Rev. J. Havergal Sheppard, D. D.: Mr. President-General, Ladies and Gentlemen, Honored Guests and Fellow Members of the American Irish Historical Society: I esteem it a very great honor that you have conferred upon me tonight in asking me to speak at this, your annual gathering. I must confess that I feel somewhat embarrassed in facing such a body of distinguished Irishmen and their friends. It has not often been my lot to meet so many “Sons of the Ould Sod” or those whose Sires settled on these shores in the passing years as it is tonight. Nevertheless I am proud to be one of you on this occasion; in fact, I feel like a fellow countryman of mine, who was in the company of an Englishman and a Scotchman. They were complimenting each other, when the Englishman asked the Scotchman if he were not a Scotchman what would he be, and he answered, an Englishman. Then the Scotchman, not to be outdone, asked the Englishman if he was not an Englishman what he would be, and, of course, he answered a Scotchman. Then they turned to Pat, who had been listening to their expressions of friendship, and they asked him, “Pat, if you were not an Irishman, what would you be?” And he, in turn, in true Celtic fashion, answered, “If I was not an Irishman I would be ashamed of myself.” So if I was not an Irishman, after this gathering and greeting and what the Irish have done for this country, I would be ashamed of myself.
An old philosopher once said, “Let us give the past to oblivion, the present to duty, the future to Providence,” and I am sure we agree with him in two of his propositions, but we differ with his first. We are willing to give the present to duty and trust the future to Providence, but never give the past to oblivion; not until, at least, every true American knows the Irish chapter in American history. And it is such a body as this that will hasten that glad day for the Irish race, when men will know that we have as much right to these shores as any race that ever landed here. That starry flag, with its red for love and its white for law and its blue for the hope that our fathers saw in a larger liberty, has been consecrated with the blood of the liberty-loving sons of the sod.
There has never been a battle for right against wrong but “That rascal, Pat,” has been to the front, not only to fight as a private soldier, but to often lead the van as a commanding officer. We find him on the bench and at the bar pleading as an able lawyer; before the altar or in the pulpit, performing the sacred duties of religion. In fact, wherever you go or whatever profession or trade you enter you will find “That Rascal, Pat.” They are no newcomers to these shores, for shortly after that memorable landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock they made their way across the trackless main for this new land.
It was not the lure of gold but the love of liberty that brought them. Down-trodden and oppressed in the land of their birth, whether Roman Catholic or Non-conformist, by unjust and tyrannical laws passed by a government that had no sympathy with the suffering Irish, every possible means of culture were denied them, until life in the land they loved became unbearable; so those who were able to muster enough money and courage crossed the briny deep, with many sad farewells and heartbreaking partings.
It is true that many of those early settlers were from the north and had, undoubtedly, been descendents of men who settled there from Scotland and other parts of Britain and Europe; but they had been residents of Ireland for several generations before they emigrated here, and by the right of birth were “Sons of the Sod.” Many Americans of later days, as well as British historians, have given the glory to Scotland for what they did for America, and they always speak of them as Scotch-Irish, and when you ask the reason this is done they will tell you it is to distinguish between them and the Roman Catholic Irish, but supposing we follow that method in our historic research. We would have to say that every Episcopalian was an Englishman, that every Presbyterian was a Scotchman and every Roman Catholic was an Italian. But again they answer: These people came originally from Scotland, hence they are Scotch-Irish; but taking that for granted, which is not the whole truth, as we have many other races in Ireland, most of those early Scotch settlers bear Highland names and were not the Scotch Highlanders, the same race by blood, as the original Irish, and the only thing that made them Scotch was the fact of birth in Scotland; hence when they arrived back in Ireland they became Irish by the same right that they were Scotch, that of birth. In fact, they became more Irish than the Irish themselves. I think enough has been said to introduce my subject tonight.
It is my purpose to put on record a few facts in regard to the great part our fellow countrymen played in the Protestant denominations, in America. As I have already stated, most of the early Irish settlers on these shores came from Ulster and were of the Presbyterian faith. Cotton Mather says that previous to 1640 four thousand Presbyterians had arrived in New England, and there is no doubt that many of these came from Ireland. As early as 1662 a group of Irish and Scotch Presbyterians worshipped in Jamaica, Long Island, and it is claimed that this was the first church of that denomination on this continent.
Between 1670–1680 a body of Presbyterians settled on the eastern bank of the Elizabeth River in Virginia, who had with them their pastor from Ireland, who continued to labor among them until his death in 1683. Later one hundred families from Ireland settled Londonderry, New Hampshire, bringing their pastor, Rev. James McGregore, who faithfully and affectionately labored for their good.
As early as 1680 several families of Irish Presbyterians settled in the lower counties of Maryland and erected several houses of worship, as a letter from one of them, Colonel William Stevens, was presented in 1680 to the Laggan Presbytery in Ireland, requesting that a minister by sent to labor in Maryland, and in 1683 the Rev. Francis Makemie arrived by the way of Barbadoes and founded the church at Snow Hill. For several years he labored as an itinerant preacher or missionary, founding churches or strengthening those already started.
“This pioneer of the church,” says a Presbyterian authority, “was born in County Donegal, Ireland, and was so earnest, fearless and indefatigable that he persevered so well in obtaining fellow laborers, though he must cross the ocean for them, and in 1704 brought out two young men, one being John Hampton, a fellow countryman. He was instrumental in organizing the first classical assembly of the Presbyterian church in America, 1706.”
Under the name of the “Presbytery of Philadelphia,” with the Presbytery of Dublin as a model, Makemie being elected moderator and thus logically becoming the founder of organized Presbyterianism in America.