Samuel Neilson Papers (Mss. Gr. 72)

Historical note

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.