USA > Massachusetts > The pre-revolutionary Irish in Massachusetts, 1620-1775 > Part 8
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Salem was the next in importance to Boston as a center of Irish settlement and at least relative influence. Even before 1700 the births of Abigaile (1694), daughter of George and Sarah Hanry, and Isack Macarta, son of Jo, were recorded.126 Thirty Irish births were registered before 1775: Nathaniel Cochran (1747), James (1748), Jane (1749) and Elijah Cochran (1751), Katherine Conally (1722), Isaac (1728) and Hannah Demcy (1731), Jacob (1729), Eliza (1734), Thomas (1737) and Lydia Dempsey (1741), Margaret Dempsey (1725), Mary Gaulhere (1747), William (1731), Mary (1735), Mary (1740), Sarah (1738), Elizabeth (1742), John (1745) and Peter Kelly (1748), Margaret Teirny (1747), Mercy (1772) and William Burke
THE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY IRISH IN MASSACHUSETTS £
(1770), Margaret Murphy (1774), Sarah (1770), Lois (1771) and Mary Ryan (1771), Edward (1772) and Samuel Shehain (1774).127 The marriage records furnish more Irish names than the birth records. Some thirty-three Irish persons were married in Salem before 1775, their names being William. Burk (1738), John Cahill (1752), Mary Casy (1714), Andrew (1739), John (1756) and Nathaniel Cochran (1753), Mary Crowley (1708), Hugh Donnovan (1755), Patrick Fitz Gerald (1750), Patrick McDonald of Ireland (1749), Patrick Hickey (1726), Thomas Hogan (1751), Jeremiah Macartee (1701), Rebecca McCarty (1716), Sarah Macharty (1746), Patrick Molloy (1763), Michael Moran (1763), William Burke of Ireland, Philemon Cassaday c (1766), John Connelly (1773), Thomas Conner (1774), William Connolly (1774), Luke Donevan (1769), James McNamara (1771), David Murphy (1769), Patrick O'Neil (1767), Daniel Shehane (1767), Macnamara (1771), Bryan Sheehan (1772), Joseph Sheenn "of Jameco" (1731) and Prudence Mac- carty (1715).128
One of the first Irish settlers in Salem was William Bacon who came from Dublin, Ireland, in 1640. He married Rebecca, the daughter of Thomas Potter, the mayor of Coventry, England. He died in 1653 leaving one child Isaac, who was baptized in Salem in 1641. He was a mariner and left the town, selling his homestead in 1665. An inventory of William Bacon's estate re- vealed a moderate amount of property comprising one mare, two oxen, five cows, two steers, one heifer, three calves, nine sheep, seven swine and "much grain on hand, brass, iron and pewter vessels, plate, books, maps and pictures.129 Another Irishman, Abel Kelly, was one of two selected to appraise the clothing in the estate of John Watkins, who had died seven weeks after land- ing. The estate was valued at "5 li. 4s 10d".150 On January 10, 1643 he was one of four witnesses to a document demanding the payment of dues from the estate of John Olliver to Walter Stephens.131 Two Irish servants came to Salem in 1654. William Dalton and Edward Welch, who were sold by the master of the ship Goodfellow to Samuel Symonds. They described as "Irish youths" for whom was paid "six & twenty pounds in corn mer- chantable or live cattell. . . . " "'132 In contrast to this condition of servitude was the prosperous status of William Maccarty, who was one of the large land owners of Salem in 1661.133
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NORTHEASTERN AND SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS
In the seventies only one Irishman achieved any prominence, a John Kelly. On April 24, 1679 he was made administrator of the estate of John Whittier of Newbury.134 He was one of two men selected (May 27, 1680) to make an inventory of the estate of William Sutten.134 In the following decade the ship John from Dublin arrived in the Salem Harbor (1686). The ship Dolphin in September, 1685 left Salem for "Barbardoes, Virginia and Ireland."135 Edward Burke, son of Edward, was baptized on August 7, 1687 in the First Church in Salem.136 Just before the close of the century the name of Captain Edward Burke of the Barbadoes was associated with Salem trade on the sea. On Sep- tember 16, 1697 he received from Salem "one bright Sorril horse with white face and four white feet" and ten thousand feet of long cedar shingles. A freight charge of 9 lbs. was paid for the horse and "as freight 9/16 of the shingles."137
The next century ran into its fourteenth year before any Irish- man of consequence found mention in the annals of Salem. In that year (1713) Florence and John Macarty were listed as "pro- prietors."138 In the deposition (1716) of Daniel Caton of Salem, is the information that he was from Bandonbridge, Ireland.139 A considerable migration to Salem took place in 1719 and 1720, numbering at least one hundred persons. Benjamin Marston who went to Ireland in the "good Brigantine Essex," wrote from Dub- lin, December 29, 1719: "Several Persons have bespoke a passage with me, and tomorrow morning I shall sett out on a journey towards London Derry in order to make up my complement of passengers."140 In a letter dated March 5, 1720 he wrote "I am now ready, to sail from this place to London Derry, but yy I wait for about 30 passengers which I expect on board next week, and at Derry I hope to make up the complement of 100."141 On August 31 of the same year a protest was filed by Captain Robert Peat, commander of the brig Essex. He declared that he sailed on June 16, 1720 from Londonderry, Ireland, for New England (Salem), with one hundred passengers and that on July 17 when the vessel was about sixty leagues east of the Newfoundland Banks "their came up with them a pyrat ship manned with about 100 hands Capt. Roberts, its leader and a sloop with about forty more boarded them and took them and plundered and rifled them of almost all that was worth taking, even their very wearing apparell and put them in great Terror of their lives by holding a pistol
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THE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY IRISH IN MASSACHUSETTS
at their breasts and telling them they should have no quarter and tooke away most of saylers Rifled their cabin stateroom and damnified their vessel considerably."142 An unusual case was the running away from his master, Richard Maayberry, of James Clark, January 12, 1756. He was described as "an Irish Servant Boy . .. about 14 yrs. of age. He is pretty full faced, and Pock broken, and had on a homespun brown striped cloth coat, lined with red Bags, and Breeches of the same, lined with red Bags also, and had a dark coloured Yarn Cap on. Whoever shall take up the said Servant, and deliver him to his Master in Salem, shall have $2. Reward and necessary charges paid."143
In the very next year 1757 the Boston Gasette for August 1 reported a curious incident which happened in Salem.
The following affair happened at Salem some time since, viz :- An Irish Fellow named James Clark, one of the Listed Soldiers in the present Expedition, not being content with his bounty, had marked a Goldsmith's Shop, and when he came to try it, could not break it open, but got upon the roof and threw off an Arch which was built over the Top of the Chim- ney and got down that way and carried off about 100 O.T. [?] in Silver Buckles etc. and there being no-body with him but a Dog, they could not prove it against him, but committed him to gaol on suspicion, and when he came on Trial, the Dog was call'd into Court (for they were both seen together that same night) and the poor Fellow bearing the Dog should turn King's Evidence, and he be convicted, confess'd the Fact, pled Guilty, and received twenty stripes at the publick Post: The poor Dog that was with him has since been Guilty of Murder, in killing a Lamb: for which crime (his Master being Chief Judge) he is condemned to Transportation.
Captain Obrian "in a ship from Antigua bound to Piscataqua" dropped anchor in Salem harbor on October 8, 1759.145
In face of the appreciable growth of Irish in Salem and Massa- chusetts in general during its pre-revolutionary period, Gilbert L. Streeter has written under the title "Salem Before the Revolu- tion" that "The population of Salem was remarkably homogene- ous. Most of the inhabitants were born here, although some had come from other towns. For a hundred and fifty years there had been no immigation from the old country-none since the time of Cromwell's English Commonwealth. There were consequently very few persons of foreign birth in the whole Province. There were a few negro slaves, who were occasionally advertised for sale, and were mentioned in wills. These were usually domestic
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NORTHEASTERN AND SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS
servants."146 This opinion was shared by Lodge and Palfrey, but in the light of recent research, especially in the town records of Boston and Salem, such a statement cannot be supported on historical grounds.
Note may be taken of the unfortunate case of Bryan Sheehan, who on "Thursday the 16th January, 1772 between 3 and 4 o'clock P.M. ... was Hanged at Salem pursuant to his Sentence for committing a Rape in September last on the body of Abial Hallowel, Wife of Benjamin Hallowel of Marblehead. Mr. Dimond Preached a Sermon in A. M. to a great Number of People -- the criminal was Present-this is the first person Executed in Salem since the year 1692 the witch time."147 The last occurrence of an Irish name in Salem records before 1775 is on November 18, 1774 when Frances Delaney (a mulatto), daughter of Mrs. De- laney of St. Kitts, was baptized.148
Salem was relatively a considerable center of Irish growth be- fore the Revolution. The provincial census of 1765 gave Salem 4,427 persons,149 two hundred and forty-two of whom were Irish, representing a percentage of .052.
Salisbury is noteworthy in Massachusetts Irish colonial his- tory for having had Irish residents both before and after 1700. In the seventeenth century were born Cornelius (1675) and Dorethie (1676), children of Cornelius and Sarah Conner. John and Elizabeth Conner were the parents of Sarah (1659), John (1660), Samuel (1661), Mary (1663), Elizabeth (1664), Re- becka (1668), Ruth (1670), Jeremie (1671), Joseph (1691), Cornelious (1693), Elizabeth (1664), and Dorthy (1696),150 After 1700 the name of Conner appears on the birth records seven times: Batte (1745), Eleanor (1740), Mary (1750), Ruth (1755), Samuel (1739), Sarah (1736), Joseph (1743), Mary (1721), and Daniel Conner (1769).151 Among parties to marriage also after 1700 were Mary Flartee (1727), Mary Haise (1724), Elizabeth Hayes (1729), Mary Kelly (1731) and Anthony Kelley (1773).152 Salisbury had in 1765 a total population of 1,329153 including thirty-five Irish inhabitants, a percentage of .026.
Irish settlers also made Topsfield their home before 1700. A Michael Donall had two children, Elizabeth and Magdelend, born in 1677 and 1679 respectively. Philip Welch, another Irishman had three children, John, David, and Thomas, born in 1671,
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THE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY IRISH IN MASSACHUSETTS
1672 and 1674 respectively.154 In November 18, 1688 Michall Donell paid a county tax of 5 6 ?. 155 After 1700 vital records re- veal a steady Irish growth. In 1729 Charles, Mary, Miriam and Thomas Demcy were baptized.156 Francis Dempcy and Hannah Dempcy were born in 1772 and 1773 respectively.157 George Donal was married in 1740 to a non-Irish party while in the same seven- teen hundreds two deaths of Irish persons were recorded, James Burch (1760) whose infant son was Jedidiah, and Jedidiah Burch (1759).158 James Burch "died from home in ye Army."159 Burch was a poor man since on October 2, 1759, "the town abated Mr. James Burch rate what he was rated towards the building the New Meeting house in Joseph Gould's List."160 Furthermore, on March 5, 1761 "the town allowed to Jeremiah Averell Constable what James Burch was rated in the same Averells List,"161 while on October 13, 1766 it was suggested by interested parties that an attempt be made "to see if the Town will agree to take the widow Rachel Burch's Child and free the town from any further cost and charge for its support until it shall arrive to the age of eighteen years."162 Somewhat earlier, November 17, 1727, of those applicants for the minister's position in Topsfield one was "Mr. ffitz Gerald," who, however, was not the one selected.163 A similar case of poverty prior in date to the one mentioned above was that of John Casee, who on September 18, 1744, was "allowed five shillings and one penny" through Thomas Gould, the constable.164 Topsfield in 1765 had a total population of seven hundred and nineteen,165 including twenty-nine Irish inhabitants, a percentage of .04.
The last town in the northeastern section of Massachusetts to call for mention is Wenham where as early as 1666 two persons of probable Irish origin, Philip Welch and Hannah Haggerty were married to each other.166 In the following century the number of Irish steadily rises. On March 14, 1730167 or April 3, 1730168 Patrick Burne and Jane Brittain were joined in wedlock. They were the parents of Benjamin (1750), Elizabeth (1738), John (1735), Joseph (1752), Phillip (1743), Sarah (1746). Thomas (1740), William (1736), and Mary Burne (1730).169 Other births were Ebenezer Bery (1703), Benjamin Barrye (1709), John Barry (1721) and Robert Burch (1757), son of James Burch.170 Sarah Burch was married to a non-Irish party in .
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1748.171 There were twenty-nine Irish persons in Wenham in 1765 out of a population of five hundred and sixty-four,172 a percentage of .051.
TABLE XI
TOTAL POPULATION, IRISH POPULATION AND PERCENTAGE OF IRISH, IN SELECTED TOWNS IN NORTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS.
Town
Total Population
Irish Population
Percentage of Irish
1. Amesbury
1567
82
.052
2. Andover
2142
16
.006
3. Beverly
2164
19
.008
4. Billerica
1334
11
.008
C
5. Bradford
1125
1
.0008
6. Gloucester
3763
77
.024
7. Haverhill
1980
33
.015
8. Ipswich
3743
108
.028
9. Lynn
2198
21
.009
10. Manchester
732
22
.03
11. Marblehead
4954
129
.026
12. Methuen
933
43
.046
13. Newbury
2960
163
.055
14. Newburyport
2882
9
.003
15. Rowley
1477
16
.01
16. Salem
4427
242
.052
17. Salisbury
1329
35
.026
18. Topsfield
719
29
.04
19. Wenham
564
29
.051
Total=
41293
1085
Average =. 023
The town having the largest percentage of Irish was Newbury with .055 while the smallest percentage of .0008 was in Bradford. Salem had the largest number of Irish, two hundred and forty- two while Bradford had only one Irish resident.
2. SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS
The story of the Irish race in southeastern Massachusetts will be told on the same plan, i.e., by towns in alphabetical order, and within the same chronological limits, i.e., from the earliest known data to 1775, as was furnished in the same story for the north- eastern section of the state. The omission of Plymouth up to 1089 is an exception already accounted for in Chapter I, Section I.
Abington, the first town of the group claims an Irishman,
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THE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY IRISH IN MASSACHUSETTS
Thomas Hiskey, who on February 15, 1755 married a non-Irish party.173 In 1765 Abington's population was 1,263 with only one Irish inhabitant.174 In 1748 Attleboro had an Irishman, Joseph Barrey, who was listed among twenty-four "Members in full". . . in the Attleboro church.175
The town of Barnstable had at least two Irishmen before 1700. One of these, Thomas Croggin, was one of the first settlers in the town coming to the settlement about 1650,176 the other was Corne- lius Croggin who died on December 15, 1664, leaving an estate of I. 18s. 6d. and debts amounting to I. 12.0.177 After 1700 only one Irish immigrant came to Barnstable, a Captain James Delop, who was born in Cavan, Ireland, and came to Massachusetts in 1725. With his parents and other members of the family, he took pas- sage in an emigrant ship from Dublin. The story of the voyage was a pitiful one. It was soon found that the commander of the vessel was an unprincipled man, who purposely prolonged the voyage in order to starve the passengers and thereby secure their wordly goods, especially their money. About half of the passengers had died, when, fortunately for the survivors the vessel was met by another from Ireland under the command of Captain Bell, who was told by the passenger of their predicament. He ordered the ship to proceed directly to shore and land the passengers at once. This was done and the half-famished emigrants were put ashore on Nauset Bar, at Eastham. Delop's parents and four brothers and sisters having already died on the ocean, he was left alone, being only fourteen years of age. His physical condition was so weak that he was unable to stand and had to crawl on his hands and knees. Soon he made his way to Barnstable where he became an apprentice to a Mr. Bacon, a blacksmith. When he reached his majority, he worked at his trade in winter and in the other seasons followed coasting. He soon became the master and probably the owner of a vessel. He married Mary Kelley on Yarmouth, the result of the union being ten children. In 1774 he moved with most of his family to Granville, Nova Scotia, where he died in 1789.178
There were only three Irish persons in Braintree before the Revolution. On September 21, 1724 was born Charles, son of John - and Mary Kilkey.179 Bridgewater, however, had a fair repre- sentation of Irish, as indicated by vital statistics. Irish births were --- Coner (1738),180 Molly Roach (1741),181 Hannah
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NORTHEASTERN AND SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS
(1763),181 Christopher Flinn (1764),180 Thomas Fitzgerald (1774) 180 and William Fitzgerald (1772).180 Marriages comprised those of John Cavener (1718),182 and Susanna Cronnon (1745) .183 John Cochran and Margaret Gilmore were joined in wedlock in 1733.184 The most outstanding Irishman in Bridgewater was Thomas Henry, who came to the town from Ireland in 1740 and settled in its northeast section. In 1743 he married Ann Miller who bore him the following children : Thomas (1744), James (1746), Jennet (1747), John (1750), Margaret (1752), David (1754), Ann (1756), Samuel(?) and William(?). The whole family, ex- cept Jennet moved to Harpersfield, New York, where Thomas Jr. and James were killed by Indians and Tories in 1775 or 1776. John was taken as a prisoner to Canada where he died. The members of the Henry family were known as "pious and industrious peo- ple."185 In 1765 Bridgewater had a total population of 3,942186 in- cluding twenty-seven of Irish stock, a percentage of .006.
Eight persons constituted the Irish element in the little town of Chilmark. A John Cuningim, wife, Catherine by name, came to the town before 1721. In 1749 Jean Magee was married and in 1758 William Cochran.186 Other Irish individual persons were William Homes, his wife, and Thomas Megee. The population of Chilmark in 1765 was six hundred and sixty-three,187 including the eight Irish residents, a percentage of .012.
Dartmouth, which was comparatively a large town had, fewer than twenty Irish residents before the Revolution. Timothy Max- field Jr. and wife, Patience, were the parents of the following : "Partrick" (1742), Elizabeth (1736), Lidia (1739), Patience (1748), Thomas (1754), Timothy (1745), and Zadock (1740). In 1772 Joseph was born to Patrick and Freelove Maxfield.188 Three Irish persons entered wedlock in the same period Isaac Kel- ley (1750), Seth Kelley (1726), and John Fleming (1770), all taking non-Irish partners.189 In 1765 there were in Dartmouth eleven Irish inhabitants out of 4,506,190 a percentage of .002. An- other town poorly represented in Irish development was Duxbury where only two Irish names are recorded, both in marriage rec- ords, Hannah Connor (1695) and Deborah Doaty (1755).191 In a population of 1,050192 in 1765, these Irish persons constituted the very low percentage of .001. East Bridgewater, too, had only a few Irish inhabitants before the Revolutionary era. The births
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86 THE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY IRISHI IN MASSACHUSETTS
comprise Ann Kiff (1740), John Kiff (1735), Mary Kiff (1737), Thomas Fitzgerald (1774) and William Fitzgerald (1772). Irish persons married were Christopher Erskin (of Ireland) (1729), Margaret McCarty (1708) and Elizabeth Colony (1773).193 By 1765 there were eleven Irish persons in East Bridgewater. Since the total population is unknown no percentage can be obtained.
In 1718 Eastham was honored by the arrival of Samuel Osborn, who came as the pastor of the South Parish. He was from Ireland, having been educated at the University of Dublin. The town paid 2. 10s for bringing Mr. Osborn's family and goods to Eastham. In 1738 The Reverend Mr. Osborn was leaning toward the views of Arminius so strongly that he was suspended from his pastoral office. Afterwards he removed to Boston where he kept a gram- mar school for many years. It is claimed that peat as a fuel was introduced into Massachusetts by him, as well "as various improve- ments in husbandry." He was regarded as "a man of wisdom and virtue, possessing many good qualities."194
In Edgartown Thomas and Zilpah Cuningham were the parents of Sarah (1739), John (1739), Mary (1742), Thomas (1744) and Catherine (1747). Edward and Lemuel Kelley, sons of Dun- ken and Jean Kelley were born in 1735 while John Logan was born in 1693.195 John Cunningham and Samuel Killey married non-Irish parties in 1748 and 1757 respectively. The most promi- nent Irishman in Edgartown was Captain Duncan Kelly, probably a sea captain, who died in 1761 at the age of seventy.196 The town's population in 1765 was nine hundred and forty-four197 including seventeen Irish persons, a percentage of .018.197
The town of Freetown (Fall River) was the home of John Valentine, son of Thomas, vicar of Frankfort in Ireland. John was the founder of the wealthy New England Valentine family. Thomas died on November 6, 1763, indicating the disposition of his wealth in a will dated September 10, 1763, which provided that Martha Holt, an infirm relative, was to receive three shillings a week, that five pounds were to be paid for her funeral expenses, and that the grandchildren, Samuel, Thomas, and Elizabeth Valen- tine, were each to receive two hundred pounds. Samuel was also to have one-fourth of the residue of the personal estate when debts and legacies were paid, these amounting to 4000 pounds, and all real estate in the parish of Eccles, in the county of Lancaster,
1
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NORTHEASTERN AND SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS
England. John, the son of Thomas Valentine, and husband of Mary Lynde of Boston, whom he married about 1720, did not re- ceive anything. They had four children, Samuel, Thomas, Edmund and Mary, whose dates of births are unknown. Samuel, the most noted of the children was made constable of Freetown in 1725, representative to the General Court in 1728 and 1750 and select- man and assessor in 1751. He was a man of means, too, possessing a brick house and brick warehouse with adjacent land on Cornhill Street, in Boston, pasture and orchard on Cambridge Street in the same city, and two lots of land in Freetown. Samuel's brother, Edmund Edward, owned a farm of three hundred acres in Kene- bec "beyond Groton." Mary, the wife of John, possessed an island in the Kenebeck River. The Valentine family was perhaps, the most influential Irish family in southeastern Massachusetts before the Revolution.198
Only two Irish persons, both women, were in Hanover before 1775, Content Connerey, married in 1761 and Elizabeth Conaway, in 1744, both to non-Irish partners.199 Hingham also had a small group of Irish inhabitants. The first to arrive was Ralph Wood- ward, a merchant of Dublin, who came to Hingham in 1636. He secured a house lot of five acres in that year on Lawn Wouth street. Woodward was made a freeman in 1638, a deacon in the Hingham church in 1640 and in 1649 was commissioned to solem- nize marriages. Mary, his wife, and an unmarried daughter, came over with him from Dublin. There is no record of children of theirs being born in Massachusetts. Woodward died January 5, 1663 some time after his wife's death on February 4, 1661. The diary of Reverend Peter Hobart records that "Ralph Woodward married on February 12, 1639, but no other source exists which supports this statement.200 The second Irishman in Hingham was John Murphy, who served as a corporal in the Indian war of 1722, and again as a seaman in 1725 on a small vessel commanded by Lieutenant Allason.201 In 1755 and again in 1756 the third Irish- man, George McLaughlin, appears as member of a company from Hingham in the French and Indian Wars.202
As regards Kingston, Jane Sullivan203 was born there in 1731, and John and Thaddeus, sons of Reverend Mr. Thaddeus and Mary Maccarty, in 1745 and 1744, respectively.204 In 1731 Jacob Keefh was married to Hannah Michell and in 1772, Jeremiah Col-
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88
THE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY IRISH IN MASSACHUSETTS
lemy to Mrs. Jenny Sullivan.205 Jane Sullivan, twice mentioned above, was "a native of Ireland" who died on February 1, 1806 at the age of sixty-seven "more than forty-four years of which time she lived in the family of William Sever."206 Kingston had in 1765 a population of seven hundred and fifty-nine which included six Irish residents, a percentage of .007.207
The island of Martha's Vineyard became early associated with the Irish when Thomas Dongan came in 1683 as the new royal governor of New York. An Irishman of the nobility, he was born in Castletown, county of Kildare. He entered the military service being with the English and French troops in turn as opportunity offered, and attained the rank of colonel. He was later appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Tangiers by Charles II, and after his re- turn to England, was created Earl of Limerick. His death took place in London on December 14, 1715. Dongan's interest in Mar- tha's Vineyard began on May 12, 1685, when an indentureship entered into "between Mathew Mayhew of the Island of Martin's Vineyard, Gent., and Mary his wife, of the one part and the Hon- ourable Colonel Thomas Dongan, Lieutenant and Governor-Gen- eral" in consideration of the sum of two hundred pounds, which was transferred to Dongan all that the Lordship and Manor of Martin's Vineyard. .. and all that Island and tract of land called the Island of Martin's Vineyard. .. and all those several islands or tracts of land called No Man's Land. .. every of them being par- cel of the said Lordship and Manor of Martin's Vineyard."208 Dongan received a yearly tribute from the Indians who occupied these lands.209 On May 10, 1711 the territory was purchased with the exception of No Man's Land by the Society for the Propaga- tion of the Gospel for £550, and the title of Lord of the Manor passed from Lord Dongan to the corporation.210 In 1686, William Homes, who was born in northern Ireland in 1663, came to Mar- tha's Vineyard and taught school there from 1686 to 1689. He then returned to Ireland where he was ordained in 1692 in the parish of Strabane. In 1693 he married Katharine, the daughter of Reverend Robert Craghead of Londonderry, meanwhile re- maining pastor of Strabane till 1715 when he left for Massachu- setts where he was ordained pastor at Chilmark on September 15, 1715. The Reverend Mr. Homes remained pastor of the Chilmark church till June 20, 1746, the date of his death, a period of more
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