Irish patriot and newspaper editor Samuel Neilson was born in Ballyroney, County Down, Ireland, in 1761, the son of a Presbyterian minister. Though born and raised a Protestant, Neilson was a life-long supporter of equal political and civil rights for Irish Catholics and of an independent and united Ireland. To promote these goals, Neilson and several of his associates established a newspaper, The Northern Star, in Belfast in 1792. By 1795, after three years of continual harassment from the British government, his associates withdrew from the paper and Neilson became its sole proprietor. Despite the harassment, Neilson kept up his attacks on the British government for its suppression of Irish Catholics in the pages of The Northern Star. Within a year, Neilson was arrested and the offices and presses of The Northern Star destroyed by British troops because of his continued editorial support for Irish independence.
Neilson spent the next six years imprisoned in Ireland and Scotland, finally gaining his release in June of 1802 on the condition that he leave Ireland. He arrived in New York City in December, 1802 and immediately began plans to establish a newspaper to promote the cause of Irish independence in the United States. Before his dream could be realized, Neilson contracted yellow fever while visiting friends in Poughkeepsie, New York and died there on August 29, 1803 at the age of forty-two. One hundred and two years later, the Ancient Order of Hibernians of Poughkeepsie dedicated a monument to his memory in the cemetery where he is buried.
Open for research.
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Samuel Neilson Collection, 1799-1977, Mss. Gr. 72, University of Rhode Island Library.
The materials in this collection relate to the late eighteenth century Irish patriot, Samuel Neilson (1761-1803). The papers were donated to the University Library in 1984 and 1985 by Katherine Burt Jackson, a descendant of Neilson. All of the items in this collection are secondary sources postdating Neilson's death in 1803. They include newspaper clippings about a monument erected to his memory in the Poughkeepsie, New York cemetery where he is buried, photographs of his portrait and grave stone, a sketch of his life by Jackson, a daughter's copybook which also includes a sketch of his life, and copies of letters Neilson wrote to his wife while he was imprisoned for political agitation.
The collection contains letters written in 1799 while Neilson was imprisoned at Fort George in Scotland. They reveal both the hardship caused by separation from his family and his confusion about the reasons for his imprisonment. The letters are handwritten fair copies of the originals. Family history maintains that they were copied from the original letters by one of his daughters in the early nineteenth century. Additional information about Neilson's life and that of his son, William Bryson Neilson, can be discovered in a copybook compiled by one of the elder Neilson's daughters, either Jane Neilson MacAdam or Anne Neilson Magenes. Included in this copybook are copies of some of Neilson's letters to his family, memorials to this deceased son, and a brief account of his life. Also of interest is a family genealogy.
The collection is organized into one series:
The papers were donated to the University Library in 1984 and 1985 by Katherine Burt Jackson, a descendant of Neilson.
The materials in this collection relate to the late eighteenth century Irish patriot, Samuel Neilson (1761-1803). The papers were donated to the University Library in 1984 and 1985 by Katherine Burt Jackson, a descendant of Neilson. All of the items in this collection are secondary sources postdating Neilson's death in 1803. They include newspaper clippings about a monument erected to his memory in the Poughkeepsie, New York cemetery where he is buried, photographs of his portrait and grave stone, a sketch of his life by Jackson, a daughter's copybook which also includes a sketch of his life, and copies of letters Neilson wrote to his wife while he was imprisoned for political agitation.
The letters to his wife, are perhaps the most interesting and historically significant items in the collection. Written in 1799 while Neilson was imprisoned at Fort George in Scotland, they reveal both the hardship caused by separation from his family and his confusion about the reasons for his imprisonment. The letters are handwritten fair copies of the originals. Family history maintains that they were copied from the original letters by one of his daughters in the early nineteenth century. Additional information about Neilson's life and that of his son, William Bryson Neilson, can be discovered in a copybook compiled by one of the elder Neilson's daughters, either Jane Neilson MacAdam or Anne Neilson Magenes. Included in this copybook are copies of some of Neilson's letters to his family, memorials to this deceased son, and a brief account of his life. Also of interest is a family genealogy.
The collection is arranged alphabetically by subject or type of record.