Yet,  since  much  of  the  data  was  obtained  in  a  casual
way  only,  it  should  be  understood  that  the  number  of
McCarthys  referred  to  in  this  work  is  far  short  of  the
total  number  of  people  of  the  name  who  were  in  this
country  at  the  period  dealt  with.  If  I  were  tempted
to  follow  the  method  of  some  of  our  historical  writers
and  had  clothed  the  facts  with  the  garb  of  fancy,  it
could  have  been  made  a  much  more  readable  book,  but
I  have  determined  to  let  the  facts  "  speak  for  them-
selves,' in  the  belief  that  they  are  sufficient  to  show
that  the  McCarthy  family  is  entitled  to  a  place  in
American  history  alongside  those  of  any  other  name
or  race,  not  excluding  even  the  Puritans  of  New  Eng-
land or  the  Cavaliers  of  Virginia.
Among  the  deficiencies  of  information  connected  with
the  history  of  the  early  Irish  settlers  in  America,  noth-
ing perhaps  is  more  noticeable  than  the  absence  of
biographies  of  individual  Irishmen  or  their  descend-
ants, or  genealogies  of  American  families  of  Irish  blood.
