Book of Ryans - The American Experience
American West
The American frontier was settled, particularly in the Ohio River Valley, Western Pennsylvania and Kentucky, by Irish men and women wishing to find prosperity and acceptance. From the earliest recorded entries concerning Irish migration to the American west, their influence on western culture has been well documented. Among the early colonists who accompanied Daniel Boone into Kentucky, for instance, there were men of Irish descent as Dunn and Lennox wrote in their book `The Glories of Ireland':
The ubiquitous Irish were represented by men bearing such names as Mooney, McManus, Sullivan, Drennon, Logan, Casey, Fitzpatrick, Dunlevy, Cassidy, Doran, Dougherty, Lynch, Ryan, McNeill, McGee, Reilly, Flinn, and the noted McAfee brothers, all natives of Ireland or sons of Irish immigrants.[1]
This westward movement of settlers rose significantly after Anglo civilization proclaimed supremacy over the western frontier, and the offspring of Irish migrants and expatriates sought their fortunes in the gold fields of California and the grasslands of the great Midwest. A number of these settlers helped tame the western frontiers, and as areas east of the Mississippi River were being inhabited, new explorers went further west to probe the many uncharted miles of the American wilderness. A few enterprising homesteaders realized that they could offer their homes for sale after clearing their land of trees and rocks, and the profits made from the resale of farmsteads were generally siphoned into the purchase of larger estates. Frontier newspapers frequently heralded the sale of recently tilled lands, and a typical farm sale located on Ten Mile Creek near Washington shows how newspapers, like the frontier newspaper "The Pittsburgh Gazette" announced saleable frontier land. A want ad placed by Timothy Ryan in 1786 offered for sale a "plantation consisting of Four hundred acres, on which 80 is clear..." Other farmers sold their lands not because of a potential to profit from their hard work, but because they valued their privacy and wanted to leave the entrapments of an encroaching Eastern society. President Abraham Lincoln's father moved from his Kentucky farm because a neighbor had moved in two miles down the road, for instance, and his decision was made because he apparently felt that the neighborhood was getting too crowded.
After the initial explorations by Lewis and Clark and countless other pathfinders, the western frontiers exploded with new settlements made up of numerous ethnic persuasions. Many of the earliest wild west towns grew up around the mining industry, and often they prided themselves on the pervasive lawlessness which came with heavy drinking and the solitary life. One such community was Bodie, Nevada, which boasted of a fatal shooting each day; and one of their most colorful legends surrounds a gunfight between Ed Ryan and Dave Bannon “who burned powder against one another at such close range and with precision of draw and discharge that each shot the other through the heart.”[2] Another area settled heavily by Irishmen was in the Spanish controlled regions of New Madrid, which now covers the land areas of Missouri and Texas. After St. Louis was founded in 1771, several Irish pioneers were known to have lived nearby this frontier city such as Mathew Kennedy, Joseph O'Neille, and Juan and Hugh Morel. The military records of New Madrid present some interesting facts about the Irish in the territory. Mathew Kennedy was noted in the early records as being the first Irishman to be killed by Indians in the territory.[3] James Ryan, as later records indicated, settled in Rolls County in 1811 near Salt River, and had the distinction of being the first white permanent settler in the county. New Madrid desperately sought families to settle its frontiers, and therefore, placed very few restrictions on these incoming settlers. The only requirement was to recite an oath of allegiance to Spain. Among the many persons living in New Madrid to take this oath was Michael Ryan, and he recited this oath in 1795 along with hundreds of others.
A Spanish commandant recognized a growing need to provide ministerial services to fill a spiritual void as the Irish continued to flow into St. Louis, therefore, he requested that a priest be dispatched to St. Louis and asked that he "might be of the Irish nation.'[4] An Irish priest, Father James Maxwell, arrived in 1789 and made his home at St. Genevieve, a town near St. Louis. By 1848 St. Louis had boasted a population of over 20,000 with half of it Catholic. The Catholic population was comprised mostly of French, Irish, German and English, and by the second half of the 19th century the Irish were the city's largest constituency. In the city's earliest years, anti-Catholic demonstrations were rare; however, after the Great Famine, the city became filled with refugees and a backlash towards Papists erupted. This sudden surge of indigent and illiterate Irish immigrants produced an overwhelmingly anti-Catholic sentiment which strained peaceful relations with the Protestant population. The newspapers publicly broadcasted the destructive environment caused by the Irish and German Catholics living in the area, and they denounced "Catholics" for taking jobs from the Protestants. The newspapers which echoed the feelings of their patrons, claimed that the papists were responsible for also lowering the wage scale.
As the Irish population grew abundant in New Madrid, their numbers spread to surrounding areas such as Oklahoma and Texas. Oklahoma attracted hundreds of Irish families, and towns began to spring up displaying Irish surnames. One small town bears the name Ryan, Oklahoma, and tradition holds that the town was named after an early settler whose origin remains unknown. In Texas, a flood of Irish settlers moved into the eastern parts of the territory, particularly in an area between the San Antonio and the Rio Grande Rivers. One of the major towns founded in this territory was San Patrico which was named after Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.
A large number of Irish families lived in San Patrico, and by 1835 town records showed that Andrew O'Doyle, John Fadden, Edward Garner, Edward Ryan, Patrick Nevin, Dennis McGowan and John McGloin were among its residents. Another Texas town with a large Irish population was Beeville. Originally it was called Maryville, but had to be changed because another town by the same name already existed. Maryville, or Beeville, was named after Mary Heffernon who was killed by Indians along with her uncle James Heffernon and cousin John Ryan. John Ryan and James Heffernon joined Colonel Fannin at Goliad in 1835, but they returned to their farms to harvest their crop. When they did not return to camp, a scouting party was sent to search for them. They found Ryan and Heffernon dead in the fields, and Mary was found dead near the farmhouse.
During the Confederate War, the young men of San Patrico enlisted their services on the side of the South. Only the aged and infirmed were unable to serve such as the city's elders including John Ryan who by this time was over 50 years old. City records showed that Ryan served Beeville in various governmental capacities including Justice of the Peace and Sheriff.
Railroads
It's "Pat do this" and "Pat do that,"
Without a stocking or cravat,
Nothing but an old straw hat
While I work on the railway
No Irish Need Apply, Ballad composed in 1849
Many illegal schemes, especially illegal activities perpetrated by large businesses, attracted U.S. Congressional committees after the Civil War concluded. Monopolies thrived during this period, and citizen's groups protested the unlawful manipulations the railroaders held over transportation. Transportation of manufactured goods grew considerably during the 1870s and 1880s because of the expansion of western towns, and this growth yielded the railroads huge profits. The ease to which money was made, along with limited government interference, led them into unethical, often illegal, activities that seriously affected the economy of the United States. One method used by several dishonest railroad magnates was to flood the stock exchange with worthless railroad bonds, so they could accumulate capital to purchase smaller rail lines. This practice led to frequent consumer complaints on how these monopolistic practices were driving competitors out of business, and consumers also objected to frequent tariff hikes after competition was eliminated. Even though these dishonest practices, fostered by the great railroad czars, were being debated by Congress and its citizenry, the country's ambition to link east with west via rail often overshadowed these excesses. The frenzy to join both halves of the United States culminated in a convergence of the railroads shortly after the American Civil War.
On May 18, 1869, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific met at Promontory Point in the mountains of Promontory in northern Utah. To celebrate this historical joining, a spike was driven into the rails by an official from each railroad company to commemorate North America's connection coast to coast. The railway system was built mainly by Irish, Chinese, French and English immigrants, including many civil war veterans. In 1879, a similar venture was undertaken in Canada; however, unlike her American neighbor which funded this project through the private sector - this was funded as a public works program. The excesses of Canadian railroaders did not compare to her southern neighbor's, but Canada experienced its own set of problems, as noted by a contract Canada had awarded for the first 100 miles:
The government had originally planned the cheapest of colonization roads across the northwest. It let the first hundred-mile contract in August, 1879, to John Ryan, who was unable to finish the job. The government took over his contract, and by the Spring of 1880 the flimsy line had been completed for about 20 miles, as far as Portase La Prairie.[5]
As the American population continued to move westward and the excitement surrounding Promentory Point faded from memory, the complaints against railroad masters once again began to pour into Congress and the State legislatures. The eastern Railroad trusts maintained nearly absolute power over the survivability of newly developed towns, particularly those that were dotted along the rail lines. Direct disagreements with rail owners by the frontier cities were rare because it could have resulted in a train not making scheduled stops, or even worse, the train may not have stopped at all. These monopolistic overindulgences began to erode federal regulators and judicial antagonists patience, and among the railroad's most vocal opponent was the Chief Justice of Wisconsin, Edward George Ryan, considered to be one of the abler leaders of the West in that period.
Edward Ryan, born in 1810 in County Meath, Ireland, immigrated as a young man to the United States with his family, and after receiving his formal education went on to receive his law degree. After completion of his studies he moved to Chicago, Illinois, to practice law, and later moved his family to Wisconsin where lawyers were in great demand. While in Wisconsin he developed an interest in the judiciary, and was subsequently nominated as Chief Justice in the State's highest court. His enemies described how he sometimes had a quick and violent temper which they thought made him unfit to become Chief Justice, but his supporters discounted such rubbish. They noted that while he may be headstrong his temper was controlled, and that when he lashed out in anger he certainly had his reasons. One his contemporaries wrote that, "His passion burned, when lighted, like a flaming volcano, stoking him with a fearful violence, and belching the hot lava of his wrath on everything and everybody which stood in opposition."[6]
Ryan knew that the railroads played by their own rules. They controlled where the rails would be constructed, and the deployment of rail service often bypassed the existing small farmers and towns because it was not part of the railroad's master plan. Ryan also argued against setting transportation rates without federal regulations, and elatedly he challenged the railroad's authority to charge inflated rates for high density routes to subsidize the cost of transportation to less traveled cities. In a graduation speech at the University of Wisconsin, he delivered one of his strongest criticisms of the railroads and its effects on Wisconsin's future:
"There is looming up a new and dark problem. I cannot dwell upon the signs and shocking omens of its advent. The accumulation of individual wealth seems to be greater than it ever has been since the downfall of the Roman Empire. The enterprises of the country are aggregating vast corporate combinations of unexampled capital, boldly marching, not for economic conquests only, but for political power. For the first time really in our politics, money is taking the field as an organized power...The question will arise, and arise in your day, though perhaps not fully in mine, `which shall rule - wealth or man; which shall lead - money or intellect; who shall fill public stations - educated and patriotic free men, or the feudal serfs of corporate capital?"[7]
The railroad's unfair practices were finally contained through the passage of the Interstate and Commerce Act of 1887. This Act established policies to regulate railroad competition and the rates it could charge to transport goods and raw materials. Chief Justice Ryan never witnessed the arrival of this law as he died in 1880 at the age of 78 years.
San Francisco
The Gold Rush enticed thousands of fortune seekers, including men and women of Irish descent, to leave the eastern seaboard for California; and in the process created communities which were built around the mining industries. One California city, San Francisco, was a drawing card to many of them, and by 1870 nearly 20 percent of the city's population were Irish laborers. The Gaelic population was of similar size to the Chinese population, and although both nationalities were despised, the Irish were white and had the right to vote while the Chinese remained disenfranchised. The Irish were clannish by nature and generally settled near others of Irish descent, but they most always they were within walking distance of a Catholic Church. In San Francisco they built their homes on Potrero Hill which was located south of Market Street and near St. Patrick's Catholic Church.
San Francisco in its earliest years was a city known for its gambling halls, prostitution, and its unrestrained morality. The city and its sinful reputation grew simultaneously, and while San Francisco propagated, its houses of prostitution became one of the city's best known hallmarks. During this period there were two colorful proprieteses: Irene McCready, mistress of James McCabe and owner of the El Dorado Saloon, and Arabella Ryan, mistress of Charles Cora and Madame of a brothel on Waverley Place. Arabella, better known as Belle, was borne in Baltimore in 1827, and as a young woman made the journey to San Francisco. She began her house on Dupont Street in 1852 at the age of 25. Several years later she moved her house to Waverley Place which was a very fashionable address, and for the next decade her house was among the most renown in San Francisco. Because she attracted a very prosperous business clientele, she became the leading Madame in San Francisco.
Belle's real fame came with her close association to Charles Cora, a native of Italy. In 1850, San Francisco passed its first obscenity law to regulate houses of prostitution and other illegal trades that associated with it such as gambling. Cora was a professional gambler, and the city searched for any excuse to lock him up. Their chance came as a result of Cora's confrontation with William H. Richardson, a U.S. Marshall, at a social outing that he and his wife were attending. The Richardsons had anxiously anticipated their night at the American Theater, but after being seated realized that they were positioned directly behind Belle and Cora. Richardson became very upset "that such a tainted woman be seated near his upstanding wife."[8] Other verbal rejoinders were exchanged between the two men, and recognizing that Cora and Belle intended to remain, Richardson and his wife left the theater. The next evening, friends of Richardson noted that he was drinking heavily, and after many drinks Richardson sought out Cora. The lawman was greatly agitated that Cora showed such disrespect for his wife, and began abusing him physically and verbally. An argument ensued whereupon Richardson drew a pistol, but Cora who was a well-known marksman drew his gun a slight bit sooner and killed the U.S. Marshall instantly.
Cora's case went to court, and the jury could not agree on a verdict. Cora should have been released from his prison cell, but the court learned that he and Belle tampered with the jury. The court decided to keep him locked up until they could determine what to do with him. Belle married Cora in the jailhouse, so that she could not be forced to testify against him in court. Without Belle's testimony, the prosecution had a weak case, and the law abiding citizens of San Francisco became incensed because it appeared he would be released. Shortly afterwards Cora was dragged out of his cell by over 100 vigilantes (many witnesses believing them to be other Marshals and their associates), and hanged him for the "murder' of William H. Richardson.
Belle died in 1862 at the age of 35, and is buried near her husband, Charles Cora. Their tombstone reads:
"Sacred to the memory of Charles Cora, a native
of Italy, who died May 22 , 1856; age 48 years.
Also his wife Arabella Cora, a native of Baltimore,
Maryland, died Feb 18, 1862, aged 35 years."[9]