It has become almost a maxim in historical matters that the history of events cannot be accepted as facts until the generation which lived at the time said events occurred has passed away.
The passions, influences, and conditions which generate, shape, and control events lend a coloring to their recital which, deep-lined or faint as painted by the writer at the time, are toned down or made stronger by the historian of a future generation who, unmindful of passions, influences, or conditions, and with an eye single to the preservation of history by means of the truth, makes past occurrences stand out in their true light.
Deeds that have received but a passing mention from writers whose minds were biased are rescued from an unmerited insignificance and placed high in the Temple of Fame, while highly extolled acts, given an undue prominence by a partisan writer, are consigned to a merited oblivion by the historian of a later but more impartial epoch.
It is not often true of history that the stone which was rejected by the builder becomes the corner stone of the edifice.
A member of the Society of Friends who desires to familiarize himself with the history of his sect in New England would find but little of the truth in the writings which have come from such intellectual dyspeptics as Cotton Mather and his disciples. But in the unwritten history of Quaker persecutions that have become legendary, by the purity of their lives, by their nobility of character and their Christianizing influences, the pioneers of that faith stand out in bold relief in the religious history of Puritan New England, with its dark background of scourging, mutilation, banishments, and hangings.
By analogy, how can the Irish-American race expect that the history of Irishmen in New England can be presented in just proportion to the true merits of the case?
In fact, who has heard much of Irishmen in New England until the present generation? As in New England, so throughout the Colonies. The Virginia Cavalier was not less hostile to the Irish than the Massachusetts Puritan.
Should the American-Irish Historical Society go out of existence to-night, it would have already accomplished a grand mission in this: that it has brought forth from obscure records the deeds of Irishmen in America, and has laid the foundation for the erection of an historical monument to Irishmen that, with its base laid in colonial times, and still being constructed, challenges the respect and admiration of all lovers of American history.
The work of this society has been thus far practically confined to research of New England records. This research has been fruitful of good results.
Among other things we learn of the Irish as brickmakers of Rehoboth and settlers in Salem and Lynn in early colonial times.