New Ireland County was divided into three parts, known as New Connaught, New Munster, and New Leinster.  New Connaught was founded by George Talbot from Roscommon, who was surveyor-general of the Province; New Munster, by Edward O’Dwyer from Tipperary; and New Leinster, by Bryan O’Daly from Wicklow, all of whom were in Maryland prior to 1683.  Among the prominent men in the Province may be mentioned Charles O’Carroll, who was secretary to the proprietor; John Hart from county Cavan, who was governor of Maryland from 1714 to 1720; Phillip Conner from Kerry, known in history as the “Last Commander of Old Kent”; Daniel Dulany of the O’Delaney family from Queen’s County, one of the most famous lawyers in the American Colonies; Michael Tawney or Taney, ancestor of the celebrated judge, Roger Brooke Taney; the Courseys from Cork, one of the oldest families in the State; the Kings from Dublin; and many others.

The only place in the State bearing a genuine Irish name which has reached any prominence is Baltimore.  Not alone has the “Monumental City” received its name from Ireland, but the tract of land on which the city is now situate was originally named (in 1695) “Ely O’Carroll,” after the barony of that name in King’s and Tipperary counties, the ancient home of the Clan O’Carroll.  To subdivisions of the tract were given such names as Dublin, Waterford, Tralee, Raphoe, Tramore, Mallow, Kinsale, Lurgan, Coleraine, Tipperary, Antrim, Belfast, Derry, Kildare, Enniskillen, Wexford, Letterkenny, Lifford, Birr, Galway, Limerick, and so on, all indicating the nationality of the patentees, as well as the places from which they came.

From such sources is the evidence available of the coming of the Irish to Maryland in large numbers, and so it is that we are not surprised to find on the rosters of the Maryland Revolutionary regiments 4633 distinctive Irish names, exclusive of the large numbers who joined the navy and the militia, as well as those who were held to guard the frontier from Indian raids, whose names are not on record.  However, it is not possible now to determine the proportion of the Revolutionary soldiers who were of Irish birth or descent, for where the nationality is not stated in the rosters all non-Irish names must be left out of the reckoning.  The first census of Maryland (1790), published by the United States Government, enumerates the names of all “Heads of Families” and the number of persons in each family.  A count of the Irish names shows approximately 21,000 persons.  This does not take into account the great number of people who could not be recorded under that head, as it is known there were many thousand Irish “redemptioners” in Maryland prior to the taking of the census, and while no precise data exist to indicate the number of Irish immigrants who settled in Maryland, I estimate that the number of people of Irish descent in the State in 1790 was not far short of 40,000.

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