The pre-revolutionary Irish in Massachusetts, 1620-1775, Part 9

Author: Donovan, George Francis, 1901-
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: [Menasha, Wis.] : [George Banta Pub. Co.]
Number of Pages: 340


USA > Massachusetts > The pre-revolutionary Irish in Massachusetts, 1620-1775 > Part 9


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NORTHEASTERN AND SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS


than thirty years. A diary of his, of ninety-nine pages, is in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society.211 The third Irishman connected with the colonial history of Martha's Vine- yard was John Megee, a weaver, and ensign in Captain Jeremigh Mayhew's company, which was in service against the French and Indians from March to November 1759. In 1760 he was made a lieutenant. John Megee had a brother, Thomas, who had lived in Chilmark since 1725 and married there.212


The vital records of Nantucket furnish nearly fifty Irish names before 1775. Births are those of David (1752), Henry (1755), James (1748),213 Daniel Fitzgerald (1752), and Polly Murphy (1769), Hannah (1754) and Rebecca Kelley (1745), Anna Quinn (1756), and John, Joseph, Mary, Peggy and Peter Quinn, born during the fifties and sixties. In the seventies the following births are recorded : Henry (1775) and James Fitzgerald (1773), Cath- erine (1776), Elizabeth (1772), and Lydia Kelley (1774), Eliza- beth (1771), James (1775), Margaret (1771), and Mary Mc- Murphy (1771).214 Marriage lists record the names Alexander Cunningham (1733),215 Barnabas Boyle (1764), Deborah Fitz- gerald (1761), Mary Boyle (1764), Margaret Fitzgerald, 1765),216 Mary Sillevan (1730), John Conner (1772), Sarah Dugan (1773), Michael Flynn (1767), William Kelley (1769) and Mary Quinn (1771).217 The only marriage to which both parties were Irish was the one uniting Mary Murphy and Joseph Quinn date unknown. On the death records appear only three Irish names- Fitzgerald (1752), Thomas O'Neil (1756), and Joseph Quin Jr., who was "lost at sea" in his sixteenth year (1772).218 In 1765 the population of Nantucket was 3,320219 including thirty Irish persons, a percentage of .009.219


One of the towns in which the Irish element was practically negligible was Norton, which to 1775 counted only two Irish residents, John Mackelson, married in 1736 and John Killey, in - 1771.220 Norton in 1765 had a population of 1,942 while the Irish group represented a percentage of only .001.221 Pembroke, too, had a very small Irish body. Records show the marriage of Josiah Smith to Dorothy Dun in 1743 and of James Hayes to a non- Irish woman in 1730.222 Out of a total population of 1,409223 in 1765 Pembroke had but three Irish inhabitants, a percentage of .002. In Plymouth in 1755 and 1756 respectively two Irishmen,


-


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THE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY IRISH IN MASSACHUSETTS


William Brady and John Sullivan, were listed in an expedition of "Soldiers ... to Crown Point."224 Plympton, which had a popula- tion of 1,390225 in 1765, can muster only three Irish names, Jere- miah Kille, married in 1753, and Patrick Colen and Moly Mack- farlin, joined in wedlock in 1768.226 The three make an Irish per- centage of .002 of the total population of Plympton. A Captain Kelley, who purchased a pew in the church at Provincetown on December 1, 1774, was the only Irishman that town had before the Revolution.227 On November 25, 1663 the Rehoboth selectmen "Voted, that Alexander, the Irishman, a brickmaker, should be freely approved among us, for to make brick, and that he should have free liberty to make use of the clay and wood on the com- mons for that purpose."228 He could not have remained very long for on May 26, 1668 "It was voted and agreed upon for the en- couragement of a brickmaker, in the town, the town ordered that if any come, he shall have free liberty of wood and clay, at the half-mile swamp, to make what brick he will."229


Then appear some towns where the Irish population is slightly larger than the figures for towns noted in the preceding paragraph. Rochester, the first of these towns, had by 1765 six Irish resi- dents out of a population of 1,939,230 a percentage of .003. The marriage records of Rochester reveal some Irish names: Seth O Riley (1726),231 Hannah Kille (1745), Hattil Killey (1745), - Anna Killey married to David Braley (1768), and Elisha Killey, - to Lydia Braley (1767).232 As early as 1657 William Newland of "Irish extraction" together with a John Newland, both of Sand- wich, were summoned to Plymouth to answer charges of keeping two Quakers, Holder and Copeland. Though William protested, they both were severely rebuked and fined for their efforts, Wil- liam paying 36. and John 2. 6s. William and John Newland were "prominent men." John's wife died a widow on May 22, 1671. William was married to Rose Holloway on May 19, 1648.232 Noth- ing else is known about these two Irishmen, who were probably brothers.


Scituate must be treated separately because of the number and importance of its Irish settlers. Birth records reveal the names of the following: Ann Cahill (1733) ; Ann (1752), David "Irish" (1737), Elizabeth (1738), James (1737), James (1744), John "Irish" (1737), and John Kelly (1742) ; John (born Ireland,


91


NORTHEASTERN AND SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS


1733), and Mary Moor (from Ireland, 1731) ; Thomas Moore (a "Stranger from Ireland," 1724); George (1738), Ichabod (1734), Jane (1732), John (1731), John (1732), and Martha Neol (1734) ; John Neil (1730), son of John and wife "an Ireland man and woman ;" John (1770), Joseph (1772), Molly (1767), and Prudence Dorothy (1773).233 In the marriage lists are the names of John Dorritrey and Mary Murphey, joined in wedlock (1766) ;234 Richard Fitzgerald (1729), who was a veteran school- master and a resident of Hanover at times;235 Margaret Merfie (1732) and'Jenny Maconely (1774).236 In the list of men who took the "oath of fidelity in Scituate from 1633 to 1668 is Richard Dogan.237 In June 1686 Margaret Murphy was granted a license to retail "Spirituous Liquors in Scituate."238 Thomas Gray, who came from Dublin, Ireland, owned a tract of land in Scituate on the southern part of Cordwood Hill as early as 1730. His son, George, died early, leaving no family traces.239 Another Irishman was John Neil "from Ireland," (1730) (?) who established a pottery of considerable extent, first at the south side of "Wild cat hill" and then on the north side of "Studley Hill," and later went to Maine. John had four children.240 Out of a total population of 2,488241 in 1765 Scituate had forty-five Irish inhabitants, a percentage of .018.


There were six Irish persons in Taunton before 1775 represent- ing a percentage of .002 out of a population of 2,735.242 They were John Fitzgerald, husband of Nancy, born in 1761 ;243 Samuel Burns married in 1765 and Mary Madden, in 1747;244 and an "Irish Woman at Doc[?] McGinstry," who died in May 1772.245 One other Irishman was John Burns,246 who was born in 1773. Tisbury had only a few to represent the Irish race. On the marriage records · appear Deliverance Killee (1748), Stephen Cunningham (1773) - and Mary Megee (1774), while the death register records the name of Reliance Megee (1754), a daughter of John and Mary Megee.247 Tisbury had a population of seven hundred and thirty- nine248 in 1765 including four Irish residents, a percentage of .005. Thomas and William, sons of Michael Fitzgerald, were born in West Bridgewater in 1774 and 1772, respectively, while in 1773 Silence, wife of John Burn, died in the same town.249 By 1774 there were five Irish persons there. Irish settlers in Weymouth numbered three before 1772 when Sarah, daughter of John


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THE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY IRISH IN MASSACHUSETTS


and Sarah Corners, was born there.250 The last town in south- eastern Massachusetts investigated in our study is Yarmouth, where in April 1673 David O'Kelia was assessed a "rate" of 2 6s. 9d.251 In 1739 Amos O'Killey was listed among thirty Yarmouth proprietors.252 The last Irishman in Yarmouth before 1775 was Jonathan O'Killey, who was one of seven sent on the expedition to Louisburg in 1745.253


TABLE XII. TOTAL POPULATION, IRISH POPULATION AND PERCENTAGE OF IRISHI, IN SELECTED TOWNS IN SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS IN 1765.


Town


Total Population


Irish Population


Percentage of Irish


1. Abington


1263


1


.0007


2. Bridgewater


3942


27


.006


3. Chilmark


663


8


.012


4. Dartmouth


4506


11


.002


5. Duxbury


1050


2


.001


6. Edgartown


944


17


.018


7. Kingston


759


6


.007


8. Nantucket


3320


30


.009


9. Norton


1942


2


.001


10. Pembroke


1409


3


.002


11. Plympton


1390


3


.002


12. Rochester


1939


6


.003


13. Scituate


2488


45


.018


14. Taunton


2735


6


.002


15. Tisbury


739


4


.005


Grand Total


29069


170


Average .005


Both the number and percentage of Irish in southeastern Massa- chusetts are considerably lower than the corresponding figures for northeastern Massachusetts. The town having the highest per- centage of Irish was hard to decide, both Edgarton and Scituate having .018, while the largest number of Irish settlers was found in Scituate with forty-five, and the smallest number in Abington, which had only one Irishman. Abington also had the lowest per- centage, .0008.


REFERENCES CHAPTER II


' Vital Records of Amesbury, pp. 149-152.


2 Ibid., p. 320.


3 Ibid., p. 376.


93


NORTHEASTERN AND SOUTIIEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS


' Ibid., p. 320.


5 Ibid., p. 4.


" Massachusetts Archives, LII, P. 45.


7 Vital Records of Andover, I, p. 110.


Ibid., I, p. 111.


" Ibid., I, p. 258. 10 Ibid., I, p. 259.


11 Ibid., I, p. 89. Ibid., I, p. 68. 13 Ibid., I, p. 205. 14 Ibid., I, p. 83.


15 Ibid., I, p. 261. 16 Ibid., II, p. 216. Ibid., I, p. 4. C


18 Ilistorical Collections of Essex Institute, VII, pp. 98, 99.


" New England Historic and Genealogical Register, XXII, pp. 57-59.


" Vital Records of Beverly, I, pp. 68, 79, 189, 209, 220.


21 Ibid., I, pp. 57, 65, 117, 170, 171, 193.


": Ibid., II, p. 502.


2 Historical Collections of Essex Institute, v, p. 143.


24 Vital Records of Beverly, I, p. 5.


25 A. Hazen, Genealogical Register, p. 25.


26 Vital Records of Billerica, p. 62.


21 Ibid., p. 347. Ibid., p. 3. Vital Records of Bradford, p. 5.


Ibid., p. 233.


31 Vital Records of Danvers, I, pp. 64, 94, 95, 195.


Ibid., 1, 64, 94, 195, 196, 197.


33 Historical Collections of Essex Institute, II, p. 86. A Book of Records, 1767.


31 Report of Commission for Revolutionary Soldiers, pp. 100-108.


35 Vital Records of Danvers, I, p. 4.


" New England Ilistoric and Genealogical Register, VI, p. 249.


31 Ibid., VII, p. 86.


3 Historical Collections of Essex Institute, XLIII, p. 54.


8º Ibid., XLIV, p. 151.


" Ibid., XxIX, pp. 169-176.


" Vital Records of Gloucester, I, pp. 103, 137, 141, 172, 173, 224, 227, 231, 259, 392, 404, 451, 484, 619, 725, 734, 752.


42 Ibid., II, pp. 94, 120, 137, 144, 150, 151, 155, 156, 183, 187, 188, 210, 211,


212, 221, 292, 314, 317, 344, 356, 478.


43 Ibid., 1, p. 4.


" A Ilistory of the Irish Settlers in North America, pp. 34, 35.


45 Probate Record of Essex County, I, pp. 291, 292.


46 G. W. Chase, The History of Haverhill, pp. 286-302.


47 Ibid., pp. 311, 312.


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THE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY IRISH IN MASSACHUSETTS


4 Ibid., p. 468.


49 V'ital Records of Haverhill, I, p. 191.


50 Ibid., II, pp. 52, 80, 187, 188.


51 Ibid., II, p. 69.


52 Ibid., I, p. 4.


63 Morison, Builders of the Bay State, p. 271.


5 G. F. O'Dwyer, "Irish in Ipswich, 1630-1700," Catholic World, cxv, pp. 808, 809.


58


53 New England Historic and Genealogical Register, XXIII, pp. 417-423. Probate Records of Essex County, 1, p. 278.


57 Essex Court Files, VI, cxv, Probate Record of Essex County, III, p. 230. 59 T. Waters, Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, II, pp. 389, 390.


5º Ibid., I, p. 99.


60 Ibid., I, p. 398. C


61 Ibid., I, pp. 99-106.


Historical Collections of Essex Institute, XLV, pp. 214, 215.


03 l'ital Records of Ipswich, II, p. 19.


4 Historical Collections of Essex Institute, XIII, p. 343.


65 WV. Waters, Ilistory of Chelmsford, II, pp. 775-782.


66 Vital Records of Ipswich, I, p. 103; II, pp. 40, 488.


e7 Ibid., I, pp. 137, 260.


® Ibid., II, pp. 19, 40, 68, 69, 113, 120, 143, 144, 159, 248.


6º Ibid., II, pp. 556, 574.


7º Ibid., I, p. 4.


" Vital Records of Lynn, I, pp. 74, 185.


72 Ibid., II, pp. 54, 362, 432.


73 Ibid., II, pp. 106, 108, 217.


74 Ibid., I, p. 42.


T Ibid., II, pp. 76, 138.


16 Ibid., I, p. 4.


7 Vital Records of Manchester, pp. 26, 28, 42, 43, 67, 68, 74, 75, 97, 181, 280.


19 Ibid., p. 4.


10 Vital Records of Marblehead, I, pp. 104, 298, 451.


5º Ibid., II, p. 301.


81 Ibid., I, pp. 298, 329, 344, 355, 368, 428, 433, 467.


& Ibid., I, pp. 83, 298, 299, 301, 326, 360, 451.


13 Ibid., II, pp. 49, 51, 66, 69, 70, 96, 107, 145, 204, 208, 214, 242, 243, 288, 296.


Ibid., II, 145.


$5 Ibid., III, P. 69. 66 Ibid., II, p. 520. 87 Ibid., II, p. 527. & Ibid., I, p. 4.


89 Ibid., pp. 72, 73, 78, 79.


" Ibid., pp. 72, 78.


" Ibid., pp. 79, 211, 216, 225, 241.


!


95


NORTHEASTERN AND SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS


2 Ibid., p. 4.


23 Ilistorical Collections of Essex Institute, XXIX, pp. 169-176.


" Vital Records of Newbury, I, pp. 141, 255, 256, 349.


os Ibid., II, p. 225.


New England Historic and Genealogical Register, VIII, p. 257. Ibid., L, pp. 338-346. Ibid., xxxv, pp. 140, 141.


90 Vital Records of Newbury, I, pp. 124, 255, 256, 310, 376, 476, 499.


100 Ibid., II, pp. 72, 120, 173, 225, 235, 284, 310, 311, 313, 364, 450.


101 Ibid., II, pp. 630, 713.


102 Ilistorical Collections of Essex Institute, xxxv, pp. 133-138.


103 Ibid., xxxv, p. 144.


104 Vital Records of Newbury, II, p. 310.


106 Ibid., II, p. 311. 6


100 Ibid., II, p. 713.


107 Ibid., II, p. 559. 104 Ibid., I, p. 4.


l'ital Records of Newburyport, I, pp. 69, 253.


110 Ibid., II, p. 330.


111 Ibid., I, pp. 69, 90, 127, 173.


Ibid., II, pp. 79, 80, 107, 222, 301, 352, 484.


Ibid., II, pp. 593, 728, 808.


S. G. Coffin, A Sketch of the History of Newbury, p. 394. 11G Ibid., p. 292.


110 E. Smith, History of Newburyport, p. 47.


17 S. G. Coffin, op. cit., p. 372. Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography, IV, p. 469.


11* Historical Collections of Essex Institute, XLIV, pp. 87-89.


119 Vital Records of Newburyport, I, p. 3.


120 Vital Records of Rowley, p. 385. Historical Collections of Essex Insti- tute, XXIII, p. 150; vi, pp. 37, 38.


121 l'ital Records of Rowley, p. 332. Clemens, American Marriages Re- corded before 1699, p. 133. Historical Collections of Essex Institute, VI, pp. 37, 38.


122 Vital Records of Rowley, pp. 120, 274.


123 Historical Collections of Essex Institute, XIV, pp. 49-59 ; xv, pp. 94-109, 178-187.


124 Ibid., xxxIV, pp. 102, 246.


126 Vital Records of Rowley, p. 4.


Vital Records of Salem, I, p. 405; II, p. 33.


127 Ibid., I, pp. 70, 140, 189, 197, 242, 336, 393, 483 ; II, pp. 94, 261, 280, 347. 128 Ibid., II, p. 130; III, pp. 167, 181, 196, 225, 236, 237, 253, 263, 307, 357, 418, 494, 508; iv, 37, 38, 41, 51, 92, 96, 110, 139, 300; vI, 39, 47, 217.


12º S. Perley, The History of Salem, p. 98.


130 Probate Record of Essex County, I, p. 13. 131 Ibid., I, p. 15.


13 New England Historic and Genealogical Register, VIII, p. 77,


96


THE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY IRISHI IN MASSACHUSETTS


133 Ibid., vi, p. 152.


13' Probate Record of Essex County, III, pp. 310-312.


135 S. Perley, The History of Salem, II, pp. 362, 365, 367.


106 The Massachusetts Magasine, p. 221.


127 Historical Collections of Essex Institute, XLI, p. 381.


138 Ibid., XXXVI, p. 161.


'» Ibid., XLIII, p. 59.


140 New England Historic and Genealogical Register, XXVII, p. 299.


141 Ibid., XXVII, p. 299.


Historical Collections of Essex Institute, XLIV, pp. 328, 329.


113 Ibid., XLIII, p. 95. Boston Evening Post, January 19, 1756.


14 Ibid., XLIV, pp. 340, 341.


345 Ibid., XLVI, p. 188. Boston Evening Gazette, October 8, 1759. 14 Ibid., XXXII, p. 49. 147 Ibid., XXXIV, p. 27. "Text Books of Deacon Jas. Seccombe." Vital Records of Salem, VI, p. 217, give January 19 instead of January 16 as the death of Sheehan's death. The 16th seems to be the correct one as the ref- crence containing that date specifically states, as shown in the text, that January 16 was the date of execution and January 19 the date on which the death was recorded, namely, three days after the hanging.


148 Eighteenth Century Baptisms in Salem, p. 34.


14º J'ital Records of Salem, I, p. 4.


150 Vital Records of Salisbury, pp. 58, 59. New England Historic and Genealogical Register, VIII, p. 80.


151 Ibid., pp. 58, 59.


152 Ibid., pp. 356, 384, 387, 403.


163 Ibid., p. 4.


154 Vital Records of Topsfield, pp. 34, 108.


15 Historical Collections of Essex Institute, XXXIII, p. 196.


156 Op. cit., p. 33.


157 Ibid., p. 33.


15.8 Ibid., pp. 137, 210.


151 Ibid., p. 210.


160 Topsfield Town Records, II, p. 181.


161 Ibid., II, p. 200.


162 Ibid., II, p. 206.


163 Ibid., I, p. 282.


164 Ibid., II, p. 39.


365 Vital Records of Topsfield, p. 4.


168 Clemens, American Marriages before 1699, p. 228.


107 Historical Collections of Essex Institute, VI, pp. 47, 48.


10 Ibid., vi, pp. 47, 48.


10 Vital Records of Wenham, p. 15.


170 Ibid., pp. 9, 13, 15.


17 Ibid., p. 96.


172 Ibid., p. 4. .


97


NORTHEASTERN AND SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS


113 Vital Records of Abington, II, p. 104.


114 Ibid., I, p. 3.


113 Membership and Vital Records of Second Congregational Church of Attleboro, p. 3.


170 New England Historic and Genealogical Register, II, p. 194.


177 Ibid., VI, p. 186.


17 F. Freeman, The History of Cape Cod, II, p. 291.


170 Braintree Town Records, p. 754.


100 Vital Records of Bridgewater, I, pp. 80, 111, 112.


181 Vital Records of Brockton, pp. 129, 326.


182 J'ital Records of Bridgewater, 11, pp. 77, 131.


163 Early Massachusetts Marriages, Book II, p. 119.


Op. cit., II, p. 85.


B. Kingman, History of North Bridgewater, p. 532. C


1M Vital Records of Chilmark, pp. 16, 45, 64.


157 Ibid., p. 3.


1×8 Vital Records of Dartmouth, I, p. 158.


189 Ibid., II, pp. 184, 279, 280.


150 Ibid., I, p. 3.


191 Vital Records of Duxbury, pp. 229, 248.


102 Ibid., p. 3.


103 Vital Records of East Bridgewater, pp. 52, 80, 162, 187, 255.


194 F. Freeman, The History of Cape Cod, II, pp. 383, 391.


195 Vital Records of Edgartown, pp. 27, 42, 43.


100 Ibid., p. 233.


107 Ibid., p. 3.


1504 New England Historic and Genealogical Register, XX, pp. 221, 222.


1º. Early Massachusetts Marriages, Book HI, pp. 160, 163.


" A History of the Town of Hingham, III, pp. 332, 333.


201 Ibid., I, pp. 250, 251.


2: Ibid., I, p. 255.


200 J'ital Records of Kingstou, p. 141.


24 Death Records from Ancient Burial Ground at Kingston, p. 22. 205 Op. cit., pp. 195, 246.


*** Ibid., p. 384.


207 Ibid., p. 3.


208 C. Banks, The History of Martha's Vineyard, I, pp, 175, 176.


Ibid., p. 251.


210 Ibid., pp. 251, 252.


211 New England Historic and Genealogical Register, XLVIII, pp. 446, 447. Portions of the diary appear in XLVIII, pp. 447-453; XLIX, pp. 413-416; and L, pp. 155-166.


212 Banks, Op. cit., I, pp. 313, 315-317.


213 Vital Records of Nantucket. The first three names are in volume I, pp. 462, 463.


2" Ibid., all other names are in volume II, pp. 226-229, 259, 395.


98


THE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY IRISH IN MASSACHUSETTS


213 Ibid., III. 216 Ibid., the first five names are in volume II, pp. 112, 357, 372, 393, 436-438. 217 Ibid., the last six names are in volume Iv, pp. 116, 223, 302, 367.


218 Ibid., v, 255, 464, 496.


219 Ibid., I, p. 3.


220 Vital Records of Norton, pp. 263, 277.


221 Ibid., p. 3.


222 Vital Records of Pembroke, pp. 268, 287.


20 Ibid., p. 3.


2 W. Davis, History of the Town of Plymouth, pp. 159, 160.


225 Vital Records of Plympton, p. 3.


28 Ibid., pp. 293, 338.


2.7 F. Freeman, The History of Cape Cod, II, p. 634.


L. Bliss, The History of Rehoboth, p. 59. 22º Ibid., p. 67.


230 Vital Records of Rochester, I, p. 3.


231 Ibid., II, p. 229. Early Massachusetts Marriages, Book III, p. 152. 22 F. Freeman, The History of Cape Cod, II, pp. 60, 61, 69.


283 Vital Records of Scituate, I, pp. 64, 137, 210, 261, 268, 269. 23 Early Massachusetts Marriages, Book II, p. 173.


235 Op. cit., II, p. 121. S. Deane, History of Scituate, p. 268. Ibid., II, pp. 198, 212.


237 S. Deane, History of Scituate, p. 155.


E. Picree, Civil, Military and Professional Lists, p. 59.


239 Op. cit., p. 276.


210 Ibid., p. 314. Sce 233 (Footnote).


211 J'ital Records of Scituate, I, p. 3.


212 Vital Records of Taunton, I, p. 3.


213 Ibid., I, p. 163.


241 Ibid., I, p. 76; II, p. 329.


215 Ibid., III, p. 235. Ibid., III, p. 46. 247 Vital Records of Tisbury, pp. 127, 146, 166, 232. Ibid., p. 3.


200 Vital Records of West Bridgewater, pp. 48, 188. Vital Records of Weymouth, I, p. 81.


"51 F. Freeman, The History of Cape Cod, 1I, pp. 194, 195. """ C. Swift, Ilistory of Old Yarmouth, p. 142. 263 Ibid., p. 143.


CHAPTER III


CENTRAL AND WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS


1. CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS


The survey of the Irish population of central Massachusetts will be made according to the same plan as that followed in the surveys already made of the northeastern and southeastern sec- tions, the towns being taken up in alphabetical order. Central Massachusetts will be found to have the strongest Irish element in the entire colony outside of Boston itself.


Acton, the first town in the group to be taken up, had at least four Irish representatives, Peter and Mary McMurfy, parents of Peter, born on May 25, 1739, and Timothy Farly, who married a probable fifth Irish representative in 1764.1 In 1765 Acton had a population of six hundred and eleven2 including five Irish resi- dents, a percentage of .008. In Arlington a Michael Geohagen was married May 10, 1744, an unidentified "Woman from Boston died at Mr. Barys" on April 11, 1764, and on April 2, 1765 died Eliza- beth Barry, a widow of seventy years, making three Irish persons in the town before 1774.3 Prior to 1807 Arlington was a part of Cambridge ; hence the population of Arlington in 1765 and the proportion of the Irish group to the whole are not known. There were two Irish families in Bellingham before 1775, the Burchs, whose members with dates of births were Abigail (1728), Hannah (1723), Jeremiah (1719), Mary (1720) and Sarah (1721) ; and the Killey family, comprising Amos (1766), Hannah (1768), Nathan (1769) and Silva (1768).4 Out of a total population of four hundred and sixty-eight5 in 1765 Bellingham had five Irish persons, a percentage of .01.


Brookfield is the first town of the group to show a fairly large number of Irish residents. Before 1775 the birth records reveal the following members of the Burk family : Abigall (1727), Isaiah (1740), Jesse (1738), Jonathan (1733), Kezia (1732), Mary (1729), Silas (1744), Simeon (1736), and Solomon (1742). Other births included those of Mary (1767) and William Dehanghely


w w.


100 THIE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY IRISH IN MASSACHUSETTS


(1767), Charles, Eleaser, Sarah and Hannah Deharty (all bap- tized in 1762), Mary (1767) and William Doughorty (1765).6 In the marriage registry are found the names of Mary Burck (1744),7 Mary Cunningham (1759),7 John Burk, who was mar- ried to Rachael Haire in January 1775,8 James Cunningham and Mary Tuff, joined in wedlock in 1768, Jenne Dorety (1767),9 Micah Dougherty (1771),1º Daniel Shay (1772), and James Shay (1768).11 Brookfield in 1765 had twenty-four Irish residents out of a population of 1,811,12 a percentage of .013.


In the town of Brookline there were five Irish persons by 1774, John McFeden, son of John, who was born in 1740, Mary Farley, who was married in 1734, and Henry Cunningham, son of William, who was born in 1774.13 By 1765 there were three Irish inhabi- tants out of a total population of three hundred and thirty-eight,14 a percentage of .008. Cambridge had only four known Irish in- habitants before the Revolution, David and Susanna Logan, the parents of John, who was born in 1745, and Ruth Maddocks, who was born in 1743.15 Out of a total population of 1,57116 in 1765 the Irish element amounted to .002. There is a special difficulty in dealing with this case arising from the fact that out of 25,923 births recorded in Cambridge before 1850, 3,456 had only the first name given, the percentage of unknown persons reaching .133 of the total number of births.17


John Coggin, who was probably a member of the Boston Cog- ans, appears in the records of Charleston on December 22, 1664 when he was married to Mary Long.18 Charlton had one Irish representative before 1775 in Robert Kelley who was married in 1759.19 In Chelmsford were the following Irish persons : William Farley, who was born in 1761, the son of Timothy and Mary Far- ley, Davis Welch, who was married in 1750,-Farley, who died in 1758 and Henry Heily, a "stranger," whose death occurred in 1771.20 Chelmsford had in 1765 a population of 1,01221 includ- ing five Irish inhabitants, a percentage of .004. Chelsea, too, had five Irish residents before 1775, namely, Abraham Maccurdins ( from Ireland), who was born in 1727, John Cochran, who was married to Mary Humphrey in 1765, and Paul Riley married to Lucey Holland in 1754.22 With a population of four hundred and sixty-two in 1765 Chelsea had five Irish inhabitants, a percentage of .01.23 Even before 1700 Concord was the residence of two


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Irish women, Mary Haes and Mary Tooll, who were married in 1668 and in 1663, respectively.24 In 1712 John Rely, the son of John and Jane, died. Abigail Burk and Thomas McGee were married to non-Irish parties in 1744 and 1741, respectively.25 Hugh Cargill was the most prominent Irish settler in the town. An in- scription on the slab over Cargill's grave reads :




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