CHAPTER XI

THOMAS DONGAN AND THE GRANTING OF THE NEW-YORK CHARTER

1682-1688
 

UBSEQUENT to the return of Sir Edmund Andros to
^S|S^^ England in 1681, Colonel Thomas Dongan was commis-
|k^^*| sioned Grovernor of the Duke of York's Province of New-
/^^i^q\ York. He was a descendant of an ancient Irish Catholic
family, and was the youngest of the three sons of Sir John Dongan,
Baronet, of Castletown, County Kildare. His mother was a sister of
Eichard Talbot, who became Earl of
Tyrconnel and later Lieutenant-Grov-
ernor of Ireland. He was born at the
family home in Ireland in 1634, and
was early trained to the profession
of arms. The Dongans favored the
Stuarts, and when Charles I. was be¬
headed in 1649, the family removed to
France, Young Dongan entered the
French army and received a commis¬
sion from Louis XIV. in an Irish regi¬
ment which was composed chiefly of
adherents of the unfortunate king.
He rose through all the commissioned
ranks until 1674, when he was made
colonel. Meanwhile he had served for
some time in Nancy and had taken
part in the campaigns against Hol¬
land. After the treaty of Nimeguen
in 1678, an order was issued for the
return of all English subjects then
serving under the French crown to their homes. Concerning this
recall Colonel Dongan wrote that he was obliged to relinquish "that
honorable and advantageous post, and resisted the temptations of

1 This vignette is copied from the supposed portrait among the Caleb Lyons collection, now in the
possession of the New-York Historical Society.—Editor.

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