Before the American Revolution, the Irish in Philadelphia had formed a social organization, the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. By 1790, the organization was waning. Carey recognized the need for a new association that could help the growing numbers of Irish immigrants.[1]

The Hibernian Society for the Relief of Immigrants from Ireland was founded on April 5, 1790. Carey became its secretary, allowing the organization to elect Thomas McKean as president. With characteristic energy and enthusiasm, Carey drew up the Society’s policies and recruited new members. [2] At the docks, he boarded the ships and met the newcomers, identifying those in need, becoming an influential member of the Irish community in Philadelphia.

 

“To a benevolent mind no object can be more grateful or more laudable than to relieve the distressed…By [the organization of national relief societies] emigrants have been rendered happy in their situations and useful citizens, oppression has been punished, migration hither encouraged, misery alleviated; and consequently the temptations to wander from the paths of rectitude diminished.”[3]

                                            Hibernian Society Constitution

        

The Irish who joined the Hibernian Society were mostly Democratic-Republican. In the following years they became increasingly radical.[4] Despite Carey’s benevolent aims, his involvement in the organization and the Irish community would prove to be difficult for him in the future.

TRANSITION TO PUBLISHER | Carey Married Bridget Flahavan

[1]Edward C. Carter II, The Political Activities of Mathew Carey, Nationalist, 1760-1814, Bryn Mawr College PhD. Dissertation, 194.

[2] Carter, The Political Activities of Mathew Carey, 194.

[3] John H. Campbell, History of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and of the Hibernian Society for the Relief of Emigrants from Ireland, March 17, 1771-March 17, 1892, (Philadelphia: Hibernian Society, 1892) 153.

[4] Carter, The Political Activities of Mathew Carey, 194.