Part 13

Among the Texans who distinguished themselves in that war in the Confederate army were: Col. James Bowland, Maj. Joseph A. Carroll, Gen. Lawrence Sullivan Ross; Colonels: Hugh McLoud, James E. McCord, James Duff, John C. Burke, James Reilly, Harry McNeill, W. H. Griffin, F. I. Malone; Majors: John Ireland and Thomas Flynn, and Gen. John D. McAdoo.

James W. Flannigan was the first lieutenant-governor of Texas elected under the reconstruction period, November, 1869. Later, James W. Flannigan was elected United States senator. Webster Flannigan was president of the state senate in 1871, and Guy M. Bryan speaker of the house in 1874.

John H. Reagan was chosen United States senator in 1887. Among the representatives chosen since the Civil War to congress were: John C. Conner, W. P. McLean, W. H. Martin, L. W. Moore and Silas Hare.

S. B. Donley was one of the judges of the supreme court in 1867, and associated later with him was John D. McAdoo. On the reorganization of the supreme court in 1874, George F. Moore, Thomas J. Devine, and, later, John Ireland were appointed judges of the supreme court. John Ireland was elected governor in 1882, serving two terms. He was succeeded by Gen. Lawrence Sullivan Ross, who also served the same number of years.

Father Timon was the first priest to say mass in the new towns of Galveston, Houston and Austin, in 1838. He did not remain in Texas. A year later Fathers Joseph Hayden and Edward A. Clarke came from Bardstown, Kentucky, to minister to the Catholics, who were numerous in Lavaca county, and many of whom came from Missouri, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.

Father Hayden also attended to the spiritual wants of the Catholics in Refugio and San Patricio, and the other settlements in the coast country. He died less than two years after his arrival. Father Clarke labored in Texas for eighteen years, dying in Houston. Rev. John Murray Odin was ordained bishop of Galveston in 1847. In 1893 there were three Catholic bishops, namely: Gallagher of Galveston, Nerez of San Antonio, and Brennan of Dallas. Rev. Daniel Carl, Rev. A. Rourk and Rev. Andrew McGowan were Methodist clergymen laboring in Texas in 1837.

Dr. Francis Moore was one of the proprietors of the _Telegraph and Texas Register_ in 1837; Martin Carroll Wing was assistant editor of the _Texas Sentinel_ in 1840; and Michael Cronican was one of the proprietors of the _National Register_. B. F. Neill was one of the founders of the _Galveston News_ in 1842, and John D. Logan of the _Texan Advocate_. Robert Loughery in 1848 established the _Texas Republican_.

Among the counties named in honor of persons of Irish origin are: Callahan, Coleman, Collin, Cochran, Crockett, Donley, Foley, Grimes, Hayes, Karnes, Kinney, Linn, McLennand, McMullen, Montgomery, Moore, Martin, Mitchell, Nolan, Terry, and the two Irish colonies are remembered in two counties named San Patricio and Refugio.

Sam Houston, in a speech made in 1855, during the Know-Nothing period, is quoted by the _New Hampshire Patriot_ of June 30, 1855, as saying: “Every drop of blood in my body comes from an Irish source.” It is also stated in the Quarterly of the Texas Historical Association for January, 1899, that when he first went to Texas he was baptized a Catholic, his godmother being Mrs. Eva Catherine Rosine Sterne, wife of Capt. Adolphus Sterne, and mother of Mrs. W. A. Ryan of Houston, Texas.

The Quarterly of the same association for October, 1898, contains an article on Rutersville college. It was founded in 1838 by the Methodist denomination, and the first teacher was Rev. D. N. V. Sullivan. The trustees and honorary trustees, or among them, were: Joseph, William, A. W., Lewis N., Quincy S. and Clarke D. Nail, E. L. and John C. Moore, Daniel Barrett, Jordan Sweeney and Mr. Sweeney, Martha Reagan, Miss Reagan and Elvira Nail. An article in the same Quarterly, written by A. M. Kenny, states that the first school in Austin’s colony was opened in 1835, and was taught by an Irishman named Cahill. Another, in 1836, had for a teacher a Miss McHenry, and a third was taught by a Mr. Dyas, “an old Irish gentleman.”

The Texas Historical Association is but two or three years old. One of its founders is Hon. John H. Reagan, ex-postmaster-general of the late Southern Confederacy. Its only life-member in January, 1899, was D. M. O’Connor of Victoria county. Associated with him as honorary life-members were Guy M. and Joel Bryan and John H. Reagan. The Texas _Scrap-Book_ states that the father of David Crockett was an Irishman, and his mother a native of Maryland. He was born in Tennessee.

Most of the material for this paper was compiled from Ramsay’s History of Tennessee, Pickett’s History of Alabama, and Brown’s History of Texas.

The latter can well be considered one of the fairest historical works, so far as nationality and creed are concerned, of any published since Ramsay’s History of the United States. It is about the only work relating to the early history of a state in which the Irish, as a race, have had due credit given. The term “Scotch-Irish” is not found in either volume of the work.

No attempt has been made in this paper to give a history of the stirring events which brought about the separation of Texas from the Mexican republic. The only object was to place on record in proper form the names of those whose character denotes the origin of those who bore them, and at the same time to endeavor to arrange them, partially, in the shape of a narrative, in order, if possible, to make it interesting to the reader.

The part taken by the Irish in Texas is pleasant reading for those of that element. Three Texas members of the American-Irish Historical Society, all bearing distinguished Irish names, are: Gen. A. G. Malloy, Capt. Moses Dillon and Mr. Charles Mehan, of El Paso, Texas, and to them this paper is respectfully dedicated.

NOTE.—Since writing this paper on Texas I have received a communication from the Rev. T. K. Crowley, of Dennison, Texas. He writes that having seen mention of what I was preparing, he took the liberty of sending me a book entitled “Reminiscences of Fifty Years in Texas,” published in 1853 and written by Hon. John J. Linn, who is one of the Irish-American pioneers mentioned in this paper. Mr. Linn was born in the county of Antrim, Ireland, in the year 1798. His father was identified with the United Irishmen Association, and being one of those fortunate enough to escape death or imprisonment, came to this country with his family early in the nineteenth century. They were Catholics, true adherents of the old faith, and this fact evokes the thought that had the Linns been Presbyterians instead of Catholics, and had they immigrated to New Hampshire instead of to Texas, their descendants would, undoubtedly, in our day, have styled them Scotch-Irish, and as is the custom, claimed they were of pure Saxon blood.

Father Crowley wrote that he knew Mr. Linn very well, and that he served Mass for him in the cathedral in Galveston when he was eighty years of age. He was truly one of the original pioneers of the Lone Star state, going there as early as 1829. This is but a little over a quarter of a century after the death of the ill-fated Philip Nolan.

The very fact that the mention of this paper in the press brought this communication from Father Crowley, is proof that the leaven is working, and many facts now hidden will, in time, through the labors of the Society, be brought to light.

J. C. L.

STATE VICE-PRESIDENT FOR CALIFORNIA, AND THREE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.

EARLY IRISH SETTLERS IN KENTUCKY.

BY EDWARD FITZPATRICK,[5] LOUISVILLE, KY.

Kentucky was admitted to the Union as a state June 1, 1792, but long before that time Irishmen had invaded the “Dark and Bloody Ground.” Indeed, when Daniel Boone took time to write a little history for future generations, on one occasion, by carving in the bark of a tree with his jack-knife: “Here D. Boone Cilled a Bar,” it is not improbable that an Irishman was within speaking distance.

Simon Kenton, the companion of Boone, and who came to Kentucky in 1771, was of Irish parentage. His father was born in County Donegal. Another Irish companion was Michael Stoner. Kenton’s life was even more romantic than Boone’s. While yet a minor he fled from his state because he believed he had killed a rival for the hand of a fair Virginia damsel, and, coming to the wilds of Kentucky, assumed the name of Simon Butler. To recount his many deeds of personal bravery and privation would fill a volume. Indeed, it was asserted by many that he was the greatest Indian fighter the country ever produced.

In 1782, hearing that the man he had struck down with his fist was still alive, he resumed his name, and in 1795 served as major under Gen. Anthony Wayne. He founded Kenton’s Station and Maysville, and planted the first corn raised in the state north of Kentucky river. Michael Stoner, one of his companions, and Thomas Kennedy, another Irishman, built a cabin and made some improvements on Stoner’s fork of Licking river, in Bourbon county, in 1774. Future generations are indebted to men of Irish blood for many of the early settlements of this state, made under so much difficulty, and it would be impossible to fully treat the subject in one paper or in a dozen, so romantic are many of the characters.

Kentucky was only a colony or county of Virginia up to 1791, and the latter state exercised full control over its lands until Gen. George Rogers Clark disputed this right shortly before the state was admitted to the Union. The records show that with the surveying parties sent out by the state of Virginia to this territory were many men bearing Irish names, not “Scotch-Irish,” but plain Irish.

Col. George Croghan, an Irishman, writing in his journal June 1, 1765, says: “We arrived within a mile of the falls of the Ohio (Louisville) where we encamped after coming 50 miles this day.” This was even before Boone’s time. Colonel Croghan was a connection by marriage of Gen. George Rogers Clark, who reduced the British possessions in the entire Northwest and made it first possible for the United States, instead of England, to acquire this territory. If General Clark was not an Irishman himself, his records show that he had many Irishmen with him as soldiers. His sister married William Croghan.

The first survey made of Louisville was in 1773 by Capt. Thomas Bullitt; his associates were John Fitzpatrick, James, George and Robert McAfee. Dr. John Connolly owned two thousand acres of land in Louisville in 1773. Col. John Campbell, a native of Ireland and a resident of Louisville about this time, was afterward a member of the first state constitutional convention, held in Danville in 1797.

Colonel Campbell was an Irish Presbyterian and proud that he was Irish. He never mentioned once in any of his letters or speeches that he was “Scotch-Irish,” though he made many speeches and wrote many letters. He was speaker of the Kentucky house of representatives and afterward a member of congress. He was often a delegate to the Presbyterian Synods in Kentucky and was always spoken of as an Irishman, without any prefix, though he was born in the province of Ulster. Colonel Campbell was a pioneer of whom the Irish might well feel proud. He was an intense patriot, and being a large landowner, sent for many of his countrymen to come to Louisville, and this was another cause for swelling the early Irish immigration to Kentucky.

William H. English spent much money and five years of his life writing a history of the “Conquest of the Northwest Territory,” by George Rogers Clark and his associates. While Mr. English may perhaps be forgotten by future generations as the man who was the running mate of Gen. Winfield S. Hancock on the Democratic presidential ticket of 1880, he will ever be remembered by reason of the publication of this most accurate and valuable history. He, during twenty years, collected while a congressman and at other times, the names of nearly all the soldiers who were with General Clark in his fights with the British and Indians, beginning in 1780, several years before Kentucky was a state. He devotes seven hundred pages to the deeds of Clark and his men, and they deserve all of it. It would take a good deal of space to give the Irish names in this roll of Clark’s soldiers.

With General Clark came to Louisville, in 1778, John Haggin and John Montgomery, and both were captains in his command. They landed at Corn Island, in the Ohio river, at the head of the falls, opposite where Louisville now stands. In 1782 there lived in Louisville, with their families: John MacManus, Hugh Cochran, John Doyle, John Caghey, John Cunningham, Michael Humble, John Handley, Andrew Hines, Thomas McCarty, Thomas Purcell, James Sullivan, James Brown and John McCarland, and most of these came with Clark. That was a pretty good Irish settlement for those days when a man who went out to plough corn was obliged to take his rifle along to defend himself against hostile Indians.

No one will venture to say that Matthew Lyon, born in County Wicklow, in 1746, was a “Scotch-Irishman,” though I have heard lately that some of his descendants are now claiming that rather peculiar distinction. Matthew Lyon brought the first printing office across the mountains to Kentucky, and it did not come in a railroad train either. It was fetched in a jolt wagon and a good deal of the type was “pied” before it ever got here. From this type and press the first newspaper ever printed in Louisville was issued. Matthew Lyon’s father was executed in Ireland for alleged treason in 1765. The boy, aged thirteen years, was bound by himself to the captain of the vessel which brought him across the ocean, to work for twelve months to pay for his passage.

A Connecticut farmer gave the captain two bulls for Matthew Lyon’s services, and he worked out his time faithfully with that farmer. Ever afterward his great oath was “By the bulls that bought me.” Lyon county, Ky., is named for him, and his remains lie buried at Eddyville, which town he founded. Matthew Lyon, though once sold for two bulls, took no mean part in the making of history for his country, not only in Kentucky, but also in Vermont, where he went after working out his time with the Connecticut farmer. He belonged to the Green Mountain Boys, was a colonel in the Revolutionary War, and afterwards a member of congress from the Granite state as well as from Kentucky. In 1798 he was prosecuted under the Alien and Sedition laws and fined one thousand dollars and confined in jail for four months. While in jail he was elected to congress, and by his vote broke the deadlock which elected Jefferson president.

Coming to Kentucky soon afterward, he was a pioneer in the wilderness where Lyon county is now situate, and his neighbors sent him to the legislature at Frankfort. He afterwards served in congress from Kentucky for eight years (1803–’11). He was in 1813 appointed to an Indian agency in Arkansas, and was elected to congress from that state. So Matthew Lyon, a plain Irishman, claiming no Scotch prefix, has the record of being elected to congress from three states. His son, Chittendon Lyon, was a member of congress in 1827, and his descendants still live in the state.

Many of the old families in Louisville are of Irish descent, but it would take too much space to mention even a fair portion of them. In 1784 Patrick Joyes settled in Louisville, and his family grew, leaving many descendants, one of them being the present county attorney of Jefferson county. The original Joyes was a man of education, speaking French, Spanish and other tongues fluently, so that at least one Irishman was of polished intellect in the early settlement of the city.

William H. English, being a millionaire, could afford to spend a great deal of time and money in collecting information about the Northwest territory and Kentucky. On one of his visits to Louisville he told me that had it not been for the Irish in Clark’s command the latter would never have whipped the British and Indians. The Irish, fresh from persecutions in the old country, were very bitter against the English, and were of great help to Clark. Mr. English had a great deal of information on this subject which has never been published. Of course, in his history he makes no reference to nationalities except where it was absolutely necessary, it being his purpose to simply give credit to Clark and his soldiers for their wonderful work.

Dr. Thomas Dunn English, writing of a trip he made through the mountains of Kentucky, on one occasion tells of an incident which shows that many people of Irish descent in this state are ignorant of the fact. He was riding along one day in a wagon when his companion, a lanky native boy of the mountains, saw a rabbit run across the road. “Stop a minute, Dock,” said the boy, “till I heave a dornick at that rabbit.” Dr. English coming to inquire, found that the mountains of Kentucky had been settled long ago by Irish and that “dornick” was one of the many Irish words which survived.

Even before Clark came to Louisville, Simon Kenton records that, in 1775, he located in the Upper and Lower Blue Licks, where there was an abundance of game, and he considered it a paradise. One day, to his great astonishment, there came out of the woods toward his cabin, two men who gave their names as Fitzpatrick and Hendricks. They had been living in the vicinity for sometime. Fitzpatrick said he wanted to return to Virginia, and Kenton escorted him to the Ohio river, bidding him good-by near where the town of Maysville now stands. While Kenton was taking Fitzpatrick to the river, Indians entered the cabin and killed Hendricks. Michael Stoner, another Irishman, who was Boone’s companion in 1774, told Kenton that there were a number of settlers in the interior who were not from Virginia.

In 1775 Hugh Shannon, Patrick Jordan, John Lee and others settled at what is now known as Lexington. It is recorded that Patrick Jordan found a spring down the fork on which they camped. Joseph Lindsey afterward paid Jordan two guineas to allow him to locate near the spring, and the first clearing was made there. This is now the garden spot of the Blue Grass region of Kentucky, where all the fine fast horses and the pretty women and good whiskey come from. In 1775 the first roasting ears were gathered from this clearing. John Haggin located there soon afterward, having come down the Ohio and up the Licking river to the settlement.

There were probably other Irish people eating roasting ears in the Blue Grass region one year before the Declaration of Independence was read in Philadelphia, but their names have not been preserved. Certain it is that the people living in this settlement, first peopled by the Shannons and the Jordans, as soon as they heard of the Revolutionary battle of Lexington, Mass., named their settlement after that battle. They were certainly not English sympathizers to do this.

In 1775 Ben. Logan settled where the town of Stanford is. Both his father and mother were born in Ireland. Logan was a companion of Boone. He planted the first corn in what is now known as Lincoln county, was a colonel in the militia, and was one of the most daring of the early pioneers.

Daniel Boone, in 1775, found in Powell’s Valley, Richard Hogan, Hugh McGarry, Thomas Denton, and their families. These located afterwards at Harrodstown. Mrs. McGarry and Mrs. Hogan were the first white women to go up Salt river, which historic stream is now so frequently mentioned in connection with the defeated candidates after elections. The Hogans and the McGarrys have frequently “gone up Salt river” since, figuratively speaking, but the Indians were not waiting for them on the banks with a tomahawk as they were for Mrs. Hogan and Mrs. McGarry in 1775.

People of Irish birth or extraction were pioneers in the educational line in this commonwealth, even before the Declaration of Independence. Bishop Spalding, in his notes on Kentucky, says that Mrs. William Coomes, an excellent Catholic lady, taught school in Harrodsburg in 1775. This was before a church or a court was opened in Kentucky. Smith, the historian, though not a Catholic, agrees with Bishop Spalding, and says that “in the year 1775 Dr. Hart and William Coomes settled Drennon Spring in Henry county, but afterward moved to Harrod’s Station. Dr. Hart practised medicine, and Mrs. William Coomes opened a school for children.” “Thus,” he observes, “the first physician and the first school teacher in Kentucky were both Catholics.” Whether they were Irish or not they got the credit as being of that race, as did all the Presbyterian Irish in the early history of the state get the reputation of being Scotch.

Joseph Doniphan taught school in Booneboro in 1779, and the children of Daniel Boone were his pupils. Nothing is known of his early history, but it has been asserted that his proper name was Donavon, and was corrupted into Doniphan or Doniphant.

A writer with the leisure and means could strike a rich field in looking up the names of the Irish connected with the early settlement of the state, and it is no exaggeration to say that seventy-five per cent. were of that nationality.

FOUR MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.

THE IRISH PIONEERS AND FOUNDERS OF PETERBOROUGH, NEW HAMPSHIRE.[6]

BY JAMES F. BRENNAN, OF PETERBOROUGH.

MR. TOASTMASTER, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:

My memory leads me back over a comparatively brief part of the time covered by the recollections of the gray haired men and women who are here present. I was born in this beautiful village; my first hallowed recollections cluster here; its territory is familiar to me; I know its people and something of its history, and wherever I go my mind reverts with pride to this good old town.

It is with great pleasure that I accept the honor of responding to this toast, and in what I have to say shall not refer to the comparatively modern generation of Irishmen—Murphy, Brennan, Hamill, Noone, and scores of others—and their descendants, who have helped to build up this town, and whose history should be left for a résumé of fifty years hence, but to those early settlers who came across the ocean, and their descendants; men who risked all, even life itself, to make this spot a fit place for the abode of man.

They were composed in a very small part of Scotchmen, Englishmen and other nationalities, but the essential part of the pioneers of our town, in fact nearly all of them, were Irishmen, for I assume that where men were born in Ireland, as they were, where many of their fathers, perhaps, also, some of their grandfathers were born, they were men who can unqualifiedly be called Irishmen. Adopt any other standard and a large part of the inhabitants of Ireland at the time they emigrated would not be considered Irishmen, and probably few persons in this town to-day would be considered Americans.