INTERESTING REMINISCENCES OF NEWPORT, R. I.
Edward Thurston writing from Newport, R. I., March 5, 1767, to James Coggeshall informs the latter that “Mac Gee the baker has failed.” Mac Gee was, no doubt, quite an important personage in the community.
Under date of November 15, 1764, is recorded at Newport the marriage of “John Robinson of Ireland and Mary Cawdry of Newport.” Rev. Ezra Stiles performed the ceremony.
Richard Field, a native of Dublin, Ireland, resided in Newport. He died in 1769.
Another prominent Newport family were the Dillons. James Dillon was a native of the County Roscommon. His wife died at Newport in 1799 and was laid away in Trinity churchyard.
Thomas Green advertised in the Newport _Mercury_, August, 1772, that he had for sale Irish poplins, sheetings, and other goods. He also announces “Lately come to hand, a trunk of choice Irish linens.” In May, 1793, Thomas Green & Son advertise in the _Mercury_ that “at the sign of the buck, near the red market” they have for sale, Irish linens and muslins “at 14½d. and upward.” In the _Mercury_ of April 27, 1772, appears a legal notice regarding “the estate of Edward Keeney, late of Newport, shipwright, deceased.” Students of Irish names will recognize in Keeney a typical one.
Moses M. Hays, a Hebrew, advertises under date of August 3, 1772, that he has, among other goods, “a few barrels of Irish beef for sale.” That is, beef from Ireland.
The name Murphy has figured in Newport from an early period. Frequently it appears as Murfey. The original comers were, of course, from Ireland. They, doubtless, arrived directly from the old country, from some of the colonies adjacent to Rhode Island or by way of the West Indies. Many of the Newport Murphys have been mariners, and some of them figured prominently in the Revolution. Edward Murphy died at Newport in 1809, “in the 62d year of his age.” In March, 1809, the death also occurred at Newport of “Phœbe Murfey, comfort of Capt. John Murfey, aged 29.” The Providence _Gazette_ of February 17, 1810, announces the marriage at Mansfield, Conn., of “Capt. John Murfey of Newport to Miss Adaliza Southworth, daughter of Capt. Samuel Southworth.”
An entry in Trinity church _Annals_, Newport, states that on “May 1, 1775, Lieut. James Conway died and was buried in the churchyard, aged 45 years.” Conway was lieutenant of marines on the man-of-war _Rose_, which was then in the bay. He was probably of Irish origin. Another entry in the same annals informs us that on “October 5, 1783, Gilbert Eames died and was buried in the churchyard.” He was a native of the County Limerick, Ireland, and was 54 years of age at the time of his death. For several years prior to the reduction of Granada by the French in 1779, Mr. Eames had been a member of the Honorable Council for the island.