Skip to main content

Timothy Deacy, Irish Patriot and Leading Citizen of Lawrence, MA


Timothy Deacy (1839-1880) , Civil War soldier, Irish rebel and politician, died on December 10, 1880 in Lawrence, MA. 

Deacy emigrated with his family from Clontakilty, County Cork to Massachusetts in 1847 to escape the Irish Famine.  The family settled in Lawrence 35 miles north of Boston, the nation's first planned industrial city where immigrants and Yankees worked long hours in mills and factories.

The Deacy family had long been involved in Irish political insurrections, starting with the United Irishmen Uprising of 1798. In Lawrence, Timothy and his younger brother Cornelius joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood, formed in 1858 as a physical force movement to oust Britain from Ireland.  When the Civil War started, they enlisted in the 9th  Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in 1861.  Both brothers were wounded in May 1864, but continued to fight with their unit.

After the war, Deacy and 300 veterans went to Ireland in 1865 to train Irish soldiers for a planned insurrection. They returned to the States in 1866 and led an unsuccessful Fenian invasion of Canada, hoping to persuade the British Empire to free Ireland.  In January 1867 Deacy returned to England and raided Chester Castle, securing weapons and explosives for the Fenian Uprising in Ireland, which also failed.  Deacy and Civil War veteran Colonel Thomas Kelly were arrested and imprisoned in Manchester, England.  In a daring plot to free them, a Manchester police officer was killed.  While Deacy and Kelly escaped, three of the rescuers were captured, tried for murder and hanged in public.  They became known as the Manchester Martyrs.

Deacy returned to Lawrence and turned his energy toward politics.  In 1872 he won a seat on the Lawrence City Council and won re-election in 1874.  In 1876 he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He retired after one term due to failing health and ran a pub in Lawrence with his brother.  In 1880 he helped raise over $1,000 during Charles Stewart Parnell's visit to Lawrence on behalf of the Irish Land League. 

Deacy died on December 10, 1880 and received a massive funeral ceremony, attended by the Ninth Massachusetts Regiment band and an Irish pipe band.  Hundreds marched in the funeral cortege and thousands lined the street to bid their hero goodbye.

In 1990 the Irish National Graves Association designated Deacy's grave a national grave.  

In November 1992, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Division 8, placed a memorial tombstone on Deacy's grave at St. Mary's Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Lawrence/Andover.   Read more about Timothy Deacy at the AOH page on Lawrence History and from author Robert J. Bateman.  

(Editor's Note: Deacy's name has also been spelled Deasy and Dacey in various media accounts).

- Text Courtesy of Boston Irish Heritage Trail. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Boston Celtics : The Story Behind Their Irish Green Theme

Bill Russell played for the Boston Celtics from 1956 to 1959 (This story was updated in March 2024) Many people wonder why the  Boston Celtics  wear shamrocks on their green uniforms and have a giant leprechaun smoking a cigar as their team logo. And why is the team mascot a guy named Lucky who looks like he stepped out of a box of Lucky Charms? According to the Boston Celtic’s official web site, the name came about in 1946 when owner Walter Brown started the team. He and his public relations guy, Howie McHugh, were throwing out potential nicknames, including the Whirlwinds, Unicorns and Olympics. It was Brown who had the epiphany, saying, “Wait, I’ve got it – the Celtics. The name has a great basketball tradition from the old Original Celtics in New York (1920s). And Boston is full of Irishman. We’ll put them in green uniforms and call them the Boston Celtics.” Red Auerbach , the now legendary coach of the early Celtics, then commissioned his brother Zang, a graphic d...
Post a Comment
Read more

Boston Mayors of Irish Descent, 1885-2021

(Originally published in 2013, this post was updated in 2021) Here are the Mayors of Boston Claiming Irish Heritage:  Hugh O’Brien 1885–88 Patrick Collins 1902–05 John F. Fitzgerald 1906–07, 1910–13 James M. Curley 1914–17, 1922–25, 1930–33, 1946–49 Frederick W. Mansfield 1934–37 Maurice Tobin 1938–41, 1941-44 John Kerrigan 1945 John B. Hynes 1950–59 John Collins 1960–68 Kevin H. White 1968–83 Raymond L. Flynn 1984–93 Martin J. Walsh   2014- 2021 The lineage of Boston mayors with Irish ancestry dates back to 1885, when Irish immigrant Hugh O'Brien of County Cork assumed office and became the first Irish-born mayor elected in Boston, serving four one-year terms (1885-88).   O'Brien was followed by Irish-born Patrick Collins (1902-05), also of County Cork, who died in office in 1905. He was replaced by John F. Fitzgerald, who became the first American-born mayor of Irish descent, serving two terms.  A noteworthy...
Post a Comment
Read more

Visit these Public Memorials to John Boyle O'Reilly throughout Massachusetts

  Born 180 years ago on June 28, 1844, John Boyle O’Reilly helped shape the history or Ireland and America in the late 19th century in powerful ways. Today, O'Reilly’s stature as a seminal figure in Irish and Irish-American history is particularly evident in his beloved birthplace of Dowth, County Meath; in Freemantle, Australia where he was imprisoned; and indeed, throughout the Irish Diaspora.  O'REILLY LANDMARKS IN MASSACHUSETTS O’Reilly remains popular in Boston, New Bedford, Hull and Springfield where there is a selection of memorials and plaques, parks and city squares, library collections and Irish organizations honoring O’Reilly’s memory. In Boston, the John Boyle O’Reilly Memorial at the corner of Boylston Street and The Fens, not far from Fenway Park, was unveiled in 1896 by famed Concord sculptor Daniel French. The Memorial is part of Boston’s Irish Heritage Trail. In Charlestown, O’Reilly lived at 34 Winthrop Street, where there is a plaque in his honor. In 1988 t...
Post a Comment
Read more