USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The story of the Irish in Boston, together with biographical sketches of representative men and noted women > Part 21
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O'Dwyer, died a marshal in Russia; another, John O'Dwyer, was made hereditary Count of the Austrian Empire for saving the life of the Emperor Joseph in action ; and the present count, Jean Haudois (O'Dwyer), commanded part of the advance of the French cavalry at the battle of Solferino.
Dr. Joyce received his rudimentary education at the ordinary country English and classical school near his father's home. He was sent to Dublin to complete his studies, and afterwards studied medicine at the Queen's University, where he received his degree, and was then appointed Professor of English Literature in the Pre- paratory College of the Catholic University, Dublin. He practised his profession for several years in Dublin with success, and in 1866 came to America and located in Boston.
Early in life he displayed rare poetic ability, and later his bril- liant historical and legendary ballads appeared in some of the best Irish magazines and newspapers. He was a leading contributor to " The Harp," a Cork magazine, under the nom de plume of "Fear- dana," and also to the "Dublin Hibernian Magazine " and the "National Monthly." He was the author of "The Blacksmith of Limerick," " Ballads, Romances, and Songs," and other literary pro- ductions. He was a Celt in disposition and spirit, and in his writings, from the inception of Fenianism to its close, he exerted an inspiring influence in favor of resistance against the English government.
In 1862 he wrote a number of miscellaneous poems and stories for the " Weekly Illustrated Journal," of Dublin, and later a serial entitled " The Squire of Castleton," for the Dublin "Irishman." In 1865 he became a regular contributor to the Dublin " Irish People," under the signature of " Merelon," and his busy pen for a time directed the thoughts that animated the loyal minds for the cause of national freedom and Irish liberty. In Boston he secured quite an extensive practice as a physician, and was phenomenally successful from the start. In 1872 his poems were published in book form, complete to that year, known as " Ballads of Irish Chivalry, Songs, and Poems," and the Irish and American press eulogized the volume with one accord.
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His "Deirdre" and "Blanid," two beautiful epics, won him considerable literary fame in this country. People wondered how a busy physician could find time to produce these two exhaustive poems, in addition to his many other duties. Indeed, it was remark- able then, as it is indicative of his genius now. He has left us an Irish epic, based on the traditions and glory of the Irish race, and the only land of which he could sing.
" Though many a field I've searched of foreign lore, And found great themes for song, yet ne'er would I Seek Greece, or Araby, or Persia's shore For heroes and the deeds of days gone by; To my own native land my heart would fly, Howe'er my fancy wandered, and I gave My thoughts to her, and to the heroes high 4
She nursed in ages gone, and strove to save
Some memory of their deeds from dark oblivion's wave."
PATRICK R. GUINEY.
General Patrick R. Guiney, lawyer, soldier, and patriot, was born in Parkstown, Tipperary, Ireland, Jan. 15, 1835, died in Boston, March 21, 1877. He was brought to the United States by his parents in 1842, and for a while located in Portland, Me., where he attended the public schools, and later Holy Cross College, Worcester, Mass. He came to Boston in 1855, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1856. In 1859 he was married in this city. At the beginning of the late Civil War he enlisted as private, in April, 1861; he was promoted to a Captaincy, June 11, 1861, and went as such to the field ; he helped largely in organizing the Ninth Massachusetts Volun- teers ; he was commissioned Major, Oct. 24, 1862 ; Lieutenant-Colonel, July 28, 1862 ; complimented in special orders for bravery at Gaines' Mills, June 27, 1862 ; promoted to Colonel for service in the field, July 26, 1863 ; commanded the Second Brigade, First Division, Fifth Corps, most of the following year; he lost his left eye by a terrible wound in the forehead, at the battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864; mustered out with the regiment; promoted Brevet Brigadier-General,
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THE IRISH IN BOSTON.
March 13, 1865. He was Assistant District Attorney for Suffolk County from 1866 to 1870, and held the position of Register of Probate and Insolvency from 1869 until his death, in 1877, which was caused by disease incurred by his head-wound in the war. He was Major-General Commander of the Veteran Military League, and a member of the Loyal Legion. The esteem and regard which his fellow-citizens had for him is aptly described by his friend and asso- ciate, Dr. John G. Blake, in the following lines, and by the poem by his excellent wife : -
"In the long list of names that deserve commemoration for the honor done their native land, none justly stands higher than that of Patrick R. Guiney. A brave, fearless, and successful soldier, who carried through his broken life, with a smiling face, the shattered constitution resulting from wounds received in the service of his adopted country ; a pure, able, and honest public official, and an estimable private citizen, he combined all the qualities that the most exacting friendship could ask for. Life to him meant earnest, soul- felt endeavor. Chivalrous, pure-minded, the personification of in- tegrity, it used to be said of him that he stood so straight that he bent backward.
" A man whose deep religious feeling permeated his life; free from narrowness, and broadly catholic, he was a true and loyal son of Mother Church in the highest and fullest sense. In private life a devoted husband, a loving father, a fast friend, and delightful com- panion, his memory will live in the hearts of those who knew him best while life endures.
"So much of heroism blended with his character, and is so well expressed in this little poem, that it seems appropriate to append it."
This touching poetical tribute to General Guiney is fresh from the pen of our Boston poet, Mrs. Mary E. Blake : -
" Large heart and brave! tried soul and true! How thickly in thy life's short span
All strong, sweet virtues throve and grew As friend, as hero, and as man.
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Unmoved by thought of blame or praise, Unbought by gifts of power or pride, Thy feet still trod Time's devious ways, With Duty as thy law and guide.
" God breaks no mould so nobly rare As shrined of old heroic men.
In lives like thine, as pure as fair, Earth's golden knighthood breathes again Amid a world of sordid greed, Of paltry aims, of perjured trust ;
With soul as stainless as thy creed, We know thee strong, and pure, and just.
" And still shall know, O friend beloved ! Thy spirit holds no place with death ;
Our eyes are dim, our hearts are moved, But thou hast felt His kindly breath. So short, so swift thy pang of birth Ere dawned the heaven you longed to see,
We bear the pain, who wait on earth, But all the glory fell to thee !"
Maj. Daniel G. McNamara, a staff-officer and a life-long friend of General Guiney, gives the following reminiscences : -
"Nothing redounds more to a soldier's credit for gallant and meritorious conduct on the battlefield than the commendation of his superior officer. Gen. Fitz-John Porter, commander of the Fifth Corps, Army of the Potomac, to which the Ninth Regiment belonged, recommended, in special orders, Colonel Guiney for brevet commis- sion for gallant services at the battle of Gaines's Mills, and in his graphic account of that battle, published in the ' Century' magazine of June, 1885, thus speaks of the Ninth Regiment while under fire : ' At Gaines's Mills Cass's gallant Ninth Massachusetts Volunteers (General Guiney was then lieutenant-colonel of the regiment), of Griffin's brigade, obstinately resisted A. P. Hill's crossing, and were so successful in delaying his advance after crossing as to com- pel him to employ large bodies to force the regiment back to the main line. This brought on a contest which extended to Morell's centre, and over Martin's front, on his right, and lasted from 12.30
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to near 2 o'clock, Cass and his immediate supports falling back south of the swamps. This persistent and prolonged resistance gave to this battle one of its well-known names, i.e., Gaines's Mills.'
" After passing through the campaigns of nearly two years more, memory brings us vividly to the battle of the 'Wilderness,' May 5, 1864, under General Grant. Again the Ninth Regiment suffered terribly in killed and wounded. It was on that day that General Guiney fell at the head of his regiment with that terrible wound through his eye. The cruel bullet crushed through the eye down into his head. Nothing but his splendid physique and strong vitality saved his life. The doctors declared he could not survive ; that the wound was of so terrible a nature that it was only a ques- tion of time, and rather than attempt an operation it was in their judg- ment better to let him die without unnecessary pain. Not so with the general; although wounded nigh unto death, he still retained within his bosom all his native courage and indomitable pluck. Call- ing to his side, as he lay on the floor of the temporary hospital near the battlefield, Father Egan, chaplain of the Ninth, he said: 'Father, if you will find a surgeon on this field who will undertake to remove this bullet I will get better, for the longer it remains as it is the worse for me.' Father Egan, with his accustomed kindness, promptly secured the attendance of several surgeons from the hospital quarters. One among them agreed to undertake the operation, and in a com- paratively short time, in the presence of the other doctors, extracted the bullet, which proved to be a fifty-nine calibre rifle ball. Under all his sufferings the general was patient, never complaining of his rude surroundings and poor accommodations. In the course of a few days he reached Washington, where his loving wife awaited him to nurse and attend him on his painful journey home. After weeks of suffering, and when only partially recovered, he met his regiment at the depot in Boston on its return home for muster out, and rode at its head on its march to Faneuil Hall. Though time partly healed the jagged wound, it eventually shortened his brilliant life, and ended the bright future that was before him.
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" It can be said of General Guiney that he was a brave soldier, a firm disciplinarian, a true friend, and a generous, warm-hearted officer. He was loved and respected by his regiment, and his recog- nized ability and uniform manliness endeared him to his comrades and associates through life. While he loved his friends warmly and truly, he never harbored animosity against those who might exhibit unfriendliness towards him. His Christian training taught him to treat his fellows with Christian kindness, firmness, and forbearance. These traits of character carried him successfully through the diffi- culties that were to be encountered by a commander of volunteers in the army, and they won for him in after-life the esteem of all who knew him."
He rendered able services to the cause of dumb animals while he was a district attorney, and won a case in which the Massachu- setts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals were the prosecutors. His lofty and eloquent appeal for the dumb was publicly admired and praised.
JOHN E. FITZGERALD.
Familiar to all Bostonians is John E. Fitzgerald, an able lawyer, and the Collector of Internal Revenue for Massachusetts. He was born in Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland, Nov. 17, 1844, where he attended the schools of the Christian Brothers, and he also went to school in Dublin. When about nineteen years of age he took pas- sage on the steamship "Bohemian," bound for America; but the vessel was wrecked off Cape Elizabeth, near Portland, Me., and over one hundred lives were lost. Young Fitzgerald took refuge in a boat, and, after considerable hardship and suffering, was one of the three surviving passengers who landed on the shores of Cape Eliza- beth, Me., on the night of Feb. 21, 1864.
Shortly after his arrival in this country he became engaged as a school teacher in Salem, Mass., where he remained about one year and six months. While occupied as a pedagogue he employed his leisure hours in the study of law in the office of William D.
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Northend. In January, 1866, he removed to Boston, and continued his law studies in the office of George W. Earle, and was admitted to the bar in 1868.
During 1865 and 1866, when the interest in Fenianism was at its height, he did active work for the cause. The vigor of youth, and his characteristic Irish enthusiasm, enabled him to do excellent service, and he made many effective and patriotic speeches. Since that period he has continued to be identified with Irish affairs, is always ready to assist in the welfare of the Irish people, and is one of the recognized leaders of the race in this country.
He represented old Ward 7 (now 13) in the Common Council of 1872-75, and in the Legislature of 1870-71-73-74; was a Master in Chancery for Suffolk County from 1873 to 1878. He was a member of the School Committee in 1873-74-75-76, and resigned in the latter year when elected to the Board of Aldermen of 1877. He was later appointed a member of the Board of Fire Commis- sioners of the city of Boston, which position he held from 1879 to 1886. In the latter year he was appointed Collector of Internal Rev- enue for Massachusetts, and was specially requested by President Cleveland to accept the appointment.
During his service to the city as a Fire Commissioner he did val- uable work in perfecting the efficiency of the department, and, there- fore, did not wish to sever his connection to engage in a new field. The request was so urgent, however, that after much hesitancy he accepted his present position under the Democratic administration.
During his legislative experience he advocated the ten-hour law, and introduced the bill which allowed women to be eligible as members of the School Board. While in the aldermanic chamber he drafted the Horse Railway bill, and was instrumental in the passage of the law relating to the transfer from year to year of department appropriations instead of to the Sinking-fund. He framed the law which secured pensions for firemen, and inaugurated the annual fire- men's ball, which every year nets such a substantial sum. He was also a member of the committee which drafted the law that made the School Board of this city consist of twenty-four members.
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He has had considerable practice in the legal profession in the past, and one of his notable cases was that of Thomas Cahill vs. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This was an instance where his client was extradited from Ireland as the supposed murderer of Bridget Lanergan, but was afterwards discharged from jail when Thomas Piper, the real murderer, made his confession.
In politics he has been conspicuous as a Democratic leader, and has served the party and rendered valuable assistance on the plat- form in every campaign since 1868. He was chairman of the Dem- ocratic City Committee in 1877-78, and presided at the Democratic State Convention in 1885, where he made a masterly address favor- able to the administration of President Cleveland and Civil-Service Reform. In 1887 he delivered the Fourth-of-July .oration before. the Boston City Government.
He is a member of the Irish Charitable Society, National Land? League, Bay State, Massachusetts Reform, Tariff Reform, Massachu- setts Young Men's Democratic, Central, clubs, and a life member- of the Boston Young Men's Catholic Association. He is also a. member of the Massachusetts State Fire Association, Barnicoat Vet- eran Association, and was selected to write a history of the Boston Fire Department, which was deposited in the box of the Ancient. and Honorable Artillery Company, to be opened upon their 350th anniversary.
REV. JOHN CORDNER.
Rev. John Cordner, LL.D., is a Unitarian. minister: He was; born in the parish of Hillsborough, County Down, Ireland, July 3, 1816. By the removal of his parents, during his infancy, to Newry, in the same county, he passed his boyhood and early manhood in that town, receiving such education there as the best local schools afforded. While quite young Mr. Cordner was a frequent contributor to a liberal newspaper published in the town, of which Thomas O'Hagan, afterwards Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was editor. As a writer, young Cordner was so successful that he was almost per- suaded by Editor O'Hagan to adopt journalism as a profession, but,
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as he had a tendency towards the Christian ministry, he concluded to pursue his studies for the latter calling. He was brought up in the First Presbyterian Congregation of Newry, which was non-subscribing in principle and Unitarian in belief. The congregation was connected with the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster, and Dr. Cordner's studies were carried on under the direction of that body, at the Royal College, Belfast. He was licensed by the Remonstrant Presbytery of Bangor, and was ordained in September, 1843. He first took charge of a Unitarian congregation in the city of Montreal, Canada, where he had sole charge for thirty years, and became prominent among the clergy of that city. In 1852 he married a daughter of Rev. Dr. Francis Parkman, of Boston, and, upon his retirement from the ministry, owing to failing strength, he removed with his family to this city, where he now resides.
Dr. Cordner has always taken an active part in public and charitable matters, both as a writer and preacher. He edited the "Liberal Christian," of Montreal, for several years; he is the author of many published sermons, and, during the Rebellion, he advocated the case of the Federal Government as against the insurgent States of the South. By request of the New England Society of Montreal, he delivered an address on the "American Conflict," which was reprinted in England and widely circulated there. Dr. Cordner is a very popular Unitarian of this city; he is always interested in re- ligious progress, and was an assiduous worker, with others, in securing the erection of the present magnificent building of the American Unitarian Association.
REV. ROBERT R. MEREDITH.
Rev. Robert R. Meredith, was born in Ireland, Feb. 8, 1838. He came to this country with his parents when quite young, and located in New York. From eighteen to twenty-seven years of age he followed the sea, and during his experience was a boatswain on the ill-fated steamer " Central America," which sailed from Aspinwall, over thirty years ago, with five hundred passengers, for New York.
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The steamer sprung aleak one stormy night, when nearing Cape Hatteras, and many of the passengers were drowned. Young Meredith managed to lash himself to a portion of the wheel-house, which was washed away, and drifted for about six days, without food or water, until he was picked up, in an unconscious state, by a foreign brig bound for Quebec, and soon after he returned to New York. He later attended the Methodist Seminary at Concord, N.H., where he studied for the ministry. He served as chaplain in the One Hundred and Fifty-third Regiment of New York Volunteers during the war, and afterwards became attached to the missionary corps of the Methodist Church, and labored successively in Troy, N.Y., Newark, N.J., Cincinnati, Ohio, and Springfield, Mass. In April, 1876, he came to Boston, as pastor of the Temple-street Methodist Episcopal Church. He next became pastor of the Phillips Congregational Church, of South Boston, where he remained five years, during which time he had the church enlarged at an expense of $30,000. In 1880 he became identified with the Sunday-school class work in Wesleyan Hall, and in a short time, under his super- vision, the attendance was so large that Tremont Temple was engaged for meetings every Saturday afternoon, where between two thousand and three thousand persons assembled. On Oct. 16, 1883, he accepted the pastorate of the Union Church, which he held until the spring of 1887, when he received a call from the Tompkins-avenue Congregational Church, of Brooklyn, N.Y. In 1882 he had the degree of D.D. conferred upon him by Dartmouth College.
EDWARD C. CARRIGAN.
Edward C. Carrigan was born in Chatham, England, in 1853, of Irish parents, they having moved there some years previous to the time of his birth. He died on Nov. 7, 1888, while on his way to Colorado Springs. When he was six years old his parents came to this country, landing in Quebec, where they died. He was early left to depend upon his own unaided efforts, and found his way to Woodstock, Vt., where he attended the village school. Acquiring a taste for study,
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he determined to fit himself for college, and at the age of sixteen he began his career as a pedagogue in the district shools of Vermont in order to obtain funds for that purpose. While at Woodstock he enlisted for the war in the last year of the struggle, and was one of the youngest volunteers of the North. He entered Dartmouth College in 1874, having prepared himself by hard study. He paid his way by teaching in many places, and graduated in 1877. He came to Boston, and later entered the office of General Butler, where he followed his profession.
He entered and graduated from the Boston University Law School. In 1881 he became principal of the Boston Evening High School, and held that place till Oct. 10, 1886. He had previously been for three years principal of the Wells School at the West End. Mr. Carrigan contributed to the press after leaving college, and has at times served the " Herald " and other Boston papers. He had been a member of the State Board of Education since 1883. His name will long be a monument to the advancement of education in the State, and his reputation as one of its best promoters has become national. He was the framer of our present evening-school law, one of the principal promoters of the free text-book, author of the illiteracy bill, and, in fact, every reform for good in our schools in recent years has been greatly due to the efforts of Mr. Carrigan. He served as a member of the School Committee of Boston, where he exerted great influence. One of the last and valuable acts of his life was an ably-written letter to the Boston press, which appeared in the Boston papers and attracted great attention. It was a strong refutation against the prejudiced and bigoted arguments of certain anti-Irish celebrities, whose sole aim in life seems to be the dis- franchisement of the Irish. An extract from the letter should pass into history, and the subject will prove particularly interesting to Irish readers. Mr. Carrigan headed his letter, "How many Irish- Americans live in Boston?" and the following authoritative and re- markable statement appeared : -
"As a wholesale disfranchisement of the Irish in the city and State is proposed by our British-American friends, I have thought that I.
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might be of service to those who are seriously contemplating 'Irish extermination' by calling their attention to some interesting, if not valuable, data found in the census of the Commonwealth for the period ending 1885. By this census it will be seen that the children of Irish parentage now residing in Boston numerically exceed those of the children of Massachusetts parentage by 89,763; while the same report, for the State, shows an excess of 69,790 children of Irish parentage over those whose parents were natives of Massachu- setts. No one should be misled by these figures, for I have simply taken the two highest classes of people in the Commonwealth to show the ratio of the so-called ' Irish-American ' to that of the ‘native- Americans,' whose fathers and mothers are to the manor born. If now we add the 8,508 children who are half Irish, and whose mother or father was born in Massachusetts, the ratio will be 98,271 to 50,977, or nearly two to one.
"So much for Boston, where, as we have observed, it is determined that in the coming election for School Committee and other depart- ments of the City Government 'the Irish shall be swept from the board.' It is not necessary to print the census of other cities in the State which show like ratios, the whole number of persons in the Commonwealth whose parents were both Irish being 518,931, and those whose parents were both natives of Massachusetts being 449,141. That there may be no doubt as to the correctness of these statistics I will quote directly from the report, and first as to our Jesuit Boston :-
BOSTON.
Place of Birth.
Males.
Females.
Both Sexes.
Father.
Mother.
Native.
Foreign.
Native.
Foreign.
Ireland.
Ireland
33,528
30,933
34,084 25,865
42,195
140,740
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