The journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Vol. IV, 1904Various
History
The journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Vol. IV, 1904
Various
American-Irish Historical Society -- Periodicals; Ethnology -- United States -- Periodicals; Irish Americans -- Periodicals
Thomas Fleming, whose name has been mentioned, was colonel of the Ninth
Virginia regiment. One of its field officers was Major M. Donovan.
It is related in the Historical Collections of Virginia that Gen. Andrew
Lewis was born in Ireland, and came here with his father and two
brothers. They were obliged to fly from their native land on account of
the resistance made by them against being evicted by their landlord.
Another prominent man in Virginia in 1753 was Dr. James O’Fallon. He is
supposed to have been the ancestor of the O’Fallons of St. Louis, Mo.,
who were among the latter city’s first settlers. One of the latter, Col.
John O’Fallon, served on the staff of Gen. Harrison at the battle of
Tippecanoe. Another well-known Irish name was that of Michael Dillon,
whose death is recorded from a fall from his horse in 1704. Richard
Donnahan was concerned in Bacon’s Rebellion in 1677, and with him was a
Capt. Hubert Farrell, who is mentioned as being one of Bacon’s majors.
Philip Connor was an associate justice of the Provincial court in 1650,
and Robert Managan (Monaghan) is recorded as taking an apprentice Sept.
24, 1690.
In the main, the first settlers of Kentucky were Virginians. The wife of
Daniel Boone was the first white woman to stand upon the banks of the
Kentucky river. This was in June, 1775, and in the September following
she had for company Mrs. McCary and Mrs. Hogan.
Col. William Casey, born in Virginia, was one of the pioneers of the
dark and bloody ground. Col. Joseph M. Daviess, who fell at Tippecanoe,
was born in Virginia. His grandfather was an Irishman and his mother
Scotch. It is written of him that he had marked peculiarities of both
races. “The hardy self-reliance, the indomitable energy, and
imperturbable coolness which had from earliest times distinguished the
Scotch, were his; while the warm heart, free and open hand, and
ready-springing tear of sensibility, told in language plainer than words
that the blood of Erin flowed fresh in his veins.”
It is clear that this eulogy was not written by a “Scotch-Irishman.” His
name undoubtedly comes from Wales, so it is fair to presume that he had
in his veins commingled the blood of the three kindred races,—the Welsh,
the Irish and the Scotch.
William T. Barry, a noted lawyer, a soldier, an educator, and
postmaster-general under Jackson, was a Virginian of Irish parentage.
Michael Cassidy, born in Ireland, emigrated to Virginia, and finally
settled in and became one of the prominent citizens of Kentucky.
The descendants of the Irish settlers in Virginia in many instances
became eminent in the southwestern states and territories organized
after the Revolution. One of them was Gen. Benjamin Logan, a Virginian,
both of whose parents were Irish. He was one of Kentucky’s greatest men.
Three counties bear the names of Casey, Daviess, and Logan, in honor of
the three men mentioned.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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