“Patrick Hayes must have been a resident of the city for some years. He apparently came from the colony of Maryland. We find a record of his service as a juryman in the Mayor’s Court on many occasions during the year 1666. He evidently was a tapster and hotel-keeper, for he had controversy with the excise in 1667. He must have been engaged in general business as well, for in suits between third parties moneys were attached in his hands in 1667 and he sued various parties for goods sold in 1667 and 1668. In two of these cases Thomas Carr was a joint plaintiff. In the action of William Urgent against John Ashman for slander, June 2, 1668, he was a witness to prove his knowledge of the plaintiff as a freeman in the province of Maryland. John Daaly was a plaintiff in two suits in the Mayor’s Court in 1670. John Quigly figures as a plaintiff in the Mayor’s Court against Ralph Huddison August 15, 1671, when he sued successfully to recover £16, 10 sh., for earthenware sold. He served as a juror in the same month, and was one of the arbitrators appointed in the suit of Samuel Bach and David Gomer against the Ketch Betty (attached). Dennis McKarty sued Thomas Edwards, master of the Ketch ‘Society’ in the Mayor’s Court October 24, 1671, to recover £5 for cutting and chipping logwood, and recovered judgment. He was himself sued by Samuel Hall November 14, 1671. Thomas Griffin was one of the public cartmen of the city February 13, 1672.
“During the intervening years, until the Dutch re-occupation in 1673, when its name was changed to New Orange, the city saw but few Irish faces and the list of the burghers contains no Irish names. Upon the re-cession of the city to England in 1674, when English rule became an assured fact, it is reasonable to suppose that some Irish arrivals must have been noted. Yet we can only surmise that from the names as we afterwards find them on the rolls. So, in 1674, Andrew Clare is recorded as owning land on Pearl Street, between Whitehall and State streets; in 1677, we note as residing here, William Walsh; in 1680, Abraham Corbett, a distiller, residing on Broadway near Exchange Place, and William Cox, flour merchant, residing on Hanover Square; in 1691, Lawrence Reade; in 1695, John Morris and Peter Matthews; in 1698, William Morris; in 1702, Thomas Flynn, surgeon, and Patrick Crawford; in 1703, John Barr, Thomas Carroll, Richard Flemming, Bartholomew Hart, Henry Mooney and Peter Moran; in 1708, Anthony Lynch; in 1710, Thomas Kearney; in 1711, James Maxwell. All these were freemen. In 1696, the then Governor Fletcher returned to the home authorities a list of eleven Irish Catholics residing in the city, none of whom was a burgher nor a landowner. Captain Evans, of the Richmond frigate, who was here with the Governor, was the son of an Irish shoemaker.
“It is significant that we first begin to notice Irish names after the administration of Governor Dongan had commenced. The commanding position held by an Irishman for the first time in Colonial history must have attracted to this colony many of his less favored compatriots, who found here not only a haven of refuge where they could practise their religion, but a favored spot where under his enlightened sway the hope of entire civil liberty was near realization. The life and services of Thomas Dongan have never received their just recognition at the hands of historians, nor do we realize the debt, which, as citizens of a great city, we owe this man whose conceptions of liberty were far in advance of his time. At the risk of triteness I cannot forbear epitomizing his career, for it is that of the first Irishman who not only figured prominently in the city’s history, but, as well, moulded its future and made it possible of achievement. Thomas Dongan, second Earl of Limerick, was born in 1634 at Castletown, County Kildare, Ireland, the youngest of the three sons of Sir John Dongan, Baronet. His mother was a sister of Richard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnel and Lieutenant-Governor of Ireland. The family removed to France after the execution of Charles I, when Dongan entered the army and was commissioned by Louis XIV, in an Irish regiment, where he rose by degrees to the rank of Colonel. Returning to England after the Restoration, after declining an offer of preferment in the French Army, he was commissioned and an annual pension of five hundred pounds given him. In the same year, 1678, he was sent as Lieutenant-Governor to Tangier under Lord Inchiquin, where he served for two years, returning to London to spend the life of a man of society and a favorite at Court. Through the influence of the Duke of York he was made Governor of the Province of New York, his jurisdiction including parts of Maine besides Long Island, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket and all the land from the Connecticut River to Delaware Bay. He was also commissioned Vice-Admiral. Arriving in New York August 25, 1683, from Nantasket, he had on the way hither promised the inhabitants of the easterly end of Long Island that ‘no laws or rates for the future should be imposed but by a General Assembly’—but a slight foretaste of what he was really to accomplish. The population of the city was then less than four thousand and it extended from the Bay to the entrenchments along Wall Street. From the Collect Pond (the site of the Tombs) to the northwest towards the North River extended a marsh of seventy acres. From the Bouweries to Harlem there stretched a wood haunted by bears and wolves, and within the city walls themselves bear hunts took place in the orchards, one located between Cedar Street and Maiden Lane. Under his rule, general hunts were held to exterminate wolves from the city. The inhabitants were largely Dutch, but there were many French Huguenots and some few English. In this rather primitive community, great things were about to be done for liberty. Pursuant to his instructions from the Duke, Dongan ordered an election of a ‘General Assembly of all the freeholders by the persons whom they shall choose to represent them,’ in order to consider with the Governor and Council ‘what laws are fit and necessary to be made and established for the good weal and government of the said colony and its dependencies and all the inhabitants thereof,’ with full liberty of consultation and debate among the members. All laws passed were to be subject to the veto of the Governor, and if approved by him were to be submitted to the Duke of York, remaining effective until disapproved by him. It is to the glory of Dongan that he not only approved but initiated many of the revolutionary measures afterwards enacted. On September 13, 1683, a date memorable in the city’s history, the Freeholders of New York, Long Island, Esopus, Albany and Martha’s Vineyard were notified to elect representatives to meet in General Assembly in New York City on October 17th. Seventeen delegates responded, whereof four were from New York and Harlem. This first popular representative assembly met at Fort James, and Matthias Nicoll was speaker. Fourteen acts were passed, whereof the most important was, ‘The Charter of Liberties and Privileges granted by His Royal Highness to the inhabitants of New York and its dependencies.’ This was declared to be enacted ‘for the better establishing the government of this province of New York, and that justice and right may be equally done within the same.’ Among the provisions of this well-named Charter of Liberties were those providing for at least a triennial session of the General Assembly; that every freeholder and freeman should have the elective franchise without constraint or imposition; that majorities should decide every issue; that representatives should be apportioned among the counties; that the members should enjoy all the privileges of members of Parliament; and in fine extending to the inhabitants of this colony all the rights and privileges which Englishmen at home enjoyed under Magna Charta and the provisions of English law. Entire freedom of conscience and of religion were guaranteed to all peaceable persons ‘which profess faith in God by Jesus Christ,’ and the privileges of all existing churches and their discipline were protected. No tax was to be levied without the consent of the Governor, Council and Assembly, thus recognizing the principle which the people had wrested from Mary of Burgundy, in 1477, by the charter called ‘The Great Privilege.’ And thus, for the first time in America, the people were recognized as having legislative power and authority. Accepted by the Governor and proclaimed October 31, 1683, a new standard was set for popular liberty and popular aspiration so that Governor Hunter was able to write to Dean Swift, in 1704, ‘this is the plan of government they all aim at and make no scruple to own.’ The Duke of York accepted this charter October 4, 1684, but when he became King James II he refused to confirm it as being too liberal and implying too much recognition of the people as a political entity, and it died by his veto October 4, 1684. But the seed had been sown, and its growth could not be stopped. At the same session, courts of justice were by statute provided for; the naturalization of aliens was prescribed, and twelve counties were established in the province. To add to the other landmarks of his administration, a charter was granted to New York City April 27, 1686, which has since continued to be the basis of our municipal laws, rights, privileges, public property and franchises. ‘It was worded with care and showed that those who framed it were possessed of a broad and enlightened sense of the sanctity of corporate and private rights.’
“During all his busy rule, Dongan was kept occupied with questions of statesmanship which none but an able and resourceful man could have handled; whether adjusting boundary disputes with New Jersey, Pennsylvania or Connecticut, or outgeneralling the Governor General of Canada at his own game; whether negotiating with the Indians or planning combinations with the other colonies to resist French aggression or undertake offense operations;—in every phase of his varied activities he displayed resourcefulness, tact and power.
“He was a humane man. Under the Duke’s laws, in force from 1665 to 1683, no Christian could keep a slave; but the New Yorkers, being unable to keep pace with the New Englanders, who habitually used their services, slaves were allowed to be kept by orders from England. But in the instructions which Dongan issued May 29, 1686, it was directed that no cruelty should be practised upon them, and the wilful killing of Indians and negroes was to be punished with death. We find as well on October 6, 1687, he proposed to his Council that some means be found for releasing Spaniards and other free people who were held here as slaves and that he forbade their masters either to sell or trade such persons pending their appeal for liberty. Again, July 30, 1688, he ordered that ‘all Indian slaves within the province, subjects of the King of Spain, that can give an account of their Christian faith and say the Lord’s Prayer shall be forthwith set at liberty, and sent home at the first convenience, and likewise them that shall hereafter come to this Province.’
“The troubles accumulating in England found their echo here and the King prohibited the establishing of printing-presses here, and on January 20, 1687, dissolved the popular Assembly. In that year Dongan wrote ‘one of the most careful as well as most honest pictures of his provincial government which an American subordinate ever sent home to his English sovereign.’ In the course of it he says: ‘I believe for these seven years past there has not come over into this province twenty English, Scotch or Irish families.’
“The entire winter of 1687 he spent at Albany, supervising the protection of the colony against the French, and being without financial help from the other settlements, he pledged his personal credit and mortgaged his farm on Staten Island for £2,000 to meet the expenses of the expedition then raised.
“On March 23, 1688, he was superseded as Governor by Andros, who was made Governor General of New England in America, comprising all of British North America, except Pennsylvania. Dongan was offered the rank of Major General, which he refused in order to remain in New York. His homestead was at Hempstead, Long Island. He owned a hunting lodge on his estates at Castleton, Staten Island, which were named after his original home; and he had property at Martha’s Vineyard as well. His city residence was on Broadway, between Maiden Lane and Ann Street, where his flower garden was a special feature. Between these places he spent his time, seeking to rebuild his fortune, severely shattered by his expenditures for the protection of the colony he loved, until the reins of power fell into the hands of Jacob Leisler, after the flight of James II to France, when Dongan was hunted as a rebel and enemy of the new régime, and driven to seek refuge on his brigantine, on which he kept in hiding in the lower Bay. The winds being adverse, he was unable to sail away, and flying to New York in secret, thence to New London, to Hempstead, to New Jersey, and to Boston the first advocate of popular rights was finally forced to escape the persecutions of the people, whose liberties he had assured, by sailing to England in 1691. Never repaid any considerable part of the fortune he had spent to defend the honor of his country and the safety of her colony, he died, without issue, December 14, 1715, at the age of eighty-one years. With him the history of Irish activity in New York may well be said to begin. While he came here as an official, he identified himself with the Colony and with the City, and grew so to love it that no honors appealed to him which involved leaving it. To have been the means of assisting in conferring upon a people popular government, civic liberty and religious freedom in an age of despotism and persecution, is an honor which reflects credit upon the race to which he belonged, as well as upon himself. He has been characterized by historians as ‘an excellent and prudent magistrate’ (Winsor); ‘a man of integrity, moderation and genteel manners, who may be classed among the best of our governors’ (Smith); ‘his firm and judicious policy, his steadfast integrity and his pleasing and courteous address soon won the affections of the people and made him one of the most popular of the Royal governors’ (Booth); ‘of a noble, praiseworthy mind and spirit’ (Gov. Hinckley); ‘a ruler who for breadth of mind, wide sympathy and executive ability stands far in advance of his times and measured by the system of government which he inaugurated, is easily one of the most attractive and momentous personages in American Colonial History’ (Driscoll). It is significant that this great Irish pioneer should have been an office holder, a tradition which the race did not forget when its hour of opportunity arrived. It may be said at this time that three other royal governors of the colony were of Irish birth, the Earl of Bellomont, who served from 1698, and who was the son of Baron Coote of Colooney; William Cosby, who arrived August 1, 1732, and who was an Equerry of the Queen, Colonel of the Royal Irish Regiment and the tenth son of Alexander Cosby of Stradbally, Queens County; and Sir William Tryon, the last of the line. But no one of these ever identified himself with the colony or is to be reckoned with as a constructive force.
“After Dongan departs from the scene, we again have a long period of silence upon Irishmen in New York. The meagerness of detail as to anything affecting their names, their activities or their achievements is disheartening. Much of it may be attributed to the lack of wealth or social standing upon the part of those who immigrated here in the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries. Much may be charged to their desire to conceal themselves from persecution and worse. There must have been refugees here from Virginia, New England and the Barbadoes, where penal laws were savagely enforced. Maryland must have furnished its quota when religious liberty was abolished. But New York seems never to have been so favorite a resort for the persecuted as Pennsylvania. Then again many redemptioners must have come here, when their time of service had expired. These were the immigrants who were unable to pay their passage and who on arriving were sold for a specified time to those who would reimburse the ship captain for their carriage.
“In October, 1700, a number of recruits arrived in New York from Ireland, and one of them, Cottrill, a former ensign in King James’ army, was shot in the Fort here for participation in a mutiny. It is evident from reading the record that these men had been impressed into the service and coming here involuntarily, sought freedom on their arrival. In the answers which Brigadier Hunter sent to Secretary Popple, August 11, 1720, he wrote: ‘The inhabitants increase day by day from New England, and of late from the North of Ireland.’