Some New York Emmets

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 15, 9 April 1903, Page 6

Some New York Emmets

When the funeral of Richard Stockton Emmet, one of the oldest members of the New York Bar. was held in New Rochelle recently, it was attended (says the 'Irish American ) by nearly 50 members of the Emmet family the grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-KS"fw??? °M Th . omas Addis Emmet, the patriot Robert Emmets eldest brother, who came to New York city m 1804 from Holland after an imprisonment of SSEd BSLS of or i798 range for hls —«*'<>» *** «* r?™Z h ? V^ Bmmet family begins with Christopher §s?^ ' m Tl PP era fy. who died in 1743. and his wife. Rebecca Temple, who died in 1774. Their eon, Dr. Ro^ bert Emmet born in Tipperary, practised medicine in • I ' 7o a o nd i Dublin ,' and died in Casino, County Dublin, in 1792. His wife was Elizabeth Mason, and they had seventeen children, most of whom died young. Only three survived him-Thomas Addis, Robert, of 1803 fame, and their sister Mary Anne who married Robert Holmes and died in 1804. The medical strain in the family is very notable.

. Thomas Addis Emmet, like his father, studied medicine and had just begun to practise when his eldest brother, Christopher Temple Emmet, died in 1789. At the request of his father he then became a lawyer. He joined the United Irishmen in 1794, and his republican and patriotic leaning is said to have been due to the influence of Robert Temple, an American relative of his grandmother. After his arrival in New York, Thomaa Addis Emmet became one of the leading members of the Bar, to which he was admitted by special Act of the Legislature immediately. He was elected Attorney-Genr eral of the State in 1812, but resigned after holding the office for less than a year, lit was the only public office he ever held, except that of Colonel in an Irish regiment ?o\o r the defence of New York during the war of 1012.

Of his sons, the eldest, Judge Robert Emmet, father of the Richard Stockton Emmet, who died as mentioned above, on November 23, became a distinguished jurist. Christopher Temple Emmet, the third son, entered the "^t^J 11 * 1 led at sea " T-Wo oth er sons, Thomaa Addis and William, became lawyers. The second, John Paton followed the family tradition and was trained as a doctor under his father's friend and fellow-patriot. Dr. William James McNeven. His son is the well-known Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, of our own time, who in turn has a son, Dr. Duncan Emmet, who ably supports the family trend in the medical line. This is also the only Catholic branch of the family. Of the daughters of the first Thomaa Addis EmmetMargaret died unmarried ; Elizabeth became Mrs. William H. Leroy ; Mary Anne, Mrs. Edward Robert Graves ; and Jane Erin, who was born during the captivity of her father in Fort George, Mrs. Bache McEvers and grandmother of Sir Bache Cunard, of shipping family fame. Among the mourners at Richard Emmet's funeral was the possessor of the seal ling which Robert Emmet took from his finger before he mounted the scaffold and directed should be handed down in the Emmet family from one generation to another to the sons who bore the Christian name of Robert. This ring is now the property of Colonel Robert T. Emmet, of New Rochelle who was until lately in command of the First Regiment of the New York National Guaid. It is an heirloom so priced that Colonel Emmet wears it only at family gatherings At other times it is kxjpt in a safe-deposit %ault. The disposition of the ring for the coming generation is a bread v provided for, as Colonel Emmet haa a son Robert, to whom it wil! descend at his death. Robert Emmet settled in New Rochclle nearly 60 years ago At the time of the Young Ireland movement in 1848 he was one of the directory formed in New York to aid the agitation. He died in 1873 and was buried in New Rochelle.

The Emmet family ha\e followed the professional walks of life. None of them, with the exception of William J. Emmet, now the oldest surviving member, who was a sugar refiner, has engaged in business. The men have been lawyers, engineers, or physicians, while the women have taken to art and literature. In all their various undertakings they have shown marked ability