20 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
Though little inclined to take an active part in politics, Parnell was induced to enter Parliament as member for "Wicklow in 1817. But his public career was of brief duration. In 1821 he died in the prime of life, deeply mourned by true and loving friends, and keenly missed by a faithful and sorrowing tenantry. He married the eldest daughter of the Hon. Hugh Howard, of Castle Howard, County Wicklow, by whom he had two children, John Henry and Catherine. ••. John Henry Parnell led an uneventful life. Residing on his estate at Avondale and interesting himself chiefly in questions of agricultural improvement, he sought by every means in his power to promote the well-being and happiness of his people. A good landlord, a staunch Liberal, a kind friend, he was respected and esteemed by all classes in the country. In his youth he was fond of travel, and during a visit to the United States, in 1834, he met, loved, and married Miss Delia Tudor, the daughter of Commodore Charles Stewart, of the American Navy. This was the one notable event in the life of John Henry Parnell.
Delia Stewart was the daughter of a remarkable man. About the middle of the eighteenth century there were agrarian disturbances in Ulster; and thousands of tenants, smarting under a sense of wrong and despairing of the future, fled across the ocean to seek a refuge and a home in the British colonies of North America. Among these emigrants were the parents of Charles Stewart. They settled in Philadelphia, and there he was born on July 28, 1778. Two years afterwards his father died, and Mrs. Stewart was left to face the world alone with a young and helpless family. But her forlorn position. excited the pity and the love of a generous man, and after the lapse of some