A Celebrated Philanthropist of Boston City: Andrew Carney
Jonathan Smyth's latest Times Past column remembers Andrew Carney from Ballinagh whose wealth helped the poor of Boston and was put towards constructing some of the city's famous buildings.
In 2015, Eddie Brady, The Anglo-Celt’s former Ballinagh area correspondent, spoke about him as “one of the district’s most famous sons”. The man’s name is Andrew Carney. He was born in the Ballinagh area on May 12, 1794, and emigrated around 1815. Andrew settled in Boston City, in the United States. Eddie called him as “a man of great resourcefulness and spirit” who “through hard work, sound judgement and shrewd dealing, became extremely wealthy”.
In fact, by the 1850s, Mr Carney had made a $400,000 fortune of which he was to give away $300,000 to numerous charitable causes. The early Bostonian Irish cherished Carney and his name lives on in the landmarks named in his honour and in the city’s history.
According to Eddie, Mr Carney came from the townland of Urney and was known to use his money wisely. Two banks were founded by Andrew Carney, and he is also credited with playing a part in the foundation of Boston College. In 2015, Peter F. Stevens, writing in the Boston Irish under the headline, ‘One of God’s Best Noble Men’, said of the Ballinagh native: ‘Today, we have numerous politicians and corporate kings and queens who believe that charity does not begin at home or in the boardroom.’
He added how Mr Carney was ‘a tough, pragmatic, innovative businessman who did not sacrifice ethics for fortune’. He further quotes historian John B. Cullen in ‘The Story of the Irish in Boston’ who wrote: ‘To the poor of this city in times of sickness and poverty, he was a kind-hearted, whole-souled, generous friend and protector.’
Earlier in 1848, Mr Carney helped to purchase St Vincent de Paul Church in South Boston. He stood up for Catholicism and officially became the wealthiest Catholic in New England.
Eddie Brady recalled an event marking the hospital’s recognition of Mr Carney’s philanthropy: ‘In April 1988, a delegation from the hospital, led by its medical co-ordinator Dr Peter Leahy, visited Ballinagh, Co Cavan, and made presentations to the in recognition of the part played by this native son in providing for the people of Boston this excellent medical facility’ which stood ‘among the best and most widely known in the United States.’
Fr Pat Bannon, CC, accepted two plaques from Leahy in the company of Eddie Brady and mass was offered in St Felim’s Church, Ballinagh for the repose of Andrew Carney’s soul and, afterwards, Dr Leahy headed over to Ballinagh Community Hall to deliver a lecture ‘with slides’ about the life of the town’s famous son.
A tailor by profession, one account stated that Mr Carney emigrated around 1815 to Prince Edward Island and later, in 1830, he moved to Boston where he teamed up with the somnambulant sounding clothing merchant Jacob Sleeper. But there was nothing sleepy about either man. They were powerful businessmen who made a lot of money. The company became known as Carney and Sleeper Clothiers and profits grew when the US Government contracted them to supply the military with uniforms.
In 1863, Mr Carney bought the old Howe mansion in South Boston, which he gave to the Sisters of Charity to be transformed into a hospital they named after him. On March 23, 1903, the Washington Times spoke of the progress made at Carney Hospital, which was enlarged to cope with 14,000 cases per year. The entire institution was run on charity and engaged the help of many ‘skilful doctors’ from Boston who acted as ‘visiting physicians’.
Sadly, in 2024 after going into private ownership the Carney Hospital was closed permanently because of debt. Another institution linked to Mr Carney is Boston College, which he helped finance and one of its buildings, Carney Hall, is named after him. In 1862, Rev McElroy purchased the site and, with Andrew Carney’s financial support, the educational facility was established.
Unexpectedly, Andrew Carney died on April 3, 1864, aged 67 years. He was survived by his wife Mrs Pamelia Green Carney who carried on her husband’s charitable endeavours. In 1872, the Boston Pilot published a list of requests and uncovered the name of the person behind them whom they learned to be Mrs Carney, widow of the late Andrew. She continued his legacy in fine style.
The Pilot listed the following beneficiaries and amounts: New Cathedral, Washington Street, $3,000; the Little Sisters of the Poor, $3000; the Church of the Immaculate Conception, $2,000; the Home for the Destitute Children, $2000; St Vincent de Paul’s Charitable Association, $2000; Sisters of Notre Dame, Highlands, $1,000; Sisters of the Good Shepherd, $1,000; St. Vincent’s Orphan Asylum, Camden, $1000; Carney Hospital, $1000; Boston Provident Association, $500. An additional $3,500 was kindly given to several persons in need of ‘charitable assistance’. The total amount she donated that month amounted to $25,000. The Boston Pilot published an account of Mrs. Carney’s acts of generosity on January 20, 1872.
When Mrs Pamelia Carney died on April 18, 1875, aged 83 years, the Boston Pilot lamented, that the ‘Catholics of Boston have lost one of their greatest benefactors’. The Carneys were described as liberal patrons of the Church of the Immaculate Conception and with their passing the paper said that ‘nearly all the old landmarks of early Catholicity in Boston have passed away’. Her funeral took place in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, and the mass was said by Fr Welch, SJ, who also imparted the absolution. Mrs Carney’s remains were interred alongside her husband Andrew in Forest Hills Cemetery.
In 2015, Eddie Brady, in summarising his thoughts on Andrew Carney, stated: ‘In his maturity, he was one of the city’s best known and most highly respected citizens and was mainly responsible for the erection of the Carney Memorial Hospital and Boston College, which became two of the city’s leading institutions and which stand as memorials to this most distinguished Irishman.’
Carney was a big-hearted, generous American-Irishman possessed of a kindness towards his neighbours in the truest Christian sense of the word. There was nothing mean or petty-minded about him and his compassion towards the struggling and the poor are testimony to this. As they say in County Cavan, he would ‘only have wanted to do you a good turn’. Certainly, such a man deserves to be commemorated by the people of Ballinagh and in the City of Boston where he made and shared his fortune.
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