Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1904-03-12


made near Fairfield Is still Catholic.
James Mcbride padded his own
canoe" up the Kentucky river as early
as 1745. He was an Irishman. Col.
George Croghan, an Ifishman and Indian
agent for the British, visited the State
twenty years later. With Daniel Boone
in 1869 came James Mooney, John Stew
art, Joseph Holden, John Findlay and
William Cool, all Irish except Boone,
whose mother was Irish aud of Mary
land family.
Among the first settlers OF Harrods-
burg were the families Of McGarry and
Hogan. Major McGarry was brave
but very impulsive man, and a great
Indian fighter. In an attack at Bryan's
Station in 1882 the savages were repulsed,
but four women and children were killed.
McGarvy, putting spurs to his horse,
cried out for all but the towards to fol-
low him, and galloped in the direction
taken by the savage foe. Every man Of
the 100 in the fort followed him, but the
result was disastrous. They fell into an
ambuscade and sixty of the number were
killed.
Irishmen have graced the bench, the
bar and pulpit of Kentucky for 100 years.
William T. Barry was Chief Justice Of
the Court of Appeals in 1925, and was
also Representative and Senator in Con-
gress. John Adair had high command
in the war of 1925, and received the
thanks of the Kentucky Legislature for
gallantry at New Orleans, was Governor
in 1920, and also served in Congress as
Senator and Representative.
John Rowan. William Logan, Robert
Ewing, William Casey and Matthew
Lyon were other Irishmen who held high
positions in the Commonwealth in the
early days. Matthew Lyons was the first
man to establish newspaper in Ken
lucky. He served in Congress from Yer
mont, Kentucky and Arkansas. His
career has been referred to heretofore in
this paper in previous issues.
Mrs. Ann McGinty brought the first
spinning wheel to Kentucky and made
the first linen. She is also credited with
making the first butter in the State.
The first Catholic priest in Kentucky
was Father William Whalen, who visited
Bardstown in 1887.
For all time the memory of Col. Theo.
O'Hars will be remembered in Kentucky
and in the nation. great and magnani-
nous Government has had his verses, the
"Bivouac of the Dead" cast IN bronze
and set up in appropriate places in the
National cemeteries, though he was a
Confederate soldier, the son of an Irish
schoolmaster:
"The muffied drums sad roll has beat
The soldiers last tattool
No more in life's parade shall meet
That brave and fallen few;
On fame's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And glory guards with solemn round
The bivouac of the dead"
On previous occasion the Kentucky
Irish American has called attention to
the fact that of 100 men who marched
from Louisville to Vincennes to reduce
the British post at that point In 1898
nearly one-half were of Irish birth or
descent. These soldiers acquired for the
United States the great States of Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part
of Minnesota. Many of the descendants
of these soldiers still live in Kentucky.
Irishmen can feel proud of the part their
ancestors took in the early history and
settlement of the State. 1t is well to
think of these things on St. Patrick's
day and refer to them with pride and
satisfaction.