he first white man who discovered this region"
(1754) was one James McBride, who, in all probability, was an
Irishman. The first white child born in Cincinnati was a son of an
Irish settler named John Cummins; the first house built on its site
was erected by Captain Hugh McGarry, while "the McGarrys, Dentons,
and Hogans formed the first domestic circle in Kentucky." Prior to
the Revolution, Indian traders from Western Pennsylvania had
penetrated into this region, and we learn from authentic sources that
no small percentage of those itinerant merchants of the west were
Irishmen. Among the leading and earliest colonists of the "Blue Grass
State" who accompanied Daniel Boone, 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.

Irishmen and their sons figured prominently in the field of early
western politics. In the Kentucky legislature, I find such names as
Connor, Cassidy, Cleary, Conway, Casey, Cavan, Dulin, Dougherty,
Geohegan, Maher, Morrison, Moran, McMahon, McFall, McClanahan,
O'Bannon, Powers, and a number of others evidently of Irish origin.
On the bench we find O'Hara, Boyle, and Barry. Among the many
distinguished men who reflected honor upon the west, Judge William T.
Barry of Lexington ranks high for great ability and lofty virtues.
Simon Kenton, famed in song and story, who "battled with the Indians
in a hundred encounters and wrested Kentucky from the savage," was an
Irishman's son, while among its famous Indian fighters were Colonels
Andrew Hynes, William Casey, and John O'Bannon; Majors Bulger,
McMullin, McGarry, McBride, Butler, and Cassidy; and Captains
McMahon, Malarkie, Doyle, Phelon, and Brady. Allen, Butler, Campbell,
Montgomery, and Rowan counties, Ky., are named after natives of
Ireland, and Boyle, Breckinridge, Carroll, Casey, Daviess, Magoffin,
Kenton, McCracken, Meade, Menifee, Clinton, and Fulton counties were
named in honor of descendants of Irish settlers.

* * * * *

In the councils of the first territorial legislature of Missouri were
Sullivan, Cassidy, Murphy, McDermid, McGrady, Flaugherty, McGuire,
Dunn, and Hogan, and among the merchants, lawyers, and bankers in the
pioneer days of St. Louis there were a number of Ir