The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1869-01-24
HERMAN BLENNERHAssErT.

Aaron BurrS conspiracy, as 1t was called, IN
volved many persons of note, but none whose
fate excited so much sympathy as that of Blen-
nerhassett. William Wirts forensic eloquence
at Burr's trial placed him high in public opin-
ion, and threw q halo of romance around Blen-
nerhassett which has been considered more or
less mythical. The following condensed bio
graphy, which we take from the Irish Citizen,
shows that it was Mt least eventful:
Blennerhassett belonged to respectable
Irish family, the branches of which lived for
centuries in the counties of Cork and Kerry,
where some of them still hold high place
among the gentry, and count kindred with the
best names Of the country. He was born in
admitted to the Barristers' Society, of Kings
Inn, in 1890. But he had no taste for the
drudgery of the law. He went to Paris in 1892,
and looked calmly about him in the midst of
the republican hurricane then raging. He was,
as all philosophers must needs be, the friend of
liberty, and he read and thought much about
the liberation of the American Colonies their
before them. His thoughts were with the
! beautiful Ohio instead of the Lee or the Liffey.
He sold his estate in Kerry to his relation,
Lord ventry, and went to England, where his
sister, the wife of Admiral De Courcy, then re-
sided.
At the house of his sister, Herman Blenner-
hassett met the beautiful and accomplished
Miss Agnew, granddaughter of Gen. Agnew,
who was killed at the battle of Germantown,
in America. They naturally talked together of
the fresh, free new world, of the forest-crowned
and beautiful Ohio, of q homo upon its fertile
>hanks washed by it's bright waters. They fell
in love over it, and were married, and, with all
his earthly treasures and his best hopes, left
the old country, and landed in New York in the
year 1897.
They remained but short time in that city
In the fall of the same year they found them
selves at Marietta, ON the Ohio, which looked
remarkably like the place that had appeared to
them in several successive dreams But on
looking further they found the very spot-a
small island in the Ohio, about two miles be-
low Parkersburg, near the mouth of the Little
Kanawha river. Blennerhassett purchased
part of this island-a demesne of 40 acres
for $500, and he and his wife found themselves
in their own wild and satisfactory log cabin in
the fall of the year 1898. This was the happi-
est period of their lives, for it was full of plea
SAINT anxieties and surprising achievements. 1t
is said that over $4,000 were expended on this
beautiful home, which contained nearly all the
elegant conveniences and ornaments of the
best city residences. Blennerhassett himself
as philosopher, did not care much for these
things, bnt they gratifed his wife, and that
was enough for him. He was plain-looking
unobtrusive man, slight, and six feet high
with q reserved and silent manner, and very
ar-sighted. Mrs. Blennerhassett was re-
markable as her husband, but in another way.
She was a fine-looking woman, with brown hair
and . most engaging countenauce. She was
great equestrian, and on horseback she sat as