Irish Immigrants in the Land of Canaan Letters and Memoirs from Colonial and Revolutionary America, 1675-1815

by Miller, Kerby A.; Schrier, Arnold; Boling, Bruce D.; Doyle, David N.

• ISBN13: 9780195154894
• ISBN10: 0195154894
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-03-27
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The histories of the United States and of Ireland are inextricably intertwined. Just as the Great Migration had a formative influence on the young American republic, so too have the experiences of the Irish in America resonated back across the Atlantic, profoundly affecting ethnic and political identities in Ireland and Britain. Irish Immigrants in the Land of Canaan re-creates, in their own words, the experiences of scores of the first Irish-Americans, revealing why immigrants left Ireland, how they adapted to their new homeland, what challenges they faced, and how they ultimately persevered in a difficult, often hostile environment. From hard-bitten frontier women to homesick merchant's wives, revolutionary soldiers to radical idealists, statesmen and politicians, loyalists and conservatives, the upwardly mobile and the spectacularly wealthy, criminals, indentured servants, debtors, farmers -- the volume distills a vast trove of letters, diaries, and memoirs, offering up a definitive first-hand portrait of the Irish diaspora. A truly monumental work, compiled and edited by four of the world's foremost experts on Irish immigration to America, Irish Immigrants in the Land of Canaan draws on a collective century of research and experience to provide an unprecedented historical panorama of early American history. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Kerby A. Miller is Middlebush Professor of History at the University of Missouri, Columbia. Arnold Schrier is the Walter C. Langsam Professor Emeritus of History, University of Cincinnati. Bruce D. Boling is Senior Cataloger, University of New Mexico General Library. David Noel Doyle is Statutory Lecturer in History, University College-Dublin.

Table of Contents

Introduction	3	(10)
I The Causes of Irish Emigration
James Wansbrough, 1700--1728	13	(11)
Alexander Crawford, 1736	24	(4)
David Lindsey, 1758	28	(2)
Henry Johnston, 1773--1800	30	(9)
Walter Corish Devereux, 1798	39	(6)
Margaret Wright, 1808	45	(8)
II The Processes of Irish Emigration
Anonymous Poet, Mid- to Late 1700s	53	(2)
Rev. James MacSparran, 1752	55	(17)
Robert Parke, 1725	72	(10)
John Rea, 1765	82	(4)
James Orr, 1811	86	(4)
John Smilie, 1762	90	(4)
John O'Raw, 1809	94	(9)
Thomas Hinds, 1795	103	(4)
George Crockett, Jr., 1797--1807	107	(14)
III Farmers and Planters
John Blake, 1675--1676	121	(7)
Samuel McCobb, 1729--1772	128	(7)
Robert Witherspoon, 1734--1780	135	(8)
James Magraw, 1733	143	(4)
Mary Elizabeth McDowell Greenlee, 1737--1754	147	(9)
James McCullough, 1748--1758	156	(23)
Elizabeth Guthrie Brownlee Guthrie, 1755--1829	179	(5)
Daniel Kent, 1786--1794	184	(12)
John and Jane Chambers, 1796	196	(4)
Joseph and Hannah Wright, 1801--1817	200	(24)
Edward and Mary Toner, 1818	224	(11)
James and Hannah Crockett, 1822	235	(8)
IV Craftsmen, Laborers, and Servants
Benjamin Chandlee, 1705	243	(7)
John Kennedy, 1753	250	(3)
Philip McRory, Ruth McGee, Edward Curry, Rosanna Stewart, Patrick M'Cullen, Ann Dougherty, Thomas Ralph, and Michael Wade, ca. 1735--1774	253	(15)
John Grimes, John Fagan, John Johnson, 1765	268	(7)
Francis Burdett Personel, 1773	275	(5)
James Patton (I), 1783--1789	280	(7)
Thomas McMahon, William Sotherin, and John Justice, 1789--1793	287	(5)
James Doyle, 1789	292	(4)
Stephen Fotterall, 1791	296	(4)
Charles O'Hagan and Mary Dunn, 1796	300	(3)
Samuel Brown, 1793--1815	303	(14)
V Merchants, Shopkeepers, and Peddlers
Francis Campble, 1737--1742	317	(6)
Robert Pillson, 1764	323	(5)
John O'Kelly, 1773	328	(3)
Thomas Shipboy, Jr., 1774	331	(5)
James Patton (2), 1789--1839	336	(13)
Margaret Carey Murphy Burke, 1798	349	(13)
Mary Cumming, 1814--1815	362	(19)
VI Clergymen and Schoolmasters
Rev. John Craig, 1734--1769/70	381	(19)
Rev. Samuel Blair, 1744	400	(15)
Bernard M'Kenna, 1811	415	(20)
VII Irish Immigrants in Politics and War
Rev. James McGregor and John McMurphy, 1720--1730	435	(17)
Dr. Charles Carroll, 1748	452	(9)
Silvester Ferrell, Charles Lewis Reily, Peter Warren Johnson, and George Croghan, 1745--1764	461	(15)
Samuel Bryan, 1752	476	(11)
Rev. Thomas Barton, 1758	487	(12)
Thomas Burke, ca. 1766--1767	499	(11)
Rev. Francis Alison, 1768	510	(11)
John Morton, 1769	521	(9)
John McDonnell, 1771	530	(6)
James Caldwell, 1774	536	(11)
Matthew Patten, 1774--1776	547	(12)
John Phillips, 1783	559	(8)
Job Johnson, 1784	567	(5)
David Redick and Ædanus Burke, 1787--1788	572	(13)
Daniel McCurtin, 1798	585	(11)
Robert McArthur, 1802	596	(7)
John Nevin, 1804	603	(5)
Thomas Addis Emmet, 1806--1807	608	(11)
William Heazelton, Jr., 1814	619	(12)
Epilogue
John Caldwell, Jr., 1802	631	(56)
Appendices
1 Text and Language	649	(7)
2 Irish Migration and Demography, 1659--1831	656	(22)
3 Additional Documents	678	(9)
Sources	687	(78)
Index	765