‘Irish effect’ on US over 250 years marked at event in Philadelphia 

Carmel Moylan, Kieran Moylan, Friendly Sons and Daughters of St Patrick president Theresa Murtagh, and a re-enactor portraying General Stephen Moylan  at the Topper Theatre, Mullen Centre, Villanova University. 

A ceremony marking the contribution of Irish people in the US for the last 250 years has taken place in Philadelphia.

It was organised by the Society of the Friendly Sons and Daughters of Saint Patrick and the Irish America 250 group. It kickstarted their programme of events for the year — which began with honouring General Stephen Moylan from Blarney St in Cork City — who was a friend and aide de camp of George Washington.

A year-long schedule of festivities is now underway with the first event taking place in Villanova University at the Mullen Centre at Topper Theatre, attended by over 300 people.

General Stephen Moylan. Born on Blarney St in Cork City, the friend and aide de camp of George Washington is being honoured in the US and in the city of his birth. 

The opening ceremony, which was live streamed across the world, opened with honouring General Moylan, who was the first person believed to have written the phrase “United States of America”.

The event was attended by some of his descendants, including Kieran Moylan who travelled from Cork where he met distant relatives from Texas and Philadelphia.

He presented the current president of the Friendly Sons and Daughters of St. Patrick, Teresa Murtagh — who is also their first female president — with a coat of arms of Cork.

Meanwhile, Cork City Council is also preparing to unveil a plaque of Stephen Moylan later this year.

His descendant Kieran Moylan said last week ahead of his journey:

“It is a great honour to be part of the celebrations commemorating Irish America’s contribution over the past 250 years to the ‘United States of America’, a term first used in written form, by Stephen Moylan in a letter to Joseph Reed in January 1776.”

Irish ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason also spoke at the event, when she referred to the continuous links between the hearts and minds of the two countries over the centuries. She was presented with honorary lifelong membership of the Friendly Sons and Daughters of St Patrick by Teresa Murtagh.