Mrs. Grant in her Memoirs of an American Lady mentions “A handsome, good-natured looking Irishman in a ragged provincial uniform,” named Patrick Coonie, with his wife and children, who settled near Albany, N. Y., in 1768.
Matthew Mease, who was born in Strabane, Ireland, became purser of the Bonhomme Richard and served under John Paul Jones in the engagement with the British 44–gun ship Serapis. Mease was wounded in that engagement.
In 1768, Patrick Mackey, mentioned as from Philadelphia, Pa., opened in Providence, R. I., “a skinner’s shop near the Hay-ward, on the east side of the great bridge.” He dealt in deer leather, in wool, and in goat and sheep skins.
The New York Revolutionary records mention Thomas Quigley, first lieutenant of the privateer General Putnam, “formerly the Betsey.” She was commanded, successively, by Capt. Thomas Cregier and Capt. William Mercier.
A roll of Capt. John Givens’ company of militia, Augusta County, Va., 1777–’82, includes the names James Donohoe, Peter Carrol, John Morrison, Neil Hughes, John Craig, Andrew Mitchell and others indicative of Irish extraction.
Alexander Johnston came from near Londonderry, Ireland, about 1721, and settled in Pennsylvania. He was a magistrate, and at one time owned a farm in Pennsylvania of 900 acres. Col. Francis Johnston of the Revolution was his son.
Michael Wright, a native of Mountmellick, Queens County, Ireland, served during the Revolution in a Rhode Island regiment of the Line. He is mentioned in a return as 42 years of age and as having his residence in Seaconnet, R. I.
Gen. Stephen Moylan, of the Revolution, was a brother of the Roman Catholic bishop of Cork, Ireland. Two of his sisters became nuns. One of them was abbess of the Ursuline convent in Cork, and the other was a nun in the same convent.
Macarty de Marteigue was the commander, in 1782, of the French warship Le Magnifique, which formed part of the naval force sent over by France to aid the American Revolution. Du Fay de Carty is mentioned as an ensign on the same ship.
The Massachusetts Revolutionary records mention Patrick Burke, a soldier of Col. John Crane’s regiment of artillery. Burke enlisted for the town of Wrentham, Mass., was a sergeant, and is at one period referred to as “Orderly to the General.”