Part 35

When it was first suggested to me that I prepare a paper dealing with some phase of the history of the Irish in America I decided that I would take as my subject the history of the Irish in Rhode Island up to the present time. My belief was that the part played by the men and women of Irish birth or descent in the early history of our state was so slight, and the facts relating thereto so meagre, that I could in a few words deal with the early history of the Irish in Rhode Island, and could pass on to their history for the last three-quarters of a century.

Upon beginning my researches I was at once convinced of my mistake and soon learned that if I adhered to my original intention, instead of preparing a short paper I would be obliged to write a large volume. Therefore, I have taken as my subject: “The history of the Irish in Rhode Island to and including the Revolution,” with the hope that some abler Irish man or woman will, at some future time, tell the story of the part played by the men and women of Irish birth or extraction in the modern history of the “lively experiment” of Roger Williams.

In discussing the history of the Irish in America it is not our intention to belittle the work of others, or to steal from other nations the glories of their achievements; neither are we seeking to dim the lustre of the Puritan crown, nor to call our own the mighty deeds of the pioneer Pilgrims who landed in New England and conquered the wilderness. We have no desire to turn Plymouth Rock into a Blarney Stone. We are not going to assert that Roger Williams was the grandson of Fin Mac Cumbal, or that the clam was first planted in Narragansett Bay by the founder of Clan McFadden.

Our object is simply to record the deeds of the men and women of our race in the making of America; to enable Americans to judge us in true perspective; to tell the world what we Irish have done and are doing in the upbuilding of this state and nation. We are trying to bring to the minds of the country a knowledge of the fact that we have been here from the beginning, that we have given our service and our lives for the promotion of America’s happiness, that, by our brain, by our brawn, by our courage, tenacity of purpose, morality, we have fairly earned the right to the highest and best that America can offer to its devoted sons and daughters. We seek to tear away the veil of ignorance that has blinded many to our worth and to bring into relief a better picture of our race that has too often been falsely depicted. We are proving our claim, not by appeals to race prejudice or bigotry, but by incontrovertible evidence. In the words of the American-Irish Historical Society, we are laboring “that the world may know.”

There is a very erroneous impression in the minds of many, even in this enlightened age, that the struggle for liberty in Ireland has been a religious struggle, a struggle for the principles of Catholicity and for these principles alone. Our fight is not a religious fight. It is the fight for the liberties of a race, not a religion; for the right of a distinct, ethnic entity to work out its salvation in the way best suited to its temporal needs. “Nations have no hereafter, their reward must be of this world”; neither have they religions as nations.

Many are also of the opinion that unless a man or woman is a Catholic he or she is not Irish, though bearing an Irish name. Thus we see people of other faith with the name of Sullivan or Murphy classed as “Scotch-Irish,” that race with no existence, repudiated alike by Irish and Scotch, and which someone has called the “Equinoctial Gael.”

Another fact to be borne in mind in connection with Irish names is that many Irish men and women have come to America, and particularly to New England, who, for one reason or another, bore names distinctly un-Irish. Why this is so will be explained later.

FIRST TRACE OF THE IRISH IN NEW ENGLAND.

The first trace of the Irish in New England of which we have any record is found in the story of the “Mayflower.” In his book, “Brave Little Holland and What She Taught Us,” Rev. William Elliot Griffiths says: “In the Mayflower were one hundred and one men, women, boys and girls as passengers, besides captain and crew. These were of English, Dutch, French and Irish ancestry.” History has established beyond the possibility of doubt that Priscilla Mullins and John Alden were both Irish.

Plymouth was founded in 1620. William Bradford, governor of the colony, tells us that a ship arrived at Plymouth, 1626–7, and a large number of passengers, “cheefe among these people was one Mr. Fells and one Mr. Sibsie, which had many servants belonging unto them, many of them being Irish.”

In Winthrop’s Journal it is stated that on March 15, 1636, a ship arrived “called the Saint Patrick, belonging to Sir Thomas Wentworth, Deputy of Ireland, one Palmer, Master.”

Soldiers of Irish birth or extraction had made their mark in the colonies as early as the Pequot War, among them Darby Field and Daniel Patrick or Gilpatrick. Field is mentioned as having explored the White Mountains in 1642 with a band of Indians. (Winthrop’s Journal and Sketches of Early Irish Settlers by Linehan.)

It is now necessary to turn to the history of England for an explanation of why so many Irish came to this country, beginning in 1641, and why some of them did not bear Irish names.

In the reign of Charles First there occurred what is known as “The Revolution of 1641.” At that time many of the gentry of the west of Ireland held their lands under what parliament claimed a defective title. Charles, after promising the Irish that we would remove the cloud on their title, immediately went back on his word, and, in order to give his conduct some show of justification, had thousands of Irish men and women tried on an absurd charge of treason and their lands and goods confiscated. The history of England, gleaned from the records of the House of Commons, tells us that in two days over two thousand Irish were indicted, “tried,” convicted and sentenced for treason, or one for each one and one-half minutes in a working day of twelve hours; a fair sample of English “justice” in Ireland. The English army overran Ireland, slaughtered a very large number of men, women and children, besides shipping many thousands to New England as slaves. These exiles were obliged to change their names and adopt English names.

After the fall of Charles First, Cromwell started a similar crusade in Ireland. He also caused to be sent to the colonies many thousands of Irish boys and girls who were given names different from those of their fathers. Cromwell also shipped large numbers of adults to the colonies from Ireland where they were sold as slaves. In 1652, the Cromwell Commission recommended that “Irish women as being too numerous now be sold to merchants and transported to ... New England.” In 1653 Captain John Vernon contracted with Messrs. Selleck and Leader for 250 women of the Irish nation and 300 men “to transport them into New England”; these to be secured in the country within twenty miles of Cork, Youghal, Kinsale, Waterford and Wicklow.

The women thus sold into slavery were to be given in marriage to the colonists, as it was impossible to get English women to emigrate to the colonies willingly. Sales were conducted and each man paid for his wife as he did for his chattels at public auction. An interesting account of the manner of conducting these sales may be found in the histories of Virginia and in a popular book of fiction of a few years ago: “To Have and To Hold.”

So brisk was this trade for a time that finally the ship owners, in their greed, forcibly abducted some English women and children, and this led to the stopping of the traffic.

We see, therefore, some reason for the fact that many people of undoubted Irish origin did not bear Irish names, some of them taking the names of their owners, and others dropping their Irish names to save themselves from persecution. In addition to this, no ship could clear for the colonies from an Irish port. She must first proceed to an English port and thence outward. When she did clear all her passengers were required by law to adopt some name other than an Irish one. Lest I be accused of romancing I will quote the law of England of the time:

[Illustration:

JAMES THOMPSON, ESQ.,

Of Louisville, Ky.

Vice-President of the Society for Kentucky. ]

“An Act that Irishmen dwelling in the counties of ... go appareled like Englishmen, and wear their beards after the English manner, swear allegiance, and take English sirnames; which sirnames shall be of one town, as Sutton, Chester, Trim, Skyrne, Corke, Kinsale; or colors, as white, black, brown; or arts or sciences, as smith, carpenter; or office, as cook, butler, etc., and it is enacted that he and his issue shall use this name under pain of forfeyting his goods yearly.” (Paternalism with a vengeance. If the law had required him to wear a monocle in his left eye the picture would have been complete, and instead of building railroads he could have married an American heiress.)

We can from this easily perceive the policy of England: to wipe out from the minds of the Irish all thoughts of nationality, and to exterminate the race.

Many of these exiles, of course, obeyed the law, as being along the lines of least resistance. The banished children did not even know their right names; and thus we see the names of Smith, Carpenter, Chester, Sterling, Kinsale, White, Butler, etc., borne by Irishmen. We shall also see that names distinctly Irish were found in Rhode Island at that period, demonstrating one of two things, or perhaps both: that many of the Irish were smuggled out of the country without touching at English ports, and that many others, on arriving in this country, resumed their original names.

The popular histories of England and the colonies make no note of these facts, but there is a more reliable source than the histories for confirmation of these assertions, and that is the records of England. It is one of the established customs of English law to sacredly preserve all papers of this character, and it is from these, even more authentic than histories, that we have discovered the facts.

Thomas Hamilton Murray, late Secretary-General of the American-Irish Historical Society, has compiled a list of Irish names in the records of Rhode Island, giving the years in which the men were known to have lived here. These are all strictly Irish names and exclude those of doubtful origin:

Larkin, Dunn, 1655; Casey, 1663; Kelly, Macoone, 1669; Heffeman, 1671; Martin, Macarthy, Long, 1677; Devett, 1685; Malavery, 1687; Dailey, 1689; Linniken, 1690; Cary, 1693; Dring, 1696; Doyle, 1698; Higgins, 1699; Moore, 1700; Walch, Mitchell, 1703; Coursey, 1713; Murphy, 1718; Lawless, 1720; Carty, 1721; MacKown, 1723; O’Harra, 1728; Phelon, 1730; Shay, Joyce, 1731; Connor, Cassidy, 1732; Gallagher, 1736; Lyon, Mackey, 1737; Hurley, McCane, Sullivan, 1740; Whelan, 1741; McGonegal, Delaney, Farrell, Mulholland, Rourk, 1742; Dempsey, Fitzgerald, 1743; Hanley, Egan, McDonald, 1745; Donnelly, Tally, Byrn, 1747; Lanahan, Maguire, 1750; O’Brien, Donovan, Barrett, 1751; Cavenaugh, Flynn, Murray, Hickey, 1752; Hartagan, 1753; McMullen, 1754; Burke, 1755; Dwyer, O’Neil, Ryan, 1756; Magee, Donohue, 1758; Sheehan, Hearn, McGrath, 1759; Mullen, 1760; Gorman, Lary, Dermott, Fitzpatrick, 1761; Dunphy, 1765; Carroll, 1768; Roach, 1773; Mahoney, Rohan, 1774.

These are all names of people who lived in Rhode Island prior to the American Revolution. When such a large number of names is found in the records it is but fair to assume that there were many others to us unknown and who lived and died without ever having their names recorded anywhere.

In the early history of New England there were of course no directories of names, few, if any, records of births, marriages or deaths, and practically the only time when men’s names were written was in time of war or public danger, and it is in war that we first find the names of any large number of Irishmen in Rhode Island.

THE IRISH IN KING PHILIP’S WAR.

King Philip’s War started in 1675 and was begun for the purpose of ending the rule of the white man in the colonies. Time will not admit of a detailed account of the part played by the Irish in that terrible conflict and only passing mention can be made.

Again taking the writings of Thomas Hamilton Murray (“Irish Soldiers in King Philip’s War”) we find the names of one hundred and fourteen men of undoubted Irish birth or descent. I have verified these names. The list excludes the names of doubtful origin. It is to be borne in mind that the men who wrote the names were, in many instances, guided largely by sound, owing to the inability of the bearer of the name to spell it correctly, or at all. The list follows:

Benjamin Barrett. James Barrett. John Barrett. Peter Bennett. William Blake. John Bolen. John Boyd. Alexander Boyle. John Brandon. James Briarly. Richard Brine. Robert Bryan. William Buckley. Richard Burke. Joseph Butler. Phillip Butler. Stephen Butler. James Callan. Daniel Canada. John Cann. James Carr. John Cary. Peter Cary. John Casey. John Clary. Lawrence Clinton. Joseph Collins. Robert Corbett. Richard Coy. Timothy Cunnell. John Davis. Thomas Davis. John Day. William Day. Hugh Drury. John Drury. James Ford. Samuel Gary. Thomas Gery. John Gleeson. Phillip Gleason. John Good. Daniel Gowen. Matthew Griffin. Richard Griffin. John Hand. James Harrington. Lawrence Hart. John Harvey. William Harvey. Sylvester Hayes. John Healey. Nathaniel Healey. William Healy. Daniel Herrington. Joseph Holland. James Hughes. Matthew Hurley. John Jackson. Phillip Keane. Lawrence Kellon. Michael Kelly. John Kennedy. Henry Kenny. Thomas Kenny. Peter King. John Lane. Peter Lane. John Larkin. Edward Larkin. Timothy Larkin. Phillip Long. John Lyon. Thomas Lyon. Charles Macarthy. Daniel Magennis. John Malone. John Maloney. William Manley. Nicholas Manning. Thomas Manning. John Martin. David Mead. Peter Mellardy. Daniel Moore. Edward Moore. Joseph Moore. Patrick Moran. Darby Morris. Brian Murphy. James Murphy. Arthur Neale. Jeremiah Neale. Richard Nevill. John Norton. David O’Kelly. James Read. John Read. Edward Reade. John Riley. James Ross. Joseph Sexton. Dennis Sheehy. Thomas Tally. Hugh Taylor. Jeremiah Toye. Daniel Tracy. Daniel Warren. Thomas Warren. James Welch. Phillip Welch. Thomas Welsh. Lawrence White. Joseph Winn.

“Richard Brine” in the above list is undoubtedly Richard O’Brien, “Daniel Canada,” Daniel Kennedy; and “John Cann,” John McCann. There are many other names in the records who may have been Irish, like Owens, Stewart, etc., but these are not claimed.

One Henchman was among the captains of the colonists in the campaign against Philip at Mount Hope. In his command were Joseph Ford, John Barrett, Daniel Magennis, a corporal, John Good, John Cann, or McCann, Joseph Lyon, William Healy, Daniel Kennedy, John Moore, Patrick Moran, William Manley and others.

Henchman marched to Dedham, along with a troop of cavalry under Prentice, thence to Attleborough and Swanzey, where they joined Captain Mosley. All then proceeded against Philip at Mount Hope. In Mosley’s company were Richard Nevill, Joseph Sexton, Edward Reade, Samuel Lane, Richard Brine, probably O’Brien, Thomas Welch, Peter Lane and Philip Keane.

In Captain Wadsworth’s company were Matthew Hurley, James Ford, Robert Corbett, James Stuart and William Lyon.

Under Captain Lathrop were William Buckley, Edward Moore and Stephen Butler.

Major Willard’s command included Thomas Tally, Phillip Read, John Barrett, John Healy, Daniel Gowen, John Gleeson.

Joseph Winn was in Captain Wheeler’s company; John Riley, Thomas Davis, Sylvester Hayes and Arthur Neale, in Captain Appleton’s. John Lane, John and William Day served under Captain Poole.

It was also necessary to garrison the towns and settlements to protect the women and children from prowling Indians. Among those who did this perilous work were John Cary, James Carr, John Malone, John Larkin, Daniel Kennedy, Thomas Owen, Timothy Larkin, John Boyd, Thomas Welch, Joseph Griffin, Brian Murphy, James Harrington.

In Captain Davenport’s company were Nathaniel Henly, John Drury, Daniel Harrington, Jeremiah Toye, Patrick Moroney. Moroney is also mentioned as having served under Captain Oliver; and Cornelius Davis is reported in Mosley’s company.

In the Great Swamp Fight, which took place at South Kingstown on December 19, 1675, we find Captains Mosley, Prentice, Davenport, Appleton and Oliver, and as shown above, all these commands contained many Irish.

In that fight Philip had assembled an army of three thousand warriors, and had laid in his winter’s supplies, with the determination to hold his position. We find the colonists wading through fifteen miles of snow in the middle of winter and dislodging him; and if the history of the Irish race on the battlefield proves anything it is fair to assume that the Irish were not in the rear. The Swamp Fight was the beginning of the end to Philip’s hopes.

In March, 1676, one Captain Michael Peirce had an engagement with a band of Indians at Pawtucket. His force was wiped out and massacred. Two days later the Indians crossed the Seekonk River and fell upon the inhabitants of what is now Rumford. The old histories tell us that when the Indians approached “Ye Irishman, Robert Beers, was sitting at a window reading ye bible. He was warned of ye approach of ye Indians and told to fly. He refused to move, saying that ‘he who was engaged in ready Holy Writ would not be molested by ye enemy.’” The story goes on to say that “ye Indians, disregarding ye biblical injunction, incontinently scalped ye Irishman Robert.” Robert was a mason by trade, and is the first Irishman of whom we have any record in the present town of East Providence.

The war ended in 1676, on the murder of Philip at Mount Hope. The Indians had devastated the entire colony. Crops were destroyed, or had not been planted. There was neither food nor clothing. Nine hundred men had fallen. Homes had been razed and starvation stared the colonies in the face.

And here we see again of what the Irish are made. We see the people of Ireland collecting money, food and clothing and fitting out the ship “Katherine” and sending her to the relief of the colonies. History calls this the “Irish Donation.”

Freeman, the historian, in mentioning the fact, says:

“It is somewhat remarkable that from ‘divers Christians’ in England and Wales no word of cheer greeted the suffering colonists, and no contribution, save that of Ireland, is recorded in this dark and perilous period.” Continuing he says: “It is worthy of particular notice, to the honor of humanity, that in the time of the distress of the Plymouth and Massachusetts colonies, by reason of the wars, when few families remained that were not in mourning for the loss of some relative, and whose pecuniary embarrassments pressed upon them, the donation from Ireland to which we referred ‘for the relief of the impoverished, distressed and in necessity by the war’ was received. We record with pleasure this noble instance of benevolent sympathy.”

Bailies, in “History of New Plymouth,” says:

“Ireland was the only place in the British European dominions which bestowed any relief on the suffering colony.”

For a full account of the above see “Bodge’s Writings on King Philip’s War”; Publications of the New England Historic, Genealogic Society; Histories of Rhode Island and the Colonies; Writings of Thomas W. Bicknell, and many other authorities therein cited.

In the records of the State of Rhode Island we learn that Michael Kelly was a prominent man in the island of Conanicut as early as 1667. Michael was apparently a Quaker, and was one of a committee of three formed in that year for the purpose of defence against the Indians.

One of the founders of the town of East Greenwich was Charles Macarthy. He was afterwards given five thousand acres of land by the General Assembly for services in King Philip’s War.

Matthew Watson, another Irishman, was one of the most prominent inhabitants of the town of Barrington as early as 1722. His history has been written by Mr. Bicknell.

The present town of Warren was named in honor of Sir Peter Warren, an Irishman.

Another prominent family in the life of Rhode Island from the beginning to the present is that of Dorrance. We shall meet them again.

THE IRISH AND BROWN UNIVERSITY.

What is perhaps the most interesting of all, interesting because it deals with the intellectual life of the state, is the story of the part played by the Irish in the founding and maintaining of our most noted institution of learning, Brown University.

I was always under the impression that if there was one institution in the making of which we Irish had no part, that institution was the college on the hill; and when I first read that the first money contributed for its founding was obtained in Ireland, I confess that I accused the writers of deserting the field of fact and entering the realm of romance. Subsequent investigation, however, convinced me that the claims of the Irish were established beyond peradventure, no less an authority than the records of Brown itself proving our case.

To go back a little before the founding of the college, history tells us of eight Irish schoolmasters who taught in Rhode Island during the eighteenth century. Rev. James MacSparran, Rev. Marmaduke Brown, Stephen Jackson, “Old Master” Kelly, Knox, Crocker, Terrence Reilly and John Phelan.

MacSparran was an Irishman who settled here about 1718. For forty years he was pastor of St. Paul’s Church in Narragansett, where he taught many pupils at his home, among them Thomas Clapp, afterwards President of Yale.

Rev. Marmaduke Brown, the son of Rev. Arthur Brown, a native of Drogheda, county Louth, Ireland, where his mother was also born, was the Rector of Trinity Church, Newport. He also had a school there. In 1763 he had a school of thirty, fifteen of each sex. He was a member of the first Board of Fellows of Rhode Island College, now Brown University.

Stephen Jackson, a native of Kilkenny, came to America in 1724. In 1762 he was living on Benefit Street. One of his grandsons was for years town clerk of the town of Providence, and one of his great-grandsons was Governor of Rhode Island.

“Old Master Kelly” taught school at Tower Hill, South Kingstown, for a great many years. Among his pupils was Oliver Hazard Perry, who, we claim, was the son of an Irish mother. I have not gone into the ancestry of Commodore Perry in detail, as the proper place for the treatment of that subject is the history of the Irish Rhode Islanders in the war of 1812.

“Before 1800, Messrs. Knox and Crocker, natives of Ireland, taught school at Bowen’s Hill (Coventry) and the neighborhood.” (Cole’s History of Washington and Kent Counties.)

Terrence Reilly and John Phelan were schoolmasters in the time of the Revolution, but after the founding of the college.