Part 4

Perhaps no name is more closely connected with Virginia for a certain reason than is that of Lynch. John Lynch was the son of an Irish immigrant who arrived in Virginia in the early part of the eighteenth century. His son, of the same name, was one of the first settlers of the town bearing his name, Lynchburg. His brother, Col. Charles Lynch, was prominent during the Revolution. He commanded a regiment at the battle of Guilford Court House. His son bearing the same name was governor of Louisiana. Col. Lynch was a bitter enemy of the Tories. It is said that the term “Lynch law” originated with him. He was credited with having hung not less than one hundred Tories by his own hand. Hence the expression “Lynch law.” This, however, is disputed by Irish writers, who claim that it originated with a mayor of Galway in the olden times, who, when the sheriff refused to hang his son convicted of murder, took the law into his own hands and executed him himself, following the example of Brutus, who performed a similar act during the existence of the Roman republic. One of the family, whether or not a descendant it is not necessary to know, was Lieut.-Commander William F. Lynch of the navy, who explored the valley of the Jordan some time before the Civil War. He was a officer in the Confederate navy in the War of the Rebellion.

Capt. John Fitzgerald was Washington’s favorite aide. It is stated that he was “the finest horseman in the American army.” His home was in Alexandria. During the trouble with France after the Revolution he was appointed to command the defences of that city. He was a man of the highest character and was universally respected. Col. Alexander McClanahan was one of a family, or clan, which furnished not a few useful men to Virginia for over a century. His brother, Capt. Robert McClanahan, was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1770. This was called one of the bloodiest Indian engagements on record.

Surgeon McClanahan, who has been mentioned in the letter of Gen. Lee quoted, is undoubtedly of the same family. Within a few years, a Miss Virginia McClanahan was president of the Daughters of the American Revolution of the city of Washington.

John Lewis was an immigrant from Ireland who came to Virginia before the Revolution. Two of his sons, Col. Andrew Lewis and Capt. Charles Lewis, were in the battle of Point Pleasant, also. Charles was killed. The colonel afterwards served in the War of the Revolution, reaching the rank of general before the struggle was over.

Major William Croghan was an officer of the Virginia line in the Continental army. The name was borne by many men who had distinguished themselves during the Revolutionary period, and are well known to the readers of American history.

Among other officers of the line were Captains James Currey, Lawrence Butler, Michael Wallace, John McCoy and Matthew Carney; Lieutenants Joseph Conway, Timothy Fealey, Peter Higgins, John Jordan, John Rooney and William McGuire. Luke Cannon, Robert Hayes, William D. O’Kelley, Patrick McElroy and Patrick Lockhart are also mentioned. Major Ferdinand O’Neal was a distinguished officer of dragoons during the same period. The name occurs frequently as O’Neal, McNeil, Neal, Neale, and Neilly.

A Captain Sullivan was also an officer in the Virginia forces, with a Major Charles McGill. His company was known as Sullivan’s Militia. Capt. John O’Bannon was major of Farquier’s battalion of militia of Williamsburg. Col. William Fleming was one of the well-known officers and a representative of the name was among the first settlers in 1635. John Moylan was appointed clothier-general, and as such was sent to Boston to get clothing.

Among those who were killed at Point Pleasant with McClanahan and Lewis were Capt. McBride and Lieut. McGuire, and privates John MacMurdrey, Francis McBride, Hugh Cunningham, John Foley, Andrew McConnell and John O’Neal. About fifty in all were killed in this engagement.

These names are signed to petitions, appeals, or other papers on the records from 1782 to 1786: George Flynn, Malcolm McGee, David Looney, John Adair, Partick Wright, Anthony Geoghegan, Patrick Joyce, James Sullivan, Richard Whelan, James Murphy, Joseph Delaney, William Kelley.

Alexander Drumgoole was sent on a mission to the Cherokee nation by Governor Randolph in 1787.

Major Andrew Donnelly was a gallant officer during the Revolutionary period. Capt. McMahon, who was mentioned, served with Wayne as a major in the expedition against the Indians, and like Gen. Butler, who had served through the Revolutionary War, was killed during that engagement.

Other names appearing on the records, either as magistrates or signers to various papers, were James Corran (Curran), Patrick White, Christopher McConners, Edward McCarthy, Cornelius Conway, Arthur McCann, John McLoghlin, William Flood, Edward McGuire, Anthony Murphy, James Goggins, John Connor, William Brennan, Major Thomas Healey, Capt. Samuel Brady, Col. William Finnie (Feeney), James Dougherty, Joseph Carroll, Archibald Casey, Capt. Daniel Mullins, Patrick Saggert, John Sexton, John McCormick, Thomas Mulledy, David Dungan, Cornelius Brady, Thomas Brannon, Abraham Donovan, Edmond Grady, John Dunn, Francis Kelly, Bernard Gallagher, Thomas O’Hara, William Malone, Dennis Ramsay, Thomas Reardon, George Sweeney, William Fitzgerald, Robert Fitzgerald, Edmund Moran, Dennis Croghan, Philip Boyle, John Butler, Cornelius O’Laughlan, Charles O’Neale, William McManahan, James Connell, Joseph McCaughey, Alexander Leary, Richard Byrne, Thomas McGuire, John Lowery, Joseph Hensey (Hennessey), Anthony Fitzpatrick, Bernard McCord, John McNeill, Henry Garrett, Dan McCarthy, Thomas Burke, Nat Murphy, Charles Connor, Edward Hart, William Danahan, John Casey, James Kelly, Michael Burke, Patrick Wilson, John Cavanaugh, Richard Nugent, Andrew Donnelly, Jr., Lawrence Bryan, Michael Delaney, James Byrne, Michael Tiernan, James Quinn, James Daley, John McEnery, Francis O’Meara, Henry Fitzgerald, John McMullen, James McGonegal, John Hagerty, Pat Donohue, James McCoughlin, Patrick Butler, Cornelius McGuire, Josiah McGuire, Cornelius McKinley, John Lawless, William Doherty, Alexander Dugan, Cornelius Harnett (Hartnett), Patrick Roche, Cornelius Fenny (Feeney), Simon McLaughlan, Thady Kelly and James Murdaugh.

The foregoing, from appearance, were men of standing in the communities in which they lived. As but comparatively few names appear in public records, there must have been many others in Virginia of the same nationality before the beginning of the nineteenth century. Those mentioned were officers in the militia, justices of the peace, judges, or holding other positions which had occasioned their names being printed in the state papers. It will be noticed that the names can be classed as Irish, distinctively. How many more there might be bearing English names, but who may have been as Irish as the others, cannot be determined.

When Ramsay’s _History of the United States_ was written in 1789, or thereabouts, the following Virginians were among those who subscribed for it in order to guarantee its publication: Patrick Gill, William Carroll, Edward Cunningham, James Fleming, H. H. Lacey, John McDermott, John McBride, M. Sullivan, Thomas H. Mitchell, J. C. Vaughan, A. Jordan, W. C. Moore, H. H. Redman, Edward Sexton, Francis Riordan, John Bowery, William Matthews. On examination it will be found that a majority of these surnames appear among the early settlers of the Old Dominion.

Thomas Fleming, whose name has been mentioned, was colonel of the Ninth Virginia regiment. One of its field officers was Major M. Donovan.

It is related in the Historical Collections of Virginia that Gen. Andrew Lewis was born in Ireland, and came here with his father and two brothers. They were obliged to fly from their native land on account of the resistance made by them against being evicted by their landlord.

Another prominent man in Virginia in 1753 was Dr. James O’Fallon. He is supposed to have been the ancestor of the O’Fallons of St. Louis, Mo., who were among the latter city’s first settlers. One of the latter, Col. John O’Fallon, served on the staff of Gen. Harrison at the battle of Tippecanoe. Another well-known Irish name was that of Michael Dillon, whose death is recorded from a fall from his horse in 1704. Richard Donnahan was concerned in Bacon’s Rebellion in 1677, and with him was a Capt. Hubert Farrell, who is mentioned as being one of Bacon’s majors.

Philip Connor was an associate justice of the Provincial court in 1650, and Robert Managan (Monaghan) is recorded as taking an apprentice Sept. 24, 1690.

In the main, the first settlers of Kentucky were Virginians. The wife of Daniel Boone was the first white woman to stand upon the banks of the Kentucky river. This was in June, 1775, and in the September following she had for company Mrs. McCary and Mrs. Hogan.

Col. William Casey, born in Virginia, was one of the pioneers of the dark and bloody ground. Col. Joseph M. Daviess, who fell at Tippecanoe, was born in Virginia. His grandfather was an Irishman and his mother Scotch. It is written of him that he had marked peculiarities of both races. “The hardy self-reliance, the indomitable energy, and imperturbable coolness which had from earliest times distinguished the Scotch, were his; while the warm heart, free and open hand, and ready-springing tear of sensibility, told in language plainer than words that the blood of Erin flowed fresh in his veins.”

It is clear that this eulogy was not written by a “Scotch-Irishman.” His name undoubtedly comes from Wales, so it is fair to presume that he had in his veins commingled the blood of the three kindred races,—the Welsh, the Irish and the Scotch.

William T. Barry, a noted lawyer, a soldier, an educator, and postmaster-general under Jackson, was a Virginian of Irish parentage. Michael Cassidy, born in Ireland, emigrated to Virginia, and finally settled in and became one of the prominent citizens of Kentucky.

The descendants of the Irish settlers in Virginia in many instances became eminent in the southwestern states and territories organized after the Revolution. One of them was Gen. Benjamin Logan, a Virginian, both of whose parents were Irish. He was one of Kentucky’s greatest men. Three counties bear the names of Casey, Daviess, and Logan, in honor of the three men mentioned.

Brig.-Gen. James Hogan, a native of Virginia, served in the Continental army. He was commissioned Jan. 9, 1779.

In March, 1756, the Provincial Assembly of Virginia passed an act making provision for protection against the enemy, the French and Indians, and further enacted a bill providing for the raising of money, £25,000, for the payment of the militia of the several counties, and for provisions furnished by sundry inhabitants of the said counties. Among the names to whom payments were thus made, nearly twenty years before the Revolution, were the following: John Daley, Elizabeth Birk, Richard Murray, James Nevil, John Bryan, John Burk Lane, John McAnally, Alexander McMullen, Bryan Ferguson, John Fitzpatrick, William Cunningham, Robert Carney, Darby Conway, Thomas McNamara, Michael Mallow, Hugh Divar, William McGill, Robert Megary, John Shields, Cornelius Sullivan, Michael Dickie, John Farrell, James Burke, John Jordan, George Farley, Adam McCormick, Thomas Boyne, William Shannon, Bryan McDonnell, Robert Looney, Robert McClanahan, Michael Doherty, Peter Looney, John McNeal, William Curry, John McGowan, Ralph Lafferty, Patrick Frasier, Patrick Campbell, Michael Kelly, Patrick Porter, James Kennedy, Patrick Lowery, Patrick Savage, Patrick McCloskey, Charles McAnally, John Kilpatrick, James Boreland, Hugh Martin, Patrick Cargon, James Mulligan, John Caine, Dennis McNealy, Lawrence Murphy, Dennis Getty, William McMullen, William Garvin, William Doherty, Joseph Looney, Patrick McDade (Dowd), John Casey, John Macky, Thomas Sexton, Head Lynch, Patrick McDavitt, Ambrose Bryan, William Meade, John Riley, Reuben Keef, Jeremiah Early, Joseph McMurty, Patrick Hennessy, Edward O’Hare, Luke Murphy, James Murphy, Patrick Vance, Patrick Hallogan, James McFall, Patrick Johnson, John Patrick Burks, Thomas Dooley, James Dooley, Thomas Maclin, Thomas Connelly, Michael Poore, James Lynch, David Kelly, Michael Lawler, William Collins, Miles Murphy, John Hayes, Richard Burke, Cornelius Mitchell, William Gerrett, Michael Ryan, Garrett Bolin, William O’Donnell, Patrick McKenny, Richard Murphy, Francis Maginnis, Bryan Mooney, John Hickey, John Sullivan, William Murphy, Thomas McGuire, Cornelius Cargill, Michael Dixon, William Splane, Thomas Doyle, Michael Lynn, Edward O’Neal, Thomas McClanahan, James Doyle, John Donnelly, William Fitzgerald, Henry Dooley and Bryan Nolan. The people whose names are here given were soldiers in the militia fighting against the French and Indians between 1738 and 1758, as well as citizens furnishing them provisions.

In the poll for the election of burgesses for the several Virginia counties in 1741 are the following, among other names: Morgan Donnell, Daily Callahan, Edward Barry, John Carfey (Coffey), Simon Carnel, Dennis Connors, Edward Fagin, John Murphy, Patrick Hamericka, Michael Dermond (Dermott), James Cullen, William Butler, Michael Scanlan, Gabriel Murphy, James Dulaney, William Hogan, Henry Murphy, John Madden, Dennis McCarty, Thomas Carney, William Buckley, William Reardon and Philip Nolan.

The greater part of the names here given are in appearance Irish of the Irish, of Gaelic, or of old Norman origin. An examination of the early Virginia records will show, from 1619 to 1790, the entry of some of the most ancient of the Gaelic names peculiar to Ireland, like O’Neil, O’Donnell, O’Brien, O’Connor, accompanied by McMahon, McCarthy, McClanahan, McGuire, etc.

In an address delivered by the venerable Dr. Thomas Dunn English to the members of the American-Irish Historical Society, at one of its annual gatherings in New York several years ago, he stated that when a young man, over half a century before, he practised his profession in western Virginia. He noticed while there the manners, customs, and phrases of the mountaineers, and in later life, when he removed to New York, he was surprised to see the similarity between them and the newly-arrived Irish from the south, east, and west of Ireland. This for the first time caused him to change his opinion as to the nationality of the ancestors of the people in Virginia who had been classed as “Scotch-Irish,” for in every respect they appeared more like the southern Irish whom he had met later in New York.

Enough has been written to show what a large proportion of the people of the Old Dominion before the year 1800 were of Irish descent. The mention of any more names would simply be a tiresome proceeding.

While many of these people were distinguished in Virginia, the greater part of their descendants were more eminent in the territories and states to which they migrated. A distinguished Virginian, although not a native of the state, was Major-General Benjamin F. Kelly of the Union army. He was a native of New Hampshire, but went to West Virginia when a youth. He was the grandson of Darby Kelly, who served three years in the old French War in northern New York under Sir William Johnson. Darby was a soldier, a schoolmaster, and a farmer, and his New Hampshire descendants are, and have been, among the most useful citizens of the old Granite state. Gen. Kelly is credited with raising the first Union regiment and winning the first victory for the Union south of Mason and Dixon’s line during the Civil War. His nephew, Capt. Warren Michael Kelly, commanded a company in the Tenth New Hampshire Infantry, commanded by Col. Michael T. Donohoe, and it is claimed that he led the first white troops into Richmond after its evacuation.

Another distinguished Union officer, a West Virginian, if I am not mistaken, was Gen. Milroy. Every Irishman is aware that this was the good old Gaelic name of Mulroy, and in that form is borne by hundreds of Irish persons in America to-day. On the Confederate side none of the many distinguished officers serving under Gen. Lee had a better reputation as a fighter than Gen. William Mahone. It is claimed that he was opposed to the surrender of Lee, and that his troops were ready, under his direction, to continue the fight.

That writers in time will do justice to those of the Irish race and to Ireland for the part taken in the colonization of the country and in the establishment of the republic, is unquestioned, but Irishmen and the sons of Irishmen must interest themselves in this matter in each state in order to accomplish that end. New England in this respect, through its writers, has made known to the world the part taken by the Pilgrims and Puritans in the building of this nation, and their example can well be followed by people of our own race in laboring with the pen to show that in the same work Irishmen and Irishmen’s sons have taken no small part.

The authorities examined in connection with the writing of this paper are Hotten’s _Original Lists_ of emigrants, the _Virginia Calendar of State Papers_, the _First Republic in America_, Ramsay’s _History of the United States_, Campbell’s _History of Virginia_; _Historical Collections of Virginia_, _William & Mary College Quarterly_, _Gleanings of Virginia History_, Collins’ _History of Kentucky_.

THE IRISH PIONEERS OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.[2]

BY EDWARD A. HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS.

Since the organization of the American-Irish Historical Society, in 1897, with Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, whose father’s mother was Irish, as one of the charter members, and Rear Admiral Richard W. Meade as the first president-general, many important facts have been recorded of the contributions of the Irish element in the upbuilding of this republic.

A distinguished statesman and statistician recently stated that within the memory of men now living upwards of twenty-one millions of immigrants arrived and settled in the United States. This same authority states that almost two thirds of our entire population is represented by English and Irish blood in about equal proportions. In this computation it should always be remembered that England was given credit for many of the earlier Irish emigrants who were obliged to sail from English ports and compelled to adopt English surnames.

It is, however, with thousands of Irish pioneers who immigrated to this country before the time of men living now and who settled many of the towns in or bordering on the Connecticut valley that I wish to occupy the attention of my readers.

Up to a few years ago, the popular opinion seemed to be that the Irish first began crossing the Atlantic after the famine of 1846, or about the time of the building of the canals and railroads. That many Irish men and women came to the Connecticut valley and participated in the formation of the first settlements, that is from 1635 to 1735, practically the first hundred years of American life, the records of the towns will prove.

The descendants of the old Irish settlers here, in many cases, ceased to look upon their ancestors as Irishmen, or at least forgot about, or appeared not to be familiar with, their Irish origin, because of the prejudices that existed respecting the more recent comers from the “ever green isle” that have tended to make them disinclined to acknowledge an ancestry which was so little in general favor and popularity.

As we become more educated, intelligent, and enlightened as a people, however, and become familiar by careful study with the early history of our country, we will learn to our great advantage of the names and deeds of Irishmen who played a prominent part in the establishment of this government. We will appreciate more fully something of the pride that should animate us for being so fortunate as to be able to trace our ancestry back to such worthy relationship.

The people of this race, men and women, born on Irish soil, and their descendants, have been here from the first “prompted by the motives common to all emigration, dissatisfaction with the old order of things and the resolve to obtain a freer and better life in the new land under favorable conditions.”

Here in the Connecticut valley the best, the cleanest, and strongest blood of Europe has come in to strengthen and accentuate the old stock that existed here, and the result has been the enterprising and progressive communities of to-day in the cities and towns of the valley.

A recent publication announced the death of Sir William MacCormic, who passed away recently, as the “celebrated English surgeon,” although he was born in Ireland. Similar freedom has been taken in the case of the Duke of Wellington, Edmund Burke, Goldsmith, Sheridan, Dean Swift, Justin McCarthy, and other famous Irishmen. This is even worse than being called “Scotch-Irish,” as is the fate of many of our famous Americans of Irish ancestry.

We are all Americans and the Irish are all Irish, whether their ancestors were from Spain, or France, or England, or Scotland; they all became Irish as we became Americans, and the Irish who came here in the early days of the colonies represented all the blending of these races. We are all of us the resultant of a great many different, and, apparently, antagonistic races. We commonly became Irish, Scotch, or American as the result of the surroundings of two or three generations.

The first settlements in the Connecticut valley were made from Cambridge, Dorchester, and Watertown, Mass., to the towns of Windsor, Hartford, and Weathersfield in Connecticut. This migration took place in 1634–’35. It was of a wholesale character, almost depopulating those towns in the eastern part of Massachusetts. Along with this exodus there was another from Roxbury, Mass., led by William Pynchon in May, 1636. This migration settled on the eastern bank of the Connecticut in Springfield, Mass. Middletown, Conn., was settled soon after and may possibly have been called after Middletown in Ireland.

Among the early records of Springfield, Mass., we find that Henry Chapin sold to John Riley sixteen acres of land running 120 rods along the west side of the Connecticut river, Nov. 4, 1684, the property being described in the record as “West of the Connecticut River and north from the Riley tract,” which would indicate that the 16 acres was an additional tract to other lands previously owned by some member of the Riley family. The sale was witnessed by Miles Morgan, who made his mark in the form of a pick axe and the deed was recorded by John Holyoke. This is a part of the territory known as “Ireland Parish” and is the present site of the Holy Family Institute for orphan children at Brightside.

Col. John Cummings purchased the territory of Cummington, Mass., of the government, June 2, 1762, for £1,800. This town furnished to American literature the poet William Cullen Bryant. He was the son of Dr. Peter Bryant and was born on Nov. 3, 1794. As a poet he ranks among the best. His productions are marked by great simplicity and clearness of expression, pure morality, a genial and gentle philosophy, and a well-tempered imagination, combined with a superior comprehension. Both names, Cullen and Bryant or Bryan, are distinctively of Irish origin, but are often called English, like many of the earlier Irish immigrants.

Among the Revolutionary soldiers from Cummington, the last survivor was Daniel Timothy, born Jan. 7, 1755. He was in the service during the entire war and lived to be over 100 years old. He was known by the name of “Teague,” which is Irish for Timothy, and this is the name given him in his pension certificate.