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Show ! : DEATH IN HOUSE OF WOLFE TONE "i t - ' i "T : I I PASSING OF DAUGHTES, OF DIS- I ' j i TIN GUISHED IEISH LNE. The Grandchild of Theobald Wolfe Tone, of Revolutionary Fame, Died in Brooklyn Last "Week. Ticre died in Brooklyn last week a voman Avho had in her veins, on the maternal side, the blood of the Dukes of Normandy, and on her father's that of the Riat Irishman, Theobald Wolfe Tone, the hero of the Revolution of 17;iS, and the founder cf the Society of T'nilcd Irishmen. And, on the same day, and at very nearly the same hour that Queen Victoria pet out from Windsor Wind-sor on her visit to Ireland, was buried in. Greenwood cemetery this- woman bi -side ."ix of her noble .ancestry. Mrs. Grace Gcorjriana Maxwell lived for nearly forty years in hor beautiful home in Washington avenue, Brooklyn, a home built by her husband, the late Lapcessel Edward Maxwell, and occupied occu-pied continuously by herself and hor children. There is scarcely another woman of this country who can point Ho so many dtstinjruished ancestors, or to honors won by them in, the service of !-ti many different countries, and, at the sime tinw, show a record so unsullied unsul-lied by its representatives. It is to be Raid of all of thmi that. they Mere brave and virtuous, and this fact, combined with all the other ch:irac- eristics united, in their line, made i hem n. race worthy to be called the descendants of Kinsr David, and de-pervins: de-pervins: of the honors' heaped uron their names by the Ireland of today. At the close of the eiphtcer.t'h century cen-tury there came to this country from Ireland and from France many exiles, driven from, their own lands by revolutions revo-lutions and conspiracies in revolutions. Mrs. Maxwell's ancestor were Irfsh exiles, those- exiles whom the Poet Campbell's "Exiles' of Erin" describes bo praphically. Her father, who wap ihe only s-urvivinjr son of Wolfe Tone, was in France- with his mother at the time of hif father's death in orison in DtibLin. Napoleon appointed him; cadet ca-det in the Imperial School of Cavalry at St. Germaine. Afterward he served In the Frenirh army and fought in the hat ties of Pro.den, Lowenberp. Leinsie, :ui"l many others. Napoleon decorated him for prra-t bravery with the medal of the Legion of Honor. Had this unman not been: an invalid from the time, of her early ma.rriMi life, and compelled thenceforth to live in the seclusion se-clusion of her family circle, her rer-Fonality rer-Fonality -would have been known to her contemporaries as widely as was the fact of her historic ancestry. Nearly every Irish-Ameifean is familiar with Ihe story of Tone's jrranddauprhter, Grace Tone Maxwell. Her grandfath er' groat fame makesi her of historic interest, and her own character added lustre to the name she in'herited. Tho history of .Theobald Wolf Tone 5? the history' of one of Ireland's r.o-nle?t r.o-nle?t era?. lie worked for the union of his countrymen, under one national banner, and yielded up his life in the cause of Irish liberty in that eventful year of 17&S. Irishmen, Catholic and Protestant alike, united in praise of his memory, two years a?o, when the centennial cen-tennial anniversary of his death was celebrated "with loving' fervor in Ireland. Ire-land. It was on Aug. 15. ISPS, that Dublin witnessed one of the greatest demonstrations that ever manifested Ireland's fee-lines of honor for an illustrious il-lustrious son. Those who. unaccuaint-ed unaccuaint-ed with the fact that Ireland was once a. fres kingdom, marveled at the extent ex-tent of this dcm-ions-tration, and of the worldwide interest that was taken in it. From all countries came delegations delega-tions to pay reverence to the memory of Wolf Tone, a -martyr, who not only gave up l;is life ;for hisi native land, ' but had devote..! hisi entire existence to its un?clns'h service. Dublin streets were invaded for that celebration by thousands from all parts of the island, and by yet other thousands of loving j Bona who had returned to the mother- j land from ths four quarters of the globe. The one American whc.se presence pres-ence would have lent the last cc.-m-pletf! feature to the occasion could not lx there, but from her home in Brooklyn Brook-lyn the proud and thankful grandchild t-.mt the silver trowel used ii laying the. monument's foundation stone. And the speaker, in pres&nting it to the , - President of the "SS Centenary commit tee, said: "The trowel with which you will perform per-form the ceremony is the gift of the granddaughter of Wolfe Tone, and the reply made to the invitation to attend this ceremony gives eloquent proof that distance from the old home is not obliterated oblit-erated the heroic memories in which the family of Tone may take pride, nor chilled the ardor or the love which Should be borne for Ireland by those who claim descent from the foremost among the patriots of '98." The trowel bore the inscription: "Ireland "Ire-land a Nation. The Memorial to Theobald Theo-bald Wolf Tone and the United Irish-nvn. Irish-nvn. Dublin, Aug. 15. 1S9S. Grace G'-'Tgiana Tone Maxwell." In her home in Brooklyn, surrounded by proud traditions and by the portraits, por-traits, busts, relics and papers of her jnvat kinsman. Mrs. Maxwell honored the day with mingled emotions of pride and regret pride in the honor of her birthright, and regret that she could i not have crossed the sea to take part 5 in the national tribute to the character ' and deeds of her grandfather. But in 1 ' the wide halls of her home she spread lh" Hag of Erin, and to her children I and her grandchildren she gave re- newed evidences of her pure and holy t-pirit, and of the possession of the self-same qualities that had won deathless death-less fame for her ancestors. And -the other day, when she lay in her coffin, her daughter with reverend hands, placed in it beside her a withered shamrock and the Irish soil in which it h;id grown, sent to her by an Irish lover of Ton1. Had this woman, within the forty xld years she lived in Brooklyn, been an active participant in the social life alK-ut her, the "house of hlstorv," 5n which she dwelt, for the latter Dart I with her sons and daughters, would I Shave been the theme of frequent de- I - - Ferijtion, for it is one of the most in- J ., leresting private residences in New I York City. j At this time when American women J tire actively interested in genealogies, 1 the contemplation of this Irish-Ameri- - can woman, whose ancestry is traced back to the tune of Strorigbow, a time j when the English language was crudo and barbarous, and when Ireland was the most cultivated land in Europe, is of timely and valued importance. One can understand the love and veneration r.r the educated Insh for thejr m -ther-land when it is realized that according to traditions of the land Irish historv goes back to the time of King David, th.t the Irish vernacular t.mgue is identified with Holy Writ, and that Ireland is the "Innis Phail." "Island Wonderful," in which the seed of King David found a resting place after leaving leav-ing .Egypt. And one may realize how intense is that pride of aiici.ry, when the stream can be traced back 1o its source and that source be found to Lm the "Royal Remnant" itself. Mrs. Maxl well's life covered a period of American Ameri-can history during Vaic-. the country emerged from its second war with England Eng-land in triumph and became the asylum V thv oppressed of every land. Her grandfather had found In James Mon-' roe. th- n min'--.,er to France, a firm and helpful friend, and lent him the influence in-fluence of his name and friendship with the government then in power. Her father bad come to this country with his widowed mother, and settled uj New York among the Kortrights S.d- other relatives of Mrs. Monroe when New York was little more than a small town. Grace Tone was born in Georgetown. D. C, a fact she always "VT?? Wii.h satisfaction, having a ereat liking for the south. But sho came back to New York with her wid-moihci- when she was hut little over 2 years of age, and lived first in Varick street, then the center of the residential section, and afterward, in Lispenard street. The maternal grandfather grand-father of Mrs. Maxwell was William Sampson, an exile of '98. well remem-iKsred remem-iKsred in New York as a lawyer and a brilliant man of letters. He was said by Hoffman, in his book, 'Lega Study," to have been the great promoter pro-moter of all the legal -amendments, the codes, the consolidations, that have so far taken place among us.- Mr. Sampson was of wealthy parentage, parent-age, 'possessed of university education, and gay and brilliant socially. It was said cf him that he possessed wit enough to have sst up a dozen Punches. He was the author of several books, one of them, "An Address on Common Law," in which he denounced the common com-mon law as a system wholly u resulted to our republican form of government. This work received attention in th.s country, and as well in England and France, and was the origin in this state of a movement which led to the enactment cf the revised statutes. He was a tine musician, playing well sev- j eral instruments, and had a gift for poetry as well. Among the friends about him when his only daughter was a girl were people whose names are ; familiar to the New York cf today the I families of Prims. King, Cruger, How-land. How-land. Schermerhorn, Crosby, Hoffman, Newbold, Grinnell, Suydam, Cutting, Kissam. Stuyvesant, and Livingston. De Witt Clinton and Chancellor Kent were his friends, and in his house they met the Emmets, the Mae Neveng, the Bikers and other Irish exiles. The widow of Wolf Tone lived in Georgetown for many years, and thither thith-er her little granddaughter was taken every year to visit her. This journey was "made in coaches and occupied four and five days, in its accomplishment. President Jackson was at the time in the White House, and being of Irish extraction, he was the warm friend of the Tone family. Frequently Mrs. Maxwell was taken by her mother and grandmother to tea there, and also on Saturdays, when the band played in tha grounds. Mr. Maxwell was -wont to relate re-late the impressions she received from those visits. In those days all Washington Wash-ington turned out on pleasant Sunday afternoons to hear the Marine band, and tho guests 'of the president, who sat on the southern portico n such occasions, beheld a bright scene in the crowds of people walking about over the green lawn. From Jackson's time to this day Mrs. Maxwell wa. a clos-3 student of affairs, and her patriotic spirit led her to feel more interest than women do ordinarily in the political questions of the day. She was so deeply deep-ly impressed with the sense of the wrongs that Ireland had. suffered at the hands of England that she disliked to use her prayer book localise it was printed at Oxford, and she frequently expressed the wish that we might in this country make American prayer-books. prayer-books. In her hall at the time of her death hung the Irish flag, a beautiful given banner, and everywhere in her house were mementoes of Ireland. Seme years ago her daughter went to Whirp-tom for the nurnose of having the remains of her great-grandmother, Wolf Tone's widow, and her grandfather, grand-father, William Theobald Wo'lfe Tone, removed from the burying ground there to Greenwood. On this: occasion she carried witih her the medals- given Wolf Tone at Trinity college, the Cross of the Legion cf Honor given to her grandfather, grand-father, their miniatures and ether article? arti-cle? to establish her claim for the bodies of those to ba removed. The graves had been cared for by the Irish-American Irish-American Union, and to this organiza- j tion Mis.s Maxwell went with her credentials. cre-dentials. The men, som-3 of them sons of martyrs themselves, wept like children chil-dren at the eight, of the reminders-of their idolized Tone. And when, after much hesitation and Tegrett, they consented con-sented to the removal, their kindness (to thia great-granddaughter of Tone was touching in its warmth and pathetically sorrowful. The remains were brought to Brooklyn, and on All Saints day, 1S9L were interred in the family plot. At the ame time were burled besides the.m the bodies of . Mrs. Maxwell's grandfather. William Sampson, her grandmother, Grace Sampson, and her own mother, Catherine Ann Tone, These latter bodiea had beers removed from the Riker family burying ground on Long Inland. The prayers of the Protestant Episcopal church were read over them, and -a wreath of ivy v as laid on each new-made grave. The Society of United Irishmen united unit-ed in raising funds in all countries to erect the monument to Wolfe Tone in DuMIn, and at a meeting held in the Grand opera house' some years ago, Mrs. Maxwell and her ms and daughters daugh-ters were present as honored- guetsts. Proudly erect sat this descendant of the great man cf whom all the speakers I were telling thrilling incidents, and when any reference was made to him the light that shone from her eyes sihewed that deep in her woman nature lived the same spirit of chivalry and patriotism .that had animated her heroic he-roic kinsman. At 'the funeral of Mrs. Maxwell, held in her home, a grandson of John Mitchell Mitch-ell (the Irish patriot of 1S48) assisted in the Episcopal burial service, and her four sons were the pallbearers. One of the floral tributes was a huge wreath of link rosea. tki with an Irish -flag, sent by the Irish society of New York. Her daughters, with filial affection, placed it at the head of her coffin, and afterward laid it where- it now reposes, over her grave in Greenwood. |