Of Irish-born there were 3292 in Trenton in 1900, 2481 in 1910, and 1871 in 1920.

IRISH LEADERS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY DAYS AND LATER

Ireland began to be represented in the population of the city and its environs previous to the Revolutionary War. Patrick Colvin kept the Delaware River ferry at the foot of what is now Ferry Street, in those early days, and Patrick Lamb, who resided near Quaker Bridge on the Assunpink, was one of the three trusted guides who led Washington's Army on its memorable secret march to Princeton by a back road on the night of January 2, 1777. When Washington passed through Trenton on his way to New York to be inaugurated in 1789, Colvin ferried him across the Delaware and among the incidents of his reception here was a salute fired by Bernard Hanlon's Battery. Hanlon was an important mill-owner on the Assunpink at what is now the corner of North Clinton Avenue and Nottingham Way and he was one of the deputy aldermen appointed under the city charter of 1792. Undoubtedly there were other Irish here concurrently with these more outstanding figures. Reliable tradition has it 1 that mass was first celebrated in Trenton at Thomas Kane's Fox Chase Tavern in 1782 or 1783, the worshippers being largely made up of Irish immigrants. The first Trenton pottery of which we have exact knowledge was established in 1816 by John McCully, who was of Irish stock. 1 See John D. McCormick's historical sketch.

THE LATER IMMIGRATION

The flood-time of Irish immigration, however, set in when the potato famine of 1845 and subsequent years drove the inhabitants of the Emerald Isle from their homes. Many found their way to Trenton, attracted by the opportunities offered in our mills, chiefly the New Jersey Steel and Iron Works and the Roebling wire plant. They settled near their places of employment, chiefly in the Fourth Ward with overflows in the Sixth Ward and the lower end of the Third. So thick were they in one section of the Fourth that it became known as "Irishtown," and the Ward for many years was a Democratic stronghold.

Dr. Patrick McCaffrey was the first Irish physician in Trenton, settling on South Warren Street in the '50's. Peter P. Cantwell was the first parish school-teacher and he came to Trenton about the same period. Thomas Crawford, elected president of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, was at the head of Catholic charities for fifty years, Robert Wilson serving with him most of the time. Charles Lyons, a contractor, used in the early years to drive the Rev. John P. Mackin, the resident Catholic pastor and a genuine Soggarth Aroon, over many miles of territory every Sunday to administer to country missions. Before Father Mackin, who was pastor from 1845 to 1860 and again from 1871 to 1873, the Irish Catholics were served here by priests bearing such names as Doyle, Whelan, Commisky, Geoghan, Rafferty, Costello, McGorian and Gilligan, all redolent of a Celtic origin. Among the most prominent of the early Irish settlers were the McLeas; besides William MeLea, the father, there were seven sons, all at the head and front of every industrial and religious movement.

The Right Rev. John Scarborough, the fourth bishop of New Jersey, was born in Ireland in 1831 at Castlewellan, County Down, and came to this country as a mere youth. Elected bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey in 1875 he lived in Trenton up to his death in 1914.

IRISH IN THE CIVIL WAR

By the time the Civil War began, the local Irish population had swelled to large proportions in the Fourth Ward and had also found homes in Chambersburg and North and East Trenton. Hugh McQuade was Captain of the Irish Volunteers organized as early as 1852 and John Travers was Captain of the Sarsfield Guard organized in 1854. Many Irish-Americans enlisted in the Union Army and several rose to some prominence in the service, including Captain Lawrence Farrell, Captain Robert S. Johnston, and First Lieutenant James H. Tallon. Walter S. McCormick, a young newspaper man, was killed in the Battle of Williamburgh, Va. General R. A. Donnelly, of Irish parentage, although not enlisting from Trenton, entered into business here immediately following the war and became a notable figure in politics and the Grand Army of New Jersey, enjoying for years the honor of being Quartermaster General of the State. Like his son, the present mayor, he served as mayor of Trenton. Later the Emmet Guard (subsequently Company D of the Seventh Regiment), was organized with John H. Leary as Captain, Edward Mullen as First Lieutenant and Michael Cantwell as Second Lieutenant. Upon the death of Captain Leary, Robert S. Johnston succeeded to the captaincy and his successors in turn were Michael Hurley and John E. Walsh.

Since the Civil War, Irishmen and their offspring have risen in considerable numbers from the humbler walks of life and have taken rank in business and public affairs. John and James Moses, North of Ireland representatives, rose to high places as manufacturing potters. Charles W. Donaghue was a stilt manufacturer and member of the Common Council. P. J. Fitzgibbon was a carriage manufacturer. James Doherty, Owen Healey and others have been engaged in the clay industry also. The number of those who have become prominent in the professions of the law, journalism, pedagogy, dentistry, and medicine as well as in business is too great to attempt even to list. Representatives of the Irish stock who have figured in official public life in one capacity or another are numerous.

IRISH-AMERICAN SOCIETIES

Various fraternal, social, and temperance societies have been maintained by men of Irish birth and descent in Trenton. The two most distinctively identified with the race are the Ancient Order of Hibernians and St. Patrick's Alliance, each with several branches in different sections of the city. They are treated in greater detail in the chapter on "Social and Fraternal Organizations."