In 1634 the General Court of Massachusetts Bay granted lands on the Merrimac river for an Irish settlement, and there were many Irishmen who served in King Philip’s Indian War, whose names are still preserved in the colonial records. I have a record of the fact, but neglected to note the authority, of a reference to a contemporaneous account of a fearful storm which occurred in the winter of 1634–’35, off the north coast of Ireland.[2] As one of the incidents mention is made of the shipwreck of a vessel filled with Irish emigrants, on the second day out of their voyage to join, as was stated, the Merrimac river settlement in New England. This straw of information is a valuable indication in our current of circumstantial evidence. It establishes the fact by another source that an Irish settlement was planned on the Merrimac river as early as 1634. It also shows that however intolerant the New England Puritans were sometimes to the Irish in their immediate surroundings, they did tolerate in this instance and likely in many others, the “fighting Irish,” as they were termed. In fact they gave little thought to their religious belief so long as they remained on the frontier to fight the Indians. This incident shows that emigrants sailed from the north of Ireland for this settlement, notwithstanding it may have been necessary to have officially commenced their voyage from an English port. The fact as to their religion is established by a knowledge of the condition of the country at that particular time, which I have attempted to describe. The Catholics were fleeing in all directions from the districts of country which had been laid waste, and in some instances they had to subsist on the dead bodies of those who had preceded them, and who had died on the way from starvation. Comparatively few but Catholics left Ireland at this time, as individuals in sympathy with the English were then busy in bettering their condition by securing a portion of the spoils. There were a number of adult Catholics, as I have stated, sent out to New England through the efforts of Cromwell, and, although they may not have come at that time as willing emigrants, they were not likely to have lost their faith under the circumstances, and their descendants must afterwards have become identified with the country.