troops during “the hard winter of 1779–1780,” at Morristown, N. J. He says:

“Morristown, January 1st, 1780. A new year commences, but brings no
relief to the sufferings and privations of our army. Our canvass
covering affords but a miserable security from storms of rain and
snow, and a great scarcity of provisions still prevails, its effects
being felt even at headquarters, as appears by the following anecdote:
‘We have nothing but the rations to cook, Sir,’ said _Mrs. Thomson_, a
very worthy _Irish woman_, and _housekeeper_ to _General Washington_.
‘Well, Mrs. Thomson, you must then cook the rations, for I have not a
farthing to give you.’ ‘If you please, Sir, let one of the gentlemen
give me an order for six bushels of salt.’ ‘Six bushels of salt for
what?’ ‘To preserve the fresh beef, Sir.’ One of the aids gave the
order and the next day his Excellency’s table was amply provided. Mrs.
Thomson was sent for, and told that she had done very wrong to expend
her own money, for it was not known when she could be repaid. ‘I owe
you,’ said his Excellency, ‘too much already to permit the debt being
increased, and our situation is not at this moment such as to induce
sanguine hope.’ ‘Dear Sir,’ said the good old lady, ‘it is always
darkest just before the daylight, and I hope your Excellency will
forgive me for bartering the salt for other necessaries which are now
on the table.’ Salt was eight dollars a bushel, and it might always be
exchanged with the country people for articles of provision.”

HON. JAMES CUNNINGHAM.

Of Portland, Me.

Vice-President of the Society for Maine.
]

CUMBERLAND COUNTY, N. J.

Baptist Church at Cohansey. As early as the year 1683 some Baptists from Tipperary, in Ireland, settled in the neighborhood of Cohansey. The most prominent persons were David Sheppard, Thomas Abbott, and William Button.

Emigrants flocked into Cohansey from Ireland and it is very probable that a Presbyterian Society was formed about the year 1700 or earlier. Rev. Robert Kelsey, who was from Ireland, used to preach for the Baptists.

THE FIRST CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES. SOME POINTED COMMENTS ON THE
MANNER OF TAKING SAME AND THE RESULTS THEREOF. AN INTERESTING PAPER ON A
SUBJECT NOT HERETOFORE TOUCHED BY THE SOCIETY.

BY MICHAEL J. O’BRIEN OF NEW YORK CITY, AUTHOR OF “A GLANCE AT SOME
PIONEER IRISH IN THE SOUTH,” IN VOLUME VII OF THE JOURNAL, AND OF MANY
OTHER WORKS OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH.

By an Act of Congress, entitled “An act providing for the enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States,” and which was signed by President Washington on March 1, 1790, the marshals of the judicial districts throughout the United States were “authorized and required to cause the number of the inhabitants within their respective districts to be taken, omitting in such enumeration Indians not taxed, and distinguishing free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, from all others.” These returns they were instructed to file with the clerks of their respective District Courts, who were directed to carefully preserve them.

This was the FIRST CENSUS taken of the inhabitants of the United States, but it was far from complete, for the reason that “heads of families” only were recorded.

Eighteen months were allowed in which to complete the enumeration. The census-taking was supervised by the marshals of the several judicial districts, who employed assistant marshals to act as enumerators.

When the schedules were all gathered in, they were turned over to the President, who, on October 27, 1791, transmitted to Congress a summary of the result, which was published in what is now a very rare little volume that has not been reprinted for public use. The original schedules are contained in 26 bound volumes and are still preserved in the Census Office. They form a curious and most interesting collection, written as they were by the assistant marshals, “on such paper as they happened to have, and binding the sheets together. In some cases printed blanks furnished by the States were used, in others merchants’ account paper, and now and then the schedules were bound in wall paper.”

A complete set of schedules for each State, with a summary for the Counties, and in many cases for towns, was filed in the State Department, but, unfortunately, they are not now complete, “the returns for the States of Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, Tennessee and Virginia having been destroyed when the British burned the Capitol at Washington during the War of 1812.”

In 1907, Congress authorized the Director of the Census to publish, in a permanent form, the First Census of the United States. “These schedules,” says the Director of the Census, “form a unique inheritance for the nation, since they represent for each of the States a complete list of the heads of families in the United States at the time of the adoption of the Constitution. The framers were the statesmen and leaders of thought, but those whose names appear upon the schedules of the First Census were in general the plain citizens, who, by their conduct in war and peace, made the Constitution possible, and by their intelligence and self-restraint put it into successful operation.”

The First Census has a peculiar interest for Americans of Irish blood or descent, for here we find irrefutable evidence of the racial origin of a large part of the people of the United States a few years after the close of the Revolutionary war. There is, of course, no standard, or fixed rule or principle, by which an absolutely correct judgment on the question of the racial composition of the early inhabitants of the United States can now be formed. The available statistics on the subject are incomplete and confusing.

But, if names are to be accepted as a criterion, those who examine the Census Returns, in conjunction with the records of land grants, the parochial registers, the Colonial Records that have been collected and edited by the secretaries of state, the court and church records, the Revolutionary rosters, the old newspapers, the Registers of Historical Associations, and other similarly reliable records, must at once conclude that a goodly percentage of the people were of old Irish stock.

It must be borne in mind also that the Census enumerators made no returns of unmarried persons. This fact is important, when we place beside it the statements of reliable historians that the Irish exodus of the 18th century largely comprised the youth of the country. From the records which we have already quoted, we know that thousands of the Irish youth became indentured servants after their arrival in the Colonies, and it is not likely that these people, even though married while still in servitude, were considered of sufficient importance by the census enumerators to be included in the lists of the “heads of families.”

One who examines these records for traces of the Irish settlers will be surprised to find a most inviting field of retrospect and research ever widening before him. We do not need to wander into the field of romance, as some writers occasionally do, in search of proof that at the beginnings of the Nation the Celtic element figured to a larger extent than it has been credited with at the hands of our historians.

There is so much of dry fact concerning them in these hitherto obscure records as to make it a perplexing thought for the investigator where to begin upon an exposition of the part played by the Irish Colonists and their descendants in shaping the destinies of the future Republic. Theirs is generally a prosaic story of trials bravely borne, of victories snatched from rude nature in the face of many difficulties. The pioneer settlers lived a simple but rude life on the frontiers of civilization, free from the artificialities of our latter-day mode of living, but they made the wilderness which they found to blossom as the rose and to become a fair habitation for the generations that have succeeded them.

Their story would hardly be worth relating were it not for the fact that it affords the proof that men and women of our race and blood were of the “warp and woof” from which has been evolved the new and composite race, miscalled “Anglo-Saxon,” which has made this Western Hemisphere the leader among the nations of the civilized world.

It is in the Census of the Southern States that Irish names appear in the greatest numbers. During the first half of the 18th century there were large immigrations of Irish people to the Carolinas, who spread themselves over an immense area, reaching from the Santee river to the eastern boundary line of Georgia, and as far north as the dividing line of North Carolina. Doubtless, the majority of those on the Census Returns bearing Irish names were descendants of those early settlers, rather than natives of Ireland.

The historian Lossing says: “Between the years 1730 and 1740 an Irish settlement was planted near the Santee river in South Carolina, to which was given the name of Williamsburg Township. Up the Pedee, Santee, Edisto, Savannah and Black rivers settlements spread rapidly, and soon the axe and the plough were plying with mighty energy, and from the North of Ireland such numbers departed for Carolina that the depopulation of whole districts was threatened.”

Williamsburg he calls a “hotbed of rebellion” during the Revolutionary war. As soon as General Francis Marion received his commission from Governor Rutledge, we are told, “he sped to the district of Williamsburg between the Santee and Pedee to lead its rising patriots to the field of active military duties.” (The rosters of General Marion’s brigade contain a large number of Irish names.)

Ramsay also refers to these Irish settlements and deals with them at length in his History of South Carolina. He says that the district was named Williamsburg by an Irishman named James, who came to the Colony with his father in 1733. It is now called Kingstree, and the county in which it is situated is still named Williamsburg.

Sims’ _Life of General Marion_ says: “the people of Williamsburg were sprung generally from Irish parentage. They inherited in common with all the descendants of the Irish in America a hearty detestation of the English name and authority. This feeling rendered them excellent patriots and daring soldiers wherever the British lion was the object of hostility.”

Other local historians of the South also refer to the Irish settlements in this territory, which continued with but intermittent intervals down to the closing years of the 18th century. When we turn to the Census schedules we find that the statements of the historians are amply corroborated.

In the Williamsburg district, that “hotbed of rebellion,” we find mention of such Irish families as Burke, Barrett, Biggen, Butler, Barron, Bryan, Broaderick, Boland, Brady, Bradley, Cain, Cummins, Connor, Cunningham, Collins, Conway, Callihan, Cronan, Cantey, Corbett, Connell, Castlelaw, Creed, Conally, Cochran, Dunn, Dempsey, Dawson, Dollard, Downing, Donoho, Donnally, Delaney, Dillin, Dailey, Dulon, Dogharty, Earley, Flin, Foley, Fitzpatrick, Faning, Gorman, Galaspy, Gibbons, Gallivant, Ganey, Gowen, Gavin, Gallaher, Gill, Garven, Hagan, Hart, Harrington, Hayes, Hainey, Joice, Jordan, Kennedy, Keenan, Kelly, Kelty, Keen, Keefe, Kerns, Kailey, Lynch, Leysath, Murphy, McCalvey, McCartney, McGill, McFarlin, Manning, McCormic, McKenny, McDowell, McKee, McGinney, McCauley, McBride, McMullan, Mulhollen, Mitchel, McConnell, McClare, McIlveen, McGee, McFadden, Moore, McCottery, McElroy, McMelly, McCleary, McDaniel, McDonald, McCarthy, McCall, McSwain, McWilliams, Morrison, McGraw, McCausland, McCune, McElhaney, McFail, McClendon, McGrath, McElduff, McAdams, McCoy, McCary, McCain, Mahon, O’Brian, O’Neil, O’Cain, O’Bannon, Phelon, Powers, Quinn, Rogers, Roach, Riley, Reidy, Rial, Ryan, Sullivan, Shealds, Swiney, Steele, Shannon, Timmons, Toole, Ward and Walsh.

These are not all. Of the Murphys alone there were in the Williamsburg district eleven families, nine Kellys and several distinct families named O’Brian, O’Neil, O’Bannon and McCarty.

We have selected only one of each name, in order to show that the Irish settlements spoken of by Lossing, Sims and Ramsay were drawn from the South, East and West, as well as from the North of Ireland. American historians are in the habit of saying that the immigrants from Ireland were mainly the so-called “Scotch-Irish” element from the northern counties. While it is true there were large settlements of Scotch Gaels in the Carolinas, it is seen from the foregoing list that nearly every county of Celtic Ireland was represented in the “hotbed of rebellion” of South Carolina.

We see from the Census Returns that the collectors wrote down the names phonetically in most cases, having paid little or no attention to spelling, or the use of capital letters where they were needed. Some peculiar transformations in names resulted from the carelessness or ignorance of the enumerators. For instance, we find O’Neill spelled “onailes” and “Ownaile”; O’Brien spelled “Obrient” and “Obriant”; O’Farrell as “Opherl,” and Casey as “Caycey”; Donovan is down as “Dunnevant” and “Dunnaphant”; Doherty as “Dehoitey” and “Dohoty”; Nolan as “noling”; Sullivan as “Sellivent,” “Swillevaun” and “Sewlovan”; Murphy as “Murff,” “Murph,” “Murpry” and “Murfree”; Gallagher as “Gollerhorn”; Flynn as “Phlyn” and “Fling”; Kinsella as “Kincheloe”; McLaughlin as “Maklafflin”; O’Hara as “Oharroe”; and O’Ryan as “Orion.”

To the prefix “Mac” the enumerators, in many cases, gave the sound of “Mag.” Thus we have such name transformations as “Magnamee” and “Magmanous.” We also find “Makmain” for McMahon and “Muckleroy” for McElroy, and so on. Fitzgeralds are down as “Fitzjarrel” and “Jarrel”; Fitzpatrick as “Fitchparterack” and “Pitch Patrick”; Reilly as “Royley” and “Royalley”; Cassidy as “Casaty.” In some Southern city directories we have come across the name of “Pitch,” and we wonder if some of these are not descendants of the “Pitch Patricks” or Fitzpatricks!

It would be difficult to think of an old Irish name that is not represented in the First Census, and which was not, at some time or other, translated into something very different in appearance, and sometimes only partially retaining the sound of the original name. In the mutations of time, even these new names became still further changed, so that many of the present-day descendants of the Irish pioneers of the Carolinas cannot be recognized as at all of the old Gaelic race.

The most numerous Irish name on the First Census of South Carolina is Murphy, there having been 50 distinct families of that name, although the 48 Kelly families gave them a close race. The Gill and McGill families run nip and tuck with the O’Neills and the Nealls. There were 34 of the former to 33 of the latter. The O’Briens and O’Bryans ran the gauntlet of many changes. The Census enumerators failed to appreciate the significance of the regal prefix “O,” so they wrote down the name Obrient, Obriant, Bryan and Briant. There were 53 of these in South Carolina in 1790.

HON. ALEXANDER C. EUSTACE.

Elmira, N. Y.

Ex-President New York Civil Service Commission.

A worthy Member from New York State.
]

The Celtic “Macs” make a great showing. There are upwards of one thousand of such families in all, the “Macs” that are indigenous to Ireland being more numerous than those that are supposed to be exclusively native to Scotland. When we consider that, in 1790, the total number of free white males of 16 years and upwards in South Carolina was only 35,756, we can readily understand that one thousand heads of families, with their wives and children, must have constituted a large percentage of the total population. An examination of the Census Returns indicates that the average number of children to each of the Irish-named families was five, so that, on a conservative estimate, the “Macs” alone must have contributed nearly 20 per cent to the population of South Carolina!

We find 40 Ward families, 26 McClure families, 26 McDaniels, 23 McKees, 22 McCoys, 20 McDowells, 19 Cauleys and McCauleys, 19 Mahons and McMahons, 18 McCalls, 17 McBrides, 17 McConnells, 16 McCarts and McCartys, 12 McNeills, 11 McFaddens, and 10 McMullan families. There are also numbers of McCormacks, McGees, McGowens, McGraws, McGuires, McCrackens, McCanns, McCartneys, McCarys, McClearys, McClendons, McCollums, McElroys, McKennys, McKelveys, McLaughlins, McManus, and many other similar Irish family names.

There are 41 distinct families of Bradleys recorded, 29 Harts, 24 Sullivans, 28 Reynolds, 22 Canes and Kains, 22 Hayeses, 22 Hendricks, 21 Dunns, 23 Connors and O’Connors, 21 Carrolls, 20 Logans, 20 Reillys and Royleys, 17 Dawsons, 14 Gilmores, 16 Manions and Mannings, 12 Hagans, 13 Walshes and Welches, 13 Higginses, and 11 Lynch and Linch families.

Among names that are common to Ireland and England, there are 113 families named Moore in the First Census of South Carolina, 80 Rogers and Rodgers, 24 Morrows, 46 Collinses, 42 Butlers and 41 Fords. There are 43 heads of families named Mitchell, 41 Montgomery, 26 McDonald, 26 Cunningham, 18 Gillespie, 17 Cochran and 22 Kennedy families, some of whom, no doubt, were Scotch.

Such names as Brady, Burke, Casey, Connelly, Corbett, Cassidy, Callahan, Cleary, Cummings, Curry, Daly, Doherty, Donnelly, Dempsey, Dowling, Duggan, Doyle, Donovan, Ennis, Fitzgerald, Fogarty, Fitzpatrick, Flinn, Garrett, Garvin, Gorman, Hogan, Jordan, Kearns, Lyons, Malone, Mulligan, Madden, Morrison, Nolan, O’Bannon, Quinn, Regan, Roach, Ryan, Rutledge, Shannon and Shiels, as well as others of ancient Irish origin, occur quite frequently in the Census Returns, and in all parts of the state. Indeed, we might say, with startling frequency, if they are examined by that set of persons who are so fond of telling us that the American people are of Anglo-Saxon origin!

Besides the old Irish clan names, it is seen that a very large number of the early inhabitants of South Carolina bore names that have been common in Ireland for centuries, although not all of Irish origin. There are many Browns, Grays, Greens, Whites, Griffins, Grimeses, Rices, Savages, Steeles, Glovers, Raineys, Rays, Flemings, Staffords, Shaws, Gastons, Parnells, Mileses, Reeds, Fergusons, Coxs, Courtneys, Clarks, Carrs, Kerrs, Allens, Pattersons, Berrys, Hails, Henrys, Morrises, Martins, Lowrys, Hollands, Morrows, Jacksons, Laceys, Masseys and Leonards.

That some of these people were Irish seems beyond doubt, particularly when we find such distinctive Irish Christian names as Darby, Malachi, Patrick, Brian, Cormac, Connor and the like. And when we see O’Bryan Smiths, Patrick Smiths, and Michael and Jeremiah Smiths, and other similar name combinations, we can safely assume that in the majority of cases they were of Irish origin or birth.

MEMORIAL TO JERSEY PRISON SHIP HEROES.

Since many prominent Irish Americans played an important part in the success of the project for a fitting memorial to the heroes of the British prison-ships of the Revolution, it is fit that reference be made here to this noble tribute and the manner of its accomplishment.

The magnificent monument, costing in the neighborhood of $200,000, was dedicated at Fort Greene Park, Borough of Brooklyn, New York, on November 14, 1908, in the presence of one of the most distinguished and representative gatherings which ever honored a like occasion in this country. Addresses were made by President-elect Taft, by Governor Hughes of New York, Secretary Luke E. Wright of the Navy, and by other distinguished men, including Patrick F. McGowan, Chairman of the Board of Aldermen of the City of New York, and Daniel F. Cohalan, Grand Sachem of the Tammany Society of New York, an organization which did much toward the success of the project and which contributed a substantial amount.

The monument itself is one of the finest memorials in the world. It stands in the center of a broad plaza, reached by three flights of 34 steps each, 100 feet in width. The height from the bottom of the plaza to the top of the monument is nearly 200 feet. The top is accessible and is reached by an electric elevator. The monument is constructed of white granite from New York state, and the steps from granite quarried at Stonington, Penobscot Bay, Maine. The architects were McKim, Mead and White, and the work is said to have been the last of an extensive nature by the late Stanford White.

The funds for the erection of this noteworthy tribute were obtained through a government appropriation of half the amount, a state appropriation of $25,000, an appropriation by the city of twice that amount, and the rest through subscriptions from societies and historical and patriotic organizations. The Tammany Society contributed the final $1,000 to complete the required amount. This well-known organization was the very first to secure a proper recognition of the courage and patriotism of the prison ship martyrs more than one hundred years ago.

Among the heroes of the British prison-ships were many of Irish birth or extraction, and it is therefore a subject for pride and satisfaction to us as a race that their valor has at last been recognized, and especially that an organization largely controlled by our people has played so important a part in the accomplishment of such recognition. Never in the history of the world have prisoners of war been made the victims of such unexampled cruelties as those practised on the Americans by the British in the Revolution, and it is a striking and never-to-be-forgotten commentary on British methods toward their enemies in war that the record of the prison-ships of the Revolution is deemed by all the world a black mark on English history.

THE IRISH IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

SHORT ADDRESS DELIVERED BY MASTER KARL EGAN, AT THE IOWA OPERA HOUSE,
EMMETSBURG, IOWA, MARCH 17, 1909, DURING THE PRESENTATION OF THE
IRISH DRAMA, “THE HERO OF WICKLOW,” UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE
ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS. SOME FACTS OF INTEREST TO THE PEOPLE OF
IRISH BIRTH OR ANCESTRY.

_Ladies and Gentlemen_: On this important anniversary, which is associated with so many achievements of interest to the people of our race, it is fitting to enquire what part the Irish took in the Revolutionary War. What did they do for the cause of human liberty at this most critical time in the world’s history? All we ask is the truth. For some reason our ordinary school histories have never given us any credit for the prominent part our ancestors took in that great struggle. What I shall say will bear the closest historical investigation.

It was Patrick Henry, who, by his soul-stirring speech, aroused the members of the Virginia Assembly to a sense of patriotic duty. In 1776 he ran for governor on the Independence ticket and carried that important colony for the Revolutionary cause. Still, he claimed that John Rutledge of South Carolina was the greatest American orator of his time. The latter was also elected president of South Carolina in 1776, on the same ticket. John Rutledge and Patrick Henry were both sons of Irishmen.

MR. WILLIAM J. FEELEY.

Of Providence, R. I.

One of the Committee in charge of the Sullivan Memorial and under
whose guidance the Memorial was designed and executed.
]

During the Revolutionary War men of Irish birth or ancestry served as governors in South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. They were among the most ardent and fearless of the patriots of that history-making period.

It was in John Duggan’s tavern in Boston that the Boston Tea Party was planned. Several Irishmen were in the execution of the plan.

Eleven of the fifty-four members of the first Continental Congress were Irishmen and sons of Irishmen. Thomas Johnson, who nominated George Washington for commander-in-chief of the American forces, was a Celt of the old school.

The war began April, 1775, but it was not officially declared until July 4, 1776. October 15, 1775, Congress sent a committee to interview General Washington and to decide as to the advisability of continuing the struggle. Of the five who participated in that most important conference, Joseph Reed and Thomas Lynch were Irish. The other members were Benjamin Franklin, Colonel Harrison and General Washington.

A rough draft of the Declaration of Independence was prepared by Thomas Jefferson. It was re-written and carefully revised by Charles Thompson, who was styled the Samuel Adams of Philadelphia, and the life of the cause of liberty. When the Declaration was first proclaimed, it was signed by John Hancock, as president of the Continental Congress, and by Charles Thompson, as secretary. The other names were attached later. Thompson was an Irishman and Hancock an Irish American. John Nixon first publicly read it and Thos. Dunlap first printed it and published it to the world. Both were Celtic to the backbone. Who periled most in signing the immortal document? History answers, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, another Irish American.

Who fought the hardest in the British House of Parliament for the rights of American colonists? Edmond Bourk, an Irishman, and one of the greatest statesmen the world has ever known.

In placing his most important officers, General Washington had Morgan and Hand leading his rifles, Knox at the head of his artillery, John Dunlap as his life guard, Edward Hand as his adjutant-general, Andrew Lewis as his brigadier-general, Stephen Moylan and John Fitzgerald as his aids, and Ephraim Blaine as his quartermaster. All were Irish by birth or ancestry. When Washington was retreating through New Jersey, he sent word to Thomas Johnson, a Maryland Celt, that he had not enough men to fight the British and too few to run away with. Johnson raised a force of 1,800 men and hurried to his assistance.

All students of American history have read of the gallant Richard Montgomery, Mad Anthony Wayne, John Sullivan, Daniel Morgan, Stephen Moylan, John Fitzgerald, Henry Knox, Wm. Irvine, Richard Butler, and Generals Cochran, Campbell, McDowell, McCall, McClary, Jasper, Graham, Hazelett, Colonel Pickens, and many others who were among the most valiant and successful officers in that eventful conflict. All belonged to our liberty-loving, heroic race. It has been officially ascertained that out of 131 of the most prominent officers in the war for American Independence, 20 were of English ancestry, 25 of French, 10 of German and Dutch, 8 of Scotch, 2 of Polish, and 84 of Irish and Welch. Commodores Barry, Perry, McDonough and Stewart, of the wars of 1776 and 1812, were scions of brave-hearted exiles from the Emerald Isle.

June 16, 1779, Joseph Galloway, speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, who had to fly to England because of his sympathy with the Tories, was examined as a witness by a committee of the British House of Parliament, and he testified that the Irish constituted one-half of the American army, the native Americans one-fourth and that the other one-fourth were English and Scotch. This statement is corroborated by Lecky, the English historian, Lord Mountjoy, General Lee, Count Rochambeau, Col. J. C. Custis, the adopted son of General Washington, and Rev. P. Allison, the Presbyterian chaplain of Washington’s army. They are competent authorities. President Roosevelt and James G. Blaine, in public addresses, have acknowledged, in substance, the accuracy of this testimony. Hutchinson, the last royal governor of Massachusetts, declared that his colony would never have voted for independence, had it not been for the rebellious Irish.

There were 15 Irish in the battle of Lexington and 258 at Bunker Hill. The monument at Bunker Hill is covered with Irish names. Captain Parker, who commanded at Lexington, and who was killed, was Irish. Colonels Barrett, Smith and Davis, who commanded at Concord, were also Irish. When the American forces took possession of Boston, John Sullivan was officer of the day and the countersign was “St. Patrick.”

After the treason of Benedict Arnold, General Washington ordered that none but the Irish be placed on guard at West Point.

When the soldiers of Lafayette were half naked and starving, the Irish people of Baltimore, then a place of only one hundred homes, gave them food and clothing. In 1780, when the finances of the struggling republic were at the lowest ebb, when it took from $30 to $50 in paper to make $1 in specie, after our soldiers had suffered at Valley Forge and elsewhere, the business men of Philadelphia raised 315,000 lbs. sterling and gave it to Congress. Twenty-seven Irishmen of that city contributed 103,500 pounds of that amount. They were members of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, which gave 399 officers of the highest rank to the city, state and nation during its early history. Washington became an honorary member of that patriotic organization.

When our country so badly needed assistance, Bishop Carroll accompanied Benjamin Franklin to France to seek the aid of that country. It was secured. History gives Franklin the credit, but does not mention the name of Bishop Carroll, who really made the mission a successful one. Bishop Carroll also accompanied Franklin to the French Canadian provinces for a similar purpose.

There were twelve Irish delegates to the convention that adopted the Constitution, and there were five Irishmen in the first United States Senate of twenty-two members.

Dr. Hugh Knox educated Alexander Hamilton, who was a poor boy. Doctor Knox was a big-hearted Irishman. It was Matthew P. Lyon, an Irishman, who was sold as a slave in Connecticut when a mere boy, who, on the thirty-sixth ballot, as a congressman from Vermont, later in life, cast the deciding vote that elected Thomas Jefferson president of the United States over Aaron Burr.

Many who came with the French to assist the Americans were sons of Irishmen, who had been driven to France with Patrick Sarsfield after the treachery of the British at Limerick in 1691.

From 1691 to 1791, over 400,000 different Irishmen served in the French army. When the Revolutionary War broke out, they petitioned the French War Department to come to America to fight their national foes. There were entire Irish regiments in the French army when Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. A young Irishman, Robert Wilson, was appointed to take charge of the surrendered flags and the news of the great victory was sent in haste to President Thomas McKean, of the Continental Congress at Philadelphia. McKean was one of the foremost Irish Americans of his time.

Molly Pitcher and Nancy Hart, two Irish women who participated in the Revolutionary War, deserve rank with the greatest heroines in history.

The Irish were among the leading educators, journalists, theologians, historians, scientists, canal constructors, and railway builders of the decades subsequent to the Revolutionary War. They were leaders in laying substantially the broad foundation for our material, educational and moral greatness. They gave us such statesmen as James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, John C. Calhoun, James K. Polk, and many others, who were among the very ablest national leaders in the early history of our republic.

I shall not refer to the part the Irish took in the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the great Civil conflict, or the Spanish-American struggle for supremacy. All I ask is for you to reflect on their great fight for liberty from 1775 to 1783—that struggle that has been felt around the world—and to tell the facts to your children, to your friends, and to your fellow citizens, for they will not, for some unknown reason, find it in ordinary histories. I can do no better than to quote, in closing, the words of Colonel John Parke Custis, the adopted son of General Washington:

“Then honored be the old and good services of the sons of Erin in the war of independence. Let the shamrock be entwined with the laurels of the Revolution; and truth and justice, guiding the pen of history, inscribe on the tablets of American remembrance: ‘Eternal gratitude to Irishmen.’”

HON. THOMAS HASSETT.

New York.

Elected a Life Member in 1908.
]

HON. ELI THAYER, ONE OF THE EARLY MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN IRISH
HISTORICAL SOCIETY. A MOST DISTINGUISHED AMERICAN, KNOWN THE WORLD OVER.
A FEW FACTS ABOUT HIS LIFE AND WORK.

BY THE SECRETARY-GENERAL.

Hon. Eli Thayer was born in the town of Mendon, in the state of Massachusetts, June 11, 1819, and deceased at Worcester, in that state, April 15, 1899, aged eighty years.

He was elected a member of the American Irish Historical Society in 1897, shortly after its first meeting, and was an active and interested member at the time of his death.

Mr. Thayer was a descendant in the seventh generation from Thomas Thayer and seventh in descent from John Alden of _Mayflower_ fame, through Ruth, daughter of Rev. Noah Alden of Bellingham, Mass., who married his grandfather, Benjamin Thayer. John Alden was an Irishman and Thomas Thayer was Irish on the side of one of his parents.