Prior to 1900
(of those who suffered, struggled and confronted indignities in gaining  a
foothold in America,, contributing their bravery,  leadership, arts,
culture, professionalism , etc.) to the shaping of this Nation.)


BROUGHAM,  JOHN  (1810-80)
      An Irish actor and playwright. He was born in Dublin, May 9, 1810.
Educated as a surgeon, a reverse of the family fortune led him to the London
stage in 1830, where he achieved success as an actor and writer . In 1842 he
moved to the United States, where he became a member of the Stock Company of
Burton's Theatre, in New York. In 1850 he opened Brougham's Lyceum (later
Wallack's Theatre), an unsuccessful venture.He became manager of the Old
Bowery Theater and finally accepted an engagement at Wallack's Theatre. The
years of the Civil War he passed in London. Returning to New York, he made
another unsuccessful attempt in theatrical management. His last appearance
on the stage was at Booth's Theatre, October 25, 1879, and he died June 7,
1880 in New York City. He was the founder of the New York Lotus club.

BRUCE-JOY,  ALBERT  (1842--)
      An Irish sculptor, born in Dublin. His portrait bust of Depew is at
the Lotus Club, New York City, and he also produced the Ayer colossal lion
in Lowell, Mass.

CAREY,  MATHEW  (1760-1839)
      An Irish author and publisher. In consequence of publishing an address
to the Irish Roman Catholics on their oppression by the penal code (about
1778), he was compelled to leave Ireland, but returned within a year and
established, in 1783, the Volunteer's Journal.  His attacks upon Parliament
and the Ministry caused his imprisonment in Newgate..He arrived at
Philadelphia by the aid of Lafayette, who sent him $400, and immediately
started The Pennsylvania Herald, one of the first papers in the country to
furnish accurate reports of legislative debates. In 1791 he began trade as a
bookseller, and, with his sons, built up a prosperous business. During the
epidemic of yellow fever in 1793 he was active in the work of relief, and
afterwards wrote a history of the disease. In 1793 he, with others, founded
the Hibernian Society.

CLEBURNE,  PATRICK  RONAYNE (1828-64)
      An American soldier, prominent as a Confederate officer during the
Civil War. He was born in County Cork, Ireland; studied medicine for a time
at Trinity College, England; ran away from home and served for several years
in the British Army. In 1855 He emigrated to the United States, and settled
in Helena, Ark, where he studied law was admitted to the bar and practiced
with considerable success. On the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in
the Confederate Army as a private, but by March, 1862, rose to the rank of
brigadier-general. In October, 1862 he was promoted to be major-general and
was distinguished for gallantry at Murfreesboro and at Chickamauga led a
brilliant charge, and earned the title, "The Stonewall of the West." He was
one of the first men in the Confederacy to advocate the use of colored troops.

COGHLAN,  CHARLES FRANCIS  (1841-99)
      A comedian, of Irish parentage. He came to America in the autumn of
1876, and played at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, New York City, under Augustin
Daly. He was leading man at the Union Square Theatre during the run of "The
Celebrated Case." He appeared at Wallack's Theatre with his sister, Rose. He
successfully produced (1898) his "The Royal Box." Coghlan was one of the
most graceful yet forceful of modern actors.

COLLES,   CHRISTOPHER  (1738-1821)
      An Irish engineer, the pupil of Pococke. He was born in Ireland, but
came to America before the Revolution and delivered lecture in New York on
pneumatics, gunnery, and inland navigation. One of the first steam-engines
made in the country was designed by him; and he was among the first to
propose water-supply by reservoirs for the city of New York. As early as
1784 he presented to the New York Legislature a plan to connect Lake Ontario
with the Hudson River by canals and such natural channels as could be used,
and with this pin view he surveyed the Mohawk River.

COLLINS,  PATRICK  ANDREW (1844--).
      An American lawyer and politician. He was born in Fermoy, Ireland, but
was brought to the United States in 1848, and settled in Chelsea, Mass.,
where, while working as upholsterer, he prepared himself for the study of
the Law. In 1871 he graduated at the Harvard Law School, and in the same
year was admitted to the bar. He was a member of the State Legislature in
1868-69 and State Senator 1870-71, served three terms in Congress (1883-89).
He was an active Fenian and was chosen the first president of the Land
League in 1884. He was elected Mayor of Boston in 1901.

CONWAY,  THOMAS  (1733-1800)
      An Irish soldier of fortune, who became an officer on the American
side in the Revolutionary War. In 1777, he came to America and offered his
services to Congress. He was appointed a brigadier-general in May of this
year, served at Brandywine and Germantown, and later in the year was made
inspector-general, with the rank of major-general.

COPLEY,  JOHN  SINGLETON  (1737-1815)
      An American historical and portrait painter, born in Boston of Irish
parents, July 3, 1737. He received instruction in America from Peter Pelham,
a portrait painter, advanced rapidly in his profession and executed numerous
portraits in this country. His portraits of prominent Americans are held in
high esteem by their descendants for their distinction, dignity, and fine
coloring. That of Mrs. Thomas Boylston is in the Memorial Hall of Harvard University.

COPPINGER,  JOHN  JOSEPH (1834--)
      An American soldier. He was born at Queenstown, Ireland. He came to
the United States, was appointed a captain in the Fourteenth Infantry in
1861, served throughout the Civil War, being brevetted major and
lieutenant-colonel for gallantry at Trevillian's Station and Cedar Creek,
respectively, in 1864. In 1865 he became colonel of the Fifteenth New York
Cavalry. He served in several Indian campaigns (1866-68), receiving the
brevet of colonel (1868) and was promoted to be major of the Tenth Infantry
(1879), Lieutenant-colonel of the Eighteenth Infantry (1880), colonel of the
Twenty-third Infantry (1891) and brigadier-general on April 25, 1895. During
the Spanish American War he was appointed major-general of United States
Volunteers, and was placed in command of the Fourth Army Corps, stationed at
Camp Wheeler, Huntsville, Ala. He was retired from active service October 11, 1898.

CORCORAN,  MICHAEL  (1827-63)
      An American soldier. He was born at Carrowkeel, Ireland, emigrated to
the United States in 1849, enlisted in the Federal Army at the beginning of
the Civil War, and was taken prisoner at the first battle of Bull Run. Upon
his exchange, he was commissioned brigadier-general in 1862, and organized
the Corcoran Legion, which in 1863 checked the Confederate advance on
Norfolk and was subsequently attached to the Army of the Potomac. He died as
the result of a fall from his horse.

DAVITT,  MICHAEL  (1846--)
      An Irish journalist and political leader, the founder of the Irish
Land League. He was born in Straide, Mayo, where his parents, poor peasants,
were evicted from their farm when Davitt was four years of age. While
engaged as a boy in a cotton factory at Haslingden, Lancashire, he lost his
right arm in the machinery. From the age of fifteen to twenty-two he worked
in a printing-office and educated himself. He joined the Irish revolutionary
movement in 1867, and was present at the attack on Chester Castle.  Detected
transporting arms into Ireland, he was sentenced to fifteen years' penal
servitude; but after serving half the sentence was released on a ticket of
leave in 1875, and visited the United States on a lecturing tour. He
obtained the funds to carry on a crusade against Irish Landlordism, and on
October 21, 1879, at his birthplace, organized the Land League movement,
which spread over Ireland. He again visited this country in 1880 to
superintend the organization of an American branch of the Land League, but
hurried back to England on account of the Prosecution of the Land League
executive. He was arrested under the Coercion Act and reimprisoned to finish
his old sentence. He was leniently treated during fifteen months, and again
released on a ticket of leave. He revisited America to advocate the revival
of the Land League, and on his return to Ireland organized the National
League. In 1883 he was imprisoned for four months for a seditious speech. In
1882, while in prison, he had been elected member of Parliament for Meath,
but was disqualified  on the grounds of his unexpired ticket of leave.
Subsequently elected several times, and disqualified or unseated, he was
returned unopposed for North East Cork in 1893, but shortly afterwards was
compelled to vacate through bankruptcy. In 1895 he was returned unopposed
for East Kerry and South Mayo, but resigned in 1899. In 1889 he was
implicated in the "Parnellism and Crime" prosecution instigated by the
London Times, and conducted his own defense in an effective speech which
received the commendation of the presiding judge. His letters to the Times,
1898 occasioned interest by his contention that the dominating
English-speaking race in America is largely of Celtic origin, and therefore
anti-Saxon in feeling.

DONGAN,  THOMAS, Earl of Limerick (1634-1715)
      A Colonial Governor of New York. He was born at Castletown, County
Kildare, Ireland. He served in the English and French armies with the rank
of colonel, and in 1678 was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Tangier by
Charles II. The Duke of York appointed him Governor of the Province of New
York in 1682. Being a Roman Catholic, he was at first looked upon with
suspicion by the colonists, but he showed himself champion of their
interests and managed the relations between the English, French, and Indians
with great sagacity. He granted a charter to the city of New York, and
another to the city of Albany, which still remains the basis of its
municipal rights. Refusing to carry out the instructions of King James II.,
to introduce French priests among the Five Nations, on the ground that the
measure was dangerous to English power on the Continent, he was obliged to
resign in 1688, but did not return to England until 1691. He succeeded to
the title of Earl of Limerick by the death of his brother in 1698.

DREW,  JOHN  (1825-62)
      A popular Irish-American comedian. He was born in Dublin, and made his
first appearance at the Bowery Theatre, New York City, in 1846. During the
next ten years he acted in the principal American cities, and engaged in
theatrical management in Philadelphia, where, after visits to England in
1855, and Australia in 1859, he died.

EAGAN,  CHARLES  PATRICK  (1841--)
      An American soldier, born in Ireland. He entered the Federal Army from
civil life in 1862, with rank of first lieutenant, and upon the close of the
Civil War was mustered out (1865). In 1866 he was appointed to the United
States Army, with rank of second lieutenant, and by 1898 had risen to the
grade of brigadier-general and commissary-general. .

GALLAGHER,  WILLIAM DAVIS  (1808-94)
      An American journalist and poet, born in Philadelphia, Pa. He was the
son of an Irish patriot implicated in the Rebellion of 1798. While he was
still a child his family removed to Ohio, where he learned the printer's
trade, and later contributed to country newspapers. In 1828 he settled in
Cincinnati, and this city, with brief changes of residence, was his home for
many years. He edited several journals, particularly the Mirror and the
Hesperion. Much of the verse and prose which appeared in these publications
was contributed by the best American writers of the day, and he constantly
wrote for them himself. He next became connected with the Cincinnati
Gazette. Upon his removal to Louisville, Ky., in 1852, he began another
paper, the Courier, which failed. During the Civil War he was in the employ
of the Treasury Department and subsequently was a pension agent and farmer
in Kentucky. Gallagher was most influential in promoting literary interests
in the West.

GAY,  EDWARD  (1837--)
      An American painter, born in Dublin, Ireland. He studied under James
Hart at Albany, N.Y., and afterwards in Germany, first under Schirmer at
Karlsruhe, and then under Lessing at Dusseldorf. His well-known landscape
"Broad Acres" was awarded a prize of $2000 by the American Art Association,
and was given by it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 1887.

GEARY,  JOHN WHITE  (1819-73)
      An American soldier and politician. He was born of Scotch-Irish
parentage in Westmoreland County, Pa., was educated at Jefferson College,
but left before graduating, and entered upon a commercial career at
Pittsburg, at the same time studying both civil engineering and law. He then
engaged for some time in civil engineering in Kentucky, and on the outbreak
of the Mexican War was chief engineer and superintendent of the Allegheny
Portage Railway. In 1849, he was appointed the first American postmaster,
and was given authority to organize post-offices and mail routes on the
coast. In the same year he became the first American Alcalde of San
Francisco, and in 1850, upon the adoption of an American system of municipal
government for the city, was chosen its first Mayor. At the beginning of the
Civil War Geary raised the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, of
which he became colonel, served with distinction in the Army of the Potomac,
and was promoted brigadier-general in April, 1862. In 1865 he received the
brevet rank of major-general. He was elected Governor of Pennsylvania as a
Republican in 1866, and was reelected in 1869, serving until within eighteen
days of his death.

GILMORE,  PATRICK  SARSFIELD  (1829-92)
      A celebrated American military bandmaster, born near Dublin, Ireland.
His first musical experience was with the town band of Athlone, and when but
eighteen years of age he left his native city to go to Canada with an
English band. Almost immediately on his arrival he crossed the boundary into
the United States and settled in Salem, Mass., where he became conductor of
a military band. The famous Gilmore's Band was organized by him at Boston in
1859, but the Civil War interfered with its full development at that time,
its conductor, Gilmore, becoming a bandmaster in the Union Army. During the
war he established a brilliant musical record, and in 1864, at New Orleans,
gave a magnificent musical festival. The National Peace Jubilee of 1869, and
the World's Peace Jubilee of 1872, held on Boston Common, gained him an
international reputation.  Commencing with New York, Gilmore and his band
began a concert tour which was as popular as it was successful, the tour
covering Canada, Great Britain, and several Continental European cities of
importance. He died in Saint Louis, Mo.

GODKIN,  EDWIN LAWRENCE  (1831-1902)
      An American editor and publicist, born in Moyne, County Wicklow,
Ireland. He graduated at Queen's College, Belfast, in 1851, and during the
Crimean War (1854-56) was correspondent of the London Daily News in Turkey
and Russia. In 1856 he came to the United States, where he read law under
David D. Field was admitted to the bar in 1859, and for several years
practiced in New York City. From 1862 until 1865 he was a correspondent of
the Daily News and an editorial writer for the New York Times. As a
journalist he devoted little attention to the organization of newspaper
service, and specifically was one of the foremost leader writers in the
history of the American press. His fearlessness often exposed him to
disapproval, and not seldom to abuse. In preparation for the New York City
municipal campaign of 1890, he printed in the Post, with scathing editorial
comment, a series of biographies of Tammany Hall leaders, which resulted in
the issuance against him of several warrants of arrest on charges of
criminal libel. The cases were dismissed for lack of prosecution. He
received the degree of D.C.L. from Oxford University in 1897.


Source:   The New International Encyclopaedia
Publisher:  Dodd, Mead and Company-New York
Copyright:  1902-1905           Total of 21 Volumes.
______________________________________________
Researched and Transcribed by Miriam Medina
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