The journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Vol. I, 1898Various
History
The journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Vol. I, 1898
Various
American-Irish Historical Society -- Periodicals; Ethnology -- United States -- Periodicals; Irish Americans -- Periodicals
We know, too, that Irish blood was not wanting in the veins of Perry
and of Burnside. At least two of our governors could truthfully
claim an Irish ancestry on the one side or the other, and at least
three of our secretaries of state. We know that at the founding of
Rhode Island College, now Brown University, the first funds for the
institution came from Ireland, generously contributed by Irish men
and women.
We are aware that many people of Irish extraction have married into
families of other extractions, some of these families representing
the oldest in the state. Thus we learn from the colonial and state
records that a Mahoney wedded an Olney, that a McGowan married an
Angell, that a McCarthy married a Maxson, that a Connor became the
wife of a Robinson, a McLoughlin the wife of a Steere, a Murphy the
husband of a Pitman. We see, moreover, that Prudence Mathewson
became Mrs. Kelley, that Harriet Thayer became Mrs. Patrick Brown,
that Rachel Aldrich wedded David Flynn.
Patrick Cunningham, the records show, was married in Providence to
Mary Goddard; Sally Mahoney became the wife of Asa Capron. The
records further show the marriage of persons bearing the following
names: Heffernan and Coggeshall, Flanagan and Cornell, Riley and
Sabin, Fallon and Cook, Connor and Odlin, Burke and Greene, Kenney
and Chadwick, Mulholland and Hooper, Hurlihy and Thorp, Carroll and
Slater, O’Brien and Newcome, McGee and Perkins, Donohue and Sutleff,
Egan and Wilson, and a long list of others.
I have already referred to the Olney name. I take it up again.
Thomas Olney came from England in 1635, and was one of the original
thirteen proprietors of Providence. His descendants are widespread.
Some of them were married as follows: Benjamin Olney to Mary
McFadyan, Sylvester Olney to Eliza McLaughlin, Sylvanus Olney to
Joanna W. Gorman, Frances M. Olney to J. P. Mahan, George E. Olney
to Mary E. Gilpatrick, Thomas D. Olney to Mary A. Dunagan, Bradley
Olney to Dora Fitzgerald, William N. Olney to Mary Oday (O’Day),
Amanda Olney to Jerry Mackay, Louis B. Olney to Kitty Sheehan,
Hattie M. Olney to Casper McManus.
This indicates that the process of assimilation has been progressing
in Rhode Island for many generations, and that Irish blood courses
to-day through the veins of thousands of the old Rhode Island stock.
These things we know, but there are many other facts just as
important we do not know.
We depend upon you, gentlemen, and the society of which you are the
official representatives, to unroll the drapery so that our
knowledge may be greatly increased.
Again we say, welcome to Pawtucket!
Addresses were made by Joseph Smith, of Lowell; James Jeffrey Roche, of
Boston; and Thomas B. Lawler, of Worcester.
On May 15, 1897, Hon. Edward A. Moseley, of Washington, D. C., was
chosen President-General of the society, to fill the vacancy caused by
the death of Admiral Meade.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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