120 NATIONAL ORIGINS PROVISION OF IMMIGRATION LAW 
MEMORANDUM By SAM A, MATHEWSON 
With reference to the contention stated in A Hidden Phase of American History, 
by Michael J. O’Brien, that the Irish in America at the time of the Revoly- 
tion far exceeded the number indicated by the surnames listed in the census 
of 1790, and that such census and the Colonial Irish stock estimates based 
upon it, as contained in A Century of Population Growth, are correspondingly 
inaccurate 
One of the chief bases by which Mr. O’Brien supports his conclusions regard- 
ing the number of people of Irish origin in the United States during the 
Revolution and 1790 is the number of Irish names appearing in the Revolu- 
Jdonary War muster rolls. 
Giving his computations of the number of times certain Irish names appear 
on such muster rolls and in the census of 1790, he presents ag his conclusion 
that because the muster-roll figures are much larger than the census figures the 
latter are correspondingly inaccurate. 
However, in relying upon the muster-roll figures as the basis of comparison 
Mr. O’Brien is using data plainly unreliable. 
In the preface of volume 1 of Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the 
Revolutionary War (a compilation of the records of the Massachusetts soldiers 
and sailors who served in the Army and Navy during the Revolutionary War, 
as shown in the archives in the office of the secretary, Massachusetts) it is 
stated : 
“% « * Tn crediting service to any given individual no attempt has been 
made to force identification where a person of similar name has been found 
upon the rolls ag serving at a distant and separate interval of time, in a differ- 
ent command, and without any place of residence stated. * * Many of 
the rolls furnish no proof whatever as to residence of the men borne upon 
them. * * * The principle was adopted of bringing together scattered 
records of service and crediting them to one individual where identification 
was proven by place of residence, by continuous service, or by service in the 
same command at not too widely separated intervals, when it might be fairly 
presumed that the proofs of continuous service had failed of preservation and 
were only lacking from the State’s collection, All records that failed to 
meet these tests are simply printed as they are found, and must stand ag 
unidentified. * * * 
The above-mentioned publication, Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the 
Revolutionary War, embodies 17 volumes with pages totaling in number 16.180. 
Taking a minimum average of 10 names to the page, the total number of 
names listed is 161,800. According to the census of 1790 the total white popula- 
tion of Massachusetts at that time was 373,187. Subtracting 20 per cent from 
the 1780 figures, the mean of the total white population during the Revolutionary 
War could not have been more than 298,567. Thus if the muster-roll figures 
were to be aceepted without correction they would indicate that more than one- 
half of the population of Massachusetts was in the Revolutionary forces. Since 
it is a recognized fact that the fighting element in a community seldom exceeds 
one-tenth of the entire population, and that one-fifth is an extraordinarily high 
proportion, it is easy to see to what extent duplications must exist in the Revo- 
lutionary muster rolls. 
On pages 120 to 121 of A Hidden Phase of American History some of the 
difficulties above enumerated are apparently recognized, and yet it would seem 
‘hat in the case of the muster rolls anyway these difficulties have not heen 
solved. 
Since Massachusetts is the only State which has alphabetically arranged its 
Revolutionary War records the muster rolls of that State are the only ones 
adapted to an immediate comparison with the figures given by Mr. (Brien. 
The names of Revolutionary soldiers and sailors in other States are for the 
most part listed in rosters by companies and regiments, thus entailing an 
endless task in running down any particular name or names. 
Reference should be made to the variations in spelling of the same name 
which. of course, is one of the causes of duplication. In the introductory note 
to each volume of Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War 
it is stated: 
fx % ok Ag the same name may appear under various forms, each carrying 
some portion of a record of service, it is necessary in order to obtain the com- 
plete record, as far as preserved, of anv given individual, to examine all the 
forms under which a name is stated to appear in the record index * % *