By Peter F. Stevens

Part One in a Series on Notable But Overlooked Dorchester Irish

When St. Patrick's Day &emdash; Month, for that matter &emdash; rolls around, Dorchester takes a backseat to no one in its Irish connections. From the mills of the 1800s to the Eire Pub, the Irish presence in Dorchester has been strong, and the truth is that the Irish had claimed a stake of Dorchester much earlier than many people realize. How early? Back to the very start of the Colonial settlement.

A Nose for Business &emdash; John Cogan, c.1630s

John Cogan may well have been the first store owner in Boston and environs. He arrived on local shores as a passenger of the so-called "Winthrop Fleet," among "people of all parts."

Cogan was one of several settlers who hailed from Ireland's ports. Within a short time of his setting foot on dry land, he headed for Dorchester and "and had land allotted him there in 1630." He quickly established himself as an influential man not only in Dorchester, but also in Boston.

A historian notes: "The keen and far-seeing eye of the man of business quickly discovered that Boston was destined to be the location for men of his stamp....he [Cogan]...in company with Winthrop, Bellingham, Coddington, and others, laid the foundation of what is today the city of Boston. He was appointed by Governor Winthrop in 1633 a commissioner to select the lands that were best adapted for agricultural purposes, that the colonists might not waste their energies in planting on land not adapted for their crop. He was one of the board of selectmen the first year of its existence."

Cogan, always on the prowl for real estate in Dorchester and Boston, purchased a lot at the northeast corner of State and Washington Streets in early 1634, and in March of that year, he built a new structure on the tract and opened up for business. The business was a dry-goods and mercantile concern. Many historians have asserted that Cogan's building was the first store in these parts, one of them writing, "on this spot, March 4, 1634, John Cogan from Ireland opened thefirst store in the town of Boston. To him belongs the honor of being the father of Boston merchants."

Sailor, Soldier, and Captain of Commerce

Around 1744, a commanding man whose weather-burnished visage testified to a life spent at sea strode into Dorchester. Irishman James Boies, who had served as the captain and super-cargo of a mechantman making the trans-Atlantic run from Galway and Bristol (England) to Boston, traded in his captain's trunk for a life on land, in Dorchester. With money saved from his cuts of ships' cargo, he soon built a paper mill on the banks of the Neponset and took his son-in-law, Hugh McLean, into the business as a partner in 1771.

A 19th-century Irish American historian writes that Boies was proof that "even at that early time Irishmen were among the thrifty and energetic land-owners" in and around Boston.

Proving that he was not only willing to bring his industrious son-in-law into the business, but also to stake a talented employee, Boies helped Richard Clark, who had worked for Boies for 5 years, open a paper mill in Mattapan. Of course, Boies had a large piece of the new venture, which proved a success.

By the eve of the Revolution, in 1775, Boies and McLean owned several paper mills and slitting mills in Dorchester, earning later accolades as "the founders and early promoters of the paper industry of Dorchester."

When the Revolution erupted in April 1775, Boies, as with so many Irishmen in the Thirteen Colonies, enlisted in the Rebels' cause, eager to strike a blow against Ireland's age-old tormentor, the British. Boies struck his personal blow against the redcoats in March 1776, when George Washington ordered that the heavy cannons that Henry Knox's men had dragged from Fort Ticonderoga (NY) to Massachusetts be dug in atop Dorchester Heights. First, wood for the gun emplacements had to be hauled up the slopes, and a detachment of Continental soldiers cut branches and bundled them. It fell to the Patriots of Dorchester and other local town to pull those bundles up the heights.

Under cover of nightfall, the men knew they had to work fast: if they were spotted by the recdcoats, the British batteries around Boston and the cannons of the Royal Navy warships anchored in Boston Harbor would open up on them. According to one historian, "it is said that no less than three hundred teams were used that night under the direction of James Boies of Dorchester and Mr. Goddard of Brookline." Soon, with the wooden embrasures shielding the heavy cannons that glowered down at the redcoats, their commander, General William Howe, had no choice but to abandon Boston to the Rebels. He did so on St. Patrick's Day of 1776, a fact that likely delighted Boies.

It was fitting that on March 17, 1776, Dorchester resident and Irishman James Boies could claim a key role in driving the British from Boston.