USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Northampton > Representative families of Northampton; a demonstration of what high character, good ancestry and heredity have accomplished in a New England town . > Part 10
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He was a member of the Common Council of the North- ampton city government during the years 1888 and 1889, and was president of the council in the latter year. From 1893 to 1898 he was City Solicitor. Beginning in 1887 he was First Lieutenant of Company I, of the Second Regiment
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of Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, but about two years later became captain of the company, an office which he held until he resigned in August 1892. He is a member of the Masonic organization, and of the Odd Fellows, and Elks. He is vice-president of the Northampton Cooperative Bank, trustee of the Nonotuck Savings Bank; and he was an alternate delegate to the National Republican Convention in 1896, and a delegate to the convention in 1900. In 1904 and 1905 he was president of the Northampton Club, and in 1893 and 1894, chairman of the Board of Assessors of the First Church. He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1894 and 1895, and while acting in this capacity was chairman of the Committee of Bills in the Third Reading, and was on the Committee on the Ju- diciary and Rules, and on the Special Committee to prepare a history of "Ye Ancient Codfish" in the hall of the Repre- sentatives.
During 1896, 1897, and 1898, Mr. Irwin was in the State Senate, where he served on the committees on the Ju- diciary, Cities, Counties, Street Railways, Constitutional Amendments, and Bills in the Third Reading.
In 1903 and 1904 he was in the Governor's Council, and served as a member of the committees on Charitable Institutions, Military and Naval Affairs, Railroads, State House, Pardons, Public Lands, and Warrants.
He was District Attorney for the Northampton District from 1905 to 1911, when he resigned to accept his present judgeship,
Mr. Irwin married, November 16, 1892, Miss Florence E. Bangs, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Adin W. Bangs of Springfield.
Judge Irwin has always been a facile and interesting speaker, partly because of a strong personal magnetism, and
Judge Richard W. Irwin
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partly because he speaks with evident sincerity. He has often shown himself truly eloquent, as on the occasion of his address at the raising of a flag and liberty pole in the town of Amherst, July 4, 1899, and particularly on a memora- ble occasion in the Legislature. The latter refers to a time in 1895 when the House of Representatives was moving from the old to the new chamber in the Capitol at Boston. The emblem of a codfish had been suspended in the old chamber for more than a hundred years, and the State House Commission had decided to give the "ancient cod" to the Massachusetts Historical Society. This decision was op- posed by Mr. Irwin, and in a speech of more than passing worth he presented the case of the "cod" to the House. We quote here that portion of his address which is found in a volume by Henry A. Frink, Ph.D., who, at the time the book was published, was professor of logic and rhetoric at Amherst College.
THE HISTORIC CODFISH
MR. SPEAKER: I rise to ask you to place in the new House of Representatives, as it was in the old, the emblem of the codfish. I pray that we who put it in its new position may be as fervent in our patriotism and love of liberty and right, as brave to act, and as willing to suffer as those who, over a century ago, hung it high in yonder hall.
Is it plain and humble? It has always been so of emblems that tell of deeds and purposes really great. Whence came the word "Puritan" but from a word of derision, adopted afterwards in honor and pride? Whence the song of "Yankee Doodle," to whose tune Burgoyne laid down his arms at Saratoga, and Cornwallis at Yorktown? What song but that of "John Brown's Body," born on the march from soldiers'
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thought, led our country on through the long and flaming way to the freedom of the slave and a nation's regeneration? The rugged bear has for years represented the strength of the Russians. The symbol of the bee told of the great Napoleon. England's chancellors for hundreds of years have sat upon the woolsack in front of the throne. The rose and the simple cross of St. George tell the story of England's morning drum- beat. It was under the lilies of France that men followed the plume of Navarre. In all ages of the Church the brazen serpent has been the emblem of Christianity, and the cross upon which our Savior suffered has been the symbol under and before which a whole world worships.
The plain codfish, too, has its own story. This nation's proudest glory is a story of war by sea, and Massachusetts has no greater honor than that her seamen stood upon the ships and manned the frigates by which those memorable and renowned victories were won. For it was with the fish- ermen of the capes and banks that Paul Jones drove before him, like petrels before the storm, the captains who fought under Nelson at Trafalgar. It was these seamen who went with Decatur up the harbor of Tripoli. It was our own Isaac Hull before whose flaming guns the Guerrière went down. These men manned the guns of the Constitution and the President. They brought back the dead body of Lawrence up yonder harbor, wrapped in his country's flag; and, in a war which else had ended in disaster, they taught England that her daughter was an empress of the sea.
Nor was their patriotism or valor confined to the seas which were their home. The little fishing town of Marble- head alone sent a whole regiment to the War of the Revolu- tion; and there stands upon Commonwealth Avenue in this great city, whose wealth came largely from the cod fisheries, a statue telling how General Glover of Marblehead and his
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men carried Washington and his army across the almost impassable Delaware, and thus saved the Continental Army, its immortal leader, and its glorious cause. They were men from our own coast and harbors. They were your sons,- Gloucester, gray Marblehead, and wind-scourged Essex. Nay, more, they were your sons, O proud and beautiful, our mother state.
This emblem speaks in vibrant tones of danger met and glorious victories won. We hear the yearly uttered cry of sorrow and of anguish from Marblehead and Gloucester, when the fleet comes back bringing its pitiful story of accident and death. It tells us of the remorseless sea that kills and buries not its dead; of the young and strong that are torn from life by crushing ice and ravenous waves; of the widow and her clinging orphans set face to face with poverty; of eyes that weep uncomforted; of hearts that break and never mend.
For over a century that symbol has hung in the House of Representatives-for over a century in which Massa- chusetts has won her proud preëminence among the states. It saw there Lafayette, Kossuth, and the determined and silent Grant. It has seen most of our governors inaugurated with formal pomp and state. It heard Webster, Choate, and Shaw, as they discussed the constitution of the Common- wealth. It heard the matchless voice of Phillips as he pleaded for the freedom of the slave and demanded the impeachment of the unjust judge. It may have heard Andrew as he prayed in his room at midnight that his country might be spared, and again, after the sad years, in the council room which it faces, singing, when the news came that Vicksburg had fallen, and Gettysburg was won, the old doxology of thanksgiving. It has heard coming up to the windows, as they passed by the State House, the cheering shouts, the playing bands, and the
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martial tread of marching men, as Massachusetts, through four long years, sent forth her chosen, her bravest, and her tenderest to freedom's war. It knew when Bartlett of Pitts- field went by at the head of his regiment-the man in whom Sidney lived, fought, and died again; it heard the solemn, determined step of the colored regiment which Robert Shaw led on, in hopeless charge, to death at Fort Wagner. It saw the Massachusetts dead brought tenderly back from Balti- more, the state's first sacrifice upon the bloody altar of war. And then, when the war was over and a nation builded anew, it saw that glad home-coming when the battle flags came back; when up the streets and past the cheering thous- ands and through the wide gates of the capital came the regiments, thin and shattered and wounded, bearing their crimsoned flags of war, and moving in a cloud of glory which time shall never dim.
Let us take this emblem in reverence and honor and place it on high as one of the proudest decorations of this great hall; and let it remain there so long as this State House shall stand, a memorial of the Pilgrim, his privations, and simplicity; an emblem significant of the hardiness, courage, and faith of those who dare defy the seas, and daily telling of the great and surpassing glories of Massachusetts and her sons.
THE O'DONNELL FAMILY
Its Old-time Renown in the Homeland across the Sea and the Story of some of its Representatives in America
T HE O'Donnell family has a distinguished place in Irish history. John O'Hart's book on Irish "Pedi- gree" speaks of several branches of the family in dif- ferent counties of Ireland, and says the branch from which the Northampton family descended had a coat-of-arms with the motto, "In hoc signo vinces." The ancestry of the American branch has been traced back to Shane O'Donnell, son of Tirlock. Shane quarreled with his father and was banished from the North of Ireland, where the family dwelt, to the province of Munster in the south. The O'Donnells are descended from Cunaill Gulbhan, son of Niall Mor, the one hundred and twenty-sixth monarch of all Ireland. Later they were in- augurated and proclaimed Princes of Tirconnell, the ceremony taking place on the Rock of Kilmacrenan. Their chief castle was in the County of Donegal, where its ruins are yet to be seen. They were evidently a prolific as well as a powerful family in those days, for the chief of Tirconnell died in 1422 leaving eighteen sons. The Irish spelling of the name is O'Dombnaill which means, "All mighty in the World."
One of the family was Hugh Roe O'Donnell. "Roe" means "red," and the English form of the name would have been Red Hugh O'Donnell. In all ages Clan O'Donnell was loyal to Ireland. Hugh Roe was a dashing and gallant officer, brawny and strong of arm, and a great favorite among the
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people. He was second in command of the Irish army in the great uprising of the Irish in 1594 in defence against Queen Elizabeth's army which had landed to subjugate Ireland. Hugh O'Neil was commander-in-chief of the Irish army. After ten years of relentless warfare the Irish were overcome, and many noted families left Ireland forever rather than submit to English rule. Many of the O'Donnells went to Spain, and later became leaders in that country. One of them, Leopold O'Donnell became a Lieutenant General in the Spanish military service. Later he was Captain General of Cuba, and later still Prime Minister of Spain. His name appears conspicuously in large letters on the tower of the Spanish fort in Havana harbor, which was constructed during his administration in Cuba. Hugh Roe died in Spain, where his remains lie buried far from the land he loved so well.
One of the standard patriotic songs of Ireland is in honor of Hugh O'Donnell, and when sung well it arouses great enthusiasm in an Irish audience. It runs as follows:
O'DONNELL ABOO
Princely the note of the trumpet is sounding; Loudly the war cries arise on the gale;
Fleetly the steed by Lough Swilly is bounding, To join the thick squadrons in Saimears green vale; On! every mountaineer, strangers to fight and fear; Rush to the standard of dauntless red Hugh! Bannought and Gallowglass, strong from each mountain pass, On for old Erin with O'Donnell aboo!
Princely O'Neil to our aid is advancing, With many a chieftain and warrior clan,
A thousand proud steeds in his vanguard are prancing, 'Neath the borders brave from the banks of the Bann; Many a heart shall quail under its coat of Mail; Deeply the merciless foeman shall rue, When on his car shall ring, borne on the breezes wing, Tirconnell's dread war cry, O'Donnell aboo!
Judge John B. O'Donnell
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Wildly o'er Desmond the war wolf is howling, Fearless the eagle sweeps over the plain; The fox in the streets of the city is prowling, All, all who would scare them are banished or slain. Grasp ev'ry stalwart hand, hackbut and battle brand, Pay them all back the deep debt so long due; Norris and Clifford well, Clan of Tirconnell tell; Onward to glory with O'Donnell aboo!
Sacred the cause that Clan Cunaill's defending; The altars we kneel and the home of our sires; Ruthless the ruin the foe is extending, Midnight is red with the plunderers fires; On with O'Donnell, then, fight the old fight again, Sons of Tirconnell, all valiant and true! Make the invader feel Erin's avenging steel, Strike for your country with O'Donnell aboo!
JOHN B. O'DONNELL Former Mayor and Now Judge
John B. O'Donnell was born in Inch, County of Kerry, Ireland, September 8, 1846. His father was James, son of Terence. They also were born in Inch. His mother was Bridget Herlihy, daughter of John, both of whom were born in Keelduff, in County Kerry. Terence, father of James, was one of the gentlemen farmers in a community of farmers. He had eight children, and he was reputed to be one of the richest men in town. After the death of his second wife, as age crept on him he divided his property among his children.
The boy John had scarcely reached the age of two when the most severe famine that ever visited Ireland broke out. For about four years the crops rotted and spoiled before ripen- ing, but the rent had to be paid to foreign landlords, all the same. In 1848, to avoid the complete ruin that threatened to overwhelm him, James O'Donnell left home and family, and set sail alone to seek his fortune in America. The next year he sent money home to pay the passage of his wife,
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and in 1850 he sent for his three children, Catherine, John, and Terence. Terence is now an able and prominent lawyer in Holyoke. Four children were born to James and Bridget in America, and John B. has often facetiously remarked, "Half of our family are Paddies and the other half are Yankees." James worked in the construction of railroads-much of the time in the wilderness-in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, until 1854. Then he came to Northampton, and helped in the making of the "Canal" railroad - between Northampton and Easthampton. After that was completed he assisted in building the foundation for the Northampton Insane Hospital. He then concluded to cast anchor perma- nently in Northampton.
The youthful career of the boy John is full of interest, and it warrants a space here because it shows what will- power, determination, and perseverance can do for a poor lad in America in getting an education, in fitting himself for life's work and becoming useful in the world for himself and others. He arrived in this country before he was five years old, chubby, healthy, and full of good nature, and he en- joyed life in his new home. On account of frequent moving, and living far from schools, young O'Donnell had no oppor- tunity to attend school until he reached Northampton when he was eight years old. He began his education in one of the twin schoolhouses that was where the Copeland house now stands on South Street. But John was not long there when he "graduated," and entered the "big school" adjoin- ing, where he became a classmate of Frederick N. Kneeland, now cashier of the First National Bank of this city. He entered the third class, but before the year ended he had jumped two classes and finished in the first class. He says that the teacher of this "high" school was tall and straight, graceful and dignified, and he admired her very much. He
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learned easily, studied hard, and was one of her favorites. She was Miss Martha B. Kingsley, who, no doubt, is kindly and gratefully remembered by many others yet living.
During the very hard times in 1857 some of the schools were closed, except to pupils who could pay $1.75 each. The O'Donnell trio were barred. The late Henry S. Gere, who passed the O'Donnell home several times daily, saw that the children were not at school, and on learning the cause told their father that if he would saw wood at his home he would pay for the children's schooling. The father gladly accepted this offer, and the "trio" had the distinction of being pupils in a "private school."
When John was eleven he was sent to Hadley to do chores for Benjamin Lombard for his board and schooling. It was during this year that he attended Hopkins Academy, and it is needless to say he made good use of his time and improved his opportunity. The following year he was or- dered home from Hadley as arrangements had been made for the O'Donnell family to move to Florence.
At the age of twelve years and six months John began work in the Florence Cotton Mill. He labored from half- past six in the morning to half-past seven in the evening, with only one-half hour intermission for dinner - and all for twen- ty-five cents per day. His brother, younger than he, was working then for a daily wage of twenty-one cents. We may with propriety pause here in our sketch and quote an inter- esting account from Mr. O'Donnell's own pen, which he wrote twenty-five years ago for Mr. Charles A. Sheffeld's admira- ble "History of Florence," as follows:
"In complying with your request to write relative to my early recollections of the beautiful village so long my home, scenes of pleasure and joy crowd upon me. These are min- gled with sorrow and sadness when I think of the many dear
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friends and kind neighbors who then were adding to and aiding in the general happiness, but, alas! who are now in their long and silent homes.
"About the middle of March, 1859, when twelve years of age, stout and muscular, robed in a farmer's frock, near the "Cross house," in Florence, with unerring aim I stood at noon pouring snowballs at the boys and young men on their way to the cotton mill and button shop. The snow- balls were so hard and my boldness so exasperating that several times a rush was made to thrash me, to avoid which I sought refuge within the walls of the house. Thus it was that I introduced myself to the companions and friends of my youth and manhood.
"Florence at this time was a place of humble but happy homes. The classes and self-styled aristocrats, so numerous in other places, were here unknown. Protestant, Catholic, Gentile, and Jew, white and black, all were invited, re- ceived, and welcomed as members of one common broth- erhood. There were few houses, comparatively. There was no church, but meetings were often held in the little dis- trict schoolhouse that stood where the high school build- ing now stands. The Catholics went to Northampton to mass in the King Street church. To this church and back, the people of Florence, and very many from Easthamp- ton, Hatfield, Williamsburg, and Amherst walked, yet con- sumption and heart disease were almost unknown among them. There was no public mode of conveyance on Sun- days, and only Abercrombie's bus on week days, at fifty cents for the round trip.
"The games and sports of the youth were mostly in- dulged in on the Sabbath Day. "Paradise," then owned by the Greenville Manufacturing Company, was fairly alive
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with girls, boys, and men on Sundays during the summer. In the winter the scene of action changed to the crust-covered snow on the hillsides, and the ice on the ponds and river, and always their merry laughter and joyous shouts rang and echoed over the neighboring hills.
"The strict Sabbatarian who may peruse these lines, will not, I trust, too severely criticise and censure the youth, the parents, or the community of those days. There was no law fixing the school age of the children, and all the poor were obliged to begin to work at an early age. It was no uncommon thing to see children regularly employed at the age of nine years, and these - almost infants - and all others were obliged to labor from half past six in the morning till half past seven at night, with only one-half hour inter- mission for dinner. Where was the time during the week for reading, recreation, and sleep?
"But as time went on and the factories prospered, many strict church people immigrated to the village. They natu- rally objected to this godless manner of observing the holy Sabbath, and an effort was made to break it up. They had Mr. Julius Phelps, afterwards a deacon of the "White" Church, appointed a constable to arrest and imprison (!) all Sabbath breakers. While Mr. Phelps was a conscientious, Christian gentleman, he had a big, liberal, and sympathetic heart. The boys respected him very much, and they were ever ready to show their obedience and good intentions - when he was in sight! They continued clandestinely, how- ever, to play as of old, but when the games were in progress the sentinels and pickets were always on duty, ever on the alert to give the alarm, when all would at once put on their coats, sit down lawfully, and await the approach of the "common enemy." They always got a lecture and good advice from the kindhearted constable. But Mr. Phelps
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"caught on" to the picket protection, and formulated plans to break through it.
"The evening school of Florence was a most timely and beneficial institution. Samuel L. Hill was the prime mover and principal supporter for five years, when the town as- sumed the management. A. T. Lilly, Samuel A. Bottum, and others were contributors. For a few years the teaching was done by volunteers. Among these were Daniel W. Bond, now an honored judge of the superior court, Thomas S. Mann, and A. R. Morse. During the vacations of this school, writing was taught by Michael Walsh, Edson S. Ross, and Mr. Hillman.
"Among the persons employed to teach the evening school were Mary W. Bond, a very successful teacher, and Caroline W. James, who was the longest connected with the school. She was a lady of rare executive ability, kind and gentle, yet the most unruly boy was completely under her control. She seemed readily to extricate from difficulty the dullest mind, and never appeared impatient or discouraged. The school was well and regularly attended, having about fifty scholars, and among her 'graduates' are successful journalists, lawyers, mechanics, and business men and women.
"To this school many of us owe much, and to the origi- nators, supporters, and teachers we can never be too grate- ful. I gladly take this opportunity to acknowledge my ap- preciation of their philanthropy and valuable services, and to extend my grateful thanks to those of them who are living. I shall ever revere and cherish the memory of those who have since joined the silent majority, who, I trust, are now enjoying their heavenly reward."
So eager was young O'Donnell for an education that he improved every opportunity to acquire one. He went to
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evening school for ten years and, during the first three of these years, ate no supper until after he returned from school, about nine-thirty in the evening. All the mills in the village - except the cotton mill - closed at half-past six. The cot- ton mill closed an hour later, which was just the time that the night school, a quarter of a mile away, opened. The rules of the mill required that the working hands should not wash nor brush their clothing, until after the mill closed. They could have done it between "feeds" without loss of time. The cotton waste stuck to the boys' clothing almost like sticking plaster. The night school boys and girls asked the management for leave to brush up and wash up before the mill closed so they could run to school and be only a little late. But this simple privilege, though it would have entailed no loss to the mill, was denied them, on the ground that it would be a bad example to the other help.
John was popular, and so good a general athlete that in the games every boy wanted him on his side. At the age of seventeen he became a member and one of the leaders of the noted Eagle Base Ball Club of Florence, and he continued one of its most active and interested players until it dis- banded three years later. They nearly won the champion- ship of New England, and as Champions of Western Massa- chusetts they held the famous silver ball for a time. The Club celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of winning the silver ball at Judge O'Donnell's house. Seven of the ten members present came especially for the occasion from their homes in Kansas, New York, Rhode Island, and Con- necticut. One was ill, and the other two had passed on to the world beyond.
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