[5]. William Hibbens.
The gentleman referred to also says: “Up to that time (1647) there was practically no infusion of Irish blood in New England.” In reply to that I would answer that if the other large centers of New England had as many Kelts as did Boston up to and including 1647—and I would not be surprised if they had—this gentleman’s statement would stand disproved.
Under Cromwell’s government many Irish people were sent to New England. On their arrival they were sold as servants or slaves by those at whose charge they were brought here. This slavery, however, was only temporary, and generally for a period of four years. It was distinctly understood that this service of the Irish was to be in direct payment for the trouble and expense of transporting them.
The men of Irish blood were not prominent in the early story of the colony, with a few exceptions. But that was neither their fault nor to their discredit. The reasons for this were in brief the racial antipathy on the part of the colonists; their hatred of the religion professed by the mass of the Kelts; the social ostracism of the English toward the children of Erin; the legislation in Ireland which forced the natives into, and kept them in, ignorance from an educational standpoint; their poverty, another heritage of England’s misrule of their country and the smallness of their numbers in comparison with the English settlers.
But time works wonders and brings its revenges! The erstwhile tiny English and Puritan colony has become a great city, one of the greatest in America, in fact, and the stronghold of the Catholic and Kelt. Only the other day it was governed by a man of that faith and blood, and he was the successor of four other mayors born in Ireland or descended from Irish people, while the majority of the leading city officials were of the same class.
In the professions and business life also men of Irish blood are making a good showing here. And as to religion, our clergy of Keltic blood outnumber those of all other nationalities and so do they all the non-Catholic ministers combined.
I know you will be now interested to hear of John Cogan, to whom I referred in the beginning of this paper. For a quarter of a century he was prominently identified with the colony—from 1632 until his death in 1658. He probably came from Cork. The late John B. Reagan, of Dorchester, noted for his historical research regarding the Irish in America, said of the first of Boston’s Keltic citizens: “Among those who came over in the so-called Winthrop fleet, composed of ‘people from all parts,’ were several merchants from the maritime ports of Ireland, of whom John Cogan was one.”
In my researches for details of Cogan’s career I found this reference to him, from Lechford’s Notebook: “Whether John Cogan, of Boston, Mass., was related to this family (the Cogans of Chard, Eng.,) or not I do not know. He appears to have been from Devonshire, as in 1639 he gave Isaac Northcut, of Honiton, a power of attorney to receive any legacy under the will of his mother, Eleanor Cogan, of Tiverton, in Devon.” Still, this would not prove that Cogan was English, as thousands of Irish have settled in England from an early period.
Cogan was virtually one of the founders of Boston, one of its leading citizens, one of its wealthiest and most enterprising, and a pillar and one of the founders of the First Church. And I am glad to say that the colonists were sensible enough to so far overcome their prejudices as to appreciate what sort of man he was, for they honored him with numerous public offices and positions of trust.
He was a member of the first board of selectmen and served in that capacity for a long time; a juror in the Court of Assistants; one of a committee to allot land for the inhabitants to plant on and of another committee to allot land on the Neck and in East Boston; one of a committee to erect fortifications on Fort Hill and its treasurer; a member of the grand jury; a surveyor of the highways; a constable. The full list of offices he held would be too long to give here.