The McCartys have been prominent in Virginia almost from the earliest period in the history of the colony. Whether or not all were descendants of Owen and Charles McCartee, who came over in 1635, cannot here be determined. The name, with various spellings, has frequent mention in the colonial and state records. It has been represented in the National Congress, and one of the bravest of the Confederates during the Civil War, noted for his courage, was Capt. Page McCarty of Richmond. He was equally noted as a duelist.
In a letter to the writer, some six years ago, Capt. McCarty said there was a belief in the family that the original immigrants of the name came from Kinsale in Cork, but some of the name, as is the custom nowadays, called their ancestors “Scotch-Irish.” He was an exception, however.
In an account of the death and funeral of Washington, by his private secretary, Tobias Lear, a native of New Hampshire, he wrote that the families of McCarty, McClanahan, and Callahan were especially invited to attend the funeral by the widow, at the request of Washington on his death-bed.
Daniel McCarty was a justice for Fairfax county in 1770. Capt. Richard McCarty was in command of an expedition against the Indians in 1779. With him as an associate officer was Captain Quirk. The name is spelled indifferently as McCartee, McCarty, McCarthy, etc., which makes it appear that there were others of the same name later and spelling their names in accordance with the Irish method.
In 1742 there is a record deeding two hundred and ninety-eight acres of land to Dennis Conneirs,—the good old name of Connor was undoubtedly twisted by the scribe. Major William Lynn was an officer in the Spottsylvania militia in 1757. Lynn is a name frequently met in Ireland. Judge Wauhope Lynn, of New York, is a splendid representative of the Irish Lynns of Antrim, in Ulster, Ireland. Daniel Lyon and Daniel Currie were two of the defenders of Hickey’s Fort against the Indians in 1758. Another old Irish name heads a list of signers complaining against the Brunswick county court in 1764. It is Malone, spelled properly, and was borne by Shakespeare’s great Irish commentator, Edmond Malone, who has frequent mention in Boswell’s Johnson, and who flourished in London about the same period as his Virginia namesake.
John Hooe (Hoey), Lynaugh Helm, Henry Gee, William Keenan, Daniel Herring, Daniel McCarty, Philip Nowland (Nolan), Elijah McClenachan, John Grattan, Walter McClerry (Clary), James McLaw, Nicholas W. Curie, Jeremiah Glenn, Jeremiah Early, John Fitzpatrick, William Mead, Charles Lynch, were all magistrates in the several counties of Virginia in 1770.
In a letter of George Mason, written in 1775, declining a nomination to Congress, he writes his excuses to Mr. McCarty and other inquiring friends. Capt. Richard McCarty has frequent mention during the Revolutionary period. As showing the friendship of the Irish people in Ireland for the Americans during that struggle, the following extract, written by an American agent, Philip Mazzei, from France to Governor Jefferson of Virginia, is of interest:
“I shall now tell you how that came about. Mr. Mark Lynch, merchant in Nantes, came to me with a bill I had drawn in Ireland on Penet & Co., D’Acosta having refused to accept it. My old creditor, Mr. John P. Cotter, of Corke, had ordered that in case of non-payment, the bill should be returned without protest or molestation. Mr. Cotter’s generous and delicate behavior had probably prepared Mr. Lynch in my favor and the sight of my situation completed the business. His countenance expressed his sensibility at the bad usage I had met with in that town, and in the most genteel manner offered me the assistance I was in so great need of, on the security I had proposed to others.”
This letter was written in 1780. It is evident from the closing part of the quotation that Mr. Mark Lynch, the Irish merchant in Nantes, had cashed the draft. It recalls a similar act of kindness extended to Ethan Allen by the people of Cork while he was a prisoner on board an English vessel in the harbor of that city. They were so lavish of their hospitality in money and provisions to the American prisoner that the British captain put an end to it, saying at the same time that he would not allow the damned Irish rebels to thus treat the damned American rebels. It also recalls an entry in the diary of John Adams, where he mentions the hospitable treatment he had received in Spain from two Irish merchants located in one of its maritime cities.
Between the years 1700 and 1800, many Virginians bearing distinctive Irish names, and filling honorable positions in civil and military life, are published in the records of the times. They reflected credit on the community. John Daly Burk wrote a history of Virginia, and during the Revolutionary period Thomas Burke was governor of North Carolina, and Ædanus Burke was chief justice of South Carolina. In connection with this it is of interest to note that in the report of the part taken by his regiment, the Thirtieth Virginia Cavalry, in the battle of Bull Run, Col. Radford credits his adjutant, B. H. Burke, with capturing Col. Michael Corcoran, of the Sixty-ninth New York. Beside Col. Radford’s report is that of Lieut.-Col. Henagin of the Eighth South Carolina. Some of the officers of this regiment, Capt. Harrington, Capt. Hoole, Capt. McLeod, and Capt. John C. McClenaghan, are also mentioned. It will be noticed that the name of the colonel—Cash—and the lieutenant-colonel—Henagin,—are also Irish in appearance.