The Story of Commodore John BarryGriffin, Martin I. J. (Martin Ignatius Joseph)
History
The Story of Commodore John Barry
Griffin, Martin I. J. (Martin Ignatius Joseph)
Barry, John, 1745-1803
So on February 27, 1803, he made his will. During the summer at his
country residence at Strawberry Hill in the Northern Liberties he remain
incapacitated for any further sea or other services useful to the
country, or beneficial to mankind in general. He died September 13,
1803, and was buried from his City home on Chestnut Street below Tenth,
south side, then No. 186. He was interred at St. Mary's graveyard the
next morning, according to the custom of those days. St. Mary's was the
church where Commodore Barry "was a constant attendant when in the
City," as Bishop Kenrick wrote Colonel B.U. Campbell, of Ellicott Mills,
January 15, 1844. [Balto. Archives, C.D. 14.] His estate amounted to
$27,691. He is buried within a few feet of the entrance to the graveyard
in the rear of the church. In the grave with him his two wives are
interred--Mary died in 1771, Sarah in 1831.
Beside him northward lies his friend Captain John Rosseter, also of the
County of Wexford, Ireland.
At the head of his grave to the northward is interred Captain Thomas
FitzSimons, a signer of the Constitution of the United States, an
officer in the Revolution, a merchant of Philadelphia and Representative
in Congress.
Also at the head of Barry's grave, southward, lies the mortal remains of
George Meade, a patriot of the Revolution and a merchant of
Philadelphia.
This is the most Catholic Irish-American historical plot of ground in
the United States.
Three of these patriots were born in Ireland--George Meade, born in
Philadelphia of Irish parents.
Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote
the first draft of the epitaph for the tomb of Captain Barry. It read:
[Illustration]
LET THE PATRIOT, THE SOLDIER AND THE CHRISTIAN
WHO VISITS THESE MANSIONS OF THE DEAD
VIEW THIS MONUMENT WITH RESPECT
BENEATH IT ARE INTERRED THE REMAINS OF
JOHN BARRY
HE WAS BORN IN THE COUNTY OF WEXFORD IN IRELAND
BUT AMERICA WAS THE OBJECT OF HIS PATRIOTISM
AND THE THEATRE OF HIS USEFULNESS.
IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR WHICH ESTABLISHED THE
INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES HE
BORE AN EARLY AND AN ACTIVE PART AS A CAPTAIN IN THEIR
NAVY AND AFTER BECAME ITS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.
HE FOUGHT OFTEN AND ONCE BLED IN THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM.
HIS HABITS OF WAR DID NOT LESSEN HIS
VIRTUES AS A MAN NOR HIS PIETY AS A CHRISTIAN.
HE WAS GENTLE, KIND AND JUST IN PRIVATE LIFE,
WAS NOT LESS BELOVED BY HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS THAN BY
HIS GRATEFUL COUNTRY.
THE NUMBER AND OBJECTS OF HIS CHARITIES WILL BE
KNOWN ONLY AT THAT TIME WHEN HIS DUST
SHALL BE REANIMATED AND WHEN HE WHO SEES IN SECRET
SHALL REWARD OPENLY.
IN THE FULL BELIEF IN THE DOCTRINES OF THE GOSPEL
HE PEACEFULLY RESIGNED HIS SOUL INTO THE ARMS OF HIS
REDEEMER
ON THE 13TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1803, IN THE 59TH YEAR OF HIS AGE.
HIS AFFECTIONATE WIDOW HATH CAUSED THIS MARBLE TO BE
ERECTED TO PERPETUATE HIS NAME AFTER THE HEARTS OF HIS
FELLOW-CITIZENS HAVE CEASED TO BE
THE LIVING RECORD OF HIS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE VIRTUES.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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