Part 10

August. David McClure of New York City, a member of the American-Irish Historical Society, participated in the dedication this month of a monument at Fontenoy. The monument commemorates the valor of the Irish brigade in the battle of Fontenoy, 1745.

Aug. 18. There is an article in the Boston _Sunday Globe_ today on the library of Dr. M. F. Sullivan, Lawrence, Mass. It is of an appreciative nature and devotes considerable attention to the publications of the American-Irish Historical Society.

Aug. 25. Edward A. Kelly died at Cohasset, Mass., about this date. Mr. Kelly was in the eighth generation from John Kelly, one of the early settlers of Newbury, Mass., who is believed to have come to that place about 1635.

Sept. 13. A reunion of the McGillicuddys took place today at Glen’s Falls, N. Y. The occasion was one of very great interest to members of this historic old Irish family. An organization was formed and officers were elected.

Sept. 28. A despatch from Yokohama states that Secretary Taft arrived there today on board the steamer _Minnesota_ from Seattle, passing all the signal stations without being sighted. The reception committees and the members of the American embassy, who had come there from Tokio to welcome Mr. Taft, were aroused by rumors, the town was soon enlivened and the bay crowded with launches displaying American flags and other colors. Secretary and Mrs. Taft and Thomas J. O’Brien, the new American ambassador to Japan, and Mrs. O’Brien met the visitors from the shore in the main saloon of the _Minnesota_ at 7.30 a. m., while the United States cruiser _Chattanooga_, anchored in the bay, saluted Secretary Taft’s flag, as secretary of war, which was hoisted at the fore.

Oct. 15. William B. Sullivan, Danvers, Mass., reads a paper before the St. Mary’s School Alumni Association, Salem, Mass., on “The Early Catholic Church in Massachusetts.” He later had the paper brought out in pamphlet form. Mr. Sullivan is a member of the American-Irish Historical Society.

Oct. 19. A telegram published today states that a turret accident on board the battleship _Connecticut_, similar to those on the _Georgia_ and several other of the U. S. big fighting ships, was averted by the presence of mind and heroism of Lieut. William Pigott Cronan, has just come to light through the summoning of a board of inquiry at the New York navy yard. According to the story, Lieutenant Cronan was in command of one of the eight-inch guns on the _Connecticut_ during recent target practice off New England. As the powder charge was thrust into the gun, the lieutenant noticed that from a small hole in the bag a quantity of powder had escaped and fallen into the threads into which the breech-block of the gun screws. Realizing that the action of screwing the breach-block back home would ignite the powder before the block could be firmly screwed home, causing the entire charge to explode back into the turret, Lieutenant Cronan shouted an order which stopped every man in the turret, as he stood, except the man who was closing the breech of the gun. He did not hear the shout and continued to swing the block home. Lieutenant Cronan sprang forward and thrust his hand into the breech of the gun. The breech closed on his hand, badly mangling it and cleanly cutting off the first finger, which fell into the grooves and caused the closing mechanism to clog. The sailor at the breech of the gun fainted when he discovered what he had done and what he had narrowly escaped doing. If the breech had been closed it is likely that every man in the turret would have been killed. The board of inquiry was called to determine how the hole came into the powder bag. Cronan is a son of Patrick J. Cronan of New Haven. During the war with Spain, Lieutenant Cronan was highly commended for several acts of bravery. The following is another account: While the battleship _Connecticut_ was engaged in target practice off Cape Cod last week, Lieutenant William P. Cronan undoubtedly prevented a repetition of the fatal explosion on the _Georgia_ by staying the closing of the breech of the eight-inch barker in the after turret by inserting his fingers in the breech grooves just as the heavy butt of metal was swinging into place. When they swung back the breech-block the fragments of his first and second fingers, severed at the first joint, were found ground into the grooves. The _Connecticut_ had joined the rest of the squadron in target practice off Cape Cod last week and all of the eight-inch guns were being worked. The firing was fast, it being a part of the test that the guns should be fired as rapidly and as accurately as possible, and in order to outdo the sailors on the other ships that were engaged in the practice, the _Connecticut’s_ men were working hard to load, train and fire the four big tubes in the starboard and port turrets. The eight men working under command of Lieutenant Cronan in the aft starboard turret were swinging to their task like pieces of mechanism in a single machine. Two men worked the powder hoist from the magazines below, two swabbed out the gun after each shot, two lifted the bags of powder into the breech after the heavy shell had been placed, and one man swung back and locked the breech for the firing. It was bang! and in an instant the breech was open and the men were sucking in the powder fumes while they swabbed and hoisted and charged the big gun for another shot. The gun got so hot that it was difficult to place a hand on the breech without blistering it. The men with the water swabs kept the temperature down to the safety point inside the chamber, but even at that it was almost hot enough to flash powder and a little friction would have been enough to set off any spare grains.

Nov. 1. Rt. Rev. Mgr. Thomas H. Wallace, a member of the American-Irish Historical Society, died this evening. He was rector of St. Patrick’s Church, Lewiston, Me.

Nov. 5. Hon. James H. Higgins is re-elected governor of Rhode Island. Hon. Patrick J. McCarthy is re-elected mayor of Providence, R. I.

Nov. 9. Capt. Dennis E. Nolan, Thirtieth U. S. Infantry, has been ordered to the Philippines as inspector of constabulary.

Nov. 9. A dispatch from Durham, N. H., which was published in the Boston _Herald_ today, reads as follows: (Special Dispatch to the _Sunday Herald_.) Durham, N. H., Nov. 9.—For some years there has been a movement to restore the burial place of Maj.-Gen. John Sullivan, who died in Durham January 23, 1795. This labor of love, shared by many prominent people both in and out of Durham, is now completed. A substantial wall has been erected around the little cemetery, the lot has been cleared and graded, the gravestones reset and iron gates provided at the entrance. As marking the end of this labor, a Sullivan commemoration service has been planned for next Monday afternoon, and an invitation to attend the ceremonies is extended to all who cherish the dead general’s memory. Descendants of General Sullivan, members of the Grand Army posts and various historical societies and many others have already signified their intention of being present. The program will include an oration by the Rev. William Elliot Griffis, D. D., of Ithaca, N. Y., a celebrated authority on matters pertaining to General Sullivan. The faculty of the New Hampshire State College have volunteered to suspend college exercises during the ceremonies, and the student battalion and college brass band will perform escort duty. The procession will start from the Congregational Church at 2.30 o’clock, proceeding to the cemetery, where the exercises will be held. The oration will be delivered at the church immediately afterward. The house General Sullivan occupied will be open for inspection by visitors during the day, also every department of the state college and its work, in which institution patriotism for present day needs is being nurtured.

December. Death at Quebec this month of the Hon. Felix Carbray, a member of the Society.

Dec. 2. Congressman Wiley of Alabama introduced the following bill in the National House of Representatives today. It was referred to the committee on the library and ordered to be printed: A Bill for the erection of a monument to Jeremiah O’Brien: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum of fifty thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the erection in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, of a monument to the memory of Jeremiah O’Brien, upon which shall be inscribed the words:

Erected to the memory of

The heroic Irish-American,

JEREMIAH O’BRIEN,

Who captured

In the first sea fight of

The Revolutionary War

The British schooner Margaretta.

Said sum shall be expended under the direction of the secretary of navy, or such officer as he may designate, and in such sums as the work may require from time to time.

Dec. 30. A meeting of the executive council of the Society was held this evening at the Narragansett Hotel, Providence, R. I.

[Illustration:

MR. WILLIAM F. CLARE, New York City. ]

[Illustration:

NATHANIEL DOYLE, New York City. ]

[Illustration:

HON. D. J. McGILLICUDDY, Lewiston, Me. ]

[Illustration:

M. B. SULLIVAN. M. D., Dover, N. H. ]

FOUR MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.

NECROLOGY.

The following members of the Society died during the year 1907, much and deservedly regretted:

Rt. Rev. WILLIAM STANG. D.D.

Bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Fall River, Mass., died February 2, at St. Mary’s Hospital, Rochester, Minn. He was born at Langenbruchen, Baden-Baden, Germany, on April 21, 1854. His early education was received in the German Gymnasia, but as he had chosen the career of a missionary, he made his theological studies in the American College at Louvain, Belgium, and was there ordained to the priesthood, on June 15, 1878. After a brief service as professor in his Alma Mater, he came to the United States in 1879, and was accepted by the late Bishop Hendricken into the diocese of Providence, R. I. He adopted his new country in wholehearted fashion. In 1884, Father Stang was appointed rector of St. Anne’s Church, Cranston, R. I. He became rector of the Providence Cathedral, and held that important charge until 1895, when he returned to Louvain, to serve his church and country as vice-rector of the American College for a term of three years. Back to Providence in 1898, he organized and headed the Providence apostolate—a band of missionary priests organized especially for missions to non-Catholics. He was also rector of St. Edward’s Church for three years, and then chancellor, until the division of the diocese of Providence in 1904, and his appointment to the new diocese of Fall River. Bishop Stang was consecrated in the Providence Cathedral during the same year, on May 1. He managed to combine the arduous ordinary work of the priesthood with the special work of the continuous student and author. Almost from the first year of his priesthood he was writing for the Catholic magazines and bringing out books. His published works, the last of which was brought out since his consecration, are: “The Life of Martin Luther,” “The Eve of the Reformation,” “More About the Huguenots,” “Germany’s Debt to Ireland,” “Pastoral Theology,” “Historiographia Ecclesiastica,” “The Business Guide for Priests,” “Theologia Fundamentalis Moralis,” “The Devil, Who He Is,” “Spiritual Pepper and Salt,” and “Socialism and Christianity.” His last magazine article, “Father Denifle and His Great and Lasting Work,” appeared in the _American Ecclesiastical Review_ for January, 1907.

JOHN B. SULLIVAN

of New Bedford, Mass. He died there February 9. Mr. Sullivan was born in Castletown, County Cork, June 24, 1847, the son of Timothy and Honora (Harrington) Sullivan. He received a common school education in his native town and in 1867 came to this country and settled in New Bedford. He learned the stone mason’s trade, at which he worked until 1882, when he began contracting and building. The latter business he pursued with conspicuous success up to the time of his death, being associated for a number of years past with his son, Mark E. Sullivan. A number of noteworthy New Bedford buildings have been erected by Mr. Sullivan. Among them are St. Mary’s Home, St. Lawrence’s presbytery, the Holy Family School, the tower of St. Lawrence’s Church, St. James’ Church, St. Mary’s Chapel, the Park Hotel, No. 8 Engine House, the Connell block on Purchase St., the Dawson building and the addition to St. Joseph’s Hospital. He built several schoolhouses for the city, and on the second set of plans for the high school was the lowest bidder. His firm secured the contract for finishing St. Anthony’s Church. Besides a large number of public buildings, Mr. Sullivan was an extensive builder of houses in the north part of the city. He carried on a stone quarry in addition to his building business. Mr. Sullivan was a trustee of St. Lawrence parish, a member of and one of the organizers of the Master Builders’ Association, and a member of the New Bedford Board of Trade, the Plymouth Club and Holy Name Society of St. Lawrence Church. In August, 1872, he married Miss Margaret Sullivan, who died, leaving one son, Mark E. By his second wife, who was Katherine E. Sullivan, he had two children, Mary and Frank.

OSBORNE HOWES.

He was a descendant of David O’Killia, who settled on Cape Cod, Mass., as early as 1657. Osborne Howes was born in Boston in 1846 and was educated in private and public schools of the city. Soon after his graduation he entered the service of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company on the steamers of that line running between Panama, San Francisco and Hongkong. After three years thus spent on the Pacific coast, he went to New York City and there began a connection with newspaper work which continued almost up to the time of his death. Beginning in the office of the _New York Tribune_, he was afterward employed by the _New York Times_, serving on that paper during its exposé of the “Tweed ring.” In 1873 he accepted the position of secretary of the Boston board of fire underwriters, and was always thereafter identified with that body. Having resumed his residence in Boston, he was appointed from time to time to various public offices. As representative of the board of underwriters he was instrumental in having that board take action upon several important public questions. The resolution committing the associated board of trade to the principle that all future subways in Boston should be built under such conditions that they would ultimately revert to the city, was drawn up, presented and urged by him, and as a result of its adoption the Boston Associated Board of Trade was the foremost opponent on this question of excessive corporate demands. As a member of the Boston Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Howes was chairman of its committee on the Isthmian canal, and vice-chairman of its committee on reciprocal trade relations with Canada. In this latter connection he addressed the boards of trade and chambers of commerce, not only of a number of the cities of New England, but those of New York, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Indianapolis and other cities of the West. In 1891, feeling convinced that it was desirable that public action should be taken toward educating young men to become competent seamen, he prepared, introduced and succeeded in having the legislature adopt a bill creating the Nautical Training School, which the commonwealth now maintains on board the U. S. S. _Enterprise_. From 1875 to 1877, inclusive, Mr. Howes was a member of the common council of Boston, representing the South End ward, in which he then resided. In 1886 he moved his residence to the town of Brookline, and besides serving on various town committees, became a member of the rapid transit commission, to which he was appointed by Governor Russell; also a member of the metropolitan district (Greater Boston) commission, to which he was appointed by Governor Greenhalge. In 1884 Mr. Howes was a member of the special committee of fifteen which prepared the new Boston city charter; he also served as one of the trustees of the public library. Mr. Howes in 1901, and again in 1902, was nominated as the Democratic candidate for the state senate in the second Norfolk district, but was defeated on both occasions. On the first occasion, in his letter of acceptance, he described the state platform of the Democratic party as “an attempt to bring back the government machinery of the commonwealth to something approaching the simplicity of its earlier days.” On the second he championed “more liberal and advantageous trade relations between New England and Canada.” In 1904 Mayor Collins appointed him to an unsalaried position as member of the board of building inspection. The following year Mr. Howes took a leading part as chairman of the committee on resolutions in preparing the platform of the Democratic party in the state contest. Mr. Howes was Japanese consul in Boston at the time of his death, which sad event took place April 9.

PETER McDONNELL.

Born in Ireland, died aboard the White Star steamer _Oceanic_, in August, while returning from Ireland. Mr. McDonnell first came to this country when a young man. For a long time he had represented the railroads successfully at Castle Garden, the Barge Office and Ellis Island. He was also interested in the steamship business at the immigration station and carried on a big banking business at No. 2 Battery Place. When he went to his old home in Ireland in the spring he was in poor health. He was accompanied by his wife and one of his six sons. Mr. McDonnell was the secretary and a director of the Columbia Oil Company of New York, one of the few rivals of the Standard Oil Company, and a director of the New York Mortgage and Securities Company. He was a member of the Catholic Club and for many years of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. When President Roosevelt was the guest of the latter organization in 1905, it will be remembered the birth of Mr. McDonnell’s grandson, which was announced at the dinner, was one of the features of the occasion.

JOHN B. SHEA.

Born in Kenmare, Ireland, 1835; he came to this country when he was seven years of age. He died late in 1907. Mr. Shea was very successful in business. He went to work for Andrew Berrian, a pen manufacturer, in 1849, and after being employed by Bard Bros. of Philadelphia, Alexander Morton and Leroy W. Fairchild, he entered the factory of Aikin, Lambert & Co., the Maiden Lane, New York, jewelers, as foreman. In 1869 he was admitted to partnership, and when the concern was incorporated, he became its vice-president, which position he held up to the time of his death. Mr. Shea never married and is survived by a sister, Mary, and a brother, Michael. He was a brother of the late Denis Shea, clothier of Broome and Crosby streets, who was the Republican district leader of the Second district from early in the 90s, until his death, about three years ago. John B. Shea was his trustee.

Rt. Rev. Mgr. THOMAS H. WALLACE.

He was born in Somersworth, N. H. He died in Lewiston, Me., November 1. After finishing his course in the Somersworth High School, he graduated in 1864, entered Holy Cross College, Worcester, Mass., and carried off the highest honors of his class at his graduation in June, 1868. In the following September he entered the Theological Seminary of St. Sulpice, Montreal. He was ordained priest by the first bishop of Portland, the Rt. Rev. David William Bacon, D. D., in the Cathedral, Portland, Me., August 5, 1871. After his ordination he was first sent as assistant to the pastor at Waterville, whose parish included twelve or fifteen missions. Here the young priest began his mission work and displayed that tireless energy and zeal that gave promise of his future success. In 1872 he was transferred to St. Dominic’s Church in Portland to assist the Rev. Eugene M. O’Callaghan, who is now the Rt. Rev. Monseigneur, and vicar general of the diocese of Manchester, N. H. The careers of both priests have been very similar, each of them receiving the purple in 1905. Father Wallace succeeded Father O’Callaghan as rector of St. Dominic’s and to this day both are most lovingly remembered by the old members of the parish. In August, 1876, Father Wallace was appointed rector of St. Joseph’s, Lewiston, which has been the scene of his labors for the past thirty-one years. He found St. Joseph’s with a debt which he set to work at once to pay off. In March, 1880, he purchased the Bonallie Block on Main Street. He remodelled this block and fitted it for a school for the girls of the parish at an expense of $30,000. He placed the school under the charge of the nuns of Notre Dame from Montreal. In 1886 he purchased the fine property at the corner of Bates and Walnut streets, at a cost of $25,000. This lot fronts on the City Park and is the most beautiful site for a church in the state. He began work at once on the foundation of the church and on June 24, 1887, the corner stone was laid by the lamented Bishop Healy, with appropriate ceremonies. The dedication sermon was preached by the Rt. Rev. Thomas J. Conaty, D. D., who is now bishop of Monterey and Los Angeles, Cal. The first mass in the sacred edifice was celebrated in 1890.

[Illustration:

HON. FELIX CARBRAY, M. R. I. A.,

A MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY, RECENTLY DECEASED. ]

Hon. FELIX CARBRAY, M. R. I. A.