John H. Campbell 
History of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and of the Hibernian Society for the Relief of Emigrants From Ireland [PDF ebook] 
March 17, 1771 March 17, 1892

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. To give an idea of some of the work performed, it will suffice to mention the fact that in order to cover the period from 1790 to 1814, for which period the minute books of the Society are missing, every newspaper published in Philadelphia during that period was collated. Issue by issue, and whatever pertained to the Hibernian Society care. Fully copied. Besides all these sources of information, the descendants, relatives; or acquaintances of deceased members have been either interviewed or corresponded with wherever it was possible, and a large mass of facts accumulated. The correspondence alone in this department amounted to several thousand letters and cards. As to living mem bers, blanks were sent to them, requesting data for sketches, and, with but few exceptions, these blanks were returned filled.