• Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Newsletter
  • Calendar
    • Bloomsday
  • Membership
    • Resources
  • Contact
  • Music
  • The Irish and the Erie
Craobh Dugan-O'Looney
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Newsletter
  • Calendar
    • Bloomsday
  • Membership
    • Resources
  • Contact
  • Music
  • The Irish and the Erie

The First Elected Mayor of Utica was Irish

1/27/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
​On August 6, 1777, the day General Nicholas Herkimer took a bullet in his knee at the Battle of Oriskany, a little boy in Co. Wexford, in the southern part of Ireland, had just celebrated his third birthday in style at his family’s estate near Enniscorthy. Of course, young John C. Devereux knew nothing of the revolution raging in a land across the ocean. He couldn’t have foreseen the rebellion that would drive him from his home nor the effect he would have on that far away valley Herkimer fought to set free.

Twenty years later, Devereux stepped on to a dock in New York, forced to flee Ireland after his activities on behalf of the United Irishmen were discovered. Only a year later, during the Rebellion of 1798, his family, who stayed to finish the fight, lost all their wealth and even the life of one son, James, at the Battle of Vinegar Hill.

But safe in the States, teaching dancing for a living, John made his way from New York through New England to Utica in 1802. There he traded his minuets for merchandise and succeeded beyond his dreams. The supply and demand of selling dry goods and groceries in a booming frontier city, together with his industrious habits, polished manners, and kind generosity brought him $100,000 a year. 

His surviving brothers joined him in this new nation and in 1814 Nicholas, the youngest, became John’s business partner. Together they built the Devereux Block on the west side of Bagg’s Square in downtown Utica, a grand five-story building with stores on the first floor and offices above. It stood until 1990 when it was razed after a fire. 
Picture

​Their neighbors admired their success and asked them for sage advice regarding money. At the time, Utica had no bank but the Devereuxs had a strongbox at the store which they offered as a safe place to keep the coins of Uticans. They kept careful accounts and paid interest to depositors. Then in 1839 they officially formed the Savings Bank of Utica. John served as its first president. And the strongbox survives in the gold dome bank's lobby on Genesee Street to this day.

There were other firsts too. John donated the funds to build the first Roman Catholic Church west of Albany - Old St. John’s, still at Bleecker and John Streets today. And he established Utica’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade in 1824, still celebrated on Genesee Street every March. And in 1840, John C. Devereux became the first mayor of Utica elected by the citizens. Up to then, Utica’s mayors had been appointed by the city council.

On December 11, 1848, John finished his generous and productive life in the city he served so well. Moses M. Bagg later wrote of him, “...a very prince among his fellows was John C. Devereux whose honourable career and many deeds of charity left behind him a memory as verdant as that of the green isle whence he came."

This is the third installment in a series about early Irish pioneers of the Mohawk Valley. See the first article about Sir William Johnson here, and the second about Dominick Lynch here.
0 Comments

The First Builder of Rome, NY, Was Irish

12/30/2019

1 Comment

 
Picture
The city that is Rome, NY, today was nothing but an abandoned fort, a swamp, and a lot of potential when Irish-born Dominick Lynch mapped out his vision for the community in 1796. Over the next 29 years he built up a thriving town he called Lynchville, criss-crossed by streets he named after his friends and family. Those familiar street names include, James, Jasper, Louisa, Ann, John, and Henry (after some of his 13 children), Dominick and Lynch (after himself), and George and Washington (after his friend the Father of our Country). Lynch had the honor of attending George Washington’s inaugural ball in 1789 having become acquainted with him when they were neighbors in New York City.
Picture
Dominick Lynch, originally from Galway, Ireland, was the first to develop Rome, NY.

The first article in this series is about Sir William Johnson and you can read it here. The third covers John and Nicholas Devereux and will be published in February 2020.
​Lynch was born into a wealthy family of Galway merchants and politicians in 1754, and moved to New York City in 1785, bringing with him his wife Jane and a large fortune he had amassed through his business dealings in Ireland. While in New York, he continued to increase his wealth through investments, speculation and other business enterprises. One of his savvy purchases in 1786 was the land where Rome is now. 

There he built a sawmill, cotton factory, and a woolen factory. He helped guide the construction of the Inland Canal, which connected the Mohawk River to Wood Creek eliminating the need to carry boats and cargo across the Carrying Place. Later, he turned over to the state his property in south Rome for the Erie Canal. He donated the land in downtown Rome where the Oneida County Courthouse, St. Peter’s Church, and the former City Hall now stand. He also donated land for two parks known as Veterans and Gansevoort today.

Despite all the good he did, Lynch was disliked by the early settlers of Rome because of one practice he brought with him from his native Ireland. Instead of selling land lots to them, he rented them. He even rented the swamp land south of Rome in 1 ½ acre lots to those who rented village lots. But he only charged one peppercorn a year for those.

Lynch built a house on the southeast corner of the old Fort Stanwix, but it burned in 1824. He returned to his mansion in Westchester County where he died on June 5, 1825.

This is the second installment in a series about early Irish pioneers of the Mohawk Valley. See the first article about Sir William Johnson here, and the third about John C. Devereux here.
1 Comment

The First Baronet of New York Was Irish

10/30/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
One of the first Irishmen to arrive in the Mohawk Valley would go on to become one of the richest and most powerful men in colonial America. He was Sir William Johnson. Born in Co. Meath, he traveled to New York in 1737 at the age of 22. His uncle Peter Warren had hired him to lead a band of 12 Irish families to establish a community on his land near present-day Warrensburgh. Quickly Johnson began to build his fortune through the fur trade and land acquisition. In 1755 Johnson distinguished himself at the Battle of Lake George, which earned him the title of Baronet from King George II of England. (This title has passed down to his descendants to this day. The current Baronet of New York lives in London.) 

But more than his growing wealth or his title, it was his extraordinary ability to communicate with the Native Americans that made him a legend of colonial New York. He learned to speak the Mohawk language, had eight children with his Mohawk wife, and was given a name of honor by the Mohawks - “Warraghiyagey” - which in English means, "a man who undertakes great things". 

Johnson Hall, his home that still stands in present-day Johnstown, NY, was a place known for generous hospitality with plenty of music and dancing, fine food and drink, a menagerie of pets including dogs, birds, and monkeys, and rooms to accommodate a constant stream of guests.

Johnson died from a stroke while speaking at an Indian conference at his home on July 11, 1774. He left an estate of 170,000 acres of land. Just two years later, his heir, Sir John Johnson, lost it all when American patriots seized it during the Revolutionary War. The marks are still visible on the stairway railing where patriot militia members pounded their rifle butts on the day they took the house.

Photos taken by Sue Romero at Johnson Hall State Historic Site.

This is the first installment in a series about early Irish pioneers of the Mohawk Valley. See the second article about Dominick Lynch here and the third about John C. Devereux here.
0 Comments

    RSS Feed

    Author

    The Craobh Dugan-O'Looney blog is written by Sue Smith Romero. ​Questions? Corrections? Send them on to her at uticairish@gmail.com

    Categories

    All
    Central New York
    Christmas
    Concerts
    Halloween
    Holidays
    Irish Dance
    Irish History
    Irish Language
    Irish Music
    Irish Poetry
    Irish & The Erie
    Irish Women
    Members
    Mohawk Valley Series
    Special Events

Sign Up for our Newsletter
© Craobh Dugan-O'Looney COPYRIGHT 2021 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.             Web Design and Maintenance by Green Pencil Content.
Privacy Policy
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Newsletter
  • Calendar
    • Bloomsday
  • Membership
    • Resources
  • Contact
  • Music
  • The Irish and the Erie