Томас Донган: Ирландиялық саяхатшы, әскери шенеунік және Нью-Йорк провинциясының губернаторы

Irish politician and military official
the Irish judge

Thomas Dongan, (pronounced "Dungan")efn|Other spellings of Dongan's last name include: Duggan and Dungon, and even Duncan or Doñea Dongan's maternal uncles were Peter Talbot, Archbishop of Dublin (1673–1679), and Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, who was lord deputy of Ireland during the reign of James II. After the beheading of Charles I, Dongan's father, a supporter of the House of Stuart, and his family, fled to France, where Thomas obtained a commission in the army.

While in France, he served in an Irish regiment with Turenne. He stayed in France after the Restoration and achieved the rank of colonel in 1674. That same year, he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Tangiers, which had been granted to England as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza. He served as part of the Tangier Garrison which defended the settlement.

In September 1682, James, Duke of York, as Lord Proprietor of the Province of New York, appointed Dongan as Vice admiral in the Navy and provincial governor (1683–1688) to replace Edmund Andros "Dongan's long service in the French army had made him conversant with the French character and diplomacy and his campaigns in the Low Countries had given him a knowledge of the Dutch language." James also granted him an estate on Staten Island. The estate eventually became the town of Castleton; later, another section of the island was named Dongan Hills in honour of Dongan. Dongan landed in Boston on 10 August 1683, crossed Long Island Sound, and passed through the small settlements in the eastern part of the island and he made his way to Fort James, arriving on 25 August. In October, Rev. Henry Selyns reported to the Amsterdam Classis, " our new governor has at last arrived. His excellency is a person of knowledge refinement and modesty. I have had the pleasure of receiving a call from him and I have the privilege of calling on him whenever I desire." It decreed that the supreme legislative power under the Duke of York shall reside in a governor, council, and the people convened in general assembly; conferred upon the members of the assembly rights and privileges making them a body coequal to and independent of the Parliament of England; established town, county, and general courts of justice; solemnly proclaimed the right of religious liberty; and passed acts enunciating certain constitutional liberties, e. g. taxes could be levied only by the people met in general assembly; right of suffrage; and no martial law or quartering of the soldiers without the consent of the inhabitants. Almost identical in form to the charter awarded to New York City just three months earlier, the Albany charter was the result of negotiations conducted between royal officials and Robert Livingston the Elder and Pieter Schuyler. The charter incorporated the city of Albany, establishing a separate municipal entity in the midst of the Van Rensselaer Manor. Dongan established the boundary lines of the province by settling disputes with Connecticut on the East, with the French Governor of Canada on the North, and with Pennsylvania on the South, thus marking out the present limits of New York State. Dongan established the first post office in New York in 1686 with the objective of promoting better communication between the American colonies. James later consolidated the colonial governments of New York, New Jersey and the United Colonies of New England into the Dominion of New England and appointed Edmund Andros, the former Governor General of New York, as Governor General. Dongan transferred his governorship back to Andros on 11 August 1688. Dongan was to execute land grants establishing several towns throughout New York State including the eastern Long Island communities of East Hampton and Southampton. These grants, called the Dongan Patents, set up Town Trustees as the governing bodies with a mission of managing common land for common good. The Dongan Patents still hold force of law and have been upheld by the US Supreme Court with the Trustees—rather than town boards, city councils or even the State Legislature—still managing much of the common land in the state. In 1698, his brother William Dongan, 1st Earl of Limerick, died without issue. Because of his service to the Crown as a military officer and as provincial governor, he was granted his brother's title in the Peerage of Ireland and a portion of his brother's forfeited estates by a special Act of Parliament for his relief. In 1709, Lord Limerick sold his 2,300 acre property at Celbridge to William Conolly.

Dongan lived in London for the last years of his life and died a poor man and without direct heirs on 14 December 1715 at the age of 81. In his will, dated 1713, he wished that he be buried with expenses not to exceed £100, and bequeathed the remainder of his estate to his niece, the wife of Colonel Nugent, who later became Marshal of France. He was buried in Old St. Pancras churchyard, London.

Ref. John Dongan of Dublin, An Elizabethan Gentleman And His Family. Baltimore; Gateway Press, 1996. Pages 141 – 151 reference Gov. Thomas Dongan.