Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1904-03-12
PIONEERS
In the Early Settlement of Ken
lucky Were Mostly From
Ireland.
Amid Unequalled PrivatiOns
They Blazed Way For
Civilization.
For Over One Hundred Years
Irishmen Have Led in
This State.
SOMETHING VIZ CAN BIZ PROUD OF

st. Patrick's day is fitting time to
call attention in this paper, the only Irish
American journal in Kentucky, to the
pioneers and builders of this grand old
Commonwealth-the explorers OF its
waters and its plains, the men who estab-
lished our independence, the men and
women who cleared the primeval forests,
extending the outposts of civilization
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Without
school or church they established Chris
tan homes and amid unequaled privations
they opened up for the country the great
Middle West. The pioneers of Kentucky
we're of Irish biith or extraction to large
extent. We need the example of the
pioneer to recall to us the nobler view of
life, and to teach us the deeper lessons of
right living. We can in no way better
insure our future than by knowing and
admiring the pioneers and in striving to
excel them in the virtues which mark
their lives. 1t is in no spirit of boastfulness
that the Kentucky Irish American from
time to time recalls the deeds of the early
Irish in Kentucky, but rather that the
rising generation may know something
accurate about the early history of the
State.
DIR, Hart and William Coomes were
among the first Catholic settlers In Ken
lucky, locating In Harrodsburg in l775.
The doctor was the first medical practi-
toner in the Commonwealth, and Mrs
Coomes was the first school teacher.
This credit is given them in Collins
History of Kentucky. The descendants
of William Coomes still live here, and
one of them, Martin F. Coomes, NJ. D.,
Is distinguished Louisville physician.
Among the fortified stations or forts
built for protection against the Indians
by the early settlers not few bore names
familiar to Irish ears, denoting the pres
ence of many of the Irish race. Among
them may be mentioned Bryan's Station,
Doherty's Station, Drennan's Lick, Fea-
CAMS Station, Firms Station, Fleming
Station, Harris Station, Higgins Block
House, Irish Station, Lynch's Station,
Logan's Ford, McAfee's Station. Nc
Fadden's Station, McGee's Station, Nc
Cormick's, Sullivan's. McKennan's, Nc
Connell's, Kennedy's. Gilmore's and
other stations having Irish names.
Kentucky counties bearing Irish names
are Adair, Butler, Logan, Lyon. Hart,
Montgomery, McCracken, Fleming, Boyle,
Carroll, Rowan, Knox and Casey.
John Carly, the most successful mer-
chant in Lexington in early times, was a
son of John Carly, native of Ireland,
who came early to Kentucky from New
Jersey.
AS late as 1910 there were sixty snr-
yiving veterans of the Revolutionary war
resident In Kentucky bearing Irish names
as follows:
James McElroy, Andrew Imam, James
McElhany, James Fitzpatrick, Michael
Moore, William Brady, George Bryan,
Edward Mcconnell, Michael Smith,
Michael Freeman, John Hart, Jos. Dunn,
William DeCoursey, David Driscoll,
John Short, John Dehan, Richard Wade.
Randall Haley. Cornelius Sullivan, Hugh
Drennon, Patrick Mccain, E. Madden,
John Burke, David Kennedy, Timothy
Logan, John Slavin, James Logan, John
Martin, John Heron, Patrick Marvin,
Michael Hargan, Daniel Bryan, John
Carroll, John MCGEE, John Murphy. Jo-
seph Casey, Richard Ballew. John Keen,
Stephen Collins, William Lyons, Jacob
Dooley, William Kelly, chas. Hart, WILL
lam Conner, Dan Mccarthy, Robert
Burke, John Reilly, John Mahon, Martin
Hughes, Joseph Sweeney, Thomas
Laughlin, John Adair, Patrick coyle,
Dennis Daley, John McQuilty, William
Devine, John Mitchell, Gen. Richard
Butler, Major John Finley, Col. James
Morrison.
An idea OF Irish blood In Kentucky In
early times can be formed from the study
Of the above names. Nearly all the great
Irish family names are represented. and
the absence Of old Testament names, SO
common among those Of the Presby-
terrain and Congregational denomina-
lions, indicate that they we're of Catholic
stock, at least when they or their fathers
immigrated. The first settlers we're from
Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland.
The latter were Catholics and settled