Part 3

The slave trade was the object of some of these voyages, commerce of others, while the fisheries engaged the attention of the rest. In 1738, Newport alone had over one hundred vessels engaged in business throughout the world. In 1763, the same place sent out 182 vessels on foreign voyages in addition to the 352 coastwise and fishing vessels. These were manned, all told, by 2,200 seamen. In June and July, 1774, the vessels arriving at Newport from foreign voyages numbered 64, in addition to 132 coastwise and 17 whalers.

Providence was also a great port. An address to Congress, in 1790, stated that there “is a greater number of vessels belonging to this port (Providence) than to New York,” and that “it is a place of more navigation than any of its size in the Union.” Fortunes were rapidly made by merchants engaged in the foreign trade, while domestic commerce also brought in its wealth. In reaching out to trade with the world Rhode Island merchants, unlike some “historians” of today, did not forget Ireland.

Several Rhode Island vessels made regular voyages to and from Irish ports. Others made occasional ones, or touched at Belfast, Newry, Dublin, Londonderry, Cork or Waterford, on their way to or from British and other ports. A list of fifteen vessels engaged regularly or occasionally in the Irish trade, is here given: Ships, _Hope_, _Mary_, _Neptune_, _Tristram_, _Nancy_, _Robert Burns_, _Catherine_ and _Faithful Stewart_; brigs, _Little John_, _Betsy_, _Recovery_, _Sally_, _Lydia_ and _Happy Return_; schooner, _Mayflower_. There were probably many others, but these fifteen are sufficient to illustrate the point.

Among the captains were Rathbun, Davis, Ambrose, Taggart, Dring, Warner, Crawford, Staples, Coffin, Noyes, Allen, Smith, Cook, McCansland, Coggeshall and Howland.

Of the foregoing vessels, the _Mary_ and _Little John_ belonged to George Gibbs of Newport; the _Hope_ to Samuel Fowler of Newport; the _Betsy_ to Charles Handy and the _Recovery_ to Chris. Ellery, both also of Newport. These five vessels are specifically mentioned in the _Newport Historical Magazine_ as making regular voyages to Ireland. From time to time the Newport _Mercury_ chronicles the arrival from Ireland, or departure therefor, of other ships and brigs. These were all in addition to those sailing between Ireland and Providence.

Among the articles imported from Ireland to Rhode Island at various times, were linen and woolen goods, Irish poplins, cambrics, lawns, silks, hosiery, sheetings, etc. Irish butter, beef and other food products, were also imported. The Newport _Mercury_, August 3, 1772, contains an advertisement in which, among other things, “Irish beef” is announced for sale. In the Providence _Gazette_, November 20, 1762, appears the following:

“By the Newport packet from New York, we are informed, for certain, that there are 2000 Firkins of the Best Irish Rose butter, arrived there.—A quantity of it is expected to be imported into this town, which we are confident will fall the price of that commodity.” Under date of December 25, 1762, the _Gazette_ says: “Since our last, we hear that a vessel has arrived at Newport from Ireland, with 1300 Firkins of butter—Captain Champlain, the master of her, died soon after he came out.” In December, 1764, a vessel from Ireland mistook her bearings and went ashore on Block Island. The following notice of the disaster was published in the _Gazette_, January 12, 1765:

“On the 25th of last month, in the day time, a large double-decked brig, loaded with beef, pork, butter, and candles, bound from Ireland to Halifax run ashore on the north part of Block Island, where she soon beat to pieces; the people were all saved except the boatswain, who perished on the deck, which he would not be permitted to quit with the rest.—About 500 barrels of the cargo, with some other articles, were also saved. The master’s name we cannot learn.”

The name of the wrecked brig is believed to have been the _Golden Grove_. Her Irish cargo was in the nature of supplies for the British garrison at Halifax. The fact that the cargo consisted of beef, pork, butter and candles, indicate that those articles were exported from Ireland in considerable quantities at that period.

Speaking of this wreck, recalls the fact that in 1763, the year before, a Rhode Island vessel was stranded on the Irish coast. She was the _Samuel and Joseph_, Captain Brown, bound for Amsterdam. In November and December, 1766, the Providence _Gazette_ contained this advertisement:

FOR BELFAST,

THE SHIP

Catherine, Thomas Allen, commander; Takes in her cargo at Newport, and will be ready to sail by the 12^{th} Day of January.—For freight or passage, apply to said Captain on board or to Mr. Benjamin Greene, in Newport.

PROVIDENCE, Nov. 7, 1766.

June 15, 1772, the Newport _Mercury_ notes the arrival at Newport of “the brig _Joseph_, Captain Pie, bound to New York in 49 days from Waterford in Ireland.” July 19, 1773, the same paper states that “Last Thursday arrived the brig _Sally_, Capt. John Murphy, in 30 days from Jamaica.” She brought several passengers. This was probably the _Sally_ that at another time is mentioned as having reached Dublin under Captain Davis. The Providence _Gazette_, February 24, 1776, has this interesting note: “Arrived from Ireland, but last from Barbadoes, the sloop _N. York_ packet, Capt. John Freers, who informs that the people in Ireland and Barbadoes are very warm in the cause of America.” The _Gazette_ also published the following:

FOR LONDONDERRY,

THE SHIP

FAITHFUL STEWART,

_Captain McCausland_:

Will sail from Newport in ten days.—For Passage apply to Messieurs Clark and Nightingale, in Providence, or the Captain on board.

PROVIDENCE, Jan. 29, 1785.

Special attention is called to the fact that “passage” is advertised in connection with these voyages. This is good evidence that passengers sailed direct for Rhode Island from Ireland. Some of these were probably merchants or their agents engaged in the Irish trade. The fact that such accommodations were provided, likewise justifies the conclusion that immigrants also came direct from Ireland to Rhode Island, and in considerable numbers, too. These immigrants, in all probability, landed, some in Newport and others in Providence. It may be, too, that Warren, Bristol, Westerly and other places, likewise received direct Irish accessions from this source. Further on will be found additional evidence of direct immigration from Ireland.

Another advertisement in the Providence _Gazette_ reads as follows:

FOR DUBLIN

THE GOOD SHIP

TRISTRAM,

_Gideon Crawford, Commander_.

Now lying at Mrs. Hayley’s Wharff, will sail in 10 or 12 days. For Freight or Passage apply to the Master on board or to Joseph and William Russell. She has good accommodations for Passengers.

PROVIDENCE, Jan. 14, 1786.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

IRISH SETTLERS IN PENNSYLVANIA.

BY MICHAEL J. O’BRIEN, NEW YORK CITY.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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