The magazine of history with notes and queries, Vol. II, No. 6, December 1905Various
History
The magazine of history with notes and queries, Vol. II, No. 6, December 1905
Various
History -- Periodicals; United States -- History -- Periodicals
“Sacred to the memory of Commodore John Barry, father of the American
navy. Let the Christian patriot and soldier who visits these mansions
of the dead view this monument with respect and veneration. Beneath
it rest the remains of John Barry, who was born in County Wexford,
Ireland, in the year 1745. America was the object of his patriotism,
and the aim of his usefulness and ambition. At the beginning of the
Revolutionary War he held the commission of captain in the then limited
navy of the colonies. His achievements in battle and his renowned naval
tactics merited for him the position of commodore, and to be justly
regarded as the father of the American navy. He fought often and bled
in the cause of freedom, but his deeds of valor did not diminish in him
the virtues which adorned his private life. He was eminently gentle,
kind, just, and charitable, and no less beloved by his family and
friends than by his grateful country. Firm in the faith and practices
of the Roman Catholic Church, he departed this life on the 13th day
of September, 1803, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. In grateful
remembrance, a few of his countrymen, members of St. Mary’s Church and
others, have contributed towards this second monument, erected July 1,
1876. _Requiescat in Pace._”
Commodore Barry’s deeds as a naval officer, the fact that he commanded
the _Lexington_, the first armed cruiser; that he captured and brought
to Philadelphia the first prize; that he fought the last naval battle,
and many other such points in his brilliant record, are all embalmed
in the nation’s history. In private life he was a loyal friend and a
good citizen, social in his tastes, hearty in his manner, and genial to
all. He was a sailor before joining our navy, having been placed in the
merchant marine service by his father when a mere boy. He came to this
country when probably about twenty-one years old, reaching Philadelphia
from the island of Barbados, in command of the schooner _Barbados_.
This was ten years before the Revolution, and from that time until
the opening of the war he followed his career in these waters, and
in command of vessels sailing between here and England. He was twice
married, and both wives were buried in the same grave in St. Mary’s
churchyard. His second wife, Sarah Austin, and her sister, Mary, are
said to have made and presented to John Paul Jones the flag of the _Bon
Homme Richard_. Commodore Barry died in 1803, at his country residence,
“Strawberry Hill.” This was not the Strawberry Hill in Fairmount Park,
but was located on Frankford Road, at Gunner’s Run. The body was
brought to his city residence, on the south side of Chestnut Street,
between Ninth and Tenth Streets, on a site about opposite the _Record_
building, where the funeral took place.--_Philadelphia Record._
BUSHNELL’S “TURTLE”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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