The journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Vol. III, 1900Various
History
The journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Vol. III, 1900
Various
American-Irish Historical Society -- Periodicals; Ethnology -- United States -- Periodicals; Irish Americans -- Periodicals
Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead!
Dear as the blood ye gave;
No impious footsteps here shall tread
The herbage of your graves;
Nor shall your glory be forgot
While Fame her record keeps,
Or honor points the hallowed spot
Where valor proudly sleeps.”
A great and magnanimous government has had these verses, the composition
of an ex-Confederate soldier, cast separately in bronze and set up in
appropriate places in all the National cemeteries.
It is worthy of mention that a lady bearing a now historic name, at
least in song, Mrs. Ann McGinty, brought the first spinning-wheel into
Kentucky, and made the first linen in the territory. She is also
credited with making the first butter there, and with bringing within
its borders the first chickens, ducks and hogs. The first Catholic
priest in Kentucky was Father Whalen, who was in Bardstown in 1787.
There were then fifty Catholic families in the state. The first families
to settle there were those of Daniel Boone, Hugh McGary, Thomas Denton
and Richard Hogan. As has been mentioned, the first practising physician
was Dr. Hart, and the first school teacher was Mrs. Coomes, both
Catholics from Maryland.
Col. Matthew Lyon, mentioned elsewhere, is alluded to as the most
remarkable character among the public men of southwestern Kentucky. He
was born in Wicklow county, Ireland, in 1746. His father, for being
engaged in conspiracy against the English government, was tried,
condemned and executed. To secure his passage, Matthew bound himself to
a sea captain to work for twelve months after his arrival in America.
The captain sold him to a Connecticut farmer for two bulls; he served
his time faithfully and became a free man. His favorite by-word was
forever after “By the bulls that bought me.” It is worthy of record that
Rudyard Kipling has put these words in the mouth of one of his recently
created characters, without, however, giving Matthew proper credit. It
is very evident that Colonel Lyon never forgot his father’s execution,
for he was, up to the day of his death, an inveterate hater of the
English government.
After he gained his freedom, he made his home in Vermont. He founded the
town of Fairhaven in 1783, where he built saw and grist-mills, an iron
foundry, engaged in paper making from basswood, and a variety of other
occupations. He served in the Vermont legislature ten years, and for
some time was assistant judge. He served in congress from his adopted
state. He was one of the first arrested under the alien and sedition
laws, was convicted of a libel on the president, John Adams, fined one
thousand dollars, and served a jail sentence in addition.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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