Revolution Settlement

As a direct result of the loss of the Battle of Boyne, James II was deposed as King of England. A strong Protestant atmosphere took over under the leadership of William III. The people of Ireland were further punished by enactment of the infamous Penal Laws. These laws were very severe, and so brutally anti-Catholic in purpose, that the people for the next fifty to seventy five years became almost helpless. The Penal Laws also stipulated:

• Catholics were barred from the army and navy.
• No Catholic could participate in practice of law, commerce, or any civic activity.
• No Catholic could vote, hold any office under the crown, or purchase land.
• Catholic estates were dismembered, upon death of owner, and divided up among the sons, rather than going to the oldest son, unless the oldest son became a Protestant, then he would inherit the whole.
• EDUCATION WAS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE as Catholics could not attend or keep schools, nor send children abroad to attend school.
• Practice of the Catholic faith was condemned as Priests were barred from Ireland. Catholic churches were closed.

These laws were so severe that Edmund Burke, famous English essayist said, "These laws were like a machine as well fitted for the oppression, impoverishment, and degradation of a people and the debasement in them (Penal Laws) of human nature itself, as ever proceeded from the perverted ingenuity of man."

The remarkable Irish race did not die, as expected by the English, but reacted in such a way that their soul was ingrained with faith and resolve. Hundreds of books have since been written expressing the will of the Irish, and the fostering of the deep hate of the English, that exists even today.

Priests were hidden in homes and hill hideouts, willing to die to serve the people. Education continued with the famous "Hedge Row" schools. Their food was cabbage and potatoes. They worked their hands and feet in the soil. Instead of dying by the wayside, they grew in pride and stamina. It was said of them by Arthur Young, an English writer, at the end of the eighteenth century, "They had a fine physique in the average man and their women were struck with great beauty." One of the most remarkable results, during the period from 1575 to 1841, was the population explosion. In 1575 the population was 500,000, but the first official census in 1821 showed the population was 6,801,827. Later in 1831 it was 7,785,500, and in 1841 it was 8,196,597.

After the battle of the Boyne in 1690, thousands of soldiers fled to France and Spain, depleting manpower to resist the English. This flight was called, "The Flight of the Wild Geese". The hatred of the English gave these soldiers a chance to join the French and Spanish armies. Those armies where in constant warfare with the English in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Several other key leaders were in constant action stirring up the causes of revolution and continual agitation. Dean Jonathan Swift, an outstanding English writer, dipped his pen in "Gall" and lashed out at the English. This great Protestant Dean became an Irish hero with his stinging writings. He raised the Irish countrymen from their stupor and planted the seeds of revolt. Another leader who fought in the Irish Parliament for the freedom of Ireland was the Protestant, Theobold Wolfe Tone. He had a ready pen and an extraordinary gift of convincing exposition in the many pamphlets he wrote. He was the main force in the great uprising in 1798, but offered his life for the cause. He is honored with great reverence in Ireland today.

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Chapter Seven

More About Kilmartin

The Kilmartin name is hardly mentioned in any story, activity, or highlight of the 16^th or 17^th century. All census reports of early Ireland (1821, 31, 41) were lost, destroyed, or not available. It appears the Sept grew very rapidly from the census of 1659. When details of the 1854 Land Evaluation Records were published and available in the Dublin Castle office, we find Kilmartin’s and Gilmartin’s scattered throughout the counties of Roscommon, Sligo, and Leitrim, under many different first names. It indicates that many families were live and active. We will try to pull the pieces together as well as the facts are known.

My research began in 1971, when Mary, the three children, and I brought Rosanne to Le Moyne College, in Syracuse. After leaving Rosanne to her studies, we headed south to our cousin, Mary Ann (Stratton) Coddington, who lived in Horseheads, Pa. She showed us the way to Blossburg, Pa., and St. Andrews Cemetery, where John and Rose (Donegan) Guiry, my maternal grandparents, are buried. While in the cemetery, we asked the children to look for any grave stones marked "Gilmartin". Soon we heard a shout and hurried over to an old stone marked with a double inscription. It was the burial of Thomas, age 9, who died on Saturday, May 21, 1873, and Luke, age 1 year and 7 months, who died December 18^th, 1873. Their parents were Thomas and Ann KILLMARTIN. With this information I checked the 1860 New York State Census, the 1870 U.S. Census for Bloss Township, Pa., the St. Andrews Church records of birth, and the New York City records of death.

1870 Census Bloss Township, PA

I verified that Thomas Kilmartin, and Ann (Neary) Kilmartin were indeed my great grandparents on my fathers side. In making genealogy charts the male line is followed to show the continuation of the surname. All records said they were born in Ireland but to date, (1989) I have not located a specific parish, barony, or county. I have accumulated a mass of material secured from microfilm of the counties of Leitrim and Sligo, showing many "Kilmartin’s" and "Gilmartin’s," but have been unable to discover the actual county as yet.

Thomas was born in 1828 in Ireland. From the records of his four children, we know he was in England in 1851 until 1859. He was listed as a Mason Laborer in the town of Bradford and North Bierly. Both towns are in the Leeds area of Lancashire. It was the practice of Irish laborers to go to England during harvest time to earn enough money to return and pay the rent on the land they were working. It could have been that the Great Famine, which started in 1843 and continued through 1846, was the reason to go to England. There are many other possibilities. After looking at church records of death and birth in the Catholic churches of St. Mary’s, Mount St. Marie, and St. Patrick’s, in Lancanshire, I found many "Kilmartin’s" and "Neary’s," but none arrived before 1824. They may have been related, so perhaps Ann stayed with them when Thomas left for America in April of 1859.

Their first child, Mary, was born June 10^th, 1851, in the workhouse in Leeds. This may tell us that this was the place to take a pregnant wife if you were traveling, or out of work. The father is not mentioned in the records because he wouldn’t have been admitted to the workhouse. The second child was Margaret, born in 1853, based on the census reports. We were unable to find the birth record. Michael, the third child, was born on the 27^th of March, 1857, at 100 Vincent Street, Bradford West. Thomas was listed as a mason laborer. The fourth child was John, born on November 26, 1859 at 68 Longcroft Place, Bradford West. By this time Thomas was in Corning, New York, having left in April. The child was conceived in February, and Ann either stayed at this address, or moved in with her parents or friends.

If we could visualize the situation, it may show that they were in a confused condition with three children to care for and a husband so far away in America. I have another theory that could take many years to prove.

In a book by Oscar Handlin, Boston Immigrants, he tells of the Union of Tailors in London. They assisted 7000 unemployed tailors in emigrating to America. Upon Thomas’s arrival in America, he stayed with a "Michael Kilmartin." Michael, a tailor by trade, had been in America since about 1848. Michael could have financed Thomas’s passage, helped in planning the trip, or just encouraged him to come. Thomas was reassured that this was the thing to do, as he was not likely to leave his family alone in Bradford. As we learn later, Ann left when their fourth child John was a year old, on the same ship Thomas took, the Great Western.

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Chapter Eight

The Great Western

THE P.S. GREAT WESTERN was Brunel's very first ship. It was built to connect Bristol with America. The Great Western was 236ft long and displaced 2300 tons of water. Because of the space required for this type of transatlantic ship, Brunel had to take into account the stresses put upon it by the Atlantic. It was of conventional structural design with oak frames forming the bottom and sides, and for extra strength, he added four staggered rows of iron bolts running the entire length of the ship. The hull was sheathed in copper below the waterline. The size of the engine and the amount of fuel required was questioned by Dr. Lardner who said there would not be enough room to carry the amount of coal needed for a transatlantic crossing. On the 8th of April, 1838, the Great Western set out for New York from Bristol. The ship arrived on the 23rd of of April, with coal to spare. The story is not the same for a rival paddle steamer, known as the Sirius, who left Cork, on the 5th of April and arrived twelve hours before The Great Western. All the coal had been used up, xand so had some of the fittings. The Great Western had bettered the Sirius's time by almost four days. The Great Western became the Queen of the Atlantic, regularly crossing between Bristol and New York from 1838 to 1846.

The Great Western Steamship

I intend to spend a few pages recalling the story of the Great Western. The ship surely had a special place in the hearts of Thomas and Ann Kilmartin.

I referred to a book called "Ships at Sea," by Duncan Hawes, published by Cromwell Co., Inc., and another ship story called "The World of Model Ships," by Guy R. Williams, published by G.P. Putnam & Sons, N.Y. In 1837, in England, the successes of Francis Smith and Francis B. Ogden led to the widespread use of the screw for ship propulsion. The power of a Helical blade in water had been proven by the well known screw pump invented by Archimedes. Hence, later inventors had no claim to originality. They could claim only the invention of methods to apply the screw to ship propulsion, and there were many. In May, 1838, Francis Pettit Smith obtained a patent for an Archimedes screw having two complete turns, designed to be installed at the stern of the vessel, but at a considerable distance forward of the vessel’s stern post. It was successfully tried on a six ton launch called Francis Smith on Paddington Canal in February, 1837.

At a meeting of the Directors of the Great Western Railway Company, in England, in October of 1835, it was jokingly suggested that the Paddington, Bristol Railroad be extended to New York by means of a steamship, to be named the Great Western. Although many at this time believed it impossible to build a steamship with enough coal capacity for that distance, the idea took hold. The Great Western Steamship Company was organized in 1836. The Great Western was planned by the Chief Engineer of the railroad, I. Ismael Kingdom Brunel. Her keel was laid in June of 1836 in the yard of Patterson and Mercer in Wapping Bristol, England. As well as having one of the most unusual middle names of all time, Brunel is famous for his technological achievements in the field of engineering.

However, as well as having very broad interests, his most outstanding feature was his all round ability within each of the endeavors he undertook. If we consider his Great Western Railway, he designed the track layout, the track itself, the rolling stock, the tunnels, the bridges, and the ship to take passengers to the United States from Bristol at the end of the line (the Great Western). He even designed the lamp-posts for the stations, was a director of the station hotel at Paddington, and when the going got tough, was not above getting down to doing some actual digging on the line himself. He was truly a great all-round engineer. Many of his greatest creations still exist (Clifton Suspension Bridge, Tamar Bridge, Great Britain, etc.), and are aesthetically pleasing as well as practical and long lasting. The Great Eastern is perhaps his greatest work which no longer exists, probably as it was too far ahead of its time.

The photo shows Brunel surrounded by the chains of the Great Eastern, shortly before his death.

Launched a year later, on Wednesday, July 9, 1837, The Great Western was built with great care. Particular attention was paid to her longitudinal strength. Her accommodations were arranged for 128 first class passengers, and 20 second class passengers. In an emergency an additional 100 could be carried. The crew consisted of 57 officers and men. The main saloon measured 83 feet long by 34 feet at it’s widest point. It was decorated in the Louis XIV style with 50 painted panels. The Great Western’s propelling machinery was built by Messr. Maudsley & Sons, and Field & Blackwell, and was installed in London. She was fitted with two side lever engines of 225 N.H.P. each with cylinders 73.5 inches in diameter by 7 feet.

Steam was generated at 5 P.S.I. pressure in four iron return flue boilers. Each boiler had three furnaces. The coal bunker held 800 tons, and was arranged to carry water ballast when the coal was consumed. The Great Western paddle wheels consisted of four separate blades arranged in cylindrical curves so that they entered the water more quietly than radical floats.

After suffering a minor fire, the Great Western left Bristol for New York on Sunday, April 8, 1838, in a northwest gale with only 7 passengers. Twenty five had signed up before the fire delayed sailing. The engine was stopped only twice during the voyage. It was stopped for two hours and again for twenty minutes to tighten various bolts on the paddle wheel.

She arrived in New York on the afternoon of Monday, April 23, 1838, only to find she had been beaten by four hours by a ship called " Sirius," whose trip was shortened by the owners of the delayed British Queen. The Great Western actually made the faster passage, taking 15 ¼ days to cover 2200 miles. She covered 354 more miles than the Sirius who took 19 days for the trip.

She continued in service between Bristol and New York until 1846. She was sold to Royal Mail Steam Packet Company Ltd., in 1847. She ran for ten years from Southampton to the West Indies. In 1857, the Great Western was bought by C.H. Marshall Company. She was converted into a sailing ship by removing the coal and engines and adding four sails. The Great Western traveled to New York from Liverpool for at least three more years. She carried as many as 700 passengers in several lower decks. It took 26 days for her to cross the Atlantic Ocean. I have a verified clipping from the New York Herald Tribune, dated July 4^th, 1857, of her arrival in New York.

Actual passenger list from the The Great Western, November, 1860

I told this story because Thomas Kilmartin took this sailing ship on April 21, 1859 from Liverpool and he arrived in New York on May 17, 1859, taking 27 days. Reports during the voyage indicated sightings by the Bark Evergreen, of Whiting, bound west on latitude 46.38, longitude 26.56 on May 3, 1859. On May 3^rd, a man named James Murray fell from the cross jack and was killed. On May 9^th, longitude 43, latitude 50.20, she passed a large icebreaker. On May 14^th she signaled the ship William F. Schmidt bound east. The very important event relating to this ship was that it was the same ship that Ann Kilmartin took in November 1860 from Liverpool to New York. It seems that the movement to America by Thomas and Ann Kilmartin was a strange coincidence or it was well planned.

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