An Irish Legacy

The Emmet Family in Pelham

He was one of the most able barristers in Ireland, the son of the Chief Medical Officer for Ireland, part of a prominent Protestant family of Dublin and he was defending in court one of the many who would be charged with treason for taking an oath to join the Society of United Irishmen in the late 1790s. Thomas Addis Emmet argued that his client was not guilty of treason because the purpose of the organization was to restrain the people from violence by uniting Irishmen across all religions to seek legitimate redress from parliamentary abuses. In the midst of his argument, he suddenly took up a Holy Bible situated in the court room for administering oaths, put his hand on it and swore to the very oath that had been outlawed by King George III:

“I pledge to my country and my fellow Irishmen, that I will steadily support and endeavour by all due means to carry into effect the following resolutions: that the weight of English influence in the government is so great, as to require a cordial union among all the people of Ireland, to maintain that balance which is essential to the preservation of our liberties, and extension of our commerce; that the sole constitutional mode by which this influence can be opposed is by a complete and radical reform of the representation of the people in parliament; and that no reform is practicable, efficacious, or just, which shall not include Irishmen of every religious persuasion.”

He then kissed the bible.  His act was so astonishing that the court room was struck dumb and the judge was so rattled that he dismissed the case and discharged the prisoner.  Six years later in 1798, Tom Emmet was arrested on suspicion of seeking to conspire with Napoleon Bonaparte to land French troops in Ireland and join the native population in seeking the overthrow of English rule.  Although he was never charged with a crime (and history would show that he opposed starting a rebellion at that time), Emmet was disbarred, arrested and interrogated at the infamous Newgate prison in Dublin before being imprisoned at Fort George, Scotland.  He was held there until 1802, finally released only on the condition that he never return to Ireland.

The next year, his brother Robert helped plan an uprising aimed at storming Dublin Castle and taking the government hostage.  After a trial where he was effectively denied representation, he was sentenced to death by hanging followed by decapitation.  Today, Robert Emmet is widely remembered throughout Ireland and the world as a republican martyr in the successful fight for the eventual independence by the present Republic of Ireland.

Tom Emmet immigrated to the United States and the Emmet Family would have a long and enduring presence in Pelham for several generations.

Emmet was admitted to the bar and quickly became one of the new nation’s leading attorneys arguing the seminal case of Gibbons v. Ogden before the Supreme Court and later serving as New York State Attorney General. He founded the law firm that continues to this day under the name Emmet, Marvin & Martin and was headed by several succeeding generations of the Emmet Family.  It was his oldest son, Robert Temple Emmet and his wife Julia Colt Emmet, who built an estate at the edge of Pelham on Weyman Avenue in New Rochelle, as a weekend retreat.  (The street named “Emmet Terrace” likely marks the northern edge of their property.)  When Robert was appointed a state judge in 1852, his oldest son, Richard Stockton Emmet, took over his father’s practice and moved with his wife Katherine Temple Emmet to the family home in New Rochelle.  Another of Robert’s sons, William Jenkins Emmet, moved to Pelham, renting first a house on what is now Travers Island before moving to the historic “Pell House” on Shore Road (at corner of Pelhamdale Avenue) where he and his wife Julia lived for the rest of their lives into the 20th century, along with their son, Robert and his wife Kellie and children.