The first funds of Rhode Island College, now Brown University, were obtained in Ireland. The original subscription book is still carefully preserved. (Guild’s work on The First Commencement of Rhode Island College.)
In 1774 the Second Company, Governor’s Foot Guard, of New Haven, Conn., engaged Edward Burke as instructor “in the military exercise.” The company is one of the oldest existing military organizations in America.
Gov. Thomas Dongan of New York, an Irish Catholic, visited Milford, Conn., in 1685, to confer with Governor Treat regarding the boundary between the two colonies. Governor Treat terms Dongan “A noble gentleman.”
Stephen Decatur, a Genoese Catholic, arrived in Newport, R. I., about 1740–’46; married a woman of Irish lineage; became captain of a privateer. His son, also named Stephen, attained high rank in the United States navy.
Thomas Casey was born in Ireland about 1636. He became a resident of Newport, R. I. In 1692 he and his son Thomas witnessed a deed given by James Sweet of East Greenwich, R. I., to Thomas Weaver of Newport.
Jean Baptiste O’Meara was one of the “lieutenants en second” of the Irish-French regiment of Walsh in the American Revolution. Holding like rank in the regiment were Jacques O’Sheil, George Meighan and Eugene MacCarthy.
On the roster of the British garrison at Albany, N. Y., when the place was reconquered from the Dutch and held for a short time in 1673, appear the names Capt. John Manning, Patrick Dowdell, John Fitzgerald and Thomas Quinn.
Matthew O’Bryan was a Massachusetts soldier of the Revolution. He served in Col. John Crane’s regiment of artillery. In one return he is credited with service for 21 months and 25 days as bombardier and 12 months as matross.
Jane Brown was born in Providence, R. I., 1734. Her father, Rev. Arthur Brown, was a native of Drogheda, Ireland. She married Samuel Livermore, who became attorney-general of New Hampshire and United States senator.
Thomas Amory emigrated from Limerick, Ireland, to South Carolina. He removed from the latter place to Boston, Mass., in 1721. The late Thomas C. Amory of Boston, author of the Transfer of Erin, was one of his descendants.