THE DEAD OF THE SOCIETY.

“Memory, gray old warder, throw open thy portals in welcome

Wide to the dead—our dead”—they loved us well in their lifetime.

Col. Jeremiah W. Coveney.

Born in Cambridge, Mass., 1840; during the Civil War enlisted in 28th Massachusetts Regiment; was successively commissioned Lieutenant, Captain, Major, and Lieutenant-Colonel; seriously wounded in 1864, while Brigade Inspector of the Second Brigade, First Division, Second Corps; member of the Massachusetts Legislature; surveyor of the port of Boston; private secretary to Governor Russell; postmaster of Boston; admitted to the Society March 29, 1897; died in Cambridge, Mass., April 29, 1897.

Rear-Admiral Richard Worsam Meade, U. S. N.

Born in New York City, 1837; appointed Midshipman Oct. 2, 1850; first sea service in sloop-of-war Preble, 1851; warrant as Master and commission as Lieutenant, 1858; Lieutenant-Commander, 1862; was a Commander in 1870; commissioned Captain in 1880; became a Commodore in 1892, and Rear-Admiral in 1894; admitted to the Society at its organization, Jan. 20, 1897, and chosen President-General of the same, being the first to hold the office; died in Washington, D. C., May 4, 1897.

Henry V. Donovan, M. D.

Born in Lawrence, Mass., 1868; graduated from Harvard University; was elected to the school board of Lawrence, and rendered excellent service; admitted to the Society May 25, 1897; died in Lawrence, Mass., Aug. 4, 1897.

Gen. John Cochrane.

Descendant of an officer who served under Washington; President of the N. Y. Society of the Cincinnati; from 1857 to 1861 was a Congressman from New York City; was commissioned Colonel of the First U. S. Chasseurs, June 11, 1861; Brigadier-General of Volunteers, July 17, 1862; in 1864 was nominated at Cleveland, O., for Vice-President of the United States; had previously been Attorney-General of New York state; admitted to the Society on its organization, Jan. 20, 1897; died in New York City, Oct. 7, 1897.

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Mr. Laurence J. Smith.

Born in County Meath, Ireland, 1850; member of City Council, Lowell, Mass., 1881–’86; member Lowell Public Library Board; was made a License Commissioner of Lowell, 1894; Police Commissioner, 1895; attained the highest rank in the Foresters of America, having been Supreme Chief Ranger of the United States; admitted to the Society Feb. 27, 1897; died in Lowell, Mass., Oct. 23, 1897.

Hon. Owen A. Galvin.

Born in Boston, Mass., 1852; admitted to the bar, 1876; elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1881; a State Senator from Boston during 1882, 1883, and 1884; candidate for President of the Senate, 1884; candidate for Mayor of Boston, 1889; was U. S. District Attorney, 1887–’89; admitted to the Society July 15, 1897; died in Boston, Mass., Dec. 18, 1897.

Hon. Charles B. Gafney.

Born in Ossipee, N. H., 1843; enlisted Sept. 27, 1862, as Second Lieutenant of Co. B, 13th New Hampshire Volunteers; promoted to First Lieutenant, June 1, 1863, and to Captain, May 30, 1865; severely wounded in the thigh at Petersburg, June 15, 1864; was Clerk to the National Senate Committee on Naval Affairs for eight years; went to Rochester, N. H., in 1871, and formed a law partnership with Joseph H. Worcester, which firm became Worcester, Gafney & Snow; was appointed Judge of Probate for Strafford county; admitted to the Society Feb. 9, 1897; died in Rochester, N. H., Jan. 25, 1898.

Mr. Andrew Athy.

Born in County Galway, Ireland, 1832; filled public offices of trust and responsibility in Worcester, Mass., almost continuously during more than thirty years; was first elected to the Common Council in 1865, and served thirteen years; represented the city in the Legislature of 1874 and 1875; was a member of the Board of Aldermen from 1881 to 1886, and a member of the commission to build the new City Hall; candidate for mayor in 1886. He was a member of the old Jackson Guards at the time of disbandment, during the Know-Nothing administration of Governor Gardner; admitted to the Society as a life member March 5, 1898; died in Worcester, Mass., May 15, 1898.

Mr. John R. Alley.

Born in Dublin, Ireland, 1822; a prominent Boston brewer; life member of the Society. His grandfather, John Alley, was at one time lord mayor of Dublin, and his father was a graduate of Cambridge University, England. Mr. Alley, our deceased associate, had warm Irish sympathies, and it has 237been truly said of him that few men in Boston or New England did more for the Irish cause than he. His purse and voice were always at the disposal of his fellow-countrymen in the various phases of Irish movements in this country for the past thirty years. He was an ardent lover of Ireland, and took a lively interest in her history and literature. Admitted to the Society June 24, 1897; died in Boston, Mass., June 21, 1898.

Joseph H. Fay, M. D.

A graduate of the University of Vermont; admitted to the Society March 3, 1898; died in Fall River, Mass., June 25, 1898.

Capt. John Drum.

Born in Ireland, 1840; a veteran of the Civil War; later, commissioned Lieutenant in the regular army; saw much service in campaigns against the Indians; military instructor at St. Francis Xavier’s College, New York City; on the outbreak of hostilities with Spain he was a captain in the Tenth U. S. Infantry; went with his regiment to Cuba, where he met a soldier’s death; admitted to the Society July 20, 1897; killed in action before Santiago de Cuba, July 1, 1898. (The date of his death is given on page 29 of this volume as July 2.|It should read July 1, as here stated.)

Mr. John E. Conner.

Born in Bradford, Vt., 1852; chief of police of Chicopee, Mass., 1885 to 1894 and in 1896 and 1897; city marshal of Chicopee at the time of his death; admitted to the Society June 22, 1898; died in Chicopee, Mass., Aug. 25, 1898.

Rev. Philip Grace, D. D.

Born in County Kilkenny, Ireland, 1838; ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood at Hartford, Conn., 1862; was attached to various churches in the diocese of Providence, R. I.; was made a doctor of divinity by Pope Leo XIII; became rector of St. Mary’s church, Newport, R. I., and passed away while occupying that position; admitted to the Society March 14, 1898; died in Newport, R. I., Sept. 23, 1898.

Capt. John M. Tobin.

Born in Waterford, Ireland, 1836; was commissioned First Lieutenant in the Ninth Massachusetts at outbreak of the Civil War; became Adjutant of the regiment; participated in the battles of Yorktown, Hanover Court House, Gaines’ Mill, Malvern Hill, and many other engagements; was wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness; at Malvern Hill he voluntarily took command of the regiment while Adjutant, and bravely fought it from 3 P. M. until dusk, rallying and reforming the regiment under fire, and twice picking up the regimental flag—the color-bearers having been shot down—and 238placing it in safe hands. In 1863–’64 he was Inspector-General of a brigade in the First Division of the Fifth Corps, at Bealton, Va. He was severely wounded at the Battle of Laurel Hill, Va. For twenty-five years he was engaged as editor and publisher of weekly papers, and also did much work upon the Boston dailies. In the recent war with Spain, Captain Tobin was Quartermaster in the First Brigade, Second Division, First Army Corps; admitted to the Society Jan. 20, 1897; died in Knoxville, Tenn., December, 1898.

Hon. Patrick Walsh.

Born in Ireland, 1840; became editor and proprietor of The Chronicle, Augusta, Ga.; was also manager of the Southern Associated Press; in 1894 he became United States senator from Georgia; was elected mayor of Augusta, and held the office at the time of his death; admitted to the Society January 20, 1897; died in Augusta, Ga., March 19, 1899.

Col. Patrick T. Hanley.

Born in Roscommon, Ireland, 1831; was an officer in the Ninth Massachusetts regiment during the Civil War, being successively commissioned Lieutenant, Captain, Major, and Lieutenant-Colonel; took command of the regiment at the Wilderness on the fall of Colonel Guiney; prominent in Boston business circles; admitted to the Society, November 29, 1898; died in Boston, Mass., March 31, 1899.

Hon. John H. Sullivan.

Born in County Cork, Ireland, 1848; a prominent citizen of Boston, Mass.; state senator of Massachusetts; member of the Governor’s Council; sinking fund commissioner of Boston; president of the Columbia Trust and Safety Deposit Company; died in East Boston, Mass., April 9, 1899.

Hon. Eli Thayer.

Born in Mendon, Mass., 1819; descended from John Alden of Mayflower fame; elected to congress from the Worcester, Mass., district in 1856; author of “A History of the Kansas Crusade;” admitted to the Society, 1898; died in Worcester, Mass., April 15, 1899.

William F. Cummings, M. D.

Born in Rutland, Vt., 1870; graduated in medicine at the University of Vermont, 1893; treasurer of the Rutland County Medical and Surgical society; admitted to the Society, August 3, 1898; died in Rutland, Vt., April 16, 1899.

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Mr. Joseph J. Kelley.

Born in Ireland, 1844; served as a member of the school board of Cambridge, Mass., and in various other positions of honor in that city; member of the Massachusetts legislature; admitted to the Society, March 29, 1898; died in East Cambridge, Mass., April 29, 1899.

Mr. William Slattery.

Born in Ireland, 1849; graduated from the law school of Harvard University; became a prominent lawyer of Holyoke, Mass.; associate justice of the city court; admitted to the Society, June 23, 1898; died in Holyoke, Mass., July 22, 1899.

Rev. George W. Pepper.

Born in County Down, Ireland, 1833; was ordained to the Methodist Episcopal ministry in this country; a member of the North Ohio conference for a period of forty years; commanded a company in the Eightieth Ohio regiment during the Civil War and later served as a chaplain; in 1890 was appointed U. S. consul to Milan, Italy, by President Harrison; admitted to the Society on its organization, January 20, 1897; died in Cleveland, O., August 6, 1899.

Rev. Denis Scannell.

Born in County Kerry, Ireland, 1846; was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood at Alleghany, N. Y., 1870; appointed rector of St. Anne’s church, Worcester, Mass., 1872, having previously had charge of the parish in Blackstone, Mass.; served two terms of three years each on the school board of Worcester; admitted to the Society, November 3, 1898; died in Worcester, Mass., August 20, 1899.

Mr. Edmund Phelan.

Born in Ireland 31 years ago; at the time of his death he was president of Newspaper Mailers’ Union, No. 1, Boston, Mass. He was known throughout the state as a temperance worker in Catholic circles, and also took much interest in the work of our Historical Society. He died at his home, 32 Adams street, Roxbury (Boston), Mass., November 29, 1899.

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