Edward King located at Windsor, Conn., about 1635, and is described as “An Irishman and one of the oldest settlers in this vicinity.”
John Cleary of Hadley, Mass., died in 1691. His son John was born Oct. 4, 1647, while his son John, Jr., was born April 3, 1671, and was slain in Brookfield in 1709. Joseph, son of old John, was born Nov. 30, 1677; and Joseph, son of John 3d, died in 1748. Joseph’s son Joseph was born Sept. 3, 1705.
John Clark was born in Ireland, 1704. He had two sons, John and Moses, living with him at Hadley, Mass.
The following interesting extract is from the records of Northampton, Mass., Sept. 17, 1663: “At a legal Town Meeting there was then granted to Cornelius, the Irishman, three acres of land upon condition that he build upon it and make improvement of it within one year, yet not so as to make him capable of acting in any Town affairs, no more than he had before it was granted to him.”
John Fleming, born in Ireland in 1673, came to America and settled in Palmer, Mass., 1721. Robert Farrell came from Ireland in 1720 and came to Palmer a few years later. Samuel Shaw came from Queenstown, County Cork, in 1720, and to Hampden County, Mass., in 1736.
The first inhabitants of Colerain, Mass., were mostly of those who had immigrated from Ireland in 1718, although many of them, did not leave Ireland until about the time of the settlement of the town in 1736. Some came from the Irish settlement of Londonderry, N. H., and more from Stow, Pelham, Woburn, and Roxbury, Mass., where they had previously settled before coming to Colerain. Holland says, “They were a robust set of men; six foot or more in height with frames of corresponding size; possessing constitutions capable of great endurance and fitted for every emergency.”
Capt. David Hamilton of Blandford, Mass., was born in Ireland, July 11, 1742, and his wife was born July 17, 1752. He immigrated to this country prior to the Revolutionary War, and in that struggle for independence took an active part, being captain of a company in the Continental army. After the war, he purchased a farm in Blandford, on which his thirteen children were born and reared, and hundreds of their descendants have been active forces in the development and prosperity of the community.
The Codmans were descended from William Cod, who came to this country from Ireland, and settled at Amherst, Mass., about 1740. The last syllable of the name was added by his sons, one of whom was Dr. Henry Codman, who died in 1812. Michael Carroll sold land in Hartford to Isaac Graham for £180, May 13, 1728, and his grandson, Michael Carroll, graduated from Harvard in 1813.
Richard Ellis, the first settler of Ashfield, Mass., and the ancestor of many of the families of that name in the Connecticut valley, was born in Dublin, Ireland, Aug. 16, 1704, and was thirteen years of age when he landed in this country, as stated by one of his descendants, Aaron Smith of Stockton, N. Y. Tradition has handed down the following account of him: Mr. Ellis was the only son of a widow. A native of Ireland who had become a wealthy planter in Virginia, and having no children, made application to a friend in Dublin to send over a youth of promise to be adopted into his family and brought up under his care and patronage. Young Ellis was selected and started for this country. On his embarkation his passage was paid and an agreement made with the captain of the ship to land him safely in Virginia, but the captain proved faithless to his trust, brought the youth to Boston, and there sold him for his passage money. After serving out the time thus unjustly exacted from him he left Boston and settled in Easton, Mass., where he married Bridget Phillips and removed to Ashfield, then called Hunstown, where he probably made a settlement about the year 1742. Here they lived and raised a family of eight children.
One of the most distinguished soldiers of the Revolutionary War from western Massachusetts was Col. Hugh Maxwell, who lived in that part of Charlemont now within the bounds of Heath. Col. Hugh Maxwell was born in Ireland, April 27, 1733. He was a devoted patriot and rendered his adopted country valuable service in the French and Revolutionary wars. He was in the battle near Lake George and at the capture of Fort William Henry. It was chiefly owing to his influence that there was not a Tory in his town. On the Lexington alarm he marched as lieutenant with a company of Minute Men to Cambridge. He was in the battle of Bunker Hill and received a ball through his right shoulder, and although he never entirely recovered from his wound, he served throughout the war, fighting at Trenton, Princeton, and Saratoga. He was also with the suffering army at Morristown, and endured the horrors of Valley Forge. Col. Maxwell enjoyed the friendship of Gen. Washington and other distinguished patriots of the Revolutionary struggle. At the age of sixty-six years Col. Maxwell started on a trip to visit the land of his birth, and was lost at sea during the voyage.