Part 2

1902. May 24. The Society attends the dedication in Washington, D. C., of the monument to Rochambeau. Previous to the dedication the organization was received at the White House by President Roosevelt, the reception taking place in the East room. About 100 members and guests of the Society were present, including a number of ladies.

1902. May 24. The Society was present, by invitation, at a reception in Washington, D. C., to-night, at the French embassy. Ambassador and Madame Cambon welcomed the visitors.

1902. June 10. Hon. John F. Finerty, Chicago, Ill., a member of the Society, delivers an oration at the University of Nebraska.

1902. June 11. At the annual meeting of the New Hampshire Historical Society, held at Concord, N. H., on this date, a paper was read by John Scales, A. M., of Dover, N. H., on “Master John Sullivan and Family of Somersworth and Berwick.” The paper has since been published in the _Proceedings_ of the New Hampshire Historical Society.

1902. June 17. Villanova College, Pennsylvania, confers honorary degrees on two members of our Society, _i. e._, Hon. Morgan J. O’Brien and Hon. Joseph F. Daly, both of New York City.

1902. June 18. Monument unveiled at Elizabeth, N. J., to Hon. William A. M. Mack, recently mayor of that city, and state vice-president for New Jersey of our Society.

1902. June 18. President Roosevelt sends to the U. S. senate the nomination of Lieut.-Col. John R. McGinness, Ordnance Corps, U. S. A., to be a colonel. Colonel McGinness is a member of our Society.

1902. June 27. A joint resolution appropriating $100,000 for a monument to the prison-ship martyrs, to be erected at Fort Greene, Brooklyn, N. Y., was passed to-day by the U. S. Senate. It provides that the appropriation of $100,000 shall be made on condition that an additional $100,000 shall be raised, the work to be done under direction of the Secretary of War, the Governor of New York, and the Mayor of New York City. Many of the prison-ship martyrs were Irish, as their names in the records indicate.

1902. June 28. Death of M. D. Long, of O’Neill, Neb., a member of the Society.

1902. July 9. The Boston _Transcript_ states that John E. Milholland, a member of the Society, “is trying to get the federal government to purchase, for $30,000, the ruins of old Fort Ticonderoga and restore it to the exact status it bore when Ethan Allen demanded its surrender.”

1902. July 11. Corner-stone laid at Newport, R. I., of a monument to be erected in honor of the French who landed there during the American Revolution. Several members of our Society, including Mayor Patrick J. Boyle of Newport, participated in the exercises.

1902. July 20. The Boston _Sunday Globe_ to-day contains a sketch of the First Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers in the war with Mexico. In the course of the article the writer states that the entire ten companies comprising the regiment were raised in Boston and Charlestown, though not a few of the recruits came from more or less distant points about New England. Recruiting was in progress for four or five months at least, during the fall of 1846 and the winter of 1847. Edward Webster, a son of Daniel Webster, was captain of A company, and John B. Barry was captain of B company, which was composed entirely of men of Irish birth or antecedents. The regiment was at the front for 18 months, first with the army of Gen. Zachary Taylor and later with Gen. Scott.

1902. August. Ginn & Company, publishers, issued this month a volume on _Essentials of American History_. The author is Thomas B. Lawler, a member of the Society.

1902. August. The Society issued this month a volume on _The Irish Scots and the “Scotch-Irish.”_

1902. August. The Society issued this month a pamphlet on _Gen. John Sullivan and the Battle of Rhode Island_.

1902. Aug. 7. Death of John O’Hart, a member of the Society, Clontarf, Ireland. He was the author of _Irish Pedigrees_, _Irish Landed Gentry when Cromwell Came to Ireland_ and other works. A sketch states that he was “a Fellow of the Royal Historical and Archæological Association of Ireland, and a member of the Harleian Society of London. In 1875 he published his _Irish Pedigrees_, for the compilation of which he must have read extensively, and he himself acknowledges over a dozen authorities to whom he was indebted. It reached a fifth edition in 1892, and had obtained a very extensive circulation in the United States. A fellow-historian, Canon O’Hanlon, had for a quarter of a century worked with him in the cause of Irish antiquarian research. Mr. O’Hart was headmaster of the Ringsend National School, even before Canon O’Hanlon became pastor of the Church of the Star of the Sea, and it was during his position as headmaster that the deceased historian devoted all his spare time to the close research which has so enriched Irish historical literature. Mr. O’Hart was uncle, on the maternal side, to Maj. Richard Oulahan of Washington, D. C., late of Corcoran’s Irish Legion.”

1902. Aug. 14. Hon. P. T. Barry, of the Society, has a communicated article in to-day’s Chicago _Daily News_ on “Major George Croghan.”

1902. Aug. 29. Celebration by the Society of the anniversary of the battle of Rhode Island. The celebration took place in Providence, R. I., headquarters being established at the Narragansett. At the request of the Society, Governor Kimball of Rhode Island had the national and state flags displayed on the new marble state capitol in Providence. The Society dined at the Narragansett in the evening, as the guest of James E. Sullivan, M. D., of Providence. About 100 members and friends of the Society were present, including: Hon. John D. Crimmins, president-general, New York City; Hon. John C. Linehan, treasurer-general, Concord, N. H.; Governor Kimball of Rhode Island; Hon. Charles P. Bennett, Rhode Island’s secretary of state; Adjutant-General Sackett of Rhode Island; Rt. Rev. Matthew Harkins, D. D., bishop of the Catholic diocese of Providence; Rt. Rev. Thomas J. Conaty, D. D., Washington, D. C.; Hon. Asa Bird Gardiner, New York City; Hon. Morgan J. O’Brien, a justice of the New York supreme court; Hon. Pardon E. Tillinghast, a justice of the Rhode Island supreme court; Hon. Royal C. Taft, Providence, R. I.; Edward A. Moseley, Washington, D. C.; Thomas Addis Emmet, M. D., New York City, and many other prominent people. The leading address of the evening was by Hon. Asa Bird Gardiner, his subject being “The Battle of Rhode Island.”

1902. Aug. 29. Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, president of the United States, wrote as follows to Secretary T. H. Murray, relative to the Society’s celebration on this date: “Oyster Bay, N. Y., August 19, 1902. My Dear Mr. Murray: I warmly appreciate the cordial invitation which you extend on behalf of the American-Irish Historical Society to attend its anniversary celebration to be held at the Narragansett Hotel, Providence, R. I., on the evening of Friday, August 29th. It would afford me genuine pleasure to be present on this occasion and I deeply regret that the itinerary of the New England trip does not contemplate my being in Providence on the evening mentioned. Otherwise I should be most happy to send an acceptance. Accept my best wishes for the complete success of the meeting, and believe me, Very sincerely yours, Theodore Roosevelt.”

1902. Aug. 29. In connection with the Society’s celebration on this date, the following letter was written by Dr. John Sullivan, of Boston, a descendant of Gen. John Sullivan: “Your very kind invitation to attend your banquet on the 29th inst., received. Please accept for the Society my regrets, not being able, physically, to attend such a jolly gathering of the true old Irish stock. I can no longer keep up with the band. If I keep from under the wheels of the ambulance, I will do well. Four years at the front will give any man a reminder that he’s ‘been there’ and he must be thankful that he got it no worse. On the evening of your banquet I shall remain up, and at the hour of 9 o’clock will drink to the memory of the Irishmen in the American Revolution. My best wishes for your Society, and your invited guests, go with this from one who has the honor to be your obedient servant, John Sullivan.” Dr. Sullivan is a member of the Order of the Cincinnati, and was an army surgeon during the Civil War.

1902. Aug. 29. Chief Justice Stiness of the Rhode Island supreme court wrote concerning our celebration on this date: “I have your very kind invitation to the banquet of your Society at the Narragansett Hotel in Providence, on the anniversary of the battle of Rhode Island, Aug. 29, in special honor of Gen. John Sullivan. I regret that I shall be unable to attend as I shall be absent from the state at that time. Your Society has reason to be proud of the young man, born of Irish parents, ... who held so high a place in the civil and military affairs of the colonies, and this state has reason to be grateful for the service he rendered in its defence at a critical period of the Revolution. Both as a member of the judiciary of the state and as president of the Rhode Island Historical Society, I congratulate your Society upon its efforts to call attention to service rendered our country by those of Irish descent.... I greatly regret my inability to be present at so pleasant an event and give you my best wishes for its interest and success.”

1902. Aug. 29. Hon. Pierre de Margerie, French Charge d’Affaires, wrote relative to the Society’s celebration held on this date: “His Excellency, Mr. Jules Cambon, being in France, I have received the note of August 5, in which you ask the French ambassador to be present at the exercises which will take place on the 29th of this month, at Narragansett Hotel, Providence, R. I. I am quite sure that, if Mr. Jules Cambon had been in this country, it would have been for him a great pleasure to be the guest of the American-Irish Society, on the anniversary of the battle of Rhode Island, and that he will regret very much to have been unable to accept your very kind invitation.”

1902. Aug. 29. In connection with the Society’s celebration in Providence, R. I., on this date, letters of regret at not being able to attend were also received from Governor Jordan of New Hampshire, Governor Crane of Massachusetts, U. S. Senator George F. Hoar, President Faunce of Brown University, and Edward Aborn Greene, of Providence, R. I., a descendant of Col. Christopher Greene, who served under Sullivan in the battle of Rhode Island. Letters were likewise received from Gen. Nelson A. Miles, Washington, D. C.; Archbishop Ryan of Philadelphia; U. S. Senator Wetmore, Newport, R. I.; Hon. LeBaron B. Colt, judge of the U. S. Circuit Court, Providence, R. I.; Hon. A. L. Brown, judge of the U. S. District Court, Providence, R. I.; Hon. Horatio Rogers, judge of the Rhode Island Supreme Court; James Phinney Baxter, president of the New England Historic, Genealogical Society; V. Mott Francis, president of the Newport Historical Society; E. Benj. Andrews, chancellor of the University of Nebraska; Stephen Farrelly, of the American News Co., New York City; Hon. P. T. Barry, Chicago, Ill.; Congressman Naphen of Massachusetts; John Lavelle, Cleveland, Ohio; Congressman Bull of Rhode Island; William Giblin, of the Mercantile Safe Deposit Co., New York City; Frank Thompson, New York City; James Connolly, Coronado, California; Principal Charles S. Chapin of the Rhode Island Normal School, and from others.

1902. Aug. 30. Reception to the Society by Governor Kimball of Rhode Island. The event took place in the state capitol, Providence.

1902. Sept. 11. Death of Rev. Thomas Scully, Cambridge, Mass., a member of the Society. During the Civil War he served as chaplain of the Ninth Massachusetts infantry—an Irish regiment—and was twice taken prisoner.

1902. Sept. 18. Announcement is made that Rev. D. J. O’Mahoney, O. S. A., Andover, Mass., a member of the Society, has been ordered to the Philippines by his ecclesiastical superiors.

1902. Sept. 24. Death of William Hopkins, of the Society. He was a member of the staff of the Boston _Daily Globe_, occupying an editorial position on that paper. He resided at Newton, Mass.

1902. Oct. 5. Under the head of “New Books,” the Charleston, S. C., Sunday _News_ has a review to-day of the Society’s _Irish Scots and the “Scotch-Irish.”_

1902. Oct. 6. A dispatch from Washington, D. C., to-day announces that the president has appointed Col. William Quinton to be a brigadier-general in the regular army. General Quinton is a member of our Society.

1902. Oct. 18. Death of Pierce Kent, New York City, a member of the Society.

1902. Oct. 19. Hon. John C. Linehan, treasurer-general of the Society, has a communication in to-day’s _Sunday News_ of Charleston, S. C., on “Irish Soldiers in the Union and Confederate Services during the Civil War.”

1902. Nov. 10. Rev. D. H. Scanlon, pastor of the Berryville Presbyterian church, Berryville, Va., writes for information relative to the Society.

1902. Nov. 15. Hon. John C. Linehan, treasurer-general of the Society, has an article in the Boston _Pilot_ of this date, entitled, “New England Prejudice in 1752–1855. Was it Racial or Religious?” He contends that it was largely racial.

1902. Nov. 22. Thomas O’Hagan, Ph. D., of Toronto, Canada, a member of the Society, has a communication in the Boston _Pilot_ of this date, on “How History is Taught in Secular Universities.”

1902. Nov. 29. Death of Rev. Thomas Shahan, Malden, Mass., a member of the Society.

1902. Dec. 4. Meeting of the executive council of the Society at the residence of President-General John D. Crimmins, New York City.

1902. Dec. 7. At a meeting in New York City to-night, in aid of the projected Hibernian Institute building, addresses were delivered by several members of our Society, including Hon. Thomas J. Gargan, Boston, Mass.; Hon. T. A. E. Weadock, Detroit, Mich., and Hon. Morgan J. O’Brien and Hon. William McAdoo, of New York City.

1902. Dec. 7. At the Hibernian Institute meeting just mentioned, Hon Thomas J. Gargan spoke on “The Irish in America Before the Revolution.” He told of the settlements they had formed, and of the many who had come here to add their blood to the tide that made the Revolution successful, the Irish pioneers who labored and built and then fought for their possessions and for the right of liberty and religious freedom. He said that modern research proved that the Irish had discovered America long before the advent of Columbus.

1902. Dec. 7. Hon. T. A. E. Weadock, at the Hibernian Institute meeting, New York, this evening, spoke on “The Irish Influence on American Polity.” He said that a splendid influence of the Irish was that they took their part in the government, keeping it near to its first principle: that it was to be government by the people. If there was any great danger, it was that the people grew too busy with their affairs to partake of their right to the franchise and exercise their influence in government affairs. The Irish were too patriotic to neglect that duty, he said.

1902. Dec. 13. Death of Patrick Dempsey, Lowell, Mass., a member of the Society. He was for many years a director of the First National bank of Lowell.

1902. Dec. 21. Death of Capt. Patrick O’Farrell, Washington, D. C., a member of the Society. He was a lawyer, and a veteran of the Civil War.

1903. Jan. 19. Annual meeting and dinner of the Society at the Hotel Manhattan, New York City. Hon. William McAdoo was elected president-general. Hon. Franklin H. Danaher, of Albany, N. Y., read a paper on “Jan Andriessen, ye Iersman van Dublingh, and His Compatriots in Old Albany.”

1903. February. The Society issues this month a volume on _Irish Rhode Islanders in the American Revolution_. This is the first time the subject has ever been specifically treated.

1903. March 2. John J. Slattery, Louisville, Ky., of the Society, has a communication in the Louisville _Herald_, of this date, ably dealing with the “Anglo-Saxon” fallacy.

1903. March 11. Hon. J. J. O’Connor, Elmira, N. Y., becomes a life member of the Society.

1903. April 12. Death of Rev. John Flatley, Cambridge, Mass., a member of the Society.

1903. May 19. Daniel M. O’Driscoll, Charleston, S. C., a member of the Society, passes away. He was a native of Bantry, Ireland. During the Civil War he was a military telegraph operator in the Confederate service, and sent the first message out of Petersburg, Va., announcing the surrender of Gen. Lee.

1903. June. Thomas Addis Emmet, M. D., LL.D., of the Society, New York City, leaves there for Ireland, for the purpose of locating the grave of the Irish patriot, Robert Emmet. His search was not successful, but he hopes that a satisfactory result will be attained in the near future.

1903. June 2. An order published at the War Department, Washington, D. C., to-day, names one of the batteries at Fort Strong, Long Island, Boston harbor, as Battery Drum, in honor of Capt. John Drum, Tenth U. S. Infantry, who was killed in the assault on Santiago de Cuba, 1898. Capt. Drum was an Irishman by birth, and was a member of our Society.

1903. June 2. An order is published at the U. S. War Department, Washington, D. C., to-day, giving names to sea-coast batteries as follows: Fort Preble, Me., Battery Kearny; Fort Williams, Me., Battery Sullivan.

1903. June 19. Celebration to-day of the 125th anniversary of the evacuation of Valley Forge by the Continental army. The celebration was under the auspices of the Valley Forge Anniversary Association. Archbishop Ryan of Philadelphia, Pa., a member of our Society, presided over the formal portion of the exercises.

1903. July. Death in the Adirondacks of John A. Mooney, LL. D., New York City, a member of the Society.

1903. July. In the _Granite Monthly_, of Concord, N. H., for this month, is an article by Hon. John C. Linehan, of the Society, on “New Hampshire’s Early Scotch Settlers from Ireland.” The article is written in an ironical vein, and very effectually disposes of the absurd claims of the imaginative “Scotch-Irish” cult.

1903. July 7. Mrs. Edmund Burke, Milwaukee, Wis., writes informing the Society of the death of her husband. The latter was a member of the organization.

1903. July 17. At a meeting of the Board of Governors of the Knights of St. Patrick, New Haven, Conn., held on this date, it was “Voted that the freedom of the club house be tendered to the members of the American-Irish Historical Society and its friends on Aug. 5, 1903.” The proffered courtesy was accepted.

1903. Aug. 5. The Society holds a field-day at New Haven, Conn., and participates in the dedication of a monument to the Ninth regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, in the Civil War. This was an Irish regiment, and enlisted, from first to last, over 1,600 officers and men.

1903. Aug. 5. Headquarters for the Society on the field-day just mentioned, were established at the Tontine Hotel, New Haven. A dinner under the auspices of the organization, and in honor of the Ninth regiment, took place in the evening. Hon. William McAdoo presided. Among guests were Hon. Abiram Chamberlain, governor of Connecticut; Hon. Morgan G. Bulkeley, ex-governor of Connecticut; Hon. John P. Studley, mayor of New Haven; Hon. N. D. Sperry, member of congress from Connecticut; Hon. Eli Whitney, New Haven; Hon. Edward Griswold, Guilford, Conn.; Hon. John F. Hurley, ex-mayor of Salem, Mass.; Gen. Phelps Montgomery, New Haven; Maj. John Q. Tilson, New Haven, and a number of others. Letters were received from Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, president of the United States; U. S. Senator O. H. Platt, of Connecticut; M. Jusserand, the French ambassador to the United States, and Baron Speck von Sternberg, the German ambassador.

1903. Aug. 5. Relative to the Society’s field-day at New Haven, Conn., on this date, the following letter was received by Secretary T. H. Murray from the president of the United States: “Oyster Bay, N. Y., June 29, 1903. My Dear Mr. Murray: I wish I could be present with you on the occasion of the annual field-day of the American-Irish Historical Society. From early colonial days the Irish have been one of the great factors in our growth as a nation. Naturally, I take a particular interest in what they have contributed to our national history, inasmuch as I am myself of part Irish blood. From the days of Sullivan in the Revolutionary War to those of Sheridan in the Civil War, the Irish element in our country, conspicuous everywhere, has been especially prominent in deeds of arms, and, therefore, it is peculiarly appropriate that the meeting of your Society this year should be to commemorate the record of an Irish regiment in our great war. Sincerely yours, Theodore Roosevelt.”

1903. Aug. 5. An invitation was extended the organization, on behalf of the New Haven Colony Historical Society, to visit the rooms of the latter to-day. The invitation was accepted.

1903. September. T. H. Murray, secretary-general of the Society, is the author of a volume of 446 pages, issued about this time. The work is entitled a _History of the Ninth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, “The Irish Regiment,” in the War of the Rebellion, 1861–’65_. The volume is illustrated, and was brought out under the auspices of the Veteran Association of the regiment.

1903. September. About this time, the Colorado State Library, Denver, sends a request for publications of our Society.