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The Irish Catholic Genesis of Lowell

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The Irish Catholic Genesis of Lowell THE I RI SH CATHOLI C GENESI S OF LOWELL ’ W By GEORGE F. O DWYER Correspondmg Member of A me rican I rish His to rical Soaety REV ISED EDITION PRI NTED BY SULLI V AN BROTHERS LOWELL, MASS. 1920 BO STON C OLLEGE L HASS. C HESTNUT HIL . FOREW OR D Here , in the spac e of a few pages , is unfolded th e devel o pmen t of the Irish pioneers of Lowell. In their humble , rude beginnings , they were b eset with ridicule and ignorant intolerance . Through their physical fearless ness , native in tuition, and trust in their ancient Faith , they surmounted this and became , in the short space of twelve years , respected an d worthy citizens . In the Irish schools of th e town , their child r en were educated in Americanism and their Holy Faith , a h eritage which they have , in turn , handed down to successive h g enerations . Wit this heritage inspiring them , the Irish race in Lowell has prosp ered . And the seed of the Irish pioneers has lived and propa gated a thousandfold . As a result, Lowell stands today among the largest Irish and Catholic cities of the country . So , he who reads these few pages, let him ponder well , and marvel at the unexamp led progress of those who at first were ridi o d uled , later, respected , an today are lauded . THE AUTHOR THE IRISH CATHOLIC GENESIS OF LOWELL. s In the early years of the 1 9th century , Irish emigrant arriving at the p orts of Boston , N ew York , and even Quebec , were largely attracted by th e building of the New England manufacturing towns , esp ecially those along th e Merrimack - r iver in north eastern Massachusetts . These emigrants t oiled side by side with the “native ” builders of the mills and - canals and dug water ways which , later, turned the wheels o f the big cotton factories and machine shops . As the new i - ndustries drew thousands of employes , boarding houses an d homes were erected and Irish laborers used their brain an d f brawn in their construction . O these towns , Lowell , ( then known as E ast Chelmsford , ) was the most promising in future t p ossibili ies , and hundreds of emigrants of Celtic strain were drawn to its confines . Among them were a certain p ercent a e of E g skilled Scotch , nglish and Irish textile workers . In the space of a few years , the new settlement became famous internationally, and the most distinguished travellers of world prominence paid it a visit and marveled at its achievements . Irish Catholic labor and enterprise was a strong contrib n ting factor in the making of the settlement on the banks of 8 IRISH GENESIS OF LOWELL -b ullders mand . Like the ancient habitations of the mound and the Indians , they are now a part of ancient history, and ’ “R ” only a few traces remain . In Niles egister of Baltimore 1 1 for Aug . 27 , 83 , there was copied from the Portsmouth descri ( N . H . ) Journal , another newspap er of that period , a p tive account of “New Dublin” ( which was another name for “ ” the Acre settlement . ) It gives one a good idea of how “ Acre ” looked in those days “ In the suburbs of Lowell , within a few rods of the N e w D u blin canals, is a settlement, called by some , , which occupies rather more than an acre of ground . It contains a p opulation of not far from 5 00 Irish , who dwell in about 1 00 cabins , from 7 to 1 0 feet in fire- height, built of slabs and rough boards ; a place made of stone , in one end , topp ed out with two or three flour barrels or lime casks . In a c entral sit t nation , is th e school house , built in the same s yle - of the dwelling houses , turfed up to the eaves with a window in one end , and small holes in two sides for the admission of air and light . In this room are col ” 5 — lect ed together p erhaps 1 0 children . (Ports mouth N . H . From these rude huts and cabins sprang the descendants “ of the Irish canal builders and laborers ; in the humble pre at c in cts of these primal habit ions, was sown th e seed of the race which still vitalizes today th e flourishing towns and cit ies of this land . Out from the portals of these pioneer cabins s tepped the children who , later, became mayors , j udges, law rs ye , clergymen and prosperous tradesmen in Lowell and throughout th e country . t From the first set lement, the Catholic Irish of the differ ent camps ( and they were decidedly in th e maj ority) had in mind their Faith and their religious duties . In th e summer 1 822 R ev . of , Patrick Byrne , an Irish missionary priest, who of Cheveru s had been valuable help to Bishop , in ministering to the wants of the Irish in the diocese since his ordination in 1 820 , visited Chelmsford Neck ( now Lowell ) and Middlesex Village in the c ourse of an extensive missionary trip through - the towns and villages in north eastern Massachusetts . On 2 0th 1 822 August , , Father Byrne baptized th e first Irish Cath olic children in this vicinity . THE FOR MATIVE PERIOD 9 The first baptism in what is now Lowell was given in the Irish camp which was pitched on the present site of ’ Wheeler s block , at the corner of Merrimack and Tilden streets, and E llen , the child of Patrick and Ann Harrigan 22 the ( born in what is now Lowell , July 31 , 18 ) was recipient n o August 20th, The sponsors were Michael D oran ’ and Mary O Brien . On the same day, Father Byrne visited the little Irish settlement at the Chelmsford Glass Man ufac t ory in Middlesex Village , where a number of Irish laborers were employed . Here , the Irish missionary called at eight humble shacks or cabins , erected out of the rude material pro vide d, and baptized eight children and cheered the parents in their ancient mother tongue . Once again , after long wait ing , the men and women of the little Irish settlement heard th e missionary expound th e truths of the Faith in the language of the motherland , heartening th em and exhorting them .to stay “ true to the Faith of their forefathers . Father Byrne was undoubtedly the priest referred to by ’ “ Miss O Keefe and oth er historians who stated that tradition and reliable accounts mentioned that mass was celebrated for th 1 822 e first time , in Lowell in in what was known as the ‘ ’ ’ n ow Irish Camp on ground occupied by Wheeler s Block , t Tilden s reet, for the benefit of workmen employed on th e P ” awtucket canal under the direction of Hugh Cummiskey . R ev . John Mahony, the first p ermanent priest, did not visit Lowell until the fall of 1 827 . Bishop Benedict Fenwick in Boston watched over th e little settlement with p aternal solicitude . On the 2 4th of O 1 826 R ev ctober, , there arrived in Boston , . John Mahony, an Irish missionary priest from Maryland , who came with th e b est of credentials from Baltimore . Father Mahony had Un been seven years in the ited States , coming originally from County Kerry, Ireland . As he could sp eak the Irish lan , guage his advent into the diocese of Boston was a Godsend , for Bishop Fenwick had been looking and praying for a man of Father Mahoney ’ s calibre to tend the little Irish flocks in Lowell , Salem and Newburyport . The successful work of Fath er Mahony among the Irish colonies in Maryland and V 1 820 1 2 irginia , from to 8 6 , naturally received the com “1 G M H . Es . of L w eorge arrigan , $ , o ell , is a direct descendant of Patrick Harri an g . 1 0 IRISH GENESIS OF LOW ELL men dation fitting to th e zeal displayed by th e energetic Irish arr1ved re missionary, so when h e in Boston , Bishop Fenwick c eived him with op en arms and immediately appointed him to serve the little church in Salem , acting also as a missionary in the outlying settlements . r Meanwhile , th e Catholic leade s of the Irish community at Lowell had written from time to time to Bishop Fenwick for an Irish priest to sustain them in the practices of their Faith . These leaders were actuated , to a certain extent, by the tendency of some of th e more unruly spirits in the com - munity, to indulge in week end brawls , fomented by drinking, which led to faction fights and feuds , which did not tend to edify the native population . Bishop Fenwick had received more than a few letters and even visits from th e self-resp ect ing leaders of the community in Lowell , among whom was Hugh Cummiskey who led the vanguard into the town in 1 822 . As a result of the letters and visits , the Bish op decid ed to take up the subj ect matter with Father Mahony . On October 5th, 1827 , the missionary arrived in Boston from Sa lem for instructions . In the course of a long conversation , the Bishop informed him “ that he has received many applications ” from Lowell to have a priest at least occasionally ; “ an d oth er things touched upon in th e letters of th e l eaders of the Catholic community .
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