EARLY IRISH IN 
 OLD ALBANY, N. Y. 
 
 A-5l3n 
 
Glass. 
 Book- 
 
 ie 
 
 A^BVY 
 
HON. FRANKLIN M. DANAHER. 
 
EARLY IRISH 
 
 IN 
 
 OLD ALBANY, N. Y., 
 
 WITH SPECIAL MENTION OF JAN ANDRIESSEN, " DE 
 lERSMAN VAN DUBLINGH." 
 
 BY 
 
 HON. FRANKLIN M. DANAHER, 
 
 Member of the New York State Board of Law Examiners ; MAiry Years 
 Judge of the City Court of Albany. , 
 
 Paper read before the American-Irish Historical Society 
 
 at the Annual Meeting of the latter 
 
 in New York City, Jan. 19, 1903. 
 
 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, 
 
 THE AMERICAN -IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 
 
 1903. 
 
Putol. 
 
A BRIEF INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 WE assert that each and every member of the Ameri- 
 can-Irish Historical Society assumes an obligation 
 with his membership to do his share towards carrying out 
 one of the objects of the Society, namely: To examine 
 records wherever found, concerning the Irish in America ; to 
 investigate specially the immigration of the people of Ire- 
 land to this country; to endeavor to correct erroneous, 
 distorted, and false views of history in relation to the Irish 
 race in America, to the end that Irishmen may receive 
 due recognition from chroniclers of American history, for 
 their important, but little appreciated and less understood, 
 labors in the upbuilding of this great republic. 
 
 That desired work can only be accomplished by the 
 local historian, who, with patience, will garner for preser- 
 vation in the archives of our Society, from the oflftcial and 
 church records of his locality and from well-authenticated 
 tradition all there is concerning the Irishmen who first set- 
 tled in the place about which he writes, so that the future 
 historian, writing of the Irish people as of the founders of 
 this nation dedicated to liberty and religious freedom, 
 may do them full justice, and exhibit to the gaze of the 
 doubting the value that their manhood, strength and 
 sturdy character gave to all that is good and great in our 
 beloved country. 
 
 It is a human tendency to extol the great men amongst 
 us, so as to share in their glory, and to that extent, at 
 
least, feed our proper nationalistic pride. But their ex- 
 ploitation should not make us forget the humble men of 
 brawn who came to America from Ireland, who faced and 
 overcame dangers, who amid privation and with toil cut 
 down the primeval forest, tilled the virgin soil and built 
 our public works; who reared their families with incul- 
 cated love of God and country and whose bones lie in 
 many a churchyard, unknown to fame and whose records 
 are but the " short and simple annals of the poor." 
 
 It is amongst these that the true grandeur of the influ- 
 ence of the Irish people in the rise and progress of this 
 nation can be found, and where we can do our greatest 
 good work for the cause in which we are enlisted. It was 
 with this in view and with intent, in my limited way, to 
 make good my obligation, that I made search for Irish- 
 men and Irish influences among the Dutch who settled in 
 the town of Beverwyck, beginning in 1 621, and its suc- 
 cessor, the city of Albany, N. Y., to about the year 181 3. 
 That the results may add something to the general 
 knowledge of the great debt which this country owes its 
 early Irish settlers is the excuse for my self-imposed task. 
 
EARLY IRISH IN OLD ALBANY, N. Y. 
 
 ONE would scarcely expect to find Irishmen among 
 the Dutch who settled along the upper Hudson in 
 New York in the seventeenth century. Distance, the 
 dangers of the sea, the cost of travel, differences in lan- 
 guage and in religion, and racial and trade disputes and 
 jealousies with the English in the adjoining New England 
 colonies who coveted both the land and the valuable 
 trade with the Indians, and Dutch exclusiveness, would be 
 a sufficient statement of the reasons why they would find 
 life there a strenuous proposition, and hardly worth living, 
 even if driven by fate they found themselves on those inhos- 
 pitable shores. Few Irish names appear in Albany's early 
 records, or if they do they are not recognizable as such, 
 especially if the bearers of the same are not specially 
 designated as Irish. 
 
 The Dutch scriveners who kept the oflEicial records were 
 not at their best good spellers, and their orthography 
 made sad havoc with good Celtic names. Who would 
 recognize McManus under the Dutch form of Meemanus, 
 or Donovan as Donnowa, Mahoney as Mohennie, or Oyje 
 Oyens as Owen Owens, or Finn as Fine or Fyne, or An- 
 derson as Andriessen, or Dunbar as Tumbar and Ten 
 Baar, Lynch as Lentz, and Hogan as Hogen, Hoogen, 
 Logen, Hoghing, Hoghill, Hogh and Hog, and Jones as 
 T. Sans, T. Jans and Shawns? 
 
 The first Irishman in Albany of whom we have any 
 
official record is John Anderson of Dublin, designated on 
 the records as " Jan Andriessen de lersman van Dub- 
 lingh." Irishmen in those days, except as "Wild Geese," 
 or as slaves deported by the English to their colonies, 
 were not travelers, neither were they colonists or coloniz- 
 ers, and to find one of them in the Dutch town of Bever- 
 wyck in the colony of Rensselaerswyck in New Nether- 
 lands in America, so distant from his native shores, among 
 a people alien in race, language and religion, and withal 
 evidently beloved by the burghers thereof, a landlord and 
 a landowner and a man of substance, is a curious fact, 
 worth being brought to the attention of the American- 
 Irish Historical Society two hundred and fifty years later. 
 The early official records of Albany county, now on file 
 in the Albany county clerk's office in the city of Albany, 
 are unique. The first volume of Deeds (so called) con- 
 tains, after the manner of the Dutch of those days, in 
 addition to the real estate transfers, the record of all things 
 happening in which the public was or should be inter- 
 ested. A worthy burgher, who desired to sell his horse 
 or farm, or the administrator of an estate, who wished to 
 sell the assets of the deceased, gave notice of his intent, 
 with a description of the property and the terms upon 
 which it would be sold, and the same would be tran- 
 scribed in the public records ; lawsuits, criminal prosecu- 
 tion, bonds, obligations, leases, bills of sale, the thousand 
 and one transactions of colonial life, there appear, show- 
 ing varying phases of human nature and the same old 
 strifes which now agitate us, proving that our forefathers 
 were very much like unto us, and consequently in that 
 respect, at least, the world has not moved much in two 
 hundred and fifty years. 
 
These records are originals, according to the custom of 
 the Dutch, whose statutes were based on the Roman Civil 
 Law, and bear the autograph signatures, or rather, in 
 most instances, the " marks " of the parties thereto, includ- 
 ing many curious Indian totems, and it was in this Deed 
 Book "A," containing records from 1654 to 1657, that I 
 have seen the original mark of Jan Andriessen, the " lers- 
 man van Dublingh," made with his own hand, when he 
 bought, in 1657, of Willem Frederickse Bout the wine 
 and beer excise for Catskill, where he then resided. 
 
 The records are written in a crabbed official hand in 
 the archaic colonial Dutch of the seventeenth century, 
 which can be read and translated by but few living per- 
 sons ; but happily some of them have been translated, 
 and from the latter we learn what there is to know con- 
 cerning " Jantie." 
 
 The records show that Jan Andriessen, the Irishman, 
 alias " Jantie " (Johnnie), was at Beverwyck (now Albany) 
 in 1645. O'Callaghan, in his " History of New Nether- 
 lands " (vol. I, p. 441), states that "Jan Andriessen van 
 Dublin leased a bouwerie in 1649, described as lying 
 north of Stony Point, being the north half of the Flatt," 
 and it is also known that he bought a farm and homestead 
 of Peter Bronck at Coxsackie, now in Greene county, in 
 New York state, which he owned at the time of his death, 
 which must have taken place in 1664. 
 
 When "Jantie" arrived we know not; it is enough to 
 know that " Jan Andriessen de lersman van Dublingh " 
 was taken to the hearts of the phlegmatic Dutch burgh- 
 ers of ancient Albany, for all through the records (even 
 after his death) he is familiarly and seemingly affection- 
 ately spoken of as "Jantie" or "Johnnie," even as "Jan- 
 
8 
 
 tien," or *• little Johnnie," and the Dutch went on his bond 
 for his obligations, even as they accepted his bond for 
 theirs. 
 
 That he was an Irishman is self-evident, notwithstand- 
 ing his patronymic of Jan Andriessen. which is the Dutch 
 form of John Anderson, his proper name ; he is never men- 
 tioned, except with his descriftio personce of "the Irish- 
 man," even in the transactions which closed up his estate 
 after his death. Whether that was done to distinguish 
 him from Jan, Arent, Hendrickse, or Dirk Andriessen, 
 who were his contemporaries in Albany, or because he 
 was a rara avis and deserved to be marked, or because 
 all foreigners were so labeled, we know not, but it was 
 evidently the custom there to designate all " outlanders " 
 as such, for in a bill of sale of certain book accounts made 
 in 1665, it appears that " Pieter, the Frenchman," " Hen- 
 drick, the Spaniard," and " Hans, the Norman," were 
 mentioned among the delinquent debtors whose accounts 
 were sold. Jantie's first appearance in the records is in 
 the words and form following : 
 
 "Appeared before me Johannes La Montagne, in the 
 service of the General Privileged West India Company, 
 Vice Director, etc., William Frederickse Bout, farmer of 
 the wine and beer excise consumable by the tapsters, in 
 Fort Orange, village of Beverwyck and appendancies of 
 the same, who declared that he had transferred, as by 
 these presents, he does transfer, to Jan Andriessen, the 
 Irishman from Dublin, dwelling in Catskill, the right in 
 the aforesaid excise belonging to him, the assignor, in 
 Catskill, for the sum of one hundred and fifty (150) 
 guilders, which sum the aforesaid Jan Andriessen, prom- 
 ises to pay, in two terms, to wit, on the first day of May 
 
the half of said sum, and on the last day of October of 
 the year A. D. 1657, the other half, under a pledge of his 
 person and estate, movable and immovable, present and 
 future, submitting the same to all courts and judges. 
 
 " Done in Fort Orange this 19th of January A. D. 1657 ; 
 present Johannes Provoost, and Daniel Verveelen. 
 
 "This is the mark jT of William Frederickse Bout. 
 
 X 
 
 "This is the mark r N^ of Jan Andriessen. 
 
 *' Johannes Provoost, witness. 
 "Daniel Verveelen. 
 
 "Acknowledged before me, 
 
 " La Montagne, 
 '•'■ Defuty of Fort Orange.^'' 
 
 In each year the Director General and Council of New 
 Netherlands farmed out the excise of beer, wine and 
 strong waters, consumable by the tapsters (saloon keep- 
 ers) in Fort Orange, village of Beverwyck and the appen- 
 dancies of the same. Bout bought the privilege, or " be- 
 came the farmer" in 1657 for 4,250 guilders, by virtue of 
 which he was entitled to collect for all beer and wines and 
 distilled waters sold by the small measure by any tapsters, 
 innkeepers or retailers in certain places, including Cats- 
 kill, where " Jantie " then evidently lived, as follows: For 
 a tun of domestic brewed beer, 4 guilders ($1.60) ; for a 
 tun of over-sea, or foreign beer, 6 guilders ($2.40) ; for a 
 hogshead of French or Rhenish wine, 16 guilders ($6.40) ; 
 for an anker (io| gallons) of brandy or of distilled waters, 
 Malmsey, Spanish or Canary wines, 16 guilders per anker, 
 with power to cause to be arrested and imprisoned those 
 who failed to pay. 
 
lO 
 
 From this it appears that " Jantie " was a "farmer" or 
 owner of the excise privilege in Catskill, and also a 
 dealer in liquors. The Dutch, for reasons of personal 
 safety, had enacted statutes with severe penalties 
 against trafficking in gunpowder and liquors with the In- 
 dians, notwithstanding which we find that the court 
 records of the date of March 8, 1657, contain the fol- 
 lowing entry: "Jan Andriessen (the Irishman at Kats- 
 kill) substitute for . . . Willem Frederickse Bout, 
 collector of the excise . . . has been complained of 
 to me, by Hans de Vos, for selling brandy and spirits to 
 the Indians; he delivered to me an affidavit of the same 
 signed L. A. with his own hand." 
 
 The records are silent as to what became of the 
 charge. 
 
 On the 17th of December, 1657, "Jantie" sold his 
 horse at public auction, after many offers, to Jan Roeloff- 
 sen for the sum of 194 guilders ($77.60), to be paid for 
 on August I, 1658, in good whole merchantable beavers, 
 which, with seewant (strung shells) and corn (wheat) 
 were the then current coin of the realm, for which pay- 
 ment two good and sturdy Dutchmen, with long and char- 
 acteristic names, signed as sureties, " on pledge of their 
 persons and estates, personal and real." 
 
 On July 28, 1663, Jan appeared before the commis- 
 saries, or magistrates, in the service of the West India 
 company at Fort Orange, and became surety in the sum 
 of 520 guilders for the payment by Rutger Jacobson in 
 grain from the sown crop, which he bought at public 
 auction from the administrators of the estate of Andries 
 Herbertsen on June 26, 1663. On March 12, 1664, the 
 Hon. Abraham Staets leased to Jan Andriessen, the Irish- 
 
II 
 
 man, "his bouvvery (farm) lying in the Klaverrack, with 
 the land, house, barn and rick as it at present stands, for 
 the time of the four and a half next following years, com- 
 mencing on the first of April of this year, and ending on 
 the first of September, A. D. 1669, with which he delivers 
 six milk cows, two horses, a mare and stallion, and six 
 sows, for which Jan Andriessen promises to pay rent as 
 follows : For the first half year he shall at the end of the 
 lease leave in the ground, for the behoof of the lessor, 
 three mudde (about 12 bushels) of wheat and a tight 
 fence, the year following one hundred guilders, each of 
 the three next years one hundred and fifty guilders in 
 beavers or grain at beaver's price ; and promises further- 
 more to keep the buildings in good repair, likewise the 
 increase of the aforesaid cattle shall be shared alike by 
 the lessor and lessee, and a slaughtered hog from each of 
 the six sows yearly ; at the end of the lease, the lessee 
 shall be holden to deliver again the full number of beasts ; 
 as it respects the orchard, the parties shall receive each 
 the half of the fruit, provided also that they take care and 
 defray the expense of the fence, but the lessee shall take 
 all possible care that the fruit be not destroyed. 
 
 " Thus done in Beverwyck, in amity and friendship, and 
 in the presence of me, J. Provoost, clerk, datum ut supra. 
 
 "Abram Staets. 
 
 _, . . , , 1 of Jan Andri 
 
 " This IS the mark L . , , . 
 
 Q with his own 
 
 essen, the Irishman, 
 hand set. 
 
 "Acknowledged before me, 
 
 "J. Provoost, 
 
 " Clerhr 
 
12 
 
 Here we have the original personal declaration of Jan, 
 *' with his own hand set," and that he was an Irishman — 
 and further proof of nationality could not be required. 
 
 " Jantie's " name next appears after his death when the 
 trustees of his estate give announcement in the following 
 form : 
 
 " Conditions and terms on which the trustees of the 
 estate of Jan Andriessen, the Irishman, deceased, in the 
 presence of the Messrs. commissaries, proposed to sell, at 
 public sale, to the highest bidder, several horses and 
 beasts, for which payment shall be made in beavers or 
 seewant, at 24 guilders the beaver, or corn at beaver's 
 price; and that in the time of six weeks from the day 
 hereof, and it is, by these presents, expressly conditioned, 
 that no one shall purchase by an offset of moneys which 
 may be due from Jantie, the Irishman, deceased, but shall 
 deliver the purchase money into the hands of Johannes 
 Provoost, and wait for a pro rata distribution. The buyer 
 shall be held to furnish sufficient sureties as principals for 
 the securing of the purchase money. In paying as afore- 
 said, the auction fees become a charge upon the buyer. 
 In Albany, 28th November, A. D. 1664." 
 
 The schedule annexed to the announcement shows that 
 his cattle, consisting of five horses and ten cows, bulls and 
 calves were sold to worthy burghers for 937 florins or 
 guilders (40 cents each), and that there was on " 9th 
 January old style, sold at the house of Pieter Bronck, a 
 copper kettle of Jantie, the Irishman, deceased, to Frans 
 Pieterse (Klaw) for 12 seewant." 
 
 On January 9th, A. D. 1665, old style, Frans Pieterse 
 (Clauw) in the presence of the Hon. Jan Verbeeck and 
 Garret Schlictenhorst, commissaries of Albany in the 
 
13 
 
 presence of Johannes Provoost, secretary, measured "the 
 land of Jantien, the Irishman, deceased, which was sold 
 off from the land of Pieter Bronck and he bought of said 
 Bronck and it amounted to 69 morgens and 345 rods, 
 lying in a square 345 rods long and 121 rods wide, front 
 and rear, besides a lot for a homestead, lying next to 
 Pieter Bronck, where he proposes to build, northeast of 
 him (Bronck), and is 30 rods long and 20 rods wide, 
 and which, at the north is separated by the kil or a flat 
 (laeghte). Also was measured a piece of land taken off 
 from the aforementioned land of Pieter Bronck, which 
 belonged to Anderies Hanssen, was granted to him by 
 Pieter Bronck, and by Jonny (Jantie) the Irishman, 
 deceased, a part; length on the south side 54 rods, and 
 on the north 95 rods; breadth on the west 41 rods, and 
 on the east 58 rods, and was estimated at 6 morgens and 
 100 rods." 
 
 This was the farm bought by "Jantie" from Pieter 
 Bronck at Coxsackie. A morgen of land, old Amsterdam 
 measure, was 2 1-13 acres, making the farm about 145 
 acres. This, with his lot upon which he intended to 
 build his homestead, were evidently measured to be sold 
 by his administrators. 
 
 The notice of the sale of his farm and homestead 
 appears in the following form, and is inserted as a glimpse 
 of life among the Dutch in Albany in 1667. 
 
 " Conditions and terms according to which the adminis- 
 trators of the estate of Jan Andriessen (the Irishman), 
 with the Messieurs commissaries, propose to sell at public 
 sale, to the highest bidder, the land of the said Irishman, 
 lying near Pieter Bronk's (at Catskill). First, the afore- 
 said land shall be delivered to the seller, in area nine and 
 
sixty morgens, arrable land, without trees, or only a few 
 about the woodside at the west, together with a spot for a 
 homestead, lying next to Pieter Bronk's, where he was 
 proposing to build, in length 30 rods and in breadth 20 
 rods, and is separated at the north (from Pieter Bronck), 
 by a kil or flat (laeghte) ; moreover the buyer shall have 
 the right, with Pieter Bronck, to use the surrounding wood 
 land for pasturing cattle. Delivery shall be given as soon 
 as the buyer shall please to take possession. Payment 
 shall be made in beavers or good strung commercial see- 
 want, at 24 guilders a beaver, and in two installments, the 
 first on the first day of June of the year 1665, and the 
 second on the first day of June, A. D. 1666, being a year 
 thereafter, and with the last payment, a proper convey- 
 ance shall be given to the buyer. The buyer shall be 
 held to furnish two sufificient sureties, jointly and severally 
 as principals, immediately, to the content of the seller. 
 If the buyer cannot furnish the aforesaid sureties in said 
 time, the said land, together with said homestead, shall be 
 offered for sale again at the buyer's cost and charge, and 
 whatever less it comes to, he shall be holden to make 
 good, and whatever more it comes to he shall enjoy no 
 profit therefrom. The per centage becomes a charge to 
 the buyer in paying, as aforesaid, on the 9th of March, 
 1665. On the 9th of March, A. D. 1665, the schout and 
 secretary of the colony of Rensselaerswyck, for a certain 
 consideration, being asked if they, in the name and behalf 
 of the patroon, had any claim against the land of Jonny, 
 the Irishman, deceased, which lies by Pieter Bronck's, and 
 they answered they had no claim whatever against the 
 same. Done ut supra. 
 " Which I witness 
 
 " Johannes Provoost, Secretary." 
 
IS 
 
 It will be observed that his pet name of "Johnny, the 
 Irishman," still follows him. The inquiry made concern- 
 ing any claims against the land was asked of Van Rans- 
 selaer, the patroon, or lord of the colony of Rens- 
 selaerwyck, from whom all titles came, and which were 
 generally leased to purchasers in consideration of annual 
 quit rents of wheat, services or good fat hens for a term 
 " as long as water runs and grass grows." 
 
 It can be quite assumed that Jantie was in debt when 
 he died, for in the administrator's sale of part of his 
 " boedel," or estate hereinbefore set forth, buyers were 
 warned that purchases should be in cash, that debts due to 
 them from Jantie should not be offset, and that all should 
 wait for a pro rata distribution. 
 
 It is quite possible that the modern word " boodle," 
 meaning money, was derived from this ancient and obso- 
 lete colonial Dutch term, " boedel," meaning estate or 
 effects. 
 
 The name of Jan Andriessen, the Irishman, does not 
 again appear in our records, except that in the deacons' 
 record book of the Reformed Protestant Dutch church of 
 Albany there is an item of the receipt in December, 1676, 
 of ten guilders for the use of palls at the funeral of Jan 
 Andriessen's mother. There was in 1671 living in Albany 
 a Jan Andreiesse (kuyper), a cooper, who bought a piece 
 of land of Abrham de Vos, in that year, and it was more 
 likely that it was his mother who was buried from the 
 Dutch church than it was that Jantie's mother was with 
 him in America. It is also fair to assume that it was 
 because of him that John Anderson of Dublin was always 
 mentioned as the " Irishman." 
 
 Jantie must have died between March 12, 1664, when 
 
i6 
 
 he leased his " bouwerie " or farm from Abraham Staets, 
 and November 28 of the same year, when his property 
 was sold by his administrators. 
 
 The auction announcement of the sale of his farm, as 
 well as the official report of its survey, both speak of his 
 homestead lot, on which he was proposing to build, so 
 that he was at the time of his death evidently looking for- 
 ward to years of comfort and enjoyment, which tends to 
 show that his death was unexpected. We have not been 
 able to learn whether he left descendants or that any of 
 our old families can claim descent from the first Irishman 
 who took up his life within the confines of the present city 
 of Albany, but we believe there are none. 
 
 We take leave of this derelict seventeenth-century Irish- 
 man who lived among the Dutch in the colony of Rens- 
 selaerwyck for so many years, with regret and wonder — 
 regret that we know nothing more concerning him and his 
 antecedents and how and why he left Dublin and his native 
 land, and what brought him to Beverwyck, and wonder — 
 not so much that he spent his life among the phlegmatic 
 and clannish Dutch burghers, whose speech differed from 
 his, as well as their manners and customs, as at the fact 
 that they allowed him burghership and trade privileges 
 which were then a valuable asset and a means to fortune 
 granted only to Dutchmen and to those upon whom, after 
 the mediaeval custom, the freedom of the city and of trade 
 were granted as a great and special favor, only after main- 
 taining fire and light in the city for one whole year. 
 
 It is quite possible that he was a soldier in the service 
 of the Dutch West India Company and came to Albany 
 in that way. It may be that he was a refugee because of 
 the so-called "Rebellion of 1641," and sought among 
 
17 
 
 aliens in the wilds of America the privilege of being 
 allowed to live, which was denied to him by the English 
 in his native land. 
 
 It is quite fair to assume that on the death of Jantie in 
 1664 there was not a single Irishman left in the place, 
 unless Thomas Konnig, which is very possibly the Dutch 
 equivalent for the Milesian " Connick," was also of that 
 race. Whether he was or not, the court's records show 
 that on August 16, 165 i, "Thomas Konnig abused the 
 court as an unlawful court, taking materials from the say- 
 ings of Dyckman, who sang the 82d Psalm and called the 
 high council rogues and tale bearers in presence of Evert 
 Pels, Art Jacobse and Gillis Fonda." 
 
 There is another possible Irishman in Thomas Ken- 
 ningh (Kenny?), who came to Albany in 1646, but be- 
 yond his name there is nothing further known concerning 
 him. In 1693 the name of Harmanus Hogan, as the 
 father of a son, appears in the baptism book of the Dutch 
 Reformed church in the city of Albany. It is stated that 
 Catalyn Doncassen, also written Donckesen and Donche- 
 sen, was properly Catherine Dongan, a sure enough Irish 
 name, but who would know the fact from the spelling 
 thereof? She and her sister Margaret were in the colony 
 under the Dutch and married to well-to-do natives prior 
 to 1664. Governor Dongan did not arrive in America 
 until 1683, and it is hardly probable that they were of 
 his family. 
 
 Travel in the seventeenth century was dangerous, ex- 
 pensive and infrequent, especially from Ireland. Those 
 who came to America from Europe were as a rule assisted 
 colonists, deported convicts, religious refugees or Irish 
 patriots sold as slaves after the Cromwellian massacres 
 
i8 
 
 None of the latter came to the present state of New 
 York, or if they did, their names were changed by royal 
 decree so that their identity might be lost. 
 
 The trade jealousies of the Dutch, who would allow no 
 one not an admitted citizen to trade with the Indians, and 
 the handicap of the language, made Albany an unde- 
 sirable place for English or Irish immigrants, and 
 the coming of both was very slow, even after transfer of 
 the title and government of the province to the English 
 in 1664. That this continued for many years is evidenced 
 by the following extract from the Sir William Johnson's 
 MSS. in the New York state library : 
 
 On July 3, 1756, William Corry (evidently an Irish- 
 man), the attorney for Sir William Johnson, another 
 Irishman, wrote to the latter, concerning his recent expe- 
 riences in the magistrate's court in the city of Albany. 
 He complains bitterly that the trade laws were enforced 
 against everybody but the Dutch, and instances many 
 cases. Among other matters he writes : " Last week one 
 Huse, an Irishman, was called before the mayor for some- 
 thing, and Huse told the mayor he could clear himself by 
 twenty evidences. ' Yes,' said the mayor, ' Irish evi- 
 dences.' " Corry asks Sir William to use his influence 
 with the powers to have them all removed from office. 
 
 Thomas Dongan, that illustrious Irishman, who was 
 governor of the province of New York from 1683 to 1688, 
 in his report to the home government, shows that he 
 feared the lack of English-speaking subjects in the colony, 
 and he petitioned that some endeavors be made to send 
 such to protect the country. He reported " for seven 
 years not over twenty English, Scotch and Irish families 
 
19 
 
 came into the province, but many Dutch and some 
 French," and in February, 1684, he recommended that a 
 ship " go constantly between New York and Ireland and 
 bring passengers for New York," and when on September 
 8, 1687, he wrote to the lord president and called for 
 assistance against the French, he said : 
 
 " My lord, there are people enough in Ireland who had 
 pretenses to estates there and are of no advantage to the 
 country and may live here very happy. I do not doubt 
 that if his majesty thinks fit to employ my nephew he will 
 bring over as many as the king will find convenient to 
 send, who will be no charge to his majesty after they are 
 landed." As we observed on another occasion, " unfortu- 
 nately it was not done. What speculations may we not 
 indulge in as to the probable influence of those brave 
 children of Drogheda, Wexford and Clonmel, ' with pre- 
 tenses to estates,' upon the history of our country and the 
 status of the Irish in America to-day, if Dongan's prayers 
 had been granted and those patriotic people welcomed to 
 our soil, as freemen over two hundred years ago." 
 
 If but twenty English, Scotch and Irish families landed 
 in New York city in seven years the chances that any of 
 them settled in Albany were exceedingly meagre. Irish 
 names like that of Capt. John Manning and Sergts. Pat- 
 rick Dowdell, John Fitzgerald, Lewis Collins and Thomas 
 Quinn appear in the roster of the English garrison in the 
 fort of Albany, when it was reconquered by the Dutch 
 and held for a short time in 1673, but soldiers are but 
 transients who follow the beat of the drum and do not, as 
 a rule, settle and grow up with the country in which they 
 are stationed. It appears to have been somewhat differ- 
 
20 
 
 ent with the garrisons in Albany in the latter part of the 
 seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries. 
 
 It is quite evident from the records that these soldiers 
 were a poor, neglected, under-paid, under-fed and miser- 
 able lot. In March, 1702, Capt. James Weems, the com- 
 mandant of the fort at Albany, petitioned the common 
 council for relief, stating that it was seventeen weeks since 
 the garrison had received any subsistence from the govern- 
 ment; that he had advanced all his own money and 
 pawned all his property for their relief ; that they were 
 reduced to live on bread and water, and that unless the 
 city came to their assistance it must expect both outrage 
 and damage, for he could do nothing further. The city 
 advanced money from the excise fund to feed them. 
 
 The fort was also out of repair and the soldiers had to 
 be quartered by lot on the inhabitants, to whom they 
 owed debts for the necessities of life, which they would 
 not pay, so as a dernier resort, all the soldiers of the gar- 
 rison were admitted to the freedom of the city and 
 granted the right to go into service or work at their 
 trades therein, which many did, and thereafter married 
 Dutch girls and remained, when their terms of service 
 ended. It is quite likely that some of the Irishmen then in 
 Albany were soldiers in the first instance and became resi- 
 dents of the city under such circumstances. 
 
 John Coneel (Connel) was a soldier in Albany in 
 1666. He married a native and bought property there. 
 He sold his house in Albany in 1670 to Jan Stuart, who 
 may also have been an Irishman, and moved to Catskill, 
 where he had purchased an extensive •' bouwerie " in 
 1678; he died prior to 1706. Lieut. John Collins was a 
 lawyer in Albany in 1703, and as late as 1720; he mar- 
 
21 
 
 ried in one of the first Dutch families, and his son was 
 recorder of the city in 1746. 
 
 A true Irishman was Patrick Martin, but his nationality 
 would hardly be established by his description in the mar- 
 riage records as " trommehlager ojidej- de com^agnie 
 granadiers von de Hon. Richard Ingoldsby." He mar- 
 ried Mary Cox, March 15, 1707; the baptismal record, 
 shortly thereafter made, gives food for much reflection. 
 
 We can fairly assume from his name that Thomas 
 Powel was an Irishman. He was a baker, and had a 
 most adventurous career. He was a sergeant in the ser- 
 vice of the West India company in Brazil from 1641 to 
 1653 ; he was in Albany in 1657, where he remained 
 until his death in 1671. He had considerable property 
 for his time, which his widow sold in the year he died. 
 The statement that he was an Irishman is somewhat forti- 
 fied by the fact that he married Janettie Donckertse, which 
 name, as we observed before, is the Dutch form of the 
 Irish patronymic Dongan. 
 
 The fact that none but the Dutch were on guard in old 
 Albany is curiously evidenced by the general census of 
 the inhabitants, slaves and Indians within its limits, taken 
 on May 8, 1697. Foreigners were enumerated as such, 
 the English included, although it was an English city. It 
 contains the names of all householders and heads of 
 families and adults, with a reference to their nationality. 
 The city had been at that time under English domination 
 for thirty-three years, yet there were but thirteen English- 
 men enumerated, out of a total population of 1,452. 
 None of those denominated as English had Irish names, 
 except, perhaps, John Carr. There were three French- 
 men, one Spaniard, two Papists (Van Loon and Hilder- 
 
22 
 
 brandt), one Scotchman (Robert Livingston, Jr., a man 
 of official prominence and of great wealth and influence, 
 and progenitor of the noted Livingston family), and one 
 Irishman mentioned. 
 
 The Irishman was Willem or William Hogen or Hogan, 
 " van Bor in Yrlandt in de Kings county." He was in 
 Albany in 1692, for in that year he married Anna Bekker. 
 He left a large family, but his descendants, if such there 
 be in the Albany of to-day, are not known by the name 
 of Hogan, which, as we have before stated, underwent 
 many changes in the mouths of the Dutch. Like Jantie 
 Andriessen, Hogan was an innkeeper. He was among 
 those cited before the city authorities on June 27, 1699, 
 for using his trade or handycraft in the city of Albany 
 without being qualified as a freeman to do the same, and 
 in pursuance of that particular citation on September 24, 
 1 70 1, he was, with others, prohibited from using his trade 
 therein until such time as he had obtained his " lycense." 
 
 An outlander in those days, it appears, might be quali- 
 fied for office-holding and jury duty, but not for what was 
 evidently deemed the more important, trade privileges, 
 for at a mayor's court held in Albany on May 14, 1700, 
 Hogen was deemed " convenient and fitt to be one of the 
 fyre masters for ye Citty . . . who forthwith shall 
 make it there business to vizite all the chimleyes within 
 this city," and destroy all those that were dangerous, and 
 report the owners of those found unclean. On June 25, 
 1700, he sat on a petit jury to try an action for rent 
 between two Dutchmen; he served on a jury in 1703, in 
 Johnnie Finn's case, and in 1700 and 1704 he was 
 elected one of the assessors for the first ward of the city. 
 It is not known when he died. 
 
23 
 
 We would hardly recognize in Jan Fyne, or Johannes 
 Fine, a Hibernian cooper, John Finn " van Waterfort in 
 Irlandt," who was in Albany in 1696, It is said that he 
 was a soldier who came with the troops sent to Albany in 
 1690, immediately after the Schenectady massacre; he 
 remained forever thereafter a victim of the smiles and 
 wiles of a Dutch maiden — for in 1696 he married there 
 Jopje Classe Van Slyck, by whom he had one son, Will- 
 iam. In 1699 he married Alida, daughter of Jacob Janse 
 Gardinier, of Kinderhook, by whom he had a son and 
 daughter. Finn, at first, followed the trade of a cooper, 
 but like Jantie and Willem he subsequently became a 
 licensed tavern keeper. 
 
 Evidently he was of a combative disposition, for he is 
 very much in evidence in the court records. On Decem- 
 ber 13, 1698, he appears as plaintiff against Ahasuerus 
 Marcelis, a shoemaker, whom he claimed had stolen his 
 wood, and whose wife " did call him ye sd Jan Fyne a 
 rogue and other opprobrious words when he went with 
 Sergeant Kinard (perhaps another Irish soldier) to see if 
 his wood had not been purloined and embezzled." It 
 appeared that Johnnie had gone into Marcelis' house and 
 pulled his burning logs from off the fire when Vrouw Mar- 
 celis had expressed her opinion of him. Finn won ; the 
 jury, of which his Hibernian compatriot, William Hogan, 
 was a member, gave him sixpence damages. Marcelis 
 appealed, to be eventually defeated. The pleadings, pro- 
 cedure and judgment are all fully set forth in the court 
 minutes, and are quaint and interesting specimens of the 
 judicial work of the day. 
 
 At a mayor's court held on April i, 1701, Finn was a 
 defendant in the suit of Gerrit Jacobse, who alleges 
 
24 
 
 *' against the defendant yt he scandaHzed his wife with 
 base words in calHng her a theiffe, and that she had stole 
 money from him to the damage of £ioo." Finn got an 
 adjournment to procure witnesses ; nothing appears fur- 
 ther concerning the case. In September, 1701, Finn was 
 reported, among others, with Willem Ilogen, as one of 
 those deHnquents who "doe use their trade and handy- 
 craft without being quahfied as freemen to doe the same," 
 and he was prohibited until he obtained his license. 
 Fyne himself was a petty juror in a case heard on June 
 25, 1700. 
 
 In 1699 John Ratcliffe and Robert Barret were ap- 
 pointed night or rattle watch for the city. They were to 
 patrol the city at night with lantern and rattle, and to 
 raise an alarm in case of fire, thieves or other mischief. 
 The salary was 22 pounds and 16 shillings per year and 
 80 loads of fire wood. If Barret was an Irishman, and we 
 have no reason to say so, other than his name, he is an 
 early example of "being on the force," and the first of a 
 line of successful followers. 
 
 In 1700 Robert Barret and Edward Corbett were ad- 
 mitted city carters, who upon being licensed, with four 
 others, would have the monopoly of carting in the city. 
 Corbett is another Irish name but we have no other record 
 of him. In 1701 Nicholas Blake was elected city con- 
 stable. 
 
 Last, but not least, of these early Irishmen we will 
 claim Patrick McGregory, because of his name and his 
 propensities, although one record says he was " uyt 
 Schotlandt," indicating a Scottish origin. He was also 
 a soldier, and was commissioned ranger general of 
 Staten Island in 1686. In 1697 he was in Albany 
 
25 
 
 where he married Zytie Matthys Hooghteling, daughter 
 of Hendrick Marcelis, the widow of Frank Marrits. In 
 that year he petitioned the common council to be ap- 
 pointed city porter in place of his father-in-law, who had 
 just died. In 1701 he humbly petitioned to be admitted 
 to be one of the cartmen of the city, which was granted, 
 provided he first took out his "Citty freedom." On April 
 25, 1703, the following appears in the city records : 
 
 "April 25. — The humble Petition of Patrick McGregory 
 souldier and Inhabitant of this Citty, humbly sheweth : 
 That your Petitioner having formerly been admitted as a 
 porter in this Citty and for some time past has not been 
 employed as such, your petitioner prays your worshipfull 
 to admit him a sworne porter for the said Citty, there being 
 now but one, which if granted will be a great relief to 
 your Petitioner's poor ffamily, &c. The said Patrick 
 McGregory is permitted and appointed to be second 
 porter of the said Citty accordingly." 
 
 It is quite evident that McGregory was at the 
 time a soldier in the English garrison stationed in the 
 fort at Albany and was endeavoring to eke out an ex- 
 istence as such, by working as a cartman and porter in the 
 city. McGregory was dead in 1 707. He left three daugh- 
 ters and one son, Pieter, who was baptized August 20, 
 1704, but none of his descendants are now known as such. 
 
 In a list of the freeholders of the city of Albany in 1720, 
 published in the " Documentary History of New York," 
 the names of William Hogan, Daniell Kelley and John 
 Collins appear; the 1742 listcontains the names of William 
 Hogan, William Hogan, Jr., Edward Collins, Michael 
 Bassett and John Hogan as freeholders. In that 
 celebrated classic of old Albany, Memoirs of aii 
 
26 
 
 Atnericmi Lady, by Mrs. Grant of Laggan, she makes 
 mention that in 1763 the house and grounds of the 
 Schuylers near Albany " were let to an Irish gentleman, 
 who came over to America to begin a new course of life 
 after spending his fortune in fashionable dissipation." 
 His name is not given, nor he did not remain long about 
 Albany. She devotes a chapter to " a handsome, good- 
 natured looking Irishman in a ragged provincial uniform," 
 named Patrick Coonie, who, with his wife and children, 
 settled near the city in 1768. 
 
 He was a soldier of quite a few campaigns, and had all 
 the characteristics of his race and occupation. She also 
 tells of Cortlandt Schuyler, one of the bluest of the blue 
 bloods of the city, who was a captain in " a marching regi- 
 ment" in the British army, and who married a handsome 
 and agreeable Irishwoman in Ireland, while stationed there 
 with his regiment, and whom he brought to Albany about 
 1763. When he died she returned to Ireland with her 
 children, where, it is said, their descendants bearing the 
 name of Schuyler still live. 
 
 The presence of Irish in Dutch Albany is evidenced by a 
 perusal of the names, appearing at intervals during the 
 eighteenth century, in its birth, marriage and death records. 
 Pearson's "Genealogies of the First Settlers of Albany" 
 is replete with their names, showing their marriages among 
 the Dutch, the birth and marriage of their children and at 
 times their deaths — with the curious fact ever in evidence 
 that the Dutch element of the marriages generally tri- 
 umphed and that in the births of many daughters and few 
 sons the Irish surnames eventually disappeared. We here 
 present some Irish names found early in old Albany, some 
 of which may have been there even earlier than the dates 
 mentioned : 
 
27 
 
 Anderson, John, 1645 
 Barber, John, 1788 
 Barber, Robert, 1788 
 Barry, Thomas, 1796 
 Begley, Michael, 1796 
 Blake, Nicholas, 1701 
 Bryan, John, 1747 
 Buckley, Martin, 1749 
 Burk, John, 1780 
 Burns, Elizabeth, 1755 
 Caghill, Cornelius, 1780 
 Cardigan, Hugh, 1749 
 Carr, William, 1777 
 Casemay, Patrick, 1757 
 Cassidy, John, 1780 
 Cassidy, Luke, 1770 
 Clark, Patrick, 1749 
 Coneel (Connel), John, 1666 
 Connell, Edward, 1776 
 Connelly, William, 1764 
 Connick, Catherine, 1775 
 Connor, Andrew, 1778 
 Coonie, Patrick, 1768 
 Corbett, Edward, 1700 
 Costigan, Francis, 1779 
 Cunningham, Henry, 1747 
 Dennis ton, Hugh, 1757 
 Dillon, Hugh, 1747 
 Donovan, John, 1738 
 Donovan, William, 1796 
 Dowdell, Patrick, 1673 
 Driskill, Jeremiah, 1796 
 Fallon, Patrick, 1748 
 Farley, Philip, 1796 
 Finn, John, 1696 
 Fitzgerald, John, 1673 
 Flammisham, Dennis, 1794 
 Flat, Patrick, 1749 
 
 Flinn, James, 1774 
 
 Flinn, John, 1779 
 
 Fry, Michael, 1762 
 
 Gahigan, Patrick, 1770 
 
 Gillespie, Neil, 1781 
 
 Greedy, Darby, 1736 
 
 Hart, Nicholas, 1768 
 
 Hogan, William, 1692 
 
 Hogen, Henry, 1733 
 
 Kelley, Daniel, 1720 
 
 Kennigh (Kenny?), Thomas, 1646 
 
 Kinney, Jacob, 1786 
 
 Lynch, Owen, 1770 
 
 Macarty, Denis, 1780 
 
 Macarty, John, 1748 
 
 Macarty, Patrick, 1736 
 
 Macarty, Timothy, 1787 
 
 Machansh, John, 1743 
 
 Mack, John, 1767 
 
 Mackans, Patrick, 1762 
 
 Mackansch (McCann?), Andrew, 
 
 1725 
 Mackie, John, 1739 
 Magregorie, Pieter, 1773 
 Maloney, John, 1779 
 Manning, John, 1673 
 Marr, James, 1770 
 Martin, Alexander, 1754 
 Martin, Daniel, 1735 
 Martin, John, 178 1 
 Martin, Patrick, 1707 
 Martin, Peter, 1755 
 McAdam, Hugh, 1780 
 McCarty, David, 1771 
 McCarty, Elizabeth, 1782 
 :\IcChestnut, Hugh, 1779 
 McCleskey(McCluskey),John,i779 
 McElwayn, Thomas, 1781 
 
28 
 
 McEwan, Daniel, 1796 Murphy, Peter, 1797 
 
 McGinnis, Teddy, 1748 O'Brien, John, 1770 
 
 McKans, Daniel, 1781 O'Brien, Louis, 1775 
 
 McKinney, John, 1782 O'Donnell, Terence, 1796 
 
 McManus, William, 1784 Owens (Ojens), John, 1772 
 
 McMichael, John, 1752 Owens, Owen (Oyje 03'jens), 1704 
 
 McMuUen, Hugh, 1777 Phillips, Michael, 174S 
 Meemannus (McManus), Cornelius, Quinn, Thomas, 1673 
 
 1747 Ross, John, 1780 
 
 Mohennie (Mahoney), David, 1737 Ryley, Philip, 1755 
 
 Morrow, John, 1724 Sullivan, John, 1773 
 
 Mullen, Philip, 1755 and many others. 
 
 In 1755 Philip Mullen was fire master of the city, and 
 Philip Ryley was in charge of the town clock ; in 1770 
 Patrick Clark, Patrick McGrigor, Owen Lynch, James 
 Marr, Patrick Cooney, John Brien, Luke Cassidy, John 
 O'Brien, Patrick Gahigan, and Messrs. Ryan, McCue, 
 Moore, Daley and Dempsey were among the inhabitants. 
 
 At the outbreak of the Revolution, Albany was an es- 
 sentially Dutch city. Its aristocracy was Dutch, so were 
 its public officers and its men of wealth and of business; 
 Dutch was spoken in the family and the dominie still 
 preached to his congregation in that language in the old 
 church which stood at the foot of the hill below the guns 
 of Fort Frederick, which at the top thereof dominated the 
 town. The stockade to keep out the Indians still enclosed 
 the place. Its people retained all the cold, phlegmatic 
 characteristics of their seventeenth-century ancestors and 
 their jealousy of the foreigner, so it need not cause us 
 grief if we found no Irish names among those who in the 
 city in 1776 furnished the usual committee of safety and 
 proceeded with the business of organized resistance to the 
 tyranny of England, each with his neck in a halter. 
 
But the unpublished manuscript records of their meet- 
 ings, on file in the New York state library, disclose the 
 constant presence and untiring activity in the cause of 
 American liberty of James Magee, James Dennison, 
 Tyrannis Collins, Hugh Mitchel, Robert Meaher, David 
 McCarty, and John Dennis, as members, and the appoint- 
 ment of Patrick Campbell, ensign, and Michael Jackson, 
 lieutenant, in fighting regiments. It was no different on 
 the firing line. In that most valuable publication, " New 
 York in the Revolution," editions of 1897, 1898, 1902, 
 compiled by the comptroller of the state of New York, 
 we find the muster rolls of the troops enlisted by the state 
 of New York during the Revolutionary War. There were 
 a few regiments of "The Line," the so-called regulars or 
 continentals, but the bulk was militia, raised in the coun- 
 ties, and sent wherever duty called them. Among the 
 troops credited to Albany county we find, as oflficers, the 
 following with Irish names: As captains, Jarivan Hogan, 
 James Dennison, George Hogan, Michael Horton, Tyran- 
 nis Collins, Michael Dunning, Cornelius Doty, George 
 Gilmore ; among the lieutenants, Henry Hogen, Jacob 
 Sullivan, John Thornton, Jurian Hogan, John Riley, Hugh 
 McManus, Jacob McNeal, Abel Whalen, Nicholas Power, 
 Peter Martin ; ensigns, John Mahoney and John Clark, a 
 number entirely and creditably beyond their proportion 
 according to their number in the community. 
 
 The Irish names among the enlisted men of the city 
 and county of Albany are too numerous to be written in 
 this already overlong paper; they are ample to prove 
 that the Albany Irishman had not lost his hatred of his 
 English oppressor in the new-found love of his adopted 
 country, and that he was as ready to shed his blood in 
 
30 
 
 her defense as his ancestors had been for Ireland on many 
 a hard fought battle-field. 
 
 We cannot lay too much stress on the value of the 
 above mentioned work in arriving at a proper appreciation 
 of the valor and sacrifices of the Irish in New York for the 
 cause during our struggle for independence, and if other 
 states did as well the debt is incalculable. We earnestly 
 recommend its careful study to all our members as contain- 
 ing much by deduction concerning Irish activity and service 
 in the cause of liberty during the days which tried men's 
 souls. Their names appear, not singly, but as companies, 
 battalions and regiments, and bear witness that they were 
 willing to sacrifice their lives, their fortunes, and their 
 sacred honors in defense of their new fatherland. 
 
 Hugh Mitchel was also one of the Commissioners of 
 Conspiracies formed in Albany during the Revolution ; 
 its duties were to arrest Tories and suspected persons, and 
 it had general charge of the frustration of conspiracies 
 against the new government. He was generally quite active 
 in the patriot cause. 
 
 David McCarty, mentioned as very active in Albany's 
 Committee of Safety, was a valiant soldier during the 
 Revolution, and at the time of his death was a general of 
 mihtia. He married, on May 6, 1771, Charlotta, the 
 granddaughter of Pieter Coeymans, the founder of an old, 
 influential and wealthy Dutch family, and became pos- 
 sessed thereby of much land in the Coeymans Patent. 
 He was a man of ability and of influence, and was re- 
 spected by the entire community. None of his descend- 
 ants in the male line are now extant in Albany, He was 
 dead when his widow died at Coxsackie on April 22, 
 1828, in the eighty-eighth year of her age. Among the 
 
31 
 
 bronze historical tablets erected by the citizens of Albany 
 during the celebration in 1886 of the bicentenary of 
 Albany, as a chartered city, there is one on the northwest 
 corner of Beaver and Green streets, where Hugh Dennis- 
 ton kept Albany's only first-class hotel and tavern for 
 many years. It was the first stone house erected in 
 Albany. 
 
 A true Irishman, Denniston was an ardent patriot dur- 
 ing the war, and his hotel was a meeting place for the 
 loyal citizens of Albany, where treason was hatched 
 against England. On both of his visits to Albany in 
 1782 and in 1783, Washington was a guest at the hotel 
 where he was presented with the freedom of the city. 
 Denniston owned much property in Albany and was a 
 citizen well liked by all. His descendants in the male line 
 are not now known in Albany. 
 
 In 1780 John Cassidy, the progenitor of an existing 
 Cassidy family in the city, settled in Albany. In 1788 
 Robert and John Barber, Longford county Irishmen, were 
 engaged in publishing the Albany Gazette. In 1802 
 John was state printer. In 1796 the first Catholic church 
 in the city was incorporated, and Thomas Barry, Daniel 
 McEwan, Terance O'Donnell, Jeremiah Driskill, Michael 
 Begley, William Donovan and Philip Farley were among 
 the trustees. The church records prior to 1822 are not 
 extant; they would furnish much valuable and interesting 
 information, if in existence, about the Irish people in 
 Albany during the latter part of the eighteenth and the 
 beginning of the nineteenth centuries. 
 
 Irish emigration to New York state began in large vol- 
 ume with the arrival in 1731 of the county Longford 
 families, who settled along the Hudson river, in what is 
 
32 
 
 now Ulster county, but v^ery little impress thereby was made 
 on the city of Albany until after the Revolution and dur- 
 ing the first years of the nineteenth century, when Albany, 
 as the frontier city was the gateway through which New 
 England and Europe opened up the then West, and its 
 resultant expansion and activities, including the opening 
 of the Erie canal, caused a wondrously large increase in 
 its Irish population. In 1807 a special act of the legisla- 
 ture was passed incorporating Daniel Campbell and his 
 associates as the St. Patrick's society of the city of Al- 
 bany, its purpose being " to afford relief to indigent and 
 distressed emigrants from the kingdom of Ireland." It 
 held its annual election on March 17 in each year. 
 
 We learn from the valuable book of Hon. John D. 
 Crimmins, our president, Eaj'ly Celebration of St. Pat- 
 rick's Day, that this society duly celebrated St. Patrick's 
 day in 18 10, and again in 181 1, when the day and ban- 
 quets were honored by the presence of the governor of 
 the state, the mayor of the city of New York, Judge Tay- 
 lor, and that celebrated Irish patriot, orator and lawyer, 
 Thomas Addis Emmet, whose attendance was a dis- 
 tinguished mark of consideration and evidence of the 
 importance of the Irish in Albany, and their high stand- 
 ing and character as citizens. The account of the cele- 
 bration in one of the city newspapers of the day contains, 
 according to the custom of the times, the formal and for- 
 midable list of eighteen set toasts, full of patriotic senti- 
 ment and Irish love for their adopted country. 
 
 At that meeting Patrick Matthews was elected presi- 
 dent, Thomas Harman, Jr., and Hugh Flynn, vice-presi- 
 dents; Cornelius Dunn, treasurer, and Andrew Fagan, 
 secretary. In 1812 the day was celebrated by the " Sons 
 
33 
 
 of Erin of Albany, N. Y." In 1813 the society had for 
 its president, Thomas Harman, a cabinet maker; Hugh 
 Flynn, a grocer, was vice-president; Cornelius Dunn, a 
 grocer, was treasurer, and John Ready was secretary. 
 The first directory of Albany was published in that year, 
 and Irish names appear therein quite frequently, but we 
 cannot add to this already extended article and must end. 
 Thereafter is modern history. Many causes intervened 
 about this time to attract Irish immigrants in large num- 
 bers to Albany, where they became at once, and still 
 remain, a part of the life of the city, factors by their good 
 citizenship, capacity to work, and natural ability in its 
 growth in population and wealth. We find among them 
 men who became famous in church and state, individuals 
 who received merited pubhc recognition and ofificial 
 honors, men of art and of science, some in trade, others 
 in the professions, others of wealth and influence for the 
 good, all proud of their ancestry of the Emerald Isle, and 
 each glad to be "a citizen of no mean city." 
 
 We do not know that the foregoing will be of interest 
 to the majority of the members of our society. Our pur- 
 pose in writing it was to do for our locality that which 
 each and every member should do for his own. It was a 
 duty, and we have accomplished it, in the hope that it 
 may induce others to follow and to delve for richer treas- 
 ures in more abundant fields of Irish endeavor in aid of 
 our national development. 
 
THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 (Founded in Boston, Mass., January 20, 1897.) 
 
 Presidents-General of the Society. 
 
 1897. Rear-Admiral George W. Meade, U. S. N. (Retired), Phil- 
 
 adelphia, Pa. Died May 4, 1897. 
 1S97. Hon. Edward A. Moseley, secretary of the Interstate Com- 
 merce Commission, Washington, D. C. ; was elected Presi- 
 dent-General on death of Admiral Meade. 
 
 1898. Hon. Edward A. Moseley, Washington, D. C. 
 
 1899. Hon. Thomas J. Gargan, Boston, Mass. ; a prominent lawyer 
 
 of that city ; ex-member of the Police Commission ; mem- 
 ber of the Rapid Transit Commission. 
 
 1900. Hon. Thomas J. Gargan, Boston, Mass. 
 
 1901. Hon. John D. Crimmins, New York city; prominent capi- 
 
 talist ; official in banks, trust companies, and other corpora- 
 tions. 
 
 1902. Hon. John D. Crimmins, New York city. 
 
 1903. Hon. William McAdoo, New York city; assistant secretary 
 
 of the U. S. Navy under President Cleveland; prominent 
 lawyer. 
 
 Officers of the Society, 1903. 
 
 president-general. 
 Hon. William McAdoo, New York city. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT GENERAL. 
 
 James E. Sullivan, M. D., Providence, R. I. 
 
36 
 
 SECRETARY-GENERAL . 
 
 Thomas Hamilton Murray, 36 Newbury St., Boston, Mass. 
 
 TREASURER-GENERAL. 
 
 Hon. John C. Linehan, Concord, N. H., State Insurance Com- 
 missioner of New Hampshire. 
 
 LIBRARIAN AND ARCHIVIST. 
 
 Thomas B. Lawler, New York city. 
 
 Executive Council. 
 The foregoing and : 
 
 Hon. John D. Crimmins, New York city. 
 
 Hon. Thomas J. Gargan, Boston, Mass. 
 
 Rev. James H. O'Donnell, Norwalk, Conn. 
 
 Thomas Addis Emmet, M. D., LL. D., New York city. 
 
 James L. O'Neill, Elizabeth, N. J. 
 
 Thomas J. Lynch, Augusta, Me. 
 
 James Jeffrey Roche, LL. D., Boston, Mass. 
 
 Francis C. Travers, New York city. 
 
 John F. Hayes, M. D., Waterbury, Conn. 
 
 Maurice Francis Egan, LL. D., Washington, D. C. 
 
 Stephen J. Geoghegan, New York city. 
 
 Joseph Smith, Lowell, Mass. 
 
 M. Joseph Harson, Providence, R. L 
 
 Edward J. McGuire, New York city. 
 
 Major John Crane, New York city. 
 
 Thomas F. O'Malley, Somerville, Mass. 
 
 John Jerome Rooney, New York city. 
 
 James Connolly, Coronado, Cal. 
 
 Cyrus Townsend Brady, LL. D., Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Stephen Farrelly, New York city. 
 
 State Vice-Presidents. 
 
 Maine, James Cunningham, Portland. 
 
 New Hampshire, Hon. James F. Brennan, Peterborough. 
 
 Vermont, John D. Hanrahan, M. D., Rutland. 
 
37 
 
 Massachusetts, J. W. Fogarty, Boston. 
 
 Connecticut, Dennis H. Tierney, Waterbury. 
 
 New York, Gen. James R. O'Beirne, New York city. 
 
 New Jersey, John F. Kehoe, Newark. 
 
 Pennsylvania, Hugh McCaffrey, Philadelphia. 
 
 Delaware, John J. Cassidy, Wilmington. 
 
 Virginia, Hon. Joseph T. Lawless, Norfolk. 
 
 West Virginia, John Healy, Davis. 
 
 South Carolina, Daniel M. O'Driscoll, Charleston. 
 
 Georgia, Col. C. C. Sanders, Gainesville. 
 
 Ohio, John Lavelle, Cleveland. 
 
 Indiana, V. Rev. Andrew Morrissey, Notre Dame. 
 
 Illinois, Hon. P. T. Barry, Chicago. 
 
 Iowa, Rev. M. C. Lenihan, Marshalltown. 
 
 Minnesota, John D. O'Brien, St. Paul. 
 
 Missouri, Julius L. Foy, St. Louis. 
 
 Michigan, Hon. T. A. E. Weadock, Detroit. 
 
 Wisconsin, Edmund Burke, Milwaukee. 
 
 Kentucky, John J. Slattery, Louisville. 
 
 Tennessee, Michael Gavin, Memphis. 
 
 Kansas, Patrick H. Coney, Topeka. 
 
 Colorado, James E. Lowery, M. D., Sopris. 
 
 Utah, Joseph Geoghegan, Salt Lake City. 
 
 Texas, Gen. A. G. Malloy, El Paso. 
 
 Oregon, Henry E. Reed, Portland. 
 
 California, Hon. James D. Phelan, San Francisco. 
 
 District of Columbia, Edward A. Moseley, Washington. 
 Indian Territory, Joseph F. Swords, Sulphur. 
 
 Canada, Hon. Felix Carbray, Quebec. 
 Ireland, Dr. Michael F. Cox, Dublin. 
 
L t 
 
 PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 The following is a list of publications thus far issued under the 
 auspices of the society : 
 
 1 . The American-Irish Historical Society : What It Is and What 
 
 Its Purposes Are. (Boston, Mass., 1897.) 
 
 2. The American-Irish Historical Society: What It Is and What 
 
 Its Purposes Are ; Together with the Names of the Officers and 
 a List of the Members. (Boston, Mass., 1898.) 
 
 3. The "Scotch-Irish" Shibboleth Analyzed and Rejected with 
 
 Some Reference to the Present "Anglo-Saxon" Comedy. 
 (Washington, D. C, 1898.) 
 
 4. Irish Schoolmasters in the American Colonies, 1640-1775, with 
 
 a Continuation of the Subject During and After the War of 
 the Revolution. (Washington, D. C, 1898.) 
 
 5. The Journal of The American-Irish Historical Society, vol I. 
 
 (Boston, Mass, 189S.) 
 
 6. The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, vol. II. 
 
 (Boston, Mass., 1899.) 
 
 7. The Irish at Bunker Hill: A List of American Patriots Bearing 
 
 Irish Names who Fought Against the British in the Action of 
 the Seventeenth of June, 1775. (Boston, Mass., 1900.) 
 
 8. The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, vol. III. 
 
 (Boston, Mass., 1900.) 
 
 9. The Recorder. A Monthly Bulletin of the Society. (Boston, 
 
 Mass., 1 90 1.) 
 
 10. Gen. John Sullivan and the Battle of Rhode Island. A Sketch of 
 
 the Former and a Description of the Latter. (Providence, 
 R. I., 1902.) 
 
 11. The Irish Scots and the "Scotch-Irish"; An Historical and 
 Ethnological Monograph, with some reference to Scotia Major 
 and Scotia Minor. To which is added a chapter on How the 
 Irish came as Builders of the Nation. (Concord, N. H., 1902.) 
 
40 
 
 12. Irish Rhode Islanders in the American Revolution; with some 
 mention of those serving in the Regiments of Elliott, Lippitt, Top- 
 ham, Crary, Angell, Olney, Greene, and other noted command- 
 ers. (Providence, R. I., 1903.) 
 
 13. Early Irish in Old Albany, N. Y. ; with special mention of Jan 
 Andriessen, " De lersman Van Dublingh." (Boston, Mass., 
 1903-) 
 
 The authors of the foregoing were as follows: Of Nos. i, 2, 6, 7, 
 8, 9, 10, and 12, the Secretary-General, Thomas Hamilton Murray; 
 of No. 3, Joseph Smith, Lowell, Mass. ; of No. 4, the Secretary- 
 General and Hon. John C. Linehan, the Treasurer-General ; of No. 5, 
 the Secretary-General and Thomas B. Lawler, the Librarian and 
 Archivist; of No. 11, Hon. John C. Linehan, Treasurer-General; of 
 No. 13, Hon. Franklin M. Danaher, Albany, N. Y. 
 
A LIST OF THOSE WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED PAPERS 
 TO THE SOCIETY. OR WHO HAVE MADE ADDRESSES 
 AT MEETINGS HELD UNDER ITS AUSPICES. 
 
 Andrews, E. Benj., President of Brown University, Providence, R. I. 
 
 Baker, Miss Virginia, Warren, R. I. 
 
 Belknap, Rear-Admiral, U. S. N. (retired), Brookline, Mass. 
 
 Bodfish, Rev. Joshua P. L., Canton, Mass. 
 
 Boyle, Hon. Patrick J., mayor of Newport, R. I. 
 
 Brady, Cyrus Townsend, LL. D. Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Brandon, Edward J., city clerk of Cambridge, Mass. 
 
 Brennan, Hon. James F., Peterborough, N. H. ; a state library com- 
 missioner of New Hampshire. 
 
 Brigham, Clarence S., librarian of the Rhode Island Historical Soci- 
 ety, Providence, R. I. 
 
 Brown, J. Stacy, city attorney of Newport, R. I. 
 
 Capen, Elmer H., president of Tufts College, Mass. 
 
 Carroll, Hon. Hugh J., formerly mayor of Pawtucket, R. I. 
 
 Carter, Hon. Thomas H., United States Senator, Helena, Montana. 
 
 Cassidy, Dr. Patrick, formerly surgeon-general and brigadier-general 
 on staff of Governor Morris of Connecticut, Norwich, Conn. 
 
 Clarke, Joseph I. C, New York city. 
 
 Clary, Charles H., Hallowell, Me. 
 
 Collins, Dr. William D., Haverhill, Mass. 
 
 Collins, Hon. Patrick A., now mayor of Boston, Mass. 
 
 Conaty, Rt. Rev. Thomas J., rector of the Catholic University, Wash- 
 ington, D. C. 
 
 Condon, Capt. E. O'Meagher, New York city. 
 
 Connolly, James, Coronado, Cal. 
 
 Corr, Bernard, Boston, Mass. 
 
 Crimmins, Hon. John D., New York city. 
 
 Cummins, Thomas J., Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Cunningham, James, Portland, Me. 
 
42 
 
 Daly, Hon. Joseph F., New York city. 
 Deady, Rev. Louis J., Newport, R. I. 
 DeCosta, Rev. Dr. B. F., New York city. 
 
 DeCourcy, Charles A., now a judge of the Superior Court of Massa- 
 chusetts, Lawrence, Mass. 
 Doogue, William, Boston, Mass. 
 Doyle, John F., New York city. 
 Doyle, Rev. Alexander P., New York city. 
 Driscoll, Hon. C. T., mayor of New Haven, Conn. 
 DuChaillu, Paul B., New York city. 
 
 Emmet, Thomas Addis, M. D., LL. D., grand nephew of the Irish 
 
 patriot, Robert Emmet. 
 English, Hon. Thomas Dunn, Newark, N. J. 
 
 Farrelly, Rev. Father, Central Falls, R. L 
 
 Fitzpatrick, Edward, Louisville, Ky ; on staff of the Times of that 
 
 city. 
 Flatley, P. J., Boston, Mass. 
 Ford, J. D. M., instructor in Romance languages, Harvard College,^ 
 
 Cambridge, Mass. 
 
 Gardiner, Asa Bird, New York city. 
 
 Gargan, Hon. Thomas J., Boston, Mass. 
 
 Garrettson, Hon. F. P., mayor of Newport, R. L 
 
 Gorman, Dennis J., Boston, Mass. 
 
 Gorman, Hon. Charles E., Providence, R. L, formerly speaker of the 
 
 Rhode Island house of representatives. 
 Gorman, William, Philadephia, Pa. 
 Griffin, John, Portsmouth, N. H. 
 
 Hall, G. Stanley, president of Clark University, Worcester, Mass. 
 
 Harbison, Hon. Alexander, mayor of Hartford, Conn. 
 
 Harson, M. Joseph, Providence, R. I. 
 
 Hennessy, M. E., Boston, Mass. ; on staff of the Daily Globe, that 
 
 city. 
 Horigan, Cornelius, Biddeford, Me. 
 Howes, Osborne (ninth American generation), Boston, Mass» 
 
 Jordan, Michael J., Boston, Mass. 
 
43 
 
 Kelley, William J., Kittery, Me. 
 
 Kimball, Hon. Charles Dean, governor of Rhode Island. 
 
 Lawler, Thomas B., New York city. 
 
 Lawless, Hon. Joseph T., Norfolk, Va ; recently secretary of state, 
 Virginia. 
 
 Linehan, Hon. John C, Concord, N. H. ; state insurance commis- 
 sioner of New Hampshire. 
 
 Linehan, Miss Mary Lessey, Hartford, Conn. 
 
 Linehan, Rev. Timothy P., Biddeford, Me. 
 
 Lynn, Hon. Wauhope, New York city. 
 
 Lyons, Dr. W. H. H., Portsmouth, N. H. 
 
 MacDonnell, John T. F., Holyoke, Mass. 
 
 Martin, Hon. John B., Boston, Mass. 
 
 McAdoo, Hon. William, New York city. 
 
 McCarthy, Patrick J., Providence, R. L 
 
 McCoy, Rev. John J., Chicopee, Mass. 
 
 McGlinchey, James H., Portland, Me. 
 
 McKeever, Capt. Samuel, U. S. A. (retired), Somerville, Mass. 
 
 McLaughlin, Edward A., Boston, Mass. 
 
 McNamee, Hon. John H. H., mayor of Cambridge, Mass. 
 
 McSweeny, Rev. Edward, Bangor, Me. 
 
 Mellon, James H., Worcester, Mass. 
 
 Milholland, John E., New York city. 
 
 Monaghan, Prof. J. C, University of Wisconsin. 
 
 Moran, Col. James, Providence, R. L 
 
 Moseley, Hon. Edward A., secretary of the Interstate Commerce 
 
 Commission, Washington, D. C. 
 Moses, George H., Concord, N. H. 
 Murray, Thomas Hamilton, Boston, Mass. 
 
 Naphen, Congressman Henry F., Boston, Mass. 
 Nelson, Rev. S. Banks, Woonsocket, R. I. 
 
 CBeirne, Gen. James R., New York city. 
 
 O'Brien, Capt. Lawrence, New Haven, Conn. 
 
 O'Brien, Hon. Morgan J., New York city; a justice of the New 
 
 York Supreme Court. 
 O'Brien, Rev. Michael C, Bangor, Me. 
 
44 
 
 O'Donnell, Rev. James H., Norwalk, Conn. 
 O'Loughlin, Patrick, Brookline, Mass. 
 O'Malley, Thomas F., Somerville, Mass. 
 O'Neill, James L., Elizabeth, N. J. 
 
 Phalen, Rev. Frank, Worcester, Mass. 
 Plunkett, Thomas, East Liverpool, O. 
 
 Robertson, John Mackinnon, London, Eng. 
 
 Roche, James Jeffrey, LL. D., editor The Pilot, Boston, Mass. 
 
 Rooney, John Jerome, New York city. 
 
 Roosevelt, Hon. Theodore, then governor of New York. 
 
 Sheahan, Dennis Harvey, Providence, R. L 
 
 Smith, Joseph, Lowell, Mass. 
 
 Sullivan, Dr. James E., Providence, R. L 
 
 Taylor, Capt. John Shawe, Galway, Ire. 
 Teeling, Rev. Arthur J., Lynn, Mass. 
 Tierney, Dennis H., Waterbury, Conn. 
 Tilton, Mayor, Portsmouth, N. H. 
 
 Van Siclen, George E., New York city. 
 
 Waller, Hon. Thomas M., ex-governor of Connecticut. 
 
 Weadock, Hon. T. A. E., Detroit, Mich. 
 
 Williams, Prof. Alonzo, Brown University, Providence, R. L 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 109 127 A ♦ 
 
 '•.^r^: 
 
 ^my^ 
 
 
 #.'^^.' ^