The journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Vol. II, 1899Various
History
The journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Vol. II, 1899
Various
American-Irish Historical Society -- Periodicals; Ethnology -- United States -- Periodicals; Irish Americans -- Periodicals
Many of the old families in Louisville are of Irish descent, but it
would take too much space to mention even a fair portion of them. In
1784 Patrick Joyes settled in Louisville, and his family grew, leaving
many descendants, one of them being the present county attorney of
Jefferson county. The original Joyes was a man of education, speaking
French, Spanish and other tongues fluently, so that at least one
Irishman was of polished intellect in the early settlement of the city.
William H. English, being a millionaire, could afford to spend a great
deal of time and money in collecting information about the Northwest
territory and Kentucky. On one of his visits to Louisville he told me
that had it not been for the Irish in Clark’s command the latter would
never have whipped the British and Indians. The Irish, fresh from
persecutions in the old country, were very bitter against the English,
and were of great help to Clark. Mr. English had a great deal of
information on this subject which has never been published. Of course,
in his history he makes no reference to nationalities except where it
was absolutely necessary, it being his purpose to simply give credit to
Clark and his soldiers for their wonderful work.
Dr. Thomas Dunn English, writing of a trip he made through the mountains
of Kentucky, on one occasion tells of an incident which shows that many
people of Irish descent in this state are ignorant of the fact. He was
riding along one day in a wagon when his companion, a lanky native boy
of the mountains, saw a rabbit run across the road. “Stop a minute,
Dock,” said the boy, “till I heave a dornick at that rabbit.” Dr.
English coming to inquire, found that the mountains of Kentucky had been
settled long ago by Irish and that “dornick” was one of the many Irish
words which survived.
Even before Clark came to Louisville, Simon Kenton records that, in
1775, he located in the Upper and Lower Blue Licks, where there was an
abundance of game, and he considered it a paradise. One day, to his
great astonishment, there came out of the woods toward his cabin, two
men who gave their names as Fitzpatrick and Hendricks. They had been
living in the vicinity for sometime. Fitzpatrick said he wanted to
return to Virginia, and Kenton escorted him to the Ohio river, bidding
him good-by near where the town of Maysville now stands. While Kenton
was taking Fitzpatrick to the river, Indians entered the cabin and
killed Hendricks. Michael Stoner, another Irishman, who was Boone’s
companion in 1774, told Kenton that there were a number of settlers in
the interior who were not from Virginia.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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