Among the very early Irish settlers whose descendants are at present residents of the Connecticut valley, and of whom we have authentic records, a few families deserve special mention because of the prominence to which they have attained in the community. Irish men and women, boys and maidens, were imported to these colonies in the very first years of the settlements, while in June, 1643, an Irish immigration took place that far out-numbered the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts. Of the descendants of these early settlers, Hall J. Kelley, one of the most enterprising men of Palmer, Mass., who developed the village of Three Rivers, was born in New Hampshire, Aug. 24, 1790, and was a descendant of John Kelly, who settled in Newbury, Mass., in 1633. John Riley and his wife, Grace O’Dea, came to this country from Ireland about the year 1624. They settled at Hartford, Conn., where their first two children were born,—John in 1646 and Joseph in 1649, after which they moved to West Springfield, Mass., where Jonathan was born in 1651, and afterwards Mary, Grace, Sarah, Jacob, and Isaac, the dates of whose births are unknown, but all the eight children are named in this order in his will of 1671. With the Rileys came a nephew of Mr. Riley, named John Riley, and a young sister of Mrs. Riley, named Margaret O’Dea. This couple got married at Springfield, Mass., in 1660, and had two daughters, Margaret, born Dec. 21, 1662, and Mary, born June 2, 1665. John died Oct. 24, 1684, and his wife died Aug. 22, 1689. He had two brothers, Richard, who remained in Hartford, and Patrick, who with his wife Bridget moved to Middletown. Garret and Miles Riley came in 1634 from County Longford, Ireland. Patrick and Richard Riley came to Windsor and Wethersfield, Conn., in 1639. John Riley and wife, Margaret, came to Springfield, Mass., in 1640, where two daughters were born. Mary, born June 2, 1665, married Joseph Ely, June 2, 1685; Margaret, born Dec. 21, 1662, married William McGraney, July 19, 1685. Bridget Clifford, who died at Suffield, Conn., May 7, 1695, came from Ireland to this country with her brothers, John, aged twenty, and Oliver, eighteen, in the vessel _Primrose_ for Virginia, 1635. John died Dec. 25, 1668. James Coggin and John Cogan, from Dublin, Ireland, settled at Windsor, Conn., and removed to Hartford in 1641. John Connor, whose parents, Philip and Mary Connor, came from Cork in 1634, was born at Middletown, Conn., June 14, 1686. His son John was taken prisoner at Quebec, 1775. Robert Smith, born in Ireland 1672, came to Palmer, Mass., 1728, where he died Dec. 21, 1759. Edward King located at Windsor, Conn., about 1635, and is described as “An Irishman and one of the oldest settlers in this vicinity.”