nd had waged
in the cause of liberty when well-nigh all the world was up in arms
against her, my father, Captain Patrick Loraine, having served for many
years as a subaltern, believing that he should no longer find employment
for his sword, sold out of the army, and with the proceeds of his
commission in his pocket, quitting the old country, came to the United
States in the hopes of making his fortune more rapidly than he could
expect to do at home.

Finding that as a British officer he was looked upon with distrust in
the Eastern States, he made his way westward until he finally located
himself in Illinois on a fertile spot, sheltered on the north by a wide
extent of forest, and overlooking that part of the river Ohio which
separates the state from Kentucky. I remember even now the appearance
of the country. On the eastern side was a range of hills of slight
elevation, on one of which our house stood, while westward stretched
away as far as the eye could reach, a vast plain, with the mighty
Mississippi beyond. The scenery could boast of no great beauty except
such as lofty trees, the prairie, with its varied tints of green and
brown, yellow cornfields, rich meadows in the valleys, and the shining
river in the distance, canopied by the blue vault of heaven, could give
it. Still, it was my home, and as such I should have loved it, had it
possessed even less pretensions to beauty.

So well satisfied was my father with the country that he returned to
Ireland to bring back a young lady who had promised to become his wife.
Two or three years afterwards I was born, and was succeeded by my
brother Dan, and finally by my dear little sister Kathleen. My mother,
whose maiden name was O'Dwyer, was, I should have said, accompanied by
her two brothers, Michael and Denis, who came out with the intention of
assisting my father, and ultimately settling near him, but they were
hot-headed young men, and before even they reached the farm they had a
quarrel which resulted in their separation. Denis finally settled in
Kentucky, while Michael, with a rifle on his shoulder and axe in his
belt, saying that he should turn trapper, pushed away further west, and
from that day to the time I am about to describe we had received no
tidings from him. Uncle Denis became a successful settler. He was soon
reconciled to my father, and occasionally paid us a visit, but preferred
remaining in the location he had chosen to coming near us, as he had