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:
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.