USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The story of the Irish in Boston, together with biographical sketches of representative men and noted women > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
192
THE IRISH IN BOSTON.
The threatening war impelled the devoted wife to go to her hus- band, as she knew art could not flourish here during the struggle, and she desired that the development of his genius might not be retarded. Her father was a Tory, and went to England; that, too, induced her to leave America and join her husband. Copley's letters to his mother show him to have been in sympathy with the cause of the American colonists, and a strong defender of colonial rights.
He then predicted the triumph of the colonists. Copley took up his residence in London after having left the continent, and made his home there with his wife and children, who had arrived shortly before. His brilliant career now began to shine forth as a painter of portraits and historical subjects. He was among the first artists of that day. His works include "A Boy rescued from a Shark in the Harbor of Havana," - a most thrilling and life-like effort, which has been engraved in mezzotint by Val. Green; " The Red Cross Knight," from Spencer's " Fairy Queen ; "" A Family Picture," representing his own family, including his father-in-law, Mr. Clarke, - an excellent work, and said by connoisseurs to equal Van Dyke's best; "The Western Family;" "The Three Princesses," daughters of George III .; " The Death of Lord Chatham," engraved by Bartolozzi, and which increased the fame of Copley by its realistic impressiveness and power; " The Siege of Gibraltar," painted for the city of London, in 1790, and hanging in the Council Chamber of Guild Hall (Copley had the honors of an academician conferred on him during the same year) ; "Charles I. demanding the Impeached Members; " " The Death of Major Pierson," which the Duke of Wellington pronounced to be the only battle-piece which faithfully depicted the scene, or that was entirely satisfactory to him; " Abraham's Sacrifice ; " " Hagar and Ishmael; " "Saul reproved by Samuel; " " The Nativity ; " "The Tribute Money; " "Samuel and Eli; " " Monmouth refusing to give the Names of his Accomplices to James II. ; " " The ' Offer' of the Crown to Lady Jane Grey; " besides innumerable others in portraiture, etc.
It was Copley's heartfelt wish to return to America, and again establish his home on Beacon Hill; but his property had been alien-
193
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
ated by his Boston agent, and Copley was unable to secure pos- session. His son, who became Lord Lyndhurst, came expressly to Boston to recover his father's property, but failed. This son became a famous lawyer, and afterward Lord Chancellor, and was elevated to the peerage. Copley died in London, Sept. 9, 1815, aged seventy- eight years.
LORD JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY LYNDHURST.
He was a distinguished jurist and legislator of Great Britain, and a son of Copley, the Irish-American painter. He was born in Boston, Mass., May 21, 1772. He and his mother went to England in 1774, and joined his father, who was there practising his profession. John Singleton Copley Lyndhurst graduated from Cambridge in 1794, and became a Fellow at Trinity College. He came to America to recover the paternal estate which had been hypothe- cated by an agent, but failed; for that reason the family remained in England. Our subject was called to the bar in 1802, and won distinction.
He was a sergeant-at-law in 1813, and Chief Justice of Chester in 1817. He entered Parliament as a Tory in 1818, and was knighted and made Solicitor-General in 1819; was counsel of George IV. in the trial of Queen Catherine, 1820, and became Attorney-General in 1823; represented Cambridge in Parliament in 1826, and was made Master of the Rolls. In 1827 he was appointed Lord Chancellor, and raised to the Peerage as Baron Lyndhurst; was Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1830, and High Steward of Cambridge University in 1840. He died in London, October 12, 1863. He was a bigot; he opposed Catholic emancipation, was an ultra Tory, and the son of a patriot.
CHARLES JACKSON.
Charles Jackson, an able and distinguished American jurist, was the son of Jonathan Jackson, a prominent and popular merchant who
194
THE IRISH IN BOSTON.
had emigrated with his parents from Ireland, and settled in Newbury- port, Mass., where Charles was born, May 31, 1775 ; died in Boston, December 13, 1855. He graduated from Harvard College in 1793, and entered the law-office of Theophilus Parsons, where he remained for three years. He then established an office, in which he acquired a lucrative practice and an enviable reputation. He removed to "Boston in 1803, and immediately became one of the foremost law- yers of the bar.
He then formed a partnership with Judge Samuel Hubbard, and their business was said to have been the most profitable and success- ful in New England up to that day. He was chosen a judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, which office he held for ten years, and then resigned on account of poor health. In 1820 he was a leading member of the convention which amended the State Consti- tution, and in 1832 was one of the commissioners to revise the General Statutes of the State. He published a treatise on " Pleadings and Practice in Real Actions," and contributed many valuable papers to American jurisprudence.
JAMES JACKSON.
James Jackson, an eminent American physician, was a younger brother of Judge Charles Jackson; he was born in Newburyport, October 3, 1777, and studied at Harvard College, where he graduated in 1796, and afterwards entered the office of Dr. Holyoke, of Salem, Mass., where he studied for two years. He went to London in 1802, and accepted the position of dresser in St. Thomas's Hospital, and attended the lectures at that place, and also those given at Guy's Hospital. He was abroad two years, returned to Boston and prac- tised his profession.
He was chosen Professor of Clinical Medicine at Harvard College, and about this time he and Dr. Warren were principals in establishing an asylum for the insane at Somerville, Mass., and the Massachusetts General Hospital at Boston, of which he was the first
1
195
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
physician. He was made Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine at Harvard in 1812, and was for several years President of the Massachusetts Medical Society. He wrote numerous medical works and papers; among them, "The Brunonian System; " " On the Medical Effects of Dentition," 1812; " On Cow-pox and Small- pox; " "On Spotted Fever," 1816; " On Spasmodic Cholera; " "Syllabus of Lectures ; " " Text-Book of Lectures," 1825 ; "Letters to a Young Physician," 1855, etc .; besides a eulogy on Dr. John C. Warren, 1815, and " A memoir of his son, James Jackson, Jr.," 1825. Dr. Jackson resigned his professorship and other positions in 1835, and attended to his private practice solely. He died in Boston, Aug. 27, 1867, at a good old age, honored, respected, and lamented.
PATRICK TRACY JACKSON.
Patrick Tracy Jackson was an eminent American merchant, the third son of Jonathan Jackson, a younger brother of Judge Charles and Dr. James Jackson. He was born in Newburyport, Mass., Aug. 14, 1780. His education was practical, and he en- tered the business house of William Bartlett, Newburyport, at fifteen years of age. He remained several years with Mr. Bartlett, and came to Boston, where he established himself in the India trade, and was successful in acquiring a large interest. He en- gaged with his brother-in-law, Francis C. Lowell, in the project of establishing cotton-mills and of introducing the power-loom. Lowell had been in England, examining and investigating as much as possible, but failed to solve the secret process and the technique of the machine, which were not divulged to him.
-
Jackson and himself then invented a model, from which Paul Moody constructed a machine; and in 1813 they built their first mill at Waltham, near Boston, which is said to have been the first in the world that combined all the operations of converting raw cotton into finished cloth. In 1821 Jackson organized the Merrimac Manufacturing Company, and made large land purchases on the Merrimac River, adjoining the Pawtucket Canal, where a number
196
THE IRISH IN BOSTON.
of mills were erected. This settlement generated the busy city of Lowell. A few years later he formed another company, who built a number of mills, and in 1830 he secured a charter for a railroad between Lowell and Boston. The construction of the road, which was completed in 1835, was under his superintendence and direc- tion, and it was pronounced to be the most perfect of its kind then in this country. His interests were extensive and of great value, but the financial crisis of 1837 swept away his magnificent fortune in a few months. His services were eagerly sought, how- ever, and he was the custodian of many important trusts connected with great and valuable manufacturing interests. He was, mentally, a broad-gauged, long-ranged man, possessing the generosity of his race, and bearing the love of his employees, for whose moral and intellectual improvement he was ever solicitous. He died Aug. 27, 1867, amid great sorrow.
JAMES KAVANAGH.
James Kavanagh was a native of the County of Wexford, Ireland, and immigrated to Boston in 1780. His stay in this city was of but short duration, but sufficiently long to distinguish him as a man of superior business attainments and excellent executive ability. He settled in Damariscotta Mills, Me., engaged exten- sively in the lumber business in that place, and built several vessels there. He was the father of Edward Kavanagh, the statesman, who was born in New Castle, Me., April 27, 1795, and whose death occurred Jan. 21, 1844.
Edward was educated in Georgetown, D.C., and graduated in Montreal Seminary in 1820. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began to practise in Damariscotta, Me. He was a member of the Maine Legislature in 1826-8, and again in 1842-3. He was secretary of the State Senate in 1830, and later, for a short time, its president. He was elected to Congress as a Jackson Demo- crat, serving from 1831 till 1835, and then became charge d'affaires in Portugal, where he remained till 1842. He was afterwards a
197
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
member of the commission to settle the north-eastern boundary of Maine. In 1842-3 served as acting governor of Maine on the election of Gov. John Fairfield to the United States Senate.
WILLIAM DOUGLAS O'CONNOR.
This talented American writer was born in Boston, of Irish parents, 1833. He had artistic talent, and adopted painting as a profession, but drifted into literary habits, and became assistant editor of the Boston "Commonwealth," 1853, and, later, of the Philadelphia " Evening Post," from 1854 to '60. He was connected with the Lighthouse Department in Washington in 1861, and Libra- rian of the Treasury Department in 1871. He contributed largely to the popular literature of the day, in poems, tales, etc., for magazines : and is the author of "Harrington," a romance, the " Ghost," and "The Good Gray Poet," a vindication of Walt Whitman.
JEREMIAH SMITH BOIES.
Jeremiah was the son of Capt. James Boies. His useful life corresponded with that of his father's eminently well. Jeremiah Smith Boies was honored and respected by the citizens of Milton and Boston for his many manly qualities. Born in Milton in 1762, where he married a Miss Clark, he was early identified with the industrial progress and development of the town. In 1783 he was graduated from Harvard, and then engaged in manufactures at Dorchester.
In 1765 he built a dam where the starch factory is now located, and constructed a chocolate, corn, and paper mill, engaging the services of Mark Hollingsworth, a young man from New Jersey, as foreman of the latter. Mark Hollingsworth and Edmund Tileston had been in the paper business at Needham, and they received from Mr. Boies a transfer of his business in 1801. His father had bequeathed to him the paper-mill in Milton, and he made many improvements there. The mansion on Mattapan street, now owned by the heirs of the Hon. Arthur W. Austin, was erected by Mr. Boies.
198
THE IRISH IN BOSTON.
In public life he was not less active than in mercantile and com- mercial. He was a trustee of Milton Academy in 1798, the date of its establishment, and was treasurer of the board of trustees for several years. His active interest and useful services in all educational and religious affairs, during his residence in Milton, were liberally devoted to the welfare of the people. Mr. Boies removed to Boston, and served on the Board of Aldermen in 1827. He died in this city in 1851.
CORNELIUS CONWAY FELTON.
Cornelius Conway Felton, a distinguished and learned Irish- American scholar and writer, was born in Newbury, Mass., of Irish parents, Nov. 6, 1807. He graduated at Harvard College with distinction in 1827. He supported himself while there by teaching, and was one of the conductors of the " Harvard Register" in his Senior year. After graduating, he taught for two years in Geneseo, New York, and in 1829 was appointed Assistant Professor of Latin at Harvard, and in 1832, Professor of Greek. He was honored by elevation to the Eliot Professorship of Greek Literature, and was made one of the regents of the College in 1834.
At that time he published an edition of Homer, which has passed through several revised editions, and, in 1840, a translation of Menzel's work on German literature. In 1841 he published "Clouds of Aristophanes." He also assisted in preparing a work on classical studies, and in 1844 assisted Longfellow in "Poets and Poetry of Europe." He was closely identified and intimately associated with the men of learning in Boston and vicinity ; his writings were held in high esteem by the citizens of this city, and they helped to shape public thought to a high degree.
ANDREW DUNLAP.
Andrew Dunlap was born in 1794, and was the only son of James Dunlap, an Irish merchant of Salem. From his earliest childhood his ability was recognized and a brilliant future predicted
199
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
for him. In 1820 he moved to Boston, where his effective eloquence made him a favorite criminal-pleader. He was warmly attached to the Democratic party, and earnestly advocated the election of Andrew Jackson, to whose policy he remained devoted to the end of his life. He delivered orations in Boston on Independence Day, in 1822 and 1832 ; served as United States District Attorney from 1829 to 1835, when his resignation drew affectionate tributes of esteem and regret from Joseph Story and Judge Davis. He died a few months afterward. His " Treatise on the Practice of Courts of Admiralty in Civil Cases of Maritime Jurisdiction " was posthumously published, under the editorship of Charles Sumner.
JAMES BOYD.
The sterling integrity which characterized James Boyd, and formed the basis of his honorable, useful public and private life, pre- sents a lesson worthy of imitation. Born at Newtownards, Ireland, Nov. 11, 1793, of Hugh Boyd and Mary, nee Patten. James, during his infancy, was cared for by his grandparents, James and Sarah Patten, of Cunningbrom. He married Margaret Curry, of Cainey Caw, Ireland, July 4, 1815; he died at Boston, Mass., Oct. 10, 1855. Margaret Curry was born in Ireland, Feb. 15, 1794; she died in Hyde Park, Mass., July 26, 1874.
Her father's name was Francis Curry, a farmer, of Cainey Caw, Parish Rahalp, County Down, Ireland, whose wife was Margaret Cavan; his mother was a Dunbar; hers, a Litton. Francis was a man of exemplary character and untiring industry. He died in 1852, in the one hundred and second year of his age. His wife died at the age of seventy. James' family consisted of twelve children, all born at Boston (except Colonel Francis, who was born at Newtownards, Ireland). James Boyd, though brought up in the tenets of the Scotch Presbyterian Church belief, joined the Unitarian faith of Channing, in which faith he died. In 1819 he joined the old Hollis-street Church, of which Dr. John Pierpont was then the pastor. The contemporaries of Boyd's manhood have cherished his
200
THE IRISH IN BOSTON.
memory, and his Catholic countrymen respected him for his broad and liberal mindedness.
In the mid-summer of the year 1817 the Boyd family, consist- ing of James Boyd, his wife, and infant child, Francis, came from Ireland, and landed on Moose Island, in Passamaquoddy Bay, where they stayed for twenty-two days. On the fifth day of August, 1817, they took passage for Boston, Mass. They arrived here on the twelfth day of the same month, and on the following day James Boyd was at work for Arthur Noon, a chaise-trimmer from London, England, whose shop was located at 32 Orange street; James received from him six dollars per week for his services. In February, 1819, he was em- ployed by William Reed, a chaise-trimmer on Marlborough street (now Washington street), near the Old South Church.
On May 6, 1819, James commenced business, with a capital of fifty dollars, at 32 Orange street, the name then applied to that part of Washington street between Boylston and Dover streets. There he manufactured harnesses and trunks; later he engaged in the manu- facture of leather hose for fire-engines, which was made of a single thickness of leather and waxed thread, and hand-sewed together.
About 1820 he made an important improvement on the old process, a patent for which he applied, and it was granted to him on May 30, 1821. This was the first patent issued from the United. States for fire-hose. It was quickly followed by another improve- ment, which substituted copper rivets for waxed thread. Mr. Boyd was the first manufacturer in New England to adopt this method of making fire-hose. It acquired a high reputation, and was known as Boyd's double-riveted fire-engine hose, and superseded the other. He manufactured fire-buckets, firemen's caps, and general leather supplies for the fire department.
Public attention was soon attracted to the excellence of his mate- rials and workmanship, and he became the leading manufacturer of these goods.
Larger accommodations, with increased facilities for his ex- tensively developed business, were necessary; he removed to the west corner of Merchants' row and Faneuil Hall square; thence,
201
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
in 1826, to a newly erected building on the opposite corner of Merchants' row. This was occupied on lease by himself and by the firm of James Boyd & Sons. It was afterwards purchased by Mr. James Boyd, subsequently sold to the Faneuil Hall Bank. The location of the business was changed in 1874 to No. 9 Federal street. For many years they were engaged in making military equipments, under contract with the United States Ordnance Department. For this branch he obtained a patent, Nov. 19, 1833, for a folio-extension knapsack. He became a member of the volunteer fire department of Boston, which was largely composed of young men engaged in pro- fessional, mechanical, and mercantile pursuits, and he soon rose to a commanding position.
At the Beacon-street fire - one of the memorable conflagrations of Boston - he was the second foreman of Hero No. 6, and later the foreman of Brooks No. II, a company noted for its efficiency, located on Franklin street, near the centre of the mercantile section of the city. He first suggested the organization of the Charitable As- sociation of the Boston Fire Department, drew up its constitution and by-laws, which were adopted, with slight modifications of two articles.
He was the president of the board of trustees of the asso- ciation, and on his retirement from office, in 1829, resolutions were passed by the members of the association expressing their high appreciation of his services. This was the first association ever organized in this country for the relief of firemen suffering injury received while in the discharge of their duties; it was the model for its successors in New York and elsewhere.
In 1835 Mr. Boyd was elected to the Massachusetts Legisla- ture. One of the most important bills considered at the session was the one for the suppression of riots, suggested by the burning and destruction of the Ursuline Convent, at Charlestown, Mass., by a mob, in 1834. Mr. Boyd proposed an amendment to this bill, the adoption of which he urged by a stirring speech. It attracted much attention, and was published verbatim et literatim in the " Columbian Sentinel," then a leading political journal. Subsequently the princi- ples enunciated therein were accepted as equitable.
202
THE IRISH IN BOSTON.
On the 17th of March, 1837, he delivered an oration at the Masonic Temple before the Charitable Irish Society. It was a product of love for his native land, a loyal utterance of gratitude, no less patriotic, true, and hearty, for his adopted country. He denounced strongly the principles of that snake-like political move- ment of the Native-American party, so sudden in its inception, and more rapid and complete in failure. His able article - which ap- pealed to the "sober second thought " of the people-in the Boston " Atlas," the organ of the local Whig party, reviewed the message of Governor Gardner, and was editorially quoted as " able, well put, intelligent, and suggestive." Its sentiments were such as are now accepted by fair-minded men as to the rights and relations of our adopted fellow-citizens.
In 1838 Mr. Boyd established a branch house in New Orleans. His second son, James Patten, who had served him for five years as clerk, entered into partnership with him, and managed the New Orleans house until, at his death, May 30, 1843, the branch was discontinued.
In April, 1843, Mr. Boyd visited Indiana, to inspect the cannel- coal mines, of Cannelton. He bought an interest in the American Cannel Company.
His son Frederick went out first as clerk, afterwards as partner with his father, and became manager, a position which he occupied until about 1860. Mr. Boyd continued to cooperate with the company in mining and cotton manufacturing at Cannelton until 1852. He visited the town frequently, encouraged the enterprises of the popu- lation, and raised funds for the erection of its churches and schools.
He retired from active business about 1852; his wife survived him nearly nineteen years. Both are buried in Mt. Auburn Ceme- tery, of which Mr. Boyd was one of the original incorporators. According to the Mt. Auburn register of interments, on the 6th of July, 1832, an infant child of James Boyd was buried in Lot 182, Mountain avenue. It was the first burial made in the cemetery. Of their family of eleven children but three are living.
Francis, born May 2, 1816, was educated in the Boston Grammar-
203
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
schools and at the English High School, from which he graduated in 1831; he received his mercantile training in the office of Josiah Bradlee & Co., one of the old merchant firms of Boston. In 1840 Francis established the commission and shipping house of Boyd & Frothingham. Frederick, born April 29, 1824, has been referred to. John Curry, born April 25, 1820, succeeded his father as senior mem- ber of the firm. He, with Alexander, born Feb. 13, 1830, composed the firm known as James Boyd & Sons. John Curry died May 12, 1862. Alexander succeeded him, and he formed a co-partnership with Michael J. Ward, who had been employed in the store as clerk from boyhood.
On Aug. 30, 1859, John Curry obtained a patent for his inven- tion of copper-riveted fire-engine hose, made of a heavy woven fabric of cotton with India-rubber or other water-proof material.
Not a note or claim against the house of James Boyd or James Boyd & Sons was ever dishonored during its existence of nearly sixty years.
Three other of the children died when quite young. Those who reached maturity are James Patten, born May 16, 1818. William, born Dec. 3, 1822, learned the saddlery and harness trade, became a partner with his father; died Sept. 19, 1847. Margaret Curry, born Sept. 8, 1826, married Edward Wyman, of Boston; she died on March 22, 1854. Jane Louisa, born Sept. 1, 1833, died on Oct. 14, 1857.
James Boyd wrote much and delivered many public speeches.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
OF
REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF OUR OWN TIMES.
SKETCHES OF REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF OUR OWN TIMES.
JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY.
" I hate his Irish Nationalism, but I love his character and his poetry. He is your foremost man in America." This is a scholarly Anglo-American's estimate of John Boyle O'Reilly, the brilliant Irish patriot, poet, journalist, and orator. Thus regarded by a repre- sentative political opponent, who shall estimate his place in the hearts of that great constituency, coextensive not alone with America, but with the English speech, who love as life itself the cause he so worthily stands for?
John Boyle O'Reilly was born at Dowth Castle, County Meath, Ireland, on June 28, 1844. His father, William David O'Reilly, was master of the Netterville Institution, and was a fine scholar with a strong mathematical bent. His mother, Eliza Boyle, was nearly related to Col. John Allen, a famous name among the Irish rebels of '98. He commanded a company in the French legion in the siege of Astorga, and risked his life to plant the French flag on the ramparts. The fine literary taste of this gifted mother became talent, nay, genius, in the son. Her passionate patriotism was reproduced in him intensified. Some of John Boyle O'Reilly's sweetest poems are of his much-loved and unforgotten mother, who suffered with his dangers and sorrows, but was not spared to enjoy his triumphs. She died while he was in prison; and shall we err in believing that anxiety for her favorite son, the successive shocks of his arrest, trial, and death-sentence, had a share in bringing her to a premature grave?
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.