When twenty-three years old, Copley sent, without name or address, an exquisite portrait of his half-brother, entitled “The Boy and the Flying Squirrel,” to Benjamin West, the famous English painter, requesting that it be placed in the exhibition rooms of the Royal Academy in London. Though it was contrary to the rules of that institution to give such an honor to the work of unknown artists, this product of the young American Kelt was placed there because of its merits and through West’s influence. West himself made this comment on the painting: “What delicious coloring! It is worthy of Titian himself!”
Copley spent the latter part of his life in London, and after achieving the most brilliant success and receiving high honors, died in 1815.
Some of his biographers assert that Copley left America because of royalist tendencies, but this is untrue. He did so simply to perfect himself in his art. As a matter of fact, his sympathies and judgment were enlisted with his countrymen in their struggle for independence, as passages in his own and friends’ correspondence conclusively prove.
Among the Massachusetts men who signed the Declaration of Independence was Robert Treat Paine of Boston. Paine, according to what is believed to be good authorities, had Irish blood in his veins. He was the grandson of Robert Paine, who came here about the year 1698. This Robert Paine was a brother of Henry O’Neill of Dungannon, Co. Tyrone, a descendant of Shane the Proud, Prince of Ulster, and cousin of Sir Neal O’Neill, who perished in the Battle of the Boyne. Henry O’Neill changed his name to Paine, which had been borne by a parental ancestor, in order to preserve part of his estates. So says O’Hart, compiler of Irish Pedigrees.
Robert Treat Paine, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born in Boston in 1731. He became a lawyer and conducted the prosecution of the English soldiers who perpetrated the “Boston Massacre,” as it is called. He served in the legislature and was a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1778. When the State Constitution of Massachusetts was adopted in 1780 he was made attorney-general and served as such for six years, then becoming a judge of the Supreme Court.
Two of his descendants and namesakes are today prominent citizens of Boston, one a successful business man, while the other, his son, a few years ago was the candidate for governor on the Democratic ticket.
The first indication of the Irish in Boston giving any evidence of national spirit occurred in 1737, on St. Patrick’s Day, when twenty-six Protestant Kelts—they all belonged to the Irish Presbyterian Church—organized the Charitable Irish Society to aid unfortunate fellow countrymen and to cultivate a spirit of unity and harmony among all Irishmen in the Massachusetts colony and their descendants and to advance their interests socially and morally. It has held meetings and celebrations from that day down to the present, except during the Revolution, in which a number of members took part. It has the distinction of being the oldest Irish society in America. Some of the charter members were the founders of distinguished families.
One of the founders was Peter Pelham, stepfather of Copley, the artist. He was an engraver, painter and father of fine arts. The same year the society was founded the selectmen granted him permission to open a school for the education of children in reading, writing, needle-work, dancing and the art of painting on glass, etc.
Major-General Henry Knox, that brilliant and dashing soldier of the Revolution, and secretary of war, was also a member, as were his father and two uncles. General Knox was born in Boston in 1760.
The membership roll also contained the names of Capt. Robert Gardner, a wealthy and prominent citizen; Rev. John Moorehead, pastor of the Irish Presbyterian Church; William Hall, who was the first president of the Society and was a constable in 1730; John McLean, a slater, and who made repairs on Faneuil Hall; Captain James McGee, who had command of a vessel in the service of the commonwealth of Massachusetts Bay and which was wrecked during a great storm in 1778, when seventy-two of the crew perished; and William Moroney. The diary of Lieutenant Burton, published in the Revolutionary rolls of New Hampshire, mentions the appointment by Washington of Mr. Moroney as provost marshal of the army.