New Haven's Grove Street Cemetery Has Irish Roots
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Vol. XXIX— No. 3 — 2017 New Haven’s Grove Street Cemetery has Irish roots ... n Saturday, April 29, members of the vener who was the driving force in estab- O Connecticut Irish American Histori- lishing the cemetery was an Irish American. cal Society enjoyed a professional quality A native of Montville in New London guided tour of the historic Grove Street County, Hillhouse was a fifth generation Cemetery in downtown New Haven. Estab- descendant of ancestors who settled near lished in 1797, the cemetery is the first Lough Foyle in County Derry during the chartered burial ground in the United States plantation of Ulster that began in 1609. and a National Historic Landmark. The purpose of the plantation was to The tour guide was Patricia Illingworth, colonize much of Ulster with Protestant who in addition to being the chief docent of settlers from both England and Scotland. the cemetery is associated with the Jewish Wealthy men and London trade associa- Historical Society which shares space with tions were designated as “undertakers” of the Irish society at the Ethnic Heritage Cen- the plantation. They were granted land on ter on the Southern Connecticut State Uni- the condition that they import Protestant versity campus. tenants to replace native Irish Catholics The burying ground in downtown New whose land had been confiscated after the Haven is the resting place not only of nu- “Flight of the Earls,” the emigration from merous residents of early and even modern Ulster of the native Gaelic lords in 1607. -day New Haven, but also of renowned early In her 700-page history and genealogy of Americans: Eli Whitney, inventor of the the Hillhouse family published in 1924, cotton mill; Noah Webster, the author of Margaret P. Hillhouse of New Haven, wrote, American dictionaries; Roger Sherman, the “Abraham Hillhouse, or his father, was one only signer of all four of the nation’s bed- scholarship at Yale for African-American of those undertakers to whom … the peace- rock documents: the Continental Associa- divinity students; Walter Camp, the father ful development of Ulster depended after tion, the Declaration of Independence, Arti- of American football; etc., etc. the expulsion of the native owners of its cles of Confederation and U.S. Constitution; Grove Street Cemetery is a particularly soil. Of these (undertakers), fifty were of Mary A. Goodman, a former slave and New fitting destination for a tour by Irish Ameri- (Please turn to page 2) Haven tradeswoman who established a cans because James Hillhouse, the New Ha- … and Mory’s Temple Bar probably does too fter the tour of Grove Street Ceme- sion of the surname of the two New Haven southwestern coast of Ireland. A tery on April 29, members of our residents — Frank and Jane Moriarty — The clan was powerful and fierce. One historical society walked a block along who first owned the establishment that has source reports the Moriartys “possessed nearby York Street on the fringe of the Yale been a gathering place for Yale students for middle Kerry with Sullivans,” and built Cas- University campus to lunch at, in the words more than a century. tle Drum on the Bay of Tralee. Another says of the song, “the place where Louis dwells” Moriarty is an Irish name that originated that in 1641 when Irish rebels in Ulster and “where sing the Whiffenpoofs assem- centuries ago in the time when Celtic tribes were attacking plantation settlers like the bled with their glasses raised on high.” ruled Ireland. The name is written “O Muir- Hillhouses, County Kerry “became also in- Like the cemetery itself, Mory’s Temple cheartaigh” in the Irish language. It means fected … and had several regular troops and Bar is a treasured institution in downtown “sea worthy” or “navigator.” That name is companies (of rebels) proper to take the New Haven. Also like the cemetery, Mory’s appropriate given the homeland of the Mo- field.” Among the Kerry rebels was “Daniel seems to have had an Irish origin. Its name riarty clan near Tralee at the base of the Moriarty of Castle-Drum.” suggests that because it is a shortened ver- Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry on the (Please turn to page 7) 2 (Continued from page 1) English and fifty of Scottish birth … The family have held the tradition that our an- cestor was from England. In his will, COUNTY DONEGAL (Abraham) styles himself of Artikelly.” Artikelly — meaning “height of Ceallaih’s Dunboe house” — is a small village near the south- eastern shore of Lough Foyle, which is the COUNTY DERRY estuary of the River Foyle that separates County Donegal and County Derry. Aghanloo In more recent research, Robert Forrest of the Ulster Historical Foundation writes: Artikelly “The origin of the Hillhouse family is un- doubtedly Ayrshire in Scotland. Hillhouse is a surname of local origin from one or other of the half-dozen small places of the name in Ayrshire. The second home of the family is most definitely north Derry.“ On the map, the Hillhouse family settled in the early 1600s in Dunboe and Artikelly in County Immigration to Ireland Derry. Below, the gravestone of the Rev. James Hillhouse in New London, Connecticut. Forrest writes, “The earliest settler and Parish. The settlers took the advice of Con- the first of the name in Derry was Adam necticut Gov. Gurdon Saltonstall who urged Hillhous of the parish of Dunboe whose will them “to engage the services of Mr. James was probated in 1635.” Dunboe is on the Hillhouse from Ireland …” coast five or so miles northeast of Artikelly. Hillhouse agreed to accept their offer at a Hillhouse was a tenant of Robert McClel- yearly salary of £100 and began his pastor- land of Bombie, Scotland, one of the under- ate in October 1722. Because no meeting- takers in the plantation. Forrest says, “One house had yet been built, he preached his family that came with McClelland to north first sermons in the tavern of Samuel Allen, Derry was the Hillhouse family who initial- one of the founders of the parish. In his first ly resided in the parish of Dunboe … “ entry in the parish records, Rev. Hillhouse After the native rising of 1641, “the sub- listed Allen along with six others as the sequent history of the family became inex- founding fathers of the North Parish. tricably linked with the parish of Aghanloo Return visit to Ireland and with Artikelly …,” writes Forrest. Refer- ring to a tax list known as the Hearth Mon- Whether the Hillhouses were of Scottish ey Rolls, he adds, “Abraham Hillhouse of or of English origin, they retained a strong Artikelly in Aghanloo parish had two sense of attachment to their ancestral home hearths in the 1663 hearth returns.” in Ireland. While the meetinghouse was being built in New London in summer Hillhouse, he says, was “a citizen of some (Photograph by Tammy Woods) means … the largest tenant on the estate 1723, the Rev. Hillhouse became the first of with an annual rent of £7 sterling.” He also Glasgow University when about 15 years of many of the family to return, in the words was the collector of rents on the estate and age, and was ordained a Presbyterian min- of the family genealogist, Margaret P. Hill- an elected burgess of the nearby market ister after returning to Artikelly. house, “for a brief visit to his fatherland.” town of Limavady. After the death of their parents in 1716, Several years after assuming his duties as The Hillhouses of Artikelly occupied a the oldest brother Abraham inherited the pastor of the North Parish, the Rev. James mansion house which they called Freehall. family property and the Rev. James immi- Hillhouse married Mary Fitch the daughter Their home stood at the foot of a mountain grated in 1720 to Boston where he was of parishioners Daniel and Mary Sherwood about two miles from the village of Limava- described by the Puritan clergyman Cotton Fitch. James and Mary had four children. dy on the land adjacent to Artikelly. It com- Mather as “a worthy, hopeful and valuable The Irish-born minister remained in New manded a fine view of Lough Foyle and the young minister lately arrived in America.” London until his death in 1740. Unfortu- landscape for many miles around. Such was the Rev. Hillhouse’s reputation nately, his later years there were marred by Abraham Hillhouse and his wife Janet had that in 1722 he was invited to come to Con- controversy with a faction of church mem- three sons: Abraham, John and James. John necticut. At that time, the growth of New bers led by Capt. Robert Denison, one of the and his wife Rachel had six sons. Their sec- London had prompted settlers in what to- original parishioners. The rift notwith- ond son, James, was born at Freehall in day is the town of Montville to organize a standing, the registry of the pastor’s death 1687. He entered the school of theology at second Congregational parish, the North in the New London record book included a 3 note: “He was descended from a respecta- ble family in Ireland … Good natural abili- ties, a liberal education, and a well attempt- ed zeal for the truth rendered him eminent and useful in the ministry in this place.” Hillhouses in New Haven Two of the sons of the Rev. James and Mary Hillhouse became prominent in public affairs in Connecticut. Their first son, Wil- liam, who was born in Montville in 1728, served in the Connecticut legislature, was a county and probate judge and a major in the Connecticut cavalry in the Revolution- ary War.