1 Very Rev. William Byrne, D.D., History of the Catholic Church in the New England States, Vol. 2, (Boston: The Hurd & Everts Co., 1899), 33; Elias B. Sanford, A History of Connecticut, (Hartford: The S.S. Scranton Company, 1922), 24.
2 Byrne, 34. Bruce Clouette and Matthew Roth, consultants, Great Captain Island Lighthouse, (Hartford: Connecticut Historical Commission, 1991).
3 Byrne, 34-35.
4 Byrne, 35.
5 Byrne, 35.
6 Byrne, 35.
7 Henry R. Stiles, The History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut: Including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks, and Ellington, 1635-1891, Vol. 1., History, (Hartford: Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, 1891), 82.
8 At the time of its repeal during the general revision of the statutes, the first of the two laws was the oldest statute provision on record not previously
repealed. Stiles, 81.
9 John Q. Pendergast, The Cromwell Settlement of Ireland, (New York: P.M. Haverty, 1868), 244.
10 Pendergast, 244-245.
11 Irish estimates of the figure place it at a value closer to 100,000, though this total is very likely inflated. Rev. Aug. J. Thebaud, Ireland Past and Present, (New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1878), 384; Byrne, 38; Pendergast, 246.
12 The Edmund Fanning House (See Inventory Index) is located at 44 Main Street, Stonington, CT, 06378.
13 Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society, “Stonington: From Colonial Refugee Came Line of Yankee Sea Captains,” The Shanachie, Vol. 24, No. 3 (2012), 5.
14 Byrne, 40.
15 Constance Luyster, Administrative Trainee, Bacon (Jabez) House, (Hartford: Connecticut Historical Commission, 1971), 8-1.
16 Lyon’s time in Connecticut was spent on the estate of Jabez Bacon, this located at 30 Hollow Road, Woodbury, CT, 06798 (See Inventory Index). William Cothren, History of Ancient Woodbury, Connecticut, From The First Indian Dee in 1659 to 1854, Including The Present Towns of Washington, Southbury, Bethlehem, Roxbury, and a part of Oxford and Middlebury, (Waterbury: Bronson Brothers, 1854), 320; James Fairfax McLaughlin, Matthew Lyon; The Hampden of Congress, A Biography, (New York: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Company, 1900), 1, 7, 23-24, 62, 68, 97, 114.
17 Michael Joseph O’Brien, A Hidden Phase of American History: Ireland’s Part in America’s Struggle for Liberty, (New York, NY., Dodd, Mead and Company, 1919), 20-21.
18 The John McCurdy House (See Inventory Index) still stands at 1 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT, 06731. O’Brien, 20-21; Katharine Mixer Abbott, Old Paths and Legends of the New England Border: Connecticut, Deerfield, Berkshire, (Berkshire County, MA., G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907), 56. 19 Byrne, 41.
20 Matthew O’Conor, The History of the Irish Catholics From the Settlement in 1691, With a View of the State of Ireland From the Invasion by Henry
II, to the Revolution, (Dublin: J. Stockdale, 1813), 197.
21 Right Rev. John Lancaster Spalding, D.D., Religious Mission of the Irish People and Catholic Colonization, (New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1880), 104.
22 O’Brien, Appendix.
23 The town of Sterling was not separated from Voluntown and incorporated until May 1794.
24 Horace Edwin Hayden, Alfred Hand, and John Woolf Jordan, Genealogical and Family History of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, (Lackawanna County, PA: Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), 58.
25 The Shanachie, Vol. 24, No. 3 (2012), 5; Hayden, 58; Ellen Douglas Larned, History of Windham County, Connecticut: 1600-1760, (Worcester,
MA: Self-published, 1874), 248-250.
26 Charles McLean Andrews, Connecticut’s Place in Colonial History; An Address Delivered Before the Connecticut Society of Colonial Wars, 28 May 1923, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1924), 22.
27 O’Brien, 373.
28 Neil Hogan, The Cry of the Famishing; Ireland, Connecticut and the Potato Famine, (East Haven, CT: Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society, 1998), 6.
29 Ellsworth Strong Grant, Yankee Dreamers and Doers, (Chester, CT: Pequot Press, 1974), 22.
30 Bruce Clouette, Consultant. Enfield Canal, (Hartford, CT: Connecticut Historical Commission, 1976), 8-2; Michael S. Raber, Consultant.
Farmington Canal (New Haven and Northampton Canal), (Hartford, CT: Connecticut Historical Commission, 1985), 8-7; Grant, 22.
31 Bruce Clouette, Consultant. Enfield Canal, (Hartford, CT: Connecticut Historical Commission, 1975), 8-2.
32 Michael S. Raber, Consultant. Farmington Canal (New Haven and Northampton Canal), (Hartford, CT: Connecticut Historical Commission, 1985), 8-7.
33 Michael S. Raber, Consultant. Farmington Canal (New Haven and Northampton Canal), (Hartford, CT: Connecticut Historical Commission, 1985), 8-7.
34 Bruce Clouette, Consultant. Enfield Canal, (Hartford, CT: Connecticut Historical Commission, 1975), 8-2; Michael S. Raber, Consultant.
Farmington Canal (New Haven and Northampton Canal), (Hartford, CT: Connecticut Historical Commission, 1985), 8-7; Grant, 102-105.
35 Evidence in Windsor Locks also points to what may be an unmarked burial site for Catholic canal workers, this identified in a 1935 inventory of State cemeteries. Christopher Kervick, “Recent Discovery May Identify Burial Site of Windsor Locks Canal Laborers,”
<http://www.kervicklaw.com/burialsite.html?mode=preview> (Accessed January 10, 2014).
36 Bruce Clouette, Consultant. Enfield Canal, (Hartford, CT: Connecticut Historical Commission, 1975), 8-2; Michael S. Raber, Consultant. Farmington Canal (New Haven and Northampton Canal), (Hartford, CT: Connecticut Historical Commission, 1985), 8-7; Grant, 22; Christopher Kervick, “Recent Discovery May Identify Burial Site of Windsor Locks Canal Laborers,”
<http://www.kervicklaw.com/burialsite.html?mode=preview> (Accessed January 10, 2014).
37 Bruce Clouette, Consultant. Enfield Canal, (Hartford, CT: Connecticut Historical Commission, 1975), 8-2.
38 Grant, 102-105.
39 Grant, 105-107; Richard Malley, “Iron and Water: The Norwich & Worcester Story,” < http://connecticuthistory.org/iron-and-water-the-norwich- worcester-railroad-story/> (Accessed January 10, 2014).
40 Grant, 105; Tina Lender, “Lisbon: Connecticut Closeup; A Concise History of Our Towns & Places,” Hartford Courant, December 23, 2012, p. B2; Richard Malley, “Iron and Water: The Norwich & Worcester Story,” < http://connecticuthistory.org/iron-and-water-the-norwich-worcester- railroad-story/> (Accessed January 10, 2014).
41 Grant, 107, 231; Hogan, 28.
42 Spalding, 56-57.
43 Spalding, 61.
44 Spalding, 61.
45 Byrne, 2.
46 Byrne, 3. In 1890 the Catholic population (bolstered by ethnic groups other than the Irish) numbered 152,945, this versus the state’s 142,184 Protestants. By 1899, the former number had grown to 250,000.
47 Right Rev. Thomas J. Shahan, D.D., ed., The Catholic Historical Review: For the Study of the Church History of the United States, Vol. 1, April 1915, to January 1916, (Washington D.C.: The Catholic University of America, 1916), 152.
48 The present church, designed by notable Irish Architect Patrick Charles Keeley, replaced the 1851 structure after the latter was destroyed by fire in 1875. Hartford Architecture: Volume 1, Downtown, (Hartford: Hartford Architecture Conservancy, 1980), 41; Byrne, 188.
49 Byrne, 190-191; Shahan, 153.
50 Byrne, 4, 191.
51 Byrne, 2.
52 Byrne, 258. 328, 405, 416.
53 Byrne, 416.
54 Hogan, 16.
55 Hogan, 37-38.
56 Hogan, 37-38.
57 Hogan, 93.
58 David Ross, Ireland: History of a Nation, (New Lanark, Scotland: Geddes & Grosset, 2002), 226; Hogan, 94.
59 Hogan, 108.
60 Hogan, 107.
61 Hogan, 107-110.
62 Hogan, 120; Byrne, 192.
63 “Once Upon a Time: Norwich’s Irish Community Rooted in 1830s,” Norwich Bulletin, March 13, 2011,
<http://www.norwichbulletin.com/x698045455/Bill-Stanley-Norwich-s-Irish-community-rooted-in-1830s#axzz2UojRNml4> (Accessed March 10, 2014); Bruce Clouette, Consultant. Taftville/Ponemah Mill National Register District, (Hartford, CT: Connecticut Historical Commission, 1978), 8- 38; Jan Cunningham, Consultant. Greeneville Historic District, (Hartford, CT: Connecticut Historical Commission, 2005), 8-5.
64 Hogan, 120.
65 Hogan, 120; Nils Kerschus, Consultant. Glenville Historic District, (Hartford, CT: Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office, 2007), 8-5; David Ransom, Consultant. New York Belting and Packing Co., (Hartford, CT: Connecticut Historical Commission, 1982), 8-5; “Newtown: Not Just a Little Irish,” Newtown Bee, March 15, 2007; Bruce Clouette and Maura Cronin, Consultant. Bigelow-Hartford Carpet Mills Historic District, (Hartford, CT: Connecticut Historical Commission, 1994), 8-1.
66 Dr. Joanne Kleussendorf, Consultant. Portland Brownstone Quarries, (Hartford, CT: Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office, 2000), 9; Rachel Carley, Consultant. Lakeville Manor, (Hartford, CT: Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office, 2014), 8-2; Dale S. Plummer, Consultant. Lime Rock Historic District, (Hartford, CT: Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office, 1984), 8-3.
67 Hogan, 127.
68 Beers, Ellis and Soule, “Map of New Haven County,” 1868; U.S. Census returns, 1870.
69 Baker and Tilden, “Map of Hartford City and County,” 1869; F.W. Beers & Co., “Map of Litchfield County,” 1874; U.S. Census returns, 1870, 1880.
70 Hogan, 134.
71 Hogan, 135; U.S. Census returns, 1850-1870.
72 Ronald H. Bayor and Timothy J. Meagher, The New York Irish, (Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press, 1996), 120; Hogan, 142.
73 Hogan, 142.
74 Hogan, 146.
75 Byrne, 315. “Centennial,” Danbury News-Times, September 8, 1983, p. KC4.
76 Email from Robert T. Murphy to Patricia Heslin, “Architects Patrick Keely and James Murphy.” (Need email date); Dr. Kevin F. Deckler, Patrick Charles Keely (1816-1896), Department of History, State University of New York, Plattsburg, <http://archive.is/51rRV> (March 13, 2014); Rhode Island Historical Society Manuscripts Division, Murphy, Hindle and Wright, Architects Records, <http://www.rihs.org/mssinv/MSS1110.htm> (March 13, 2014).
77 Byrne, 129.
78 Byrne, 233-234.
79 Byrne, 233-234; Hogan, 148.
80 Hogan, 148.
81 Byrne, 385.
82 The towns in parentheses indicate the parish each priest served upon arrival from Ireland. Byrne, 397, 432, 439, 441.
83 Hogan, 150.
84 Hogan, 150; Byrne, 9, 174.
85 Hogan, 160.
86 Hogan, 160.
87 Hogan, 161-2.
88 Hogan, 162.
89 Hogan, 167; Hartford Courant, April 7, 1856; New Haven Palladium, March 25, 1854.
90 Hogan, 167.
91 John Nixon, Gideon Welles; Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1973), 259.
92 Hogan, 168-169; New Haven Palladium, June 3, 1853.
93 Hogan, 169.
94 Hogan, 170.
95 Tyler Anbinder, Nativism and Slavery: The Northern Know Nothings and the Politics of the 1850s, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1992), 136; Hogan, 171.
96 Hogan, 108-109.
97 Knights of Columbus, 1882-1899: The Founding, History of the Knights of Columbus, < http://www.kofc.org/un/en/about/history/index.html> (May 14, 2014); American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives, Knights of Columbus, The Catholic University of America, < http://archives.lib.cua.edu/res/docs/NewCent/knights.htm> (May 14, 2014).
98 Ibid.
99 Hogan, 117.
100 Hogan, 118.
101 In June 1940 the Cathedral Lyceum would be purchased by another ethnic organization, the Lithuanian American Citizens Club, for use as a social hall. “Cathedral Lyceum to Build: Over $1,300 Raised – Gift of a Lot by W.P. O’Neil,” Hartford Courant, March 26, 1895; “Cathedral Lyceum Lecture: America’s Debt to the Roman Catholic Church,” Hartford Courant, April 23, 1896; “Esmeralda,” Hartford Courant, May 16, 1905; “Joseph Glanz Buys Cathedral Lyceum,” Hartford Courant, June 3, 1920.
102 Diana McCain, Fighting Sons of Erin: Connecticut’s Irish Regiment in the Civil War, ConnecticutHistory.org,
< http://connecticuthistory.org/fighting-sons-of-erin-connecticuts-irish-regiment-in-the-civil-war/> (May 19, 2014).
103 Murray, Thomas Hamilton, History of the Ninth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, “The Irish Regiment,” in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-65,” (New Haven, CT: The Price, Lee & Adkins Co., 1903), 25.
104 Murray, 32-34.
105 Murray, 42; Connecticut Historical Society, Soldiers Monument, 9th Regt. Conn. Vol., Connecticut’s Civil War Monuments, < http://www.chs.org/finding_aides/ransom/078.htm> (May 19, 2014).
106 The American-Irish Historical Society was founded in Boston, Massachusetts on January 20, 1897. Connecticut Historical Society, Soldiers
Monument, 9th Regt. Conn. Vol., Connecticut’s Civil War Monuments, < http://www.chs.org/finding_aides/ransom/078.htm> (May 19, 2014).
107 Connecticut Historical Society, Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch, Connecticut’s Civil War Monuments,
<http://www.chs.org/finding_aides/ransom/049.htm> (May 19, 2014); Amanda P. Roy, The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch, Hartford,
ConnecticutHistory.org,
<http://connecticuthistory.org/the-soldiers-and-sailors-memorial-arch-hartford/> (May 19, 2014).
108 Thomas J. Archdeacon, Becoming American: An Ethnic History, (New York, NY: The Free Press, 1983), 49-51.
109 Maldwyn Allen Jones, American Immigration, (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1992), 150.
110 Hogan, 175.
111 Hogan, 176.
112 Archdeacon, 100.
113 Killingly Historical Society Journal, Vol. 7, 2005.
114 “Woman Factory Inspector Appointed,” Hartford Courant, October 2, 1907; “Woman Inspector Begins Her Work,” Hartford Courant, October 19, 1907.
115 “Hartford Irishwoman was heroine of Suffrage Drive,” The Shanachie, Vol. XVIII No. 1, 2006.
CT Irish-American
Heritage Trail
640 Arrowhead Drive
Orange, CT 06477
The Irish experience has had a profound impact on Connecticut's past, and its narrative spans all periods of the state's history and touches every one of its eight counties and 169 towns.
