Hugh McLean, a native of Ireland, was born in 1724. He settled in Milton, Mass., and died in 1799. His son, John McLean, was a benefactor of Harvard College and of the Massachusetts General Hospital, the latter institution in Boston, Mass.
Among those serving during the Revolution, in the First Regiment, Virginia Light Dragoons, were James Casey, Thomas Hogan, John Carroll, William Hicks, John Powers and Niel McCaffry. They are mentioned in the Virginia records of that period.
Some years after the close of the Revolution, Christopher Fitzsimons, a wealthy Irishman of Charleston, S. C., passed away, leaving an estate worth $700,000. His daughter, Anne, married one of the Hamptons, receiving $100,000 as her dower.
Mention is made in the Massachusetts Revolutionary records of John McLaughlin, a marine who served aboard the Alfred, commanded by John Paul Jones. McLaughlin is referred to as entitled to prize shares in the ship Mellish and the brig Active.
Before 1800, Masters Knox and Crocker, natives of Ireland, taught school at Bowen’s Hill (Coventry, R. I.), and the neighborhood. (Cole’s History of Washington and Kent Counties, R. I.) The name Knox is found in the Coventry records as early as 1766.
David O’Killia, a son of David, “the Irishman” of old Yarmouth, Mass., married Anna Bills in 1662. He had a brother named John who wedded in 1690. Another brother, Jeremiah, died in 1728. A sister, Elizabeth, became the wife of Silas Sears in 1707.
Timothy McKlewain’s name appears in a list of subscribers at a meeting in East Windsor, Conn., April 21, 1777. The meeting was “For ye Great & important Purpose of furnishing our Proportion of men for the Continental Army.” He subscribed £1 10s.
Alexander Bryan, from Armagh in Ireland, was a settler at Milford, Conn., as far back as 1639. In 1661 he bought of the Indians the last twenty acres they owned on Milford Neck. He paid them therefor six coats, three blankets and three pairs of breeches.
Among the ancient inscriptions in the old Granary Burial Ground, Boston, Mass., is the following: “Here Lyeth Interred ye body of Charles Maccarty, son to Thadeus and Elizabeth Maccarty, aged 18 years, wanting 7 days. Deceased ye 25 of October, 1683.”
Patrick Cavenaugh, a soldier of the Revolution, served in the Eighth Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line. On one occasion he saved General Lincoln from being captured by the British, in New Jersey. He was afterwards an express rider for General Greene.