UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 ILLIM"^ ' 'BRARY 
 
 AT URCA - .AMPA1GN 
 
 ILL HIST. SURVEY
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 AMERICAS IRISH II CHICAGO 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 CHARLES FFRENCH. 
 
 WITH STEEL AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 CHICAGO AND NEW YORK: 
 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHICAL PUBLISHING Co. 
 
 1897. *
 
 H. C. COOPER, JR., & CO., 
 
 CHICAGO.
 
 / / L . U 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It is, surely, not an unimportant contribution to the history 
 which is of the present and the future, that there should be put in 
 enduring form something of the story of the American Irish who 
 have taken such a noble part in making one of the greatest cities of 
 one of the greatest nations. What part Irishmen, or those of Irish 
 descent, h'ave borne in building up the vast central city of the Ameri- 
 can continent is generally understood, but the biographies of those 
 who have accomplished most have never yet appeared in a form 
 which could be permanent. That a collection of such biographies is 
 most desirable is believed by the publishers ; and it is felt, as well, 
 that such a book will be welcomed by Irishmen, and native Ameri- 
 cans scarcely less, and that it will be accepted as a good part of pres- 
 ent local history. To living Irishmen it may not seem of as much 
 importance as it will to their children and grandchildren, who will, 
 because of it, be better enabled to appreciate what the men of to-day 
 are doing and have done. 
 
 What one potent group has accomplished in advancing the 
 growth in all telling ways of one of the regnant cities of the world 
 will be always matter of interest, and a greater interest will come 
 when those who read in the future find what will enable them to 
 learn something of the personality of men who did well in a field 
 of effort where results have surpassed all that has come, within 
 such limit of time, in the whole world's history. 
 
 The one end sought in gathering this series of biographies has 
 been to secure but plain outlines of the histories of those thus 
 grouped together. Nothing appeal's which is npt an account made 
 curt and truthful. The work is not intended to be of the laudatory
 
 4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 class of biographical publications, but of the strictly unembellished 
 type, containing only matter which may not be questioned. It is 
 not insisted that the work is fully comprehensive the production 
 of such a volume would be a feat extremely difficult but it is 
 thought that it occupies, honestly and effectively, a place of im- 
 portance in a field which has not heretofore been occupied. It 
 is hoped and believed that not Irishmen alone will everywhere 
 appreciate its quality, but that Chicagoans and Americans gener- 
 ally will count it something of value and importance, an addition 
 to the literature of the place and time. 
 
 STANLEY WATERLOO.
 
 mt,
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 
 
 MOST REV. PATRICK A. FEEHAN, D. D. 
 
 Noble representative of a great race, a man loved and honored, 
 an ecclesiastic revered and respected by all sections of the com- 
 munity, liberal uatured, broad minded, generous, kindly and free, 
 full of understanding of special circumstances and conditions, and 
 with a heart open in sympathy to every necessity, Most Rev. Pat- 
 rick A. Feehan, D. D., Archbishop of Chicago, is an Irishman and 
 an American whom Americans as well as Irishmen must delight 
 to honor. 
 
 Archbishop Feehan was born in the County of Tipperary, Ire- 
 land, on August 29th, 1829, the son of Patrick and Judith (Cooney) 
 Feehan. In early childhood he was carefully trained by his good 
 parents and the best teachers within reach. In his sixteenth year 
 he was sent to the Ecclesiastical Seminary at Castleknock, and two 
 years later to St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, in both of which 
 institutions he was a distinguished student. In 1852, though en-
 
 6 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 titled to a place on the Dunboyne establishment, he preferred to 
 enter at once upon the duties of the priesthood, and selected the 
 Archdiocese of St Louis as the scene of his future labors. Or- 
 dained priest on November 1st, 1852, until July, 1853, he taught in 
 the Ecclesiastical Seminary and preached in the Cathedral, al- 
 ternately with Most Rev. Peter R. Kenrick, D. D., Archbishop of St. 
 Louis, and two young priests now in the Episcopacy Most. Rev. 
 John Hennessey, D. D., Archbishop of Dubuque, and Most Rev. 
 Patrick J. Ryan, D. D., Archbishop of Philadelphia. In July, 1853, 
 he was appointed assistant at St. John's Church, St. Louis, Mo. 
 About this time a terrible cholera epidemic raged in the city, which 
 called forth all the self-sacrifice of the devoted young priest. Days 
 and nights were spent in administering consolation to the poor 
 sufferers, sometimes even preparing them for burial where friends 
 and kindred deserted them. Appointed president of the Ecclesi- 
 astical Seminary in July, 1854, he filled this office with great dis- 
 tinction until July, 1858, when he was appointed pastor of St. 
 Michael's Church, St Louis. A year later he was promoted to the 
 pastorate of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, St. Louis, 
 where he continued until November 1st, 1865, when he was conse- 
 crated Bishop of Nashville, Tejm. To his new home he was accom- 
 panied by Rev. Fathers Riordon and Walsh, of St. Louis, who died 
 of yellow fever in 1878. The first years were ones of great labor. 
 By his untiring efforts and constant attention to duty he brought 
 the people to the Sacraments, he instructed and prepared the chil- 
 dren for First Communion and Confirmation, and by his great busi- 
 ness talent won the confidence of public men. lie was most as- 
 siduous in preaching and instructing the people and many new 
 Catholics were received into the Church, some of whom were among 
 the old settlers and wealthy citizens. When Dr. Feehan went to 
 the Diocese of Nashville he found only a few priests, most of them 
 being Dominican Fathers, a convent of Sisters in Memphis, an
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 7 
 
 academy and an orphan asylum conducted by Sisters of St. Dom- 
 inic, near Nashville. The academy was so heavily in debt that 
 it. was sold at auction soon after Bishop Feehau's arrival. He. 
 bought it in for the Sisters, thus securing their lasting gratitude 
 and preventing great loss for the Catholic community. In August, 
 18<56, the cholera made its appearance in Nashville and during its 
 continuanci Bishop Feehan labored unceasingly to console the sick 
 and dying. At the close of the epidemic he purchased a home on 
 one of the finest sites of the city and established a community of the 
 Sinters of Mercy from Providence, B. I. The yellow fever visited 
 .Memphis in 1877 and 1878, to which twenty-three priests fell mar- 
 tyrs. The full extent of this calamity will be realized when it 
 is known that there were less than thirty priests in the whole State 
 of Tennessee at the time. The diocese was soon again enjoying 
 health and prosperity, when the news came from Rome that Dr. 
 Feehan had been appointed First Archbishop of Chicago. 
 
 The death of Right Rev. Thomas Foley, D. D., administrator of 
 Chicago, caused a vacancy difficult to fill. Archbishop Feehan left 
 Nashville amid the tears and blessings of his many friends and 
 reached Chicago on September 10th, 1880. His arrival was the 
 occasion of a grand demonstration. The Archdiocese of Chicago, 
 then, as now, comprised eighteen counties in the northern part of 
 the State of Illinois. The wants of the Catholics were zealously at- 
 tended to by one hundred and eighty priests who had charge of 
 one hundred and sixty churches. Archbishop Feehan found that 
 although his predecessors had done much to meet the needs of the 
 times, still the Great Fire had destroyed nearly all the Catholic 
 structures of any importance in the City of Chicago, and new 
 churches could scarcely be erected to keep pace with the rapid 
 growth of population. Under the administration of Archbishop 
 Feehan, one hundred and two churches have been erected in the 
 archdiocese during the past seventeen years, new parochial schools
 
 8 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 have been built and old ones enlarged, so that over sixty thousand 
 children are now educated in these structures. The great financial 
 interests of the archdiocese have been carefully attended to, and 
 the archdiocese of Chicago is one of the richest and most solvent 
 in the United States. Homes for the aged, hospitals for the sick, 
 Houses of Providence for young women, orphan asylums, foundling 
 asylums, all attest the far-seeing care of Dr. Feehan to meet the 
 many needs of a large center of population, while his encourage- 
 ment of a school for deaf mutes, his wise direction of the establish- 
 ment of the Chicago Industrial School for Girls and St. Mary's 
 Training School for Boys at Feehanville, deserve lasting gratitude. 
 Indeed there is no section of the city or of the Archdiocese of Chi- 
 cago that has not felt his zeal for religious charity and Christian 
 education, and here we may be pardoned for giving a brief list of 
 some of the principal churches, schools and Eleemosynary institu- 
 tions that have been erected since he became Archbishop and that 
 will always stand as monuments of his munificence and desire to 
 have the ardent faith of his devoted and liberal people appear even 
 in material structures: 
 
 Churches St. Adalbert's, St. Alphousus', St. Augustine's, St. 
 Bernard's (first marble church ever built in Chicago), St Cecilia's, 
 St. Charles Borromeo's, St. Elizabeth's, St. George's, The Assump- 
 tion, St. Gabriel's, Holy Angels, St. Jarlath's, St. John Cantius, St. 
 Malachy's, St. Mary's of Perpetual Help, St. Martin's, St Monica's 
 (for colored people), The Nativity, St. Pius's, St. Thomas', St. Vin- 
 cent's, St. Patrick's (Amboy), St. James' (Belvidere), St. Mary's 
 (Freeport), St. Joseph's (Harvard), St. John the Baptist's (Johns- 
 burg), St. Patrick's (Kankakee), St. Patrick's (Lemont), St. Mary's 
 (Oregon), St. Patrick's (Rochelle), St. Mary's (Rockford), St. Rose's 
 (Wilmington). 
 
 Schools De La Salle Institute, St. Patrick's Academy, Loretto 
 Academy (Joliet), St. Francis Academy (Joliet), Our Lady of Mount
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 9 
 
 C-annel Academy, Loretto Convent (Englewood), Normal School 
 (Irving Park), St. Agatha's Academy, The Josephinum. 
 
 Eleemosynary Institutions St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Mercy 
 Hospital (large additions), St. Joseph's Hospital (rebuilt), Alexian 
 Brothers Hospital, The Ephpheta School for Deaf, Houses of Prov- 
 idence for young girls out of place, on the north, south and west 
 sides of the city; Homes for the' Aged, on the north and south sides; 
 Chicago Industrial School for girls, St. Mary's Industrial School 
 for boys (Feehanville), News Boys' Home, Boys' Orphan Asylum 
 (Irving Park). 
 
 In a word, Archbishop Feehan has not only cared for every need 
 for the living, he has also provided resting places for the dead in 
 Mount Olivet Cemetery, Sancta Maria Cemetery, and a new ceme- 
 tery soon to be opened on the west side. He resides in a magnificent 
 residence, built by himself, near Lake Michigan and fronting on 
 Lincoln Park, and is now building a summer villa at Feehanville. 
 
 As a legislator, Archbishop Feehan has been prudent and con- 
 servative. He participated in the proceedings of the Second Ple- 
 nary Council of Baltimore, in 1866; he took an active part in the 
 General Council of the Vatican; he was one of those summoned to 
 Rome to formulate the Schemata of the Third Council of Baltimore, 
 and deserves great credit for the part taken in the wise delibera- 
 tions of that body. After the approval of the decrees at Rome he 
 held a Synod making them applicable to the Archdiocese of Chi- 
 cago. 
 
 Archbishop Feehan cannot be treated with justice in the limits 
 of a necessarily brief biography. He has never made a mistake in 
 the guidance of the religious affairs of the archdiocese, and this 
 will be appreciated when it is known that the Catholics of Chi- 
 cago are ministered to in twelve different languages and that all 
 are unanimous in proclaiming his wisdom and his fairness to each 
 and every member of the Church. He is justly popular with Cath-
 
 10 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 olics. He has been honored by his people on various occasions, 
 notably on his return from Rome preparatory to the Third Council 
 of Baltimore and on the occasion of his Silver Jubilee, in the fall 
 of 1890. The celebration of his Silver Jubilee lasted for nearly a 
 week and was the occasion of one of the largest parades ever wit- 
 nessed on the streets of Chicago. 
 
 As Metropolitan, Archbishop Feehaii has the whole State of Illi- 
 nois under his charge, with a Catholic population of over a million. 
 The Archdiocese of Chicago over which he is immediately interested 
 has a Catholic population of over seven hundred thousand who at- 
 tend two hundred and sixty-two churches and are ministered to by 
 four hundred and thirty priests. 
 
 JOHN M. SMYTH. 
 
 Equally a manufacturer, merchant, and one identified with po- 
 litical and public affairs, John M. Smyth is justly regarded as a 
 thoroughly representative man. Personally he unites an old coun- 
 try lineage with the development and energy characteristic of the 
 new world. 
 
 The parents of the subject of this sketch, Michael K. Smyth and 
 Bridget (McDonnell) Smyth, left Ireland for America in the summer 
 of 1843, and John M. Smyth was born at sea on the 6th of July of 
 that year. The family came from Balliua, County Mayo, where their 
 people had long been settled, and where Mr. Michael K. Smyth wax a 
 surveyor. Their first residence on this side of the Atlantic w r as in 
 Quebec, but later they removed to Montreal, in which city they lived

 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 13 
 
 for live years, settling iu Chicago in 1S48. lu the now historic days 
 when early Chicago was mapped out, Mr. Michael K. Smyth sur- 
 veyed lands for that notable pioneer real estate owner, William li. 
 Ogden, the first mayor of Chicago. Mr. Smyth, like many others in 
 those early days, had his opportunities of becoming wealthy by the 
 acquisition of laud, subsequently very valuable, but to be had then 
 for comparatively trifling; considerations. For instance, he was 
 offered once for certain services, the Erie square block of laud be- 
 i ween Kinzie and Michigan, Market and Franklin, afterwards easily 
 worth 1400,000, but which he declined to accept because it would 
 have taken a year of labor and some slight cost to have leveled a 
 high bank upon it, removed refuse and put generally into market- 
 able shape. Meantime, while the elder Smyth was taking a hand in 
 making the ground plan of the future World's Fair City,young John 
 M. was attending the renowned "Kinzie" school, known among the 
 youth of that time as "WilderV from the name of the principal, 
 then responsible for shaping and developing the young ideas. Hav- 
 ing completed school terms sufficiently well to equip himself with a 
 sound general education, he started out in life on his own account, 
 lie chose the typographic art and that section of it represented in 
 the composition rooms of a daily newspaper. Mr. Smyth was em- 
 ployed successively upon the early newspapers of Chicago: the 
 "Morning Herald;" the Chicago "Democrat," when the historic pa- 
 per was owned by that representative citizen, Mayor Weutworth, 
 "Long John," and lastly on the "Press and Tribune," now the 
 "Tribune." 
 
 Mr. Smyth, when in a leisure hour, likes nothing better than to 
 dwell upon the details of the early newspaper life and business of 
 Chicago; that ej>och in Chicago when James W. Sheahan started 
 "The Times" iSheahan & Price), afterwards purchased by the Hon. 
 Cyrus II. McCormick, and subsequently advanced to a conspicuous 
 place in modern daily journalism by the distinguished editor, Wil-
 
 14 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 bur F. Storey. But the comparatively unremurierative business of 
 the printer and publisher did not satisfy John M. Smyth. 
 
 lie embarked in business for himself in 1867, opening a furniture 
 store at 92 West Madison Street. This was the beginning of the 
 business that has since grown to such immense proportions and 
 has made the name of its proprietor almost a household word in 
 every part of the city. To accommodate his increasing business, he 
 removed his establishment in 1880 to its present location, where he 
 greatly extended and enlarged the operations of the establishment. 
 The store was destroyed by fire in April, 1891, but Mr. Smyth im- 
 mediately rebuilt on the same site, completing and occupying, by 
 November 1st of the same year, the largest and handsomest business 
 block on the West Side. It is a business which now embraces liter- 
 ally thousands of individual accounts, and the fair and just manage- 
 ment of the great time credit department has deservedly won for 
 John M. Smyth thousands upon thousands of friends and well wish- 
 ers in Chicago. 
 
 Mr. Smyth was sent to the City Council in 1878, re-elected as Al- 
 derman until 1882, and has twice served as a Presidential Elector in 
 the successful campaign for Garfield in 1880, and also upon the 
 Elaine ticket. He managed the latter campaign, in Chicago and 
 Cook County in 1884 and also the Republican campaigns of 1894 and 
 1896. Mayor Hempstead Washburne appointed him a member of 
 the Library Board in 1892, and from that date until 1895 Mr. Smyth 
 served the Library upon its Finance committee. In politics he has 
 ever been a consistent Republican, and as member and chairman of 
 the County Central Republican Committee, has always been active 
 in that great political party. 
 
 With all this, he is much more of a family and domestic man 
 than a political aspirant, and cares most to live simply within the 
 conventional requirements of the responsible citizen. Mr. Smyth 
 married June 14th, 1871, Miss Jane A. Hand, and eight children.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 15 
 
 three sons and five daughters, blessed a union which led to an ex- 
 ceptionally happy domestic life. The best exemplification of his 
 energy and success as a Chicago business man, is found in the ac- 
 complishment of certainly the greatest business in his special direc- 
 1 ion ever known in the West. 
 
 MORTIMER J. SCANLAN. 
 
 Mortimer J. Scanlan, a member of the well known firm of Jo- 
 seph J. Duffy, contractor, and a native of Chicago, where he was 
 born March 18th, 1862, is another of that notable family that have 
 for the last fifty years been prominent factors in the development 
 and growth of this city. His father, Timothy Scanlan, a native of 
 County Limerick, Ireland, emigrated to Boston, Mass., in 1848, and 
 came to Chicago in 1851, where he followed the profession of marine 
 and stationary engineer. Still active, notwithstanding the weight 
 of years, well preserved and prominent in the Catholic Order of 
 Foresters and a number of other organizations, he resides in the 
 city he chose as his permanent home, and with whose uprising and 
 well-being he and his family have had so much to do. His wife, 
 Hannah, mother of Mortimer, came from Limerick to Chicago in 
 1849, and they were married the same year. 
 
 The subject of this sketch received his education in the public 
 schools of this city, afterwards entering the employ of the % C., R. 
 I. & P. R. R. as clerk, a position he retained for seven years. 
 Anxious to be his own master, he then started in the coal business 
 on the west side, and in this unvarying success ever from the com- 
 mencement has been his portion. In 1891 and 1892 he was elected 
 West Town Clerk of the City of Chicago, and in 1894 Assessor of
 
 16 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the West Town. In 1895 he associated himself with Joseph J. 
 Duffy in the contracting business, and up to the present time has 
 been chiefly engaged in building the four mile water tunnel, under 
 the firm name of Joseph J. Duffy. 
 
 Mr. Scanlan is a member of the Royal League and of the 
 Knights of Columbus. In religion he is a Roman Catholic and in 
 his political affiliations he is a Democrat, having always taken an 
 active interest in his party's growth and development. In 1891 
 he married Miss Nellie Turner of Chicago, and they have three 
 children, all girls. 
 
 Mr. Scanlan is a man of fine physique, six feet two in height, 
 well proportioned and of vigorous constitution. lie was always 
 fond of athletic sports, making quite a mark as a baseball player, 
 especially in the City League and Board of Trade nines, and still 
 attends a gymnasium. His recreation is not limited, however, to 
 the robust and physical, for like most of the Scajilan family he 
 is a great lover of music, and withal a man of courteous and genial 
 disposition, and as may be judged from the political position to 
 which he has been elected, has hosts of warm and esteeming 
 friends. 
 
 ARTHUR DIXON. 
 
 Arthur Dixon is one of the most prominent and highly re- 
 spected citizens of Chicago. His private character is one to be 
 loved and admired and as a public man his record is without blem- 
 ish. His life has been devoted to pure motives and manly princi- 
 ples, and by following a fixed purpose to make the most and best
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 19 
 
 of himself, he has overcome all difficulties and risen to ;i place of 
 influence and honor among public-spirited men. 
 
 Mr. Dixon was born in the north of Ireland, County Fermanagh, 
 of Scotch Irish descent. His parents, Arthur and Jane Allen" 
 Dixon, had four sons and one daughter. Arthur is the only surviv- 
 ing son. His father, a farmer and country school teacher, was a 
 man of more than ordinary intelligence, who also practiced with 
 considerable success as a country attorney. From his parents he 
 inherited many sterling traits of character, that have signally 
 characterized his life. When a youth of eighteen he was attracted 
 by the advantages and opportunities of the new world and came 
 first to Philadelphia, where he spent a short time in visiting friends. 
 OP July 4th, 1858, Arthur went to Pittsburgh and there passed 
 t hree years in the nursery business, learning tree grafting and 
 planting. In 1861 Mr. Dixon became identified with the interests 
 of the Garden City and entered upon his business career as a clerk 
 in the grocery store of Q. C. Cook, bat soon after began business on 
 his own account, in a small retail grocery, which he successfully 
 conducted for two years. His connection with his present indus- 
 try began about 1863, and was occasioned by a seeming accident. 
 In payment of a grocery debt he was obliged to take a team and 
 wagon and with this he began a general teaming business at No. 
 299 Wells Street, now Fifth Avenue. From this beginning pros- 
 perity has attended the undertaking, until now, 1897, it is the 
 largest transferring company west of New York. 
 
 His success has come through close attention, earnest effort, 
 perseverance, good management, and honorable dealing. Mr. Dix- 
 011 has been identified with various movements which have con- 
 tributed to the city's welfare and progress during the past thirty 
 years. In the spring of 1867 Arthur Dixon was first elected Alder- 
 man from the Second Ward of Chicago, on the same ticket with ex- 
 Mayor Rice. From that time until April, 1891, when he voluntarily
 
 20 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 declined to longer remain a member of the City Council, he was re- 
 elected with increased majorities and sometimes without opposi- 
 tion, and has the honor of having served longer than any other 
 Alderman of Chicago. He has been called the "Nestor of alder- 
 men" and "Watch Dog of the City Treasury." On June 1, 1891, 
 Mr. Dixon was presented by the City of Chicago with the following 
 resolutions richly bound and superbly illumined and engrossed. 
 This volume is prized as one of his richest treasures: 
 
 At a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Chicago, 
 held April 27th, 1891, the following preamble and resolutions en- 
 dorsing the official actions of Alderman Dixon were unanimously 
 adopted : 
 
 Whereas, The City Council of the City of Chicago is about to 
 lose the services of its oldest and best known member through his 
 voluntary and we hope temporary retirement from the political 
 field of action, 
 
 Resolved, That we, the colleagues, some of many years, others 
 of short acquaintance, tender to Alderman Dixon on this occasion 
 the expression of our heartiest good wishes for his future, and also 
 the expression of our appreciation of the loss the council and the 
 city sustain through his withdrawal from our municipal legisla- 
 ture. 
 
 Resolved, That we place on record our conviction of his great 
 public worth, his zeal for honest and economical government, his 
 sincere interest in the cause of the taxpayers and his undoubted 
 and unquestioned ability in every position assigned to him; and 
 further, we record the expression of our hope that his zeal, his 
 earnestness and ability may soon be utilized for the public in some 
 new capacity; and be it further 
 
 Resolved, That the city clerk be and is hereby directed to 
 spread this preamble and the resolutions upon the records of the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 21 
 
 council, and to present to Alderman Arthur Dixon a suitably en- 
 graved copy of the same. 
 
 Hempstead Washburne, Mayor. 
 
 Jas. B. B. Van Cleave, City Clerk. 
 
 In 1874 Mr. Dixon was chosen president of the City Council and 
 was re-elected to that place for six years. At various times he 
 served as chairman of the finance and other important commit- 
 tees. As a member of the City Council, Mr. Dixon was a recognized 
 leader in debate, a practiced parliamentarian, and an authority on 
 the interpretation of the powers and provisions of the city charter. 
 He advocated, among other important measures, that of the city 
 owning her own gas plant, of high water pressure, building sewers 
 by special assessments, the creation of a public library, the annex- 
 ation of the suburbs, the building of viaducts over railway cross- 
 ings, the drainage law, the city's interest upon her public fund, 
 the extension of fire limits. He was appointed by the mayor one of 
 the executive committee of arrangements for the World's Colum- 
 bian Exposition, and was also one of the committee that was in- 
 strumental in arranging and passing the ordinance providing for 
 the loan of five million dollars for the Exposition. In April, 1892, 
 Mr. Dixon was elected a Director of the World's Columbian Di- 
 rectory and his services and counsels in that capacity were invalu- 
 able in the prosecution of this enormous enterprise. Mr. Dixon 
 has been a member of city and county Republican central com- 
 mittees for more than thirty years, and has frequently served as 
 chairman of the same. 
 
 In 1868 he was the first president of the Irish Republican or- 
 ganization in Chicago, and the following year was president of 
 the National Irish Republican Convention, held in Chicago, and 
 was treasurer of that organization. He was also elected president 
 of the Irish Literary Society of Chicago. 
 
 Mr. Dixon represented the First Senatorial District in the 
 
 2
 
 22 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Twenty-seventh General Assembly of Illinois, and as a member 
 of that body had charge of measures and rendered services of great 
 value to the City of Chicago. Among the bills introduced by him 
 which were passed by the Legislature was one providing for the 
 location of the Chicago Public Library, the Drainage Canal, the 
 one authorizing the mill tax and special assessment. 
 
 He was a delegate to the National Republican Convention which 
 nominated James Garfleld for the Presidency. In all his public 
 career Mr. Dixon has maintained a character above reproach and 
 all his actions have been straightforward, business like and in 
 the interest of good government. Mr. Dixon is a member of the 
 Union League, Hamilton and Sheridan clubs, having been presi- 
 dent of the Hamilton. He is also director in the Metropolitan Na- 
 tional Bank, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the Consolidated 
 Stone Company, and president of the Arthur Dixon Transfer Com- 
 pany. 
 
 In 1862 Mr. Dixon was married to Miss Ann Carson of Pitts- 
 burgh, Pa., to whom fourteen children have been born, thirte^ 
 of whom are now living. Domestic in his tastes and home loving, 
 he finds no place as attractive as his fireside, and there, in the 
 midst of the estimable wife and children, he passes his happiest 
 hours. He is a man of strictly temperate habits, of steadfast loy- 
 alty, liberal, broad-minded, charitable, and one of the most ap- 
 proachable of men. Fidelity to duty has ever been one of his most 
 marked characteristics and has made him the valued citizen, the 
 honorable business man, and the esteemed friend of to-day.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 23 
 
 OSCAR B. MCGLASSON. 
 
 Oscar B. McGlasson, of the law firm of McGlasson & Beitler, 
 though still so young a man, has already attained an enviable 
 degree of prominence among the legal fraternity of Chicago. Born 
 in Scott County, Illinois, May 27th, 1866, he come,* of that sterling- 
 Scotch Irish ancestry that has given America so many brilliant, 
 successful and eminently useful citizens. His father was Francis 
 M. McGlasson, some of whose family had settled in Virginia as far 
 back as the end of the seventeenth century, and his grandfather, 
 Scott McGlasson, settled in Illinois in 1811, where his son, Fran- 
 cis M., was clerk of the Circuit Court of the County for several 
 terms, and is a man of considerable prominence in local politics. 
 His mother was Mary A. Adams, daughter of Absolorn Adams, of 
 Lexington, Kentucky. 
 
 Oscar B. McGlasson, the subject of this sketch, was educated at 
 the Winchester High School until he entered Pierce's College at 
 Keokuk, Iowa, whence he graduated in 1885. He then commenced 
 the study of law in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and 
 in 1888 received the degree of LL. B., being in the same year ad- 
 mitted to the bar of Michigan and Illinois. In 1889 he came to 
 Chicago and in connection with Mr. James Lane Allen commenced 
 the practice of law/ His. present partner, Mr. Henry C. Beitler, 
 and he were classmates and friends at college and since then have 
 been at all times closely associated. Success for the law firm of 
 McGlasson & Beitler has been won from the very start, and the 
 firm has advanced to a degree of honorable prominence but sel- 
 dom attained in the legal profession where both members were 
 so comparatively young men.
 
 24 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Thoroughly equipped in every way for a successful lawyer, not 
 only from a thorough and comprehensive legal training but also 
 from the possession of natural abilities of a very high order, com- 
 bined with a forceful and persevering character, Mr. McGlasson is 
 assured of a high career, at once a source of pride to himself and 
 of usefulness to the community. 
 
 In politics he is an ardent Democrat, and has upon many occa- 
 sions, by his clear-headed exposition of the various points and his 
 eloquence of style and delivery, done work which has proved of 
 very great assistance and has gone far towards advancing the prin- 
 ciples of his party. 
 
 June 12th, 1894, Mr. McGlasson was married to Miss Nora A. 
 McNeil, daughter of Mr. Malcolm McNeil, of McNeil & Higgins 
 Co., wholesale grocers, of this city. Mr. McGlasson does not belong 
 to any societies or clubs, and therefore spends his evenings at 
 home in the society of his wife. 
 
 JOHN F. FINERTY. 
 
 There is no name in the West, possibly no name throughout the 
 whole United States, dearer to the hearts of his fellow Irish Amer- 
 icans than that representative Irishman, true American, splendid 
 orator, brilliant writer, and consistent patriot, John F. Finerty. 
 
 For over thirty years Mr. Finerty has made Chicago his home, 
 and through all that time no one has been more intimately con- 
 nected with the stirring events which have seen this city fire- 
 destroyed, then rise phoenix-like from its ashes until the present
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 27 
 
 wonderful proportions have been attained. In the active world of 
 Chicago's daily life are many striking figures, but there is none of 
 stronger personality than this popular leader. Look at the strong, 
 powerful, earnest face, the brow that "thought has knit and pas- 
 sion darkened," the clear and fearless eyes, the stalwart soldier 
 figure, and the knowledge is forced upon you that here is a man who 
 has lived and thought, a man whose life must be full of incident, 
 one indeed who was assigned to rule among his fellow-men. 
 
 John F. Finerty was born in Galway, Ireland, September 10th, 
 1846. He was the son of M. J. Finerty, then prominent in the 
 Young Ireland school of politics, and who had become editor of the 
 Galway A r indicator some six years previous to the birth of the 
 subject of this sketch. In the early forties, M. J. Finerty had mar- 
 ried Margaret Josephine Flynn, and Chicago's John F. Finerty was 
 the second son born to the union. John F. as he is popularly 
 called was but two years old when his father died, at a time when 
 his countrymen were wildly elated over the probable revolution in 
 Ireland in sympathy with the similar movement then in progress 
 in France. The boy was brought up by his uncle, for his mother 
 with all her family left, when he was quite a child, for the Southern 
 States, and in such scenes and amid such surroundings, nurtured 
 in English hate and fostered on detestation and rebellion against 
 its tyrannous misrule, Finerty's boyhood years were passed. His 
 educational advantages were of the best and received partly in the 
 national schools, but chiefly from private tuition. History and 
 literature were the subjects that most appealed to his eager and 
 unusually active mind, and these have unquestionably most affect- 
 ed his after career. He remained in the County of Galway until he 
 was eleven, when he was taken into historic "gallant" Tipperary, 
 and there spent his later years in Ireland, within full view of the 
 beautiful and noble Shannon and about two miles from the base 
 of the picturesque Stele Darragh Mountains. Living in the parish
 
 28 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of the patriotic Father John Kenyon, pastor of Teniplederry, the 
 strong sentiments of that well-known priest left an ineffaceable 
 trace on the mind and heart of the impulsive boy, who has since 
 done so much to show in practice what his reverend friend had so 
 frequently preached. When he was fifteen, about the time that re- 
 gard for Ireland's wrongs was even gaining a foothold in England, 
 he heard many eloquent descriptions of what his ill-fated country 
 had suffered and was suffering, and this roused the intense patri- 
 otic spirit that in him was innate. Affectionate, if wild, dreams 
 pictured the proud old land made free, and in 1863 he became a 
 member of the National Brotherhood of St. Patrick, which was at 
 that time organized in the town of Nenagh. During that year, on 
 August 15th, he delivered a very radical speech at a meeting on 
 the summit of Slievenomon mountains, and a few months later an- 
 other so-called rebellious oration was delivered by him at Ormond 
 Stile. After this he was obliged to leave the country or be pros- 
 ecuted, which would have entailed expense and annoyance to his 
 friends, to which he did not feel like subjecting them. 
 
 It was in the spring of 1864 that John F. Finerty arrived in 
 America, and as he had the greatest desire for military knowledge, 
 he immediately enrolled himself in the Ninety-ninth New York 
 Regiment. Later in the year a large portion of that regiment vol- 
 unteered for service and he was among the number who served 
 until its disbandment. He saw much of the siege operations around 
 Petersburg and was greatly impressed by the strength of the 
 United States army. 
 
 The Civil War at an end, he decided to settle permanently in 
 Chicago, and came to this city in the winter of 1864-5. The Fenian 
 movement was then at its height and he became one of the active 
 organizers of its military sections. The Canadian invasion in 1866 
 found him Lieutenant and Aide-de-Canip to the late Brigadier- 
 General William F. Lynch, ex-Colonel Fifty-eighth Illinois Volun-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 29 
 
 teers. As soldier and newspaper correspondent for the Chicago 
 Republican, he went to the front, but was too late to assist General 
 John O'Neill's second rash and ill-timed attack on Canada in May, 
 1870. He was able, however, with the help of other newspaper 
 men, to influence Governor Hoffman, of New York, to send the 
 Fenian soldiers back to their homes. 
 
 Mr. Finerfy then became permanently connected with the Chi- 
 cago daily press, his first employment in that way having been of 
 a merely desultory character on the "Times," and found a position 
 on the regular staff of the old "Republican," the precursor of the 
 "Inter-Ocean." The great fire shortly afterwards destroyed the 
 few savings he had managed to accumulate and he next went to 
 work on the "Post" and "Tribune," remaining with the latter paper 
 until 1875, when he was nominated on the People's ticket for the 
 clerkship of the Superior Court. He was not successful. 
 
 He then connected himself with the "Chicago Times," and here 
 obtained the opportunity to show the sterling qualities of which 
 he was possessed. Through many struggles, various trials and 
 innumerable vicissitudes of fortune he passed, until he stands to- 
 day in the front rank of Chicago's newspaper writers. His versa- 
 tility is really wonderful, and even among Irishmen, who have made 
 the press their peculiar stronghold all the world over, he easily 
 holds his position among the foremost as a ready, bright, melliflu- 
 ous writer of sound English. 
 
 He plodded on, and his various experiences among all sorts and 
 conditions of men and women enabled him to obtain that immense 
 knowledge which now gives him the power to write with such de- 
 tail and moving strength. He is indeed a man of the world, and 
 his early training has taught him never to strain the spirit nor mag- 
 nify the circumstances merely for the sake of effect, and by aiming 
 correctly, to assure the striking of his object. 
 
 In 1876 he was with General George Crook's Big Horn and Yel.-
 
 30 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 lowstone expedition against the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians; he 
 fought at the Rosebud a week before General Custer met his doom; 
 he crossed the Big Horn with Col. Anson Mills and barely escaped 
 capture. Afterwards for the "Chicago Times" he accompanied the 
 noted Sibley Scout along the base of the Big Horn range and had 
 many rough Indian experiences, until, finally, General Crook's main 
 body of troops was reached. Again, for the "Times," he was with 
 the march of Crook's column from the Tongue River to the Yellow- 
 stone, then beyond the little Missouri and south to the Black Hills. 
 Other important newspaper work performed by Mr. Finerty was the 
 writing up of the Nicholas-Packard troubles in New Orleans, and 
 he also witnessed the actual termination of the Civil War in the 
 evacuation of the Louisiana State House, April 23d, 1877. He was 
 detailed to write up the fierce Pittsburg railroad riots and also 
 those of Chicago. Later, in the same year, he proceeded to the 
 Rio Grande, entering Mexico as far as the Cedral Mines, and telling 
 the story of the border troubles from both sides of the boundary 
 river. In 1878 he was with the American Commercial Expedition 
 and sailed from New Orleans to Vera Cruz. He visited various 
 points in the Valley of Mexico and spent two months in and around 
 the City of Mexico. Afterwards, by ambulance, he traveled through 
 the northern portion of Mexico, emerging at the Fort Bless crossing 
 of the Rio Grande in April, 1879. His next big assignment, was in 
 the Indian Territory, to describe the operations of the boomers and 
 the United States troops on the Canadian River. 
 
 Young in years, the brilliant correspondent had now made a 
 great reputation for himself in the newspaper world. As time 
 rolled on, he still continued to display his great powers in that 
 direction. He accompanied the late Professor E. R. Paige in his 
 exploration of the Bad Lands along the White and Cheyenne Riv- 
 ers, in Dakota and Nebraska; next joining General Nelson A. 
 Miles and accompanying him to the British line. In September,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 31 
 
 '79, just back from his second Sioux expedition, he was ordered to 
 join General Merritt's campaign for relief of survivors of the Thorn- 
 burg massacre in the wilds of Colorado, and remained there until 
 the campaign was completed in November of that year. In 1881 
 he wrote up the Canadian and Northern Pacific Hallways, the latter 
 as far as the Pacific slope. He was later and still working for the 
 "Chicago Times," for W. F. Storey had a peculiar liking for the 
 adventurous young Irishman ordered to Arizona, where the 
 Apaches were at their old work. General Carr was reached at 
 Fort Apache, after a very dangerous journey on a buckboard, and 
 Mr. Finerty was in time to take part in the second expedition 
 against the White Mountain renegades. While, since that time, 
 Mr. Finerty has connected himself chiefly with home newspaper 
 work, how little his art has lost its charm was demonstrated in 
 the spring of 1896, when a series of Western articles from his facile 
 pen appeared in the "Chronicle." 
 
 It was in the fall of 1881 that Mr. Finerty began to devote great- 
 er attention to Irish politics. Mr. Parnell was then at the height 
 of his fame as "Ireland's uncrowned King." At the orders of W. 
 E. Gladstone and "Buckshot" Forster, the latter and most of his 
 followers were thrown into Kilmainhan Jail, Dublin. Mr. Finerty,. 
 in consultation with his friends in this city, determined to organize 
 a great Irish convention in Chicago. It was held November 29th, 
 30th, and December 1st, 1881, and resulted in the foundation of 
 a fund of $500,000 to carry on the Irish struggle. In many other 
 ways since, either when the opportunity offered or he found it pos- 
 sible to make the occasion, the cause of Ireland has been advo- 
 cated by him. As an Irishman, he is a firm believer in the nat- 
 ural advantages of his country, and associates her miseries and 
 misfortunes to a government by aliens and a land system pernicious 
 in its working and cruel and oppressive in its effects. Even his bit- 
 terest opponents will acknowledge his absolute sincerity, his thor-
 
 32 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ough disinterestedness and his complete purity of motive. To fur- 
 ther the interest of his countrymen in this land, Mr. Finerty found- 
 ed, January 14th, 1882, the "Chicago Citizen" weekly paper now 
 the official organ of the United Irish Societies and in which, as 
 editor-in-chief, his articles on Ireland, Irishmen, and Ireland's 
 wrongs, conclusively evidence his extraordinary abilities as well 
 as his love and loyal devotion to the land of his birth. 
 
 Of late years Mr. Finerty has devoted some portion of each 
 year to lecturing tours, and in these his considerable historical 
 knowledge, his wonderful memory, and the many interesting ex- 
 periences he has passed through, have gained him immense popu- 
 larity. His "Story of Ireland," told as he alone can tell it, is a posi- 
 tive revelation. With him oratory is a natural gift. Of words he 
 has a wonderful command; he possesses a most convincing earnest- 
 ness and needs nothing and uses nothing of exaggerated gesture 
 to point his periods. His speeches are among the most masterly 
 efforts it was ever the privilege of any American to enjoy. He 
 possesses, too, a peculiar and entirely original power of amusing 
 his audience; his is the bitter scorn which warms the whole blood; 
 his the eloquence which carries away; while his contempt and 
 ridicule, titillating with the unique power of banter, hold his audi- 
 ence spell-bound at his grand command over language. He speaks 
 decisively and powerfully, giving proper weight to every argu- 
 ment, and is altogether wanting in that not unusual character- 
 istic of his countrymen, the permitting himself to be carried away 
 by his enthusiasm into exaggeration and inaccuracy. 
 
 Before the Chicago Irish convention in 1895, when the Irish 
 National Alliance was formed, Mr. Finerty, who was the unani- 
 mous choice for chairman, delivered two speeches, which were most 
 masterful efforts, but of which, possibly, the second was the more 
 notable. The latter was a great speech, altogether worthy of the 
 great occasion, and it gained for him appreciation and admiration
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 33 
 
 from opposers as well as sympathizers. For the oration no words 
 of praise could be too high; and on the illustrious roll of speakers 
 for liberty Mr. Finerty has proven himself well worthy of high place. 
 Of Mr. Finerty's political career some mention is required. In 
 1882 lie was elected to Congress as an Independent from the Sec- 
 ond District of Illinois, and devoted himself mainly to great na- 
 tional questions. His maiden speech delivered March 1st, 1884 
 attracted general attention, and quickly indicated he was a master 
 of the tongue as well as of the pen. His was the introduction of 
 the first resolution calling for the formation of the present White 
 Squadron. He also made, later in the session, an historical speech 
 in favor of the coast fortification bill, and warned the House that 
 economy in the face of national danger was not patriotism but 
 folly. 
 
 In 1884, of James G. Elaine, who embodied his views on the 
 great American questions of the day, Mr. Fiuerty was one of the 
 most active supporters, and it was, no doubt, in consequence of this 
 support that he suffered defeat in his congressional district, which 
 was very strongly Democratic. He was nominated by the Repub- 
 licans for City Treasurer in April, 1885, but was beaten by a few 
 votes. Two years following, Mayor Roche appointed him City Oil 
 Inspector, and this position he held to public satisfaction until his 
 term expired in 1889. Since he has devoted his time to his editorial, 
 lecturing and literary duties. In February, 1891, he was chosen to 
 deliver the Washington oration at the University of Michigan, and 
 at the Elaine Memorial Meeting, held here after that great states- 
 man's death, he was one of the principal speakers. He has also 
 taken an active part in national, State and local politics, for as an 
 electioneering platform speaker he possesses few equals, and there 
 is certainly none more popular. 
 
 While in national politics Mr. Finerty professes Republican 
 views, yet among his closest friends are manv of the leaders of the
 
 34 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Democratic party, as well as their followers. His paper, "The Chi- ^ 
 cago Citizen," is entirely independent politically. 
 
 "Warpath and Bivouac," a book containing Mr. Finerty's rec 
 ollections and personal experiences in two of the Indian campaigns, 
 was published by him in April, 1890. It was received with 
 great favor by the press and the public. Mr. Finerty has ready, 
 and will shortly publish, another volume of stirring adventure and 
 memorable events, being a record of his Mexican and Southwestern 
 experiences, and for it public appreciation is already absolutely 
 assured. 
 
 In moral force, as applied to England, he places no faith what- 
 ever, and claims that, even were her Irish rule to undergo a miracu- 
 lous alteration and to become as good as it has hitherto uniformly 
 been bad, her government in Ireland is naught but a usurpation, 
 whose foundation was brute force, entire faithlessness and multi- 
 tudinous wrongs. The extremity of Ireland's misery was not the 
 casual concurrence of calamitous circumstances, it was the out- 
 come of centuries of cruel, oppressive and pernicious masterhood 
 to an extent more than sufficient to justify the whole country in 
 becoming desperate in action and absolutely careless as to its 
 employment of methods or instruments. To expose the political 
 methods of England is to him a labor of love, one in which he knows 
 no fatigue, and a work which, both by nature and education, he is 
 peculiarly adapted to carry out 
 
 Matrimony, that most important event in every man's life, has 
 been with him a most fortunate essay. He was married, in May, 
 1882, to Miss Sadie L. Hennessy, of this city, a lady of many accom- 
 plishments, great intellectual gifts, and bright and cheery tempera- 
 ment. Four children have been born to them, of whom two sur- 
 viveJohn F., Jr., who was born May 27th, 1885, and Vera C., born 
 July 7th, 1886. 
 
 To be prominent and successful in these days is to gain the envy
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 35 
 
 and malice of many; perchance Mr. Finerty may be accused of the 
 impetuosity and the quick temper of his race, but any such failings 
 are more than compensated for by his great kindliness of disposi- 
 tion and his never failing good nature; indeed, his absolute ina- 
 bility to refuse any assistance in his power, has resulted in the num- 
 ber of his enemies being immeasurably counterbalanced by a great 
 army of admiring and devoted friends. 
 
 John F. Finerty has always placed principle before party, the 
 needs of the country of his birth before his own well-being, and by 
 o doing has earned for himself the respect and esteem of all nation- 
 alities and of all creeds, as well as a place in 1 the minds and affection 
 of the majority of his fellow countrymen, which almost approaches 
 worship. To him, indeed, might well be applied the words spoken 
 by the present Lord Chief Justice of England, Lord Charles Russell, 
 with reference to Michael Davitt, in the Parnell Commission: "I 
 say that the whole course of his life may be examined, and not one 
 incident will be found to say that he has been unfaithful to any 
 trust or has been guilty of any dishonorable action." 
 
 In America the best work of his life has been done. Devoted to 
 the old land across the seas, he loves with no less deep affection the 
 great free country which has given him home and opportunity. 
 From early manhood to his present prime of life, Chicago has num- 
 bered him among her truest citizens, and in its large area there is 
 no fitter representative of Western energy and Irish American 
 achievement than large-hearted, generous-souled John F. Finerty.
 
 36 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 HON. JOSEPH P. MAHONEY. 
 
 The city of Chicago, perhaps the greatest field for professional 
 enterprises on all this great continent, has no lawyer of nobler 
 promise, no stronger example of what enterprise, perseverance, 
 and never ending application can achieve, than Senator Joseph 
 P. Mahoney. Faithful attention to the interests of his clients, 
 every detail of each case fully weighed and properly considered, 
 are the means by which Mr. Mahoney has attained so high a place 
 in his profession. Indeed, his honorable conduct in all and every 
 position in which he has found himself, the display of abilities of 
 the very highest order, well accounts for the honor which was 
 done him in three consecutive elections to the Legislature as rep- 
 resentative from the Fifth Senatorial District, followed by the 
 position he now holds, that of Senator from the same district. 
 
 Joseph P. Mahoney was born in Oswego, New York State, on 
 November 1, 1864. His parents, Michael and Mary (Canty) Ma- 
 honey, were both natives of County Cork. Michael came to Amer- 
 ica in 1843, and took the position of night watchman. His parents 
 settled in Chicago, when the subject of this sketch was only three 
 years old. Most careful and anxious regarding the education of 
 their children, young Joseph, when old enough, was sent to the 
 public school, and quickly made himself marked by his applica- 
 tion to his books and his great love for study. He graduated from 
 the public schools of this city, and does most excellent credit to 
 the teaching such schools afford. 
 
 The choice of a profession having been made, Joseph P. Ma- 
 honey applied himself diligently to the study of law, for which he
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 37 
 
 had always felt and evinced a strong inclination. He was ground- 
 ed in the theory and practice of his profession in the office of 
 Messrs. Jewett & Norton, a firm of the highest reputation in this 
 city. He made application for admission to the bar when only 
 twenty years old, and in the examination showed such satisfactory 
 knowledge that he was, though under age, admitted to practice 
 conditionally, that a license should be taken out so soon as he 
 came of age. The practice of his profession was at once com- 
 menced, and he has since continued to demonstrate how especially 
 fitted he was to become a lawyer. Of late years he has chiefly 
 devoted himself to Chancery Law. 
 
 His career has been a remarkable one, and in this State abso- 
 lutely without parallel. He was but twenty-one years of age when 
 he was first elected a member of the State Legislature, and three 
 years later was given appointment as a Master in Chancery of the 
 Circuit Court of Cook County. The Hon. Hempstead Washburne, 
 then Mayor of Chicago, appointed him to the Board of Education. 
 Mr. Mahouey's gifts are of a very varied character. He is a 
 born speaker, easy in his manner, forcible in his arguments, but 
 never in any way offensive in his method. His voice is musical, 
 his words always well chosen. 
 
 A Democrat at all times, and ever active for his party, defend- 
 ing its principles fearlessly and earnestly, he is never without tol- 
 erance for the views and opinions of others. 
 
 When in the Legislature, to which, in this State, he was the 
 youngest man ever elected, he acquitted himself in a manner to 
 entirely satisfy his constituents. A resident of the west side of 
 this city, its interests have always obtained his first attention, 
 but whenever the good of the citizens, or the city of Chicago were 
 concerned, he has never been found wanting. He was the author 
 of the bill authorizing the West town of Chicago to make a million 
 dollar issue of bonds, the money to be expended on park and
 
 38 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 street improvements preparatory to the World's Columbian Ex- 
 position. In the passing of the Convict Labor Bill to prevent the 
 competition of prison with outside labor, he also took a very fore- 
 most part, as also in that very popular bill which gives in the 
 poor man's court trial by jury, if demanded. He has also been 
 intimately connected with other well known bills, among which 
 may be mentioned the Eight Hour Law; the repeal of the Ed- 
 wards Compulsory School Law; and the Truck Store Bill for the 
 miners. 
 
 Such a record while still so young a man, is one of which any 
 lawyer might well be proud. Among his professional brethren 
 his success has aroused no jealousy, for what he has achieved has 
 been the result of hard work and continual and unwearying appli- 
 cation, thorough conscientiousness and unquestionable integrity. 
 
 Before Senator Joseph P. Mahoney looms a future so full of 
 the brightest prospects, that it would be impossible for any one 
 to prophesy how high a position he may hereafter attain. 
 
 JOSEPH DOWNEY. 
 
 There is no man in Chicago better deserving of credit for what 
 he has achieved in this world than Mr. Joseph Downey. By sheer 
 pluck and perseverance, united with integrity and a determination 
 to succeed, he has been enabled to accomplish at a comparatively 
 early age what it takes most men a life-time to attain. In his own 
 profession, that of a contractor and builder, he has few equals and 
 none superior. 
 
 Joseph Downey was born in Parsons Town, Kings County, Ire-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 41 
 
 land, April 23rd, 1849, and is the son of Michael and Elizabeth 
 (McGnire) Downey. His father and grandfather were both noted 
 builders iu their day, having together planned and built many of 
 the leading structures in that part of the country, one of which 
 was the Ross Castle, also the building and foundations of the Ross 
 Telescope, the largest of its kind in the world up. to a few years ago. 
 Mr. Downey's father dying when he was five years of age, his 
 mother at once came to America, bringing with her her family; 
 she first settled at Cincinnati, but soon afterward moved to this 
 city. 
 
 Joseph's education was obtained in the public schools of this 
 city, and at an early age he learned the mason trade in all its 
 branches, which gave him a practical knowledge of building, there- 
 by fitting him for what he now is, one of the most successful build- 
 ers in this country. 
 
 Mr. Downey laid the foundation and superintended the first 
 permanent structure after the great fire in this city, namely, the 
 building on Madison Street, fifty feet west of Fifth Avenue, which 
 stands there to-day. 
 
 In 1874, Mr. Jamies McGraw, an old builder of this city, took 
 him into partnership, and the wisdom of his employer was soon 
 justified by the keen perception, untiring energy, and good busi- 
 ness qualities evinced by him. 
 
 December 7th, 1871, Mr. Downey married Miss Clara McGraw, 
 who died in May, 1883. 
 
 In 1883, Mr. Downey severed his connections with Mr. McGraw, 
 having bought out the interests of the firm, and since that time 
 up to two years ago, has done the largest business of any contrac- 
 tor in this part of the country, his last year's business amounting 
 to over $2,700,000. 
 
 Mr. Downey has built some of the largest and most costly 
 structures in the west, among which are the magnificent Depot for
 
 42 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the Illinois Central R. K. Co., and the Dearborn Station, also the 
 Indianapolis Union Depot; he was also a partner and the active 
 man in bringing to a successful issue one of the largest engineer- 
 ing difficulties in this city, the Van Buren Street Tunnel, a feat of 
 which any man may well be proud. 
 
 Mr. Downey is a remarkable example of the self made man, for 
 starting in life absolutely dependent on his own resources he has 
 been able to accumulate enough of this world's goods to enjoy in 
 his after years all that a busy and prosperous life well justifies. 
 
 He was married, May llth, 1885, to Miss Lena Klein, of Chi- 
 cago. Mr. Downey is somewhat of a club man, being an active 
 member of the Union League, Illinois, Menoken, and Lincoln Clubs, 
 and is President of the Building Trades Club, an organization com- 
 posed of the large and responsible builders. In addition to his pri- 
 vate business, he was called upon by Mayor George B. Swift, in 
 May, 1885, to take a cabinet position, that of Commissioner of 
 Buildings, which office he resigned in July, 189G, to become Com- 
 missioner of Public Works. The department has never been more 
 worthily filled, for he is no mere machine politician, but essentially 
 a man of business, and so soon as he knows any work is necessary, 
 he insists that it shall be done at once. "The public works depart- 
 ment," he said, in an interview shortly after his appointment, "is 
 a huge contracting department for the benefit of the public. I am 
 placed here between the taxpayer and the contractor to see that 
 each is rightfully treated, and I intend that they shall be. The 
 clerks and inspectors of the department are here for the same pur- 
 pose. If they do not do their business that way, they will be dis- 
 charged." He has also been honored with the Chairmanship of the 
 Commission appointed by Mayor Swift to solve the problem of 
 securing a pure water supply for Chicago, the solution of which 
 will probably entail an expense of $2,500,000.00. 
 
 A man of fine appearance, entirely whole souled, he is like most
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 43 
 
 men who have been the architects of their own fortune, easily ap- 
 proached, in him there is no egotism, he treats alike the rich and 
 poor, courtesy and kind treatment are assured, but there is never 
 any lacking of either dignity or firmness. His half century of life 
 is as yet uncompleted, he has been able to build up a large fortune, 
 by methods against which no slur of dishonesty or sharp practice 
 has ever been cast. But far beyond his reputation as a millionaire, 
 stands the universal trust, respect and honor, which are accorded 
 him by every man with whom he has ever been brought into asso- 
 ciation, business or personal. 
 
 JOHN FRANCIS CLARE. 
 
 The subject of the present sketch, another member of the legal 
 profession, was born in Chicago, September 19th, 1865, and is a 
 son of James Clare, a native of Kilkenny, Ireland, and an old settler 
 of the City of Chicago. 
 
 John F. Clare attended the public and high schools of Chicago, 
 and, after mastering all his preparatory studies, was sent to Ford- 
 ham, N. Y., where he entered St. John College. Finishing his 
 course in that famous institution, he returned home and began the 
 study of law, and graduated from the Union College of Law in the 
 class of 1891. 
 
 His ability as an attorney was soon recognized,, and during 
 John P. Hopkins' administration as Mayor of Chicago, Mr. Clare 
 was tendered a portfolio, being appointed to the important office 
 of First Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for the City of Chicago,
 
 44 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 a position he filled with credit to himself and to the entire satis- 
 faction of the city government. 
 
 After his retirement from public office he resumed the practice 
 of law, with offices in the Unity Building, and now enjoys a large 
 and lucrative practice. 
 
 October 9th, 1895, Mr. Clare was united in marriage to Miss 
 Nellie G., daughter of James and Kate Stenson, and to them one 
 child has been born. 
 
 He is a member of the Roman Catholic Church, and affiliates 
 with the Democratic party. 
 
 A man of pleasing personality, he is sound in his judgment and 
 always true to his convictions, and with recognised ability in his 
 profession enjoys the respect and esteem of a large circle of friends. 
 
 JAMES HARTNETT. 
 
 The father of the subject of this sketch, Daniel Hartnett, born 
 in Queenstown, Ireland, on March 12th, 1822, was of Irish and 
 French extraction. He was schooled at Queenstown until he was 
 seventeen years of age, when (his parents having previously lost 
 their lands through land troubles and their fortune being much 
 depleted) he went to England, and after a brief time there, to 
 France, through which country he traveled some two years. Early 
 in 1841 he sailed for Quebec, Canada, where upon his arrival he 
 pursued specially for some years a course in higher mathematics, 
 history and literature. Leaving Quebec, he went to New York, 
 where he remained some five years, then he came to Chicago,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 47 
 
 where he became a citizen of the United States, which country was 
 to be henceforth his home. On January 6th, 1857, at Elgin, 111., 
 he was married to Catharine Donahoe, an American by birth but 
 of Irish extraction. Born in Boston on the 15th day of August, 
 1S33, she was the daughter of William Donahoe and Margaret 
 (Clinnin) Donahoe, and received her education chiefly in the pub- 
 lic schools of Illinois. Daniel Hartnett and his wife were both 
 young and both strong and active mentally and physically; they 
 therefore entered upon their married life with full hope and con- 
 fidence as to the future. Locating in Mississippi, he did survey- 
 ing and contract work with good success and financial gain, which, 
 however, he was destined not to collect in large part, because of 
 the Civil War. Leaving the sunny south early in the spring of 
 1860, Mr. and Mrs. Hartnett journeyed to Galena, 111., where they 
 took up their home and where, on the 23d day of January, 1862, 
 was born to them a child, their son James Hartnett. From the 
 time of his arrival in Galena to the 20th day of August, 1862, Dan- 
 iel Hartnett was a successful farmer. In the summer of 1862, 
 having been watching with considerable anxiety the condition 
 of his country, he said one day to his wife that the country needed 
 his services, and shortly afterwards, that he was reluctant to 
 leave his family, but that, if the country should be divided and 
 liberty lost, he would be ashamed to look his son, when he grew 
 up, in the face and say that he had not courage to help maintain 
 for him a country and liberty. His decision was reached on the 
 20th day of August, 1862, when he enrolled as volunteer to serve 
 three years or during the war. He served in the 90th Illinois Vol- 
 unteers, and with them fought at Coldwater, Miss.; Vicksburg; 
 Jackson, Miss.; Colliersville, Tenn.; Missionary Kidge; Siege 
 ofKnoxville; Resaca, Ga.; Dallas, Ga,; Kennesaw Mount; Atlan- 
 ta, July 19th, 22nd, 28th, August 3d and 17th; Jonesboro, Ga.; 
 Lovejoy Station; Rome, Ga.; Gadsden, Ala.; Jennison's Bridge,
 
 48 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 Ogeeche Kiver; Fort McAllister; Savannah; Charleston, S. C.; 
 Columbia; Bentonville, N. C. On the 6th day of June, 1865, he 
 was honorably discharged from the service of the United States 
 by reason of the termination of the war, and immediately went 
 to his family in Galena. Seated near the open door, in his own 
 home for the first time since August, 1862,. he was again with his 
 family. James, then little more than three years of age, for a 
 moment bashfully clung to his mother, and then running to his 
 father and looking up into his face innocently asked: "Are you 
 my papa?" And the father answered with the smile of one who 
 had helped to maintain for his boy a country and liberty. Before 
 the war he had never had the services of a physician, but after the 
 war his shattered constitution caused him anxiety. And up to 
 the time of his death, January 31st, 1874, he spent much of his 
 time educating his son, and with great eagerness anticipated the 
 time when James should be able to care for himself and to protect 
 his mother. 
 
 James Hartnett inherited a constitution which well fitted him 
 as a boy to prosecute vigorously out door sports, and a confidence 
 which sustained him easily on land and upon the water. He re- 
 ceived his primary and high school education in the public schools 
 and pursued the scientific course at Normal. At the age of nine- 
 teen years he was regularly licensed to teach public school and 
 entered that field of work at Moline, 111. Beginning on primary 
 work, he had the golden opportunity to study mind, and there, 
 while engaged in the business of training others, received a thor- 
 ough and practical training in psychology. As an educator, he 
 proved peculiarly successful. He believed that there was a nat- 
 ural evolution of the mind and a natural tendency to activity 
 equal to the totality of energy possessed. For him the great prob- 
 lem was not how to cause the children entrusted to his care to work 
 harder, but to ascertain the true relation and definition of the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 49 
 
 matter he should present- before them, and how to know each 
 pupil thoroughly that he might best ascertain when the child 
 grasped the new thought and when he failed. The greater work 
 he recognized was in being able to facilitate the natural evolu- 
 tion of the mind, and acting upon these principles he was suc- 
 cessful. The energy of the child was properly expended. Nat- 
 ural evolution was facilitated and education was marked. 
 
 Something of originality in his manner of presenting his work 
 facilitated. Surrounded, though he was, with expensive reading 
 charts, yet he had them carefully stored and proceeded upon the 
 more logical method of starting the child to read through the 
 script medium. With a piece of crayon and slate, four feet by 
 five feet, he could present a few words in a great multiplicity of 
 positions. The child looked first to find the words, the groups, and 
 then to gather thoughts. The child read, and in a few weeks it 
 was able to take up the printed book. This was a practical dem- 
 onstration that much of the energy theretofore expended by the 
 child in learning to read was wasted. Again he demonstrated that 
 by keeping well in mind the principles taught and their natural 
 evolution, much time could be saved. That the boy in the primary 
 school could master arithmetic and enjoy systematic work with 
 plants and animals. 
 
 Continuing his work in the interest of the public schools of 
 our State, he received much encouragement from pupils entrusted 
 to his care and from the teachers associated with him, and more 
 and more liberally did the boards of education supply the schools. 
 In September, 1889, he took charge of the public schools of Henry, 
 111. There he had an enthusiastic staff of teachers who spent 
 many hours with him evenings that the utility and value of the 
 schools might be enhanced. Progress and improvement began at 
 the bottom, and there was an upward movement all along the 
 line. Before the close of the year the board of education tendered
 
 50 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE x 
 
 him the position for another year with an increase of salary. In 
 response to Mr. Hartnett's letter of acceptance, Duncan Camp- 
 bell, Esq., clerk of the Board of Education, wrote: 
 
 Rooms of Board of Education. 
 
 May 14th, 1890. 
 Prof. James ITartnett, 
 
 Superintendent of Schools: 
 
 Dear Sir: Your communication expressive of high and most, 
 pleasing sentiments, by which you communicated to the Board of 
 Education your acceptance of the position of superintendent with 
 added duties of principal is received and placed on file. 
 
 With the full impress of their educational importance, the 
 offer made by the Board and its acceptance by you add new luster 
 to the triumphs already won by a faithful and able discharge of 
 duties on your part in advancing the best interests of our schools. 
 
 Your expressed desire to show your appreciation of the action 
 of the Board in relation to yourself, by thus continuing to discharge 
 your duties, presents a grandeur of practical thought indicative 
 of success, justifying mutual anticipation of a result exceedingly 
 desirable. Yours truly, 
 
 Duncan Campbell, Clerk. 
 
 In the fall of 1890, acting upon the principle that the State 
 can well afford to educate her children, some collegiate work w r as 
 added to the high school course, and the graduating class remained 
 another year to do the work. The Board of Education, realizing 
 the enormous amount of work placed upon Mr. Hartnett and the 
 gain that would accrue to the school, decided to secure him another 
 assistant. Mr. Hartnett's sister, Anna M. Hartnett, was induced 
 to accept the position and immediately took charge of the high 
 school as principal. This proved not only to be of great advantage 
 to the school but of effect in the life of James Hartnett. He had 
 more time nights for reading, and adding to his stock of law books,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 51 
 
 up to that time consisting only of a copy of Blackstone's Commen- 
 taries and Bouvier's law dictionary, he devoted himself to the 
 reading of law. 
 
 The schools progressed and at the commencement exercises 
 in the summer of '90 originality again added to success. A large 
 blackboard was brought upon the rostrum and rapid calculations 
 mid mathematical and philosophical demonstrations by the class 
 proved to be an appreciated innovation. 
 
 Vacation was spent in the law office of the Honorable Fred 
 S. Potter. September, 1890, came aoid educational duties again 
 claimed Mr. Hartnett's services. He labored vigorously in school 
 by day and read law nights. The liberality of the board of edu- 
 cation in carrying out his plans was rewarded with good success. 
 The tone and progress of the schools continued good and in the 
 summer of 1891 the graduating class entertained a large and intel- 
 ligent, audience till midnight on the 10th day of June, and with 
 those exercises Mr. Hartnett closed ten years of successful school 
 work. He had spent his days and nights endeavoring to promote 
 the cause of education, and had well utilized the opportunities 
 which here and elsewhere had been favorable to gaining a knowl- 
 edge of human nature. During his vacations time had been found 
 to commingle with men in many States, most of whom were 
 strangers to him, and in this way his judgment of men was neces- 
 sarily quickened and incidentally he gained a fund of practical 
 knowledge. 
 
 He spent the summer of 1891 in the law office of Mr. Potter. 
 In September of that year, his mother and her family became per- 
 manent residents of Chicago. James acted upon the theory that 
 the best place to study practice was in the Federal and State 
 Courts, and that the place of much litigation was the place to prac- 
 tice law. lie was familiar with life in St. Louis, Omaha, New York, 
 and other cities, but chose to establish himself in Chicago, believ-
 
 52 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 ing that there the highest opportunities were open. Before the 
 Supreme Court on the 14th day of June, 1892, he was licensed to 
 practice, and at once entered upon a general practice of law. In 
 October, 1893, .James Hartnett became associated with the Hon- 
 orable Daniel Donahoe and Judge E. M. Wing in the trial of the 
 case of The People v. Daniel Coughlin, and worked with them 
 day and night in the defense until the finding by the jury of the 
 verdict of not guilty, on the 9th day of March, 1894. 
 
 Soon afterward he formed a partnership with Mr. Donahoe and 
 has since continued to be a member of the law firm of Donahoe & 
 Hartnett. 
 
 Mr. Hartnett's facility and power as a trial lawyer does credit 
 to his persistent and systematic efforts, and a few instances will 
 serve to illustrate his strong qualifications. Before Judge Sears, 
 in March, 1895, the genuineness of three bills was in question. 
 The prosecution brought in a paying teller from a bank who testi- 
 fied that each bill was a genuine twenty dollar bill. Mr. Hartnett 
 commenced his cross-examination of the witness in an easy, unas- 
 suming manner and the witness was led to say: That he did not 
 know the exact difference between a greenback and a treasury 
 note; that he did not know of any difference; that he did not 
 know the particulars of silver or gold certificates nor of national 
 bank notes; that he did not know many of the tests used by ex- 
 perts. Then, by sheer force of logic, the witness was compelled 
 to testify that a counterfeit of high character as to skill of work- 
 manship and intended to counterfeit bills like those in question, 
 would be very similar to them; that the markings, engravings 
 and seals would be very similar, and that if made by an artist a 
 _ high class man in that line it would be extremely difficult to 
 detect the counterfeit from the genuine. That in some cases it 
 would be necessary to examine carefully with a microscope to 
 detect the difference. That this was true of each of the bills in
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 53 
 
 question, and that he had examined them but a quarter or half 
 minute and without the aid of a microscope. That the most expert, 
 though careful, are apt to take high class counterfeit bills as 
 genuine. That the witness in his position at the bank had received 
 counterfeit bills, which he did not detect till afterward. That 
 the witness had been called to testify that the bills were genuine. 
 
 Again, in the Caruther's case, tried before Judge Gibbons in 
 January, 1896, expert book-keepers for a large corporation testi- 
 fied that large sums of money had not been paid in to the corpora- 
 tion. Mr. Hartnett demonstrated on cross-examination that they 
 could not tell whether it had. Twice the witnesses were sent to 
 study their books and a second and third time it was demonstrated 
 that they could not tell. 
 
 In the O'Brien case, tried in the Criminal Court in December, 
 1895, an expert testified relative to some valuable art goods that 
 had come through the World's Fair. Here, by subtle cross-ex- 
 amination he convinced the court and jury that the witness knew 
 but little of art goods and that his testimony was not to be relied 
 upon. 
 
 A trial lawyer's work taxes the strongest powers and the great- 
 est endurance to the utmost. The trial lawyer must wrestle with 
 men every inch his equal. He must make clear the most abstruse 
 and complex matters. Mr. Hartnett's ability in this direction has 
 been severely tested. In the case of the people v. Sampson et al., 
 tried in the Criminal Court before the Honorable William G. 
 Ewing one of the most important cases that ever came before 
 court or jury a case that so excited the activity of a political club 
 as to bring it into national prominence in the general movement 
 for a higher municipal life and greater sacredness of the ballot 
 Mr. Hartnett, at the close of the argument for the prosecution, 
 arose and addressed a most intelligent jury. Thus far the jury 
 had listened five weeks to the trial. Yet the liberty of nine defend- 
 ants was involved, as was also the sacredness of law and govern-
 
 54 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 nient. They would listen to the lawyer for the defendants, they 
 needed his assistance in considering the diverse testimony of some 
 thirty witnesses and a great complication of circumstantial evi- 
 dence. Hour by hour passed, as for two whole days he calmly and 
 coolly analyzed the evidence against his clients and held to the 
 view of the jury the great gaps in, and uncertainties of the evi- 
 dence for the prosecution; as synthetically from the evidence for 
 the defendants and even from much of that of the prosecution he 
 built for the defendants an impregnable bulwark. With the strong 
 power of a trained psychologist, he impressed upon the jury the 
 great principles of the law of liberty and that the men on trial 
 should be acquitted. As one of two lawyers, he was fighting a 
 great battle against fearful odds and for the liberty of nine of his 
 . fellow men. The entire machinery of a great state was placed in 
 the hands of a public prosecutor and private counsel, and the 
 great engines were working against his clients. It was a powerful 
 and exhaustive effort, enabling the jury to say that they had re- 
 ceived help where they needed it and that the defendants were 
 not guilty. 
 
 As a trial lawyer, Mr. Hartnett has been pre-eminently suc- 
 cessful. As a lawyer standing before the court, he is strong, cour- 
 teous and conscientious. 
 
 FRANK A. DEVLIN. 
 
 Frank A. Devlin, one of Chicago's most successful and most 
 popular business men, is a native of County Armagh, Ireland, 
 where he was born August 3d, 1857. His father, Peter Devlin,, 
 was also a native of County Armagh, where he followed the busi-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 
 
 ness of a produce merchant for over fifty years, buying in the 
 Irish markets chiefly butter and eggs and shipping to England. 
 He acquired quite a competence and died at the good old age of 
 eighty-four. His wife, mother of Frank A., was born in the same 
 neighborhood, where she is still living at the age of eighty-three. 
 
 Frank A. Devlin was educated in the national schools of his 
 native county and came alone to the United States when sixteen 
 years of age. He knew sufficient of Chicago to make it his goal, 
 and coming direct to this city, he almost immediately obtained 
 work with Field, Leiter & Co. With that firm he remained for 
 about six years, then accepting an engagement with Carson, Pirie 
 & Scott as assistant buyer in the hosiery and underwear depart- 
 ment. The following year he received promotion to the position 
 of buyer and manager of the department, which, at that time (1879), 
 was doing a business of one hundred thousand dollars a year, and 
 under his able handling this has steadily increased until at the 
 present time it has reached over a million and a half per annum. 
 
 As an illustration of the change in cost of production and in 
 the purchasing power of a dollar, Mr. Devlin gives the fact that 
 merchandise jobbed by him fifteen years ago for fifteen dollars a 
 (dozen can now be sold in the market for six dollars, so that it is 
 now possible to purchase for one dollar what at that time would 
 have cost three times that sum. When it is remembered also that 
 while ten times as large a business is done by Mr. Devlin's depart- 
 ment than at that time, yet the goods are about one-third cheaper, 
 some idea can be formed of the immense number of cases to be 
 handled and of the volume of business transacted. 
 
 In regard to the firm with which he is connected, Carson, Pirie 
 & Scott can look back upon a constantly growing trade year bv 
 year until now they rank third, and possibly second to any house 
 of their line in this country. 
 
 Mr. Devlin has been a member of the Columbus, Sheridan, and
 
 58 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 Iroquois Clubs for years, but he recently much to the regret of 
 his fellow members resigned from all, and although he may be 
 induced to reconsider such action, still the demands upon him 
 physically and mentally on account of the responsibility of his 
 position are so great that he has absolutely no leisure for club life. 
 
 Mr. Devlin has visited his native town several times and on 
 several occasions also has traveled over Europe. In religion he is 
 a Roman Catholic, while in politics he still considers himself a 
 Democrat and has always voted the Democratic National ticket 
 until last year, when, like so many of the old party, he voted for 
 McKinley. In local politics he has usually been more interested 
 in aiding some friend than in voting for any party. 
 
 Mr. Devlin was married May 28th, 1879, to Jennie O'Reilly, 
 daughter of Eugene O'Reilly, one of Chicago's oldest merchants, 
 but who is now retired after acquiring by his unaided thrift and 
 industry a handsome fortune. Mr. and Mrs. Devlin have three 
 children, two boys and one girl. A great lover of horses and 
 owning one of the finest stables in the city, he has been heard to 
 remark that what with his horses and his charming family he 
 really possesses no time for club life, or indeed, even to smoke 
 cigars. 
 
 Now in the prime of life, a man of fine physique, of genial dis- 
 position, and of courteous though naturally prompt manner, Mr. 
 Devlin is a truly representative citizen, an honor at once to the 
 city in which he lives and the Irish race from which he sprang.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 59 
 
 JOHN A. LYNCH. 
 
 John A. Lynch, the widely known and very highly esteemed 
 president of the National Bank of the Kepublic, is a native of Chi- 
 cago, and was born in this city June llth, 1853. His parents were 
 natives of County Clare, Ireland, and when quite young came to 
 Chicago in 1850, his father, Thomas Lynch, for some forty years 
 carrying on one of the principal distilleries of this city. He died in 
 1893. 
 
 John A. Lynch received a primary education in the public 
 schools of Chicago, afterwards graduating from Dyrenforth Col- 
 lege and later from Bryant & Stratton's Business College, receiving 
 a thorough commercial training, which thoroughly equipped him 
 for the important positions he was destined to fill. After leaving 
 college, the young man began his career in his father's distillery 
 business, starting at the bottom of the ladder as junior clerk and 
 advancing through each consecutive grade until he became man- 
 ager of the entire business, a position he held the last ten years of 
 its existence. In 1891 he was elected director of the National Bank 
 of the Republic and also a member of its finance committee, and in 
 the following year became the president, and still retains that high 
 and responsible office. 
 
 Mr. Lynch is a member of the Bankers' and other clubs. His 
 mind has been broadened by considerable travel; he has crossed 
 the ocean a number of times and is familiar with most of the con- 
 tinent of Europe, and only recently has returned from a very in- 
 teresting oriental trip. In his religious views he is a Roman Cath- 
 olic, while in politics he has considered himself a Democrat, but, 
 thoroughly independent in his views and action, in the last na- 
 tional election he voted for McKinley.
 
 60 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Mr. Lynch was married January 21st, 1896, to Miss Clara M. 
 Schmahl, daughter of the late John Schmahl of this city. 
 
 From the very beginning of liisi business career, Mr. Lynch has 
 been a hard and most indefatigable worker, at his post he has 
 usually remained ten and twelve hours every day, and frequently 
 even has worked right through the whole twenty-four. With such 
 heavy duties and responsibilities, it is evident that his time for 
 other occupations or for recreation has been very limited, and yet 
 Mr. Lynch is a man of highly cultivated tastes and of esthetic ideas, 
 a great lover of art and literature, indeed in the former being con- 
 sidered quite a connoisseur. His residence at 44 Burton Place is a 
 delightful dwelling, built in the Italian Renaissance style, and is 
 adorned internally with some very fine pictures and other works 
 of art. Here Mr. Lynch, who is a man of most courteous and genial 
 manners and disposition, delights in entertaining his many warm 
 and devoted friends, w r ho respect him for his high business gifts 
 and esteem for his good personal qualities. 
 
 TIMOTHY DAVID HURLEY. 
 
 Timothy David Hurley is a young American Irishman who is 
 as proud of his birth and of his descent as his fellow countrymen 
 should be to include in their ranks one of his record and brilliant 
 achievement. He is a young man, but already his name stands 
 high and if what he has already done may be taken as fair presage 
 of his future Irishmen and Americans the world over will num- 
 ber among their most esteemed representatives the subject of 
 the present sketch.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 63 
 
 He was born in Maysville, Mason County, Ky., August 31st, 
 1863, of parents unfavored by fortune but rich in the ability to 
 implant in their son the principles which engender success and 
 worldly honor, and it was entirely by his own efforts, through his 
 determination of will and good power of application that he man- 
 aged to secure a good education and lay a sound foundation for 
 his after work in life. T. D. Hurley is the son of Timothy and 
 Ellen (McNainara) Hurley, both natives of Blarney, in the County 
 of Cork, Ireland. With a large colony of Irish, they emigrated to 
 Kentucky in 1850 and settled near Maysville, where Mr. Hurley 
 was married and the subect of this sketch was born. As a boy he 
 was of an extremely studious disposition, but unfortunate circum- 
 stances made it impossible for his parents to continue his school- 
 ing to anything like the extent he would have desired. What of 
 education he received was obtained at the Catholic Parish School, 
 and at an early age he was obliged to secure employment and do 
 all he could towards making a living for himself. His first work, 
 like that of many men who have afterwards won renown, was as 
 an apprentice to a printer, and of this trade he quickly made him- 
 self master. He then concluded that the opportunities for a young 
 man of his powers and ambitions were not as great in a small 
 town as they would be in a city, and immediately determined to 
 move to Chicago. This was in 1882, and arrived in this city he 
 found employment with J. J. Spaulding & Co., job printers, and 
 for three years worked in their office and in other job offices. It 
 was in 1885 that he decided the profession of the law was that 
 which afforded the best chances for his life work and then the 
 difficulty arose in what manner could he obtain the necessary legal 
 training and still work at the trade, which it was necessary for 
 him to follow to make his living. The problem he had to solve 
 was a very difficult one, but determination and energy can usually 
 discover means and he made an arrangement with Mr. Spauldiiig 
 
 4
 
 64 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 by which lie was permitted to work short hours, and also another 
 with the Union College of Law, a branch of the North Western 
 University, permitting him to pay for his tuition by doing the duty 
 of night janitor of the school. His faithful service was rewarded 
 in the second year by the printing firm, with the appointment of 
 sub-foreman, and part of his work in the job office was done during 
 the day and part at night, while at the same time he continued to 
 pay for his tuition at the Law College by caring for the fires and 
 the other duties of a janitor. It is not work, however, no matter 
 its description, that can lower the individual, but the honest and 
 faithful performance that elevates and ennobles the work. Not- 
 withstanding the position Mr. Hurley was compelled to take in or- 
 der to secure his education, his fellow students broad-minded 
 as is ever the characteristic of the true American found nothing 
 to sneer at, but rather much to admire and respect in their plod- 
 ding and ambitious companion. This was well illustrated on 
 many occasions and one is well deserving of mention. On Febru- 
 ai'y 22nd each year which is known at the North Western Uni- 
 versity as University Day the various branches of the college 
 join in friendly intercourse in a dinner and to carry out in the 
 accepted manner a toastmaster has to be selected. In 1887, among 
 the students at the Law College were the sons of many wealthy 
 and influential citizens of Chicago, but for the honored and re- 
 sponsible position of toastmaster not one of these was chosen, 
 but in token of their esteem and confidence in his ability, Mr. 
 Hurley was selected to act, and his acquittal of the requirements 
 of the position was such as to give every one the most complete 
 satisfaction. On that occasion his toast was, "Come ye of the law 
 and talk as you please, until the man in the moon allow 'tis green 
 cheese," which, while affording the modest a good opportunity at 
 a dinner table would assuredly be inadvisable to apply to the 
 more responsible duties of members of the legal profession.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 65 
 
 
 
 The year lie graduated, he was again given a chance to dis- 
 tinguish himself. The Hamilton Club, a college debating society, 
 of which he was a member, was in the habit of meeting once <i 
 week upon some chosen subject for debate. The subject at one 
 of these meetings was, "Resolved, That Ireland Cannot Govern 
 Herself," and three students were selected to speak for the con- 
 tention, while three were to oppose. To Mr. Hurley, then still 
 acting as janitor, was given the important part of closing the de- 
 bate. A large crowd was present and the speeches made were on 
 both sides full of sound argument, logical and strong. At last 
 Mr. Hurley's turn arrived. From his youth upwards, he had been 
 an omniverous reader, and having takeji particular interest in 
 all Irish matters, the subject was one in which he was well posted. 
 His speech was a splendid one, and he made such a strong, pow- 
 erful argument on the stand, that Ireland if allowed to govern 
 herself was amply fitted so to do, that he had no sooner completed 
 what he had to say than the judges universally declared in his 
 favor. His speech was a surprise to everybody, for few at that time 
 knew that he was of Irish extraction. 
 
 Having graduated this was in 1887 he at once began the 
 practice of his profession and until 1892, without any partner. In 
 that year, however, he associated with him in the general practice 
 of law, Victor K. Koerner, a grandson of Gustavus Koeruer who 
 was for many years on the bench of the Supreme Court, and who 
 still remains with him in the Reaper Block. While, in his profes- 
 sion, Mr. Hurley has been eminently successful and his time con- 
 sequently is very fully occupied, he yet manages to devote every 
 moment he can spare to the several charitable organizations with 
 which he has been closely connected for many years past. It. has 
 been his constant practice every Sunday to visit the County Poor 
 House and to attempt to alleviate the condition of the unfortunate 
 inmates by giving them some enjoyment, especially in recitation,
 
 66 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 which has always been one of his chief pleasures, and upon one 
 of his visits in 1888, he and a few others he had induced to accom- 
 pany him, formed what has since become a powerful Chicago or- 
 ganization of good and most charitable purpose the Visitation 
 ami Aid Society. In number they were but a few individuals, but 
 their hearts were large, and charity for worthy purpose filled 
 their lives. With Mr. Hurley at their head, his office used as the 
 headquarters, everything possible with their limited number and 
 limited means was done until finally one of the body suggested 
 that the organization should be made larger and a dinner given 
 with the hope of creating a charitable fund. They were well aware 
 that there were many men who give large sums of money each 
 year to charity, who would be too willing to take part in such a 
 work. The suggestion was acted upon immediately, Mrs. John 
 Cudahy was seen by Mr. Hurley, who managed to interest her and 
 secure her active co-operation as well as the promise that her 
 husband should attend the dinner. The entertainment was given 
 and that great Irishman, Mr. John Cudahy, generous and free, as is 
 typical of his nationality, went personally to work and secured 
 promises from ninety-four persons to attend the dinner, at which, 
 when given, $2,200 was collected. The event is now an annual 
 one. Mr. Chas. A. Mair acts as toastmaster, Mr. Michael Cudahy 
 as chairman, and his brother, John Cudahy, as he did at the first, 
 uses all his powers to promote and make a success. To those two 
 brothers, those noble hearted Irishmen, ably assisted by Mr. Mair, 
 the society acknowledges gratefully its indebtedness for the power 
 td carry out all the good it now does in the city, for the society 
 really acts as a sort of clearing house for charitable enterprises. 
 Its agents visit the police courts and send the cases of destitution 
 as required to the various public institutions. At the same time, 
 the sick are attended to, arrangements have been made with all 
 hospitals to receive those sent, employment is procured for the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 67 
 
 unemployed, and an agreement entered into with all railroads for 
 a half -fare rate for those they desire to send out of the city. 
 
 Mr. Hurley has been president and the most active worker ever 
 since the society was organized, with the exception of two years, 
 during which time Charles A. Mair held the office. The estimation 
 in which the society is held is shown by the fact that in this coun- 
 try it is the only one of its kind which has received the special 
 blessing of his Holiness, the Pope. 
 
 Mr. Hurley holds in addition the important and responsible 
 office of president of the Illinois State Council of the Catholic 
 Benevolent Legion, the leading Catholic fraternal society of the 
 country. He is also a prominent member of the St. Vincent De 
 Paul Society. 
 
 In his political opinions, Mr. Hurley is a Democrat, but as will 
 be readily understood the time he has left to devote to politics 
 is not very great. In 1895, however, he was a candidate for the 
 office of Justice of the Peace, to which he was recommended on 
 account of his standing at the bar by the judges of the Supreme, 
 Circuit and County Courts. He was appointed by Governor Alt- 
 geld upon his own application, but having failed to mix sufficiently 
 with the machine politicians they united to oppose him, with the 
 result that the Senate would not confirm. He intended, if he had 
 received the office, to have used every endeavor to elevate it in 
 public appreciation and to have made it in reality the poor man's 
 court, and in addition to securing a large and well ventilated 
 court room, to have made other much needed reforms in the pres- 
 ent system. 
 
 In Irish affairs Mr. Hurley has always been most interested, 
 but in late years circumstances have not led 1 him to participate as 
 actively as was formerly the case. There are few Catholics in 
 Chicago better known than he is; his many charitable efforts 
 bringing him into prominent connection with his co-religionists.
 
 68 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 He is a member of the Columbus and Jeffersonian Clubs and also 
 the Third Ward Democratic Club. 
 
 He was married, September 19th, 1889, to Miss Mary A. Mur- 
 tha, of Chicago, and their union has been blessed with four chil- 
 dren, of whom two boys, Emmett and Gerald, are dead, but two 
 little girls, Ethel and Dorothy, brighten his home and lighten and 
 charm the limited leisure he can manage to obtain from his heavy 
 professional duties and his self imposed charitable work. 
 
 HON. ELBR1DGE HANECY. 
 
 This very distinguished member of the Chicago bar was born 
 March 15th, 1852, in Trenton, Wis. His descent is Scotch-Irish, the 
 family having settled in Wisconsin about the year 1849. Of the 
 parents of Judge Hanecy, his father, William Hanecy, fought in the 
 Mexican War and died in 1853, while his mother, formerly Mary 
 Wales, is living in this city at the advanced age of seventy-one. 
 
 The early education of the subject of the present sketch was re- 
 ceived in the public schools, after which he attended the University 
 of Milwaukee, where marked proficiency was shown in his studies. 
 At sixteen years of age, he came to Chicago in 1869, and determined 
 to study law and take up the legal profession. He began to read 
 with Hervey, Anthony & Gait then one of the best known and 
 ablest legal firms in the city, and was admitted to the Illinois bar 
 September llth, 1874. 
 
 Mr. Hanecy immediately devoted himself exclusively to the prac- 
 tice of his profession, and from the commencement, proved himself
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 
 
 a most diligent and thorough student. His reward was satisfactory 
 and he quickly succeeded in building up an extensive and well pay- 
 ing law business, having for his clients many of the most successful 
 business men of Chicago, who entrusted to his charge a number of 
 very important and notable cases adjudicated in the local courts. 
 These involved interests of great value, and upon the part of the at- 
 torney, intense mental and physical effort, but he handled in such a 
 manner as to gain general praise, conducting to a successful con- 
 clusion. Having for a considerable time associated himself with 
 Kobert Hervey, the senior member of the firm before referred to, he 
 afterward became and remained for some time the senior member 
 of the law firm of Hanecy & Merrick. The reputation he had al- 
 ready obtained both as a lawyer and in the Kepublican party, was 
 evinced by his receiving by acclamation, in 1892, the nomination 
 for Judge of the Circuit Court. He was, however, unsuccessful, al- 
 though he led his party ticket by several thousand votes, and on 
 renomination the year following, once more by acclamation, he was 
 elected. 
 
 While at the bar, Judge Hanecy obtained the reputation of an 
 excellent trial lawyer, and on the bench, his ready comprehension 
 of a case and his ability to dispatch the business of the court, have 
 frequently been the cause of wondering admiration on the part 
 of the lawyers who practice at his bar. He is a man of the strictest 
 integrity, absolutely high-minded, and entirely honorable in all 
 his business methods. An able lawyer, he is now a talented and 
 upright judge, and the possessor of gifts of the strongest judicial 
 order: moreover, in his knowledge of the law, he is second to no 
 judge on the bench of Cook County. His present prominence has 
 been won by absolute merit, and there is no question that the re- 
 gard of his fellow citizens and of his professional brethren are in- 
 Creasing as each term of court passes forward. 
 
 His standing among the general public has also been frequently
 
 70 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 demonstrated. It is the custom of the Brick Layers & Stone Ma- 
 sons' Association, and also of the Chicago Contractors' Associa- 
 tion, to elect one of the twenty-six judges of Cook County as um- 
 pire, for the purpose of arbitration in cases of dispute or labor 
 troubles. Upon three occasions Judge Hanecy has been selected 
 to act in this capacity. 
 
 He was married March 1st, 1876, to Miss Sarah Barton, the 
 daughter of William A. Barton, a well known retired contractor 
 of Chicago. They have had seven children, of whom, with a single 
 exception, all are living. 
 
 JOHN McGILLEN. 
 
 Either as prominent citizen, representative business man, or 
 thorough type of the energetic and resourceful Chicagoan, the 
 Hon. John McGillen takes a high place in any community. 
 
 Born November 13th, 1861, he is still in his early prime, a man 
 who has already done sufficient to justify the faith in the future 
 he will achieve great things. John McGillen was born on South 
 Water Street, Chicago, in one of the oldest landmarks of the city, 
 situated between Wabash Avenue and State Street. His parents, 
 Edward and Catharine (Doyle) McGillen, were both born in Ire- 
 land and of good Irish origin. Edward McGillen had come to Chi- 
 cago in the early 30's when only eight years of age, with a grand- 
 uncle, James Kearney. He received his education in the public 
 schools of the city, being afterward one of its most respected citi- 
 zens. A complete genealogical record of the family was destroyed
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 73- 
 
 in 1871 by the great fire, and the details entirely lost. John Mc- 
 Gillen obtained his education in the public schools and later from 
 the Christian Brothers. He left the latter when fourteen, enter- 
 ing an abstract office, where his ability and trustworthiness 
 quickly obtained for him a position of responsibility. For four- 
 teen years he remained in the same employ, and during the last 
 four was in charge of the court department of that firm. In 1889, 
 fully prepared in every way for the battle of life, he went into 
 business with John P. Agnew, the firm being later completed by 
 the addition of the late Francis Agnew. Such a combination was 
 bound to prove a successful one, and the firm of Agnew & Com- 
 pany soon became known as one of the leading and most substan- 
 tial concerns in the western States. Of the contracts undertaken, 
 further mention is given in the sketch of the life of the late Mr. 
 Francis Agnew, which appears elsewhere in this volume, but par- 
 ticular notice is necessary to the construction by this firm of the 
 Liberal Arts and Manufactures' Building of the World's Colum- 
 bian Exposition. This building, the largest under a single roof 
 ever erected in the United States, or indeed in any other country, 
 covered some twenty-seven acres, and was an absolute marvel of 
 the ingenuity possible to engineering science. At one time there 
 were 1700 skilled workmen employed upon this work, 
 
 Mr. McGillen was one of the organizers of the Democrats of 
 Cook County, and for two years, until the pressure of private busi- 
 ness forced him to withdraw, its chairman. He was afforded an 
 opportunity to show his power and influence at the time the late 
 Mr. Carter Harrison and ex-Mayor John P. Hopkins were elected. 
 For six years also he was a member of the City Council, where he 
 quickly made his mark, and upon the retirement of Mr. Cullerton,. 
 was appointed to the chairmanship of the finance committee, an 
 office of great responsibility, but which his natural abilities en- 
 abled him to fill to the satisfaction of every one concerned.
 
 74 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 During the World's Fair, he was one of the six representatives 
 of the Council deputed to receive the naval representatives of the 
 great powers, his special task being the entertainment of the Ger- 
 man contingent. Here Mr. McGillen was well at home, for in his 
 ward on the north side the Teutonic element is peculiarly strong, 
 and his genial manners had made for him many intimate friends 
 therein. 
 
 Mr. McGillen is a thorough Catholic. He was married in 1894 
 to the talented and amiable daughter of the well known Chica- 
 goan, Mr. M. A. Devine. His disposition is of a thoroughly com- 
 panionable character, and he is a member of several social clubs, 
 including the Germania and Waubansea. 
 
 His present position in the business world is the result of con- 
 tinual and unremitting work, straightforward honest dealing in 
 every transaction, and absolute fidelity in all particulars towards 
 his friends. His career is eminently typical of the successful Chi- 
 cagoan a man thorough in all his ways and doings, fearlessly fol- 
 lowing the path he has started upon, and allowing no deviation 
 until he has won the goal of every man who is worth the name, 
 success. 
 
 MICHAEL WHELAN MURPHY. 
 
 Michael W. Murphy was born October 6th, 1844, at Hartland, 
 
 McHenry County, 111., where his father, Patrick E. Murphy, who 
 
 had left Ireland when a boy, had settled on a farm. The latter 
 
 afterward entered the grocery business in Woodstock, 111., where 
 
 he died in 1869. For years he was a prominent and well known
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 75 
 
 citizen of that place, and was held in high regard by the com- 
 munity. His wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was 
 born in Kilkenny, Ireland, and at the advanced age of eighty-five 
 y< -sirs, is now residing in Chicago. 
 
 Michael W. Murphy was educated in the public schools and 
 afterward attended the college of St. Mary's of the Lake, Chicago, 
 where he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 
 1865. He then attended the Union College of Law of this city and 
 was admitted to the bar in 1868. Two years was spent in the law 
 office of Monroe & McKinnon, and at the end of that time he ac- 
 cepted a position as book-keeper in a mercantile house with the 
 intention of returning to the law later on. This, however, he 
 never did. In 1878 he was engaged as book-keeper and cashier 
 for M. W. Kerwin in the wholesale liquor business at 35 South 
 Water Street, and filled that position most efficiently until May, 
 1883, when he was given an interest in the business, and the firm 
 became M. W. Kerwin & Co. Mr. Kerwin retired May, 1888, having 
 disposed of his interest to Mr. Murphy, and the firm shortly after- 
 ward became Delaney & Murphy, occupying the same extensive 
 premises they now occupy, 10 and 12 Wabash Avenue. 
 
 Mr. Murphy is a member of several social clubs and charitable 
 organizations. He is a Catholic and a Democrat, but independent 
 in his political action. Nearly every place of interest in the United 
 States and in Europe has been visited by him and in the latter he 
 spent a year with his family in 1895 and 1896. 
 
 Mr. Murphy married in December, 1871, Mary J. Synon, who 
 was at the time principal of one of the grammar schools of the 
 city. She was a woman of most charming personal appearance 
 and lovable character. She died in 1879, leaving three daughters, 
 Veronica, Ursula and Mary Irene. 
 
 Even by this brief sketch it will be seen that Mr. Murphy 
 has made a marked success in his business career, yet many of
 
 76 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 those who knew him as a law student are inclined to regret he 
 did not follow that profession, in which undoubtedly he would 
 have made a brilliant and honorable record. Mr. Murphy is a man 
 who gains and retains the affection and esteem of all who know 
 him, always kindly and generous, courteous and genial, he is at the 
 same time a man of thoroughly dignified bearing and manner. 
 
 KICKHAM SCANLAN. 
 
 The characteristics and qualifications necessary to the attain- 
 ment of eminence in the legal profession are of so peculiar and 
 varied a character that few men are found to possess. Among 
 them must be a mind of extraordinary activity, with great re- 
 ceptive power and yet equally retentive, a will strong to assert 
 and indomitable in resolution and persistence, a spirit upright 
 and unfearing, fired with faithful and honorable purpose. Perhaps 
 it is in the legal profession more than in any other that these gifts 
 and talents have an opportunity to display themselves. The 
 reason is not difficult to discover. The essentials of success are 
 labor unceasing, energy unrecognisive of unsurmountable diffi- 
 culty, patience unlimited, and perpetual perseverance. The prizes 
 offered to the eminent are numerous and splendid, but talent 
 alone cannot conquer; prolonged and arduous effort must ever 
 accompany. Of Kickham Scanlan, yet in the early thirties, how- 
 ever guardedly one must speak on the score of youth, it may be 
 stated unhesitatingly and beyond fear of question, that no young^ 
 lawyer to-day in Chicago gives nobler promise of future grand 
 achievement.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 79 
 
 It was at one time asked of a judge whose abilities had raised 
 him far above his fellows, to explain the secret of his success. He 
 made reply, "Some succeed in the legal profession by extraordinary 
 natural gifts, some by good fortune that is practically miraculous, 
 but the great majority in addition to great gifts from mother na- 
 ture, have plodding and perseverance made a part of their lives, 
 for they have commenced without a dollar." To that great ma- 
 jority also the subject of this sketch belongs, for he is eminently a 
 self -made man. 
 
 The name of Scanlan is one dear to the hearts of every true 
 Irish American, for with it are connected associations of the 
 noblest patriotism and the truest manliness. Kickham Scanlan 
 was born in this city October 23d, 1864, and is the son of Michael 
 and Nellie (Hogan) Scanlan. His father, born 1836, at Castle 
 Mahon, County Limerick, Ireland, which was the native county of 
 his mother also, had come to America a child of seven with his 
 mother. He is essentially a self-educated man, and was little 
 more than a child when the necessities of daily life forced him to 
 lind work. The years of discretion reached, he was ambitious to 
 be his own master, and in company with his brother, Edward, 
 founded a candy business under the firm name of Scanlan Bros. 
 Though so young, when he left Ireland's green shores, the affairs 
 of his native land were to him of paramount interest. lie identi- 
 fied himself with every movement that had Ireland's good for a 
 purpose, until he became recognized as a leader of the American 
 Irish. In 1866, to keep his fellow countrymen better in touch 
 with what was going on in the old land and among its workers 
 and sympathizers on this side of the Atlantic, he founded an Irish 
 newspaper, named by him the "Irish Republic." Two years later 
 he became convinced that his design could be more advantageously 
 carried out if the paper's headquarters were removed to a more 
 populous and more active center, and consequently he left Chi-
 
 80 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 cago and located in New York City. There bis journalistic enter- 
 prise continued its publication until 1872, when he moved his 
 headquarters to Washington, D. C., and continued there for an- 
 other twelve months. Then a position was offered to him in the 
 Bureau of Statistics of the Department of State, and in that posi- 
 tion he has since remained. A poet and a prose writer of world- 
 wide reputation; a man who has indeed music in his heart; an 
 authority of well recognized excellence upon all matters affecting 
 Ireland; a liberal contributor of Irish publications; he has since 
 remained in Washington, although his dearest home is the hearts 
 of the Irish people all over the world, who revere and love his 
 name. 
 
 From the son of such a father, great things might well be 
 anticipated. These have indeed been gratified. Kickham Scan- 
 Ian received his primary education in Washington, D. C., followed 
 by a course in the Notre Dame University, at South Bend, Ind. 
 Here he graduated in 1879, afterwards attending the high school 
 at Washington, D. C., and after that undergoing a special course 
 in English and classics for one year in the same place. His early 
 training was liberal and thorough, and was a fit preparation for 
 the profession he has chosen. After leaving school he entered the 
 employ of the well known mine and coal merchant, Colonel W. 
 P. Rend, with whom he remained three years, during the last 
 twelve months taking charge of the Detroit branch office. De- 
 termined to be a lawyer, he connected himself with Chicago's 
 orator and great criminal lawyer, Luther Laflin Mills, and with 
 the late George C. Ingham, who died in 1892. Kickham Scanlan 
 was an apt pupil and showed himself entirely worthy of his great 
 masters. As a criminal lawyer he stands to-day with few, if any, 
 equals in the West. He has demonstrated his fine capabilities in 
 that branch of the profession in very many cases, which are now 
 famous, and which have gained him national fame. In this con-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 
 
 uection may be mentioned the Cronin trials, in which he appeared 
 as counsel for the State. With the merits of that case, a merely 
 biographical work has absolutely nothing to do, and it is sufficient 
 to direct attention to the masterly ability displayed by Kickham 
 Scanlan as State Prosecutor. It was, however, in the opening 
 speech in the second trial, over which he occupied three days, that 
 that opportunity came which well taken at its flood has brought 
 him to fortune. Another noted case in which Mr. Scanlan figured 
 for the defense, was the famous trial of W. J. McGarigle, in 1887, 
 charged with complicity in the county commissioners' frauds. An- 
 other notable case of his was the defense of Louis Jacobson for 
 arson in connection with Chicago Bedding Company's plant at 
 Keuosha, in 1895, when, of five defendants, his client alone ob- 
 tained acquittal. Mention may also be made of the Millinghan 
 poisoning case, at Denver, in which he was engaged with Luther 
 Laflin Mills; the "tally sheets" frauds cases, at Columbus, O., and 
 the Graham Hanks jury bribery case. The latter is famous as the 
 first conviction ever obtained in a similar charge west of the Alle- 
 ghanies. Since 1891 he has had an office of his own, and has been 
 engaged in general practice. In the Yon King murder case, he 
 managed to obtain acquittal for his three Chinese clients; in the 
 Edwin Kohn case, where a letter carrier confessed to stealing a 
 decoy letter, Judge Grosscup discharged him on a technicality 
 taken by Scanlan, that a decoy letter was not such a letter as the 
 statute contemplated; in the Barnes Jordan murder case, which 
 he defended, and secured the acquittal of Donahue and Barbee; 
 in the case where Commissioner Thomas J. McNichols had been in- 
 dicted for bribery on a charge made by Judge John Barton Payne, 
 of the Superior Court, he was again instrumental in obtaining an 
 acquittal. These examples alone are sufficient to stamp him as 
 one of the leading and most brilliant trial lawyers of to-day. In- 
 deed, to record the many prominent cases in which he has partici-
 
 82 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 pated, either for the State or the defense, would be to give a fairly 
 representative history of that branch of jurisprudence in Chicago 
 of late years. Recently Mr. Scanlan is devoting most of his time 
 to the civil branch of the law. 
 
 Mr. Scanlan is a speaker and an orator, yet his great earnest- 
 ness and force of manner do not need and are not accompanied by 
 any wild bursts of fancy. He is convincing because he acts on 
 reason and uses clear and logical methods. With the details of 
 every case undertaken he most fully acquaints himself, nothing is 
 too small to investigate that .might have bearing upon the case 
 he is handling; no matter is too great, no person too high to be 
 drawn upon for assistance if the necessities of his client's case so 
 require. He is gifted with a strange knowledge of human nature, 
 his keenness and sagacity enabling him to detect much a witness 
 may be anxious to conceal and to extract important facts from 
 what seemingly may be entirely immaterial to the issue. 
 
 Mr. Scanlan is an active member of the Republican party, and 
 in the spring of 1896 was very prominently mentioned for the 
 nomination of State's Attorney. There is no gift in the power 
 of the party to which he may not confidently aspire should the 
 necessities and obligations of his present large private practice 
 permit him to accept. 
 
 Professional success has in no ways tended to diminish Mr. 
 Scanlan's genial social qualities. He is at all times a charming 
 companion, a man of well cultivated literary tastes and with a 
 truly Irish devotion to music and song. He was married January 
 2d, 1890, to Miss Sadie Conway, daughter of Michael W. Conway, 
 the long well known assistant fire marshal, and who is now fire 
 inspector. Their hospitable home, which now possesses the addi- 
 tional charm of several children, is always free and open to the 
 large circle of friends which true courtesy and large-hearted lib- 
 erality have drawn together.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 83 
 
 THOMAS HENRY CANNON. 
 
 One of the leading fraternal associations among members of 
 the Catholic faith at the present time is the organization known 
 as the Catholic Order of Foresters, and prominently identified with 
 it during the last eight years is the name heading this article. 
 That the order has had a wonderful growth during the period 
 mentioned, a glance at the records conclusively shows, and this 
 must be attributed to the wisdom, judgment and ability of those 
 who have controlled its management, and chief of these is Thomas 
 H. Cannon. 
 
 Mr. Cannon wk's born in Chicago, January 23d, 1864, sou of 
 the late Thomas Cannon, for many years prominently identified 
 with the Republican party of this city. Thomas Cannon was a 
 native of County Leitrim, Ireland, whence he came to Chicago 
 in 1851. For many years he was engaged in the teaming business 
 in the employ of the old Galena Railway. He represented the 
 Seventeenth Ward now the Twenty-third of the city in the Com- 
 mon Council 1872 to 1874, and at the same time and subsequently 
 was a justice of the peace on the North Side. lie died in 1882 
 at the age of fifty -three years. His wife, Mary Walsh, to whom 
 he was married in 1856, was a native of County Mayo, and removed 
 to Chicago with her parents in 1853. Increasing years press light- 
 ly upon her, and she still resides in this city and is now one of the 
 oldest members of the Cathedral congregation. To them were 
 born ten children, of whom six survive, our subject being the only 
 
 surviving son. His sisters are all residents of Chicago. 
 5
 
 84 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Thomas II. Cannon obtained his education in the public schools, 
 graduating from the high school in 1881. His first employment 
 was in a wholesale grocery, and later he was in Maxwell's book 
 store. Thence he went to D. Appleton & Company, and continued 
 with that firm and their successors in the school book business 
 (the American Book Company) until 1892, having been traveling 
 salesman for them for three years. In September, 1890, he com- 
 menced a course in the Chicago College of Law. He was admitted 
 to practice in June, 1892, when he severed his connection with the 
 American Book Company, and subsequently took a post graduate 
 course at the same law college. He is now associated with Mr. 
 James H. Poage in the legal firm of Cannon & Poage, and ranks 
 as one of the leading members of the Chicago bar. 
 
 In 1887 Mr. Cannon joined the Catholic Order of Foresters, 
 and was elected a member of the board of trustees in 1891. The 
 following year, he was elected High Secretary and served until 
 June, 1894, when he was elected High Chief Ranger. In Septem- 
 ber, 1895, and again in February, 1897, he was unanimously re- 
 elected to this position at the head of the order. 
 
 The Catholic Order of Foresters had its origin in Holy Family 
 Parish, Chicago. The members of the parish had long felt the 
 need of an association for Catholic men which would supply the 
 benefits of a fraternal insurance society to their Catholic fellow 
 citizens. After many preliminary meetings, a temporary court 
 was organized and application was made to the State of Illinois 
 for a charter, which was granted on May 20th, 1883. Several 
 courts were immediately organized and the organization began to 
 llourish. About five hundred members were secured during the 
 first year. 
 
 Sixteen courts were organized in Chicago before the organiza- 
 tion extended beyond Cook County. The first court organized out- 
 side of Cook County was at Somonauk, 111. The membership of the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 85 
 
 first nineteen courts was confined to the French and Irish national- 
 ities. The twentieth court was composed exclusively of Germans, 
 and since its organization German Catholics have rapidly joined the 
 order, so that they are to-day perhaps as numerous as any other 
 nationality. Subsequent organizations were confined to the city 
 of Chicago until Courts 49, 53 and 60, located respectively at 
 Springfield, Waukegan and liockford, 111., were admitted to mem- 
 bership. The order made its entry into Wisconsin on September 
 llth, 1887, when Holy Rosary Court No. 67 was organized at Mil- 
 waukee. Gradually one by one the neighboring states were ad- 
 mitted, until to-day the C. O. F. is organized in every northern 
 state from Maine to California. Meantime the fame of the order 
 has spread across the border into Canada, and on August 14th, 
 1888, Court No. 86, the first court in the Province of Canada, was 
 organized. At the present time, fully one-third of the courts and 
 one-third of the membership of the order is located in Canada. 
 
 During its existence the C. O. F. has paid out |2,000,000 in 
 endowments for the relief of the widows, orphans, and dependents 
 of deceased members; $500,000 has been expended in the payment 
 of sick benefits and funeral expenses. This most remarkable rec- 
 ord has been achieved during the brief period of fourteen years. 
 With its membership of fifty thousand, comprised in seven hundred 
 courts, and with its low rate of assessments, the C. O. F. can 
 to-day justly claim to be the greatest Catholic organization upon 
 the American continent. It is confidently expected that its quar- 
 ter centennial will show a membership of one hundred thousand. 
 
 Mr. Cannon was a charter member and first president of the 
 Sons of Chicago, organized in 1892. He is a resident of the Cathe- 
 dral parish, taking an active interest in all church matters. 
 
 That Mr. Cannon is popular, especially among the younger ele- 
 ment in Catholic circles, is evidenced by the honors conferred upon
 
 86 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OF THE 
 
 him, while the ability and judgment displayed in the conduct of 
 his high position at the head of the Order of Foresters well justifies 
 its confidence and the trust reposed in him by the thousands of 
 its members. 
 
 FRANK G. HOYNE. 
 
 Frank G. Hoyne was born in this city July 17th, 1854, his 
 father being a well known lawyer of Chicago, Thomas Hoyne, who 
 came from Ireland and settled in this city in 1837. The mother of 
 the subject of this sketch was born in Virginia, but came to Chi- 
 cago in 1833, being married to Thomas Hoyne in 1840. 
 
 Frank G. Hoyne was educated in the University of Chicago, 
 but left before graduating to accompany Professor Stafford on a 
 western trip, the latter being under engagement by the govern- 
 ment to make a new war map of Kansas and Colorado. In 1872 
 the young man returned from surveying and entered the firm of 
 Culver, Page, Hoyne & Co., blank book manufacturers, starting 
 at a salary of five dollars a week and advancing till be became 
 superintendent of the city manufacturing department. With this 
 firm he remained until they sold out in 1884, when he joined his 
 brother, James T. Hoyne, in the real estate business under the 
 firm name of Hoyne Brothers, and still retains an interest. 
 
 In 1886 Mr. Hoyne was appointed United States Appraiser, 
 during President Cleveland's first administration, the office being 
 retained until 1890. Four years later he was reappointed to the 
 same office during Cleveland's second term, and has held that re- 
 sponsible position to very general satisfaction up to the present 
 time.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 89 
 
 Mr. Hoyne, who has always been a warm advocate for athletic- 
 sports of all kinds, is a member of the Chicago Athletic Club, of 
 which indeed he was one of the original members. He was also 
 one of the organizers and principal movers in the establishment 
 of the Iroquois Club, and is still an active member thereof. 
 
 Mr. Hoyne was married in 1884 to Miss Florence Ashton, 
 daughter of Congressman Washington Ashton, of Virginia, a lin- 
 eal descendant of the George Washington family. He has two 
 daughters, Leonora and Helen. 
 
 Mr. Hoyne has always been a Democrat, and before holding 
 public office was Vice-President of the Cook County Democracy. 
 In his religious views and associations he is independent, taking 
 an interest in religion and religious work without affiliating him- 
 self with any particular denomination. 
 
 The subject of this sketch has had some military experience. 
 He joined the First Regiment Infantry in 1875, and remained with 
 the regiment until 1880, when he was appointed by Brigadier-Gen- 
 eral J. T. Torrence (then commanding the First Brigade) to the 
 position of Brigade Quartermaster. When General Torrence re- 
 signed, which was in 1885, Mr. Hoyne also retired, and entered the 
 Veteran Corps of the First Regiment, in which organization he 
 still takes an active interest. 
 
 Even by this brief sketch it will be seen that Mr. Hoyne has 
 been eminently successful in all he has undertaken, and the re- 
 sponsible office he holds tells of no mean honor from his country 
 to a man who is still so young. Before him there is, beyond doubt, 
 a distinguished career, as well as opportunity for cultivating and 
 enjoying the literary and musical tastes which are so characteris- 
 tic of this well known and universally respected American Irish- 
 man.
 
 90 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 AUSTIN JOSEPH DOYLE. 
 
 The ability to grasp opportunity is one of the chief essentials of 
 worldly success and when united to energy and perseverance, the 
 result is absolutely placed beyond doubt. Possibly there is some- 
 thing natural to those of Irish birth or Irish descent in this fore- 
 seeing gift, for it is a fact chat in that nationality more perhaps 
 than in any other, such outcome has been demonstrated. The sub- 
 ject of this sketch is a striking example. 
 
 Austin J. Doyle was born in Chicago, September 18th, 1849. 
 His parents, Peter and Ellen (McDonald) Doyle, were both natives 
 of County Wexford, Ireland, being born there in 1804, of truly pa- 
 triotic stock, for the father of each of them had participated in 
 the Irish rebellion, being present at the battle of Vinegar Hill, 
 Wexford, in 1798. They had six children, of whom our subject is 
 the youngest. Peter Doyle was in fairly comfortable circumstan- 
 ces and died in Chicago in 1852. 
 
 Austin J. Doyle obtained his education at the school of the 
 Christian Brothers and at St. Patrick's Commercial Academy. He 
 began active life at the early age of thirteen, his first employment 
 being with the firm of W. M. Boss & Company now Carson, Pirie 
 & Scott where he had the position of parcel boy, becoming a little 
 later collector for the same concern. His next situation was with 
 Daniel O'Hara, Clerk of the Recorder's Court, and here as deputy 
 clerk he remained for eight years, for the last five years as chief. 
 While deputy clerk and employed under Judge McAllister he 
 read law and was admitted January, 1870, when, however, he con- 
 tinued to retain his position. In 1873 he was elected as Clerk of 
 the Criminal Court against W, K. Sullivan, serving until 1877,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 91 
 
 when upon appointment as justice of the peace for the north side, 
 he resigned, but only to hold the latter appointment for six mouths, 
 when he resigned that also and spent half a year in Kansas. Re- 
 turning to Chicago, his close personal friend, the late Carter II. 
 Harrison, gave him, in June, 1879, the appointment of secretary 
 to the police department, and in this association with Superin- 
 tendent Joseph P. Barrett, he was the originator of the present 
 police patrol system of Chicago. November, 1882, he was ap- 
 pointed Superintendent of Police, remaining such until October 
 15th, 1885, and resigning to become superintendent of the Chicago 
 Passenger Railway. The latter was a horse car line, and in 1887, 
 it was absorbed by the West Side Street Car Company, Mr. Doyle 
 remaining as superintendent until July, 1890. In the meantime, 
 he had been elected Clerk of the Sanitary District, but resigned 
 after a couple of months, being tendered the responsible post of 
 General Manager of the McAvoy Brewing Company, where he re- 
 mained until January, 1892, when he w r as elected President of the 
 Company. He served until February, 1896, when the United States 
 Brewing Company was organized, and the following six plants, 
 the Val. Blatz; the Michael Brand Brewing Company; Bartholo- 
 mae & Roesing; Bartholomae & Leicht; Ernest Brothers, and K. 
 G. Schmidt, with the total output of 750,000 barrels per annum 
 thereby absorbed. 
 
 He was married in 1870, to Miss Ellen Donnelly, of Chicago, 
 who died in 1877, leaving tw r o children, Austin J. Doyle, Jr., and 
 Agnes. In 1883, Mr. Doyle was again married to Pauline Weis- 
 haar, of Chicago, and they have six children Joseph, Frank, Rob- 
 ert Emmet, Paul, Marion, and Frederick. 
 
 Though Mr. Doyle's mind is essentially of a business charac- 
 ter, his disposition leads him to find his chief delight and recrea- 
 tion in his home life, yet still he finds time to be active in member- 
 ship of the Sheridan and Columbus Clubs, He is also a member of
 
 92 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 the Catholic Benevolent Legion, the Police Benevolent Society and 
 the Independent Order of Foresters. In religion he is a Roman 
 Catholic, and his political views are, and have always been, those 
 of the Democratic party. 
 
 The career thus roughly sketched is sufficient to show the many 
 difficulties conquered, how every chance was utilized to the ut- 
 most, and how a life unassisted by outside advantages was able to 
 raise itself to a position of power and influence, making the name 
 of Austin J. Doyle at once a source of pride and an honor to the 
 city of his birth, as well as to the land of his forefathers. 
 
 JAMES C. MCSHANE. 
 
 James C. McShane, the subject of this sketch, was born of Irish 
 parents on December 12th, 1862, at Litchfield, Illinois. He was 
 reared at Mattoon, 111., and received his early education in the 
 public schools of that city. After leaving school he found em- 
 ployment for some time in the office of the master mechanic of the 
 Big Four Railroad, and afterwards learned a trade in the railroad 
 shops, working here for three years, while all his leisure time was 
 devoted to reading law. He continued in this manner until 1885, 
 when he entered the law office of Craig & Craig of Mattoon, where 
 he remained as a law student until 1887, when he was admitted to 
 the bar at Springfield, taking the head place of a large class. 
 
 While studying law at Mattoon in 1885, and then but twenty- 
 three years of age, he was elected to the City Council of that city, 
 a position he served with honor and distinction. Immediately 
 upon being admitted to the bar he came to Chicago, where he 
 commenced the practice of his profession, associating himself with
 

 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 95 
 
 Col. Robert Rae, one of the old and acknowledged leaders of the 
 Chicago bar. A few years later he formed a law partnership with 
 Henry S. Monroe, under the firm name of Monroe & McShane, 
 which partnership continued for several years. 
 
 During the last few years he has been practicing law alone, 
 and enjoys a large and lucrative practice. He has always "been 
 engaged in the general practice, and has taken a leading part in 
 many important cases in the State and Federal Courts. 
 
 Mr. McShane is six feet two inches in height, has a fine presence, 
 is a forcible and eloquent speaker, and is regarded as one of the 
 best trial lawyers in the city of Chicago. He is a leading Dem- 
 ocrat, and has frequently been urged as attorney general and for 
 Congress. In 1893, the year of the World's Fair, he was a candi- 
 date for city attorney on the Citizens' ticket, which was made up of 
 two Democrats and two Republicans, and which was headed by 
 Samuel W. Allerton, and opposed the ticket headed by Carter 
 H. Harrison. 
 
 Mr. McShane is a member of the Columbus and Sheridan Clubs, 
 and a number of other social and fraternal organizations. He 
 has a clean record, and a brilliant and successful career before 
 him. 
 
 PHILIP MCGREGOR ROGERS. 
 
 Philip McGregor Rogers, whose name is familiar to and his 
 memory held in honorable respect by all old time Chicagoans, was 
 one of this city's pioneer citizens, having settled here in 1828 and 
 built a log house where the establishment of Marshall Field on 
 State Street now stands. His parents, James and Elizabeth
 
 96 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OF THE 
 
 (Ward) Rogers, were both thrifty Scotch people, the mother being 
 one of the noted McGregors, and they had left their own country 
 and moved to Dublin that their children might receive better 
 school advantages than were possible in the highlands. 
 
 Philip McGregor Rogers attended school in Dublin for a short 
 time only, when the whole family moved to America and settled 
 at Redwood, Jefferson County, N. Y. Here the brother of the sub- 
 ject of this sketch, who was a priest and a man of high education, 
 took Philip in hand and acting as his tutor gave him a thorough 
 course. At the age of nineteen he visited New York City and went 
 through a course of land surveying, later traveling through the 
 State and by working at his profession, earning some money. 
 
 Tn 1828, when the Erie Canal was in course of construction, his 
 brother, himself, and two companions, formed a partnership and 
 started for the West, stopping for a short time, however, on the 
 way to do some contract work on the canal. Arrived at Chicago, 
 then nothing but a frontier trading post, he and his three com- 
 panions his brother, after unsuccessfully endeavoring to induce 
 Philip to accompany him, had gone further west built a log cabin 
 and opened a. small store, where they remained during that winter. 
 In the spring an inventory of his personal resources was taken by 
 Mr. Rogers and he discovered himself to be the possessor of a cash 
 balance of but thirty cents. This he decided to invest in a broad- 
 brimmed straw hat, a shovel, and a ditching line, and so economic- 
 ally equipped, secured a job as a ditcher. Having followed this 
 employment for a time, his business instinct informed him that 
 Fort Dearborn was located on the site where a large city was sure 
 to be founded in the near future. On hunting expeditions in the 
 immediate neighborhood, he had taken particular notice of the 
 country north of Fort Dearborn, and his mind was quickly made 
 up to buy land there from the government as soon as he was in a 
 position so to do.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 97 
 
 At that time charcoal was in great demand and commanded a 
 high price. He had seen the article made in New York State and 
 as the land he had so thoroughly canvassed was covered with tim- 
 ber suitable for the purpose, he induced his companion to .go in 
 with him, and having built a cabin in the woods they manufactured 
 charcoal. Their venture proved highly remunerative and all^ the 
 money made was put by Mr. Rogers into land, which he was then 
 able to purchase from the government at a very low price. The 
 land where Niles, Rogers Park, and a portion of what is now 
 Ravenswood, showed such great fertility of soil that after the tim- 
 ber was removed Mr. Rogers at once began to cultivate, and for 
 that reason induced a great many Germans to there locate. Farm- 
 ing was begun on a very extensive scale, having at one time as 
 many as three hundred German laborers working for him under 
 a foreman. Being himself a good German scholar, Mr. Rogers 
 was at once their doctor, lawyer, and judge, and later bought land 
 for them and assisted them in every way possible to bring their 
 families from the old country and settle around Niles, where to- 
 day they and their descendants make a prosperous and happy 
 colony. 
 
 The domestic relations of Mr. Rogers were of the happiest 
 character. Re married Miss Mary Ward Masterson, a native of 
 County Wexford, Ireland, but who came of a good English family. 
 She owned a considerable tract of land and on which Buena Park 
 and a portion of Ravenswood are now located. Mr. Rogers, in the 
 very prime of his life, died suddenly of congestion of the brain in 
 1857, and just at a time when his many enterprises were beginning 
 to prove very profitable. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Rogers had two children Philip, who graduated 
 from the Northwestern University and was taking a law course 
 when his father died; and a daughter, Catherine, who married 
 Patrick Leonard Touhy of whom a sketch appeal's elsewhere in
 
 98 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 this volume. Mrs. Rogers, who was a woman of extremely chari- 
 table views, built in 1876 a Roman Catholic Church St. Cath- 
 erine's at Rogers Park, and presented it to the parish. She died 
 in 1890, respected, honored and universally regretted. 
 
 Philip McGregor Rogers was a man of undeniable abilities and 
 which he exercised in many directions. His business sagacity, his 
 foresight and understanding of future possibilities were great, and 
 gave him the possession of a large fortune, which was used by him 
 to good and noble purpose. He might have been prominent in any 
 path he desired, but he preferred to found a settlement which 
 should lastingly bear witness to a great representative Irishman. 
 
 HON. JOSEPH A. O'DONNELL. 
 
 Talented and most capable, strong in his resources and firm in 
 his character, faithful to every detail of whatever work may be 
 undertaken, a faithful and true friend, a patriotic Irishman, and a 
 credit at once to his race and to his country, to his adopted laud 
 "and to the profession in which he holds so high a place, Joseph A. 
 O'Donnell, honest and true representative, needs no introduction to 
 his fellow countrj-men in the West. 
 
 Joseph A. O'Donnell was born in the town of Ballina, County 
 Mayo, Ireland, December 23rd, 1859, and when seven years of age 
 came with his parents, Patrick and Catherine (Nellis) O'Donnell, to 
 this city, the Mecca for all who are wistful of bettering their con- 
 ditions in life. He belongs to that historic O'Donnell family that 
 was offered a choice between Hell and Connaught. 
 
 So soon as the boy was sufficiently old, he was sent by his parents
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 101 
 
 to St. Patrick's Academy in Chicago, from which having gradu- 
 ated, he also for some time attended the public schools. On leav- 
 ing school, Joseph A. O'Donnell, who had evinced a most studious 
 disposition, was obliged to find some employment, his parents need- 
 ing every possible assistance in the support of the family, and was 
 for a short period engaged as an office boy, later, however, becom- 
 ing apprenticed as a mechanical engineer and making such re- 
 markable progress that in a few years, and when only twenty-two, 
 he was given the appointment of foreman. Throughout this time 
 every opportunity was being used to increase his knowledge and 
 more thoroughly master the higher branches of his business, for 
 which purpose he attended a night school afterthe labors of the day 
 were over, and there studying mechanical drawing, engineering 
 andotherkindredsubjects. Afterall his striving, however, to excel, 
 he found the hard nature of his work was breaking up his constitu- 
 tion, and his active and energetic mind, after a careful overlooking 
 of the position, decided the legal profession offered him the better 
 chances, and every energy was at once turned to acquiring the 
 necessary knowledge. While employed at his trade, he had read 
 "Blackstone's Commentaries" on English law and "Kent's Commen- 
 taries" on American law, and also, and this, it must be remem- 
 bered, during the few spare hours morning and evening, had 
 studied Latin. Strong in his resolution, when by his industrious 
 habits and the truest thrift he had succeeded in saving the sum of 
 three hundred dollars, he decided to give all his time and attention 
 to his new studies, and, bidding farewell to the machinist business, 
 he became a law student at the Union Law College of Chicago, 
 graduating therefrom in 1887 with the degree of LL. B., and a senior 
 diploma. He also took a post graduate course, receiving the de- 
 gree of LL. M., was admitted to the bar and received his license to 
 practice. 
 
 This initial period in the active life of a young lawyer is often-
 
 102 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 times the occasion of most fateful effects on the whole after career. 
 It is the first case that is always not merely the most difficult to 
 obtain, but also in every way the hardest to handle. Many, want- 
 ing in tenacity of purpose at this time, becoming despondent as to 
 the future, drop out altogether of the profession and forcibly illus- 
 trate the doctrine that it is those best fitted who survive. Mr. 
 O'Donnell's fortune was of a happier description. No sooner was 
 he admitted than he commenced to practice; business came to him, 
 was handled carefully and thoroughly, and with such good success 
 that to-day he has absolutely all the work it would be possible for 
 him to manage. If, too, rumor speak the truth, higher honors are 
 likely to be his in the near future, for it is stated as within the pos- 
 sibilities that a place on the bench of the court where he is now 
 practicing may be tendered to him. 
 
 Whether in his political or in his professional career it may be 
 that Mr. O'Donnell has achieved the higher honors, it would be a 
 difficult matter to determine. A Jeffersonian Democrat in his con- 
 victions, for three consecutive terms those of 1889, 1891 and 1893 
 Mr. O'Donnell has been elected to the General Assembly of Illi- 
 nois from the Ninth District of Cook County, and he was also in at- 
 tendance at the special session called to consider the World's Fair 
 bill, and is, moreover, one of the faithful "101" to whose fidelity and 
 absolute determination the election of Senator Palmer was chiefly 
 due. For a considerable time he has been one of the acknowledged 
 leaders of his party in the house, as was evinced by his place on the 
 steering committee during the last two sessions. The choice at- 
 tests in what high estimation his great abilities and his shrewd, 
 intelligent manner of conducting what may be called the routine 
 business part of legislation are held by his party colleagues, who 
 know they will at all times find in him a sage and conservative ad- 
 viser. His career has been far longer than the ordinary, and dur- 
 ing the time it has been his province to put forward a number of
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. i03 
 
 important bills, of which, all sent by him to the desk have either 
 been passed or it was intended so to do, and the great Democratic 
 party in the State of Illinois, owes much of its success of later 
 years to the passage of the Australian Ballot Law, which not only 
 was introduced by Mr. O'Donnell, but was by him engineered 
 through the house and finally passed. Of Mr. O'Donnell as a 
 speaker, some few words are necessary. While he at no time soars 
 into high rhetorical efforts, as an orator he possessed few equals in 
 the house. Both forcible, earnest and distinct, his absolute sin- 
 cerity of purpose compels what others may obtain by the richness 
 of their vocabulary or by some wild bursts of fancy. 
 
 Mr. O'Donnell was married in 1886 to Hose E., daughter of 
 Thomas Dugan, one of Chicago's oldest citizens, for he had come to 
 this city as far back as 1833. 
 
 The subject of this sketch is a firm believer in the good purpose 
 and sound work done by the various fraternal organizations, and 
 in addition to all the distinctly Irish societies, is a member of the 
 Koyal League, of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Na- 
 tional Union and the Knights of Maccabees. Five years also was 
 spent by him in the Second Kegiment State Militia of Illinois, in 
 which he held the position of First Lieutenant. 
 
 In i 894 he made a tour through Ireland, England and Scotland, 
 greatly enjoying a visit to the home spots endeared to him by family 
 and historic associations. In his religious views he is a lioman 
 Catholic, faithful to his creed and observant of all its duties. He 
 possesses a fund of interesting information, draining on the rich 
 stores of a mind that has always found its chiefest delight in 
 reading. 
 
 Tall of stature and erect in carriage, as the years go by he is 
 inclining to become stout. In his manner courteous, kindly and at 
 all times the most sociable of men, there is yet about him a quiet 
 firmness and determination of character, advising plainly that he
 
 104 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 would prove a dangerous customer if trifled with. The good work 
 done by him in raising himself to an enviable position in the 
 learned profession of the law, as well as to a place in the General 
 Assembly, as a Democratic member of the General Assembly, gives 
 useful lesson of the benefits enjoyed by us all under the free Demo- 
 cratic institutions of the United States. He demonstrates well that 
 to the man of bright and energetic faculties, possibilities quickly 
 become probabilities and probabilities are made certainties, and 
 that the very highest station is open to whosoever is willing to 
 faithfully strive and who possesses full and firm determination to 
 let no difficulties deter, but to fight on and conquer. 
 
 JOHN J. PHILBIN, JR. 
 
 John J. Philbin, Jr., although still a young man, may be classed 
 among the "Old Citizens" of Chicago, for he has lived here all his 
 life and has witnessed the development of this great city of the 
 West in all the stages of its wonderful career. 
 
 Born January 15th, 1862, within a stone's throw of the place 
 where he is now engaged in business, Mr. Philbin has watched the 
 growth of the Garden City with pardonable pride, and in every 
 way in his power has contributed to the furthering of its advance- 
 ment and prosperity. His parents, John and Catharine (O'Dowd) 
 Philbin, came from Ireland fifty-five years ago his father from 
 County Mayo, and his mother from Ballina settling first in New 
 York State, where they engaged in farming and thence moving to 
 Chicago five years later. John Philbin, Sr., and Phil Conley were
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 10 
 
 the first two Irishmen to settle in Chicago, and now, at the ripe 
 and honored age of seventy-nine, the father of the subject of this 
 sketch is passing the closing years of a long and useful life. In 
 Irish affairs he has always taken a great interest and was one of 
 the organizers of the Father Mathew Temperance Society. 
 
 John J. Philbin, Jr., received his education at the Jesuit Broth- 
 ers' School on Morgan Street, and at the Polytechnic Institute, 
 corner Washington and La Salle Streets, from which he gradu- 
 ated. His first work was for the city at the age of seventeen in 
 the capacity of messenger, and through different positions he 
 worked his way until after eight years of service he had become 
 chief clerk in the Street Department, being appointed thereto by 
 Mayor Harrison, and remaining in that capacity through the ad- 
 ministrations of Mayors Harrison, Cregier and Washburne. lie re- 
 tired in 1890. After leaving the employ of the city, he went into 
 the general contracting and decorating business, doing much of the 
 fine decorating work that can be admired in the city and county 
 buildings. 
 
 Mr. Philbin, Jr., married April 27th, 1892, Miss Alice Mackin, 
 daughter of that well known pioneer and millionaire Irishman, 
 Thomas Mackin. They have two daughters, Alice Mackiu Philbin 
 and Mildred. Mr. Mackin died a short time ago, leaving a large 
 estate, and Mr. Philbin manages his wife's share of the property 
 and conducts the Revere House on the north side, which was a 
 portion of the estate. Of this he took charge in 1893, and by care- 
 ful management and attention to the comfort of his guests has 
 gained a reputation for the Revere House as a "home" which must 
 be eminently satisfying. 
 
 As a young man he was a musician of note, playing with many 
 of the leading orchestras of the country. He is a prominent mem- 
 ber of the Columbus Club, Cook County Marching Club, and the 
 County Democracy. In politics he has always taken a great inter-
 
 106 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 est and has been one of the leaders of his ward, at one time being 
 candidate for the office of clerk of the Probate Court. 
 
 Mr. Philbin is in religion a Roman Catholic, and a valued mem- 
 ber of the parish of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, in the interest of 
 which he is an active and conscientious worker. 
 
 Of his ability as a business man, the great success the Revere 
 House has attained while under his management is the best proof. 
 Among Chicago's most progressive citizens he has found a place 
 and indeed well deserves the golden opinions he has gained in all 
 the social and commercial circles of the city. 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY ARTHUR. 
 
 William Henry Arthur, present assistant corporation counsel, 
 though not yet thirty years of age, has already attained a high 
 standing in the legal fraternity and is especially prominent and a 
 recognized authority in all matters affecting cycling. He was 
 born in Dublin, Ireland, December 27th, 1868, his father, Harry 
 Arthur, being an officer in the British army, who had served in 
 the Crimean war and other important engagements, receiving sev- 
 eral medals for distinguished service. After retiring on his half 
 pay, being quite an expert as a musician, he became a leader of the 
 finest military band in Dublin, and also had a school of instruction 
 for military bands. He died in 1872, when the subject of this 
 sketch was not quite four years old. His widow, a native of 
 Queens County, felt the loss of her husband so acutely that she 
 followed him in the following year (1873).
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 109 
 
 The subject of this record was nine years old when he came to 
 Chicago to the care of an aunt who was living in the city. He 
 was educated in the public and high schools of Chicago, and on 
 leaving school became clerk in a fire insurance office, while at the 
 same time attending the department of law in the Lake Forest 
 University. He graduated in May, 1893, as one of the three honor 
 men of his class, and then took a post graduate course under 
 Thomas A. Moran, a tutor of whom he always speaks with affec- 
 tionate esteem and the highest regard. In the same year 1893 
 he was appointed librarian of the Ashland block law library, where 
 he had good opportunity for study, and also became acquainted 
 with many lawyers, whom, in various ways, he was able to assist. 
 While holding this position, in the fall of 1893 he started a law 
 office for himself, and had his first case before the close of the 
 same year. Appointed attorney for several fire insurance compa- 
 nies, a line of business in which he was well versed, in 1894 he 
 was appointed attorney for the Illinois Division of League of 
 American Wheelmen, and has filled that position ever since. The 
 1st of October, 1895, he received the appointment of assistant cor- 
 poration counsel and has already handled some quite important 
 cases. In the spring of 1897 Mr. Arthur was very prominently 
 mentioned as a candidate for city attorney. Of his abilities and 
 fitness for the position the press generally spoke very highly, but 
 as is well known, what was termed the machine controlled the 
 convention and Roy O. West was nominated for that position to 
 succeed himself. 
 
 Mr. Arthur is vice consul of the Illinois Division of the League 
 of American Wheelmen and is president of the Illinois Cycling 
 Club, which is the largest cycling club in the world, having more 
 than six hundred members and a club house which cost forty 
 thousand dollars. He was lieutenant of the First Division, First 
 Battalion of the Naval Reserve until quite recently, when from
 
 110 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 lack of time to attend rightly he resigned. He is a member of 
 Union Park Lodge No. 610, A. F. & A. M.; of Washington Chapter 
 No. 43, E. A. M.; and of Fort Dearborn Council No. 278, Royal 
 Arcanum. He is also a member of Central Council No. 1, North 
 American Union, an association originated by well known Irish- 
 men; and of Chicago Council of the Home Circle. Mr. Arthur 
 has always been a Republican in politics and is a member of the 
 Lincoln Club. As to his religious views, he was brought up a 
 Protestant Episcopalian. He was married in October, 1890, to 
 Miss Sophie Boiler of Chicago. 
 
 This brief sketch is sufficient to show that Mr. Arthur has 
 gained quite an enviable record in his profession, phenomenally 
 so for one so young, while at the same time he has achieved con- 
 siderable renown in cycling and athletics. In the latter, especially 
 in running, his time of 4:36 for a mile made in 1889 was the best 
 Western record for that year, and he holds some sixty to seventy 
 medals for various contests. His fondness in that direction, how- 
 ever, has never been permitted to interfere with his reading or his 
 studies, and the midnight oil is often burned in the fine library 
 of his residence. 
 
 MICHAEL J. KEANE. 
 
 In the list of Chicago's most honored citizens, among those 
 whose efforts unaided by fortune or the influence of friends have 
 procured universal respect and a comfortable income, the name 
 of Mr. Keane stands high. 
 
 He was born in Ireland, Kilkee, County Clare, September 29,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. Ill 
 
 1849, and as an infant of three weeks, left the old country. lie is 
 the son of a patriotic sire; his father, Simon Keane, was forced to 
 leave Ireland without an hour's delay after the famous uprising of 
 '48. He arrived in Chicago, 1855, and began dealing in grain on 
 the Board of Trade. Successful in his business, he retired from 
 active work in 1871, dying in 1882, at the age of sixty. Mary 
 Keane, his wife, lives, and is now over seventy. The son immedi- 
 ately assumed full charge of his mother and the family, and still 
 continues to support. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was educated in the public schools 
 and completed his studies at the University of St. Mary of the 
 Lake, Chicago. Believing that a business career offered higher 
 advantages than a professional one, he took up the trade of a ma- 
 chinist, subsequently changing to the furniture trade. His appli- 
 cation to the business he had chosen, and the reputation he has 
 obtained, needs no higher testimonial than the fact that in twenty- 
 two years the only change he has made is from the Chicago Carpet 
 Company to the Tobey Furniture Company. 
 
 He has actively supported the Democratic party, to which he 
 had attached himself since he reached his manhood. In 1893 he 
 was made a member of the Board of Education to fill a vacancy, 
 and on the expiration of the term was given a reappointment for 
 three years by the late Carter H. Harrison. 
 
 Mr. Keane has always taken great interest in all matters apper- 
 taining to the Irish people at home or abroad. Fie has devoted his 
 best efforts, and will continue so to do, to the realization of the 
 true Irishman's fondest hope, that in our day, and in the very 
 near future, we may see Ireland free and happy and the old flag 
 Hying over the Irish parliament house in College Green. 
 
 Michael J. Keane, who is a bachelor, is a member of several 
 clubs as well as various benevolent and friendly orders. He joined 
 the Waukausee Club in 1892 and was a director in 1895. He is
 
 112 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 a member of the Columbus Club since 1893. lu the Catholic Benev- 
 olent Legion he has filled all offices from Orator to State Presi- 
 dent, and he also belongs to the Fraternal Insurance Benevolent 
 Society, the Royal Arcanum, and the Columbus Mutual Benefit So- 
 ciety, tie is also an honorary member of the Seventh Regiment 
 Illinois National Guards. 
 
 HON. JOHN PATRICK McGOORTY. 
 
 John Patrick McGoorty was born August 25th, 1866, at Con- 
 neaut, Ashtabula County, Ohio, and is the son of Peter and Mary 
 (Gaffney) McGoorty, both natives of Connaught, his father being 
 from Leitrim and his mother from Roscommon. They were married 
 in the old country and came to the United States in 1864, settling 
 in Ohio. In 1870 the family removed to Berlin, Wis., where for 
 twenty-five years Peter McGoorty has been a traveling salesman. 
 
 John Patrick McGoorty was educated in the public schools of 
 Berlin, and in 1884, owing to failing health, after completing the 
 high school course, he moved to Colorado and took up his residence 
 in Denver, and later at Trinidad until the fall of 1885. His health 
 restored, he returned to Berlin, accepting there a position with 
 Still man, Wright & Co., as a traveler for their flour. Very consid- 
 erable success attended his efforts during the five years he re- 
 mained with the firm, and during which period he visited the 
 principal jobbing centers from Boston to San Francisco. 
 
 Mr. McGoorty having decided in 1890 to take up the legal pro- 
 fession, entered the law department of the Lake Forest University 
 where in 1893 he had conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 113 
 
 of Law. The active practice of his profession was immediately 
 beguu and by faithful and close attention to every case entrusted 
 to him, he soon made himself known and with the result that he 
 was quickly in the enjoyment of a very remunerative general 
 practice. Perhaps the leading incident of his professional career 
 and which has most greatly tended to his good success was his 
 connection with the celebrated Prendergast case, in which he was 
 one of the counsel for the defense. His work in that case received 
 much favorable notice at the hands of the press and his speech to 
 the jury at the close of that trial elicited many flattering encomi- 
 ums from his professional brethren. 
 
 From his boyhood his tastes were of a literary character and 
 though out door sports of every description were not neglected, 
 he was at all times an omnivorous reader. As a man, his reading 
 has not been neglected, and there is no young lawyer in the city 
 who keeps himself more thoroughly abreast with the times by 
 reading not only subjects appertaining to his own profession but 
 also all other timely matters. 
 
 A natural born orator, he was solicited in 1893, during the 
 World's Fair, to read before the Catholic Congress the paper, "The 
 World's Fair and Its Lessons to Catholics." This was a decided 
 compliment, as it had been strongly suggested that another choice 
 be made, and only at the last moment did some one offer the 
 remark that there was no occasion to invite an outsider, as Chi- 
 cago had already a citizen perfectly able to do the paper and its 
 delivery full justice. 
 
 Mr. McGoorty was married, November 29th, 1893, to Mary Wig- 
 gins, a Chicago lady of exceptional accomplishments. 
 
 His interest in Irish affairs has alwa3 r s been of a very pro- 
 nounced character and he is a member of the Ancient Order of 
 Hibernians and a number of other Irish societies. lie is also Pres- 
 ident of the Washington Council of the Irish Alliance.
 
 114 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 A Democrat from conviction, in the political world also he has 
 made his strong personality and the excellence of his gifts power- 
 fully felt. In 1895 he was nominated against Alderman O'Neil of 
 the 34th Ward, and though unsuccessful, he made a noteworthy 
 fight, running nearly one thousand votes ahead of his ticket. This 
 year he has been further honored with his party's nomination in 
 the Third Senatorial District for Representative to the Legisla- 
 ture. 
 
 While still a young man, Mr. McGoorty has succeeded in mak- 
 ing himself so high a reputation that if the promise of his career 
 be fulfilled, the future should number among its proudest and 
 most gifted representatives of Irish descent the name of John 
 Patrick McGoorty. 
 
 MICHAEL VALENTINE GANNON. 
 
 A thorough lawyer, an eloquent speaker, a fervent patriot, a 
 true hearted Irishman and a faithful devoted American, are terms 
 that can be applied to no Chicagoan more fitly than to the subject 
 of this sketch. 
 
 Michael V. Gannon was born in Dublin, Ireland, February 14th, 
 1840. His father, Michael Gannon, died when he was only three 
 months old, leaving a widow and three children, of whom he was 
 the youngest. He lost his only sister in infancy, and his brother 
 John rests in the old land, where he died in 1872. His mother was 
 formerly Catharine O'Brien, and is one of the family of the Mc- 
 Geoghegans of West Meath, and the O'Briens of Limerick. His
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 117 
 
 father's family had long been settled in West Meath near Kilbeg- 
 gan. For all the talent he possesses, all the good in his character, 
 Michael V. Gannon feels indebted to the mother, whose earnest- 
 ness, untiringness, true religious spirit and thorough patriotism 
 were to the son the highest inspiration, and have made him what 
 he is to-day. 
 
 Mr. Gannon found his earlier education in the Irish National 
 School in Kilbeggan County, West Meath. In addition to all the 
 ordinary studies, he was, as a boy, intensely interested in histori- 
 cal and biographical subjects, as well as travels and romances, in 
 fact, devouring every book of the kind he could find. Yet his 
 studious disposition did not incapacitate him from a delight in all 
 out-door sports, and he also took peculiar pleasure in amateur 
 theatricals and in public reading. 
 
 When seventeen, in March, 1863, he joined the Dublin Metro- 
 politan police in order to be with his brother, who had enlisted 
 four years previously. He quickly discovered for what purposes 
 that body was likely to be used, and took an early opportunity to 
 resign. On October 18th, 1866, he emigrated to America, and 
 quickly found employment teaching school, first in Rock Island, 
 111., and then at Davenport, Iowa. Having decided to study law, 
 he was admitted to practice in 1873. 
 
 A Democrat by conviction, he is in politics no partisan. In 
 1877 he was elected to the Davenport City Council. The following 
 year he received the nomination for district attorney, but was 
 defeated; however, on again being nominated in 1882, he was 
 elected. Honored with the Democratic nomination for attorney 
 general in 1884, he was successful in the election. In 1887 he 
 moved to Omaha, Nebraska, and in 1891 was elected president of 
 the National Land League. He came to Chicago in 1893 and his 
 high reputation, great abilities, and charm of manner have made 
 for him multitudinous friends.
 
 118 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Michael V. Gannoii has been three times married, and has seven 
 children now living. His present wife, formerly Mary Johnson, 
 is a daughter of one of his companions in his journey from the old 
 country to the great land of the free. 
 
 LAWRENCE P. BOYLE. 
 
 To lead in the profession chosen for the life work is the laud- 
 able ambition of every man of ability to understand what worldly 
 success means, and it is the closeness with which such desires are 
 realized that constitutes prominence and greatness. Beyond all 
 peradventure the subject of the present sketch is one of the lead- 
 ing, as he is certainly one of the best known lawyers of this great 
 city. 
 
 Lawrence P. Boyle was born April 23d, 1854, on a farm in 
 Himtington County, Indiana, his parents being Lawrence and Jane 
 (Finerghty) Boyle. Lawrence Boyle was a native of Queens Coun- 
 ty, Ireland, and came to this country in 1835. With his cousin, 
 Michael Malone, a wealthy contractor of Lancaster, Penn., he en- 
 gaged in superintending the building of railroads. In 1842, on a 
 visit to a brother, he went west to Huntiugton County, Ind., in- 
 tending to return to Pennsylvania, but he was induced to alter 
 his mind and settled on a farm in Clear Creek Township, then a 
 wilderness in that county. Three years later he was married at 
 Fort Wayne, Ind., to Jane Finerghty, a native of Roscommon, 
 Ireland, where her father had at one time been a prosperous farmer 
 and stock raiser, but through the terrible conditions existing in 
 the country, was subsequently reduced almost to poverty.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 119 
 
 Mr. Boyle received his education in the common and select 
 schools of Huntington and Wabash Counties, Ind., supplemented 
 by considerable home studies. From childhood to early manhood 
 was passed by him on the farm, attending school in the winter 
 and in the summer assisting in the farming, in this way becoming 
 physically strengthened for the after battle of life. 
 
 His schooling over he was given a license to teach, and in the 
 public and graded schools of Huntington County he taught for 
 some time to earn some money, in the first place to assist his 
 father to pay off a debt on the farm and afterwards to obtain suffi- 
 cient to live on while reading law between the school terms. The 
 occupation was also in other ways congenial, and it afforded him 
 an opportunity of reading law in the evenings and on the off day 
 of each week Saturday. 
 
 Industry and application found a suitable reward, and in 1879 
 he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Indiana, and 
 taking up the practice of law in his native town Hunting-ton- 
 ne continued there until June 17th, 1884, building meanwhile con- 
 siderable clientage and winning the good opinion and esteem of 
 the bar there and in the counties surrounding. In 1880 in response 
 to the wishes of the citizens of Huntington he became Mayor of 
 the town, being re-elected to that office in 1882, although at the 
 time he was the youngest Mayor of any city in Indiana. More was 
 done by him to bring his city before the people of the State of In- 
 diana and the country at large than had ever been before for that 
 city, and he was also largely instrumental in securing the building 
 of the Chicago and Erie Itailronxl through Hunting-ton, and mainly 
 through his efforts and shrewd management the shops of that 
 road were located in that town, having ever since been the means 
 of distributing from a quarter to half a million dollars per month. 
 On June 17th, 1884, a total stranger without a friend or a, relative 
 within the city or State of Illinois, he removed to Chicago, imme-
 
 120 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 diately afterwards opening an office and starting into the practice 
 of law. His experience under those circumstances was necessarily 
 like the experience of others who have come to Chicago under sim- 
 ilar circumstances, and for a time he had an excellent opportunity 
 and ample time for study. Soon, however, his acquaintance ex- 
 tended and his practice grew. In October, 1887, without solicita- 
 tion on his part, he was appointed Master in Chancery of the 
 Superior Court of Cook County, and reappointed to the same office 
 by the same court in December, 1889. In October, 1890, owing to 
 the pressure of business and his inability to attend to it all, he 
 found it necessary to resign the office of Master in Chancery. 
 While acting as Master in Chancery he passed on many cases of 
 importance, and only in one instance were his decisions reversed 
 by the Supreme or higher courts. In 1890 he was appointed Gen- 
 eral Counselor and Attorney for the Board of Election Commis- 
 sioners of Cook County, and reappointed each year successively un- 
 til 1894, when this position also he resigned. During the period 
 which Mr. Boyle acted as Counselor and Attorney for the Board 
 of Election Commissioners many questions of great importance 
 relating to the administration of the general city election law 
 and the Australian ballot law were submitted to him by the 
 Board for an opinion, and while these questions often involved 
 considerations of partisan advantage, it was observed and may 
 be said to his credit, that he never allowed himself to be swerved 
 or to give an opinion to the Board for their guidance which he did 
 not believe to be the law, and as an evidence of the correctness 
 of his opinions they were always sustained when appealed from 
 to the Supreme or other courts. In fact his opinions were so well 
 considered to be impartial and sound interpretations of the law 
 that he has been for some time, and is now, regarded as an au- 
 thority on the laws pertaining to elections. Since June 1st, 1895, 
 he has given attention exclusively to his private law practice, and
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 121 
 
 now enjoys a large practice in both the Chancery and Law Courts. 
 His practice has not been confined to Chicago, but extends through- 
 out several of the western -States, among which are Utah, Idaho 
 and Colorado, having important mining litigations in the courts 
 of these States. 
 
 In regard to political matters, always an unswerving and un- 
 changeable Democrat, since 1893 Mr. Boyle has not taken any 
 active part. In that year he, at the solicitation of the late Carter 
 H. Harrison, who was his close friend, took a very leading part 
 in the contest which secured for Mr. Harrison the nomination and 
 election for Mayor. It is of common knowledge that Mr. Harrison 
 appreciated Mr. Boyle's efforts, and had such thorough confidence 
 in his professional ability that he could have had any office in the 
 gift of the Mayor. He declined to accept any recompense of that 
 character, declaring that he helped to elect, not because he wanted 
 reward for his efforts, but because he admired Mr. Harrison and 
 knew he would be the right man for World's Fair Mayor. 
 
 In 1892 the nomination for Judge of the Superior Court of 
 Cook County was tendered to him by the leaders of the Democratic 
 party, but this also he for sufficient reasons refused. In 1893, 
 without solicitation on his part, in fact, against his own judg- 
 ment, he was nominated by the Democratic party for Judge of 
 the Circuit Court of Cook County, and although he ran many thou- 
 sand votes ahead, he, with the balance of his ticket, suffered defeat. 
 
 Mr. Boyle has been connected with a number of public enter- 
 prises. In 1890 he assisted in organizing the movement for the 
 reform of the election laws of Illinois, and in 1891-92 took part in 
 the preparation and the securing the passage of the Australian 
 ballot law. 
 
 He was married June 12th, 1895, to Miss Alice Moore of Hunt- 
 ington, Ind., also a native of that city and a lineal descendant of 
 Colonel Daniel McFarland of Revolutionary fame. Her parents
 
 122 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 were among the first settlers of Huutington, Ind., her father_ being 
 a merchant there and continuing in his business until his death 
 in 1875, and her mother, a woman of rare refinement and educa- 
 tion. Of Mrs. Boyle a few words are not out of place. She is a 
 graduate of Glendale Female College, possesses a most interest- 
 ing and entertaining manner, and as for her appearance is above 
 the medium height, with a graceful figure, attractive face, pleasing 
 address, a lover of the intellectual side of life, and is possessed of 
 unusual gifts as an artist, many beautiful paintings which now 
 adorn their home being the work of her hand. She is, however, 
 none the less deeply interested in the practical duties and obliga- 
 tions of home life, and finds much pleasure in making the home of 
 herself and her husband attractive to themselves and hospitable 
 to their friends. 
 
 A few words in regard to Mr. Boyle's personal appearance: 
 More than six feet in height, broad shouldered and erect with a 
 well poised head of indisputable intellectual cast, commanding in 
 appearance, yet always kindly, his is a face and a form that in a 
 crowd would at once command attention. Well trained faculties 
 are in him supported and accompanied by the strength of youth 
 and health. Of him it may indeed be truthfully said, that he is 
 true and faithful to his friends and never loses a friendship when 
 once formed, while as for his enemies for, like all positive, ag- 
 gressive men, he has many he is oblivious to their attacks, treat- 
 ing them at all times with unfeigned indifference.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 123 
 
 DAVID SULLIVAN. 
 
 David Sullivan is one of the young attorneys of Chicago, who 
 by industry and perseverance united to professional skill and abil- 
 ity has obtained a high position in his profession and at the same 
 time gained the respect and esteem of all of the community with 
 whom he is brought into contact. 
 
 lie was born in the Island of Valentia, on the southwest coast 
 of Kerry, April 3, 1856. His parents were John C. and Mary Sulli- 
 van. The former died May 14th, 1884, at the age of eighty-one 
 years, and his mother in February, 1891, aged eighty-two years. 
 
 His first education was obtained in Ireland, but on his arrival 
 with his parents in the United States in 1865, he took a common 
 school education and then attended the high school at Marquette, 
 Michigan. He came to Chicago March, 1871, and has since made 
 this city his permanent residence. While quite young he had man- 
 aged to pick up some knowledge of the printing business, and his 
 schooling over, he found a place on the Chicago Times, first at 
 setting type, then as reporter, and afterwards as proof reader. He 
 began the study of law with Judge Crooker, and then in the office 
 of Judge Moran. Admitted to practice in 1879, he remained with 
 the latter firm until 1882, when he started in business for himself. 
 Eminently successful, he bears a high reputation for careful prep- 
 aration, skillful handling, and entirely conscientious treatment of 
 every case submitted to him. He has been appointed a Master 
 in Chancery of the Superior Court, a position he now very worthily 
 fills. 
 
 A Democrat in politics, consistent and unswerving, Mr. Sulli- 
 van has for years been a very active member of the party. He was
 
 124 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 elected to the Legislature from the First District in the fall of 
 1880, and served in the 32d and 33d General Assemblies. Ap- 
 pointed attorney of the County Board in September, 1883, he held 
 the position until January, 1888. 
 
 The roaming instinct in him is strongly developed. He has 
 traveled extensively in this country and Europe, and for six years 
 has found change, relaxation and recreation by taking his sum- 
 mer vacation in the Eocky Mountains. 
 
 David Sullivan was married January 15, 1884, to Kate A. 
 Healy, a lady pre-eminently gifted in those qualities that make a 
 happy home life. They have two children living; the elder, Ed- 
 mund, was born in 1889, and the younger, a daughter, in 1895. 
 
 A member of a number of societies, among others the National 
 Union and the Royal League, as well as several building associa- 
 tions, he still finds time, in addition to his home and professional 
 duties, to devote his energies to the cause of the dear home land. 
 lie is an Irish Nationalist of the truest type, devoted to the land 
 of his birth, antagonistic to the country that has held her so long 
 in thrall, and ever willing to contribute, financially or otherwise, 
 towards the furtherance of her interests. 
 
 EDWARD J. WALSH. 
 
 Edward J. Walsh was born at a place called Bauntha near the 
 town of Callan, County of Kilkenny, Ireland, on the 20th of June, 
 1860. His parents, John Walsh and Ellen W.alsh, nee Lynch, were 
 of the farming class and were in comfortable circumstances. The 
 former could go back to the stirring scenes of 1798, for that mem-

 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 127 
 
 orable year saw the grandfather of the subject of our sketcli with 
 his long Queen Anne gun and knapsack proceed to the rebel camp 
 to fight for independence. In after years John Walsh was wont 
 to relate to his neighbors the recollection of that day in which 
 his father joined the insurgent ranks, although at the time he 
 was only about five years old. He lived to a green old age, dying 
 in 1881, and was buried beside old St. Catharine's Abbey in the 
 town of Callan. His thorough and manly independence of char- 
 acter and a rugged honesty as unyielding in its purpose as the cele- 
 brated marble of his native count}', had gained for him respect and 
 esteem, but he was at the same time possessed of a heart as tender 
 as a woman's and ever responsive to the wants of the needy. 
 
 The County of Kilkenny was the former stronghold of the 
 Walsh sept. Mr. John Savage, in his "Picturesque Ireland," says: 
 "The Walsh family, like many other Anglo-Normans, adopted an 
 Irish surname and title, and was known for ages as 'Branach,' 
 which signifies in Irish, a Welshman. At an early period it had 
 extensive possessions in Waterford and Kilkenny. For four cen- 
 turies it was only inferior in estate and power to the Butlers and 
 the Graces." 
 
 Edward J. Walsh first attended the private school of Walter 
 llawe in the town of Callan. Subsequently he attended the Chris- 
 tian Brothers' School at the same place, and from thence entered 
 St. Kierau's College, Kilkenny, where he remained three and a half 
 years, graduating in the summer of 1879. While in college, young 
 Edward was remarkable alike for his physical and mental energy, 
 and was alike foremost in all sports and amusements as he was 
 in his classes. The reasoning faculties seemed to be highly devel- 
 oped in the young man. Endowed with an excellent and tenacious 
 memory, he seldom forgot what he had studied, and to this day 
 he is remarkable for the accuracy which he brings to the discussion 
 of historical events. In college he was a general favorite, his
 
 128 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 warm and geuerous nature endearing him to his fellow collegians. 
 His education finished, he conducted a milling establishment at 
 the town of Callan for his eldest brother, Thomas Walsh, who is, 
 at the present time, a town commissioner of that place, as well as 
 a poor law guardian. This brother Thomas was an ardent mem- 
 ber of the Fenian Brotherhood, and in 1867, being marked for 
 prosecution by the gentle government of her Britannic majesty 
 on account of his political opinions, he hurriedly came to this 
 country, where he remained for nearly two years. Edward ex- 
 pressing a desire to go abroad, his brother tried to induce him to 
 remain at home, even offering him a partnership in his extensive 
 business. Disliking a mercantile life, Edward, however, declined, 
 and proceeded to this country, arriving here in April, 1881. The 
 study of law was at once begun under the distinguished firm of 
 lawyers, Messrs. Wright, Folkes & Wright, of Memphis, Tenn., 
 and was admitted to the bar of that State on the 3d of July, 1883. 
 He practiced law in Memphis during the following year, his first 
 civil case of importance taking place at Sardis, Mississippi, and 
 involving the title to a considerable quantity of cotton. Mr. 
 Walsh represented W. B. Galbraith & Co. of Memphis, who had 
 a mortgage on the cotton for supplies, and the only Avitness in 
 the case was the man who raised the cotton. On arriving at Sar- 
 dis, Mr. Walsh found that his witness was completely under the 
 influence of liquor and under the control and management of the 
 opposition. His opponents in the case were local merchants of 
 Sardis. In this dilemma the ready wit of his native land came 
 to bis assistance. His first move was to induce the opposition to 
 waive a jury and consent to have the case tried by the court, he 
 wisely deeming that a local jury would favor the local merchants. 
 The opposition, to make their case, had to place upon the stand the 
 witness just mentioned, who, now comparatively sober, testified 
 directly against the interests of Galbraith & Co. Then came the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 129 
 
 cross-examination by Mr. Walsh. It was a splendid effort, result- 
 ing in a complete victory for his clients, and completely breaking 
 down the testimony of the witness; Mr. Walsh, in addition to 
 winning his case, was highly complimented by the older members 
 of the bar who were preseat on the occasion. 
 
 Arrived in Chicago in 1884, the young lawyer possessed 
 neither friends or acquaintances of any kind. Having a high opin- 
 ion of his profession, he regarded soliciting for business as unpro- 
 fessional conduct, and under those circumstances sought a position 
 as law clerk and shortly thereafter entered the law office of Fol- 
 lansbee & O'Connor, with whom he remained until 1886. In the 
 meantime, owing to a difference between the laws of Tennessee 
 and Illinois on the subject, Mr. Walsh had to undergo a new exam- 
 ination for admission to the bar, but which examination he suc- 
 cessfully underwent in March, 1885, being admitted to the bar 
 of this State in the same month. 
 
 In June, 1886, he connected himself with Messrs. Salomon & 
 Zeisler of this city, and during the trial of the Anarchist case and 
 until the decision of the same in the Supreme Court, had charge 
 of the firm's civil business. That they were pleased with his ser- 
 vices is best shown by the fact that during that period he had com- 
 plete charge of the running of the office, the interviewing clients, 
 and charging and collecting fees in the premises. After the dis- 
 solution of the firm of Salomon & Zeisler in the spring of 1887, 
 Mr. Walsh continued his connection with Mr. Moses Salomon, and 
 which lasted until the election of the latter to the State Senate in 
 1892. Mr. Walsh then severed his connection with Mr. Salomon, 
 and a partnership was formed in February, 1893, with James A. 
 Brady, under the name of Walsh & Brady. This partnership 
 lasted but a very short time, when it was dissolved by mutual 
 consent, since which time Mr. Walsh has practiced alone. His 
 office is now in the Chamber of Commerce, where he occupies joint-
 
 130 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ly with Mr. Thomas W. Prindeville a splendid suite of offices. 
 While connected with Mr. Salomon, the latter represented the 
 Central Labor Union, and questions of the most complicated na- 
 ture, involving almost every branch of the law, were continually 
 coming up. During this period, Mr. Walsh studied very hard, 
 and his vigorous constitution enabled him to do an immense 
 amount of work without abatement of energy. Scarcely a day 
 passed that he was not in court on some matter, by reason of 
 which, and the possession of an excellent memory, he acquired a 
 great proficiency in the rules of pleading and practice, so essential 
 to the success of the modern lawyer. Nearly all of the briefs in 
 Mr. Salomon's cases during the period Mr. Walsh was connected 
 with him were written by the latter, and the association of the two 
 men ripened into friendship which happily still exists. During 
 these years, while connected with these firms, Mr. Walsh adopted 
 the precaution to retain his own clientage, so that he had an 
 extensive business when he formed the partnership with Mr. 
 Brady. Since then it has grown rapidly. At the last term of the 
 Supreme and Appellate Courts, he had four cases in each court. 
 Among his clients he numbers the Suess Ornamental Glass Co., the 
 Cantwell Eagle Brewing Co., Julius Bauer & Co., Royal Wine Co., 
 Charles Creamery Co., Chicago Handle Bar Co., Madden Brothers, 
 M. Naughton, McNulty Brothers, etc. His business is that of a 
 general practitioner, and although not what is generally called a 
 brilliant man, he possesses in avery high degreewhat are commonly 
 known as common sense and a level head. His success, coming to 
 him as it does, without the aid of influential friends or relatives, 
 is accounted for by him solely on the ground that he works hard 
 and faithfully, and that he has never swerved from the line of 
 absolute integrity. 
 
 Like most young lawyers, Mr. Walsh takes considerable inter- 
 est in politics. Three times he has been elected by acclamation
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 131 
 
 president of the Twenty-fifthWard Democratic Club. He usually 
 attended county conventions as a delegate, and was a delegate to 
 the last two Democratic state conventions. Although frequently 
 solicited to run for office, up to the present time he has steadily 
 refused. He has been urged by his friends to become a candidate 
 for judge, but this also he has declined, holding fast to the theory 
 that the office should seek the man and not the man the office. 
 
 Mr. Walsh was a prominent member of the Irish Literary So- 
 ciety in Memphis and helped to organize the Young Ireland So- 
 ciety in Chicago. Deeming all secret organizations subversive of 
 individual liberty, he has not sought membership in the ranks of 
 such societies, but he is a member of the Catholic Order of For- 
 esters and of the Columbus Club. 
 
 Mr. Walsh resides at 4108 North Ashland Avenue, Rogers Park, 
 and is a member of St. Jerome's Church. He was married in 
 1888 to Maud Washington, formerly of New Berne, N. C., and 
 daughter of John N. Washington, who was a grandson of Louis 
 Washington, uncle of George Washington. Of their marriage four 
 children have been born, of whom three are living. 
 
 The Very Rev. William Walsh, now of Jackson, Tenn., for- 
 mtrly of Chattanooga and Memphis, is a brother of the subject of 
 this sketch. Father Walsh went through the fevers of 1878 and 
 1879 in Memphis, establishing there the celebrated Camp Father 
 Mathew, and has the distinction of being now the only surviving 
 priest of the terrible scourge of that time.
 
 132 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 HENRY MARSHALL COBURN. 
 
 Henry Marshall Coburn was born in the town of Lyons, Cook 
 County, Illinois, October 15th, 1855. He is the son of Henry and 
 Elizabeth (Chittick) Coburn, his father being a native of Crane, 
 County Wexford, Ireland, born there in 1824. The grandfather of 
 our subject took an active part in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and 
 was a direct descendant of General John Coburn, who accom- 
 panied Cromwell from England. Henry Coburn left Ireland in 
 1848, and coming to America, first settled in upper Canada, after- 
 wards moved to Illinois, where he located in Dupage County, and 
 later to Cook County, where he still lives. He married Miss Chit- 
 tick, a native of County Fermanagh, Ireland, a lady who among 
 her ancestors numbers the Marshalls and Hamiltons of Scotland, 
 and in compliment to the first named, her son was given his mid- 
 dle name. 
 
 Henry Marshall Coburu received his early education in the 
 common schools of his native town and at the Englewood high 
 school. The latter was left in 1877, and for three years he taught 
 in the public schools of Cook County, devoting at the same time 
 whatever hours he had to spare to the study of law, which he had 
 determined to make his profession. He assisted also in the editing 
 of the New Era, a journal established by his brother, John J. 
 Coburn of whom a sketch appears elsewhere in this volume 
 and with such successful results that a large circulation was en- 
 joyed and the attention of journalists all over the state attracted. 
 Fearless in its attacks on some of the political rings in local 
 affairs, the course it pursued led to many exciting episodes, in 
 which both of the young men necessarily prominently figured.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 133 
 
 ilenry Marshall Coburn was admitted to the bar in 1887, and 
 was later granted a license to practice before the United States 
 Court and the Court of Appeals. An office was at once opened in 
 Chicago, and from the beginning of his professional career good 
 success has attended his efforts, more especially in his criminal 
 practice. He has a record extending all over the western states 
 and has frequently been called to Colorado, Indiana, and others, 
 to try important cases. To the first named he went to conduct the 
 defense of the celebrated "Silver Bar Case," being afterwards re- 
 tained to resist the celebrated Captain Tabor in the Boulder-Min- 
 gle fight, to which a great deal of attention was attracted. As 
 counsel, he has figured in numerous cases, some of which have 
 become precedents, and in a great many others, while his name 
 has not appeared, the law has been defined by him and the plan 
 of defense or attack laid down. He devotes himself to a practice 
 of a decidedly general character, but it is before a jury that he is 
 particularly strong, for he seems to understand instinctively what 
 points should be most prominently brought forward, and how wit- 
 nesses should be dealt with in order to convey the best impres- 
 sion. As a consulting lawyer, he also does a large business, and 
 keeps in his office for ready reference an index of all new points 
 of law decided upon by the courts of last resort. For this reason 
 he is frequently consulted by some of the leading lawyers in the 
 profession and is seldom at a loss for a sound authority in point. 
 Such success as his efforts have achieved have of course not been 
 without good pecuniary return, and besides the enjoyment of a 
 large professional income, he has been able to make some excellent 
 investments. 
 
 A Democrat always, Mr. Coburn takes a great interest in the 
 politics of the ward in which he lives the 30th and when impor- 
 tant matters are under discussion, is always called upon to speak. 
 
 Mr. Coburn was married, July 17th, 1890, to Adeline, daughter
 
 134 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of Captain Palmer, prosecuting attorney of the Citizens' League 
 of Englewood. They have a beautiful and refined home at No. 
 5522 Sherman Street, where it is the delight of Mr. and Mrs. Co- 
 burn to welcome their numerous friends. 
 
 JOHN T. KEATING. 
 
 If to be known to every Irish American in Chicago and de- 
 servedly respected and esteemed not merely for his own personal 
 qualities, but also for the able work he has done in this country 
 for suffering Ireland, be to deserve a place among representative 
 American Irish, then surely no one better deserves such than John 
 T. Keating, state president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. 
 
 In the fair city of Cork, near the chiming of the famed Shan- 
 don bells, on July 7th, 1853, Mr. Keating was born. His father, 
 Daniel Dorniuick Keating, was a business man engaged in butter 
 exporting and, as well as his mother, formerly Kate Tyrell, was 
 of good Irish origin. Not unblessed with fortune, they were able 
 to give their son a thorough education. He was sent first to Mil- 
 li ken's private school at Cork, later entering Rockwells College at 
 Tipperary, and completing his schooling at the French College, 
 Black Rock, near Dublin. 
 
 At the age of seventeen he found employment, in one of the 
 leading mercantile houses in Cork, the well known Clery & 
 Company, a few months later starting in business for himself at 
 Middleton. He was successful in his efforts, but from his earlier 
 years the cause of Ireland had strongly appealed to him, and at 
 seventeen he was already guild warden of the Young Men's So-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 137 
 
 ciety of Cork, and a sympathizer with the secret political move- 
 ments, which he hoped might obtain her freedom. The conse- 
 quence was precisely similar to that which befell his close friend 
 and fellow worker in the cause, John F. Finerty, and his activity 
 in the cause of Irish liberty necessitated his leaving Ireland. It 
 was while the troubles of the Land League were in full force in 
 1882 that Mr. Keating started for America, and after a short 
 stay in the East he came to Chicago. He soon found a situation 
 with the firm of M. W. Kerwin & Company, and two years later 
 was engaged by the well known firm of Dallamand & Company 
 as superintendent. 
 
 As during the seventies he had been closely associated with 
 the Amnesty Association, on his arrival in Chicago he immediately 
 connected himself with the Hibernians. His progress in that 
 organization was rapid. In 1890 he became president of Division 
 36 in Hyde Park and held that position for six years. He was 
 unanimously elected state president of the order at the biennial 
 convention at East St. Louis in 1894 and re-elected in May, 1890, 
 at Danville, 111. There is no state officer who can point to such a 
 showing as him or who has been so instrumental in the material 
 progress of the order. For the great Irish day at the World's 
 Fair he was secretary of arrangements, as also of the new Irish 
 movement which resulted in the formation of the Irish National 
 Alliance, and he received and cared for several thousand delegates 
 with absolutely no hitch in any of the details. He was one of the 
 pioneers of the Irish Employment Bureau and takes great interest 
 in its working. 
 
 Mr. Keating is a member of the Independent Order of Foresters, 
 in which he has held office; of the Catholic Foresters since 1880; 
 was district ranger of St. Cecilia's Court in 1888, and was vice presi- 
 dent of the United Irish Society for a couple of terms in 1894 and 
 1895.
 
 138 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 In political views he is a Democrat and was active in his 
 party and an attendant of all ward organizations until the gang 
 rule of 1894 estranged him. 
 
 He was married, October 25th, 1877, to Margaret Frances 
 Stampe, a native of County Cork, and their union has resulted 
 in seven children, Kate, Nell, Madge, Dominick, May, Anna and 
 Esther. 
 
 Mr. Keating is a Roman Catholic, and in addition to his sev- 
 eral friendly societies, is an active member of the Columbus Club. 
 
 HARVEY B. HURD. 
 
 Harvey B. Hurd is so well known as one of Chicago's most dis- 
 tinguished, most useful, and most highly esteemed citizens, that 
 it may seem almost supererogatory to republish the record of his 
 life. At the same time such a record must be acceptable to many 
 who may not have had the opportunity of acquaintance with his 
 early struggles, although fully conversant with his success and 
 achievements. 
 
 Harvey B. Hurd was born February 14th, 1828, in the town of 
 Huntington, Fairfield County, Conn. His father, Alonson Hurd, 
 was a member of the notable Hurd family of New England, who 
 are of English descent, and many of whom have distinguished 
 records not only in New England but throughout the United 
 States. On his mother's side he was of Irish and Dutch extraction 
 and unquestionably the union of the warm and impulsive blood 
 of Erin with that of sturdy England and the Puritans in a large
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 139 
 
 measure accounted for his future brilliant career. When only 
 fourteen years of age, on May 1st, 1842, Harvey started out on 
 foot for Bridgeport, carrying the whole of his personal property 
 in a pocket handkerchief and armed only with the meager educa- 
 tion obtained from the district school near his father's farm, which 
 he had attended during the winter months. What he did possess, 
 however, for his capital were grit, perseverance, and good princi- 
 ples, and employment was quickly found as an apprentice in the 
 office of the old Bridgeport Standard. In that position he re- 
 mained for about two years, ever attentive to his business and at 
 the same time losing no opportunity of gaining knowledge and 
 advancing his education. Towards the close of 1844, having with 
 several other young men come to Illinois, he entered Jubilee Col- 
 lege, in Peoria County, but on account of some^ misunderstanding 
 between himself and the president of the college, he only stayed 
 about a year, when he left and went to Peoria with the object of 
 finding employment, either at printing or any honest work. Un- 
 successful in his efforts, he decided to come to Chicago, and made 
 the journey in one of the old baggage stages, arriving January 
 7th, 1846. A place was obtained in the office of the Evening Jour- 
 nal, and later with the Prairie Farmer, in the meantime taking 
 every opportunity of reading law, and in the fall of 1847 en- 
 tering the law office of Calvin De Wolf, where he made such 
 rapid progress that the following year he was admitted to the bar. 
 His first law partner was Carlos Haven, afterwards State's 
 Attorney, and he later associated himself with Henry Snapp, who 
 afterwards represented the Joliet district in Congress. From 1850 
 to 1854 he was associated with Andrew J. Brown, and from 1800 
 to 1868 with Hon. Henry Booth. In the latter year Mr. Hurd re- 
 tired from active practice. For some time he had devoted special 
 attention to real estate enterprises, and the firm of Brown & Hurd 
 had considerable transactions in that direction, especially in the
 
 140 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 village of Evanston. Mr. Hurd was indeed among the first to 
 build in that place, and was the first president of the Village 
 Board. He commenced building his present residence in 1854, and 
 while then looked on as quite a mansion, it still holds its own 
 among the most handsome residences in that charming suburb. 
 
 In the commercial prosperity of Chicago Mr. nurd has always 
 taken the greatest interest, and more especially in its sanitary 
 advancement and development. He is duly credited with being 
 the father of the new drainage system, by which the sewage of 
 the city instead of being discharged into Lake Michigan, the source 
 of water supply, is to be carried into the Illinois River by means 
 of a capacious channel across what is known as the Chicago divide. 
 While Mr. Hurd was not the first to suggest such a channel, he is 
 the originator of tjie plan of erecting a municipality distinct from 
 the City of Chicago, and to him is certainly due the credit of hav- 
 ing put the project into such practical shape as to insure its suc- 
 cess. The undertaking is now in a fair way to be accomplished, 
 and when it is, will unquestionably be regarded as among the 
 most important achievements of the age. 
 
 Mr. Hurd was the author of the "Hurd bill" introduced in the 
 Legislature of 1886, and did much to promote its passage at the 
 session. These efforts were the means of a legislative commission 
 being appointed to further investigate the subject and take action 
 in its behalf, and the bill reported by that commission and passed 
 in 1887, though differing in some respects from the original "Ilurd 
 bill," was the same in all important particulars, and was supported 
 before the Legislature by Mr. Hurd and his friends. 
 
 Mr. Hurd was the chief factor in the organization of the dis- 
 trict and the adoption of the act of the people, and it was passed 
 by an almost unanimous vote at the November election in the year 
 1887. He has not ceased to devote his energies to the success of 
 the plan in the broad scale he originally designed. In 1862 Mr.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 141 
 
 Hurd accepted the position of lecturer in the Law Department of 
 the University of Chicago, which he filled most acceptably until 
 compelled by his various other duties to relinquish the work. In 
 1874 he was again elected to a chair in the Law School, which had 
 become the Union College of Law. This was a thoroughly con- 
 genial position to Mr. Hurd, and in his academic work he mani- 
 fests the same invaluable traits that characterized his professional 
 and public life, imparting to his classes a thorough understanding 
 of principles, as well as systematic and methodical habits. In 18G9 
 Mr. Hurd was appointed, by Governor Palmer, one of three com- 
 missioners to revise and rewrite the general statutes of the State 
 of Illinois. Both his colleagues soon had to withdraw, leaving 
 him the bulk of the work, which he completed five years later, 
 and the final chapters of which were adopted by the Twenty-eighth 
 General Assembly, which adjourned April, 1874. That body ap- 
 pointed Mr. Hurd to edit and supervise the publication of the re- 
 vision, which he accomplished the following September to the 
 entire satisfaction of the people of the State. The success of the 
 work was immediate, and Mr. Hurd has since been called upon 
 to edit nine subsequent editions, each of which has been com- 
 mended by the most eminent jurists. 
 
 Mr. Third's love of liberty and deep sense of justice made him 
 a most zealous abolitionist, and he took an active part in the stir- 
 ring events that took place in Chicago before and after the repeal 
 of the Missouri compromise and the passage of the Kansas and 
 Nebraska bill. When emigration societies were formed in the 
 free States to promote settlement of free soil settlers, and a Na- 
 tional Kansas Committee was organized at the historic Buffalo 
 Convention to protect these settlers, Mr. Hurd was made secretary 
 of the committee and of its executive committee, which was com- 
 posed of General J. D. Webster, George W. Dole, and himself, with 
 headquarters at Chicago. He had for his assistant Horace White,
 
 142 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 afterwards editor of the Chicago Tribune. It is a matter of his- 
 tory that by his management of the contest on the part of the North 
 and at last by the liberal shipment of seeds to Kansas in the spring 
 of 185G, and other energetic measures, Mr. Hurd was instrumental 
 in retaining the free soil settlers in Kansas, who finally outnum- 
 bered and prevailed over the pro-slavery element. 
 
 When chairman of the law reform committee of the Illinois 
 State Bar Association, in 1889, he brought forward a recommen- 
 dation in favor of a change in the laws of descent and wills, so as 
 to limit the amount one may take by descent or will, and which 
 has attracted considerable attention, its object being to break up 
 the large estates by distributing the same among a greater num- 
 ber of kinsmen. He was also at the head of the commission ap- 
 pointed to investigate as to the desirability of introducing the 
 Torrens system of registration in the State of Illinois. 
 
 Since that time he has not allowed his name to be used in 
 connection with any official position, having no aspiration towards 
 further honors that might come to him through politics, far pre- 
 ferring the comparatively quiet life of a retired lawyer with its 
 greater leisure for indulgence in literary tastes. He has inter- 
 ested himself in a number of charitable and philanthropic move- 
 ments, among which may be mentioned the Children's Aid Society 
 of Chicago, and the Conference of Charities of Illinois, an organi- 
 zation composed of all charitable societies and of both of which 
 he is president. 
 
 Mr. Hurd was married May, 1853, to Miss Cornelia A. Hilliard, 
 daughter of the late Captain James Hilliard of Middletown, Conn., 
 who bore him three children Eda, now Mrs. George S. Lord ; Nel- 
 lie, now Mrs. John A. Comstock; and Hettie, who died in 1884. 
 This lady died in 1856; and November 1st, 1860, he married Sarah, 
 widow of the late George Collins she died January, 1890. In July,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 143 
 
 1892, he was married to Mrs. Susannah M. Van Wyke, since de- 
 ceased. 
 
 Mr. Hurd is not only a man of great knowledge and high at- 
 tainments, as his record shows, but is also possessed of most genial 
 disposition and courteous and kindly manners, which, it is almost 
 unnecessary to say, gains and retains the affection and esteem of 
 all who know him. 
 
 DR. ANTHONY F. CONROY. 
 
 The West of Ireland is well represented among the leading 
 citizens of Chicago in all professions, and in every branch of busi- 
 ness. In that of dentistry, Dr. Anthony F. Conroy, who was born 
 May 4th, 1868, in the City of Galway, Ireland, and who came to 
 this country in 1886, has already taken leading rank. 
 
 His parents were Patrick M. and Ellen Conroy. His father, 
 also a native of Galway, died in February, 1890, at the age of ftfty- 
 tive, while his mother is still living in the old homestead. His 
 grandfather, Patrick Conroy, was one of the largest land owners 
 in the county, and is remembered as the oldest man who ever lived 
 in County Galway. He died there at the great age of 108 years. 
 
 Ills early education was sound and thorough; the Irish schools 
 are second to none in the world in their teaching of youth. Arriv- 
 ing in the United States, he entered the University of Minnesota, 
 and later connected himself with the Bennett College, and the 
 Harvard Medical College, both Chicago institutions. Afterwards 
 Mr. Conroy joined St. Paul's College of Dentistry, where he grad- 
 uated in medicine in 1890, and after four years' course, also in
 
 144 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 dentistry. Iii order to support himself during his studies, he 
 worked during the day, first in a law office, and then as book- 
 keeper in a wholesale general store at St. Paul, reading law at 
 nights. 
 
 He demonstrated the possession of business abilities of the 
 very highest order, utilizing his slender capital to such good pur- 
 pose that before he was twenty-one he had cleared over f 13,000 in 
 real estate deals. 
 
 While in St. Paul, Dr. Conroy was a member of G Company, 
 Hibernia Rifles, and on removal to Chicago joined, and is a very 
 active member of the Seventh Regiment. Since his first coming 
 to this country he has also been associated with the Ancient Order 
 of Hibernians. 
 
 FREMONT HILL. 
 
 That a young man while still in the early thirties should have 
 been able to display such marked abilities as to obtain a foremost 
 place among the leading engineers of such a city as Chicago 
 the capital of the Western world speaks beyond fear of question 
 to the possession of great and unusual business faculties and abil- 
 ities. Partner with Louis Enricht, the choice of the Republican 
 party for county surveyor, the firm of Hill & Enricht are trans- 
 acting an enormous business and has since it was formed five years 
 ago, carried out work of such description as to entitle it to a posi- 
 tion second to none in the West. 
 
 Fremont Hill was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 10th, 1863. 
 His father, Alfred Hill, who was born in Marietta, Ohio, and
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 147 
 
 died in 1881, was well known as the largest contractor in that 
 state. Starting out without means or other advantages, he at- 
 tained a foremost position. The mother of the subject of this 
 sketch, Martha J. (Wainwright) Hill, was born in Philadelphia, 
 Penn., of Irish descent. The grandfather of Mr. Hill was a mem- 
 ber of the first party to cross the Alleghany Mountains and settle 
 in the Northwest Territory, where the Hill family are largely rep- 
 resented. His maternal grandfather established the first great 
 academy west of the Alleghauy Mountains. Up to the age of 
 eighteen, young Hill attended the public schools, graduating with 
 honors in 1881 from the Hughes School of Cincinnati, Ohio. The 
 profession of engineering had been early decided upon, and in the 
 interim between examination and Commencement day young Hill 
 eagerly embraced an opportunity of practically entering upon his 
 chosen work. He had pursued a course of practical engineering 
 at school, and was offered a flattering position on the Cincinnati 
 Northern Railroad, then under construction. He was desirous of 
 knowing his profession thoroughly, however, and by his own re- 
 quest was appointed an axeman under Division Engineer George 
 Dorr. This piece of work lasted until the following February, and 
 while his late school companions were enjoying the honors and 
 applause of Commencement, he was making steady progress in the 
 field of practical work. The Hughes School has since forwarded 
 him a special diploma. He went through all the steps, becoming 
 chainman, levelman, and transitman before ten mouths had 
 passed. 
 
 This short period sufficed for him to give evidence of such abil- 
 ity that the moment, the work was completed he was appointed 
 one of the division engineers of the New Orleans & North Eastern 
 Railroad. In this position he was engaged on the construction 
 of the great bridge across the Pontchartrain swamp, the longest 
 piece of trestle construction in the world, being twenty-two and a
 
 148 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 half miles in length. The work was difficult in the extreme, and 
 when it was finished the young engineer, not yet twenty-one years 
 of age, was broken down by the frightful fevers caught among the 
 swamps. 
 
 For the winter he returned to Cincinnati, and in the spring fol- 
 lowing went to the republic of Mexico to work on the Moun- 
 tain division of the Tampico branch of the Mexican Central R. R. 
 Yellow fever broke out among the engineers and workmen, and 
 although Mr. Hill was anxious to reorganize a force and continue 
 the work, the railroad people decided to abandon it for the time 
 being. His next field of work was in Florida, where he laid out 
 several towns. Soon after this he went to Colorado, having been 
 appointed Assistant Inspector General of Surveys for the South- 
 western district of the United States. At the end of his term of 
 service in this position, Mr. Hill purchased a saw mill property in 
 Colorado. He has many and exciting adventures to relate of this 
 time, and is perhaps the only man in the world who ever saw an 
 avalanche at close range from its birth to its destructive end, and 
 is yet living to tell the tale. 
 
 Leaving Colorado he went to California, having been called 
 to San Francisco to consider propositions to undertake important 
 work on the Panama Canal. Although flattering offers were made 
 to him, he preferred to remain in the United States, and accepted 
 the position of locating engineer on the Chesapeake & Ohio R. R., 
 soon after being made division engineer on the same work. His 
 work at this time, the completion in less than six months of twelve 
 miles of exceedingly difficult railroad building along the south 
 bank of the Ohio River, in Kentucky, and many months before any 
 other section of the road was finished, marks his great energy and 
 ability. Under Captain Stack he was later assistant locating en- 
 gineer on the Ohio and Northwestern R R. 
 
 Being in Cincinnati in 1886, the confidence reposed in his good
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 149 
 
 judgment and executive ability is indicated by the fact that dur- 
 ing the terrible riots there, Mr. Hill was placed in command of a 
 battery defending the jail, and for a week protected that institu- 
 tion, the objective point of the rioters, although the adjoining 
 court house was meantime burned to the ground. 
 
 The gas fields at Findlay, Ohio, attracted his attention next 
 this was in 1887 and his investments and work in that territory 
 were financially successful. Being desirous, however, of active 
 work in his profession, it was not surprising to find him abandon- 
 ing the speculative for the active field. Chicago had been long 
 locked upon by him as the best field for his energetic abilities, and 
 accepting the position of track engineer of the Santa Fe B. R., he 
 remained in that position until the completion of the road. He 
 was then appointed by Mayor Roche, Assistant City Engineer, hav- 
 ing in his charge the south division of the city. At the close of 
 his term he opened offices in Chicago, and has continued up to the 
 present in business here. 
 
 Foreseeing the rapid growth of the suburban towns of the city, 
 he paid particular attention to the engineering needs of these com- 
 munities, and the waterworks, sewers and streets of some of the 
 loveliest of Chicago's suburbs are his handiwork. Among others 
 may be mentioned: West Auburn; May wood, with thirty miles 
 of water pipe; West Pullman; Wilniette, twenty-six miles water 
 pipe and twenty-six miles sewer, costing $400,000; La Grange, and 
 Grossdale. 
 
 Soon after the spring election of 1896, it was generally under- 
 stood that there would be important changes in the personnel of 
 the engineering corps in charge of the work of constructing the 
 Drainage Canal. It has been persistently said that, from the time 
 these changes were first mooted up to the present, the successor to 
 the present chief engineer would be Mr. Fremont Hill, of the firm 
 of Hill & Enricht, engineers in this city.
 
 150 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The Drainage Canal ranks among the greatest and most im- 
 portant engineering enterprises known to modern civilization. In 
 addition to the material difficulties and problems to be met and 
 overcome, others, due to the political, financial and local condi- 
 tions under which the work must be carried on, make it a matter 
 of prime importance that the chief engineer should not only be 
 thoroughly competent from the technical point of view, but should 
 possess great executive ability and a perfect comprehension of the 
 peculiar factors entering into the task he undertakes. Whoever 
 is chosen must be intensely practical, a hater of all desultory meth- 
 ods, and with determination to complete the canal at the mini- 
 mum expenditure of money. Those who are best acquainted with 
 Mr. Hill say that he fulfills all these requirements, and possesses 
 every necessary qualification in a most eminent degree, referring 
 to his record in support of their contention. 
 
 Early in 1893 Mr. Hill married Miss Edith M. Hoover, daugh- 
 ter of J. W. Brubeker, Esq., of Lancaster, Penn., and lives in a 
 charming home in the Village of La Grange, which his active work- 
 ing has so greatly helped to beautify. He has two brothers, both 
 older, of whom the elder, Alfred, is a retired lawyer and capitalist 
 in Cincinnati, and the other, Frank K., is Lieutenant in the U. S. 
 Navy, being now stationed on the U. S. Cruiser New York. 
 
 Mr. Hill is a fine specimen of young American manhood. He 
 stands over six feet in height, and is in the pink of physical per- 
 fection. His personality is a very winning one, and his manners 
 invariably courteous, but at the same time frank and open; even 
 to make his acquaintance is to be anxious to secure him for a 
 friend. His practical work in the field has been supplemented 
 by careful study, and he is so thoroughly equipped in his profes- 
 sion that during the past few months he has been in serious cor- 
 respondence with the authorities of the Russian Empire in regard 
 to undertaking the difficult mountain work on the Trans-Siberian
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 151 
 
 K. K., the construction of canal and irrigation works, and general 
 engineering development of that country. The inducements, how- 
 ever, will need to be very strong, for he prefers to remain in the 
 United States, and confidently expects to win as great and lasting 
 a renown here as could be gained abroad. His success in business 
 he considers due to the fact that, while he demands a fair price, 
 he never does any but first class work, and Mr. Hill can certainly 
 point to many achievements in support of the latter contention. 
 
 MATTHEW J. CORCORAN. 
 
 Matthew J. Corcoran is another of this city's young Irish Amer- 
 icans who deserves mention in this record. Born on October 13th, 
 1865, at Mountmellick, Queens County, Ireland, his parents were 
 Matthew and Margaret (Bowe) Corcoran, both of whom are still 
 living in the old homestead, the birthplace of the subject of this 
 sketch. Matthew Corcoran is by occupation a farmer, and in addi- 
 tion to the farm he rents he owns considerable real property in 
 Mouutmellick. The family has always been enthusiastically Irish. 
 The grandfather of Matthew J. was a member of the United Irish- 
 men, and the company of which he was captain stood all prepared 
 for the summons to join Robert Emmet, and which never being 
 given, the company had to be disbanded. 
 
 Matthew J. Corcoran received his education in 'the national 
 school at Mountmellick, Queens County, Ireland. His schooling 
 oA r er, for four years lie served at the dry goods business in the store 
 of John McMahon, who, at the time, was chairman of the Mount-
 
 152 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 mellick Town Commissioners. He then went to Dublin and be- 
 came a salesman with the well known firm of general merchants, 
 Pirn Brothers, on South Great George's Street, where he remained 
 for three years. Returning to his home in Monntmellick on a visit, 
 he was offered and accepted the superintendency of Mr. McMa- 
 hon's growing business. Here he remained until 1886, when his 
 ambition led him to follow the example of many of his country- 
 men by coming to the United States, where from the first he has 
 been emine.ntly successful. 
 
 He received the appointment of Deputy Sheriff in 1894 under 
 Sheriff James H. Gilbert on the recommendation of Judge Frank 
 Baker, of the Circuit Court, and was reappointed by Sheriff James 
 Pease to the position, in which he continues at the present writing. 
 
 Mr. Corcoran has, from a youth, been closely identified with 
 Irish affairs, and before he left Ireland was a member and secre- 
 tary of a local branch of the Land League as well as a member of 
 the National League. At the present time he belongs to Division 
 12, Ancient Order of Hibernians, and for two terms held the posi- 
 tion of recording secretary. He is connected with the Charles J. 
 Kickham Literary and Social Club, with the St. Anne's Catholic 
 Total Abstinence Society, belongs to the Royal League, and also 
 to the Irish-American Lyceum. 
 
 A Roman Catholic in his religious views, he is in politics a Dem- 
 ocrat, and at the present time secretary of the Fourth Ward Dem- 
 ocratic Club and also a member of the Cook County Democracy. 
 
 In personal appearance Mr. Corcoran is very tall six feet two 
 inches and rather slim. When a boy, football and cricket were 
 his great pleasures, and now he is a firm believer in bicycling. For 
 total abstinence there is to-day no more thorough advocate in Chi- 
 cago, and Mr. Corcoran has oftentimes given it as his heartfelt 
 opinion, that those of the Irish race would be the greatest people 
 on the face of God's green earth if more temperance was exercised
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 153 
 
 in the drinking habit. To his strong conviction on the subject and 
 his complete adherence to its dictates he believes whatever of suc- 
 cess has attended his energetic endeavors to be unquestionably due. 
 Ireland is to him well known ground, for all its chiefest features 
 and most beautiful spots have been visited and studied. An in- 
 teresting conversationalist, a man of good judgment, pleasant in 
 his manner and happy in every incident of social intercourse, Mr. 
 Corcoran possesses and is esteemed and respected by a host of 
 friends. 
 
 LAWRENCE HENELY. 
 
 Lawrence Henely was born in London, England, February 1st, 
 1847. Of his parents, John and Winnifred (Dowliug) Henely, his 
 father was a native of Tuam, County Galway, Ireland, and had 
 connected himself with the Ribbon Men of 1847 and 1848. A tailor- 
 by trade, he had come to the United States about the year 184!), 
 settling first in New York, later in Lexington, Ky., and finally mov- 
 ing to Iowa in the year 1854, where he now resides. The mother of 
 our subject was from Queens County, Ireland, and died in Iowa in 
 1S92. 
 
 Lawrence Flenely was educated in the public schools of Iowa, 
 which he left in 1866, and went to Omaha, Neb., securing employ- 
 ment with the wholesale grocery house of Creighton & Morgan, lie 
 remained with this firm as book-keeper for four years. Chicago 
 was chosen as his home in 1874, and he embarked in the grocery 
 business on his own account. At this business he continued until 
 in 1890 he entered the employ of the Cooke Brewing Company as
 
 154 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 cashier and head book-keeper, a position he holds at the present 
 time. 
 
 Mr. Henely was married, in 1869, to Miss Anastasi Conway, 
 daughter of Robert Conway, of Dubuque, Iowa. The latter was a 
 cousin of General Thomas Maher, of the Irish Brigade, and he him- 
 self was a member of that famous organization and greatly distin- 
 guished himself during the war. They have had ten children, of 
 whom nine are living. 
 
 In his political views he is a Democrat with strong silver ideas, 
 while in religion he is a Roman Catholic, and a regular attendant 
 of St. James Church. Since his youth all Irish affairs have pos- 
 sessed for him the greatest interest. He was a member of the 
 famous Land League Movement, is a member of the Irish National 
 Society, and also the Ancient Order of Hibernians, of which he is 
 Past State President and at present President of Cook County. 
 
 He is a man of genial disposition and kindly nature, who, by 
 the most sterling qualities of head and heart, has earned the respect 
 and regard of a very large circle of friends. 
 
 JAMES AUSTIN HOGAN. 
 
 No work aiming to record the worthy deeds of the American 
 Irish in Chicago would be complete were honorable mention want- 
 ing of James Austin Hogaii. He was born in this city on the 
 north side December 2d, 1852, his parents being Martin and Mar- 
 garet (Wall) Ilogan, both of whom were natives of County Tipper- 
 ary, Ireland. They had left the old home for the New World in
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 157 
 
 1847, making a short stay in the City of New York, and then mov- 
 ing to Chicago, where Martin Hogan assisted in the building of the 
 Illinois & Michigan Canal and later was a boatman on it until 
 1877, in which year he died, having made hundreds of friends and 
 being very deeply regretted. A worthy man and a good citizen, 
 highly respected in the community, he was at the same time a 
 strong Irish patriot, and ever willing to do what was in his power 
 for the cause. His wife followed him to the grave in 1885. 
 
 The subject of this sketch attended the parish schools of his 
 district and later spent twelve months at Bryant & Stratton's 
 Business College, where he remained until he was eighteen years 
 of age. Then he went to work for his father as steersman on the 
 canal boat, retaining this position for one season, when he came 
 under the notice of Mr. John W. McGinniss, then secretary of the 
 Illinois Stone Co., for which concern Mr. Hogan was at the time 
 hauling stone. Mr. McGinniss offered the young man a position 
 in his office if he could keep books, and the young man, full of faith 
 in his own abilities, was given charge of the books of this company 
 on August 2d, 1871. As the years have passed on he has from time 
 to time received promotion and has filled the positions of secre- 
 tary, treasurer, and finally that of general manager, the responsi- 
 ble office which he now holds. The Illinois Stone Co. is the old- 
 est of its kind in the country, having been organized in 1852, and 
 its volume of business being the next to the largest of any in this 
 city. The company's quarries are situated at Lemont, and the 
 chief business is done in dimension and rubble stone, which have 
 been supplied for a large number of the prominent public and 
 private buildings of Chicago. 
 
 Mr. Hogau from his youth up has taken a lively interest in 
 Republican politics, and has for many years represented his ward 
 --the Sixth at all City, County, and State Conventions, having 
 been a County Central Committeeman since 1888. In the spring
 
 158 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of 1895 the estimation in which he was held by his party was shown 
 by his election as South Town Collector. 
 
 Mr. Hogan is a member of the Eoyal Arcanum, the order of 
 United Workmen, the Independent Order of Foresters, the Knights 
 of Pythias, and in all of his lodges has filled every chair. He is 
 also a member of the Columbus and Sheridan Clubs, as well as 
 the Builders and Traders Exchange; in the latter he has held the 
 Office of vice-president, treasurer, and is at the present president 
 and delegate-at-large. 
 
 In his religious views he is a Roman Catholic and belongs to 
 the congregation of St. Bridget's Church. Mr. Hogan was married 
 to Frances L. Hendry, a Buffalo lady of Irish descent on her moth- 
 er's side, in November, 1872, and they have had five children, two 
 daughters and three boys. Both Mr. Hogan and his amiable wife 
 are very social in their dispositions, and are never happier than 
 when dispensing hospitality in their charming home at 2919 
 Haines Street. 
 
 Mr. Hogan is generous and liberal in all worthy matters of 
 charity which are brought to his attention, and like his father 
 before him, is also at all times a friend of his kinsmen across the 
 seas, and takes a lively interest in all affairs affecting the land of 
 his forefathers or those of Irish blood in this city. 
 
 Tireless activity and unwavering energy are the leading char- 
 acteristics of those men who have mainly contributed to Chicago's 
 present prominence among the great cities of the world. As a 
 rule, too, these founders of our city have been self-made men, and 
 their lives have served as stimulating influences to those who have 
 followed, and in this connection this brief sketch of the career of 
 James Austin Ilogan, a truly representative American Irishman, 
 is full of example and good precept.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 159 
 
 P. H. RICE. 
 
 Among the men foremost in this city as identified with Western 
 industrial enterprises, those who have become known far and wide 
 by reason of the magnitude of their operations and the vast extent 
 of their trade connections, none is there whose personality is of a 
 more interesting character or whose career has been more impres- 
 sive or beneficial as an object lesson to the community at large 
 than the subject of the present sketch, Mr. P. H. Rice, the well 
 known arbitrator of the Chicago Brewers' Association. 
 
 He was born September 9th, 1847, in County Wexford, Ireland, 
 his parents being William and Mary (Furlong) Rice. William Rice 
 belonged to a family that had for a long time been famous in the 
 malting and distilling business in Ireland, and coming to the 
 United States in 1850, he settled down at Belvidere, 111., entering 
 the employ of Lawrence Maloney & Co., who was at that time 
 the proprietor of the largest distilling plant in the country. Later, 
 when the plant was moved to Elgin, 111., Mr. Hice accompanied it, 
 and for many years was one of its most trusted and responsible 
 officers. He died in 1886, and his wife, the mother of P. II. Rice, 
 followed him in 1896. 
 
 The subject of this sketch attended the public schools of Elgin, 
 from which he graduated at the age of fourteen. Employment 
 was then secured by him in a store at Elgin, and there he re- 
 mained for three years, when his good sense recognizing that edu- 
 cation was the key to honest commercial success and that he had 
 not been so well supplied in that particular as he ought to be, he 
 entered the College of Notre Dame, passing through the commer- 
 cial course and graduating at the end of two years. In 1866 Mr.
 
 160 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Rice came to Chicago and entered the employ of F. E. Kigby, a 
 wholesale and retail dealer in paints, wall paper, etc., in the ca- 
 pacity of salesman and manager. 
 
 From his early youth Mr. Bice had been around the malt house 
 and distillery in which his father was interested, and the latter 
 instructed his son in the rudiments of the trade and gave him 
 an opportunity of seeing its practical working. Strict frugality 
 having enabled the young man to save some money, in 1868 he 
 purchased a malt house at Elgin, and in connection with his father 
 operated the same. This was really the foundation of the business 
 which was later to make the name of P. H. Eice famous in con- 
 nection with the malting and distilling interests of the West, an 
 industry the magnitude of which, in a very large degree, is due 
 to Mr. Rice's ability, energy and indefatigability. 
 
 The first business experience of the subject of the present sketch 
 had an infelicitous termination. Remaining in the employ of the 
 Mr. Rigby before mentioned until immediately preceding the fire, 
 he bought the latter's interest in the business and when that event 
 in the history of Chicago happened he was burnt oat, losing $25,- 
 000. This loss probably proved the foundation of his fortune. In 
 the fire all the malt houses in the city had been destroyed, and 
 Mr. Rice, quick and resourceful, saw the opportunity to make 
 money by developing that industry, and quickly grasped the occa- 
 sion. During his few years of residence in Chicago, he had been 
 successful in establishing a good credit, and now consequently 
 he was in a position to borrow whatever money he needed to take 
 up the malting business on an extensive scale. 
 
 The distillery at the corner of Kinzie and Seymour Streets, 
 Chicago, was purchased by him in 1875, and this he enlarged and 
 improved in many important particulars. As an illustration of 
 his standing in the financial world of this city, it may be recorded 
 that during the panic of 1893 his plant was the only one in the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 161 
 
 United States which continued to run to its full capacity, and in 
 regard to commercial rating, P. H. Bice is given as high as any 
 individual in this city. 
 
 In addition to other large brewing and distilling interests in 
 Chicago, Mr. Rice has also established and is at present operating 
 the largest malting plant in the world. This is at West Chicago 
 on the Belt Line and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, 
 its capacity being two million bushels per annum. Recently, in 
 association with his brother, T. J. Rice, he purchased the plant 
 of the Star Brewery, which they have thoroughly reconstructed 
 and enlarged until it has become the model brewery of Chicago 
 and with a capacity of three hundred thousand barrels per annum 
 both in storage and refrigeration. The product, too, is noted both 
 for its purity and for its health restoring qualities, and the malt 
 extracts are famous throughout the world. 
 
 Mr. Rice is a director of the Fort Dearborn National Bank, a 
 prominent member of the Board of Trade, and one of the largest 
 grain buyers in his line on the floor. The reputation in which he 
 is held among his business associates was evidenced in his choice 
 as arbitrator for the Chicago Brewers' Association. He is the 
 owner of large cattle interests in the West, and also of consid- 
 erable and very valuable city property, and in speaking of the 
 latter it is said he possesses such a predilection for corner prop- 
 erties that he now possesses more improved street corners in Chi- 
 cago than any other individual. He was also one of the organ- 
 izers and the first president of the Lake Street L, which he brought 
 men from New York to develop. 
 
 Mr. Rice was united in marriage in 1878 to Miss Mary J. Walsh, 
 the daughter of a prominent North Side citizen and furniture man- 
 ufacturer, and they have a family of five boys and one girl. The 
 eldest son, William P., has already developed a remarkable apt- 
 ness in the line of electricity, and when only twelve years of age
 
 162 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 made his own batteries and wired Mr. Rice's house with electric 
 wires. The boy's disposition, however, was too studious for the 
 good of his health, and his father therefore thought it advisable 
 to remove him from school and place him at the military academy 
 at Orchard Lake, Mich., so that he might be given better oppor- 
 tunities to develop physically. Mr. and Mrs. Rice have traveled 
 extensively throughout the United States, aud are both of the im- 
 pression that one's own country should be known thoroughly be- 
 fore any thought given to foreign travel. Mr. Rice is a devout 
 Roman Catholic and is a member of the congregation of St. James 
 Church. Formerly he was one of the strongest pillars of St. Mal- 
 achy's Parish, and by his financial aid and endorsement greatly 
 assisted the Rev. Thomas P. Hoclnett in the erection of his present 
 handsome church. While his leisure moments are few and far 
 between, yet still he finds time to attend the meetings of, and is 
 an old and valued member of the Sheridan, the Columbus and 
 the Commercial Clubs. Public spirited and benevolent, he has at 
 all times shown himself a practical sympathizer with the charita- 
 ble work of Chicago, as well as being ready at all times to assist 
 with his purse and influence his kinsmen across the seas. He was 
 one of the original subscribers to the Catholic colonization scheme, 
 formulated by Bishop O'Connor of Omaha, Archbishop Ireland, 
 and a number of leading Catholic laymen, and was also mainly 
 instrumental in the locating of Feehanville, for which he secured 
 the site and gave four years to superintending its building up 
 and placing the town on a sound financial footing. When the 
 terrible Johnstown, Pa., disaster roused the whole United States 
 to pity, his feelings found a substantial outcome, for he quickly 
 had a train load of flour dispatched to the scene. 
 
 Up to the last presidential campaign, Mr. Rice had been an 
 unflinching Democrat, but, as he expresses it, "At the last elec- 
 tion all good business men knew upon which side their bread was
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 163 
 
 buttered, and cast their votes for sound money." His political 
 sagacity was evinced by his prophecy regarding the secretaryship 
 of the United States treasury, for on the day following the elec- 
 tion he informed Mr. Lyman J. Gage in a conversation, that he 
 felt convinced that the position would be offered to him. He now 
 proudly calls himself the "Original Gage man." 
 
 Mr. Rice has a beautiful and luxurious home at 3312 Wabash 
 Avenue, where he and his charming wife are happiest when enter- 
 taining their many friends. The personal appearance and char- 
 acteristics of Mr. Rice are such as one would expect to prove suc- 
 cessful in the battle of life. His clear cut features, his speaking 
 eyes, his nervous energy and quick grasp of affairs are typical of 
 that Western enterprise that has made Chicago the great metrop- 
 olis it is to-day. Pleasing in his address, courteous and kindly in 
 his disposition, the possessor of an immense fund of humor and 
 an abundance of genial good nature, he is a charming companion, 
 and his sturdy honesty and fidelity to his principles make him at 
 the same time an ideal friend. 
 
 This record of a career that has been so strong and forceful, 
 so active and honorable, is necessarily brief, but it is full of useful 
 lesson and strong in incentive. By his own energy and labor Mr. 
 Rice has succeeded in achieving a high position, and what he has 
 accomplished is due entirely to his ambitious nature, his patient 
 endeavor, and his unwearying application. Systematic methods, 
 prompt and decisive action under all circumstances, good judg- 
 ment and tact united to a high sense of honesty, and an absolute 
 fidelity in every undertaking have, when in such combination', 
 placed Mr. Rice in his present position and given him a reputation 
 of which any man might be proud, the distinction of being a truly 
 worthy citizen and a thoroughly representative Chicagoan.
 
 164 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 PATRICK J. CAHILL. 
 
 A truly representative American Irish Chicagoan is the sub- 
 ject of the present sketch. Modest and unassuming, courteous, 
 genial, kindly and generous, but withal a man absolutely fearless 
 in the discharge of the responsible duties entrusted to him or in 
 the carrying out of whatsoever he may consider to be the right, 
 Mr. Patrick J. Cahill is one of whom even casual acquaintances 
 always speak in terms of esteem and regard, and his friends 
 with very manifest affection. 
 
 Born in Ireland in 1843, he was brought to this country three 
 years later by his parents, who settled in Springfield, 111. Haying 
 received an ordinary education, he was at fourteen years of age 
 bound apprentice to the printer's trade, and in 1860 he came to 
 Chicago and found employment on the Chicago Tribune until 1878. 
 In the latter year, on the recommendation of the Hon. Joseph 
 Medill, he was appointed Deputy Sheriff, and four years later was 
 promoted to be Deputy in charge of the civil courts, a position in 
 which he still remains. His post is one of great responsibility, for 
 under his charge the sixty deputies in the courts of the county 
 carry out their duties. 
 
 Previous to the assembling of the Republican National Nom- 
 inating Conventions of 1880-84 and 1888 the sheriff of this county 
 was requested to detail a large force of deputies to assist in pre- 
 serving order. That official detailed one hundred officers and in- 
 structed P. J. Cahill to take charge of them. Mr. Cahill assumed 
 personal charge of the press arrangements in the Republican Na- 
 tional Convention in 1888. He received unstinted praise from 
 newspaper correspondents for the manner in which he performed 
 the duties assigned to him. One of the Eastern newspapers, com-
 
 rp (i 
 
 u-V-
 
 \
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 167 
 
 meriting on the work of the Convention, published this item: "If 
 the newspaper correspondents had their way, P. J. Cahill would be 
 elected President of the United States, for he was the one man 
 that looked after their comforts." At the execution of the an- 
 arr-hists, November 12, 1887, Sheriff Matson put the entire force 
 of deputies in charge of Deputy Sheriff Cahill, and instructed that 
 official to make all the necessary arrangements for the execution. 
 Joe Howard, special correspondent of the New York World, says 
 of Cahill: "He was the man for the place; with rare tact and 
 judgment he attended to every detail and left nothing undone." 
 The Chicago Tribune, in writing of his work, says of him: "He 
 is a man of fine executive abilities, and in the handling of large 
 numbers of men he brings those talents into full play." 
 
 In all the large land league meetings that were held in this 
 city Mr. Cahill was assigned to take charge of the halls and to 
 manage the necessary details. 
 
 Mr. Cahill has been prominent in all matters affecting the good 
 of his native land, and most generous in his contributions towards 
 every fund started in its aid. He is a member of several Irish 
 societies and also of a number of fraternal organizations, but is 
 particularly prominent in the Catholic Order of Foresters, of which 
 indeed, with the Hon. John F. Scanlan and others, he was in this 
 city one of the founders. This was in the summer of 1883, and 
 late in the fall of 1884 Mr. Cahill was elected Chief Ranger of the 
 Western Reserve Court No. 19, and held the office for two years and 
 a half. January 30th, 1886, he became a member of the High 
 Court Board of Directors, on which he remained until June, 1892, 
 being for the whole of that period a member of the finance com- 
 mittee, and for the greater portion of the time the chairman. In 
 the organization of that Order's great parades Mr. Cahill has at 
 all times taken a foremost position, and on its leading occasions 
 has been Grand Marshal, among which may be mentioned the 
 
 9
 
 168 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 funeral of the late Dr. Oonin, who for a considerable period had 
 been a member of the High Court Board of Trustees; and in the 
 great civic demonstration commemorating the four hundredth an- 
 niversary of the discovery of America. In the last named, Mr. 
 Cahill was selected chairman of the executive committee and rep- 
 seutatives of the various Catholic organizations met together on 
 the first Sunday in September, 1892, and elected him Grand Mar- 
 shal of the Catholic Grand Division, thirty thousand persons being 
 assigned a place under his command. At the conclusion of the 
 demonstration, General Stockton, on behalf of the directors of the 
 Columbian Exhibition, presented Mr. Cahill with a handsome 
 badge in testimony of his services. When the Eighth Annual Ses- 
 sion was held in Milwaukee he was the unanimous choice for re- 
 election to the office of High Chief Hanger. He also took an active 
 part in the establishment of the "Catholic Home," and held consid- 
 erable stock in the corporation when it was the organ of the Cath- 
 olic Order of Foresters. For services furthering the advancement 
 of that Order, he was the recipient at the Eleventh Annual Ses- 
 sion of a very handsome suitably inscribed w r atch and chain, a tes- 
 timonial ordered by the Ninth Annual Session at the close of his 
 term of office, and towards which his personal friends had united 
 in raising several hundred dollars. 
 
 DANIEL DELANEY. 
 
 Daniel Delaney, one of the best known and most popular Irish 
 Americans in the City of Chicago, was born on Christmas Day, 
 1833, in the parish of Upperwoods, Queens County, Ireland. His
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 169 
 
 | 
 
 father, Dennis Delaney, a native of the same place, was by occupa- 
 tion a farmer. He died in that parish August 19th, 1848, at the age 
 of forty-six, as also his wife, formerly Mary Vanston, who died 
 about 1881. They had eight children, of whom the subject of this 
 sketch was the eldest. 
 
 Daniel Delauey obtained his education in the national schools 
 of Ireland until he was fourteen years of age, when, his father 
 dying, he went to work on the farm until 1851, when an uncle of 
 his starting for America, the young man, determined to try his 
 fortunes at the other side of the Atlantic, accompanied him. Lo- 
 cating in Cincinnati, he found employment as a clerk with a whole- 
 sale liquor firm until March, 18G4, when he came to Chicago. His 
 first work in this city was with Messrs. McQuaid & Smith, and he 
 continued with that firm until 1866, when he formed a partner- 
 ship with James Walsh. This lasted, however, but a short time, 
 and three months later he found employment with Cleary & En- 
 right, with whom he remained until 1871. He next went to Keeley 
 & Kerwin, until 1879, when he started in business on his own ac- 
 count, taking premises on Market Street, near Randolph, and later 
 removed to Kinzie Street. Here he continued until 1888, in which 
 year he formed a partnership with M. W. Murphy, under the firm 
 name of Delaney & Murphy. The business of the firm, transacted 
 with every attention to detail and with due consideration to the 
 comforts and requirements of its clients, has prospered exceedingly, 
 and now twenty-five men are employed, of whom nine are in con- 
 stant work, covering the States of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and 
 and Minnestoa, and also with considerable trade all over the North- 
 west territory. 
 
 Mr. Delaney was married, July 21st, 1858, to Kate Quinn, a na- 
 tive of New York State. They have eight children, of whom Kate 
 is married to M. J. Shinnars, of Chicago; Mary, to H. G. Clark, of 
 Chicago; Dennis is farming in Dupage County; Joseph, in the em-
 
 170 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ploy of his uncle in South Chicago; Annie, the wife of E. J. Hayes, 
 of Chicago; William, employed as salesman with Delaney & Mur- 
 phy, and Vesta and Henry, who are still at school. 
 
 Mr. Delaney is a Democrat in politics, and a member of the 
 Roman Catholic Church. He belongs to the sodality of the Jesuit 
 Church, and is the oldest member now in this country. He is also 
 a member of the Columbus Club. 
 
 JAMES JOSEPH KELLY. 
 
 Ja,mes Joseph Kelly, one of the leading coal merchants of the 
 City of Chicago, was born March 23d, 1856, in St. John's, New- 
 foundland. Of his parents, Michael J. and Mary (Dwyer) Kelly, 
 the father was a native of Kilkenny, Ireland, who came to New- 
 foundland in 1846 and took up the business of outfitting ships 
 engaged in the whaling and sealing trade. He resided at the latter 
 place until 1869, when he moved to Chicago, and at the time of 
 his death in 1882 was a man who had won the entire respect of 
 all who knew him. His wife was a native of St John's, Newfound- 
 land, and was the daughter of John Dwyer, who was a very promi- 
 nent farmer of that section of the country. 
 
 James Joseph Kelly attended school in St. John's until he was 
 twelve years old, when with his parents he removed to Chicago, 
 and soon after his arrival secured a position with the dry goods 
 house of Ross & Gossage, with whom he remained one year, leav- 
 ing to enter the employ of the Rockford, Rock Island & St. Louis 
 Railroad as clerk in their general office. With this company his
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 173 
 
 stay was also of short duration, for twelve months after he retired 
 to go into the coal business, in which he was to achieve at once 
 success and fortune. 
 
 The employ of the Star Coal Company of Chicago was entered 
 as clerk in 1871, and here he remained until 1877, in that time 
 obtaining a very good insight into the business. His next employ- 
 ment was with the coal firm of Beard, Hickox & Company, in 
 which he held the position of manager. This in 1882 he resigned 
 to accept the responsible position of traveling sales-agent for the 
 Northwest for the Consolidated Coal Company of St. Louis, with 
 headquarters in Chicago. 
 
 Thoroughly satisfied in 1884 that he was fully acquainted with 
 every necessary detail of the coal trade, and as by habitual fru- 
 gality he had managed to save some money and had a reputation 
 in the trade absolutely beyond reproach, he determined to start 
 in business for himself. Remarkable success followed his efforts, 
 and in 1888 the J. J. Kelly Coal Company was organized, of which 
 lie was elected and still is the president and general manager. 
 A large general business is done in the wholesaling and retailing 
 of coal, and the company also controls the output of several large 
 mines in Illinois and Ohio, and at the same time is general North- 
 west sales-agent for the Taylorville Coal Company of Taylorville, 111. 
 
 Though the heavy duties of his position give him but few spare 
 moments, Mr. Kelly still finds time to belong to a number of 
 clubs. He is a valued member of the Sheridan and Columbus 
 Clubs, and is also attached to the Knights of Columbus and the 
 Royal Arcanum. He has traveled extensively. In religious mat- 
 ters Mr. Kelly is a Roman Catholic and a member of the congrega- 
 tion of St. Bernard's Church, at Englewood, while in political mat- 
 ters he has always been a Democrat. 
 
 Mr. Kelly was united in marriage in 1880 to Emily G. Doyle, 
 of Chicago. They have had six children, of whom, however, there
 
 174 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 are but four living. At their beautiful home on Sixty-seventh 
 Street his charming wife and himself delight to dispense hospi- 
 tality with a lavish hand. 
 
 This brief record tells but imperfectly the history of one of 
 the most popular and best known coal men in the West. Mr. 
 James J. Kelly, by his untiring energy and natural abilities, by 
 throwing into whatever he undertook his own individuality, has 
 been successful in building up a most prosperous and successful 
 business. In twenty-five years of a commercial career, he has 
 never made an enemy, and to his hundreds of friends is always 
 affectionately spoken of as "Jim Kelly." 
 
 JOHN DOMINICK CASEY. 
 
 John Dominick Casey, lawyer, was born in Chicago, August 
 4th, 1864. Tie was the son of Thomas P. Casey, who left his native 
 Oalway, Ireland, and settled in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1840. A 
 move was made to Chicago in 1852, and here he worked at his trade 
 that of a carpenter until the breaking out of the Rebellion, 
 when he enlisted as a soldier and served to the end of the war. 
 
 Thomas P. Casey returned to Chicago at the close of the war, 
 and having married Catherine Bern, a native of County Roscom- 
 mon, engaged in the business of a building contractor. The Stett- 
 hauer Block, at the corner of Franklin and Madison Streets one 
 of the notable buildings following Chicago's great fire was erect- 
 ed by him. His death took place in 1895. 
 
 John D. Casey acquired his education at the Christian Broth- 
 ers' School on Morgan Street and at the Harrison Street public
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 175 
 
 school, later taking a commercial course of three years at the St. 
 Ignatius College. At the age of seventeen he entered the employ 
 of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co., as book-keeper 
 in the cashier's department, remaining there for five years. Then, 
 having resigned, he began to study law in the office of Judge 
 Thomas E. Whiteside. Here he remained one year and left to take 
 a two years' course in the Union College of Law, from which he 
 graduated and secured a license to practice. Immediately he en- 
 tered the law office of Murphy & Cummings, where he remained 
 two years, studying hard and gaining much good experience in 
 general practice. December, 1895, he formed a partnership with 
 John W. Bantz, a lawyer of twenty-five years' standing in Fulton 
 County, 111., and together they opened their present office in the 
 Stock Exchange Building, under the firm name of Bantz & Casey. 
 
 Mr. Casey has a large general practice, representing in the 
 capacity of attorney a number of big corporations, and having in 
 1897 had his abilities further recognized by his appointment as 
 Master in Chancery. He also acts as private attorney for Con- 
 gressman Hon. William Lorimer. In political matters he has 
 always taken the liveliest interest, and believes that such is the 
 duty of all good citizens. He is one of the most active members 
 of the Nineteenth Ward that in which he was born; was a dele- 
 gate to the last State Convention at Springfield, and can always 
 be relied upon to speak whenever his services are required. 
 
 Mr. Casey assisted, in 1894, to organize the Women's Catholic 
 Order of Foresters, and this Order for which he is attorney has 
 now a membership list of over eight thousand. He is also a warm 
 advocate of the Hull House, for which he organized, and was for 
 two years the president of the Young Men's Club, and was instru- 
 mental in procuring for it a fine library and gymnasium, and in 
 otherwise bringing it to its present flourishing condition. 
 
 In his religious views he is a Roman Catholic and a member of
 
 176 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the congregation of the Jesuit Church. Yet a young man, by his 
 energy and superior abilities Mr. Casey has succeeded in pushing 
 himself forward in the world, and his genial and thoroughly cour- 
 teous manner has made of every client a friend. 
 
 JOHN CUDAHY. 
 
 If to be the founder of one's own fortune, to face seemingly 
 insuperable difficulties, and by untiring perseverance make a 
 name known and respected all over the civilized world, be tc hold 
 an honored record, then indeed John Cudahy and his brother, 
 Michael (whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume), are well 
 worthy of a proud place in the roll of Irish Americans who have 
 helped to make Chicago the grand city it is to-day. 
 
 With Chicago's wonderful growth the fortunes of the Cudahy 
 brothers have proportionately advanced, and now they are num- 
 bered among the millionaires of this great city, and with pardon- 
 able pride can point back to their careers of honest work, noble 
 endeavor, and grand achievement. 
 
 Callan, County Limerick, Ireland, was the birthplace of John 
 Cudahy, as well as of his brother Michael. He was born Novem- 
 ber 2d, 1843, the son of Patrick and Elizabeth (Shaw) Cudahy. His 
 father was a native of Callan, while his mother's people were orig- 
 inally from Dublin, and removing to Callan, established there pot- 
 tery works. His parents, recognizing the difficulties of bringing 
 up and giving fair opportunity to a young family in Ireland, de- 
 cided to seek the broader opportunities of the boundless West, and 
 started for the United States in 1849. A short stay was made in
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 179 
 
 the East and then the family removed to Milwaukee, Wis., in the 
 public schools of which city, working occasionally between times, 
 young Cudahy received his education. He was between fourteen 
 and fifteen years of age when a place was found for him in the 
 packing house of Ed Roddis, in whose employ he remained until 
 about nineteen years of age, when he went to work for John Plank- 
 inton (afterwards Plankinton & Armour), remaining in this posi- 
 tion for one and one-half years. 
 
 When twenty-one years of age he went into the nursery busi- 
 ness as foreman with Mr. Thomas Grynne, of Milwaukee, dealing 
 in fruit and ornamental trees, etc., and remained there three 
 years. At the end of this time he made a proposition to purchase 
 the properties under terms, the acceptance of which gives ample 
 evidence of the high estimation in which he was held, not only by 
 his former employer but by his neighbors in general, while at the 
 same time it well illustrates his own self-reliance and confidence 
 in his success. The nursery, its stock, wagons, horses, etc., he was 
 able to secure by paying a small sum down, and after continuing 
 the business for three years was in a position to clear off the whole 
 indebtedness and in addition made considerable money. This, his 
 first successful business effort, gave him further confidence, and 
 with varying fortune, but with success far overbalancing the fail- 
 ures, his career has continued. 
 
 lie decided to return to the packing business, and was given 
 employment by Layton & Co., packers, for the three following 
 years. His attention to his employers' interests produced ties of 
 friendship which time has only further strengthened, and Mr. 
 Cudahy is at all times ready to express his grateful appreciation 
 of the kindness shown him by Mr. Layton. While employed by 
 that firm he was appointed Board of Trade Provision Inspector 
 for the City of Milwaukee, and afterwards was foreman and Board 
 of Trade Inspector for Van Kirk & McGeough, occupying the joint
 
 180 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 positions for over two years. In the spring of 1875 he had saved 
 sufficient money to purchase an interest in John Plankinton's pack- 
 ing- business, but later, deciding he needed greater scope, and 
 through the intercession of his brother Michael, between whom 
 and Mr. Plankinton there has always existed strong ties of friend- 
 ship, he obtained a release from the contract and in July of the 
 same year removed to Chicago, at once going into partnership with 
 E. D. Chapin, under the firm name of Chapin & Co., packers, which 
 it remained for two years, when the name was changed to Chapin 
 & Cudahy. The partnership continued altogether about five years, 
 when Mr. Chapin withdrew, and since that time Mr. Cudahy has 
 continued the Chicago business alone, but is also in partnership 
 with his brother Patrick, forming the firm of Cudahy Bros., pack- 
 el's, Milwaukee, who became successors to the business of John 
 Plankinton, who retired. 
 
 Possessing a host of friends amongst the most prominent of 
 Chicago's citizens, and many respectful admirers amongst the 
 poorer classes, to whom he is ever a ready and willing friend, that 
 which has been said of him by one of Chicago's most prominent 
 citizens brings the man clearly before us: 
 
 "Quick and shrewd to detect a fraud or sham, he is prompt and 
 outspoken in his condemnation; yet he is always genuine, sincere 
 and thoughtful of his friends. As a business man he is bright and 
 clear in judgment, quick in his perception, prompt and unhesi- 
 tating in action. The fact of his having accumulated so handsome 
 if not so vast a fortune, and while yet in the prime of life, is ample 
 evidence of the correctness of his general business methods and 
 characteristics. At his home, where the furnishings and appoint- 
 ments are luxurious and betoken much taste and mature judgment, 
 his wife presides and aids her husband in dispensing a hospitality, 
 open-hearted and whole-souled on his part, and truly graceful and 
 generous on hers."
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 181 
 
 Mr. Cudahy has been twice married October 1st, 1873, to Miss 
 Mary Nolin, of Bridgeport, Conn., the issue of this marriage being 
 four girls, two of whom are deceased. 
 
 LTe afterwards married Miss Margaret F. O'Neill, daughter of 
 Mr. John O'Neill, a prominent citizen and one of Chicago's oldest 
 settlers, who died some years ago. Of this marriage two children 
 have been the issue, only one of whom, John JR., is living. 
 
 Prominent in social affairs, he is a member of the Washington, 
 the Union League, and the Chicago Clubs. 
 
 He contributes largely to all public enterprises for the im- 
 provement and advancement of the city and the community at 
 large, and than his wife's and his own list of charities, probably 
 no private individual in the City of Chicago can show more frequent 
 or more generous contributions, whether it be to the advancement 
 of religion, for the benefit of the poor, or for the thousand and one 
 charitable enterprises which are fostered by the church of which 
 he is a member. But neither his generosity nor his charity is by 
 any means confined to those of his own faith, for every good and 
 commendable effort to aid the needing finds in him generous sup- 
 port and good practical sympathy. 
 
 He has a summer home on Mackinac Island, which is beauti- 
 fully situated, and, like his home in the city, a center of hospi- 
 tality for all friends who may happen to be on the island during 
 the season. 
 
 In personal "appearance the Cudahy brothers are all splendid 
 specimens of physical manhood, large, well-proportioned, hand- 
 some men, and to the family rule John Cudahy is no exception. A 
 typical Irishman of the better class, he is a valuable citizen of this 
 city and State, a useful ani influential member of society, a man 
 who is esteemed and respected not only by a large circle of friends, 
 but by the community at large, a pride to his native land, and an 
 honor to his chosen country.
 
 182 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 DANIEL P. CAHILL. 
 
 Secretary Daniel P. Cahill, of the Chicago postoffice, was born 
 in "K" Square, Curragh Camp, Kildare, Ireland, January 27th, 
 18G3. His father, Daniel Cahill, was an official of forty years' con- 
 tinuous service in the civil and military establishments of the 
 British Empire. When a boy he had run away from home and 
 enlisted in H. M. Eighty-sixth Kegiment, then stationed at Dublin. 
 He served through the Chartist Insurrection in England and took 
 part in the many battles that followed the breaking out of the 
 Indian mutiny. Like William Cobbett, he educated himself on the 
 drum head and acquired an excellent knowledge of the Hindus- 
 tanee dialects. He rose to be Color Sergeant of his company and 
 was a friend and associate of the celebrated Captain Butler, who 
 was killed by the Russians at the first siege of Kars. 
 
 The mother of Secretary Cahill is a native of Lancashire, Eng- 
 land, and is descended from the Brutons of Tipperary, Ireland, who 
 for two hundred years held the office of steward to the Barons of 
 Pennefeather. The original Bruton was a Somersetshire farmer, 
 who served in the army of Oliver Cromwell and was rewarded for 
 his services by a grant of land in Tipperary. The tradition has it 
 that Major Bruton's intercourse with his Irish neighbors was more 
 friendly than usual on account of the part he had taken in pre- 
 venting the sack of a convent by the Cromwellian soldiery. What- 
 ever Anglo-Saxon blood there may have been in the veins of the 
 Brutons, the Cahills certainly had none. The name is of Celtic 
 origin and was originally spelled "Cahal," or "Cathail." 
 
 One of Mangan's poems recites the doings of a certain Cahal-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 183 
 
 Mor of the Wine Red Hand, who had a Dolphin for a crest and who 
 was descended from a Formorian fisherman. 
 
 After the Treaty of Limerick the ancestor of all the Cahills of 
 the King's and Queen's Counties betook himself with as little noise 
 as possible to the Queen's County, where he came to be called "Old 
 John Cahill of Coolnabaca." He was a sturdy veteran of the Civil 
 Wars, whom much fighting had made conservative, and that he 
 transmitted this tendency to his descendants is shown by the fact, 
 that during the stormy eighteenth century the family managed to 
 retain unimpaired its religion and lands. In the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, however, this inherited conservativeness disappeared and 
 the Reverend Doctor Cahill arose to take an active part in the 
 battle which Ireland waged for civil and religious liberty. 
 
 Next to the "great Doctor," as his countrymen used to call him, 
 the most distinguished man of the family was the Reverend Doc- 
 tor William Cahill, Vicar-General of Kildare and Leighlin. The 
 excitement of war had a fascination for those Cahills whose tend- 
 encies were not religious. The story is told of three sons of Ed- 
 ward Cahill of Stradbally, who ran off secretly and joined the Bo- 
 livian army of Independence and were never heard of more. An- 
 other brother emigrated to the United States in the 30's and sacri- 
 ficed a son to the cause of the Union at the first battle of Bull Run. 
 
 Secretary Cahill spent the first twelve years of his life in the 
 British Army and received his early education in the National and 
 Military Schools of Dublin. In 1875, the elder Cahill perceiving 
 no future for his family in Ireland, resigned his position in the 
 Barrack Department and emigrated to Canada, settling in Toronto 
 in 1876. His son, Daniel P. Cahill, after a coiirse at the Collegiate 
 Institute of that city, became interested in a manufacturing in- 
 dustry. 
 
 When hardly of age, he assisted in organizing the first branch 
 of the Land League ever formed in Canada, and was successively
 
 184 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Secretary and President of one of the Toronto branches of the 
 League. He came into rather unfriendly contact with the Loyal- 
 ist authorities of Toronto by reason of a very clear and decisive 
 letter which he wrote to the Mayor, declining an invitation tend- 
 ered to the League to take part in a procession in honor of Queen 
 Victoria's Jubilee. Mutual good will was not strengthened by Mr. 
 Cahill's connection with the reception of William O'Brien, M. P., 
 on the occasion of his visit to Toronto in 1885 or 1886, to denounce 
 Governor-General Landsdowne for harsh treatment of his Irish 
 tenants. While protecting William O'Brien from the furious as- 
 saults of the Orange mob on Bay Street, in Toronto, Mr. Cahill 
 was attacked and badly injured. On the question of taking part or 
 not taking part in the Queen's Jubilee procession, Mr. Cahill was 
 elected a member of the Toronto separate school board and dur- 
 ing his term of service he succeeded in establishing night schools 
 for the Italian residents of that city, which were productive of 
 much good. He led the agitation for voting by ballot at school elec- 
 tions and was defeated at the ensuing election. 
 
 He was one of the charter members of the Young Men's Liberal 
 Club, of Toronto; an organization which has spread its branches 
 all over Canada and during the recent elections helped materially 
 to bring about the triumph of the Hon. Wilfred Laurier. Mr. Ca- 
 hill was active and prominent in the fiery debates which distin- 
 guished the proceedings of the club, and was considered one of the 
 most forcible and effective debaters in the organization. His news- 
 paper career began on the "Irish Canadian," a Toronto journal 
 now merged in the "Catholic Register." He always had a predilec- 
 tion for newspaper work, and Patrick Boyle the kindly old editor 
 of the "Canadian," encouraged this bent. In 1890 Mr. Cahill came 
 to Chicago, attracted like most young men of the Dominion by the 
 greater opportunities of the Republic, as well as by its freer po- 
 litical and religious atmosphere.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 185 
 
 He found his first newspaper employment on the "Chicago 
 Morning News," now the "Record." That new journalistic condi- 
 tions bothered the newcomer not a little he is willing to confess. 
 A big "scoop," however, in connection with a labor strike gave 
 the management of the paper some idea of the stuff of which the 
 new reporter was made and his rise thereafter was comparatively 
 easy. In 1892 he was given charge of the political and municipal 
 reporting of the "Record," and held the place until appointed Sec- 
 retary to the postoffice by Postmaster Washington Hesing, Janu- 
 ary 1st, 1891. 
 
 During his newspaper career he doggedly fought municipal 
 and political corruption wherever it showed its head and rendered 
 material service to the community on many an occasion about 
 which the community, owing to the conditions of newspaper work, 
 is blissfully ignorant. 
 
 As a newspaper writer, Mr. Cahill was distinguished by the 
 accuracy and breadth of his reports, as well as by the use of terse 
 and forcible English. 
 
 In his three years' service at the postoffice, Mr. Cahill has become 
 thoroughly conversant with the details of postoffice matters. He 
 edits the Bulletin, writes the reports, and has entire charge of the 
 Bureau of Correspondence. Of a very practical turn of mind, he 
 has suggested many valuable changes and improvements in the 
 working system of the postoffice. 
 
 While not a member of any society, he yet realizes the value 
 of organized effort, though for want of leisure has not been able 
 to avail himself of such advantages. He is a hard reader and a 
 diligent student. He is a member of the Press Club of Chicago, 
 an ardent devotee of the bicycle and a good long distance rider. 
 
 The political reporter often enough has no pronounced feeling 
 for one or other of the political parties, and Mr. Cahill is no excep- 
 tion to the rule. He has strong and pronounced opinions on politi-
 
 186 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 cal questions, but he does not find his opinions represented to any 
 extent by existing parties, and he has therefore refrained from at- 
 taching himself to either. 
 
 Mr. Cahill was married in 1887 to Mary Starr, of Ottawa, Can- 
 ada. His family consists of three boys and one girl. He possesses 
 strong individuality and great force of character, and is notably 
 frank and outspoken. He is a quiet looking man with the appear- 
 ance of a student. An ardent American in sentiment, he is devoted 
 to the institutions and welfare of his adopted country. 
 
 REV. P. J. MULDOON. 
 
 Than the subject of the present sketch, now pastor of the con- 
 gregation of the Church of St. Charles Borromeo, but who for many 
 years was Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Chicago, there is no 
 priest in Chicago to-day more highly esteemed or held in truer af- 
 fection by the people under his charge. Noble natured, kindly, gen- 
 erous and entirely unselfish in all ways, Father Muldoon is a true 
 type of the Irish priest, on all occasions a friend to those in need, 
 but an unswerving upholder of his religion and the rights of the 
 church. 
 
 Hev. P. J. Muldoon was born October 10, 1863, at Columbia, 
 Tuolumne County, California, his parents, John J. and Catherine 
 (Coughlin) Muldoon, being natives respectively of County Cavan 
 and County Galway, Ireland. The father, who was by trade a con- 
 tractor, had left Ireland when a young man and settled at Stock-
 

 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 189 
 
 ton, California, and it was in the public schools of that city that 
 the subject of the present sketch obtained his early education. At 
 fourteen he entered upon the collegiate course (classical and com- 
 mercial) at St. Mary's, Kentucky, and four years later began the 
 two years' philosophical course at St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, 
 Md., completing his studies with a four years' theological course in 
 the same institution. 
 
 His ordination to the priesthood took place December 18th, 
 1880, in Brooklyn, New York, by Bishop Loughlin, and his first ap- 
 pointment was to St. Pius Church, Chicago, where he remained 
 for eighteen months. He was appointed in November, 1888, Chan- 
 cellor of the Archdiocese of Chicago and Secretary of his Grace the 
 Archbishop, and this very responsible office he held until Novem- 
 ber, 1895, when he was appointed pastor of St. Charles Borromeo's 
 Church, situated at Twelfth and Cypress Streets, where he now re- 
 mains, endeared to his flock by multitudinous instances of self- 
 sacrificing devotion to the requirements, religious and otherwise, 
 of all its members. 
 
 To his arduous duties as Secretary and Chancellor of the Arch- 
 diocese, Father Muldoon added, during the Columbian Exposition, 
 the secretaryship of the Chicago Catholic educational exhibit. He 
 is a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters and is 
 the director of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of the Archdiocese. 
 Regarding his political views, he votes independently of all party 
 organizations, believing that the qualifications of the man are in- 
 finitely higher requisites than mere political associations. 
 
 Charming in manner, dignified in appearance, tall and com- 
 manding in figure, yet withal absolutely unassuming, Father Mul- 
 doon possesses a rich fund of information upon all timely topics 
 and a fund of humor which is a delight to the thousands of his 
 friends throughout Chicago, who in him recognize that best type of 
 
 the ecclesiastic, the loving, kindly friend who can sorrow with them 
 10
 
 190 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 as well as rejoice, and who faithfully and earnestly is endeavoring 
 to carry out God's work in the world, armed with that happy cheeri- 
 ness which is the strongest power in dissipating the miseries and 
 evil which are so universal. 
 
 JOHN J. COBURN. 
 
 John J. Coburn was born in that portion of Cook County where 
 the village of Clyde now stands. The history of the family to 
 which he belongs is an interesting one. Henry Coburn, his father, 
 was born in 1824, in Creggan, County Wexford, Ireland, where 
 the so-called rebellion of 1798, in which many members of the 
 Coburn family took a very active part, had its origin. These Co- 
 burns of Creggan were direct descendants of General John Coburn, 
 who came over from England with Cromwell during that fateful 
 period of Irish history, in which the Protector bore so important 
 a part. Henry Coburn left his native land in 1848, and coming to 
 America located in Williamsbury in upper Canada, where he met 
 and married Elizabeth Chittick, a young lady whose birthplace was 
 Enniskillen, in Ireland, and the daughter of a gentleman farmer 
 there. The year following they came to Chicago and a little later 
 found a home on the Felker farm, situated in Dupage County, 
 Illinois. When the Felker farm was given up, Henry Coburn and 
 his wife removed to the township of Lyons, Cook County, where 
 Mr. Coburn still lives in the enjoyment of a vigorous old age and 
 happy in the recollections of a useful and profitably spent life. 
 
 John J. Coburn, the subject of this sketch, was born March
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 191 
 
 14th, 1861, and received his education in the public schools of the 
 town of Lyons and the high school of Englewood, taking a classical 
 course in the latter. His school-days at an end, from 1879 to 1881 
 he taught school in the school house he had as a boy attended, 
 and was later a member of the class of 1883 at the Union College 
 of Law, where Mr. William J. Bryan the presidential candidate 
 was one of his class mates. He did not wait to graduate in due 
 course with his class, but took the examination before the Supreme 
 Court, receiving a license to practice in 1883. The practice of law 
 was then at once commenced in this city, and his energy and 
 perseverance found good reward. His first clients were found 
 among his old neighbors, but gradually he was able to widen the 
 circle and his services became in very general demand. His great- 
 est reputation was gained while acting as attorney for the prop- 
 erty owners in the condemnation suits, instituted by the com- 
 missioners of the great drainage canal, for the handling of which 
 cases he was given the highest commendation. Indeed, so many 
 suits did he win that the drainage commission was compelled for 
 self protection to retain him as special attorney. On May 1st, 
 1895, he entered into a partnership with Judge Lawrence M. Eimis, 
 of whom a sketch appears elsewhere in this volume, under the 
 firm name of Ennis & Coburn. It is as a trial lawyer that Mr. 
 Coburn chiefly excels, for his logical, well arranged arguments are 
 possessed of most effective power. A ready speaker, lie has a 
 splendid, knowledge of human nature, and where a jury is to be 
 dealt with, his success has become almost proverbial. Out of sev- 
 eral thousand cases, in fact, he claims only three have been lost 
 where the matter has gone to a jury. Consequently the further 
 claim is no matter for surprise that his firm possesses the 
 largest list of clients and has the representation as attorneys for 
 all the villages in the southwest suburbs of the city. Mr. Co- 
 burn's good professional success has been utilized by judicious
 
 192 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 investment and has brought him into the possession of considerable 
 property. 
 
 Mr. Coburn was married, May day, 1891, to Annie M. Valentine, 
 and they have two children. Always a thorough Democrat, in 
 politics and political matters he has taken a very active interest. 
 Upon several occasions he has been invited to accept office, but 
 up to the present, such offers have been met with refusal, although 
 his friends are hopeful of their power to lead him into a public 
 life. 
 
 There is no man in Chicago who possesses more friends or who 
 is held in higher honor or esteem for his good personal qualities 
 as well as high natural gifts than the eminent American Irishman, 
 John J. Coburn. 
 
 MICHAEL CUDAHY. 
 
 An Irishman by birth, born in the historical old town of Cal- 
 lan, County Kilkenny, on December 7th, 1841, every one of Irish 
 blood is familiar with the name of Michael Cudahy. He is among 
 the most prominent of many prominent Chicagoans who have been 
 the architects of their own fortunes. By never failing energy, un- 
 tiring perseverance, unswerving determination, the complete mas- 
 tering of every detail in his business, he has won a place in the 
 first rank of the world's great packers, as well as an honored posi- 
 tion among the citizens of this great city. A man of sterling worth, 
 inflexible integrity and quiet unassuming manner, he leaves upon 
 all who meet him the impress of his own character, revealing by 
 every detail of his life the power of a noble manhood. His mother's 
 family were originally from Dublin, but a removal had been made

 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 195 
 
 to Gillian and a pottery established for the manufacture of crock- 
 ery. Patrick Cudahy, his father, a man who united thought with 
 action, recognizing the scanty opportunities a life in Ireland offered 
 and the broader field as well as the better opportunities for ad- 
 vancement to be found in the new world, if not for himself, for his 
 then growing family, decided to emigrate to America, and with 
 his wife, Elizabeth (Shaw) Cudahy, and his family, came to the 
 United States, in 1849, shortly afterwards locating at Milwaukee, 
 Wis. Young Cudahy in this city obtained his first insight into the 
 packing house and stock yard work, for even while attending 
 school and acquiring a simple education, it was necessary he 
 should do some work around the slaughter houses. 
 
 At fourteen he regularly entered the employ of Messrs. Layton 
 & Plankinton, packers, Milwaukee, and then at nineteen was given 
 a position with Ed Roddis, packer, also of Milwaukee. With the 
 latter he remained until the business was closed out in 1866, when 
 he started in for himself, but such advantageous offers were made 
 him by Mr. Fred Layton, of Milwaukee, that he disposed of his 
 business and entered the employ of Layton & Co., as private meat 
 inspector, the position of meat inspector on the Milwaukee Board 
 of Trade being secured for him at the same time. From Mr. Lay- 
 ton, Michael Cudahy received practical encouragement and every 
 assistance that close friendship could offer, and of the advantages 
 of this association Mr. Cudahy has always been duly sensible. He 
 was offered, in 1869, a position with Messrs. Plankinton & Armour, 
 Milwaukee, Wis., to take charge of their packing house at tliat 
 time a small frame building, and the whole plant, including ma- 
 chinery, not exceeding in value |35,000, but which has become one 
 of the largest packing establishments in the United States. So 
 successful was his management that, in 1873, Mr. P. D. Armour 
 proffered him a partnership in the now celebrated firm of Armour 
 & Co., of Chicago, the largest of its kind in existence, and known
 
 196 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 throughout the civilized world. Thoroughly competent and with 
 sound practical knowledge of the business in all its branches and 
 details, Mr. Cudahy took control of the stock yard end of the enter- 
 prise, and for nearly seventeen years had practically entire man- 
 agement. 
 
 When the committee was formed to solicit subscriptions from 
 the packers for the World's Columbian Exposition, the estimation 
 in which Mr. Cudahy was held was shown by his appointment as 
 chairman. 
 
 Pie was married, in 1866, to Miss Catharine Sullivan, a daugh- 
 ter of Mr. John Sullivan, a farmer in comfortable circumstances 
 residing near Milwaukee, Wis. Their marriage has been blessed 
 with seven children, four daughters and three sons. The eldest 
 daughter, Elizabeth, is the wife of Mr. Wm. P. Nelson, one of Chi- 
 cago's successful business men. Mrs. Cudahy is a lady possessed 
 of many estimable qualities; she is most charitable and her life 
 is devoted to her family, and to her good training and broad mind, 
 her children owe much of their educational advantages, as well as 
 their numerous accomplishments. 
 
 While in politics he belongs to the Democratic party, he is no 
 extremist, and irrespective of party will support the best available 
 man for the position. 
 
 ITe is a Roman Catholic, a faithful member and a liberal sup- 
 porter of that church. He is also thoroughly American in his feel- 
 ings, loving and honoring the many noble institutions of his adopt- 
 ed country. 
 
 Mr. Cudahy is the eldest of five brothers and one sister, Cath- 
 arine. The latter, who in 1883 had become a Sister of the Good 
 Shepherd, endowing the Order with a handsome sum of money, 
 died January 19th, 1892, at the House of the Good Shepherd, Mil- 
 waukee, Wis. Her life had been consecrated to a noble cause, and 
 her untimely death was a source of deep sorrow to many hearts.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 197 
 
 She was beloved by all those who knew her, either in the world as 
 Miss Cudahy, or in religion as Sister Stanislaus. William Cudahy 
 died at the age of thirty-seven. John and Patrick succeeded John 
 Plaukinton & Co., formerly Plankinton & Armour, of Milwaukee, 
 in their packing business, under the firm name of Cudahy Broth- 
 ers; the first named lives in Chicago and the latter in Milwaukee. 
 John Cudahy has been prominently identified with Chicago pack- 
 ing interests, and was formerly associated with Mr. Chapin, as 
 Chapin & Cudahy, later trading in his own name. Edward A. is 
 a partner with Michael Cudahy, forming the corporation of the 
 Cudahy Packing Co., Omaha, Nebraska, which, before the with- 
 drawal of Mr. P. D. Armour from the firm, was the Armour-Cudahy 
 Packing Co. Edward A. is well known in business circles as an 
 unusually bright and energetic business man. He resides at 
 Omaha, where they have been located for eight years and have a 
 large and rapidly increasing packing and provision business. As 
 an idea of the extent of their interests, it may be stated that in 
 one year their distributing sales amounted to over |23,000,000, 
 and their pay-roll reached the sum of fl,000,000. Houses have 
 also been established in Sioux City and Los Angeles. 
 
 Mr. Cudahy withdrew from the firm of Armour & Co. in No- 
 vember, 1890. The association had been of a mutually profitable 
 character, and Mr. P. D. Armour said, in speaking of the separa- 
 tion: "He leaves me after a connection honorable throughout, de- 
 void of clash, rich, prosperous, and with an enviable reputation 
 in the business world." 
 
 Mr. Cudahy is a man of exceedingly robust constitution and 
 'fine physical proportions; he is of a social disposition and takes 
 considerable interest in all manly sports; he is a lover of the fine 
 arts, and has the especial fondness for music so common to those 
 of Irish birth. He also possesses in no small degree the wit and 
 exuberance of spirits which characterize his race; is a most genial
 
 198 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 companion, a pleasing conversationalist, and a warm and sincere 
 friend. Of prejudice he is absolutely devoid, and is not easily 
 swayed^ for determination is among his chief characteristics. In 
 his dealings he is ever thorough and cautious and consequently 
 the judgment he forms is sound and sure. To all objects of a 
 worthy and benevolent character he is generous in his contribu- 
 tions, and to befriend and place in positions young men worthy of 
 his support is to him a great source of happiness; indeed, the num- 
 ber of those in this and other cities who owe their first start in 
 life to the kindly influence and the charitable disposition of Mr. 
 Michael Cudahy is very large. 
 
 MICHAEL H. MCGRATH, M. D. 
 
 Dr. Michael H. McGrath, one of Chicago's best known and emi- 
 nently successful physicians, is a native of Saratoga Springs, New 
 York State, where he was born January 5th, 1855. His father, 
 Michael, and mother, Margaret (Farrell) McGrath, were both na- 
 tives of Tipperary, Ireland, and in 1846 came to the United States 
 together. For several generations on both sides the family were 
 well-to-do Irish farmers and honored members of the yeomanry. 
 For some years Michael McGrath, who had had a good business 
 training and held positions of trust and responsibility among the 
 merchants of Tipperary for some fifteen years previous to his com- 
 ing to America, was engaged in the lumber business in Vermont, 
 but in 1858 he came to Illinois and settled on a farm near Lincoln. 
 
 The early years of the subject of this sketch were passed on the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 199 
 
 farm at Lincoln and among the forests and prairies of Illinois amid 
 all the frequent hardships which attend pioneer life. Like most 
 boys of health and spirit, he passed through many escapades and 
 hair breadth escapes, and though of slight build, he still remembers 
 with some pride how he and his brother stood their- ground with 
 the best in the various youthful amusements, engagements and 
 encounters. 
 
 Realistic, however, though were the rougher phases of his early 
 life, yet as a consequence the boy imbibed a warm love of nature 
 of the birds, the trees, the brooks and lakes and its after effect 
 has been that the doctor possesses a strong taste and appreciation 
 for poetry and literature. Probably it was this tendency that in- 
 clined him towards a professional career, and as one brother, T. L. 
 McGrath, chose political life and at time of his death in 1885 was 
 State Senator, and another brother, Rev. D. E. McGrath, selected 
 the church, Michael decided on adopting the medical profession. 
 
 He was educated in the public schools until his eighteenth 
 year, when he went to- St. John's College at Prairie du Chien, 
 Wis., and from there graduated with considerable honors in 1874. 
 Two years then were spent as a teacher in the public schools of 
 Lincoln, and at the same time he commenced the study of medicine 
 at Rush Medical College, where he graduated in 1880. His first 
 active practice was at Independence, Iowa, where he remained 
 three years, when he decided to remove to the larger field offered 
 by Chicago. The medical abilities of Dr. McGrath have met with 
 decided appreciation and he has been enabled to establish a consid- 
 erable practice, especially along the lines of disease of the chest 
 and the diseases of women. A large portion of his success he at- 
 tributes to the fact that he has made a specialty of those bra.nches 
 and has always refused to be bound to any special code of medical 
 ethics, believing that special and peculiar circumstances are su- 
 perior to any rigidly laid down rules of practice.
 
 200 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Dr. McGrath is a Bryan Democrat in his political views, and 
 would wish to have taken more active part in the work and coun- 
 sels of his party but for the exactions of his professional duties so 
 entirely engrossing his time. He has, however, found the time to 
 contribute a number of valuable articles to the medical journals. 
 
 Dr. McGrath is a strong advocate of temperance and is now 
 President of St. Malachy's Total Abstinence Union. As a phy- 
 sician he claims that alcohol is neither useful nor necessary, and 
 neither prescribes it for his patients nor in any way encourages its 
 use. He is a valued member of a number of the medical societies 
 of Chicago and the West. 
 
 In 1890 Dr. McGrath was married to Agnes, daughter of Rich- 
 ard Eyan of Chicago, and they have twin boys born in 1894, and a 
 baby daughter. Domestic in tastes, he enjoys nothing more than 
 home and family, while at the same time he is of a most social and 
 genial disposition and possesses many warm friends who esteem 
 him for his numerous high qualities. 
 
 ALVAH LEWIS CREELMAN. 
 
 In fertility of resource, in practical application of every scien- 
 tific force, in inventive genius, America leads the world. There 
 appears to be something in the free air of our country that gives 
 the mind richer scope and increases its natural faculties. Chicago 
 and the great West have not failed to supply their due propor- 
 tion to the large list of American inventors and the subject of the 
 present sketch has produced several appliances which well entitle 
 him to a place in the great and noble list.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 201 
 
 Alvah L. Creelman was born April 24th, 1853, at Monroe, in 
 Monroe County, Michigan. His father, Samuel, was born at Bally- 
 castle, Ireland, in 1808, and when only eight years old went to Que- 
 bec, removing then to the United States in 1818 and settling at 
 Monroe, Michigan. When young Creelman was an infant of twelve 
 months the family moved to Detroit, and here his boyhood was 
 spent. Samuel Creelman died on a farm in Ypsilanti in 1887. He 
 was married in 1812 at Monroe, Mich., to Clarissa J. Rhoades, who 
 is still living with her daughter in Chicago. 
 
 Mr. Creelman was educated in the public schools of Ypsilanti, 
 taking the ordinary business course. Of an adventurous disposi- 
 tion, he was but thirteen when he decided to make a start in life 
 for himself, and finding employment as agent with the Wells-Fargo 
 Express Company he traveled for two years through the Rocky 
 Mountains. He then worked for a year with the Union Pacific Rail- 
 road Company as operator and agent and then went south to 
 Selma, Ala., where he was given the position of private secretary 
 to W. L. Lanier, vice-president of the Alabama Central Railroad. 
 In this post of responsibility the fact that he remained for ten 
 years and until the road was sold, speaks sufficiently clearly as to 
 the faithful manner in which his duties were performed. He next 
 removed to Memphis, and found congenial employment with the 
 Western Union Telegraph Co. Electrical subjects had always been 
 to him of primary interest and he was able to carry on his experi- 
 ments. His work has borne good fruit; one result in the produc- 
 tion of a Circuit Protecting Sounder for the protection of railroad 
 train dispatchers being of sufficient importance to obtain ready 
 recognition by the Illinois Central Railroad, who have introduced 
 it along their entire system. 
 
 Mr. Creelman was married in 1873 to Miss Emma England, of 
 Saline, La., and there were born to them four children, three boys 
 and one girl.
 
 202 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The political views of Mr. Creelman Lave always been those of 
 the Democratic party, which his father also favored. He has trav- 
 eled extensively, claiming to know every principal city throughout 
 the Union. With a pleasant manner and a large fund of ideas, 
 Alva.li L. Creelman is a very excellent companion and a most charm- 
 ing friend. 
 
 JOHN W. ENRIGHT. 
 
 There are many who have never met John W. Enright in person 
 or even had any business relations with him, who will take 
 pleasure in the following sketch and read it with interest, for the 
 reason that they have become acquainted with the man and with 
 his mental bents through his many admirable writings on religious, 
 social and philosophical questions. 
 
 Mr. Enright is a native of Dromcolloher, County Limerick, Ire- 
 land, and came to the United States with his parents and brothers 
 and sisters in 1850, settling at New Orleans. His father, James 
 Euright, was also born in- County Limerick; he was a builder by 
 occupation, and married Mary Woods, also a native of the same 
 county. 
 
 The primary education of John W. Enright was received in the 
 national schools of Ireland, and after coming to New Orleans he 
 was placed under private tutors and he made mathematics his 
 principal study. His first occupation after concluding these studies 
 was as teacher in the public schools of New Orleans, that position 
 being very acceptably filled for five years, when he entered the 
 Kedemptorist College of that city, as professor in mathematics,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 205 
 
 and remained there for twelve months. While teacher in the 
 schools, he at the same time studied law in the office of Judge Col- 
 lens, the well known jurist and lawyer, and being a most apt and 
 promising law student, he would probably have followed that pro- 
 fession as his life work and achieved therein honor and success, 
 were it not for an offer of a lucrative character that came to him 
 and proved too strong a temptation for him to resist. It was from 
 the Freret Cotton Press, offering him a place in their employ at 
 a salary of f 2,500 a year, now a large sum for so young a man, but 
 even more so at that time nearly thirty-five years ago. Mr. En- 
 right remained with the company for four years, and until the 
 breaking out of the war, which of course entirely paralyzed the cot- 
 ton business. 
 
 Then he came to Chicago, and having accepted a position as 
 book-keeper in the wholesale liquor house of Schwab, McQuaid & 
 Smith, remained with that firm for two years, then entering into 
 business for himself in the same line under the firm name of Smith, 
 deary & Enright. This was in 1868, and the concern carried on 
 business successfully until the great fire of 1871, when they were 
 totally burned out, the books as well as the stock being entirely 
 consumed. The firm, however, paid one hundred cents on the dol- 
 lar without even asking any extension, and rebuilding, started in, 
 and continued until January 1st, 1890. In the latter year, Mr. 
 Enright was elected president of the Star Brewery, of Chicago, fill- 
 ing that position for one year, and afterwards the office of secretary 
 and treasurer for two years. At the close of 1892, Mr. Enright start- 
 ed in the distillery business, forming a connection with the Globe 
 Distilling Company, of Pekin, 111., and also acting as general agent 
 for the Sonoma Wine & Brandy Co., of California. With these two 
 connections Mr. Enright transacts a business of fully one million 
 dollars a year. 
 
 Notwithstanding the activity of his business career and the
 
 206 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 constant supervision required, Mr. Enright has found time to in- 
 terest himself somewhat in public matters appertaining to the ad- 
 vancement of his adopted city and the community at large. He 
 was appointed a director of the Chicago Public Library by the 
 late Carter H. Harrison, in 1883, served five years, and during that 
 time he was twice elected president of the Board by the directors. 
 His connection with the Board ceased in 1888. 
 
 Mr. Enright was president and treasurer of the Irish American 
 Club, which is now unfortunately out of existence, and is at the 
 present time president of the Marquette Council of the Catholic 
 Benevolent Legion. Though always a staunch Roman Catholic, he 
 is a man of most broad and liberal views, conceding to all the right 
 of freedom of thought as well as freedom of speech. In his politi- 
 cal views he has at all times been a Democrat. 
 
 Mr. Enright was married November 30th, 1865, to Mary B. 
 Croghan, of Chicago, the daughter of Edward Croghan, an exten- 
 sive landed proprietor of County Roscommon, Ireland. They have 
 eight children living, five daughters and three sons, and one daugh- 
 ter died two years ago. Their son James P. acts as book- 
 keeper for his father, and another son, Walter J., is a member of 
 the Art Institute, where he has made a good record. He has already 
 become a frequent contributor to current magazines. One of the 
 daughters has also demonstrated very similar abilities. She is a 
 teacher of drawing in one of the high schools of Chicago and has 
 attained great proficiency in that accomplishment. 
 
 For mathematics Mr. Enright still retains his old taste, but 
 outside of his own business he is principally known as a writer for 
 various papers and publications. His reply to Ingersoll, entitled 
 "After Death," which was published in the "Citizen" of October 
 6th, 1894, was masterly in character, and though an article occu- 
 pying little more than a column of space, contained in a small com- 
 pass as much pertinent thought as might be given in many volumes.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 207 
 
 He met the notorious agnostic on his own grounds, and every liue 
 telling, pointed out clearly and most forcibly his fallacious reason- 
 ing. This is mentioned only as an illustration of many other valu- 
 able contributions from Mr. Enright's pen. 
 
 Mr. Enright is a man in the prime of life, genial and dignified, 
 a delightful conversationalist, and who, having gathered around 
 him a host of friends, one need hardly say is most warmly esteemed 
 by all who know him for his eminent qualities both of head and 
 heart. 
 
 The family relations of Mr. Enright are also of the most happy 
 character, for far from being the austere and tyrannical father of 
 story and oft-times of fact, he is the friend and companion of his 
 children, and while looked up to with the respect due the father 
 and head of the household, he at the same time enters with sym- 
 pathy and interest into their pursuits and recreations. 
 
 Ills brother, Rev. Timothy Eftright, entered the Redemptorist 
 College, of Annapolis, Md., in 1850, and was ordained in Baltimore 
 in 1863, in the same class of students which contained Archbishop 
 Gross, of Oregon. As a missionary priest, Father Enright has since 
 traveled through the United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 
 and is one of the most noted linguists in the country, speaking 
 some fifteen languages. He is now at St. Michael's Church, where 
 he officiates in connection with the Order of Redemptorists, of which 
 he is a member.
 
 208 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 THOMAS ALEXANDER SMYTH. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, if not exactly of Chicago birth, 
 barely escaped that fortune, for it was on the steamboat St. Jo- 
 seph, when journeying from Buffalo to Chicago, and in the Chi- 
 cago Harbor, half an hour before the landing stage was reached, 
 that Thomas Alexander Smyth first saw the light of day. 
 
 Neither high political preferment nor stupendous business suc- 
 cess are needed to make a life of pleasing interest to its readers, 
 or of good and valuable instruction to one's fellow men. T. A. 
 Smyth has worked along calmly but continuously. All that his 
 hand found to do, he did with the very utmost of his power, and 
 to-day he stands among the foremost Irish Americans of this great 
 city; no man in it better known, more highly respected, or more 
 truly honored. 
 
 He was born September 27, 1848; his father, Michael K. Smyth, 
 and his mother, Bridget McDonald Smyth, were both from Ballina, 
 County Mayo, and of good Irish descent for several generations. 
 The business of Michael K. Smyth was that of importer of lumber 
 and tobacco; he was in very comfortable circumstances and the 
 owner of a number of vessels. In 1828, however, he sought a larger 
 field for action, and settling in Quebec, Canada, engaged in the 
 fur business. A few years later he moved to the United States and 
 took up the business of a wholesale grocer in Buffalo, New York. 
 In 1848 he started for Chicago, and on the journey, as was men- 
 tioned before, Thomas A. was born. He obtained a situation as 
 land agent to William B. Ogden, then largely interested in, and 
 later president of the Galena Air Line. The business abilities 
 Michael K. Smyth displayed obtained quick recognition, and he
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 209 
 
 was appointed town clerk in 1850, and served for one year; but at 
 the same time acting for Mr. Ogden. An active member of the 
 Volunteer Fire Department in 1853, the performance of this pa- 
 triotic duty was the cause of his death. One winter night in a 
 temperature below zero, he was called to a fire, and with another 
 volunteer was caught by a falling gable. To save them from the 
 fire, they were deluged with water, and the after exposure produced 
 a severe cold which, in each case, terminated fatally. 
 
 Thomas A. Smyth received his education in Chicago public 
 schools, and after passing through the grammar school immedi- 
 ately sought some occupation. He first entered the moulding trade, 
 but it was so disagreeable that he found it necessary to change to 
 that of a mason, in which he continued until 1867. He then started 
 as a contractor on his own account, and was very successful in 
 his venture. Thereafter he entered into business with his brother, 
 John M. Smyth, the well known west side merchant, the firm that 
 is now known as the John M. Smyth Co. Here he remained until 
 1888, when he sold out his interest and engaged in real estate loans 
 and insurance business, in which he still remains. Success has 
 crowned his efforts, and his real estate investments have brought 
 him very material gains. 
 
 Mr. Smyth has always been true to the Democratic party, politi- 
 cal appointment he has never sought, although strong efforts were 
 used to induce him to become a member of the City Council. His 
 popularity was shown, however, on November 7, 1895, in his elec- 
 tion as trustee for five years of the Sanitary District of Chicago, 
 which is engaged in the stupendous undertaking of building the 
 Drainage Canal from Chicago to Joliet, in order to supply Chicago 
 with a perfect system of drainage and also with pure water. The 
 estimated cost of this great enterprise is about $35,000,000. 
 
 He was married August 27, 1879, at Boston, Massachusetts, to 
 
 Sarah Elizabeth Usher, daughter of Thomas and Mary Usher. 
 11
 
 210 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 She was born in England, of Irish parents, her father having 
 been a captain of police, both in England and Ireland. There were 
 five children, Agnes, John, Sarah, Joseph and Thomas, all of whom 
 are living. Mrs. Smyth, who died February 4, 1894, was a tall 
 and graceful woman, of intellectual ideas and strong religious 
 temperament. She had endeared herself to an immense circle of 
 friends, and her loss was a terrible grief to her husband and their 
 children. 
 
 Thomas Smyth is an old member of the Knights of Pythias, and 
 also of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. He is also in the Eoyal 
 Arcanum, and is president of his ward club. 
 
 JAMES C. DOOLEY. 
 
 James C. Dooley, the west side Justice of the Peace, was born 
 in Ireland, December, 1850, the youngest son of a family of eight 
 sons and one daughter. Concerning his parents, his father, Michael 
 Dooley, was a farmer in moderate circumstances, while his mother 
 was formerly Mary O'Connor. 
 
 James C. Dooley received his education partly in the national 
 schools in Ireland and partly in the public schools of Chicago, 
 afterwards taking a course in the Bryant & Stratton Business Col- 
 lege. He was sixteen years old when a neighbor of the family in 
 Ireland was setting off to America, and deeply though such a part- 
 ing was felt, he was permitted to go also. Landing in New York 
 in 1866, his sole worldly wealth was fifty cents. The distance and
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 211 
 
 lack of funds prevented him journeying to a brother in Wisconsin, 
 and forced him to immediately secure work. He found a position 
 as messenger for the Western Union Telegraph Company. In 
 1867 he decided to come to Chicago and began to work for the 
 Western Union Telegraph Company in the department controlling 
 the shipment of telegraph poles and other construction supplies. 
 The superintendent of the department having discovered Mr. 
 Dooley's abilities, left the matter of attending to the business of 
 the department entirely in his charge. So well was every duty 
 performed that the manager finally concluded that he was amply 
 able for the place and consequently made him superintendent of 
 the department. Mr. Dooley's great object in life at this time 
 was, however, to secure an education, and for that purpose he at- 
 tended the public schools at night, and by saving much of what he 
 was able to earn also succeeded in taking a night business course 
 in the college mentioned before. He left the employ of the West- 
 ern Union Telegraph Company and obtained a clerkship and the 
 position of Deputy Sheriff in the Sheriff's office of Cook County, 
 in which he remained from 1872 to 1891. By unanimous recom- 
 mendation of the judges he was in 1891 appointed by Governor 
 Fifer, and reappointed by Governor Altgeld, Justice of the Peace 
 of the Town of West Chicago, with jurisdiction within Cook County. 
 This opportunity he utilized to the fullest purpose and commenced 
 the study of law at the Chicago College of Law, and having com- 
 pleted his course was examined in 1895 for admission to the bar 
 before the Appellate Court and the faculty of the Law School and 
 was successful. 
 
 A Democrat in his political opinions, he has oftentimes been 
 called upon to act as chairman of town conventions, and for six 
 years was a member of the Democratic County Central Committee. 
 In 1892 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, 
 held at Chicago, which resulted in the election of Grover Cleve-
 
 212 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 land. lie was married October 10th, 1876, to Miss Bridget Mc- 
 Carthy, a native of Chicago. They have seven children Richard, 
 the eldest, a graduate of St. Patrick's School, and now studying 
 law, has shown great promise as a public speaker; Lottie, a student 
 in the Chicago High School; Nellie, is a girl of twelve, who ex- 
 hibits considerable musical talent, having by herself acquired 
 knowledge of the piano and violin, and become quite proficient; 
 the others James, Charles, Anna, and Genevieve are attending 
 the Sisters' school. 
 
 Justice Dooley is a Catholic in his religious views, attending 
 Father Bonfield's Church with his family. During his early life, 
 being of an exceedingly social disposition, there was scarcely an 
 Irish society of which he was not a member. He, however, did not 
 limit his attention to those societies appealing especially to Irish- 
 men, but was also connected with several others, particularly of 
 such as are of a benevolent nature. 
 
 PATRICK MILFORD HANNEY. 
 
 It has been said, and possibly with some foundation, that those 
 of the Irish race have succeeded in obtaining a considerable voice 
 in the government of every country to which a migration had been 
 made, with the exception of their own land. Irishmen hold high 
 rank in the armies of France, Spain, Austria, Great Britain, and 
 other countries the secretary of the Mexican Navy is an Irishman 
 --and in the United States they are to be found with high rank 
 not only in the army and navy but also in commercial life, for seem-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 215 
 
 ingly the Irish character possesses many of the essentials of suc- 
 cess as well as the peculiar qualification of never being satisfied 
 until the principal place in whatever is undertaken has been 
 achieved. 
 
 The subject of this sketch is an Irishman who, absolutely un- 
 privileged in the way of schooling advantages, none the less man- 
 aged to secure a good education, and when thrown, at a very early 
 age, upon the world, full of a strong will and steadfast in his pur- 
 pose, has succeeded in making his name a power in the business 
 world. Mr. Patrick Milford Hanney, president of the Hazel Pure 
 Food Co., and at the same time manager and buyer for the immense 
 grocery department of Siegel & Cooper, was born in County Leitrim, 
 Ireland, April 13th, 1860, his parents being Patrick and Patrica 
 (Fallen) Hanney, whose family were farmers in that section of the 
 country. Patrick Hanney died in 1876 and the mother of our sub- 
 ject is now living in this city. 
 
 His career has been an eminently adventurous one; at the age 
 of sixteen, Patrick M. Hanney took up a seafaring life, working 
 his way on a steamer. Arrived in India, he obtained employment 
 with the Hong-Kong and Indian Importing Company in the ca- 
 pacity of an errand boy, and from that position worked his way 
 up until, on reaching twenty-one, he was the general buyer for the 
 company, purchasing $ 1,500,000 worth of goods each year. He was 
 a splendid judge of values and trading appeared to come to him as 
 a sort of second nature. Having saved some money, he determined 
 to see some more of the world, and was also ambitious to take up 
 the business of coffee growing. With this object in view, he sailed 
 for South America and began to speculate, buying coffee and ship- 
 ping it to New York and Chicago, but being insufficiently experi- 
 enced, the venture did not prove a profitable one. 
 
 Moving to New York he remained there two years, doing busi- 
 ness as a broker in foreign products, and in 1886 located in Chi-
 
 216 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 cago, engaging in the jobbing and exporting business. His capital, 
 however, proved too limited, and a reported failure of the bank in 
 which it was known his funds were deposited, forced him out of 
 business, and left him in debt to the extent of |130,000. Sterling 
 in his honesty and a man of the strictest integrity, this heavy loss 
 Mr. Hanney set out vigorously to clear, and so nearly has this been 
 done that at the present writing 1897 there is no man in Chi- 
 cago's commercial circles higher rated or considered. 
 
 In 1890 it was brought to the notice of Mr. Hanney that Messrs. 
 Siegel & Cooper, whose store was then located at the corner of 
 Adams and Wabash Avenue, had found the grocery department 
 an unprofitable venture and were determined to close. He offered 
 to take a lease and to this the firm readily assented. The business 
 prospered exceedingly and became practically a gold mine, so much 
 so that when the firm moved to its new building, on State Street, 
 a different arrangement with Mr. Hanney was insisted on. He was 
 offered a certain percentage of the profits and afterwards a straight 
 salary of $8,500 a year, the latter of which he accepted. At the 
 present time he is manager and buyer of the grocery department 
 and his great general knowledge of goods and merchandise has 
 carried him into a very close and confidential relation w r ith the 
 head of this immense firm, who remains in New York to look after 
 the interests of the branch there. Mr. Hanney's good judgment 
 and thoroughly active superintendence have increased the sales of 
 his department in the last six years from $100,000 to $1,500,000 a 
 year, and it must be remembered that this is in a department where 
 others, considered to be strong and experienced, have absolutely 
 failed. 
 
 From Mr. Hanney's first arrival in the TJnited States he had 
 noticed that the food products of this country were so cheap and 
 so plentiful that it was possible to put up pure goods and ship 
 abroad at a cost far below what could be done by any other nation.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 217 
 
 Going to Washington, he endeavored, unsuccessfully, to organize 
 such a company, but his agitation of the subject produced good 
 fruit in the recent legislation in several of the States against im- 
 pure foods. 
 
 In 1890 he organized, promoted, and has been able to place 
 on a solid business foundation, the Hazel Pure Food Co., which is 
 now selling annually |6,000,000 worth of the pure food products. 
 One-half of the stock in the concern is owned by Siegel & Cooper, 
 and Mr. Hanney owns the balance, and is at the same time president 
 and general manager. In face of the enormous yearly sales, it is 
 unnecessary to state that the business has been a very great suc- 
 cess, or that Mr. Hanney's faith in good and pure foods has been 
 amply justified. 
 
 lie led to the altar, in 1888, Jessie M. Sinclair, of Aberdeen, 
 Scotland, a lady of many accomplishments. They have a family of 
 three children. 
 
 Like all Irishmen, Mr. Hanney possesses a strong predilection 
 for athletics of all descriptions, and is a member of the Chicago 
 Athletic Association. 
 
 In religious belief he is a Roman Catholic, and in politics inde- 
 pendent. Quite a traveler, he has visited every part of the world, 
 and every year the necessities of his business take him to Europe. 
 Fie is also an extensive reader, talking intelligently and interest- 
 ingly upon all topics of the day, and is at all times pleasant, cour- 
 teous, kindly, and generous, a gentleman of many friends and by 
 all held in the highest esteem and affection.
 
 218 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 JOSEPH JOHN DUFFY. 
 
 To be a self-made man in this western life of unsparing vigor 
 and ceaseless activity is to demonstrate the possession of great 
 and unusual gifts. To be able to withstand successfully the 
 mighty powers of capitalists and by arduous labor, the utilization 
 of every physical and mental power, make the possessors of cap- 
 ital serve you, each on an equal platform, this it is to be notable 
 and deservedly proud. The subject of this sketch may well flatter 
 himself upon the opportunities he has made, the manner in which 
 he has used and the reputation he has gained. 
 
 Joseph John Duffy was born in Chicago, August 20th, 1859. 
 His father, John, and mother, Elizabeth (Canfield) Duffy, came to 
 this city from Roscommon, Ireland, in 1840. John Duffy, senior, 
 became one of the most prominent contractors of Chicago in his 
 day. Young John Duffy attended school at St. Patrick's and after- 
 wards at the seminary of our Lady of the Angels, at Niagara Falls. 
 After leaving school, young Duffy went into the general contract- 
 ing business with his father for ten years, afterwards entering into 
 a partnership with his brother Michael. Many large contracts 
 with the City of Chicago were taken by him, among which may be 
 mentioned the Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street viaduct and the 
 Western Avenue and Kinzie Street viaduct. During the last four 
 or five years he has laid on an average between 200,000 and 300,000 
 yards of street paving. 
 
 In 1890 Mr. Joseph Duffy separated from his brother and since 
 that time has carried on the business alone. He is now engaged 
 011 a very large contract, the building of the North West line tun-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 219 
 
 nel, which will be used to bring water from the lake to supply the 
 west division of the city. The price to be paid is $400,000, and the 
 tunnel is to be three and one-half miles long and eight feet in 
 diameter. Mr. Duffy has gained a reputation for quick work, and 
 in six months he completed one mile far more rapid work than 
 has ever hitherto been done. 
 
 Mr. Duffy married Julia Carroll on January 15th, 1896. 
 
 He is a splendid example of the young American Irish who 
 have done so much towards building up Chicago and the West. 
 Fearless, vigorous and of integrity which is beyond question, his 
 honorable methods have succeeded in building up for him, while 
 yet in his early prime, a very large business, as well as a reputa- 
 tion as a business man second to none in this great city. 
 
 JOHN JAMES HENNESSY. 
 
 The career of the subject of this sketch illustrates clearly the 
 possibilities that are open in this country to the earnest and the 
 persevering who possess the courage of their convictions, the firm 
 determination to be the architects of their own fortunes, and who 
 absolutely refuse to acknowledge defeat. The success he has 
 achieved has in no way damaged his popularity, every one who 
 knows him is his friend, and nothing is spoken of him but un- 
 grudging praise of the efforts he has made and the result he has 
 achieved. Ever genial and open-hearted, the popular police magis- 
 trate of the Town of Lake may claim a popularity second to none 
 in the district in which he lives.
 
 220 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 John J. Ilennessy was born in 1855 at Buffalo, N. Y., where his 
 father, James, who was a native of Dungarvan, County Waterford, 
 Ireland, being born there about 1826, settled after arriving in this 
 country. This was in 1847, and after living for ten years in Buffalo, 
 the latter moved to Cleveland in 1857 and died there in November, 
 1864. He had married, in 1854, Margaret Gorey, born in 1828, also 
 a native of Ireland, her birthplace being the parish of Thomastown, 
 County Kilkenny. She died March 30th, 1893, at the home of her 
 son in Chicago. They were the parents of six children, and of them 
 the subject of this sketch was the eldest and the only son. Of the 
 others three survive, and these are married and prosperous. 
 
 Fatherless at the age of nine, the grim master, necessity, per- 
 mitted him but scant schooling. He secured employment at the 
 spring making trade and later obtained a situation in a rolling 
 mill. The hardships attendant upon this labor induced an attack 
 of rheumatism, which incapacitated him for upwards of a year. On 
 recovering he removed to Chicago, at that time the Mecca of so 
 many of the bright and enterprising young men of the East. He 
 quickly secured a place as fireman on one of the river tug boats, 
 which, however, he was forced to resign, owing to his old enemy 
 rheumatism. His interest in religioiis matters had in the mean- 
 time secured him the acquaintance and friendship of the Rev. Fath- 
 er Dorney, through whose influence he obtained temporary employ- 
 ment as janitor of the parochial school. A year later he went to 
 work for Mr. M. W. Ryan, who was then county clerk, and subse- 
 quently he superintended the taking of the school census in the 
 Town of Lake. July 1st, 1884, he was appointed to a position as 
 clerk in the office of Coroner Boydon, and in January following he 
 was made deputy collector for the Town of Lake under Chris V-eh- 
 meyer. In the spring he was tendered the chief clerkship in the 
 office of Assessor Bartlett, but declined in order to accept a position
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 221 
 
 as confidential clerk to Thomas Byrne, now of the well known firm 
 of Gahan & Byrne. November 7th, 1885, he was appointed by S. 
 Corning Judd, then postmaster of Chicago, to the responsible posi- 
 tion of Superintendent in charge of the Stock Yards postoffice, 
 which position he filled with complete satisfaction to the depart- 
 ment, until he resigned, April 30th, 1889. In every office he had 
 held general satisfaction had been given and greater public favor 
 obtained; the Town of Lake testified its further appreciation by 
 electing him Justice of the Peace, in April, 1889. He assumed the 
 onerous duties of that position in May of that year, and has since 
 retained it. On the annexation of the Town of Lake to Chicago, the 
 position became an appointive one, and in 1891 Mr. ITennessy was 
 one of five justices appointed for that district by Governor Fifer. 
 Jlis term expired in 1895, and failing to get the recommendation 
 of the judges by a single vote, Governor Altgeld refused to appoint 
 a successor, and he therefore holds over. April 1st, 1891, he was 
 appointed Police Magistrate by Mayor Cregier, and has succeeded 
 himself in this office from term to term under appointment by May- 
 ors Washburne, Harrison, Hopkins and Swift. His sound and prac- 
 tical administration of justice and preference of equity to mere 
 legal technicalities having become recognized, there is now no 
 more popular justice in Chicago. Mr. Hennessy's duties are not 
 comprised in the necessities of court attention, but other business 
 in connection with his offices keeps his time very fully occupied. 
 
 Judge Hennessy was married in Cleveland, Ohio, June 9th, 1886, 
 to Teresa F., daughter of Patrick Burke, long of that city. Their 
 home is now brightened with two sons, James J., born November 
 8th, 1891, and William B., born August 7th, 1896. 
 
 In his political views, Judge Hennessy is and has always been 
 a Democrat, and in the affairs and general advancement of his 
 party has a prominent and active part.
 
 222 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 John J. Heuuessy is a member of Princeton Lodge, Knights of 
 Pythias, and Council No. 1020, Royal Arcamim, of which he is a 
 Past Regent. He is also in the Independent Order of Foresters 
 and holds the position of Past Chief Ranger of Court Union No. 41. 
 
 THOMAS KELLY. 
 
 Thomas Kelly, one of Chicago's most esteemed citizens, who 
 in 1896 was honored by election to the responsible position of presi- 
 dent of the Drainage Board, is a native of Providence, Rhode Island, 
 where he was born January 3d, 1843. His father, John Kelly, was 
 from County Kilkenny, Ireland, as was also his mother, Margaret 
 Kelly. John Kelly came to this country in 1832, first settling at 
 Providence, R. I., where he obtained a situation as a printer with 
 the old house of Sprague & Co. In Providence he remained until 
 1845, when he came out with his family to Wisconsin, settling on 
 a farm there. 
 
 The education received by the subject of this sketch was not 
 of an extensive character, and consisted merely of an attendance 
 for three winters and two summers in the common schools of Wis- 
 consin. He was then taken from school to fill the place on the farm 
 of his eldest brother, who had married. In 1861, when about eigh- 
 teen years of age, however, he decided to come to Chicago, and 
 found his first business experience in working for packing houses, 
 among whom may be mentioned Dixon & Hosmer, afterwards driv- 
 ing teani for a short time for Brad. Pease, and then going on a farm 
 at Blue Island. After eighteen months on the latter, he was for a
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 225 
 
 short time engaged by the Michigan Central Stock Yard Company, 
 and at the end of that engagement helped to build the Pan-Handle 
 track from Chicago to Crown Point, Ind., serving in various capaci- 
 ties. Later the young man accepted a position in a grocery store, 
 in which he remained from 1866 to 1876, when he was appointed 
 Superintendent of the Brighton Cotton Mills, and in that capacity 
 served until 1879, when he started in the contracting business and 
 followed the same till 1889. 
 
 Mr. Kelly had in 1882 been elected on the Board of Trustees 
 of the Town of Cicero, and in September, 1889, he was elected to 
 the City Council, and re-elected in 1890. In November, 1892, he 
 was elected a member of the Drainage Board, was re-elected for 
 five years November, 1895, and on December 8th, 1896, he was 
 elected president of the Board. 
 
 Mr. Kelly is president of the Brighton Club, a local organization, 
 near his home. In his religious views he is a Koman Catholic, and 
 in political views a Democrat, and has served on a number of com- 
 mittees and other work in connection with his party, to the cause 
 of which he has been a most liberal contributor. 
 
 Mr. Kelly was married on November 14th, 1864, to Ann McCa- 
 hill, of County Cavan, Ireland, and they have two children, Rose 
 and Maggie, the former of whom is married. The same residence on 
 Western Avenue has been occupied by him for twenty-seven years. 
 
 Now in the prime of life, Mr. Kelly is hale and hearty, and shows 
 but little sign of his early struggles and hard work. Distinctively 
 is he a self-made man; his schooling was but slight, yet he has man- 
 aged to acquire knowledge for himself and has risen step by step, 
 gaining not only a comfortable competence for himself and family, 
 but also the respect and appreciation of his fellow citizens, until 
 he has been elected to fill one of the most responsible offices in his 
 adopted city.
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 MILES KEHOE. 
 
 Among the men who, as public servants, have made enviable 
 records for their faithful, earnest and successful efforts in securing 
 beneficial and wise legislation, none is better or more favorably 
 knoAvn than the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. An 
 earnest worker for the advancement of his party's interests, he yet 
 has never allowed his partisanship to interfere with his efforts in 
 the advancement of what he considered best for the interests of 
 his constituents as a whole. And in every walk of life, whether 
 public or private, the same high principles have been found to gov- 
 ern his actions. 
 
 Miles Kehoe was born August 15th, 1848, in County Carlow, 
 Ireland ; son of Arthur and Winnifred (Byrne) Kehoe, who came to 
 this country in 1848, locating in Chicago the following year. Ar- 
 thur Kehoe was engaged for many years, to about the time of his 
 death in 1877, in the teaming business. Mrs. Arthur Kehoe died 
 in 1891. Of their five children, two survive, our subject and a sister. 
 Mr. Kehoe obtained his education at the Foster School, of which 
 George W. Spofford was principal. After graduating, in 1865, he 
 secured employment in a brick yard and later engaged in the team- 
 ing business with his father. His affability of manner and strong 
 personality made for him many friends and resulted in his elec- 
 tion to the State Senate from the Third Illinois District, comprising 
 all that portion of the city south of Twelfth and east of Clark 
 Streets, in 1873, he being the youngest member ever elected up to 
 that time. His services in this capacity were so eminently satisfac- 
 tory that on his renoinination at the end of his first term, he was 
 honored with an almost unanimous vote from the district, which

 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 227 
 
 he continued to serve until 1880. During this time he was for four 
 years chairman of Committee on Municipalities, and secured for 
 ( 'hicago much of its important legislation. Among the laws he was 
 instrumental in passing were the abolition of the old method of 
 town elections; the building and loan association law; the back 
 tax law, which relieved the city from scrip and effectually pre- 
 vented the tax fighting ever since; the fire and police pension act; 
 as well as others which have accrued materially to the benefit of 
 the city. He has a lively and sincere interest in all that pertains 
 to the welfare of the laboring element, and introduced the first bill 
 looking to the abolition of convict labor in the Illinois House of 
 Representatives, thus instigating an agitation which has resulted 
 in the passing of many laws regulating this matter in the interest 
 of free labor. 
 
 In 1878 he was nominated as Representative in the National 
 Congress of the Second Illinois District, his successful opponent 
 being Col. George R. Davis. For a period of six years, from 1880, 
 Mr. Kehoe held the position of law clerk in the offices of Judges 
 Gary, Hawes, and Sidney Smith, successively, and this association 
 eminently qualified him for the position of Justice of the Peace 
 and Police Magistrate, to which he was appointed by the recom- 
 mendation of the Cook County judges in 1895. In the interim he 
 had pursued a course of law studies and was admitted to practice 
 before the State Supreme Court in November, 1892. 
 
 His interest in political matters has always been of the liveliest 
 character, and he was a delegate-at-large to the Republican Na- 
 tional Convention in 1892, where, in accordance with the instruc- 
 tions of the State Convention, he voted for the renomination of 
 President Harrison, in the face of urgent appeals that he should 
 disregard these instructions. 
 
 As a representative of the Irish element it may be said that no 
 more active and earnest worker for Ireland's cause exists in Chi-
 
 228 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 cago. He was a delegate to the convention of Irish Nationalists 
 held in Chicago during the summer of 1895 and is always at the 
 front in matters pertaining to the good of the "Green Isle" whence 
 he had his origin. 
 
 For many years he has been a member of the Ancient Order of 
 United Workmen and is also a member of the National Union, hav- 
 ing been honored by the latter Order as president of its National 
 Assembly of 1895. 
 
 Mr. Kehoe was united in marriage in 1875 to Miss Kate Murphy, 
 of Chicago, who died in 1889. Their son, Arthur T. Kehoe, was born 
 April 14th, 1878, and is a graduate of the high and manual train- 
 ing schools of Chicago. He is now a student at the Kent College of 
 Law. 
 
 The work done by Mr. Kehoe in the past is more than sufficient 
 guarantee of his future performance, and it is beyond doubt that 
 those he has served recognize in him a man worthy of the fullest 
 honor. His integrity has never been questioned. 
 
 THOMAS HENRY KELLEY. 
 
 The name heading this sketch has in the past seven years been 
 associated with very many of the largest and most important real 
 estate transactions in Chicago. That its subject has attained un- 
 usual prominence and demonstrated marked ability in this direc- 
 tion is seemingly a refutation of the old adage that "the shoemaker 
 should stick to his last," for his inclinations as a boy led him to a 
 widely different channel of usefulness, and his career as a "railroad

 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 231 
 
 man," covering a period of twenty-two years, was no less success- 
 ful than has been his management of his present business. His at- 
 tention is devoted exclusively to transactions in real estate of large 
 magnitude, and his great capability and thorough knowledge of 
 values, coupled with many years of business association with cap- 
 italists and men of affairs, render him a valued medium for the suc- 
 cessful carrying through of real estate deals. That he is much 
 sought after in this line of business is attested by the fact that trans- 
 actions covering many millions of dollars have been negotiated by 
 him, and he has constantly in hand one or more involving hundreds 
 of thousands of dollars, notwithstanding the great present depres- 
 sion in real estate values. 
 
 Thomas H. Kelley was born at Hales Corners, Milwaukee Coun- 
 ty, Wisconsin, on August 15th, 1847. He is of good Irish descent, 
 his great-grandfather, John Kelley, a large linen manufacturer, 
 known all over the north of Ireland as Johnny Kelley of the Green 
 Bushes, was a native of County Tyrone. He came to America in 
 1830 and located in New York City, where he carried on his former 
 business. Moving with his whole family to Wisconsin about 1840, 
 they formed quite a colony of relations, and were the first settlers 
 at Hales Corners. The latter is now a suburb of the City of Mil- 
 waukee, and is about ten miles from the heart of the city. John 
 Kelley died about 1845 when he was upwards of seventy-five years 
 of age. His eldest son, Peter, who was grandfather of Thomas II. 
 Kelley, was born in 1800 and came to America with his parents. 
 His wife was Miss Bradley, also a native of County Tyrone. He 
 was a prosperous farmer, and died in 1881. The eldest son, Michael 
 Kelley, father of the subject of this sketch, was also born in County 
 Tyrone, Ireland, and was one of the emigrating family. So soon as 
 he attained his majority he took up the profession of a school 
 teacher, but afterwards became a farmer. In June, 1846, he mar- 
 ried Miss Ellen Goodwin, of County Tyrone, who died in 1854. 
 
 12
 
 232 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 Michael Kelley died April 30th, 1894, aged sixty-six years. There 
 were two children, Thomas H., of whom we are writing, and a 
 brother, John B. Kelley, who was for many years a superintendent 
 with the International Great Northern, and afterwards with the 
 Texas Pacific Railroad, and is now dead. 
 
 Thomas H. Kelley received his first education up to the age of 
 seven from his mother, who taught in the log school house of the 
 Town of Lindon, Cascade, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. He then 
 attended grammar and high school at Fond du Lac, Wis., gradu- 
 ating from the high school there in 1862. He afterwards took a 
 further course of studies at an academy and college at Girard, Erie 
 County, Penn., finishing in 1863. 
 
 His first employment after leaving school was as a newsboy on 
 the Illinois Central Railroad. His earlier instincts had turned on 
 railroading, his great ambition being to control an engine, and at 
 the first opportunity he secured a position as a fireman on the Chi- 
 cago & Northwestern Railroad. After serving in this capacity two 
 years and a half, he was promoted to be engineer. This occupation 
 he followed for seven years on various roads, among them the St. 
 Louis, Kansas City & Northern; the Chicago & Northwestern; the 
 Philadelphia, & Erie; and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. In 
 1877 he gave up engineering and became a passenger conductor, in 
 which capacity he served six years, resigning to take the position 
 of train master, continuing therein for two years. He afterwards 
 held the place of superintendent on various roads, and finally, hav- 
 ing in his long and extensive railroading experience witnessed the 
 possibilities of the great West in the way of real estate transac- 
 tions, he resigned this position in 1885 and embarked in the real 
 estate business in Kansas City. 
 
 During the famous boom which shortly followed in that city, 
 he was able to clear a quarter of a million of dollars, and in 1889 
 decided to go to Chicago, a city which had always held first place in
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 233 
 
 his regard. Having opened up offices, he has since conducted his 
 real estate business with unvarying success. Through his bauds 
 have passed some of the largest deals in the real estate history of 
 the city. Among others recently handled may be enumerated the 
 Plaza Hotel, for $750,000; 418-20 Dearborn Street, $140,000; Thomas 
 Building, corner Ellis Avenue and Midway Plaisance, $160,000; 
 The Campost, Varsity and Renfost apartment buildings, at $125,000, 
 $100,000, and $300,000, respectively; the Wayside Inn, at Fifty- 
 sixth and Jefferson Streets, $75,000; the Commercial Hotel, cornel- 
 Dearborn and Lake Streets, $350,000; the Ogden, corner Leavitt and 
 Ogden Avenue, $50,000; and the Nelson (Kansas City) office build- 
 ing, $500,000. In vacant properties he has also carried through 
 some large deals, including 700 lots, Irving Park and Milwaukee 
 Avenue, for $400,000; 200 lots at Fifty-fifth Street, $100,000; and 
 GOO lots at Montrose Boulevard and Milwaukee Avenue, $300,000; 
 as well as acre properties in Chicago, Cicero, North Shore and 
 northwest portions of the city to amounts from $50,000 to $900,000. 
 The fact that he is able to refer to such deals and that all connected 
 therewith are willing to testify to their entire satisfaction, as that 
 Chicago bankers and other men of high financial standing have no 
 word too high for Mr. Kelley and his methods of business, have 
 placed his services in very general demand. Of large trades he 
 has made a specialty, and on his books are always to be found 
 estates in other cities to exchange for Chicago properties and clear 
 and free property for large equities in this city. From the time he 
 first lived in Chicago, on the corner of Wabash Avenue and Ran- 
 dolph Street, he has seen Chicago grow from a population of 150,000 
 to its present proportions, and he is consequently thoroughly posted 
 on real estate values. 
 
 Mr. Kelley is vice-president of the Wiseman's Automatic Safety 
 Railroad Switch Company, of which he is one of the original incor- 
 porators and a large stockholder.
 
 234 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 In politics he is from conviction a Republican, and upholds the 
 claims of his party with all his strength, although he has never 
 possessed any desire to become an active politician. 
 
 He was married May 25th, 1876, to Miss Addie C. Jones, of Albia, 
 Iowa, daughter of Dr. John Washington Jones, of Mechanicsburg, 
 Champaign County, Ohio. They have two children, Leo T. and 
 Charlotte M. Kelley; both were born at Kansas City, Mo., the first 
 on March 13th, 1886, and the second October 27th, 1887. Mrs. Kel- 
 ley is. like her husband, a member of the Catholic Church, and while 
 living in Kansas, associated with Mrs. Dr. Bickford, she was the 
 means of building a church and parsonage for the priest at Flor- 
 ence, Kansas, which will long remain a memorial to their religious 
 fervor and Catholic faith and liberality. In this connection, how- 
 ever, it should be said that both Mr. and Mrs. Kelley are students 
 and investigators. They are liberal of their means in supporting 
 all good works, and their liberality extends to their religion as 
 well. They concede to each man his right to seek the highest and 
 best in this life and the next in his own way. They have charity 
 and love for all men, and follow the teaching of Professor Huxley 
 in the precept that "one should rejoice in the good man, forgive the 
 bad man, and pity and help all men to the best of one's ability." 
 
 He is a man of striking personality, commanding at a glance 
 the respect and attention of all with whom he comes in contact. 
 His manner and bearing are those of the brainy, successful busi- 
 ness man, and he thus possesses peculiar advantages for his chosen 
 profession. His friends are as numerous as his acquaintances, and 
 with health and life spared to him, his career in the real estate his- 
 tory of Chicago is destined to be a brilliant one.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 235 
 
 JOHN CHARLES HENDRICKS. 
 
 John Charles Hendricks, lawyer, was born in Freeport, 111., Jan- 
 uary 10th, 1850. His father, Thomas Hendricks, was a native of 
 County Wexford, Ireland, and by trade a contractor and mason. 
 Coming to the United States in 1833, he settled at Freeport, 111., and 
 died in 1884. He was a strong Irish Nationalist. He had married 
 Margaret Quigley, a native of Athlone, County Roscommon, Ire- 
 land, where her father was in his day a noted hotel keeper. She is 
 still living, at the age of eighty. 
 
 Thomas Hendricks moved with his family to Joliet, 111., in 
 1854, and there the subject of this sketch received his early educa- 
 tion in the public schools. Financial reasons, however, compelled 
 him to leave school at the age of fifteen, and at once he set to work 
 to learn the printing trade in the office of the "Republican," where 
 he remained until 1876. In the latter year he left Joliet and moved 
 to Chicago, where he obtained a position on the old Chicago Times, 
 to set type at nights, and at the same time, during the days, began 
 the study of law in the office of Levi Sprague. In 1879 he Avas 
 granted a license by the Supreme Court and began the practice 
 of law. 
 
 Mr. Hendricks is a member of the Independent Order of Forest- 
 ers, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Knights of 
 Maccabees, in which Order he has filled all the chairs and on several 
 occasions represented his lodges at the Grand Lodge. He also be- 
 longs to a number of Irish societies, and strongly sympathizing 
 with his kinsmen across the sea has done all that was in his power 
 for their relief.
 
 236 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 In his religious views he is a Roman Catholic and belongs to 
 the congregation of St. Matthew's Church, while in politics he is a 
 Democrat. In political affairs he has always taken the liveliest 
 interest. As a delegate, he has attended a number of conventions, 
 and upon every occasion spoken, also, considerably during the po- 
 litical campaigns. 
 
 Mr. Hendricks was married June 18th, 1870, to Rose Kane, of 
 Joliet, who died August 19th, 1895, leaving a son, John C., Jr., who 
 is a graduate of Kent College of Law and now a partner with his 
 father. The firm of Hendricks & Son has been a very successful 
 one, and is doing a large general practice as well as representing 
 a number of large corporations. 
 
 THOMAS L. HARTIGAN. 
 
 Than the subject of this sketch, who is one of Chicago's most 
 rising young attorneys, there are few men in this city better known 
 or more highly considered. His experience has been wide and 
 varied, and he possesses a rare faculty in the ability to make friends 
 and, what is even still rarer, a strange facility in retaining. 
 
 Thomas L. Hartigan was born at Dedhara, Massachusetts, May 
 tllst, 1861. His parents were on both sides Irish. His mother from 
 the County Fermanagh, and his father from the County of "Limer- 
 ick so beautiful." His father is Thomas O. T. Hartigan, connected 
 with the famous O'Tooles, while his mother, formerly Ann Leon- 
 ard, came from the McCullenans. On each side the families were 
 of historic stock, and in the story of Ireland have frequent mention 
 from the Chroniclers.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 237 
 
 Mr. Hartigan received his earlier education at West Roxbury, 
 Mass., and at Dedham. He afterwards attended the grammar and 
 high schools of Chicago, and having passed through the Central 
 High School, was sent in 1880 to the United States Military 
 Academy, at West Point, N. Y. His course there completed, he 
 returned to Chicago, and having decided to take up the legal pro- 
 fession entered the Union College of Law in 1884. For two years 
 he was in the office of Judge T. A. Moran, and associated himself 
 later with Judge Collins for a further two years. Admission to the 
 bar was obtained March 20th, 1885. Through all this time Mr. 
 Hartigan continued that military service which constituted his 
 chief pleasure. He became Captain, Second Infantry Illinois Na- 
 tional Guard in 1884, and was Adjutant from 1888 to 1890. In 1889 
 he received the appointment of Superintendent of Letter Carriers 
 of the Chicago postoffice, which he held for two years, then accept- 
 ing the position of Captain and Drill Master of the Chicago Police 
 Department, retaining the latter until 1893. In 1890 he was made 
 Major of the Hibernian Rifles and the year following Colonel of 
 the same regiment. In 1893 he became Captain and Adjutant of 
 the Seventh Regiment, and in 1896 was offered its Majority, but 
 for personal reasons thought it advisable to decline. 
 
 Mr. Hartigan is now devoting himself entirely to his profes- 
 sion as a lawyer, and in company with Mr. Edmund E. McCarthy - 
 of whom there is a sketch elsewhere in this volume is rapidly mak- 
 ing his firm prominently known in this city. 
 
 He is a member of several societies the Ancient Order of Hi- 
 bernians, the Knights of Pythias, the Royal League, and the Metric- 
 Society of Chicago. 
 
 In his religion he is a Roman Catholic, while in politics he is n 
 staunch Republican, favoring the protection of our industries and 
 also bimetallism. 
 
 He was married, January 12th, 1885, to Miss Minnie Belle Mac-
 
 238 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 Kinnis, daughter of Dr. Thomas MacKiimis, a well known physician 
 of this city. Their happy household now rejoices in three children 
 Irving Cress, Raymond Thomas, and Leonard Wheeler. 
 
 Mr. Hartigan is a man of medium height, pleasant in his manner 
 and extremely companionable. lie is open-hearted and liberal, and 
 while he knows how to appreciate any favor, is also ever ready to do 
 a friendly service. No list of the American Irish of Chicago would 
 be complete without the name of Thomas L. Hartigan. 
 
 FRANCIS R. COLE, PH. D., LL. D. 
 
 Francis Richard Cole was born in Chicago, June 19th, 1871. His 
 parents, Richard and Elizabeth (Byrne) Cole, came to America in 
 1849 and located in Buffalo, N. Y. Later the western course was 
 resumed, and Richard Cole settled down first in Milwaukee, but 
 finally in our great city in 1859, where he later started to manufac- 
 ture cooperage. He is one of our respected citizens and has been 
 for many years prominent in Masonic circles, the Richard Cole 
 Lodge, A. F. & A. M., having been named after him. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born in a famous year, and has 
 grown up with the city which saw his birth. He was educated in 
 the public grammar and high schools and having determined to be- 
 come a lawyer, took a full course in that department of the Lake 
 Forest University. He completed the post graduate course, taking 
 the degree of LL. B., but even while a law student he devoted him- 
 self assiduously to the science of jurisprudence, also attended a 
 school of oratory, and later took the degree of Doctor of Philoso-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 241 
 
 phy. He opened up a law office before he was twenty-one years of 
 age, and later was at the head of the law firm of Cole, Elliott & Bor- 
 chardt, but at present is practicing alone. He is a great reader 
 and an earnest student, more particularly of the live problems of 
 the day, and is thoroughly versed in the law. In the fall of 1892 
 he was a candidate for Judge of the Superior Court on the Labor 
 Reform League ticket. 
 
 Late years have been given to the cause of free thought and the 
 furtherance of universal enlightenment. Voice and pen have been 
 devoted to the imparting to the people of a larger desire for scien- 
 tific knowledge, and have done much towards opening up public 
 discussion, thereby paving the way for social, political and eco- 
 nomic reform. He also early was active in the university exten- 
 sion movement. In 1895 he was granted the degree of LL. D. He 
 has always been prominent in literary societies, and has held vari- 
 ous offices of trust and honor therein and elsewhere. In religious 
 matters he is extremely liberal and honestly states himself a free 
 thinker, that is to say, he is not a believer in the orthodox religion 
 but is an agnostic of the Charles Huxley type, and has practically 
 demonstrated that his rule of life is founded on the truism that 
 "one should rejoice in the good man, forgive the bad man, and pity 
 and help all men to the best of our ability." In politics he is no 
 partisan but firmly believes in the Jeffersonian and Lincolniau 
 principles of government and thinks our changed and evolved in- 
 dustrial conditions need a new application of the old principles. 
 His voice has been heard in many campaigns expounding the sci- 
 ence of government, and pleading for greater equality of opportuni- 
 ties, political reforms, and the restoration of bimetallism in the 
 United States. 
 
 Judge Cole, as he is familiarly called both from his dignified 
 and judicial appearance and the fact of his candidacy for the bench, 
 is prominent in a number of societies and orders, among which may
 
 242 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 be mentioned the American Secular Union, Freethought Federa- 
 tion, Anthropological Society, Patriots of America, Society of Eth- 
 ical Culture, and the Co-operative College of Citizenship. The last 
 named he considers one of the greatest and broadest educational 
 movements of the age, and one to a greater extent in touch with 
 all sections of the community. Mr. Cole is one of its directors and 
 at the head of the faculty in the department of economics. He is 
 president of the Citizen Sovereignty Association; is lecturer on 
 7nedical jurisprudence in the Dutton Medical College; and on the 
 faculty of the American Health University. He is a remarkable 
 extemporaneous speaker, an able debater, and what is by no means 
 an ordinary occurrence, proficient in both branches of oratory, the 
 forensic and the popular, and frequently speaks on patriotic and 
 memorial occasions. He has also written considerably both in 
 prose and verse. In the last presidential campaign he wrote a 
 powerful pamphlet on the conditions of the republic and the ques- 
 tions before the American people, under the title of Civilization, 
 Bryan and the Times. It had a large circulation throughout the 
 United States and was very generally pronounced one of the great- 
 est campaign documents ever issued in the history of American 
 politics. 
 
 Judge Cole was married on the 19th of July, 1895, to Miss Sadie 
 Clucas. One little girl has blessed the union, Sylvia Elizabeth. 
 
 To have obtained so high a reputation while yet a young man 
 gives earnest promise of a noble future, and for the name of Fran- 
 cis Richard Cole a prominent place in the list of American Irish 
 who have helped to make Chicago the greatest city in the United 
 States.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 243 
 
 EDWARD H. EGAN. 
 
 Edward TI. Egan, the well known live stock commission mer- 
 chant and exporter, is a native of Baltimore, Md., where he was 
 born September 15th, 1855. His father, Thomas Egan, was a na- 
 tive of Ireland, as was also his mother, Ellen McNamara. They 
 both came to Baltimore, Md., in the same year, 1849, and were 
 shortly afterwards married in that city. Early in 1856 they came 
 to Chicago, when the subject of this sketch was six months old. 
 
 Edward H. Egan was educated at St. John's School and at the 
 Holden public school. He left school when eighteen and com- 
 mencing active work as yardman for Nelson Morris & Company, 
 after four to five years in that position he had so gained the con- 
 fidence and approbation of the firm that he was appointed their 
 agent in the Pittsburg Stock Yards. Here he remained for six 
 years, then returning to Chicago and starting in business for him- 
 self under the firm name of E. Egan & Company, live stock commis- 
 sion merchants. The venture was successful from the start and 
 is still in active operation. The business is carried on by Thomas 
 M. Norton, Mr. Egan's partner, as he himself some years ago, in 
 1895, accepted the responsible position of buyer and manager for 
 Eastman & Company, of New York, transactions of between six and 
 seven millions per year being carried on. 
 
 Mr. Egan has now followed the same line of business contin- 
 ually for over twenty years, and has achieved such a thorough 
 knowledge and proficiency on all points appertaining thereto, that 
 though still a young man he is generally considered an especially 
 sound authority on live stock matters.
 
 244 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Mr. Egan was married in this city in 1880 to Miss Annie Dona- 
 van; they have four children, two girls and two boys. In his re- 
 ligious views he is a Roman Catholic, and in politics is independ- 
 ent. 
 
 Mr. Egan is a member of the Royal Arcanum, the Royal League, 
 and also of the Sheridan Club. At the present time he is inter- 
 ested in the organization of a new Catholic association of a benevo- 
 lent character. Chiefly in connection with his business he has 
 traveled through much of the United States as well as Canada. 
 While his tastes and disposition are decidedly of a domestic char- 
 acter, at the same time he takes an active interest in the organiza- 
 tions mentioned. He is a man of fine executive ability and a most 
 genial friend and companion. 
 
 JAMES KINCADE. 
 
 No Irish American in this great city deserves more credit for 
 what he has accomplished in the world than does the subject of the 
 present sketch, James Kincade. He came to this country without 
 a dollar, yet he has by his own unswerving pluck and untiring 
 energy, been able to achieve a fortune and to make for himself an 
 honored name. 
 
 James Kincade is the son of John and Elizabeth (Mahen) Kin- 
 cade, respectively from County Westmeaih and County Wicklow, 
 Ireland. His parents came to New York in the year 1826, his father 
 dying in 183G while on a visit to the old country, and his wife fol- 
 lowing him seven years later.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 245 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born in the City of New York, 
 December 3d, 1832. He was, however, but four years old when his 
 parents returned to Ireland taking with them their son. His educa- 
 tion was not of an extensive character, consisting only of a year 
 or two in the cross road school of Peter Dempsey, then a noted 
 teacher of the district, and who found a large portion of his remu- 
 neration by boarding around among the parents of his scholars. 
 The death of John 'Kincade, however, compelled him to go to work, 
 at the age of fourteen, and for two years he found employment as 
 a carpenter. When seventeen he determined to come to America 
 and seek fortune's favors. He was absolutely without money, for 
 everything his father had left him was in trust until he became of 
 age, and consequently he was forced to make an excuse that he 
 desired to purchase some cattle, and in that way was able to obtain 
 from his guardian sufficient money to pay his passage to America, 
 where he landed without a cent and with no friends. Landing in 
 New York, he immediately went to the court house, according to 
 the custom of those days, with the other emigrants or "greenhorns," 
 as they were termed, and waited until some one should come and 
 offer him some employment. 
 
 A baker taking a fancy to him, hired, and James Kincade stayed 
 with him a short time, afterwards going to work in a brick yard, 
 in which he remained about four years. Afterwards, for two years, 
 he worked as a brakeman for the Hudson River and for the Erie 
 Railroads. 
 
 Coming to Chicago in 1855, he went to work for the Rock Island 
 Railroad, then building the side track from Twenty-second Street 
 to the Junction, and was later a brakeman on the Chicago, Burliug- 
 ton & Quincy Railroad. His next employment was in the lumber 
 yard of George E. Scott, where he stayed fourteen years, beginning 
 with the small pay of $6 a week, and when he left being in receipt 
 of $1,700 a year and his house rent.
 
 246 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 Thoroughly independent in his disposition and character, Mr. 
 Kincade determined to embark in business on his own account, and 
 in 1863 started in the lumber business at Lodi, Kane County, 111. 
 There he was but two years when he sold out and returned to his 
 former employ with Mr. Scott, remaining until the latter went out 
 of business in 1868. Then, looking about for some business which 
 he might take up, he by chance noticed in the papers that sub-con- 
 tractors were required on the Riverside Boulevard. He investi- 
 gated, took a portion of the work, and was able to clear fl,700 in 
 sixty days. This was the opportunity he had so long sought, and 
 from that time he has steadily progressed until he developed into 
 one of the largest contractors of this city, having built the viaducts 
 of Van Buren Street, Milwaukee and Desplaines Street, Taylor 
 Street, and Ogden Avenue. In addition he has done much work 
 for railroad companies and for the city, and also laid the foundation 
 for the mammoth sugar refinery upon which several other con- 
 tractors had failed. 
 
 In religion Mr. Kincade is a Roman Catholic and a regular at- 
 tendant of St. Mathias Church, while in politics he is a silver Demo- 
 crat and a member of the Cook County Marching Club. 
 
 He was united in marriage at Port Jervis, N. Y., October 31st, 
 1854, with Margaret Grannan, of County Wexford, Ireland, whose 
 grandfather had taken a prominent part in the Irish troubles of 
 '98, distinguishing himself at Three Bullet Gate and at Vinegar 
 Hill. A woman of great common sense and untiring energy, she 
 has been of the greatest assistance to her husband in his battle 
 with life, and to her help undoubtedly a great portion of his suc- 
 cess is due. They have had one child, a daughter, Margaret A. Fitz- 
 gerald, who is married to the signal engineer of the Chicago, Bur- 
 lington & Quincy R. R. 
 
 Mr. Kincade retired from business about four years ago, having 
 amassed a comfortable fortune. He now spends his time between
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 247 
 
 his charming home at the corner of St. Louis Avenue and Central 
 Park Boulevard and his farm of eighty acres at Division and Har- 
 lem Avenues. 
 
 Both his wife and himself believe in obtaining all the enjoyment 
 possible from life, feeling they deserve some recompense after the 
 hard struggles of their former years. In 1894 they traveled to Ire- 
 land and have several times visited California and other parts of 
 the United States. A gentleman of the old school, courteous ever, 
 and always most hospitable, Mr. Kincade is one who it is an honor 
 and a pride to number among Chicago's American Irish. 
 
 JAMES J. AHERN. 
 
 This well known Captain of the Chicago Fire Brigade was born 
 at. Buffalo, Michigan, April 17th, 1863. His parents, Patrick and 
 Ella Ahern, were both natives of Ireland and came to the United 
 States in 1845. Having remained for some time in Chicago, a move 
 
 was made to Buffalo, Mich., and the occupation of fanning taken 
 
 % 
 up. It was here the subject of this sketch was born, and later the 
 
 family returned to Chicago, where they resided until their death. 
 
 James J. Ahern received his education in the public schools of 
 St. Pius and St. Jarlath on the west side. As a boy he took an 
 immense interest in athletics of all kinds and became very proficient 
 in swimming and other sports. He left school at the age of four- 
 teen, and went to work as a newsboy on the railroad, traveling 
 between Cairo, 111., and Chicago. Afterwards he found a place in 
 a dry goods store where he remained until he was seventeen, when
 
 248 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 he went into the teaming business. At the latter he remained from 
 1878 to 1886, in the May of which year he joined the fire department 
 in the capacity of driver. Four years later he became pipeman, and 
 then about a year afterwards, June 1st, 1891, received promotion 
 to lieutenant. In November, 1893, he became Captain of the com- 
 pany to which he had been attached from the time he joined the 
 department. 
 
 Captain Ahern was married in 1895 to Sarah A. Ca&sidy, a lady 
 of Irish birth who was then teaching in the Chicago public schools. 
 
 Born and raised a Roman Catholic, he always remained faithful 
 to the teaching of that church. He is a member of a couple of 
 friendly societies, the Royal Arcanum and the Firemen's Benevo- 
 lent Association. 
 
 In the fire department he bears the reputation of a willing, en- 
 ergetic, and most efficient officer, and among a host of friends is 
 esteemed and respected for many high qualities of head and heart. 
 
 THOMAS ROWAN. 
 
 This well known American Irishman was born in 1849 on a farm 
 in County Kildare, Ireland, his parents being Thomas and Bridget 
 (ITickey) Rowan. His education was received in the national 
 schools of Ireland and during the time he also worked on his fath- 
 er's farm until the Litter's death, when, with his three brothers, he 
 continued to carry on the farm until he had reached the age of 
 nineteen. Becoming imbued with the idea that his own country 
 offered insufficient scope to a young man of energy and ambition, he
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 251 
 
 conceived the idea of emigrating to America. Mr. Rowan landed 
 in New York in 1868 and his first work was in a livery stable, 
 where he was employed to groom horses. In this occupation he re- 
 mained twelve mouths, when anxious to better his condition, in 
 1869 lie came to Chicago. His first position in this city was with 
 the street railway company as conductor and after five years in 
 that capacity he entered the employment of Thompson & Wet- 
 more, wholesale clothiers, as a porter. Every duty was so thor- 
 oughly performed, he was found so honest and true that, after 
 four years of service, he was promoted to be a salesman. With 
 that firm he remained as general salesman for ten years and then 
 associated himself with the well known wholesale clothiers, Work 
 Brothers, in 1887, to take management of the uniform department, 
 a position he holds at the present time. Mr. Rowan tells proudly 
 that in all the twenty-four years of his connection with these two 
 great firms he has never taken a vacation nor lost a single day's 
 salary. 
 
 Thomas Rowan was married, in 1872, to Eliza Birmingham, 
 who is a daughter of one of Chicago's pioneers, and when a child 
 used to live on the site now occupied by the Palmer House. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Rowan have two charming daughters, now twenty and 
 eighteen respectively, and both of whom are graduates of the 
 Academy of the Sacred Heart. 
 
 A Roman Catholic in his religious views, he is a staunch Demo- 
 crat in his politics, and is a member of the Royal League and also 
 of the Knights of St Patrick. 
 
 Mr. Rowan's career is one of much interest, for he has not alone 
 been a hard worker but he has struggled against disadvantages 
 that would have baffled any man not possessed of unusual energy 
 and really extraordinary courage. He is an example of energy, 
 ambition and honest, straightforward endeavor. 
 
 13
 
 262 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 PATRICK DOYLE. 
 
 Patrick Doyle, Captain in the Chicago Fire Department, was 
 born at Wexford, Ireland, November 17th, 1852. His father, Mor- 
 gan Doyle, had married Elizabeth Dillon, and followed the occu- 
 pation of a sailor. He died in 1889, his wife having preceded him 
 in 1878. 
 
 Captain Patrick Doyle was educated at the Christian Brothers' 
 School at Waterford, Ireland, where he left at the age of fourteen 
 years to take up the life of a sailor. His first experience was a 
 short one, for he determined as a preliminary to that career to 
 take a course in navigation in the public schools of Waterford. 
 For five years afterwards he followed out his chosen occupation, 
 visiting all parts of the world and finally landing at New Orleans 
 in 1871. Thence he came on to Chicago, where he obtained the 
 position of mate and sailed the lakes for another five years. 
 
 Mr. Doyle joined the Chicago Fire Department, September, 
 1879, as pipeman of Engine No. 13, remaining with this company 
 for two years and then going to Hook and Ladder No. 6 as a truck- 
 man. Being there twelve months, he was made Lieutenant and 
 was sent to No. 8, serving also during the following four years on 
 Nos. 6 and 5, and then becoming Captain of the latter. In 1892 
 he was made Captain of the fire boat Geyser, a position of consid- 
 erable responsibility, the duties of which he has fulfilled to the 
 entire satisfaction of his superiors in the department and of the 
 general public. 
 
 He was married June, 1882, to Annie Murphy, also a native of 
 Ireland, who died in April, 1894, leaving three children, three oth- 
 ers having preceded her.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 253 
 
 In Irish affairs Captain Doyle has always taken the very great- 
 est interest and has been active in every movement for the allevia- 
 tion of the condition of his native land. He is a member of a num- 
 ber of Irish clubs. In his religious views he is a Eoman Catholic, 
 and a member of the congregation of the Jesuit Church, on Twelfth 
 Street; while his political views are those of the Democratic party. 
 His honesty of purpose, his faithful performance of every duty, 
 and other sterling qualities have gained him a host of friends, all 
 of \vhom bear him the highest respect and esteem. 
 
 THOMAS ABRAHAM KENNEY. 
 
 Thomas Abraham Kenney was born June 4th, 1851, in Buffalo, 
 N. Y., of Irish parents, for both his father, Patrick, and his mother, 
 Catherine (Mulligan) Kenney, were natives of Dublin, Queens Coun- 
 ty, Ireland. They left that city in 1847, and first settled in Buffalo, 
 N. Y. ? moving in 1854 to Peoria, 111., where the head of the family 
 died in 1861, and the mother in 1883. 
 
 The circumstances of his parents did not permit Thomas A. Ken- 
 ney to obtain much in the way of education, but what he did was 
 in the public schools of his native town. At an early age he was 
 compelled to leave and seek a situation in order that he might as- 
 sist in supporting the family. Having apprenticed himself to a 
 candy maker in Peoria, he worked at this trade until 1866, when he 
 determined to come to Chicago and see what fortune that rapidly 
 growing city might hold for him. 
 
 Arrived in Chicago, he secured employment with the candy man-
 
 254 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ufacturing house of Scanlan Bros. & Co., on South Water Street, 
 with whom he worked for two years, at the same time attending a 
 business college at night, for he was determined to secure an edu- 
 cation in order that he might improve his condition in the world. 
 At the end of two years he became dissatisfied, for his employers 
 refused to recognize by payment the fact that he was thoroughly 
 qualified to earn a journeyman's wages, and claiming that he was 
 yet too young. He therefore left the firm, in 1887, to become a con- 
 ductor on the South Chicago Street R. R,, in which employ he re- 
 mained a year, and then going into the newspaper and confection- 
 ery business on his own account at the corner of State and Fifteenth 
 Streets. Later he moved to the old Burlington Hall Block, corner 
 Sixteenth and State Streets, where he remained until the spring 
 of 1871, when he sold out and secured an appointment in the postal 
 service as letter carrier. His diligent service procured him rapid 
 promotion through the various grades, until in 1895, he was pro- 
 moted to the important position of general foreman of the City 
 Delivery, having in his charge all the clerks of that division, and 
 it speaks much for Mr. Kenney that he has been able to hold his 
 position in the postoffice for twenty-four years, and through six 
 different administrations. 
 
 Mr. Kenney has long been prominently connected with the 
 Catholic Order of Foresters, and for two years was Vice Chief 
 Ranger of St. James Court No. 7, while for six years he was Chief 
 Ranger of St. Ann's Court, No. 39; for three years financial secre- 
 tary, and since 1883 Deputy High Chief Ranger. Out of nine annual 
 conventions held, he has attended seven as representative of his 
 court. Twice he has been elected president of the Postoffice Clerks' 
 Association, which position he held at the time of the World's Fair, 
 when it incurred great responsibility, and plainly showed the esti- 
 mation and standing Mr. Kenney possesses with his fellows. 
 
 In his religious views he is a Roman Catholic, a regular attend-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 255 
 
 ant of St. Ann's Church, and in politics belongs to the Republican 
 party. 
 
 He was married in October, 1879, to Mary Duffy, and they have 
 had six children, of whom five are living Catherine, the oldest 
 daughter, is a very clever musician, and has frequently displayed 
 her talents in public. 
 
 Mr. Keuney is an American Irishman of whom his fellow citi- 
 zens have every reason to be proud. By his own energies and per- 
 severance, and by strict attention to every duty, he has obtained 
 for himself a responsible position and stands high in the esteem of 
 all his associates. 
 
 WILLIAM H. BURKE. 
 
 William H. Burke, well known as the secretary of the Forest- 
 er's Building and Loan Association as well as active business man 
 of this city, was born at Castleton, Vermont, May 7th, 1860. His 
 father, William Burke, was a native of County Cork, Ireland, and 
 having passed his early life in farming, came to the United States 
 and settled in Castleton, Vt., in 1846. In this town also he en- 
 gaged for a number of years in farming, but eventually went into 
 the railroad business, in which he was occupied until the time 
 of his death October 13th, 1883. His wife, Mary Welch, was also 
 from County Cork, and died in this city in the fall of 1896. 
 
 William H. Burke, the subject of this sketch, was educated in 
 the district schools of Castleton and also at the State Normal 
 School, in that manner obtaining a very thorough commercial 
 training. His first start in life after schooling was as a bell boy
 
 256 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 in a hotel, but he soon secured a situation with the old and famous 
 house of Colgate & Co., soap manufacturers of New York City. 
 His department was the advertising, and in its interests he trav- 
 eled all over the United States, from Maine to California, spending 
 in the latter State over two years. Having remained with the 
 firm for nearly eight years, he came to Chicago and accepted a posi- 
 tion with Towle, Carle & Co., wholesale grocers, traveling for that 
 house through Illinois for two years. The latter place he gave up 
 to accept one with J. L. Hathaway, the well known coal merchant, 
 and there he stayed five years, taking entire charge of the west 
 side branch. He resigned January 1st, 1891, to accept an engage- 
 ment with Cenepa Bros., macaroni and vermicelli manufactur- 
 ers, and with that concern he still remains. At the same time he 
 is agent for a number of representative fire insurance companies 
 who are doing business in this State. 
 
 In 1889 Mr. Burke, with a number of other gentlemen, organ- 
 ized the Forester's Building and Loan Association, and was chosen 
 its secretary, remaining such up to the present time. The organi- 
 zation met with very considerable success from the start, and is 
 now in a flourishing condition, for the affairs have been well man- 
 aged and its payments have always been prompt. 
 
 Mr. Burke is a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters, the 
 Catholic Benevolent Legion, the Knights of Columbus, the Koyal 
 League, and also of the Columbus and Americus Clubs. As has 
 been before mentioned, he has traveled considerably, for during the 
 years of his service with Colgate & Co. he visited, he thinks without 
 exaggeration, nearly every city and town in the United States 
 containing over five thousand inhabitants. Mr. Burke is a Boman 
 Catholic in his religious views, and is a Democrat in political affili- 
 ations. He married Anna E. Scott, of Clinton, Iowa, August 6th, 
 1890, and they have two children, a boy and a girl. 
 
 Mr. Burke's career evinces not only the possession of high busi-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 257 
 
 ness talents as well as executive ability of a very high order, but 
 also of industry and perseverance, for in each of his different en- 
 gagements he has been completely successful, and has been most 
 highly valued and esteemed by every firm he has served. A man 
 of good presence and courteous and genial disposition, Mr. Burke 
 has made a host of friends whom it is the happiness of himself 
 and his good wife to entertain at his pleasant home at 232 Belden 
 Avenue, Chicago. 
 
 JAMES AUGUSTINE BYRNE. 
 
 James Augustine Byrne was born April 3d, 1871, at Armagh, 
 Ireland, where his father, Owen Byrne, was a surveyor and a prom- 
 inent farmer. The latter, who died in 1881, had married Margaret 
 Nugent, one of a family who took a most active part in all of the 
 Fenian movements, and who is still living at an advanced age in 
 Ireland. 
 
 Their sou, the subject of the present sketch, attended the na- 
 tional schools of his native town until he was fifteen years of age, 
 when he came to America and on at once to Chicago. He after- 
 wards attended the Catholic University of Niagara Falls, New York, 
 for six years, graduating there with the degree of B. A., and later 
 spent two years at Baltimore, Md., University, where he received 
 the degree of M. A. 
 
 Mr. Byrne went to New York City in 1893, entering the law office 
 of the firm of Weeds, Smith & Conway, with whom he studied law 
 for two years, and was admitted to practice. Immediately he came 
 to Chicago, opened up an office, and began the practice of his pro-
 
 258 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 fession. His success, when the length of time that Mr. Byrne has 
 been engaged in business is taken into consideration, has been of 
 a very decided character, and he is already in the enjoyment of 
 an extensive practice. 
 
 In religion he is a Roman Catholic and a member of the congre- 
 gation of the Jesuit Church, at May and Center Streets, while in 
 his political views he is a Democrat. A young man of energetic 
 habits, bright ideas and pleasant manner, he has already gath- 
 ered around him a host of friends, and there are few among the 
 younger generation of American Irish who are held in higher 
 esteem than James Augustine Byrne. 
 
 THOMAS RICHARD MELODY. 
 
 Thomas Richard Melody was born in Shieldstown, Lake County, 
 Illinois, on November 13th, 1841. He is the son of John and Ellen 
 (Murphy) Melody. His father was born in County Mayo, and his 
 mother came from Tipperary; they met and were married in Lake 
 County, 111. John Melody left Ireland in the early thirties, and 
 settled for a short time in New York before coming west to locate 
 on a farm in Lake County. A man of very frugal habits and always 
 most industrious, by close management he was able to save some 
 money and to take a contract on the Illinois and Michigan Canal. 
 His wife dying in 1847, he went to the mines of California, where 
 he remained until he went to Washington Territory, where he and 
 his partner were in 1865 killed by Indians one night when return- 
 ing from work.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 261 
 
 His sou, the subject of this sketch, received his education in the 
 public schools of his native county, later attending the Chicago 
 High School, where, after remaining three years, he was compelled 
 to leave and work for his leaving. This was in 1864. Having se- 
 cured a position as clerk in the postoffice, he has since continuously 
 remained in the same employ, being from time to time promoted 
 until now he holds the responsible position of accountant of the 
 Chicago postoffice. This position has been his through the admin- 
 istration of no less than eleven postmasters, and this, notwith- 
 standing the fact that he is a consistent Democrat, and has always 
 been faithful to his party's principle. 
 
 Mr. Melody has one brother living John P. Melody and also 
 a sister. The first named has an important position in the money 
 order department of the American Express Company, and his sis- 
 ter, who is known as Mary Joseph, has charge of the St. Eose's 
 Orphan Asylum, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, an institution recog- 
 nized as one of the finest in the United States. 
 
 In August, 1864, Mr. Melody was married to Ellen Synon, of 
 Chicago, and they have had nine children, of whom six are living. 
 One of his sons, John W., is assistant pastor of St. Pius Parish, 
 and on account of his many great gifts, is thought to have a noble 
 future before him. He took a post graduate course at the Wash- 
 ington University, and graduated with the highest of honors. A 
 daughter, Genevieve, who is a teacher in the South Division High 
 School, recently graduated from the Kent College of Law. 
 
 The career of Thomas R. Melody examples the possibilities be- 
 fore energy and industry, when combined with absolute fidelity 
 and unquestionable honesty. Still in the prime of life, honored by 
 his associates and with friends limited only by the number of his 
 acquaintances, he well deserves a place in the list of Chicago's 
 representative American Irish.
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OF THE 
 
 PATRICK JAMES DONAHOE. 
 
 Patrick James Donahoe was born in Chicago, August 4th, 1850. 
 His father was Patrick Donahoe, a native of Limerick, Ireland, who 
 had come to Rochester, N. Y., in 1847, and in 1852, when the Illi- 
 nois Central Railway was built, was with his brothers interested 
 in several grading contracts. Patrick Donahoe came to Chicago 
 in 1854 and died here in 1891. He had married Ellen Kehler, who 
 was a native of his own county in Ireland. 
 
 Patrick James Donahoe received his education in the public 
 schools of Chicago, but being compelled to find work, left at the 
 early age of fourteen. For six years he found employment at the 
 stock yards and for two years afterwards was salesman for the 
 commission firm of Adams & Bush. In August, 1881, he secured 
 an appointment as truckman in the Chicago Fire Department and 
 was assigned to Hook and Ladder No. 9, at the foot of Monroe 
 Street. March, 1885, he was promoted to a lieutenancy and sent 
 to Hook and Ladder No. 1, at Pacific Avenue and Van Buren 
 Streets; March 1st, the year following, he was sent to Hook and 
 Ladder No. 9, and December 31st, 1888, was promoted Captain of 
 Engine No. 8, at Archer Avenue and State Street, being a few 
 months later transferred to Hook and Ladder No. 9. December 
 31st, 1895, he found still further promotion as Chief of Fifteenth 
 Battalion, with headquarters at Oakley Avenue and Thirteenth 
 Street. 
 
 Chief Donahoe has been mentioned on several occasions in gen- 
 eral orders for brave and heroic conduct at fires, nota.bly those at 
 Clark and Monroe; at Wabash and Monroe; at Lake and Wabash;
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 263 
 
 and at the fire at the Langham Hotel, Adams and Wabash Avenue, 
 in March, 1885, at the latter of which he assisted in rescuing a 
 number of lives. 
 
 Patrick J. Donahoe was married, October 26th, 1882, to Miss 
 Catherine Cahill, of Springfield, 111., daughter of Mr. P. J. Cahill. 
 They have had five children, four boys and a girl, but of these only 
 two boys are living. 
 
 He is a member of the Knights of Maccabees, the Independent 
 Order of Foresters, and the Firemen's Benevolent Association. In 
 religion he is a Roman Catholic, and belongs to the congregation 
 of St. Charles Church. 
 
 lie is a man of fine appearance and of very interesting person- 
 ality. His strict attention to his duties, his unvarying courtesy, 
 and genial kindness of disposition has won for him a host of friends, 
 by all of whom he is held in the highest consideration for his ex- 
 cellent qualities of head and heart. 
 
 CHARLES E. CORRIGAN. 
 
 The subject of the present sketch, one of Chicago's representa- 
 tive progressive young business men, was born Axigust 29th, 1863, 
 in Martinsburg, Lewis County, New York. His father, John Corri- 
 gan, a native of Tyrone, Ireland, had, with his parents, emigrated 
 to this continent when seven years of age and settled on a farm 
 near Kingston, Canada* When he reached his majority, however, 
 he came to the United States, purchasing a farm near Martins-
 
 264 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 burg, Lewis County, New York, and which he personally conducted 
 until his death in 1889. He had married, in 1857, Charlotte Hef- 
 fany, the mother of Charles E., who was a native of Martinsburg, 
 but whose parents had both come from County Tipperary, Ireland. 
 
 Charles E. Corrigan received his education at Martins Institute, 
 Martinsburg, and was afterwards sent to Lowville Academy, at 
 Lowville, in the same State. He was thoroughly grounded in all 
 the subjects comprising a sound English education and also at- 
 tained a fair knowledge of the classics. When eighteen he taught 
 common schools for three years, during the intervals of farm work 
 and his own general studies. At twenty-one, after a brief experi- 
 ence as a commercial traveler, Mr. Corrigan became a stockholder 
 and entered the wholesale and retail house of Northrup, Braslan 
 & Goodwin, at Minneapolis, where he remained until 1891, when 
 he sold out his interest in the firm and decided to settle in Chicago. 
 
 The possibilities of electricity and its greater employment in 
 the future as a motor power had always been to him a subject of 
 most exceeding interest and now that the opportunities of a great 
 city were before him, he devoted himself entirely to enterprises of 
 that character. Finally, in 1896, The American Electric Vehicle 
 Company was organized by him and a horseless carriage placed 
 before the public impelled by electricity at an expense compara- 
 tively small and with results in all ways entirely satisfactory. A 
 full plant is now being established and a great future for the com- 
 pany is confidently anticipated. 
 
 He is an active and a practical Roman Catholic in his religious 
 views, but as for politics, while he has usually voted the Demo- 
 cratic ticket, he disclaims any idea of being a politician. 
 
 Mr. Corrigan was married February 6th, 1895, to Alice M. Pot- 
 win, of Austin, Cook County, Illinois, whose father, Henry Potwin, 
 had been one of Chicago's pioneer settlers. They have one daugh- 
 ter, Euth, born February llth, 1896.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 265 
 
 A gentleman of kindly and courteous manner, of educated 
 mind and evident sound judgment, Mr. Corrigan is one the Amer- 
 ican Irish of Chicago are proud to number among their repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 JOSEPH E. BIDWILL 
 
 Alderman Joseph E. Bidwill was born in Chicago, February 
 20th, 1857. His father was Richard Bidwill, who, coming to Chi- 
 cago from Mitchelstown, Ireland, in 1840, worked as a merchant 
 tailor until the breaking out of the war, when he joined the army, 
 giving up his life for his adopted country at the battle of Gettys- 
 burg. He had married Mary English. 
 
 Joseph E. Bidwill received his education at the Brothers' 
 School, and afterwards at the public schools of this city, the latter 
 being left at the age of sixteen to go to work in a box factory. In 
 this occupation he worked three years when he was fortunate to 
 secure an appointment as helper under the State Grain Inspector 
 at a salary of f 75 a month. When he resigned fifteen years later, 
 he held the position of First Assistant Inspector and was receiv- 
 ing f 3,000 a year. 
 
 He was nominated in 1889 to represent the ward the Ninth 
 in the City Council, and being elected, has held that office for four 
 several terms. Since he has possessed a vote, political matters 
 have always held for him the very greatest interest. Every oppor- 
 tunity has been utilized and he has made himself a distinct power. 
 Unswerving in his fidelity to the Republican party, he is a, State 
 Central Committeeman from the Fourth Congressional District,
 
 266 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 and was also a delegate to the last Republican National Conven- 
 tion at St. Louis. 
 
 He is a member of the Ninth Ward Republican Club; of the 
 Order of Foresters, and of the Sherman Lodge, United Order of 
 Workmen. He has traveled all over the United States and is always 
 a pleasant companion and a thorough friend. In his religious views 
 he is a member of the Roman Catholic Church. 
 
 On September 14th, 1882, he was married to Mary Sullivan, and 
 they have had five children, of whom there are three living. 
 
 Alderman Bidwill is a man of striking appearance and of 
 strong personality. His hand is ever ready to assist a friend and 
 his voice always heard in the cause of his suffering fellow citizens. 
 Open hearted and strong natured, he is a grand representative of 
 his race, and deservedly holds a foremost place among the Ameri- 
 can Irish of Chicago. 
 
 WILLIAM C. FOLEY. 
 
 William C. Foley, one of Chicago's representative successful 
 business men, is a native of Ontario, Canada, where he was born 
 June 2d, 1854. He is a son of Thomas Foley, who was from County 
 Cork, Ireland, and was by occupation a carpenter. The latter came 
 to Ontario, Canada, in 1846, and followed his business until his 
 death in 1883, at the ripe old age of seventy-eight. His wife, 
 Bridget Foley, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was also a 
 native of County Cork, and they left the old land for Canada to- 
 gether. 
 
 William C. Foley acquired an ordinary education in the na-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 267 
 
 tional schools of Ontario, and being of an enterprising disposition, 
 in 1870, when sixteen years of age, came to Chicago to commence 
 his business career and to seek his fortune. He started in as office 
 boy for H. B. Goodrich, the well known manufacturer, and step by 
 step advanced until after nine years of efficient and faithful service, 
 he was given an interest in the business and went to Cincinnati to 
 start there a branch house. This continued until 1882, when Mr. 
 Foley bought out the Cincinnati branch and established the firm 
 of Foley & Williams. The following year the new firm bought out 
 the original Chicago business, so succeeding H. B. Goodrich, and 
 Mr. Foley came to Chicago to take charge, leaving Mr. Williams to 
 carry on the Cincinnati establishment. The firm was incorporated 
 as the Foley & Williams Mfg. Co., and from its inception has been 
 exceedingly successful. The business now done amounts to fully 
 a million dollars a year, and goods are shipped to all parts of the 
 world. Mr. Williams is at the present time the beginning of 
 1897 on a visit to Australia, in the interest of his house, the firm 
 having extensive transactions in that country. Upon Mr. Foley 
 necessarily has fallen the chief superintendence of the extensive 
 and steadily increasing business, but he has still found time to deal 
 quite largely in real estate in this city. 
 
 He is a member of the Columbus and Sheridan Clubs; has trav- 
 eled extensively in this country, and in 1889 made a tour through 
 Europe. In his religious views he is a Koman Catholic, while in 
 politics he has always acted independently, both in national and 
 local affairs, considering it wiser to choose the better man rather 
 than any particular party. 
 
 In 1878 Mr. Foley was married to Miss Mary J. McNamara, who 
 was a teacher in one of our public schools. They have nine chil- 
 dren, two boys and seven girls, and the eldest son is now studying 
 at Notre Dame University, South Bend, Ind. 
 
 Mr. Foley is a splendid illustration of America's successful busi-
 
 268 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ness men, and an example for the rising generation of what is pos- 
 sible to energy and ambition. In his career, from his first start in 
 life as a boy of sixteen, are exhibited not only brightness and apti- 
 tude but also indomitable perseverance and patience. None of that 
 restless spirit that mars the career of so many has ever been ex- 
 hibited or indulged in by him, but plodding along in the very first 
 position he obtained until he became a partner in the firm and 
 eventually succeeded to the entire business. Now in the prime of 
 life, with a fine constitution, a cheerful and sanguine temperament, 
 and a charming family to occupy his mind and heart, he is reaping 
 the reward of his earlier exertions. His tastes are decidedly do- 
 mestic, though he is still very fond of hunting and fishing when 
 he is fortunate enough to afford the necessary time for such recrea- 
 tions. Mr. Foley is the happy owner of one of the finest residences 
 in the city at Grand Boulevard and Forty-sixth Place, externally 
 surrounded with a broad extent of lawn and gravel walks, and in- 
 ternally adorned with fine works of art, statuary and bric-a-brac. 
 
 CHARLES LEONARD MAHONY. 
 
 Among the most promising of the young Irish American law- 
 yers of this city and who is acquiring renown as an advocate is the 
 subject of this sketch, Charles Leonard Mahony. His father was 
 Daniel Mahony, a native of County Cork, Ireland, who came to Can- 
 ada in 1842. In Toronto he was the leader of the Hibernian Broth- 
 erhood and one of the organizers of the raid on Canada, which was 
 to have taken place in 18G6, but he died in Richmond, Va., just pre- 
 vious to its taking place. The mother of the subject of this sketch

 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 271 
 
 was formerly Frances Higgins, one of a well known Irish family, of 
 Roscommon, where her father was a school teacher and a man of 
 very superior education. 
 
 Charles L. Mahony received his early education in the public 
 schools of Toronto, later being given a course at the university 
 there and graduating. Having determined to make the law the 
 profession of his life, he then entered Osgoode Hall, the celebrated 
 Canadian law school, at which he graduated in 1883 as the Gold 
 Medalist, this high honor having been given but once before in that 
 institution. He was also honored with two scholarships and took 
 honors all the way through his collegiate career. 
 
 Having taken up the practice of law in Toronto, he remained 
 in that city eight years and was successful in securing a large gen- 
 eral and commercial practice. In 1887 he went to Springfield, Mas- 
 sachusetts, where he practiced law until April, 1891, and then came 
 to Chicago, having after due deliberation decided to make that city 
 his home. 
 
 Mr. Mahony is the general attorney and counsellor for the Un- 
 dertakers' Association, and also for the public administrator of 
 Cook County. At the same time he represents, in a legal way, many 
 prominent business firms and corporations, and has, in addition, 
 a large and rapidly increasing general practice. 
 
 With the troubles of those of his race in the land of his fathers 
 across the sea, he has always been a great sympathizer, and ever 
 ready and willing to aid by any means in his power. He was the 
 president of the Irish National League of Toronto, the head and 
 front of the Parnell Movement there; and was also chairman of 
 the Canadian delegation which attended the Irish National Con- 
 vention convened in Chicago in 1887. 
 
 He was married, June 10th, 1894, to Agnes Phelan, widow of 
 
 Dr. J. Bruce Phelan, of Chicago. In religious views he is a Roman 
 14
 
 272 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Catholic and a regular attendant of St. Matthew's Church. Politi- 
 cally he is a Democrat, and while not of the active politicians, he 
 is yet at all times ready to go out and speak for any friend who may 
 be a candidate for office. 
 
 CAPTAIN PATRICK C. FEENEY. 
 
 Captain Patrick C. Feeney was born on the fair green of Ballin- 
 afad, near Strokestown, County Roscommon, Ireland, February 1st, 
 1832. He comes of that sturdy race of Feeneys of Eannegly, who, 
 intermarrying with the McDennotts, the McHughs, the Eyans, and 
 the Walshes, were strong rebel stock and at all times haters of the 
 English government. Captain Feeney's father, Owen Feeney, came 
 to this country when the former was only a year and a half old, 
 leaving the boy with his mother. The father found employment as 
 a foreman on the railroad near Toledo, Ohio, but shortly afterward 
 died as the result of fever and ague. His wife, who was formerly 
 Mary Ryan, with her son, continued to live with his mother until 
 the boy was sixteen years old, when he came to this country to an 
 uncle, John Feeney, who was then a foreman in the coal mines 
 near Pottsville, Pa., by whom he was sent to school. His uncle, as- 
 sociated with a Mr. Blessington, having taken a contract on the 
 railroad then being built from Harrisburg to Reading, Patrick was 
 given his first employment in caring for tools and other light work, 
 and for this he was paid one dollar a day, and at that work he con- 
 tinued for one year, when the contract was completed. With his 
 uncle Frank he came to Altoona, Pa., where he was employed as 
 night clerk in the new hotel then being built, and there spent two 
 years. In November, 1852, he started west for Chicago, and, hav-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 273 
 
 ing kno\vledge of the hotel business, obtained employment from 
 Stevens & Willard, proprietors of the Matteson House, corner of 
 Randolph and Dearborn Streets, with whom he remained until 
 Bissel & Goodrich purchased the hotel, and he was given the posi- 
 tion of steward at a salary of $75 per month. In this capacity he 
 remained until the breaking out of the war, in 1861, when he re- 
 cruited a company for Col. Mulligan's Twenty-third Regiment. 
 This regiment the government would not accept at the time, as the 
 call made by President Lincoln was for only 75,000 men, and that 
 number having volunteered from the different States, so many 
 regiments being supplied by each, the quota for the State of Illi- 
 nois was full, and accordingly the Captain disbanded his company. 
 Another call was issued by President Lincoln for 300,000 more 
 troops, and Captain Feeney recruited Company "F" for the Nine- 
 tieth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, which became known as the 
 Irish Legion, or Father Dunne's Regiment While he was recruit- 
 ing this company the business men at and near the corner of Dear- 
 born and Randolph Streets presented him with a sword, sash and 
 belt costing $300, which he still possesses, after carrying them 
 through thirty-two battles and some hundreds of skirmishes under 
 the command of Generals Corse, Hazen, Logan, Sherman and 
 Grant, from 1862 to 1865, his most prominent battles being Ray- 
 mond, Champion Hills, Big Black River, Vicksburg (which fell 
 July 4th, 18(53, when the Confederate General Pemberton surren- 
 dered with 32,000 men), and Jackson fighting and skirmishing for 
 five months. After this series of engagements Captain Feeney's 
 command went into camp for two months near the Big Black 
 River, the Captain himself being wounded. The regiment of which 
 his company formed a part went by boat to Memphis on its way to 
 Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. The train on which 
 General Sherman was being conveyed to Lookout Mountain, with 
 an escort of the Thirteenth Regulars and the garrison of the town
 
 274 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 (Sixty-sixth Indiana), was surrounded and attacked by 3,000 Con- 
 federate cavalry, with eight guns, under command of General Chal- 
 mers, at Collierville, Tenn. The Ninetieth Regiment was tele* 
 graphed for by General Sherman, this regiment being at the head of 
 the column, and, under command of Colonel O'Meara, was hurried 
 forward to Collierville. When within one-half mile of Collierville, 
 Colonel O'Meara ordered Captain Feeney to take his company and 
 deploy, the regiment forming in line of battle, following him up. 
 At Captain Feeney's approach, the Confederates gave way and 
 Sherman was enabled to proceed on his journey, as did the Nine- 
 tieth Regiment, which accomplished a tiresome march of four hun- 
 dred miles before reaching Lookout Mountain and Missionary 
 Ridge. Arriving at Trenton Valley, opposite the Lookout Moun- 
 tain range, camp fires were built after dark in sufficient numbers 
 to represent a large body of troops, and in the building of these 
 fires Captain Feeney actively participated. The ruse was success- 
 ful, and the enemy extended his line to the left The next morn- 
 ing Captain Feeney, with his command, moved through the valley 
 under the Lookout Mountain range toward Chattanooga; on the 
 morning of the 24th of November crossed the Tennessee River, and 
 on the 25th was engaged in the desperate struggle of Missionary 
 Ridge, having command of the skirmish line and losing eighteen 
 of his company. Among those of the Ninetieth who lost their 
 lives were Colonel O'Meara, several officers and many men. 
 
 From Missionary Ridge the Captain and his regiment hurried to 
 the relief of Burnside at Knoxville, Tenn., at a distance of one 
 hundred and fifty miles; then returned and went into camp at 
 Scottsboro, Ala., performing another march of three hundred and 
 fifty miles, with only such rations as forage provided, and in an 
 almost incessant fall of rain or snow. In May, 1864, the command 
 moved toward Atlanta, engaging in a lively battle at Resaca; had 
 a skirmish at Dallas; fought at New Hope Church, Big Shanty,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 275 
 
 Kenesaw Mountain, Marietta, Nickajack Creek and Rosswell, 
 crossing the Chattahoochie River July 9th, and on the 22d of the 
 same month was engaged in one of the most desperate battles of 
 the campaign in the immediate neighborhood of Atlanta. In this 
 engagement General McPherson was killed. On the 27th, Captain 
 Feeney's command moved from the left to the extreme right of 
 Sherman's army, and on the following day another hot battle was 
 fought, during the progress of which Captain Feeney and a num- 
 ber of his men were seriously wounded. Being unable, in conse- 
 quence of his wounds, to take his command to the sea, he obtained 
 a leave of absence to come home, and by a special order of the War 
 Department, remained in Chicago three months, being detailed on 
 a military commission at Camp Douglas. Wearied of the inac- 
 tivity of camp life, he asked to be relieved, but General Sweet, who 
 had command of Camp Douglas, declined to assume authority; so 
 that Captain Feeney had to make written application to the Secre- 
 tary of War, in reply to which an order came relieving him and 
 ordering him to report to his regiment. 
 
 Arriving at Nashville he was unable to proceed further, the 
 railroad being cut and torn up between that city and his command, 
 which was with the regiment in the Fifteenth Army Corps. At the 
 time General Hood was investing Nashville with 40,000 to 50,000 
 men, and Captain Feeney was placed in command of a battalion 
 of the Provisional Division, Army of the Tennessee, composed of 
 recruits, soldiers on furlough, and those recovering from their 
 wounds, making their way to the several commands, and he par- 
 ticipated in the engagement at Nashville. After the battle orders 
 were received to go by boats to Louisville and Cincinnati, thence 
 by rail to Indianapolis, Pittsburg, Baltimore, Annapolis, Md.. 
 where boat was taken for Newbern, N. C. Within four miles of 
 Kingston, the Confederate Army again attacked early in the 
 morning; but General Sherman, closely watching and noting the
 
 276 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 movements of the enemy, sent two divisions of the Twenty-third 
 Army Corps to assist, under General Cox, who took command of 
 the detachment. The enemy was defeated, driven across the Neuce 
 River, and out of Kingston, this being the last battle of the war; 
 and General Cox gave orders to Captain Feeney to take charge of 
 Kingston with his command, and there he held until, in five days, 
 the whole army under General Cox had made pontoons and crossed 
 the river; thence on to Goldsboro, where the men met their vari- 
 ous commands. From Goldsboro they went to Raleigh, N. C., where 
 they confronted General Johnston, in command of the Confederate 
 Army. About that time in the month of April, 1865 President 
 Lincoln was assassinated, and General Lee having surrendered to 
 General Grant, the war was over. Captain Feeney with his com- 
 pany marched to Petersburg, Va., to Richmond, and around to 
 Washington, participating in the Grand Review of Sherman's 
 Army, at Washington, May 24th, 1865. He had left Chicago with 
 one hundred men and returned with only eleven. 
 
 Of Captain Feeney as a soldier it would be impossible to speak 
 in too high terms. Through the hardships of the long campaigns 
 no complaint was ever heard from him, and when fighting was to 
 be done he was always found at the front. Twice was he wounded, 
 at Vicksburg and Atlanta. 
 
 After the war he returned to Chicago, and in 1865 was appointed 
 a Deputy Sheriff, a position he held until the great fire in 1871. 
 While in the Sheriff's office, Captain Feeney attended the Chicago 
 College of Law, from which he graduated in 1870, and commenced 
 to practice the following year. He has met with success and enjoys 
 a large general practice. 
 
 From his earlier years Captain Feeney has been closely asso- 
 ciated with every movement designed to effect the liberation of 
 Ireland, and the hope of such a struggle has commanded his entire 
 sympathy and has gained his very active co-operation. He was the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 277 
 
 first secretary of the old Phoenix Society, in 1858, and was con- 
 nected with that society until the Fenians organized, when he 
 joined them, and he is still a member of the last named organiza- 
 tion. During the war, while at Scottsboro, Ala., he organized a 
 Fenian circle among the soldiers there and collected f 500 which 
 was sent to the treasurer of the Fenian Brotherhood. From 1855 
 to 1861, Captain Feeney was a member of the Emmet Guards, a 
 Chicago military organization. 
 
 Captain Feeney was married in 1858 to Delia Phillips, and they 
 have had six children, of whom two are living, and the elder, Wil- 
 liam P. Feeney, is a civil engineer. 
 
 CHARLES A. FANNING. 
 
 Charles A. Fanning adds another member to the legal profes- 
 sion in which so many of Irish descent have achieved fortune and 
 distinction. 
 
 Born October 7th, 1848, at Brooklyn, N. Y., he is the son of 
 Patrick and Rose (O'Donnell) Fanning, his father being a promi- 
 nent cut stone contractor in that city from 1858 to the time of his 
 death in 1887. 
 
 Charles A. Fanning was educated at St. Louis University, gradu- 
 ating thence in June, 1869. For one year afterwards he taught 
 school in central Illinois, but believing he possessed the special abil- 
 ities necessary to a successful career in the legal profession, he then 
 came to Chicago and entered the Union College of Law. Mr. Fan- 
 ning was admitted to the bar in September, 1875, and immediately 
 began to practice law with Mr. Dennis J. Hogan, remaining with 
 him until 1891, when he associated himself with Mr. Ilerdlicka.
 
 278 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 In his religious views, Mr. Fanning is a Roman Catholic, while 
 in politics he belongs to that large section of the Democratic party 
 which favors sound money. 
 
 He was married, June, 1876, at Fairbury, 111., to Julia Ansbury, 
 and their union has been blessed with one daughter, Adele, a 
 charming young lady, who possesses much popularity in social 
 circles. 
 
 Mr. Fanning, who is of an intensely studious nature, finds his 
 greatest pleasure in literary and artistic pursuits. Having become 
 interested in mining matters, he traveled extensively through the 
 mining districts of the West and also through Mexico. 
 
 He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and is Chancellor 
 Commander, Excelsior Lodge No. 3, Chicago, having passed through 
 all degrees from prelate. He also belongs to the Illinois Council of 
 the Royal Arcanum. 
 
 PATRICK THOMAS BARRY. 
 
 The subject of the present sketch is a very thorough representa- 
 tive of the American citizen of Irish birth, loyal to the land of his 
 birth and his forefathers but devoted heart and soul to the inter- 
 ests of the country of his adoption, in which he has found true free- 
 dom, comfort, and a home. 
 
 P. T. Barry was born at Lehinch, County Clare, Ireland, in 1846, 
 his parents being Garret and Catherine (Mullin) Barry. The fam- 
 ily is of Norman descent and is traced to the Barrys who settled in 
 Buttevant, County Cork, shortly after the Anglo-Norman invasion. 
 
 Young Barry obtained his education in the Christian Brothers'
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 281 
 
 Schools and when eighteen decided to come to America and to take 
 up journalism as a profession. His first engagement was as editor 
 of the "Nonpareil," at Council Bluffs, la., which he gave up shortly 
 afterwards for a place on the "Iowa State Register," at Des Moines. 
 Here, under the training of the proprietor and editor-in-chief, James 
 S. Clarksou, he obtained a thorough insight into his profession, and 
 at the same time secured considerable prominence in Republican 
 politics. 
 
 He decided to settle in Chicago in 1874, and found a suitable 
 location in Englewood, where he has since that time resided. He 
 secured election to the Illinois Legislature six years later in 1879. 
 In 1887 the honored estimation in which he was held was evinced 
 by his election as School Treasurer of District No. 2, which com- 
 prised the Towns of Lake and Hyde Park, and this position he re- 
 tained until the annexation of the district to the city, in 1890. 
 
 For many years past Mr. Barry has been associated with the 
 Chicago Newspaper Union, a corporation whose headquarters are 
 in Chicago and with branch publishing houses in several of the 
 Western States. From Ohio to the Rocky Mountains some fifteen 
 hundred different newspapers are supplied by this corporation 
 with news and up-to-date material, and to the enterprise and pro- 
 found business qualifications of Mr. Barry, unquestionably the Chi- 
 cago Newspaper Union owes much of its prosperous position. 
 
 Mr. Barry is President of the Indiana Mineral Springs, a sani- 
 tarium near Attica, Ind., of which he was one of the founders, and 
 is also a Director in the First National Bank of Englewood. He 
 has traveled extensively, having frequently covered all portions 
 of the United States, and a few years since he made a complete 
 tour of Ireland, England, and the continent of Europe. 
 
 In his religion he is a Roman Catholic, and in his political 
 views, as has been before mentioned, a Republican. Mr. Barry was 
 married, in 1869, to Miss Rebecca Riley, of Girard, Penn., a mem-
 
 282 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OP THE 
 
 ber of one of the pioneer families of Western Pennsylvania, on the 
 shores of Lake Erie. Their family consists of seven children, two 
 sons and five daughters, the eldest of whom is married to James 
 Phillip Hanley, for nine consecutive years City Treasurer of Erie, 
 
 Penn. 
 
 A life member of the Press dub of Chicago, Mr. Barry belongs 
 to the Columbus and the Harvard Clubs. 
 
 Personally he is a man of great charm, his educational gifts 
 are of a high order, and he shines greatly as a conversationalist. 
 There are few men in Chicago better known or more highly con- 
 sidered, and if as a successful man his business qualifications have 
 obtained worthy recognition, he is none the less esteemed and 
 honored by his thousands of friends and acquaintances as the pos- 
 sessor of the highest principles of honor and rectitude, of fidelity to 
 his word, and generous and noble-hearted, at no time deaf to the 
 plea of the needy or the suffering. 
 
 JOHN J. FLINN. 
 
 Throughout the newspaper world of the West, it is doubtful if 
 there is to-day any member of the literary craft better known or 
 more highly considered than the subject of this sketch, John J. 
 Flinn. Kindly natured and generous in his disposition and at all 
 times thoughtful for others, he is the man of a thousand, whose 
 friends are numbered only by those who know him and who is uni- 
 versally respected, admired and esteemed. Quiet and unassuming, 
 he is yet a man of infinite resource and is absolutely fearless in his 
 denunciation of whatever he believes to be evil or an injustice.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 283 
 
 John J. Flinn is a Tipperary man, born at Clonmel, December 
 5th, 1851. His grandfather on the father's side was Martin Flinn, 
 a ship builder of Youghal, while his maternal grandfather was 
 James Cunningham, a miller of Kilkenny. The father of the sub- 
 ject of this sketch was James Flinn, a prominent carriage builder 
 of Clonmel, who in his youth was employed by Bianconi, the famous 
 car proprietor of Dublin and contractor with the government for 
 the carrying of Irish mails. He died at the age of forty and it was 
 shortly after his death that the family emigrated to America. 
 
 Having received a very thorough education in private, national 
 and religious schools, as well as at a seminary in Boston, Mr. Flinn 
 began his newspaper career at St. Joseph, Mo., on the "Gazette," 
 and later went on the "Herald." In 1873 he became a reporter on 
 the "Globe," of St. Louis, now the "Globe Democrat;" acted as 
 correspondent for that paper in the Legislature, and was after- 
 wards, under the late Joseph B. McCullagh, its night editor. Among 
 assignments handled by him were the riots of New Orleans and 
 the Missouri Constitutional Convention of 1874. To Chicago, the 
 great center of Western newspaper work, he came in 1875, and his 
 first employment was on the now long extinct "Courier." After- 
 ward he became associate editor with Melville E. Stone on the 
 "Daily News," when that paper was scarcely four months old, and 
 with it he remained until 1882, its columns frequently publicly tes- 
 tifying that the success achieved was in a large measure due to Mr. 
 Flinn's able work. In the latter year he received a consulate at 
 Chemnitz, Saxony, from President Arthur, and on his return to 
 America associated himself with Frank Hatton and Clinton Snow- 
 den in the management of the "Chicago Mail," later being appointed 
 managing editor of the "Chicago Times," a position he held until 
 that paper passed into entirely new hands. He then abandoned 
 the newspaper business and became a writer and compiler of 
 books, with that object becoming partner with Mr. W. S. Sheppard
 
 284 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 iu the firm of Flinn & Sheppard, and the Standard Guide Co. 
 Among writings of Mr. Flinn were the famous "Sovik Dispatch," 
 the outcome of which was the killing of a Chicago newspaper; 
 "Saxon Sketches;" "Yellowstone Sketches;" "The Plug Operator," 
 etc., every one of which was received with great favor. His pub- 
 lished books include "History of the Chicago Police" (1887), vari- 
 ous handbooks and guides of the World's Columbian Exposition 
 (1892-3), and a very popular handbook of Chicago Biography (1893). 
 He compiled all the official guide books of the World's Columbian 
 Exposition. 
 
 In June, 1895, Mr. Flinn made a new departure in the world of 
 Chicago newspapers by his establishment of the "Observer," a 
 weekly publication of general information and independent com- 
 ment. Bold, uncompromising, and absolutely unconventional in 
 its methods of treatment and forms of expression, the paper has, 
 despite the incredulity of Mr. Flinn's newspaper associates when 
 it started, become both popular and prosperous. Of the journal it 
 was said in a New York weekly: " 'The Observer' proved to be so 
 delightfully original in every respect, so full of sparkling wit, genu- 
 ine humor, incisive sarcasm and biting irony and withal so pal- 
 pably fair and so scrupulously clean that the public doubted 
 whether the standard it had fixed could be maintained." This, 
 however, has been done, and month after month improvement has 
 been made until "The Observer" is to-day ranked as one of the best 
 illustrated critical weekly publications in America. 
 
 Mr. Flinn was united in marriage to Miss Mary Talbot Cole, of 
 St. Joseph, Mo., in 1877, and to them six children have been born. 
 Very domestic in his tastes, Mr. Flinn spends his happiest hours in 
 the company of his estimable wife and bright children at his charm- 
 ing home in Evanston.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 285 
 
 JAMES J. FARRELLY. 
 
 James J. Farrelly, one of Chicago's best known and most suc- 
 cessful live stock commission merchants, is a native of County Ca- 
 van, Ireland, where he was born March 31st, 1859. His father, 
 James F. Farrelly, was a native of the same county and by occupa- 
 tion a farmer, and his mother, Mary Fitzpatrick, was a native of 
 County Longford. 
 
 James J. Farrelly was educated in the public schools of Ireland 
 and came to this country when sixteen years of age, first settling in 
 Iowa. His education was continued at Prairie du Chien, Wis., and 
 there he graduated when twenty-one years of age, but he was still 
 unsatisfied with such knowledge as he had acquired, and subse- 
 quently went through a commercial course at Bryant & Stratton's 
 Business College. 
 
 Immediately following the latter, he began his career in the 
 live stock commission business with Holmes & Patterson, remain- 
 ing with that firm for four months, and then in 1883 starting in 
 business for himself at the stock yards. He continued his business 
 until 1887, when he entered into association with C. R. Bensley and 
 J. B. Beach, as Bensley, Beach & Co., Mr. Farrelly being the latter. 
 His next step was to establish the firm of J. J. Farrelly & Co., and 
 in this F. Wilson & Brother were the partners. They do a most 
 extensive business, amounting to some three millions of dollars a 
 year and embracing all kinds of live stock. 
 
 Mr. Farrelly is in his religious views a Roman Catholic, and is 
 a member of the Catholic Benevolent Legion and also of the Royal 
 Arcanum. In his political views he has all his life been a Democrat
 
 286 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 until this year, 1896, when, with an immense number of other old 
 line Democrats, his vote was given for William McKinley. 
 
 He married Minnie, only daughter of Joseph CaMll, of Chicago. 
 They have three children, all of whom are boys. Mr. Farrelly is a 
 man of fine physique and of most agreeable and courteous man- 
 ners; in his tastes he is thoroughly domestic and outside of busi- 
 ness most of his time is spent in the enjoyment of his home, from 
 which he finds entire satisfaction without coveting either political 
 honors or a life of greater publicity and power. 
 
 JOHN W. FARLEY. 
 
 Among the leading contractors of Chicago, none stands higher 
 either in business reputation or in social character than John W. 
 Farley, senior member of the firm of Farley & Green. While yet 
 comparatively a young man, he has by his energy and steadfast- 
 ness of purpose obtained a name in the commercial world well 
 worthy of his labors and of which he has the strongest reasons to 
 be proud. 
 
 Mr. Farley was born in Haverstraw, New York, February 12th, 
 1801, his parents being Charles and Jane (Bartley) Farley. His 
 father is a native of Dublin, Ireland, and coming to America about 
 1850, he engaged in the manufacture of prints in New York State. 
 In 1862, the brilliant opportunities of the Western world appealed 
 to him and he came to Chicago, which he has since made his home. 
 He is the father of six children, three boys and three girls, and of 
 these the subject of the present sketch is the fourth in the list.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 287 
 
 When John W. Farley came to Chicago he was but eighteen 
 months old, and he grew up surrounded by the environments of, 
 and enjoying whatever advantages there may be obtained in", a city 
 life. His education was received in the public schools, and being 
 a natural student, his progress was rapid and thorough. Having 
 decided to engage in the contracting business, he made a start in 
 1887, and quickly forging to the front, became one of the best 
 known contractors for street and sewer improvements in the City 
 of Chicago and in the suburban towns. Prominent among the 
 large contracts undertaken by him was the building of an eight 
 and one-half foot sewer in West Forty-eighth Avenue, five miles 
 in length, and also, in 1895, a complete sewer system of seventeen 
 miles, in Grossdale, Cook County, 111. 
 
 Increasing business interests obliged him in 1894 to obtain a 
 suitable partner, and in that year he associated himself with Mr. 
 Green, who had been for twenty years superintendent of the John 
 Cudahy Packing Company. The firm has since continued and is 
 now known as Farley & Green, with general offices at 1007 Cham- 
 ber of Commerce Building. 
 
 A Democrat in his political convictions, the estimation in which 
 he is held in the party was shown in 1886, when Mr. Farley served 
 his constituents in the Thirty-fifth General Assembly of the State 
 Legislature, making himself deservedly popular at the State Cap- 
 itol, and leaving behind him an official record absolutely without 
 a blemish. 
 
 Mr. Farley is prominently identified with a number of fraternal 
 organizations, being president of Division 24, Ancient Order of 
 Hibernians, located at La Grange, Cook County, 111., and al^o a 
 member of the Royal League, Union Council No. 15, .and the North 
 American Union. He is a Roman Catholic. 
 
 He was united in marriage December 18th, 1889, to Miss Mary 
 Ross, daughter of Justice Henry E. Willmott, and to them three
 
 288 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 children have been born Charles W., Katherine, and John W., Jr. 
 Of pleasing appearance, charming personality, kindly and gen- 
 erous in disposition, honest and upright in his business methods, 
 and faithful to every trust, John W. Farley has succeeded in mak- 
 ing for himself a host of friends, who esteem him for his qualities 
 of head and heart, and watch with affectionate interest the young 
 American Irishman's future career, of which he has already given 
 such noble promise. 
 
 THOMAS H. MULLAY. 
 
 Over thirty years ago there grew up in the back woods of Michi- 
 gan a large silent boy, with nothing remarkable about him except 
 his big square hands that were always meddling with things. He 
 at least seemed larger to that part of the family which were all 
 girls. The palmistry dictum about square fingers seemed true in 
 this case, for at an early age the boy began drawing scrawlings of 
 horses and Indians, caricatures, portraitures, and apt illustrations 
 of local incidents and happenings at school and elseAvhere. Soon 
 his ability to make his pencil "talk," his inclinations towards 
 studies, won for him. the special interest of gifted teachers, who 
 gave him every encouragement to develop his talent for the profes- 
 sion in which he was destined later to make so considerable a suc- 
 cess. 
 
 His parents early removed to Columbus, O., and with that Irish 
 enthusiasm and respect for "things of the mind," clearly realized 
 the advantages of the American system of education, and were 
 able to give each of a large family at least a high school education.
 
 
 (7
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 291 
 
 The hoy Tom, in addition to parochial and public school instruc- 
 tion, had the advantage of private instruction from teachers and 
 from the art school of that city, in painting and modeling in clay 
 and working in plaster. While in his senior year in high school he 
 taught drawing in that institution. From there he went, with oth- 
 ers of the family, to the Ohio State University, where he took the 
 civil engineering course. Out of school hours he modeled in clay. 
 One of the various things he did was a life-sized bust of Bishop 
 Rosencrans, first bishop of Columbus, O. He designed and mod- 
 eled plaster ornaments, column capitals for buildings. He left 
 Columbus and obtained employment in Cincinnati, drawing for 
 engraving and lithographing companies, designing posters, show- 
 bills, trade catalogues, and doing general illustrating work. 
 
 Gradually, and possibly through his experience in making 
 water-color drawings of buildings, he drifted into architecture. 
 He returned to Columbus, O., and for several years was in the em- 
 ploy of J. W. Yost, architect, where he was designing and con- 
 structing court houses, jails, schools, churches, etc., in which his 
 knowledge of engineering served him no less than his artistic sense. 
 Shortly after this time, too, he made a detailed map of the City of 
 Columbus, which was about six feet square; showing streets, 
 wards, subdivisions, lots (with their dimensions), sewers, and vari- 
 ous old surveys; a map which, at the present time, is used by the 
 real estate and other business men of the city. His next move was 
 to Chicago, where he resumed his architectural work and took up, 
 in addition, considerable engineering. 
 
 A bicycle trip was made to Europe, in 1889. England, Ireland, 
 Scotland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Hol- 
 land were visited, the Alps twice crossed on his wheel, and a large 
 number of sketches made. He was twice arrested by the French 
 military and some of his sketches confiscated. His journey was in- 
 teresting and amusing. The old style, hard solid rubber tire, forty- 
 16
 
 292 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 five pounds Columbia Roadster was used; his own weight was 
 about 135 pounds; in addition, a small knapsack. This was con- 
 sidered the best way to see the country then, and with the twenty- 
 two pound wheel of to-day and less restrictions, bicyclers will find 
 it much easier. 
 
 Returning to Chicago he worked for the best architectural firms 
 of the city, including those of W. L. B. Jenney and D. II. Burnham. 
 While with the latter he was engaged in laying out the wooden 
 frame work of the World's Columbiam Exhibition Buildings. He 
 has also laid out the steel skeleton construction work and founda- 
 tions for some of the leading stores and office buildings. His ex- 
 perience has also covered the laying out of several large shops and 
 factories. As superintendent for Mr. F. M. Whitehouse his work 
 was chiefly with residences. 
 
 At last, considering himself sufficiently equipped, he started 
 in business for himself, with the result that he has gathered around 
 him some first-class clients and with very definite success, both to 
 them and himself. He has a large acquaintance in Chicago, gained 
 professionally, and while a member of the Architectural Sketch 
 Club, the Columbus and Sheridan Clubs. Mr. Mullay is thoroughly 
 American in his ideas and sentiments, a free lance in politics, and 
 votes for what he considers the best interests. His American edu- 
 cation has developed only some of the best traits which character- 
 ize the Celtic genius, which make his personality no less interest- 
 ing than his achievements. He is a man genial in his habits, kindly 
 in his disposition, and generous in his nature and of very good 
 judgment.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 293 
 
 WILLIAM ERWIN KEELEY. 
 
 William Erwin Keeley was born December 1st, 1853, at Fox 
 Lake, Dodge County, Wis. His father, Michael Keeley, was a native 
 of Galway, Ireland, and coming to America in 1848, settled first 
 in the State of New York, and later in Wisconsin. He followed the 
 occupation of farming until his death, in 1886, and was very highly 
 respected by all who knew him. He had married Catherine Kenney, 
 also of Galway. 
 
 The subject of this sketch attended in his youth the public 
 schools of his native town, afterward for some time teaching school 
 and utilizing what moneys he received to defray his expenses at 
 Wisconsin State University. From the latter he graduated in 1878 
 with high honors and the degree of Bachelor of Arts. For two 
 years afterward, Mr. Keeley taught in the public schools of Ran- 
 dolph, Wis., and during this tiine was so highly esteemed by his 
 fellow citizens that he was chosen to hold the office of Village Pres- 
 ident. While teaching school he devoted his spare time to reading 
 law and when, in 1880, he moved to Beaver Dam, Wis., his whole 
 time was given up to its study, and on March 1st, 1880, the Circuit 
 Court of Juneau, Dodge County, Wis., granted him a license to 
 practice. 
 
 Being of a very ambitious disposition, he at once entered into 
 politics, and at the following election received the nomination by 
 his party for the office of District Attorney of Dodge County, and 
 was elected in the fall of 1882 for a term of four years. When his 
 term expired he returned to the practice of law at Beaver Dam, but 
 his fellow citizens, without consulting him, elected him Alderman, 
 and several times he was honored with re-election. Desiring a
 
 294 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 larger field for the exercise of his abilities, in February, 1893, Mr. 
 Keeley sold his practice and moved to Chicago, where he enjoys 
 already a large general practice and bears a very high reputation. 
 
 Mr. Keeley was united in marriage July 30th, 1884, to Mary 
 Ogar, of St. Paul, Minn. They have had four children, of whom 
 three are living. 
 
 He is a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters, the Modern 
 Woodmen of America, the Columbian Knights, the Knights of 
 Pythias, and in all has held high office. A strong Republican in 
 his political opinions, he is a member of the Hamilton and the 
 Thirty-fourth Ward Republican Clubs, and during the last cam- 
 paign was very active in the interests of his party. In religious 
 matters he is a Roman Catholic and belongs to the congregation 
 of St. Thomas' Church at Hyde Park. 
 
 RICHARD CAMILLIUS GANNON. 
 
 There are two reasons why the name of Gannon should strike 
 a warm chord in the hearts of every reader of this work, one being 
 that no name is more familiar in Chicago among the tens of thou- 
 sands who have had occasion to bless the broad and noble charities 
 of St. Vincent de Paul, than that of Mr. Richard C. Gannon, who for 
 the last ten years in the capacity of president has had to a large 
 extent the guidance of its great and wide spread benevolence, and 
 the second, that the late Patrick Gannon, revered and lamented 
 father of our subject, in the noble warfare which Ireland's sons 
 have so unceasingly waged in the cause of political freedom, was
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 295 
 
 a recognized leader and on account of his activity and influence, 
 suffered the penalty of life-long banishment from the land of his 
 birth. 
 
 Patrick Gannon was born in Naas, County of Kildare, in 1796, 
 received a very fine education, was afterwards the bosom friend of 
 Daniel O'Connell, and also a recognized leader of the Young Ire- 
 land Party. The better days of his life were spent in Dublin, where 
 he labored incessantly for the independence of Ireland. In the 
 rebellion of 1848 he took an active part and it was because of this 
 association that he was forced to seek a home in a foreign land. 
 In 1853 he came to Chicago, where the remainder of his life was 
 spent. He engaged here in the retail grocery business, in which 
 he continued until his death, October 10th, 1874. Although so far 
 removed from his loved country, he never ceased his efforts for 
 her welfare, and a grand monument to his memory is the Dublin 
 branch of the St. Andrew's Benevolent Society, which he was suc- 
 cessful in establishing. He died in the consciousness that his labor 
 had not been entirely in vain and firmly convinced of the justice 
 and right of the ca,use to which he had so largely contributed, en- 
 tirely -satisfied of its ultimate triumph. His wife was Elizabeth 
 Low, a native of Dublin, Ireland, to whom he was married in 1835. 
 Mrs. Gannon died while on a visit to the city of her birth, October 
 1st, 1872, aged fifty -four years. 
 
 Richard C. Gannon, the eldest of thirteen children of Patrick 
 and Elizabeth Gannon, was born in Dublin, December 19th, 1843, 
 and came to this city with his parents in 1853. He had previously 
 gone through the primary grades of his educational career at the 
 famous school of Dr. Quinn, in Dublin, where one of his classmates 
 was the present primate of all Ireland, the Most Reverend Dr. 
 Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin, and finished at old St. Mary's of the 
 Lake, in Chicago, in 1865. 
 
 In early life his inclination and desire made him anxious to be-
 
 296 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 come a priest, but as he grew older, the duties of a life in which 
 his services could bring immediate return in support of his father's 
 efforts to bring up and educate his several brothers and sisters, 
 were circumstances that determined him on a different career. In 
 the course of life he was thus led into he has been in no way less 
 successful because it was so dissimilar to his original choice. 
 
 Schooling over, he was for two years book-keeper in a whole- 
 sale dry goods house, and subsequently for five years in the employ 
 of the American Express Company as messenger, a place he re- 
 signed to become city salesman for William M. Hoyt & Company, 
 wholesale grocers. In 1874 he accepted a position as traveling 
 salesman with the firm of Grannis & Farwell and continued in 
 that position fourteen years, until the firm dissolved and retired 
 from business. During his long connection with this house, Mr. 
 Gannon made weekly trips through the coal districts of Illinois, 
 and on the breaking up of the old associations he was the recipient 
 of many marks of esteem from his old employers as well as his fel- 
 low employes. A similar position was at once offered him with the 
 well known firm of Franklin MacVeagh & Company, and to the new 
 interest he took with him no less than fourteen of his old associates. 
 This connection is still maintained, Mr. Gannon occupying the post 
 of general traveling salesman, still covering his old territory and 
 occupying an advanced place in the esteem and respect of his em- 
 ployers. It is illustrative of the man's force of character, his gen- 
 eral ability and the uprightness and honesty of his methods, that 
 he should for so extended a number of years continue to control the 
 trade of his territory, at the same time adding to and developing 
 the business of his house therein, and well evidences the fact that 
 his work gives entire and constant satisfaction to his employers. 
 
 The key-note of his success is possibly to be found in the princi- 
 ple which seems to have dominated his life, that charity is the 
 greatest of the virtues. The world in general, and the Catholic
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 297 
 
 world in particular, knows him best in this connection, for of that 
 great charitable organization, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, 
 he has been a member for thirty years, having joined the conference 
 of St. Patrick parish in 1865. Regarding this society, it was found- 
 ed by Frederic Ozanam in Paris in 1833, and is now known through- 
 out the whole world as one of the most perfect and meritorious. It 
 possesses an active membership of about 87,000 and an honorary 
 membership of over 100,000. The Chicago branch numbers twenty- 
 four conferences, which report to the Particular and Central Coun- 
 cils. The Particular Council was instituted in February, 1872, and 
 the Central on January 5th, 1894. In 1883 Mr. Gannon was elected 
 vice-president of the former, and in 1890 succeeded to its presi- 
 dency, which he still holds. He was elected president of the Cen- 
 tral Council on its organization, and in these high offices his services 
 have been of the utmost value to the growth and development of 
 the society in Chicago and in the prosecution of its noble work. 
 The Chicago membership amounts to 500. 
 
 February 8th, 1877, Mr. Gannon was united in marriage to 
 Mary Anna, daughter of the late Isaac C. Hildreth, of Chicago. Mr. 
 llildreth was a native of Massachusetts, but had resided in Brook- 
 lyn for many years, being engaged in the dry goods business. lie 
 moved to Chicago in 1872 and took up the coal business. His wife 
 was Mary A. Brown, a native of New Hampshire. She died in 1885, 
 aged sixty-four years. At one time Mr. llildreth was a deacon of 
 Kev. Henry Ward Beecher's Church, but later he became a convert 
 to the Catholic faith, in which he died at the advanced age of 
 eighty-two years, in 1895. Mr. Hildreth was for ten years prior to 
 his death, vice-president of the Particular Council Society of St. 
 Vincent de Paul. As an officer he was most devoted to the interest 
 of the society, and was beloved by all who knew him for his kindly 
 nature and his gentle, unassuming piety. 
 
 Mrs. Gannon was educated at Notre Dame Convent, in Balti-
 
 298 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 more, and is an active member of St. Patrick's Church. By virtue 
 of her many estimable qualities, she is one of the most popular 
 members in the west division of Chicago's social and charitable 
 circles. 
 
 To Mr. and Mrs. Gannon have been born two children Eichard 
 C., Jr., on December 29th, 1877, and Edward R, on February 7th, 
 1882, both of whom are receiving their education at St. Ignatius 
 College. 
 
 Mr. Gannon is a member of the Illinois Traveling Men's Associa- 
 tion and the Northwestern Traveling Men's Association. He also 
 holds membership in the Ancient Order of United Workmen and 
 in the National Union. He is a member of the Columbus Club. 
 
 PATRICK JAMES O'KEEFFE. 
 
 Patrick James O'Keeffe is an Irishman who, while compara- 
 tively a young man, has passed through much suffering and hard- 
 ship for his native land. Born March 29th, 1861, in Broadford, 
 County Limerick, Ireland, his parents were Patrick and Margaret 
 (Sullivan) O'Keeffe. The O'Keeffes have an interesting history. 
 They belonged to the four tribal chieftains of Kerry, the others 
 being the Sullivans-Bere, the McCarthy-Mores, and the Fitzmau- 
 rices, a,nd lineage is traced back for many hundred years. Patrick 
 O'Keeffe, the father of the subject of this sketch, who is still living 
 and now over seventy years of age, was arrested by the English 
 Government at the time of the 1865 troubles on the suspicion of 
 being a Fenian. The mother came of a prominent Cork family, her 
 father, Geoffrey Sullivan, being a leading surgeon of that county,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 301 
 
 whose father, James Sullivan, had been dispossessed of several 
 thousand acres of land because he refused to conform to the Prot- 
 estant form of worship. On her father's side she belonged to the 
 Sullivan-Bere clan, and on her mother's side to the Fitzmaurices 
 of Lixnaw, Kerry. She had two brothers, one of whom, James Sul- 
 livan, chief engineer of New York City about the year 1860, was 
 burned to death in his efforts to save some city property from the 
 fire; while the other, William by name, who caine to the United 
 States at an early age, settled in Virginia and became a very 
 wealthy planter. 
 
 The subject of this sketch attended a private classical school at 
 Charleville, County Cork, and was later a student at the old Dio- 
 cesian College in Limerick City, from which, in November, 187G, 
 he passed an examination for the Queen's University, in Cork, and 
 in the following year matriculated at the college in Glasgow. The 
 business reverses suffered by his father then forced him to seek a 
 living, and he applied himself to the profession of journalism. His 
 first work in that line was done on the Cork "Daily Herald," and 
 later he became a correspondent for the Dublin "Freeman's Jour- 
 nal," and afterwards secured a position as special correspondent 
 for the London Associated Press. 
 
 Mr. O'Keeft'e has the distinction of having been one of the first 
 to be arrested during the Land League troubles of 1879 and 1880, 
 and was for eleven months in prison at Naas, ' County Kildare. 
 Some time before his release, his freedom was offered him on the 
 conditions that he would refrain from taking any further part in 
 Irish political matters or leave the country, but to both of these 
 propositions he gave an absolute refusal. When released, he was 
 cautioned that he would be under strict surveillance, and less than 
 a month afterwards he was once more arrested as a seditious sus- 
 pect and for ten days was detained in Limerick prison in a cell 
 seven by six feet and there subjected to every possible humiliation
 
 302 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 short of absolute brutality. On several occasions his cell and his 
 person were searched, even his shoes being removed and closely 
 examined under the excuse that he might have some firearms or 
 something else not allowed by the prison rules. Then, without a 
 jury, he was tried before two judges, acting under the infamous 
 act of Edward the Third, suspending the habeas corpus. However, 
 as no act of sedition could be proved against him, even by the most 
 unscrupulous detectives, one of whom particularly testified that 
 Mr. O'Keeffe was a ring leader in everything that was antagonistic 
 to the peace of her Majesty's Government, the judges refused to 
 convict without positive proof of the commission of some crime. 
 
 A few months later he came to the United States, and after 
 twelve mouths in the City of NeAV York, where he resumed journal- 
 istic work, doing some special work on the New York "Star," he 
 went South. There he was shortly afterwards taken ill with a 
 fever and for a time was compelled to visit the pine woods of Can- 
 ada, where he succeeded in regaining his health. In the fall of 
 1882 he came to Chicago and since that time he has done special 
 newspaper Avork for the "Chicago Tribune," the "Times-Herald," 
 and other papers. 
 
 In 1886 he was offered the position of Auditor of the Board of 
 Public AVorks by the late Mayor Carter Harrison, who desired to 
 show his personal appreciation of some sketches Mr. O'Keeffe had 
 written concerning him, and also to testify to the estimation in 
 which he was held by his associates. The place was formally ac- 
 cepted, but Mr. O'Keeffe having an inclination to learn something 
 of a business career, in the following month September, 1886 
 took a position at the Stock Yards with the packing company of 
 P. D. Armour. There he remained until January, 1892, when he 
 returned to newspaper work on the editorial staff of the old 
 "Times," resigning, however, the following April, to return to the 
 service of P. D. Armour, where he is at the present time.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 303 
 
 Mr. O'Keeffe continues to write for various publications and 
 short articles from his pen have been published in the magazines, 
 including a sketch of Chicago, which appeared in the New England 
 Magazine. Ireland has also been revisited by him a number of 
 times, and a considerable number of sketches on Irish scenes and 
 on folk-lore subjects have been written by him for the papers of 
 this city. In addition, he is now studying for the bar at the Lake 
 Forest University, and expects to begin active practice of his pro- 
 fession in 1898. 
 
 He was married, August 7th, 1889, to Isabelle Cecilia Kelly, 
 also well known as a writer as well as for the great interest she has 
 taken in charitable and Catholic associations. This lady was prac- 
 tically the founder and first president of the Catholic Woman's 
 National League. They have one child. 
 
 A Democrat in his political views, he is by religion a Roman 
 Catholic and a member of the congregation of St. Cecilia's, of which 
 parish Father Kelly, the pastor, is his brother-in-law. Mr. O'Keeffe 
 
 
 
 is also a member of the National Union, North American Union, 
 Royal League, and Lake Forest Alumni. He is a man of broad mind 
 and liberal ideas, rich in his intellect and experienced in his judg- 
 ment, a strong antagonist, but ever faithful to his word and trusts, 
 and held in the very- highest consideration by an immense number 
 of devoted friends. 
 
 JOHN DADIE. 
 
 In this great city of Chicago are many striking examples of the 
 possibilities before men of ability, enterprise and application. The 
 progress made has been slow but regular, the path chosen has been 
 never deviated from, and the result achieved is an honorable iude-
 
 304 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 pendence and the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens. The 
 subject of the present sketch is one of these men. 
 
 He was born in May, 1860, at Warrenville, Du Page County, 
 Illinois, where his parents, Jeremiah and Mary Dadie, had settled 
 in 1858. His father and mother are both of Irish birth, Jeremiah 
 Dadie being a native of County Cork, who first settled at Bab- 
 cocks Grove, Du Page County, afterwards moving to Warrenville; 
 and his wife from Athlone, on the banks of the River Shannon, who 
 came to this country in 1855 and settled with a sister at Naper- 
 ville, Illinois. In the old country Jeremiah Dadie had been a 
 farmer, but when he arrived in the United States he took up the 
 trade of stone mason. 
 
 John Dadie was educated in the public schools of Warrenville 
 and went to the North Western College at Naperville, in 1876. At 
 the latter he took the commercial course, and general English 
 branches, graduating in 1879. Having settled upon the occupa- 
 tion of a book-keeper, he at once came to Chicago and found a 
 place with Marshall Field & Co. Two years afterwards he availed 
 himself of an opportunity to better his condition, and took a sit- 
 uation with the W. J. Sloan Carpet Company, of New York, as 
 book-keeper in the Chicago branch. Later he obtained a place in 
 a similar capacity with the firm of W. J. Moxley. Afterwards, when 
 that firm was incorporated, he became its secretary and treasurer, 
 a position he still retains. 
 
 John Dadie was married first in 1885 to Agnes Adams, who 
 died a couple of years later, leaving one girl, Gertrude, another 
 daughter having died in 1886. He then married, in 1892, Mar- 
 garette Moxley, daughter of W. J. Moxley, president of the Mox- 
 ley Manufacturing Company. 
 
 The subject of this sketch is a member of several clubs, and 
 also friendly societies. He was a charter member of the Chicago 
 Athletic Club, and also belongs to the Columbus Club since 1894,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 305 
 
 in which year also he took a membership in the Chicago Board of 
 Trade. He became a Knight of St Patrick in 1893, being elected 
 Commander at the first election following his joining the society, 
 and has remained so up to the present time. 
 
 In religion he is a Eoman Catholic; but as regards his politics 
 he recently altered his views, which had formerly been Democratic, 
 to those of the Republicans. 
 
 WILLIAM A. CUNNEA. 
 
 Young and energetic, forceful and well favored both physically 
 and intellectually, William A. Cunnea, another bright young law- 
 yer of this city, is a good example of the result of natural Irish gifts 
 when united and tempered by the peculiar American conditions. 
 
 He was born in County Down, Ireland, some thirty years ago, 
 his parents, Francis and Margaret (Haggerty) Cunnea, both being 
 natives of County Donegal. The former, with a brother of his, who 
 commanded a British gunboat, and several other relatives, all fol- 
 lowed the sea in some capacity or another, for a livelihood, the 
 first mentioned being in addition chief officer of coast guards. On 
 his death, in 1884, the mother came to the United States. 
 
 William A. Cunnea received his earlier education until he was 
 ten years of age in the national schools, from thence going to St. 
 Mary's and afterwards to St. Patrick's, at Belfast, passing through 
 all the usual studies and being a frequent prize winner. At six- 
 teen, when his schooling was over, he came to the United States 
 and for twelve months attended the Metropolitan Business College, 
 afterwards reading law in the office of P. T. McElherne. For two
 
 306 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 years he then attended the North Western University, at the end 
 of which time he received, in 1889, his LL. B. In the same year he 
 was admitted to the Supreme Court of Illinois and deciding at 
 once that he preferred working alone to the forming of a partner- 
 ship, he has since been in active practice for himself. He has met 
 with very good success and his name is well and favorably known 
 among the successful lawyers of this city. 
 
 Mr. Cunnea was married in Chicago on Christmas Day, 1895, 
 to Mary E. McElherne, a daughter of P. T. McElherne. They have 
 one son. 
 
 He is a Roman Catholic in his religious views and a Democrat 
 in his politics. Is a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians 
 and president of Division 33; is chief ranger of the Foresters; was 
 formerly state secretary of the Old Continental League, and belongs 
 to the Phi Delta Phi Society. He has traveled extensively through- 
 out the United States and in Ireland and England. On all general 
 subjects he possesses a fund of information, is kindly natured and 
 generous in his disposition, and possesses, in addition to the faculty 
 of making friends, the higher gift of an ability to retain. 
 
 JAMES JOSEPH KELLY. 
 
 The subject of the present sketch is another of this city's regi- 
 ment of bright young lawyers. James Joseph Kelly was born 
 March 21st, 1871, in Chicago, his father, Thomas Kelly, being a 
 native of Tipperary, Ireland, and having come to America in 1859, 
 settling first in Canada, and later, at the breaking out of the Re-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 307 
 
 bellion, moving to Cairo, 111. Here he joined his brother they both 
 being carpenters by trade and they went to work in the govern- 
 ment ship yards fitting out the gun boats which were then being 
 constructed for use on the western rivers. The war at an end, he 
 came to Chicago, where he gained considerable reputation as a 
 builder, and more particularly as a stair builder. He married Ellen 
 (Stapleton) Kelly, also of Tipperary, and one of a prominent family 
 there, several of her brothel's holding good positions in the govern- 
 ment service. Both are still living. 
 
 James Joseph Kelly attended the public and grammar schools 
 of Chicago in his youth, later taking special courses at the Chicago 
 Athenaeum and also at the North Western University, at the latter 
 in liberal arts. He also attended the law school of the University 
 and, not content with this, completed his legal studies at the Kent 
 College of Law, where he graduated with the degree of LL. B., and 
 received in June, 1893, a license to practice from the Supreme Court. 
 
 At once he entered the law office of Ryerson & Taber, remaining 
 there for a year in order to obtain some necessary legal experience 
 before starting in business for himself. At the end of that time he 
 opened an office and commenced the practice on his own account, 
 and now enjoys a very successful general practice and represents 
 a number of prominent business firms and corporations. 
 
 Mr. Kelly is a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters and is 
 orator of De SotoCouncil of theCatholic Benevolent Legion. In poli- 
 tics he is a Democrat, and in 1895 received the nomination for super- 
 visor of Hyde Park, in which, however, as that is one of the strong- 
 est Republican districts in the United States, he, though he ran con- 
 siderably ahead of his ticket, met with defeat at the election. 
 
 Mr. Kelly is president of the Jeffersonian Club of Cook County, 
 and at one time was chairman of the Executive Committee of the 
 Chicago Archdiocesan Union, a central body of the various Cath- 
 olic Young Men's Associations throughout the Archdiocese. He
 
 308 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 was also a delegate to the National Convention of Catholic Young 
 Men's Societies held at Albany, N. Y., in 1892. During the last 
 three years he has strongly interested himself in political affairs, 
 has been a frequent delegate to conventions, and took a very active 
 part in the last campaign. 
 
 FRANCIS O'NEILL. 
 
 Police Captain Francis O'Neill, the subject of the present sketch, 
 is an American Irishman who does honor to his fatherland as well 
 as the country he has made his home. Fearless and energetic, his 
 name stands without stain or reproach, and this short record of 
 his adventurous career can but briefly detail a most interesting life 
 of a truly representative Irishman who might fitly be chosen as a 
 fitting type of Chicago's police service. 
 
 Francis O'Neill was born August 25th, 1849, at Tralibane, three 
 miles from Bantry, County Cork, Ireland, a district which has 
 given birth to many Irishmen now prominent before the world, 
 among whom may be mentioned A. M. Sullivan, T. D. Sullivan, the 
 author of "God Save Ireland," and Tim Healy, M. P. He was 
 the son of John and Catherine (O'Mahoney) O'Neill, his father being 
 an educated and well-to-do farmer, while his mother was one of 
 the O'Mahoneys of Castle Mahon, now Castle Bernard, in the Prov- 
 ince of Munster. Her father, Donald Mor O'Mahoney, a man 
 famous for his gigantic stature, was a latter day chieftain, and his 
 grandson recalls seeing horse pistols, pikes and bayonets in abun- 
 dance at his home near Drimoleague. 
 
 Francis O'Neill found in the national school of Bantry a thor-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 311 
 
 oughly souud education on all general subjects, including the clas- 
 sics. He was a bright boy, an omnivorous reader, an ardent 
 student, and so distinguished himself in mathematics as to be 
 named by his teacher "Philosopher O'Neill." At the age of four- 
 teen he become senior monitor and later taught school. His elder 
 brother's persistence, however, in appropriating his salary for in- 
 vestment in stock and cattle dealing, a course later well justified 
 since he made a rapid fortune, to which was coupled an unques- 
 tionable desire for travel, led him when barely sixteen, and with 
 the limited capital of five dollars, to start out in the world. His 
 first two weeks producing no tangible result, he had an interview 
 with Bishop Delaney of Cork, who proposed either to make of 
 him a Christian Brother or a teacher in one of the Catholic schools. 
 The losing his way and the conseqent failure to keep an appoint- 
 ment with the bishop he now considers responsible for his failure to 
 become a monk. This was in March, 1865, and the travel instinct 
 being strong he worked his passage to Sunderland, in the north of 
 England, and after various vicissitudes shipped there as a cabin 
 boy, sailing up the Mediterranean and via the Dardanelles, the 
 Bosphorus and the Black Sea to Odessa, the great southern port of 
 Russia. On the return voyage, when landing in Suuderland har- 
 bor, an accident threw him- off the vessel to the ground and he 
 fractured his skull. A practiced swimmer, on starting for his next 
 voyage to Alexandria, Egypt, where he remained nine weeks, he 
 managed to save the boatswain's life in the Yarmouth Roads, in 
 return for which he was brutally ill-treated during the whole 
 voyage. After other voyages in which he had some very interesting 
 eastern experiences, in July, 18G6, he shipped at Liverpool on the 
 packet ship "Emerald Isle," and five weeks later landed in New 
 York. Santa Cruz, West Indies, was next visited, and many other 
 places in South America, Later he shipped at New York on the 
 "Miniiehaha" of Boston, bound for Japan, where he arrived after a 
 
 16
 
 312 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 voyage lasting seven months and full also of interesting and excit- 
 ing experiences. Ten weeks were spent there and" then the journey 
 was continued to Honolulu, Sandwich Islands. He then went on 
 to Baker's Island in the Southern Pacific and the vessel was 
 wrecked and great suffering experienced by himself and the others 
 on board. At last he returned to Honolulu and spent an interest- 
 ing five weeks in that land of earthquakes. Back to San Fran- 
 cisco, Mr. O'Neill determined to try a new experience and see the 
 country, so hired himself to take charge of a flock of sheep. Five 
 months in the Sierra Nevada Mountains were so passed, and then 
 a return was made to New York, via Cape Horn, after a few weeks' 
 stay at Culiacan on the west coast of Mexico. Having traveled for 
 years by land and water all over the globe, and circumnavigating 
 the globe before attaining his majority, a few hundred dollars hav- 
 ing been saved by him, he came westwards with the intention of 
 buying and establishing a home. Edina, in Knox County, Mo., was 
 selected, and having passed the necessary examination success- 
 fully, he obtained employment teaching in the district school 
 during the winter of 1869. The spring of the following year he 
 came to Chicago and found work sailing the lakes until the close 
 of the navigation of that year. Returning to Missouri, a romantic 
 episode in his former life found a. fitting conclusion. It was at 
 Bloomington, 111., that he renewed his acquaintance with a hand- 
 some and most estimable young lady, Miss Anna Rogers, who 
 had been an emigrant with him on "The Emerald Isle." They de- 
 cided to form a life partnership and have never had cause to regret 
 so doing. 
 
 The year 1871 saw a return to Chicago, and Mr. O'Neill found em- 
 ployment with the Chicago & Alton Railroad as laborer in the 
 freight house. A few weeks afterwards he became check clerk and 
 then other promotions until he was given complete charge of the 
 lumber business on the south branch. The work was heavy and the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 313 
 
 remuneration so deplorably small that he decided to try for a 
 position on the police force. He received his appointment under 
 Elmer Washburne and was sworn in July 12th, 1873, being assigned 
 to Harrison Street Station under Captain Buckley. The following 
 month he was shot in an encounter with a notorious burglar and 
 still carries a memento in a bullet encysted near the spine. For his 
 bravery the following day he was advanced to be regular pa,trolman 
 by the unanimous vote of the police board. In August, 1878, he 
 was made desk sergeant and transferred to Deering Street Station. 
 Chief of Police Austin J. Doyle moved him in 1884 to the general 
 superintendent's office and advanced to patrol sergeant January 
 1st, 1887. Raised to lieutenant exactly three years later, he con- 
 tinued in various confidential positions in the general superintend- 
 ent's office. On his own request Chief of Police Major E. W. Mc- 
 Claughry transferred him to the Tenth Precinct at Hyde Park, 
 where he remained until recalled to Harrison Street Station by 
 Chief of Police Brennan in July, 1893. The following month the 
 latter made him his private secretary, and April 17th, 1894, he was 
 promoted to captain and assigned in charge of the Eighth District, 
 the Union Stock Yards. Here he succeeded in adding additional 
 laurels to his already excellent record. In July, 1894, when the rail- 
 road riots Avere at their height his district was the center of the 
 strike trouble, and here he was personally in entire charge. His 
 assistants were brave and well-tried officers, but his was the chief 
 responsibility of withstanding the attack of five thousand men 
 thoroughly enraged by the state militia's action. His courage and 
 determination undoubtedly prevented the most serious conse- 
 quences and forced the unthinking mob to understand that in 
 Chicago law and order were at all times and under all circumstances 
 superior to lawlessness, riot, and vandalism. Chief of Police Bren- 
 nan made public acknowledgment that in his opinion Captain 
 O'Neill's command was deserving of the greatest credit in the strike
 
 314 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 trouble and of the captain personally said, "Captain O'Neill is one 
 of the best and most popular officers in the police department. 
 I have known him for many years and his record is without a 
 blemish. Since he has been connected with the police department 
 he has never been fined, suspended, or reprimanded. He is well 
 known to the business men in the down-town district and his selec- 
 tion for any position I am sure will give general satisfaction." 
 
 This record has increased year after year, and to-day he bears 
 the reputation that there is in the police service no more capable, 
 efficient or braver officer. While in his manner he is unassuming, 
 even to a degree of shyness, when there is any call of duty his per- 
 formance is immediate and perfect 
 
 Though Captain O'Neill has always been classed as a Democrat, 
 his vote has been given independent of political party distinctions, 
 and to whomsoever he has considered the better fitted for the office 
 in question. In religion he is a Roman Catholic, but of that most 
 liberal type which offers the entirest freedom to others. 
 
 He was married at Bloomington, 111., in November, 1870, as has 
 been before mentioned, to Miss Anna Rogers, descended from the 
 O'Briens of Thomond. Their happy household consists of five chil- 
 dren, four daughters and a sou. 
 
 He is the only member in Chicago of the Cork Historical and 
 Archaelogical Society, which he joined on its organization in 1891, 
 and of which his boyhood playmate at Bantry, the Right-Rev. 
 Richard A. Sheehan, bishop of Waterford and Lismore, is the first 
 president. He belongs to no secret societies, but is a member of 
 the Police Benevolent Association. 
 
 Captain O'Neill is in personal appearance a man of medium 
 height, and looks, as he assuredly is, every inch a soldier. Of 
 robust constitution, great strength, and splendid endurance, he has 
 never known what it means to have bad health. Never obtrusive 
 with his own opinions, he is under all circumstances a courteous
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 315 
 
 and obliging gentleman, tolerant of the prejudices of others. His 
 student mind and delight in reading have found an outcome in a 
 well-stored library, in which are quite five hundred volumes de- 
 voted to Ireland and Irish subjects, many of them being extremely 
 rare and valuable editions. 
 
 Being possessed of a keen business instinct, he has made a num- 
 ber of exceedingly profitable real estate investments which have 
 assured him a good income and made the latter years of a peculiarly 
 adventurous life and a most interesting career, one of such peace- 
 ful and happy days as his kindly character and eminent good parts 
 unquestionably deserve. 
 
 JOHN JOSEPH GUBBINS. 
 
 John Joseph Gubbins was born April 21st, 1869, at Kilmallock, 
 County Limerick, Ireland, in which town his father, John Joseph 
 Gubbins, was a carriage builder and a man much liked and very 
 generally respected in his community. Thirty years ago he was an 
 active participant in the Irish troubles of that time, his house 
 being searched and some pikes he had made discovered. Only the 
 assistance of influential friends prevented him from getting into 
 serious trouble. He died in 1869. The mother of the subject of 
 this sketch, who before her marriage was Mary McCarthy, was a 
 native of County Cork, and belonged to an old and influential fam- 
 ily, her father, William McCarthy, having been a large landed pro- 
 prietor, and is well remembered in the district as reaching the 
 advanced age of one hundred and eight years. Mrs. Gubbins is still 
 living in New York State.
 
 316 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The subject of this sketch left Ireland with his mother when 
 fourteen years of age, and arrived in America came on at once to 
 Chicago. Before leaving his native country, he had graduated in 
 the national schools, and upon arrival in this city he attended the 
 parochial schools for three years, after which securing a position 
 with the Mclntosh Electric Battery Co., where he remained a year. 
 His next employment was with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
 Railroad as errand boy in the freight office on Canal Street, and 
 in which connection, being from time to time promoted, he now 
 holds the responsible position of correspondence clerk. 
 
 Mr. Gubbins' determination to secure a thorough education led 
 him, even after he had found employment, to continue attending 
 night school, first at the Chicago Athenaeum for two years and 
 then at the Lewis Institute, to which he is still attached. 
 
 Mr. Gubbins is a Roman Catholic and belongs to the congrega- 
 tion of Our Lady of Sorrows. His politics are Republican, and he is 
 a member of the Royal Arcanum. A young man of great promise, 
 if the justifiable expectations of an energetic youth be fulfilled, his 
 career should be such as will be a pride to his fellow American 
 Irish in this great city. 
 
 JOHN GAYNOR. 
 
 There are few men of Irish birth better known in Chicago, and 
 none more highly respected than the subject of this sketch, John 
 Gaynor, the prominent Board of Trade man. 
 
 He was born in County Tipperary, April 24th, 1833, and came 
 to the United States in 1849 with his father, Nicholas, his mother,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 317 
 
 Mary (O'Brien) Gaynor, following a year later. The father of Nich- 
 olas Gaynor had moved to Tipperary from elsewhere in Ireland 
 when very young and had there married a Miss Lacy. He pos- 
 sessed extensive landed interests and was able to leave all his chil- 
 dren in very comfortable circumstances. On his death, Nicholas 
 Gaynor took charge of his father's farming interests and other 
 properties until the heirs decided to come to America. This was 
 in 1849, and with the subject of the present sketch then sixteen 
 years of age a settlement was made in the City of Baltimore. 
 
 John Gaynor had been educated in private schools in Ireland 
 and also by his father. In Baltimore he found employment in the 
 provision house of Cassard & Son, remaining four years, and then 
 changing to McDaniel & McConsky for three years. In his duties 
 he traveled through the South, selling provisions, and having de- 
 cided that he had obtained sufficient experience, he now started 
 in the same business for himself in Baltimore and continued until 
 he came to Chicago, twenty-seven years ago. He resumed in this 
 city, and still continues, having in connection therewith consider- 
 able transactions on the Board of Trade. He has been very suc- 
 cessful, reaping the reward of indefatigable energy and strict atten- 
 tion to every necessity of his large business interests. 
 
 He was married to Ellen McDonald in Baltimore, in 1856, and 
 they have had ten children, five boys all of whom died young 
 and five daughters, of whom there are four surviving, Mary C., 
 Ella M., Sarah G., and Eose B., all being married with the exception 
 of the second last named. Mrs. John Gaynor, who belongs to an 
 old Quaker family on her grandfather's side, was educated at the 
 Visitation Convent, Frederick, Md., where she was trained in very 
 strict religious views, and has similarly brought up her own chil- 
 dren. I [er father was a sea captain, who, sailing from Baltimore, 
 used to touch at every large port in the world. He had charge of 
 the first vessel which rounded Cape Horn, after the discovery of
 
 318 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 gold in California. For two years following his return from that 
 voyage he was, under the Buchanan administration, Port Surveyor 
 for the City of Baltimore. 
 
 Mr. John Gaynor is in his religious views a Roman Catholic, 
 while in politics he has always been a Democrat, but of that large 
 section which favors sound money. He is an honorary member of 
 the Catholic Library Association and was formerly a member of 
 the Columbus Club, but the necessities of his business duties, which 
 have prevented his very social disposition from having its way 
 and entertainments in his house of general occurrence also caused 
 him to give up club life. 
 
 THOMAS FRANCIS HUNT. 
 
 The subject of the present sketch is a young American Irish- 
 man, who, undeterred by difficulties, unmindful of obstacles, en- 
 tirely unassisted by exterior advantages, has yet managed to win 
 for himself fortune and reputation. Born in Feuor parish, near 
 Tram ore, County Waterford, Ireland, of a good old Irish family, in 
 March, 1858, and coming alone to Chicago at an early age, he has, 
 by industry and honesty, together with a clear head and a firm de- 
 termination to make his way in the world, placed himself in a posi- 
 tion of independence, and has secured the respect and esteem of 
 all who have watched his efforts. His parents were Richard and 
 Ellen (Cochran) Hunt, his father being a well-to-do and highly re- 
 spected Irish farmer, whose people had been identified with the 
 troubles of 1798, while his mother came of a Wexford family near 
 Vinegar Hill, her connections also being prominent in the troubles 
 of that year. She died in 1892.

 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 321 
 
 Thomas Fnuicis Hunt, now a man bright in ideas, rich in infor- 
 mation, and well capable of taking a foremost part in any discus- 
 sion upon any subject, did not receive many educational advan- 
 tages when young, although he was for a few years under the 
 charge of Father Joy, at Fenor, three miles from Tramore, Ireland. 
 I Ic was but a boy of thirteen when he came to the United States and 
 direct to Chicago, where an uncle of his, John Hunt, a well known 
 and highly valued member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, had 
 made his home. 
 
 Shortly after his arrival he went to work for Ed Dunn, a joiner, 
 to learn that trade, and remained with him seven years. For short 
 periods he worked for other joiners until finally, being determined 
 to thoroughly master the trade, he attached himself to Thomas 
 Clark, who bore the reputation of one of the best joiners of Chi- 
 cago. Dull times, little work doing, and pay small in the extreme, 
 however, speedily disgusted Mr. Hunt with the trade he had chosen, 
 and he determined to forsake altogether, and so thoroughly tempted 
 was he not to again embrace that he sold his whole outfit of tools to 
 a fellow workman. 
 
 He was now determined to find some occupation which would 
 give a fair return for honest work, and finally decided to take up 
 Hie wholesale wine and liquor business. Several years having 
 been spent at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Halsted 
 Street, circumstances forced his employer to give up his lease on 
 the premises, and advised by a number of his friends, Mr. Hunt took 
 the lease over and continued the business. This was fourteen years 
 ago, and prosperity with him since that time has been unvarying 
 in its character, culminating in his present business premises, 
 which, for beauty of design and artistic taste all the work being 
 done under his personal and peculiarly qualified superintendence 
 is without a rival in the city. There have been occasions, of 
 course, when his business has experienced the ill effects of the late
 
 322 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 years of depression, but to him such have been but an experience 
 of the kindly estimation in which Mr. Hunt is held by the numerous 
 friends he has been fortunate enough to make during his years of 
 business life. In this instance he considers his gratitude mainly 
 due to the late Mr. A. M. Billings, the well known banker, who 
 on a number of occasions, proved himself his faithful and well 
 wishing friend, .as he so oftentimes showed himself the friend of 
 hundreds of other Irishmen in this city, not merely providing them 
 with positions, but when grown old in his service, testifying his re- 
 gard and appreciation by life pensions. 
 
 Mr. Hunt is a Roman Catholic and a member of the congrega- 
 tion of St. Patrick's Church, while in politics he is a Democrat. In 
 his sentiments and his ideas he is a true Irishman, no movement 
 for the help of his countrymen, either in his native land or in this 
 country, ever sought his co-operation in vain; he has always been 
 free, generous and patriotic, and to a large extent possesses the 
 natural gift of wit. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias, at one 
 time was associated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen 
 and the Independent Order of Foresters, and is also a member of 
 the Continental League. 
 
 MARTIN O'BRIEN. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, Martin O'Brien, one of Chicago's old 
 time and best known citizens, who has for nearly forty years led, 
 as well as controlled in Chicago the best in all that appertains to 
 art in its highest form, was born at Loughrea, County Galway, Ire- 
 land, November 4th, 1830. His father, William O'Brien, was a
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 323 
 
 native of the same county, and one of the leading builders of that 
 section of the country, as was also his father before him. Wil- 
 liam O'Brien married Susan Howard, and in 1837, together with 
 their three sons, John, Martin and William, they came to America, 
 landing in the fall of that year at Quebec, during the great Papi- 
 ueau Rebellion. Canada being at that time greatly disturbed, a 
 further move was made to Burlington, Vermont, and here Mr. 
 O'Brien followed his former occupation of a builder up to the year 
 1858, when he decided to come to Chicago. He died in this city, 
 in 1882, at the age of seventy-seven years, and his wife followed him 
 in 1888. 
 
 Martin O'Brien's first occupation was with a farmer, for whom 
 he worked very hard, receiving the very moderate salary of two 
 dollars per month. The hours of work were from sunrise to sunset; 
 and after returning from the fields he had still other duties to look 
 after. Necessarily dissatisfied, at the close of the year he dissolved 
 the partnership and returned to Burlington, where he very soon 
 secured employment as cabin boy on one of the passenger steamers 
 on Lake Champlain, receiving six dollars per month for the season. 
 This work was more pleasant, and he followed it for five years; 
 during the winter doing chores for his board and attending the 
 district school. He recalls with pride how, in 1871, during a pleas- 
 ure trip, he passed up the lake with a party of friends, realizing 
 one of his early ambitions; and it is needless to say, he enjoyed the 
 best of everything the steamer could furnish. At the age of six- 
 teen, too mature to longer serve as a cabin boy, he secured work as 
 an apprentice in a machine shop and brass foundry, which failed, 
 however, at the end of the year. Having taken a liking for machine 
 and engine work, and being unable to secure any in Burlington, he 
 resolved to go to Lowell, Massachusetts, which was noted for its 
 many machine shops, two hundred and fifty miles distant. Of 
 money on hand his stock was limited to two or three dollars; but
 
 324 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 full of determination he set out to walk. Arriving at last in Low- 
 ell, be found nearly every shop shut down, and being unable to 
 obtain employment, he had to retrace his long weary tramp. 
 Home again, he shortly after this apprenticed himself for three 
 years to John Herrick, the chief architect and builder in Burling- 
 ton, at a salary of four dollars per month, "in store pay," this being 
 used because there was little or no cash money in circulation in 
 those days, and for a week or month's pay an order on some family 
 store was given and one hundred per cent profit paid on whatever 
 you purchased. At that time New England rum, made from molas- 
 ses, was the favorite beverage, and orders on a small block of wood 
 were sent by one of the apprentices to "the store;" and at the end 
 of the month the storekeeper brought in his bushel basket full of 
 blocks, or orders for liquidation, and in settlement received an 
 order from Mr. Herrick on some other store for the amount. 
 
 Mr. O'Brien remembers distinctly many interesting incidents 
 connected with the great campaign of 1840, and declares it was 
 the most exciting and the hottest the country has ever known. At 
 the time he was but ten years old, but all the events are fresh in 
 his mind. Burlington was the hot bed of both Whigs and Demo- 
 crats, all the big meetings being held there and a big dinner given 
 by each party in the public square for all the voters. Floats went 
 through the streets carrying log cabins and barrels of cider, which 
 was freely dealt out to every one. The rallying cry of the Whigs 
 was, "Log Cabin and Hard Cider, Tippecanoe and Tyler, too; Van, 
 Van, the Used Up Man." The first referring to General Harrison, 
 and the latter to Martin Van Buren. 
 
 After serving his three years of carpentering, he resolved to 
 say farewell to his New England home and go to New York, at 
 that time the Mecca of all ambitious young men. As may easily be 
 imagined, it was not possible for him to save much out of his salary 
 of forty-eight dollars per year, and he was therefore absolutely
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 325 
 
 without funds for the passage. From a dear friend fce managed 
 to obtain a loan repayable at sight for a sufficient sum for the 
 necessary expenses. Reaching New York and having had some 
 experience in ship journey, he at once secured work in rebuilding 
 the Northern Light, a California steamer. Mr. O'Brien liked New 
 York and for some time did extremely well, but he was persuaded 
 by an old time friend to come to Chicago, in 1854, at the time the 
 Crimean War was in progress by England and France against Rus- 
 sia. He engaged in contracting and during the first two years erect- 
 ed a number of fine residences. Then, having had some experience 
 in railroad work, he went to work for the Chicago and Milwaukee 
 Railroad, the track of which was just laid, and assisted in build- 
 ing the first bridge of that line across the North Branch. When 
 it was completed, owing to a miscalculation of the engineer who 
 had designed and drawn the plans, although intended to open for 
 the passage of vessels, it was found impossible to open it by hand, 
 and steam and electricity had not as yet been introduced. Soon 
 after this he left this road and went to work for the Illinois and 
 Wisconsin Railroad, now the great North Western, operating 
 some ten thousand miles of track. At that time the line possessed 
 only about twenty-five miles of track and was from four to six 
 months in arrears in payment of the employes and other creditors. 
 However, at the head of it was one of the best and ablest men Chi- 
 cago has produced, William B. Ogden, and his energy and abilities 
 very soon altered the complexion of its affairs. For this company 
 Mr. O'Brien erected several water tanks and tank houses along the 
 line and also several depots as well as a large freight house in the 
 city, which is yet standing. 
 
 The panic of '57 caused a very severe and long continued busi- 
 ness depression, and in '59, Chicago being very dull, Mr. O'Brien 
 went south for the winter, settling in Huutsville, Alabama, and 
 assisted in the building of a large hotel. The Southern people and
 
 326 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the climate were both to his liking, and but for sickness in his 
 family the war would have found him south of Mason's and.Dixon's 
 line. 
 
 In the spring of 1861 he started in the business which he has 
 so successfully carried on since, dealing in fine arts. His first 
 venture was in publishing portraits of Bishop Duggan and Rev. 
 Dr. Butler, and as both had a very large sale, this venture in the 
 art line was a decided success, although at the beginning it ap- 
 peared likely to result disastrously. He started out on the morn- 
 ing of the llth of April, 1861, to secure subscribers. Before re- 
 turning home he had secured twenty-one orders, but next morning 
 the news was received of the bombardment of Fort Sumter, and 
 fearing the country would be ruined, they were nearly all counter- 
 manded. Not discouraged, however, Mr. O'Brien struggled on, the 
 people recovered from their fright, and in a, few months business 
 was booming and continued to boom until 1873. His first place of 
 business was on the West Side of the city on the corner of Lake and 
 Halsted Streets, and thence he moved to South Water Street, oc- 
 cupying rooms over the Board of Trade. Three flights of stairs, 
 however, to be climbed, proved distasteful to him, and in a few 
 months he removed to 206 State Street, just south of Adams Street, 
 this location at that time being well out in the suburbs. In 1863 
 he removed to 122 Dearborn Street, in the heart of the business dis- 
 trict, and two years later, hearing that a Boston house of high re- 
 pute was preparing to start a first-class gallery in a good location, 
 he secured more commodious quarters in a central locality. He, 
 therefore, removed to 51 State Street, on the site of the present 
 Masonic Temple, and there fitted up a very complete establishment. 
 In less than a year the Boston house gave up the fight and returned 
 to the "Hub." Burnt out in 1871 by the great fire, he lost not 
 merely his store and his books and records of outstanding accounts 
 but also his home and furniture on Dearborn Avenue; and was, of
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 327 
 
 course, temporarily crippled. During the winter of 1871 he made 
 no move towards re-establishing his business, for all the insurance 
 he could collect was barely sufficient to liquidate his indebtedness, 
 and he knew well that the people were in no position to expend 
 money on luxuries. The following spring, however, having secured 
 one side of a store at 692 Wabash Avenue, south of Fourteenth 
 Street, he once more set to work. While in this store, for the first 
 two years after the fire, he made but indifferent progress, and in 
 the spring of 1874 once more moved into the city, quarters having 
 been secured by him at 204 and 206 Wabash Avenue, directly op- 
 posite the store he formerly occupied at 206 State Street. While 
 occupying this store a second fire forced him to remove his stock 
 to the West Side for safety. In 1863, while occupying the Dear- 
 born Street store, be had fitted up a gallery and a permanent ex- 
 hibition of art works, the first attempt of this sort in the city, and at 
 no time since has he been other than the leader in his line of busi- 
 ness. In connection with the gallery he commenced the publica- 
 tion of the first art journal in this country, an enterprise which was 
 so bold and unexpected that it led the New York World scoffingly 
 to remark: "Well, what next, an Art Journal in Chicago." Still, 
 notwithstanding New York's ridicule, it prospered, as shown by the 
 fact that all the best literary papers and periodicals of the country 
 were glad to exchange with the Chicago Art Journal. James B. 
 Runyon, one of the editors of the Chicago Times, handled the 
 editorial work and R. R. Donnelly did the printing. The Journal 
 was folio in size, dry pressed, and printed on tinted book paper. 
 After successfully establishing the Journal and securing a good 
 circulation, which has been to him a source of much pride, he 
 found it drew too heavily upon his time, and for that reason was 
 induced to part with it to James F. Aiken, the manager of the 
 Crosby Opera House Gallery, who later sold it to a New York 
 publisher. Mr. O'Brien would pay liberally for a copy of the 
 Journal now.
 
 328 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 For several years it had been his ambition to establish the finest 
 art store in the country, one which could not be excelled by any 
 either in the East or West, and in which the multitude of art 
 lovers would take a hearty pride. Towards carrying out this pur- 
 pose, he resolved to erect a building especially adapted to the 
 wants of his business, and accordingly, in 187G, he erected the 
 building he has ever since occupied, at 208 Wabash Avenue, a 
 structure which in every way fulfills the intent for which it was 
 designed. Even to-day, although he has occupied this building 
 more than twenty-one years, he believes it would be impossible to 
 improve it for the business for which it was intended. 
 
 In that connection, it is not out of place to quote from the 
 Chicago Tribune of May , 1876, when, in regard to Mr. O'Brien's 
 enterprise, it said: "Of all the attractions of city life there is none 
 of so chaste and elevating a character as those connected with art. 
 Mr. Martin O'Brien has been identified with the art progress of 
 Chicago from its earliest beginning. He has always been a little 
 in advance of the people, leading them gradually to the enjoyment 
 and appreciation of a higher order of art. He has found an ample 
 response from the Chicago public and the flood of strangers con- 
 stantly pouring into the city, and has at last been encouraged 
 to erect a handsome building devoted exclusively to art. His new 
 gallery is located at 208 Wabash Avenue, and is in every way as 
 much an honor to Chicago as Goupil's or Schau's art rooms are to 
 New York. Certainly there has never been anything in the West 
 to compare with it in the elegance of its decorations and the 
 variety of art treasures of which it is the depository. Mr. O'Brien's 
 recognized standing in the art business has enabled him to secure 
 one of the largest and choicest collections of oil and water color 
 paintings ever exhibited in Chicago. He has thrown his gallery 
 open free to the public, and visitors may be sure of receiving a cor- 
 dial welcome and the most courteous attention."
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 329 
 
 Mr. O'Brien's eldest son, William Vincent, a gentleman of re- 
 fined and cultivated ability, who is a partner and largely man- 
 ages the business at the present time, visits every year the leading 
 cities of Europe, gathering the best that is to be obtained from 
 those sources in the way of paintings, water colors and other art 
 works. To the people of this country, the house is well known, 
 and very high credit is enjoyed with the dealers and publishers 
 both here and in all the art centers of Europe. 
 
 Mr. O'Brien is in religion a Roman Catholic and in politics is 
 independent, caring more for right principles and right men than 
 for mere party. 
 
 In 1855 Mr. O'Brien married Miss Mary Prendergast, whom he 
 had known formerly in Burlington. The ceremony was celebrated 
 by the Very Rev. Dr. Dunn, Vicar General of the Diocese, in 
 the first St. Patrick's Church on the corner of Randolph and Des 
 Plaines Streets. They have ten children, six boys and four girls, 
 and of the latter three are married. It may be said of the sons, 
 that, the eldest, as before stated, is associated with his father in 
 business, two others have just graduated from the University of 
 Michigan as civil and electrical engineers, and the others are en- 
 gaged in mercantile pursuits. A residence was purchased by Mr. 
 O'Brien in 1867 at 240 Dearborn Avenue, which with its contents 
 was destroyed in the fire. On the same site he built, in 187H, a 
 handsome three story and basement stone front house, which he 
 and his family still occupy. 
 
 Hale and hearty and a man of excellent constitution, Mr. 
 O'Brien declares he feels almost as young as he did forty years 
 ago, notwithstanding the hard work and the various vicissitudes 
 and trials he has passed through. Desire or ambition for public 
 office has never caused him the slightest anxiety, for in the neces- 
 sities of his business and the care of a large and interesting family 
 
 his best energies have been quite sufficiently occupied. 
 17
 
 330 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 MICHAEL B. GEARON. 
 
 The subject of this sketch is one of Chicago's best known Ameri- 
 can Irishmen, and has closely identified himself with every move- 
 ment in recent years which has had for its purpose the bettering 
 the condition of his fellow countrymen, either on this side or the 
 other of the broad Atlantic. 
 
 M. B. Gearon was born in historic Tipperary, Ireland, Septem- 
 ber 18th, 1854. Of his parents, John and Mary Gearon, his father 
 was an ardent patriot, who suffered for his Fenian proclivities and 
 his devotion to his suffering country by being driven into exile in 
 1867. Coming to the United States, a location was found in De- 
 troit, Michigan, whence the family removed to Cherokee, Iowa, in 
 1872, and John Gearon died there in 1887, his wife following him 
 three years later. 
 
 The education which young Gearon obtained in the school of 
 the Christian Brothers of his native land was sound and liberal 
 and continued in the old country until, having reached the age of 
 sixteen, he accompanied his parents to America, and when a settle- 
 ment was made in Detroit, his studies were resumed at a Normal 
 school, where he quickly obtained an unusual proficiency in all gen- 
 eral subjects, graduating in 1872. 
 
 His first ambition led him to seek a journalistic career, and 
 taking up active newspaper work, he assisted in the organization of 
 the Western Catholic, a weekly paper, which he ran for three years, 
 when he moved to Iowa and found a position on the editorial staff 
 of the Dupage Telegraph. Having determinately applied himself 
 to the study of law in Dupage, he obtained admission to the bar in
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 331 
 
 1877, in Iowa, moving three years later to Nebraska. Here he prac- 
 ticed for a couple of years and then moved to Omaha, where he 
 established, in 1884, the Western Celt, at the request of the Central 
 Democratic Committee. A little later he moved to Greeley, Neb. 
 Here his success in the profession he had chosen was immediate and 
 considerable; a large practice was worked up, as well as the repu- 
 tation of being one of the shrewdest and most thorough representa- 
 tives of his profession in the Western States. His talents and 
 abilities received also more substantial recognition in 1889, when 
 he became State's Attorney, a position which for four years he 
 filled with marked power and ability. 
 
 Having determined to seek the Mecca of talent and energy, he 
 came to Chicago in 1895, and in conjunction with the llev. Thomas 
 F. Cashman and Mr. D. F. Bremner, established the Marquette Col- 
 onization Company, of this city, the largest of its kind in the world, 
 and founded with the intention of carrying out the suggestion con- 
 tained in the encyclical letter of his Holiness, Pope Leo XIII., by 
 which Irish Catholics might be enabled to acquire comfortable 
 homes. The success of the organization, of which Mr. Gearon was 
 manager and counsel, was of a character far in advance of the 
 most sanguine anticipations, and in results exceeded anything 
 achieved by similar undertakings. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was married in 1877 at Marcus, Cher- 
 okee Co., Iowa, to Miss Ambona Garvin, a lady of many accom- 
 plishments and high personal gifts. They have eight children, 
 seven boys and a daughter Ambona J., Frank E., Will E., Flor- 
 ence, Gerald, Gratten, Merlin, and Laura, and of these, the eldest 
 son, Ambona J., is a graduate of Creighton University and is now 
 studying at the Chicago College of Law. 
 
 In religious views he is a Roman Catholic, while in politics he 
 has always been a consistent Democrat and strongly favors free 
 silver.
 
 332 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 A member of a number of social and fraternal organizations, 
 for years past he has taken high place in the Ancient Order of Hi- 
 bernians, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and is also prom- 
 inent in the new movement whose outcome was the Irish and Na- 
 tional Alliance. A patriotic Irishman, a thorough lawyer, an ever 
 honorable and courteous gentleman, there are few men in his pro- 
 fession who are held in higher consideration than M. B. Gearon. 
 
 MICHAEL FRANCIS GALLAGHER. 
 
 Michael Francis Gallagher is a young Irish American who is 
 rapidly coming to the front in his chosen profession, that of law. 
 He was born April 2d, 1874, in Sterling, 111., of which place his 
 father was one of the early settlers, having gone there about the 
 year 1839. The latter was a native of County Mayo, Ireland, and 
 by occupation a mason contractor. Among other works of his that 
 may be mentioned, he constructed the stone culverts along the 
 Iowa division of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, when that 
 road was being built. He died in 1885. His wife, the mother of the 
 subject of this sketch, was Mary (Morris) Gallagher, of Irish ex- 
 traction on the mother's side, and whose father was of a prominent 
 English family. 
 
 Michael Francis Gallagher attended the Sterling public school 
 until he was thirteen years of age, when moving to Chicago he 
 took a course at a Chicago high school. Later he studied for two 
 years at the University of Chicago, and in 1895 graduated at the 
 Chicago College of Law, with the degree of LL. B. In the mean-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 333 
 
 time, and at the age of twenty, he passed the Appellate Court ex- 
 amination for admission to the bar, standing at the head of more 
 than seventy applicants. At once taking up his profession, he en- 
 tered the office of G. W. Kretzinger, one of the leading corporation 
 lawyers of the West, and began to perfect himself in the subtleties 
 and niceties of the law. 
 
 Mr. Kretzinger, being the General Counsel for the Louisville, 
 New Albany & Chicago Railroad, Mr. Gallagher through him be- 
 came connected with some highly important railroad litigation, 
 and in necessary appearances before the various courts of this 
 State he acquitted himself in a most creditable manner. For so 
 young a lawyer, the work he has done has been of an extremely 
 advanced character, and has been transacted in such a way as to 
 obtain the strongest commendation from Mr. Kretzinger, who has 
 evidenced his high opinion by entrusting him with many important 
 legal matters pending in Chicago and other parts of the country. 
 
 Mr. Gallagher is gifted in a marked degree with the spirit of 
 oratory in its highest sense and has already gained some fame as 
 a speaker. He was the orator of his class at the Chicago College 
 of Law, and was chosen by that institution as its representative at 
 a banquet given by the Chicago Law Students' Association at the 
 Auditorium, in April, 1895, for the purpose of furthering a move- 
 ment for a public law library for indigent students, and although 
 on that occasion among other speakers of note were Luther Laflin 
 Mills and Lorin C. Collins, Jr., Mr. Gallagher notwithstanding re- 
 ceived great praise and numerous congratulations upon his effort. 
 
 In politics Mr. Gallagher is a Democrat, and during the last 
 campaign, with so many others, he followed the fortunes of the 
 sound money branch and made a number of effective speeches. 
 Mr. Gallagher, true to the religion of his parents, is a Koman Cath- 
 olic. 
 
 An earnest and untiring student not only of the law but of
 
 334 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 philosophy, history and literature, with the strongest attachment 
 and love for his chosen profession, Mr. Gallagher has many friends, 
 who esteem him for his personal gifts, pure character and genial 
 and unassuming ways, while his past work is an assuring omen of 
 his future success. 
 
 WILLIAM JOHN GARVY. 
 
 William John Garvy, who was born in Chicago, July 21st, 1871, 
 comes of an Irish family who had settled in Canada some time dur- 
 ing the latter part of the seventeenth century. His father was John 
 W. Garvy, a native of Canada, who died in 1894, and his mother, 
 now living in this city, was Mary A. (McLean) Garvy, who is of 
 Scotch birth. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was sent to St. Mary's (Jesuit) Col- 
 lege, in Kansas, at the early age of eight years, and finally gradu- 
 ated in 1892. After which he entered the University at George- 
 town, D. C., where he took the post graduate and law courses and 
 graduated with the degrees of LL. B. and A. M., in 1894. 
 
 Mr. Garvy then returned to Chicago, took an examination by 
 the Appellate Court, and received a license to practice law in Oc- 
 tober of the same year. A partnership was formed with Mr. S. P. 
 Douthart, under the firm name of Douthart & Garvy. The firm has 
 met with very considerable success, and is now in the enjoyment of 
 a large general practice, and one which is daily increasing, and Mr. 
 Garvy having already demonstrated the possession of professional 
 abilities of a very high order, is unquestionably to be reckoned 
 among the young men of promising careers in this city.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 335 
 
 In religion he is a Roman Catholic and a member of the congre- 
 gation of the Jesuit Church. In his politics, during the last cam- 
 paign, he gave his support to the Republican party, as there was 
 much in the platform of the Democratic party with which he 
 claimed it was impossible to sympathize. 
 
 JOHN O'CONNELL. 
 
 The successful business man, the architect of his own fortunes, 
 esteemed by his friends and honored in all his business connections 
 stands in a position where he has none to envy and many who may 
 envy him. 
 
 John O'Connell was born in Chicago, October 5, 1861. His 
 father, John, was born in County Cork in 1828 and died iii 1890, 
 while his mother, Johanna O'Conuell, was born in Limerick, 1831. 
 They came to Chicago in 1854, and engaging in the tailoring busi- 
 ness, founded the firm, which is to-day in such a. flourishing condi- 
 tion. 
 
 Young O'Connell was educated at St. Ignatius College in this 
 city. Schooling over, he at once began a two years' apprenticeship 
 in the tailoring business, after which he entered the establishment 
 of his father. The firm name was then Grus & O'Connell, but 
 later his father and himself set up in business together and so con- 
 tinued until the former's death, when the subject of this sketch 
 became sole representative. Under his charge and ever careful 
 attention the business has prospered greatly. His business deal-
 
 336 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ings are all of the best character and he numbers among his large 
 patronage some of Chicago's leading citizens. 
 
 In his political ideas, Mr. O'Connell is and has always been 
 a Democrat. He is unmarried, and displays his filial devotion by 
 the care he bestows upon his mother, who resides in this city. 
 
 DANIEL J. MCELHERNE. 
 
 Daniel J. McElherne, though among the younger members of the 
 Chicago bar, has already met with marked success and appreciation 
 in his profession and has accomplished some results of interest and 
 importance to the community at large. 
 
 He was born at Jolict, Ills., September llth, 1864, his parents, 
 the late Daniel R. McElherne and Eleanor McElherue, having been 
 among the earliest settlers of Will County. 
 
 Daniel J. received a primary education in the public and high 
 schools of his native city and afterwards attended the Niagara Uni- 
 versity at Niagara Falls, New York, where he graduated in 1885. 
 After leaving college, Mr. McElherne read law in the offices of 
 Haley & O'Donnell and E. Meers of Joliet, and after admission to 
 the bar practiced law there for one year, when he came to Chicago 
 and until 1892 was in active practice at 79 Clark Street. In that 
 year he was appointed assistant State's Attorney under Jacob J. 
 Kern, and served during the latter's full term, at the end of which 
 time Mr. McElherue started in practice for himself in his present 
 offices in the Unity Building. 
 
 While in the State's Attorney's office he was connected with
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 339 
 
 some of the most important trial cases, among which may be men- 
 tioned the prosecution of Charles Dix and others for the murder of 
 Frank White. Far more notable than any of the others, however, 
 with which Mr. McElherne has been connected, and indeed one of 
 the most important cases in the history of Chicago, was the prose- 
 cution of two policemen who were charged with participating 
 in the conspiracy to prevent voters, during the election of 1894, 
 from freely exercising the rights of suffrage, and in which he 
 was associated with William S. Forrest. The circumstances 
 will be recalled, at one of the poling places on the West Side, 
 a dead line was formed and retained from twelve o'clock until 
 four, to prevent voters from approaching. The two policemen men- 
 tioned, against whom prosecution was instituted, were in charge, 
 and it was successfully contended by Mr. McElherue, as a proposi- 
 tion of law, that while a person standing by when a crime is being 
 committed, but not aiding, abetting or encouraging the same, is not 
 guilty of the crime as an accessory, yet, where it becomes the duty 
 of one standing by during the perpetration of an offense to inter- 
 fere, as in the case of an officer of the law, and to endeavor to pre- 
 vent to the utmost of his power and call upon bystanders for assist- 
 ance, and he refuses or neglects to do so, he is guilty as an accessory 
 before the fact The trial was a notable one, and has had a bene- 
 ficial influence on the conduct of officers at polling places since that 
 time. One of Chicago's most notable criminal lawyers says of Mr. 
 McElherne, with whom he has tried numerous cases, and to whom 
 has also, in a number, been opposed, "Mr. McElherne is a most 
 effective cross examiner, has no stereotyped manner, manages a 
 case cleverly, and is also a good speaker, effective with the jury, 
 gaining their respect and confidence, and at the same time fre- 
 quently has been complimented by the court for his ability and 
 sincerity." On another occasion from the same, came the remark, 
 "It would be impossible for Mr. McElherne to prosecute a man if
 
 340 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OF THE 
 
 convinced he is not guilty," and that about his only fault lay in his 
 extreme modesty. 
 
 Mr. McElherne is a member of the National Union, the Knights 
 of Pythias, and also of the Sheridan Club. A man of studious 
 habits and an intense lover of literature outside of his continual 
 legal studies, he possesses a most pleasing personality, and is held 
 in the warmest regard by a numerous circle of friends for his 
 estimable qualities both of mind and heart. 
 
 JOHN O'BRIEN. 
 
 Another of Chicago's prominent business men is the subject 
 of the present sketch. A man of energy, difficulties he has never 
 feared, a man of ambition, his mind was set on making a success 
 and undeterred by obstacles, he stands to-day the head of the 
 second largest lumber firm in this vast country. 
 
 Mr. O'Brien was born in Tralee, County of Kerry, Ireland, Jan- 
 uary 6th, 1847. His parents are Patrick and Mary (Forham) 
 O'Brien. Mr. O'Brien, senior, was a well-to-do farmer and young 
 John was given a good education at the Christian Brothers' Col- 
 lege of Tralee. The father wishing to better his condition came to 
 the New World in 1863 and located at White Lake, Michigan, 
 engaging in the lumber business. The glowing accounts of what 
 could be done in America sent by him to his family in Ireland 
 caused young John, then nineteen years of age, to make up his 
 mind to emigrate also, and this he did in 1866, the other members 
 of 1he family following in 1873.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 341 
 
 For a short time young John assisted his father in the busi- 
 ness at White Lake, and then came to Chicago, entering the em- 
 ploy of the Dalton Brothers in 1866, with whom he remained three 
 years as office and errand boy, at the same time learning the lum- 
 ber business. So attentive did he show himself to the business, 
 and so bright were his ideas, that at the end of that time he was 
 offered a position as yard foreman and salesman by Hartman & 
 Graham, and in that capacity he continued for five years, at the 
 end of which time, his reputation was such in the lumber world 
 both as a business man and a judge of lumber, that he was offered 
 the vice presidency of the B. L. Anderson Company and held that 
 position for five years, when he went into partnership with Mr. 
 Doyle and opened a yard under the firm name of Doyle & O'Brien, 
 on Archer Avenue. This firm remained in existence three years, 
 when Mr. Doyle retired, and the firm of O'Brien, Green & Company 
 was formed, consisting of Mr. O'Brien, George Green and George 
 G. Wilcox. Mr. Green retiring in 1893, the corporation now widely 
 known as the John O'Brien Lumber Company was formed. The 
 firm does an enormous lumber business, buying each year from ten 
 to twelve million logs which are sawed in their own mills and 
 shipped to their yards in Chicago. In fact, as before mentioned, 
 there is but one lumber yard in Chicago which can show a larger 
 volume of business than is done by the John O'Brien Lumber 
 Company. 
 
 Mr. O'Brien was married to Miss Mary Lane in 1870, and they 
 have had nine children three boys and six girls. ITe is a member 
 of the Roman Catholic Church, belongs to the Sheridan Club, and 
 in politics is a strong Cleveland Democrat, believing that the 
 Democratic party will make a grave mistake if they favor the 
 16 to 1 idea, as the American people cannot afford to be dishonest. 
 
 His reputation as a business man has been won by sterling 
 qualities of head and heart. The honest purposes upon which his
 
 342 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 life has beeii regulated he looks for in others and .in the business 
 world the word of John O'Brien is as good as another's bond. In 
 manner ever genial and pleasant, his friends are many and are 
 attached to him by sentiments of the highest respect and truest 
 esteem. 
 
 DAVID LANDRETH O'NEILL. 
 
 The subject of the present sketch, whose general popularity 
 throughout the community was evinced by his election recently 
 as secretary of the Catholic Benevolent Legion, was born in Phila- 
 delphia, Pa., April 23d, 1853, his parents being Thomas and Rose 
 Ann (Blunden) O'Neill. Thomas O'Neill was also a native of Phil- 
 adelphia, while his father, John O'Neill, was born in County Kerry, 
 Ireland. Thomas O'Neill still resides in Philadelphia, where he 
 is a prominent citizen and held in the highest respect, having been 
 connected with the well known seed house of David Landreth & 
 Sous for over fifty-five years. He is the author of a book called 
 Reason, Religion and Science, which received very great commen- 
 dation. 
 
 David Landreth O'Neill attended the public schools and the La 
 Salle College of Philadelphia, later taking a course at the College 
 of the Holy Cross, of Worcester, Mass. At the age of eighteen a 
 position was secured by him in a hardware store in Philadelphia, 
 where he remained until 1880, when he decided to locate in Chicago. 
 His first employment in this city was with the hardware house 
 of Orr & Lockett, where he remained as salesman for two years, 
 he then finding a position with William Blair & Co., and at the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 343 
 
 end of four years was promoted to be manager of the city depart- 
 ment. When William Blair & Co. sold out in 1891 to Horton, 
 Gilmore, McWilliams & Co., Mr. O'Neill retained his position with 
 the new concern, and is now one of its most responsible and valued 
 officials. 
 
 Mr. O'Neill was married April 13th, 1887, to Kate Carmody, 
 a Chicago lady, and they have a family of two children. In his 
 religious views he is a Roman Catholic and a member of the con- 
 gregation of St. Jarlath's Church, while in his political affiliations 
 he is independent. 
 
 Mr. O'Neill is a valued member of the Royal League and Vice 
 President of the Vernon Council, which has no less than five hun- 
 dred members, while as before mentioned, he was lately elected 
 secretary of the state organization of the Catholic Benevolent 
 Legion. 
 
 MICHAEL RYAN. 
 
 Michael Ryan, who was for many years Alderman for the Fif- 
 teenth Ward, was born Easter Sunday, 1846, in Tipperary, Ireland, 
 of which his father, Michael, and his mother, Catherine (Gleeson) 
 Ryan, were both natives. The little schooling which our subject 
 was* fortunate enough to receive, was obtained in the public schools 
 of his native place, but at the early age of twelve he was compelled 
 to leave his home and to set out for Cincinnati, Ohio, to join an 
 elder brother, who, having preceded him some years before, was 
 engaged in the plumbing business in that city. Arrived there, he 
 at once began, under his brother's direction, to learn that trade, 
 at which he worked for seven years in that city.
 
 344 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 A move was made by him to Chicago, in 1867, and having ob- 
 tained employment for three years in the plumbing business, he 
 embarked in business on his own account in 1870. The following 
 year, his brother, Thomas Ryan, came from St. Joseph, Mo., and 
 they went into business together on Milwaukee Avenue, and so 
 remained until 1895, when the latter retired, and M. Ryan took his 
 son, Michael T., into partnership. 
 
 From early youth Mr. Ryan had taken a great interest in poli- 
 tics, and particularly in such matters as were of interest to the 
 Fourteenth and Fifteenth Wards and the northwest portion of 
 the city. Always devoted to the principles of the Democratic 
 party, he has been active for its interests, and being a bright and 
 energetic worker, he quickly attracted the attention of the leaders 
 of his ward, and received, in 1874, the nomination for the office of 
 Alderman. He was elected without difficulty, and during the next 
 seventeen years held the office, being re-elected for ensuing terms of 
 two years each. While in the City Council he was a recognized 
 power and served on all of the important committees. Great in- 
 terest was shown by him in the Chicago Drainage question, and 
 he was also a member of the World's Fair Committee from the 
 Board of Aldermen. Unceasingly he has striven for the interest 
 of his own district, and every improvement that section is most 
 proud of owes a great deal to his unremitting labors, for during 
 his long term of office he has caused no less than f 15,000,000 to be 
 expended on the public improvements of his district. 
 
 Mr. Ryan married Annie Feeney, August 17th, 1865, in Cincin- 
 nati, Ohio. The lady was a native of Roscrea, Tipperary, Ireland, 
 and they have had thirteen children, of whom six are living James 
 J. is a lawyer; Michael T. is in business with his father; Robert 
 E. ; Sarah ; John M. ; and Mary C. 
 
 When the Irish American Club was in existence, Mr. Ryan was 
 a prominent member. He is also a member of many beneficiary
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 345 
 
 societies. He has traveled extensively both in this country and in 
 Europe, and in religion is a Roman Catholic and a member of the 
 congregation of St. Sylvester's Church. 
 
 A man of strong personality, pleasing manner, and ever liberal 
 and courteous treatment, he possesses a host of friends, who esteem 
 him for his many good personal qualities, and have infinite respect 
 for his strong business qualifications. 
 
 HENRY POWERS. 
 
 ITenry Powers was born about sixty years ago in the County of 
 Tipperary, Ireland, his parents being John and Mary (Conners) 
 Powers. The father was a prominent man in his section of the 
 country and a warm friend and admirer of Daniel O'Connell. He 
 married Mary Conners, a member of a distinguished Tipperary 
 family and at the age of fifty-two died in 1871. 
 
 The subject of the present sketch attended the national schools 
 of his native town and received instruction from private tutors 
 until he was seventeen years of age, when he went to work for his 
 father, an extensive butcher and packer at Nenagh and who was 
 accustomed to visit the various fairs for the purpose of buying hogs. 
 At that time he became well acquainted with the Hon. J. F. Fin- 
 erty, who was attending school in that town, and also with Alder- 
 man Michael Ryan. With his father he remained until he was 
 twenty-one years of age, when he married Jane Darcy, one of old 
 and honorable stock, her family having for five generations in suc- 
 cession kept a hotel. They have had ten children, four living,
 
 346 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 among whom is Harry Powers, the popular representative of Hoo- 
 ley's Theater. 
 
 Soon after his marriage Mr. Henry Powers embarked in busi- 
 ness for himself, and in 1865 sailed for America and located in Chi- 
 cago, where he went into the butcher business. Very considerable 
 success has crowned his efforts and since that time he has conduct- 
 ed meat markets in several portions of the city. 
 
 In his religion Mr. Powers is a Roman Catholic and belongs to 
 the Cathedral of the Holy Name parish. He is a member of the 
 Catholic Order of Foresters, and for six years has been treasurer 
 of the Sacred Heart Court No. 3. A Democrat in his political views, 
 he has at all times strongly interested himself in all Irish affairs, 
 and his opinions are sought and respected among the large circle 
 of friends he has in his many years in Chicago managed to acquire. 
 
 THEODORE G. CASE. 
 
 Theodore G. Case, it is almost unnecessary to state, is among 
 the leaders of the Chicago bar, and he takes that rank not only 
 from his versatile abilities and the masterly and eloquent power, 
 which has gained for him the distinction of being perhaps the best 
 cross examiner in the West, but also because to him is due the short 
 cause calendar law, by virtue of which over fifty thousand law suits 
 have been finally disposed of and the laws' delays overcome. 
 
 He was born in Castleton, Rensselaer County, N. Y., in 1853, 
 receiving his education in the Collegiate Institute, Newton, N. Y., 
 and afterwards in the University of Michigan, whence he gradu-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 349 
 
 ated in 1870 as a pharmaceutical chemist. For a while he was in- 
 terested in railroad construction in Texas, but in 1873 he decided 
 to study law,, towards which he unquestionably had a strong 
 natural bent The practical study of that profession was com- 
 menced by him with Linn & Babbitt of Jersey City and later on 
 he was with the Hon. William M. Evarts, at the same time attend- 
 ing the law school of New York City. He devoted special atten- 
 tion to corporation law, in which he speedily became quite an 
 expert, so much so, indeed, that after a short period of general 
 practice in New York he obtained the position of general counsel 
 to the Green Bay & Minnesota Railroad Company, and conse- 
 quently found it necessary to remove in 1878 to Green Bay, Wis- 
 consin. On the re-organization of the company into the Green 
 Bay, Winona & St. Paul Railroad Company, Mr. Case became its 
 general attorney. In the position of attorney for the Farmers' 
 Loan and Trust Company he was engaged to foreclose the first 
 and second mortgages upon the railroad and other appurtenances 
 of the Green Bay & Minnesota Railroad Company, and obtained 
 the decree for his client of over six million dollars, notwithstand- 
 ing that the chief legal talent of the state was employed against 
 him. 
 
 In 1884 Mr. Case was retained by the bondholders of the St. 
 Louis, Hannibal & Keokuk Railroad Company, and in conse- 
 quence of the onerous duties involved, resigned his position with 
 the Wisconsin road and removed to St. Louis. Two years later he 
 came to Chicago, and speedily took his place among the lead- 
 ing lights of the Chicago bar. As a special pleader lie possesses 
 few equals. His eloquence and skill in marshalling all the salient 
 facts and circumstances, combined with eminent logical and dia- 
 lectical ability have won for him many a case; his voice, too, 
 though persuasive and well modulated, is powerful and ringing 
 as the occasion demands. Among the celebrated cases in the 
 
 18
 
 350 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OF THE 
 
 annals of Chicago's courts that have secured for Mr. Case a lasting 
 renown may be mentioned the Bowman divorce and the Henry 
 Schwartz litigations. The latter has passed into history as one of 
 the most remarkable trials on circumstantial evidence on record. 
 To quote from a review published after the trial: "His defense 
 in the case of Henry Schwartz, who was charged, in connection 
 with Newton Wall, with the murder of Kellogg Michaels, the ex- 
 press messenger on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, 
 and for the robbery of the safe of the United States Express Com- 
 pany, was a masterpiece. The trial lasted six weeks, Mr. Case 
 being leading counsel for the defense; his cross-examination was 
 reaching and effectual and displayed the greatest legal acumen. 
 His closing address, lasting four hours, was brilliant, fervid and 
 convincing, and, it is universally conceded, saved his client from 
 the gallows." The well remembered case of Jessie Krueger 
 against the West Chicago Street Railroad Company may also be 
 mentioned, in which the girl sued the company for damages for 
 the loss of one leg near the thigh, securing a verdict from the jury 
 of |50,000, one of the highest awards for damages recorded, a vic- 
 tory that added another link to the already large chain of tri- 
 umphs of the subject of this sketch, more especially as Mr. Case 
 had the eloquence and skill of Senator William E. Mason arrayed 
 against him. In the defense of Peter Madden, also, who was in- 
 dicted under what is known in Illinois as the "Habitual Criminal 
 Act," Mr. Case raised legal points in his defense that completely 
 revolutionized the customary practice in the criminal courts of 
 Chicago, by compelling the prosecution to try prisoners at or be- 
 fore their second term after the commitment of such prisoners to 
 the county jail had taken place. 
 
 Mr. Case is a Republican in politics and has frequently given 
 his time and talents to promote the best interests of his party; 
 these have been highly appreciated, as he is considered one of the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 351 
 
 most forcible and eloquent platform speakers. Three times the 
 nomination for Congress has been tendered him, and twice he has 
 been urgently requested to accept a judgeship, but ^has been 
 forced to refuse those honors on account of the onerous and exact- 
 ing duties in connection with his practice. 
 
 Theodore G. Case is senior partner in the firm of Case & Hogan. 
 The ancestors of Mr. Case, on the father's side, came to this coun- 
 try many generations back; but it is to the Cornells, on the moth- 
 er's side, to whom he owes what Irish blood he is proud to possess. 
 
 Mr. Case has allowed himself the time to cross the ocean 
 twice, visiting the leading cities and points of interest in Europe 
 on both occasions. He is a man of fine physique and of command- 
 ing presence, of courteous manners and warm-hearted disposition, 
 his kind heart and love of justice and right having been shown in 
 many of the cases he has handled; more prominently, perhaps, in 
 the case of Jessie Krueger, just referred to, and also in his efforts 
 to imprint the short cause calendar law among the statutes of our 
 state, not so much for his own advantage as for the benefit of the 
 public generally. Those admirable traits of mind and heart are 
 warmly attested to by his host of devoted friends, who respect and 
 honor him not merely for his professional abilities, but his high 
 personal qualities. 
 
 JAMES PEEVEY. 
 
 Ex-Alderman James Peevey was born in the city of Waterford, 
 Ireland, in the year 1846. His parents were John and Mary (Fitz- 
 gerald) Peevey, his mother being a native of Waterford, and his 
 father born in England. The latter, however, was an Irishman
 
 352 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 at heart, and it was his public advocacy of Ireland's rights that 
 forced him to leave Waterford. At this time in 1848 James 
 Peevey was but two years of age; he sailed for America with his 
 father and the late Mark Sheridan. Having settled in St, Louis, 
 the subject of this sketch was educated there at the Christian 
 Brothers College, which he left at eighteen, going to California and 
 there remaining a couple of years. Returning to St. Louis, he en- 
 gaged extensively in the cattle business, buying and shipping to 
 Chicago. On one of his visits to this city, he came to the conclu- 
 sion to remain, believing that Chicago afforded him larger oppor- 
 tunities for a business enterprise of the character he was handling. 
 He immediately took up his residence and established himself in 
 business. The cattle trade prospered and upon the opening of the 
 Jackson Street Market, Mr. Peevey located in one of the depart- 
 ments and began a flourishing business in the wholesale beef line, 
 transacting some of the largest deals in the trade, in one week 
 alone killing and disposing of 1,800 cattle. At. last a change 
 came, and as the result of several unfortunate investments, he 
 became a victim to the ups and downs so generally incidental to 
 commercial life. His manliness and high principles now came to the 
 front, and so soon as his energies could once place him on his feet, 
 every dollar of his liabilities was paid. The natural result fol- 
 lowed, that no man ever possessed a higher reputation in the busi- 
 ness history of the stock yards, and no one was able to secure 
 quicker or better credit. Similar esteem was given him in general 
 social circles, and in the high feelings of honor and respect his 
 family of course participated. 
 
 Mr. Peevey's entry into the political field took place in 1880, 
 and at a time when it was regarded as positively hopeless for a 
 Democrat to look for any recognition in the Ninth Ward. His 
 party in that locality, however, decided upon Mr. Peevey as their 
 candidate for alderman, depending entirely on his personal popu-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 353 
 
 larky, his well kiiown honesty of purpose, and the untiring energy 
 which had ever characterized him to secure success at the polls. 
 Mr. Peevey was sucessful and obtained election by a substantial 
 majority, a result which was a practical illustration of the popular 
 personal regard in which he was held. His record in the Council 
 was a thorough confirmation of what was expected, and so en- 
 deared him to his constituents that his re-election to the Council 
 was carried by an overwhelming majority. 
 
 During the few years preceding his death, which occurred July 
 18th, 1896, Mr. Peevey's interest in political matters was but slight, 
 for his time was devoted to the commission business and the pleas- 
 ures and peace of a home his hard work had made, and the enjoy- 
 ment of the universal respect and esteem his life had so well de- 
 served. 
 
 Ex-Alderman Peevey married, in 1868, Elizabeth Wall, a na- 
 tive of County Cork, Ireland, and they have had one daughter, who 
 with her mother are left to mourn an irreparable loss. 
 
 JOHN JOSEPH REILLY. 
 
 John Joseph Reilly was born in Chicago, January 1st, 1865. 
 His parents were John and Esther (McCain) Reilly, natives respect- 
 ively of Kildare and Queen's Counties, Ireland. His father was by 
 occupation a locomotive engineer, who having brought his family 
 to the United States in 1848 settled first in Cincinnati and then 
 moved to Chicago in 1861, dying in this city in 1892, his wife having 
 preceded him the previous year.
 
 354 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The subject of this sketch obtained his early education in the 
 public and parochial schools of Chicago. His schooling finished 
 at the age of seventeen, he secured a position in the stock yards 
 as yardmaster and held the same for six years, leaving it to enter 
 the government service, a position he had obtained by public ex- 
 amination in 1889, passing very creditably and receiving the ap- 
 pointment of Examiner of Customs. 
 
 In 1892 Mr. Reilly was one of a class of seventy-five men exam- 
 ined to select custom examiners for the World's Fair and out of 
 that number Mr. Reilly passed the best examination and received 
 the first appointment. Consequently he examined and appraised 
 everything sold on the Midway Plaisance during the World's Co- 
 lumbian Exposition, besides examining goods in other parts of the 
 Fair, and at the close he appraised and put values on all abandoned 
 goods which were sold at public auction. 
 
 In the fall of 1894 Mr. Reilly was a candidate for the Legisla- 
 ture from the Thirteenth Senatorial District, but was not success- 
 ful. Mr. Reilly was employed in the County Treasurer's office for 
 a short time in 1895, but resigned to resume his old work in the 
 Custom Department, where it is his duty to examine all the leaf 
 tobacco and cigars that come into this port. He was a prominent 
 member of the Hibernian Rifles until they were taken in as part 
 of the National Guard, when he resigned to join the Chicago Zou- 
 aves. Later he became a member of the famous Illinois Zouaves, 
 of which he is vice-president at the present time, and was one of 
 the famous drill team of twenty-six men who traveled all over the 
 country winning prizes. It visited Omaha, Kansas City, Washing- 
 ton, Little Rock, New York, and St. Louis, and was successful at 
 every place, with the exception of the last mentioned. 
 
 As yet unmarried, -he is a member of several friendly societies, 
 including the Royal League and the National Benevolent League.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 355 
 
 DENNIS PAUL RUSSELL, M. D. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, Dennis Paul Russell, M. D., was 
 born in Chicago, May 18th, 1860, his parents being John S. and 
 Margaret (Cicela) Russell. His grandfather, Dennis Russell, a na- 
 tive of County Tipperary, Ireland, was a general in the English 
 service and served throughout the Crimean AVar. Afterwards tak- 
 ing up the profession of civil engineer, he had come to America and 
 settled in New York State. His son, John S. Russell, the father 
 of Dr. Russell, had come to Chicago in 1844 and became a promi- 
 nent builder and contractor. He married Margaret Cicela, a na- 
 tive of Couuaught, Ireland, one of whose immediate ancestors also 
 in the British service had been a general in the Crimean War. 
 Another uncle, Don Miguel McMahon, who had gone to Mexico be- 
 fore the time of Maximilian and invested extensively in mines, is 
 at the present time Secretary of the Navy for the Mexican gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 In his youth Dr. Russell attended the public schools of Chicago, 
 from which, in 1877, at the age of seventeen, he graduated. He 
 then entered the Jesuit College at Georgetown, graduating in 
 1880. Having taken later a course at the College of Pharmacy in 
 Chicago, he graduated in 1883 and then entered Rush Medical Col- 
 lege, from which he graduated also in 1890 and began the practice 
 of the profession he had chosen. 
 
 Dr. Russell was married December 13th, 1886, to Laura L. Cone, 
 of Chicago. 
 
 A member of all the leading Irish and Catholic organizations, 
 Dr. Russell, who holds the position of Surgeon of the Clan-Na-Gael 
 Guards, takes a lively interest in all Irish matters.
 
 356 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 lii his religious views he is a Roman Catholic and belongs to 
 the congregation of the Holy Family Church, while in politics he 
 is a Democrat with very strong silver proclivities. Broad in his 
 views, Dr. Russell has had the benefit of considerable foreign travel 
 and his earnestness in all his undertakings, his generous and kindly 
 nature has won for him the affectionate regard of a host of friends. 
 
 COLONEL MARCUS KAVANAGH, JR. 
 
 Whether as soldier, prominent citizen, lawyer, thorough Amer- 
 ican or patriotic sou of the land of his fathers, it is difficult to 
 know which to speak of first where Col. Marcus Kavanagh is con- 
 cerned, for in each case he has gained the same enviable reputa- 
 tion. He is a man born to lead, the possessor of a forceful indi- 
 viduality that absolutely commands respect; with positive ideas 
 and a power of enforcing on others that must always assure him a 
 strong place in auy community, a man of most dignified appear- 
 ance, but never failing courtesy. 
 
 The Colonel is still in the prime of early manhood. He was 
 born September 3, 1859, of good Irish stock. His father, Marcus 
 Kavauagh, was a native of County Wicklow, and his mother, 
 Mary, daughter of Martin Hughes, from County Mayo. The 
 name Marcus is evidently hereditary in the family, for the grand- 
 father of the subject of our sketch a native of County Wexford 
 was also so named. His father, a man in comfortable circum- 
 stances, came to this country in 1850 and settled in Des Moines, 
 Iowa, where Marcus Kavanagh, Jr., was born and received his
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 359 
 
 early education in its public schools. He afterwards went to 
 Niagara University, where he graduated 1 June, 1876, and grad- 
 uated in law from the Iowa State University in 1878. He imme- 
 diately began to practice law, and his ability and ready resource 
 soon made for him considerable mark in his profession. Every 
 case he took charge of was conducted conscientiously and most 
 carefully, and while he has a natural courage, sufficient to provide 
 him with resource in any emergency, yet ample preparation is be- 
 stowed whenever the opportunity is accorded. He is a fine 
 speaker, has a most excellent manner, and that peculiarly effec- 
 tive power which is the result of a clever understanding of the 
 circumstances, and an earnest conviction of the justice of the 
 case. 
 
 Mr. Kavanagh was elected city attorney of Des Moines in 1882, 
 and re-elected to the same office in 1884. He was chosen as Dis- 
 trict Judge of the Ninth Judicial District of Iowa in 1885, but 
 this position the Hon. John Gibbous, recognizing that such supe- 
 rior qualifications needed more scope for action, induced him to 
 resign, and coming to Chicago they went into partnership, the 
 firm being then known as Gibbons & Kavanagh. When Mr. Gib- 
 bous was elected judge of the Circuit bench, Mr. Kavanagh found 
 it necessary to form a new partnership, and his firm is now Kava- 
 nagh & O'Donuell. He has made choice of no special branch of 
 the law, for he possesses that mental grasp which makes it an 
 easy matter for him to discover the salient points in any case, and 
 consequently a general practice is carried on by the firm. 
 
 Among his professional brethren Marcus Kavanagh is held in 
 the very highest regard, for his acquirements command their re- 
 spect and confidence, while his courteous manner under all cir- 
 cumstances, and yet entirely devoid of ostentation, has given him 
 a wide range of warm personal friends, who hold him in the high- 
 est esteem for his many manly qualities.
 
 360 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 Some reference is required to Col. Kavanagh's record as a sol- 
 dier. Since his earliest years, military matters have always been 
 to him of absorbing interest. At Niagara University he was un- 
 der military instruction for five years. And while studying law in 
 Iowa City he was under Captain Chester of West Point, a soldier 
 Avho was unusually competent to instruct in the art of war. 
 
 Elected Major of the Third Eegiment, Iowa National Guard, in 
 Des Moines, and afterwards its Lieutenant Colonel, so soon as he 
 arrived in Chicago he was elected Lieutenant Colonel of the Sev- 
 enth Infantry. Through all the trying riot times of the summer 
 of 1894, the Seventh Kegiment did noble service, and the police 
 being engaged in the suburbs, it was for a couple of weeks the only 
 force for the protection of the city. 
 
 Owing to the heavy pressure of his professional duties, and 
 also to the hard feeling in the regiment, rendering harmony among 
 the officers an impossibility, Lieutenant Colonel Kavanagh re- 
 signed his command in the fall of 1895. On April 12th, 1896, how- 
 ever, he was unanimously elected to the position of Colonel of the 
 regiment, which had been lately vacated by Colonel F. T. Colby, 
 and his installation was made an occasion of such hearty approval 
 as well testified to his popularity in the Seventh Eegiment. 
 
 In religion Mr. Kavanagh is a Catholic; in politics he belongs 
 to the Republican party. As an Irishman, a pride to the land of 
 hi.s father, and an honor to the country to which he owes his birth 
 and which his father adopted, he is in constant request as a speaker 
 at the great national and patriotic gatherings. 
 
 Colonel Kavanagh is a man of dignified and commanding ap- 
 pearance, his countenance is frank and pleasing he looks as he 
 is every inch a soldier. His career has been an active and an 
 honorable one, and he has proven himself one of those men who 
 add dignity to and elevate any enterprise with which they are
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 361 
 
 connected. A conscientious and thorough lawyer, he is also an 
 advocate, logical, forcible and convincing; while as a soldier he 
 has demonstrated the possession of those rare qualities that make 
 the born leader; the ability first to obey, and then to govern. 
 
 JAMES J. OTOOLE. 
 
 James J. O'Toole was born October 23d, 1860, in Greenbush, 
 N. Y. He was the son of Patrick O'Toole, a native of Kings County, 
 Ireland, and a civil engineer by profession, who had come to this 
 country in 1858, and of Bridget O'Toole, who was a native of the 
 same county. They came to Chicago in 1860, where the father died 
 in 1880, and the mother in 1864. 
 
 James O'Toole received his education in the public and paro- 
 chial schools of Chicago, leaving at the age of thirteen to help 
 his parents in the support of the family. His first work was as 
 a butcher in one of the slaughter houses of the Chicago Union 
 Stock Yards, but his industrious habits soon obtained recognition 
 and he was promoted to the position of foreman, and later to that 
 of shipping clerk. 
 
 He gave up work in the packing house in 1889, upon receiving 
 the nomination for the Legislature from the Second Senatorial Dis- 
 trict. He was elected, and held the office until 1891, when he vas 
 appointed Chief Deputy Clerk of the Appellate Court, First District, 
 Illinois. While holding this office he attended the Chicago Evening 
 College of Law, from which he graduated and was admitted to the 
 bar in July, 1893. Appointed to the office of Justice of the Peace,
 
 362 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 for the town of Lake, in August, 1893, he was recommended for re- 
 appointment by the Judges of the Circuit, Superior and County 
 Courts of Cook County, in July, 1895, but was rejected by Governor 
 Altgeld. Justice O'Toole at once claimed this action was irregular, 
 ami not in accordance with law, and consequently refused to vacate 
 the office. From the office of the State's Attorney of Cook County, 
 quo warranto proceedings were instituted to oust him, and the case 
 came up before Hon. John Gibbons, of the Circuit Court, who, by 
 his decision sustained Mr. O'Toole's position, as did also the Appel- 
 late and Supreme Courts of the State. In the trial he was himself 
 of great assistance to the attorneys. 
 
 The Governor of Illinois had refused in the same irregular man- 
 ner to accept several other Chicago Justices, who were appointed 
 at the same time as Justice O'Toole, and they had vacated the of- 
 fices, but as soon as Judge O'Toole's position was sustained by the 
 courts, these at once resumed their various positions. 
 
 Judge O'Toole was a member of the School Board, District No. 
 (>, Town of Lake, 111., from May 2d, 1887, to January, 1889. Of the 
 Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Ancient Order of United Work- 
 men, and the Independent Order of Foresters, he is an old time 
 member. In religion, he is a Catholic; in politics a Democrat, and 
 a firm believer in the single tax, the inheritance tax, and the in- 
 come tax, as well as that free trade and free silver is for the best 
 interest of our country. 
 
 He was married, February 6th, 1884, to Katie Kelly, of Chicago, 
 and they have had four children Henry, James, Helen, and Syl- 
 vester. 
 
 Judge O'Toole is a man of slight build, fair complexion, and 
 medium height. That he possesses great ability, the position he has 
 achieved conclusively shows, and no one can gainsay his character 
 for just decisions and for fair and honest treatment to all men. 
 Socially, he is a very agreeable companion, for his personality is a
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 363 
 
 most pleasing one. He is a man of large information on all the 
 leading subjects of the day, and never tires of helping and assisting 
 others less fortunate than himself. There are, indeed, few men 
 in this vast city who possess more or truer friends than the Hon. 
 James J. O'Toole. 
 
 JOSEPH PATRICK RAFFERTY. 
 
 A young American Irish lawyer, who already stands well and 
 is daily progressing among his fellows, is the subject of the present 
 sketch, Joseph Patrick Rafferty, who was born in Chicago, June 
 llth, 1866. His father, John Rafferty, was of gallant Tipperary 
 stock, and had come to the United States some time in the forties. 
 He settled first at Seymour, Conn., and about 1854 moved to Chi- 
 cago, where for some years he was employed as foreman of Dake's 
 Bakery, lie married a lady of an old Limerick family and died in 
 1879. 
 
 In his youth Joseph Patrick Rafferty attended the school of the 
 Holy Family parish, and later went to St. Viateur's College, grad- 
 uating from the latter in 1885. At once he entered the Union Col- 
 lege of Law, graduating there with the degree of LL. B., and re- 
 cehing his license to practice in 1887, opened an office and set to 
 work. 
 
 His ability as a lawyer soon brought him a very good practice, 
 but regardless of the fact that his growing business made him a 
 very busy man, ample time was found by him to assist in doing 
 good for his fellowmen. In 1890 he was prominent in the organi- 
 zation of the Continental League and the American Constitutional
 
 364 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Kights League, both of which are non-sectional and non-political. 
 Of the Archdiocesan Union of Catholic Young Men's Societies he 
 has held the office of president. He was president of the Damen 
 Club, named after the noble Jesuit missionary; for two years was 
 chief ranger of St. Kose of Lima Court of the Catholic Order of For- 
 esters; for three years was one of the auditors of the High Court, 
 and is prominently mentioned in connection with the office of High 
 Chief Banger. He was Prefect of the Young Men's Sodality of Holy 
 Family Jesuit parish. 
 
 Mr. Eafferty is a Roman Catholic and a member of the con- 
 gregation of the Jesuit Church of the Holy Family. 
 
 In his political views he is a Democrat, and has made himself so 
 prominent in his district that the nomination for the Legislature 
 from his district the Fifteenth could be obtained by him at 
 any time desired. 
 
 DR. THOMAS FRANCIS O'MALLEY. 
 
 Dr. Thomas Francis O'Malley was born in Limerick, Ireland, 
 on May 15th, 1860, and is of a family which is one of the oldest 
 and most respected in the south of Ireland. His father, a man of 
 splendid physique, was noted both for his strict honesty and his 
 ardent patriotism. He died a few years since, but the mother 
 of our subject, still hale and hearty, resides in the old homestead. 
 
 With that, religious devotion characteristic of so many Irish 
 parents, Thomas Francis O'Malley was selected at an early age as 
 a candidate for the priesthood and was sent to the Diocesan Sem- 
 inary, Limerick, where he received a thorough classical education.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 3C5 
 
 He then went to St. Patrick's College, Thurles, where his philo- 
 sophical studies were pursued, after which he encountered the 
 ordeal immortalized by William Carleton of "Going to Maynooth." 
 Young O'Malley, like Carleton in former days, came to the con- 
 clusion that the study of theology and the desires of his parents 
 were not in exact consonance with his own ideas, and he left May- 
 nooth, having in mind, as he acknowledges, the words of Alex- 
 ander Pope: 
 
 "Know well thyself, presume not God to scan, 
 
 The proper study of mankind is man." 
 
 Forthwith he came to America, arriving here in 1883, and en- 
 tered Kush Medical College, where, after a three years' course, he 
 graduated with high honors. At once he started into the practice 
 of medicine, and in a short time gained the reputation of a suc- 
 cessful practitioner, and was in the enjoyment of a large and 
 lucrative practice. A close reader and an ardent student, he 
 always keeps himself well abreast of the times. To his thorough 
 conversance with all new theories and discoveries connected with 
 the science of medicine can be attributed in a great extent the suc- 
 cess he has achieved in his chosen profession. 
 
 Dr. O'Malley is prominently connected with many social and 
 benevolent societies, in all of which he is exceedingly popular. lie 
 at present holds the position of high medical examiner of the Cath- 
 olic Order of Foresters, enjoying the unprecedented honor of having 
 been re-elected four times in succession at the National Conven- 
 tions. He is a member, among others, of the Ancient Order of 
 United Workmen; the Independent Order of Foresters; as well 
 as several medical societies. For several years also, he was a con- 
 spicuous figure as Surgeon Major of the Old Hibernian Rifles, now 
 the Seventh Regiment. 
 
 A great lover of natural scenery, he has traveled extensively 
 through this country, and two years ago revisited the "Old Sod"
 
 366 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 and made a tour on the continent. He is intensely interested in 
 Irish affairs and is ever ready to take a hand in any movement for 
 the betterment of his down-trodden fellow countrymen. 
 
 Like most men of his profession, he takes very little active part 
 in American politics, though he is always ready to help a friend, 
 lie has never sought political preferment, though his immense pop- 
 ularity and strict integrity would almost insure him any office he 
 would have a right to seek. Kindly in disposition, courteous in 
 manner, in appearance he is the very personification of vigorous 
 manhood. As yet unmarried, though enjoying a large practice, 
 he stands forth prominent among his fellow countrymen in Chi- 
 cago, a man of noble parts and with a past record giving eminent 
 promise of great future achievement 
 
 JOHN F. SCANLAN. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, Hon. John F. Scanlan, is the young- 
 est of the four Scanlau Brothers, Edward, Michael, Mortimer and 
 John, so well known in Irish and business circles of Chicago, and 
 also the youngest son of Mortimer and Catherine (Roche) Scan- 
 Ian of Castlemahon, County Limerick, Ireland. He was born in 
 1840. His father was a farmer and came of a family that has 
 lived in the south of Ireland for centuries. His mother belonged 
 to the La Roche family, who came to Ireland from the south of 
 France some four hundred years ago. The Scanlan family ar- 
 rived in Boston the winter of 1848, where they spent two and a 
 half years. In 1851 they moved to Chicago. His father died in 
 Ireland and his mother died in Chicago in 1858.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 369 
 
 In 1851 the subject of our sketch entered the school connected 
 with the College of St. Mary's of the Lake, corner of Huron and 
 State Streets, then a suburban district. In 1856 he was appren- 
 ticed to the trade of ornamental wood carving, and in 1859 and 
 1860 he decorated some of the prominent buildings in New Or- 
 leans and Memphis, leaving the latter city in time to avoid the 
 boundary pickets of the Confederacy. Arriving in Chicago, he 
 joined his brothers in the wholesale confectionery business, one 
 of the largest of the kind in Chicago, then being conducted by 
 them. 
 
 Believing that the performance of one's duty to country is 
 obedience to God, when the spirit of revolution swept over the 
 Irish race, at home and abroad, in the latter part of the fifties, the 
 Scanlan Brothers threw themselves, their fortune, influence and 
 personal energies into the Fenian Brotherhood, then the hope of 
 Ireland, and for ten years few questions of interest to the Irish 
 people were considered without they being consulted. The first 
 convention of that organization was held in Chicago, and it was 
 here the historic Irish National Fair was held, in the old Brian 
 Hall, now the Grand Opera House. 
 
 In 1862, John F. Scanlan entered the Union Army and was 
 commissioned captain of Company B, Sixty-seventh Illinois Volun- 
 teers. His services over, he returned to the confectionery busi- 
 ness. In 1872 he was elected as a member of the Twenty-eighth 
 General Assembly of the Illinois Legislature. In 1868, his studies 
 led him into the subject of Political Economy, and in the course 
 of his investigation he discovered, as he thinks, the cause of Ire- 
 land's troubles. In the preface to his work published on that sub- 
 ject, "Why Ireland Is Poor," he tells of his conversion to protec- 
 tion politics. 
 
 "Why are Irish national efforts failures?" The Irish language 
 was spoken during the revolution as much as the English; who 
 
 19
 
 370 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 knows it? The '48 movement and Fenianisui gave great souls 
 to humanity, but only the incense of their suffering remains. The 
 army, law and pulpit in almost every nation are adorned by Irish 
 bravery, eloquence and devotion, yet Irish efforts are not what the 
 world calls success. What is the cause? No race is accorded 
 more praise for their heroism in war, in vale or hilltop; where 
 death reaps its greatest harvest, where dash, daring and bravery- 
 are wanted most, few fall nearer to the cannon's mouth than the 
 Irish soldier. When principle demands painful sacrifices, Ire- 
 land's sons have given evidence that none are more willing to live, 
 and, if needs be, to die for it; yet, with all these facts, the results 
 of our national aspirations have been failures. This is charged to 
 racial defects. Always loath to believe that we had failed from 
 race defects, I looked through our limited libraries and found a 
 record of Kings, Wars, Chiefs and Religion. Had we a national, 
 political or domestic economy? I could find but little trace of it. 
 About this time, an American friend handed me the work of 
 that brilliant Irish-American, Henry C. Carey, "The Slave Trade, 
 Foreign and Domestic," and requested me to read it, particularly 
 the chapter on Ireland. I did so; it opened up a new world to me. 
 Following up that train of thought and study, investigating tra- 
 ditions, social conditions, personal experiences, and every avenue 
 of Ireland's checkered career, I was forced to the conclusion that 
 our failures came from national poverty, which destroyed the 
 power of association, and national poverty came through the 
 destruction of Irish industries, and our industries were destroyed, 
 not by the force of the English Army, but by English Free Trade, 
 through the Act of Union; in other words, force having failed to 
 crush the national spirit, the school where the head and hand were 
 instructed and the stomach filledi the Nation's industries were 
 destroyed. In the destruction of Ireland's industries, the people 
 lost the power of association to a large extent among themselves,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 371 
 
 aud almost entirely with the outside world. This was a gigantic 
 step downwards. They lost the school of mechanism the fac- 
 tory and then passed away from the people the aid and use of 
 modern invention, another step. They lost their commerce, which 
 destroyed the school of diplomacy, hence, dwarfed national efforts, 
 another step. Their government was transferred to England, 
 then the school where Irish statesmen were educated was closed, 
 another step. Then the home market was lost. All the above 
 were but incidents in capturing the citadel the home market that 
 England wanted then diversified labor and the power of com- 
 mercial exchange passed beyond' the Nation's control, followed by 
 the slavery of national poverty. Then it was that "a darkness 
 that could be felt" fell on the land and has since paralyzed the peo- 
 ple's efforts." 
 
 To be convinced meant action. Mr. Scanlan, having discov- 
 ered the cause of national poverty, at once threw himself into the 
 battle of protective tariff economy. Satisfied that free trade in 
 this country would be as destructive here as it was in Ireland, and 
 believing that the Irish-American people could do no greater ser- 
 vice to America than to stamp out free trade, he became a promi- 
 nent speaker and a well-known figure in every national political 
 battle for the past twenty-five years. He is regarded as an 
 authority on that subject, and as one of the most eloquent speakers 
 in the country. 
 
 The St. Louis Globe Democrat, reporting one of his speeches, 
 said : 
 
 "In the Illinois campaign to date the speech of John F. Scan- 
 Ian, author of 'Why Ireland Is Poor,' stands first in effectiveness. 
 It was delivered at Mattoon a couple of nights ago. For two hours 
 and a half Mr. Scanlan held his audience, which filled the Opera 
 House to the doors, spellbound. He is the Wendell Phillips of 
 to-day. He has the same easy, quiet manner, and the same mar-
 
 372 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 velous mental dexterity in arraying facts until bis conclusions are 
 forced irresistibly upon his hearers. His whole speech was de- 
 voted to the tariff issue. One of the most entertaining passages, 
 which made eyes glisten and throats choke up, was that about 
 Ireland's unhappy experience with free trade." 
 
 Mr. Scanlan has written two works on this subject, "Why Ire- 
 land Is Poor" and "Light on the Tariff." 
 
 In 1883, Mr. Scanlan seeing the need for an insurance benevo- 
 lent association, especially adapted to the Catholic people, estab- 
 lished "The Catholic Order of Foresters," and for six years gave 
 that organization almost his entire time, planting, welding and 
 uniting its various parts on a broad business basis, until the or- 
 ganization has now extended its branches across the northern 
 part of this continent, from Quebec to the Pacific coast, counting 
 among its fifty thousand members some of the best citizens of all 
 nationalities in the country. At the Fifth Annual Convention, at 
 the close of his official duties, he was presented with a beautifully 
 engrossed set of resolutions, on behalf of the organization, thank- 
 ing him for his grand work and proclaiming him "Father of the 
 Catholic Order of Foresters," 
 
 In 1862, Mr. Scanlan was married to Teresa M. Lawler, daugh- 
 ter of Joseph Lawler and sister of the well-known Congressman, 
 the late Frank Lawler. Mr. Scanlan has four sons and five daugh- 
 ters. 
 
 Under the old firm name of Scanlan Bros., he conducts a real 
 estate business in this city, and while that is his business, he also 
 is a constant contributor to the press; he delivers lectures on 
 special subjects, particularly is he in demand at patriotic demon- 
 strations and Grand Army celebrations.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 373 
 
 ANDREW J. RYAN. 
 
 Andrew J. Ryan was born in Chicago, December 29th, 1869, and 
 is the sou of William F. and Ellen (Farrell) Ryan. His father was 
 a native of Tipperary, Ireland, who came to the United States in 
 1858, settling at Scheneetady, N. Y., where he was in the railroad 
 business for a few years. He later remdved to Chicago, where he 
 died in 1874, but his wife the mother of the subject of this sketch 
 --still lives in this city. 
 
 Andrew J. Eyan attended the public schools of Chicago until 
 he was nine years of age, when his ambition to be doing something 
 for himself, and that feeling that he ought to assist in the siipport 
 of the family, his father being dead, determined him to seek em- 
 ployment. His first work was with the firm of Field, Leiter & Co., 
 in their retail store in the capacity of errand boy. After two and 
 a half years he gave this up to go into the employ of the Farmers' 
 Review, a paper publish ed in Chicago, and with this journal he 
 remained two years as errand boy and then resigned to accept a 
 position with Lyon & Healy as department cashier. From time to 
 time he was promoted until when he left this firm in 1893, after a 
 term of sen-ice of ten years, he was in the very responsible position 
 of credit man. During the time he was witli Lyon & Healy he at- 
 tended the Night Law College of the Lake Forest University, from 
 which he graduated June 1st, 1891. In 1893 he determined he 
 would be his own master, and opening up a law office began the 
 practice of his profession. Eminent success has crowned his efforts, 
 and having held the position of Attorney for the Town of West 
 Chicago, Mr. Ryan now represents legally several large corpora-
 
 374 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 lions ami has also a very lucrative general practice, having been 
 connected with some most important suits. 
 
 Mr. Ryan was married, August 26th, 1896, to Miss Nellie T. 
 Cahill, the well known contralto singer of St. Patrick's Church. 
 
 For five years he was State Secretary of the Catholic Benevolent 
 Legion, and has also assisted to organize and place on a solid foun- 
 dation several other benevolent enterprises. In religion he is a 
 Roman Catholic and a member of the congregation of the Church 
 of Our Lady of Sorrows, while in politics he is a Democrat 
 
 Mr. Ryan, though yet a young man, has shown such ability and 
 such ready grasp of affairs that his friends, whose name is legion, 
 confidently expect to see him in the near future numbered among 
 the brightest ornaments of the legal profession in Chicago. 
 
 CAPTAIN PATRICK LINANE TOUHY. 
 
 Captain Patrick Linane Touhy, one of the best known and most 
 popular Irishmen in Chicago, was born in County Clare, Ireland. 
 His father was a man of considerable prominence in the section of 
 the country in which he lived, while his mother came from the 
 Leonards, a noted family of high standing, who made the strongest 
 objections to her marrying Leonard Touhy, not considering his. 
 position justified the connection. 
 
 The subject of this sketch attended school in his native town 
 until he was twenty years of age, when perceiving that as a younger 
 son he had no hopes of obtaining any sufficiency from his father's 
 fortune, and determined to seek his own fortune he sailed for Amer-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 375 
 
 ica. Landing in New York employment was secured in a carpet 
 house, where he remained some years, until hearing of the oppor- 
 tunities offered by the little giant city of the West Chicago he de- 
 termined there to cast his lot, and in association with his brother, 
 started in the wine and spirit business. 
 
 Shortly afterwards he married Catherine Rogers, of Rogers 
 Park, and at once retiring from the business, took up his residence 
 in that suburb. For the purpose of subdividing and selling the 
 large amount of land his wife had inherited from her father, Mr. 
 Philip McGregor Rogers, the first settler of that section, Mr. 
 Touhy, in 1871, formed a stock company. This undertaking met 
 with remarkable success, and one of the finest and most prosperous 
 additions to Chicago has been by him built up. 
 
 Mr. Touhy has always and unalterably been Democratic in his 
 political views; he is a great admirer of the personality and the 
 abilities of William Jennings Bryan, the late Presidential candi- 
 date. Active in politics, he has filled a number of village offices, 
 and in social as well as political circles has been very prominent. 
 
 At the breaking out of the late war, when troops were called 
 for by his adopted country, he was one of the first to respond. He 
 succeeded in making himself one of the most valued members of 
 that brave Irish regiment, the Sixty-ninth New. York Volunteers, 
 and from the ranks rose step by step until on his retirement he 
 held the position of Captain. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Touhy have had ten children, of whom six are 
 living. The death of the eldest, Edmond Rogers Touhy, just as he 
 was making a name for himself, was a terrible blow to his parents. 
 He was a very promising young man and a graduate of the North- 
 western University and the Union College of Law, having for some 
 time studied law in the office of W. J. Hynes, lie had entered into 
 a partnership with John S. Hunter, under the firm name of Hunter 
 & Touhy. His progress in the profession was rapid in the extreme,
 
 376 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 and up to the time of his death, no case entrusted to him had been 
 lost. Mabel Rogers Touhy, the oldest daughter, is a bright and 
 clever young lady who has just finished her education at the Lo- 
 retta Academy, at East St Louis, where she has developed great 
 ability as an artist, Stephen Kogers Touhy, a graduate of the 
 Evanston High School, seems predestined to be the business repre- 
 sentative of the family. 
 
 Captain Patrick L. Touhy is a splendid specimen of the large- 
 hearted, generous-souled Irishman, his hand and his purse ever 
 ready to respond to any just charitable call. His circle of friends 
 is a large one, and the distinguishing characteristic of his nature- 
 genial hospitality finds generous outcome in the frequent gather- 
 ings at his very charming home. 
 
 EDMUND F. RYAN. 
 
 A passionate craving for liberty, an eternal hatred of oppres- 
 sion, and a never dying scorn for the oppressors, have been the 
 chief causes tending towards Ireland's rich contributions of phys- 
 ical power and mental activity to the mercantile and the profes- 
 sional classes of the great West. Our city, perhaps, possesses more 
 than its proper share of this, the best element of the old land across 
 the seas. It would be difficult to find a better example of the type 
 mentioned than the subject of this sketch, Edmund F. Ryan. 
 
 He is a young man, but his career is not wanting in strange 
 scenes and moving incidents. He was born in 1862 in the County 
 of Limerick so beautiful. His father, Thomas Ryan, and his
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 379 
 
 mother, formerly Eliza Frewen Ryan, a member of one of the most 
 respected and influential families in the south of Ireland, spent all 
 their lives in the County of Limerick. 
 
 He received his early education in the public school of Oola, 
 and demonstrated his capacity and desire for instruction by ad- 
 vancing in one year from the lowest to the most advanced class, 
 being pronounced the most promising pupil who had ever attended 
 the school. The study of the classics was with him a most absorb- 
 ing one, and here he had the benefit of early training from Profes- 
 sor Weir. 
 
 His schooling over, the bright young Irishman, nurtured on 
 patriotism and fired with enthusiastic love for his suffering coun- 
 try, at once interested himself in the Parnell Movement, which was 
 at that time exercising every active Irishman's mind. For six years 
 he held the position of Secretary of Pallast-Green Branch of the 
 Irish National League. Upon several occasions his political affilia- 
 tions and known nationalistic views brought him into trouble, and 
 he was subjected to prosecution. Able counsel proffered him every 
 assistance, but he absolutely refused to burden it with what he 
 chose to consider his personal affairs. He therefore fought his own 
 cases, and, in each, victory crowned his efforts. 
 
 Continual prosecution not merely embitters life, it renders it 
 wholly uiisupportable. Young Ryan therefore sought new condi- 
 tions and a freer portion of that gift of God to all men air to 
 breathe. He came to Chicago in October, 1887, and three months 
 later found employment in the assessor's department of the water 
 office of the city. Here he remained for two years, studying law 
 in his leisure hours. He joined the Chicago College of Law, gradu- 
 ated in 1890, and was admitted to the bar. He received the degree 
 of Bachelor of Laws from Lake Forest University, and then com- 
 menced to practice. 
 
 With a decided preference to keep the whole credit for his good
 
 380 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OP TtfE 
 
 legal services, rather than to work in connection with another 
 firm or to accept a partner, he removed to the Hartford Building, 
 in 1896, where he transacts all branches of his chosen profession. 
 An able speaker, a sound reasoner, and at all times acquainting 
 himself with every detail of his cases, he is sure of a brilliant posi- 
 tion among the lawyers of the West. 
 
 He has never sought any prominence in political circles. A 
 Democrat in local politics, so far as national affairs are concerned 
 he is a strong protectionist. 
 
 Still a bachelor, Mr. Ryan finds time in addition to his profes- 
 sional labors to interest himself in a number of mechanical projects, 
 among which may be mentioned an automatic telephone register; 
 and he is also a large stockholder in a charter for a number of pat- 
 ents connected with mining machinery, from which excellent re- 
 turns are anticipated. 
 
 JAMES ANTHONY PRINTY, M. D. 
 
 James Anthony Printy was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, January 
 7th, 1856. His father, Edward Printy, who had been a prominent 
 farmer of Westport, County Mayo, Ireland, and had married Cath-. 
 erine Walsh, came to the United States from Ireland about the 
 year 1851, settling near Cincinnati. Here they lived for fifteen 
 years and then moved to Imogene, Iowa, where, having raised a 
 family of eight sons and a daughter, they still remain, honored and 
 respected by the whole community. 
 
 The subject of this sketch attended the public schools of Cin- 
 cinnati, and later the Malvern, Iowa, Academy, and the Taber,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 381 
 
 | 
 
 Iowa, College; finally graduating at the Iowa State University in 
 1882. Immediately afterwards Dr. Printy located at Imogene and 
 took up the practice of his profession for four years, but being of the 
 opinion that if he would attain the position in his profession to 
 which he aspired, he should attend a post graduate course, he went 
 to New York and there for one year studied surgery and particu- 
 larly the diseases of women at the New York hospitals and Post 
 Graduate school. He then returned to Imogene, and practiced 
 there for one year, when returning to New York he was married 
 November, 1888, to Miss Allie Weir, and at once returned west, 
 having definitely decided to permanently locate in Chicago. 
 
 Here his success has been rapid, for his special skill and high 
 professional qualities quickly made themselves apparent, and he 
 was called upon to fill many important positions. In 1890 he was 
 elected on the medical staff of Cook County Hospital; in 1894 he 
 was elected dean and professor of surgical diseases of women of 
 the National Medical College of Chicago. This latter position he 
 held for five years, resigning in the spring of 1896, as he was un- 
 able to devote the necessary time from his large and rapidly in- 
 creasing practice. 
 
 The Doctor is in his religious views a Roman Catholic and be- 
 longs to the congregation of Mount Carmel Church. In politics he 
 is a Democrat and has full faith in the good outcome of the free 
 silver movement under the leadership of Mr. Bryan. 
 
 Dr. Printy is extremely fond of old and rare books and pos- 
 sesses one of the most valuable collections in this city. In Irish 
 books his library, is particularly rich, and there are few superior 
 in the country, for in addition to the almost complete library left 
 by the late Dr. Cronin he has recently purchased part of the fine 
 collection of the late Dr. Clark. He possesses also a splendid col- 
 lection of pictures and to which he is constantly adding. For fine 
 horses the Doctor has also great inclination, gratified by him to the
 
 382 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 exteiit of several splendid specimens, one fine animal of Arabian 
 descent, a thoroughbred runner, being considered by many to be 
 one of the most beautiful horses in America, He also has a Wilkes 
 mare of trotting fame, a very fine road horse, as well as two splen- 
 did saddle horses. 
 
 What time he can spare from his professional duties and the 
 charms of his own home where two bright and charming chil- 
 dren, a boy and a girl, gladden their parents' lives is given to the 
 Oconto Club, a select social organization of the north side. 
 
 Dr. Printy is a man of most interesting personality, in appear- 
 ance very distinguished, of kindly manner, and at all times and 
 under all circumstances most affable and pleasant. The large prac- 
 tice he has gained and the position he has won are the unques- 
 tionable result of his individual and untiring work. He does at 
 once honor to our city, to the great land that gave his father a 
 home, and to the old land across the seas. 
 
 JAMES F. QU1NN. 
 
 James F. Quinn, the ex-State Representative of the old Fourth 
 District, died May 18th, 1896, and before he had attained his forti- 
 eth year. He was a member of the loyal "101" band, and had 
 proven himself a most honorable and useful representative, his pre- 
 mature death consequently cutting short a career that promised 
 great things for himself and for his country, and being a cause of 
 deep and sincere regret to a. host of friends and admirers. 
 
 Mr. Quinn was born of Irish parentage in St. Louis, July 28th,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 383 
 
 185<>, and in that city he passed his youth and received his early 
 education. From the University of St. Louis lie was transferred 
 to Notre Dame University, and later on, at the age of nineteen, he 
 graduated from the Indiana institution of learning, immediately 
 afterward coming to Chicago. Having served a short apprentice- 
 ship at stone cutting, he became a most expert and efficient work- 
 man, and for many years was employed by the Department of Pub- 
 lic Works. He was superintendent of the stone construction of 
 the four mile crib, of the north side water works, the Taylor Street 
 viaduct, and of the Harrison Street pumping station. Most suc- 
 cessful as Mr. Quinn was in the trade he had chosen, and though 
 reaping therefrom substantial rewards, no more popular man ex- 
 isted in the Fourth District than he. Quite early in his career he 
 had taken part in local labor circles, was a fluent talker, and at 
 all times a pleasant companion and a good friend. 
 
 In 1884 Mr. Quinn became more especially interested in public 
 matters, and from that period his whole time was devoted to poli- 
 tics. In this year he received the Democratic nomination for the 
 Legislature in the old Fourth District and was elected, and in 1888 
 was re-elected by a good majority. Two years later he was again 
 re-elected, after a hot fight with the opposing candidate. Before 
 the end of his latter term he was attacked with dementia, and his 
 confinement in the Elgin Asylum necessitated. His record in the 
 State Legislature gave great promise, and resolutions of regret 
 were passed by both houses when the young Representative was 
 so suddenly incapacitated. 
 
 Mr. Quiun was mainly instrumental in passing the Convict 
 Labor Bill, which passed both houses but was afterwards defeated 
 by a vote of the people, possibly from a general misunderstanding 
 as to the import and intent of the bill. He was also very active in 
 supporting the bill for the new Public Library. When, in 1800, 
 John M. Palmer was candidate for Senator, Mr. Quinn was one of
 
 384 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 his most active supporters, and, as has been mentioned, was one of 
 the old guard of "101" who stood out for Palmer and finally was 
 successful in electing. Mr. Quinn's success in business and his 
 brief but brilliant career in politics have been referred to, and also 
 his kindly disposition, which won for him such general popularity. 
 This kindliness was exhibited both in his social and commercial 
 habits, and evinced an innate goodness of heart which would hardly 
 allow him to pass a child in the street without some gentle word, 
 and by his immediate household, it is almost needless to add, he 
 was held in the tenderest affection. 
 
 In 1885 Mr. Quinn was married to Mary E. Healy, of Convoy, 
 Ohio, a lady who proved to him a most affectionate and helpful 
 partner and whose disposition was eminently suited to the varied 
 gifts of the young and honestly ambitious politician. In his re- 
 ligious views he was a devout Roman Catholic. 
 
 DANIEL B. QUINLAN. 
 
 Daniel B. Quinlan was born on a farm in Kane County, 111., 
 November ,26th, 1851. His father was Daniel Quinlan, a native of 
 Tipperary, Ireland, who moved to New Haven, Conn., about the 
 year 1830, there marrying Julia Gleason, also from Tipperary, who 
 became the mother of the subject of this sketch. They moved to 
 Illinois about 1842 and settled on a farm in Kane County, near 
 Elgin, where they lived until 3861 when they moved to Chicago. 
 The elder Quinlan was much respected in the section where he 
 lived for his many good qualities of mind and heart; he died in 
 Chicago in 1877. His wife, who died in 1857, had several brothers
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 385 
 
 who distinguished themselves in this country, one notably, Capt. 
 Mike Gleason, who commanded a company of Gen. Mulligan's Irish 
 Brigade during the war and made an honorable record. 
 
 The subject of this sketch came to Chicago with his parents 
 when he was ten years of age. He received his education in the 
 public and parochial schools of the French Church, leaving at the 
 age of sixteen and finding employment with the Chicago, Burling- 
 ton & Quiucy R. R. Co., first as a boy and then as brakeman, bag- 
 gageman, and conductor. In 1871, when he was twenty years of 
 age, he was promoted to the position of traveling passenger agent, 
 and as such he traveled all over the West for two years, being then 
 (in 1874) further promoted to the very responsible position of city 
 passenger agent for Chicago. This position he retained until 1880, 
 when the Union Pacific R. R. Co. invited him to take charge of 
 the passenger business of its line in the Northwest States. This 
 he accepted and retained until January 1st, 1882, when the same 
 road offered him the position of passenger manager for the East- 
 ern district. Mr. Quinlan held this position for two years, traveling 
 over the East, but the absence of all domestic comfort in a. life 
 which required him to be on the road all the time then induced 
 him to seek for some other occupation. Mr. Quinlau decided to 
 engage in the undertaking business, and in that has remained ever 
 since. He has been unusually successful, having conducted some 
 of the largest funerals which have taken place in this city. That 
 his business qualifications are of the highest description, that un- 
 varied success conclusively shows. At the time of the war he was 
 very anxious to take his part, but was refused on the score of his 
 extreme youth. 
 
 Mr. Quinlan was married, September 29th, 1881, to Katherine 
 C. Linehan, a member of one of the prominent families of Dubuque, 
 Iowa, where her father was a leading merchant and her brother a 
 District Judge.
 
 386 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 He is very prominent in the Catholic Order of Foresters, in 
 which he has gone through all the offices; the Independent Order 
 of Foresters; the Undertakers' Association; National Union; and 
 he is also a member of the Sheridan Club. He is a Roman Catholic 
 and belongs to the congregation of St. James' Church. In politics 
 he is an upholder of the Democratic party, but he takes little in- 
 terest except the candidate be a personal friend, when he uses his 
 considerable influence to help his return. 
 
 Daniel B. Quinlan is a man of fine personal appearance and of 
 most pleasing and courteous manner. He is esteemed and respected 
 by a host of faithful friends for his good personal gifts, as well as 
 for the energetic application and honorable methods to which 
 alone he attributes his business success. 
 
 THOMAS FRANCIS SHERIDAN. 
 
 Thomas Francis Sheridan was born at Bridgeport, Connecticut, 
 June 1st, 1859, and is the son of Thomas Sheridan, a native of 
 County Antrim, Ireland, and Julia (Keane) Sheridan, the latter 
 being born in England of Irish parentage, and dying when the 
 subject of this sketch was but twelve months old. Thomas Sheri- 
 dan came to America in 1832, when he was fourteen years of age, 
 settling at Bridgeport, Conn., where he still lives in the enjoyment 
 of a vigorous old age. 
 
 Thomas F. Sheridan attended the public schools of his native 
 town and later the public schools of New York until he was twelve 
 years old, when the failure of his father in business compelled the 
 boy to go out into the world and make a living for himself.
 
 s^.^^<
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 389 
 
 Duriiig employment somewhat varied in character, his then 
 fixed idea to prepare himself for the profession of mechanical en- 
 gineer still continued, and he attended the evening technical school 
 at Bridgeport. For a time he was with the Waterbury Watch Co., 
 as draughtsman and designer, later, when the Seth Thomas Clock 
 Co. began its operations, entering its employ as machine modeler 
 until 1885. The year following he was offered the position of me- 
 chanical superintendent of the Illinois Watch Co., of Springfield, 
 111., and came West. While holding this place, he was reading law 
 by the aid of borrowed books. In the winter of 1891 and 1892 
 he came to Chicago, quickly found a position in the office of Ban- 
 ning, Banning & Payson, and at the same time entered the Kent 
 Law School, where he took honors both in the junior and senior 
 classes, graduating in May, 1894. On the retirement of Mr. Pay- 
 son in 1893, Mr. Sheridan's abilities found ready recognition in the 
 offer to go into partnership. This accepting, the firm became Ban- 
 ning, Banning & Sheridan, and now stands as high as any firm in 
 the country as patent and corporation lawyers. Mr. Sheridan's 
 education and experience as mechanical engineer makes him 
 especially fitted to understand and try patent cases, and this fact 
 has caused him to be retained by other lawyers in a considerable 
 number of momentous cases. An enthusiastic bicyclist, he is a 
 prominent member of the League of American Wheelmen, and was 
 for some time first vice-president of the association. In this regard, 
 also, his services have been retained in most of the large suits where 
 bicycle patents were involved. 
 
 Thomas F. Sheridan has all his life been a Democrat. He is a 
 member of the Modern Woodmen and of the Benevolent & Pro- 
 tective Order of Elks. In October, 1886, he was married to Miss 
 Frances Ager of Ansonia, Conn., a daughter of Colonel George S. 
 Ager, who commanded the First Connecticut Artillery during the 
 Civil War. They have one child, Thomas Harold. 
 
 20 '
 
 390 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 Great sympathy for Ireland and in Irish affairs has at all times 
 been shown by Mr. Sheridan. He believes himself connected with 
 the great Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and in the near future intends 
 to devote a summer vacation to investigation in Ireland what place 
 the Sheridans have taken in that country's history. He is a mem- 
 ber of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, the French Society of 
 Mechanical Engineers, and also of the American Society of Me- 
 chanical Engineers. 
 
 The habits of his youth still continue, and he is always a very 
 close and hard student, taking a most active interest in all scien- 
 tific subjects, and having already been honored with a number of 
 degrees from various scientific societies. 
 
 Thomas F. Sheridan is a young man of splendid personal ap- 
 pearance, of most amiable manner, and of great professional gifts. 
 His entirely unaffected and unassuming ways have endeared him 
 to hundreds with whom his business abilities have made him ac- 
 quainted. The broad ranks of the American Irish of Chicago take 
 pride in numbering in their lists such a pleasing character as the 
 subject of this sketch. 
 
 RICHARD QUINN. 
 
 Richard Quinn, the young amateur playwright and business 
 man, is a native of Ireland, where he was born, at Ballintarsna, 
 County Tipperary, September 27th, 1865. His father, Francis P. 
 Quinn, was a gentleman farmer of that county, and the subject 
 of this sketch was born in the old homestead that had been in the 
 occupation of the family for over two hundred years. In many
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 391 
 
 respects the father was a typical Irish gentleman and had received 
 a liberal education and was a man of cultivated mind and refined 
 tastes. His father had spent most of his fortune, some thousands 
 of pounds, in fighting tithes and other exactions which he consid- 
 ered to be unjust. Richard Quinn's mother, Mary Molloy, is a sis- 
 ter of Rev. Thomas Molloy, the late well known Jesuit. The family, 
 including Richard, came to the United States in 1864 and settled 
 in Chicago. 
 
 Richard Quinn was educated at the national schools of his 
 native country and at Holy Cross College, County Kerry. It was 
 intended that he should follow law or medicine, but neither of 
 these professions was in any way congenial, so after coming to 
 Chicago he attended the Athenaeum and other evening schools, 
 with the object of obtaining a more commercial education, with 
 knowledge of shorthand, etc. lie also read largely of classic litera- 
 ture and other subjects. 
 
 Before coming to America his business career had been begun 
 in Ireland in the dry goods business, first with Messrs. Scott Bros., 
 of Cloumel, and afterward in Cork City. Six months after his ar- 
 rival in this country he entered the employ of Marshall, Field & Co., 
 ami there he has since remained. Commenced in the ribbon depart- 
 ment, he later changed to the jewelry, and in that soon advanced 
 to be manager and buyer. His active business life has left him 
 scanty opportunities for outside occupations, but still Mr. Quinu 
 has found time not only to keep up much of his readings, but also 
 to become somewhat of an author himself. Several plays of con- 
 siderable merit, and which have gained much appreciation among 
 amateur theatrical circles, for whom they were intended, were writ- 
 ten by him, and among the most successful may be mentioned: 
 "Glenora," a play descriptive of Irish life and character; "Innis- 
 fail;" "Called Away;" and "Love and Valor." 
 
 Mr. Quinn has also achieved as an amateur actor considerable
 
 392 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OP THE 
 
 reputation in Chicago and the neighboring towns and cities. Hav- 
 ing joined a dramatic club, the members frequently found diffi- 
 culty in obtaining suitable plays, and this proved the incentive for 
 Mr. Quinn to try his hand, or rather, brain, and with his very first 
 effort success and appreciation were met. He is a member of the 
 "Innisfail" Dramatic Club and the Whittier Literary Society. Peri- 
 odically he visits New York ajid the New England States as buyer 
 for his department. 
 
 Mr. Quinn is a Roman Catholic in religious affiliations, and in 
 his political views is a Democrat, but a firm believer in sound 
 money, and cast his vote for William McKinley. 
 
 In Mr. Quinn's career there is met with the somewhat unusual 
 circumstance of a young man exhibiting and exercising business 
 talents of a high order, combined with indefatigable industry 
 speedily rising to be the head of his department and yet at the 
 same time capable of exercising his genius in a totally different 
 direction and in each of obtaining a marked success, the one at no 
 time leading him to neglect the other. 
 
 DAVID JOHN MAHONEY. 
 
 David John Mahoney, Assistant Fire Marshal of the Chicago 
 Fire Department, was born June 8th, 1852, on the corner of Fifth 
 Avenue and Quincy Street, Chicago, where his father owned some 
 property. Of his parents, William Mahoney, his father, was a na- 
 tive of Cork, by occupation a sailor. He left the old country in 
 1843, sailed on the lakes for many years, and at the age of sev-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 393 
 
 euty-five still lives in this city. The Mahoneys are a long lived 
 family, the grandfather of our subject living to be ninety-six years 
 old. William Mahoney had married Norah Hannan, a native of 
 County Clare, Ireland, and she also is living. 
 
 David John Mahoney attended St John's school until he was 
 fifteen years of age, when he set to work as a teamster. In this he 
 remained for six years, when he secured a better position at the 
 stock j y ards, with a commission house, his particular duty being 
 the weighing of cattle. This position he held for four years until 
 1874, when he was appointed a driver in the Chicago Fire Depart- 
 ment with assignment to Engine No. 1. During the following six 
 years he drove No. 1, No. 8, and in August, 1880, was made a truck- 
 man and sent to hook and ladder No. 4. December 31st, 1880, he 
 became lieutenant and was sent to Engine No. 2, being transferred 
 June, 1881, to No. 9. Eighteen months afterward he was sent to 
 No. 16, and on September 5th, 1885, received promotion to a cap- 
 taincy, remaining with the same company until 1889, when he was 
 sent to No. 16. July 1st, 1893, he was promoted to be assistant 
 fire marshal and chief of the 10th Battalion, with headquarters at 
 the house of No. 16, Thirty-first and Dearborn Streets. 
 
 Marshal Mahoney is a Roman Catholic and an attendant of the 
 Church of St. Elizabeth's, at Forty-first and Wabash Avenue. In 
 his political views he is extremely liberal. 
 
 He was married, June 1st, 1874, to Miss Kate Barry of Chicago, 
 and they have had six children, of whom four girls are living, while 
 two boys have died. 
 
 Assistant Marshal Mahoney bears a splendid record in the fire 
 department, and has obtained frequent mention for bravery in 
 general orders. In a fire on Archer Avenue, August 29th, 1887, 
 he, with several gallant companions, was the means of rescuing 
 seven lives, and their bravery' received most honorable commenda- 
 tion.
 
 394 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 A man of flue appearance, of kindly and courteous manner, ever 
 eager to help a friend and always willing to assist the deserving, 
 there is none more honorably reckoned in the Chicago Fire Depart- 
 ment than the genial chief of the 10th Battalion, Assistant Marshal 
 David John Mahoney. 
 
 MARK F. MADDEN. 
 
 Than the lives of those who have 'risen from the ranks and by 
 unswerving integrity and continuous hard work have conquered 
 fate, there is nothing more interesting, more elevating, or more 
 encouraging. The sternest opposition, bitter trials, difficulties ap- 
 parently insurmountable, sink into mere shadows before energy, 
 self-reliance, and earnest perseverance of character. Success may 
 long elude, but it is bound to come in time to those who persist- 
 ently and perseveriugly strive. These facts the life of Mr. Madden 
 will illustrate. 
 
 Mark Francis Madden, partner with his brother Michael in 
 the well known firm of Madden Brothers, was born at Whitby, 
 Pickering County, Province of Ontario, Canada, June 18, 1858. His 
 father, John L. Madden, was a native of County Roscommon, Ire- 
 laud, and with his wife had come to America in 1849, locating per- 
 manently at Whitby, Ontario. By occupation he is a farmer, and 
 now, at the ripe age of seventy-six, is still hale and hearty. His 
 wife, formerly Maria Murphy, was also born in Eoscommon. She 
 died in 1893, aged seventy -three. Mr. and Mrs. John L. Madden 
 raised a family of nine children eight sons, of whom the subject 
 of our sketch is the fifth and one daughter, the only child who 
 still resides in Canada, all the others having settled in Chicago.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 395 
 
 M. F. Madden was educated in the public schools, where he 
 remained until he was sixteen. He then found a place with a dry 
 goods store, as apprentice, his wages to be f 6 a month for the first 
 year, $8 for the second, and $10 per month for the third year. So 
 useful did he show himself that before the first twelve months was 
 over he was in receipt of $400 a year. In 1878 he sought a larger 
 field for his activities, and went to Buffalo, New York, afterwards 
 visiting Louisville, Ky., New York City, and other places. Not 
 until September, 1884, however, did he find permanent location 
 in Chicago, having spent the two preceding years in traveling over 
 the United States in the interest of an adding machine, the patent 
 on which he owned. The possibilities of real estate transactions 
 appealed powerfully to his active and vigorous mind, and with 
 his brother, Michael S. (whose sketch appears elsewhere in this 
 volume), a partnership was formed under the name of Madden 
 Bros. The firm, which was so quickly to become one of the largest 
 in the West, had its beginning in a small way, but it now covers all 
 business in connection with real estate, brokerage, the buying, 
 selling in fact, the full charge of estates and properties, rents, 
 loans, and the placing of insurance. The firm is now located on 
 the fifth floor of the Marquette Building, Chicago's finest office 
 structure, and the name, Madden Bros., is Avell borne out, for as- 
 sociated in the business, but acting under the superintendence and 
 supervision of the two founders, Mark F. and Michael S. Madden, 
 are their six brothers, James A., Thomas, Edward R, Joseph P., 
 George II., and John. 
 
 Mr. M. F. Madden, who is still a bachelor, is a member of sev- 
 eral clubs. The Chicago Athletic Club, over whose St. Patrick's 
 Day celebration banquet he ably presided, in 1896, the Sheridan, 
 and the Columbus. He was also a member of the famous Irish 
 American Club, which is now out of existence, but which was the 
 home of the Irish in Chicago, and the resort of the great Irish lead-
 
 396 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ers when they visited this country. He acted as its treasurer in 
 1892. 
 
 In politics strongly Democratic, Mr. Madden is a staunch be- 
 liever in the principles of his party. He contributes generously to 
 all worthy charities, and strongly interests himself in educational 
 institutions, expressing himself as satisfied that in the broader 
 and more liberal education now being afforded many of the ills of 
 the people will be removed and the greater happiness of the greater 
 number thereby assured. 
 
 PATRICK DANIEL TYRRELL. 
 
 This justly celebrated detective was born in Dublin, Ireland, 
 March 13th, 1831. His parents were John and Bridget (Kelly) 
 Tyrrell, both natives of Kildare, and he is proud to record that mem- 
 bers of his family helped to make Irish history during the troublous 
 times of 1798. The subject of this sketch was but three years old 
 when his parents moved to America, finding a location in Buffalo, 
 N. Y. Here his father secured employment in the ship yards, but 
 the family was in such poor circumstances that Patrick D. Tyrrell 
 was not able to go to school and found work in the ship yards at 
 the early age of fourteen. At this he continued until he was nine- 
 teen years of age and learned thoroughly the ship joiner's trade. 
 
 He moved to Dunkirk, N. Y., April 1st, 1850, there finding work 
 as a carpenter until a couple of years later he was appointed a 
 police officer for that village. For this occupation he showed con- 
 siderable inclination, and even at that early age proved very suc- 
 cessful as a detective. A collection of pictures of criminals which
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 399 
 
 he had gathered during this time was the first rogues' gallery west 
 of New York. His peculiar ability found recognition from the 
 governor of New York, August 9th, 1863, when he was appointed 
 state railroad detective, an office which gave him authority over 
 the entire length of the Erie Railroad, and at the same time he was 
 appointed to the office of deputy sheriff. He became well known 
 and made himself very highly considered throughout the county. 
 Later he was one of the first deputy collectors of revenue to be ap- 
 pointed by President Lincoln. 
 
 Concluding to go west in 1869, he started for California, but stop- 
 ping off at Chicago, there met a fellow citizen of Dunkirk who 
 had a suit in court against two of the Chicago railroads. Being 
 aware of Mr. Tyrrell's ability as a detective he employed him to 
 collect evidence, and after being engaged some thirteen months the 
 latter managed to collect so much evidence that the railroad was 
 glad to compromise for f 10,000. Jacob Rehm, then commissioner 
 and afterwards chief of police, knowing of the good work he had 
 done, as a detective at Dunkirk, N. Y., offered him on January 14th, 
 1872, the position of detective for the Chicago Police Commission. 
 He remained actively employed on the Chicago police force for two 
 years, being very successful in a number of murder cases and big 
 hotel robberies. In one of his cases, that in which Fanny C. Shot- 
 well was robbed of $51,000 worth of bonds, he traced the robbers 
 over the country between Chicago and New York, arresting them 
 in the latter city and recovering all the bonds. He was also able to 
 handle successfully some cases that were placed in his hands after 
 all the other detectives of the department had unsuccessfully 
 tried to unravel. 
 
 Elmer Wash-burn, who had been chief of the Chicago police, was 
 appointed December 1st, 1874, chief of the United States secret ser- 
 vice and at once offered Mr. Tyrrell a position under him. This ac- 
 cepting, he was placed in charge of the country west of Chicago to
 
 400 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Ban Francisco, and from St. Paul to New Orleans, with headquarters 
 iu Chicago, this extensive area being necessarily one of very great 
 responsibility. An interesting case with which he was connected 
 was the conspiracy organized November 5th, 1876, with the object 
 of stealing the body of Abraham Lincoln, which was buried at 
 Springfield, 111. The plot was deep and well laid, and the object to 
 hold the body until |200,000 ransom was paid and a pardon granted 
 a criminal named Ben Boyd, who was then in the state penitentiary. 
 Through the sagacity of Mr. Tyrrell, this plot was discovered and 
 the would-be grave robbers sent to state's prison. In the whisky 
 ring cases in 1876 he did some good work. Another important 
 case was the Missouri land steal case, where a,t the special request 
 of Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz he was detailed by the De- 
 partment of the Treasury to work in the Department of the Interior. 
 In this case twenty-two men, bankers, lawyers and other citizens 
 residing all over the section of the country west of St. Paul had en- 
 tered into a conspiracy to forge land warrants on the State of 
 Missouri to the extent of 6,000,000 of acres of land. Success 
 crowned their efforts until Mr. Tyrrell found a trail, and then his 
 work was quick, and in a short time their crime was being ex- 
 piated in the state's prison. 
 
 Mr. Tyrrell was also instrumental in the arrest of Lucian A. 
 White of Waco, Texas, and the recovery of $346,000 worth of 
 forged milries of the Brazilian government. As interesting records 
 of his many experiments, he has five scrap books with over six- 
 teen hundred pictures of criminals, and another book with por- 
 traits of counterfeiters arrested by himself and sent up for different 
 terms. 
 
 Elmer W'ashburn, chief of the secret service, to him gave the 
 credit of breaking the back bone of counterfeiting in the United 
 States by arresting a large and important gang in Fulton and 
 Centralia, 111. Dyer's Government Blue Book, which is a history of
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 401 
 
 the secret service, has the following to say concerning his work: 
 "Detective Tyrrell has arrested more counterfeiters, captured more 
 counterfeit money, and done more to break up the business than 
 any one who was ever connected with the secret service." 
 
 Mr. Tyrrell, after serving twelve years in the secret service, re- 
 signed and went to his farm in Kansas, July 1st, 1886, remaining 
 three years there. At the end of this time he returned to Chicago 
 and again entered the police department as sergeant of detectives. 
 As might well be expected he continued to show his capacity for 
 the position, and two years since, having been specially assigned to 
 the Civil Service Board, he has been of great assistance in its work- 
 ing, particularly in correcting the evils done by justice of the peace 
 courts, by straw bail bonds, the stuffing of city pay rolls, and other 
 evils of a similar description. 
 
 During the war Mr. Tyrrell well took his part, serving in the 
 Sixty-eighth New York Volunteers. He was prominent in the 
 Citizens' Reform Association of 1893, being Chairman of the first 
 meeting of that body, but later he refused to accept any office. The 
 association has now over seventeen hundred members and has been 
 able to do a great deal of good. 
 
 Detective Officer Tyrrell was married, December 1st, 1850, at 
 Buffalo, N. Y., to Miss Mary Shannon, and they have had seven 
 children, of whom three are living. His first wife dying, he mar- 
 ried, August 9th, 1875, Kate Osborue, of Erie, Pa., and by her has 
 had two children. 
 
 In his religious views a strict Roman Catholic, he is an attend- 
 ant of the Rev. Father Butler's Church. In his politics he is a Re- 
 publican, and is highly thought of by the party, the great record 
 he has made in his profession assuring him an important position 
 under the new administration. 
 
 Irish affairs have always been to him of very great interest, 
 ;iud heart, sympathy, and pocket have always been ready where
 
 402 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the country of his birth a.nd his father's was concerned. An unas- 
 suming man of splendid abilities, no roll of Chicago's American 
 Irish would be complete were it wanting in the name of Patrick 
 Daniel Tyrrell. 
 
 JAMES MAHER. 
 
 James Maher is an American Irishman of whom his fellow coun- 
 trymen may well feel proud. 
 
 He was born in Will County, Illinois, May 24th, 1859. His 
 father, Thomas, and mother, Ellen (Kenefick) Maher, came to the 
 United States from Limerick, Ireland, about 1849, settling first in 
 Vermont, a,nd finally locating in Will County, Illinois, in 1853. 
 The elder Maher was a farmer, who by industry and natural apti- 
 tude managed to acquire considerable property. Somewhat of a 
 politician, he was a man of much influence in the district in which 
 he resided and bore a very high reputation. Mrs. Maher died 
 Christmas, 1893, and Mr. Maher, February 22d, 1896. They had 
 two daughters Mary, married to Joseph Murphy, and Norah. 
 
 James Maher followed the usual course of farmers' sons at that 
 time, working on the farm in summer and securing what schooling 
 he could during the winter at the district schools. With great 
 pride he relates how he used to get out of bed at four in the cold 
 winter mornings for the purpose of going to town with a wagon 
 load of farm products, his father driving one wagon and he follow- 
 ing with another. Work of this kind caused James Maher to de- 
 velop into a strong healthy lad, with a keen thirst for knowledge 
 and every determination to acquire despite all difficulties.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 403 
 
 He soon absorbed all that the district schools of his native 
 town could teach him, and at the age of sixteen was sent to St. 
 Viateur's College, at Kankakee, 111., where he remained for four 
 years. His college course completed, he was recalled in 1880 to 
 accept the professorship of geometry and trigonometry, and after- 
 wards that of English literature. As showing how advanced he 
 was at this time in his studies, it is worthy of mention that he 
 was professor in the college while at the same time taking a clas- 
 sical course therein. 
 
 Among his contemporary fellow students were many men who 
 are -now high in the church or holding important positions in pri- 
 vate life. Mr. Maher remained at this college as student and pro- 
 fessor until 1883, when he graduated with high honors, receiving 
 the degree of Master of Arts. 
 
 Having decided to take up the profession of law, he studied for 
 some time in an office in Kankakee, when, having established his 
 faith in Chicago as the best field for a young man of ability, he 
 came to this city. Having read law for one year, he then attended 
 for the same period the Union College of Law, both junior and 
 senior classes being taken at the same time, and so assiduous was 
 he that he managed to complete a two years' course of lectures in 
 one year, and not desiring to wait for his class he went to Ottawa, 
 making application to the Supreme Court to be licensed. He was 
 examined, received a license, and having graduated with the senior 
 class of the Union College, at once began to practice law in Chi- 
 cago. His specialty is commercial law and he represents several 
 very large corporations and large business firms, from which he 
 derives a considerable income. 
 
 He received the appointment of Attorney for the West Town 
 from 1891 and 1892, and of County Attorney in 1893. Mr. Maher is 
 a prominent and old time member of the Knights of Pythias, the 
 Catholic Benevolent Legion, Catholic Order of Foresters, and the
 
 404 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Cook County Marching Club. A Democrat always, he believes that 
 were all citizens to take an active interest in election matters and 
 attend the primaries, better government would be assured. He prac- 
 tices what he preaches, and in his ward the Ninth is very prom- 
 inent. 
 
 Mr. Maher was married to Mary C. Rafferty, niece of ex- Alder- 
 man Rafferty, in 1891, and they have two children Mary and 
 Thomas Francis. 
 
 This is necessarily but a brief sketch of the career of an Amer- 
 ican Irishman who, by sheer force of character, sterling abilities, 
 and the strictest honesty and the most complete integrity towards 
 his clients' interests, has succeeded in making a reputation as a 
 lawyer and a citizen at a comparatively early age, giving promise 
 of a future of marked utility to his country. 
 
 MICHAEL J. QUINN. 
 
 Michael J. Quinn was born in the County of Roscommon, Ire- 
 land, June 23d, 1852. His parents were Michael and Bridget 
 (Lefin) Quinn. The latter now over eighty is still living in 
 Ireland, but his father died in 1855. 
 
 The subject of this sketch attended the public schools of his 
 native pla,ce until at fourteen years of age he was compelled to 
 go to work to help his mother in the support of the family. He 
 was nineteen years of age when he concluded (in 1871) to seek his 
 fortune in the new world, and, setting out for Chicago, left every 
 relative and friend he possessed behind.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 405 
 
 His first employment in this city was as a day laborer, but he 
 was ready and willing for whatever he could find, and at the end 
 of three years secured a better position at the Government Build- 
 ing, then being erected at Dearborn and Adams Streets. Here he 
 was given charge of a body of men and remained four years; later 
 working for the Armour Packing Company, weighing meat; and 
 also as foreman for the Pullman Company when they were build- 
 ing the town of Pullman. 
 
 The subject of politics has from the time of his first arrival in 
 this country been to him one of the greatest interest. In April, 
 1884, he received the nomination for the office of Justice of the 
 Peace for Hyde Park, and this he has held four terms. For the pop- 
 ularity he possesses in his district, the fact that at the convention 
 held in the spring of 1886 he was the only officer nominated by 
 acclamation, speaks volumes. Irrespective of party, the people are 
 with him, and his election on one occasion was on the Citizens' 
 ticket, and on another on the Taxpayers* ticket. 
 
 Justice Quinn is an influential member of the Royal Arcanum, 
 and for nine years was president of Division No. 5 of the Ancient 
 Order of Hibernians, a position he had to resign on moving to Hyde 
 Park. In his religious views he is a Roman Catholic and a member 
 of the Parish of St. Lawrence. 
 
 He was married, February 19th, 1889, to Miss Margaret Hack- 
 ett, of Chicago, and they have had four children. 
 
 A thorough Irishman, ever ready to take his part in every 
 movement with purpose the good of his native land, Justice Quinn 
 has by energy, determination and ability made for himself a high 
 place in the community and has gained at the same time the respect 
 and esteem of every one with whom he has been brought into busi- 
 ness or social contact.
 
 406 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 PATRICK L. GARRITY. 
 
 P. L. Garrity, one of Chicago's old time, best known and most 
 highly respected citizens, was born February 22d, 1843, near West- 
 port, County Mayo, Ireland, where his father, John Garrity, was 
 for many years connected with the mail service. Early in the for- 
 ties the latter emigrated to Chicago and took part in the works on 
 the Illinois Michigan Canal, later entering the employ of E. P. 
 Burlingame & Co., as foreman of their employes in their extensive 
 elevator and warehousing business. Eventually, however, he en- 
 gaged in the grocery business on the North Side and in that he re- 
 mained until the great fire of 1871; his death followed a few years 
 later. The mother of Patrick L. was Catherine Lally, also of 
 County Mayo, and she also is deceased. During her lifetime she 
 was one of the most respected members of the Holy Name parish, 
 where she will ever be remembered by the poor of that parish for 
 her acts of charity and kindness, especially by those who are sur- 
 vived the cholera plague of 1851. 
 
 In 1849, when six years of age, the subject of the present sketch 
 came to Chicago, crossing the Atlantic in company with his mother 
 and the rest of the family, to join the father, who, some two years 
 previously, had preceded them. For a couple of years the boy at- 
 tended the public school and at the age of eight years, a well de- 
 nned business instinct led him to engage in selling fruit at the 
 steamboat landings and shortly afterward he obtained employment 
 with Stevens & French, who were at that period one of the largest 
 fruit houses in the city. In 1853 he started in as a carrier of the 
 Chicago Journal, then, as now, an afternoon paper, but a year or


 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 409 
 
 so later he entered the employ of the Chicago Democrat as a car- 
 rier, and in 1855 became mailing clerk on that paper, a position he 
 held until 1858, when he resigned to take a year's course at the 
 University of Notre Dame. That completed, he re-engaged with 
 the Democrat in his old capacity, at the same time taking the com- 
 mercial course at St. Mary's of the Lake, and in that way gaining 
 a full and complete knowledge of book-keeping and commercial 
 law. In 1859 he was one of the owners and organizers of the first 
 Hotel Reporter in Chicago, and in this connection a misunderstand- 
 ing occurred between Long John Wentworth and himself, which 
 caused him to resign and accept a position with the North Chicago 
 Railroad Company, succeeding Mr. Courtright as receiving cashier, 
 paymaster and ticket seller, performing, indeed, duties that now re- 
 quire a small army of officials. 
 
 From this office he soon resigned, not on account of the amount 
 of work, but because of the insufficiency of remuneration given. 
 His next engagement, was as mailing clerk with the Chicago 
 Herald, at that time owned by C. II. McCormick and edited by ex- 
 Governor McCormick, who was his staunch friend. Among his as- 
 sociates at that time on the Herald was the well-known West Side 
 merchant John M. Smyth, and in this employment he continued 
 until after the consolidation of the Times and Herald under the 
 Wilbur F. Storey management, about the time the war broke out. 
 
 Then eighteen years old, full of life and ambition, Mr. Garrity 
 took a lively interest in recruiting for the army and was only de- 
 terred from joining himself by the offer of a partnership in the 
 confectionery business of Edward Scanlan, one of such an advan- 
 tageous character to the young man that the partnership papers, 
 which were drawn by Mr. Thomas Kinsella, at that time Collector 
 of the Port, were signed May 1st, 1861. The firm Scanlan & Gar- 
 rity had its place of business at 18 South Clark, but shortly after 
 the firm had started, the small capital of the firm was swept away in 
 
 21
 
 410 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 part by the failure of E. I. Tinkham's Bank. The stroke of ill 
 fortune was a hard one, but nothing daunted, the firm succeeded, 
 and by the sale of its lease to the United States Express Co., re- 
 sulted in doubling its capital and moved to new premises at 79 Ran- 
 dolph Street. It was about this time that Mr. Garrity made a hard 
 fight against the late Thomas Mackin for the post sutlership of 
 Camp Douglas, then under the command of Col. Mulligan, and 
 though he failed to obtain, he received the appointment of sutler to 
 the Fifty -eighth Illinois, commanded by Col.W. Lynch at Camp But- 
 ler, Springfield, from which he returned after some two years to 
 take active management in the firm of Scanlan & Garrity, which, the 
 1st of May, 1865, removed to 49 State Street. The following Sep- 
 tember Mr. Scanlan retired and the firm name was changed to P. L. 
 Garrity, and under his energetic management trade grew and pros- 
 pered until in 1870 the business reached over one million dollars, 
 the large building of four stories and basement at 33 and 35 River 
 Street was occupied. The fire of 1871 swept away the building, 
 like all others in the business section, and with it was consumed a 
 stock of goods worth nearly |100,000, as well as the savings of 
 years. Another disaster came the May following, when a distillery, 
 in which Mr. Garrity was a part owner, was burnt to the ground, 
 with contents valued at f 3f>,000, and not one cent of insurance. 
 Even this accumulation of misfortunes could not crush his am- 
 bitious and energetic spirit; business was speedily resumed, but 
 only to discover his crippled resources were too limited to give him 
 a fair chance of success. The panic of '73 and '74 followed, bring- 
 ing many millionaires to poverty. Mr. Garrity recognized the fu- 
 tility of struggling along with insufficient capital, and at the close 
 of 1875 he sold his business and on January 1st, 1876, accepted a 
 position with the wholesale grocery house of Towle & Roper. Two 
 and a half years were spent with that firm and then once more he 
 started for himself in the cigar and tobacco business, which had in
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 411 
 
 former years been a branch of his business. Locating first at 23 
 Lake Street he moved afterwards to 49 Dearborn Street, and when 
 the First National Bank Building was completed, made another 
 change to 103-105 Monroe Street, where the vaults of the bank are 
 now installed. On the 1st of May, 1884, he joined the Hamburger 
 Bros, in forming a corporation with a capital of $250,000, and of 
 this Mr. Garrity was made President until 1887, when he retired to 
 connect himself with Heyman Bros. & Lowenstein, manufacturers 
 of cigars in New York City, as their general agent, being given en- 
 tire charge of their outside business. In this he has been so sig- 
 nally successful that his yearly income from that source amounts, 
 we are informed, to more than $20,000. Mr. Garrity is at the same 
 time President of the National Cereal Company, which is engaged 
 in milling of cereal goods in the City of St. Louis; and is the owner 
 of the majority of the stock. He also has mining interests of con- 
 siderable value, and is the owner of some valuable Chicago real 
 estate. 
 
 Mr. Garrity was married June 21st, 1864, to Miss Nellie A. Mc- 
 Nellis, a daughter of John McNellis of Morris, Illinois, at that time, 
 and for years after, the largest grain dealer and shipper on the 
 Illinois & Michigan Canal, if not in the state. They have had a 
 family of thirteen children, of whom ten are living, and of these 
 the youngest son, who was named after the present reigning Pope 
 Leo the Thirteenth together with a brother, Lawrence McNellis, 
 is attending the University of Notre Dame; three daughters, An- 
 gela, Aurelia and Maude, are at St. Mary's, the last named being a 
 post graduate; and Grace, Blanche and Mary, all of whom wen- 
 educated at St. Mary's, are at home, Mary being married. Of the 
 other sons, the eldest, Joseph H., is a doctor, practicing in this city: 
 and Frank is married and is treasurer of the National Cereal Com- 
 pany at St. Louis. Mr. Garrity, who is very well preserved and 
 certainly does not so appear, is now twice a grandfather. In re-
 
 412 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ligion lie is a Roman Catholic, and as he takes some pride in stating, 
 is not only so in name, but also in fact. 
 
 In his political views he is a Democrat, but votes entirely inde- 
 pendently, and never has had any ambition or desire for political 
 office. 
 
 Mr. Garrity has not, to any great extent, associated with clubs 
 or societies, for, as he says, his home at 409 Dearborn Avenue is his 
 club, and in his family circle and the entertainment of his many 
 warm friends he finds his chief delight and happiness. 
 
 In a great many respects Mr. Garrity has shown himself a man 
 of very exceptional abilities, and even this necessarily brief sketch 
 is sufficient to show that nothing has daunted or discouraged him, 
 that difficulties seem only to have strengthened him both in pur- 
 pose and a,ction, and that he has striven on until he has at last ob- 
 tained the summit of his ambition, in being surrounded by a dutiful 
 and happy family and with ample means to make them comfortable. 
 Hale in health, active in habits and peculiarly happy in his disposi- 
 tion, it is difficult for those who do not know him and his career to 
 imagine the vicissitudes and many set backs that he has in the past 
 contended with. 
 
 THOMAS MULVIHILL. 
 
 Thomas Mulvihill was born in the County of Longford, Ireland, 
 at a town called Lanesborough, June 4th, 1847. He is of good fam- 
 ily, for his ancestors have all been noted men of their time and 
 have helped to make their country's history. The subject of this 
 sketch is well worthy of such descent and when still very young 
 had already taken a strong part. His great-grandfather, a lieu-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 413 
 
 tenant in the Longford Militia, is well remembered in Ireland as 
 having gone over to the so-called rebels in the troubles of 1798 and 
 met his death at the battle of Ballinmuck. His son was a very 
 prominent contractor and builder, the owner of extensive stone 
 quarries at Lanesborough, and doing a great deal of building in 
 the City of Dublin. His son Mathew, the father of the subject of 
 this sketch, was a leading business man of his section of the coun- 
 try. He married Helen Faucett, a native of Ennischroun, County 
 Sligo, a noted Irish watering place. She was a Protestant and an 
 heiress and the match was a runaway one. One of her cousins was 
 adjutant of the Sligo Militia, while another was a noted doctor of 
 Ballina Tyrawley. She never left Ireland, dying there in 1852, and 
 her husband followed her in 1864. 
 
 Thomas Mulvihill for a short, period attended the public schools 
 of his native town, but being extremely ambitious, even at the early 
 age of thirteen, concluded to go out into the world and carve out 
 his destiny. He began to learn the trade of a stone cutter, at which 
 business he worked until he was sixteen years of age, when he de 
 termined to visit the New World. He landed at New York in 1862 
 and secured employment at his trade in Brooklyn, where he worked 
 until 1866, then returning to Ireland to take his part with the Feni- 
 ans in the uprising of that year. He had been very active with that 
 organization since his youth and previous to leaving Ireland had 
 suffered arrest and had only been released when he had served three 
 months and nine days. At the contemplated taking of Chester 
 Castle in 1867, he left Bradford, Yorkshire, with a number of oth- 
 ers to take part in said raid on Chester Castle, their purpose being 
 to seize 100,000 stand of arms and one million rounds of ammuni- 
 tion stored at Chester Castle. The plan was to overpower the 
 guards at the Castle, seize the railroad train at Chester, load there- 
 on the arms and ammunition, go to Holyhead where two thousand 
 men were in readiness to take the arms, and at once take posses-
 
 414 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 sion of the government steamers, sail to Ireland, where the revolt 
 would be started. Mr. Mnlvihill had charge of the party whose 
 duty it was to cut the telegraph lines between Chester and Holy- 
 head, thus severing communication between the two places. The 
 plans were well laid and would undoubtedly have prospered but 
 for the informer, Coryden, who gave notice to the government of 
 the conspirators' plans. Consequently when they arrived at Ches- 
 ter they found the place so well guarded and prepared that they 
 had to abandon the enterprise. Mr. Mulvihill, with about sixty 
 others, determined to get to Dublin and join O'Connor in the Kerry 
 Mountains. When they arrived at Dublin all were arrested, but 
 as nothing was found on any of them that could be used as evi- 
 dence they were released after being held for forty-eight hours. 
 
 Mr. Mulvihill returned to the United States in 1867 and at once 
 came to Chicago, arriving in this city September 5th, 1867. He re- 
 sumed his trade until November of the same year, when he went to 
 Lincoln, Neb., to work on the State House, then being erected 
 there. A year later he found employment on the State University 
 and Agricultural College and then decided to start in business for 
 himself by taking a contract to do the cut stone work on the State 
 Lunatic Asylum. 
 
 In 1870 he determined to open up a stone yard. Later he organ- 
 ized the Fire Department for the City of Lincoln, being appointed 
 First Assistant Chief, and when he left the city in 1872 to return 
 to Chicago, a silver trumpet, belt and hat were presented to him 
 by the Mayor and City Council of that town to show their apprecia- 
 tion of his work. They also presented him with a set of resolu- 
 tions thanking him for his efficiency while in office. 
 
 Upon Mr. Mulvihill's arrival in Chicago, he at once set to work 
 at his old trade, obtaining employment on the Chicago postoffice 
 from the time it was commenced until it was finished, and for two 
 years was also Recording Secretary of the Stone Cutters' Union.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 415 
 
 About this time, work being very scarce, he secured an appoint- 
 ment on the South Park Police and retained the same for three 
 years, resigning to take a clerkship in the office of M. W. Ryan, 
 County Clerk, where he remained for four years. Then, with Capt. 
 Dan Gleason, he bid on and was awarded a contract on the Lake 
 View sewerage system, but on account of financial reasons, he was 
 compelled to assign his share to his partner and retire. Mr. Mul- 
 vihill was then appointed General Street Inspector for Hyde Park 
 (this was before the annexation), and after that event he kept the 
 position under the administration of Mayor Cregier, and later was 
 superintendent for Dolese & Shepard, the street contractors, for 
 two years. On the election of the late Carter Harrison as Mayor, 
 in 1893, he was reappointed Street Inspector for Hyde Park, and 
 the position was retained under Mayor Hopkins. When the latter 
 retired, Mr. Mulvihill was appointed Deputy Sheriff and Court Bail- 
 iff, which position he continues to hold. 
 
 In 18G7 he was married to Kate Brennan, of Tipperary, Ireland, 
 who came to this country to join him. They have had nine chil- 
 dren, but of these only three are living. 
 
 Mr. Mulvihill assisted in organizing and was First Sergeant of 
 the Clan-Na-Gael Guards, when many of the most prominent Irish- 
 men in the city were serving as privates. He belongs to the Cath- 
 olic Order of Foresters, of which he was Chief Ranger for five years 
 and is now Deputy High Chief Ranger for several courts in the 
 southern part of the city and Past Chief Ranger. In his political 
 views Mr. Mulvihill is a Democrat, and in his religion is a Roman 
 Catholic and a member of St. Thomas' Church, in which choir he 
 sang for many years. 
 
 As true to the country of his adoption as to the laud of his fore- 
 fathers, Thomas Mulvihill after an eventful career is enjoying the 
 calm life of free America, happy in the devoted esteem of a host 
 of true-hearted friends.
 
 416 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 THOMAS S. HOGAN. 
 
 Thomas S. Hogan is a native of Chicago, and may well be proud 
 of the fact, as he certainly possesses in a very marked degree that 
 persistent energy which animates the metropolis of the West. 
 
 It is not too much to say that of many lawyers practicing at the 
 Chicago bar, not one is more generally known or better liked than 
 Thomas S. Hogan. Nor is the popularity he enjoys of the super- 
 ficial or ephemeral order. It is the result of more than ten years' 
 social and professional establishment in Chicago. During this 
 time he has made hosts of friends in the community generally, and 
 something more rare, with men in active practice, also among his 
 brethren of the law. This latter distinction, the respect and liking 
 of those of his own avocation, is something of which any profes- 
 sional man may well be proud, and in the case of Mr. Hogan it has 
 contributed in a considerable degree to creating the enviable 
 position he has achieved at the Chicago bar. If there be in fact 
 anything like the influence, claimed within the theory of hereditary 
 mental tendencies, its logical result would have led Mr. Hogan 
 to select the law as his life profession. His success in this direction 
 conclusively proves that in him personal characteristics, tempera- 
 ment, mental qualities and literary training combined to make the 
 study and practice of law a congenial pursuit. A lawyer, Thomas 
 S. Hogan is the sou of a distinguished member of the profession, 
 and thus comes quite naturally by his preference and capacity for 
 a forensic career. His father is M. W. Hogan, a well-known lawyer, 
 who was admitted to practice in Illinois as long ago as 1855, and 
 who is an old and highly respected resident of Chicago. This Mr. 
 M. W. Hogan served as State's Attorney for St. Louis, Missouri,
 
 ^r Jl 
 
 r m
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 419 
 
 for twelve years, receiving the signal and unusual honor of an elec- 
 tion to that responsible office for three consecutive terms, a fact 
 which in itself sufficiently attests to his high professional standing 
 and personal popularity. 
 
 The early literary and legal education of Mr. Hogan may be said 
 to have been acquired wholly in St. Louis. It commenced with 
 the training at the Christian Brothers' Academy, continued 
 throughout the full curriculum of study at St. Louis University, 
 terminating with graduation at the St. Louis Law School. The 
 academic and collegiate course of the subject of this sketch com- 
 pleted, the study of law was taken up in his father's office. His legal 
 studies were pursued in the office of ex-Governor Thomas C. Rey- 
 nolds of Missouri, and in that of the Hon. Irwin Z. Smith, re- 
 nowned as one of the ablest lawyers in the West. Undoubtedly 
 the knowledge and experience acquired in such associa- 
 tions and surroundings, and the familiarity with procedure 
 and practice in important cases which he was thus enabled to gain, 
 was of inestimable advantage to the young lawyer, and Mr. Hogan 
 soon took such rank at the bar and in the active practice of his pro- 
 fession as is rarely the good fortune of its junior members. The 
 opportunities and associations of this period of his life likewise did 
 much to develop and mould a well grounded literary taste, which 
 subsequently resulted in the collection of one of the finest, because 
 one of the most carefully and best assorted, private libraries in the 
 West. Pleasant and profitable as were his St. Louis days, Chicago 
 practice was the wider and fuller arena destined for the full frui- 
 tion of Mr. Hogan's professional effort. In 1886 he removed to this 
 city, and a co-partnership was formed with another well known 
 lawyer, the Hon. Theodore G. Case, under the firm name and style 
 of Case & Hogan. 
 
 The practice of this firm within the last ten years has grown to 
 be something exceptionally large, and it is known in the legal pro-
 
 420 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 fession generally as one of the busiest in Chicago. Its members 
 have been identified with the conduct and trial, in both state and 
 federal courts, of some of the most notable cases in the country, 
 and thus have not only won recognition as able lawyers in Illinois, 
 but also a national reputation . 
 
 The personality of Mr. Hogaii is striking and of a character to 
 attract and fix the attention, more especially this being the case in 
 a court room, for when engaged in the trial of a case he is invari- 
 ably a conspicuous figure. In height and general physique he is 
 above the average, his sturdy shoulders support a massive head 
 with classic, mobile features, and he is fortunate in the possession 
 of an unusually clear and resonant voice. The excellence of his 
 public reading was recognized early in his career by his election as 
 reading clerk to the Thirty-third General Assembly of Missouri, in 
 fact, that position was specially created for him, and at the expira- 
 tion of his term of office he received from the legislature a unani- 
 mous vote of thanks for the efficiency of his services. It is, how- 
 ever, in the hotly contested trial of a cause that Mr. Hogan is seen at 
 his best, for here his marked oratorical ability gives him a decided 
 advantage over many of his colleagues at the bar. Forcible and 
 impressive as a speaker, he carries from first to last the unbroken 
 attention of his jury. Nor is it only at the bar that this power and 
 facility for public speaking has stood Mr. Hogan in good stead, for 
 in addition, he is one of the most apt and best known impromptu 
 after-dinner speakers in Chicago. 
 
 As might be expected in a man of this description, our subject 
 is a favorite socially, and is an active member of the best clubs and 
 organizations. In the amenities of social entertainment he finds 
 opportunity for the exercise of a fund of good fellowship, enriched, 
 as it is, by interesting personal reminiscences of incident and 
 travel, for Mr. Hogan has traveled extensively, both in America 
 and Europe. He is a member of the Chicago Athletic Association,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 421 
 
 the Columbus Club, an honorary member of influential clubs in the 
 East, and a prominent and active member of Chicago Lodge Benev- 
 olent and Protective Order of Elks. A reference to his personal 
 character would be incomplete without a suggestion of that uni- 
 form spirit of kindliness and prompt, practical generosity, which 
 characterizes him in his relations with the fraternal societies, and, 
 indeed, in whatsoever direction its modest and unassuming exercise 
 can be of use to others. Mr. Hogau is unmarried and resides with 
 members of his family in this city. 
 
 JOSEPH ANDREW McCORMICK. 
 
 Fire Brigade Captain Joseph Andrew McCormick was born in 
 Chicago, at Cass and Chicago Avenue, on March 19th, 1865. He is 
 the son of John McCormick, who came to Chicago from Ireland in 
 184(5, was an old-time volunteer fireman of the city and died in 1885. 
 He had married Sarah Toner, whose father was one of the original 
 members of the Order of Hibernians. 
 
 The subject of this sketch attended the Chicago public schools 
 until he was sixteen years of age, when he began to learn the paint- 
 er's trade, at which he worked until 1885, when he became a mem- 
 ber of the Chicago Fire Department. 
 
 His first assignment was to Chemical Engine No. 2, and from 
 there he was transferred to No. 1, No. 32, and No. 4. He became 
 Lieutenant, December 31st, 1889, and was sent to Engine No. 22, 
 at Webster Avenue and Larrabee Street, where he remained a 
 year and a half and was then sent to No. 27. He was promoted,
 
 422 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 April 15th, 1893, to be Captain of Engine No. 9, at Cottage Grove 
 Avenue and Twenty-fifth Street, but after a short stay of four 
 months he was transferred to No. 33, and there remained three 
 years, when he was changed to No. 44, at 77 Illinois Street, where 
 he still remains. 
 
 He was married to Barbara Wiendbiel, of Chicago, October 4th, 
 1886, and they have had five children, of whom three are living. 
 
 Captain McCormick bears the reputation of a most efficient offi- 
 cer, and has several times been mentioned in general orders for 
 bravery, and aJso on one occasion for stopping, at the risk of his 
 life, a runaway horse. Strictly observant of every duty, he has 
 gained the respect and esteem of the whole department and also 
 of a wide circle of friends. 
 
 DR. GEORGE WILLIAM MAHONEY. 
 
 The achievement of such a position as Dr. Mahoney has attained 
 in the medical circles of this city while still so young in years is 
 typical of American grit and the true Western spirit of enter- 
 prise. His remarkable capabilities in the two special departments 
 of medical science he has taken up have already attracted to him a 
 wide and influential clientele, which, as day after day passes by, 
 is increasing in size. 
 
 Dr. Mahoney was born at Lawton, Michigan. His father, 
 Michael, was a native of Ireland and was born in County Clare, 1836. 
 With his parents he came to America in 1853, locating in Kala- 
 mazoo, Michigan. In 1857 he married Honoria Marie Davis, daugh- 
 ter of William Davis of Limerick, Ireland. Miss Davis was born
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 423 
 
 iu 1839; she was given superior educational advantages in school, 
 at home and under private instruction, and later in life took special 
 pride and exerted every beneficial influence in the early training 
 of her children; a happy home was broken by her death in 1878 
 at Decatur, Michigan, where Michael Mahoney still resides. They 
 had seven children, but only three are living, the eldest of whom is 
 the subject of this sketch. Of the two other brothers, Henry resides 
 at Decatur, Michigan, while Kit-hard is connected with one of the 
 newspapers at Kalamazoo. 
 
 George W. Mahoney was educated in the public schools, and 
 the study of medicine having always been to him an absorbing one, 
 iu 1885 he entered the medical department of the University of 
 Michigan. After a two years' course, he entered the Bellevue Col- 
 lege Medical Hospital, New York, graduating there the following 
 year, 1888. 
 
 While in New York he devoted considerable time to the study 
 of the eye and ear under Professor Noyes, and always afterwards 
 in general private practice that branch had for him a fascination. 
 He began his medical practice at Decatur, where he remained five 
 years. In 1893 he removed to Chicago and became a specialist for 
 the eye and ear, to which since he has given his exclusive attention. 
 
 Dr. Mahoney became a. member of the Chicago Ophthalmological 
 Society in 1894 and holds the position of instructor of Ophthalmol- 
 ogy at the Chicago Polyclinic and lectures on the refraction of the 
 eye. He has also given much time to muscular defects of the eye 
 and is a recognized authority on that work. His offices, are located 
 in the Venetian Building, where from eleven o'clock until three 
 o'clock, daily, the demands upon his time by a, large clientage 
 make him one of the busy men of his profession. 
 
 Dr. Mahoney has been a member of the Michigan State Medical 
 Society since 1889 and of the American Medical Association since 
 1893. He holds the position of Surgeon, with rank of Captain, in
 
 424 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the Seventh Regiment, Illinois National Guards, under Colonel 
 Marcus Kavanagh, Jr. He is a member of the Columbus Club of 
 Chicago. 
 
 The Doctor is contemplating a trip abroad in the interest of his 
 studies and will visit the leading hospitals of London, Dublin, 
 Paris, Vienna, Berlin, etc. He is a member of the Catholic Church, 
 residing in the Cathedral Parish. 
 
 Dr. Mahoney is still a young man with many years before him 
 let ITS hope with years of profit to himself as well as years in which 
 to be of service to his fellow-men. No higher incentive to duty 
 can any man have than that he is living a useful life, and that Dr. 
 Mahoney beyond all question has. Possessed of good sound judg- 
 ment, energetic and pushing, his success has been almost a fore- 
 gone conclusion. Affable and courteous in manner, a deep student, 
 conscientious and straightforward in his methods, his growing 
 popularity is easily accounted for. He is in the prime and vigor 
 of a healthy and intellectual manhood and with his natural ability, 
 has acquired knowledge and valuable experience, he can and will 
 yet make the world better in that he has lived. 
 
 JAMES DENNIS MORRISON. 
 
 James D. Morrison, president of Cook County Civil Service Com- 
 mission, and widely known in connection with numerous associa- 
 tions and as an active Republican and successful business man, was 
 born in this city, April 7th, 1861. His father, John Cornelius Mor- 
 rison, is a native of Buffalo, New York, where he was born in 1841,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 425 
 
 but came to Chicago in 1856 and since that time has been a resi- 
 dent, occupying himself chiefly in the stewardship of hotels. In 
 1860 he married Katharine Ryan, who, when quite a child, had 
 come to Chicago from Ireland. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was educated in the public schools 
 and graduated from the high schools of Chicago, commencing when 
 about sixteen years of age his business career. His first start was 
 in the fruit business on South Water Street with the firm of John 
 W. Manning. Here he remained ten years, and since that time has 
 practically been in business for himself. The first partnership 
 formed was that of Raggio & Morrison, the present firm of Boland 
 & Morrison succeeding on February 1st, of this year (1897). The 
 firm has been successful from its initiation and has an extensive 
 and growing business. As before intimated, Mr. Morrison has 
 found time, apart from his a.ctive business interests, to occupy him- 
 self largely in public affairs and in matters appertaining to the 
 best interests of the community in which he lives. Not only does 
 he hold the important position of president of Cook County Civil 
 Service Commission, but he has also been active as a Republican 
 in the counsels and work of his party, and is a member of the Co- 
 lumbus, the Marquette, and the Americns Clubs, of the Royal 
 League, the Royal Arcanum, the National Union, the Catholic 
 Benevolent Legion, the Knights of Columbus, and also of the Order 
 of Columbian Knights. 
 
 Mr. Morrison has been an extensive traveler through the United 
 States, there being few points of interest he has not visited, from 
 Maine to California. In regard to foreign trips, he has preferred, 
 as he expresses it, to make himself thoroughly conversant with 
 the beauties and wonders of his native land before sparing the time 
 for visiting others. 
 
 Mr. Morrison married, February 2d, 1881, Miss Christina Grant, 
 of Chicago, and they have five children.
 
 426 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Outside of his business and public life, Mr. Morrison gives what 
 time he can to athletic sports, of which he has at all times been 
 extremely fond. Physically he is a man of good constitution and 
 fine presence, of genial and social disposition, yet at the same time 
 of forcible and energetic character. He looks the successful man 
 that he is, and, it need hardly be said, possesses numerous warm and 
 devoted friends. 
 
 DANIEL CORKERY. 
 
 Daniel Corkery, late president and founder of the Chicago & 
 Indiana Coal Co., was born in Chicago, February 26th, 1853, and 
 died, to the universal regret of an immense number of friends, 
 when comparatively a young man, June 25th, 1894. His parents 
 were both born at historic Blarney Castle, Ireland, and came to 
 the United States in 1849, settling in Chicago. 
 
 Daniel was educated at St. John's school and in the public 
 schools of this city, which he left when fourteen years of age, and 
 went to work carrying water and generally helping his father, 
 who was the owner of several teams. When about nineteen, he 
 determined to do some work on his own account, and, having 
 bought a coal wagon, made his first venture in the coal business. 
 At about the age of twenty-six, he went into partnership with D. 
 McGarry, an association which continued for two years, after 
 which Mr. Corkery started by himself at Twenty-sixth Street and 
 Stewart Avenue. In 1892, he built the present handsome office 
 building Twenty-seventh Street and Canal. From the start he 
 was successful, and at the time of his death, was the owner of and
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 429 
 
 had the entire superintendence of one of the largest businesses in 
 his line in the city. Four coal mines in Indiana, two in Brazil and 
 two at Mecca were his individual property. At his death he left 
 an estate valued at several hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 Mr. Corkery was an ardent Democrat, and took great interest 
 in the ward organizations, of which he was the acknowledged 
 leader. He was also largely instrumental in building up the Fifth 
 Ward, in which he resided for the greater portion of his life. 
 Twice he visited Europe; the first time with a party of friends, and 
 the second time in company with his wife, when, having covered 
 France and Germany, Ireland was made their longest stopping 
 place. 
 
 Mr. Corkery was married December, 1878, to Mary Austin, 
 daughter of Lawrence Austin of this city, and qne of Chicago's 
 earliest settlers. They had one daughter, who died when three 
 years of age. 
 
 Mr. Corkery served on the school board until he resigned to 
 accept the commissionership of elections, being the first to fill that 
 position in Cook County. He was a member of the Sheridan and 
 Iroquois Clubs, and organized the Jefferson Club, which collapsed 
 after his death. 
 
 As may be judged from his rapid and invariable success, Mr. 
 Corkery was of a nature both industrious and enterprising, and 
 possessed of business and executive ability of the highest order. 
 He was of a warm social character, fond of home and domestic 
 life, though, as has been mentioned, taking a great interest in local 
 and general politics. To Mrs. Corkery, who survives him, and 
 who possesses an active interest in the business, and whose cour- 
 teous, kindly and unassuming manner are united to great execu- 
 tive talents, the late Mr. Corkery unquestionably owed much of 
 his success in life. Mrs. Corkery is president of the Woman's 
 Catholic League.
 
 430 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 JAMES J. MULLEN. 
 
 Among the representative men of Chicago whose position is due 
 solely to their own efforts, there is none who deserves more honor- 
 able mention than James J. Mullen, president of the Mullen Brew- 
 ing Company. Born in Chicago, October 28th, 1855, his parents 
 were Peter and Ann (Murphy) Mullen. His father was a native of 
 Wicklow, Ireland, who, having taken a prominent part in the 
 troubles of 1848, came to Chicago in that year. He took up the oc- 
 cupation of a blacksmith and wagon builder, and for years operated 
 a shop on the west side, also taking an active part in Irish affairs 
 until his death in 1869. Peter Mullen married Ann Murphy, who 
 came of a well known County Carlow family, her parents leaving 
 Ireland in 1850. They settled first in the East and later moved west 
 to Chicago, where her brothe.rs are now prominent and own consid- 
 erable property near Harrison Street and Blue Island Avenue. She 
 died in the year 1859. 
 
 The subject of this sketch attended the Chicago public schools 
 in his youth, being compelled, however, at the age of fifteen, to set 
 about earning his own living. His first occupation was that of a 
 truck driver for the firm of Wm. A. Butters & Co., auctioneers and 
 commission merchants, and here he remained for nine years and 
 until 1878, when he became a porter with the furniture house of 
 Alexander H. Revell & Co., at that time quite a small concern. In 
 this employ he was for twelve years, during which time his ability 
 was recognized and he received promotion from time to time until 
 when he left he was manager of the establishment and had been 
 given an interest in the business. July 1st, 1890, Mr. Mullen asso- 
 ciated himself with the Merle & Heaney Manufacturing Co., makers
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 431 
 
 of furniture, aiid became secretary of the company. Here he was 
 again successful, retiring in January, 1894. 
 
 So long an active business man, it was impossible for Mr. Mul- 
 len to remain idle, and twelve months later he purchased the plant 
 of the Vogt & Sweeney Brewery on Twenty-sixth Street. This, ow- 
 ing to poor management, had been permitted to run down consid- 
 erably until there was but a single customer on the books, and the 
 concern was consequently placed in the hands of a receiver and sold 
 by order of court. During Mr. Mullen's association with the Merle 
 & Ileaney Co., he had been closely connected with brewers and sa- 
 loon men, and the experience he had gained enabled him to quick- 
 ly grasp the situation and, as a result, to soon place his new ven- 
 ture on a paying basis, so much so that to-day it is one of the best 
 paying plants in the city. The sole credit for this is due to Mr. 
 Mullen, who, unaided, carried through the venture and by his 
 individual energy and attention to all the details has made the 
 business what it is. 
 
 Mr. Mullen, while of a very modest and retiring disposition, is 
 still extremely congenial and companionable, finding time to be- 
 long to the Columbus and Sheridan Clubs, the Royal League, and 
 the Independent Order of Foresters. He is a Roman Catholic and 
 is a member of the congregation of St. James' Church, while in 
 politics he has always been a Democrat. 
 
 Mr. Mullen married Norah Kelly, daughter of Captain William 
 Kelly, a well known lake captain, and they have been blessed with 
 a family consisting of four girls and a boy. Mr. Mullen has a pleas- 
 ant home at 3208 Calumet Avenue, where he and his charming wife 
 dispense hospitalities to their numerous friends. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Mullen are both fond of traveling and have visited all the leading 
 sections of the United States. 
 
 As a citizen Mr. Mullen lends his influence to all matters per- 
 taining to the welfare of his city and the community. He contrib-
 
 432 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 utes to charity as far as his means will allow, is always ready to 
 help the unfortunate, and in all his relations bears himself as an 
 earnest, large-hearted and conscientious gentleman, who esteems it 
 a privilege, as he counts it a duty to do the most good in the best 
 way to the greatest number of persons. 
 
 Gifted in a rare degree with energy, determination and ambi- 
 tion, of powerful will and splendid health, every qualification has 
 been used to the best advantage, and he is to-day in the enjoyment 
 of a well earned and richly deserved competence, in addition to 
 the confidence, respect and esteem of all his fellow citizens. 
 
 PATRICK MCGARRY. 
 
 Patrick McGarry was born in Ireland, July 2d, 1845, the son of 
 John McGarry, prominently connected with the troubles of 1845, 
 and who died in 1878. His father was one of the leaders of the 
 Irish rebellion in 1798, and suffered the punishment of a public 
 whipping in the corn market at Belfast, and the subject of this 
 sketch when a young man, recalls having his hands placed on the 
 scars on his grandfather's back and being asked to promise he 
 would strike a blow for Ireland for each one of them. With such 
 bringing up, breathing into his very life a hatred of the English 
 oppression, it is little wonder that the youthful Patrick grew up 
 with full determination that Ireland must be free. John McGarry 
 had married Mary Murray, of Cookstown, County Tyrone, Ireland, 
 a member also of a family noted for its patriotism. In 1883 she 
 came to this country on a visit for several months, and now well 
 over eighty, is living in the old land across the seas.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 433 
 
 Patrick McGarry received his education in a Church of Eng- 
 land school at Belfast, and after six years left, at the age of eleven. 
 It is a fact worthy of note that Joseph G. Biggar, later famous in 
 the English House of Commons, was his monitor, and from him 
 young Patrick received his first lessons. 
 
 Schooling over, he went to work in the linen warehouse of Jo- 
 seph McGill, at that time the largest in Belfast. Having spent 
 eighteen months in this business, he came to the conclusion that a 
 life on the ocean would be more to his liking, and went into the 
 Queen's Island ship yard, where he was the first Roman Catholic 
 to learn the trade of boiler making and iron ship building. Having 
 served his five years there, he traveled through the three kingdoms, 
 working at his trade, and also made a few trips on the ocean as 
 boiler make] 1 , sailing for New York in the month of July, 1871. He 
 remained in the latter city for a few months, working at the Stime 
 occupation, and then came to Chicago, where he arrived just six 
 mouths before the fire. In Chicago he followed his trade, from 1873 
 to 1889, excepting an interval in 1875, during which he visited Ire- 
 land. On January 15th, 1889, Mr. McGarry formed a partnership 
 with Snider, Leonard & McCarrin, and the Union Steam Boiler 
 Works was started, continuing until January 1st, 1890, when the 
 firm of McGarry & Dunne was organized and business done until 
 March, 1895, when the firm was dissolved, Mr. McGarry taking sole 
 charge. 
 
 Mr. McGarry from his early youth has taken a great interest 
 in Irish affairs; in 1863, at the age of eighteen, he joined the Irish 
 Republican Brotherhood. Mr. McGarry may also claim the honor 
 of launching the late Joseph Biggar, M. P., into the political world. 
 It was in this way: In 1864 the corner stone of the O'Connell monu- 
 ment at Dublin was being laid, an excursion from Belfast was at- 
 tacked in that city by Orangemen and considerable trouble arose 
 between the Orangemen employed on Queen's Island, of whom
 
 434 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 there were some four thousand, and about two hundred Roman 
 Catholics at that time employed in building new docks. Several 
 of the latter were driven into the sea and many wounded, it being 
 supposed that the Catholics were giving information to the au- 
 thorities; the Orangemen struck, demanding that all Catholics em- 
 ployed in the Queen's Island ship yard quit the works. The strike 
 having continued two weeks, the business men of Belfast tried to 
 settle the difficulty by arbitration, and this was finally agreed to, 
 two men being appointed to represent each side. Mr. McGarry, who 
 was even then recognized as a leader among the Catholics, sug- 
 gested for the Catholic representatives the name of A. J. McKenna, 
 at that time editor of the Irish National paper, "The Northern 
 Star," and 1 Joseph G. Biggar, an obscure pork merchant, this being 
 the latter's first entrance into publicity. A settlement was finally 
 made, the Orangemen agreeing to return to work if the Catholics 
 would give no more information concerning the rioters. So pleased 
 were the Nationalists of Belfast at the way Mr. Biggar handled the 
 question, that they elected him Councilman from Smithfield Ward, 
 Belfast, and shortly afterwards he was elected Member of Parlia- 
 ment from County Cavan, became Parnell's Chief Lieutenant, the 
 leader of obstruction in the House, and possibly the most hated 
 Irishman who ever took his place in Parliament. 
 
 Mr. McGarry joined the Ancient Order of Hibernians in 1881, 
 and has been president of a division and also State delegate of Illi- 
 nois. In 1894 he was elected at the New York convention National 
 Secretary, was re-elected in 1895, and in 1896 became National 
 Delegate. He was also elected delegate to attend the Irish Race 
 Convention, held at Dublin, Ireland, September 1st, 2d, and 3d, 
 1896, but by reason of important business matters at the last mo- 
 ment he was compelled to forego. He joined the Clan-Na-Gael in 
 1885 and is still an active member of that organization, in the 
 working of which he has always taken an active part.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 435 
 
 Mr. McGarry was married, April 28th, 1874, to Miss Augusta 
 A. Beckley, of Logansport, Iml., ami the union has resulted in seven 
 children, of whom all with the exception of one are living. 
 
 In politics he is entirely independent, believing in so voting as 
 will do the greatest good for the greatest number. He is a Roman 
 Catholic and a regular attendant at the Church of St. Vincent de 
 Paul. 
 
 While his life in this country has been possibly of a more peace- 
 able character than his early bringing up may have led him to de- 
 sire, his faith in the old land has never wavered, nor his earnest 
 hope that it may be his fortune to see Ireland taking her proper 
 place among the nations of the earth. Honored and respected, he 
 has made for himself hosts of friends in this city, and by his per- 
 sonal worth has gained a high place in the list of Chicago's Amer- 
 ican Irish. 
 
 DANIEL J. GALLERY. 
 
 Daniel J. Gallery was born at Euuislione, County Clare, Ireland, 
 December 26th, 1888. Having received his education in the old 
 country, he came to America in 1856, moving on to Chicago. His 
 first employment was for Squire Tom Dingee, at Evanston, and he 
 then started business in Chicago as a teamster. When the war 
 broke out he went to Memphis, continuing iu the same business 
 until the war closed. His remuneration was one out of every three 
 bales of cotton for hauling the same. The war closed, he returned 
 to this city and soon founded the Gallery Transfer Company. For- 
 tune favored his efforts, and having, in 1885, taken his son, Daniel
 
 436 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 V., into the business, be gave him full charge. Mr. D. J. Gallery 
 retired in 1891, and has since enjoyed the reward of his successful 
 industry. 
 
 He had married in Chicago, in 1850, Mary A. Daley, and they 
 have six children Rebecca A., Dan. V., a successful young lawyer; 
 John J., Martha R., Allison, and William F. 
 
 Mr. Daniel J. Gallery is a Roman Catholic, and in politics be- 
 longs to the Democratic party. He is a member of the Royal 
 League, an honorary member of the Young Men's Institute, and 
 since 1856 a member of the Board of Trade. Mr. Gallery is also an 
 extensive traveler, being well acquainted with the United States, 
 and has on several occasions visited Europe. 
 
 PATRICK DIGNAN. 
 
 This popular aud highly respected Counaught Irishman was 
 born on St. Patrick's day, 1847, in County Mayo, Ireland, in which 
 country his parents, Robert L. and Kate (Burke) Diguan, lived and 
 died, although his father did, upon one occasion, come to the United 
 States to pay a short visit to the subject of this sketch. The family 
 was originally from the north of Ireland, the first settlement in 
 County Mayo having been made by Robert L. Dignan's grand- 
 father. 
 
 Patrick Dignan was educated in the national schools of Ireland 
 until he was sixteen, and then for a year found employment there 
 in a general store. At seventeen he decided to seek his fortune in 
 the United States, and arrived in the City of Providence, R, I., at
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 439 
 
 the time when the cry of war was stirring the land. Patriotic feel- 
 ings moved the young Irishman's heart, and he determined to be- 
 come a soldier. He immediately joined the Second Rhode Island 
 Cavalry, and at once went to the front. Here his skill as a civil 
 engineer and his genius for mechanics found quick recognition, and 
 he was soon transferred to Fort Gratiot, Michigan, to take part in 
 the construction of the government works there, and at this point he 
 remained until the close of the war. 
 
 It was in 1865 that Mr. Dignau first came to Chicago, and this 
 city has since been his permanent home. For a number of years 
 he worked for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Kailroad Com- 
 pany, and in that employ remained until he started in business for 
 himself. The livery and undertaking business, which he founded 
 and still continues, has prospered exceedingly, and he has been able 
 to amass therein a comfortable fortune. For a number of years 
 past it has been Mr. Dignau's custom to visit his native land every 
 summer, and he has crossed the Atlantic fifteen times. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was married in 1865 in Chicago to 
 Christine Hishfalt, who died in 1889, and Mr. Dignau then mar- 
 ried Alice Brown, another Chicago lady, and they have had five 
 children. 
 
 In his religious views he is a Homau Catholic, and in his politics 
 an Independent Democrat. 
 
 Mr. Dignan is a true Irishman, and firm in his belief that Ireland 
 should be given the right of self government. Since 1865 he has 
 been connected with Chicago Irish organizations; he is a member of 
 the Catholic and Independent Order of Foresters and also of the 
 Knights of Pythias. 
 
 In the New Movement Convention of 1895 in this city, he was not 
 only a delegate, but also a member of the executive committee.
 
 440 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OF THE 
 
 DR. HENRY THOMAS MURPHY. 
 
 Dr. Henry Thomas Murphy was born November 19th, 1863, at 
 Ft. Wiimebago, just outside of Portage, Wis. a historic spot, for 
 there Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis served during the 
 Black Hawk War. His parents were Michael and Jane (McDon- 
 ald) Murphy, both natives of County Galway, Ireland, who, coming 
 to America in 1849, had settled in this country and brought up 
 a family of eleven children. 
 
 The subject of this sketch received his early education iii the 
 public schools of his native town, graduating from its high school 
 in the class of 1886. From 1884 to 1886, however, he was com- 
 pelled to teach in Columbia County, Wis., in order to secure the 
 necessary means to continue his studies. After graduating, he 
 definitely decided upon making medicine his profession, and on 
 the 1st of March, 1887, he entered the Rush Medical College of 
 Chicago and, completing a three years' course, graduated in the 
 class of 1890 and began to practice in Chicago. During the period 
 that he was attending the medical college he held several posi- 
 tions in the County Hospital. 
 
 Dr. Murphy is a prominent member and Examining Physician 
 for the Catholic Order of Foresters, and belongs also to the Knights 
 of Maccabees, Independent Order of Foresters, and the Supreme 
 Order of Foresters of Canada. 
 
 Dr. Murphy is in religion a devout Catholic and a regular at- 
 tendant at All Saints' Church. In his politics he has never varied 
 but has always been a faithful adherent to the principles of the 
 Democratic party, A close student, an omnivorous reader, he is
 

 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 441 
 
 always a pleasaut and charniiug companion. In his professional 
 duties he evinces wonderful patience and skill as well as the great- 
 est kindness, which, in addition to his considerable ability, are rap- 
 idly and deservedly accumulating for him a splendid practice. 
 
 CHARLES JOSEPH MAGEE. 
 
 Any record of the lives and achievements of worthy Irishmen 
 and those of Irish blood would be incomplete did it not contain 
 some mention of the history of Charles Joseph Magee, the well 
 known Chicago contractor and builder. He was born March 15th, 
 18(>0, in County Antrim, Ireland, his parents being Charles and 
 Catherine (McLaughliu) Magee. The father was a large and prom- 
 inent stock farmer whose family had been prominent in the Irish 
 Rebellion. 
 
 The subject of the present sketch attended the national schools 
 of his native town until he was fifteen, when for three years he went 
 to work on a farm. The building of the Great Northern Railroad 
 of Ireland found him at work on the road as a laborer, and he was 
 s(x>n promoted to the position of time-keeper. Here he remained, 
 however, but a short time, for he had decided to learn the trade of 
 a carpenter, and after serving an apprenticeship he secured a posi- 
 tion as carpenter on a steamship and for a year made several trips 
 to Europe, visiting many points, and upon one occasion being ship- 
 wrecked in the Bay of Biscay. He came to the United States in 
 August, 1881, and directly on to Chicago. For a time he worked 
 for P. D. Armour, at the Stock Yards, but later he secured employ-
 
 442 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ineiit with the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, and was made 
 superintendent of a gang of men who were doing repairing along 
 the railroad. 
 
 Moved by his ambitious disposition he determined, in 1883, to 
 no longer work for other people but to start in the general con- 
 tracting business. The result well justified his views, for being 
 shrewd, honest, and thoroughly reliable, besides possessing a full 
 understanding of every detail of the trade, he was soon in the pos- 
 session of a very prosperous business. Mr. Magee has taken con- 
 tracts for and has constructed over eight hundred buildings in 
 Chicago, and among the large buildings which he has built may 
 be mentioned the block at Twelfth and Wabash Avenue, at a cost 
 of |123,000, and another at the corner of Belden Avenue and Lar- 
 rabee Street, for $56,000. At this writing the spring of 1897 he 
 has just finished a home for himself at a cost of |11,600. In the 
 buying of property at bargains, the building up and selling at a 
 considerable profit, he has been very successful, and his possession 
 of business qualifications of the very highest character has been 
 very completely demonstrated. 
 
 Mr. Magee was married, December 29th, 1886, to Annie Worth, 
 who came of good County Wexford stock, and whose family had 
 taken part in the late war, in which a,n uncle of hers, Da,tas Worth, 
 was killed and her father very badly wounded. They have five chil- 
 dren. 
 
 So far as his means will allow him, Mr. Magee is both benevo- 
 lent and charitable. He is a Roman Catholic and a regular attend- 
 ant at the Church of St. Jarlath, while in his political views he ad- 
 heres strictly to the Democratic party. Formerly he was a member 
 of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, aJid he now belongs to the 
 Independent Order of Foresters and also to the Columbus Club. 
 
 There is no man in his business in Chicago who at the present 
 time is more prosperous, or who possesses a higher reputation for
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 443 
 
 honesty and integrity. By those in his employ he is always spoken 
 of in the very highest terms for his fair and kind treatment, and 
 strikes and difficulties with him are few and far between. 
 
 That he should ever have been enabled to make so good a busi- 
 ness success and amass so comfortable a fortune while yet com- 
 paratively a young man, he considers the result of the strict 
 attention he has always paid to the details of his business, of his 
 honest treatment of every one, and to the soundness of his judg- 
 ment on all business matters. 
 
 JOSEPH JOYCE. 
 
 No American Irishman in Chicago is better entitled to the honor- 
 able distinction of being called a self-made man than is the subject 
 of the present sketch, Mr. Joseph Joyce, who was born March 27th, 
 1860, in this city. His parents were Michael and Mary Joyce, both 
 natives of County Mayo, Ireland, and who were married in the 
 City of Chicago, January 3d, 1853. Michael Joyce was one of the 
 pioneer h'remen of Chicago under the old volunteer system, and 
 was for many years the custodian of the old court house bell, which 
 he used to ring in case of tire, before the introduction of the present 
 telegraph system. He was a modest and unassuming man and 
 one at all times most attentive to his duties, and as a result of long 
 hours and overwork, died January, 1864. In the possession of the 
 family is still the old silver fire badge a shield number 189, 
 which was so long worn by the father; and also the first annual 
 report of the Chief Engineer of the Fire Department. His wife,
 
 444 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Mary, a woman of very noble character, died November 17th, 188(5. 
 Michael Joyce left a large tract of land where Garfield Park is now 
 located, which then was known as Bull's Head, and also a home- 
 stead, but the former the mother was compelled to sell in order to 
 educate the family with which she was left, consisting of four 
 children. 
 
 Joseph Joyce attended the Holy Family School until he was 
 ten years of age, and then for a further twelve months the Clark 
 public school, in that time completing all the schooling he was 
 destined to receive. The boy was but four yeara old when Ms father 
 died, and as he grew in years he being the oldest of the family 
 he shared the joys and sorrows of his self-sacrificing mother, to 
 whom he was very greatly attached. At the age of eleven he en- 
 deavored to find some employment in order that he might be of 
 help in the support of the family. 
 
 His first employment was as an errand boj r to a contractor, and 
 this was his occupation at the time of the great fire, when, how- 
 ever, the home of the family escaped, not being in the path of the 
 flames, and the Joyces were able to share what they had with others 
 less fortunate than themselves. From 1872 to 1876, though still 
 young, he did a man's work in driving a team, and in the latter 
 year was offered by the city a position in taking down and putting 
 up telegraph wires, but concluding that the occupation would not 
 be congenial to him, refused it and started in the wholesale dis- 
 trict in search of a position. Many refusals did not discourage 
 him, and he finally succeeded in obtaining a place in the wholesale 
 paper house of Bradner Smith & Co. For some time he was em- 
 ployed moving goods into the new warehouse and had to work 
 eighteen hours a day. Quite early in his life he made up his mind 
 that the only way to succeed in life was to work hard, learn the 
 business, and watch out for opportunities, and his faithful efforts 
 soon attracted the attention of the Cleveland Paper Co., a rival
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 445 
 
 company, by whom he was offered the position of receiving clerk. 
 His diligent work continuing, he was promoted to the position of a 
 salesman, and after a time was offered a place of greater responsi- 
 bility with the J. W. Butler Paper Co., and there remained for five 
 years, going thence to the Calumet Paper Company at an advanced 
 salary, and remaining with the latter until the premises were 
 burned out and the company retired from business. Having saved 
 some little money, he bought part of a damaged stock of paper at 
 auction, and was fortunate in selling the same to considerable 
 profit. Thus encouraged to go into business for himself, in the 
 spring of 1895 he organized the Empire Paper Company, of which 
 he became President and Treasurer, and under his charge the com- 
 pany has met with commendable success, and already supplies 
 some of the largest consumers in the city. 
 
 Mr. Joyce was one of the organizers of the Chicago Zouaves, 
 and also took considerable stock in the World's Fair enterprise. 
 A member of the Columbus Club, the Royal Arcanum, as well as 
 a charter member of Commercial Council 26, Royal League, in the 
 latter having held every office in the gift of the Council except Col- 
 lector and Scribe. Twice he has been representative to Advisory 
 Council, and has just been re-elected Treasurer, having filled every 
 one of these offices with honor to himself and with credit to the 
 society. 
 
 In his political views he has always been independent, while 
 in religious matters he is a Catholic of liberal views. He was mar- 
 ried to Ella McLanghlin, of Chicago, June 10th, 1885, and they 
 have had four children, but only one is living. Mr. Joyce has a 
 comfortable home at 5532 La Salle Avenue, where, with his wife, 
 he delights to entertain and make life pleasant for his family and 
 happy for others. His friends are many, for Mr. Joyce in his earn- 
 est struggle has gained at once the respect and esteem of all with
 
 446 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 whom he has been brought into contact, and the success he has 
 achieved has in no ways aroused envious feeling. He is generous 
 natured and liberal, and thoroughly representative of the race from 
 whence he sprung. 
 
 FREDERICK S. McCLORY. 
 
 Frederick S. McClory, a rising young Chicago lawyer of Irish 
 descent, who was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, January 19th, 
 1869, evidently inherits his abilities in the legal line, for his father 
 was also a well known Irish lawyer of this city. His father, Henry 
 McClory, who was a native of Belfast, Ireland, had come when a 
 boy to America, settling first in Boston and in 1877 moving west to 
 Chicago. As has been said, he became one of the best known law- 
 yers of Chicago, and without being in any way an agitator, was 
 extremely prominent in all Irish matters up to the time of his 
 death, in 1893. His wife, formerly Margaret Persse, and who died 
 in 1871, belonged to an old West of Ireland family, her father hav- 
 ing left the old country and settled at Johnstown, New York. 
 
 The subject of this sketch obtained his education in the public 
 schools of Chicago until he was fourteen, when a private tutor was 
 provided for him and the boy studied Latin and Greek. At the age 
 of sixteen he entered his father's law office, and at the same time, 
 with sixteen others, organized the first evening law school, now 
 known as the Chicago College of Law. This school was attended 
 until he was nineteen, when he passed the necessary examination, 
 but still had two years to wait before he was of sufficient years to 
 be given a license.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 447 
 
 On May 18th, 1891, however, he received his qualifications and 
 went into his father's office, remaining with him until the tatter's 
 death, when he entered the la.w office of C. C. Bonney, and sliortly 
 afterwards opened an office and began to practice alone. Very 
 good success 'has followed the efforts of Mr. McClory, who has 
 already succeeded in building up a very good general practice. 
 Considerable legal work has been done by him for the Chicago Gen- 
 eral Electric Railroad Company and the Douglas Park Building 
 Association, to the entire satisfaction of his clients and to the con 
 siderable preservation of their heavy interests. 
 
 In May, 1889, Mr. McClory was married to Catherine Reilly, and 
 they have had five children, of whom there are three living. 
 
 A Democrat in his politics and a member of the North Amer- 
 ican Union, a fraternal insurance company, Mr. McClory has a host 
 of friends who can be counted only by the number of his acquaint- 
 ances. 
 
 PATRICK VINCENT FITZPATRICK. 
 
 As an example of what unlimited energy and untiring perse- 
 verance, when united to a character of fearless and unswerving 
 honesty, can achieve in the world, the Hon. Patrick V. Fitzpatrick, 
 gallant Union soldier and exemplary citizen, stands pre-eminent 
 among the thousands of prominent American Irish in Chicago. All 
 the difficulties that could beset a man in the battle of life, he has 
 fought against and triumphed over. He arrived in Chicago in 1858 
 as a train-boy, and in less than forty years he is to-day Senatorial 
 representative for the First District of Illinois, one of the most irn- 
 
 23
 
 448 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 portant districts, and is kiiown all over tlie world as the unanimous 
 selection of the Irish National Alliance for the proud distinction of 
 Treasurer and custodian of its immense funds. 
 
 Senator Fitzpatrick is an unmistakable Irishman, his many 
 years in this country having in no way deprived him of that rich 
 accent that speaks so plainly of the old land across the Atlantic. 
 He was born in Ennis, County Clare, Ireland, July 17th, 1840. Both 
 his parents are dead, his father, Dennis Fitzpatrick, a tenant far- 
 mer, died when he was a child of five, and his mother, formerly Ann 
 Callanan, three years earlier. Young Fitzpatrick was brought to 
 America by his elder brother, and all his youthful surroundings in 
 this country w r ere with those who possessed no greater advantages 
 than himself. He received his education in the public schools of To- 
 ledo, Ohio, but was forced to earn his own living from the time he 
 was fourteen, and quickly discovered that in this country the first 
 essential of success was education. He was eighteen when, as be- 
 fore stated, in the capacity of train-boy on the L. S. & N. S. Rail- 
 way, he arrived in Chicago. The year following he purchased a 
 scholarship in Sloan Commercial College, from which he graduated 
 March 4th, 1861. Later in the same year, September 10th, and 
 chiefly that he might be entitled to call himself an American, he 
 enlisted as a private in Company "F," Ninth Illinois Cavalry Vol- 
 unteers, for three years or during the war, and served as company 
 clerk and corporal till November 1st, 1862, when he was promoted 
 to be Regimental Sergeant Major. He held that position, serving 
 as a good and faithful soldier, until the battle of Moscow, Tenn., 
 on December 4th, 1863, where he was severely wounded by a shot 
 in the head, from the effects of which he has since been a sufferer. 
 Honorably discharged, on account of wounds received in action, 
 he left the service April 16th, 1864, leaving for his record that of 
 a splendid soldier, one ever prompt and reliable in the execution 
 of orders and of a courage nothing could daunt.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 449 
 
 In August, 1864, when the United States Government inaugu- 
 rated the letter carrier system in Chicago, John L. Scripps, who 
 was then postmaster, appointed Mr. Fitzpatrick as one of the orig- 
 inal twenty-six carriers allowed to the Chicago office. For seven 
 years he carried letters in the district bounded by Polk and Eight- 
 eenth Streets on the south, and from the lake to the river on the 
 west, and made himself one of the best known and highly respected 
 men in the district. In 1868, his spirit of independence led him to 
 start in business for himself, and though necessarily at first in a 
 small way, his book, stationery and news establishment is now prob- 
 ably the largest on the south side. In addition, he has large mining 
 and real estate interests in the Black Hills. For the past twenty 
 years he has been located at 154 Twenty-second Street, and as a 
 business man has gained the highest esteem of every one with 
 whom he has been brought into contact. 
 
 lie has always been a Republican, and speaks with pride of a 
 vote cast for Lincoln in 1864. Requested to stand on the Repub- 
 lican ticket for the First Senatorial District of Illinois, and having 
 received a unanimous nomination, he was elected Senator Novem- 
 ber 6th, 1894. At the great Irish convention in this city last year, 
 1895, when the Irish National Alliance was formed, he was by gen- 
 eral acclamation proclaimed Treasurer to the Alliance, and his 
 work, both as Senator and Treasurer, has been of such a character 
 as to still further increase his reputation for sterling ability, pro- 
 bity, and entire rectitude. 
 
 Mr. Fitzpatrick was married, November 1st, 1866, to Miss An- 
 nie Kenny, of Peoria, 111. They have one daughter, Una. 
 
 In religion he is a thorough Catholic and for fifteen years acted 
 as sexton to the Rev. Father Walton, towards the building of whose 
 church he was instrumental in obtaining the necessary funds. 
 
 Senator Fitzpatrick is a member of the Grand Army of the 
 Republic and other veteran organizations, besides being prominent-
 
 450 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 ly connected with a number of patriotic and benevolent societies. 
 He started, and was afterwards Treasurer of the Cronin fund, in- 
 stituted to give those accused a fair trial, and towards the purpose 
 the amount of $50,000 was collected. Ever faithful to the great 
 land of his adoption, the country of his birth has never been for- 
 gotten indeed, Ireland has few more earnest friends, even in this 
 freedom loving and ever friendly disposed United States, than Pat- 
 rick V. Fitzpatrick, Senator First Senatorial District of Illinois. 
 
 JOHN B. JEFFERY. 
 
 A typical Chicagoan, energetic and unconquerable, one to whom 
 difficulties are but opportunities and misfortunes the stepping 
 stones to greater effort, is John B. Jeffery, than whom there is pos- 
 sibly to-day no one in this city better known or more highly con- 
 sidered. 
 
 Mr. Jeft'ery is a very happy combination of several nationali- 
 ties. His father was an Englishman and with all the British de- 
 termination of character, while his mother, who was a native of 
 County Antrim, Ireland, came of sturdy stock also, for her parents 
 were a Scotch father and an Irish mother. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born at Niagara Falls, January 
 llth, 1846. Having received his education, he served an apprentice- 
 ship to the printer's trade. In 1863 he came to Chicago to join the 
 staff of the "Morning Post," remaining with that paper as a re- 
 porter after it merged into the "Republican" and had Charles A. 
 Dana for its editor. Giving up newspaper employ temporarily, he
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 451 
 
 look charge of the mechanical portion of the business of Tower, 
 Millard & Decker's job printing establishment, with which firm 
 he remained until 1869, when he was offered the position of busi- 
 ness manager of the "Indianapolis Sentinel," a place held until 
 he obtained the management of the job department of the "Chicago 
 Evening Journal." When the great fire of 1871 destroyed the 
 business portion of the city, Mr. Jeffery embraced the opportunity, 
 and, improvising an office within twenty-four hours of the event, 
 was able to issue the first local paper "The Evening Journal" 
 published in the city. On the death of C. L. Wilson, the publisher 
 of "The Evening Journal," he obtained a lease of the job depart- 
 ment, shortly afterwards purchasing outright. This gave him a 
 chance to show of what he was capable, and under his conduct 
 the business proved most successful for a number of years, until, 
 in December, 1883, a fire which consumed "The Evening Journal" 
 Building and completely destroyed the collection of engravings 
 which Mr. Jeffery had gathered together with years of labor, and 
 to which also he had devoted all his savings. This as well as legal 
 complications arising out of the same, obliged him temporarily to 
 abandon the business it had taken him so many years to build up. 
 
 Mr. Jeffery was the founder of several successful trade journals, 
 among which may be mentioned: "The National Builder," "The 
 Black Diamond," and "The Amusement Guide and Directory." Al- 
 ways a staunch Republican, and having been closely and intimately 
 connected with Presidents Grant and Garfield, taking a very prom- 
 inent part in the latter's campaign, he was offered the position of 
 Public Printer. In the late campaign, too, he was Delegate to the 
 State Convention, and to his enthusiastic work and unremitting 
 efforts the carrying of the resolutions endorsing Mr. McKinley 
 for President of the United States was in a large measure due. 
 
 Since the printing business was given up, Mr. Jeffery has de- 
 voted his abilities and energies to several other Hues, and in each
 
 452 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 has been able to show that remarkable force of character which 
 appeal's to command success. 
 
 In his domestic relations he has also been peculiarly fortunate, 
 for Mrs. Jeffery is a lady of great popularity and social distinction, 
 and their charming home is a rendezvous for the leaders in literary 
 and artistic circles. Their eldest son, Harry B. Jeffery, possesses 
 the distinction of birth co-incident with the Chicago fire. 
 
 John B. Jeffery belongs to a number of benevolent and social 
 organizations; in Masonic degrees he stands very high; with the 
 Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks he has long been associ- 
 ated; and he is a member of the Union League, Washington Park, 
 and Press Clubs. Personally he is a man of great charm; he is a 
 writer of recognized ability, and as a brilliant conversationalist 
 possesses few equals in Chicago. 
 
 JOHN H. DONLIN. 
 
 The subject of the present sketch, one of Chicago's most notable 
 builders and contractors, is a native of Rochester, New York State, 
 and came to this city when quite a child with his parents, in 1844. 
 His father, James Doulin, was born in Dublin, Ireland, and with 
 his wife left the old country for New York State in 1838. For six 
 years he followed the trade of a blacksmith, in Rochester, and then 
 removed to Chicago, continuing in the same occupation until his 
 death, in 1857. His wife, formerly Mary Flanaghan, who was also 
 a native of Dublin, followed her husband to the grave two years 
 later.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 453 
 
 Jolm H. Doulin received his education in the public schools of 
 Chicago, after leaving which he was apprenticed to a carpenter. 
 At the end of three years' apprenticeship, in 1860, the young man 
 came to the conclusion to start for himself and commenced contract- 
 ing. With entire success he progressed until the fire of 1871, when 
 he was burned out, losing in the neighborhood of one hundred 
 thousand dollars. Once again, however, he started, and with re- 
 newed energy, the result being that the ground he had lost was 
 quickly recovered. During the immediate years following the fire, 
 he built a dozen or more police stations and other public buildings 
 in this city, and in 1880-81 constructed the Government headquar- 
 ters at Fort Snelling, a work that consumed nearly two years, and 
 the contract for which amounted to $250,000. Mr. Donlin also 
 built the court house at Kankakee, as well as various public build- 
 ings it Quincy and Lincoln, Illinois, in addition to Chicago struc- 
 tures too numerous to mention, but among which was the wigwam 
 in which George B. McClellan was nominated for President, in 
 1868. 
 
 Mr. Donlin was married, in 1859, to Miss B. M. Consandine, of 
 this city. They have nine children living, the eldest son, William 
 J., is one of our promising young lawyers, and the eldest daughter, 
 Molly, is married to Mr. Samuel Morse, president of the Minneapo- 
 lis Milling Association. Four of the other children are also mar- 
 ried. 
 
 A Democrat in his politics until the nomination of James G. 
 Blaine, he followed the latter, and since that time has voted the 
 Republican ticket. Mr. Donlin served as Captain of the famous 
 Ellsworth Zouaves for three years, and was also Captain of the 
 Second Regiment under Col. James Quirk, of 124th Illinois, and of 
 the Irish Brigade, under the command of the late lamented Col. 
 Mulligan. 
 
 Mr. Donlin is well preserved and of sound constitution, and
 
 454 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 looks, as he has proved, a successful man. While his important 
 business interests have engrossed most of his time and energy, and 
 indeed, so continue to do, he has yet found time to travel ex- 
 tensively all over the United States, both for business and recrea- 
 tion. It should also be mentioned that he is a member of the Sher- 
 idan Club. Domestic, in his disposition and tastes, his happiest 
 hours are those spent in the midst of his interesting family circle. 
 
 PATRICK MCHUGH. 
 
 Among the most honored and respected citizens of this great 
 city are many who either owe their birth to the dear green isle 
 across the Atlantic or whose fondest associations are linked with 
 that of their sires. Of these in Chicago, few are better known 
 or deservedly more esteemed than the subject of this sketch, Pat- 
 rick McHugh. His family is one of the most ancient in Ireland, 
 and its pedigree can be traced in a direct line to a period more than 
 twelve centuries before the time of Christ. 
 
 His father, Patrick McHugh also, who was born in County Cavan 
 in 1807, having married Catharine Curran in the old country, was 
 unable to live under its hampered conditions, and, leaving Ireland 
 in 1841, found a new home in Ontario, Canada, where fortune fa- 
 vored him and he became a well-to-do farmer. They raised a family 
 of seven sons and four daughters, and of these two sons have 
 greatly distinguished themselves in the legal profession. Michael 
 A. McHugh is judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Ontario, 
 while Patrick McHugh is one of Chicago's leading lawyers. 
 
 Patrick was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1843. In 1861, after
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 467 
 
 a year's schooling in the evening college there, he came to this 
 city and entered the Catholic University of St. Mary's, an institu- 
 tion which was destroyed by fire a few years later. He took a 
 four years' course and graduated with the class of 18(J5. He then 
 spent a couple of years with the Union College of Law, Chicago, 
 from which he graduated in 1867, and at once began to practice 
 law. 
 
 Early in 1892 a partnership was entered into with the late John 
 M. Rountree, and continued until 1895, when Mr. McHugh thought 
 it more advisable to devote himself to his rapidly growing general 
 practice. He has since made himself a high reputation for care- 
 ful preparation, skillful handling, and also entire faithfulness to 
 his clients. In the cross-examination of witnesses he is among the 
 foremost in Chicago, and his shrewd ability in detecting the weak 
 points has brought him into great request as a jury lawyer. This 
 estimation was forcibly brought before the public in the well- 
 known McMahon case, during the progress of which, for several 
 months, the name of Patrick McHugh was in daily mention. 
 
 He is a Democrat in politics, and the esteem in which he is 
 held by his party and in the legal profession was shown by his 
 nomination as judge of the Circuit Court in 1893. With the bal- 
 ance of the ticket, however, he was not among the elect. 
 
 Mr. McIIugh's popularity is not confined to the legal profes- 
 sion; his ever genial manner and sterling good qualities have 
 made him well liked and esteemed in financial, business, club and 
 social circles. He is a life member of the Chicago Athletic Club, 
 a member of the Columbus and the Iroquois Clubs, and also a very 
 active participator in the literary work of the Chicago Athenaeum. 
 His travels over this continent have been of a very extensive char- 
 acter, and both in natural gifts and in acquired he is eminently 
 fitted for the high position he has gained for himself in the bar 
 and in the estimation of the people of Chicago.
 
 458 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 SENATOR JAMES WALTER DUNCAN. 
 
 James Walter Duncan was born at La Salle, Illinois, January 
 18th, 1849. His parents were Nicholas and Isabella (McBoyle) 
 Duncan, the father a native of County Mayo, Ireland, and the 
 mother of Aberdeen, Scotland, both having left their native coun- 
 tries during the year 1838 for America, where they settled first in 
 Indiana and afterwards at La Salle, Illinois. The mother was of an 
 old Scotch family from Aberdeen. 
 
 James Duncan, like many of his generation who have since made 
 themselves notable figures in the world, was compelled in his young- 
 er days to work on his father's farm and to secure what schooling- 
 was possible during the winter months, when the crops were laid 
 by. His disposition was, however, an intensely studious one, and 
 such was the fondness he showed for his books, that his father sent 
 him to the Christian Brothers College at La Salle and later to Nia- 
 gara Falls, N. Y., University. The last named, circumstances com- 
 pelled him to leave without graduating, and he located in La Salle, 
 entering the law office of E. F. Ball, Esq., who at that time stood at 
 the head of the bar in that section. He studied law until 1871, 
 and was admitted to practice. 
 
 After opening an office in La Salle, by his careful management 
 of cases entrusted to him and by absolute fidelity to his clients' in- 
 terests, he acquired a large practice which extended to Ottawa, 111. 
 In 1876, Mr. Duncan formed a partnership with Senator Andrew J. 
 O'Connor, law offices being opened at La Salle and Ottawa. The 
 firm rapidly made for itself a big reputation for professional ability 
 and successful handling of cases, with the result that a large gen- 
 eral practice was secured extending all over the above district.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 459 
 
 With the firm was associated in its Ottawa office for some time 
 Comptroller James H. Eckels. 
 
 Mr. Duncan is a firm believer in the principles, and is a follower 
 of the Democratic party and is for sound money. He has on several 
 occasions been a delegate to National Conventions, was the first 
 Democratic Senator sent from the Twenty-third Illinois District, 
 serving from 1882 to 1886, and was elected Mayor of La Salle four 
 times, from 1873 to 1879. At La Salle, besides taking a prominent 
 interest in politics, he has always been a leader in charitable work 
 and was ever among the first to contribute money as well as time to 
 any project which would result in good to the city. He was Presi- 
 dent of the Union Coal Company of La Salle and Peru. 
 
 In 1888, Senator Duncan, with Judge Hiram T. Gilbert, who had 
 held the office of County Judge of La Salle County, associated them- 
 selves together and came to Chicago, where they went into practice 
 together, a partnership which has continued up to the present time. 
 Here the same worthy methods have been pursued and the careful 
 management of cases entrusted to them, the attention to every de- 
 tail, and the remarkable success attending the work of the firm has 
 produced a large and very remunerative general practice. 
 
 Such in brief is the history of one of the self-made men of Chi- 
 cago, who by his own unaided efforts has, while yet in the prime of 
 life, achieved for himself reputation, honor and high position. As 
 a worker he is absolutely indefatigable. His perseverance and in- 
 dustry know no relaxation in energy or efforts until the case or the 
 work he has in hand is completed. A speaker of much power, his 
 style of argument is at once clear, logical and convincing; to clap- 
 trap he never resorts, believing that a plain, matter of fact manner 
 best appeals to the good sense and good judgment of his auditors. 
 
 Though the time of Senator Duncan is too heavily occupied with 
 his professional duties to permit of his being much of a club man, 
 he is a member both of the Columbus and Sheridan Clubs.
 
 460 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 He was married November 25th, 1872, to Bridget Cody, of La 
 Salle. They have a son and daughter, Edgar V., born in 1873, and 
 Isabella M., in 1875. 
 
 He is a man of broad humanity, iinimpeachable integrity and 
 very great popularity. Among his personal friends he counts men 
 of all classes and ranks. He is possessed of all those qualities and 
 characteristics which entitle him to a place among Chicago's rep- 
 resentative citizens and make him one of whom the Irishmen of 
 Chicago and throughout the United States have every reason to feel 
 proud, and upon whom esteem and honor can be most worthily be- 
 stowed. 
 
 THOMAS LAWRENCE CONWAY. 
 
 Fire Captain Thomas Lawrence Conway was born in Chicago, 
 on the north side, July 10th, 1859. He was the son of Thomas Con- 
 way, a native of Limerick, who came to America and settled in 
 Chicago some time in the "forties," while his mother was Johanna 
 (Kerwiu) Conway, from Tipperary, Ireland. 
 
 The subject of this sketch secured what little education he was 
 fortunate enough to acquire in the public schools of Chicago, being 
 compelled at the age of fourteen to go out into the world and fight 
 for himself. His first employment was that of a rope maker, and 
 later he became a printer. In the fall of 1883, however, he secured 
 an appointment as truckman in the Chicago Fire Department, his 
 first assignment being Hook and Ladder No. 1, located at Pacific 
 Avenue and Harrison Street. Here he remained a couple of years, 
 being then sent to No. 3, located at Erie and Wells Streets. With
 
 . AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 461 
 
 this company he was connected for eight years, during which time 
 lie became Lieutenant. July 1st, 1893, he was promoted to be Cap- 
 tain and was then sent to Engine No. 32, located on the Lake Front, 
 where since that time he has remained. 
 
 Captain Conway is a member of the Maccabees, and also of the 
 Firemen's Benevolent Association. In his religious views he is a 
 Roman Catholic, and is a member of the Church of the Immaculate 
 Conception. 
 
 He was married, February 4th, 1891, to Mary Ellen Walsh, of 
 Chicago, and they ha.ve two children. 
 
 Captain Conway is a main of fine appearance and of very agree- 
 able manner. In the Chicago Fire Brigade he is most highly 
 thought of, and among his hosts of personal friends no man bears 
 a higher character for great personal worth. 
 
 MICHAEL LANGAN. 
 
 This well known Detective Sergeant was born in Westport, 
 County Mayo, Ireland, August, 1842. He was the son of Patrick 
 Langan, a carpenter and a farmer, who died in Ireland in the fall 
 of 1868, and of Mary (Lavalle) Langan, one of a noted family of 
 Mayo. One of the latter's brothers had been in the government 
 employ, and retiring on a pension, was appointed postmaster of 
 Westport, a position he held for many years. Mrs. Patrick Langan 
 caine to Chicago in 1869 and resided with her son Michael until 
 1877, in which year she died. 
 
 The subject, of this sketch attended the public schools of his
 
 462 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 native town at such times as he could be spared from farming duties 
 until he was twenty years of age. In 1862 he came to America, re- 
 mained for a year in New York, and then west to Chicago, where 
 for a short time he worked for his uncle, B. Langan, the contractor. 
 Michael Langan then engaged in various occupations for two 
 and a half years, when he went into the dry goods business on his 
 own account, but. decided after eighteen months' trial that he was 
 unsuited for that kind of business, and so secured an appointment 
 on the police force, February 17th, 1869, being assigned to the old 
 Huron Street Police Station. On February 2d, 1874, he was ap- 
 pointed Desk Sergeant at the Webster Street Station, where he 
 remained one and a half years and was transferred to the Chicago 
 Avenue Station, being there for eight years. On February 2d, 
 
 * 
 
 1882, he received an assignment to the Central Station at the City 
 Hall as Desk Sergeant, a position he still most worthily fills. 
 
 This short record of his promotions and the responsible posi- 
 tion he at present holds, speaks plainly as to Sergeant Langan's 
 strict performance of every duty and of the standing he possesses 
 with his superiors. The Central Detail is the center point of the 
 whole department, and a man to fill the position must of necessity 
 be of good education, very careful in his habits, and at the same 
 time have thorough acquaintance with all the police rules and 
 regulations. Sergeant Langan has proven that he is possessed of 
 such qualifications and abilities during the twenty-seven and a 
 half years he has been on the Chicago police force, for he has never 
 lost a day, never had a complaint made against him, or in a single 
 instance been before the trial board. 
 
 He was one of ten men sent from his station at the beginning 
 of the great Chicago fire to keep order, and was on duty for several 
 days assisting people to safety. When he was relieved, hair, whis- 
 kers and eye-brows were much singed by proximity to the fire. 
 
 Sergeant Detective Langan is a member of the Police Benevo-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 463 
 
 leiit Association, of which he was a trustee from 1882 to 1885; he 
 belongs also to the Independent Order of Foresters, and in both 
 orders has been on several occasions elected to office, but has al- 
 ways declined to serve, on the plea that his duties would not permit 
 the regular attendance necessary. 
 
 He was married, June 3d, 1872, to Annie Garrity, a native of 
 his own town in Ireland, and they have had five children, of whom 
 three are living. 
 
 In religion he is a Roman Catholic and belongs to the congrega- 
 tion of the Church of the Immaculate Conception. As to his poli- 
 tics, he declares himself the servant of the people, and consequently 
 not able to pay much attention to such matters. A strict disciplin- 
 arian, a thorough performer of every duty, there are few more 
 trusted and none more highly esteemed or popular members of the 
 Chicago detective service than Mr. Michael Langan. 
 
 JAMES MCENERNY. 
 
 One of the most prominent as well as popular young Irish Amer- 
 ican lawyers in this city is the subject of the present sketch, who 
 is a man of considerable legal ability, exceptional tact, and inde- 
 fatigable energy. 
 
 James McEnerny was born May 18th, I860) at London, Madison 
 County, O. He was the son of Thomas and Ann McEnerny, his 
 father being a native of County Limerick, Ireland, born there in 
 April, 1833, and his mother from County Cork. They were married 
 in 1856, the mother having come to the United States in 1853, and 
 her husband the year following. The latter died March, 1888, leav-
 
 464 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ing three boys Thomas, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this 
 volume; James; and Honore; the eldest son, John, having died 
 in 1886 and four girls Catherine; Johanna; Michael; and Mary. 
 The father of Thomas McEtoerny, Sr., was John McEnerny, a large 
 and most successful farmer, one of the most extensive landed pro- 
 prietors and most popular men in the Parish of Fena, County Lim- 
 erick. When he died he left the family well provided for, and 
 Thomas McEnerny decided to try his fortunes in the United States. 
 
 He came to London, Ohio, in 1855, where he remained eight 
 years, and then moved to the northwestern portion of the same 
 State, near Toledo, in both places following his occupation as a 
 farmer until his death. 
 
 James McEnerny was educated in the North Western Normal 
 College at Valparaiso, Ind., whence he graduated in 1883. He then 
 at once came to Chicago, and began to study at the Union College 
 of Law, from which he graduated in 1886, and was admitted to the 
 bar. He commenced the practice of his profession with the Hon. 
 J. M. Longnecker, and at the end of his first year, in 1887, was ap- 
 pointed by the last named Assistant State's Attorney. In this 
 capacity he served for a year and a half, after which he associated 
 himself with his brother Thomas, under the law firm name of Mc- 
 Enerny Brothers. The partnership was dissolved in the spring 
 of 1893, and the subject of this sketch went into business alone un- 
 til May, 1896, when the two brothers once more decided to amalga- 
 mate and are now successfully practicing the legal profession in 
 all its branches. 
 
 Mr. McEnemy was married, June, 1890, to Miss Florence Hen- 
 nessy, the daughter of one of Chicago's most prominent citizens, 
 and one of whose sisters is married to Hon. J. F. Finerty. She is, 
 like her husband, possessed of great social qualities, and their 
 charming home is a delightful rendezvous for their multitude of 
 friends.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 465 
 
 With public enterprises Mr. McEnerny has always been in. great 
 demand. In 1886 he was Secretary of the Bazaar held in the old 
 Exposition Building on the Lake Front, for the benefit of the St. 
 Joseph's Orphan Asylum, and which was instrumental in obtain- 
 ing the funds to build that asylum. He is the representative for 
 Chicago of their International Progressive Association, and an 
 active member of the Hyde Park Lodge, Knights of Pythias, for 
 the past five years, having held the office of Prelate and Vice-Chan- 
 cellor. He was also a member, in 1887, of the OaJdands Company, 
 a city military organization. 
 
 In his religious views he is a Roman Catholic, while in politics, 
 belongs to the Independent Democrats, claiming the right to vote 
 for the man of his choice entirely irrespective of party. He was 
 honored in the election to the oflice of Keeper of Records and Seals, 
 but resigned. 
 
 With sympathies thoroughly devoted to the land of his fathers, 
 he is a true American in all his ideas and feelings, honoring its in- 
 stitutions and rejoicing in its noble freedom. Still in his early 
 manhood, he has already demonstrated the possession of such qual- 
 ities as should make for him a high place in any community. 
 
 JOHN J. MAHONEY. 
 
 John J. Mahoney was born in Chicago, November 5th, 1854. 
 His parents, Patrick and Julia (Conlin) Mahoney, came from Lim- 
 erick, Ireland, to the United States in 1849, settling first at New 
 Haven, Conn., and then after a short time moved to Chicago, where 
 
 the father died in 1864, and the mother in 1865. 
 24
 
 466 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Mr. John J. Mahoney attended the public schools of Chicago 
 until he was eleven years of age, when he began to learn the paint- 
 er's trade, at which he worked for ten years. At the end of that 
 time he was appointed foreman painter of the Cook County Hos- 
 pital and afterwards its custodian, holding the two positions fifteen 
 
 years. 
 
 In December, 1891, he obtained the important position of Cash- 
 ier of the Probate Court, which he still retains. Mr. Mahoney is of 
 an ambitious disposition, and the idea of plodding along all of his 
 life as a clerk was extremely distasteful. The educational advan- 
 tages he had received in his youth were not great, so he now de- 
 termined to attend night school. Having done this, he afterwards 
 took a course of law at the Kent Night School, from which he grad- 
 uated and was admitted to practice in 1895. All this he was able 
 to accomplish while carrying out his employment during the day. 
 
 From a mere youth, politics had always been to him a subject 
 of great interest, and also all that affected the cause of oppressed 
 Ireland. His political views were those of the Republican party. 
 
 While engaged in his trade as a painter he made himself very 
 prominent in labor circles, being at one time President of the local 
 assembly of Knights of Labor, and as a Delegate has attended all 
 of the conventions of that body held during the last five or six 
 years. Mr. J. J. Mahoney is President of the United Irish Societies 
 of Chicago, having succeeded the Hon. J. F. Finerty in that im- 
 portant office. Having served two years, in June, 1885, he was re- 
 elected. He is also prominently connected with the National 
 Union; the Catholic Benevolent Legion; Order of Red Men; and a 
 number of labor organizations, as well as the Irish Literary Club. 
 
 Mr. Mahoney is entirely a self-made man and one well worthy 
 of the respect and esteem which his fellow citizens and countrymen 
 delight to show towards him. At the outcome of his career, his sole 
 advantage was an enterprising and indomitable spirit and that
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 467 
 
 best essential of success, an independence of character no diffi- 
 culties could daunt. The reputation he has achieved and the posi- 
 tion he has gained among the American Irish of Chicago should 
 be a source of honest pride to any man. 
 
 MICHAEL GEORGE McGEE. 
 
 Living in Chicago to-day there is no young Irishman who de- 
 serves more credit for what he has accomplished by pluck, energy 
 and perseverance than does the subject of the present sketch, Mr. 
 M. G. McGee. Born in County Antrim, Ireland, Christmas Day, 
 1869, his parents were Charles and Catherine (McLaughlin) McGee. 
 The father was by occupation a farmer and one of the largest stock 
 raisers in that part of the country, being also engaged largely in 
 the teaming business and live stock shipping. He is now living 
 in Chicago; but his mother, who came of a well-to-do family from 
 the same section of Ireland, died in 1891. 
 
 Michael George McGee attended the national school of Glendon 
 until he was fifteen years of age, when with his parents he came 
 to the New World and a permanent location was made in Chicago. 
 Upon his arrival, Mr. McGee went to work in a cooper's establish- 
 ment, where he remained for two years, and then, for another 
 twelve months, was employed in a furniture factory. The latter 
 was left to accept a position as time-keeper with his brother, a large 
 contractor, who had been in Chicago for some years, and this place 
 he held for four years. 
 
 In 1886 he entered the employ of George Brown, a butcher, with
 
 468 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OP THE 
 
 the intention of learning the business; he was with him but nine 
 months when, believing he had obtained sufficient practical ex- 
 perience, he embarked in business for himself. His success has 
 been rapid and considerable, and he is now the proprietor of the 
 largest business of the kind on the north side, employing eight men 
 and with a trade of at least two thousand dollars a week. Full of 
 enterprise and anxious to improve his financial condition, he last 
 summer took up, in addition, the ice business, and of this also he 
 has made a great success. 
 
 Mr. McGee was married, December, 1895, to Miss Hetty Croke, 
 of Chicago. In religious matters he is a Roman Catholic and be- 
 longs to the congregation of the Holy Name; while of social or- 
 ganizations he is a member of the Columbus and Waubansia Clubs. 
 
 With strong leanings towards the Democratic party, Mr. McGee 
 reserves the right to vote for the best man and for what he con- 
 siders the best measures, and his ideas in this direction during 
 the last Presidential election led him to support sound money prin- 
 ciples. 
 
 JOHN NAGHTEN. 
 
 The gentleman whose name heads this sketch is one of the best 
 known Irishmen, as well as one of the most familiar figures on 
 Chicago's busy streets. He may not have earned the distinction of 
 "early settler" as Mr. Fernando Jones uses that term, but over 
 forty years in Chicago, thirty-five of which have been spent in the 
 same business of insurance, will at least entitle him to a place 
 among its representative citizens, as he assuredly is one of its vet- 
 eran insurance men.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 469 
 
 John Naghten conies of true Milesian stock, and it has been a 
 pleasing gratification to him in his antiquarian reading books 
 with old type, illuminated letterings and ancient bindings have a 
 rarely magnetic influence over him to trace back the family's for- 
 tunes and vicissitudes to the time in the fourteenth century when 
 his ancestors were among the chiefs of the County of Roscommon, 
 as Edmund Hogan, priest of the Society of Jesus, describes in the 
 description of Ireland in 1598, and also in the book, "The Tribes 
 and Customs of Hy-many," by John O'Donovan. 
 
 He was born in the Parish of Kiltoom, County of Roscommon, 
 Ireland, in 1831. His father, Michael, who married Bridget Kelly, 
 was agent in Roscommon to a number of estates. John Naghten 
 obtained his earliest education from a visiting tutor, but later he 
 attended the national schools for a short time, and was then sent 
 to an academy in Roscommon, but his schooling came to a sudden 
 stop owing to an outbreak of a violent epidemic of spotted fever 
 in the town, which was most malignant in its effects. 
 
 Fascinated by the glorious freedom of the Western world, ap- 
 pealing perhaps more forcibly to the Irishman, owing to the differ- 
 ent conditions which obtained in his native land, young Naghten 
 started alone to America in October, 1847. All he kneAV of the 
 land he was going to was as a refuge for the oppressed, and a na- 
 tion where life, liberty and a chance for happiness were open to all 
 men alike, irrespective of birth, religion or social distinctions. He 
 knew he had an uncle, John Kelly, at NeAA" Orleans by the way, 
 he is now a banker at Norfolk, Va. but to him New Orleans was 
 a very dim realization. The sea voyage in those days was a terrible 
 one, taking as many weeks as now days are consumed in the trip. 
 At last Philadelphia was reached and a situation found in a gen- 
 eral store in one of the mining districts near Reading, Pennsyl- 
 vania. In 1856 he decided to come to Chicago and soon found em- 
 ployment as clerk and book-keeper in the insurance office of W.
 
 470 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 D. Smith. For a short time he changed his occupation to act as 
 book-keeper in a wholesale commission house on South Water 
 Street, but he soon returned to the business of insurance. In May, 
 1863, with the organization of the Merchants? Insurance Company, 
 he became associated with that institution, and in 1866 was ap- 
 pointed its Assistant Secretary, a position which he held up to the 
 time of the great fire of 1871. The ravages of that terrible event 
 in Chicago's history having been partly repaired, Mr. Naghten was, 
 on the reorganization of the Traders' Insurance Company, appoint- 
 ed Assistant Secretary of the company, in which position he re- 
 mained until 1873, when a co-partnership was formed with Wil- 
 liam E. Kollo, under the title of Rollo, Naghten & Company. In 
 1877 he was appointed General Agent of the Commercial Insurance 
 Company of New York. In 1880 he associated with him his son. 
 M. J. Naghten, and his son-in-law, M. F. Scannell, founding the 
 firm John Naghten & Company, of which the subject of this sketch 
 is the senior member. 
 
 Mr. Scannell died in 1894, and John Naghten and his son now 
 carry on the business, two other sons being engaged respectively 
 as cashier and clerk. The firm of late years has given up general 
 agency business, confining itself to local work. 
 
 Mr. John Naghteii is deservedly proud of his insurance record, 
 for with a continuous experience of over thirty-eight years he 
 may well claim to be one of the oldest insurance men to-day in 
 Chicago. 
 
 He was married to Bridget Mary Byrne, daughter of Terrence. 
 Byrne, of Kilkenny, Ireland. She had come to America, in 1845, 
 to stay with an uncle who was a farmer in Pennsylvania. Eight 
 children have been born to them four sons and four daughters. 
 Of these, the sons all received their education at the Jesuit Col- 
 lege, while the daughters were sent to the Convent of the Sacred 
 Heart, for Mr. Naghten and his wife are devoted Catholics, and he
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 471 
 
 was indeed one of the earliest parishioners of the parisli of St. Jar- 
 lath, contributing liberally too to the building of that substantial 
 and handsome structure. The children are: Mary, now the wife 
 of Mr. Thomas Brenan, merchant on South Water Street, and the 
 mother of seven children; Annie, is the widow of M. F. Scaumell, 
 who was a partner in the firm of John Naghteu & Company, to them 
 were born five children ; Michael J., married to Miss Helena O'Meara, 
 of Chicago, and junior partner in the firm of John Naghten & Com- 
 pany; Katie, wife of Theodore Schnell, who is with Armour & Co., 
 at Chicago (they have five children); and John, Jr., who married 
 Mary, daughter of John Mullen, Esq., of Chicago, who died in Jan- 
 uary, 1896, leaving one son ; John Naghten, Jr., is in the gents' fur- 
 nishing and tailoring business on Dearborn Street; James resides 
 with his parents and is cashier in the office of John Naghten & 
 Company; Helen is the youngest daughter and lives at home, and 
 the youngest son, Frank, who is also engaged in the office of John 
 Naghten & Company, and is a member of the Sheridan and Colum- 
 bus dubs. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Naghten went abroad for four months, in 1880, 
 visiting the old home, in Ireland, and also traveled in Great Britain 
 and France. Though essentially a home loving man, Mr. Naghten 
 is a member of and a frequent visitor to the well known Columbus 
 Club. His passion for books has been before referred to. He is an 
 omnivorous reader, a man of splendid information, and at all times 
 a charming companion. An Irishman always, he is not an advocate 
 for extreme measures. His greatest happiness possibly is to sit 
 in his splendid library one of the finest private labraries in Chi- 
 cago and converse with some congenial companion on Irish af- 
 fairs, Ireland's wrongs, the sufferings of his countrymen, the noble 
 deeds many have achieved, and the terrible mistakes some of the 
 leaders have committed and tolerated.
 
 472 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 FRANCIS H. MORGAN. 
 
 The subject of the present sketch, a well-known and very popu- 
 lar young Irishman, was born in County Roscominon in 1866, and 
 came to this country in 1881. Of his parents, Patrick and Mary 
 (Flynu) Morgan, the father, who was a farmer, died in 1885, while 
 his mother, now well on in years, for at this writing she is seventy- 
 six years old, lives in the old home in Ireland. 
 
 Francis H. Morgan received his education in the National 
 schools of County Leitrim, from which he graduated immediately 
 preliminary to his setting out for this country. He first settled 
 in Indiana, but soon afterwards came to Chicago and learned his 
 trade as a machinist and engineer with the Illinois Steel Company. 
 That engagement he held for eight years, when he became chief 
 engineer for Kohn Bros., the wholesale clothiers, which position 
 he held until Judge Payne was elected to the bencli. The latter 
 called on Mr. Morgan to become his private deputy, and in this posi- 
 tion of responsibility he has remained for the past four years, and is 
 unquestionably as efficient and as well liked an officer as there is to- 
 day in the public service. 
 
 Mr. Morgan was married in this city in 1888, to Maria Byrne, a 
 sister of Captain Byrne, the well-known member of the Chicago 
 police force. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have an interesting young fam- 
 ily of four children, two boys and two girls, who have been named, 
 respectively, Francis, Lawrence, Margarette and Catherine. 
 
 Mr. Morgan is a Roman Catholic and a Democrat. He is a mem- 
 ber of the Seventh Regiment Illinois National Guard, as well as of 
 all the Irish organizations, in the latter having held various high 
 offices.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 475 
 
 A gentleman of charming manner, well set up, good-looking, 
 generous and free, a wonderful favorite among his business asso- 
 ciates, as well as Avith his every-day acquaintances, no better rep- 
 resentative of the Irishman can be found in the west than the young 
 scion from Connaught, Francis H. Morgan. 
 
 FRANCIS C. NEAGLE. 
 
 Francis C. Neagle, who died in Chicago, June 22nd, 1895, was 
 pre-eminently a self-made man, and one who by his many high qual- 
 ities of head and heart, had obtained, the respect and esteem not 
 only of his fellow Irishmen, but of every one with whom he was 
 brought into contact. His energy, his perseverance, and indomi- 
 table strength of character, together with an habitual frugality 
 and an unusual amount of prudent foresight and good common 
 sense, achieved for him a lasting reputation among his fellow citi- 
 zens of Chicago. As to his history, the following extract from 
 "The National Builder" well speaks: 
 
 "He was born in Ireland, and at the age of twelve was articled 
 to the carpenter's trade, in which he soon became a skilled work- 
 man. Having at twenty years of age mastered his trade, he emi- 
 grated to New York, and at once found steady employment. 
 
 In 1855 he married, and as the cry of the empire was westward, 
 he sought out new fields in Chicago. His perfect knowledge of the 
 building business was soon recognized by the leading architects 
 and contractors of Chicago, and in 1856 he was persuaded to com-
 
 476 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 mence operations for himself. Since that date Mr. Neagie has beeii 
 well and favorably known to the architect and building fraternity 
 of Chicago, and his work has extended all over the West. 
 
 Mr. Neagie was a self-made and honorable man. He battled 
 through adversity and difficulties to success and prosperity. His 
 well known honesty of purpose and rugged determination to at- 
 tain a place in his chosen profession gained him many friends, who 
 rendered him valuable assistance throughout his life. He sur- 
 mounted obstacles which to other men would have brought defeat, 
 and finally lived to become the head of an establishment the men- 
 tion of which is a guarantee of honest dealing and reliable business 
 methods. 
 
 At the time of his death Mr. Neagie was an officer of the Build- 
 ers' and Traders' Exchange of Chicago, of which association he had 
 been for several years a member. A special meeting of the Ex- 
 change was held June 24th, 1895, when suitable resolutions were 
 passed to the memory of the deceased, which were ordered spread 
 upon the minutes and a copy sent to his bereaved family." 
 
 RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 A deep sorrow has befallen the family of one of our most 
 esteemed and honored members. 
 
 Since the year 1856 to the time of his demise, Mr. F. C. Neagie 
 was actively engaged in the building business in Chicago, and the 
 honorable position which he attained is a lasting monument to his 
 energy, integrity and high order of ability. 
 
 As a member of our Exchange he was always identified with 
 those whose best efforts were put forth to build up and sustain the 
 Exchange and place it in the high position it now holds; as an 
 officer he was always faithful to every trust, and as a friend and 
 adviser was always kind and generous. 
 
 To the family of our deceased friend and member we offer our
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 477 
 
 sincere sympathy and condolence, and ask of them that in their 
 deep affliction they think only of the reward awaiting one who has 
 lived such a life as did the husband and father, whose loss you 
 mourn. 
 
 MURDOCH CAMPBELL, 
 JOHN KAWLE, 
 GEORGE TAPPER, 
 FRANK CONRICK, 
 
 Committee. 
 
 JOHN J. OWENS. 
 
 John J. Owens, the well known military and society regalia 
 supply merchant, is a native of Chicago, being born in this city, 
 April 22d, 1864. His father, Patrick Owens, was a native of County 
 Wexford, Ireland, which he left in 1853 in company with the late 
 Rev. Father Conway, who for several years was vicar general of 
 the diocese. In his native laud Mr. Owens had been a commission 
 merchant, and he followed the same business after coming to Chi- 
 cago. During the War of the Rebellion he did citizen's duty, and 
 served in the commissary department. His wife, the mother of the 
 subject of this sketch, was also a native of Ireland. 
 
 John J. Owens was educated in the parochial schools of this 
 city, leaving at the early age of eleven years to become a cash boy 
 for Field, Leiter & Co. He was a bright and industrious boy and 
 was quickly advanced to the position of salesman, remaining with 
 that firm for nine years. He then accepted a position in a boot 
 and shoe manufactory and became so thoroughly proficient in
 
 478 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 every detail of the business that after twelve months he was made 
 Assistant Superintendent, and in that business he remained for 
 six years. The trade at that time began to decline, and Mr. Owens 
 being a well known member of various societies and devoting much 
 of his time to their benefit and advancement, was called upon by 
 the largest firm in Chicago then manufacturing society regalias 
 and other necessities of that description, to take charge of the two 
 most important departments, the military and the Kornan Cath- 
 olic. In that capacity he stayed with the house for three years, 
 and then, November 1st, 1894, branched out for himself, organiz- 
 ing the now well known company of John J. Owens & Co., which 
 deals in military and society supplies of all kinds and descriptions. 
 The firm has since met with steady and indeed rapid success, and 
 is now doing business all over the United States. 
 
 For thirteen years, from 1883 to 1896, Mr. Owens served in the 
 State Militia, filling during those years several different commis- 
 sions, and at the present time he holds the highest office, Adjutant 
 General of the Uniform Rank of Catholic Order of Foresters, and 
 Colonel commanding the Department of Illinois. He is also a 
 member of the Royal League, the Columbian Knights, a charter 
 member of the Columbus Mutual Life Association, and is connect- 
 ed with many other organizations. 
 
 Mr. Owens is a Roman Catholic in his religion, although his 
 views are broad and liberal. In politics he is a Democrat. He was 
 married, in 1889, to Annie A. Kenney, of Chicago, daughter of 
 Michael Kenney, general yardmaster for Pennsylvania Railroad. 
 They have two children, both boys. 
 
 Mr. Owens has at all times taken great interest in military 
 affairs, making them in fact his chief object of study and so master- 
 ing every detail, not only from a natural taste in that direction, 
 but also that he might acquire a thorough proficiency in his busi- 
 ness. Indeed, as is evident even from this brief sketch, thorough-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 479 
 
 ness has been one of Mr. Owens' most prominent characteristics. 
 No rolling stone, he has evinced exceptional perseverance and 
 patience, as well as talent, in every position which he has been 
 called upon to take np. Outside of his business, and his interest 
 in some of the special organizations mentioned, his tastes are do- 
 mestic; he is of a modest and unassuming disposition and has 
 never aspired to public office, having a strong feeling against no- 
 toriety of any kind. 
 
 PATRICK JOHN WALL. 
 
 Patrick John Wall, the well known ex-Alderman of the Fifth 
 Ward, was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, June 18th, 1844. His 
 parents were Michael and Mary (Keating) Wall, both natives of Tip- 
 perary, where the first named was a stone mason, who, having been 
 closely associated with the Irish uprising in 1848, came to Chicago 
 in 1852. He died in this city in 1868, his wife following him in 
 1892. 
 
 Patrick John Wall received his education in the public schools 
 and later at that of the Christian Brothers, leaving the latter at 
 eighteen to go forth into the world and endeavor to make a name 
 for himself. In his first employment with the Illinois Stone Co., he 
 remained for ten years, at the end of which time he left to engage 
 in the stone contracting business on his own account. Four years 
 later he formed a partnership with Simon Coughlin, under the 
 firm name of Simon Coughlin & Co., and they engaged in the gravel 
 roof business, in which he still remains. 
 
 From his very early manhood Patrick J. Wall has taken a great 
 interest in Democratic politics, and has long been recognized as
 
 480 BIOGRAPHICAL. HISTORY OP THE 
 
 one of the leaders of his ward the Fifth. He has also been Dele- 
 gate to majiy conventions, and in April, 1891, was elected to the 
 City Council and served two terms of two years each. At the con- 
 vention held in September, 1896, he was given the nomination to 
 represent the Third Congressional District in the Board of Equali- 
 zation. 
 
 He was married to Ellen Haynes, of Chicago, April 4th, 1869, 
 and they have had ten children, of whom seven are living. 
 
 In his religious views Mr. Wall is a Roman Catholic and a reg- 
 ular attendant at All Saints' Church. 
 
 Mr. Wall is one of the best known as well as one of the most 
 highly respected citizens of this great city. No reproach has ever 
 rested on his good name; he has struggled for the interest of Chi- 
 cago and Chicagoans and unselfishly and unsparingly has taken his 
 part in its city government. He is indeed an American Irishman, 
 of whom both the land of his birth and the country of his adoption 
 have every reason to be proud. 
 
 JOHN MYERS O'HARA. 
 
 John Myers O'Hara, who is known in business life as Jno. J. 
 O'Hara^ is a young Irish American lawyer who, in addition to a 
 high place in his profession, is winning considerable renown as a 
 poet He was born March 25th, 1870, at Cedar Eapids, Iowa, his 
 parents being John and Alice (Myers) O'Hara. The father, a native 
 of Vermont, who was early engaged in railroad contracting, then 
 came west and became prominent and wealthy. For years he was
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 481 
 
 the chief railroad contractor for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 
 and Chicago & North Western Railroads, and constructed the 
 greater part of both these roads. He came of a prominent County 
 Sligo, Ireland, family, his father having arrived in the United States 
 about the year 1830, when he located in New York State and later 
 removed to Vermont. John O'Hara took part in the war, enlist- 
 ing in the 127th Wisconsin Volunteers, became a captain, and at 
 the end of two years was honorably discharged on account of sick- 
 ness. 
 
 The subject of the present sketch, John Myers O'Hara, in his 
 youth attended the public schools of his native town Cedar Rap- 
 ids, Iowa and later, in 1883, when his parents moved to Chicago, 
 he came with them and attended the Jesuit College on the west 
 side. In 1880 he entered the Northwestern University Law School, 
 graduating there with the degree of LL. B., and being admitted to 
 the bar in 1892. An office was at once opened and the practice of 
 hia chosen profession begun, with very gratifying results, for he 
 is already in possession of a very good general practice. 
 
 Although so young a man, Mr. O'Hara has obtained consider- 
 able fame as a poet, two books of his having been published, "Sou- 
 nets and other Poems," and "Twilight Songs," and both have been 
 received with great praise and many favorable press comments 
 from all sections of the country. In this latter regard may be men- 
 tioned extracts from the notices on "Twilight Songs," given in the 
 Chicago "Citizen" and the "New World." The former said: "In 
 this dainty little volume Mr. O'Hara, who is a Chicago poet, gives 
 the public the maiden efforts of his muse. Like all such efforts they 
 reveal occasional irregularities of meter and forced rhyme; but 
 'The Citizen' is glad to add that these imperfections are likely to 
 be removed, in the course of time, by the author's growing knowl- 
 edge and experience. His verses are of a finely-spun texture and 
 bespeak the scholar as well as the cosmopolitan." The "New
 
 482 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 World" speaks thus of the same book: "This is the brief title of 
 a pretty little volume sent us several weeks ago by the author, Mr. 
 John Myers O'Hara, of this city. It is a quaint as well as a pretty 
 volume, into which Mr. O'Hara has gathered many a beautiful 
 theme, beautifully rendered. Headers of the 'New World' are 
 not unfamiliar with this young poet's sonnets, and his successful 
 interpretation of magic thoughts in that most difficult form of 
 poetic speech entitles him to rank as an artist, even if no other 
 sign of his varied gifts were apparent. But in this slender volume, 
 besides the score of love sonnets and those of more worthy and 
 ambitious themes, such as 'Faith,' 'Cardinal Newman,' 'Compensa- 
 tion,' 'St. Augustine,' 'Mendelssohn's Spring Song,' and that ten- 
 der tribute, 'Ad Poetam,' there are a number of exquisite lyrics 
 that almost sing themselves. Among the latter we recognize as 
 brimful of nature's melody and moods, 'Supreme Spring,' which 
 is a succession of beautiful pictures, 'Sweetheart,' 'Eros,' 'If Love 
 were Dead,' and the strange lines, 'Disillusion,' which sadden us 
 in the ending. It is good, as he writes, 
 
 'To deem more sacred voices that have fanned 
 Labor with music, welcome after toil, 
 Breathing content beneath the cottage elm.' 
 
 But we are not content to have Mr. O'Hara one of the humbler 
 poets. Men and women still have immortal souls, and the world 
 to-day is as grand a battle-field as ever. While priest prays with 
 uplifted hands, the poet, with a song to cheer faint hearts, strikes 
 the harp whose sounds, in the pauses of the conflict, lead the val- 
 iant and loyal to victory." 
 
 Mr. O'Hara has at the present time a number of other literary 
 ventures, and if the promise of what he has already achieved is any 
 criterion, he is assured of a high place in American literary circles. 
 He has traveled much in the United States, is in his religious ideas 
 liberal, and in his political views is a staunch Silver Democrat.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 483 
 
 JOHN FRANCIS WALSH. 
 
 John Francis Walsh was born in Chicago, August 15th, 1844. 
 His parents, John R. a native of County Cork and Ellen (llenne- 
 berry) Walsh of Tipperary both came from Ireland in 1835, and 
 coining direct to Chicago, were among the old settlers of this city. 
 Mrs. Walsh died of cholera in 1849, and John R, Walsh, in 1888. 
 The subject of this sketch was educated in the public schools, grad- 
 uating from the high school of this city. Schooling over, he secured 
 a position with the Illinois Central K. R. Co., and was in their em- 
 ploy for a number of years, beginning as errand boy and advancing 
 to the post of chief clerk of the local freight office. 
 
 Having held this position for some time, and in recognition of 
 his faithful service, the local agency of the road at Ashley, Illinois, 
 was offered to him. After remaining at Ashley four years a further 
 proof of the estimation in which he was held was shown by the 
 tender to him by the company of the position of general freight 
 agent at St. Louis. In this also he remained four years, giving 
 great satisfaction and making many friends. In further proof of 
 his standing with the Illinois Central R. R. Co., after four years 
 of service at St. Louis, he was called to Chicago and given charge 
 of the transfer business of his company, a position of very great 
 responsibility. 
 
 Seventeen years of service with the Illinois Central R. R. Co. 
 being completed, in 1889, at the suggestion of many merchants 
 whose friendship he had acquired while in charge of the transfer 
 business of the railroad, he started a drayage and transfer business 
 for himself. Careful in Ms habits, conscientious in his perfonn- 
 
 25 <
 
 484 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ances, a man who makes no enemies and has never lost a friend, he 
 has been able to build up a large and lucrative business, employing 
 forty horses to conduct it, and enjoying the support of many of the 
 largest business houses of the city. 
 
 Mr. Walsh was married to Miss Mary E. Kennitt, on January 
 15th, 1870, and they have had eleven children, of whom seven are 
 living and four are dead. 
 
 He is a member of several clubs, among others The 401 Club 
 a local social organization and is also a prominent member of the 
 Catholic Benevolent Legion. In politics he is a Democrat and 
 takes great interest in the political matters of his ward, ais, it is his 
 creed, is the duty of all good citizens. 
 
 Mr. Walsh is of a very pleasing personality, genial and 
 good natured, thinking no labor too great to assist a friend or to 
 help those in need. A man of sound business principles, by his 
 own exertions and indomitable pluck he has been able to push 
 himself step by step to an honored position, high in the estimation 
 of his fellow citizens. 
 
 ANDREW JAMES O'CONNELL. 
 
 Andrew James O'Connell was born in Chicago, August 19th, 
 1869, his parents being Thomas whose biography appears else- 
 where in this work and Susan (O'Laughliu) O'Connell. Mr. O'Con- 
 nell attended the St. Pius School for two years, going thence to St. 
 Patrick's Commercial Academy. At the age of seventeen he se- 
 cured a position as profit clerk with the wholesale grocery house of 
 W. J. Quan & Co., remaining there two years and resigning to ac- 
 cept the position of Assistant Superintendent of the Chicago Union
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 485 
 
 Lime Works, with which concern he stayed four years. In 1892 
 he was made Superintendent of the Artesian Stone Works of Chi- 
 cago, purchased by his father and brothers, and by them reorgan- 
 ized in 1890. Two years later he became Vice-President and Man- 
 ager, both of which responsible positions he holds at the present 
 time. 
 
 Mr. O'Connell is a member of the Order of Knights of Columbus. 
 In his religious views he is a Roman Catholic and a member of the 
 congregation of the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows. His political 
 opinions and affiliations are those of the Democratic party. 
 
 Mr. O'Conuell was united in marriage, June 19th, 1895, to Clara 
 A. Berry, a native of Trenton, N. J., where her father is a promi- 
 nent citizen, having on six occasions been a member of the Board 
 of Aldermen. They have had one child, a boy. 
 
 A young man in years, Mr. O'Connell has already demonstrated 
 the possession of business abilities of a very high order and bears 
 a reputation for honorable conduct under all circumstances, which 
 gives him an enviable position in the social as well as the business 
 communities of this city. 
 
 JOHN W. WALSH. 
 
 John W. Walsh, another of Chicago's well-known lawyers, and 
 who though still a young man, has already gained quite an en- 
 viable position in his profession, was born in Peru, La Salle County, 
 111., June 15th, 1863. His parents, John and Catliariue Walsh, 
 were natives of different parts of Ireland, but met each other and 
 married at. La Sajle County, 111. Though possessing but small ad-
 
 486 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 vantages in the way of education, the son speaks affectionately of 
 them as possessing a natural refinement of character and disposi- 
 tion far superior to that ordinarily met with in their walk of life. 
 
 John W. Walsh was educated in the public schools of La Salle 
 County until he was fourteen years of age, when, as the eldest of 
 ten children, he had to help in the support of the others and 
 worked at all manner of occupations until the younger members 
 of the family were able to help themselves. Then, when twenty 
 veal's of age, he spent two years in the old state university, paying 
 his own way and supporting himself by teaching school. The 
 young man was always of a studious disposition and good habits, 
 and though the necessity of supporting not only himself but also 
 others from the time he was a mere boy might have made his dis- 
 position a serious one, he was of a cheerful optimistic temper and at 
 all times inclined to look on the bright side of affairs. His resources 
 being exhausted, he was forced to leave college before graduation 
 and to devote his whole time to teaching, but at the same time 
 everything possible was done by him to prepare himself for the 
 law. Three years were passed in the law office of Senator Duncan 
 in La Salle and Chicago, and in 1889, he settled in this city, just 
 three months before his admission to the bar. Since that time 
 Mr. Walsh has practiced continuously in Chicago on his own ac- 
 count, never having had any partner. Among many particular 
 cases he has been connected with might be mentioned the Clarke 
 shirt, litigation, now pending in the Supreme Court, in which case 
 Mr. Walsh has acted as chief counsel. 
 
 Mr. Walsh is a member of the Royal Arcanum, the Royal League, 
 and the Catholic Benevolent Legion, being in the latter association 
 a member of the Supreme Council and representing the State of 
 Illinois in the meeting of that body annually in New York. In 
 his political views he is an old line Democrat, a believer in free 
 trade and a firm advocate of sound money.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 487 
 
 August 18th, 1890, Mr. Walsh married Miss Julia O'Neill of Chi- 
 cago, and they have two children, a boy and a girl. He is of 
 domestic tastes and disposition and retains those studious habits 
 which were so manifest in his boyhood united with .a perseverance 
 and energy which have enabled him to overcome so many obstacles 
 in the past and to look forward cheerfully and hopefully to the 
 future. 
 
 DR. P. H. WELCH. 
 
 Dr. P. H. Welch, the well-known and popular young dentist, 
 was born in Wanpun, Wis., July 22d, 1867. His father, Martin 
 Thomas, as also his mother, Mary Hinnigan Welch, were natives 
 of County Sligo, Ireland; they came to this country in the early 
 thirties, settled in New York State, were married at Sing Sing, and 
 came west about 1857. 
 
 The subject of this sketch received a public school education, 
 and afterwards entered the Chicago College of Dental Surgery, re- 
 ceiving his degree at Lake Forest University. His parents dying 
 when he was quite young, he came to Chicago at fourteen years of 
 age, and played basebaJl professionally in order to obtain the means 
 to enter college, his baseball engagements occupying him during 
 the summer months and the winter being devoted to his studies. 
 Even in the summer, however, he managed to find some time for 
 keeping up and gaining knowledge. 
 
 In his profession as a dentist, Dr. Welch started some seven 
 years ago, and like most men who have adopted professions, 
 whether in law, medicine or dentistry, he found it a pretty hard
 
 488 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OF THE 
 
 struggle for several years, but patience and perseverance combined 
 with ability overcame all difficulties and to-day, for so young a 
 man, Dr. Welch has a large and remunerative practice. 
 
 ITe is a member of the Sheridan and Columbus Clubs, of the 
 Royal Arcanum and Knights of Columbus, also of the Desota Club, 
 of the Catholic Benevolent Legion and the Odentographic and Chi- 
 cago Dental Societies. He has traveled extensively over the United 
 States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and for one so young in 
 years is a man of ripe information and much knowledge. 
 
 Dr. Welch is a Roman Catholic in his religious views, and in 
 his political opinions is independent. He married November llth, 
 1896, Irene Cooke, daughter of John S. Cooke of this city. Still 
 fond of athletics and open air sports, his time to indulge in such 
 recreations is now limited. Dr. Welch is a man of pleasing person 
 and manners, and possesses a certain curtness which evidences that 
 energy and decision of character so strongly developed in his career. 
 
 Thomas Martin AVelch, a younger brother, is following the same 
 profession in Wanpun, Wis., and has one of the largest practices 
 in his state. 
 
 JAMES MCGARRY. 
 
 James McGarry was born October 15th, 1859, in County An- 
 trim, in the north of Ireland, and is the son of Alexander and Ann 
 (McGarry) McGarry. 
 
 Educated in the parish schools of his native place, he left, at the 
 age of eighteen, and in 1881 came to the United States and on to 
 Chicago, where an uncle, D. M. McGarry, was engaged in the team-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 489 
 
 ing business. With the latter James McGarry worked for eight 
 years, at the eud of which time he thought lie was fully competent 
 to start business on his own account. The result has fully justified 
 his determination, for good success has followed his efforts. 
 
 He was married, May 16th, 1895, to Ann Custly, a native of his 
 own county in Ireland. Mr. McGarry is a Roman Catholic and a 
 regular attendant of St. John's Church. He is a member of the 
 Catholic Order of Foresters, as well as of a number of Irish societies, 
 and in politics is a strong advocate of the principles advanced by 
 Mr. William J. Bryan. 
 
 JAMES JOSEPH WALSH. 
 
 Captain James Joseph Walsh was born April 20th, 1834, in Wex- 
 ford, Ireland, where his father, Lawrence Walsh, was a farmer. 
 He had married Anne Ryan, who died in 1873. Lawrence Walsh 
 left the old laud for Chicago in 1848 and took up the business of 
 teaming and contracting until his death in 1877. His sou, the 
 subject of this sketch, attended the public schools of his native 
 town until he was fourteen years of age, when he began to learn the 
 moulder's trade, and in 1848, with his parents he came to Chicago. 
 It was in September, 1859, that he became regularly attached to 
 the Fire Department of Chicago, although he had been a member 
 of the old volunteer fire department for some time before. His 
 first assignment was as a pipeman to Engine No. 2, known as the 
 Enterprise, and located at State and Harrison Streets. The spring 
 following, his former experience in the service was found of such 1 
 benefit that he was appointed captain of the company. On June 
 16th, 1872, he was transferred to Engine No. 11 on the North Side,
 
 490 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the following December to No. 22, in March of 1873 he was sent 
 to the West Side to organize No. 20, and remained there until April, 
 1874, when he was sent to Engine No. 9. August, 1880, he was ap- 
 pointed to No. 22, located on Webster Avenue near Larrabee 
 Street, and there he has remained ever since. 
 
 He was married to Kate Connelly of Chicago in 1885, and they 
 have had seven children, but of these only two are living. 
 
 One of the veterans of the department, for not above twenty of 
 the men who formed the service when he joined still remain in it, 
 Captain James Joseph Walsh is a man of very agreeable manner, 
 always pleasant and courteous. A strict disciplinarian, he is 
 absolutely faithful to every duty of his position, and there is no 
 man in the Chicago fire service who is more highly considered. 
 
 DENNIS W. SULLIVAN. 
 
 Dennis W. Sullivan, who, as well as being an active man of 
 affairs, ranks among the leaders of the Chicago bar, was born in 
 this city October 12th, 1864. Of his parents, Patrick D. and Anne 
 (Taylor) Sullivan, the former was for thirty years inspector of 
 private drains for the City of Chicago. 
 
 Dennis W. Sullivan was educated in the public schools of Chi- 
 cago and in the Chicago College of Law 7 , graduating from the first 
 in 1879, and from the latter in 1891. From quite an early age he 
 had an inclination for the legal profession, even in his school days 
 receiving his employment during vacations from Attorneys Joseph 
 Wright and Jesse O. Norton, the latter of whom was at one time 
 corporation counsel of Chicago. His regular business life was
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 493 
 
 commenced iu the employ of the Joseph H. Brown Iron & Steel 
 Company, in the rolling mill located at South Chicago, with which 
 firm, and its successor the Calumet Iron & Steel Company he 
 remained for twelve years, starting in as errand boy and advanc- 
 ing through various positions of trust and responsibility until in 
 1890 he became secretary and treasurer of the company. The late 
 General Joseph T. Torrence was at the time vice president and 
 general manager of the Joseph II. Brown Iron & Steel Company, 
 and while he occupied that position Mr. Sullivan was his confi- 
 dential man. Afterwards, during the administrations of Jacob J. 
 Kern and Charles S. Deneen, he was Assistant State's Attorney, 
 and his active mind and considerable legal abilities proved of the 
 greatest service to the public. 
 
 Mr. Sullivan was prominently associated with the formation 
 of several important organizations, among which may be men- 
 tioned the South Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad Company, 
 the Calumet Terminal Railroad Company, the Elevated Terminal 
 Railroad Company, the Belt Limestone Company and the Metro- 
 politan Gas Company. 
 
 In his religious affiliations Mr. Sullivan is a Roman Catholic, 
 and in his politics is a democrat. He was married June 30th, 
 1891, to Mary E. Mason, daughter of the late John Mason, during 
 the 70's and 80's one of Chicago's most prominent practicing at- 
 torneys. Two children are the result of this union, a boy of now 
 three years old and a girl of one year. 
 
 As may be gathered from this brief sketch and the important 
 positions he has been selected to fill, Mr. Sullivan is a man not only 
 of a high order of talent, but also of great energy and persever- 
 ance, while in his disposition he is warm and kindly and his man- 
 ner never wanting in courtesy, characteristics which make easily 
 understood the estimation in which he is held not only by his pro- 
 fessional associates, but also by his host of personal friends.
 
 494 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 JAMES REILLY WARD. 
 
 The career of James Ueilly Ward well illustrates what may be 
 accomplished by the following out of an honorable purpose with 
 firm determination and manly self-reliance. His only resource 
 when he began active life was natural ability, but he possessed 
 immense will power, and was enabled to make the most of every op- 
 portunity tli at arose. His home training had been an admirable 
 one, and very early in life, he learned the value of self-help, and the 
 virtues of industry, frugality, and fidelity. He set himself a high 
 ideal, and in a practical, common-sense way, has directed his every 
 effort towards its attainment, with the result that now in the 
 strength and vigor of manhood he has achieved a most gratifying 
 success in his profession and is universally honored and respected. 
 
 James Keilly Ward was born on his father's farm, northwest of 
 Alton, 111., 011 May 7th, 1851. His father was McKinley Ward, a 
 Virginian, born in 1818, while his grandfather was William Mc- 
 Ward, well known and prominent in the community. He had mar- 
 ried a lady named McNamara, who was born in the same county 
 as himself, near Cashel, Tipperary, Ireland. When they came to 
 this country, about 1812, they left two sons, John and William, 
 in the old land, and there they lived, married, and reared families. 
 The mother of the subject of this sketch, Eliza Ann Jones, was 
 born in 1823, in Kentucky, and was the daughter of Edward Jones, 
 who was from Thurles, County Tipperary. Edward Jones is 
 thought to have come to this country and located in Kentucky in 
 1819, where both his parents died when he was still very young. 
 
 James Keilly Ward, after attending for a time the public schools 
 of his native town, entered the college at Jacksonville, 111., where,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 495 
 
 having completed the classical course of studies prescribed by that 
 institution, he graduated in 1873. Deciding to take up the legal 
 profession, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar by the 
 Supreme Court of Missouri, at St, Louis, on May 21st, 1874; by the 
 Supreme Court of Illinois, at Mount Vemon, June 23d, 1874, and 
 by the Supreme Court of the United States at the October term, 
 1890. He began to practice his profession at Carrolton, Greene 
 County, 111., September 23d, 1874, and hist abilities and industry 
 from the very beginning brought him success, so much so, that no 
 lawyer who ever practiced in that section of the country was able 
 in so short a time to command so lucrative a practice. In 1876, 
 he was elected state's attorney for Greene County, 111., and served 
 to the end of the term, and was also for a period of seven or eight 
 years city attorney for the City of Carrolton. 
 
 Mr. Ward removed to Chicago, July 14th, 1893, and quickly made 
 himself known as a thoroughly conscientious lawyer, who would 
 not advise a client to commence proceedings merely for the pur- 
 pose of promoting litigation and securing a fee, but would tell him 
 it was useless to expect a victory and therefore wisdom not to court 
 defeat. Ever studious, industrious, conscientious, and alive to the 
 interests of all his clients, thorough in the preparation, and com- 
 plete in the presentation of all his cases, fair minded and hon- 
 orable in his methods of trial, he early became recognized in his 
 professional life in this city, as a most capable and successful prac- 
 titioner, a safe counselor, and a lawyer thoroughly equipped in 
 every department of his profession. 
 
 Mr. Ward has a very large and valuable law library, but the 
 book he most highly prizes is the dictionary he purchased years 
 ago obtained by hard working in very hot weather in a harvest 
 field binding wheat for $2.50 per day. 
 
 In politics he i's and always has been a member of the Democratic 
 party, while in religious views he is a Roman Catholic, having
 
 196 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 been brought up in the Alton parish, to which congregation his 
 mother was a member up to the time of her death in 1869. 
 
 Mr. Ward was married in 1880 to Miss Laura B.Cornett and they 
 have had two children, Nellie Simms, fifteen years, and Ina Bea, 
 thirteen years of age. 
 
 In personal appearance Mr. Ward is a man of fine proportions, 
 with a fine head, clear cut features, broad chest, and evidently 
 robust constitution, all plainly evincing a large reserve fund both of 
 physical and mental power. 
 
 He resides on Diversey Boulevard in a splendid home, where, 
 surrounded by every luxury a good income can command and a 
 refined nature can seek, with a host of admiring friends, to whom 
 it is his delight to show hospitality, Mr. Ward spends his well- 
 earned leisure. 
 
 ANDREW ROHAN. 
 
 Andrew Rohan, the popular detective sergeant of the Chicago 
 police force, or as he is known to everybody in Chicago "Andy 
 Rohan," was born in Galway, Ireland, July 4th, 1847, his parents 
 being Patrick and Elizabeth (Joyce) Rohan. The former was a 
 farmer, who coming to America in 1848, settled in the State of 
 Illinois, moved later to Cincinnati, and died there in 1850. The 
 mother of the subject of this sketch was the daughter of Timothy 
 Joyce, of donnish parish, on the banks of the Shannon River, 
 County Galway, and one of the leading citizens of that section of 
 the country. She died in 1892. 
 
 The only education received by Andrew Rohan was in the na-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 497 
 
 tional schools iii Ireland, which he attended until he was ten years 
 of age, when he was obliged to go to work on the farm. When 
 fourteen he came to America with his mother, and joined his uncle, 
 William, who had left Ireland some three years previously with 
 his brother, the father of the subject of this sketch, and settled on 
 a section of land in La Salle County, 111. The latter is still living 
 on this land, and at the age of seventy-six years, is enjoying the 
 fruits of an industrious and well spent life in a hale and hearty 
 old age. On this farm Andrew Rohan worked until 1866, when, 
 having great faith in the possibilities of a large city for men of 
 energy and character, he came to Chicago. Employment was 
 quickly secured in the grain elevator of J. and E. Buckingham, and 
 with this firm he remained until 1873. On March 27th, of the year 
 following, he received an appointment on the Chicago police force, 
 being detailed to the Deering Street Station, known at that time 
 as Bridgeport, and one of the worst sections of the city, as there 
 was neither gas nor other illumination west of Halsted Street. 
 Here he remained until November 8th, 1874, when he was trans- 
 ferred to the East Chicago Avenue Station, and did duty as a patrol- 
 man until November 18th, 1882, when his ability as a police officer 
 obtained notice from his superior officers and he was made a de- 
 tective sergeant and sent to police headquarters, where he has since 
 that time continuously served and to the entire satisfaction of the 
 police department as well as the great good of the public. 
 
 Among the many important arrests Sergeant Rohan has made 
 since his connection with the detective detail, some few may be 
 recalled. In 1883, with the assistance of Detective Meyer, he ar- 
 rested Luke Phipps, who had while under sentence of death escaped 
 from the Windsor (Canada) jail. The man was sent back to 
 Canada and hanged inside of four weeks. The noted burglar, 
 James Tracey, for the murder of Policeman John Heibner, whom he 
 shot when the officer sought to arrest him on a charge of burglary,
 
 498 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 and who was tried and afterwards hanged on September 15th, 1881. 
 Another of his arrests was Charles Mitchell, colored, wanted in 
 Indianapolis on a charge of murder, and who was taken back and 
 siiffered the full penalty of his crime. Two of the three Italians 
 who murdered a man and shipped the body to Pittsburg, Pa., in 
 1886, also came under his care; and Detective Mike Whealen and 
 himself having made aoi arrest of a gang of seven on the corner of 
 La Salle and Ohio when in the act of robbing the cashier of a broom 
 factory, those composing it were identified later as the men who a 
 short time before at Niles Center, 111., had taken an Englishman 
 from bed and after beating him nearly to death had robbed him of 
 four thousand dollars in gold. They all received their deserts in 
 long terms of imprisonment. 
 
 Sergeant Rohan was also prominent in bringing the leaders of the 
 Haymarket riots to justice, assisting on the morning following that 
 event in arresting Fisher and Spies at 107 Fifth Avenue. For a 
 long time since he has been considered one of the star detectives of 
 the force, and when an important case conies up, requiring a cool 
 head and ready judgment, he is always among the first to be sent 
 for, and nearly all of the leading cities of the United States have 
 been visited by him on business connected with his work. 
 
 For faces, his memory is a really wonderful one, as is also his 
 general knowledge of criminals, which has been acquired in twenty- 
 three years' service on the police force, and has caused him to be de- 
 tailed to represent the Bureau of Identification for the last seven 
 years at the Criminal Court building. His knowledge is there at 
 the disposal of the grand jury, and he carefully watches all men 
 on trial and details their records. As a result, during the past six 
 years, he has, by watching the trials, been the means of sending 
 four men to the penitentiary for life, twelve for twenty years, nine 
 for fifteen, four for fourteen, fourteen for ten, and ten for five years, 
 all under the habitual criminal act.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 499 
 
 Mr. Rohan was married to Lizzie Dowling of County Carlow, 
 Ireland, October 4th, 1871, and they have had and carefully brought 
 up with every 'educational advantage, three boys, of whom the 
 eldest, Andrew John, has lately been appointed on the police force, 
 and one daughter. 
 
 In his religious views a Roman Catholic and a member of the con- 
 gregation of St. Vincent's Church, this good-natured and good- 
 hearted Irish detective has succeeded in making a host of friends, 
 by aJl of whom he is held in the highest respect and esteem. 
 
 He was for seven years a trustee of the Policemen's Benevolent 
 Society. 
 
 This sketch is necessarily brief, but will give some idea of the 
 experiences of his twenty-three years of service, during all of 
 which time Mr. Rohan has never received a reprimand, and also 
 proudly claims, has neither sought nor received a favor due to po- 
 litical influence. 
 
 MICHAEL NOON. 
 
 Michael Noon, lieutenant in the Chicago Fire Department, was 
 born March 2d, 1863, in County Roscommon, Ireland, of which his 
 parents, Luke and Kate (Kenny) Noon, were old time residents and 
 where they both died. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was educated in the public schools of 
 his native town, and Ms studies completed, went to work at farming. 
 He came to the United States when he was seventeen years of age, 
 settling first at Philadelphia. Later he moved to Cincinnati, where 
 he remained two years and has two sisters married and still resid- 
 ing there, and then on to Chicago in 1879. Seven years later he
 
 500 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 was appointed a member of tlie Chicago Fire Department, and was 
 promoted to lieutenant in 1890. 
 
 Mr. Noon was married in Chicago, 1892, to Mary Emily O'Toole, a 
 young lady of Irish descent. He is a member of the Odd Fellows 
 and the Ancient Order of United Workmen; a Roman Catholic by 
 religion, and a Democrat in his politics. He is a young man of 
 energy and ambition, and having already made many friends for 
 himself in the department, should be able to look forward to a 
 good career in the fire department. 
 
 BENJAMIN F. O'CONNOR. 
 
 This well-known member of the Chicago Fire Department was 
 born in this city on New Year's Day, 1859. He is the son of James 
 and Mary (Kelley) O'Connor, both of whom came from their native 
 land Ireland about 1838. James O'Connor, who was a shoe- 
 maker by trade, found employment on the city police force, of 
 which he is now one of the oldest surviving members, and after- 
 wards went into business for himself. 
 
 Benjamin F. O'Connor found his education in the Kinzie public- 
 school, supplementing later by private studies. Among his youth- 
 ful acquaintances he numbered the notorious Guiteau, the mur- 
 derer of President Garfield. 
 
 Having run away from home, he found work selling papers and 
 doing odd jobs until 1873, when he was given work by State's At- 
 torney Charles H. Reed, and remained with him in the position of 
 office boy and doing clerical work for over eight years. He then 
 went into the teaming business, in which he remained until 1883,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 501 
 
 when he received an appointment on the fire department In 1887 
 he was promoted to lieutenant, and in 1891 became captain of the 
 Second Battalion, where he still remains. 
 
 Mr. O'Connor was married in Chicago, September 26th, 1882, to 
 .Mary Brady. Four children James F., Benjamin, Martha, and 
 Mary E. are the result of the union. 
 
 In religion he is a Roman Catholic, and in his political views an 
 independent Democrat, strongly favoring the doctrine of free silver. 
 He is a member of the Catholic Independent Order of Foresters, 
 and was formerly connected with the Second Regiment, and during 
 the first Chicago strike, took an active part in the defense of law 
 and order. 
 
 His attention to duty and his always courteous manner have 
 made for Benjamin F. O'Connor a host of friends, who esteem him 
 as an American and honor him as a representative of the Irish race 
 in the West. 
 
 JOHN J. COOGAN. 
 
 John J. Coogan, who was born in Chicago, June 8th, 18G8, is an- 
 other of the young brigade of American Irish. His parents, John 
 and Theresa Coogan, were both natives of County Sligo, Ireland, 
 where his father was by occupation a general mason and con- 
 tractor. He died September 12th, 1882, but the mother of our sub- 
 ject is still living with her son in this city. 
 
 Having received an ordinary education in St. James School, Mr. 
 Coogan took a commercial course for two years in the Athenaeum 
 Business College. He then engaged in the butcher trade for seven 
 
 26
 
 502 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 years, giving this up in 1889 on receiving Ms appointment to the 
 Chicago Fire Department, where he still remains as a valued and 
 respected member. 
 
 Mr. Coogan, who is a Roman Catholic by religion and an un- 
 flinching Democrat in his politics, is a member of several societies, 
 among which may be mentioned the Order of Foresters, the Macca- 
 bees and the Firemen's Benevolent Association. 
 
 JOHN JOSEPH MAHONEY. 
 
 Lieutenant John Joseph Mahoney, of the Chicago police force, 
 was born October 16th, 1859, at Buffalo, N. Y. His parents, Tim- 
 othy and Annie (Shannon) Mahoney, were both natives of County 
 Clare, Ireland. Timothy Mahoney was a sailor, who, after follow- 
 ing a seafaring life for many years, came to America in 1835 and 
 sailed on the lakes, maMng Buffalo his home, but later locating at 
 Chicago, lie is living, but his wife, the mother of the subject of 
 this sketch, died in 1891. 
 
 John Joseph Malioney was but a year old when his parents 
 moved to Chicago, and he grew up near to the place to which he is 
 now attached and which is such a terror to evil doers, the Maxwell 
 Street Police Station. Having attended the parochial schools, he 
 was later at the Chicago public schools, which he left at the age of 
 eighteen a,nd started to make his way in the world. 
 
 His first employment was as an errand boy in a printing office, 
 going from there to the Chicago & Fort Wayne Railroad freight 
 office as clerk. Afterwards, under Sheriff Hanchett, he held the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 503 
 
 position of watchman at the County Jail for three years, and on 
 June 4th, 1887, was appointed on the Chicago police force with 
 orders to report the following day to Battery D. Here he was re- 
 ceived by Inspector Bonfield, who, after a short questioning, or- 
 dered him to do duty at the City Hall as a Central Station detec- 
 tive. This was a mark of high honor, for in the force to be a central 
 detective is considered promotion, and to be secured after years of 
 service. 
 
 Twelve months later he was sent to the West Twelfth Street 
 Station as Desk Sergeant under Captain Simon O'Donnell, and 
 remained there two years, being then transferred as Desk Sergeant 
 to the Canalport Avenue Station, a position he held until January 
 3d, 1891, when Mayor Washburne appointed him a Lieutenant and 
 transferred him to the Maxwell Street Station. 
 
 As the district over which the latter has control is one of the 
 worst portions in the City of Chicago, the fact that Lieutenant Ma- 
 honey has remained there for over five years, speaks well, both for 
 his efficiency as an officer and for his record in the service. Several 
 times he has distinguished himself as the Police Department rec- 
 ords show in the line of duty, and an instance in the summer of 
 1896 will bear recording, for there Lieutenant Mahoney had a very 
 narrow escape for his life. 
 
 He and two officers in his command set out in pursuit of a negro 
 who had murdered an Italian. The officers forced another colored 
 man to accompany them and point out the murderer. The crim- 
 inal at last discovered, close to his usual haunts, at once opened 
 fire at close range on the Lieutenant and one of the officers, who 
 returned the tire. Under cover of the smoke which resulted he 
 escaped into a house hard by, where he was finally captured and is 
 now expiating his offense in State prison. 
 
 Lieutenant Mahoney was married, January 9th, 1892, to Miss 
 Susie Wilier, a native of Calhoun County, 111. In religion he is a
 
 504 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 Roman Catholic and a regular attendant of the Twelfth Street 
 Jesuit Church. 
 
 A gentleman of fine appearance and most pleasant manner and 
 always the utmost courtesy, he is a credit to the police force, which 
 contains no more valued or trusted officer, and in the career he has 
 chosen he is well justified in aspiring to any position. 
 
 JOHN KENNEDY SULLIVAN. 
 
 John Kennedy Sullivan is a Chicagoan, for he was born Janu- 
 ary 22nd, 1856, on the west side, on the spot where the Chicago, 
 Milwaukee & St. Paul Depot now stands. His father was Timothy 
 Sullivan, a native of County Cork, Ireland, and his mother, Ann 
 (Kennedy) Sullivan, from Tipperary. Timothy Sullivan left Ireland 
 in 1838, and after working on the Wellington Canal, in Canada, 
 twelve months, came to Chicago, where he located permanently 
 until his death in 1893, while Mrs. Sullivan came to the United 
 States in 1848, and is still living. 
 
 The subject of this sketch received what little education he was 
 privileged to obtain at the Jesuits' School, and at the public schools 
 of the city, but was compelled, at the early age of twelve, to find 
 employment in order to help his parents in the support of the fam- 
 ily. He was fortunate in securing work in a box factory, where 
 he remained eight years. 
 
 In 1873 he took a position with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. 
 Paul I{. R. Co. as brakeman, and kept that employ until 1876, when 
 he went to work in the same capacity for the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 505 
 
 & Chicago K. B. Co. until 1882, wheii he returned to his old occu- 
 pation in the box factory. 
 
 Having secured a position with the Chicago Fire Department as 
 substitute, he was assigned to Hook and Ladder Co. No. 5, and in 
 February, 1882, was promoted to the position of Lieutenant, and 
 sent to Hook and Ladder No. 12, December, 1887, remaining there 
 until December, 1892, when he was transferred to Engine No. 5, 
 as Captain. At the latter he remained for two years, when, his 
 health failing, as a mark of the esteem in which he was held by 
 Chief Swenie, he was transferred to Engine No. 77, located at 
 Fortieth Court, on the extreme west side. 
 
 On May Gth, 1880, he was married to Mary L. Corbet, a native 
 of Troy, N. Y., and they ha.ve had seven children, of whom five are 
 living. 
 
 Captain Sullivan is a Roman Catholic. He is a prominent mem- 
 ber of the Society of Maccabees, and also of the Firemen's Benevo- 
 lent Association. His kindly manner and genial courtesy, as well 
 a.s esteem for his earnest performance of every duty, have brought 
 him hosts of friends. 
 
 JOHN HANNAN. 
 
 John Haniiau, Chief of the Sixteenth Battalion of the Chicago 
 Fire Department, was born in the Province of Minister, Ireland, 
 April 8th, 1846. His father, Michael Hanuan, who by profession 
 was a civil engineer, stood very high in the community in which 
 he lived, not only for the professional ]>osition he had attained, but 
 for many sterling personal qualities. He was a man of splendid 
 education and his reputation secured him several offers of good
 
 506 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 positions abroad, but feeling unable to separate himself for any ex- 
 tended period from the family growing up around him, he never 
 left Ireland. There he died, in 1855, his wife, formerly Bridget 
 Maloue, following him in February, 1880. 
 
 John Hannan received his education in the parochial schools 
 of his native town, going later for a short time to a boarding school 
 in Dublin. On being visited by an uncle he became homesick 
 and took an early opportunity to run away from school and 
 return to his father's home. He was fifteen years old when, in 
 1861, his father having died, the widow concluded to move to Amer- 
 ica with the family. A location was found in Quebec, but there 
 they only remained for a short time, and then with the family a 
 move was made to Chicago. 
 
 For some time John Hannan worked at whatever he could find 
 until, in 1865, he saw an opportunity and went into the grain and 
 coal business, and in this continued Tintil in 1872, when it was 
 given up, owing to a disagreement Avith his partner. On October 
 2nd, 1873, he secured an appointment on the Chicago Fire Depart- 
 ment with an assignment as pipeman to Engine No. 13. Having 
 served for six years he resigned and went to Denver, Colorado, 
 where he found employment for about a year as foreman for the 
 Denver Gas Co. He gave up this position and returned to Chicago, 
 engaging for six months as a burner for Cribbeu, Sexton & Co. 
 
 In 1881 he was reappointed on the Chicago Fire Department 
 and was sent to Engine No. 32 as pipeman, twelve months later 
 being promoted to the position of Lieutenant of the same company, 
 and at the end of two years became its Captain. During the next 
 twelve years he served as Captain of Engines Nos. 13, 9, and 11, and 
 on July 1st, 1896, he was given his present position as Chief of the 
 Sixteenth Battalion with headquarters at 4600 Cottage Grove Ave- 
 nue, a district comprising the territory from Thirty-fifth Street 
 south to Fifty-ninth Street, and from State Street to the lake.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 507 
 
 Chief Hannaii is in religion a Itoiuan Catholic and a regular at- 
 tendant of St. Thomas' Church. On August 8th, 1879, he was inar-- 
 ried to Sarah Frances Mclntyre, of Kenosha, Wis., and they have 
 had seven children, of whom four are living. 
 
 A man of sterling character, a strict disciplinarian, but never 
 wanting in kindliness, Chief John Hannan is one who does honor 
 to the land of his birth as well as the country in which he has made 
 his permanent home. 
 
 MICHAEL SULLIVAN. 
 
 Fire Captain Michael Sullivan was born in Castle Mahan, New 
 Castle West, Limerick, Ireland, December 20th, 1858. He is the son 
 of Patrick, a farmer, and Elizabeth (Herold) Sullivan. His educa- 
 tion Avas received in the national schools of his native town, which 
 he left at the age of fifteen to help his father on the farm. In 1878, 
 hoping to better his condition, he came to America, where he set- 
 tled first at Pine Brook, N. J., remaining there two years and a 
 half. In 1881 he moved to Chicago, securing employment as a street 
 car driver, and in this he continued for five years. 
 
 In June, 1886, he obtained an appointment on the Fire Depart- 
 ment as truckman, and was sent to Truck No. 1, located at Pacific 
 Avenue and Harrison Street. He was there two years and nine 
 months, then being transferred to Truck No. 5, on West Twelfth 
 Street, where he remained until 1889, when he was promoted to a 
 lieutenancy and sent to Engine No. 25, located at Canalport Avenue 
 and Union. At the latter he remained fourteen months, and was 
 transferred to No. 7, on Blue Island Avenue. In January, 1893,
 
 508 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 lie was made a captain with assignment to Engine No. 17, at 80 
 West Lake Street. Here he remained two years, then being sent 
 to Engine No. 34, at Curtis and Randolph Streets, for thirteen 
 months, and afterwards transferred to No. 44, where he still re- 
 mains. 
 
 Captain Sullivan is a Roman Catholic and is a member of the 
 Royal League and the Firemen's Benevolent Association. He was 
 married, September 3d, 1890, to Margaret Morrisy, and they have 
 had five children, of whom three are living. 
 
 His quick promotion in the fire service and the high character 
 he bears among his superior officers for strict and ready perform- 
 ance of all duties, speak in no uncertain terms as to Capt. Sullivan's 
 special capabilities. By his courteous treatment of everyone he 
 has made for himself a host of friends who know no words of praise 
 too high for generous Michael Sullivan. 
 
 SIMON O'DONNELL 
 
 Simon O'Donnell, the well-known live stock commission mer- 
 chant and representative of that prominent and highly-esteemed 
 citizen of Chicago, Samuel W. Allerton, is a native of Ireland and 
 was born in County Waterford November 14, 1847. His father, 
 John O'Donnell, by occupation a farmer, was born .in the same 
 county,' as was also his mother, Katharine (Mansfield) O'Donnell. 
 They came to this country when the subject of this sketch was only 
 two years old, and the boy received his primary education in the 
 public schools of New York. In 1860 he came to Illinois with B. F.
 

 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 611 
 
 Harris, of Champaign, banker and cattle dealer, a ml finished his 
 education in the district schools at Fannington, Illinois. 
 
 At the early age of fifteen he came to Chicago and started work 
 in the cattle business at the old Fort Wayne yards, Chicago, when 
 oiily seventeen having full charge of shipping the government cat- 
 tle for Fawcett & Bankard, a position of responsibility, requiring 
 not alone energy, but also good executive ability. He went to the 
 Union Stock Yards, Chicago, in 1865 and in 18(56 to Commuuipaw, 
 New Jersey, to take charge of yards that were built there by a num- 
 ber of Chicago capitalists, among whom was Samuel W. Allertou. 
 Mr. O'Doimell worked more especially for Mr. Allertou selling cat- 
 tle in the New York market and generally assisting in his export 
 business until 1880. During this time, on March 4, in the year 
 1870, the young man went to Europe with the first beef shipped 
 from this country by Samuel W. Allerton and D. H. Sherman, of 
 New York. In 1881 he came back to Chicago Stock Yards, and 
 since that time has had entire charge of Mr. Allerton's live stock 
 business, amounting to over a million dollars a year. In the buy- 
 ing of cattle, the shipping to Europe, in fact everything relating to 
 live stock, Mr. O'Douuell has acquired such a thorough proficiency 
 that he is considered an expert, and his opinion eagerly sought and 
 correspondingly valued. 
 
 Apart from his amazing activity and the responsibility of his 
 duties in the special line we have mentioned, he is at the same time 
 general agent for the Keystone Live Stock Car Company, which is 
 unrated over the Pennsylvania lines, and his work is as greatly 
 appreciated in that connection as in any other in which he has 
 engaged. 
 
 In his religious views Mr. O'Doimell is a Roman Catholic, and 
 in his political opinion a warm Republican and protectionist, lie 
 is a member of the Sheridan (Tub and also of the Royal Arcanum. 
 
 lie was married in 1867 to Margaret Pearson, of New Jersey,
 
 512 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OF THE 
 
 and they have had three children, two girls and a boy. One of his 
 daughters is married to Mr. W. E. Dee, of Chicago, a contractor, 
 and his son assists his father at the stock yards, and, whether in- 
 herited or acquired, has already evinced considerable aptitude and 
 ability in the business. 
 
 Mr. O'Donnell is a man of fine constitution and physique, in- 
 deed had he not been the possessor of a sound body as well as 
 sound mind, it would unquestionably have been impossible for him 
 to accomplish all that he has succeeded in doing. Thoroughly do- 
 mestic in his habits, he is at the same time of a most social and 
 genial disposition, and nothing affords him greater pleasure than 
 to gather around him his numerous and sincere friends. 
 
 JAMES J. RYAN. 
 
 James J. Ryan, another of Chicago's bright and promising young 
 lawyers, was born in this city, July 17th, 1873. His father, Michael 
 Ryan, is a native of Tipperary, Ireland, and came to this country 
 about 18(50, when only fourteen years of age, his first settlement 
 being in Cincinnati, where he learned the trade of a plumber. Six 
 years later the young man came to Chicago and worked success- 
 fully at the business he had chosen for his life work. He is now 
 the head of the well-known firm of M. Ryan & Sous on Milwaukee 
 Avenue. He has been a member of the City Council some six or 
 seven times. His wife, mother of James J., is also a native of Tip- 
 l)erary, and came to Cincinnati when quite a girl, where she met 
 and was eventually married to Mr. Ryan.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 513 
 
 The subject of this sketch received a four years' classical course 
 at the Jesuit School of St Mary's, Kansas, and afterwards a more 
 strictly legal course at Notre Dame, Indiana, where he graduated. 
 He was admitted to the bar immediately after leaving college and 
 commenced active practice in connection with the well-known law 
 firm of Goodrich, Vincent & Bradley, and is now with the firm of 
 Enuis & Coburn. 
 
 He is a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters and of St. 
 Ignatius College Alumni. 
 
 Mr. Kyan has traveled extensively through the West and South, 
 visiting every town and point of interest. He is a Democrat in 
 politics and has taken an active interest in political affairs. 
 
 Mr. Kyan has always shown an ardent taste for literature of all 
 kinds, especially, however, for subjects of a poetical and philo- 
 sophical character, and even when at school was a contributor to 
 some of the magazines; an essay on the subject of poetry attracted 
 special interest and commendation. With these more esthetic 
 tastes and inclinations, however, is united an energetic, industrious 
 and persevering disposition, aoid so he is bound to succeed in the 
 high profession he has chosen for his life work. 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY MUSHAM. 
 
 William Henry Musham, the First Assistant Marshal and In- 
 spector of the Chicago Fire Department, was born February 9th, 
 1839, on State Street, near Kinzie Street, in the City of Chicago. 
 His father was a native of Scotland, born there in 1800, and had,
 
 514 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 in following his occupation of sailor, met the mother of the subject 
 of this sketch at Queenstown, Ireland. They were married and 
 very soon afterwards left Ireland and moved to New York City, 
 in 1829, thence to Buffalo, and afterwards, in 1836, settled in Chi- 
 cago. The vessel on which they came to Chicago, the Charlotte, 
 was one of the first to enter this port, and had, in the War of 1812, 
 been one of Commodore Perry's fleet. For a while after his arrival 
 here Mr. Musham, Sr., sailed the lakes, afterwards going into the 
 ship rigging business, and later engaged in the teaming .business. 
 He died in 1844, and being a man of kindly disposition and most 
 excellent parts was universally regretted. His wife followed him 
 in 1873, having received very severe injuries during the great Chi- 
 cago fire in the preceding year. 
 
 The subject of this sketch received what education was then 
 possible at the Chicago public schools, and at the age of seventeen 
 became an apprentice to William H. Adam, a, carpenter, and at 
 nineteen years of age took up the business of journeyman car- 
 penter. He joined the Volunteer Fire Department in 1855 as a 
 member of Phoenix No. 8, being soon afterwards promoted to the 
 position of pipeman, and later steward, at this time the most sought 
 after position. With this company he remained until its disband- 
 ment, October 23d, 1858, when he left the department and returned 
 to his trade, but soon after the organization of the Little Giant 
 Engiue Company No. 8, February 13th, 1860, he once again entered 
 the department as pipeman, remaining with it until 1865. While 
 serving with this company he had a narrow escape for his life a 
 brick wall falling upon him, killing a companion, and he only es- 
 caping by providential good fortune. Concluding finally that he 
 ought to see a little of the country, he moved to Philadelphia, but 
 Chicago associations proved too strong and to make his permanent 
 home he returned in 1866 to this city, and was appointed first pipe- 
 man in the paid Fire Department and assigned to T. B. Brown
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 516 
 
 Engine Company No. 12. In 18G8 the position of foreman of Little 
 Giant Engine Company No. 6 was offered and accepted by him, and 
 this he held until March 1st, 1872. When the great fire occurred 
 his command and himself did noble service, they being the first 
 to arrive at the fire at 9:30 o'clock on the night of October 7th, and 
 \vorking continuously until 3 o'clock the next afternoon, when, the 
 fire being subdued, he was ordered home for a few hours' rest. 
 Six and a half hours later, at 9:30 Sunday night, October 8th, his 
 company was again summoned to fight the flames, and continued 
 to work as long as it was able to do any service. 
 
 The Board of Fire Commissioners on March 1st, 1872, recognized 
 his ability by promoting him to be Third Assistant Fire Marshal, 
 in charge of the entire west division of the city, and he continued 
 in charge of the Fourth Battalion until the spring of 1877, when 
 he was transferred to the Second. Before leading his old com- 
 mand, the Fourth, the members showed their appreciation of him- 
 self by presenting him with a silver tea set and a thirty -two cone fire 
 hat Mr. Musham was relieved of the command of the Second Bat- 
 talion on May 1st, 1880, and appointed First Assistant Fire Mar- 
 shal and Inspector of the department, which position he still most 
 worthily fills. Chicago owes many of the valuable improvements 
 which have taken place in her engine houses to his eminently prac- 
 tical mind, and to his having taken entire superintendence of the 
 building and repairing since his appointment as foreman of Little 
 Giant Engine Co. No. 6 in 1868. Not merely is he the chief car- 
 penter of this department, but everything therein passes under his 
 immediate inspection, once every three months all the apparatus 
 being inspected according to number, commencing with Engine 
 Co. No. 1, the first day, and so on until the whole list is gone through. 
 
 First Assistant Marshal W. H. Musham is a man of medium 
 height, and in build is slight and muscular, being eminently adapt- 
 ed to the duties he has undertaken and in which he has attained
 
 516 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 so high a position. His personality is a most interesting one, cour- 
 teous in his manner, always free, open and good natured, he pos- 
 sesses a host of friends, not merely among his companions in the 
 fire service, but throughout all sections of the great City of Chicago. 
 
 MAJOR LAWRENCE M. ENNIS. 
 
 Lawrence M. Ennis was born in Chicago, November 3d, 1859, 
 his father, James Ennis, being a native of Enniscorthy, County 
 Wexford, Ireland, being born near the famed Vinegar Hill, March 
 27th, 1837. His ancestors were Spaniards, who, under Ferdinand 
 De Ganzaga, came to Ireland in the fifteenth century and settled in 
 County Wexford, the name for years being written De Ganzaga- 
 Ennis. Of his immediate forefathers, several were killed at the 
 battle of Vinegar Hill, in 1798. A grand-uncle, Murtaugh Ennis, 
 enlisted in the English army and was the first Roman Catholic since 
 the Reformation to obtain a commission in the English army for 
 bravery on the field of battle. James Ennis married Mary A. Sex- 
 ton, daughter of Stephen Sexton, of County Clare, a lady who was 
 born in Chicago, September 14th, 1842. 
 
 The subject of this sketch obtained his education in the public 
 schools and at St. Patrick's Academy, of Chicago, under the Chris- 
 tian Brothers. He was graduated from the North Division High 
 School, June 27th, 1877, and was the class orator of his year. After 
 the death of his father, which occurred November 9th, 1880, and 
 his mother having preceded, Lawrence was left the guardian of 
 the family, being the eldest of ten orphan children. Undaunted 
 by such misfortunes, and having previously read law in his father's
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 617 
 
 office, he formed a partnership with his old friend, Francis W. 
 Walker, under the firm name of Ennis & Walker, and continued 
 the business of his father. This firm existed four years, until, in 
 1884, Mr. Walker went into the State's Attorney's office. In March, 
 two years later, Mr. Ennis formed a partnership with William E. 
 Mason, the popular member of Congress, and now the United 
 States Senator from Illinois, under the firm name of Mason & 
 Ennis, and the business of the new firm proved both pleasant and 
 profitable, so continuing until 1895, when the partnership was dis- 
 solved and Mr. Ennis formed a new firm with John J. Coburn, 
 under the name of Ennis & Coburn. 
 
 After five years of service Mr. Ennis was mustered out of Com- 
 pany "F," First liegiment Infantry, Illinois National Guard, De- 
 cember, 1884. In 1887 he was elected to the Veteran Corps in said 
 regiment, serving first in the capacity of secretary and for several 
 years afterwards and still being the historian of the corps. In 
 November, 1895, he carried the "Flag of Friendship" on the South- 
 ern tour of his regiment to Nashville, Atlanta, Savannah, A ugusta, 
 Lookout Mountain, and many other prominent cities and places of 
 interest. December 5th, 189f>, he was elected and commissioned 
 Major of the First Battalion, Seventh Kegiment Infantry, Illinois 
 National Guard. 
 
 In the way of political favor, Major Ennis has never sought pub- 
 lic office. In 1880 he acted as United States Census Enumerator for 
 this district. 
 
 The interest he has always manifested in educational matters 
 is evinced by the presentation each year of a gold medal for the 
 best English essay to the graduating class of the North Division 
 High School. It is known as the Ennis "Essay Medal," and for the 
 past sixteen years these tokens of friendship to the fortunate com- 
 petitors have been awarded by him. 
 
 On October 2nd, 1884, Mr. Ennis was united in marriage, at
 
 518 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Woodstock, 111., to Elizabeth Gertrude, youngest daughter of Cor- 
 nelius and Mary (Murphy) Quinlan. Their union has been blessed 
 with four children Mary, Gertrude M., Lawrence M., and James. 
 
 Thoroughly domesticated in his tastes, he infinitely prefers the 
 surroundings of his comfortable home and the society of his esti- 
 mable wife and four children to any delights to be obtained from 
 club life. He is a Roman Catholic, a Democrat of free silver tenden- 
 cies, and in 1896 was a candidate for Presidential Elector on the 
 Democratic ticket for Bryan and Sewall, from the Second Congres- 
 sional District of Illinois. 
 
 In personal appearance Major Ennis is an excellent type of his 
 nationality. He is of military appearance, very erect, and six feet 
 one and three-fourths inches in height. Unassuming and easily 
 approached, kindly in his disposition, and ever generous natured, 
 Mr. Ennis has made for himself a host of friends both in business 
 and social circles, who respect him for his high professional gifts 
 and esteem him for his personal qualities. 
 
 MICHAEL SARSFIELD MADDEN. 
 
 The firm of Madden Brothers is perhaps the most favorably 
 and widely known of the many real estate brokerage houses in Chi- 
 cago, although its existence only dates back to 1887. Its life is 
 typical of that of the city itself, for its foundation and resources 
 were nothing other than the sound judgment and accurate fore- 
 sight of its founders, and as the city stands pre-eminent in history 
 for its remarkable development, so of the firm of which we write,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 519 
 
 for its founders builded better than they knew, juid from a small 
 beginning the amount of business transacted in real estate broker- 
 age is equal to any in the city. 
 
 In connection with his brother, Mark F. (whose biography ap- 
 pears elsewhere in this work), Michael S. Madden has, by those 
 characteristics which are the requisites of the successful Chicago 
 business man, accomplished this result. His parents, natives of 
 the Emerald Isle, located in Whitby, Pickering County, Ontario, in 
 1849, and here, on June 21st, 1864, our subject was born. After a 
 course of study in the public schools he completed his education at 
 St. Michael's College, Toronto. At this time (1883) the "Dakota 
 Fever" was at its height, and Mr. Madden was one of those imbued 
 with the prospect of wealth and prosperity offered by the newly 
 opened territory. He accordingly located on a claim at Bartlett, 
 near Devil's Lake, North Dakota, built himself a cabin, and for six 
 long mouths lived almost the life of a recluse, having no companion- 
 ship other than his horse and dogs, his nearest neighbor being sev- 
 eral miles distant. Later, as the St. Paul, Minnesota & Manitoba 
 Railroad (now the Great Northern) was built, it passed in the vicin- 
 ity of his cabin, and his lonely farm became the center of a thriving 
 village. With the extension of the road, however, the population 
 migrated and shortly afterwards Mr. Madden abandoned his claim 
 and coming to Chicago organized, in conjunction with his elder 
 brother, Mark F., the firm of Madden Bros., more fully referred to 
 in the sketch of M. F. Madden. 
 
 Our subject is an active member of the Sheridan and the Co- 
 lumbus Clubs, and from the fact that he is still a bachelor, much 
 of his leisure is passed in the commodious quarters of these institu- 
 tions. He is an active member of the Catholic Church and unosten- 
 tatiously contributes his full share towards all charitable and 
 worthy works whose objects are the advancement of humanity 
 and the broadening of our civilization. 
 
 27
 
 520 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 In politics a Democrat, his work for the party interests is as a 
 citizen and a voter rather than in active participation in political 
 affairs; in his life is found all the elements of those qualifications, 
 habits, and methods which are so rapidly bringing the present 
 younger American generation to the front ranks, as compared with 
 their compeers in the older countries, in all that pertains to the 
 growth, development and prosperity of the national spirit and life. 
 
 JOHN S. COOKE. 
 
 There is no more thoroughly representative American Irish citi- 
 zen in this great Chicago of ours than the subjed; of the present 
 short sketch, large-hearted, broad-minded John S. Cooke. Fearless 
 and energetic, gifted with a most wonderful power of perseverance, 
 entirely unrecognisive of defeat, he has surmounted innumerable 
 difficulties, until from a poor lad, whose only capital was his rich 
 business endowments and unimpeachable integrity, he is to-day the 
 head of one of the largest brewing enterprises in the west. 
 
 He was born January 10th, 1837, in Mitchelstown, County Cork, 
 Ireland, where his father, John Cooke, was a shoemaker in very 
 comfortable circumstances, being owner of quite one-third of the 
 town of Glenwood. His wife, formerly Mary Clancy, belonged to a 
 family as old as any in Ireland, and which in song and story has 
 frequently been referred to. 
 
 John S. Cooke received but an imperfect education in the na- 
 tional schools of Fermoy, for he had already served a considerable 
 apprenticeship to a baker and confectioner, when barely sixteen
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 521 
 
 years of age, he decided to try his fortunes in the United States. 
 Landing in New York, he found similar employment, but his wages 
 were only sufficient to afford him a bare livelihood, nothing being 
 left over to help to his future. In 1857, when eighteen years of age, 
 he determined, like thousands of others at that time, to go west, 
 and set out for Chicago. Always of a willing disposition, he found 
 employment at his trade, later sailing the lakes as a seaman and also 
 working in the capacity of a laborer. Strong and hardy, he abso- 
 lutely cared nothing as to the character of the work so long as his 
 labor was well paid. He tells himself, how on one occasion he gave 
 up $75 a month as a baker to work as a roustabout, since at the 
 latter $200 a month could be earned. 
 
 When the Civil War broke out he was in the employ of the Kent 
 Packing House, the same year he went to work for Michael Keely, 
 1863 he became a citizen and then only because soldiers were being 
 drafted in the army, and he wished not to neglect any duty of citi- 
 zenship. He had claimed that it was time to become an American 
 citizen when one was in a settled position and knew how the future 
 stood. 
 
 In 1866 he entered the employ of Messrs. Schwab, McQuaid & 
 Monheimer, the wholesale wine and liquor dealers, with whom he 
 remained as traveler for fourteen years, then buying an interest 
 and the firm becoming Monheimer & Cooke. Mr. Cooke bought out 
 the Union Brewing Company in 1886 and organized the Cooke 
 Brewing Company, one of the largest in the West, a position which 
 has been well sustained despite the severe business conditions of re- 
 cent years. His sturdy character was evinced in his hard struggle 
 against the beer trust, and in which he at last has come off prac- 
 tically the victor. 
 
 Mr. Cooke was married in 1863 to Miss Charlotte Rowland of 
 Rochester, N. Y. They have four children, Charles, George J., John 
 R., and Irene.
 
 522 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 A Roman Catholic in religion, his purse is ever open at the call 
 of charitable purpose. In his political views, he is a staunch Demo- 
 crat, and a highly valued adherent of the party, but he is never in 
 any way a partisan, but irrespective of politics, will support who- 
 ever in his opinion he considers to be the better candidate. In 1895 
 he was put forward by his friends, and entirely unknown to him- 
 self, for the position of city treasurer. He received the nomination 
 at the Democratic Convention, but though he ran far in front of his 
 ticket, he fell in the popular landslide. In Irish affairs of recent 
 years he has been among the foremost advocates for the freedom of 
 the land of his birth, and the amelioration of the social conditions of 
 his country at home or abroad. 
 
 Mr. Cooke has been a resident of this city for nearly forty years. 
 With him, work has been ha,ppiness, and plodding along steadily 
 and perseveringly, he stands to-day one of the leading and richest 
 citizens of Chicago. His advancement from a humble beginning 
 to his present prominent position has been the natural result of his 
 own untiring efforts, and the success achieved no one can possibly 
 begrudge. 
 
 SENATOR EDWARD J. DWYER 
 
 Among the many bright young Irish-Americans who are push- 
 ing their way to the front and making a name for themselves in 
 the business world and in politics, Senator Edward J. Dwyer 
 stands in the front rank. 
 
 He was born in Chicago, November 21st, 1861. His parents, 
 Michael and Mary R. (Guinan) Dwyer, coming to Chicago from Ros-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 523 
 
 crea, County of Tipperary, Ireland, in 1851. Upon arrival here, 
 Mr. Dwyer, Senior, was connected with the Chicago & Northwest- 
 ern Railroad for thirteen years, and was afterwards in the grocery 
 business until he died, in 1872. 
 
 Senator Dwyer can consistently be called a self-made man, as 
 what little education he received was picked up by him after leav- 
 ing school, which, at the age of sixteen he was compelled by cir- 
 cumstances to do, in order to make a living for himself and mother. 
 
 His first employment was with the printing house of Burgess: 
 from this place he went to the Althrop Publishing Co., where he 
 was the superintendent of their mailing department for several 
 years. He soon began to take an interest in political matters and 
 was appointed clerk in the office of the City Clerk in 1888, remain- 
 ing in this office a year he went into the Coroner's office, and then 
 into the Recorder's office. 
 
 While in the recorder's office in 1890 he was nominated for West 
 Town clerk and was elected, being the only Republican that was 
 elected in either town in the landslide which at that time occurred. 
 The following year the nomination was tendered him but was re- 
 fused. In 1891 Mayor Washburne appointed him assistant superin- 
 tendent of water; while holding this office he was nominated for 
 West Town assessor, and was one of two Republicans elected. 
 
 In 1892, after his work as assessor was finished, he was appointed 
 superintendent of water by Mayor Washbume, to succeed William 
 Lorimer, who had resigned. 
 
 In 1894 Mr. Dwyer was elected to go to the State Senate from the 
 Seventeenth District; he now holds that position and is also deputy 
 city clerk. 
 
 The Senator has made a brilliant record in the Senate, and is al- 
 ways on the alert to see that the interests of his constituents are 
 taken care of and are given proper consideration. To him much 
 credit is due for the passage of the drainage canal bill. The opposi-
 
 524 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 tion to it was very strong, but the Senator organized and led the 
 friends of Chicago and the canal to victory. The Senator belongs 
 to and is a prominent member of the Order of Foresters, Royal 
 Arcanum, and Knights of Pythias. 
 
 Mr. E. J. Dwyer was secretary of the Republican County Central 
 Committee for two years, and has long represented his ward in the 
 councils of his party. 
 
 His wife was formerly Miss Mollie V. Lawler, niece of the late 
 lamented Hon. Frank Lawler. He married her in 1894 
 
 COLONEL WILLIAM P. REND. 
 
 Cosmopolitan in character, and possessing much that is metro- 
 politan in appearance, Chicago numbers amongst her most honored 
 and eminent citizens many of those who first saw the light of day in, 
 and whose early associations are closely linked with, the land of the 
 shamrock, and that fair isle beyond the sea Ireland. Of all the 
 citizens of Chicago, however, who lay claim to the honor of having 
 been born in the Etnerald Isle, there is pi'obably no one better 
 known, more highly respected, or whose career has been more suc- 
 cessful, not only in a commercial and social sense, but in a military 
 and political sense also, than has that of Colonel Wm. P. Rend. 
 
 A native of County Leitrim, Ireland, he was born February 10th. 
 1840. His father, Ambrose Rend, was a substantial farmer, while 
 his mother, Elizabeth (Cline) Rend, was a daughter of Mr. Hugh 
 Cline, who for years held the responsible and important position of 
 steward of one of the largest and oldest estates in Ireland. Remov-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 525 
 
 ing to tliis country in 1847, our subject being at this time but seven 
 years of age, his parents settled at Lowell, Mass., where he spent his 
 early years, and where he received his education, graduating from 
 the high school of that city at the age of seventeen. Leaving school, 
 shortly afterwards he decided to try his fortune in New York City, 
 having gained considerable business experience, especially in the 
 dry goods line, during the evenings and holidays while resident at 
 home. Arriving at New York, with but scanty means, he found it 
 necessary to procure a position as early as possible. Commencing 
 with the stores on Broadway, he endeavored for some time to find 
 an opening, but without success, and seeing his small means fast 
 dwindling away, he made for New Jersey, determined to accept 
 whatever employment chanced to offer itself; and this time, pluck 
 and determination won, for on the day after his arrival there he 
 secured the position of school-teacher in the city of New Brooklyn, 
 which position he occupied for twelve months. Resigning his posi- 
 tion as school-teacher, his intention was to locate in South Carolina. 
 Desiring, however, to visit an old friend of his, and one with whom 
 he had been intimately acquainted, when resident in Lowell, Mass., 
 he visited, en route, Baltimore, and here his attention was drawn 
 to an advertisement for a teacher, inserted in one of the local papers 
 by the trustees of the school district near West River, Anne Arundel 
 County, Maryland. Applying for the position his application, by 
 the way, being one of seventy he was selected to fill the vacancy, 
 remaining here over three years, his scholars being principally the 
 children of prominent and wealthy slave-holders and proprietors 
 of large plantations. At the house of one of the latter he boarded 
 and made his home, spending his evenings and other spare time in 
 classical studies, with a view of entering an advanced class in a 
 neighboring college, and from the president of St. John's College 
 he received much assistance, valuable advice, and much practical 
 aid and sympathy it being Mr. Rend's custom at this time to ride
 
 526 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 to and fro (a distance of over ten miles), on Saturday afternoon, for 
 this purpose, intending to complete his studies, and to eventually 
 occupy a superior position. Just about this period, however, the 
 war broke out. At the time his most intimate friends and asso- 
 ciates were slaveholders. He liked the South and the southern peo- 
 ple, but abhorred secession. He believed that he owed it as a high 
 and sacred duty to volunteer his services in the cause of the Union, 
 and for the protection of the American flag. 
 
 Upon the firing of Fort Sumter, he decided to relinquish his 
 position as school-teacher, and shortly afterwards joined the army, 
 receiving from the governor of Maryland permission to organize a 
 company at Annapolis. But as was to be expected, at the first com- 
 mencement of the war, the cause of the Union and Union sentiment 
 generally was but very weak in this locality, and his efforts not 
 meeting with that immediate success which his ardent nature de- 
 sired, he abandoned this undertaking. Still, however, determined 
 to do what he could, and to aid the Union cause, whose side he had 
 espoused, and whose principles he believed in, and for whose su- 
 premacy he was willing to risk even life itself, if need be, he went 
 to Washington, and here joined the Fourteenth New York Volun- 
 teers (one of the infantry regiments organized about this time), 
 previous to the first battle of Bull Bun, and remained with his com- 
 pany until the expiration of his term of enlistment, serving most 
 of his time as a non-commissioned officer. He was in a number 
 of the most prominent battles in which the Army of the Potomac 
 was at this time engaged, including Hanover Court House, Second 
 Bull Kun, Mechanicsville, Gaines Mills, Malvern Hill, the battles 
 of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, etc., and the battles 
 before Yorktown, etc. He was the first man in his regiment who 
 was struck by a bullet during the siege of Yorktowu, though not 
 seriously wounded. During the battle of Malvern Hill, a portion 
 of his pants was shot away, while, as is well known, the "Four-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 627 
 
 teenth" suffered heavily in killed and wounded, and in that battle 
 alone lost one-third of the entire number engaged. His many hair- 
 breadth escapes, the many narrow and close calls he received, and 
 the incidents and dangers through which Colonel Rend at this time 
 passed, would fill a much larger space than we now have at our 
 disposal. His time of enlistment having expired, he was finally 
 mustered out of service, afterwards paying a brief visit to his 
 friends in Massachusetts. Here at a social gathering he became ac- 
 quainted with a lady for whom he formed a strong attachment, the 
 result of which was a speedy engagement. With the promptitude 
 of action and sincerity of mind so characteristic of him, then as now, 
 he proposed marriage and was accepted, agreeing to defer the cere- 
 mony for twelve months or so, and believing the West to offer good 
 opportunities for a young man to engage in the struggles of life, and 
 as affording good and rapid chances of advancement, he immedi- 
 ately made for Chicago, arriving here during the latter part of the 
 war, and the day following secured a position in the surveyor's de- 
 partment of a railroad company locating a line from Madison to 
 Winona. Mr. Rend, having a fair theoretical knowledge of survey- 
 ing, and a natural fondness and aptitude for mathematics, he deter- 
 mined to take this up as a profession, and to turn his knowledge 
 in this direction to a good and practical account, continuing in this 
 occupation until winter set in and necessitated the abandonment 
 of the survey until the following spring. Returning to Chicago, 
 he soon secured a position, this time in the freight depot of the 
 Northwestern Railway Company, being appointed foreman of this 
 department. And it was while here that Mr. Rend formed, per- 
 haps, the basis of his fortune, for in conjunction with the cashier 
 of this depot he started a line of teams, and thus inaugurated a busi- 
 ness, which in course of time, owing to its rapid developments, 
 and increase, necessitated his close and individual attention, for his 
 position with the railway company had insured him plenty of work
 
 528 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 iu this direction, and enabled him to build up a remunerative and 
 successful business. Finding his capital increasing, and the oppor- 
 tunities good, while his capacity for work seemed even then, as 
 now, almost uulimitable, he decided to embark in the coal trade, 
 taking as partner Mr. Edwin Walker, who has now been for over 
 twenty years intimately connected with him, not only in financial 
 matters, but in the closer friendship of private life. It was not 
 long ere the firm of W. P. Rend & Co. became the largest merchants 
 engaged in the eastern soft coal trade in the whole West, intro- 
 ducing also not only the far-famed "Hocking Valley" coal in this 
 city and in the markets having their headquarters in Chicago, but 
 were the first who recognized its various qualities, and through 
 whose instrumentality the first train load was brought from that 
 locality. And thus their business grew and developed, until at 
 last they found it necessary to open up and operate mines in Ohio 
 and Pennsylvania in order to keep pace with the extensive demand 
 which their business had established. At present Mr. Rend is per- 
 sonally the proprietor of three of the largest mines in western Penn- 
 sylvania, owns a half interest in three mines in Ohio, the owner of 
 two mines in Ohio, and a half owner of two others in Pennsylvania, 
 whose combined output give employment to over two thousand 
 men. He, individually, and his firm own seventeen hundred and 
 fifty freight cars, employed in the transportation of their product. 
 Having headquarters at Chicago, their main operations are in the 
 markets of the various northwestern states. The total output of 
 their mines exceed one million tons per annum, their shipments ex- 
 tending to Canada, where they sell to railroads and to dealers, while 
 they supply with coal large manufactories of Ohio, Illinois, and 
 many other states. They also supplied for years several railroad 
 companies with the entire fuel used oil their lines. From Mr. 
 Rend's mines in Pennsylvania, large amounts of coal are sent by 
 rail to Cleveland and Erie, and thence to Duluth and various ports
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 529 
 
 on Lakes Michigan and Superior. Besides the interests already 
 named, Mr. Rend is extensively engaged in the production of natural 
 oil from several wells sunk on his Laurel Hill mining property in 
 western Pennsylvania. 
 
 His property is in the heart of the great oil belt, lying partly in 
 Washington and partly in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and 
 which has become the most prolific and most wonderful oil-produc- 
 ing territory ever yet discovered in this country. In spite, however, 
 of the seemingly unlimited demands upon his time and being en- 
 gaged in and conducting such an extensive business as he does 
 Colonel Rend still manages to find time to devote to many matters 
 of public importance. His advocacy of the temperance cause is 
 well known, and though believing more in the effects of moral 
 suasion, rather than compulsory and legal means, he is> however, 
 now, and always has been, an ardent champion of its principles, and 
 it was, in fact, at his suggestion that Bishop Ireland of St. Paul sent 
 Father Cotter (now bishop of Winona) on a temperance crusade 
 throughout Ohio and Indiana, with the result that seventeen thou- 
 sand took the pledge, while upon Father deary's continuance of 
 this good work, over seventy-two thousand names were added to 
 the temperance cause, the whole expense of which crusade was let 
 it be said to his credit borne by Colonel Rend. 
 
 Several years ago our subject was elected by the Second Regi- 
 ment, Illinois State Volunteer Infantry, as lieutenant-colonel of 
 this regiment, and this position he retained for a number of years. 
 
 Of much literary ability, he is a frequent contributor to the press 
 on political and other subjects of a public nature, while he is ex- 
 tremely fond of mathematical subjects, and reads the Latin classics 
 in the original with ease and fluency. Politically he is independent, 
 but at a time was prominently identified with the Republican party. 
 He is a believer in men and measures, rather than in party. Fre- 
 quently approached with a view to nomination for the mayoralty
 
 530 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OF THE 
 
 and other prominent positions, lie has hitherto steadily declined to 
 allow his name to be used in this connection. Holding and exer- 
 cising a potent influence in labor matters, he has always taken a 
 deep interest in all subjects and problems affecting the interests 
 of employer and employe, while he has succeeded in assisting to 
 establish more friendly intercourse between the miners and em- 
 ployers throughout the coal regions of many states. Six years ago, 
 aided by a few friends, he succeeded in the inauguration of a move- 
 ment of industrial conciliation in the mining regions of Ohio and 
 Pennsylvania. That it has been successful (though previously un- 
 tried in this country) is saying but little, while its influence and 
 result have been in every way satisfactory, and have much tended 
 to maintain that good feeling which should exist between miners 
 and operators. He is a strong believer in arbitration and councils 
 of 'conciliation, as opposed to lockouts and strikes. He was the 
 first president of a meeting held some years ago for this purpose, 
 and sent the first address that was ever issued in behalf of this 
 movement, and by his speeches and writing in the public press has 
 helped, to no small extent, to mold a sentiment favorable to this 
 solution of what had hitherto been a problem of considerable diffi- 
 culty. This movement has prevented strikes and labor conflicts in 
 western Pennsylvania and throughout Ohio in nearly aJl of the 
 leading mining districts for five years, while previously one or more 
 strikes occurred every year. The results being so beneficial to the 
 cause of labor, it may be imagined in what esteem, high respect and 
 confidence Colonel Rend is held by the miners of this country, and 
 by a body of men for whom he has done so much. If evidence were 
 needed on this point we have but to mention one case, and it is 
 similar to numerous others, where the miners of northern Illinois 
 selected Colonel Rend as their representative, a former miner, by 
 name of Williams, representing the operators, and Lyman J. Gage, 
 Esq., forming the third party, at an arbitration case which was in-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 531 
 
 tended to act as a test for the settlement of the entire mining ques- 
 tion in northern Illinois. Nine years ago one of the most bitter 
 struggles that had ever taken place between capital and labor 
 occurred in the Hocking Valley region of Ohio. Taking sides with 
 the men, believing them at the time to be in the right, he had as 
 opponents forty coal operators, backed up by a number of railroad 
 companies, and in particular the Hocking Valley Railroad Co. 
 This company becoming so incensed at his (Colonel Bend's) action 
 in the matter, endeavored to vent their spleen on him by refusing to 
 allow him cars, and by advancing the freight rates and otherwise 
 restricting his business operations. They attempted to make it 
 impossible for him to successfully operate his mines, but in this they 
 failed. Colonel Rend was not the man to bow submissively to this 
 or any other company, being aware that he but exercised the rights 
 of any ordinary citizen in doing what he did. Entering an action 
 in the federal courts, he petitioned for and obtained a mandatory 
 injunction compelling the railroad company to furnish him cars 
 at the usual terms. Firmly maintaining his original position, he 
 compelled the company also to recognize and to pay that due re- 
 spect to his interests which the magnitude of his operations war- 
 ranted. A strong and firm believer in legal methods, his position 
 once clear, and his cause just, he is aggressive and extremely posi- 
 tive in character, and though his necessity of recourse to law has 
 been but little, whenever such necessity occurs, he is seldom to be 
 found on the losing side. 
 
 Of medium height, robust build, and somewhat fair complexion, 
 he is of a sanguine, liighly nervous temperament, possessing much 
 foresight, keen perception and administrative ability of no mean 
 order; he is extremely energetic and a great worker. 
 
 He is a Catholic in religion. As is well known, he is singularly 
 free from all religious prejudices, a hater of bigotry in every form, 
 and one who abhors religious controversy, and everything which
 
 532 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 tends to create animosity and ill-feeling between citizens and people 
 of a common country. 
 
 Married December 27th, 1864, to Miss Elizabeth C. Barry (born in 
 Nova Scotia and of Irish parentage). Their home at 153 Ashland 
 Avenue is noted for its elegance and comfortable surroundings. 
 
 ALEXANDER H. REVELL. 
 
 Alexander H. Revell was born in Chicago, January 6th, 1858, and 
 is, therefore, at the time of this writing, thirty-nine years of age. 
 It is about this time in a man's life, that, in most biographies, he 
 begins to show promise that in later life ripens into fruition. But 
 in Mr. Revell's case, although his battles were yet before him, there 
 is a long and honorable list of struggles to be recorded, many a vic- 
 tory to be marked and a final achievement to be shown such as 
 would creditably mark a life career of double the number of years. 
 The story of Mr. Revell's life is thoroughly American Irish, thor- 
 oughly Chicagoan, indeed. It is a record of victories snatched from 
 apparent defeat, of compelling adverse fate to be his slave and not 
 his master. It is a glowing example of what honesty and perse- 
 verance, when animated by indomitable will, can do. 
 
 His father was the late David James Revell, and his mother, 
 Margaret Revell, nee Dorgan. At the time of his birth his parents 
 lived on Van Buren Street, very near where the Board of Trade 
 Building now stands. Mr. Revell, ihe elder, was a grocer and had 
 a large business. He is remembered by many old Chicagoans as a 
 man of sterling worth and untiring energy. Believing fully in the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 633 
 
 great future of Chicago, Mfi Revell invested his earnings in houses 
 which he built on leased grounds. The great fire of 1871 swept 
 away the earnings of years, and a few months after the conflagra- 
 tion he died. , . 
 
 Young Revell was then but thirteen years of age. He had been 
 a steady attendant up to this time at the old Jones School, on the 
 corner of Clark and Harrison Streets. A new and greater problem 
 now confronted the boy. He had not only an education to acquire 
 but a living to make. From the wreck of his father's fortune there 
 remained a horse and wagon. With these and his American "grit" 
 for capital he attacked the hard problem cheerfully. Night schools 
 gave him an opportunity to win an education; the day was his fight- 
 ing time for bread and butter. For a while he earned money by 
 delivering trunks from the Rock Island Depot. This was not very 
 productive work, however, and the young lad then showed that 
 keen appreciation of the opportunities at hand which has charac- 
 terized his whole life. The streets of the city were filled with 
 clouds of gritty, sharp dust from the cinders of the great fire, which 
 was extremely annoying. He started to sell goggles, and for a time 
 did a thriving business. He also distributed hand-bills on the 
 street; later he was to be found in a lamp factory polishing lan- 
 terns. He was saving money all this time, and next started a little 
 grocery store, shortly after a flour and feed store, and finally a 
 small furniture store. 
 
 In 1874, the "hard times" year, the young storekeeper, still alive 
 to the signs of the times, sold out his little business and started out 
 with his horse and wagon again. His work was chiefly delivering 
 goods to and from the various auction-houses. He took a deep in- 
 terest in the goods he was hauling for other people; soon he be- 
 came a purchaser on his own account and delivered his own goods. 
 All was fish that came to his net; he invested in coffee, in books, in 
 hardware, furniture, soap, hats, caps, in any merchandise that of-
 
 5M BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 fered him a profit. A story of these eady days is illustrative. Not 
 long before Christmas he stumbled across a large lot of castile soap 
 in an auction-house, brought in from a bankrupt concern. He 
 bought six boxes at three cents a pound and started out to find 
 a customer. In a short time he was successful, selling to a grocery 
 firm these six boxes at six cents a pound. With this money he re- 
 turned to the auction-house and got an option on the whole stock. 
 With a few samples he started out again to find a buyer. He 
 walked into a big iihoknrit grocery house on Lake Street and 
 showed his samples. The merchant tested the soap, asked a few 
 questions, and, surprised at the youthfulness of his customer, re- 
 quested him to wait while he went oat and looked it up. Young Be- 
 Tell waited a half an hour, but when the merchant returned made hi* 
 sale at seven cents a pound, netting three hundred and seventy-five 
 dollars by the transaction. Part of this money made what might 
 have been a dull Christmas very bright and cheerful for his family, 
 and pan went to join other savings in the state savings institution. 
 A short time afterwards this bank failed, and young Bevell had but 
 MB bank book left, every cent was swept away; but he had more 
 years and Bore experience and his "grit" was still with him. 
 
 Swallowing down all useless sighs, he began to seek employ- 
 ment in some business house. Among others, he applied to A. T. 
 Stewart & Co., who had jnst opened a western branch in Chicago. 
 He was offered seven dollars a week to work in the carpet depart- 
 ment, bat having fixed eight dollars as his minimum he refused the 
 offer. Finally he secured employment in a furniture store on Fifth 
 A venae. By hard, steady work he sared in two yean three hun- 
 dred dollars. His self -reliance found that capital enough, and with 
 a fellow-clerk, J. E. Geohegan, nee l " n 1, he opened, in 1878, 
 an unpretentious little store at Xo. 77 Fifth Avenue. Young 
 BereD was then but twenty yean of age, it to be remembered. 
 The little bonlncnc was wen managed and prospered accordingly.
 
 AMERICAN* IRISH IN CHICAGO. 
 
 In one year the partners moved into ampler quarters. This same 
 rear he bought oat his partner's interest. From that time the 
 business has grown to the present vast building with its forty de- 
 partments, its army of clerks and salesmen and its enormous and 
 varied stock. Besides the great retail establishment that bears his 
 name, he is also president of the A. H. Revell Manufacturing Ox, 
 which occupies a huge building on the corner of Polk Street and 
 Fifth Avenue, and gives employment to over two hundred men. 
 
 Parallel with his financial winnings have been his social and 
 educational conquests. The race for money did not blind him to 
 the necessity for brain wealth. Mr. Revell is a director in several 
 educational, benevolent and social organizations. The Marquette 
 dub, of which he was president in 1889-90, owes its position in the 
 front rank of Chicago clubs very largely to his excellent judgment 
 and tireless energy. He is a member of the Chicago Board of Edu- 
 cation, and also, as one of the directors and member of the execu- 
 tive committee of the World's Columbian Exposition, he was untir- 
 ing in his efforts for the success of that great enterprise. 
 
 He has traveled extensively in the four quarters of the globe. 
 He is thoroughly alive to the interests of his native city. 
 
 In politics Mr. Revell is a Republican, and interests himself ac- 
 tively in all elections, municipal, state or national. 
 
 Such is his public history. Personally he is a genial, frank 
 gentleman, with a cordial, cheery voice, a pleasant smile and a 
 decided firm grasp of the hand for his friends. All are indicative 
 of the man. He is anything but an autocrat ; a curt command never 
 leaves his lips, but in either of his great establishments, or wherever 
 he makes a request, he finds instant and willing obedience. No 
 man knows better than he the trials of the workingman's life, ami 
 that knowledge stands him in good stead. His successes have not 
 been too great for him. He set out to succeed, kept his aim steadily 
 in view and reached it.
 
 536 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Such is the history of his early manhood, indeed of his boyhood. 
 Before him stretches out a long series of years. Judging from the 
 record of the past, from the knowledge of the present, it is safe to 
 say that other and greater honors and triumphs await him in these 
 coming years. However that may be, there is a great value in the 
 history of his life for young men. 
 
 Alexander H. Revell has to trace his successes primarily to the 
 excellent and specially American Irish trait or characteristic 
 summed up in the word "backbone." Under adversity, failure, set- 
 backs, obstacles, he stood upright, and with honest perseverance 
 and manhood fought steadily until he had conquered every obstacle 
 to the success he, from the first, determined to attain. 
 
 JOHN T. DONAHOE. 
 
 The subject of the present sketch is another well known mem- 
 ber of the legal profession in this city. He was born April 14th, 
 1853, at Bennington, Vermont, and is the son of Patrick and Ellen 
 (Gilnaugh) Donahoe, both of whom were natives of County Long- 
 ford, Ireland. Patrick Douahoe was imbued with the revolutionary 
 feeling, both himself and his brothers being members of the society 
 in Ireland which instigated the rising in 1849. His father came to 
 the United States about 1846 (being compelled to leave Ireland on 
 account of the interest he had taken in the revolutionary movement, 
 his brother having been arrested and lodged in jail for the same 
 cause), settling first in New York City, and' later in Bennington, Ver- 
 mont, where he took up the occupation of a potter. In 1857 Patrick
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 637 
 
 Donahoe moved to Grundy County, Illinois, and engaged in farming, 
 dying there in 1869. The mother of the subject of this sketch re- 
 mained in Grundy County until 1896, when she moved to Chicago, 
 and now, over seventy years of age, is enjoying the evening of her 
 days. The late Archbishop Iliggins, who took such a prominent 
 part in the liepeal Movement, of O'Connor's time, was one of her 
 cousins. 
 
 John T. Donahoe, who was educated in the public schools of 
 his native place, afterwards began a course of self study, and by 
 the time he waa twenty had secured a position as teacher in the 
 public school. Here he remained twelve years, studying law dur- 
 ing the latter portion with Hon. Judge Carter. In 1887 he was ad- 
 mitted to the bar, and deciding to dare fortune's favors in a big 
 city, arrived in Chicago on St. Patrick's Day of that year. He en- 
 gaged oftices, at once started in practice, and determined to win 
 or lose on his own merits, decided not to associate himself in busi- 
 
 
 
 ness with any partner. His success was immediate; he is rapidly 
 making his way to the front, and in 1893 received the nomination 
 as Circuit Judge of the People's party, but was unsuccessful in se- 
 curing the office. 
 
 Mr. Douahoe is a man of varied abilities, and during his school 
 days, and while engaged in teaching, he aided in the cultivation 
 and working of a farm, a tract of four hundred acres, which he 
 and his youngest living brother had saved sitficient money to pur- 
 chase, and which they now hold except for eighty acres which was 
 presented by both brothers to their mother. He has always been 
 a member of the People's party until the last election and is now 
 a Democrat in his political views, and intends remaining such as 
 long as their present policy is continued, and a Roman Catholic by 
 religion. Mr. Donahoe is yet a bachelor and makes his home, in 
 which he delights to dispense hospitality, with his mother and 
 sister.
 
 538 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 MICHAEL J. DUNNE. 
 
 The legal profession of Chicago possesses no more respected 
 representative than Michael J. Dunne, who is an honor to the lajid 
 of his birth as well as to the country of his adoption. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born at Tully, County Kildare, Ire- 
 land, October 1st, 1839. William Dunne, his father, was a native 
 of Queen's County, but owned considerable property in Tully, County 
 Kildare, where his high character obtained for him a number of 
 local positions of honor and importance. But Ireland was groaning 
 under innumerable oppressions, and when in addition, disasters 
 and losses in business supervened, he gave up the fight and started 
 for the new world, trusting to retrieve his fortune, and to afford his 
 children a broader and freer field in life. A brave man, the diffi- 
 culties and dangers of an unknown land held for him no terrors. 
 He came direct to Chicago, then a very small place. In the summer 
 of 1850, both he and his surviving children, suffered an irreparable 
 loss in the death of Mrs. Dunne with four of his children. William 
 Dunne survived her for many years, dying at the good old age of 
 eighty-six years. 
 
 Michael J. Dunne, of whom we are treating, received his earlier 
 education at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Chicago, 
 and in 1854 removed to Elgin, where he decided on the legal pro- 
 fession, and having begun his studies, completed the same in the 
 office of Irvin & Snowhook in Chicago. 
 
 Admitted to the bar in 1861, he first practiced in Elgin, and a 
 little later was elected city attorney, but the war spirit that ani- 
 mated the heart of every man in the North, led him to seek glory at 
 the cannon's mouth, and discarding books and briefs, he enlisted in
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 539 
 
 the Sixty-ninth Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, afterwards raising a 
 company for the One Hundred and Forty-first Illinois Volunteers, 
 and later another for the One Hundred and Fifty-third Regiment, 
 serving in each of the two latter as first lieutenant, and remained in 
 the military sendee until the close of the war of the Rebellion. 
 During the last year he was on the staff of Major-General R. W. 
 Johnson, who commanded the District of Middle Tennessee, in the 
 capacity of assistant Inspector-general. When the war closed he 
 came to Chicago, and once more took up his profession, rapidly ac- 
 quiring the reputation of a successful lawyer, and which soon 
 brought him a large and lucrative practice. 
 
 In his political career Mr. Dunne started in his youth as a dis- 
 ciple of Stephen A. Douglas, and following out his teaching on the 
 question of the supremacy of the constitution, became a war Demo- 
 crat. To the Democratic section he has since remained staunch, 
 though never in any manner prejudiced in his partisanship, but 
 ever ready and eager to admit what was good in the claim and 
 principles of those politically opposed to him. In 1874 he was 
 elected representative of the Fifth Senatorial District of the Illinois 
 Legislature, was chairman of the committee on rivers and canals 
 and was an earnest advocate for the improvement both of the canal 
 and Illinois River that the capacity as a water way might be so en- 
 larged as to admit of the transportation of our grain products to 
 the eastern markets. He received re-nomination on the Demo- 
 cratic ticket in 1876, and was re-elected, taking a fore- 
 most part in the memorable senatorial contest which cul- 
 minated in General J. A. Logan's defeat and the election of 
 Judge David Davis to the United States Senate. Nominated 
 in 1878 as state senator, he fell in the landslide that in that 
 year overwhelmed the Democracy in his county. He is a firm 
 believer in a gold and silver standard, or as he expresses it, gold and 
 silver used interchangeably at a proper and fair ratio (not 16 to 1),
 
 540 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 but is fully convinced such is not to be attained without the ac- 
 quiescence of European nations. 
 
 The spring of 1880 found Mr. Dunne appointed by Mayor Har- 
 rison as a member of the Board of Education, and until 1883 he 
 held the position of vice-president, manifesting during his member- 
 ship a warm and zealous interest in the progress of our common 
 school system and in educational matters generally. 
 
 There is a romance connected with Mr. Dunne's marriage. He 
 was an engaged man, all necessary arrangements had been made 
 and the month following he was to give up single blessedness for 
 matrimonial felicity, when the great Chicago fire destroyed his sav- 
 ings and temporarily wrecked his hopes. But the casualty was 
 soon retrieved, and in a few months he was again in a financial con- 
 dition to justify the great event. On June 3d, 1872, he married at 
 Montreal, Canada, Ellen, daughter of James McShane, one of the old 
 and most respected residents of that city, and sister of the Hon. 
 James McShane, member of the Dominion Parliament and late 
 mayor of that town. They have four children living. 
 
 JAMES W. TUOHY. 
 
 Though the subject of the present sketch was removed from a 
 world in which his splendid business powers had been productive of 
 absolutely phenomenal success more than six years ago, his name 
 is yet a household word among the people of Chicago. The kindly 
 natured, cheery-hearted Irishman is remembered with loving affec- 
 tion by thousands who long since testified their appreciation of his
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 541 
 
 remarkable business abilities by bestowing upon him the title of 
 "the boy merchant." 
 
 James W. Tuohy was born July 8th, 1849, in Carey, Ireland, near 
 the famed Lakes of Killarney. His parents were Edward and Eliza- 
 beth (Creiiin) Tuohy, the latter of whom still resides in Utica, 
 La Salle County, 111., where James Tuohy spent his first years in 
 this country. He was fifteen when he left Ireland, whither his 
 father had journeyed several years before. In Utica, having ob- 
 tained all the educational advantages offered by the district school, 
 he found a position as a clerk in the dry goods store of Mr. Dennis 
 Lynch. Later he removed to Streator and was given employment 
 by D. Heeuan & Co., which firm he left to enter into a partnership 
 with Mr. F. Shields at Braidwood, 111., as Shields & Company, a posi- 
 tion which afforded him an opportunity to develop his great busi- 
 ness capacity. When twenty-four years of age, in 1873, he bought 
 out his partner and took sole control of the business. Shortly 
 afterwards a second store was established at Wilmington, 111., and 
 business men began to comprehend that in his particular line Mr. 
 James W. Tuohy was a master mind. 
 
 A larger field became necessary, 'and in 1880 the two stores at 
 Braidwood and Wilmington were given up and a removal made to 
 Chicago, a suitable location having been found in the west portion 
 of the city, at the corner of Madison and Peoria Streets. Three 
 years later he embraced an opportunity to purchase from Carson, 
 Pirie & Scott their dry goods establishment on the North Side, at 
 the corner of Clark and Erie Streets. Under his able management 
 and thorough supervision the business was conducted as a depart- 
 ment store and soon took rank among the leading retail houses of 
 the West. To a man of Mr. Tuohy's capacities, however, success 
 was but an incentive to further exertions, and in 1886 he extended 
 his field of operations by opening up a store in a building specially 
 designed and erected at the corner of Madison and Wood Streets.
 
 542 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Again in 1887, when Messrs. Carson, Pirie & Scott removed from the 
 West Side, business instinct advised him to secure their premises 
 on West Madison Street and to open up as a department store. 
 This also soon became one of the most extensive establishments in 
 the city, and with his other stores gave him command of a colossal 
 business. With him, every enterprise prospered and people mar- 
 veled at the extraordinary vigor and faculties of the man which 
 enabled him to handle and control a business of such magnitude. 
 What new enterprise would he undertake, what further achieve- 
 ment was to be accomplished, were the thoughts in the minds of 
 business men, when on June 9th, 1890, the news became public that 
 in the midst of his prosperity, in the very prime of his manhood, 
 death had claimed a victim. The shock was a terrible one, not only 
 to his family, to whom the loss was an irreparable one, but also 
 among the large circle of his business associates, who, knowing 
 him, became his warm friends. Shrewd and careful in the smallest 
 details of his own affairs, he bore and had fairly won the reputation 
 of straightforward and honorable dealing with others. 
 
 Unquestionably a great portion of his business success was due 
 to the executive abilities and true womanliness of the lady he had 
 married October 6th, 1874, Miss Nellie Cavanaugh, of Ottawa, 111. 
 She was the loving companion of his labors, the urger on to renewed 
 effort, but at the same time possessed of that wondrous womanly 
 instinct which detects danger afar off, and whose advice enabled 
 her husband to escape so many of the pitfalls which assail a business 
 career. Mr. Tuohy had the uttermost faith in her executive abilities, 
 and Mrs. Tuohy in her management of her husband's estate has 
 well justified the confidence which left her sole executrix and gave 
 her the entire management of the estate. Bright and agreeable in 
 her manner, splendidly educated, a woman of charming courtesy 
 and graceful apearance, Mrs. Tuohy was just the wife for such a 
 man as James W. Tuohy.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 643 
 
 Of their family, the eldest, Mary Elizabeth, is a bright and 
 beautiful girl with many rich accomplishments just budding into 
 womanhood; James W., Walter Grant, Arthur Cavanaugh and 
 Paul, making still a bright and happy circle, yet incomplete without 
 that central figure whose loving ways, quick wit, joyous nature, and 
 thorough hospitality had done so much to make a refined home ever 
 charming and cheerful. 
 
 True in his friendship, generous in his nature, James W. Tuohy 
 was open-hearted and charitable to all deserving objects, as his 
 large donations to many of Chicago's churches and institutions gives 
 plain testimony; his name will long be held in high honor among 
 the people of Chicago as a gifted and noble representative of the 
 great Irish race in Chicago. 
 
 HON. EDWARD FITZSIMMONS DUNNE. 
 
 Judge Edward Fitzsimmous Dunne was born in Waterville, 
 Conn., October 12th, 1853, his father being Patrick W. Dunne, a 
 native of Kings Count}', Ireland, who settled in New York State iu 
 1850. His father had taken up first railroad contracting and after- 
 wards engaged in the distilling and brewing business. In 1855, he 
 moved to Peoria, being at different times there, alderman, member 
 of the school board, and representative for Peoria in the State 
 Legislature. His mother was Delia Lawler, daughter of Michael 
 Lawler, who was prominent in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and was 
 wounded therein. His business was tliat of a contractor, during 
 the prosecution of which he built the Galway docks and other large 
 works in the west of Ireland.
 
 544 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The subject of this sketch attended the public schools and high 
 school of Peoria, and after a preparatory course in college entered 
 Trinity College, Dublin, October 9th, 1871. His career in the uni- 
 versity was a brilliant one and he frequently carried off first honors 
 at the examinations. However, he was not permitted to take his 
 degree, being compelled to leave at the end of three years, as his 
 father had encountered heavy financial difficulties. Returning to 
 Peoria, where his father was running a flour mill, he conducted the 
 affairs of the mill office for about a year and then came to Chicago, 
 commencing the study of law in the office of W. W. O'Brien and 
 the late Judge George H. Kettelle. At the same time he was 
 studying at the Union College of Law, and in 1878 obtained his 
 license to practice law, and entered into a partnership with Wm. J. 
 llyiies and ex-Judge Walter B. Scates under the firm name of 
 Scates, Ilynes & Dunne. At the end of two years Mr. Scates re- 
 tired, and Judge Moran, then of the firm of Moran & English, hav- 
 ing gone to the bench, the two firms consolidated under the name 
 of llynes, English & Dunne. This continued until 1892, when 
 Judge Dunne was elected to the Circuit Court for the unexpired 
 term of Judge Driggs, which terminates June, 1897. 
 
 The judge while in practice did a large general business, having 
 the representation of many such large corporations as the Cooke 
 Brewing Co., Fortune Bros. Brewing Co., the Hibernian Bank, the 
 Plamoudau Manufacturing Co. and many others. 
 
 He was married August 16th, 1881, to Elizabeth J. Kelly, a 
 daughter of Edward F. Kelly, late a member of the firm of En- 
 right & Kelly. They have had six children, of whom four are 
 living. 
 
 Judge Dunne is a member of the Iroquois and Columbus Clubs, 
 the Royal Arcanum and the Royal League, and is at present presi- 
 dent of the Des Plaines Council of the Catholic Benevolent Legion. 
 In religion he is a Roman Catholic and a regular attendant of St.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 545 
 
 Luke's Church at River Forest, while in politics he is a Democrat, 
 but his heavy professional duties will not permit his devoting any 
 considerable time to political matters. 
 
 His fine home at River Forest is eminently adapted for the needs 
 of his family as well as for the genial hospitality it is his chief 
 pleasure to dispense to an immense circle of friends who admire 
 his good personal qualities and respect his great professional abili- 
 ties. He is a man of whom the American Irish of Chicago have 
 every reason to be proud. 
 
 JOHN MARTIN DOWLING. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, who died June 29th, 1896, was one 
 of Chicago's best known and most prominent Irish- American busi- 
 ness men. Among the older generation of citizens, no man in Chi- 
 cago was better known, and the deep respect as well as the great 
 personal popularity in which he was held was evinced by the im- 
 mense attendance at his funeral", the religious services of which were 
 given at the Cathedral of the Holy Name and thence to Calvary 
 Cemetery. 
 
 John Martin Bowling was born in Limerick, Ireland, December 
 5th, 1844. His parents were Martin and Ann (Lynch) Dowling. 
 His father, who had been a business man in the old country, came 
 to Canada with his family in 1850, where he first became a hotel 
 keeper and later entered the business of wholesale grocery, in 
 Hamilton, Canada. In 1856, when John, the son, was twelve years 
 of age, he removed to Chicago, and took up the business in which 
 he had gained considerable experience, that of the wholesale and
 
 546 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 retail grocery trade, in premises located at the corner of Lake and 
 Paulina Streets. During his life he was a successful man, and 
 was accustomed to say it ran in the family, for so also were his 
 father and grandfather, both of whom were successful business 
 men in Ireland. His grandfather, Thomas Lynch, was a dry goods 
 merchant, and a man of considerable wealth. He died near To- 
 ronto, Canada, in the early "fifties" while he was on a tour of in- 
 spection of his landed interests and was considering further in- 
 vestments. 
 
 John M. Bowling received his primary education at the Hamil- 
 ton public schools, and while his parents were residing in Chicago, 
 he was sent to St. Michael's College, Toronto, Canada, to complete 
 his education. His early desire was for a business career, and 
 when, at the age of eighteen, he left school, he entered his father's 
 store for a few years. 
 
 Soon after the war, Mr. Bowling, in company with his brother, 
 went to Little Kock, Ark., and opened a general store. Success 
 attended their efforts, and after a period of about nine years, they 
 returned to Chicago, where Mr. Bowling formed a partnership with 
 Martin Bowling, a younger brother, under the firm name of Bow- 
 ling Bros., at corner of Hubbard Street and Ogle Avenue. Their 
 business continued to prosper for four years until 1878, when Mr. 
 Bowling disposed of his interests in the business and practically 
 retired, devoting his entire time to his real estate investments, 
 which were of quite an extensive character. 
 
 In 1875, Mr. Bowling, Baniel O'Hara and John Cochran were 
 Chicago commissioners to the World's Exposition at Vienna, Aus- 
 tria, and transacted every duty in connection with that office to 
 universal satisfaction. In politics his views were those of the 
 Bemocratic party, but he never sought for political office nor de- 
 sired to possess. Betermined to know his country thoroughly he 
 had traveled extensively. A Roman Catholic, he was a strong ad-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 647 
 
 herent of the church, faithful to his religion and energetic and eager 
 of its interests. The Right-Key. Bishop Dowling, of Canada, was 
 another of his brothers. 
 
 Mr. Dowling was married January 19th, 1876, to Miss Jennie E. 
 Keaue, of County Clare, Ireland, daughter of William Keane and 
 Maria Gannon, and left six children Edward, who died in in- 
 fancy; Eveline Marie; Irene May; Laura Madeline; Helen, and 
 the youngest, John Joseph, a bright, lovable boy of nine years, in 
 whom the father took the greatest pride. 
 
 John Dowling was a true Irishman, as well as a thoroughly rep- 
 resentative American. A business man, he knew the value of 
 money, but in a good cause his liberality never failed. In his friend- 
 ship, and the number of his friends was legion, his sincerity was 
 unquestionable. As a good husband, he left nothing wanting, and 
 to his children he was ever a fond and loving father. Well may it 
 be said that in his loss a blank has been left which time can never 
 fill, and that every Irish American in Chicago will long miss the 
 kindly face and the noble nature of John Martin Dowling. 
 
 ANDERSON FOWLER. 
 
 Anderson Fowler, the managing director of the interests of the 
 celebrated Fowler Bros. (Limited), belongs to that hardy class of 
 American citizens who claim a heritage of Irish-Scotch ancestry. 
 His father, George Fowler, of County Fermanagh, in the North of 
 Ireland, traced his ancestry to a reverend member of the Fowler 
 family, who was a chaplain in Oliver Cromwell's army, and who
 
 648 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OF THE 
 
 came to Ireland with that leader and located in that section of 
 Northern Ireland in which our subject was born. The Fowler fam- 
 ily was celebated in England long before this, as one of its members, 
 Charles Fowler, was knighted during the time of the Crusades. 
 
 This English yeoman was apprised of the approach of the 
 enemy's array by the tooting of an owl, which noise awakened him 
 from his sleep, and enabled him to give an alarm that saved the 
 army from a disastrous surprise. For this action he was knighted, 
 and he chose an owl as the symbol of his coat-of-arms. This ex- 
 plains the reason that an owl is used as the Fowler crest. His ma- 
 ternal ancestors, Anderson by name, were of the sturdy Scotch race; 
 thus it can be seen that our subject is of the purest Anglo-Saxon ex- 
 traction. 
 
 He was born in County Fermanagh, North Ireland, on June 16th, 
 1843. His school education was obtained in the public schools of 
 his native section. When but twelve years of age, he began his 
 business career by entering his father's business, which had been 
 established in 1842. This business was in the wholesale provision 
 line, a line he has followed, with slight variations, ever since. In 
 1858 George Fowler, our subject's father, retired from mercantile 
 life, and seven of his sons formed a co-partnership and succeeded to 
 their father's business, organizing under the name of Fowler Broth- 
 el's, and conducting a general provision business. 
 
 Although but a lad of fifteen at this time, Anderson Fowler was 
 made a full partner, and shared the profits equally with his broth- 
 ers. 
 
 The eldest of the sons of George Fowler, James, is a canon in 
 the Church of England, and was never interested in the mercantile 
 pursuits of his brothers. Upon the death of his father, his broth- 
 ers having relinquished all their claims in the property to him, he 
 became possessed of his father's landed estates. This estate is 
 composed of farm lands located in North Ireland, in which George
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 649 
 
 Fowler had invested his fortune when he retired from business in 
 1858. Tliis property has never been a profitable investment. 
 
 In 1862 the Fowler Brothers began operations in the United 
 States, and at that time were the largest dealers in butter in the 
 world. In 1863 they commenced business in Chicago, and since 
 then our subject has divided his time between Liverpool, New York 
 and Chicago. They have branches or agencies in all of the large 
 cities of Europe and America, and the supervision that he has been 
 compelled to give these different foreign agencies has forced him 
 to make no less than seventy-seven trips across the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 The Fowler Brothers have always transacted their business 
 upon sound business principles, and have always believed that a 
 cash basis was the best for all concerned. Therefore, they have 
 never purchased a dollar's worth of stock on credit. They have 
 always been successful, and have ever been esteemed by the mer- 
 cantile community as good and shrewd business managers, who 
 have invariably conducted their business in the manner that brings 
 the best and most remunerative returns. 
 
 In 1890 the firm decided to dispose of a large share of their busi- 
 ness to a company, and listed their stock in the different exchanges 
 throughout Europe and America. Although several American 
 houses had previously done a similar thing, which had proved disas- 
 trous to the investors, the high esteem in which the Fowler Broth- 
 ers were held caused the first issue of $3,750,000 of stock to be ap- 
 plied for more than twice over. No more fitting testimonial of the 
 high respect the public has for the business principles and honor of 
 this firm can be cited. The name of the company upon its incor- 
 poration became known as the "Fowler Bros., Limited," and of this 
 gigantic company, with capital stock of $3,750,000 (with privilege 
 of increasing same to $4,500,000), our subject, Anderson Fowler, is 
 managing director and controlling spirit. All of this capital stock, 
 excepting $750,000, is held by European investors. One cannot
 
 550 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 realize the magnitude of the business that this corporation con- 
 ducts. They have large interests in the different cities of the United 
 States and Europe, but the center of all is in Chicago. They trans- 
 port their products from the West to the coast in their own refrig- 
 erator cars, which they manufacture themselves under patents of 
 which they have the control. 
 
 The distributive sales of this company exceed the immense sum 
 of twenty-five millions of dollars annually an amount so large 
 that it cannot be grasped by the average mind. 
 
 Although an Anglo-Saxon by birth, he has been a citizen of this, 
 his adopted country, for nearly a quarter of a century, and takes a 
 deep pride in being a citizen of this Republic. Politically he be- 
 longs to that great, intelligent body of business men that are known 
 as independent. 
 
 In 1877 our subject was married to Miss Emily Arthur, daughter 
 of the Rev. William Arthur, an eminent divine, of London, England. 
 The Rev. Mr. Arthur is one of the most prominent clergymen of 
 Great Britain. He is the author of a number of works of great lit- 
 erary merit, the most widely read and most popular being entitled 
 "The Tongue of Fire." He was deeply interested in the Union 
 cause during the War of the Rebellion, and advocated both with his 
 pen and his voice many means to assist the Northern cause. He 
 used his powerful influence to introduce the American envoys in 
 such manner as to enable them to settle the "Trent" affair, that 
 caused so much disquietude on both sides of the Atlantic, both 
 speedily and satisfactorily. 
 
 The union of Mr. and Mrs. Anderson Fowler has been blessed 
 with eleven children, eight of whom are still living, and in the circle 
 of his home, which their happy voices and pleasant, cheerful coun- 
 tenances enhance in happiness, he finds that true content only 
 found by a loving husband and father.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 551 
 
 He is a Methodist, and is ever ready, both with purse and in- 
 fluence, to assist in any worthy religious cause. 
 
 Such is his biography. In conclusion it can be truthfully stated 
 that Anderson Fowler has ever, in passing through life, used honor- 
 able principles that place him in a high position among the honor- 
 able business men of the world. He has ever conducted his business 
 affairs in such a manner as to gain the respect of the community; 
 he has ever endeavored to do to others as he would be done by. 
 With an untarnished name and unapproachable reputation, hon- 
 ored by his fellow citizens, and revered by his ma,ny friends, who 
 love him for his sterling integrity, there is no one who is more en- 
 titled to a prominent position in this biographical work than is An- 
 derson Fowler. 
 
 JEREMIAH H. CARMODY. 
 
 Jeremiah H. Carmody was born October 15th, 1854, near the 
 picturesque and historic Kilsham Abbey, County Limerick, Ireland, 
 which is celebrated as having been once occupied by the Danes 
 when those old sea kings were devastating the English coast with 
 fire and sword. The ancient abbey, now completely enveloped in 
 ivy, is as Burns describes, "Still beauteous in decay," and suggest- 
 ing peace rather than war and conquest 
 
 Mr. Cannody's father was a thorough Irishman, born at Knock- 
 fevna, County Limerick, in the year 1805. He emigrated to Amer- 
 ica in 1800, settling in Chicago, where he died very suddenly two 
 years afterwards at the age of sixty-three. He had married in 1841 
 Miss Johanna Hannan, a native of County Limerick, Ireland, and 
 
 29
 
 552 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 they had eleven children, of whom our subject the youngest of five 
 boys was the eighth in order of birth. His mother died at the 
 advanced age of eighty-two years. The grandfather of our subject, 
 Daniel Carmody, was quite a noted character, for he weighed three 
 hundred pounds and was known far and wide as "Big Dan." 
 
 Jeremiah H. Carmody was a lad of eleven when he came to 
 America. Living in the country, the schooling he had up to that 
 time obtained had been of a meager order. On arriving in Chicago, 
 therefore, he was at once sent to the Dore public school in the 
 then eighth ward now the nineteenth where he attended for a 
 year and a half, being then obliged by the circumstances of his 
 parents to set about making a living. His first venture was with 
 the firm of Scanlan Bros. & Calburn, candy merchants, with which 
 he remained twelve months, afterwards working in the grocery 
 business for two years with T. J. Fitzgerald, and then for three 
 years with J. K. Powers, buying the latter's business at the end 
 of that time with his savings and starting out for himself. 
 Only nineteen years of age, his abilities were of the highest 
 order, and he so successfully conducted his business on the 
 corner of Sholto and Gurley Streets for four years that he was 
 able to make a most advantageous sale. His next essay was 
 in the commission business in Webster County, Iowa, where 
 he remained for one year, and returning to Chicago entered 
 the employ of the Weare Commission Company, with whom 
 he remained twelve years. With a partner he again started in bus- 
 iness under the name of Carmody & Heath, commission merchants, 
 at 274 South Water Street, and conducted for five years, when he 
 sold out on acceptance, in 1893, of appointment as inspector in the 
 Sewerage Department of the city. This was under the late Carter 
 Harrison, but his duties have been performed in so exemplary a 
 manner that he has retained the position ever since. 
 
 Independent in his politics, Mr. Carmody has always taken the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 563 
 
 greatest interest in all public affairs. He is a member of St. 
 Agatha's Catholic Church, and also belongs to a number of civic 
 organizations, among which may be mentioned the Knights of St. 
 Patrick, of which he has been Priest five years; the Royal Arca- 
 num; the Royal League, and the Knights of Pythias. 
 
 EDWARD F. CULLERTON. 
 
 Edward F. Cullerton, one of Chicago's representative citizens as 
 well as successful business men, is a native of this city, where he was 
 born October llth, 1842, about six miles from the present City Hall, 
 llis parents, Edward and Catharine Cullerton, came to Chicago 
 from Ireland in 1835, and were residents of the city of their adop- 
 tion until at a ripe old age they were removed by death. 
 
 The subject of this brief sketch was educated in the public 
 schools of Chicago, and commenced active work when quite young. 
 His first employment was in the manufacture of bricks, after which 
 he was for several years teamster in the packing houses. He next 
 worked on the Illinois and Michigan Canal as driver, station agent, 
 captain and boat owner, and for many years was the agent of the 
 Walker & Brunson Towing Company at Bridgeport. 
 
 Mr. Cullerton was elected to the City Council from the Sixth 
 Ward in the year 1871, arid continuously represented that district 
 in the council until 1892. During this period he was elected and 
 served as a member of the House in the Twenty-eighth General As- 
 sembly. While in the City Council he served on the Finance Com- 
 mittee, was for seven years its Chairman, and was the acknowl- 
 edged leader of that body.
 
 554 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Mr. Oullerton was married in 1893 to Winuifred Dyer. They 
 hftve no children. 
 
 While Mr. Cullerton has given much of his time to the service 
 of his native City and State, he has also been active in business life. 
 He can boast of hosts of friends, and holds a place among our most 
 useful and most highly reputed and popular citizens. 
 
 MARTIN A. DELANY. 
 
 Martin A. DeLany was born of Irish parentage, October 4th, 1844, 
 in Newport Township, Lake County, Ills. His father, John DeLany, 
 came while yet a young man to Chicago in the year 1840. He then 
 went to Lake County, Ills., and having selected a tract of wild land, 
 purchased it from the United States government as soon as it came 
 into the market. Here he settled and shortly afterwards married, 
 his wife's maiden name being Maher; together they undertook the 
 privations and hardships of a pioneer life, seldom seeing anything 
 of the outside world except when Chicago forty miles distant and 
 at that time by no means the Chicago of to-day was visited to buy 
 the necessary family supplies. A large family of children of 
 Avhom Martin A. was the second eldest was here raised, and each 
 of the boys as he grew up, had to take part in the task of clearing 
 and developing the land. The settlement was then too new to pos- 
 sess either township or county organization, and Mr. DeLany took 
 an active part in all the preliminary movements which resulted in 
 the creation of Lake County and its township and school district 
 organization. In his house, too, was held the first meeting of set-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 555 
 
 tiers for the purpose of building a school house, a work which was 
 accomplished by the voluntary contribution of small sums and the 
 joint labor of the people. The building was located on Mr. De- 
 I^auy's farm, some eight miles northwest of the present site of Wau- 
 kegan, which was at that time a mere steamboat landing known as 
 Little Fort. In that school house the subject of this sketch ob- 
 tained what, education he could in the common branches, and at 
 the age of eighteen commenced a course of special study at an acad- 
 emy in Waukegan, after which he commenced the study of law in 
 that city while employed as a teacher in the schools adjacent 
 thereto. After two years' reading of this description, he, in I860, 
 entered the law department of Michigan University, and there pur- 
 sued the full course of study, graduating in 1868. In the spring of 
 1868 Mr. DeLany was admitted to the bar at Chicago; he then en- 
 gaged in the practice of his profession in Elgin and St. Charles, His 
 success, however, was small, for the opportunities were naturally 
 of a very limited character; in the fall of 1868 he returned to Chi- 
 cago and opened an office on Dearborn Street. His means being 
 exhausted, he was forced once more during the winter of 1868 and 
 1869 to resort to teaching, this time at Libertyville, inLakeCounty. 
 
 The May following, he returned to Chicago, once more starting 
 in business and with full determination to succeed. In the great 
 fire of October, 1871, he suffered the loss of all his personal effects; 
 but immediately after the fire, business was re-commenced, and has 
 continued successfully ever since. His practice is chiefly in probate, 
 commercial and real estate law and the law of contracts. He is a 
 member of the Chicago Bar Association. 
 
 Mr. DeLany was elected in 1876 to the Illinois State Senate from 
 the Sixth Senatorial District, North Chicago, and in that body 
 served through the sessions of the Thirtieth and Thirty-first. General 
 Assemblies. As an active Democrat, in the memorable struggle 
 which resulted in the election of Hon. David Davis to the United
 
 556 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 States Senate, he took a leading part, as also in the passage of the 
 laws establishing the Appellate Courts in Illinois, and was the 
 author of the act creating the Probate Court 
 
 In 1879 Mr. DeLany was appointed a member of the Chicago 
 Board of Education, and after one year's service was elected its 
 President, and at the expiration of his term of office, was unani- 
 mously re-elected to the same honorable position. As a member of 
 that board, he was a chief advocate in all measures tending to the 
 welfare of the public schools of Chicago, and was a leading spirit 
 in the movement which resulted in 1880 in the election of Mr. 
 George Rowland as Superintendent of Schools. 
 
 Mr. DeLany is a Roman Catholic, and was married in December, 
 1870, to Miss Kate Wetzel, daughter of Nicholas Wetzel of Wauke- 
 gan, by whom he has three daughters, Emma, Mary and Eleanor, 
 and two sons Clarence and Russell. The oldest daughter Emma 
 is a graduate of Vassar College, New York; where the other two 
 are now students. 
 
 JOHN CAMPION. 
 
 John Campion, Second Assistant Chief of the Chicago Fire De- 
 partment, was born in County Kilkenny, Ireland, February, 1848. 
 His father, Michael Campion, left Ireland for the United States in 
 1848, settling first at Troy, N. Y., and later at Wappingers Falls, 
 dying at the latter in 1851; while his mother, Julia (Persell) Cam- 
 pion, was also born in Kilkenny, Ireland, and died in Chicago in 
 1881. 
 
 The subject of this sketch attended St. Mary's school on 
 Lake Street and the Jones public school on Clark Street until he
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 557 
 
 was twelve years of age, wheii, in order to assist his mother in the 
 support of the family, he left school and secured work at the old 
 King tannery on Sherman Street, at the same time attending night 
 school. His first duty was to watch the bark piles and later he was 
 engaged in piling bark. Having continued at this business for one 
 summer, he secured a position with Washburn & Walker, large 
 manufacturers of cots and beds during the war time. He next 
 found occupation with the Chicago Times, with which he remained 
 three years, filling various positions, commencing with that of the 
 historical "devil." During this time, with two others, he was se- 
 verely hurt in an accident; the roof of the Times building, owing to 
 the weight of snow, fell through three stories. Later, and during 
 the time the Times was suppressed, he was in the employ of Joseph 
 Duffy, who had a news stand in the Tremont House. He recalls as 
 an interesting fact that the day the Times was closed by the Federal 
 authorities, people were offering f 1.00 for a copy of the paper. 
 
 Soon after this he secured work at the stock yards, shipping 
 cattle there until November llth, 1869, when he secured an appoint- 
 ment in the Fire Department. In 1866, while engaged in shipping 
 East, he and a companion left some cattle they had on the road and 
 returned to Buffalo to take part in the contemplated Fenian inva- 
 sion of Canada. 
 
 April 1st, 1870, he became a regular member of the Chicago Fire 
 Department and was assigned to the steamer Little Giant as pipe- 
 man. Of this company, at the time of the big fire, he was head pipe- 
 man, while Assistant Chief Musham was foreman, and to them be- 
 longs the credit of obtaining the first water. In 1873 he was made 
 captain and was given charge of the company that protected the 
 Exposition of that year on the Lake Front, being at that time the 
 youngest man of his rank in the department. Later he was trans- 
 ferred to Engine No. 2, given position of captain of No. Little 
 Giant and thence transferred to No. 17, No. 1, and in 1881 becom-
 
 558 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ing chief of the Seventh Battalion, with headquarters on Twelfth 
 Street. Here he served seven years, then being transferred to 
 Battalion No. 5, with headquarters at Washington and Clinton 
 Streets. lu 1893 he was made third assistant Chief, and the fol- 
 lowing year second assistant Chief, and third in command of the 
 Chicago Fire Department, a position of very grave responsibility, 
 the duties of which he has performed to the absolute satisfaction 
 of the Fire Department as well as the general public. 
 
 COL. FRANCIS T. COLBY. 
 
 No happier example of the term American Irish could be dis- 
 covered than the subject of the present sketch, Francis T. Colby. 
 Though born in Chicago, the descendant on his father's side of one 
 of the old New England families, it is from his mother, Mary 
 Whelan as she was, that he has inherited that love of co'untry 
 which has made the name of Irishman synonymous with that of 
 patriotism. Mary Wlielau was the third child of Edward and 
 Elizabeth Whelan, and was born near Tullow, in County Carlow. 
 Edward Whelan was a prosperous tenant farmer in Ireland, but 
 becoming involved in the uprising of '48, he was compelled to flee 
 with his family to America. Thereupon he settled in Chicago, 
 dying there in 1880 at the age of eighty-three years. Proudly he 
 used to boast that there was not a generation of his family which 
 had not "done something for the old land," instancing his uncle, 
 James Whelan, who was transported for "treason," and his grand- 
 father, Edward Whelan, who gave up his life for participation in 
 the Rebellion of '98. Heart and soul Colonel Colby is devoted to 
 the mother land, and did Ireland possess many such ardent workers
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 561 
 
 as himself, her freedom in the near future from English rule and 
 mismanagement would be assured. 
 
 The Colbys are among the oldest and leading of New England 
 families, tracing back their settlement at Salem, Massachusetts, 
 to 1630, when Anthony Colby, who was born at Beccles, England, 
 in 1590, adventured the perils of the Atlantic and found a home 
 iu the British colonies in America, Anthony and Susanna Oolby, 
 his wife, appear among the companions of Edward Winthrop when 
 returning from a visit to England in the interest of the Plymouth 
 settlements. Their son, Isaac, married a Miss Rowley, to whom 
 was born another Isaac in 1680, who took to himself in marriage a 
 Miss Fowler. Another Isaac resulted in 1709. Ee lived at An- 
 dover and Haver-hill, and his sou, William Davis Colby, born in 
 1742, took part in the French and Indian War of 1762, afterwards 
 marrying Elizabeth Straw. Living in Hopkinton, New Hamp- 
 shire, they reared a son Isaac, who was born in 1780, and twenty- 
 three years later married Miss Eunice Fagg. They lived at Boston 
 and Amherst, Isaac Colby dying there in 1840. William Colby, 
 their son, was born at Boston in 1804 and died at Detroit, Michigan, 
 in 1875. He had married in 1825 Miss Sarah Clogstou, and they 
 went to live at Amherst, Massachusetts. Here they had six chil- 
 dren born, among whom was Andrew J. Colby, the father of the 
 subject of this sketch. 
 
 . Francis T. Colby was born in this city, September 27th, 1860. 
 He attended the Brown, Hayes and old Central High School, from 
 which he graduated in June, 1876, entering the Chicago University 
 the same year. He graduated, taking his degree with honor in 
 1880. While pursuing his university career he was also studying 
 law under the able tutorship of Judge James Goggin, and soon 
 after his graduation he was admitted to the bar, on his twenty-first 
 birthday. 
 
 In his chosen profession Colonel Colby has achieved eminent
 
 562 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 success, and in such departments of the law as deal with the exam- 
 ination of real estate titles and in general probate matters he has 
 gained a reputation second to none in the West. Among the legal 
 societies his activity has brought him well to the fore, and for sev- 
 eral years past he has been numbered in the foremost members of 
 the Chicago Bar Association, the Chicago Law Institute and the 
 American Bar Association. 
 
 His heavy duties professionally and in connection with his 
 military matters have left him but little time to devote to political 
 affairs, but he is known throughout the city as a Democrat of thor- 
 oughly fixed opinions. Though several times requested, he has 
 always refused to be a candidate for public office of any descrip- 
 tion, but he was in 1888 nominated by the workingmen's party for 
 State's Attorney. Though he declined even this nomination in 
 writing, his name was retained on the ticket, and he received the 
 compliment of more than 12,000 votes. 
 
 His connection with military matters is one to be well proud 
 of. From his early youth he has taken a peculiar interest in army 
 affairs, and the short sketch of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Na- 
 tional Guard which follows testifies to the good work he has done. 
 
 Colonel Colby's abilities as a lawyer have gained him big re- 
 turn, both in reputation and financially. He has been able to 
 invest considerably in real estate, which his legal knowledge and 
 ready grasp of the moment have enabled him to select with most 
 excellent judgment. His relaxations have not been many, but he 
 has found time for extensive travel and is at home not only in 
 America but also in Great Britain, his loved Ireland he visited his 
 mother's birth-place in 1890 and the leading European centers of 
 art, science, literature and general culture. 
 
 He is essentially a home man, his wife and family are always to 
 him in the first place. Though an active member of the Columbus 
 Club, that phase of existence known as club life holds small attrac-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 563 
 
 tions for the brilliant lawyer, the born soldier, but first and before 
 everything else, the devoted husband and the fond father. 
 
 His wife, Rose L. Sullivan, is a native of Chicago, of Irish birth, 
 as her name conclusively shows. She is a daughter of Patrick and 
 Elizabeth (McKenna.) Sullivan. They have had six children, Fran- 
 cis Everett, Francesca Beatrice, Rosita Marie, Evelyn Florence Ce- 
 celia, Genevieve Lucile and Imogene Helen; of these the eldest, 
 Francis Everett and Rosita Marie, are dead. 
 
 Colonel Colby has since he completed his educational course 
 been prominently connected with various fraternal and benevolent 
 societies. He was one of the early members of the Catholic Order 
 of Foresters, organized the Uniform Rank of that body, and was 
 elected its first Supreme Commander in 1892. lie was president of 
 the United Irish, Societies in 1890. In 1891 he became First State 
 President of the Catholic Benevolent Legion, and he also holds 
 high offices in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the 
 Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Independent Order of For- 
 esters, the Catholic Benevolent Legion, the Royal League and the 
 Royal Arcanum. 
 
 SEVENTH INFANTRY, ILLINOIS NATIONAL GUARD. 
 
 The Hibernian Rifles was probably the result of that quality in 
 the Irish race, which has linked its name with all of the important 
 battles of modern times, coupled with the hope which "springs 
 eternal" in the Irish breast, that the time may come when they can 
 strike a blow for the Old Land. The old Second Regiment, Illi- 
 nois National Guard, composed largely of veterans of the rebellion 
 of 1861-1865, was but' the expression of those sentiments which in 
 that war produced Col. Mulligan's regiment from Chicago. Each 
 generation has given evidence of the valor and patriotism of the 
 Irish people, by the formation of regiments of soldiers, ready to
 
 564 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 
 
 respond to the call of their native or adopted country. The Hi- 
 bernian Rifles was formed in 1876 and at first consisted of a single 
 company composed of members belonging to the Ancient Order of 
 Hibernians. The number of companies subsequently increased to 
 four and a battalion was formed. The organization was incorpor- 
 ated October 31st, 1881, the incorporators being James F. Lusk, 
 Thomas P. Shanahan and John R. Cook, while Joseph Ruberry, 
 John Kiusella, John Mulcahey and Moses G. Flood composed the 
 Board of Directors. The progress of the battalion was gratifying 
 and supported by a united organization of great strength, it was 
 soon equipped. Subsequently differences having arisen in the An- 
 cient Order of Hibernians, which resulted in a division of that or- 
 ganization, the position of the Hibernian Rifles became correspond- 
 ingly weakened, for it had members from both sides in its ranks. 
 The wise action of its officers, however, kept it from drifting upon 
 the rocks which have shattered so many Irish organizations, and it 
 continued to thrive. Among its commanding officers during those 
 years were Majors Flood, Kiusella, Brophy, Lusk and Ford. In 
 1889 Thomas L. Hartigan, a graduate of the United States Military 
 Academy at West Point and former Adjutant of the Second Regi- 
 ment, I. N. G., by the unanimous request of the officers of the Rifles 
 took command of the organization and soon enlarged it to a regi- 
 ment, becoming its first Colonel. Col. Colby, who while the or- 
 ganization was a battalion had been appointed by Col. Hartigau 
 Inspector of Rifle Practice, with the rank of Captain, was now 
 elected Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment. It had long been the 
 desire of the regiment to become a recognized part of the State 
 troops, and accordingly Messrs. Hartigan and Colby were directed 
 to make application to have the regiment mustered into the Na- 
 tional Guard. Joseph W. Fifer, who was then Governor of the 
 State, declared that he would like to muster in the regiment, but 
 that the law restricted the membership of the National Guard, so
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 565 
 
 that he could not do so unless an amendatory law should be passed. 
 Such an act was immediately drafted and introduced into the Sen- 
 ate and House of Representatives and subsequently passed and be- 
 came a law. Governor Fifer then refused to carry out his agree- 
 ment to muster in the regiment, and the result was very depressing 
 on the organization and seemed to threaten its existence. To add 
 to the complications Colonel llartigan's professional engagements 
 compelled him to resign the Colonelcy of the regiment. Major 
 James II. Lynch was elected to fill the remaining two months of his 
 term, Colonel Colby being unwilling at that time to assume the re- 
 sponsibility of the position, as he \vas taking an active part in the 
 gubernatorial campaign which was then in progress, Governor 
 Fifer being a candidate for re-election, and being opposed by John 
 P. Altgeld. 
 
 The annual election of the regiment resulted in the choice of 
 Mr. Colby for Colonel, and he at once proceeded to Springfield and 
 made formal application to Governor Altgeld (who had in the mean- 
 time been chosen Governor of the State) to have the regiment mus- 
 tered into the National Guard. After a thorough review of all the 
 circumstances surrounding the matter the Governor decided that 
 the honor of the executive office of the State was involved in the 
 matter and that it was his duty to carry out the promise made by 
 Governor Fifer, and which the latter had refused to fulfill. Ac- 
 cordingly, on the 22nd day of February, 1893, an order was issued 
 directing the Adjutant General of the State to proceed to Chicago 
 to muster in the Hibernian Rifles as the Seventh Infantry-, Illinois 
 National Guards. The long series of disappointments which the 
 regiment had undergone had reduced the eight companies so that 
 they did not at that time include more than 126 men and officers. 
 Colonel Colby immediately set at work upon the task of building 
 up the regiment to the number which the law required in order to 
 be mustered in as a regiment, viz: 425 men and officers. This was
 
 566 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 accomplished by the most persistent effort, and the regiment was 
 mustered in upon the 21st day of June, 1893. Colonel Colby was 
 unanimously elected Colonel of the new regiment, and his first of- 
 ficial act was to appoint Captain Thomas L. Hartigan adjutant of 
 the regiment. An armory was procured at 23 Lake Street, Chicago, 
 the rent of which was paid by the State; rifles, uniforms and other 
 equipments were also procured from the same source. The Rev- 
 erend Edward A. Kelly was appointed Chaplain, Major Michael E. 
 McGrath, surgeon; Captain Jeremiah S. Hyland, inspector of rifle 
 practice. A school for officers was established, which held sessions 
 every Monday night, each company drilled every week and bat- 
 talion drills were held monthly. The following were the company 
 commanders in 1893: 
 
 Captains John Hayden, Michael Punch, Michael D. Sullivan, 
 Jeremiah O'Hearn, Daniel Moriarity, Charles Murray, Patrick M. 
 Boggan, William J. Carroll and Patrick L. McArdle. Marcus Kav- 
 anagh was elected lieutenant colonel December 30th, 1893. On 
 June 17th, 1894, the regiment was ordered out upon its first tour of 
 duty. The telegraph order was received at 11:20 P. M., and, al- 
 though the regiment was scattered from South Chicago to Lake 
 View and from the lake to Austin, the arrangements for its mobili- 
 zation were so perfect and so well carried out that the entire force 
 left Chicago on a special train at 5:50 A. M., June 18th. The com- 
 mand arrived at its destination, Mount Olive, Macoupin County, at. 
 2:30 P. M. on that day, and immediately entered upon the perform- 
 ance of the duties assigned. Peace was at once restored, and the 
 civil authorities enabled to perform their duties. On June 20th, 
 having received the thanks of the Governor for its "prompt re- 
 sponse, efficient service and soldierly bearing," the regiment re- 
 turned to Chicago. M. Frank Gallagher was appointed quarter- 
 master of the regiment on June 30th, 1894, and held that position 
 until his death, February 29th, 1896, when Michael H. Hoey was
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 567 
 
 appointed to succeed him. The next duties which the regiment was 
 called upon to perform were in connection with the riots in Chicago 
 and vicinity in July, 1894. The regiment responded promptly to the 
 order for its assembly on July 6th, 1894, and remained on duty until 
 July 27th, 1894, when it was relieved. During a great portion of 
 this time a battalion of the regiment was the only force protecting 
 the central portion of the city, the other battalion and the remain- 
 ing regiments and police force being distributed upon the outskirts 
 of the city. 
 
 At different times during the tour of duty, portions of the com- 
 mand were stationed at Kiverdale, Harvey, West Pullman, Blue 
 Island, Hawthorne and the Burlington and Quincy Railroad Yards 
 at Sixteenth Street and Western Avenue. At the time of this tour 
 Captain Daniel T. McGraw had succeeded Captain Hayden; Mar- 
 tin Duhig, Captain O'Hearn; Jeremiah J. Sisk, Captain Murray; 
 and John F. Ryan, Captain Boggan. 
 
 The regiment had now increased so that it became necessary to 
 procure larger quarters and the Illinois Central offices at Lake 
 Street and Michigan Avenue, were secured and fitted up. Four new 
 companies were added to the regiment, commanded by Captains 
 Michael E. Cassidy, Charles V. McAdam, John M. Clasby and Philip 
 J. Barry. The Regimental Band, under the leadership of Principal 
 Musician John F. Forrest, and a drum and bugle corps, were also 
 organized. Colonel Colby, with the assistance of Quartermaster 
 Gallagher, collected $5,500 and purchased dress uniforms for the 
 command in June, 1895. In July, 1895, the regiment had its first 
 encampment for practice drill at Springfield, Illinois, and acquitted 
 itself to the satisfaction of Governor Altgeld and Adjutant-General 
 Orendorff. January 7, 1896, Captain Hartigan resigned the adju- 
 tancy of the regiment and Orlando W.Keatley was appointed to suc- 
 ceed him. On March 4, 1896, Dr. Thomas J. Sullivan was appointed 
 major and surgeon in place of Major McGrath, who resigned upon
 
 568 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 his removal to Colorado. On March 24, 1896, Colonel Colby re- 
 signed the colonelcy of the regiment, and by special order issued by 
 Governor Altgeld was placed upon the veteran roll of the Illinois 
 National Guard, with the rank of Colonel. Lieutenant-Colonel Mar- 
 cus Kavanagh was elected to succeed him. At the time of Colonel 
 Colby's resignation the regiment included twelve companies, band, 
 drum and bugle corps and a hospital corps, and numbered 726 men 
 and officers. On January 23rd Governor John R. Tanner conferred 
 upon Colonel Colby the Illinois National Guard Veteran Decoration 
 for his services to the Guard. In May, 1897, the regiment removed 
 to its present spacious armory on the corner of Wabash avemie and 
 llubbard Court, and under the able leadership of Colonel Kava- 
 nagh is in a flourishing condition. 
 
 In point of membership, discipline and drill the regiment is sec- 
 ond to none in the State. 
 
 FRANCIS AGNEW. 
 
 Large-hearted, handsome, generous, Frank Agnew, as he was 
 commonly called, left a, void in the hearts of many devoted friends, 
 when in the spring of 1896, the hand of death touched him and he 
 slept. To him, a. book of this character peculiarly appealed ; in its 
 preliminaries, no one was a more interested participant than him- 
 self, and it is but fitting the work when completed should record 
 something of one who was intimately and closely connected with 
 every movement and with every great work in which the American 
 Irish of Chicago have participated during the last thirty-five years. 
 
 No man in Chicago was better known, and to know Frank Agnew 
 was to love him. Strong in his opinions, unwavering in his prin-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. ( | 56 
 
 ciples, he possessed almost as many sincere friends among those 
 who politically opposed him as in the Democratic party, to which, 
 since his arrival in this country, he had ever steadfastly adhered. 
 To party, however, he was never in any sense a slave, corruption 
 and chicanery he fought with all his strength and power, no matter 
 where displayed, and had he been more pliable as a politician, un- 
 questionably he could have held high political office during the 
 greater portion of his career. Upon the lives of Thomas Jefferson 
 and Andrew Jackson, for whom he had the profoundest veneration, 
 believing conscientiously, and after close study, that no nobler 
 Americans had ever lived, he modelel his own life. 
 
 Francis Agnew was born in Dundee, Scotland, December 2, 1837, 
 Both of his parents were of Irish birth, his mother before her mar- 
 riage being Miss Dorothy O'Connor, a native of Sligo. She died 
 in Dundee, Scotland, in 1873. His father, John Agnew, was born 
 in County Armagh, but resided for many years in Dundee, Scotland, 
 where he was a prosperous merchant. He died there in 1868. His 
 parents were the first Catholic couple married in Dundee, Scotland, 
 since the time of the Information. His early education was re- 
 ceived in his native land, but even when a mere boy the spirit of 
 enterprise and adventure was strong within him, and he came to the 
 United States with his uncle, Charles O'Connor, in 1850. Young 
 Agnew remained but a short time in New York, settling in Chicago 
 in the early fifties. Here he took some schooling at St. Mary's of 
 the Lake, and served an apprenticeship to the masonry and brick- 
 laying trades, acquiring a thorough and practical knowledge, 
 which did much towards placing him in the position he later at- 
 tained. He managed to educate himself during the time by a hard 
 course of night school. His time finished, he was able to command 
 good wages, and then the purchase of a home was his first ambition. 
 He was a thorough believer in the stereotyped phrase that "Knowl- 
 edge is power," and his thirst for information was very difficult to 
 
 30
 
 570 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 satisfy. Literary and debating societies always held for him rare 
 interest as well as all those subjects that serve to improve the mind 
 and to add to the usefulness, while at the same time, improving the 
 condition of the young. 
 
 Mr. Agnew was one of the oldest members of the Chicago Vol- 
 unteer Fire Department, of which he was one of the organizers, and 
 found his closest associate in Ms fellow townsman, Denis J. Swenie, 
 who now has for so many years been the honored chief fire marshal. 
 After the fire department became a regular force in which again 
 he took considerable part Francis Agnew still, for some time, 
 continued his connection and was president of the Firemen's Be- 
 nevolent Association for several years after its organization. Not 
 until 1865 did he start in the business of building and contracting. 
 
 His business prospered greatly from the first, and he was soon in 
 receipt of a very good income. Preceding the big fire he construct- 
 ed a considerable number of the largest buildings in the city, and 
 subsequent to that disastrous event, he took the contract for a 
 large number. Mr. Agnew's bent of mind was essentially of a 
 business order. He possessed positively a mathematical genius for 
 securing important contracts, and no man in the United States 
 in his profession has a grander record for the rearing of great 
 public structures. The magnitude of the work never possessed any 
 fears for dauntless Frank, difficulty was but another name for op- 
 portunity, and enabled him to display the best and boldest points 
 of his truly remarkable character. In the summer of 1892, when 
 a great storm swept down the greater portion of the famous Manu- 
 factures' and Liberal Arts' Building at the World's Fair the 
 largest ever put under one roof he set to work again bravely 
 and cheerily, completing the immense undertaking in full time 
 for the formal opening of that immortal exposition by the President 
 of the United States. His closest friends, well aware of his extra- 
 ordinary moral courage, were amazed at the wonderful ardor which
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 671 
 
 positively refused to acknowledge defeat. Ilis work and the name 
 of Francis Agnevv will live in future years in honorable association 
 with the greatest of the buildings that rendered so incomparably 
 majestic the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. 
 
 The firm of Agnew & Company, of which the subject of this 
 sketch was the guiding mind, consisted of ex- Alderman John Mc- 
 Gilleu, John Agnew (his eldest son) and himself. Mr. Agnew's 
 fame as a builder was not only confined to this city, his name was 
 known all over the United States. Under his management and su- 
 perintendence were constructed nearly all the finest buildings in 
 St. Paul and Minneapolis. Of these particular mention may be 
 given to the Ryan Hotel at St Paul, the famous West Hotel at 
 Minneapolis, the postoffices of both these cities, the Globe Building 
 at St Paul, and many others. At Duluth, also, a number of the 
 great elevators and other buildings passed through his hands. In 
 Chicago he was known as the leading contractor of the City Hall, 
 the builder of Hooley's Theater, St. Xavier's Academy, and many 
 other well-known structures. He also built the greater portion of 
 the Town of Pullman, and had a big contract on the drainage, canal. 
 
 Of Mr. Agnew as an Irishman and patriot, special mention is nec- 
 essary. Though born in Scotland, it is not possible for any man 
 to have sincerer attachment to the cause of liberty for Ireland, or 
 greater devotion to the dear old land across the seas. The cause 
 might be weakened by the faults, the errors, and the crimes of 
 some of its votaries, Frank Agnew remained steadfast in his 
 faith. When the Phoenix Park tragedy threw Ireland's hopes into 
 gloom, when the Parnell collapse drowned the hopes of years, his 
 was the same brave and unwavering faith as in the hour when 
 Gladstone was forced to throw open the prison doors, and the first, 
 and by far the best, home rule bill for Ireland was brought before 
 the English House of Commons. Not by words alone was his de- 
 votion to Ireland's cause displayed, of his means he gave most lib-
 
 572 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OF THE 
 
 erally to help the work his faithful heart so sincerely believed in. 
 Long and bitterly will his stalwart form, noble countenance and 
 winning smile be missed in the gatherings of bis kindred in 
 Chicago. 
 
 For reasons before stated, Francis Agnew did not possess so high 
 a political record as he might have done had he so desired. In the 
 fall of 1874, in opposition to Timothy M. Bradley, the Republican 
 standard bearer, he was a candidate for sheriff on the People's party 
 ticket. Mr. Bradley's following was a strong one, but Mr. Agnew 
 easily defeated him, and with the, at that time, extraordinary ma- 
 jority of 13,000 votes. During his term of office, the duties of 
 sheriff were performed in a manner absolutely defying adverse criti- 
 cism, and on his return to his private business, he found that ex- 
 panded to an enormous extent. In 1880, Mr. Agnew was elected as 
 chairman of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee, and 
 served in that capacity for a number of years. In 1894, in answer 
 to the requests of a number of his friends, he was induced to be- 
 come a candidate for county commissioner, and though he suffered 
 defeat, in the landslide that in that year buried the Democratic 
 party, he led his ticket by several thousand votes. 
 
 He was married in 1860 to Ellen O'Neill, a lady born in Chicago, 
 of Irish parentage, in 1839, a daughter of Michael and Maria (Daor- 
 kin) O'Neill, of this city. She survives her husband. Of this union 
 eight children were born, and of these all except one are living: 
 Charles, who died in 1888 at the age of ten. John P. Agnew is now 
 head of the firm of Agnew & Company, which his father founded. 
 Francis, Jr., Michael, Thomas, and Edward, Mrs. Charles P. Mona- 
 han of Chicago, and Mrs. E. J. Darrah, whose husband is corpora- 
 tion counsel of St. Paul, Minn. Three brothers of Frank Agnew 
 also reside in Chicago: John, who is connected with the city fire 
 and building inspection departments j Luke, who is engaged in the 
 coal business, and the Rev. P. J. Agnew, one of the most eloquent
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 673 
 
 priests iii the archdiocese. Miss Margaret Agnew, a sister, is a resi- 
 dent of Chicago, while another brother remains in Scotland. 
 
 Mr. Agnew was twice elected president of the famous Irish- 
 Ainericau Club of Chicago, which so hospitably entertained Charles 
 Stewart Paruell, and other Irish leaders, when the United States 
 was visited during the stirring periods of the Land League, and 
 the Irish National League agitations. He was a member of the 
 Builders' and Traders' Union, was also one of the first members of 
 the Union Catholic Library Association, and an active member of 
 a large number of social and benevolent societies, his sympathies 
 going out to his fellowmen without reference to creed, race, or 
 political opinion. 
 
 In the fall of 1893, Mr. Agnew received a severe, and for some 
 time thought to be a fatal injury by being struck by a cable car. 
 His rugged constitution, however, withstood the shock and he re- 
 covered, although he was never the same man as before, and suf- 
 fered frequently from bad headaches. Still he worked on, and for 
 some months, and up to three weeks of his death, he had been en- 
 gaged in the construction of a large public institution in the south- 
 ern part of the state. Certain violent symptoms then alarmed him, 
 and medical counsel was sought. Advised to try the springs at 
 West Baden, Ind., he spent some days there, but his condition 
 found no improvement. He returned home and had recourse to 
 leading physicians. They diagnosed his complaint as Bright's dis- 
 ease of the kidneys, intensified by heart complication. lie strug- 
 gled along and was at his Office the Monday preceding the Friday 
 on which he died, May 8, 1896, surrounded by all the surviving 
 members of his family resident in America. 
 
 In a deeply sympathetic obituary article John F. Finerty of the 
 Chicago Citizen thus spoke of him: 
 
 "In Mr. Agnew the editor of this paper has lost a beloved friend 
 of thirty years' sunshine and storm; and he has never laid upon
 
 574 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the grave of any man a tribute more sincerely bestowed. It is im- 
 possible, almost in the moment of berea.vement, to do entire justice 
 to the memory of one who but yesterday was a part of daily life, 
 and to-day is gone forever from worldly ken. In fact it is almost 
 impossible to realize that the cheerful, vital, forceful existence of 
 
 Frank Agnew has been so suddenly and unexpectedly terminated by 
 
 t 
 the grim arrest of the hand of death." 
 
 The article terminated with the well-known words of Tom Moore, 
 Ireland's great poet : 
 
 "It is not the tear at this moment shed 
 
 When the cold turf has been just laid o'er him, 
 That tells how beloved was the friend that's fled. 
 
 And how deep in our hearts we deplore him. 
 'Tis the tear through many a long day wept, 
 
 'Tis life's whole path o'ershaded, 
 'Tis the one remembrance fondly kept 
 
 When all lighter griefs have faded." 
 
 The funeral services, which were given at the Cathedral of the 
 Holy Name, May 11, 1896, drew together so many friends of the 
 deceased, anxious to pay honor to his memory, that the capacity of 
 that large structure was forced to the utmost. Seldom indeed has 
 such a gathering of Chicago's most prominent citizens met to give 
 a last tribute to one of their number. A great concourse of mourn- 
 ers followed in carriages to Calvary Cemetery, where all that is 
 mortal of noble Frank Agnew waits the last great summons.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 575 
 
 REV. MICHAEL J. FITZSIMMONS, 
 
 The Romau Catholic Church in Chicago is represented by many 
 able clergymen of such power and lives as would bring honor to any 
 community in which they might live, men of such lovable natures 
 as win the affections as well as the respect of those under their 
 charge, and are consequently the better enabled to move their peo- 
 ple along those paths whose watchword is religion and whose lights 
 are faith and morals. Of the Catholic priests of the diocese of Chi- 
 cago there is none of higher personal consideration among the 
 members of his own faith, as well as those of a different religious 
 opinion, than the subject of the present sketch, the Rev. Michael J. 
 Fitzsiminons. 
 
 He was born in Chicago of Irish parents, over forty years ago, 
 and feels justly proud of his origin in this ideal American city. 
 Ilis father, Michael Fitzsimmons, came to this country as a boy 
 and succeeded well in life, both as a citizen of Chicago and later as a 
 resident of Morris, Ills., until his death in 1855. 
 
 Rev. Michael J. Fitzsimmous received his primary education in 
 the parochial schools of Morris, going thence for a classical course 
 to St. Joseph's College at Tentopolis, Ills., where he graduated in 
 1878, and continuing his studies for the church, after spending a 
 year in St. Viateur's Seminary, near Kankakee, Ills., went to St. 
 Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, and three years later was ordained 
 from there in August, 1882, in the very Cathedral of which he is 
 now rector. 
 
 His first appointment was to St. Mary's Church, Wabash Avenue 
 and Eldridge Court, and thence, during the same year, he was trans- 
 ferred to the Cathedral. From assistant pastor he was promoted to
 
 576 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 the position of Chancellor of the Archdiocese, and on the death of 
 Very Rev. P. J. Conway, V. G., was made rector of the Cathedral of 
 the Holy Name. 
 
 The present beauty of this magnificent building is a fitting mon- 
 ument to his artistic taste and successful energy, for upon him fell 
 the onerous duty of accomplishing the thorough and expensive 
 renovation that has given to Chicago the most beautiful, if not the 
 most costly, church edifice in the United States. 
 
 R. P. O'GRADY. 
 
 II. P. O'Grady was born June 24th, 1864, at Glin, in the County 
 of Limerick, Ireland, fifteen miles west of the city of Limerick. 
 This beautiful littletown, which overlooks the river Shannon, is sur- 
 rounded by the lovely estate of the Knight of Glin. He came to this 
 city in June, 1880, and having spent one year at Bryant & Stratton's 
 Business College, found employment from 1882 to 1889 as clerk at 
 Illinois Central freight office, and during the great eight-hour move- 
 ment in 1886 was chosen organizer of railroad employes of this city. 
 AVheii the railroad companies refused to accede to the demand of 
 the employes, Mr. O'Grady was called upon at an open meeting 
 on the lake front to answer the well-known railroad manager and 
 statesman, E. T. Jeffery. He was successful in organizing a union 
 seventeen hundred strong inside of one day, and afterward was 
 turned into an assembly of the Knights of Labor. Four days later, 
 when the bomb was thrown at Haymarket Square, resulting in kill- 
 ing and wounding several police officers, the freight employes were 
 holding a meeting on the North Side, at which Mr. O'Grady was pre-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 579 
 
 siding. On learning what had happened, the chairman had a com- 
 mittee appointed to notify all companies through the press that old 
 employes should immediately return to their respective positions 
 and protect the lives and property of the various companies. Mr. 
 O'Grady was nominated in 1887 by the Union Labor party, then 
 very strong, for West Town Assessor, but he resigned in favor of 
 the regular Democratic nominee, who secured the election. 
 
 Having been for some time engaged in business pursuits, in the 
 spring of 1890 he left for Denver, Col., where he published a weekly 
 paper known as the "Rocky Mountain Cricket." In the fall of 1891 
 he went to California, and later in the same year to Texas, where 
 he became connected with some journals published at Dallas and 
 Galveston. In the spring of 1893 a trip was made by him through 
 the South from Dallas to New Orleans and Atlanta, Ga., and re- 
 turning by way of Cincinnati, so as to take in all the old battle 
 grounds. He returned to Chicago June llth, 1892, and immediately 
 became connected with the "Chicago Dispatch" from its first edition 
 to December, 1895, when he joined the "Chicago Mail," and later 
 published a bright though short-lived Irish weekly called "The 
 Shamrock." During the memorable campaign of 1896, Mr. O'Grady 
 started, to aid the silver cause, a new weekly which he called "The 
 People." In this powerful weekly Mr. O'Grady positively declines to 
 support any candidate for political office who was not a free silver- 
 ite in 1890, and in the spring election of 1897 he was able to do much 
 towards bringing about the election of Carter II. Harrison, Mayor 
 of Chicago. 
 
 In Mr. O'Grady, editor and publisher, the generous natured and 
 kindly young Irishman, his people, whether across the seas or the 
 free land circumstances have forced them to seek, have always a 
 good friend aud a fearless advocate. 
 
 He was married on April 8, 1896, to Miss Annie R. Fitzgerald of 
 Chicago.
 
 580 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 HON. WILLIAM GILLESPIE EWING. 
 
 Hon. William Gillespie Ewing, Judge of the Superior Court of 
 Cook County, was born May llth, 1839, on a farm in McLean County, 
 111. He was the son of John W. and Maria McClelland Stephenson, 
 his ancestors, both on his father's and mother's side, coming to 
 America from the north of Ireland about the year 1740. A settle- 
 ment was made first in Pennsylvania and later in North Carolina. 
 John W. Ewing, the father of our subject, died in 1855, and the 
 mother in 1884. 
 
 William Gillespie Ewing received his early education in the dis- 
 trict schools of his native county, attending later the Wesleyan 
 University at Bloomiugtou until he was twenty, when he began in 
 that town the study of law in the office of Robert E. Williams. 
 Here he remained three years, during which time, in 1861, he re- 
 ceived a license to practice law. 
 
 His first start in the practice of the law was at Metamora, Wood- 
 ford County, 111., where he remained only eighteen months, and then 
 removed to Quincy, 111., where he practiced for nineteen years, hold- 
 ing at different times the offices of City Attorney for two terms, 
 Superintendent of Schools, and also for a couple of terms eight 
 years State's Attorney for that Judicial Circuit. 
 
 In 1882 lie moved to Chicago; in 1886 he was appointed United 
 States District Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois by 
 President Cleveland, and served four years. In 1890 he was a can- 
 didate for Congress from the First District of Illinois, but was un- 
 successful, and in 1892 he was elected Judge of the Superior Court to 
 serve six years.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 681 
 
 Judge Ewing is a member of the Douglas and Iroquois Clubs; 
 in political views a sound-money Democrat, and a Presbyterian in 
 his religious belief. 
 
 In 1865 he married Miss Ruth Babcock of Metainora, a descend- 
 ant of Goodrich (Peter Parley). They have two daughters, Mary 
 and Euth. Judge Ewing is a gentleman of refined taste, courteous 
 and kindly manner, and a type of the great Irish-American* stock 
 from which he sprung. 
 
 ROBERT JOHN GUNINNG. 
 
 Mr. Gunning was born of Irish parents, January 2nd, 185(5, in 
 Buffalo, and is a direct descendant of the Gunnings, noted in Irish 
 history from the time of James II., of that family, to which the 
 famous Gunning sisters belonged, and to which Sir Richard Gun- 
 ning, of late years, owes his descent. The subject of this sketch, 
 however, may be considered a thorough Chicagoan, for when his 
 parents brought him to this city he was but six months old. 
 
 Ilis father, William Gunning, a contractor of Galway, Ireland, 
 came to Canada in 1840, and after a residence of five years, moved 
 to Buffalo, dying there in 1873. 
 
 Robert J. Gunning received his early education at the old Jones 
 and other public schools of Chicago. His schooling over, which, 
 as he was compelled to make his own living, took place at a very 
 early age, he chose to take up the occupation of a painter, and ap- 
 prenticed himself to the sign painting business. He had not long 
 been so engaged when he noticed the extensive placarding of ad- 
 vertising matter about the city of Chicago which a large eastern 
 patent medicine firm was doing, and this gave birth in his mind to
 
 582 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the idea which has since taken such large and important propor- 
 tions and of which it may be justly said the subject of this sketch 
 was the pioneering spirit. He immediately entered into negotia- 
 tion with the concern alluded to, proposing to paint its signs, to 
 display its name and the quality of the goods on the walls and 
 fences in and around Chicago, and in fact make the people know 
 what the firm had to dispose of. The field of operation had been 
 carefully surveyed and he had so thoroughly mastered every detail 
 of how the work should be carried on, that the heads of the firm 
 became quickly interested and readily agreed to try the result of a 
 trial order. 
 
 Mr. Gunning's claims were found well justified, and big returns 
 followed in contracts from various parts of the country. He was 
 then in a position to interest other large advertisers, and these also 
 adopted the system, until his business grew to such proportions 
 that a joint stock company with considerable capital was organized, 
 of which Mr. Gunning was made president. The company has now 
 offices in all the principal cities of the country, and a business is 
 done of over $500,000 a year. It will contract to paint signs any- 
 where on earth, and in its regular employ are from one hundred and 
 fifty to two hundred painters, who are engaged on the road erecting 
 and painting signs. Frequently some large advertisers will con- 
 tract for signs at different points all over the United States and 
 to an amount of $100,000 or more. The success achieved in Chicago 
 induced the formation of the St Louis Bill Posting Company of 
 St. Louis, Mo., of which Mr. Gunning is also president. 
 
 Personally he is one of the most courteous and sociable of men, 
 and his friends express considerable surprise that he is still per- 
 mitted to remain a bachelor. Essentially a society and club man, 
 he is a member of the Chicago Athletic, Hamilton, and other clubs 
 in this and other cities, and is also prominently connected with 
 various orders and societies, among which are the Knights of Pyth-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 583 
 
 ias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Royal Ar- 
 ranuin. 
 
 In politics Mr. Gunning is a Republican, and in religion a 
 Protestant, and a member and thorough believer in the principles 
 of the Ethical Society. 
 
 This history of one of Chicago's best known self-made men is 
 necessarily brief, but still is sufficient to show the possibilities be- 
 fore men of strong character and invincible determination. Start- 
 ing in life unassisted by any of the usual advantages, but gifted in 
 an extraordinary degree with energetic endeavor, much self-re- 
 liance and great business faculties, these have enabled, him to 
 establish a business second to none in the United States, and to 
 make his name not merely known among the business men of Chi- 
 cago, but synonymous with honest dealing and absolutely faithful 
 performance. His friends are many and his acquaintances as 
 numerous as has any man in Chicago. He possesses the respect 
 and affectionate esteem of his business associates, who readily 
 recognize in his success no mere accident of fortune, but the just 
 reward of true merit, and who unite in declaring Robert John Gun- 
 ning what he assuredly is, a splendid type of the American Irish 
 race. 
 
 EDWARD THOMAS GLENNON. 
 
 Edward Thomas Glennon was born August 21st, 1855, in Wood- 
 stock, McIIenry County, Ills., but comes of good Irish stock, his 
 parents, Thomas and Catherine (Lackey) Glennon, having both 
 been natives of County Cavan. The father was a member of Com-
 
 584 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 pany "F," Ninety-fifth Illinois Infantry, and with that regiment 
 saw long and hard service during the war of the Union, and re- 
 ceived an honorable discharge at its end, since which, with his 
 wife, he has enjoyed an honorable retirement at Woodstock. 
 
 In his native town, the subject of this sketch attended the public 
 schools until he was fifteen years of age, when he was compelled by 
 circumstances his father having a large family to care for to go 
 out into the world and endeavor to make a name for himelf. 
 
 His first employment was as a general helper or errand boy in 
 the printing office of a newspaper the Sentinel published in 
 Woodstock, and from that position he by degrees progressed, learn- 
 ing the business in all its branches and receiving promotion until 
 he was proprietor of the paper. NoWthough removed from active 
 participation in its work, he still retains a quarter interest. 
 
 Being convinced that in order to make money it is necessary to 
 go where there is business and consequent money, in 1881 he came 
 to Chicago. A position was secured as inspector at the Custom 
 House and at the same time he took up the study of law. The fol- 
 lowing year, he entered the Union College of Law, from which he 
 graduated in 1884, and at once entered the law office of Cook & 
 Upton. Here he began to practice and continued until May, 1887, 
 when he was appointed an assistant in the office of the Corporation 
 Counsel, and remained there until the fall of 1888, when he resigned 
 to take the position of Assistant State's Attorney under Mr. Longe- 
 necker. This office in turn he resigned to receive the appointment 
 of Justice of the Peace and Police Magistrate. He was given juris- 
 diction over the Police Court at the Armory, and later at the Thirty- 
 fifth Street Station, and in 1895 was re- appointed to both the offices. 
 He resigned November, 1896, and on December 1st in that year was 
 appointed by Judge Horton a Master in Chancery, on the same date 
 forming a partnership with William McFadon, a well-known Chi- 
 cago lawyer. The firm are acting as the attorneys for the Lake
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 585 
 
 Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, as well as a number of other 
 corporations. 
 
 Judge Glennon has had some military experience, for he was for 
 ten years on the staff of General Fitzsimons when the latter com- 
 manded the First Brigade Illinois State troops. When he resigned 
 he was captain and quartermaster. 
 
 A strong Republican, in political matters he has always taken a 
 lively interest. He is an influential member of his Ward Club and 
 has been a member of county, town and senatorial committees. 
 His religious views are those of the Roman Catholic Church, and 
 he is a member of the congregation of St. Elizabeth's Church. 
 
 JOHN DILLON. 
 
 Mr. Dillon was born at Utica, N. Y., May 3rd, 1846, his parents, 
 Patrick and Ann Dillon, having arrived in this country from Ire- 
 land over fifty years ago. Both attained the age of seventy-one years 
 when they died in Oshkosh, Wis. The father of the subject of this 
 sketch belonged to a family of large wealth and influence in his 
 native land, and to have the name of Patrick Dillon on a bond was 
 considered amply sufficient for any purpose. The Dillon family is 
 one of the oldest and most thoroughly representative in Ireland. 
 In the eleventh century historical records show that Dilune or Dil- 
 ion, having killed in single combat one of his kinsmen, passed over 
 into France and by marriage with the daughter of the Duke of 
 Aquitaine obtained the title of Prince of Aquitaine for himself and 
 his posterity. In 1172, however, the family was dispossessed by
 
 586 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 King Henry II. of England, and the then Duke, Thomas Dillon by 
 name, having been killed in battle, his two sons, Henry and Thomas, 
 were brought while mere infants to England. For attending King 
 John to Ireland in 1185, the eldest son obtained a large grant of 
 land which was called Dillon's County, and which was afterwards, 
 in the time of Henry VIII., changed into the barony of Kilkenny 
 West. The family later possessed the titles of Earls of Roscom- 
 mon and Viscounts Dillon of the county with which it has been 
 chiefly associated. 
 
 John Dillon was educated in the public schools and high school 
 of Utica, afterwards receiving a priA r ate course of training in New 
 York City, the curriculum being of a general commercial character. 
 His education completed, he started out for himself as a stock and 
 bond broker, and speedily obtained a large and influential clientage, 
 among whom were numbered Russell Sage, Sidney Dillon and many 
 other leading capitalists and bankers. After some five or six years 
 of successful business experience in New York City, Mr. Dillon 
 went to Michigan and engaged in extensive speculation in iron and 
 mining and also became a large dealer in general merchandise. 
 Here he met with the most serious disaster of his business career, 
 for in the panic of 1873 he sustained a loss of over fifty thousand 
 dollars, having at the time in his employ some three hundred men, 
 and merchandise of over three hundred thousand dollars. About 
 1880 Mr. Dillon came to Chicago, where he engaged for several years 
 in general merchandise transactions, afterwards returning to his 
 original business of stock and bond brokerage. 
 
 Mr. Dillon is a member of the Royal League, the Odd Fellows, 
 Knights of Pythias, and is also a Mason of good standing. He has 
 lately joined the new Irish Club on Monroe Street Quite a traveler, 
 he has crossed the ocean six times and has made a tour round the 
 world. 
 
 A Roman Catholic in his religious views, Mr. Dillon is a Demo-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 687 
 
 crat iii his politics. In the latter he has never taken any active 
 part, his ambition not running to public office and being well satis- 
 fied outside of his business transactions to find rest and happiness 
 in the midst of his family circle and in the society of his friends. 
 
 Mr. Dillon is a man in the prime of life, well preserved and of 
 fine presence. He is a total abstainer and a non-smoker, and tells 
 with pride that he has never found it necessary to call for a doctor. 
 His independent and self reliant spirit has been shown from his 
 first start in life; he has never worked for anybody but himself, and 
 as has been before mentioned, the successful position he has at- 
 tained is the result of exceptional business talent and acumen, com- 
 bined with unremitting perseverance and energy. 
 
 JAMES M. DOYLE. 
 
 James M. Doyle was born August 1st, 1839, in County Wexford, 
 Ireland. He was the eldest son of the late Peter and Ellen McDon- 
 nell Doyle, both of whom were natives of the same county, and with 
 them he had come to America in 1848. Peter Doyle, who was by 
 occupation a carpenter, died in 1848, and his wife in 1870. Both of 
 their sons have attained prominence in public life in this city 
 the younger, Austin J. Doyle, whose record as a member of the 
 police force, and as chief of the Police Department has won for him 
 the respect and esteem of the whole community; and the elder, the 
 subject pf this sketch. The last named is most favorably known as 
 an efficient, intelligent and absolutely honest official in the various 
 public positions he has occupied, and in his administration of 
 
 31
 
 588 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the office he now holds of Justice of the Peace. Here his honesty 
 of purpose, his geniality and unquestioned and unwavering fairness 
 have won for him the approbation and admiration of every one 
 with whom he has been brought into contact 
 
 Prior to the removal of the family to Chicago, the foundation 
 of his education had been laid in the national schools of the place 
 of his birth, and in coming to Chicago it was continued in the old 
 Scainmon school and completed in the University of St. Mary's of 
 the Lake. In 1853 a position was secured by him as clerk in a gro- 
 cery store and later he was an apprentice in the brass moulding 
 business of Nugent & Owens. A strike of the operators in this bus- 
 iness threw him out of employment, and after serving a short time 
 as clerk in the grocery business, he embarked in the same line on his 
 own account. He enlisted in the Twenty-third Illinois Volunteer In- 
 fantry, widely known as Mulligan's Brigade, in September, 1862, 
 and at once closed up his business, continuing to serve until the 
 close of the war. He was from time to time promoted and received 
 his commission as captain on March 25th, 1865. The history of this 
 regiment is too well known to need repetition here, and Judge 
 Doyle's honorable and useful service as one of its members is exem- 
 plified in the rapid promotion he attained. 
 
 Returning to Chicago he engaged in the produce business, which 
 was continued until 1869, when he accepted a position in the office 
 of M. W. Kerwin, then South Town Collector. The following year 
 he became a clerk under City Collector W. J. Onahan, and served 
 four years, a portion of which time he held a position as assistant 
 cashier in the collector's office. In the fall of 1873 he became Chief 
 Deputy Clerk of the Criminal Court, and served in that capacity 
 until he was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1887. He has been 
 twice re-appointed; was Police Magistrate under the administra- 
 tion of Mayors Cregier, Harrison and Hopkins, and served in that 
 capacity until July 2nd, 1895.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 589 
 
 His political affiliations are those of the Democratic party, and 
 he gave much time in the advancement of its interests. In friendly 
 societies he has always been most active. He was one of the or- 
 ganizers in 1889 of the C. B. L. Building & Loan Association, upon 
 whose directorate he served for some years; and in 1891 was ap- 
 pointed treasurer of the association. He is a member of the G. A. 
 R., is past commander of Colonel Mulligan Post, and also a member 
 of the Western Society of the Army, of the Potomac. He is a mem- 
 ber of the Catholic Benevolent Legion, and assisted in the organiza- 
 tion of the first council in Chicago (Marquette) in 1884. The Judge 
 has been a member of the Society of St. Vincent De Paul since its 
 first organization in Chicago. 
 
 REV. THOMAS F. GALLIGAN. 
 
 This well-known Catholic priest, who is in charge of the parish 
 of St Patrick, was born July 17th, 1851, in the City of New York, 
 where his parents, P. J. and Catherine (McCready) Galligan, had 
 settled on leaving Ireland. Soon after the subject of this sketch 
 was born, his parents brought him to Chicago, and it was in the 
 public schools of this city that his earlier education was received. 
 For the classical branches, he was afterwards at St. Joseph's Col- 
 lege, Beardstown, Ky., where he remained six years and was grad- 
 uated in 1873. Having immediately taken up the study of theology, 
 August 30th, 1876, he was at once appointed assistant pastor of 
 St. Patrick's Church. He remained in that parish until 1881, when 
 he was transferred to the Cathedral of the Holy Name. Later, in
 
 590 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 order to build up the new parish of St. Rose of Lima, he was ap- 
 pointed to the southwest portion of this city, and here his labors 
 met with the greatest success. Then for a few months he was 
 given charge of St Pius Church, from which he was once more 
 transferred, on the death of the Very Rev. Dean Terry, in 1884, to 
 succeed him in the pastorate of St. Patrick's. No sooner was he 
 appointed, than he decided that his church the oldest in Chicago 
 should be repaired. A new roof was put on, the interior was en- 
 tirely cleaned and re-frescoed, and the steeples added, which the 
 original plans contemplated all being due to his exertions. 
 
 In the prime of his life, a man of active habits and never failing 
 industry, Father Galligan essays nothing for his parish in which he 
 does not succeed. Neither is there any priest in this city who has 
 more thoroughly succeeded in endearing himself to his parishion- 
 ers. He is characteristically Celtic, and where he sees wrong, 
 absolutely fearless in his demonstrations. Chicago may well be 
 proud of its citizen priest, and those of Irish blood can have none 
 the less pride in this unselfish and noble representative. 
 
 PATRICK c. MAGUIRE. 
 
 The subject of this sketch is another of the city's best known 
 and most popular American Irishmen. He is known to every one and 
 is liked by every one; a genial, kindly, generous natured and thor- 
 ough representative of his race. 
 
 Patrick G. MaGuire was born in County Cavan, Ireland, on St. 
 Patrick's Day, 1861, his parents being Owen who came of an old
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 591 
 
 and historic family and Rose (Gannon) MaGnire, both of whom 
 spent their lives in their native County Cavan. 
 
 Young MaGuire having attended the national schools until he 
 was twelve, then started out to earn his own living. For some years 
 he worked on his father's farm, and then being eighteen, his am- 
 bitious disposition led him to essay the larger possibilities of the 
 western world. He arrived in Philadelphia, Pa., May 24th, 1871), 
 immediately going to work for the City Railway Company, where he 
 remained two years, and then accepting a position with the Phila- 
 delphia & Reading Railway as night clerk. In 1881 he decided to 
 go West, and settling in Chicago, obtained work with the Swift 
 Packing House, at the same time attending night schools. Such 
 sterling stuff as he was composed of was bound to find recognition, 
 and six months later he was promoted to be weigh boss and hide 
 inspector. In this position he remained until May, 1889, when he 
 received, through the influence of Michael McEnerney and Thomas 
 Gahan, an appointment in the water office. The election of Mayor 
 Washburne in 1891 threw him out of a political job, and he re- 
 turned to the stock yards as foreman of the hide department for T. 
 E. Weeks, a place he held until 1892. In the latter year he became 
 deputy assessor for Charles Rotenburg of the Town of Lake, and the 
 following year, at the strong solicitation of Thos. Gahan, railroad 
 and warehouse commissioner, Alderman Thomas Carey and Alder- 
 man Mulcahy, was made personal bailiff to Judge Tuley, a position 
 he still retains and in which he has gained the respect and esteem of 
 every employe of the County Building. 
 
 Mr. MaGuire was married June 1st, 1875, at St. James Church, 
 Rockford, Ills., to Norah E. Hayes, and one daughter has blessed 
 their union. 
 
 A Roman Catholic in his religious views, and strictly Demo- 
 cratic in his political affiliations, Mr. MaGuire is a member of
 
 592 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 numerous fraternal organizations and Irish societies, among which 
 may be mentioned the Ancient Order of Hibernians, in which, since 
 1887, he has been president of Division No. 6, and the Illinois Coun- 
 cil of the Royal Arcanum. 
 
 JAMES J. RYAN. 
 
 James J. Ryan, the young Irish patriot who is also evincing 
 such brilliant promise as a financier, was born in Chicago, August 
 19th, 1870. His father, James J. Ryan, was a native of County Tip- 
 perary, Ireland, and his mother, Limerick. 
 
 James J. Ryan received his education in the public schools 
 and graduated from the high schools of his native city. His edu- 
 cation completed, he traveled extensively in Europe and through 
 the British Islands, making a stay of several months in Ireland, 
 where he made a thorough study of the social and political condi- 
 tions of the Irish people, and of the system of landlordism there in 
 operation. In his speeches he has advocated very forcibly that 
 Ireland, from its impartial geographical position, as well as from 
 many other resources, should be an independent nation. Mr. 
 Ryan's ardent patriotism is not only inherited from ancestors, but 
 is the result of his own personal study and observation. He was 
 one of the young representative delegates at the New Movement 
 Convention, and is a warm advocate of the principles for which 
 Robert Emmet worked and suffered. 
 
 In 1889 Mr. Ryan received an appointment in the Live Stock 
 National Bank, which position he still holds. 
 
 Mr. Ryan was married in 1896 to the charming daughter of
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 693 
 
 4 
 
 Lieut. 1'. B. Tieruey. He is a Itoimiu Catholic iu religion, aiid in 
 political affiliations is a Democrat. 
 
 lie has made a distinguished mark for a man yet under thirty, 
 and there is unquestionably a bright and successful career before 
 him. 
 
 MICHAEL F. FANNING. 
 
 Michael F. Fanning was bom in County Leitrim, Ireland, and 
 iu the national schools there received his education. The Faimings 
 are of Norman descent and the family dates back for many cen- 
 turies, but like many others of Norman stock who settled in Ireland 
 they became more Irish even than the Irish themselves. The 
 mother of the subject of this sketch, Mary O'Beirne, is of Celtic 
 origin, her ancestors having lived in the town of Drumlayheen for 
 several generations, and many of the O'Beirnes, as well as the Fan- 
 niugs, suffered the loss of their estates during the years of confisca- 
 tion, and later some even gave up their lives during the struggles 
 of the Irish people to obtain freedom and the right even to live. 
 
 M. F. Fanning came to the United States in 1875 and for several 
 years made his home iu Boston. Having taken up the book pub- 
 lishing business in 1878, he became well known as a publisher in 
 Pennsylvania and Ohio, establishing his headquarters in Pittsburg 
 In 1890 he removed to Chic'ago. Since he came of age he has 
 always taken an active interest in every movement having for its 
 object the welfare of the Irish people, and has been closely asso- 
 ciated with and made himself prominent in all the Irish societies. 
 As acting secretary of the New Movement Convention, Mr. Fan- 
 ning's efforts unquestionably contributed in a very large degree
 
 594 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 | 
 
 towards the success of that international gathering, and as one of 
 the national officers of the Irish National Alliance said at its close, 
 "to Mr. Fanning, more than to any other person, does the credit 
 belong for the success of this convention." 
 
 Mr. Fanning is still engaged in the publishing business, his 
 latest work in the literary line being the publication of an ably 
 written and handsomely printed volume on the New Movement 
 Convention, and which contains biographical sketches and portraits 
 of 140 leading Irish Nationalists from all over the United States 
 and Canada. The subscription list of the work was a large one and 
 a large sale still continues throughout the entire country. 
 
 Mr. Fanning is married and resides on Indiana Avenue, in the 
 town of Hyde Park. Young and energetic, a handsome, strong, 
 stalwart Irishman of charming manner and considerable conversa- 
 tional ability, he possesses an army of friends who esteem him for 
 his personal gifts as well as for his honest and straightforward 
 methods, and are free in prophesying for him a future of useful- 
 ness, power and prominence. 
 
 JAMES BURNS. 
 
 This young but already well known American Irish architect 
 was born in the State of Michigan in March, 1858. His parents, 
 Peter and Elizabeth Burns, were respectively from Wicklow and 
 Wexford, and left Ireland in 1853 to settle in Michigan and engage 
 in farming. Peter Burns died in 1893, and the mother of our sub- 
 ject in 1895,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 595 
 
 James Bums received his education in the public school of Hills- 
 dale, Mich., where he took the ordinary business course. As a boy 
 lie was fond of carpentering, and in the summer mouths spent all his 
 spare time that way. In 1879, having decided to come to Chicago, 
 he entered the office of the well-known architect, Mr. Robert Cobb, 
 in order to learn the business. Eighteen months later he started 
 out for himself as a contractor and builder, and in 1891 took up the 
 profession in which he is now engaged, and of which he has made 
 a success. 
 
 Mr. Burns was married in Chicago in 1885 to Elizabeth McCau- 
 ley, and they have four children, two boys and two girls. 
 
 A Roman Catholic in his religious belief, he is in politics an in- 
 dependent Democrat. He is a -member of the Royal Arcanum and 
 also of the Columbus Club, and takes high rank for ability and for 
 popularity among the American Irish of Chicago. 
 
 REV. THOMAS CUMING HALL, D. D. 
 
 A very worthy son of an illustrious father is Dr. Thomas C. Hall, 
 pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, who was 
 born in County Armagh, Ireland, September 25th, 1858. His 
 parents were Rev. John Hall, D. D., LL. D., and Miss Bolton of 
 Dublin. His father, who was of Scottish descent, was also born in 
 Armagh, Ireland, July 21st, 1829, and in 1849 he was sent on mis- 
 sionary work to the West of Ireland, later, by royal appointment, 
 being made Commissioner of Education for Ireland. So admired, 
 however, was he by the people of New York, which city he visited in
 
 596 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 1807 as a delegate from the Presbyterian Church of Ireland to the 
 Presbyterian Church of the United States, that he was invited to 
 return and assume charge of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. 
 He did so, being installed November 3d, 1867, and immediately be- 
 came one of the most popular clergymen in the city, and with a 
 congregation embracing more very wealthy men than any other in 
 the United States. His church was soon found to be too small for 
 the requirements, and in 1875 a larger church was built at the corner 
 of Fifth Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street. The Kev. John Hall has 
 written and published a considerable number of religious works, 
 and is known and respected throughout the English-speaking world 
 as a divine of exceptional power and ability. 
 
 The subject of this sketch received his early education from a 
 private tutor, completing his studies at the Princeton College, where 
 he graduated in 1879, and later at the Union Theological Seminary, 
 New York. After graduating at the latter in 1882 he spent two 
 years at the University of Berlin at Gottiugen. Returning then to 
 the United States, he was called to take charge of the Southwest 
 Presbyterian Church of Omaha, Neb., later being summoned to 
 Chicago to take charge of the Forty-first Street Presbyterian 
 Church, Avhere he remained until 1893, when he became pastor of 
 the Fourth Presbyterian Church, and is still the incumbent. 
 
 Dr. Hall was married in London, England, in 1884, to Miss Jen- 
 nie Bartling, daughter of Professor Bartling of Gottingen. They 
 have had no children. 
 
 With the degree of D. D., Dr. Hall was honored by Hamilton 
 College in 1894. He is a close and industrious student and a mem- 
 ber of a large number of societies, among which might particularly 
 be mentioned the American Society of Historical Research; the 
 Society of Sociology, and the Society of Biblical Research. 
 
 An extensive traveler, both in this country and throughout 
 Europe, he has a fund of information and the ability to impart what
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 697 
 
 he knows in a most pleasing and unassuming way. Indeed, as a 
 conversationalist lie would sliine in any company. In personal ap- 
 pearance he is tall and of commanding presence, courtly and digni- 
 fied. Kindly and straightforward, it would be difficult to discover 
 a more thorough representative member of the cloth than the sub- 
 ject of this sketch, the Kev. Thomas Cumiug Hall, D. D. 
 
 PATRICK J. HEALY. 
 
 Patrick J. Ilealy was born March 16th, 1840, at Mallow, County 
 Cork. At the age of ten he came with his parents, James and 
 Catharine (Sheehan) Healy to Boston, and there received his edu- 
 cation in the public schools. In that city also he obtained his first 
 insight into the musical business in which he has since been so 
 eminently successful. 
 
 As to himself and what he has accomplished in the world, Mr. 
 Ilealy refuses to speak and permits the firm, of which he is the 
 head, to tell his story. The two are indeed linked together in a 
 manner no power can separate. 
 
 Lyon & Healy began business in the year 1864 as a co-partner- 
 ship with a capital of $36,000. The progress made was rapid; for 
 five years later there was no building in the West devoted to music 
 which could compare with theirs. Their location was then at the 
 corner of Washington Street and Wabash Avenue, in the very 
 heart of the retail district. On September 4th, 1870, after one 
 year's occupancy, the premises were entirely destroyed and the 
 difficulty of gathering a new stock from every part of the earth had
 
 598 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 to be faced, in addition to the heavy financial loss. Energy and 
 pluck, however, are distinguishing traits of the American and Irish, 
 and the work was finally accomplished, premises being secured at 
 150 Clark Street. Again fate opposed, and when the ravage of 
 the great fire of Chicago was passed, no vestige of the business 
 remained their whole property was lost. Once more the stern 
 stuff of which the firm was composed Mr. Lyon, a typical Amer- 
 ican, and Mr. Healy, the energetic Celt demonstrated itself. A 
 little church, far out on the South Side, was secured without a day's 
 unnecessary delay, and with undiminished effort, business was re- 
 commenced. A year later a site was secured down-town, 162 State 
 Street, a section of the present immense premises. 
 
 With moderate good fortune, business was continued, but dur- 
 ing 1874 the premises barely escaped a second conflagration, and all 
 the stock had to be hastily removed. Then came the panic times of 
 1875 and 1878, and consequent decline in all business. Having 
 successfully weathered this period, from '79 to '83 were times of 
 marked prosperity, but the two following years were again un- 
 propitious. In the latter year, Charles N. Post and K, B. Gregory, 
 both of Chicago, became members of the firm. The storm was 
 weathered, and from 1886 to 1892 the business of the firm increased 
 and prospered, so much so that in the World's Fair year the aggre- 
 gate receipts for many days towards the close exceeded $10,000 
 per day. This is not surprising when from the report of the United 
 States Custom House, regarding musical merchandise, it is shown 
 that in that year Lyon & Healy did four times as much business in 
 its line as all the other firms in Chicago together. Previous to 1888, 
 the business done had been that of dealers, there was no manu- 
 facturing; now they are the largest manufacturers of stringed in- 
 struments in the world. To cope with the immense business, which 
 natural growth assisted by the industry and enterprise which com- 
 manded public confidence had produced, it was found necessary to
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 599 
 
 incorporate in 1890, and Mr. P. J. Healy became president of the 
 company. 
 
 His leadership, with the able support he received from the other 
 members of the firm all men who, with the single exception of Mr. 
 Healy, Jr., had averaged a quarter of a century in the service of 
 the house carried Lyon & Healy through the panic times of 1893 
 successfully. Early in 1894, Mr. Lyon, so long associated with the 
 business, through its troubles, misfortunes and final victories, 
 joined the great majority. 
 
 In attention to the heavy details connected with so vast a busi- 
 ness, Mr. Healy is simply indefatigable. He has surrounded him- 
 self with men of energetic abilities, who, under his constant per- 
 sonal superintendence, have gained the experience enabling them to 
 fitly conduct the business of the world famed Lyon & Healy. 
 
 WALTER JOSEPH GIBBONS. 
 
 Walter Joseph Gibbons was born June 12th, 1859, in the city 
 of Chicago. He was the son of Henry and Mary (Joyce) Gibbons, 
 his father a native of Louisburg, County Mayo, Ireland, and his 
 mother from what is known as the Joyce County in County Gal- 
 way, and which is situated close to Clifden. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, when a boy, attended the public 
 schools of this city, and later the high school, but was compelled to 
 leave the latter at the age of sixteen, to assist in the support of the 
 family. He found employment in the office of the wholesale de-
 
 600 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 partment of Marshall Field, where he rose to a position of con- 
 siderable responsibility, and remained for sixteen years. 
 
 In 1891 he was appointed to the office of Justice of the Peace by 
 Governor Fifer, on the recommendation of the judges of the Courts 
 of Record, and his studious disposition having in the meantime led 
 him to study law, he was admitted to practice at the bar in 1893, 
 graduating from the Chicago College of Law in that year, and in 
 1895 received re-appointment as Justice of the Peace by Governor 
 Altgeld for a further four years' term. 
 
 Judge Gibbons is a prominent member of the Royal League, 
 Social Council No. 35; the Wholesale Dry Goods Council of the 
 National Union; the Catholic Total Abstinence Movement, of 
 which he has been President of the Archdiocesan Union; ex-Sec- 
 retary of the State Union since the amalgamation, and is now Pres- 
 ident of the Young Men's Catholic Total Abstinence and Benevolent 
 Society, of which he has been three times President, being but a 
 few months since re-elected for a further term. He has been a del- 
 egate to all the National Conventions of the Temperance movement, 
 as also of the Irish National League and the Land League, being 
 one of the foremost and most, active workers in the cause of Ireland. 
 
 MICHAEL HAYES. 
 
 Michael Hayes was born in County Limerick, Ireland, June 16th, 
 1845, his parents being John and Bridget (Hennessey) Hayes, both 
 of whom were natives of the same county, where his father was a 
 small farmer, but in his section of the country borne in the very 
 highest respect.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 601 
 
 The subject of this sketch was but eighteen months old when 
 his parents left their native land and came to Chicago. He at- 
 tended the public schools and also those of the Christian Brothers 
 until he was thirteen, when he procured work in a soda water fac- 
 tory at the corner of Lake and Canal Streets, later entering the em- 
 ploy of the Lomax Soda Water Factory, and remained with the 
 latter firm for five years. In 1859 he took up work with a tinsmith 
 in order to learn the tinsmith's trade, and having spent three years 
 with him, entered similar employ where the Haymarket Theatre 
 now stands, and in that pla6e remained for seven years. June, 
 1871, he and his brother, Patrick Hayes, under the firm name of 
 Hayes Bros., embarked in the soda water business at the corner 
 of Carr Avenue and Leavitt Street. Of course the start was in a 
 small way, a shed being utilized, and the brothers possessing but 
 one wagon with which to deliver goods; yet from this small be- 
 ginning the business has progressed until at the present time it is 
 the largest, plrfnt of its kind outside of the trust. In 1883 the Hayes 
 Brothers were in a position to purchase the Hutchin plant for 
 thirty thousand dollars, and when what is known as the Soda Water 
 Trust was formed some few years ago, the Hayes and the Lomaxes 
 of the Chicago Bottle Works were its largest stockholders. Mr. 
 Hayes, not being satisfied with the way the managers of the trust 
 were treating some of the small stockholders, drew out his hold- 
 ings, and erecting his great plant, once more began to do business 
 on his own account, regardless of the fact that the trust offered to 
 make him any concession if he would but. retain his connection. 
 His action in the matter has been well justified, and the firm are 
 now doing a business of one hundred thousand dollars a year. 
 
 The heavy demands of his business affairs has left but little 
 time to devote to politics, although at the solicitation of his friends 
 he was upon one occasion induced to run for alderman of his ward. 
 The result was a defeat, although only by a few votes, and since
 
 602 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 he has been repeatedly asked to stand for County Commissioner, 
 but this he has always refused. 
 
 In his political views he is a Democrat, and in religion a Roman 
 Catholic and a member of the congregation of the Church of Our 
 Lady of Sorrows. 
 
 WILLIAM M. HERELEY. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born at Brasher Falls, St. Law- 
 rence County, N. Y., March 31, 1848. His father, Daniel, and 
 mother, Hannah (Gantry) Hereley, came from County Cork, Ireland, 
 in 1840, and settled in St. Lawrence County. His father was a 
 farmer, and William M. Hereley had to work on the farm in the 
 summer and secure what slender schooling was possible in the win- 
 ter months by attending the district schools. The family, includ- 
 ing young Hereley, moved to McHenry County in 1863, and he re- 
 mained there until 1871, when having reached the age of twenty- 
 two he decided to move to Chicago. 
 
 As a young man, bright and quick, with first-class business 
 habits as well as a reputation gained in the section from whence 
 he came for integrity and good judgment, he began to buy horses 
 and cattle from the farmers, bringing them to Chicago to be sold. 
 His dealings proving profitable, he bought a few teams and entered 
 into the draying and contracting business. In this he continued 
 until October, 1874, when he decided to open a store on Chicago 
 Avenue, and engaged in the business of selling flour and feed. 
 
 He prides himself on being a Democrat of the Cleveland type, 
 an advocate for sound money.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 603 
 
 Mr. llereley has held the position of President of the Flour and 
 Feed Dealers' Association of Chicago, is Treasurer of the Columbus 
 Mutual Life Association of America, and is a member of the Chi- 
 cago Board of Trade, where he operates daily. He is a member of 
 Ilie Club of McHenry, Illinois; the Young Men's Catholic Institute, 
 Holy Name parish, and also of the Royal Arcanum. The stand- 
 ing he has among his fellow men is well illustrated by his position 
 as Treasurer of the Catholic Total Abstinence Benevolent Society 
 of the Holy Name parish, an order to which he has belonged for 
 twenty-one years. On the failure for $125,000 of the Inter Ocean 
 Building and Loan Association, he was appointed by the court a 
 director for the purpose of settling up the business and winding up 
 its affairs. 
 
 MILLARD B. HERELEY. 
 
 Since 1863 the Hereley family have been widely known in Chi- 
 cago and its adjacent counties. Mr. Millard B. Hereley, born in 
 Saint Lawrence County, New York State, in 1858, is the son of 
 Daniel Hereley, who left Ireland upon the death of his father, a 
 prominent stock raiser and exporter, whose sudden end during a 
 business trip to England influenced his son's departure for America. 
 Settling in St. Lawrence County, Daniel Hereley was shortly after- 
 ward married to Miss Norah Lantry, whose family are conspicuous 
 in that favored locality for remarkable longevity, and whose re- 
 lationship extends throughout the greater part of the oldest fami- 
 lies of that region. In 1863, shortly after the birth of the subject 
 
 of this sketch, his father came to Chicago, finally locating in Mc- 
 32
 
 604 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Henry County. The family consisted of six boys and six girls, of 
 whom ten are living. 
 
 The early days of Millard B. Hereley were spent at the Marengo 
 High School, after which followed a course of law at the Union 
 College of Law, Chicago, but his inclinations favoring commercial * 
 instead of professional life, he became a member of the Chicago 
 Board of Trade, and with his elder brother, M. H. Hereley, estab- 
 lished the Hereley system of warehouses under the name of the 
 Hereley Brothers Commission Co. The outgrowth of this estab- 
 lishment is today recognized as the largest hay warehouses in the 
 world. It has produced a radical change from the Indiana slough 
 products to the richer grasses from Iowa, and so soon as introduced, 
 speedily gained the lead in the Chicago hay trade. In 1883 Mr. 
 Hereley became identified with politics, being elected to the State 
 Senate, in which he served two terms for the Thirteenth Senatorial 
 District. He was also appointed a member of the Board of Educa- 
 tion by the late Carter Harrison in 1885, and then re-appointed in 
 1889 by ex-Mayor Cregier, his present connection politically being 
 as special agent for the United States Secret Service Department. 
 
 In 1890 Mr. Hereley became President of the Irish American 
 Club, and is widely known in the club circles for his active and 
 faithful work. As far back as 1884 he was one of the organizers of 
 the Cook County Young Democracy, which was afterwards merged 
 with the County Democracy. He being a consistent Democrat, has 
 always abided with the wishes of the majority, and his widely 
 ranged travels from Alaska to Mexico on semi-official business 
 have placed him today with an experience and a broad liberality 
 politically that can only be acquired by such means. 
 
 In 1886 Mr. Hereley was married to Miss Hannah Murphy, a lady 
 of great popularity in society and musical circles. Mrs. Hereley 
 is the daughter of Mr. Daniel Murphy, a retired South Water Street 
 merchant, and one of the oldest business men of that busy street.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 605 
 
 They have three children, two girls and one boy. They reside at 
 Erie and Pine Streets. 
 
 Mr. Hereley can be pointed ont as a gentleman of the leading 
 and representative Chicago younger type of citizens, a man of 
 energy and determination, with those strict business principles 
 which, never recognizing failure, are absolutely bound to secure suc- 
 cess. 
 
 MICHAEL F. MCENERNY. 
 
 Another typical Irish American, one whose individual efforts, 
 energy, integrity and loyalty to his friends have gained for him the 
 respect and esteem of every one brought into contact with him, as 
 well as fortune, is the subject of the present sketch. 
 
 Michael F. McEnerny was born February 2d, 1855, in the County 
 Limerick, Ireland. Both his parents are deceased, his father, 
 Thomas McEnerny, in the old country in 1870, at the age of sixty- 
 six, and his mother, whose maiden name was Shannon, in Chicago 
 in 1882, at the same age. 
 
 Mr. M. F. McEnerny obtained his education in the public and 
 national schools of the county in which he lived. His schooling 
 was short, for at the age of twelve he went to work in a flour mill 
 in Limerick, and remained there until he was sixteen, when he de- 
 cided to try his fortunes in America. With his mother he came to 
 this country and settled in Chicago, soon obtaining a position in the 
 Stock Yards* where he worked for ten years, filling nearly every 
 position to be found there. 
 
 He has since held various offices, being three times elected a
 
 006 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 member of the Board of Education for the Town of Lake, serving 
 nine years. He was afterwards appointed to the Board of Trustees 
 to fill a vacancy and was subsequently confirmed in a public elec- 
 tion for the same office, in which he remained from 1887 to 1889. 
 During the following year he was elected a member of the Legis- 
 lature, to which he was re-elected in 1892. At the end of the lat- 
 ter term, having had his sufficiency of official life, he absolutely 
 declined to run for any other office. 
 
 His political views are, and have always been, those of the 
 Democratic party. He is an upholder of the sound-money princi- 
 ples. 
 
 He was married October 20th, 1880, to Catharine Hefferman, 
 and their home now rejoices in five children, three girls and two 
 boys. 
 
 Mr. McEnerny was for some time a member of the Hibernian 
 Ilifles. He visited Europe and the old country in 1894, spending the 
 whole summer in Ireland, visiting the scenes of his boyhood's asso- 
 ciations, and where, however patriotic to the land of his adoption, 
 the heart of a true Irishman must always turn with loving devo- 
 tion. 
 
 JAMES BASIL MCLAUGHLIN. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born in Boss County, Ohio, March 
 12th, 1857, his father being James McLaughlin, a native of Pike 
 County in that state, whose father, John, had come to the United 
 States from the North of Ireland, settling first in Virginia and later 
 moving to Pike County, Ohio. The grandmother was a niece of the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 607 
 
 celebrated English painter, Benjamin West. James McLaughlin 
 was by occupation a farmer, but was also engaged in the lumber 
 business until his death in 1881. He married Martha Jane Robey, 
 whose ancestors, crossing from England with Lord Baltimore, were 
 settlers in Baltimore and became prominent in the Revolution. 
 She died in 1864. Of her brothers, two were in the late Civil War, 
 and one, Captain Kobey, is now a prominent and wealthy resident 
 of Detroit, Michigan. 
 
 The subject of this sketch attended the public schools and high 
 school of his native town and later for a short time the Ohio Uni- 
 versity, but as has been said before, he is largely a self-educated 
 man, for it is to his later studies at home and the fact that he always 
 had a book in his hand while driving a team or hauling lumber for 
 his father, in that way managing to put in considerable hard study, 
 that he attributes the knowledge he has been able to acquire. 
 
 At the age of twenty a position was secured by him as teacher 
 in the district school of Ross County, Ohio, where his early educa- 
 tion had been received, and at the same time he took a course of law 
 study, and in 1882 was finally admitted by the Supreme Court of 
 Ohio, in a very rigid examination, the one out of a class of forty-six 
 taking first honors. 
 
 Deciding to locate in Chillicothe, Ohio, he opened an office and 
 began to practice his profession, remaining in that town for ten 
 years. It was in the fall of 1892 that Mr. McLaughlin became con- 
 vinced that Chicago offered him better opportunities, and locating 
 in this city he started in business. For some time he practiced 
 alone, but in May of 1895 he associated himself with Mr. W. D. 
 Pearne, under the name of M-cLaughlin & Pearne. Mr. McLaugh- 
 liu's practice has been general, but he has been most unusually suc- 
 cessful, for he prides himself on the fact that he has never lost a . 
 case, the reason being that he refuses to act unless he believes that 
 he has justice on his side. The firm of McLaughlin & Pearne
 
 60S BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 represents among other leading institutions the Dearborn Savings 
 and Loan Association, The Savings Bank Building Loan Associa- 
 tion, Jenkens & Reynolds Brick Co., and the IToagland & Ladow 
 Brick Co. 
 
 Mr. McLaughlin was married in September, 1886, to Eleanor 
 McDougal, who died in July, 1896. They had four children, of 
 whom three are living. 
 
 A good Tvepublicau, he has always persistently kept out of poli- 
 tics. In Masonic circles he stands very high, having been Past 
 Eminent Commander of Chillicothe Commandery No. 8, and also 
 held the high office of Illinois representative for six years near the 
 Grand Council of the State of Ohio. 
 
 MICHAEL DENNIS MADIGAN. 
 
 Michael Dennis Madigau was born in Limerick, Ireland, March 
 27th, 1858. He was the son of Dennis and Bridget (O'Grady) Madi- 
 gau, his father being a prominent member of the Irish Land League, 
 and his mother also identified with the Ladies' Laud League. The 
 latter died May, 1888, but Dennis Madigau still lives in the old laud 
 across the sea. 
 
 Michael D. Madigan received his education at the Christian 
 Brothers College at New Castle West, County Limerick. Upon the 
 completion of his education, and for the purpose of learning the 
 business, he entered the dry-goods store of Thomas Itoche in Lime- 
 rick, with whom he remained three years, and at the end of which 
 time, concluding he needed a bigger field to work in, he determined 
 to try his fortunes in the new world.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 609 
 
 Mr. Madigao arrived in Chicago in 1876, and having good cre- 
 dentials had no difficulty in securing a position as salesman with the 
 dry goods firm of Partridge Bros., at that time occupying the New 
 York Store 011 Madison Street, between Aberdeen and Morgan. He 
 remained with this firm for five years, and having been very thrifty 
 and frugal in his habits, by this time (1881) had managed to save 
 from his wages a goodly slim, as well as to establish a reputation 
 and good credit among the wholesale merchants of Chicago. He 
 therefore decided to launch out in business for himself. He was 
 young, full of energy, and a good judge of goods and values. His 
 first venture, of course in a small way, was at the corner of Blue 
 Island Avenue and Ewing Street, and proved a prosperous one, and 
 two years later a store was opened at Halsted and Forty-seventh 
 Street. In 1891, having taken his brother, I). J. Madigan, in with 
 him as a partner, he opened a large and commodious store on Madi- 
 son Street, corner of Wood, where the firm have a large and pros- 
 perous business. 
 
 JOHN MULLIN. 
 
 John Mulliu, -one of the earliest settlers in Chicago, is one of 
 Chicago's foremost and mo.-jt resected business men, and is at the 
 same time a leading Irishman. He was born on St. Valentine's Day, 
 1827, in the County of Tipperary, Ireland, of which his parents, 
 pjdmuud and Johanuah (Kirby) Mullin, were both natives. His 
 father was a cousin of the celebrated worker for Ireland's inde- 
 pendence, John O. Mahoney. 
 
 Having secured what little education was then obtainable in
 
 610 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the public schools of his country, our subject apprenticed himself 
 to a shoemaker, which was also his father's trade, and having 
 mastered it, worked in his native town for a season and then moved 
 to England. Dissatisfied with his life and prospects in the old 
 country, and hearing glowing accounts of what a man of energy 
 could accomplish in the United States, he set out in 1849 for New 
 York. In that city he remained but a short time, journeying on to 
 Brownville, N. Y., where he secured employment in a shoe shop. 
 
 There was at that time much talk of California as a field for 
 fortune, and soon after he determined to see what the gold fields 
 might hold for him. Just, however, as he was about to set out, he 
 was attacked by typhoid fever, and after his recovery, decided in- 
 stead to come to Chicago. Upon his arrival here in 1852 he declares 
 the prospect was most unpleasing, for the city was built on low 
 marsh land. To its effects he became a victim, for he contracted 
 a fever which used up all his savings. 
 
 Suitable premises having been secured at 67 West Kinzie Street, 
 he opened up the business which was afterwards to withstand the 
 many financial storms of forty-four years, and to grow and expand, 
 until to-day it is considered one of the leading boot and shoe manu- 
 facturing houses in the country. His goods are known and largely 
 used all over the West, and no mining camp can be visited without 
 finding Mullin's boots and shoes in great demand. In the early 
 years his factory manufactured for Wells & Co., and Fargo & Co., 
 the elder Fargo being at one time very desirous to have him as a 
 partner. During the war, Mr. Mullin obtained many contracts to 
 make shoes for the soldiers in the field, and Hon. Thomas B. Bryan, 
 at that time one of the men who had charge of the inspecting of 
 the goods, told him that he should receive a gold medal for making 
 thoroughly honest goods, which at that time was such a rarity, for 
 every one seemed to feel justified in cheating Uncle Sam in all 
 possible manners. The medal never eventualized, however, the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 611 
 
 matter being evidently overlooked, and Mr. Mullin's business af- 
 fairs kept him too much occupied to investigate. 
 
 Mr. Mullin did a large trade in the early days also with railroad 
 men, for whom he sent boots and shoes all over the country. He 
 now owns considerable property on Milwaukee Avenue and Lake 
 Street, as well as the property on which his factory is situated. 
 
 He was married to Hannah Murphy, also a native of Ireland, 
 in 1849, just before his departure for the United States, and to her 
 influence and good help he attributes in great part his success. 
 
 In politics Mr. Mullin has always been independent, claiming 
 the right to vote for whoever he believes to be the best man. On 
 several occasions he has refused to allow his name to be used as a 
 candidate for Alderman of the Seventeenth Ward. In religious 
 views he is a Roman Catholic. 
 
 Mr. Mullin has had a long and intimate acquaintance with 
 public men; he knew General Grant, when as a tanner the latter 
 used to visit Kinzie Street on business, and was also well ac- 
 quainted with Abraham Lincoln and General Sherman. 
 
 JOHN NEWPORT JEMISON. 
 
 John Newport Jemison is a type of that old Irish gentleman one 
 so rarely sees nowadays, but when found, commands appreciation; 
 he is true as steel, very companionable, fearless to an eminent degree 
 and with that polished manner which never fails under the most 
 trying circumstances. 
 
 He was born in the city of Dublin, Ireland, May 29th, 1834. His
 
 612 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 parents, John and Jane (Newport) Jemison, were both of well 
 known Irish families. His father's profession was that of a banker; 
 and John Newport was the second eldest son. As was the custom 
 in the Irish families of that day, the oldest son was dedicated to the 
 church; law claimed the second, and if fortune had given a third, 
 his was the medical profession. 
 
 The subject of this biography entered Bective House College 
 and studied there until he was sixteen, when he left and entered 
 the office of Christopher MeNally, Esq., of Dublin where he com- 
 menced to study the law, remaining there until Mr. MeNally was 
 killed in the Straff en accident at Kings Bridge. 
 
 Entering the office of Robert Taaffe, he continued his legal 
 studies until he was admitted to practice at the age of twenty-one. 
 
 Mr. Jemison practiced law in Dublin for fifteen years and came 
 to America in 1868, locating in Chicago. Not being possessed of 
 much wealth when arriving here, he concluded that he had better 
 gain a practical knowledge of the practice before hanging out his 
 shingle, so after following the business of life insurance and news- 
 paper solicitor for a time, he, through the influence of Hon. W. J. 
 Onahan, secured a position under Dan O'Hara, who at that time 
 was clerk of the Recorder's Court, and was appointed record writer 
 of the civil branch, this court at the time having civil as well as 
 criminal jurisdiction. After that he was deputy clerk of the Circuit 
 Court, under Judge Rogers; deputy clerk of the Criminal Court, 
 and from there he went to the County Court. From 1872 he was 
 deputy assessor for the west town, soon after he went into the 
 County Clerk's office to help Herman Leib, County Clerk, prepare 
 the records for the Supreme Court of Illinois, and for a time was in 
 the United States Court, assisting in the preparation of briefs for 
 the United States Supreme Court. 
 
 Mr. Jemison subsequently commenced to practice in Chicago. 
 From the foregoing experience it will be seen that no lawyer in the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 613 
 
 city has had the good fortune to obtain such practical knowledge of 
 the law and the practice in this country as Mr. Jemison, in addi- 
 tion to the thorough law training he received in Ireland. With a 
 jury he is particularly strong, being a very forcible and interesting 
 speaker and full of fun and mother wit. His abilities have pro- 
 cured him a large and remunerative practice. 
 
 Mr. Jemison is very high in Masonic circles, belongs to the 
 Ancient Order of United Workmen, Grand Ix>dge of Illinois, Inde- 
 pendent Order of Mutual Aid, and others. 
 
 A member of the Episcopal church, he is very liberal in his re- 
 ligious views, recognizing in the Most Itev. P. A. Feehan a grand 
 representative of his race. 
 
 In politics, a Tory in the old country, he has always been a 
 Democrat in this. He believes that Grover Cleveland is far in ad- 
 vance of his party. 
 
 PATRICK QUAID MADIGAN. 
 
 Patrick Quaid Madigau was born in New Castle West, County 
 Limerick, Ireland, November 17th, 1863. His father was James, 
 and his mother, Jane (Quaid) Madigan, the father being one of the 
 leading men of that section of the country, and one of the most 
 prominent merchants. His grandfather, Kobert Quaid, was of good 
 old Irish stock, and, in fact, for years both sides of the family had 
 been prominent and several of his father's brothers had token a 
 
 leading part in Irish affairs. 
 
 * 
 
 Patrick Quaid Madigan received his education at the School of 
 the Christian Brothers, at his native place, and after receiving what
 
 614 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 was then considered a good education, concluded to seek bis fortune 
 in the New World. He landed in New York April 2d, 1881, but 
 remained only a few months in that city, as he was satisfied the 
 West offered greater opportunities, and therefore started for Chi- 
 cago. 
 
 He was fortunate in finding a position with P. F. Ryan, with 
 whom he remained ten years as salesman and dress goods buyer. 
 In 1890, his frugal habits had enabled him to accumulate some little 
 money, as well as a fair credit with the merchants of the city, and 
 he therefore determined to go into business for himself. He started 
 011 Ogdeu Avenue. From the very beginning his business was a 
 success. Its rapid increase compelled Mr. Madigan to take a part- 
 ner, which he did in the person of his brother, Thomas, who had 
 gained considerable experience with the wholesale dry goods house 
 of Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co., during the preceding eight years. 
 
 He was married on the 17th of October, 1892, to Therese Purcell 
 of Chicago, and they have one child, a daughter. 
 
 Mr. Madigan belongs to the 'Royal League, and the Catholic 
 Benevolent Legion; in the latter society he holds the position of 
 orator. In his religious views he is a Roman Catholic, and a regular 
 attendant of St. Charles' Church, while in politics he is a Democrat. 
 
 WILLIAM LAW, JR. 
 
 One of the most distinguished members of the Chicago bar is 
 William Law, Jr., who was born January 31st, 1841, at Nauvoo, 
 Hancock County, Illinois. His father was Dr. W T illiam Law, a na- 
 tive of County Tyrone, Ireland, his ancestors having moved there
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 615 
 
 from Scotland during the religious persecutions of 1600. Having 
 decided to leave the old country, he landed in Toronto, moving 
 later about 1840 to Illinois, where he attained great success as 
 a surgeon and physician, and enjoyed a large and remunerative 
 practice extending all over the section in which he resided. He 
 continued in the practice of his profession until his death in 1893, 
 at the ripe age of eighty-three. He had married Jane Silverthorne, 
 a lady of Scotch origin, who was born in Nova Scotia and who died 
 in 1883. 
 
 The subject of this sketch received his early education at the 
 Plattsville, Wis., Academy, was then sent to a private school at 
 Freeport, Ills., and was finished by a private tutor at home. In 
 1859, having decided on embracing the legal profession, he com- 
 menced the study of law in the office of Heybee & Law, at Shulls- 
 burg, Wis., the junior member of the firm being an elder brother- 
 Thomas J. Law, who is still practicing law in that town and is at the 
 same time publisher of a newspaper there. He later continued his 
 studies in the office of Mr. Oscar Tayler at Freeport, 111., and then, 
 in 1861, moved to Chicago and entered the office of the late James II. 
 Knowlton, at one time the head of the Wisconsin bar, where his 
 course of study was completed. He was admitted to the bar in 1862, 
 and immediately began to practice law with offices in the old Lar- 
 mon Block, corner Washington and Clark Streets, and which is now 
 known as the Reaper Block. But two years of practice in Chicago 
 led him to conclude that the growing West presented a better field 
 for an ambitious young lawyer than any large city could, and he 
 consequently moved to Boise City, Idaho, in 1864. 
 
 While there, he was engaged in most of the important litigation 
 which occurred, and was for some time Clerk of the United States 
 Court, and for a while Acting United States District Attorney. 
 Several other sections of the West having been visited, he decided
 
 616 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Chicago was now the place for him to definitely locate, and he re- 
 turned to this city in I860. 
 
 The career of William Lav/ at the Chicago bar has since been 
 marked with distinguished success. His practice has been general 
 and has extended to all of the courts, and while not confined to any 
 one branch of the law until the last few years, when he took charge 
 of the legal department of the North Western Life Assurance Com- 
 pany, still his experience in corporation law has brought him into 
 prominent connection with some of the most important cases of cor- 
 poration litigation in the history of the city. 
 
 At the present time his work is mainly devoted to the legal 
 affairs of the Insurance Company he represents, and also as Con- 
 sulting Counsel for several large corporations, as he has obtained 
 the reputation of one of the leading authorities on corporation and 
 insurance law in Chicago. For seven years past he has been a 
 director and legal advisor of the North Western Assurance Com- 
 pany, and his professional estimation was fully demonstrated by 
 his appointment as County Attorney for Cook County, an office he 
 filled in every way to the satisfaction of the community. 
 
 In politics he has always been a staunch member of the Demo- 
 cratic party, and until the present time has by voice and pen done 
 whatever was in his power for the cause, but now believes that the 
 duty of every loyal citizen is to do all possible towards defeating 
 the free-silver movement. 
 
 Mr. La,w is a member of several fraternal and social organiza- 
 tions, having been created a Mason in 1867 and reached the thirty- 
 second degree of that order. He is a member of Montjoie Com- 
 mandery Knights Templars, a life member of the Oriental Con- 
 sistory, a member of the Mystic Shrine and of the Benevolent and 
 Protective Order of Elks, and of the Knights of Pythias. He is 
 also a member of the Chicago Athletic Club and in social circles 
 generally is in great demand and much esteemed.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 617 
 
 He is nn able, well read attorney, an eloquent advocate, and a re- 
 liable counselor. In his professional advice be is honorable and 
 honest, consulting in every way possible the interests of his clients, 
 and is noted for the care and attention he devotes to every detail 
 of whatever business may be entrusted to him. 
 
 JOHN MCCARTHY. 
 
 The following sketch will be found specially interesting, not 
 only as showing the great and important work accomplished by a 
 man not yet forty years of age, but also as a brief record of im- 
 portant reforms obtained in municipal affairs and of extensive pub- 
 lic works completed. 
 
 John McCarthy was born March 20th, 1857, at Fort Wayne, 
 Indiana. His father, Patrick McCarthy, was a native of Ireland, 
 and born there April 16th, 1816. He arrived in this country in 
 1847, settled at Fort Wayne, Ind., then only a small settlement, 
 and there gained considerable reputation as a mechanical engineer. 
 His wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was born in 
 County Cork, Ireland, and came to the United States in 1852, being 
 married the following year at Mansfield, Ohio. Both are still 
 living. 
 
 John McCarthy was educated at St. Joseph's Academy, Fort 
 Wayne, and on leaving in June, 1875, he became principal of 
 school at Huntington, Ind., with four teachers and the charge of 
 nearly three hundred scholars. Here he remained for two years, 
 then accepted in June, 1877, a position as chief clerk to the Superin-
 
 618 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 tendent of the Pittsburg, Cincinnati & St. Louis 11. R., in which 
 he stayed until 1880, when he became book-keeper in the wholesale 
 department of John Shillito & Co., Cincinnati. With this firm he 
 remained until 1883, when he engaged as chief clerk and supply 
 agent of the New York, Chicago & St. Louis R. R. Co., a position he 
 filled for eight years, and then entering into business for himself, 
 engaged in mining and railroad operations in New Mexico, but mak- 
 ing his headquarters in Chicago. Since his coming to Chicago in 
 1883, being an ardent Democrat, he was actively engaged in politics, . 
 never, however, seeking office for himself, but always working in 
 the interest of his friends. He was President of the Hyde Park 
 Democratic organization from 1883 to 1889, being also its repre- 
 sentative in Central Committees for two terms, and was very prom- 
 inently associated in the movement which resulted in the annexa- 
 tion of Hyde Park to Chicago. 
 
 Previous to the election of Carter Harrison in 1893, Mr. Mc- 
 Carthy was probably his most active lieutenant, being the only 
 member of the Democratic Committee who espoused his cause 
 months before his nomination. After the election, Mr. Harrison 
 appointed Mr. McCarthy Superintendent of Streets. Early in his 
 administration he discovered that the street contractors had not 
 
 * 
 
 been conforming for years to the contracts and specifications, but 
 had been using from twenty per cent to thirty per cent less material 
 than the specifications called for, as also that the labor was not 
 being performed in a workmanlike manner. After a consultation 
 with the Mayor, he decided to investigate the work performed dur- 
 ing the last two years, with the result that shortness in material 
 was discovered to the amount of $300,000, against which reserves of 
 about the same amount were retained by the city. Many of the 
 contractors agreed to leave the matter to arbitration, and with the 
 result that Mr. McCarthy's claims and the position he had taken up 
 were fully maintained, and the immediate result followed that all
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 619 
 
 street construction at once rose to a higher plane. For the first 
 lime in municipal government in this or any other country, the 
 u mid-ground corporations those who were given franchises to 
 tear up the streets for the purpose of laying gas pipes, electric, tele- 
 graph, and telephone wires, and conduits of all kinds, and for such 
 purpose had torn up portions of streets, afterwards leaving them 
 for many years in bad condition were compelled to repair the 
 s;iiiic and entirely at their own expense. Maps and charts showing 
 the responsibility of each in the various streets were obtained from 
 the representatives of all the companies, who at any time had torn 
 up the streets, and these had a meeting with the Mayor and Mr. 
 McCarthy for the purpose of coming to some agreement which 
 would result in replacing the pavements. It was then decided that 
 the repairs should be made pro rata by each of the companies con- 
 cerned, and civil engineers were selected under the direction of Mr. 
 McCarthy, and resulted in all the down-town thoroughfares being 
 practically put in good condition without the slightest expense to 
 the city. During 1893 the sum of ninety thousand dollars was ex- 
 pended, and in 1894 one hundred and ten thousand, leaving to suc- 
 ceeding administrations the balance, which was estimated to the 
 amount of four hundred thousand dollars. Believing that previous 
 administrations were partly guilty in allowing such a state of things 
 to exist, it was considered but just that the companies should ha.ve 
 a reasonable time to repair the damages of fifteen previous years. 
 The successful adjustment of this new departure was noticed and 
 approved by the municipal authorities in this and other countries, 
 resulting in similar methods being adopted in many of the leading 
 cities. 
 
 Mr. McCarthy continued in his position as Superintendent during 
 the regime of Mayors Swift and Hopkins, until in November, 1894, 
 lie was promoted to be Commissioner of Public Works, the position 
 
 in city government next in responsibility and power to that of 
 33
 
 620 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Mayor. During bis brief occupancy of tbe office, which lasted for 
 the remainder of the term of Mayor Hopkins, be inaugurated nu- 
 merous reforms, more especially in the special assessment bureau. 
 Other notable works under his administration were the completion 
 of the four-mile crib, which cost |409,000, and the Sixty-eighth 
 Street tunnel and temporary crib, which cost $377,385. There 
 must also be included the Van Buren Bascule bridge, the only one 
 of its kind in the world, and upon which $167,900 was spent; the 
 completion of Wentworth Avenue sewer, and in 1893, the building 
 of 142 miles of streets, and 121 miles in 1894. 
 
 Mr. McCarthy is a member of the Columbus and the Iroquois 
 Clubs, as well as of a number of other organizations. In religion 
 he is a Roman Catholic, and a cultivated and well educated man of 
 strong literary tastes, although he has been too bnsy in public 
 affairs and duties to indulge much in any outside tastes and recrea- 
 tions. That his past work was well appreciated by his fellow citi- 
 zens is unquestionable, as is also the fact that from the promise of 
 his past may be creditably anticipated a brilliant and successful 
 future career. 
 
 JUDGE SAMUEL P. McCONNELL. 
 
 Samuel P. McConnell was born July 5th, 1849, on a farm near 
 Springfield, Illinois. His grandfather, James McConnell, was a 
 native of Bellelessen, parish of Ballenhaten, County Down, Ireland, 
 and came to America in the beginning of the present century, lo- 
 cating in Connecticut. Here he established a manufactory for 
 making gun powder, supplying the patriots of the War of 1812. 
 The latter at an end, he sold out his business and moved to Madison
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 621 
 
 County, New York, where he engaged in farming. In 1880 he re- 
 moved to Illinois, where he purchased a farm three miles south of 
 Springfield, and was a pioneer in the cultivation of the prairies of 
 this State and a demonstrator of the unexcelled richness of the 
 upland prairies of Illinois. He was also one of the first to bring 
 sheep into the State. A man of great prominence in his day, he 
 was a very close and intimate friend of President Lincoln and 
 Stephen Douglas, more particularly the latter, who never came to 
 Springfield without visiting him. James McCounell died in 186(5, 
 leaving for that time a very large fortune. Another McConnell 
 James a direct ancestor of the subject of this sketch, was in com- 
 mand of the rebelling Irish at the time of "Bloody Mary," and found 
 his death in a hand-to-hand encounter with Sir William Sidney. 
 Still another was an officer in the rebellion in which Lord Edward 
 Fitzgerald and noble Emmet took part. On the mother's side, also, 
 the subject of this sketch was of well tried stock. His mother, 
 whose maiden name was Elizabeth Carringtou Parsons, was a mem- 
 ber of an old English family who settled in Meriden, Connecticut, 
 in 1680, and her grandfather commanded a battery of artillery in 
 the Revolutionary War. 
 
 General John McConuell, the father of the subject of this sketch, 
 was born in Madison County, New York. When the war broke out, 
 notwithstanding the fact that he had a very large farm in Illinois 
 and also one of the largest stocks of sheep in the West, he still con- 
 sidered it his duty to enter the army. He was given a commission 
 as Captain of the Third Illinois Cavalry, and later was made Colonel 
 of the Fifth Illinois Cavalry. April 9th, 1865, he was appointed 
 Brigadier-General and served until the end of the war, when he re- 
 turned to Illinois and resumed farming. 
 
 Samuel P. McConuell attended the public schools of Springfield 
 in his youth, graduating at the high school of that place at the age 
 of seventeen, when he entered Lombard University of Galesburg.
 
 622 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 From the latter he graduated in 1871, receiving the degree of B. A., 
 and at once took up the study of law with the firm of historic repu- 
 tation, Stewart, Edwards & Brown, of Springfield. He was ad- 
 mitted to the bar in December, 1872, and coming to Chicago, 
 opened an office and began to practice. For some time he was a 
 member of the firm of Crawford & McConnell, and later organized 
 the firm of McConnell, Raymond & Rogers. His business pros- 
 pered and he quickly obtained the reputation of a most capable and 
 trustworthy attorney. In 1882 he was elected Judge of the Circuit 
 Court, and was on the bench for six years, during which time he 
 tried a number of noted cases, among which possibly the Cronin 
 case was the most world-wide in its reputation. He retired in 1888 
 and helped to form the present firm of Tenney, McConnell & Cof- 
 feen. A large general practice is done, and many of the biggest 
 Chicago enterprises, corporate and private, are legally represented. 
 
 Judge McConnell is a strong Democrat and has taken a very 
 active part in politics since he left the bench, and was one of the 
 prime movers in the organization of the Iroquois Club. Of the lat- 
 ter he was President in 1895, in which year also he was President 
 of the Illinois State Silver Democratic Convention, and the follow- 
 ing year was delegate at large to the National Convention. 
 
 He married, February 16th, 1876, Miss Sarah Rogers, daughter 
 of Judge John G. Rogers, at one time on the Circuit bench of Chi- 
 cago, and a granddaughter of Chief Justice Crenshaw of the Court 
 of Appeals of Kentucky. They have had four children, of whom, 
 with one exception, all are living. 
 
 Judge McConnell has won equal eminence both as a consulting 
 and as a trial lawyer. A man of charming personality, possessed 
 of absolute fidelity to every interest of his clients, he bears that 
 honorable record which tells of great personal and business worth. 
 Among a host of friends he is held in esteem and affectionate re- 
 gard, and does honor to that large section this book endeavors to 
 chronicle, the American Irish of Chicago.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 623 
 
 JOHN F. NEAGLE. 
 
 John F. Neagle, contractor and general builder, is pre-emi- 
 nently a production of Chicago enterprise and western ambition, 
 than whom no one is more worthy of representation in a work illus- 
 trating the lives and deeds of the city's leading American Irishmen. 
 Born in this city November 7th, 1858, his father whose biography 
 appears elsewhere in this book was Francis C. Neagle, a native of 
 Ireland, who came to the United States about the year 1845. For 
 aboiit ten years he worked at his trade, that of a carpenter, in New 
 York, and then moved to Chicago, and progressing forward slowly 
 but surely, until he became one of the largest builders and con- 
 tractors of the city. He died in 1895, and left a reputation as a 
 man of business habits and honorable life, of which every one con- 
 nected with him has good reason to be proud, lie had married 
 Johanna Hallaran, who survives him. 
 
 The subject of this sketch attended St. Patrick's Academy until 
 he was fourteen years of age, when, being of an ambitious disposi- 
 tion and feeling himself sufficiently grounded, he determined to go 
 into business. It was his desire to be permitted to join his father 
 in his building operations, but to this the latter objected, but hap- 
 pening at the time to have an unoccupied store on northeast corner 
 Halsted Street and Polk Street, he concluded to start his young son 
 as a grocery merchant. This was in 1872, and, having purchased 
 for him a horse and wagon and $2,500 worth of goods in South 
 .Water Street, he gave him unlimited credit. 
 
 In no way were the father's expectations in regard to the young 
 merchant disappointed, for the latter at once demonstrated that lie 
 had ability far beyond what might be expected from one so young
 
 624 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 iii years. The goods were all bought by himself, and as everything 
 was conducted on strictly business principles, good success of 
 course followed, and John F. Neagle retained until 1884. For some 
 time preceding this he had been taking considerable interest in 
 the building operations of his father, and generally assisting him 
 in making out specifications and the figuring on contracts, and in 
 1884 he became a partner. 
 
 Since then the building firm of F. C. Neagle & Son has acquired 
 an enormous business, which, like this' great city itself, is rapidly 
 increasing. For the execution of important contracts, its facilities 
 are unrivaled, for as to the cost of material and the requirements 
 of labor, the firm is so thoroughly posted that it is but seldom 
 underbid, being in a position to prepare its estimates without the 
 usual heavy item of contingencies, which with others less favor- 
 ably situated so frequently swell the cost of estimates. 
 
 This firm, which was established by F. G. Neagle in 1856, be- 
 
 
 
 came F. C. Neagle & Son in 1884, and was incorporated into the 
 F. C. Neagle & Son Company in 1895, has erected some of the larg- 
 est and finest buildings in the country, among which might be 
 mentioned the Insane Asylum at Woodstock, McTIenry County, 
 Ills.; Strauss Bros. Bank Building, Ligonier, Tnd. ; the Fortune 
 Bros., Cooke's and BreAver & Hoffman's breweries; Donahue & Ilen- 
 neberry Building; the Congregational Church, Clinton and Judd 
 streets, and a number of other churches, warehouses, halls, hotels, 
 factories, office buildings, stores, fiats, residences and apartment 
 houses. Among its later achievements may be mentioned the large 
 apartment house for Russell Tyson at 203 and 205 Goethe Street, at 
 a cost of $75,000, and also the electric power house at Garfield Park 
 for $100,000. 
 
 The standing of Mr. Neagle among his associates may be gath- 
 ered from the fact that he has been secretary of the Carpenters' & 
 Builders' Association during the past six years, and that in that
 
 * 
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 625 
 
 time he has been on a number of occasions chosen as the arbitrator 
 between various contractors and the labor organizations. 
 
 Mr. John F. Neagle is a member of the old West Side Social 
 Club, the oldest in the city, dating as far back as 1866. He has 
 traveled extensively throughout the United States, and is a man of 
 broad information and very liberal ideas. 
 
 A man of fine appearance, courteous manner and generous in 
 his disposition, he has succeeded in winning for himself a high 
 place in the community, and possesses a wide circle of friends, who 
 respect and esteem him for his personal as well as for his high 
 business qualifications. 
 
 BERNARD DOLAN. 
 
 Though comparatively a late comer into the legal world of Chi- 
 cago life, the subject of the present sketch, who possesses the 
 highest qualifications for his profession in a quick grasp of salient 
 points, an impressive manner, and strong influence over a jury, as 
 well as considerable oratorical gifts, has already achieved promi- 
 nence and popularity. 
 
 Bernard Dolan was born August 18th, 1858, in Iowa, his 
 parents, both of Avhom were natives of the West of Ireland, having 
 come to this country in 1850 and settled in Scott County. His 
 education was received in the public schools of the State, and later 
 he studied law in Lincoln, Neb., with L. C. Burr, and in 1883 was ad- 
 mitted to the bar. 
 
 For five years he remained in the United States Attorney's 
 office in Lincoln, then removing to Omaha, and practicing on his 
 own account for four years. November, 1892, he decided to seek
 
 626 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 larger opportunities, and coming to Chicago went into business for 
 himself. His success was immediate and considerable, and he has 
 now a large general practice. 
 
 Mr. Dolan was married in 1891 at Omaha, to Miss Ella Reagan, a 
 young lady who is also of Irish extraction. 
 
 Formerly strongly attached to the principles of the Republican 
 party, Mr. Dolan is now in his political views a Bimetallist. He 
 is a Knight of Pythias, and is also a member of the Laud League. 
 
 CHARLES CHASE McCLAUGHRY. 
 
 Charles Chase McClaughry was born in Carthage, Hancock 
 County, Illinois, April 7th, 1863. His descent is from rugged old 
 Scotch-Irish stock, and many of his ancestors have distinguished 
 themselves in the world. Originally from Scotland, the family 
 settled in the early part of last century in Clonbrouey Parish, 
 County of Longford, Ireland. One, Andrew by name, moved to 
 America in 1765 and fought in the Revolutionary War, while the 
 father of the subject of this sketch, Major R. W. McClaughry, has 
 made a big reputation as a reformer of criminals. Many responsi- 
 ble positions have been held by him, being at one time Chief of the 
 Chicago police force and now holding the position of Superin- 
 tendent of the Illinois State Reformatory at Pontiac. Major R. W. 
 McClaughry married Elizabeth, a daughter of James G. Madden of 
 Monmouth, Ills., whose father, Ben Warren Madden, was also a 
 Revolutionary soldier. The latter's father, another Ben Warren 
 Madden, was a Scotch-Irishman who had come to America from the 
 north of Ireland and settled in the District of Columbia.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 627 
 
 Charles C. McClaughry graduated from the classical course of 
 Kuox College, (Jalesburg, Ills., in 1885, and immediately went into 
 the works of the Illinois Steel Co. With this company he remained 
 until 1889, thoroughly mastering the trade of a machinist, and then 
 for a time went into the employ of E. R. Braiuard & Co., of Joliet. 
 May, 1890, he was offered the position of Chief Engineer at the 
 Illinois State Prison at Joliet, which he accepted and held until 
 1892. May of that year the position of Deputy Superintendent of 
 the Alleghauy County, Pennsyh r ania, Work House was tendered 
 him and accepted. This he held until July, 1893, when he re- 
 signed for a similar post at the Chicago House of Correction, Jan- 
 uary, 1894, where he still remains, bearing the reputation of an 
 efficient officer and an honest, fearless gentleman. 
 
 In 1888 Mr. McClaughry was united in marriage to Helen A. 
 Demmond, daughter of one of the pioneers of Will County. Their 
 family consists of three children. 
 
 In politics he is a Republican and in religion a Presbyterian. 
 
 NICHOLAS HUNT. 
 
 'Inspector Nicholas Hunt, commanding the Second Division of 
 the Chicago Police Force, was born at Waterford, Ireland, June 3d, 
 1848. His parents, both of whom died in 1882, were Michael and 
 Margaret (Pursell) Hunt, the first named being steward for a 
 landed proprietor there. Good honest people, knowing little and 
 caring nothing for the delights of large cities, they had gained by 
 their exemplary lives the respect and esteem of all their neighbors.
 
 628 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 Nicholas Hunt cauie to America first when he was thirteen 
 years of age on a visit to one of his brothers, a grocer and Alderman 
 at Troy, N. Y., and he did not return to Ireland. The public schools 
 of that city were attended until he was eighteen years of age, when 
 he went to work on a farm near Troy. He was twenty-one years 
 of age when he came to Chicago, and a position was at once secured 
 as foreman for Beattle & Barker, contractors, and this he retained 
 until September 15th, 1871, when he joined the Hyde Park Police 
 Force. For upwards of nine years he walked a beat, and then re- 
 ceived promotion to Lieutenant. Having served three years in 
 that position, he was made Captain of the same district in 1884; 
 when Hyde Park was annexed to Chicago in 1889, his section was 
 made the Second Police Division, and Captain Hunt of Hyde Park 
 became Inspector Hunt of the City of Chicago. 
 
 Among the notable murder cases with which Inspector Hunt 
 has been connected may be recalled the capture in 1875 of Jim 
 Allen, a desperate criminal; three years later the running down 
 of George Purdy for the killing of Samuel Reninger; then followed 
 the Nicole Cena, the Jennie McGarvery, the Eva Mitchell, and the 
 recent Hiawatha flats horror, all of which were tracked out and 
 unraveled by this indefatigable western Vidocq. Fie also took a 
 prominent part in the great strike of 1894, where he was in com- 
 mand of the First and Second Regiments, with Colonels Wheeler 
 and Moulton and General Russell, the Brigade Commander, and 
 in connection therewith was able to do some splendid work in 
 crushing the lawlessness then prevalent in the southern portion of 
 the city. 
 
 Married to Miss Johanna Crimmins of Chicago in 1872, he is the 
 father of an interesting family, of whom his eldest son, M. E. Hunt, 
 will soon be admitted to the bar, while his two daughters. Anna and 
 Nellie, are completing their education at the institution of St. 
 Mary's, Notre Dame, Ind. 
 
 The Inspector is a member of the Sheridan Club, Hyde Park
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 629 
 
 Council of the Royal Arcanum, the Independent Order of Foresters 
 and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. 
 
 In his religions views he is a Roman Catholic and a regular at- 
 tendant of St. Thomas' Church. 
 
 Inspector Hunt is a man of fine appearance, while in manner is 
 so absolutely unassuming that if he errs at all it is on the side of 
 modesty. His career in the police department has been a very bril- 
 liant one, and he has unquestionably well deserved every reward 
 and honor that has been given him. Sociable in his character, 
 genial in his disposition, there is no man in Chicago who stands 
 higher in the estimation of the community at large, either as citizen 
 or member of the Chicago police service, than Inspector Nicholas 
 Hunt. 
 
 WILLIAM K. SULLIVAN. 
 
 Mr. Sullivan was born November 10, 1843, in the city of Water- 
 ford, in the South of Ireland. He was strictly brought up by his 
 parents, his father an Episcopalian and his mother a Wesleyau 
 Methodist, and both of the strongest religious principles. 
 
 Young Sullivan found his earliest education in the Model 
 Training School of Dublin. From thence he went to a school in 
 Donegal, about seven miles from Malin Head. He was an adven- 
 turous youth, and the salt air of the ocean always possessed for 
 him a peculiar fascination. The United States was at that time, 
 perhaps even more than it is now, the goal both of the oppressed 
 and the unrestful. Sullivan belonged to the latter category; the 
 idea of journeying to the New World, its free and broader condi- 
 tions and larger fields for action, was no sooner conceived than
 
 630 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 he determined to set out without delay. In less than a week, 
 having wished his parents good-bye, he was on' the seas, bound 
 for New York. Arrived at the Eastern metropolis, where he 
 found many influential and willing friends, he was urged to ac- 
 cept a situation and take up with trading pursuits. To these, 
 W. K. Sullivan had little or no inclination, and consequently after 
 remaining a short time in New York he came West and settled 
 at Aurora, Illinois. Here he taught school in both Kane and 
 Kendall counties with considerable success. 
 
 Then occurred the eventful period of the war. A meeting was 
 called at, Aurora for the purpose of enlisting volunteers, and the 
 large number (for so small a town) of two thousand persons at- 
 tended. Only two men, however, signed the enlistment roll, and 
 of these Mr. Sullivan was one, for all the others had been promised 
 positions as officers. He was at once offered to be made sergeant, 
 and was desired to repair to Elgin barracks, where the regiment 
 to which his company was attached had been ordered to assemble. 
 Here there was an inspection by the army surgeon, and Mr. Sulli- 
 van, one of whose eyes had been injured when a boy by a blow 
 from a bat, had some difficulty in passing the necessary examina- 
 tion; the surgeon doubting his ability to shoot. He was accepted, 
 however, and went to the front, but his term of service was short, 
 and, having saved a little money, he came at once to Chicago. 
 
 The oil excitement in West Virginia, which was at this time 
 in full progress, led a great number of people towards that region 
 in search of fortune. Mr. Sullivan, ever roving and adventurous 
 in disposition, was among those, and also among the majority in 
 the result, for the oil bubble quickly burst and most of the ad- 
 venturers were ruined. Necessity drove him to try running a 
 steam engine, working in the wells, an employment which netted 
 him |4 six hours working day, and in which he remained a short 
 time.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 631 
 
 Mr. Sullivan managed to save sufficient to take him to New- 
 York and still leave him something in hand. No sooner had he 
 arrived there, however, than he received a cablegram summoning 
 him immediately to Ireland, if he desired to see his mother again 
 in life. He arrived too late, however, and after a short stay in 
 the old land, during which he traveled over most portions of it, 
 he returned to New York. Arrived there, he decided upon the 
 career in which his chief reputation has been made. Mr. D. 
 Beach was at that time publishing the New York Sun, and to him 
 young Sullivan applied for and obtained a situation as reporter. 
 Mr. Dana shortly afterwards purchased the Sun, and of the two 
 men on the old staff he took over on his remodeled paper, W. K. 
 Sullivan was one. New York life was not, however, to his liking, 
 and with a strong letter of introduction from Horace Greeley to 
 Horace White, who was then editing the Chicago Tribune, he re- 
 turned to this city. It was effectual in obtaining him employ- 
 ment, and with that paper he remained for several years, working 
 immediately under that very promising journalist, Sam Medill, a 
 brother of Joseph Medill, who died 1 universally regretted a few 
 years ago. 
 
 Mr. Sullivan is full of interesting reminiscences of early Chi- 
 cago life, and relates with considerable power and much humor 
 incidents in his career twenty -five years ago. In the great fire, 
 with hundreds of others, he was a victim and lost all his property, 
 including the accumulated savings of years, and upon which he 
 intended to subsist until he was able to make an income for him- 
 self as a lawyer, having been previously admitted to the bar in 
 New York and Illinois. For six months preceding the fire he had 
 been studying in the law office of Doolittle & Norton, with the in- 
 tention of becoming a member of the bar. He was consequently 
 forced to return to journalism, and acted as correspondent for the 
 Tribune during the latter sessions of the Twenty-seventh General
 
 632 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Assembly, and also of the twenty-eighth. Ill 1872, during the 
 Greeley campaign, as correspondent for the Tribune, he traveled 
 through Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, with orders from Editor 
 White to report everything that happened, faithfully and exactly. 
 Three months were spent in campaign travel, during which he 
 was brought into close association with Governqr O. P. Norton of 
 Indiana, Senator Dan Voorhees, Carl Schurz and other leading 
 men on both sides. He was also with Horace Greeley on his tour 
 through the West. 
 
 Soon afterwards he became connected with the Chicago Even- 
 ing Journal, and was for many years associated with Lieutenant 
 Governor Charles L. Wilson and John A. Wilson. 
 
 Mr. Sullivan claims with considerable pride that during his 
 newspaper career and since the nomination for President of Hora- 
 tio Seymour in the city of New York, he has attended every Be- 
 publican and Democratic national convention, with the exception 
 of one in 1892, when he was out of the country. He has also 
 missed few of the Democratic conventions held during the last 
 twenty years. 
 
 In politics Mr. Sullivan is necessarily a well known figure, hav- 
 ing been three times elected and twice appointed to office. He 
 was a member of the Twenty-seventh General Assembly in 1890, 
 and was twice chosen from a north side district of the city. His 
 first service was under the new constitution, and associated with 
 him in the House were several who were then eminent and promi- 
 nent, or who have since become so. 
 
 Mr. Sullivan has always been a considerable figure in local 
 politics. Mayor Colvin appointed him a member of the Board of 
 Education, upon which he served three years, the two latter as 
 President. Associated with him were the late Perry II. Smith, 
 Philip A. Hoyne, Christopher Hotz, Professor Rodney Welch and 
 the late George C. Clark. He was then offered reappointment by
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 633 
 
 Mayor Heath, but declined, feeling that he had borne sufficiently 
 the burdens of a position for which no thanks were given, and he 
 had been most freely criticised and considerably abused. 
 
 The appointment of consul to the Bermudas, under President 
 Harrison, was given to Mr. Sullivan in 1890. 
 
 Mr. Sullivan married, in 1894, Miss Amelia Shackelford, daugh- 
 ter of the late Mrs. General Julius White. They have two chil- 
 dren: Heleoa Amelia, who is now a charming young lady of eight- 
 een, and William Shackelford, a bright boy of thirteen. 
 
 PATRICK JOSEPH SEXTON. 
 
 Patrick Joseph Sexton was born in 1847 on a farm in County 
 Cavan, Ireland, and with his parents, John and Susan (O'Dowd) 
 Sexton, came to America in 1850, settling in Cincinnati, where 
 the father died in 1863. 
 
 The subject of this sketch attended the public schools of Cin- 
 cinnati until he was fourteen years old, when he apprenticed him- 
 self to a builder of that city. Having served the regulation three 
 years' term, during which time he attended the night sessions in 
 the public schools and also took a course in architectural draw- 
 ing in the Ohio Mechanics' Institute, he moved to Nashville, Tenn., 
 in 1865. Here he embarked in business on his own account as a 
 contractor and builder, and remained there until the great Chi- 
 cago fire of 1871, when, comprehending the opportunity, he moved 
 to Chicago and entered the field as a builder. A prominent part 
 was taken by him in the upbuilding of the city, among the most
 
 634 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 important works with which he has been identified being the 
 Cook County Hospital, the Cook County Court House, the City 
 1 lall, the World's Fair, the new Drainage Channel, and a number 
 of other large public and private works. 
 
 Mr. Sexton is the President and owns a controlling interest in 
 the Chicago Brick Company, one of the largest manufacturers of 
 brick engaged in the business. He is also the owner of a large 
 amount of property in and about Chicago, among his important 
 holdings being the vestibule block on Van Buren Street and the 
 St. Benedict apartment house on the North Side, the latter being 
 one of the largest in the city. His home is at 1340 Michigan Ave- 
 nue, and he also possesses a beautiful summer home in Waukegan 
 known as Fairoaks, overlooking the Lake on Sheridan Road, it 
 being an ideal summer retreat and containing ten acres of ground. 
 
 HON. JOHN P. HOPKINS. 
 
 A native of Buffalo, New York, John P. Hopkins was born on 
 the 29th of October, 1858, and is the seventh in a family of twelve 
 children. His parents were John and Mary (Flynn) Hopkins. His 
 primary education was received in the public and private schools of 
 his native city, and he then entered St. Joseph's College, which was 
 left in the year 1871. Absolutely without capital with which to 
 make a start in a business career, but still possessed of a commend- 
 able ambition and resolve to win success, he immediately set to 
 work. For two and a half years he served an apprenticeship to the 
 David Bell Company of Buffalo, learning the machinist's trade, and
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 635 
 
 from there he transferred his energies to the Evans Elevator Com- 
 pany, with which he continued for two years, serving in the capac- 
 ity of weigh-master. It was in December, 1880, that Mr. Hopkins' 
 connection with Chicago began, and in March following he secured 
 a position as requisition clerk in the store rooms of the Pullman 
 Palace Car Company. With immense corporations of this char- 
 acter, promotion is obtained only through ability and absolute in- 
 tegrity, and after two months Mr. Hopkins was advanced to the 
 position of time keeper. Three months after he Avas made general 
 time keeper, and in another three mouths he became paymaster, 
 which position he held until September, 1888, when he was com- 
 pelled to resign on account of other pressing duties. In 1885 he 
 established a store in the Arcade. The business was organized 
 under the name of the Arcade Trading Company, with a capital 
 stock of ten thousand dollars, and Mr. Hopkins was elected its sec- 
 retary and treasurer. Since that time the capital has been in- 
 creased to fifteen thousand dollars, and eight large stores are now 
 conducted under the name of the Secord & Hopkins Company. 
 The business has been conducted on systematic, methodical princi- 
 ples, and an idea of the success which has attended the enterprise 
 is indicated by the greatly increased facilities now offered. 
 
 It is frequently said that a good politician cannot be a good 
 business man, but Mr. Hopkins is a striking contradiction to this 
 idea, for he is equally prominent in both characters. With the 
 Democratic party in this city, his connection has been one of several 
 years, and he has made his way to the very foremost ranks of De- 
 mocracy in Cook County. It was under his leadership and organiza- 
 tion that, the annexation movement and necessary campaign was 
 conducted, which resulted in the annexation to the City of Chicago 
 of the towns of Hyde Park, Lake, Cicero, Jefferson and Lake View, 
 
 and a consequent increase in the area of the city of one hundred and 
 
 *t 
 
 fifty square miles, with an addition to the population of 265,000 
 
 34
 
 636 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 people. This grand result was largely accomplished through the 
 earnest and untiring efforts of the Mayor, who acted as chairman 
 of the annexation committee. 
 
 Mr. Hopkins was chairman of the Democratic campaign com- 
 mittee in 1890, 1891 and 1892, and in the last named year was a dele- 
 gate to the national convention, and was assistant sergeant-at-arms 
 iu that assembly. He was also one of the organizers of the Cook 
 County Democratic Club, and for four years served as its president. 
 As school treasurer, and in various other ways, he has been promi- 
 nently connected with official interests. When the death of Hon. 
 Carter Harrison left the mayoralty chair vacant, he came before 
 the people as a candidate for the office on the Democratic ticket 
 and won the election, becoming Chicago's chief magistrate. His 
 connection with political affairs had hitherto been of rather a quiet 
 nature, but the leaders of the Democracy had come to recognize 
 his intrinsic worth and the ability which would enable him to 
 control the destinies of the second city of the Union. 
 
 Mr. Hopkins is an honored and popular member of the following 
 social clubs: The Iroquois, Columbus, Sunset, Waubansee, the Jef- 
 ferson Association, the Iloseland, the Pullman Athletic, the Chicago 
 Athletic and the Pullman Cricket Clubs. He was also one of the 
 organizers and a leading member of both the Sheridan and the 
 Summer Clubs. He is a member of the Ancient Order of United 
 Workmen, the Catholic Order of Foresters, the Catholic Benevo- 
 lent Association, the Royal Arcanum, and various others. He is 
 also colonel on the Governor's staff. No matter in what position, 
 business or social, John P. Hopkins is an affable, genial gentleman, 
 whose friends are legion, and who is honored and esteemed both for 
 his many virtues and great genuine worth. As the record of a 
 young man, his career is one of which he may be justly proud. Suc- 
 cess is not measured by the heights which one may chance to oc- 
 cupy, but by the distance between the starting point and the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 637 
 
 altitude reached. This being considered, John P. Hopkins can 
 point to a brilliant success attained, but which is only a just re- 
 ward for meritorious and honorable effort, commanding the respect 
 and admiration of every American, whether politically opposed to 
 hi in or otherwise. 
 
 MICHAEL JOSEPH KELLY. 
 
 Michael Joseph Kelly was born on the Hudson Itiver, in Glen 
 Falls, Warren County, N. Y., September 3rd, 1851. His father was 
 John Kelly, and his mother, Mary (liiordau) Kelly, both born at 
 that most beautiful of all spots, the Lakes of Killarney, Ireland. 
 The father, in Ireland, was an unrelenting and aggressive Fenian, 
 and on that account was compelled to leave the country with his 
 wife. He came to the United States in 1848 and settled at Glen 
 Falls, in the State of New York. On his arrival, he engaged in 
 rtiilrond contracting until 1859, when with his family he moved to 
 Springlield, 111., where he stayed three years, then moving to 
 Chicago. 
 
 The subject of this sketch attended the public schools of Chi- 
 cago until he was sixteen, when he felt that he should do something 
 toward starting in life. lie secured a position with the firm of 
 Adams & Westlake then, as now, the large railroad supply manu- 
 facturers as apprentice in their metal spinning department, and 
 remained with this firm for twenty-seven years. In this time, he 
 became, of course, thoroughly acquainted with the business, and 
 Avas promoted from time to time until when he resigned in 1892, he 
 held the very responsible position of superintendent in charge of 
 the metal department. He gave it up to accept the chief clerkship 
 of the personal department of the County Treasurer.
 
 638 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 * 
 Mr. Kelly has always been a strong Democrat, and has very 
 
 actively interested himself in political affairs. He received the 
 nomination, in 1893, for County Commissioner, and was elected, 
 holding the office for one term, when he was appointed chief clerk 
 in the permit department of the water office by Mayor Hopkins. 
 Tliis position he held for nine months, when he retired to take a 
 much needed rest, and spent his time in traveling all over the South 
 and West. 
 
 Of very progressive character, Mr. Kelly takes a great interest 
 in Irishmen and in all Irish affairs. He was one of the chief organ- 
 izers of the Irish Labor Bureau, which was established in the fall 
 of 1895, with the purpose of securing employment for those of Irish 
 blood, and which has been attended with great success. 
 
 Mr. Kelly is a prominent member of the Ancient Order of 
 Hibernians, and Chief Ranger of Court No. 46 of the Foresters. He 
 is also a member of the Cook County Marching Club, and was hon- 
 ored with the position of Grand Marshal of the parade on St. Pat- 
 rick's Day in 1894. 
 
 HENRY J. FITZGERALD. 
 
 Henry J. Fitzgerald was born in Milwaukee, Wis., October 8th, 
 1853, and is the sou of Francis and Margaret (Egan) Fitzgerald. 
 Of his parents, his father was born in Kilkenny, Ireland, where he 
 received but a limited education, and when quite young was ap- 
 prenticed to the shoemaker's trade. In 1842 he came to America, 
 where he finished learning his trade, and immediately established 
 himself in Milwaukee. In that city he has since resided, and is for 
 his years a man extremely well preserved.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 639 
 
 What of educational advantages Henry J. Fitzgerald managed 
 to receive were obtaiued in St. Gall's Jesuit Academy of Milwau- 
 kee, and he was a mere boy when he secured a position in an office 
 and there obtained an insight into clerical work. In 1875 he en- 
 tered the employ of Komadka Urns., trunk manufacturers, and be- 
 ginning in a humble capacity, steadily grew in favor with his em- 
 ployers until in 1882, when he resigned his position and organized 
 the firm of Abel, Uoch & Fitzgerald, in the same line of business. 
 So it continued until 1892, when Mr. Fitzgerald came to Chicago 
 and purchased the trunk manufacturing business of Vogler & 
 Geudtner, with a factory at 407-11 AY ells street, with offices located 
 on Madison street. This firm was one of the oldest in Chicago, 
 having been established in I860. Under Mr. Fitzgerald's careful 
 and thorough superintendence the business grew rapidly, and in 
 18!)4 it became necessary to secure larger office quarters, and a 
 suitable location was found at 24549 Jackson Street. Mr. Fitz- 
 gerald carries on the business under the name of the Fitzgerald 
 Trunk Company, manufacturers of trunks, traveling bags, tele- 
 scopes, etc., and is now one of the largest concerns of the kind in the 
 country. 
 
 The subject of this sketch served ten years in an Irish military 
 company in Milwaukee, known a.s the Sheridan Guards. In his 
 religious views he is a Koman Catholic, and in his politics he is a 
 Democrat. 
 
 Mr. Fitzgerald was married May Kith, 1888, to Miss Mary Cogan, 
 daughter of James and Honera Cogan of the County Wicklow, and 
 to them seven children have been born Gilbert (deceased), Mar- 
 garet, Sarah, (lenildine (deceased), Loretta (deceased), Florence 
 and Frances. 
 
 Of an extremely retiring disposition, Mr. Fitzgerald seeks 
 neither publicity nor notoriety. He is a thorough man of business, 
 and his name is absolutely synonymous with uprightness and
 
 640 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 honor, (jrenerous and liberal, every worthy appeal finds in him 
 ready response, and esteemed and respected by his business asso- 
 ciates, honored and revered by a host of friends, Mr. Ileury J. Fitz- 
 gerald is a very true type of the American Irishman. 
 
 JOHN SEXTON. 
 
 John Sexton was born in Dnndas, Ontario, Canada, June 29th, 
 1858, his parents being Michael and Ellen (O'Connor) Sexton. 
 The father came from County Clare, Ireland, to Canada in 1849, 
 and at once engaged in railroad work. He died in 1879. His wife 
 was a native of County Kerry, Ireland, and she died in the year 
 1873. The family moved to Niagara Falls, Ont., in 1806, where the 
 subject of this sketch attended the parish school until he was 
 thirteen years of age, when he secured employment with a rail- 
 road, which, having retained for a time, he resigned to accept a 
 better position in a store, remaining in the latter occupation for 
 four years. In 1877, however, he came to the conclusion that 
 Chicago was the fittest place for a young man of ability, integrity 
 and honorable enterprise, and as with him to think was to act, 
 he at once set out for this city, securing employment immediately 
 in the tea business as a salesman and remaining in that capacity 
 four years, part of the time being spent on the road in the position 
 of traveling salesman. In 1884, having by strict frugality accu- 
 mulated some money, and having thoroughly acquainted him- 
 self with the tea and coffee trade, he determined to embark in 
 business on his own account. Associating himself with a Mr,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 641 
 
 Hitchcock, under the firm name of Hitchcock & Sexton, a start 
 was made, and the firm was in existence three years, when Mr. 
 Sexton bought out his partner and has since conducted the busi- 
 ness alone under the name of John Sexton & Co. Launched as a 
 coffee and tea store in a small way, the business of the firm, owing 
 to the business principles and honest methods used, prospered and 
 increased until 181)0, when a full line of groceries was added, and 
 the business continued to increase until at the present time sales 
 average $500,000 a year. A specialty is made by the firm of sup- 
 plying hotels, clubs, public institutions, vessels and dining cars 
 with groceries, and a large wholesale business is also done, in ad- 
 dition to considerable out-of-town mail order trade. 
 
 Mr. Sexton was married in 1886 to Annie Bartelmanu of Chi- 
 cago, and they have a family of five children. In religious mat- 
 ters he is a Roman Catholic and belongs to the congregation of 
 the Cathedral of the Holy Name; while in politics he is a Demo- 
 crat. He is a member of the Columbus Club. 
 
 JOHN M. CARROLL. 
 
 Very prominently identified with the prosperous dry goods 
 merchants of Northwest Chicago is the man whose name heads 
 this sketch. 
 
 John M. Carroll was born in 1845 in County Tipperary, in the 
 village schools of which his primary education was received, and 
 afterwards he was apprenticed to a merchant in the town of Clon- 
 mel to learn, the dry goods business. 
 
 Having reached his majority, he came to the conclusion that
 
 642 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the United States offered a better field of opportunities to a man 
 of business abilities aud energetic determination to succeed in the 
 world. In 1867 he came to this city and made a start for him sell' 
 on the North Side. His efforts met with success, and he has been 
 enabled to build up a large and prosperous business. 
 
 Mr. Carroll is a Roman Catholic, but possesses no religious 
 bigotry. In his political views he has always affiliated Avith the 
 Republican party, and in 1891 served for a term as County Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 Liberal in his ideas, generous in his disposition, clear-minded 
 and vigorous iu his policy, Mr. Carroll is a man whom to know is 
 to respect. 
 
 CHARLES FFRENCH. 
 
 The Ffrenclies of Galway have been for too many centuries iden- 
 tified with the national fortunes of the beautiful green isle, have 
 suffered too greatly, both financially and iu the sacrifice of their 
 lives, for any descendant to need introduction in an Irish assembly. 
 The family is noted as one of the fourteen ancient tribes of Galway, 
 ii term which, applied in ridicule by the officers of Cromwell because 
 they refused any friendly intercourse, has since been retained as a 
 title of respect aud honor. Charles Ffreuch, the subject of this 
 sketch, believes himself to be the only representative of the family 
 who has made America his home, and is well known among the 
 newspaper men of Chicago and the West. Proud of his origin, a 
 short history of the house possesses not merely personal but has 
 considerable general interest.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 645 
 
 The family is a very ancient one, although the title in the peer- 
 age of Ireland, Baron Ffrench, is comparatively of new creation, 
 having been bestowed upon the widow of Sir Charles Ffreuch of 
 Castle ffrench, County Galway, in 1798. She was a daughter of 
 Patrick Dillon, great-great-grandson of the first Earl of Roscom- 
 inon, and grandfather of the ninth and tenth Earls, the elder branch 
 of the family failing. The name of her first cousin, Robert, the 
 ninth Earl of Roscommon, and Marshal of the gallant army of 
 France, is one that will long be cherished by the Irish people as 
 among the commanders who, in conjunction with Marshal Count de 
 Thomond, led on the impetuous charge which gave Marshal Saxe 
 the victory on the bloody field of Fonteuoy. Through the Dillons, 
 the Ffreiiches claim true Milesian descent for seventeen hundred 
 years before the time of Christ, and by intermarriages the Ffrench 
 family has allied itself frequently with the noblest names the his- 
 tory of Ireland holds, among which may be mentioned the Clauri- 
 cardes, family name De Burgh, the Digbeys, the Leiusters (Fitzger- 
 alds, the historical Geraldines), the Lanesboroughs (Butlers), the 
 Ulayueys, the Inchiquins (O'Briens), the Egmonts (Percevals), the 
 YVestmeaths (Nugents), the Charlemonts (Caulfields), the Hunting- 
 dons (Hastings), the Blake Forsters, the O'Connor Blakes, the Bod- 
 kins, the Brownes, the Comyus, the Cheevers, and the D'Arcys. 
 
 The family of Ffrench is of course of Norman origin, and accord- 
 ing to reliable records is descended from Rollo, first Duke of Nor- 
 mandy. On the rolls of Battle Abbey the name appears Sir The- 
 ophilus Ffrench, being one of the knights and warriors who came 
 over to England with William the Conquerer. We read also that 
 Sir Herbert or Humphrey de Freyue, or Ffrench, was among the 
 companions of Strongbow to Ireland in 11(59, and was given large 
 possessions in Leinster. Later the family removed to Ballymacuoge 
 in Wexford. According to an early survey of the Knights Fees, the 
 Ffrenchos in the times of Henry III owned in addition to Irish
 
 646 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 estates, very extensive properties in Herefordshire, and at that time 
 the name which had been previously variously written De Fraxines, 
 De Frignes, De Le Freigny, De ffreyne, Freny, Ffrynche, assumed 
 its more modern form, Ffrensh or ffrench. Fulco de Freyne was ap- 
 pointed the Seneschal of Kilkenny by the Earl of Gloucester, son- 
 in-law of King Edward, an office which was then considered one of 
 the highest trust and confidence. Two of the family, Sir Fulco and 
 Humphrey, were summonsed as magnates of Ireland to serve the 
 King's wars in Scotland and took part in the Battle of Hallidown. 
 In 1346, Fulke, the son of Sir Fulco, was with King Edward at the 
 siege of Calais, having under his command one banneret, one knight, 
 eighteen armigeri and fourteen nobillars, making in all thirty-four 
 men. In 1355, the same Sir Fulke was security for the Earl of Des- 
 mond, and three of his family received knighthood from Lionel, 
 Duke of Clarence as among the most distinguished soldiers of the 
 Kingdom. From Sir Fulke's son, Kobert, are lineally descended the 
 Ffreiiches of Coimaught and this Kobert's grandson, Sir John 
 Ffrench, was a man of immense wealth and famous for his liberali- 
 ty, contributing largely to the churches of Galway, and among 
 other great works, building the chief portion of the Cathedral of St. 
 Nicholas. 
 
 Indeed it is with Galway the Ffrenches are most closely con- 
 nected. Old time reliable records show Walter Ffrench, Portrieve 
 of that town in 1301, 1303, and Provost in 1305. Another Walter 
 was Mayor in 1445, and his grandson was Mayor of Galway in 1595, 
 and an executing party to Perrot's composition for the Coimaught 
 estates in 1585. Peter Ffrench was Mayor in 1576, and Eobert, his 
 brother, in 1582, followed by his son Edmund, in 1606. During these 
 stormy periods in Ireland's history, several of the Ffrench family 
 showed their devotion to the Catholic faith by sealing it with their 
 lives. The demand was "recant or hang," and a refusal was met 
 with the order to string up, a rope having been passed froin one
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 647 
 
 side of the narrow streets which are so common iu the towii of 
 Galway to the other. Of Oliver, Alderman of Galway, the British 
 Museum contains an original letter signed ''Oliver oge Ffrench, 
 Maior of Galvay XIX th, January, 1576." It was his grandson, 
 Jasper Ffrench, who built Castle Oloher, afterwards Castle ffreuch, 
 in 1635, and which still bears, sculptured in stone in workmanship 
 of the 17th century, the family arms. 
 
 The official Cromwellian and Williamite records are full of fam- 
 ily memorials in the way of forfeiting proprietors, and after the 
 Restoration of grants of acts of Settlement and Explanation several 
 of the family being mentioned as receiving grants in Counties Gal- 
 way and Mayo. At the Supreme Council of Kilkenny sat another 
 distinguished member of the family as a Spiritual peer, the cele- 
 brated Nicholas Ffrench, Roman Catholic Bishop 'of Ferns. 
 
 Of the Commons in the Irish Parliament of King James II was 
 Christopher Ffrench of Galway, who there much distinguished him- 
 self. 
 
 King James' Army List contains many of the family. Captain 
 Arthur Ffreuch, Mayor of Galway, 1691, speaks in a letter dated 
 July 15th of the battle of Aughrim as "I think the last great blow 
 to King James, his cause." Father Gregory Ffrench, parish priest 
 of Duras, is mentioned in a letter dated 1691 to Baron de Ginckell as 
 having been arrested as a suspect. 
 
 Arriving at a more modern age, Charles Ffrench was created a 
 baronet, August 17th, 1779, and died 1784. On February 14th, 1798, 
 his widow, formerly Rose Dillon, was made a peeress of Ireland, the 
 name in the patent of nobility being spelled as some of the family 
 still retain it "ffrench." Their son, Thomas, is mentioned by Wolfe 
 Tone in his Memoirs as that "handsome young Irishman, whom he 
 had the happiness of shearing into the brotherhood." A son of the 
 latter, Charles, who afterwards succeeded to the title, was a great 
 friend of Daniel O'Counell, and took a very active part by word and
 
 648 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 pen iii the latter's agitation for Catholic emancipation. lie was the 
 writer of many able letters which were afterwards published, favor- 
 ing repeal of the union and the subject of the present sketch, Charles 
 Ffreuch, has the honor to be his grandson. 
 
 Several poor seasons made the payment of rents by the tenants 
 of the estate almost an impossibility, and the Ffreuches, unlike 
 many other of the Irish aristocratic element, possessed too true an 
 affection for their tenants to use harsh measures. Unable to sup- 
 port the Galway properties, they had to be sold in 1851, under the 
 Encumbered Estates Act, and a removal was then made to Dublin. 
 Jasper Joseph Ffreuch, the youngest son of the third Baron, Charles 
 Austen, settled in London, and there his only son, Charles Ffreuch, 
 was bom June 2(Jth, 1861. Education was obtained by the last 
 named in two leading English colleges, following which he was for 
 a time at Oxford University. Such a raising has, so his American 
 friends sometimes express it, given an uupleasant veneer of accent 
 to what ought to be a good Irishman, but it is not any mere method 
 or trick of speech that makes the Irishman. 
 
 Brought up with the intention of entering the army, that refuge 
 of so many scions of Irish families, a short military experience with 
 its prevailing habits, ways and customs so impossible to one whose 
 income was limited and culminating in orders for India, sufficed for 
 Charles Ffreuch. lie resigned his commission, took unto himself a 
 wife and embraced a journalistic career. His efforts were crowned 
 with good success and lie made himself favorably known in the 
 London weekly press and the English magazines, making a special- 
 ty of biographical subjects. The great field offered by the United 
 States for limited capital induced him to leave London and seek 
 fortune's favors in the western states. He settled down in Kansas 
 City, taking up some business speculative ventures, which were 
 for a time brilliantly successful, but not recognizing in season the 
 necessity of retreat he Avas swamped in the bad times of the early
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. fi49 
 
 '90's. The necessities of a family drove him to resume the occupa- 
 tion in which he was already reasonably experienced, and he did 
 some good work on the Kansas City Journal. Advised that Chi- 
 cago offered better opportunities, he moved to this city in 1892 and 
 found a good field for his abilities in the World's Fair. He later es- 
 sayed a magazine in this city, an enterprise far from successful, 
 and, after writing considerably for various Chicago dailies, was 
 offered a position on the then about to be started "Chicago Chron- 
 icle." Here he remained for some time, but the heavy night duties 
 injuring his health, he was forced to retire and to engage in more 
 pretentious literary work. 
 
 In politics Mr. Ffrench is Republican, but no partisan, for he 
 recognizes and will support the best men available for office, irre- 
 spective of party. He resides at Grossdale, near Chicago; has a 
 fine library and some good paintings, old masters and modern. 
 Early in 1896 he founded a paper, "The Grossdale Vigilant," which 
 has made its power felt in the government of the town and district. 
 Mr. Ffrench was nominated in 1896 Town Collector, and later was 
 given the Non-Partisan nomination from the Township of Proviso 
 for Justice of the Peace. 
 
 Mr. Ffrench is a member of the Royal Arcanum and of the An- 
 cient Order of Hibernians. Of social organizations he is a member 
 of the Press Club of Chicago, being at the present time its recording 
 secretary, and also of the Columbia Yacht Club. 
 
 He was married in 1885 to Florence Burt, an English lady of 
 brilliant musical powers and considerable literary abilities. She 
 contributes regularly to several Chicago newspapers, and is the 
 Western correspondent and musical critic for the "Musical Cou- 
 rier" of New York, Paris, London and Chicago, the greatest paper 
 of its kind in existence. They have a family of five children, two 
 boys and three girls. The eldest, another Charles, was born in
 
 650 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 1886; Evelyn, Josephine and Jasper Joseph in order, according to 
 ages. 
 
 An extensive traveler, Mr. Ffrench knows Great Britain thor- 
 oghly; has journeyed extensively over France, Germany, Belgium, 
 Holland, Italy and Switzerland, has visited Africa, and is familiar 
 with the western portion of the United States. An omnivorous 
 reader, gifted with a very retentive memory and favored with nu- 
 merous opportunities to meet personally many of the world's great- 
 est minds, his ability to speak intelligently and with a certain 
 authority on a wide range of subjects makes him an interesting 
 companion. With the great Irish leader, Charles Stuart Parnell, 
 he was admitted to an intimacy few can boast of, and only a few 
 days before his death, being in England, spent an hour in his com- 
 pany. 
 
 Most thoroughly does he esteem the great country of which he 
 is an adopted son, but his affection is none the less strong for Ire- 
 land, the land of his birth and of his forefathers. To see that coun- 
 try free and happy, under the government of men who command 
 honor and respect and who are strangers to fraud, abuse and 
 chicanery, is the ambition and longing of his life, as it must be of 
 all true hearted and true natured Irishmen, or of that large section 
 which comes under the broad title of American Irish. 
 
 Stanley Waterloo. 
 
 (Written expressly for this work by that greatest of western 
 writers.)
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 651 
 
 FREDERICK W. C. HAYES. 
 
 Frederick W. C. Hayes is an eminent exponent of what can be 
 achieved with Chicago pluck and pel-severance. Beginning life 
 as a poor boy, without outside assistance of any description, he has 
 succeeded in pushing his way by his own unaided efforts to the 
 front rank of his chosen profession. Although a comparatively 
 young man, he has gained wide recognition as among the ablest 
 hiwyers in the City of Chicago. 
 
 Mr. Haj'es was born at Johnstown, New York, January 20th, 
 1859. His father, Richard B. Hayes, who was the second son of 
 Frederick W. Hayes, the proprietor of "Hayes' Royal Irish Linen 
 Thread," of world-wide reputation, came to the United States from 
 Banbridge^ County Down, Ireland, in 1856. The mother of the 
 subject of this sketch was formerly Mary E. Nellis, a native of 
 Ephratali, N. Y., and a descendant of the well-known Edwards 
 family of New York State. His ancestors on the mother's side 
 fought in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. When the 
 subject of this sketch was a boy of ten, he came with his mother to 
 Chicago, and received his education in this city's grammar and 
 high schools. In the fall of 1876, Mr. Hayes entered the old Uni- 
 versity of Chicago, and graduated therefrom with honors in 1880, 
 receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Since, he has been re- 
 degreed by the new university, and is a member of the Alumni 
 Association of that institution. 
 
 He began his legal studies at the Union College of Law in 1880, 
 and two years later was admitted to the bar. During his col- 
 legiate and legal studies, he was compelled to support himself, and
 
 fi52 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 while iii college did so by teaching night school aiid delivering 
 newspapers, and while reading law, by working in the Recorder's 
 office, and also as clerk for Justice Charles Arnd. Immediately 
 after admission to the bar, Mr. Hayes started out into active prac- 
 tice, and became a member of the law firm of Young & Hayes, com- 
 posed of Kimball Young and himself. This firm was dissolved in 
 1884 on account of the illness and retirement of Mr. Young, and 
 Mr. Hayes ran the business alone. On account of ill health he was 
 compelled to spend the greater part of three years, from 1889 to 
 the end of 1891, in New Mexico. Upon his return to Chicago, he 
 became connected with the law department of the city under the 
 Washburne administration, during which period he made an en- 
 viable record for himself and had charge of much important litiga- 
 tion. Chief among the important cases he successfully conducted 
 for the city was the big Wentworth Avenue sew.er case, the largest 
 and most important special assessment case ever tried in this 
 country. The total assessment amounted to $816,000, and five 
 different juries passed upon the different phases thereof. In one 
 of these trials, involving over f 120,000 of objections, twenty promi- 
 nent lawyers were pitted against Mr. Hayes, and, after a trial of 
 over thirty days, the jury found for the city. This was a great 
 personal triumph for Mr. Hayes, as it was largely through his ef- 
 ficient efforts and skill that the case was won, and at once estab- 
 lished his reputation as a most able trial lawyer. At the present 
 time he is a member of the well-known law firm of Mann, Hayes & 
 Miller, consisting of James R, Mann, George W. Miller and Mr. 
 Hayes. The senior member of the firm is Congressman from the 
 First District of Illinois, and the junior member, Mr. Miller, is a 
 representative to the Illinois Legislature from the Third Sena- 
 torial District. This firm has successfully combined politics and 
 the practice of law, and each member, although all are compara- 
 tively young men, has attained official distinction, and together
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 663 
 
 they have built up an extensive practice in corporation and muni- 
 cipal law. 
 
 Mr. TTayes is one of the Masters in Chancery of the Superior 
 Court of Cook County, as well as one of the trustees of the law 
 institute, and in the early part of 1897 was selected as attorney 
 for the Sanitary District of Chicago. This is a position of honor, 
 as well as one requiring much legal skill and acumen, and affords 
 most excellent opportunity for the experience and ability evi- 
 denced by Mr. Hayes. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Hayes has at all times been an ardent Repub- 
 lican, and for several years was president of the Thirty-second 
 Ward Republican Club. He was one of the original seven who 
 founded the Marquette Club of Chicago, was the first vice presi- 
 dent of that organization, and still remains a member. In his re- 
 ligious views he is a Protestant, but believes must emphatically 
 that every man should have the right to follow the dictates of his 
 own conscience without let or hindrance, "practice, more than 
 creed," has been made his text in religion. 
 
 September 2nd, 188fi, Mr. Hayes married Lucy Ella Leach, of 
 Manchester by the Sea, Mass., and two children have been born to 
 them, Frederick L. and Lucy IT. Hayes. 
 
 Mr. Hayes is a great lover of outdoor sports and exercise, es- 
 pecially horseback riding, in which he is very proficient, and is 
 considered one of the best horsemen in the city. He is a man of 
 genial disposition and courteous manner, of fine presence, being- 
 well proportioned and six feet in height. His dark skin and hair 
 show the Celtic blood. 
 
 The marked success he has won is a sufficient testimonial not 
 only to the possession of superior natural abilities, but also to the 
 exemplary perseverance and industry which has been shown in 
 every stage of his career. He is a firm believer in the doctrine 
 that work will tell, and the fact that his position is entirely the 
 
 35
 
 654 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 result of his owii efforts, makes it his chief pride and his proudest 
 title to be kiiown as "a self-made niau." Mr. Hayes has won the 
 esteem not only of the members of his profession, but of the gen- 
 eral public, and if the promise of his past be fulfilled, his future 
 career must be one both brilliant and honorable. 
 
 AUSTIN OLIVER SEXTON. 
 
 Mr. Sexton was born August 15th, 1852; his parents, Stephen 
 and Ann Sexton, both being Irish. His father might well claim 
 the distinction of an old settler, for it was so far back as 1834 that 
 he located in Chicago. 
 
 Mr. Sexton's education was received in the schools of this city, 
 and he graduated from the Chicago high school in the class of 
 1872. He at once began the study of law and was admitted to 
 practice July 4th, 1876. In his chosen profession he has been 
 eminently successful, and has shown himself possessed of the 
 many and diverse gifts which are requisite to the leading lawyer. 
 
 In his politics, though strongly Democratic, his general popu- 
 larity among all sections of the community was shown in his elec- 
 tion by the people in a Kepublican district upon seven different oc- 
 casions. For four consecutive terms, from 1876 to 1883, he repre- 
 sented the Sixth District in the State Legislature, and in the ses- 
 sion of 1883 he was the Democratic nominee for speaker. He was 
 President in Lake View of the Board of Education; was in 1890 
 elected Alderman of the Twenty-fifth ward, and was re-elected in 
 1892, being given the position of Chairman of the judiciary com-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 655 
 
 mittee. He was a candidate for Judge of the Superior Court of 
 Cook County on the Democratic ticket November, 1893, and was 
 beaten with his ticket. 
 
 He is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, be- 
 longing to the Aetna Lodge, 159. 
 
 Mr. Sexton was married in 1874 to Mary J. Lyons of Chicago, 
 and they have four children William II., Laura G., Mary O. and 
 Georgiana. 
 
 WILLIS MELVILLE. 
 
 In the subject of the present sketch, we have another young 
 member of the legal confraternity, who has evinced such special 
 aptitude for his profession as to have secured already a prominent 
 place. 
 
 Willis Melville was born at Madison, Wis., August 1st, 1868. 
 Of his parents, John and Mary Melville, his father was a native of 
 llochester, N. Y., born there in 1831, while his mother was from 
 beautiful Killarney, Ireland, which she left at the age of twelve to 
 come to the United States. She settled in Milwaukee, and thence 
 to Madison, Wis. John Melville, having completed his education, 
 went to Chippewa Falls, Wis., and engaged in stock farming and 
 lumber business. Later he enlisted in the Thirtieth Wisconsin 
 Volunteers, and for four years served under General Grant. 
 
 Willis Melville attended the grammar and high schools of 
 Madison and later Lake Forest University, graduating from the 
 latter and being admitted to the bar in 1892. For some time he 
 practiced law with Seymour Stedman, and rapidly making a rep- 
 utation for himself, gathered together a large business. In 1896
 
 656 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 he joined the well-known firm of Melville, Stobbs & Melville, which 
 has the legal representation of a number of towns and villages and 
 has transacted a large high class practice of a general character. 
 
 Mr. Melville was married in Waukesha in 1893, to Miss Lillian 
 Smith, a Wisconsin lady of first-class educational advantages, who 
 is, like her husband, a member of the bar, but who up to the pres- 
 ent time has not practiced. Twin daughters were born to them 
 in 1895. 
 
 A Republican in his political opinions, Mr. Melville belongs to 
 the Episcopalian Church. He is a Mason and a Knight Templar, 
 as well as a fifteenth degree Odd Fellow, and a member of the 
 Order of Knights of Pythias, and has filled chairs in all his lodges, 
 as well as in the Royal League and the Sons of Veterans. Of the 
 Odd Fellows he has been grand representative since he was 
 twenty-two. He has also had some military training, having 
 served his time in the Second Regiment. 
 
 Pleasant and happy in his disposition, and with a manner 
 always bright and courteous, Mr. Melville has succeeded in mak- 
 ing for himself a host of friends, who respect him for his good 
 business abilities and esteem him for his good personal qualifica- 
 tions. 
 
 JOHN J. MAHONEY. 
 
 John J. Mahoney was born in Chicago, November 5th, 1854. 
 His parents, Patrick and Julia (Conlin) Mahoney, came from Lim- 
 erick, Ireland, to the United States in 1840, settled first at New 
 Haven, Conn., and then, after a short time, moved to Chicago,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 657 
 
 where the father died in 1864 and the mother in the year follow- 
 ing. The subject of this sketch attended St. Patrick's parochial 
 school, where he remained until he was fifteen years old, when he 
 left, and decided to learn the painter's trade, at which, in after 
 years, he became proficient. From his earliest days he was noted 
 for his ability as an organizer of men. For years he was president 
 of the local union, No. 10, of the Painters' Union of Chicago, which, 
 like the majority of all similar societies, became attached to the 
 Knights of Labor when the latter organization was in the meridian 
 of its fame and glory. For several years he was State Master 
 Workman of the Knights of Labor of Illinois; was a member of 
 District No. 24, K. of L., of Chicago; was a representative to the 
 national conventions of that body at Richmond, Minneapolis, at 
 Indianapolis and also at Atlanta. For many years, too, he was a 
 trusted employe of the County Hospital, holding the important 
 position of custodian of that great institution through several ad- 
 ministrations. 
 
 When Roger C. Sullivan was elected to the office of clerk of 
 the Probate Court, the latter made Mr. Mahoney his cashier, and 
 when his term of office expired Mr. Mahouey was retained in the 
 office, being so thoroughly familiar with the manifold duties that 
 Mr. Cooper, the present clerk, availed himself of the experienced 
 services of this honest and faithful employe. 
 
 Mr. Mahoney has at all times taken a keen interest in matters 
 relating to the laud of his ancestors. He was an active member 
 of the Land League, and was one of the most energetic members 
 of the reception committee, appointed to receive the late illus- 
 trious Charles Stewart Parnell on his visit to this city in 1881. 
 He was also connected with the National League, to which he 
 contributed large sums of money. In 1893, he entered the Kent 
 College of Law, and received the degree of Bachelor of Laws with 
 high honors in 1895.
 
 658 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Mr. Malioney is at present a member of Division No. 5, A. O. 
 H., as well as president of the United ' Irish Societies of Chicago, 
 having succeeded the lion. John F. Finerty in that most important 
 office. lie is also prominently connected with the National Union, 
 the Catholic Benevolent Legion, the Knights of Columbus, Inde- 
 pendent Order of Red Men, the Robert Emmet Literary Club, and 
 is president of the Chicago Citizen newspaper, of which John F. 
 Finerty is editor-in-chief. 
 
 Mr. Malioney is entirely a self-made man, and one well worthy 
 of the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens and countrymen. 
 At the outcome 9f his career, his sole advantage was an enterpris- 
 ing and indomitable spirit, and that best essential of success, an 
 independence of character no difficulties could daunt. The repu- 
 tation he has achieved, and the position he has gained among the 
 American Irish of Chicago, are such as should be a source of hon- 
 est pride to any man. 
 
 JOHN SAMUEL SHEAHAN. 
 
 John Samuel Sheahan was born in Washington, D. C., Septem- 
 ber 27th, 1857. His parents were James W. and Elizabeth (Drury) 
 Sheahan, his mother being one of the noted Drurys, an English 
 family who came over and located in Ann Arundel County, Mary- 
 land, in the early settlement of that section of the country. His 
 grandfather was from County Cork, Ireland, which he left in 1827, 
 settling in Baltimore. Mr. James W. Sheahan, his father, was a 
 prominent newspaper man, being Washington correspondent for 
 several daily papers before the war. His ability attracted the at- 
 tention of Stephen A. Douglas, who induced him to come West
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 659 
 
 and to act as his press agent, at the same time editing a paper in 
 his interest. This he did, and settled in Chicago, where he as- 
 sisted to launch and was prominently connected with many pa- 
 pers that have since become famous, among others, and notably, 
 the Chicago Tribune. His gifts were of no ordinary character, 
 and he was highly respected in the newspaper, business and social 
 circles. Indeed his many high qualities and goodness of charac- 
 ter gained him the esteem and affection of all who knew him. 
 
 John Sheahau, the subject of this sketch, received his early ed- 
 ucation in the public schools of Chicago, graduating from the 
 Christian Brothers' College. Immediately afterwards he found 
 employment in the freight office of the Illinois Central Railroad 
 as clerk, in which capacity he remained for three years; then 
 going to Kreigh & Company, the leading packing house of those 
 days, as assistant bookkeeper, in whose employ he remained until 
 the failure of the firm, four years later. He then accepted a posi- 
 tion with W. P. Rend & Company, the well known coal dealers, 
 as book-keeper, remaining there until 1887, when he was a victim 
 to a severe illness, which entirely incapacitated him for twelve 
 months. 
 
 | 
 
 Upon his recovery he was appointed a deputy collector in the 
 County Treasurer's office by George R. Davis, and displayed such 
 good ability and was so attentive to his duties while holding this 
 position that Mr. Davis recommended him for promotion, and at 
 the solicitation of Mr. Joseph Medill he was appointed chief clerk 
 of the special assessment department of Chicago, one of the most 
 important offices in the city. Again Mr. Sheahan's wonderful 
 executive ability caused him to be promoted, this time to the more 
 responsible position of Superintendent of special assessments. 
 In this office the character of his duties will be appreciated when 
 it is known that he prepares all ordinances for improvements 
 which are to be paid by special assessment, and which amounts to
 
 660 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 an average of $12,000,000 annually. In his department there are 
 thirty-five clerks employed. 
 
 While he has never made himself very prominent in political 
 circles, he has always upheld Democratic principles, and is as 
 highly respected within the party as he is by his own large circle 
 of friends. 
 
 Mr. Sheahan was married to Margaret A. Green, niece to Ked- 
 moud and John Prindeville. They have one child a boy- 
 James W. 
 
 CAPT. WILLIAM BUCKLEY. 
 
 A long tried and ever faithful public servant, the name of Cap- 
 tain William Buckley is inseparably connected with the develop- 
 ment of the police service of Chicago. Nearly twenty-five years 
 embraced within the period of his active identification with the 
 department, mark that epoch in the history of the city which con- 
 tains most of interest and importance in relation to the metropolis 
 of the West. His residence in Chicago dates from the summer of 
 1856, and his service in and for the police department extends all 
 along the line of the interesting and momentous years from 1865 
 to 1888, or, in other words, from the Chicago as it existed before 
 the "Great Fire" to a time just previous to the World's Fair. Very 
 full, exciting and trying years were these, and the man who passed 
 them in the service of the police department sustained a full share 
 of duty, trial and danger such as falls to but few. Especially is 
 this true of Capt. Buckley, who, during the rebuilding of the city, 
 after the great fire, was in charge of the central, or business, difc- 
 trict. He sustained equally responsible rank through the trying
 
 s
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 663 
 
 times of the labor riots of 1877, and the anarchist troubles which 
 culminated in the Ilaymarket riot and massacre of 1885. Such, in 
 a merely summary outline, is the character and scope of the valu- 
 able and trustworthy public services for so many years, by the 
 able and popular Irish-American to which this relates. 
 
 William Buckley comes of good, sturdy farmers' stock, lo/ig set- 
 tled in the County of Waterford, Ireland, and he was born there 
 June 9th, 1832. His father was Thomas Buckley, a fanner of 
 Waterford, who married Miss Catherine O'Douovan, whose people 
 were farmers settled in the same county. The old Buckley home- 
 stead was in first-rate order and the farm in good shape when last 
 visited by Capt. Buckley, on a trip to Europe in the summer of 1896. 
 At that time he picked apples from trees in an orchard planted by 
 his father and himself, previous to their departure for the United 
 States. Some of these apples he had packed and shipped to the 
 family in Chicago. He was sixteen when he accompanied his par- 
 ents to the United States. Accustomed to farm life from his earli- 
 est boyhood, it was but natural that farming should seem to be the 
 most congenial pursuit in this new country, and his first years in 
 America were spent in farming, first upon the farm of Col. George 
 D. Coles of Glen Cove, Queens County, New York, and subsequently 
 upon a farm in Warren County, Ohio. It was on July 7th, 1850, 
 young Buckley arrived in Chicago, and soon afterwards found his 
 first employment here in the coal business carried on by Col. Rich- 
 ard J. Hamilton. He was afterwards employed by Messrs. Law 
 and Strother in the same business on North Clark Street, exactly 
 where the great Sibley warehouses now stand. The Mr. Law of 
 the firm was the well-known Itobert Law, who ultimately proved 
 the life-long friend of his young emploj r e. The street car service 
 was his next field of employment, and from 1859 to 1865 he served 
 as a conductor at a time when the entire street car service of Chi- 
 cago was represented by seven cars on State, four on Madison and
 
 664 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 five on Randolph Streets, at intervals of about twenty minutes 
 apart. It was in 1865 that William Buckley joined the police force, 
 at the instance and personal request of the late well-known Wil- 
 liam Turtle, at that time Chief of Police. Headquarters were then 
 in a small building on the southwest corner of La Salle and Wash- 
 ington Streets, on the site of the present Stock Exchange Building. 
 He was recommended to the police department by notably promi- 
 nent citizens, Murray F. Tuley, now Judge Tuley, and Hon. J. Rus- 
 sell Jones, at that time superintendent of the West Division Rail- 
 road Company. Quickly he rose from roundsman to captain 
 there was no rank of lieutenants in those days till he was com- 
 missioned by Mayor Medill, July 14th, 1873, Captain of the First 
 Precinct, with headquarters at the Harrison Street Station, suc- 
 ceeding Capt. Michael C. Hickey, who had resigned. His appoint- 
 ment was unanimously confirmed by the City Council, and he at 
 once entered actively upon the dischai'ge of his duties as the com- 
 manding officer, responsible for the proper police supervision of 
 the great business center and down-town district of Chicago. From 
 that time until his retirement in 1888, Capt. William Buckley was 
 in the very front rank of police affairs in Chicago, always a trusted, 
 vigilant and gallant officer, and one whose name has always been 
 held in respect and affection by his official superiors, brother offi- 
 cers and the men of the whole service. It is impossible to enter 
 into detail upon such a busy and trying career as is summed up in 
 the history of nearly a quarter of a century's service in the police 
 department of Chicago and the trying times of the "Great Fire" 
 days when the business part of Chicago laid in ashes the '77 
 labor riots and the '85 anarchist troubles have already been 
 touched upon. His enviable reputation and standing in the police 
 department is best shown by the fact that lie was elected and re- 
 elected treasurer of the Police Benevolent Association, of which he 
 was a charter member, from 1868 to 1877, inclusive. He has also
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 665 
 
 served in a similar responsible capacity, the Veteran Police Asso- 
 ciation, the membership of which is exclusively for police officers 
 of twenty years' service, retired on pension. 
 
 After his retirement in 1888, Capt. Buckley was elected a mem- 
 ber of the Thirty-sixth General Assembly, Legislature of Illinois, 
 which convened in January, 1889. He was elected to represent the 
 Third District, which in itself was a signal compliment and in a 
 great sense an expression of the confidence of the business com- 
 munity of Chicago in him, as the Third District comprises all the 
 most important central section of the city, containing the banks, 
 mercantile and insurance offices, etc. Among the important pub- 
 lic measures passed at this session of the legislature were the spe- 
 cial acts creating the Board of Drainage Trustees', for the operation 
 of the great Drainage Canal ; the act which introduced the famous 
 and now general Australian Ballot System, in the adoption of 
 which Illinois was one of the first of the states; and also the statute 
 regulating the holding of the primaries, known as the Primary 
 Law, and which for the first time created a system of registration 
 of the primary ballot Capt. Buckley also participated, as an ac- 
 tive member, in the special session of the legislature called for the 
 purpose of determining by a special act the site of the Columbian 
 World's Fair, and which enabled the City of Chicago to issue bonds 
 to the amount of .f5,000,000 in aid of it. From first to last he was 
 an ardent, active and influential supporter in the legislature of 
 every measure promoting the interests of the Fair, as the record 
 of his vote attests. 
 
 In September of 1858, Capt. Buckley married Miss Catharine 
 Cashin, and four children were born of the union. Of these, 
 Thomas, Mary and Itichard are deceased; the two first named in 
 childhood, the latter in his twenty-third year, in the very opening 
 of an advantageous business career. The loving wife and mother 
 was also destined to "go before," and to the unspeakable grief of a
 
 666 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 singularly united and happy family, died January 12th, 1882. 
 Catharine, the surviving daughter, married February 21st, 1884, 
 Mr. Daniel F. Burke of the firm of Burke Brothers, and it is with 
 Mr. and Mrs. Burke and their four little daughters, Irene (12), 
 Grace (10), Hazel (7) and Frances (4), that Capt Buckley resides in 
 a spacious and beautiful home on the southwest corner of Fifty- 
 third Street and Lexington (No. 5300 Lexington Avenue). 
 
 Stalwart yet, and evidently but just in the autumn of his years, 
 the veteran officer takes life easily and happily with his daughter, 
 son-in-law and young grand-daughters, in a beautiful home situ- 
 ated in its own pretty grounds, in itself an ornament to one of the 
 most charming of the South Park localities. And within its at- 
 tractive interior, 'equipped with all that modern comfort can se- 
 cure, and enriched with much that artistic taste suggests, can be 
 found many a handsome trophy, interesting souvenirs and massive 
 silver badge and prize cups, which serve to unite the Captain's 
 peaceful pleasant present with the years of duty, trial and danger, 
 night and day, for twenty-five years, in the Chicago Police Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 JOHN P. BARRETT. 
 
 John P. Barrett was born in Auburn, N. Y., in 1837. He came 
 to Chicago in 1845 with his parents, and attended the public 
 schools until he was eleven years old. Mr. Barrett was, as a boy, 
 attracted to a sea-faring life, and sailed for eleven years, receiving 
 while engaged in that profession a permanent injury. When he 
 returned to Chicago he obtained a position with the city fire de- 
 partment, and in 1862 was appointed assistant in the fire alarm
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 667 
 
 telegraph department. lu 1876 lie was made superintendent, and 
 still held that position while chief of the electricity department of 
 the World's Columbian Exposition, having been the unanimous 
 choice of all the electricians in the country for that distinguished 
 office. John P. Barrett is a man of originality, and is the inventor 
 of what is known as the "Little Joker" fire alarm signal, lie is the 
 originator of the fire alarm patrol system, and was first to con- 
 ceive the idea of the laying of electric wires underground. The 
 success of this underground system has been absolutely demon- 
 strated, and is being largely introduced in the various centers of 
 population throughout the United States and foreign countries. 
 No better illustration of the marked ability of Mr. Barrett can be 
 found than in the improvements he has made, and the perfection 
 to which he has brought the department of electricity of Chicago 
 and his success in connection with the World's Columbian Expo- 
 sition. 
 
 He is a member of the Columbus and Sheridan Clubs. 
 
 THOMAS SCANLAN. 
 
 Thomas Scanlan, another of Chicago's adopted and highly es- 
 teemed citizens, was born near Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland, on 
 December 4th, 1841. Both parents were, also natives of County 
 Kerry, his father, John Scanlan, having been born near the beau- 
 tiful River Shannon, and his mother, Lucy Lombard, at Castle 
 Island. The father, who was by occupation a farm and contract- 
 ing stone mason, was a man of more than ordinary intelligence,
 
 668 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 had traveled considerably and was, by his. neighbors and friends, 
 looked up to as a leader and mentor. 
 
 Thomas, the subject of this sketch, received his earlier teach- 
 ing in the national and private schools of his native town until he 
 was seven years of age, when .with his parents he came via New 
 Orleans to Cincinnati, where the family located. His father, how- 
 ever, died two years later, when the boy was only nine years old, 
 and the mother followed to the grave six months after. It was 
 left to the eldest sister, Margaret, to take charge of the family, 
 and Mr. Scanlan speaks most affectionately of the manner in which 
 this thoroughly noble woman performed all her duties. 
 
 The boy was sent to St. Xavier's parochial school until he was 
 about twelve years old, and, though at first disinclined to be very 
 studious and rather after the pattern described by one of our 
 poets, a boy "with a dread of books and love of fun," his later 
 teacher, Mr. George Kelly, of whom he still speaks very warmly, 
 appears to have inspired him with a desire for learning which ever 
 after clung to him. While still quite young .he had to leave school, 
 and obtained employment as clerk in a grocery store at Coving- 
 ton, Ky., and later on in Cincinnati. After three years' service, 
 being unusually matured, both physically and mentally, for a lad 
 of sixteen, his employer suggested that he should find a partner 
 and buy out the business. With some hesitation the matter was 
 broached to his brother-in-law, Michael A. Kavanaugh, a pilot on 
 boats running between Cincinnati and St, Louis, and the latter 
 agreed to go in with him. A partnership was formed, Mr. Scan- 
 Ian having chief charge of the grocery business and his brother-in- 
 law still continuing his piloting. The desire for futher education 
 was still warm in the young man's mind, and, while attending to 
 the requirements of his business, every spare moment was devoted 
 to reading. This, however, was necessarily so limited that after 
 three years had passed he determined to give up the business. He
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 669 
 
 did not consider his means sufficient to enable him to go to college, 
 and instead lie accepted the invitation of a friend in Nashville, 
 Tenu., to learn carpentering, intending to continue his studies 
 mornings and in the evenings when his work was over. The ar- 
 rangement, however, proved unsatisfactory, and after a few 
 mouths he returned to Cincinnati. At this time his old tutor, 
 George Kelly, learning of the young man's desire to improve him- 
 self, and that he had a taste for literary pursuits, offered him the 
 position of assistant teacher at Springfield, Ohio, and with some 
 difficulty succeeded in overcoming his diffidence by assuring him of 
 success, and at the same time agreed to teach him mathematics. 
 Mr. Scanlan consequently went to Springfield in 1860, and 
 achieved such marked! success that at the end of a year he was 
 offered the position then held by Mr. Kelly, but declined; and, hav- 
 ing during his year at Springfield learned to play the organ, he ac- 
 cepted instead a position at Xenia, Ohio, as teacher and organist. 
 This was in 1861, and here for four years he remained, gaining ap- 
 preciation from all, not only for his ability as teacher and organist, 
 but also for his executive capacity and general management. The 
 desire to further improve himself was still strong, so, having a 
 little capital now on hand, he was advised to attend Farmers' Col- 
 lege near Cincinnati. This he did from 1865 to 1867, taking up 
 Latin, Greek, mathematics, logic, etc., at the same time acting as 
 organist for a church in the suburbs and keeping books for a Cin- 
 cinnati firm. On leaving college in 1867, he took up the study of 
 law in the office of Sage, Haacke & Taft, the well-known jurists, 
 and also attended the Cincinnati Law School. At the end of a 
 year, finding his funds running low, he concluded to resume 
 teaching, and was remarkably successful in passing his examina- 
 tion for principal's certificate before the board of examiners, re- 
 ceiving an average of 98 per cent in seventeen branches, which in- 
 cluded algebra, geometry, chemistry, physiology and astronomy,
 
 670 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 and ill twelve of them he succeeded in obtaining the maximum 100 
 per. cent. He then obtained a position as first assistant in the 
 First District school, and after two years was elected principal of 
 the Twelfth District school, being the first Catholic to occupy such 
 a position in Cincinnati. Here Mr. Scanlan achieved marked suc- 
 cess, and won appreciation from all who were connected with the 
 school, and even elicited flattering encomiums from Mr. Hancock, 
 the superintendent of schools. 
 
 By this time Mr. Scanlan had completed his law course and 
 was admitted to the bar. However, in the spring of 1873, he was 
 offered a partnership in the Walnut Street Bank, a private insti- 
 tution of Cincinnati, and the proposition seemed of so advantage- 
 ous a character that he was constrained to accept. He was in this 
 concern only a short time when the panic of '73 came upon the 
 country, and the bank experienced the hard times, suffering heavy 
 loss, especially through the failure of Jay Cooke & Co., and from 
 that year until the resuming of specie payments in 1878 business 
 was generally depressed. Still the bank did fairly well, notwith- 
 standing the depressed times. In 1877, the senior partner, George 
 H. Bussing, died, and the management devolved almost entirely 
 on Mr. Scanlan. There was a general supposition that the bank 
 was backed by Father Purcell, the brother and financial manager 
 of the Eight Reverend John B. Purcell, Archbishop of Cincinnati, 
 but, as a matter of fact, Father Purcell simply kept a large ac- 
 count in the bank as a depositor, and it was he who recommended 
 Mr. Scanlan to Mr. Bussing as a partner. Father Purcell was the 
 trusted advisor of a large number of people, and had himself been 
 taking deposits from them for a number of years and paying six 
 per cent interest The business depression led many to withdraw 
 their deposits, and in payment thereof he frequently issued checks 
 upon the bank. About this time, too, several banks which took
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 671 
 
 savings deposits failed, the largest being the German Bank of C. F. 
 A doe & Co. 
 
 ]{umors began to be freely circulated, questioning the ability 
 of Father Purcell to settle his liabilities, causing a considerable 
 run to be made, although for years he had been considered "as 
 sound as the Bank of England." Farther Purcell drew heavily on 
 the Walnut Street Bank, not only exhausting his own funds on 
 deposit, but also heavily overdrawing his account, at one time to 
 the extent of thirty thousand dollars. The bank was finally forced 
 to notify him that no more checks of his could be paid while he had 
 no funds on deposit, but still checks continued to come in, until in 
 self-defense the bank had absolutely to refuse payment. The peo- 
 ple were incredulous when informed that Father Purcell had no 
 more funds, and a suspicion arose that the refusal was caused by 
 the weakness of the bank. Finally Father Purcell and his 
 brother, the Archbishop, were compelled to make an assignment, 
 which occasioned the greatest consternation and distress through- 
 out the city, and developments soon proved that their liabilities 
 were nearly four million dollars, with assets exceedingly small. 
 This fact occasioned a. large run on the bank, which, however, 
 withstood it all, and the excitement had almost passed over when 
 a circumstance occurred that finally brought about a crisis. It 
 \v;is in 187!) that a clever robbery resulted in the loss of $10,000 to 
 the bank, and, in the sensitive state of public opinion, it was de- 
 rided better to keep the matter as quiet as possible. However, it 
 could not be kept quiet, and newspaper comment occasioned a 
 further run on the bank, some people thinking the amount taken 
 much larger than was actually the case, and others believing it 
 was only a made-up story. For a considerable time Mr. Scanlan 
 had lo bear the burden of these troubles alone; finally, after con- 
 sultation with the widow of Mr. Bussing, who had the largest in- 
 terest in the bank, and their attorney, it was decided, notwith- 
 
 36
 
 672 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 standing the protest of Mr. Scanlan, to make an assignment and 
 wind up the bank's affairs. 
 
 In 1875 certain people in Cincinnati had taken in settlement 
 of a bad debt, mortgages on a tract of land- near Kensington, Cook 
 County, Ills. Some time after the land was taken, subject to a 
 large previous mortgage, and the title in the name of Scanlan and 
 Hand. Afterwards it was transferred by them to D. J. Fallis and 
 Ilowell Gano, and later, on the death of Mr. Fallis, to Gano and 
 Field. In 1880 it had been reported that Mr. Pullman was about 
 to build his large works in that vicinity, and Messrs. Fallis and 
 Gano deputized Mr. Scanlan to go to Chicago and look up an offer 
 that had been made for purchase of the land. While negotiations 
 for the sale were under way, subdivision of the land was sug- 
 gested, and Mr. Scanlan was requested to take charge of the mat- 
 ter, though he had no previous experience in the real estate busi- 
 ness. The subdivision of part of the land was made in the fall of 
 1881, its management placed in his hands, and since that time Mr. 
 Scanlan has been chiefly occupied in laying out the two hundred 
 and forty acres, making streets, planting trees, selling lots, build- 
 ing houses, collecting, fete., a new settlement being formed, which 
 grew with such rapidity under his fostering care as to excite the 
 wonder of all. The town was incorporated as the Village of Gano 
 in 1888, and two years later was annexed' to Chicago. Though 
 when Mr. Scaulan first took charge there was not a single person 
 living on the property, at the school census of 1894 the population 
 was above 2,400, thus attesting what can be accomplished under 
 the guidance and control of a capable man. Its streets are good, 
 its street railways connect with Chicago City Railway, it has 
 city water, fine stores, a church and a handsome school house, just 
 completed, containing twelve rooms, with all modern improve- 
 ments, which, added to the old school buildings, is called the Scan- 
 lan school. Tho unlimited confidence reposed in Mr. Scanlan by
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 673 
 
 Field & Gauo ami his other old friends iu Cincinnati, and the ad- 
 miration they have for his wonderful success, is constantly mani- 
 fested. Mr. iScanlan has always been so fortunate as to gain the 
 good will and confidence of those with whom he had dealings; in 
 Springfield, in Xeuia and in the Cincinnati schools he is still re- 
 membered and spoken of in the kindliest manner; and in Gano, 
 among the people of every race and condition, he is not looked on 
 as merely an honest and kind hearted real estate agent, but rather 
 as a friend and advisor, to whom the people come when in trouble 
 and in want of counsel, and he has been designated as the Father 
 of Gano. 
 
 When in Cincinnati he was a promoter of literary and social 
 clubs among the Catholics; he was at one time president of the 
 Central Catholic Committee, composed 1 of delegates from every 
 Catholic society, whose main object was the support of the Orphan 
 Asylum; he was also a member of the Board of Education; and in 
 Chicago he was for a time an active member of the Columbus 
 Club. Though thoroughly independent in politics, he has re- 
 cently favored the platform of the Republican party. In 1872 he 
 visited Europe, devoting most of the trip to England, Ireland and 
 France. 
 
 In 1876, Mr. Scanlau married Margaret Boulger, the attractive 
 and amiable daughter of James Boulger of Cincinnati. Five chil- 
 dren were the fruit of this most happy union, four of whom are 
 living. This lady died on July 7th, 1887, from the result of a sad 
 accident on the 4th of July preceding, and their once happy home 
 was broken up and the children scattered. -Two years after he 
 was again married, this time to Joanna Walker, a bright Chicago 
 lady, who has been a most devoted wife to him, and there were born 
 from this last union two children, a boy and a girl. 
 
 As a young man, and indeed up to the present time, Mr. Scan- 
 Ian has been an ardent devotee of gymnastic exercise as a means
 
 674 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of development and health, and still adheres to the practice. His 
 tastes, however, are largely literary and musical; for five years he 
 acted as organist in Father Tighe's Church on Oakland Boulevard; 
 he is also much interested in university extension, and has been an 
 active promoter of the Catholic summer school. 
 
 At the close of this somewhat comprehensive sketch, it is al- 
 most unnecessary to say that Mr. Scanlan possesses abilities of no 
 mean order, united to a versatility of genius not usually met with, 
 while to those qualities he adds a perseverance and industry which 
 have, to a great extent, overcome all difficulties. His disposition 
 is genial, his manner pleasant and invariably coui'teous, and there 
 is consequently no reason for wonderment that he is possessed of 
 so large a number of devoted and appreciative friends. 
 
 JOHN J. CALLAHAN. 
 
 A representative of the younger generation of American Irish- 
 men of energetic mind and industrious habits, thrifty in their 
 lives and full of determination to succeed in the world, is John 
 J. Callahan. 
 
 He was born in Chicago, December 20th, 1865, and is the son 
 of Patrick and Margaret Callahan, both of whom are natives of 
 County Kerry. They had come to America in 1863, settling in 
 Chicago, where Patrick Callahan has been engaged in the lumber 
 business since that time. 
 
 John J. Callahan received his education at the Sacred Heart 
 school at West Eighteenth Street, taking the ordinary business 
 course of studies. TTis schooling over, he went to work for the
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 675 
 
 wholesale house of Field & Leiter, with which lie stayed for six 
 months only in the capacity of stock clerk, then going into the 
 lumber market, in which lie remained for four years. For the 
 following eight years he kept books for Thomas H. Lyou, at Kobey 
 and Blue Island Avenue, and then started with the Globe Lum- 
 ber Company as secretary and treasurer, a position he gave up two 
 years later, in 1894, to take one of greater responsibility, that of 
 President of the same Company, which he still retains. 
 
 Mr. Callahau is by religion a Uoman Catholic. In his political 
 views he belongs to the Democratic party. He is a member of 
 the National Benevolent League, in which he holds the honorable 
 position of Treasurer to the Society. 
 
 THOMAS O'CONNELL. 
 
 The subject of the present biographical sketch, Thomas O'Con- 
 iiell, has for thirty-eight years been actively identified with the re- 
 markable growth and upbuilding of Chicago. He came to this city 
 at the age of twenty-one years, practically without friends or capi- 
 tal, and is a splendid example of the self-made man, whose indom- 
 itable will and tireless energy have been rewarded with an honor- 
 able position among the foremost business men of Chicago. One 
 by one he has forced aside the barriers that obstruct the way to suc- 
 cess, until to-day he stands within the charmed circle, rich in honor 
 and wealth, one of the most honored as well as devoted sous of a 
 mighty city. 
 
 Thomas O'Connell was born in Limerick, Ireland, February 
 15th, 1837, his parents being John and Elizabeth (Hays) O'Connell.
 
 676 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The father, who in the old country followed the occupation of a 
 fanner, emigrated to the United States in 1846, settling in Penn- 
 sylvania, where he engaged in coal mining and railroad building. 
 In 1858, he came to Chicago and died here in 1881. At all times he 
 had been prominent in Irish affairs, and according to his means, 
 his purse had been open to assist in any movement whose purpose 
 was Ireland's betterment. His wife, Elizabeth O'Connell, came of 
 a good Cork family, and seven weeks after her husband departed 
 this life she followed him to the grave. 
 
 The subject of the present sketch was but ten years of age when 
 with his parents he came to the United States and located at Pine 
 Grove, Pa., where he attended the public schools until he was six- 
 teen years of age. He then engaged with his father in the coal 
 mining and railroad business, and after the removal of his parents 
 to Chicago in 1858 he accompanied them, and secured a position as 
 superintendent with the Chicago Union Lime Works, remaining 
 with that concern for thirty years. In 1890, he associated his sous 
 with him, and the Keys & Thatcher Quarry on the West Side of 
 Chicago was purchased. At that time the income was small, but 
 good management soon made the quarry a very paying proposition, 
 and now the business of the Artesian Stone Co. which is the cor- 
 poration name of Mr. O'Connell's company, and which deals in 
 crushed and building stone, lime and cement amounts to over a 
 half a million dollars a year. 
 
 Mr. O'Connell is in religion a devout Catholic, and belongs to 
 the congregation of St. Patrick's Church. In his political views he 
 has always been a Democrat, and, while in no sense of the word an 
 active politician, he possesses considerable influence in his ward, 
 and at times, when he considers a worthy candidate is being put 
 forward for an office, he goes heartily to work in the campaign. lie 
 is a member, and one highly valued and respected, of the Catholic 
 Benevolent Legion.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 677 
 
 Mr. O'Connell, despite the heavy calls made upon his time by 
 business, still finds sufficient leisure to show himself a public- 
 spirited citizen and a benevolent and practical sympathizer with 
 the charitable work of this city, as well as eager and willing to 
 assist his brethren across the sea. 
 
 Mr. O'Connell married Miss Susan O'Laughlin, a native of 
 Clare, Ireland, and who had been raised in the State of Wiscon- 
 sin. She was of a prominent Irish family, and an uncle of hers, Sir 
 Michael O'Laughlin, has held several prominent positions under 
 the crown in Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. O'Couuell have had a family 
 of seven boys and one girl. 
 
 LUKE OTOOLE. 
 
 Luke O'Toole, the well-known superintendent of Post Office 
 Station K., was born in 1848 in County Carlow, Ireland, of which 
 his father, Patrick O'Toole, and his mother, were both natives. 
 
 The subject of this sketch received his education in the national 
 schools of Ireland, and came to the United States in 1868, when a 
 little over nineteen years of age. lie settled in Chicago, and found 
 his first employment in some brick yards, and later in a packing 
 house. In 187(5, he started in business for himself, and, meeting 
 with considerable success, retained until 181)3. In that year he 
 was appointed superintendent of Station K., by Post Master Hes- 
 ing, taking charge January 1st, 1894, and, having carried out his 
 duties for over three years to the entire satisfaction of the public, 
 ;is well as his sui>eriors in the department. 
 
 Mr, O'Toole is a Roman Catholic in his religious views, and in 
 his political affiliations a Democrat.
 
 678 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 He was married to Miss Annie Brown, daughter of William 
 Brown, a brick manufacturer of this city. They have four children 
 living, two boys and two girls. 
 
 Of thoroughly domestic tastes, Mr. O'Toole finds the best con- 
 tentment and enjoyment in his own household; in his official posi- 
 tion he has always been courteous, as well as attentive, and has 
 made for himself a large circle of friends. 
 
 MILES JOSEPH DEVINE. 
 
 As compared with many of the biographies in this work of men 
 who have, in the legal profession, attained to great eminence and 
 secured for themselves high reputations, as well as material wealth, 
 the subject of this sketch is but a beginner in the field. Yet of 
 none of the younger generation can it be more truthfully said, that 
 the foundation for what of success, of popularity and of honor the 
 future has in store, has been more firmly, perseveriugly and with 
 greater Avisdom laid than in his case. 
 
 Miles J. Devine is not yet thirty years of age (he was born at 
 Chicago, November llth, 1866), and has already a large clientage 
 and a very enviable reputation as a successful lawyer, the first at- 
 tributable to the fact that from his early boyhood he has possessed 
 the faculty of making and keeping friends, his life being ordered 
 and governed by those principles which men recognize as sound, 
 just and right, and the second to the natural ability, enabling him 
 to quickly grasp his subject, apply the points of law applicable to 
 his case with a flow of eloquence, a conviction of manner and sound-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 681 
 
 uess of argument which usually results in a verdict in his favor. 
 There is, perhaps, no man within ten years of his age whose reputa- 
 tion is greater as a court lawyer, more especially in criminal cases, 
 than is Mr. Devine's before the Chicago bar. 
 
 His father is a native of Ireland, and came to America about 
 1846, when sixteen years of age. Patrick Devine married, in 18(51, 
 Elizabeth Couway, a sister of Very Rev. Father Conway, Vicar 
 General of the Chicago Diocese, who was born in Wexford, Ireland, 
 in 1836. To them have been born nine children, of whom four were 
 sons. Three sons and three daughters, with both their parents, 
 still survive. 
 
 It was the wish of Mr. and Mrs. Devine that Miles J. should be- 
 come a priest of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and his studies 
 until 1885 were all directed to that end. In 1876 Jie attended St. 
 Patrick's Brothers' School, his uncle, Father Conway, being then 
 the priest of the parish. Later he spent two years at St. Francis 
 Seminary at Bay View, Wisconsin, and for four years he was a stu- 
 dent at the Seminary of Our Lady of Angels, at Niagara Falls, New 
 York. In the latter year he came to the determination that he pos- 
 sessed no vocation for the priesthood, and thereafter his studies 
 were directed to the law, which held for him peculiar attraction*, 
 and, to his ideas, furnished a fitter field for the employment of such 
 intellectual and oratorical gifts as nature had endowed him with. 
 He also attended Lake Forest University, and in 1887 entered tin? 
 Chicago College of Law, from which he graduated in June, 1890. 
 On his admission to the bar, a partnership was formed with Mr. J. 
 B. O'Connell, under the firm name of Devine & O'Connell, with of- 
 fices in the United States Express Building. 
 
 In 1893 Mr. Devine was appointed Assistant Prosecuting Attor- 
 ney by Mayor Harrison, and was continued in this position under 
 .Mayors Hopkins and Swift until August, 1895, when he resigned in 
 the interest of the increasing private practice of the firm. An
 
 682 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 enviable reputation was gained by Mr. Devine in his able conduct 
 of a number of celebrated cases which came up for trial during his 
 incumbency of this office, among which might be named the "lumpy 
 jaw" cattle cases in 1894, the Craig burglary, and the prosecution of 
 the cases for the violation of the registration laws. 
 
 His practice is largely confined to the criminal side, and in the 
 six years' existence of the firm its members have undertaken the 
 defense in no less than eighteen murder cases, Mr. Devine having 
 charge of their conduct before the courts. Perhaps the most cele- 
 brated of these was the John Carrig case, which attracted public 
 attention to a greater extent than any other of a like character in 
 recent years. 
 
 In politics Mr. Devine is an ardent Democrat, and even as a 
 boy was an active worker for his party's interests. When sixteen 
 years of age he stumped Lake, McHenry and Boone Counties for E. 
 M. Raines, late Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, 
 and, by his eloquence and the force and power of his argument, won 
 many votes for the cause, and gained for himself the soubriquet of 
 "The Boy Orator." In 1894 he was nominated on the Populist 
 ticket for Senator of the Fifteenth Senatorial District, but declined 
 the honor. He has been a frequent delegate to city, county and 
 state conventions of his party, among them the state convention of 
 1894, which placed Franklin MacVeigh in nomination for United 
 States Senator. Last fall he received the nomination of the Gold 
 Democrats from the Fourth Congressional District. 
 
 Mr. Devine was nominated by the Democrats of the City of Chi- 
 cago for City Attorney at their convention March llth, 1897, after 
 one of the hottest campaigns ever known to political history. To 
 this important office he was elected by the largest plurality ever 
 given to a candidate for this office, beating his Republican oppon- 
 ent, Roy O. West, the most popular candidate on the Republican 
 ticket, by nearly 3,800 votes. '
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 683 
 
 It must also be said of Mr. Deviue that he is a devoted advo- 
 cate and worker for Ireland's cause, and is a member of several of 
 the leading Irish societies, among them the Catholic Order of For- 
 esters and the Irish National Alliance. He is also a member of 
 the Knights of Pythias. In religion a Roman Catholic, Mr. Devine 
 is, with his family, a regular attendant of the Church of the Holy 
 Name, on the West Side. 
 
 He was married September 20th, 1884, to Miss Emma, daughter 
 of Samuel and Ophelia Gamash, of Lake County, 111. To them 
 have been born four children, as follows: Miles J., Paul P., Leo 
 Jerome and Mabel Ruth. 
 
 BERNARD CURTIS. 
 
 Any representation of the American Irish of this city would 
 be strangely incomplete were it wanting in reference to this well- 
 known and most highly respected old-time citizen. He was born 
 in County Louth, Ireland, in 1837, his parents being Patrick and 
 Kate (Meade) Curtis. They came -to the United States in 18G8, 
 settling in Grinnell, Iowa, where Mr. Curtis owned and operated 
 a farm, and moving later to Crestou, in the sa'nie state, where 
 Patrick Curtis died in 1887, and was followed by his wife in 1892. 
 
 Mr. Curtis, who was not in his youth much favored in the way 
 of educational advantages, for he had to assist his father on the 
 farm, attended the national schools in Ireland. When, however, 
 his majority was reached, he came to the United States, and taking 
 up railroad construction work for an occupation on the Rock Island 
 Railroad, then being built, until the town of Grinnell was reached,
 
 684 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 where be engaged iu the grain and lumber business until 1872, at 
 which time he decided to settle in Chicago. Trading in grain was 
 then taken up, and that occupation he has since followed with 
 considerable success, and is now an extensive operator on the 
 Board of Trade. 
 
 In Iowa City, Iowa, he was married, in 1868, to Catherine Long, 
 and they have had six children, of whom there are now five living, 
 four girls and a sou. 
 
 A Koinan Catholic iu his religious views, Mr. Curtis is in his 
 politics as regards national affairs a Republican. He has traveled 
 extensively over the United States, is a man of considerable in- 
 formation on all general matters of interest, is generous and kindly 
 in his disposition, and in all ways a true-hearted, noble American 
 citizen. 
 
 HON. THOMAS A. MORAN. 
 
 Thomas A. Morau is a native of Bridgeport, Conn., where his * 
 father, Patrick Moran, a native of Ireland, was long in business. He 
 was born October 7, 1839, and was seven years old when his father 
 removed, with his family, to Bristol, Kenosha County, Wis., and 
 became a farmer iu the midst of that then new country. As a boy 
 and youth he aided in the work of carrying on the farm until he 
 was nineteen, going to school as circumstances favored, usually dur- 
 ing the winter months. Meantime lie read all the books at hand, 
 and in a general way availed himself to the utmost of every means 
 of mental improvement at his command. lie supplemented his 
 common school education by several terms' attendance at Liberty
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 685 
 
 Academy, at Salem, three miles from his home, and then engaged 
 for a time in teaching school. He took an active and prominent part 
 in debating ''clubs" and "schools," and achieved more than a merely 
 local reputation as an apt, ready, and well-informed debater. When 
 about twenty years old, he began the study of law in the office of 
 J. J. Pettit, at Kenosha, continuing under the direction of Judge 
 I. W. Webster. He paid his expenses during this period principally 
 by school teaching. In 1862, owing to the illness of his father, young 
 Moran returned to the farm and managed it for a season, and dur- 
 ing that year the father died; the farm was sold and the family 
 removed to Kenosha. In 1864 his mother died, and in the fall of 
 that year the young man entered the institution now known as the 
 Albany Law School, at New York, where he was graduated in May, 
 1865, when he was admitted to practice. As a student, Judge 
 Moran foreshadowed his brilliant success at the bar, and high hon- 
 ors were predicted for him by members of the faculty, with whom, 
 as with his fellow students, his personal traits made him popular. 
 In November, 1865, he came to Chicago and engaged in the prac- 
 tice of his profession, for a time in the office of II. S. Monroe. Later 
 he was a member successively of the firms of Schoff & Moran, Moran 
 & English, and Moran, English & Wolf, and he was at the head of 
 that last mentioned when he was elevated to the bench. During 
 this period of fourteen years the court calendars and the books of 
 his own office showed most conclusively that he had a greater num- 
 ber of cases in the courts of record than any other lawyer at the 
 bar. While his practice was general, he was so especially successful 
 in jury trials that two of the most eminent judges of the Circuit 
 Bench pronounced him one of the most powerful jury lawyers at 
 this bar. The practice in debate and oratory in which he so de- 
 lighted and excelled in his youth, and his experience in the courts, 
 gave him fluency of speech, ready command of language, accuracy 
 of expression and grace in diction, which combined to make him
 
 686 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 a notably forceful anil eloquent advocate terse, logical, vigorous, 
 and often ornate. His energy, industry, patience, sagacity, and in- 
 tellectual compass and vitality made him an opponent to be both 
 dreaded and respected in any case in which he was actively con- 
 cerned. 
 
 In the fall of 1879 he was elected a judge of the Circuit Court 
 of Cook County for a term of six years. He was re-elected in 1885 
 and again in 1891. After having served with great distinction 
 seven years as judge of the Circuit Court, he was assigned by the 
 Supreme Court, in accordance with the statutory provision, to the 
 judgeship of the Appellate Court of the First District of Illinois, 
 and served in that position until he resigned his office in March, 
 1892. His record as an appellate judge, in the estimation of the 
 bar of northern Illinois, is not surpassed by that of any other judge 
 of that court. So uniformly were his opinions based upon the 
 soundest legal and equitable principles, so much in accordance were 
 they with the spirit of our institutions and civilization, and so logi- 
 cal, condensed and correct were they that often they were adopted 
 as the language of the Supreme Court. His experience as a judge 
 embraced the common law, chancery, and criminal branches of the 
 court, in each of which he achieved honor and won the commenda- 
 tion of the bar and the public. Always self-contained and self- 
 poised, of patient and courteous bearing, an attentive, careful, and 
 most respectful listener, even to the humblest pleader, he dis- 
 charged his high functions without ostentation and with conspicu- 
 ous ability. Since his voluntary- withdrawal from the bench and his 
 resumption of private practice, his great professional learning and 
 ability have connected him with many of the most important cases 
 which have appeared before the courts. He is now in the full vigor 
 of his genius. At the present time Judge Moran is the head of the 
 well-known firm of Moran, Kraus & Mayer (Thomas A. Moran, 
 Adolph Kraus, and Isaac H. and Levy Mayer), with offices at 836
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 687 
 
 Unity Building:. In politics be has been a lifelong Democrat, in- 
 fluential as such, but never an aspirant for any political office. He 
 bejja.ii his political career as a mere stripling, an ardent admirer 
 of Stephen A. Douglas, and in full accord with the liberal Democ- 
 racy of which that eminent statesman was the champion and he 
 has been one of the strong, wise spirits of his party from that day 
 to this; always conservative, yet patriotic, working with voice, pen, 
 and influence, through victory and defeat, with singular consis- 
 tency, for the public good along the lines of public policy he has 
 been constrained to indorse and to advocate. 
 
 He has been one of the most prominent, useful, and active mem- 
 bers the Iroquois (Tub has had since it was first founded as the 
 exponent of the local Democracy. He was also one of the organizers 
 of the Sheridan Club and of the Catholic Library Association, and 
 is a member of the Columbus Club and of the Bar Association. 
 
 He was united in marriage in 1868 to Miss Josephine Quinn, of 
 Albany, N. Y., and by her is the father of eight children living: 
 Alice, Thomas W. (now a student of law in his father's office), Mar- 
 garet, John P., Eugene, Josephine, Arthur, and Kathryn. The 
 judge and his family reside at Forty-seventh Street and Vincennes 
 Avenue. 
 
 JOHN F. CREMIN. 
 
 This gentleman conies fairly within the representative class 
 of younger men, who in Chicago have most successfully developed 
 and administered real estate interests of the first importance. Al- 
 though but just now in the very prime of life, Mr. Cremln, of the 
 well-known and responsible firm of Cremin & Brenan, has been
 
 688 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 fully abreast of the ever-varying tide of real estate values and real 
 estate changes within the phenomenal modern growth of Chicago 
 for the last seventeen years. In the management and disposition 
 of the interests committed to his care, he has steadily and legiti- 
 mately achieved a prominence as a citizen and professional man 
 which is an indisputable proof, alike of worthy ambition, untir- 
 ing industry and unswerving integrity. It is a place in the esti- 
 mation of his fellow citizens rarely gained within a comparatively 
 short space of time and which is not only a just source of pride 
 to the members of his family and his most intimate associates, but 
 also of gratification to his many friends and well wishers in Chi- 
 cago. 
 
 John F. Cremin, son of Joseph Wallace and Anne (Carroll) Cre- 
 min, was born in New York City June 23, 1856. After graduating 
 from the public school he finished his education with the Jesuits. 
 On July 1, 1878, he was married in New York to Miss Kathrine 
 Muldoon, daughter of the well-known builder of that name. In 
 1880 he came west, settled in Chicago and started in the real 
 estate business in the old Chamber of Commerce Building, and 
 about twelve years ago formed a partnership with lion. Thomas 
 Brenan under the firm name of Cremin & Brenan, which partner- 
 ship still continues and constitutes one of the most enterprising 
 and highly reputable firms in this city. They have been connected 
 with many of the large down-town sales and leases, and have sub- 
 divided and improved hundreds of acres on the west side between 
 Garfield Park and Oak Park. Mr. Cremin resides in his handsome 
 and elegantly appointed home in Austin, and prizes above all 
 things in life the society of his interesting family, which includes 
 six children. He sustained, an irreparable loss in the death of a 
 daughter in the spring of 1895, a beautiful girl of fifteen, who was 
 highly accomplished and blessed with a sweet and sunny disposi- 
 tion, which made her the idol of all who knew her.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 689 
 
 Mr. Cremin is a member of the Chicago Real Estate Board, the 
 Chicago Fire Underwriters' Association and the Columbus Club, 
 
 
 
 and is an active and zealous member, ever working for the best 
 interests of the organization in every one of them. In distinctively 
 Irish-American social societies of the best sort, he has always taken 
 a prominent part, both as member and patron, and he will long be 
 remembered as one of the most active and popular spirits in the 
 pleasant and influential Irish-American Club, which crystallized 
 within its membership so many well-known and congenial Irish- 
 Americans of Chicago several years ago. 
 
 In the prime of life, and in the full strength of his best years, 
 John F. Cremin has attained a commercial success and a wide- 
 spread popularity which in every way has been well deserved. 
 
 PATRICK B. FLANAGAN. 
 
 The subject of this short sketch, who is a member of the legal 
 confraternity, was born October 4, 1858, at Ballinameen, near 
 Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland, and came to this country in 
 May, 1881. Of his parents, Bryan and Mary- (Banalian) Flanagan, 
 the father owned and carried on a farm in Ballinameen until his 
 death in 1887, and the mother followed him to the grave three 
 years later. The family it* of good stock and for two hundred or 
 three hundred years has had a place in the county. 
 
 Patrick B. Flanagan received his early education* in the Na- 
 tional schools of his native village, afterwards attending the col- 
 legiate school at Elphin and then at Castlerea. In the latter 
 town he graduated, and for twelve months thereafter was assistant 
 
 37
 
 690 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 school teacher under his brother at Treen, near Castlerea, He 
 gave up this position and came to the United States, settling in 
 Newark, New Jersey, and finding employment as shipping clerk 
 in Cummings Bros.' leather factory. After spending some time 
 in Newark, he came to Chicago, where he obtained a position as 
 conductor with the Chicago City Railway Company. In 1888 he 
 resigned his position with the railway company to accept the sec- 
 retaryship of the South Side Street Car Men's Association. Thence 
 he received an appointment under Mayor Cregier in the office of 
 the City Collector, and later went into the Sheriff's office as bailiff 
 in Judge Shepard's court, and then in Judge Baker's court. 
 While in the latter he attended the Kent College of Law, and was 
 admitted to the bar in 1895. During the strike of 1894, he resigned 
 his position in the sheriff's office rather than take a rifle against 
 men struggling for their rights and accepted a position as book- 
 keeper at the Fourteenth Street Pumping Station. Having grad- 
 uated from the law school, this was resigned and he commenced to 
 practice in the Ashland Block under the firm name of Mahoney, 
 McCallum & Flanagan. 
 
 In his profession Mr. Flanagan has handled a number of highly 
 important cases and has been peculiarly successful. One case in 
 particular may be cited, in which a man named Conlan, who was 
 in the saloon business, died leaving an estate of $10,000 and with 
 no heirs in the city. A wholesale firm, who had been given a trust 
 deed to this property to secure the payment of a bill of goods 
 amounting to |2,300 made an endeavor to collect through the Pro- 
 bate Court, and also by foreclosure proceedings under their deed. 
 Mr. Flanagan with much difficulty succeeded in discovering that 
 the trust deed in question was given as security for the bill of 
 goods, the payment for which had already been allowed by the 
 Probate Court, and after a hard legal battle defeated the fore- 
 closure proceedings.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 691 
 
 Mr. Flanagan was married in Chicago in 1886, to Anna G. Mar- 
 tin, a Wisconsin lady whose father a.nd three children served in the 
 Union Army throughout the war. They have four children, Mary, 
 John, Bernard and Kathleen. 
 
 lie is a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, of which 
 lie has been county president for four years, and by whom, at the 
 end of his second term, he was complimented with the presenta- 
 tion of a gold medal and emblem of the order. He is a member of 
 the Parnell Literary Social Club, president of St. Anne's C. 
 T. A. S., treasurer of the Irish-American Lyceum, and for two 
 terms was archon of Wentworth Council, 128, Royal League. 
 
 A thorough Irishman, an honorable gentleman, a sound lawyer 
 and a good friend, Mr. Flanagan possesses thousands of friends 
 throughout Chicago. 
 
 HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 Although only twenty-seven years of age, Hugh O'Neill has a 
 reputation as a lawyer, a writer and a speaker. He was born at 
 Magherafelt, County Derry, Ireland, in October, 1870. He spent 
 his youth in that most beautiful valley lying between the Slieve 
 Galleon range of mountains on one side and the Antrim range of 
 mountains on the other, with Lough Neagh, the largest lake in the 
 British Islands, lying in the center, while crystal rivers flowed from 
 the . mountain sides between primrosed banks and wooded dells. 
 The sublime beauty of the scenery had much to do with the forma- 
 tion of his character and literary tastes. The green grass, the 
 crystal waters, the flowery mead, the rich flora and foliage of the
 
 692 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 groves, the sublimity of the mountain scenery impressed them- 
 selves on his young mind and have given to his style that peculiar 
 charm that makes him pleasing as a public speaker, a writer and 
 a conversationalist. 
 
 He was educated in the schools of Ireland and at the University 
 of Notre Dame. He received the degrees of A. B., LL. B., B. L., and 
 LL. M. Besides finishing his classical, literary and law courses, he 
 studied surveying, engineering and medicine. While in Ireland 
 he took an active part in the Irish Home Rule movement as a 
 writer and speaker. While at Notre Daine University he spoke 
 on Ireland and wrote many articles on the struggles of Ireland for 
 liberty. 
 
 In 1892 he was admitted to the bar in Chicago, and after prac- 
 ticing for some time alone, he entered into a partnership with Mr. L. 
 Bastrup, a well-known lawyer, and the firm of Bastrup & O'Neill* 
 has now a fine suite of offices in the Reaper Block. The firm has 
 a good standing at the bar and commands a lucrative practice. 
 
 Mr. O'Neill delivered an oration on "Ireland and Liberty" in 
 Central Music Hall, Chicago, on the 17th of March, 1897. His fine 
 delivery, his mastery of the subject and graceful manner made 
 him master of his auditors. His speeches on the money question, 
 labor problem and American ideas in modern civilization have the 
 ring of true gold. His essays, speeches and orations show deep, 
 broad thought and clear style. 
 
 As a lawyer he has a good standing at the bar. His eloquence, 
 his strong personality, his constructive ability, his knowledge of 
 human affairs, his liberal education, his sway over men's minds, 
 his tact as an advocate, have given him a high place among law- 
 yers. 
 
 He is a member of the Columbus Club and belongs to many 
 fraternal organizations. 
 
 His family in Ireland has always taken an active part on behalf
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 693 
 
 of their country's cause, and he inherits the patriotism of his race 
 and family. Gifted as a talker, thorough as a scholar, energetic 
 as a student and a worker, true as a friend, he is destined to reflect 
 honor on himself and his race. 
 
 JAMES MAHONEY. 
 
 James Mahoney, though only thirty-four years of age, has made 
 such rapid progress and attained such marked success in the live 
 stock business that he is now president of the Standard Live Stock 
 Commission Company. He was born in Chicago September 11, 
 1863, and is the son of the well-known William Mahoney, who 
 came from Cork, Ireland, in 1847, and settled in Chicago as a 
 live stock dealer. His father is still living at the age of seventy- 
 four, and has been retired from business ten years. His wife, 
 mother of James, was Honorah Hannan and a native of County 
 Limerick, Ireland. They were married in Chicago in 1848, and had 
 eleven children, four of whom are living, the eldest, David Joseph, 
 is chief of one of the city fire departments ; Thomas is a live stock 
 dealer and connected with the Cumberland Packing Company; 
 Daniel is buyer of stock for Swift & Co., and James, the subject of 
 this sketch. The latter mentioned was educated at St. Ignatius 
 College until seventeen years of age, when he started in his life 
 work, assisting his father for a time in the live stock business. He 
 then bought hogs for five years for the Anglo-American Packing 
 Co., and for six years filled the same position for Swift & Co. He 
 resigned from the latter firm to become president of the Standard
 
 694 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Live Stock Commission Company, which concern was organized 
 about four years ago, and has achieved considerable success. 
 
 Mr. Mahoney has been a member of the Sheridan Club from its 
 organization. He has traveled extensively through the west in 
 the interest of the stock business. He is a Roman Catholic in re- 
 ligion and in politics is a Democrat, though usually voting for his 
 friends and for whom he considers the best man regardless of 
 party. 
 
 October 16, 1889, Mr. Mahoney married Miss Lydia Maeny, 
 daughter of Phillip Maeny, an old resident of Chicago. They have 
 had two children, neither of whom is living. 
 
 Mr. Mahoney is domestic in his tastes, though fond of athletic 
 sports. Now in his early prime, with a sound constitution, ener- 
 getic disposition and good business ability, unquestionably his al- 
 ready successful and honorable career will continue and enlarge. 
 It may be added that his genial temper and invariable courtesy 
 have secured him a number of warm friends and well wishers. 
 
 REV. THOMAS BURKE. 
 
 Father T. Burke, the pastor of St. ColumbkilPs Parish, and one 
 of the best known and most highly respected priests in the Arch- 
 diocese of Chicago, was born in the town of Tipperary, Ireland, 
 December 20th, 1827. His father was born at Benroa at foot of 
 Cromwell Hill, in the parish of Hospital, County Limerick, and his 
 mother, Mary (Cahill) Burke, was a native of Ballyboy, parish of 
 Upper Church, County Tipperary. Three of his uncles were priests
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 695 
 
 and two aunts nuns in the Presentation Convent at Waterford. His 
 father left the town of Tipperary in 1842, being elected master of 
 the workhouse, but gave it up and with his family came to America 
 in 1849. 
 
 The subject of this sketch had begun his studies in Thurles 
 College, Tipperary, and completed at St. Mary's College on the Lake, 
 Chicago. Ordained a priest July 4th, 1857, by Bishop O'Regan at 
 old St. Mary's Church, afterwards destroyed by fire, on Wabash 
 Avenue near Madison, he remained there five years and then came, 
 February 2nd, 1862, to St. Columbkill's. What has been done since 
 in his parish by this zealous and most energetic priest, belongs to 
 the history of Catholicism in Chicago. 
 
 A few words in regard to St. Columbkill's Parish will not be 
 out of place. Founded in 1858 under the pastorate of Father Ward, 
 on his death the Rev. Father Keuney succeeded until the latter too 
 passed away and the Rev. Father Thomas Burke was assigned 
 charge February 2nd, 1862. The original church was a small frame 
 building, yet in proportion with the population it was equally as 
 commodious as is the present edifice for the accommodation of the 
 present demands of the developed parish. Father Burke saw the 
 inadequacy of the church as it was and set out at once to make 
 additions. Gradually the needed work was done, the debts paid off 
 and fifteen lots, including the present site of the church, purchased. 
 The parochial residence was built soon afterwards at a cost of 
 |17,000 and then the convent adjoining, which is in charge of Sister 
 Gertrude as Superior. Further extensions became necessary and in 
 1871 a beginning was made and the present edifice was completed 
 in 1877 at a cost of f 170,000. It is of Illinois stone, built in the 
 most substantial manner, and has a seating capacity of three thou- 
 sand. 
 
 Business tact and considerable executive ability as well as much 
 ingenuity were required to build up the parish and to raise the
 
 696 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 needed funds and the greater portion of all this work fell upon 
 Father Burke. He has never recognized any such word as fail, and 
 his parish is not only entirely out of debt, but is fully equipped 
 for further advancement. 
 
 JOHN A. QUALEY. 
 
 Typical of the ambition and energy so often found in those of 
 the Irish race in the United States, is the active life of John A. 
 Qualey. Student, lawyer, and promoter of large enterprises, he 
 has always been well to the front in anything undertaken. While 
 yet a young man, he has worthily earned the distinction of being 
 entitled a thorough-going, active man of affairs and likewise, as 
 the term goes, a thorough man of the world. Not only well known 
 in Chicago, he is and always has been warmly esteemed by all who 
 know him, but his success in life is something in the anticipation 
 and accomplishment of which a host of friends share. John A. 
 Qualey was born in Columbus, Ohio, where his father, John Qua- 
 ley, settled in 1832. His mother was a member of the Nevins fam- 
 ily, Julia (Nevins) Qualey. Mr. Qualey's father helped materially 
 to erect the first English speaking church (Catholic) in Columbus, 
 in the early 40's. Mr. Qualey was a well educated man and fol- 
 lowed pharmacy in his early youth, afterwards engaging in the 
 wholesale boot and shoe business in Columbus. The old family 
 home in Ireland of the Qualeys was confiscated in '98 and has 
 been, and is now occupied by the St. Georges. A beautiful marble 
 monument stands over the family plot in Freshford erected by Mr. 
 Qualey's father and his uncle William in the 60's. The name was 
 originally spelled "Quealey," and it is believed to have been orig- 
 inally O'Kelly.

 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 699 
 
 John A. Qualey's education was commenced in the parochial 
 schools of Columbus, Ohio, and the Columbus Academy, and he 
 afterwards attended and graduated from St. Mary's College, Day- 
 ton, O. From early youth he evinced a desire to fit himself thor- 
 oughly for professional life, and after leaving college entered the 
 law office of English & Baldwin, at Columbus, O., under the spe- 
 cial tutorage of William Baldwin, an old friend of his father. He 
 was a graduate of Yale and an able jurist and for thirty years one 
 of the leaders of the Ohio bar. Mr. Qualey was admitted to the bar 
 by the Supreme Court of Ohio in 1885. He was elected clerk of 
 the Senate in the following year and appointed private secretary 
 to Lieut.-Governor John G. Warinch in 1887, practicing law in Co- 
 lumbus in the meantime. Leaving Columbus, Mr. Qualey came to 
 Chicago with letters of introduction, particularly one from the 
 noted Hon. Allen G. Thurman to ex-Senator James R. Doolittle of 
 Wisconsin, resident and practicing law in Chicago. Soon after his 
 arrival here, he was admitted to the Illinois bar by the Supreme 
 Court, remaining with Senator Doolittle for about a year. There- 
 upon he formed a connection with the noted lawyer, W. S. Forrest, 
 remaining with him until after the famous Cronin trial. Subse- 
 quently he formed the legal firm of Wing, Carter & Qualey. 
 
 With the well known contractor Mr. Joseph S. Qualey, he organ- 
 ized the Qualey Construction Company and contracted with the 
 Drainage Board to build section "Five" of the great Drainage 
 Canal, an undertaking involving the expenditure of nearly $1,000,- 
 000. At the present writing Mr. Qualey is president of the Trust 
 Mutual Life Association of Pennsylvania, and his ever active inter- 
 est in mining is represented by his identification with the Pennsyl- 
 vania Copper Company, of which he is the president. Notwith- 
 standing the manifold duties involved in holding these positions, 
 he nevertheless finds time to keep in the practice of his chosen pro- 
 fession at the Philadelphia bar.
 
 700 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 February 12th, 1889, Mr. Qualey married Miss Elizabeth F. 
 Lally, the oldest daughter of Mr. John Lally of the Chicago Board 
 of Trade and a commission merchant for the past thirty-five years. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Qualey have at present two children, St. Bertrand 
 Qualey and Florence Elizabeth Qualey. 
 
 Our subject has been a good deal of a traveler and is literally 
 familiar with every part of the United States, having crossed the 
 continent fully thirty times or more. 
 
 Many qualities unite in John A. Qualey to account for his gen- 
 eral popularity and his many friends. A life long Roman Catholic, 
 he is absolutely without religious prejudice and of broad a.nd lib- 
 eral views; a consistent Democrat, he takes a broad latitude of 
 view in relation to men nominated by the party and the principles 
 and platform they represent. A clear thinker and forcible speaker, 
 endowed with the graces of natural oratory, Mr. Qualey is and ever 
 has been not only a convincing and a brilliant advocate at the bar 
 but a welcome speaker at the clubs and in society. His life so far 
 has been well filled. 
 
 HON. D. G. RAMSAY. 
 
 IJou. D. G. Ramsay, attorney at law and late member of the Illi- 
 nois Legislature, was born near Martiusville, 111., October 29th, 
 1864. His parents, William and Eliza Ramsay, were both natives 
 of Letterkeuny, County Donegal, Ireland. When twenty-four years 
 of age Judge Ramsay, the father of the subject of this sketch, came 
 to this country and entered into the mercantile business, returning 
 to Ids boyhood home in Ireland a couple of years later for his bride. 
 For upwards of half a century they made their home in Clark Coun-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 701 
 
 ty, Illinois. Although he was a lawyer and presided for more than 
 twenty years as Justice, he was more widely and generally known 
 as a merchant. Both he and his wife reached an old age and are 
 buried side by side at Martinsville, 111. 
 
 The first work of D. G. Ramsay was when a child selling 
 matches; later newspapers and various notions were added to the 
 stock in ti'ade, which pursuit was soon abandoned to take advant- 
 age of a few months' schooling. lie commenced railroading on the 
 "Vandalia Line" when but a boy, driving the horse at the water 
 tank; later he became messenger at the station, where he learned 
 telegraphy and was then placed in charge of an office. For about 
 seven years he followed railroading, during which time he worked 
 in nearly all the large telegraph offices on the road, and for a couple 
 of years did clerical work in the East St. Louis freight office of the 
 line. 
 
 While filling the position of telegrapher in one of the offices of 
 the Vandalia Line in East St. Louis he began the study of law. 
 Afterwards he resigned his position with the company and accept- 
 ed a position in the law and real estate offices of the late ex-Mayor 
 John B. Bowman. lie also served two years as assistant cashier 
 of the East St. Louis Bank, and in the meantime attended law 
 school at McKendree College, where he graduated with honors. 
 Law was practiced by him in East St. Louis for four years, during 
 which time he distinguished himself and built up an enviable repu- 
 tation as an attorney. In the fall of 1890 he was elected representa- 
 tive to the Thirty-seventh General Assembly of the Illinois Legis- 
 lature, lie was one of the famous "101" the Democrats who voted 
 for General Palmer first, last and all the time for United States 
 Senator, and finally lifted their candidate into the coveted office. 
 
 At the sixth annual session of the Grand Division of the Order 
 of Itiiilroad Telegraphers, which was held at St. Louis in June, 1891, 
 at the earnest solicitation of his many friends, Mr. Kamsay consent-
 
 702 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ed, although he had no personal desire for the position, to be a can- 
 didate for the office of Assistant Grand Chief Telegrapher. He was 
 elected, and before the close of his term assumed charge as Acting 
 Grand Chief, because of the resignation of the Grand Chief, Hon. 
 A. D. Thurston. 
 
 At the seventh annual session of the order held in Chatta- 
 nooga in May, 1892, he was unanimously elected Grand Chief, and 
 at the next annual convention, held at Toronto, Canada, in May, 
 
 1893, was again unanimously re-elected, being succeeded at the 
 annual convention held at Denver in May, 1894, by the present in- 
 cumbent, Grand Chief Powell. 
 
 His great executive ability and former business experience ac- 
 crued to the benefit of the Order in his official relationship, and his 
 administration was in consequence characterized by great activity. 
 Within less than two years' time the organization increased in mem- 
 bership more than three-fold. 
 
 After retiring from the executive chair of the O. R. T. in May, 
 
 1894, he located in Chicago on July llth and resumed the practice 
 of law. Within a few months thereafter he accepted the office of 
 Assistant State's Attorney, which he filled until March 6th of the 
 present year, when he resigned to again take up the private practice 
 of law. While Assistant State's Attorney he proved himself to be 
 a successful and fair prosecutor, never demanding the conviction 
 of any one whom he thought to be innocent, and in all cases giving 
 to the accused the benefit of every doubt. 
 
 As a fraternal man he ranks high, being an Odd Fellow, a thirty- 
 second degree Mason, a Knight of Pythias and a member of several 
 other fraternal organizations. 
 
 He was married October 10th, 1894, to Estella Humes, daughter 
 of Mr. and Mrs. S. II. Watson of Vinton, la. Mr. Watson was for 
 more than forty years, and until his death, August 7th, 1891, a 
 prominent banker of that city. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay reside at 341
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 703 
 
 Rush Street, Chicago, where they have a very happy home, sur- 
 rounded by many warm and admiring friends. Mrs. Ramsay is a 
 charming lady of cultivated tastes, being an artist and musician of 
 considerable attainments. 
 
 Mr. Ramsay is a notable example of the self-made man, and 
 even from this necessarily brief sketch it is evident that he not only 
 possesses a high order of executive and general mental ability,'but in 
 addition,'indomitable energy and perseverance, qualities which have 
 enabled him to surmount all his difficulties in the past, achieving 
 the best results in whatever position he has filled, and have also un- 
 questionably assured for him an honorable and successful future 
 career. 
 
 JOHN JULIUS KINSELLA. 
 
 John Julius Kinsella was born in Lockport, 111., January 12th, 
 1859, his parents being John and Mary (Ryan) Kinsella. John Kin- 
 sella, the father, was a native of County Carlow, Ireland, who emi- 
 grated to the United States about the year 1845, settling for a time 
 in Connecticut and later moving to Illinois, where he located on a 
 farm near Lockport and died there in 1887. He came of a sturdy 
 Irish family and was held in the highest regard by every one who 
 knew him. In the old country members of his family were inti- 
 mately connected with Smith O'Brien troubles, and were also well 
 known for their adherence to the Catholic Church, at one time there 
 being over one hundred of the family in one way or another holding 
 ecclesiastical positions. The mother of the subject of this sketch 
 came of a Kilkenny family, who had settled in the State of Maine. 
 She died in this city in the year 1890.
 
 704 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 John J. Kinsella attended the public schools of his native place, 
 and. later the St. Ignatius College, until he was eighteen years of 
 age, when he went west and for two years lived in Denver and the 
 mountains of Colorado. He then returned to Chicago and engaged 
 in business with his brother, Mr. F. D. Kinsella, who had in 1876 
 established a plant for the making of mirrors, art glass, fancy glass 
 for church windows, and the like. A large number of the principal 
 hotels and restaurants of Chicago have been furnished with the 
 glass ornamentation, which is such a striking feature of Chicago 
 establishments, by this firm, whose reputation is well known 
 throughout the west. 
 
 Mr. Kinsella was one of the charter members of the Sheridan 
 Club, and from 1888 to 1889 had the honor of being its president. 
 He is a Roman Catholic, and belongs to the congregation of St. 
 Elizabeth's Church, while in politics he is a Democrat. He is a man 
 of large acquaintance and is very greatly esteemed. 
 
 JOHN DICKEY MURPHY. 
 
 The business of the City of Chicago numbers among its ablest 
 and most respected officials many of Irish birth or Irish descent, 
 and of these, few are better known than the subject of the present 
 sketch. 
 
 John D. Murphy was born in this city, January 24th, 1842, at 
 the northwest corner of Market and Washington Streets. His 
 father, who was born in Ireland, came from the East in 1840. Ed- 
 ucated in the public schools, he began at the age of sixteen to learn
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 705 
 
 the trade of a boiler maker in the shop of T. W. Cobb, on West 
 Water Street, near Kinzie. In 1855 he went to Rock Island, where 
 he worked in the shops of the Weber Manufacturing Company. He 
 returned to Chicago in 1858, and found employment in the shops of 
 the Racine & Mississippi Railroad Company. In conjunction with 
 a number of other's, in 18t57 he founded the Chicago Boiler Works, 
 in which he remained interested until, in the great fire of 1871, the 
 works were entirely destroyed. 
 
 Immediately after the fire, Mr. Murphy was appointed to the 
 position of Inspector of Boilers by Mayor Joseph Medill. During 
 the fire, a great number of the big boilers in Chicago were de- 
 stroyed, and consequently, there was a rush to Chicago of dealers 
 with old and second-hand boilers. Only by the utmost care was it 
 possible to keep such out of the city, and it speaks strongly as to 
 Mr. Murphy's strict attention to his duties that, during the whole 
 term of his administration as Boiler Inspector, there was not a 
 single boiler explosion. So faithfully and satisfactorily was his 
 work done, that he received reappointments to the position succes- 
 sively by Mayors Colvin and Heath, making eight years of continued 
 service. 
 
 The Great Western Steam Boiler Works at 158 Fulton Street, of 
 which he is now sole owner, was started in 1881 by Robert Anthony 
 and himself, under the name of Murphy & Anthony. The partner- 
 ship continued until February, 1882, when John D. Murphy pur- 
 chased Mr. Anthony's interest, and has since carried it on alone. 
 On the success of the Republican ticket in 1895, Mayor Swift, rec- 
 ognizing the merit of his former record, once more appointed him 
 to his former position of boiler inspector. 
 
 He was married July 2, 1865, to Miss Julia Norton, daughter of 
 Elisha Norton, of Racine. They have two children, Everett and 
 Merritt. Mr. Murphy is a member of the Lincoln and Menoken 
 Clubs.
 
 706 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 PATRICK F. KEILY. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, another bright and popular member 
 of Chicago's large army of the legal confraternity, was born in this 
 city March 15th, 1856. Of his parents, John and Johanna (Moore) 
 Keily, his father came to the United States in 1845, settled 
 for a short time in Milan, and moving thence to Elgin, where he 
 started in the butter and cheese business at a time previous to any 
 railroad service. Later he was clerk for the Galena Kailroad, after- 
 wards coming to Chicago, and in 1857 taking up the wood and coal 
 business. He was also placed in charge of the Catholic cemetery. 
 
 Patrick F. Keily was educated at the Bedemptionist Fathers' 
 School, where he spent five years, and having graduated, went to 
 the Newberry school, from which he also graduated in 1870. For a 
 time he attended the Bryant & Stratton's Business College, then 
 taking a private course in law under Professor Bonayne at the 
 Northwestern University of Evanston, he was admitted to practice 
 in 1878, but had previously taken in addition a twelve months' 
 course in a medical college. 
 
 Having obtained a position with E. L. Haynes as editor of the 
 "Legal Advisor," he also compiled the Haynes edition of the City 
 and Village Laws, Haynes Township Laws, Justice Treatise (two 
 editions), and a book on Parliamentary Law and another on the 
 American Indian. In 1881 he started with the law firm of Moses & 
 Newman, and remaining there six years, obtained a position in the 
 office of Corporation Counsel Bubens, where he stayed a year and a 
 half. Since that time he has been in successful practice by himself 
 and also with ex-Judge Cunningham. 
 
 Mr. Keily was married at Battle Creek, Mich., in May, 1886, to
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 707 
 
 Mary Lynch, who died ten mouths later, and three years afterwards 
 he was married to Lillian Graham. They have one child, a boy. 
 
 A Roman Catholic in his religious views, he is a strong Repub- 
 lican in politics. He is Grand Master of the Ancient Order of 
 United Workmen, a member of the Fraternal Insurance Society, 
 Royal Arcanum, the Catholic Benevolent Legion and also of the 
 United Brotherhood. He assisted to organize and was an original 
 member of the Second Regiment, Illinois National Guard, in which 
 he held the commission of second lieutenant, and when that regi- 
 ment dissolved he spent twelve months in the Chicago Zouaves. 
 
 ROBERT JOHN WALSH. 
 
 Robert John Walsh was born in County Kerry, Ireland, June 
 20th, 1861, his parents being John and Mary (Dillon) Walsh. The 
 father, prominent in his district of the country as a merchant and 
 politician, is still in the old country, while his mother, who came of 
 a well known Kerry family, her father being a large farmer and her 
 brothers merchants, died in 1891. 
 
 Robert John Walsh attended the national schools of Ireland 
 until he was fifteen years of age, when he entered a dry goods store, 
 served his apprenticeship, and came to Chicago in 1878. From his 
 arrival in this city, good fortune accompanied him, for two days 
 later, he obtained employment and entered as clerk the dry goods 
 store of C. W. & E. Pardridge on State Street. Uis stay in that oc- 
 cupation, however, was of short duration, for he quickly attracted 
 the notice of the heads of the house, and when six months had 
 
 88
 
 708 BIOGRAPHICAL. HISTORY OP THE 
 
 passed, he was made rent collector, a year later being further pro- 
 moted and placed in charge of all the property owned by the Pard- 
 ridge Brothers. When the partnership of the latter was dissolved 
 in 1890, Mr. Walsh connected himself with Mr. Ed. Pardridge, and 
 was given entire charge and management of his large real estate 
 holdings in Chicago (amounting to three or four millions of dollars) 
 and retained until the death of his employer April 17th, 1896. 
 
 The charge of the estate is now in the hands of Mr. Walsh as 
 business manager, and in addition thereto, on September 1st, 189G, 
 he entered into partnership with Mr. Willard E. Pardridge, a son of 
 his former employer, and a department store was opened in Detroit, 
 Mich., which has met with considerable success. 
 
 Mr. Walsh is a valued member of the Columbus Club; in his 
 religious views he is a devout Catholic, belonging to the congrega- 
 tion of St. Jarlath's Church, while in politics he is a Democrat. 
 
 He was united in marriage in 1885 to Maggie C. White of Chi- 
 cago, and they have a family of five children. 
 
 JEREMIAH S. HYLAND. 
 
 In the Irish and Catholic homes all over the great West, wher- 
 ever faith or patriotism finds a comfort in good books, there is no 
 name better known than that of J. S. Hyland, the Chicago publisher. 
 This successful young business man is a native of County Tipperary, 
 Ireland, and spent the years of his boyhood in the shadow of the 
 Galties near the southern end of the Golden Vale. His parents, 
 Thomas and Frances (Sisk) Hyland, were both of old Tipperary
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 709 
 
 stock, that fearless peasantry which was ever responsive to the 
 call of Ireland. At the age of fourteen, and with only a common 
 school education to work with, J. S. Hyland sailed for America to 
 carve his way to fortune. He first settled in Boston, and there, in 
 a little while, began as salesman for a publishing house. In this 
 calling he was both plucky and successful, and he also showed that 
 he was ambitious by going to the evening high school for four years 
 until he became a graduate. 
 
 A young man of such metal was sure to rise. Mr. Hyland's 
 employers gave him one important agency after another, so that his 
 knowledge of the book interest ripened with his mental growth. In 
 1884 he turned his face westward, and after a short stay at Detroit 
 opened up for himself as a publisher in the western metropolis. The 
 imprint of J. S. Ilyland & Co., has since then been placed on many 
 noble books. Numbers of these were of a devotional character and 
 some were biographical and historical, the latter including the 
 valuable histories of the Columbian Catholic Congress and the 
 Catholic Educational Exhibit at the World's Fair. The most ex- 
 alted American prelates have praised these books both as to matter 
 and finish, and the publishers, in regard to the last named elegant 
 work, won the rare honor of a direct approval from His Holiness 
 Pope Leo the Thirteenth. 
 
 Personally Mr. Hyland is the, model Tipperary man of whom 
 Davis sang: 
 
 "Tall In his form, his heart Is warm; 
 His spirits ever light and airy." 
 
 He also has the soldierly spirit of his stock. In 1890 he joined 
 the Hibernian Rifles, speedily rising to be their adjutant, and in 
 '93 he was commissioned as Captain and Inspector of Rifle Practice 
 of the Seventh Regiment Illinois National Guard, a rank which he 
 still holds with credit and popularity.
 
 710 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 lie is a member of the Columbus Club and member and officer 
 of a number of other Catholic organizations. Bright and compan- 
 ionable in social life and affable and progressive in business, his 
 place among the exiles of Erin is that of a truly self-made man and 
 one worthy of all the success he has so bravely won 
 
 JOHN C. BURKE. 
 
 John C. Burke, who for over a quarter of a century has been well 
 known in live stock circles and associations, was born in June, 1844, 
 in County Limerick, Ireland. His father, Francis N. Burke, a native 
 of the same county, was a farmer and stock man, and died nearly 
 thirty years ago, while his mother, Johanna Casey, was also born in 
 Limerick, in 1807; she died in Chicago, December 12th, 1896, having 
 nearly reached the ripe old age of ninety years. The family came 
 to this country in 1849 when John was about five years old, and 
 settled in Chicago. The milk business was first embarked in, having 
 their own dairy, and gradually launching into the general fanning 
 and live stock business. 
 
 The boy received a primary education at the public schools and 
 at St. Mary's of the Lake, finishing his course at the college of Notre 
 Dame, Indiana. After leaving college, he for some time assisted his 
 father in business at Elgin, Ills., where the dairy and farm were 
 situated. ITe came to Chicago in 1872, and the firm of George 
 Adams & Burke Company was formed, and has now existed for over 
 twenty-four years. From the start the concern was successful, and 
 has for many years past been one bf the largest and most import-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 711 
 
 ant of the live stock commission houses. Mr. Burke has had con- 
 siderable interest in horses and also in land investments, though 
 the general live stock business has been his chief interest. He has 
 traveled extensively in the United States, as also in Mexico and 
 Canada, and in the summer months still takes a yearly trip with 
 his wife. 
 
 A Roman Catholic in his religious views, Mr. Burke considers 
 himself in politics a Democrat, but reserves the right to vote at any 
 time for the best man and especially for a friend, if he considers 
 such friend the right man in the right place. In the last campaign 
 he was with Major McKiuley, feeling that his election would be for 
 the best interests of the country. 
 
 In 1877 Mr. Burke married Margaret Breuock, daughter of John 
 Brenock. They have nine children, six girls and three boys, all of 
 whom are living. 
 
 He is a man of good presence, of genial yet dignified manner, 
 and with decidedly domestic tastes, considering his home the best 
 place on earth except when taking a trip for his own or his family's 
 health. His brother, Morris C., is now Bishop of St. Joe, Mo., and 
 was formerly Bishop of Cheyenne, Wyo. 
 
 REV. BERNARD P. MURRAY. 
 
 In whatever capacity, whether as priest, Irishman or worthy 
 citizen, it is doubtful if any man in the west stands higher in the 
 estimation of his fellow-countrymen or his fellow-citizens than does 
 the subject of this sketch.
 
 712 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Father Murray was born in Glenariffe, near Oushendall, County 
 Antrim, Ireland, and as a mere child, in 1856, was brought to Amer- 
 ica by his parents. He graduated at St. John's College, Fordhara, 
 N. Y., receiving from that institution the degrees of Bachelor and 
 Master of Arts. His theological studies were later pursued at St. 
 Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, Maryland, and he was ordained by 
 Archbishop, now Cardinal, Gibbons, December 17th, 1881. For 
 some time he served as assistant priest at Galena, 111., and after- 
 wards at St. Bridget's Church in Chicago, being then appointed 
 secretary to Archbishop Feehan and Chancellor of the Archdio- 
 cese. His performance of the necessary and very responsible du- 
 ties devolving on him in that capacity was such as to win for him 
 the respect and esteem of every one with whom he was brought 
 into contact, and great was the regret of all with whom he had 
 been constantly associated when he was appointed to his present 
 charge, the parish of St. Bernard. This parish was established by 
 Archbishop Feehan in July, 1887, in that part of the South Side of 
 the city which is known as Englewood, a district which, previous 
 to that time, had been almost exclusively non-Catholic. Father 
 Murray had here a noble opportunity, and his firm grasp of affairs 
 and special gifts in the required direction have been shown by his 
 building up a strong Catholic congregation. Not merely has his 
 parish made wonderful progress numerically, the religious ardor 
 of its members has been evinced by a generosity which has enabled 
 their kindly and religiously ambitious pastor to attempt a depar- 
 ture in the church building of Chicago. The new church, the first 
 marble church ever erected in this city, which is now rapidly near- 
 ing its completion, is a magnificent pile of white Georgia marble, 
 happy in its design and splendidly beautiful in the execution. 
 
 Father Murray, who has endeared himself to every man, woman 
 and child in the large district under his control, is a man of very 
 varied gifts. He is an eloquent preacher, and as a speaker for na-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 713 
 
 tional and other gatherings is in request to an extent it is not pos- 
 sible for him to gratify. Upon all Irish subjects he is a recognized 
 authority, and his large and well chosen library is especially rich 
 in Irish works. It is a matter worthy of mention that the well- 
 known Catholic historian, the late Dr. John O'Kane Murray, was 
 his brother. 
 
 MARTIN B. MADDEN. 
 
 When the history of the administration of affairs of the City of 
 Chicago comes to be written, the name of Martin B. Madden will 
 find a place upon its foremost page. Born in London, England, 
 of Irish parents, his schooling over, he demonstrated the possession 
 of very high business abilities. Coming to Chicago from Lemont, 
 where his family had settled, he entered while quite a young man 
 the city council with a view of obtaining beneficial legislation for 
 his neighbors and friends in the Fourth Ward and in the interest of 
 good government. Immediately through his own merit and the 
 strength of character for which he is remarkable, he became a 
 leader in the council and the work that he has since accomplished 
 for the benefit of his constituents is known only to those who have 
 been and are the beneficiaries thereof. 
 
 Mr. Madden is the president of one of the greatest private busi- 
 ness institutions in the city, the Western Stone Company, and to 
 that position he was elevated by the votes of some of the leading 
 citizens of Chicago men whose names are household words, who 
 are shareholders in the concern of which he is the trusted chief. 
 In his private business, as publicly, Mr. Madden has been the loyal
 
 714 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 and generous friend of the wage workers, and what he has done has 
 been generously recognized on a number of occasions. 
 
 Prominently mentioned in the spring of 1895 as candidate for 
 Mayor of the city, his loyalty to friends and to the Republican party 
 was proved by the readiness with which he withdrew his name in 
 favor of George B. Swift, who secured the election. 
 
 JOSEPH COLL BRADEN. 
 
 Joseph O. Braden, the well known insurance agent, as well as 
 prominent Republican- and man of affairs, is a son of the celebrated 
 Joseph Long Braden, and was born at Joliet, Will County, Illinois, 
 January 29th, 1858. Joseph Long Braden was for some thirteen 
 years the editor and proprietor of the "Joliet Republican," from 
 1856 to 1869, until his death in the latter year. The position of 
 postmaster was also held by him, and at the time of his death his 
 appointment as Minister to Spain had been decided upon by Presi- 
 dent U. S. Grant. Always an active working Republican, he was 
 one of the Abraham Lincoln electors from Illinois. The grand- 
 father of the subject of this sketch was Walter Braden, who had 
 married a lady named Long, and Joseph L. Bradeu's wife was for- 
 merly Jane Coll. Both families located in Pennsylvania, the Bra- 
 dens at Franklin and the Colls at Butler. Two generations back 
 the latter had come to this country from Coll, Ireland, which, tak- 
 ing its name from the family, is located near the west coast of Scot- 
 land, i I ' ; 
 
 Joseph Coll Braden was educated at Joliet and at Notre Dame,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 717 
 
 Indiana, receiving an ordinary business course. Oil leaving school 
 the boy lost no time in setting to work, first as an office boy at 
 Joliet Rolling Mills, then as salesman in a hat and cap store, after- 
 wards in the Joliet Boiling Mills, and later on was guard at the 
 Illinois State prison. In 1877 Mr. Braden started an insurance 
 agency at Joliet and built up a most successful business, which con- 
 tinued until he was laid up with a severe sickness, and, as he says, 
 actually expecting to die, he sold out his agency. Recovering his 
 health a few months later, he left his birthplace and came to Chi- 
 cago, February, 1881, entering the office of Moore & Janes, the well 
 know insurance agents. Here his energy and business ability soon 
 told and almost immediately he was doing and still continues a 
 most successful business. In 1890 Mr. Braden also took the agency 
 of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee, 
 and has accomplished as much business for that company as any 
 other Illinois agent in the way of securing large policies. 
 
 Notwithstanding his active and important business interests, 
 Mr. Braden has found time to occupy himself largely in public mat- 
 ters, especially in connection with the Republican party. He was 
 secretary of the Republican Executive Committee during the fall 
 campaign of 1894, at which election Cook County changed from a 
 Democratic plurality of 33,000 to a Republican plurality of 51,000, 
 and was also secretary at the city election of 1895, at which there 
 was an increased Republican majority. Mr. Braden was elected 
 Drainage Trustee on the Republican ticket in the fall of 1895 by 
 49,000 majority, and was appointed chairman of the Engineering 
 Committee in 1896, which is probably the most important commit- 
 tee of the drainage board. In this responsible position his energy 
 and wise counsels have been invaluable to the board, and he has 
 been the means of furthering numerous measures for the advance- 
 ment of the great project in hand. 
 
 He is a member of Masonic Apollo Lodge 642, and of Fairview
 
 718 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Chapter, and is also a member of the Columbia Council, Royal 
 League. 
 
 As may be gathered from this brief record, Mr. Braden has al- 
 ways been a Republican in politics, and declares he has seen no 
 reason to change his political faith. 
 
 December, 1884, Mr. Braden married Miss Agnes T. Springfield, 
 daughter of Dr. F. M. and Agnes Munson Springfield. They have 
 four children, Agnes Grace, Jane Louise, Francis Marian and Jo- 
 sephine Cornelia. 
 
 Mr. Braden is six feet in height and weighs 250 pounds, and, as 
 may be judged from his physique, is of fine constitution and com- 
 manding presence. He is a man not only of fine mental and execu- 
 tive ability, but of tremendous energy, which has been exemplified 
 during his whole career, whether in business or in public affairs. 
 With him to will a thing is usually to carry it to a successful ac- 
 complishment. In disposition he is warm and generous in man- 
 ner, kindly and courteous. Still in his early prime, unquestionably 
 a yet more distinguished career is before him. 
 
 THOMAS MAHONEY. 
 
 Thomas Mahoney, another son of William Mahoney, the old-time 
 live stock dealer, now retired, was born in Chicago November 5th, 
 1856. He was educated at St. John's College until fourteen years 
 of age, when he started in to learn the trade of a blacksmith. After 
 three years, however, he gave up the occupation and joined his 
 father in the live stock business. Later on he engaged with Swift 
 & Co., and bought hogs for that firm for five years, when he resigned
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 719 
 
 to become Vice-President of the Cumber-laud Provision Company, 
 which position he still holds. 
 
 In the interest of his business Mr. Mahoney has traveled consid- 
 erably through the West, lie is a Roman Catholic in religion, and 
 politically entirely independent^ not allying himself with any dis- 
 tinctive party. 
 
 May 19th, 1880, he was married to Miss Mary Ellen McElroy of 
 this city, and they have six children, all living. 
 
 Mr. Mahoney is thoroughly domestic in his habits and tastes; 
 he is a lover of music, and one of the delights of his home is the play- 
 ing of his daughter, who is quite an accomplished musician. 
 
 JAMES CONWELL. 
 
 This well known and most popular Chicago newspaper writer 
 was born at Leighlin Bridge, County Carlow, Ireland, in 1861. 
 
 As political reporter he has represented during the past thirteen 
 years the leading newspapers of this city, and his ready grasp of 
 affairs, his quick and sound judgment, his keen intellect and his fa- 
 cility to impress upon others the conclusions he has formed after 
 careful consideration, are the qualifications which have placed him 
 where lie .stands to-day. When Mayor Washburne became chief ex- 
 ecutive of the city he immediately recognized the young newspaper 
 man's ability by giving him the appointment of private secretary', 
 a position in which he was able to add largely to his popularity and 
 estimation among the City Hall and county officials. When Mayor 
 Washburne's term of office expired Mr. Conwell was offered and ac-
 
 720 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 cepted the political editorship of the Chicago Evening Journal, fill- 
 ing the position in such a manner as not merely to raise that paper 
 in public estimation, but at the same time to reflect very consider- 
 able credit upon himself. On the purchase of the latter paper by an 
 Eastern syndicate, Mr. Conwell severed his connection therewith, 
 and has since acted in a similar capacity for the Chicago Dispatch, 
 of which he is now the Springfield representative, and is recognized 
 as one of the brightest and most capable newspaper writers of the 
 West. 
 
 In political affairs he has made himself a power, and his strong 
 assistance has been given and his able advocacy offered to those 
 principles which he believes to be the right a.nd with which the wel- 
 fare of the people is, in his opinion, most chiefly concerned. In 
 choosing Mr. Conwell as assistant secretary of the Senate, a well 
 deserved compliment was paid to the newspaper man, the worthy 
 politician and the honorable and straightforward gentleman. 
 
 Strong in his denunciation of wrong, gifted with great power 
 of pen, a natural and national flow of wit, ever a true friend, a 
 charming conversationalist and a thoroughly good hearted and 
 kindly representative, James Conwell is taking, and is assured of 
 a high place among those of his race in the great Western world. 
 
 Mr. Conwell is married, has one child, and for some years past 
 has resided in Berwyn, one of Chicago's many suburbs. 
 
 In 1806 he was one of the corps of correspondents who accom- 
 panied William O'Brien, the famous member of Parliament, in his 
 tour through Canada in denunciation of the Marquis of Lansdowne, 
 then Governor General, for his treatment of his tenantry on his 
 Tipperary estates. He represented the Chicago Morning News in 
 that memorable crusade, and was indeed the only Chicago newspa- 
 per man in the goodly company of scribes who accompanied the 
 Irish representative. 
 
 Mr. Couwell takes particular pride in the fact that it was he who
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 721 
 
 in 188(5 unearthed the society known as the United Order of Depu- 
 ties at that time, and now known by the familiar title of the A. P. 
 A. It was the first time the existence of the organization was 
 known, but he made a complete expose of it, publishing in the Morn- 
 ing News not only the signs, passwords, oath, etc., of the order, but 
 actually obtaining access to a meeting and giving the particulars 
 of plans framed by it for the defeat of certain candidates in a pend- 
 ing election in Cook County. The matter created a profound sensa- 
 tion all over the country at the time. 
 
 WILLIAM J. HYNES. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, who was born March 31st, 1843, in 
 Kilkee, County Clare, Ireland, is well to the fore among Chicago's 
 most prominent lawyers. His father, Thomas Ilynes, was a well 
 known architect and builder, and after his death the widow with 
 her family emigrated to the United States and settled at Spring- 
 field, Massachusetts. 
 
 Having his. mother to support, W. J. Flynes at once entered the 
 office of the Springfield Republican, where he learned to set type 
 and at the same time attended the evening school of that city. His 
 mother died in 1864 and soon afterwards he became interested in 
 the Irish National movement and was subsequently appointed 
 Fenian organizer for New England. 
 
 He began to study law in 186fi and entered into partnership 
 with General John O'Neill in Nashville, Tennessee. Later he went 
 to Washington, D. C., and to Georgetown, where he completed his 
 legal studies in the Columbia Law University and was admitted to
 
 722 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the bar in 1870. The practice of his profession was begun at Little 
 Eock, Ark., where he also wrote considerably for the State Journal. 
 In 1872 he was elected on the Greeley ticket for congressman at 
 large to the Forty-third Congress by the reform Republicans and 
 Democrats. The following year he ran again for Congress, was 
 elected and then defeated by the redistricting of the State under 
 what was known as Baxter's machine. In September, 1875, he re- 
 moved to Chicago and formed a partnership with Judge Walter B. 
 Scates, which continued until 1880, when the firm of Hynes, English 
 & Dunne was organized and at once took its place among the chief 
 legal firms of this city. An extensive business is being done and 
 long since Mr. ITynes might have reached the bench if his ambition 
 lay in that direction. 
 
 Mr. Ilynes was married in September, 1871, to Jennie W., 
 daughter of Judge George B. Way of Ohio. 
 
 In social circles he is at all times in great request, for he is a 
 brilliant and most entertaining conversationalist and a perfect 
 friend. 
 
 WILLIAM JEREMIAH QUIN. 
 
 William Jeremiah Quin was born in Milwaukee, Wis., March 
 14th, 1857. Mr. Quin received a primary education at St. Gall's 
 parochial school, Milwaukee, afterwards attending the city high 
 school and finally graduated at the University of Wisconsin. Hav- 
 ing a great love for the drama, he adopted the stage as a profession 
 immediately after leaving the university, but his ambition being of 
 a higher order, he soon drifted into the legal profession. lie was
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 723 
 
 admitted to the bar in June, 1879, at Milwaukee, practiced there 
 for some time and then came to Chicago. Since 1883 he has been 
 connected with the legal department of Armour & Company, which 
 has practically been under his charge. 
 
 For eight years, Mr. Quin was a member of the Sheridan Guards 
 of the Wisconsin National Guard. Several years ago he was a 
 member of the County Republican Committee and is now one of the 
 Executive Committee of the Irish Republican National Committee 
 and legislative officers in Wisconsin Legislature. He has always 
 been a Republican. 
 
 Mr. Quin was married August 20th, 1883, to Rachel A. Hogarth 
 of Plymouth, Ind., who died July 8th, 1888. On July 5th, 1889, he 
 was married again to Alice Evans Lyons of New York City, who 
 died October 20th, 1895. There is one child living, a daughter. 
 
 Mr. Quin is a man of bright and active intellect and of very pleas- 
 ing personality. That his gifts are of a high order and his success 
 in any sphere chosen but a matter of time, the reputation he bears 
 and the responsible position he holds in such a firm as Armour & 
 Company bears fitting indorsement. 
 
 THOMAS J. PAGAN. 
 
 This well known and popular sergeant of the Chicago police 
 service was born in Dublin, November 19th, 1859. Of his parents, 
 Patrick and Charlotte (Steele) Pagan, the father, who died a few 
 years ago, was one of the oldest employes of the Great Southern &
 
 724 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Western Railroad, having been in that service for upwards of fifty 
 years, during which period he filled various positions. He was the 
 last man who spoke with Smith O'Brien previous to the tatter's 
 arrest by the English guard, Hulin, at the Limerick Junction Rail- 
 way Station. When asked to assist in arresting O'Brien his answer 
 was simple "Arrest him? Why what did the poor fellow ever do 
 to me or to mine?" Hulm arrested O'Brien, obtained the blood 
 money, and was in a drunkard's grave inside of a year. The mother 
 is still living in Dublin. 
 
 Thomas J. Fagan received a very thorough education and has 
 strongly developed literary tastes. His first schooling was under 
 the Oblate Fathers at Dublin, for many years under the Christian 
 Brothers, and was afterwards under the present member of the 
 English House of Commons, the well known Timothy Harrington. 
 Later, for a year, he studied with a private tutor, Mr. Connellan of 
 Renalagh, Dublin. 
 
 For a short time he held a clerkship on the railroad, but decided 
 to embrace the better opportunities offered to energy, ambition and 
 talent in the United States. In 1880 he left the old country and 
 after visiting for a short time in New York and Bermuda he came 
 direct to Chicago. His first employment in this country was with 
 the firm of Harmon & Merriman in the wholesale grocery trade, 
 which was given up two years later to accept a position as sales- 
 man on the road for Gray, Burt & Kingman. Twelve months later 
 he went to Nebraska and opened up a general store, but fortune 
 failed to favor and in 1889 he returned to Chicago. He secured em- 
 ployment as a clerk on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 
 but in 1891, the opportunity being given him, he went on the Chi- 
 cago police force as patrolman. Every duty of his position was per- 
 formed to the entire satisfaction of his superior officers and he re- 
 ceived promotion to sergeant. 
 
 Sergeant Fagan was married in this city in 1893 to Mary Coffey,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 725 
 
 and their home rejoices in a daughter, who, at the time of this writ- 
 ing, is three years old. 
 
 A Itoman Catholic in his religious views and in his politics an 
 independent Democrat, Mr. Pagan is a member of the Catholic 
 Benevolent Legion and also of a number of insurance societies. 
 
 FRANK T. SCANLAN. 
 
 Frank T. Scanlan, one of the younger members of a family that 
 have been considerable factors in the life and development of Chi- 
 cago, was born in this city January 12th, 1855. His father, Ed- 
 ward Scanlan, was a native of Castlemahon, County Limerick, Ire- 
 land, who left the old country and came to this city in 1851. Here 
 he started a candy factory on the North Side, at the corner of La 
 Salle and Huron Streets, and it was in the rear of this building that 
 the subject of the present sketch was born. Later the business 
 was removed to South Water Street, five members of the family, 
 under the firm name of Scanlan Bros., forming the concern. Mr. 
 Scanlan was certainly one of the oldest, and in time became one of 
 the largest confectionery manufacturers of Chicago. During the 
 .sixties the firm of Scanlan Bros, was dissolved, and Mr. Edward 
 Scanlan then associated himself with P. L. Garrity, a connection 
 which continued until the death of the former in 1887. Edward 
 Scanlan was married to Ann Higgins in Boston, Mass., Easter Sun- 
 day, March 25, 1853. She was a native of County Cavan, Ireland. 
 
 Frank T. Scanlan received his education at the Kinzie and Og- 
 den schools and at the Cathedral College, obtaining all the advan- 
 tages of a good commercial as well as moral training. Shortly
 
 726 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 after leaving school lie secured a position in the well-known whole- 
 sale grocery firm of Wm. M. Hoyt Co., with whom he remained for 
 twenty-two years, advancing step by step until he became manager 
 and head of the shipping department, a position of much responsi- 
 bility, needing considerable executive ability, as well as constant 
 attention and energy. Naturally Mr. Scanlan was specially inter- 
 ested in all matters connected with shipping and in the men asso- 
 ciated with it, and in 1887 he organized the Shipping Clerks' Coun- 
 cil of the Royal League, with the object of bringing the latter, who 
 were connected with various shipping departments, into closer con- 
 tact for mutual counsel and social intercourse, stated to be the only 
 organization of its kind in the country. It has been successful 
 from the start, and at the present time has a membership list of 
 about two hundred. Both by land and water occasional excur- 
 sions are made by the members of the council, which is looked upon 
 by the leading railroads as quite an important institution. As its 
 originator and projector, Mr. Scanlan has naturally held many im- 
 portant offices in the association, and is now a leading member of 
 the executive committee. At the tenth anniversary, recently held, 
 the souvenir stated, among other warm eulogies regarding him: 
 "Frank T. Scanlan was the nestor, founder, guide, and steadfast 
 friend of the Chicago Shipping Clerks, and to him they owe a debt 
 of gratitude." Eventually he resigned his position with Hoyt & 
 Co., to become a member of the firm of Conklin & Co., of Fifth Ave- 
 nue and Monroe Streets, and after two years and a half in that con- 
 nection he bought out A. W. Long of La Salle and Quincy Streets, 
 and still carries on the business at that location. 
 
 Mr. Scanlan has been connected with the Waubansia Club 
 since its organization, and is a member of Cathedral Court 36 of the 
 Catholic Order of Foresters and of the Central Council of the North 
 America Union. He is a Roman Catholic in his religious views, 
 and is a Democrat in politics. As regards the latter, while always
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 727 
 
 ready to aid his party by bis counsel and efforts he has never 
 sought or desired political office. Outside of his active business in- 
 terests Mr. Scanlan has devoted a considerable portion of his time 
 and attention to organizations of a benevolent order and object, 
 so much so that there is scarcely a night in the week that he is not 
 in attendance at some meeting of that description, where his good 
 judgment, executive ability and active co-operation are held in the 
 highest' value. 
 
 Even from this brief sketch it may be seen that Mr. Scanlan 
 is not only a man whose natural abilities have been strengthened 
 and enlarged by a thorough commercial education and business 
 training, but in addition thereto that he has exhibited from his 
 very start in life as a clerk for Hoyt & Co. exceptional industry, 
 united to perseverance and untiring energy. He is of genial tem- 
 perament, unassuming, and at all times courteous manners, and 
 has gained the honor and esteem of numbers of his fellow-citizens 
 by his unswerving honesty of deed and purpose, his liberality, and 
 his kindlv interest in all charitable movements. 
 
 DANIEL DONAHOE. 
 
 The high professional average of the younger element of the 
 legal fraternity in Chicago, as exemplified in the prominence at- 
 tained by a large proportion of its numbers, their marked ability 
 as orators, exhaustive knowledge of the fundamental principles of 
 the law, and the vigor, energy and shrewdness with which they 
 present and try their cases, has made the Chicago bar famous 
 throughout the country, and in comparison with that of other large
 
 728 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OF THE 
 
 cities, the envy of them all in this respect. The name heading 
 this sketch is that of one of the best known of the generation of 
 lawyers to which we refer, from the fact that his success at the bar 
 has shown him to be possessed of most, if not all, of those qualifica- 
 tions which are requisite to the conduct of a large and varied law 
 practice, and the more than ordinary degree of success which has 
 attended him is merely evidence of his ability to properly apply 
 them in his chosen profession. 
 
 Daniel Donahoe was born April 10th, 1855, on a farm in Mc- 
 Henry County, Illinois, where his parents, John and Johanna 
 (Long) Donahoe, had located in 1851, on their arrival in this coun- 
 try from their native place, County Cork, Ireland. William, father 
 of John Donahoe, also from the Emerald Isle, was one of the first 
 settlers of McHenry County, near what is now the town of Huntley, 
 where he died in 1880, at the advanced age of ninety years. He is 
 well remembered by our subject, his grandson. 
 
 After a course in the public schools, Daniel Donahoe continued 
 his studies at the Elgin Academy. From Elgin he returned home 
 and worked on the farm until he entered Notre Dame University 
 at South Bend, Indiana, in 1879, taking the law course, and gradu- 
 ated from that department in 1881. In that year his father died, 
 and, returning home, he continued the superintendence of affairs 
 there until 1882, when he came to Chicago and engaged in the ac- 
 tive practice of his profession in the office of Judge John Gibbons. 
 In 1888 he formed a co-partnership w r ith Mr. Joseph David, under 
 the firm name of Donahoe & David, which continued until 1894. 
 Since then Mr. Douahoe has been the senior member of the firm of 
 Donahoe & Hartnett (his partner being Mr. James Hartnett), with 
 offices in the Ashland Block. Their large practice, while it has 
 been largely in the criminal courts, has now reached that state 
 where it extends to the whole varied field of general litigation, 
 both in the state and federal jurisdictions.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 72$ 
 
 Among the notable and even famous cases in which Daniel 
 Donahoe figured conspicuously as attorney and counselor, may be 
 mentioned the Chicago, Burlington & Quiricy Railroad dynamite 
 cases, tried at Geneva, 111., in 1888; a mysterious murder case 
 known as the Italian "trunk murder," in which Mr. Douahoe, as- 
 sociated with JS". C. (now Judge) Sears, successfully defended two 
 of the defendants, securing their acquittal. In the course of the 
 celebrated anarchist trials, Mr. Donahoe was selected by State's 
 Attorney Julius Grinnell, and disposed of an immense volume of 
 important public business which otherwise would have fallen to 
 the care of First Assistant State's Attorney Frank AValker, en- 
 gaged in the anarchist case. The Eugene Doughertj murder case 
 was a notable legal triumph for Mr. Donahoe. The accused, though 
 ably defended by that distinguished lawyer, W. W. O'Brien, was 
 convicted and sent to the penitentiary, from whence, three years 
 afterwards, on purely legal grounds, he was sent back- to Chicago 
 for a new trial, at which, defended by the subject of our sketch, he 
 was acquitted. A case famous in the annals of criminal jurisdic- 
 tion, in which Daniel Douahoe achieved very considerable renown, 
 was that of Timothy O'Grady, tried and convicted of the killing of 
 Police Officer Michael O'Brien. Mr. Donahoe, who defended the 
 accused, was positive that it was a case of mistaken identity, and 
 worked incessantly in the matter, even after the man was com- 
 mitted to the penitentiary. He interested Governor Fifer in the 
 case, and finally succeeded in establishing the fact that a man 
 named Dyer Scanlan, who was at large in Chicago when O'Grady 
 was being tried for the crime, was really the guilty person. Scan- 
 Ian also was convicted of shooting a member of the police force, 
 and when in the penitentiary confessed the shooting for which 
 O'Grady was imprisoned. 
 
 Mr. Donahoe figured prominently in the celebrated Cronin case, 
 on the first trial defending two of the co-defendants, Patrick Sulli-
 
 730 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 van and John Kunze, and also in the second trial of Dan Coughlin, 
 which grew out of the Cronin case. In the defense of Coughlin, 
 which resulted in acquittal, he was associated with Judge Wing. 
 The trial concluded with a masterly summing up of the entire case, 
 the final address of Mr. Donahoe to the jury consuming three entire 
 days. The sensational North Side election cases are others in 
 which Mr. Donahoe took a leading part, commencing with the trial 
 of one "Major" Sampson, with seven other co-defendants, tried for 
 assaulting a man named Dixon at a polling booth on election day, 
 November 6th, 1894. Notwithstanding the relentless prosecution 
 maintained by the Marquette Club and other political organiza- 
 tions, Mr. Donahoe secured their acquittal. In the subsequent 
 trial of Alderman O'Malley and John Santry, on a charge of mur- 
 der, from which the two defendants, after a most bitterly con- 
 tested trial on the part of the state, were not only triumphantly 
 acquitted, but publicly exonerated by the jury, Mr. Donahoe, as- 
 sociated with his law partner, Mr. James Hartnett, successfully 
 defended the latter. 
 
 In politics Mr. Donahoe is a consistent Democrat, and from the 
 time of his first vote his sympathy and support have ever been with 
 the Democratic party, of which he is a valued and recognized mem- 
 ber, lie believes, however, in a great measure of political inde- 
 pendence, and his party allegiance neither has, nor will, lead him 
 to support partisan candidates or platforms as such, without his 
 confidence in the fitness of the one or his convictions as to the jus- 
 tice of the other. 
 
 In August, 1886, Mr. Donahoe was united in marriage to Miss 
 Theresa Boyle, daughter of Henry Boyle, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, 
 to which place the family remoA r ed during the childhood of Mrs. 
 Donahoe. To them have been born two children, Henry, on March 
 4th, 1888, and Leo, in May, 1892. 
 
 Characteristically, Mr. Donahoe is active and aggressive. With
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 731 
 
 him to think is to act, and in discharging the duties of the citizen 
 in private life, lie is as intolerant of misrepresentation, chicanery 
 and fraud as he would be in meeting such equivocal elements in 
 the course of professional duty. In the defense of right, as in the 
 assistance of the oppressed, his immediate sympathy and support 
 can ever be counted on, and seeking no preferment, either social 
 or political, his entire time is devoted to the interests of his pro- 
 fession and the welfare and happiness of his family. 
 
 MARK J. MCNAMARA. 
 
 Mark J. McNamara, a bright and very promising young lawyer 
 of Chicago, was born in this city, March 5th, 1872. 
 
 The education of the subject of this sketch was received in the 
 public schools of this city, and afterwards at Pio Nono College, St. 
 Francis, Milwaukee County, Wis. After leaving college, he en- 
 tered th* employment of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway 
 Company, remaining in the law department for five years, with evi- 
 dent satisfaction to the company. As a young man of enterprise, 
 however, he considered that he could do better with his life than 
 by staying with a railway corporation, so he entered the Chicago 
 College of Law, and, after a two years' course, commenced to prac- 
 tice for himself in this city, and in the three years, since 1893, in his 
 profession, has already made a very creditable reputation. 
 
 In proof that his abilities have been recognized may be recorded 
 the circumstance of his nomination by the Sound Money Democrats 
 for the Legislature in the Eleventh Senatorial District, which,
 
 732 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 though he met with defeat, was a decided honor for so young a 
 man. 
 
 Mr. McNamara is a Roman Catholic in his religious belief, and 
 was a member of St. Oolumbkill's Young Men's Catholic Associa- 
 tion for a number of years. A Democrat in his politics, he actively 
 supported, and in the last election voted for, Major McKinley. He 
 is a lover of music and of literature, and keeps up an extensive 
 reading of all the standard works of the day. 
 
 That his tastes are intellectual, and his habits of a very ener- 
 getic character, every action of his life up to the present time for- 
 cibly demonstrates. Before him unquestionably is an honorable 
 and highly successful career. 
 
 EDMUND M. LAHIFF. 
 
 Edmund M. Lahiff, private secretary to Hon. Carter Harrison, 
 Mayor of this city, is a newspaper man of considerable mark in 
 that profession, and for so young a mau has had a rather remarka- 
 ble career and has attained no mean reputation and appreciation 
 from the community at large. lie was born at Whitegate, County 
 Cork, Ireland, in 1863, receiving a first class education at St. Vin- 
 cent's Seminary in Cork City. His father, Patrick Laliiff, was a 
 splendid type of the Irish "country town." merchant. From his 
 mother he got the characteristics of Irish fire and daring that goes 
 with the blood of the Barrys and the Maguires. He was twenty- 
 three years of age when he first came to this country, and his finan- 
 cial resources being exhausted, he was forced to accept whatever
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 735 
 
 work he could find, and set out by shoveling coal on one of the De- 
 troit docks (W. P. Rend's at Eighteenth Street in that city). After 
 a year on the docks he took charge of one of Mr. Rend's coal yards. 
 Newspaper work was then taken up, and has been followed most 
 successfully by him until his recent appointment by Mayor Harri- 
 son. Mr. Lahiff's journalistic career has been chiefly on the st;ilT 
 of the "Times-Herald" and its predecessor, the "Herald," as a po- 
 litical reporter, in which capacity he has made considerable mark 
 and managed to obtain a wide acquaintance with politicians and 
 public men. In 1894 he went East and spent a year in the employ 
 of the "New York World," and on behalf of that paper hired him- 
 self out to the Carnegie Company as a "scab" worker, in order to 
 gain admission to the fortified works of the firm. Here Mr. Lahiff, 
 along with some forty of the non-union workmen, was the victim of 
 poisoned food, supposed to have been prepared by sympathizers 
 with the strikers, and he was for some weeks seriously ill in a hos- 
 pital. Two years after this Mr. Lahiff accomplished a feat that 
 made him a name among the newspaper men of the country and 
 also made him known to thousands of the reading public, this 
 achievement being quite a lengthy interview with the Rt. lion. 
 William E. Gladstone upon the leading topics of the day. It was 
 especially notable as being the first instance in which Mr. Glad- 
 stone had consented to an interview with a newspaper representa- 
 tive. 
 
 Mr. Lahiff was appointed some months ago as a member of the 
 County Civil Service Commission, a position he resigned to accept 
 his present arduous and important post. For the place, he is 'a 
 man in all ways most eminently fitted, for, in addition to a pleasing 
 personality, a very courteous manner, a patient and self-controlled 
 temperament, he is also graced with considerable acumen and 
 knowledge of human nature.
 
 736 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 * 
 
 ALEXANDER COLLINS. 
 
 The subject of the present sketch, one of this city's best known 
 and most enterprising young lawyers, was born in Chicago October 
 1st, 18G(i. Of his parents, Henry T. and Catherine J. (Conway) Col- 
 lins, both were natives of County Meath, which they left for the 
 United States about 1852. For two years Henry T. Collins re- 
 mained in New York and the mother of our subject in Syracuse, and 
 it was about 1858 that each came West and settled in Chicago. He 
 had been a farmer in Ireland, but in this city the grocery business 
 was taken up, and this he followed for a number of years, when he 
 began to trade in hides and tallow. His affairs prospered and he 
 is now retired. 
 
 Alexander Collins received his education in the public schools 
 of this city, afterwards taking up the study of law with J. Lisle 
 and Eli B. Felsenthal, with whom he remained for six years, during 
 three of which he also taught school. He was admitted to practice 
 November 13th, 1887, and at once began to do business in the firm 
 of II. E. Cross and Collins, which became afterwards Craft, Cross & 
 Collins. Later Mr. Collins opened an office and continued his pro- 
 fessional business in his own name. His success altogether has 
 been of a very appreciable character; during the administration of s 
 Mayor Washburne his abilities received recognition by his appoint- 
 ment as assistant prosecuting attorney, and he has already taken a 
 liigli place in the very full complement of legal service in Chicago. 
 
 Mr. Collins was married in Chicago April 14th, 1887, to Gertrude 
 Curran, and they have a family of two children. 
 
 A Kepublioan always in his political views on national affairs, 
 as regards municipal offices his faith is given to the man most fitted
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 737 
 
 for the office, despite any party affiliations. He is a member of the 
 Catholic Order of Foresters and also of the Royal Arcanum, in the 
 latter having filled all the subordinate offices, and being at the pres- 
 ent time a member of the Grand Council. 
 
 Mr. Collins has traveled extensively throughout the United 
 States, is a man well informed upon all necessary subjects, is free 
 and generous in his character, pleasant and courteous in his man- 
 ner, and in all ways a good representative of the American Irish in 
 Chicago. 
 
 PATRICK CAVANAGH. 
 
 In the records of Irishmen in Chicago, there is, perhaps, no 
 name better known or signifying more of patriotism, of true Chris- 
 tianity, of charity and nobility of character, than that of the late 
 Patrick Cavanagh. His death on Wednesday, October 9th, 1895, 
 was a blow to the whole community, and removed from a sphere of 
 great usefulness and honor a man who exemplified in his strong 
 personality the highest type of citizen. The following sketch is 
 from the pen of one of his associates, and in nothing said therein 
 is his character overstated: "Patrick Cavanagh was born in 1842, 
 on a farm near Omagh, County Tyrone, a portion of the Emerald 
 Isle, famous for the production of so many earnest Catholics, where 
 members of the church must, understand their faith to uphold it 
 and love it to defend. For a short period after coming to this 
 country, in 1863, he tarried in the Quaker City, but that location 
 proved too quiet for his energetic temperament, and he moved to 
 Detroit. Here he entered business, continuing until 1866, when
 
 738 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the opportunities of Chicago engaged his attention, and resulted 
 in his permanently locating in the latter city. In connection with 
 Mr. Bodle, he organized the firm of Cavanagh & Bodle, to engage 
 in the wholesale liquor trade. This partnership continued until 
 1881, when Mr. Bodle withdrew, and the business was subsequently 
 continued under the name of Cavanagh & Co., with offices and ware- 
 rooms at Cass and Kiuzie Streets, 
 
 "No Catholic of this city has, according to his means, been a 
 more frequent or generous giver than Mr. Cavanagh, whether the 
 cause was Ireland's aid, church building in missionary countries, 
 local charities or parish calls. His name appears upon the scroll 
 of liberality in the halls of the Catholic University, and many an 
 Irish church is more beautiful by the contributions he has made, 
 lie has at all times been closely in touch with Catholic life, and 
 few laymen had a wider circle of acquaintances among the hier- 
 archy and clergy an acquaintance not merely in form, but also in 
 friendship. From its inception to its dissolution, he was one of 
 the most faithful members of the Irish-American Club. lie was also 
 a member of the Columbus Club, and a most enthusiastic supporter 
 of Sherman Council of the Young Men's Institute, and one of the 
 most respected members of the Cathedral congregation. 
 
 "July 26th, 1871, Mr. Cavanagh was united in marriage to Mar- 
 garet, the amiable and accomplished daughter of Judge John Dil- 
 lon, of Joliet, Illinois. Her brother, Rev. Patrick Dillon, was for 
 some years President of Notre Dame University, and another 
 brother, Father James Dillon, was Vice President of the same in- 
 stitution. To Mr. and Mrs. Cavanagh were born four children. 
 Charles, the eldest son, after completing the university course at 
 Notre Dame, finished his law studies at Harvard, and is with the 
 law firm of Isham, Lincoln & Beales, and since his admission to 
 the bar has made a place for himself among the brightest and most 
 promising of the younger generation of attorneys, and is at present
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 739 
 
 the administrator of his father's estate. Thomas is pursuing his 
 studies at Notre Dame, and has won considerable renown for his 
 prowess in athletic sports, as well as in the study rooms. The eld- 
 est daughter, Mildred, graduated with honor at the Sacred Heart 
 Academy, Manhattanville, while her younger sister, Aileen, is pur- 
 suing her studies at the Sacred Ileart Academy on North State 
 Street. 
 
 "Energetic, and overflowing with vitality and good fellowship, 
 Mr. Cavanagh's circle of friends was limited only by his acquaint- 
 ances, and when the end came, as it did suddenly, his passing away 
 brought regret and sorrow to many, and the magnificent assem- 
 blage which gathered at the Cathedral of the Holy Name to pay 
 reverent respect and honor to his memory, was eloquent testimony 
 of the esteem in which he was held in this city, as well as of the 
 number and character of his friends." 
 
 JAMES J. EGAN. 
 
 Worthily in the front rank of his important and difficult voca- 
 tion, James J. Egan, the well known architect, possesses a very 
 large circle of professional and social friends. The mention of his 
 name irresistibly recalls to those familiar with the toil and ambi- 
 tion which necessarily preceded the building of "Greater Chicago," 
 an immense field of labor successfully and honorably accomplished. 
 Just as the names of some professional and business men who have 
 passed into the history of Chicago, suggest the fulfillment of im- 
 portant enterprises, in this most enterprising of cities, so also the 
 name of J. J. Egan will be identified with the architectural and 
 building interests of Chicago for many years to coine.
 
 740 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The subject of our sketch was born in the city of Cork, Ireland, 
 the 15th of October, 1841. His father was William Egan, a well 
 known builder and contractor, many of whose works exist to this 
 day in the city of Cork, notably the Athenaeum building, the tower 
 of the Cathedral, Bank of Ireland and other buildings. His moth- 
 er's, maiden name was Fitzgerald Mary Fitzgerald, the daughter 
 of a country gentleman, and a woman of the highest personal char- 
 acter and liberal education. To her wise and affectionate training 
 young Egan owed much, especially that invaluable moulding of 
 character which is best achieved in the susceptible period of youth. 
 Mr. Egau's direction of study was mapped out early in his life, and 
 his preparatory education for the professions of engineering and 
 architecture, quite often united in that day, received most careful 
 development and supervision from both his parents. This prepara- 
 tory education was chiefly gained at the private academy of Doctor 
 O'Keefe, a noted scholar of his time and afterwards eminent as a 
 physician and surgeon. In his thirteenth year young Egan attend- 
 ed the Government School of Design and continued his art studies 
 for several years* He entered Queen's University, Ireland 
 Queen's College, Cork when but seventeen years old, and in his 
 third year won a scholarship in science. The sudden death of his 
 father led to his leaving college after completing this three years' 
 course, and he thereupon entered the practice of his profession, tak- 
 ing up the affairs of his father's business and completing several 
 works that were in progress at the time of his death. After study- 
 ing for some time with a local architect, Mr. Egan came to the 
 United States, arriving in New York in 1866, where he continued 
 to work as an architectural draughtsman and student, spending 
 about five years with the late I. F. Duckworth, a prominent archi- 
 tect of that time. It was shortly before the "great fire" of 1871 that 
 Mr. Egan arrived in Chicago, and he had but fairly well established 
 his office here when he shared the general fate of being burned out
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 741 
 
 and was compelled to begiii Chicago life all over again. In connec- 
 tion with another architect, his partner at that time, he was com- 
 missioned to build the old jail and criminal court house building, 
 and from that time to the present J. J. Egau has been continually 
 engaged in the practice of architecture in Chicago. The work 
 which perhaps more than any other brought this accomplished 
 architect most prominently into public view was the Cook County 
 court house building, which with the city hall tills what is gener- 
 ally known as the Court House Square. This great building, hold- 
 ing the courts and the county offices and departments, massive and 
 impressive as it is admitted to be, is nevertheless not at all equal 
 to Mr. Egan's idea and original design, which had to be modified 
 to suit the amount that at the time could be expended upon it. Of 
 churches in Chicago Mr. Egan has designed St John's, St. Jarlath's, 
 St. James' in part St. Elizabeth's, St. Vincent's and Holy An- 
 gels; the De La Salle Institute and St. James High School, Chi- 
 cago, the notable Hotel Ryan, St. Paul, Minn., the Spaulding Hotel, 
 Duluth, Minn., the Catholic Cathedral of Davenport, la., and the 
 Catholic Cathedral of San Francisco. There are also many other 
 public and private edifices designed by Mr. Egan and erected under 
 his direct personal supervision; a sufficient number of them to 
 make an interesting chapter of the active duties of his twenty-five 
 years of busy and responsible professional life. 
 
 In religion Mr. Egan is and always has been a Roman Catholic, 
 and he has ever been a consistent and sincere friend of the many 
 .worthy educational and charitable interests so actively promoted 
 by that church. While abstaining from anything that could pos : 
 sibly be called active political life, he was in earlier years known 
 as a Democrat, in later life he is inclined to take a more independ- 
 ent position and support only those men and principles which, as 
 he estimates them, best represent the general good. 
 
 In 1876 Mr. Egan married Miss Margaret M. O'Shea, an event
 
 742 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 which led to a happy domestic life. His marriage, as he once char- 
 acteristically put it, to a personal friend, was in his opinion the 
 best thing he ever did ; and lie only regretted that it did not hap- 
 pen sooner. 
 
 JOSEPH MEDILL. 
 
 Beyond all question, pre-eminent in the west is this great Amer- 
 ican journalist, this Nestor of one of the world's greatest papers, 
 the "Chicago Tribune." It was on April 6th, 1823, on a farm situ- 
 ated on the St. John river, in New Brunswick, that Joseph Medill 
 was born of Irish parents, and here he remained until nine years of. 
 age, when, with the family, a move was made to Northern Ohio. 
 
 He studied law at Massillon, and in November, 1846, was admit- 
 ted to the bar at New Philadelphia, Ohio, a partnership being im- 
 mediately formed with George W. Mcllvane, afterward chief jus- 
 tice of the Ohio supreme court. The tastes and inclinations of Mr. 
 Medill, however, were not altogether of the legal order, and in 1849 
 he moved to Coshoctou, Ohio, and began the publishing of the 
 "Weekly Republican." So successful was this venture that he 
 sought a larger field, and in 1852 moved to Cleveland, where he 
 established a daily paper, which he called the "Forest City," and" 
 which is still in existence, although it is now known as the "Cleve- 
 land Leader." In 1854 Mr. Medill was one of twelve men who held 
 a meeting in Cleveland and organized as the nucleus of the Repub- 
 lican party. In conjunction with Dr. C. H. Ray, of Galena, he pur- 
 chased, in 1855, the "Chicago Tribune," then a struggling and un- 
 profitable daily. His keen ability and wonderful faculties quickly,
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 743 
 
 however, made the paper not only a profitable venture, but a tower 
 of strength, and its power was used to the benefit of the nation. 
 Mr. Medill it was who discovered that noble and grand natured 
 American, Abraham Lincoln, and started him on the road which 
 led to the presidency. Mr. Medill was a member, in 1869, of the 
 constitutional convention, and two years later President Grant ap- 
 pointed him a member of the Civil Service Commission, for which 
 the independence of his character and the breadth of his views emi- 
 nently fitted him. Later in the same year, and immediately fol- 
 lowing the great fire, he was elected by three-fourths of all the 
 votes cast Mayor of Chicago, but two months before the expiration 
 of his term of office he resigned, and went abroad to restore his 
 shattered health. Returning home in 1874, he bought the "Trib- 
 une" outright, and assumed supreme control of its policy and its 
 business. Powerful though his voice has been in the government 
 both of city and the state, Mr. Medill has since that time held no 
 public office. 
 
 From 1892 to the present time the greater portion of each year 
 has been spent at Los Angeles, at Southern California. He has 
 two daughters, Mrs. Robert W. Patterson, Jr., whose husband is, 
 after Medill, the master mind of the "Tribune," and Mrs. Robert H. 
 McCormick. 
 
 The "Chicago Tribune," with Joseph Medill as its guide, has 
 been a leader of thought, and the views of its editor have for many 
 years been potent in crystallizing public sentiment It has never 
 manifested any servility; never catered to bosses; never sacrificed 
 principle to policy; never played the sycophant. Indeed, the 
 strong personality of its editor pervades every issue. Regarding 
 Mr. Medill, the words of a Western writer a few years since may 
 be quoted: "In social intercourse he is agreeable and entertain- 
 ing. He indulges little in 'small talk' or airy compliments; nor is 
 he in the least pedantic. His conversation flows from the fullness 
 
 40
 
 744 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 of information garnered in many years of thoughtful study and 
 careful observation; it is consequently both interesting and in- 
 structive. In his character are assembled all the attributes essen- 
 tial to greatness in a chosen career, and the habits of his life have 
 conserved these attributes in the highest degree. Original in 
 thought and method himself, he has never been in any sense an 
 imitator of others^ and yet his own professional and official career 
 presents an example worthy of the most careful study and emula- 
 tion by others." 
 
 JUDGE FRANK SCALES. 
 
 One must go back some generations to Ulster to find the Scales 
 in Ireland. On this side of the sea the American representatives of 
 the family settled in North Carolina, where they have increased 
 and multiplied and generally flourished. They are known in Illi- 
 nois and in Wisconsin and at least one, the subject of this sketch, 
 may well claim to be almost universally known in Chicago. He cer- 
 tainly is esteemed and respected by a multitude of friends in pri- 
 vate life, while his popularity in the community generally is best 
 indicated by the fact of his election to the bench, to fill the pecul- 
 iarly difficult and responsible place of Judge of the County Court 
 in this, the second city in the United States. 
 
 Frank Scales was born at White Oak Springs, Lafayette 
 County, Wisconsin. This county adjoins Jo Daviess County, Illi- 
 nois, where the Scales family has long been known, in fact, Scales 
 Mo.und, Illinois, was named after the father of the Judge as far 
 back as 1826. This gentleman, Samuel Henderson Scales, settled
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 
 
 iii that part of Illinois when, taken generally, it was a pretty wild 
 sort of a country. He came west from Rockingham County, North 
 Carolina, where he was born about 1804. The mother of the Judge, 
 Malmla (Hammond) Scales, was a daughter of the Hammond fam- 
 ily of Saugamon County, Illinois, living there in 1823. Fighting 
 Indians and settling lands seem to have been the favorite pursuits 
 of the representatives of the Scales family, members of which ac- 
 tively participated in the Seminole, Black Hawk and other Indian 
 wars, and so far as the record shows, Frank, our subject in Chicago, 
 is the only one of the family who up to date has been honored by 
 the distinction of the ermine conferred by the free election of a 
 sovereign people. His early life was on a Wisconsin farm, and the 
 scheme of education was with him primarily commenced at the 
 Catholic Academy of Sinsinawa Mound. In 1864 young Scales 
 came to Chicago and went into regular academic training at the 
 Academy of St. Mary's of the Lake, on the site of the present Ca- 
 thedral of the Holy Name, a well known school, at that time under 
 the direction of the Very Rev. Dr. McMullen. The pursuit of a 
 broader and fuller education took him to the University of Notre 
 Dame, South Bend, Ind., where he entered the spring term of 1866. 
 From thence to Georgetown College, District of Columbia, till the 
 autumn of 1868. Af this time the serious business of life seemed 
 to open out to the young student with something of a definite plan, 
 and he came to Chicago to study law, entering the office of Kuowl- 
 ton and Jamieson, constituted by Judge Knowlton and Egbert 
 (afterwards Judge) Jamiesou. He was admitted to the bar in 1870, 
 and then formed a partnership with Judge Knowlton unde the 
 firm style and title of Knowlton & Scales. This existed till 1877, 
 after which date Judge Scales pursued the practice of his profes- 
 sion singly, paying special attention to real estate law, his prac- 
 tice being mainly what is known in the legal profession as office 
 practice. A conservative Democrat in his political views, he was
 
 746 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OF THE 
 
 nominated for Judge of the County Court and in 1890 was elected 
 to the bench for a term of four years. The position of County Judge 
 carries with it, by a special provision of the law, the presidency of 
 the Board of Election Commissioners, and thus is at once apparent, 
 in so large a city as Chicago, with its enormous electorate, how 
 difficult, delicate and also vitally important were the duties which 
 Judge Scales was called upon to discharge. To the integrity of 
 the judiciary he, in the peculiarly trying and delicate position of 
 president of the Board of Election Commissioners the impartial 
 moderator, so to speak, between the representatives of two or three 
 bitterly opponent parties brought a clearness of view, a strong 
 sense of right and a fearlessness in the discharge of often unpleas- 
 ant duty, which has served to make his record upon the bench one 
 of those chapters in the history of the Chicago judiciary of which 
 the people have good reason to be proud. After his retirement 
 from the bench, he resumed the practice of the law, with which he 
 yet proceeds in a large and steadily growing clientele. 
 
 Judge Scales married June 22nd, 1871, Miss Caroline Bartlett, 
 daughter of Luther Bartlett of Boston, well known as one of the 
 pioneers of Du Page County, 111., and a representative of a promi- 
 nent New England family. They have one child, Miss Etta Scales. 
 
 MAURICE T. MOLONEY. 
 
 Maurice T. Moloney, late Attorney General of the State of Illi- 
 nois and one of the best known and most prominent lawyers of 
 the West, was born July 26th, 1849, in the parish of Listowel, 
 County Kerry, Ireland. ITe belongs, however, to the well known
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 747 
 
 Moloney family of Clare, which is frequently called the Moloney 
 County. Of his parents, his father Timothy, au engineer and rail- 
 road contractor, married Catherine Enright, and died in 1887. The 
 widow is still living at the age of ninety-two. 
 
 Having received a fair classical education at a private school 
 of his native town, the subject of this sketch came to the United 
 States in 1867, studied philosophy at the College of Our Lady of 
 Angels, Niagara Falls, and afterwards took a course at St. Vin- 
 cent's College, Wheeling, Penn., where his studies were chiefly de- 
 voted to theological subjects. In 1870 and 1871 he studied law 
 at the University of Virginia, graduating in the latter year with 
 full honors and the degree of "Bachelor of Law." In the fall of 
 the latter year Mr. Moloney came to Illinois, locating at Ottawa, 
 the county seat of La Salle County, where he commenced the prac- 
 tice of law and continued until 1892, gaining not only much honor 
 and professional success but establishing himself firmly as a recog- 
 nized leader of the bar. For three years of that time he was City 
 Attorney of Ottawa, for four years State's Attorney of La Salle 
 County, and for seven years legal adviser of the County Board of 
 Supervisors. In November, 1892, Mr. Moloney was elected At- 
 torney General of the State of Illinois for four years, and has just 
 completed his term of office. In his official capacity he has proven 
 himself an arduous and able worker, and has accomplished a great 
 many most important results, and has carried through numerous 
 measures that will be of lasting benefit to the community. Among 
 these latter may be mentioned: The dissolution of the Distilling 
 and Cattle Feeding Company, commonly the "Whisky Trust"; the 
 dissolution of the School Furniture Trust; the gigantic Gas Trust 
 of Chicago; the American Tobacco Company, the same being a cor- 
 poration organized under the laws of the State of New Jersey, and 
 being organized for the express purpose of controlling and manipu- 
 lating a dozen other corporations organized for the purpose of man-
 
 748 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ufacturing cigarettes and other kinds of tobacco, and which con- 
 trols the output of ninety-five per cent of all the manufactured 
 tobacco in the country. This corporation is one of the most con- 
 temptible and odious monopolies of the many odious ones existing 
 in this country. It has practically met its death-blow at the hands 
 of the proceedings instituted by him. The combination among the 
 warehousemen in the city of Chicago, with over $100,000,000 of cap- 
 ital back of it, has been declared illegal, and the warehousemen 
 have been prohibited from dealing or mixing their grain with that 
 of third parties. This was a combination of the millionaires of 
 Chicago and the East, and had for its purpose the regulating, con- 
 trolling and manipulating the price of grain and other commodi- 
 ties raised by the farming community of the entire Northwest. 
 
 It would be impossible in this biographical sketch to enumerate 
 the other important cases instituted and completed by him. 
 
 With offices in the Ashland Block, Mr. Moloney has now estab- 
 lished the law firm of Moloney & Scofield, the latter member hav- 
 ing been one of his assistants during his term of office as Attorney 
 General, A firm started under such auspices and with the peculiar 
 advantages and experience of both partners has a prosperous and 
 honorable career assured. 
 
 Mr. Moloney is a member of the Columbus, Sheridan and Iro- 
 quois Clubs, and previous to his election to office was a member of 
 the Ancient Order of Hibernians, which he was forced to resign, 
 owing to lack of time. In his religious views he is a Roman Cath- 
 olic,, and in his political affiliations has always remained an un- 
 swerving Democrat. 
 
 In May, 1873, Mr. Moloney was married to Miss Annie J. Gra- 
 ham and they have had eight children, of whom five are living. 
 The two eldest sons are in the railroad business in Chicago, and 
 the youngest, is attending the Seminary of Our Lady of Angels at 
 Niagara Falls. The girls are both at the convent school at Ottawa.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 749 
 
 For many years, and more especially during his recently expired 
 term, owing to the heavy nature' of his professional duties, Mr. Mo- 
 loney has had very little time for recreations 'or indeed for anything 
 else. He has, however, at all times, been a most omnivorous reader, 
 and there are few authorities on legal points with which he has 
 not made himself thoroughly familiar. He is a man of splendid 
 constitution, as well as of commanding presence, and though he is 
 at times accused of possessing a somewhat abrupt manner, it is 
 suspected that this was assumed during his term of office to get 
 rid of annoying place hunters who would monopolize the time that 
 should be devoted to the interest of the State. There is, however, 
 no want of courtesy and that his disposition is warm and generous 
 is amply testified to by his capacity not merely for making friends 
 but also for retaining. 
 
 REV. W. M. FOLEY. 
 
 This young, zealous and very popular priest, who is pastor of the 
 Church of St. Catharine of Genoa, at One Hundred and Eighteenth 
 Street, Gleuwood, was born in Chicago, November llth, 1863, and 
 was brought up in the Annunciation parish on the north-west side 
 of the city. His parents, Lawrence and Catharine (Carroll) Foley, 
 were natives of County Wexford, Ireland, and iu the same county 
 an uncle, who has been in the priesthood for forty-five years, is still 
 living. The father and mother of the subject of this sketch came 
 to the United States about 1852, settling in New York, but moving 
 later to Chicago, where they were married in 1857. They are still 
 living, Mr. Lawrence Foley being the proprietor of an undertak- 
 ing establishment on Grand Avenue, near Ashland Boulevard.
 
 750 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Father Foley's education was received at St. Ignatius' College, 
 where he was a student from 1877 to 1882, afterwards taking a five 
 years' philosophical course in the Catholic University at Niagara 
 Falls. Fully equipped for the duties of the priesthood, he was or- 
 dained in Chicago, June 4th, 1887, and was assigned as assistant to 
 Father Lyman at Pullman. It was some years later that he was 
 transferred to his present mission, and the church he now occupies 
 was built by himself on the site of the old Sharpshooters' Park. 
 An active worker always, Father Foley has not merely assisted, he 
 has also instituted and organized a number of societies for the bene- 
 fit of those under his charge. Among these may be enumerated the 
 Young Men's Society, the Marquette Club, the Sheridan Club in 
 Chicago Heights, the Columbus Club in Harvey, and ladies' societies 
 in each of the above named places. He has been a prominent mem- 
 ber of the Catholic Order of Foresters for the past eight years, hav- 
 ing passed through the various chairs, and also belongs to the 
 Catholic Benevolent Legion. 
 
 ROBERT S. SCOTT. 
 
 Robert S. Scott, of the firm of Carson, Pirie, Scott Co., and one 
 of Chicago's most respected merchants and citizens, was born near 
 Belfast, Ireland, 1838. He received a thorough commercial educa- 
 tion at the best schools of his native town and on leaving school 
 entered the well-known dry goods house of Henry Hawkins & Co. 
 Here, instead of being confined to one department, as is often the 
 case, the young man went through them all, as it was a thoroughly 
 organized department store, so gaining a thorough insight and com-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 753 
 
 prehensive knowledge of the business in all its details. After four 
 years of this experience Mr. Scott decided to try the broader field 
 of the new world, and accordingly, in 1856, when eighteen years of 
 age, started from his native shores for America, and came to Illi- 
 nois, where he joined Messrs. Carson and Pirie. The then young 
 men carried on a successful dry goods business at Amboy and Men- 
 dota, Illinois, for seven or eight years, and then came to Chicago in 
 the spring of 1864'. They started at 20 Lake Street in that year, 
 now thirty-three years ago, and since that time the gradual but sure 
 advancement and growth of the now famous house to its present 
 proportions is a matter of history. The success of the concern, 
 though rapid, was solid, until to-day the firm ranks third in its line 
 in the country and bears the highest reputation for fair dealing 
 and honorable business methods. 
 
 Mr. Scott is very decided in attributing his own and his partners' 
 success very largely to the splendid and substantial business train- 
 ing received in their early youth, and is firmly convinced after all 
 these years of experience that it is hard to improve on many of the 
 old methods of his boyhood's training. Mr. Scott also speaks very 
 warmly and in affectionate terms of his own domestic training, 
 and of the high principles instilled into him when a boy by his 
 father and mother. 
 
 Notwithstanding the exactions of his enormous business Mr. 
 Scott has found time to be quite an extensive traveler, not only in 
 this country from Maine to California, but in Europe, there being 
 few points or cities of interest on that continent that he has not 
 visited. 
 
 No doubt to these and similar trips and the consequent freedom 
 from business cares for a while is largely due the health that 
 Mr. Scott almost invariably enjoys, and his well preserved and com- 
 paratively youthful appearance and feeling.
 
 
 754 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 STANLEY WATERLOO. 
 
 Tliis best known aiid most highly considered of Western writers 
 and novelists was born May 21st, 1846, in St. Glair County, Michi- 
 gan. He is the son of Charles N. and Mary J. Waterloo, of whom 
 the first was of English and the latter of Irish descent. His Amer- 
 icanism, however, cannot in any way be disputed, for early ances- 
 tors, the Vaughns and the Archers, had come to this country in 
 the seventeenth century. 
 
 The subject of this short sketch received his education in the 
 high schools of St. Clair, Michigan, and later at the University of 
 Michigan, Ann Arbor. From his earlier youth his intention had 
 been to embrace a military career, but he was barred from admis- 
 sion to the academy by the accidental loss of the sight of one eye 
 while breaking in a vicious horse. His collegiate career at an end, 
 he came to Chicago in 1868, and immediately took up the study of 
 law, but he has never practiced. Instead, he entered journalism, 
 and to that profession he has adhered, his work being done chiefly 
 in this city, but he was also for several years in St. Louis. In an 
 editorial capacity he has been connected with the "Chicago Trib- 
 une," the "Chicago Mail," the "Evening Journal" and other dailies, 
 devoting what spare time he could manage to other outside press 
 work, as well as magazine writing, both prose and verse. Upon 
 two occasions this popularity of Mr. Waterloo among his associ- 
 ates, and his position in the newspaper world generally, were tes- 
 tified to by his election as president of the Press Club of Chicago, 
 and he is also a member of a number of societies and organiza- 
 tions, including the Press Council of the National Union. His 
 work of late years, however, has been of a more pretentious char-
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 755 
 
 acter, and two novels, "An Odd Situation" and "A Man and Wo- 
 man," have been received with great public favor, the latter especi- 
 ally, which was reproduced in England last year, making for him 
 an international reputation. 
 
 He is a man of very interesting personality, possesses a fund of 
 information upon a vast number of subjects, and the number of 
 his friends is only to be estimated by those who have the fortune 
 to be among his acquaintances. 
 
 JOHN A. ROCHE. 
 
 In a record of the American Irish of Chicago, it would be im- 
 possible to avoid mention of this public-spirited citizen, this great 
 railroad and prominent business representative, John A. Roche. 
 He was born August 12th, 1844, of Irish parentage, in Utica, N. Y., 
 his'parents being William and Sarah Roche. Educated in the pub- 
 lic schools, he graduated at the age of seventeen in the high school, 
 and at once began his active business life. His first employment 
 was as a pattern maker with the Alline Works, New York, where he 
 remained as an apprentice for three years, attending at the same 
 time the Cooper Institute and night school. His next work was as 
 a journeyman, and afterwards he was engaged as a draughtsman 
 and designer on steam work for J. R. Robinson of Boston. He was 
 in that employ for three years, subsequently being connected with 
 the well-known Corliss Steam Engine Works, for two years. Coin- 
 ing to Chicago in 1869, he began business as a dealer in machinery, 
 taking up at the same time the representation of various eastern 
 engine, boiler and machinery firms. Finally he succeeded to part-
 
 756 BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORY OP THE 
 
 nership in the firm of James, Roche & Spencer, on Lake Street, and 
 here he stayed until the fire of 1871, when he had to find new quar- 
 ters on South Canal Street. Seven years having passed, he be- 
 came associated with J. A. Fay & Co., of Cincinnati, who were man- 
 ufacturers of wood- working machinery, and at the same time 
 agents for the Putman Machine Company's tools, assuming entire 
 charge of the company's business in the northwest. 
 
 Mr. Roche was elected Mayor of Chicago in 1887, being nom- 
 inated in the Republican couvention, but receiving Democratic as 
 well as Republican support against the socialistic candidate, Rob- 
 ert Nelson. His administration of the city affairs was a notably 
 clean one; the gambling houses were kept tightly closed, and a 
 number of other evils corrected. When his term of office expired, 
 he once more devoted himself to business, and became vice presi- 
 dent and manager of the Crane Elevator Company. He was elected 
 in 1893 president of the Lake Street Elevated Railroad Company, a 
 position he has since most ably filled. 
 
 In his matrimonial relations Mr. Roche has been extremely 
 happy. He was married June 22nd, 1871, to Emma Howard of this 
 city, and they have three children now living, Cora E., Helen M. 
 and John A., Jr. 
 
 MARTIN J. RUSSELL. 
 
 This well-known Irish- American Democratic leader, who is es- 
 sentially a Chicago man, was bom in this city, December 20th, 
 1845, of Irish parents. His father was a lake captain, and was lost 
 with a vessel in a storm on Lake Michigan a few weeks before the 
 birth of his son.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 757 
 
 The subject of this sketch received his early education in the 
 public schools, but on the breaking out of the Civil War went with 
 the regiment of his uncle on the mother's side, Col. James A. Mul- 
 ligan, to Missouri, and was with it at the time of the surrender at 
 Lexington. However, not being a member of the regiment, he was 
 not held as a prisoner of war, but was permitted to return home. 
 On the exchange of the regiment and its reorganization at Chicago 
 as the Twenty-third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in the winter of 
 1861-2, Mr. Russell became second lieutenant, his commission bear- 
 ing the date November 1st, 1861, and being anterior to his six- 
 teenth birthday. The following June the regiment was ordered to 
 Virginia, and in December of that year, on Col. Mulligan being as- 
 signed to the command of a brigade, Lieutenant Russell received 
 an appointment on his staff as assistant adjutant general, serving 
 with him through the various campaigns in Virginia. Col. Mul- 
 ligan was killed at the battle of Winchester, and the regiment was 
 so greatly reduced that it was ordered consolidated into five com- 
 panies, and, consequently, on September 14th, 1864, Lieutenant 
 Russell was mustered out of the service, and returned home. 
 
 His first connection with newspaper work was in 1870, when he 
 became a reporter on the "Chicago Evening Post," remaining with 
 that paper until 1873. He was next employed on the city staff 
 of the "Chicago Times," and later was advanced as paragraphist 
 to the editorial staff of the same paper. Mr. Storey, in 1876, started 
 the "Telegram," an afternoon paper, and Martin J. Russell was 
 made editor, but the venture proving a failure, he returned to the 
 "Times," retaining his position there until he became connected 
 with the "Herald," in August, 1883. In the "Chicago Herald" Com- 
 pany he held considerable stock, and was editor-in-chief until 1886, 
 when he severed his connection and returned once more to the 
 "Times," of which he became leading editorial writer. Since the 
 establishment of the "Chicago Chronicle," in 1895, Mr. Russell has
 
 758 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 assumed the duties of editor-in-chief, and it is unquestionably to 
 the brilliancy of his pen and to his exceptionally great newspaper 
 qualifications that that daily owes much of the position it has 
 achieved. 
 
 Mr. Eussell was a member of the Board of Education of Hyde 
 Park from 1874 to 1880, and from 1876 to 1880 was village clerk of 
 that, at the time, suburb of Chicago. In 1880 he was appointed 
 by the Circuit Judges of Cook County, South Park Commissioner, 
 and was honored with reappointment in 1885. He was made Col- 
 lector of the Port in 1894 by President Cleveland, and that respon- 
 sible position he still holds. 
 
 He was married in 1873 to Miss Cecilia C. Walsh. In religion 
 he is a Roman Catholic and a valued member and a frequent visitor 
 to the Columbus Club. 
 
 FRANCIS T. MURPHY. 
 
 This great Western metropolis contains a great many able 
 men who have made the law the profession of their lives. That all 
 should be equally successful in such a career, would be an impossi- 
 bility; the prizes in life's battle are few and far between, and the 
 fortunate must needs be gifted with qualifications of a diverse 
 character, exceptional legal ability, good judgment, ready percep- 
 tion, and also personal charm of manner or power of yitellect suffi- 
 cient to dominate and control their fellowmen. Among the rep- 
 resentative lawyers of the west, there are but few who possess these 
 necessary characteristics in a higher degree than the subject of the 
 present sketch, the big, genial-natured, open-hearted young lawyer, 
 Francis T. Murphy.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 759 
 
 He was born in this city, where he was destined to make him- 
 self so well known, January 25th, 18(>3, his father, Thomas Murphy, 
 being a native of County Meath, Ireland, and his mother from West 
 Heath. It is from his father unquestionably that Francis T. in- 
 herits his perseverance and energy, for Thomas Murphy left the 
 dear old land as a mere boy of twelve, traveled all alone to the far 
 country beyond the seas, where he possessed neither kith nor kin, 
 friend nor acquaintance, and when the big ocean journey was fin- 
 ished, set off once more across the continent to Chicago, determined 
 to seek a living and possible fortune in the boundless West. In 
 this city he fought his way, married, and in 1894 died at the com- 
 paratively premature age of fifty-seven. 
 
 Francis T. Murphy received his education in the St. Vincent 
 College at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and having decided to take up 
 the legal profession, entered the Union College of Law, receiving 
 later his license to practice from the Supreme Court at Ottawa in 
 March, 1886. 
 
 His profession was at once taken up, and associating himself 
 with Mr. E. S. Cummings, they remained together as partners for 
 four years. Since that time Mr. Murphy has been in business 
 alone, and to-day it is doubtful if there is a lawyer in Chicago who 
 possesses a greater number of clients or is doing a larger amount of 
 business. His success, though rapid, has been gradual, and the 
 legal mind, the persuasive manner, the sagacity, good humor and 
 ready wit, have all united together to place him in his present posi- 
 tion. 
 
 Mr. Murphy was married April llth, 1893, in Chicago, to Mary 
 V. Halpin, the daughter of one of Chicago's best known citizens. 
 A man of intensely social nature, the chief delight of Frank Murphy 
 as he is generally known is to be surrounded with his friends 
 and to dispense the historical Irish hospitality. For fast horses he 
 admits a decided partiality, and is fortunate in the possession of 
 several that can show a good pace.
 
 760 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The only social organization of which he is a member is the 
 Sheridan Club, but he was formerly also in the Columbus Club. 
 He belongs to a number of fraternal societies, among which may be 
 mentioned the Royal Arcanum and the Catholic Benevolent Legion. 
 
 In religious belief he is a Roman Catholic, and in politics, while 
 a few years ago imbued with some Democratic ideas, he is now an 
 unswerving Republican. A charming conversationalist, he pos- 
 sesses a wealth of good humor and is able to draw on a rich fund of 
 interesting knowledge. He has traveled extensively in Europe 
 and Canada and is also very thoroughly conversant with all parts 
 of the United States. 
 
 JOHN R. WALSH. 
 
 This truly representative Chicagoan, eminent financier and lead- 
 ing citizen, was born in Ireland, August 22d, 1837. When his pa- 
 rents left the old land for the United States and settled in Chicago 
 he was but twelve years old, and it was in this city that the boy was 
 moulded into a man and that hisi intellect and talents became 
 trained and ripened into such development as have procured for 
 him the high position he holds in the business and social world of 
 to-day. 
 
 John R. Walsh was eighteen when he obtained his first position 
 as clerk and salesman for J. McNally, at that time one of the chief 
 newsdealers in the city. A very bright boy and uniformly cour- 
 teous, he soon became immensely popular with the store patrons, 
 and taking a keen interest in the business, he readily perceived the 
 possibilities of its expansion. His employer, however, was of too
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 761 
 
 conservative a bent of mind to indulge in new ideas, and in 1861 
 Mr. Walsh, having borrowed a little capital, opened up a news de- 
 pot of his own and at once proceeded to carry his ideas into action. 
 He was not satisfied with supplying locaJ customers with papers 
 and periodicals, but set out also to provide for the outside towns 
 and cities throughout this state, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. 
 He came into immediate competition witli the American News 
 Company of New York, and his facilities for business being super- 
 ior, he was soon able to obtain control of a large proportion of the 
 Northwestern trade. The encroachments on their business forced 
 a crisis and the American News Company opened up negotiations 
 which, in 1866, resulted in the establishment of the Western News 
 Company in Chicago, and of this John R. Walsh became manager. 
 It was the first branch opened up by the American News Company, 
 but now that organization has offices in all the principal cities of the 
 country. 
 
 As one of the founders of the Chicago National Bank, the third 
 largest banking establishment in this city; and of which, since its 
 establishment. Mi'. Walsh has been president, he has attained a 
 still higher recognition in the community and in the circles of 
 finance and general business no* man possesses higher considera- 
 tion. 
 
 While actively concerned in a number of other important en- 
 terprises, Mr. Walsh has of late years taJten a peculiar interest in 
 the newspapers of Chicago. For a considerable period he con- 
 trolled the "Inter Ocean," and when his interest was bought out, 
 he became principal owner of the "Chicago Herald" and the "Even- 
 ing Post." The two latter being purchased by Mr. H. II. Kohlsaat, 
 Mr. Walsh shortly afterwards took an interest in the newly started 
 "Chicago Chronicle," and has at the same time a large interest in 
 the "Staats Zeitung." 
 
 Mr. Walsh was married in 1867 to Miss Wilson, a Chicago lady 
 41
 
 762 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of many accomplishments and much social distinction, who takes 
 a leading part in all charitable enterprises. 
 
 Like most men of strong character, he has been at all times 
 somewhat retiring in his disposition, but as a man of unimpeach- 
 able integrity he has commanded the respect and entire esteem of 
 every one with whom either business or social duties or circum- 
 stances have brought him into contact. He is a worthy citizen, 
 an honorable gentleman and a pride at once to the land of his birth 
 and to the city he has for so many years made his home. 
 
 MAURICE M. O'CONNOR. 
 
 A genial Irishman, kindly natural and generous to a fault, ever 
 ready to do a service or to help a friend, a man of exceptional abil- 
 ity and great and sustained persistence, is the subject of the pres- 
 ent sketch, the popular Harrison appointee to the office of gas in- 
 spector of the City of Chicago, that manly and handsome represent- 
 ative American Irishman, Maurice M. O'Connor. 
 
 A born rebel, if it can be called rebellion to fight oppression, 
 tyranny and cruel wrong, he was born February 22d, 1848, a year 
 whose very atmosphere must have been tinged with patriotic fire. 
 Breathing such air, nurtured on hate of English rule, the boy grew 
 and thrived, and his devotion to his birthland has never wavered, 
 but has been nobly evinced on innumerable occasions. His early 
 education was received in Ireland's national schools, and to the 
 thorough* grounding received, Maurice O'Connor bears good evi- 
 dence. When thirteen he came to this country for a few weeks, 
 then returning to Ireland with his uncle, resuming his studies at
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 763 
 
 the famous Listowel grammar school, where he completed the regu- 
 lar course. 
 
 Ail active part had been taken by him from his very boyhood in 
 Irish national affairs, and having been connected with the rising 
 in March, 1807, he found it policy to leave the country once more 
 and to seek elsewhere a permanent home. He accompanied Gen- 
 eral O'Neil's ill-starred expedition into Canada, and afterwards, lo- 
 cating in Chicago and thrown entirely on his own resources, de- 
 termined to make his way in the world. His first work was as a 
 laborer on the streets, and later he carried a hod. His habits were 
 good, his disposition was economical and the money he was able 
 to save was invested in profitable real estate. Later, too, he was 
 able to secure an interest in the wholesale liquor establishment of 
 Charles Denuehy & Co., and this, with other good investments, has 
 placed him, while in the prime of life, in the possession of a very 
 comfortable fortune. 
 
 Broad-minded and liberal, Mr. O'Connor is a typical American 
 citizen. He has known what physical labor and hard work mean 
 and his sympathies have been ever strong with the weak and the 
 oppressed. Elected to the City Council, such ideas of his found fre- 
 quent outcome. He has striven hard to make the pay for labor 
 #2.25 a day, and has persistently advocated a national law making 
 the minimum daily pay of laborers f 2. During the Pullman strike 
 his feelings were freely expressed, and he did more, perhaps, than 
 any one other Individual towards helping the unfortunate victims. 
 Towards the police and fire departments also he has shown himself 
 a warm friend, and to him the responsibility is due for the endeavor 
 to equalize the salaries of policemen at f 1,200 a year. 
 
 Indeed, in a variety of ways the good nature and generous feel- 
 ing of this liberal-minded Irishman and very worthy citizen have 
 been shown, and there are many young men and women in this 
 city who owe their start in life to his kindly help. He also was the
 
 764 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 introducer into the Oity Council of a set of resolutions expressing 
 sympathy with the Cubans in their patriotic endeavors, and which 
 stimulated later both houses of Congress to follow a similar course. 
 
 A man of his parts would find it a difficult matter to avoid the 
 sea of politics, and Maurice O'Connor has been prominent for many 
 years past. As a strong Democrat, in the last campaign he was a 
 pronounced Bryanite, and was one of the tatter's electors from the 
 Fifth Congressional District, in which he ran very far ahead of his 
 ticket. 
 
 Mr. O'Connor, in addition to keeping himself thoroughly posted 
 on all current affairs, is a great reader, and has a good and care- 
 fully chosen library. He has traveled considerably, has made three 
 trips across the Atlantic, during which he visited the chief Euro- 
 pean centers, and in regard to Ireland there is not a single county 
 with which he is not fully acquainted. Letters of his giving full 
 details of his wanderings, and in a breezy, happy way, were pub- 
 lished and met with very considerable favor. A family man, his 
 pleasant home rejoices in the presence of n datighter, a bright and 
 very interesting young lady, who is yet in her teens. 
 
 M. B. BAILEY. 
 
 Few men responsibly identified with the public service, Munic- 
 ipal, State and Federal, have suggested and carried through to suc- 
 cessful operation equally useful measures to those for which Chi- 
 cago is indebted to Michael B. Bailey. Among the old citizens of 
 Chicago he occupies a prominent place since he arrived in the city 
 in 1850, and he has been well and actively known in all its affairs
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 765 
 
 of a popular character for many years past. His prompt and use- 
 ful services during the distressing times of the great fire of 1871, 
 when he was a member of the City Council, have passed into the 
 history of that period, and his course in the council, his work in or- 
 ganizing citizens' relief and patrol work at that time, to say noth- 
 ing of his subsequent identification with wise and valuable legisla- 
 tion, have served to make the name of M. B. Bailey one of those 
 which occupy no insignificant place in the record of Chicago his- 
 tory. The story of what has been called his "brown paper" ordi- 
 nance would alone make a man notable in local annals. When the 
 first meeting of the City Council was called during the great fire 
 emergency, even before the fire was under complete subjection, it 
 was held in the basement or school-room of the First Congrega- 
 tional Church (Dr. Goodwin's), corner of Ann and Washington 
 Boulevard, in the west division, the only section of the city in which, 
 at that time, any business could be transacted. The council had 
 learned that some grocery dealers were taking advantage of the 
 distress of the people and were extorting the price of $1.50 for a loaf 
 of bread. There was no writing paper in the possession of any 
 alderman at the meeting, so some brown paper or grocery wrap- 
 ping had to serve instead, and it was Alderman Bailey who drew 
 up an ordinance, which was promptly passed, to the effect that any 
 person charging more than ten cents for each loaf of bread should 
 be punished with a fine of $10 and ten days imprisonment for each 
 offense. 
 
 M. B. Bailey was born in Limerick, April 8th, 1840. His father, 
 who was quite prominent in the blacksmithing business in his na- 
 tive city, died when our subject was but six years old. At the early 
 age of ten years, unaccompanied save for the companionship of an 
 old lady who was coming to America, young Bailey ventured upon 
 the journey to the United States, sailing from Liverpool to New 
 York in a vessel called the "Orient," which took seven weeks and
 
 766 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 three days to reach the promised land. He met relatives in Buf- 
 falo, and came on from Buffalo to Chicago by schooner, where he 
 was met by other relatives and friends, among whom were some 
 citizens well remembered here, such as Thomas Cummings and 
 Capt Patrick Gleason. He was first employed in Chicago by J. 
 H. Ward, builder and contractor, with whom he remained for four 
 years. He had received a primary school education in Ireland, 
 which he perfected at night schools in Chicago, and with much 
 adaptability and energy entered upon the masonry and building 
 business on his own account. Enlarging his business as a con- 
 tractor, Mr. Bailey put up quite a number of buildings, large for 
 that time, prominent among which may be named the Empire Block 
 on La Salle Street, the McCormick Block on Lake Street, the Thur- 
 man building, and also a large number of residences and business 
 blocks throughout the city. In 1857 he went to Keokuk, Iowa, to 
 repair the Court House at that place, after which he went to St. 
 Joseph, Missouri, where he erected many large and imposing resi- 
 dences and business structures. He afterwards went to Pike's 
 Peak, and subsequently, in 1859, went South, working for some time 
 as a mechanic on a large Bed River plantation. At the outbreak of 
 the war he moved to Memphis, Tenn., where with other loyal citi- 
 zens he was compelled to assist in the transportation of Gen. Price's 
 troops to the field of Shiloh. After the capitulation of Memphis 
 in 1862, he returned to Chicago, resuming his business as a builder. 
 This he successfully carried on, putting up a number of business 
 and residence buildings more or less well known, and the time of 
 the great fire found him a busy and prosperous man. The ruins 
 of the great conflagration were scarcely cleared away before Mr. 
 Bailey found himself fully engaged in the work of reconstruction, 
 and one of the first buildings of importance he erected was the old 
 jail and criminal court block, finished in 1872. 
 
 Very early in life Mr. Bailey embraced the Democratic faith in
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 767 
 
 politics, and IK- has ever since been an ardent and active member of 
 the Democratic party. In 1869, notwithstanding the fact of his 
 being a Democrat, he was unanimously endorsed by the Repub- 
 licans of the Eighth Ward for Alderman, and in 1872 was re-elected 
 on the Greeley ticket. 
 
 During the administration of Jos. Medill as Mayor, there was 
 practically no sewerage in the southwestern portion of the city, and 
 it was due to the strenuous efforts and exertion of Alderman Bailey 
 that Mayor Medill secured an appropriation of $90,000 for the pur- 
 pose. In company with the Mayor, he went through the whole dis- 
 trict, and viewing the situation, agitated the matter and got the 
 appropriation through. It was also through the sole and individ- 
 ual efforts of Mr. Bailey that the Canal Street viaduct was built, 
 and the railroad interested compelled to build the super-structure. 
 He secured the building of the great Halsted Street viaduct also, 
 and upon the same conditions. 
 
 When Alderman Bailey was in the city council he originated 
 and secured the passage of several of the most important ordi- 
 nances within the code of laws and ordinances of the City of Chi- 
 cago. These comprehend the ordinance for the extension of the fire 
 limits and which made them co-existent with the limits of the city, 
 and this was afterwards followed by the passage of the ordinance 
 termed the building law, a measure agitated for some two years, 
 and which at the time aroused considerable opposition, but finally 
 passed. In the creation and passage of this ordinance Alderman 
 Bailey was materially assisted by the Hon. Murray F. Tuley, cor- 
 poration counsel at the time; the Hon. Egbert Jamieson, city at- 
 torney, and the late Alderman John M. Van Osdell, the well known 
 architect. On retirement from the city council Alderman Bailey 
 was made the first superintendent of buildings for Chicago, a posi- 
 tion which he held until he resigned at the time of the election of 
 Mayor Heath. The dog license law, admitted to be a measure of
 
 768 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 great safety to citizens and a source of large revenue to the city, 
 was also originated and passed through the efforts of Alderman 
 Bailey. 
 
 During all his residence in Chicago Mr. Bailey has taken an 
 active and earnest interest in public affairs, and in matters political 
 his judgment has been eagerly sought for and valued. He was 
 very active in the Tilden campaign of 1872, is a charter member of 
 the Cook County Democracy, and was a member of the State Cen- 
 tral Committee up to 1878. He was appointed by President Cleve- 
 land, in 1885, Superintendent of Construction of the Government 
 buildings at Chicago, including the Custom House and Postofflce 
 buildings, Appraisers' and Barge offices and the Marine Hospital, 
 a responsible position which he so honorably discharged that he 
 was promptly reappoiuted by President Cleveland in 1893. 
 
 In 1858 Mr. Bailey married Miss Ellen Dignan, of Keokuk, 
 Iowa. They have had ten children in all, five sons and five daugh- 
 ters. Seven of these survive, namely: Harry L. and George J. 
 Bailey, Mary E. Bailey (married to Mr. Thomas E. Morau), Cathar- 
 ine (married to Mr. John Kelly, of Kelly Brothers), Tillie, Ellen and 
 Margaret. Mr. Bailey is, and always has been, extremely popular 
 in social as well as civic life. In addition to his political connec- 
 tions, he is an old member of the Emmet Guards, was a member of 
 the Irish-American Club, is a charter member of the Catholic Order 
 of Foresters, a member of the Royal League, the Koyal Arcanum 
 and the Columbus dub. 
 
 Inreligionhe isaCatholic and a prominent member of the Parish 
 of the Holy Family, with which he has been identified since its 
 organization years ago. Something of an idea of his popularity 
 in the section of the city of which he has been a life-long resident 
 and of his social estimation as a Catholic Irishman of Chicago may 
 be gathered from the fact that some years ago when a friendly con- 
 test for a gold-mounted walking cane was held in aid of the build
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 769 
 
 iiig fund of the Church of the Sacred Heart a branch church of 
 Holy Family parish M. B. Bailey triumphantly earned off the 
 pretty trophy and the extraordinary sum of fifteen thousand dol- 
 lars was netted for the church through the event. 
 
 Mr. Bailey is uow in the prime of life, and is certainly one of 
 the best posted men politically in the city, as he is one of the most 
 popular citizens of our general community. 
 
 WILLIAM DILLON. 
 
 This able lawyer, prominent newspaper man and well known 
 Chicago American Irishman was born in Brooklyn, New York, 
 July 10th, 1850. His parents were John B. and Adelaide Dillon, of 
 whom the first named was in 1848 one of the leaders of the Young 
 Ireland party, "who ran the outlaw's brief career and bore his load 
 of ill." In consequence he was exiled and from 1848 to 1856 lived 
 in New York City. A member of both the Irish and the American 
 bars, at the time of his death he was Member of Parliament for 
 County Tipperary. The Dillons have always been good fighting 
 stock and Cremona and Pontenoy as well as numerous instances in 
 Ireland attest in the strongest terms to their courage and their, 
 patriotism. 
 
 The subject of this sketch received a very thorough education 
 in Ireland, his studies being completed at the Catholic University, 
 Dublin. He was called to the Irish bar in 1874 and practiced in the 
 last mentioned city until 1880, when ill health forced him to relin- 
 quish. Coming to the United States in January, 1880, he went to 
 Colorado the following summer and lived there until 1893, a por- 
 tion of the time on a cattle ranch and the balance in the practice of
 
 770 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 his profession. In June, 1893, lie decided to make Chicago his per- 
 manent home and in March of the year following he became editor 
 of the "New World." This Catholic weekly paper, which has a large 
 circulation and is the official Catholic organ of the archdiocese, 
 owes its present position, in a great part, to the vigorous work 
 and pre-eminent and generally recognized abilities of Mr. Dillon. 
 
 He was married in. May, 1885, in Colorado, to Elizabeth Rat- 
 cliff, a native of that State, and they have three children living. 
 
 Mr. Dillon is in his religious views an active and ever zealous 
 Koinan Catholic, and in his politics belongs to the free silver sec- 
 tion of the Democratic party. He is a member of the Catholic 
 Order of Foresters, the Royal League and the Ancient Order of 
 United Workmen. 
 
 The author of several works, some of which are now standard, 
 he possesses a fund of information upon an immense variety of 
 subjects, and being an extensive traveler over Europe and in this 
 country, is in every way fitted to be what he is, a most delightful 
 companion. A thorough Irish patriot, a straight-forward and most 
 worthy citizen, a good speaker and an able lawyer, Mr. Dillon is at 
 once an honor to the land of his birth as well as to the country in 
 which he has made his home. 
 
 JOHN J. SWENIE. 
 
 Among the brightest and most promising lawyers in this city, 
 the subject of our present sketch takes a foremost place. Though 
 born in Chicago, on the North Side, July 26th, 1861, he bears all 
 of the personal characteristics of the best type of Irishman, a fine
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 771 
 
 physique, unlimited humor and a never failing wit. Ills father, 
 John Sweiiie, was like many more of the Green Isle's most devoted 
 adherents, born in Scotland, lie is still in the employ of the Fire 
 Department, where he holds the position of foreman of the wood 
 department. His mother's maiden name was Bridget King. Both 
 John Sweuie's parents were full-blooded Irish. His father bore 
 the same name as himself, and his mother was Ellen MacLeish. 
 
 John J. Sweiiie received his earlier education in Chicago public 
 schools, and does eminent credit to the teaching given. He began 
 the battle of life early, his first employment being in an upholstery 
 store, in which he remained for eighteen mouths. He then en- 
 tered the retail department of Field, Leiter & Co., and served three 
 years, until the American District Telegraph Co. began its Chicago 
 operations. lie entered its employ in the capacity of a messenger, 
 later rising to the position of office manager and operator. Hav- 
 ing managed to teach himself telegraphy and shorthand, he re- 
 mained with the firm six years. Then for seven years he held the 
 responsible position of private secretary to Professor J. P. Barrett, 
 the city electrician, but being a man of energy and indomitable per- 
 severance, in 1888 he also took up the study of law, and entered the 
 Chicago Evening Law College, which is part of Lake Forest Uni- 
 versity. Here he took the post-graduate course, and graduated 
 with high honors in June, 1890, and, receiving the degree of LL. B., 
 was appointed assistant city prosecutor during the administration 
 of Carter II. Harrison. He made so good a record that Mayor Hop- 
 kins confirmed him in the position. He had conduct of many im- 
 portant cases, and was particularly successful in the prosecution of 
 a number of offenders against the law prohibiting restaurant keep- 
 ers and others from selling liquor without a license. 
 
 Upon retiring from that ollice, Mr. Swenie started in business 
 for himself in the United States Express Building, 87-89 Washing- 
 ton Street, and, as counsel for the Iletail Liquor Dealers, carried
 
 772 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the four-mile limit case to the Supreme Court, the charter of the 
 Northwestern University prohibiting the sale of liquor within that 
 radius. The fight was a bitter one, every inch of the road being 
 closely contested, and though Mr. Swenie was much complimented 
 upon his handling of the case, he was forced to put up with a defeat. 
 In 1894, among other important cases, he appeared for the de- 
 fendant in the famous Graham murder case. The charge was mur- 
 der in the first degree, and Graham was promised a life sentence 
 if he would plead guilty. Mr. Swenie was opposed to any compro- 
 mise, and, as a result, managed to get his client off with fifteen 
 years. II is contention was, that no deliberate murder had been 
 proved, and that what had occurred was done accidentally, in the 
 heat of passion. In 1895 Mr. Swenie was elected attorney of the 
 Chicago Liquor Dealers' Protective Association, a position which 
 had been held for a number of years by the late Mr. John M. Mc- 
 Keough. 
 
 In politics Mr. Swenie is a Democrat, and a political career has 
 always possessed for him a peculiar charm. He has very fre- 
 quently been urged to enter the arena, and was nominated to the 
 legislature in 1894, but the landslide numbered him among the 
 many other victims. 
 
 John J. Swenie was married June 6th, 1887, to Nellie M., daugh- 
 ter of John and Alice Coyle, both of whom are Irish. They have 
 no children. He is a man of essentially sociable character, fond 
 of hunting and fishing, an omnivorous reader, and possesses a vast 
 fund of information upon all subjects. He is a speaker of much 
 ability, fluent and fervid, and in social attainments is gifted far 
 above the ordinary. Few men throughout Chicago are better 
 known. He is an active member of the Colnmbus Club, Amerieus 
 Club, the Lake Street Social Club, the Eoyal League and Knights 
 of Pythias. 
 
 While unquestionably the success he has won is due to his own
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 773 
 
 eiiergetic faculties and sterling worth, he attributes it in part, will- 
 ingly and gratefully, to the efforts made by his many influential 
 friends, who were convinced of his high intellectual faculties, lie 
 Ini'l shown himself possessed of the necessary grit, and they have 
 afforded him the opportunity to utilize. 
 
 WILLIAM J. BULGER. 
 
 Judge William J. Bulger, who though a comparatively recent 
 acquisition to the legal fraternity of Chicago, has gained for him- 
 self a position of honor and prominence in that profession, is a na- 
 tive of Lockport, New York, where he was born January 27th, 1858. 
 His father, Patrick Bulger, was a native of County Kilkenny, Ire- 
 land, and when quite a child came to New York State with his 
 parents. The family first settled" at Syracuse, but shortly after- 
 wards removed to Lockport, where Patrick was brought up and 
 followed the trade of a blacksmith until his death in the early 
 seventies. His wife, mother of William. J., was Antoinette Mur- 
 phy, a native of Wexford, Ireland; she died in 1880. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was educated in the public schools 
 of Lockport and after graduating from the high schools of that 
 city with the highest honors ever attained by any student of that 
 institution up to that time, studied law under the Hon. Richard 
 Crowley, then member of Congress for that district. Later on he 
 became a partner of his distinguished tutor, forming the law firm 
 of Crowley & Bulger, which partnership in 1880 was dissolved and 
 the firm of Bulger & Driess was formed and continued in general 
 law practice until the fall of 1882, when Mr. Driess was elected
 
 774 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 member of the New York Legislature and Mr. Bulger was chosen 
 Surrogate of Niagara County, New York State. This position he 
 filled most acceptably for five years, when he resigned and came to 
 Chicago (1888), and since that time has carried on a general law 
 practice in this city, being now a member of the firm of Bulger & 
 Perry. 
 
 Among the most important cases with which Mr. Bulger has 
 been connected may be mentioned the famous Stiles divorce suit, 
 and the case of the Holly Mfg. Co. and City of Chicago, and it 
 should also be mentioned that for two years he was connected with 
 the law department of the city. Judge Bulger is a member of the 
 Sheridan and Iroquois Clubs, Roman Catholic in religion, and a 
 Democrat in his political affiliations, 
 
 Mr. Bulger was married August 17th, 1887, to Miss Alice Shea 
 of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They have three children, two boys and 
 a girl. 
 
 Thoroughly home loving and domestic in his tastes, and with 
 little liking for club life, Judge Bulger has never aspired to political 
 office. He is a man of forcible and energetic character, though at 
 the same time of amiable and courteous disposition and manners. 
 
 PETER J. HENNESSY. 
 
 The gentleman whose name heads this sketch has for years been 
 a leading figure in Irish-American circles, and it is not too much to 
 say that he has always enjoyed a large degree of popularity in Chi- 
 cago life generally. He was born in the town of Grange, in Kil- 
 kenny County, Ireland, in June, 1846. In 1857 his parents came
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 776 
 
 to the United States, and settled at Albany, N. Y., where he lived 
 until he was eighteen years of age. and attended parochial school. 
 In 1864 he removed to Chicago, and there pursued a course of study 
 in Rryant & Stratton's Commercial College, after which he took a 
 I>osition as a clerk in the wholesale millinery and notions estab- 
 lishment of Messrs. Walsh & Hutchinson, where he remained until 
 they closed out their business in 1878. He next organized the Chi- 
 cago Distilling Company, which was incorporated under the laws 
 of the State of Illinois, in February, 1879, with himself as treas- 
 urer; with which corporation he is yet connected. In 1887 Col. 
 Ilennessy was one of the original promoters and organizers of the 
 great Distilling and Cattle-Feeding Company, of which he was a 
 director and secretary, which positions he held till May 1st, 1895. 
 In June, 1891, the Distilling and Cattle-Feeding Company bought 
 the entire distilling interest of Henry H. Shufeldt & Co., and Mr. 
 Hennessy was then made manager of the entire business. The 
 Distilling and Cattle-Feeding Company had a capital stock of f35,- 
 000,000, and controlled eighty-three different distilleries in this 
 country. Holding such an important position in a company repre- 
 senting such vast interests, speaks louder than any words of praise 
 can of Mr. Hennessy's executive and business ability. His busi- 
 ness methods have always been in keeping with the highest prin- 
 ciples of honorable and fair dealing, and with conscientious regard 
 for the rights of others. He has a clear and comprehensive mind ; 
 is quick to see where an advantageous move may be made, and is 
 able, not only to perceive great projects, but also to execute his 
 well-directed plans. While yet in the very prime of vigorous man- 
 hood, he has attained to a place as a successful business manager 
 which might satisfy any man's ambition, and which comparatively 
 few reach in a lifetime. 
 
 Although Mr. Hennessy has been closely identified with largo 
 business enterprises for many years, his time and attention have
 
 776 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 not been wholly given to them. He has rare social qualities, de- 
 lights in good-fellowship, and lacks in none of those personal traits 
 that characterize the warm-hearted, genial and high-minded gen- 
 tleman. He is a member of the Sheridan Club; he was seven years 
 a member of the Second Regiment of the Illinois National Guards, 
 and at the time of his resignation, in 1882, he was lieutenant-col- 
 onel in that organization. In religious faith he is a Catholic, and 
 is a member of the Cathedral of the Holy Name. In politics he has 
 always been identified with the Democratic party. His mind is 
 well stored with practical information, gained from extensive 
 travel. 
 
 In stature Mr. Hennessy is of medium height; he has a well- 
 developed physique, a vigorous constitution and a dignified bear- 
 ing, which, with his uniform affability and courtly manners, at- 
 tracts to him a wide circle of friends. 
 
 On July 12th, 1883, he married Miss Hannah M. McCarthy, a 
 daughter of the late Mr. Owen McCarthy, one of Chicago's most re- 
 spected and oldest citizens. Two children Adele, twelve years 
 old, and Edwin, aged five years blessed this union. A reference 
 to the home circle of Col. Hennessy would be incomplete without at 
 least briefly touching upon the rare musical accomplishments of 
 his charming wife. As Miss Hannah McCarthy, she was known 
 not only in Chicago, but in the musical world of the eastern cities 
 as one of the leading soprano singers of the country. An admira- 
 ble cultivation bestowed upon a voice signally noble in both mu- 
 sical quality and capacity, resulted in placing her in the very front, 
 rank of American singers, and in concert and oratorio, in the latter 
 difficult field especially, she achieved an enviable place as an ex- 
 ceptionally gifted lyric artist Notwithstanding the flattering of- 
 fers to adopt concert work as a life career, and opportunities ten- 
 dered her to appear as the soprano soloist in the great musical 
 festivals, especially under the auspices of the Boston societies, Miss
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 777 
 
 Hannah McCarthy preferred the less arduous sphere of church and 
 concert work in Chicago, among her relatives and friends, and ulti- 
 mately the tranquil happiness of home life, a fact upon which Col. 
 ITennessy is undoubtedly to be congratulated. 
 
 BERNARD B. MAGINN. 
 
 This well-known Chicago engineer, senior member of the Ma- 
 ginu & Bradley Company, was born in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., in 1853. 
 His parents, Peter and Katherine (Doyle) Maginn, were both of 
 Irish birth. His father was a native of Armagh, and his mother 
 was born in County Clare. Peter Magiun caine to the United States 
 about 1840, and was married a few years later. 
 
 The subject of this sketch attended the public and high schools 
 of northern New York, and graduated from the latter in 1870. 
 Having thoroughly learned the machinist's trade, he became su- 
 perintendent for a well-known New York concern, and traveled ex- 
 tensively in the west, superintending the erection of power plants 
 in that part of the country, and finally settled in Chicago in 1889. 
 Among other work, as consulting engineer, carried out by Mr. Ma- 
 ginn, may be mentioned the Masonic Temple, the Chicago Athletic 
 Association Building, the (Criminal Court Building, and a great 
 many others. 
 
 Mr. Maginn was married in 1875 to Elizabeth Hunt, in Penn- 
 sylvania, and they have a family of four children. 
 
 A Roman Catholic; in his religious views and a Democrat in his 
 politics, he is a member of the Columbus Club, and belongs to the 
 Catholic Order of Foresters and the C. B. of L. 
 
 42
 
 778 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Over the United States Mr. Maginn has traveled extensively 
 and is a man of much general knowledge and interesting informa- 
 tion on a large variety of subjects. Pleasant and courteous, suc- 
 cessful and generous, he is a fitting type of his race. 
 
 REV. JAMES M. HAGAN. 
 
 Eev. James Monroe Hagan was born at Indian Greek, Monroe 
 County, Mo., on November 12th, 1853. His father, Joseph B. 
 Hagan, a farmer and a lawyer, was elected judge of the County 
 court of Monroe County, and died in 1876. His mother, Mary 
 (Beall) 1 lagan, died in 1870. The subject of this sketch is prob- 
 ably the youngest grandson of a revolutionary grandfather in Cook 
 County. The latter, who was a descendant of the Maryland colony, 
 as a mere boy fought, at Bunker Hill, of course on the American 
 side, also at the battle of Trenton, and was severely wounded at the 
 battle of Cowpens. Father Hagan was educated at the Louisville 
 High School by his brother Frank, city attorney of Louisville, 
 This school he left in 18(58, going to St. Joseph's College, Bards- 
 town, Ky., one year; he taught two years at St, Viateur's College, 
 Bourbonnains Grove, 111., thence going to the Jesuit College at 
 Georgetown, D. C. In the last named he was the first winner of 
 the congressional debating medal, founded by Hon. Richard T. 
 Merrick. From 1876 to 1881 he attended the University of Inn- 
 spmckjin Tyrol, founded in 1672, and the only university on the con- 
 tinent now controlled by the Jesuits. Ordained a priest on July 
 4th, 1880, by Bishop Leiss of Brixen, he finished his studies in Rome, 
 and returned to the United States in 1881, reaching New York on
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 779 
 
 July 4th. His first appointment was as assistant pastor of St. 
 Stephen's Church. He is now pastor of St. Francis Xavier's 
 Church, La Grange, 111., and the parish which, when he took 
 charge, was a very insignificant one, has under his able care 
 and untiring labor grown and prospered. The church he built 
 would be a source of pride to any congregation, and the musical 
 services there have a reputation throughout the archdiocese. 
 
 Father Hagan has gained a national reputation as a temperance 
 worker and orator. He was elected President of the Chicago Cath- 
 olic Total Abstinence Union, in 1883, which position he has held 
 ever since, and lie was also for one term Vice President of the 
 Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America. He speaks German 
 and French fluently, being, indeed, not unfrequently taken for a 
 German. Those who best know him and are most familiar with his 
 work, say that the three points in his character which stand out in 
 the boldest relief are, his popularity with the people, especially 
 with the non-Catholic portion; his power as an orator, and his suc- 
 cess as. a temperance worker. Always a consistent Democrat, he 
 was in the last presidential campaign a powerful advocate for free 
 silver. 
 
 WILLIAM J. ONAHAN. 
 
 William J. Onahan has been for over thirty years very promi- 
 nently identified with Catholic movements in this country. In 
 events connected with the establishment of societies, the organiza- 
 tion of congresses, the founding of schools, colleges and churches, 
 the erection and unveiling of statues, his name is ever "familiar as 
 a household word." High executive ability, backed by a strong
 
 780 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 spirit of practical religion, have made him a powerful factor in the 
 various worthy undertakings to which he has given his support 
 and won him the distinction of being termed the Premier Catholic 
 Layman of America. 
 
 He was born at Leighlin Bridge, County Carlow, Ireland, 
 whence, in 1845, he removed with his parents to Liverpool. Here 
 he attended school and acted as acolyte, often serving Mass in St. 
 Nicholas' Pro-Cathedral, Copperas-hill, for the distinguished Mon 
 signor (then Father) Nugent, with whom for over a quarter of a 
 century he has been on terms of the closest friendship. 
 
 At an early age (in 1852), laden with abundance of native en- 
 ergy, ability and perseverance, he came to America, landing in New 
 York, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1854 he came 
 to Chicago. On the outbreak of the Civil War he threw himself 
 with enthusiasm into the Northern cause, draining his purse of its 
 last dollar and embarrassing himself financially for years in help- 
 ing to raise a regiment for the defense of the Union. Retaining a 
 strong affection for his native land, he succeeded, in 1865, in organ- 
 izing the St. Patrick's Society, composed of the leading Irishmen 
 of Chicago; thenceforth, till 1880, this society made brilliant an- 
 nual celebration, witli song and speech, of the feast of Ireland's 
 
 p 
 
 apostle, the successful founder being distinguished among the ora- 
 tors. On the lecture platform, also, Mr. Onahan has acquired fame. 
 His discourses are able and scholarly in tone, their diction elegant 
 though forcible, his arguments, especially as a lay champion of the 
 Catholic Church, trenchant as the sword of Sir Galahad. The 
 variety of his lectures (which, many will be glad to learn, will soon 
 be collectively published in book form) may be judged from some 
 of the titles "The Eights of Labor," "Frederick Ozanam," "Gen- 
 erals Mulligan and Shields," "John Mitchel," "Ireland it Mikla" 
 (Great Ireland), "Irish Settlements in Illinois," "Our Faith and Our 
 Flag." As a scholar Mr. Onahan has had the degree of Doctor of
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 781 
 
 l.)i\vs conferred upon him from Notre Dame University, and has 
 received other academic- honors from St. John's College, New York; 
 St. Xavier's College, Cincinnati, and other educational centers. 
 
 The scope of St. Patrick's Society was not confined to merely 
 celebrating Erin's festal day. The members did some sound prac- 
 tical work. When famine smote misgoverned Ireland they went 
 down deep in their pockets, and their generous donations brought 
 relief to many an Irish cabin. At Mr. Onahan's instance they 
 started the League of St. Patrick for the protection and direction 
 of emigrants, enabling them to locate favorably on lands in the 
 great West and Northwest, Mr. Onahan was appointed secretary 
 and manager, and these offices he retained when, in 1889, the 
 league was merged into the Irish Catholic Colonization Society at 
 the first Catholic Congress of Baltimore of which congress, by 
 the way, this indefatigable layman was chief organizer. Under 
 his auspices Irish Catholic colonies have been established with 
 much success in Minnesota and Nebraska. One is not surprised, 
 therefore, that the late Cardinal McCloskey and the present Car- 
 dinal Gibbons have expressed their cordial admiration of Mr. Ona- 
 han's triumphant labors in the cause of religion and humanity. 
 But these labors, when they bore their latest fruit in the great 
 Columbian Catholic Congress of 1893, which was inaugurated by 
 Mr. Ouahan, won even higher ecclesiastical appreciation that of 
 Pope Leo XIII himself. In December, 1893, at. the instance of Car- 
 dinal (ribbons, backed by the American hierarchy, his Holiness 
 appointed Mr. Onahan "Chamberlain of the Sword and Mantle," a 
 form of honoring laymen which dates back to the eleventh cen- 
 tury. Subsequently the Columbus Hub entertained the new "Ca- 
 meriere Segreto" at a banquet, at which several distinguished pre- 
 lates bore strong testimony to the merit which the Pope had hon- 
 ored. 
 
 Mr. Onahan has creditably held various public offices, lie acted
 
 782 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 as school inspector in 1863-4. In 1869 he was elected city collector 
 on the Citizen's ticket, and to this office he was again returned by 
 appointment in 1879, 1881, 1883, 1885 and 1887, resigning in 1888. 
 Next year he was appointed to the important office of Comptroller, 
 which he filled for two years, much to the advantage of the munic- 
 ipal finances of Chicago. He was also member of the Public Li- 
 brary Board, 1874-1881. 
 
 His library is worthy of special mention ; it is a vast collection 
 of rare and interesting volumes, many of them not to be duplicated 
 in Chicago, some perhaps not in America. His home, No. 37 Ma- 
 callister place, is the frequent meeting place of the social and liter- 
 ary Loyola Club. 
 
 In 1869 Mr. Onahan manned Miss Margaret C. Duffy. Of six 
 children they have left but one, Miss Onahan, secretary of the 
 Loyola Club and a talented contributor to various Catholic maga- 
 zines. 
 
 HON. THOMAS BRENAN. 
 
 A very remarkable man is Thomas Breuan. Ever unpreten- 
 tious of his own merits, he has pursued year in and year out, the 
 even tenor of his ways, always doing as best he can whatever labor 
 or duty falls to his lot in the course of affairs. Mr. Brenan, to use 
 his own terms, has called himself merely "an average good citizen," 
 but certaiuly.one who has responsibly been in the official life of the 
 city continuously for at least thirty-five years, must defer some- 
 what to the more flattering judgment of his contemporaries. 
 
 Thomas Brenan was born on Prince Edward Island in Nova 
 Scotia. His father was Martin Brenan, a farmer of Wexford, who
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 783 
 
 went to Dublin, married there, and soon after sailed for America, 
 settling for the time in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia. Mr. 
 Martin Brenan was a merchant, and it was during his business 
 career in Nova Scotia that his son Thomas, the subject of onr sketch, 
 was born. He accompanied his father to the United States in 1844, 
 the family settling in Boston, where Thomas Brenan attended an 
 excellent school. Mr. Brenau, Sr., settled in Chicago in 1849, going 
 into business in a two-story building on the corner of Lake Street 
 and Wabash Avenue. The family lived in the upper part of the 
 building over the store, and was at once attached to the Parish of 
 St Mary's Catholic Church, then on Madison Street. Young Brenan, 
 in early life, entered the employment of Stearns & Springer, dealers 
 in hardware on Fifth Avenue, at that time called Wells Street. 
 
 Although a successful and winning salesman, Mr. Brenau 
 thought he could do better in the City of Peoria than in Chicago, 
 Peoria at that time making some very considerable pretensions to 
 rival the future nietrojwlis of the West. He accepted the position 
 of chief clerk in the Peoria Hotel, and made a very marked success 
 of his new line in life. For two years he continued in charge of that 
 popular house, but soon after that time returned to Chicago and 
 went into business for himself under the firm name of Brenan & 
 Gillen. At this time he was a near friend and liberal supporter of 
 Senator Douglas, and in the fierce struggle that preceded the war, 
 was known as "a Douglas Democrat." He was also at that time, as 
 all public citizens were, a member of the historic fire department, 
 and helped to man the engine Red Jacket No. 4, his captain being 
 D. J. Swenie, the present fire marshal of the city. He was always 
 prominent in Catholic societies; was a member of the same literary 
 society with Colonel James A. Mulligan, the Hon. Barney d. Caul- 
 field, congressman of the south division, the Hon. W. J. Onahan, 
 afterwards city comptroller, B. J. Semmes and other influential and 
 really brilliant young Irish Catholics. At the outbreak of the war,
 
 784 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 this pleasant phase of life with Thomas Brenan came suddenly to 
 an end. The celebrated Colonel Mulligan had raised the force 
 afterwards known as the Mulligan Brigade, in which Mr. Brenau 
 was appointed second-lieutenant. He went to the front with the 
 brigade, was with Colonel Mulligan in West Virginia, and was on 
 staff duty the day on which, the gallant Mulligan was killed. 
 He was also close to the spot where the brave young Nugent was 
 shot down, at the time being exposed to the bullets of the enemy. 
 Colonel Mulligan at that time commanded 20,000 men, the 
 famous brigade bore its part with terrible effect upon the 
 enemy, but its own losses were great and it came out of action a 
 broken organization. Upon his return to Chicago after the war, 
 Mr. Breuan was identified with mercantile pursuits, but soon after- 
 wards relinquished them to assist W. J. Onahan, who had been ap- 
 pointed city collector, and subsequently filled the responsible post 
 of assistant to the popular and well remembered Daniel O'Hara, 
 who had been elected city treasurer. He was subsequently ap- 
 pointed assistant treasurer under City Treasurer Seipp, the ap- 
 pointment being purely a business rather than a political one, for 
 Mr. Brenan's competency was as notable as his integrity. When 
 Kudolph Brand succeeded Seipp as City Treasurer, Mr. Breuan was 
 paid the marked tribute of a reappoiutment. Later on, when Mr. 
 Seipp became County Treasurer, he remembered the able, honest 
 man who had been his assistant in the City Treasurer's office, and 
 he secured his services as Assistant County Treasurer. Soon after, 
 Mr. Brenan went into the real estate business, in which he is still 
 engaged as head of the firm of Cremin & Brenan. Tom Brenan's 
 goodness and unselfishness will be fully realized one day when he 
 will have gone to his reward. 
 
 For nearly a quarter of a century Thomas Brenan has been a 
 member of the Board of Education of Chicago. As such he en- 
 joys the rare distinction of having earned the verdict of citizens of
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 785 
 
 all classes, creeds and parties, that whatsoever may be said of 
 others, his record stands unstained by a speck of dishonor, un- 
 clouded by even the shadow of unworthy suspicion. His career as 
 a member of the school board, as all Chicagoaus know, has not been 
 merely negatively worthy. Every one who knows anything about 
 the administration of school affairs in Chicago, realizes that the 
 services of Mr. Brenan to the cause of education during his connec- 
 tion with the board have been priceless, inestimable. He had never 
 been in favor of radical innovations, but he has ever been alert, 
 quick to see the value of modern developments and ready to apply 
 them conservatively and in a business-like way. While he has been 
 loyal to the interests of Chicago and to the interests of education, 
 he has been supremely faithful to the interests of the army of work- 
 ers who comprise the teaching force of the Chicago public schools. 
 In their troubles, in their struggles, in their anxieties, the Chicago 
 teachers, high and humble alike, know that, there is one man to 
 whom they can go for assistance and advice, and who will treat 
 them with the helpfulness and solicitude of a father and a friend. 
 In this connection it can be truthfully said, that when Thomas 
 Brenan passes away from the scenes of his goodness and charity, 
 the most enduring monuments to glorify his memory Avill be the 
 countless homes which owe their happiness and brightness to him. 
 
 The charitable institutions in Chicago have in Mr. Brenan an 
 invaluable friend. The heads of many of these institutions, un- 
 versed in the ways of the world, tyros in the intricacies of business 
 transactions, invariably and unfailingly call on Thomas Brenan in 
 their difficulties. In their distress to him they appeal; he always 
 knows how and where to secure the wherewithal to tide them over 
 their privations, sometimes he secures it from others, oftener it 
 comes from his own personal resources. Not a trace of vanity or 
 self-glorification is there in the character of Thomas Breuan. He 
 is a Catholic of Catholics. His faith is of the simple, pure, exalted
 
 786 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THF 
 
 kind. He is not a theoretical Catholic. His Sunday professions 
 are stamped on his week-day works. He is not a bigoted Catholic; 
 he has a helping hand and a friendly word for all who need the one 
 or seek the other, whatever their creed. He shrinks from notoriety. 
 He has no yearning for honors, and once he set a good many people 
 wondering by frowning on a movement designed to secure for him 
 a mark of notable distinction at the hands of Pope Leo XIII. They 
 wanted to transform "Tom" Brenau into "Count" Brenan. He 
 stamped out the movement immediately after its inception. He 
 killed the movement outright and penned as its epitaph : "There is 
 no prouder title than that of a plain American citizen." 
 
 JOHN GREEN. 
 
 John Green, member of the well known contractors firm of Far- 
 ley & Green, was born January 12th, 1862, in County Sligo, Ireland, 
 where his father Robert Green followed the occupation of a farmer. 
 
 What little of early educational advantages the subject of the 
 present sketch enjoyed was received in the national schools of Ire- 
 land, which he left at an early age and for some time worked on his 
 father's farm. Then a little over thirteen years of age, the boy 
 journeyed to Glasgow, where he found work in the ship yards, but 
 his wages as an apprentice were so small that after a hard trial of 
 six months, without even being able to earn a sufficient amount to 
 pay living expenses, he was forced to give up. Hardship and pov- 
 erty seemingly being his portion on land, he decided to take-up the 
 sea for a living, and sailed from Glasgow on a ship called "Our 
 Queen," bound for the East Indies. Two months out, the ship took
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 787 
 
 fire, and it became necessary to head for a lone island in the South- 
 ern Pacific Ocean named Christandicuno. The fire, which started 
 at four p. in., was fought ineffectually all night in the endeavor to 
 confine it to the hold of the vessel, but at last all hope had to be 
 abandoned, and the only thing to be done was to abandon. Their 
 ocean home in flames, they took to the boats with, the object of 
 reaching the island, but then another obstacle was encountered, 
 for the wind changed to a direction immediately off the laud, and 
 so they were prevented from reaching the shore. Of food they had 
 a sufficiency, but there was no water, a fact which occasioned them 
 all considerable suffering. At last, however, after some hours of 
 suspense, a phenomenally huge wave caught the boats and landed 
 them safely almost on the beach and in near proximity to a bub- 
 bling stream of fresh water. Twelve days having been passed on 
 the island, provisions began to run short, and the weather having 
 moderated, the boat was launched and a sail was made for the 
 island settlement. Here the government was found to be entirely 
 on the Socialistic plan, and the people would accept no money, de- 
 claring it of no use whatever to them. They lived by tilling the 
 land, raising necessaries and supplying vessels with vegetables in 
 trade for bolts of calico or other fabrics, and occasionally for tea 
 or coffee. It was three months before an American whaler put in 
 for fresh provisions, and though the islanders were anxious they 
 should all remain and help develop the island, they bade their 
 friends good-bye and sailed for the Cape of Good Hope. A week 
 later an English troop ship bound for London was spoken, and, 
 going aboard, the wrecked sailors in five weeks found themselves 
 in London. All Mr. Green's possessions were the clothes he had 
 on and three shillings in cash, so he was obliged to go back to the 
 steamer and set to work unloading. He remained some time with 
 that vessel and then shipped on the "Nemesis" for South America. 
 When land was sighted, with another shipmate, leave was ob-
 
 788 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OP THE 
 
 tained to go ashore, and instead of returning, work was found as 
 section hand on a railroad. The change was not for the better, 
 and both decided to try and find work in the city of Lima. Mr. 
 Green was at this time, however, taken sick with ague, and was 
 laid up a considerable time, during which he studied the Spanish 
 language. He was barely convalescent when the doctor told him 
 he would have to leave the hospital, and it was only on his hard 
 request and having shown his knowledge of Spanish by writing an 
 application in that language that he was able to obtain a place in 
 the hospital as doctor's clerk. His duties were to write down the 
 prescriptions, carry the same to the drug store and afterwards ad- 
 minister to the patients. He was chiefly assigned to the surgical 
 ward, and there he became acquainted with a number of railroad 
 men, one of whom was a district superintendent suffering from a 
 broken leg. Being well disposed towards the young man, he per- 
 suaded the latter to let him 'the contract for building four miles of 
 road, upon which Mr. Green was able to clear |20,000. Again bad 
 health forced him into the hospital, and on recovery he embraced 
 the chance of a place as boy on an England bound ship. For some 
 months he studied, making a specialty of navigation subjects, and 
 then went to sea on short trips for the following four years. His 
 next move was a place as first mate on a large sailing vessel, trad- 
 ing between Montreal and Liverpool. While in the former port, 
 some lake captains of his acquaintance induced him to become a 
 sailor on the lakes. His decision was an unfortunate one, for the 
 fall of 1874 found him in Chicago without a cent. Looking after 
 work, he visited Armour's packing house and got a job for the win- 
 ter as fireman. The spring following he was led by glowing ac- 
 counts of money to be made to go into the woods of Wisconsin and 
 cut timber for the barrel factories. The work, however, failed to 
 pay expenses, and he returned to Armour's packing house, where 
 he worked in every department and obtained a very thorough
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 789 
 
 knowledge of the business. Mr. Green left the service of Mr. Ar- 
 mour to enter the employ of the hitter's brother-in-law, Mr. Chapin, 
 as engineer and tank man, or head lard-maker. A few months 
 afterwards Mr. John Cmlahy came to this city from Milwaukee, and 
 the firm of Chapin & Cndahy was formed, Mr. Green retaining tin- 
 same position. Mr. Chapiu left the linn later,. and the subject of 
 this sketch worked with Mr. J. (Judahy for sixteen years, resign! nu 
 just twelve months before the latter's failure. 
 
 For some time he looked after the property he had been able to 
 accumulate, but his disposition was far too active to be satisfied 
 with that kind of life, so he once more set out seeking a position. 
 At last he found a place as night superintendent of Machinery Hall 
 at the World's Fair, and there he remained until the close of the 
 exposition. Shortly afterwards he went to work for Mr. Farley, 
 and six months later the partnership which now exists was formed. 
 Their success has been of a very appreciable character, the firm 
 now owning a couple of steam shovels and a couple of railroad cars. 
 Work is now being done on the West Forty-eighth Street system 
 of sewers, the contract of Farley \ < Jreen amounting to f 210,000. 
 
 In his political views Mr. Green has always been a Republican, 
 and in national affairs he will always so remain. He was married 
 in April, 18 , to Elizabeth Driscoll, and they have a family of three 
 children, one boy and two girls. 
 
 Mr. Green is beyond all question an excellent example of the 
 man who, through early disadvantages and drawbacks, hard work 
 and many vicissitudes, has fought his way to an honorable position 
 and a competence, demonstrating plainly that where there is a 
 will there is a way. In his personal appearance he is a man of fine 
 physique, tall and well set up, and evidencing at once a fine con 
 stitution and a rich supply of business abilities and indomitable 
 energy.
 
 790 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CAPTAIN JOHN BYRNE. 
 
 Well up in the roll of honorable mention on the records of the 
 Chicago Police Department, is the name of Captain John Byrne. 
 The best years of his life have been given to the service and at 
 a time when the history of the city was full of important incident, 
 years during which occurred some of the most notable events in 
 the growth and development of Chicago. For twenty-five years 
 was Captain Byrne a worthy, gallant and trusted officer in the 
 city's service, a period of duty commenced in the ranks as a patrol- 
 man, extending through all grades of promotion and ending with 
 the distinction of a captain's rank and the confidence and esteem of 
 all who ever knew him either in official or social life. From the 
 time he first took up police duty at the "Old Armory" station under 
 Superintendent William Kennedy, in the autumn of 1870, till his 
 retirement as a captain on the pension list, an honorable member of 
 the Veteran Police Association, Captain Byrne has always led 
 a most active career, replete with incident and responsibility, and 
 frequently fraught with danger. The most trying and irksome rou- 
 tine duty found in him a cheerful and faithful servant, and occa- 
 sions of public excitement and danger, a judicious and fearless offi- 
 cer. In times of public turbulence and danger, resulting from the 
 strikes and riots, in the trades, on the railroads, and through the 
 anarchist troubles, which created most grave conditions in this 
 city, the utmost confidence was placed in his judgment and courage. 
 It is noteworthy that when in charge of the Deering Street district, 
 the locality of many serious strikes among the rolling mill em- 
 ployes and iron ore workers, as in other large strikes and threat- 
 ened riots, Captain Byrne could accomplish better results with
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 791 
 
 masses of determined and excited men by reasoning and persuasion 
 than could be gained from any show of mere force. His possession 
 of a very high degree of executive ability, as valuable as it is rare, 
 was splendidly shown in the admirable way in which he managed 
 the central or down-town district of this great city during the 
 crowded and exciting times of the World's Fair, and afterwards to 
 the close of 1895. When the late Carter H. Harrison became the 
 "World's Fair mayor" of Chicago, he at once appointed Captain 
 Byrne to the full charge of its central or down-town district, with 
 headquarters at the City Hall. To preserve order and protect the 
 center of the city and the many thousands of citizens within it, at 
 such a time, and under such trying circumstances, speaks volumes 
 for the capacity, courage and executive ability of Captain Byrne, 
 yet that the great task was efficiently performed is proved by the 
 fact that though his four special details of officers, each one hun- 
 dred strong, looked almost lost in the vast crowds prevailing, rob- 
 beries from the person, from stores, and accidents were of very rare 
 occurrence during that exciting time. In fact, a robbery of any 
 importance or value or an accident of very serious nature was not 
 reported during the whole period in the great and crowded district 
 of which he had responsible control. This is a chapter of police 
 experience which is in itself a distinction and a fitting climax to an 
 honorable public career. 
 
 Captain John Byrne was born in Oran, County. Koscoinmon, 
 Ireland, in 1847. His father, Patrick Byrne, came of a family of 
 substantial farmers long settled in that place, where yet the old 
 farm remains in good condition and in the possession of an elder 
 brother. His father was noted as a fine stock raiser, particularly 
 for his fine horses and sheep. His horses repeatedly took English, 
 Irish and Scotch prizes at the great horse fairs held in Galway, 
 and his sheep took prizes and brought the highest prices at Ballin- 
 asloe Fair, County Galway. The captain's mother, Catharine
 
 792 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 (McDermott) Byrne, was a daughter of a McDermott family long 
 settled as fanners at Cloonkeene near Castle Ray. 
 
 Young Byrne received his first education at a monastery school 
 and later at the public school. At the age of sixteen he accom- 
 panied an uncle to the United States. For two years he clerked 
 in a New York store and then came west, reaching Ottawa in 18G7. 
 In the autumn of that year he settled in Chicago and was employed 
 in the hotel business until 1870, when he entered the service of the 
 Chicago Police Department. His first duty was at the "Old 
 Armory," Adams and Franklin Streets, and it was while attached 
 to this district that he was promoted to a sergeantcyj October 1st, 
 1874. A difference between two superior officials of the depart- 
 ment brought about Sergeant Bryne's retirement in 1877, and he 
 went into business on his own account for a couple of years there- 
 after. When elected for his first term in 1879, Mayor Carter II. 
 Harrison reinstated Sergeant Byrne, promoted him to a lieutenancy 
 and he was assigned to duty at the Harrison Street Station, 
 where he remained till December, 1880. Subsequently he was 
 given charge of the great Deering Street District, with headquar- 
 ters at the Fourth Precinct Station, where he remained until 1887. 
 He served under Mayors Cregier and Washburne at Stanton Ave- 
 nue, Twenty- second, the Central and Maxwell Street Stations until 
 the re-election of Carter H. Harrison in 1893, as "World's Fair 
 mayor" of Chicago. Mayor Harrison made Lieutenant Byrne a 
 captain, and he was at once appointed to the responsible post in 
 charge of the central division of the city during the World's Fair 
 period, alluded to above. 
 
 Captain Byrne was an early member of the Columbus Club and 
 of the Irish American Club. He is a member of the Knights of 
 St. Patrick, Independent Order of Foresters, the Police Benevolent 
 and Veteran Police Associations. His religious views are those of 
 a liberal Catholic, and his political affiliations have usually been 
 with the Democratic party.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 793 
 
 He married September 29th, 1874, Miss Mary F. Seery, daugh- 
 ter of Thomas Seery, who for a number of years kept the Harrison 
 House in this city. Their children are one son, Thomas P. Byrne, 
 educated at St. Viateur's College, Kankakee, and the De LaSalle 
 Institute; and four daughters, Kate, Irene, Maggie and Bernice, 
 all of whom attended the academy connected with St James 
 Church. 
 
 CAPTAIN MARTIN HOGAN. 
 
 Captain Martin Hogan, the well-known owner and manager of 
 Hogan's Transfer Line, was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, on 
 the banks of the beautiful Shannon, on St Patrick's day, 1837. 
 His father, Roger Hogan, as well as his mother, was a native of the 
 same county, as indeed were his ancestry for several hundred 
 years before. 
 
 Martin Hogan was educated in the parish schools of his native 
 place, leaving school at an early age to work for his father, who 
 owned a number of boats, technically known as sloops, on the 
 Shannon. He came to this.country in 1854 and settled in Chicago, 
 beginning his career on the lake boats, in which he worked before 
 the mast. After about two years, he secured an interest in some 
 boats plying between Chicago and St. Louis, and from such a com- 
 mencement he has gradually advanced from common sailor to cap- 
 tain and from captain of one boat to be captain and owner 
 of a considerable number. This occupation has always been 
 the main interest and business of his life, although at various 
 times he has been interested in real estate and also in the 
 
 43
 
 794 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 coal business. Captain Hogan, as his carriage and general bear- 
 ing gives witness, was for several years a member of the Mont- 
 gomery Guards, and was on duty in the lager beer riots. 
 
 Captain Uogan, Avho has traveled extensively through the 
 South and West for pleasure and information apart from his busi- 
 ness operations, has a fund of information, and is a very interesting 
 conversationalist. 
 
 He was married April 10th, 1860, to Sarah, daughter of James 
 Watson, of County Armagh, Ireland. They have one son, who is 
 married and the father of three boys, and also a daughter un- 
 married. 
 
 Even by this brief sketch it is possible to see in what manner 
 Captain Hogan has, without any exterior advantages, raised him- 
 self to a high and honorable position and thereby fulfilling the chief 
 ambition of his life. He is a man of fine presence, and bears his 
 years in a remarkable way, notwithstanding the struggles and hard 
 work of his youth and early manhood. To see him sitting in his 
 handsome residence on Greenwood Avenue, surrounded by his 
 wife, children and grandchildren, makes a picture of domestic com- 
 fort and contentment it is most interesting to contemplate. 
 
 TIMOTHY O'SULLIVAN. 
 
 This popular Chicago Irishman, one of the best known figures 
 in City Hall circles, was born in the historic town of Bantry, County 
 Cork, Ireland, April 1st, 1844. His parents were Patrick and Dora 
 (Burchell) O'Sullivan, his father, a native of Kerry, was engaged in 
 the boot and shoe business. The latter died in 1860 in Ireland.
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 795 
 
 The subject of this sketch received his education in the national 
 schools of his native town and afterwards in Dublin, graduating 
 from the latter in 1863. Schooling over, his first occupation was 
 the charge of a national school as principal from 18G5 to 18G8. Fie 
 was engaged as private tutor to the family in Ireland, and was 
 private secretary to the chief of mining engineers' department 
 when he formed the acquaintance of Mayor Rice of Chicago, and 
 in 18(J8 he came to the United States and was given a place under 
 him in the Board of Public Works. From that time, with but one 
 interval, he has been in the public service, and has done duty in 
 every department of the city and county government. During the 
 exception referred to which lasted five years he was principal of 
 St. Patrick's Academy, Toledo, Ohio, and when he returned to Chi- 
 cago he entered the office of the County Treasurer, to which he has 
 since been continuously attached. 
 
 Besides his service for the city, he can also lay claim to being 
 one of the oldest and most popular teachers in the night schools of 
 Chicago, that additional occupation having been his since he first 
 came to this city. At the present time he is attached to the Gar- 
 field school. 
 
 Mr. O'Sullivan was married in February, 1865, to Nora O'Con- 
 nor of Dunmanway, and they have had two children, a son and a 
 daughter, the latter being deceased. The son, who holds a position 
 as record clerk in the Criminal Court, is married and has a family. 
 
 A Democrat in his political connections, Mr. O'Sullivan is in 
 religion a Roman Catholic. He was formerly secretary of the An- 
 cient Order of Hibernians and president of Division 7, and is also 
 a member of the Catholic Benevolent Legion. Some years ago he 
 was one of the old Montgomery Light Guards, which, although not 
 under State control, did regular military service during the great 
 fire of 1871. 
 
 Courteous and kindly at all times, invariably generous and lib-
 
 796 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 eral, an honest, straightforward Irishman, devoted to the country 
 of his adoption, but at no time forgetful of the land of his birth, 
 Timothy O'Sullivan is a true and thorough representative of the 
 American Irish in Chicago. 
 
 REV. MAURICE J. DORNEY. 
 
 The Reverend Maurice J. Dorney may well be counted among 
 those who fortunately have chosen that life vocation for which 
 they are best fitted. The natural and temperamental endowments 
 which in him contribute to a strongly marked character, easily 
 lend themselves to the facile and successful accomplishment of the 
 many-sided duties inevitable to the life of an active priest of the 
 church. Successively as student, curate, missionary, assistant and 
 settled pastor, his life has ever been so active as to worthily win 
 for him a conspicuous place in the ranks of the church militant, and 
 though yet in the prime of life, large is the number of those in 
 Chicago and Illinois who affectionately appreciate the ministra- 
 tions, advice and assistance of Father Maurice Dorney. 
 
 Irish in lineage and intense in the patriotic sympathies which 
 have always identified him with the furtherance of national Irish 
 interests, Father Dorney is nevertheless American by nativity, 
 having been born in Springfield, Massachusetts, March llth, 1851. 
 Thus from boyhood he developed within the atmosphere and sur- 
 roundings of free, political and social institutions, and that the 
 electric energy and dauntless ambition characteristic of Chicago 
 early impressed him is evident in the prolific results already appar- 
 ent in his life work. It is not too much to say that already Father
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. - 797 
 
 Dorncy's career may well be considered an epitome of labor, inci- 
 dent, trial and success inevitable to rapid progress under great 
 ditticulties. It suggests in detail that rapid progress of material, 
 educational and religious life in what is now a great and valuable 
 section of modern Chicago, but which at the time he commenced 
 his practical missionary work, was but little more than a scattered 
 unimproved settlement, scarcely redeemed from the surrounding 
 prairie. The scope of the picture represents a retrospect of all 
 that has been accomplished for the material, educational and re- 
 ligious development of that division of Chicago called the Town of 
 Lake and the stock yards district in the last seventeen years. The 
 review carries the thoughtful observer from the present command- 
 ing and handsome St. Gabriel's Catholic Church designed by 
 Burnham & Root and costing approximately $100,000 to a day 
 early in 1880, when on April llth Father Dorney organized the 
 parish in an old frame building rented for the purpose on upper 
 South Halsted Street. There is an occasional suggestion of the 
 common sense earnestness of the Salvation Army in some of 
 Father Dorney's methods, and his selection of a place for the early 
 religious services of St. Gabriel's, partakes of that character, for the 
 building devoted to the interests of religion and education had 
 formerly been used as a saloon and concert hall. For the work of 
 the church and the school in the world Father Dorney received 
 thorough training, and the inspiration of much of its decidedly 
 practical character came from parents both largely endowed with 
 strong individuality. 
 
 The father of the reverend gentleman, subject of this sketch, 
 was John Dorney, whose people were long resident at Longhur 
 near the City of Limerick. In 1846 Mr. Doruey came to the United 
 States, settling in Troy, New York, where he at once entered upon 
 the business of lumber inspection, a special direction of knowledge 
 he followed all his life, and for which in Chicago he was employed
 
 798 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 by the Illinois Central Railroad for twenty -five years. It was 
 while in Troy that Mr. Dorney married Miss Mary Toomey, the 
 ceremony being performed by the Rev. Father Haverrman, still 
 aliveat the date of this writing and distinguished as the oldest priest 
 in the United States. From Troy Mr. and Mrs. Dorney removed to 
 Springfield, Massachusetts, where Maurice Dorney was born, and 
 several years afterwards found the family in Chicago. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Dorney were very well known in Chicago and many old citi- 
 zens remember them with respect and affection. Three children 
 blessed their union, Maurice, the clergyman, and two daughters. 
 Mr. Doruey died in November, 1894, having survived his wife 
 about six years. 
 
 It was at the old "Mosely" school, Twenty-fourth and Michigan 
 Avenue, that young Maurice Dorney, destined to such an active 
 and useful place in the chapter of the Catholic clergy of Chicago, 
 received the primary groundwork of academic education. Subse- 
 quently, in 1861, he was a student at the old university, St. Mary's, 
 at the time under the direction of that noble, scholarly and apos- 
 tolic priest, the Rt.-Rev. Dr. McMullen, sometime Vicar-General of 
 the diocese of Chicago and subsequently Bishop of Davenport, 
 Iowa. When Father Dorney was a student at Si Mary's, that 
 noted divinity school stood nearly upon the site of Holy Name 
 Cathedral, an entire block having been donated by William B. 
 Ogden, the great real estate owner and dealer, and first mayor of 
 Chicago, to the purposes of Catholic religion and education. Two 
 years at St Mary's was followed by a course of study at the Acad- 
 emy of the Christian Brothers at old St. Patrick's, Desplaines 
 Street, which brought the subject of our sketch up to the year of 
 1867. From thence ensued a course at Holy Angels' College, 
 Niagara Falls, till June of 1870, when young Dorney crowned his 
 studies for the church with a course in advanced theology at St. 
 Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, bringing him up to the date of his
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 799 
 
 ordination to the priesthood, January 27th, 1874. In speaking of 
 this momentous period of his life, Father Doruey has often re- 
 marked that he dwells with special interest and pleasure upon the 
 fact that he was ordained to the sacred ministry by Bishop Foley 
 at the altar where as a little boy he had served the mass, old 
 St. James' Church. Immediately after taking holy orders Father 
 Dorney was appointed to duty as curate at St. John's Church, 
 ('lark and Eighteenth Streets, of which, at the time, the estimable 
 Father John Waldron was rector. Active parish and church work 
 kept him at St. John's for two and a half years, when he was sent 
 to a wider field in charge of St. Denis Church, Lockport, one of the 
 oldest Catholic parishes in the state. The importance of this 
 charge can best be understood by the realization of the fact that at 
 the time the scope of this "parish" embraced the territory extend- 
 ing from the city limits of Chicago to those of Joliet Within an 
 area of fully thirty miles, including Lemont, Sag Bridge, and other 
 points, at the time represented by settlements of a few houses, and 
 on an average throughout the district ten or twelve miles apart, 
 Father Dorney fcmnd abundant opportunity for constant and valu- 
 able work. "He remained for four years at Lockport, years of 
 active missionary life. Many were the long rides over rough roads 
 and through bad weather experienced by Father Dorney in those 
 early days, one of these trips to visit a sick woman representing a 
 distance of seventy-four miles, while a drive of ten to fifteen and 
 twenty miles through severe storms was of ordinary occurrence. 
 It was on the llth of April, 1880, that Father Dorney's present 
 great parish, St. Gabriel's, was organized, the large and handsome 
 church, commodious schools and clergy house and convent having 
 grown from the humble beginning made in the little frame build- 
 ing known as Welch's hall. The lady, Mrs. J. J. McCarthy, who 
 first arranged and adorned the altar for the services of St. Gabriel's, 
 is alive at the date of this writing, an active member of the parish.
 
 800 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 i 
 
 To form an adequate idea of the immense sum total of work accom- 
 plished by Rev. Father Dorney since the institution of St, Gabriel's 
 it should be remembered that the original area of the parish 
 comprehended all that territory in which, at present, exist a num- 
 ber of large and important Catholic churches. St. Gabriel's in the 
 early years ministered to the residents of all that territory now- 
 occupied by the churches of St. George, St. Rose of Lima, Church of 
 the Visitation, a large German church maintained by the Fran- 
 ciscans, St. Elizabeth, St Cecilia and other churches, including 
 two devoted to the spiritual needs of the Bohemian and Polish 
 people of the district. 
 
 The first church, a frame building, the windows of which were 
 from Holy Name Cathedral, presented after that edifice had been 
 nearly destroyed in the great fire, was upon a part of the site of 
 the present St. Gabriel's, and this did service from 1880 to 1881. 
 In the latter year a large brick building was put up, the lower 
 story was used for a school and the upper story for church pur- 
 poses. The growth of the parish and its educational and religious 
 work increased enormously as the large district of which it is the 
 center became densely populated by the rapid development of the 
 stock yards district, and in 1888 the erection of the present great 
 church was commenced. It is built from a very striking and 
 handsome design by the late John W. Root, early Norman in style, 
 of brick relieved by stone, and cost approximately about $100,000. 
 Archbishop Feehan laid the corner stone of the edifice, which, when 
 completed, was dedicated by him in May, 1888. The church and ad- 
 jacent convent and school buildings cover an area of two acres, 
 and represent the results of seventeen years of most devoted, cour- 
 ageous and faithful work; a chapter of ambitious effort and suc- 
 cessful accomplishment worthily conspicuous in the history of the 
 Catholic church in Chicago. The far reaching influences of the work 
 carried forward by Father Dorney and those who have been and yet
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 801 
 
 are identified with him, is best estimated when borne in mind the 
 fact that the parish is practically the center of a district, the popu- 
 lation of which is certainly not less than 150,000 persons, of whom 
 fully 12,000 families are Catholics, averaging five persons to a 
 family, thus representing an exceptionally responsible charge and 
 a constant ministration to 00,000 souls. A marvelous contrast to 
 the community of certainly not more than four hundred families 
 resident in the district when the active work of St. Gabriel's parish 
 was begun. 
 
 Father Dorney never speaks of this work, however, without 
 alluding to a few devoted friends who have upheld his hands and 
 sustained the interests of education and religion through all the 
 necessary trials and vicissitudes of a long period of years. Notably 
 prominent among these he invariably names with respect and ap 
 preciation, indeed with enthusiasm, the well-known citizen, Mr. 
 John B. Sherman, an active and ever generous patron of the church 
 and an ardent supporter of every interest tending to the welfare 
 and happiness of the thousands resident in this great industrial 
 section. 
 
 TIMOTHY E. RYAN. 
 
 T. K. Ryan, of the real estate firm of Ryan & Walsh, well repre- 
 sents the possibilities open to Irish perseverance when unfettered 
 by English methods or untrammelled by Saxon misrule. 
 
 He was born in the parish of Ballycahill, County Tipperary, 
 Ireland, in 1848, and was only four years old when he was brought 
 to this country. Ilis family landed at Pitttsburg, Pennsylvania, 
 and remained in that city until 1855, thence to Chicago, which was
 
 802 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 for a few years his home, and afterwards a removal was made to 
 Lockport, Illinois, where he and his brothers learned the trade of 
 a shipcarpenter and caulker. The firm of Ryan Bros, was formed, 
 but after a short stay in Lockport, Timothy E. Ryan decided to 
 come to Chicago, and started in business for himself as a mer- 
 chant. 
 
 In 1884 the popularity he had won and the reputation he had 
 made for himself was evinced by his election by the citizens of the 
 western division of Chicago as West Town Assessor. When his 
 term of office expired, he started in the real estate business, in 
 which he was very successful and quickly found a prosperous and 
 lucrative clientage. He was re-elected West Town Assessor in 
 1891, and served another two years, since which time he has de- 
 voted himself to the increasing cares of his real estate business. 
 
 Honored and esteemed both as a business man and for the very 
 worthy manner in which his official duties were performed, Mr. 
 Timothy E. Ryan has multitudinous friends, by all of whom he is 
 held in the very highest consideration. 
 
 At this writing, April, 1897, Mr. Ryan was re-elected West 
 Town Assessor by a majority of 27,200. 
 
 DAVID E. SHANAHAN. 
 
 David E. Shauahan, our well known state legislator and one of 
 Chicago's active business men, is a native of Lee County, Illinois, 
 where he was born September 7, 1862. His father, George Shana- 
 han, a native of Waterford, Ireland, came to New York when quite
 
 AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO. 803 
 
 a boy, and iu 1851 on to Chicago, where he engaged in the coopering 
 trade. He is now retired and residing in this city, as is also his 
 wife, mother of David E. 
 
 The subject of this sketch attended the public schools and high 
 schools of Chicago, from which lie graduated, and also attended the 
 old university. His first employment was with the National But- 
 teriue Co. as clerk, and later on with Griffin & Connelly, ice dealers, 
 which led to his embarking in the ice business on his own account. 
 At the present time Mr. Shanahau is acting as manufacturer's agent 
 aoid is also dealing in mining operations. In 1885 he was elected 
 South Town Supervisor on the Republican ticket, and was re-elect- 
 ed in 1886. Three years later he was appointed United States 
 Deputy Marshal for the Northern District of Illinois, a position he 
 filled until 1894. In the latter year he was elected to the Illinois 
 State Legislature, Thirty-ninth General Assembly, and re-elected in 
 1896 to the Fortieth General Assembly, which honoi-able position 
 he still holds at this writing. In the Thirty-ninth General As- 
 sembly Mr. Shauahan was the author of the civil service bill, which 
 was beyond all question the most important measure of that 
 session. 
 
 Mr. Shanahan has been an active and valued member of the 
 Republican party ever since he attained his majority in the year 
 that John F. Finerty was first elected to Congress (1882) taking a 
 prominent part in its councils, conventions and projects, in fact 
 in everything appertaining not only to the advancement of his 
 party but to the best interests of the community. He is a member 
 of the Royal Arcanum and the Knights of Pythias. 
 
 Mr. Shanahan has been an extensive traveler throughout the 
 United States, having, as he says, made himself acquainted with 
 thirty-five states out of the forty-five, visiting not only the leading 
 cities but the parks, the caves and mountains, in fact all points of 
 interest and attraction. He now resides with his parents at 2722
 
 804 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Main Street, devoting what little time lie can obtain outside of his 
 political and business duties to social intercourse. 
 
 Mr. Shanalian has made for himself a most creditable record 
 in the service of his state and adopted city, and unquestionably, if 
 the promise of his years be fulfilled, there is before him a career of 
 much honor and usefulness.
 
 Page. 
 
 Agnew, Francis 568 
 
 Ahern, James J 247 
 
 Arthur, William H 106 
 
 Bailey, M. B 764 
 
 Barrett, John P 666 
 
 Barry, Patrick T 278 
 
 Bidwell, Joseph E 265 
 
 Braden, Joseph C 714 
 
 Brenan, Thomas 782 
 
 Boyle, Lawrence P 118 
 
 Buckley, William 660 
 
 Bulger, William J 773 
 
 Burke, John C 710 
 
 Burke, Thomas 694 
 
 Burke, William H 265 
 
 Burns, James 594 
 
 Byrne, James A 257 
 
 Byrne, John 790 
 
 Cahill, Daniel P 182 
 
 Cahill, Patrick J 164 
 
 Callahan, John J 674 
 
 Campion, John 556 
 
 Cannon, Thomas H 83 
 
 Carmody, Jeremiah H 551 
 
 Carroll, John M 641 
 
 Case, Theodore G 346 
 
 Casey, John D 174 
 
 Cavanagh, Patrick 737 
 
 Clare, John F 43 
 
 Coburn, Henry M 132 
 
 Coburn, John J 190 
 
 Colby, Francis T 558 
 
 Cole, Francis R 238 
 
 Collins, Alexander 736 
 
 Conroy, Anthony F 143 
 
 Page. 
 
 Con way , Thomas L 460 
 
 Conwell, James 719 
 
 Coogan, John J 501 
 
 Cooke, John S 520 
 
 Corcoran, Matthew J 151 
 
 Corkery, Daniel 426 
 
 Corrigan, Charles E 263 
 
 Creelman, Alvah L 200 
 
 Cremin, John F 687 
 
 Cudahy, John 176 
 
 Cudahy, Michael 192 
 
 Cullerton, Edward F 553 
 
 Cunnea, William A 305 
 
 Curtis, Bernard 683 
 
 Dadie, John 303 
 
 DeLany, Martin A 554 
 
 Delaney, Daniel 168 
 
 Devine, Miles J 678 
 
 Devlin, Frank A 54 
 
 Dignan, Patrick 436 
 
 Dillon, John 585 
 
 Dillon, William 769 
 
 Dixon, Arthur 16 
 
 Dolan, Bernard 625 
 
 Donahoe, Daniel 727 
 
 Donahoe, John T 536 
 
 Donahoe, Patrick J 262 
 
 Donlin, John H 452 
 
 Dooley, James C 210 
 
 Dorney, Maurice J 796 
 
 Dowling, John M 545 
 
 Downey, Joseph 38 
 
 Doyle, Austin J 90 
 
 Doyle, James M 587 
 
 Doyle, Patrick 252 
 
 805
 
 806 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Duffy, Joseph J 218 
 
 Duncan, James W 458 
 
 Dunne, Edward F 543 
 
 Dunne, Michael J 538 
 
 Dwyer, Edward J 522 
 
 Egan, Edward H 243 
 
 Egan, James J 739 
 
 Ennis, Lawrence M 516 
 
 Enright, John W 202 
 
 Bwing, William G 580 
 
 Fagan, Thomas J 723 
 
 Fanning, Charles A 277 
 
 Fanning, Michael F 593 
 
 Farley, John W 286 
 
 Farrelly, James J 285 
 
 Feehan, Patrick A 5 
 
 Feeney, Patrick C 272 
 
 Ffrench, Charles 642 
 
 Finerty, John F 24 
 
 Fitzgerald, Henry J 638 
 
 Fitzpatrick, Patrick V 447 
 
 Fitzsimmons, Michael J 575 
 
 Flanagan, Patrick B 689 
 
 Flinn, John J 282 
 
 Foley, William C 266 
 
 Foley, W. M 749 
 
 Fowler, Anderson. 547 
 
 Gallagher, Michael F 332 
 
 Gallery, Daniel J 435 
 
 Galligan, Thomas F 589 
 
 Gannon, Michael V 114 
 
 Gannon, Richard C 294 
 
 Garrity, Patrick L 406 
 
 Garvy, William J 334 
 
 Gaynor, John 316 
 
 Gearon, Michael B 330 
 
 Gibbons, Walter J 599 
 
 Glennon, Edward T 583 
 
 Greene, John 786 
 
 Gubbins, John J 315 
 
 Gunning, Robert J 581 
 
 Hagan, James M 778 
 
 Hall, Thomas C 595 
 
 Hanecy, Elbridge 68 
 
 Hannan, John 505 
 
 Hanney, Patrick M 212 
 
 Page. 
 
 Hartigan, Thomas L 236 
 
 Hartnett, James 44 
 
 Hayes, Frederick W. C 651 
 
 Hayes, Michael 600 
 
 Healy, Patrick J 597 
 
 Hendricks, John C 235 
 
 Henely, Lawrence 153 
 
 Hennessy, John J 219 
 
 Hennessy, Peter J. 774 
 
 Hereley, Millard B 603 
 
 Hereley, William M 602 
 
 Hill, Fremont 144 
 
 Hogan, James A 154 
 
 Hogan, Martin 793 
 
 Hogan, Thomas S 416 
 
 Hopkins, John P 634 
 
 Hoyne, Frank G 86 
 
 Hunt, Nicholas 627 
 
 Hunt, Thomas F. '318 
 
 Kurd, Harvey B 138 
 
 Hurley, Timothy D 60 
 
 Hyland, Jeremiah S 708 
 
 Hynes, William J 721 
 
 Jeffery, John B 450 
 
 Jemison, John N 611 
 
 Joyce, Joseph 443 
 
 Kavanagh, Jr., Marcus 356 
 
 Keane, Michael J 110 
 
 Keating, John T 134 
 
 Keeley, William E...... 293 
 
 Kehoe, Miles 226 
 
 Kelley, Thomas H 228 
 
 Kelly, James J 306 
 
 Kelly, James J 170 
 
 Kelly, Michael J 637 
 
 Kelly, Patrick F 706 
 
 Kelly, Thomas 222 
 
 Kenney, Thomas A 253 
 
 Kincade, James 244 
 
 Kinsella, John J 703 
 
 Lahiff, Edmund M 732 
 
 Langan, Michael 461 
 
 Law, Jr., William . . . '. 614 
 
 Lynch, John A 59 
 
 McCarthy, John 617 
 
 McClaughry, Charles C 626
 
 INDEX. 
 
 807 
 
 Page. 
 
 McClory, Frederick S 446 
 
 McConnell, Samuel P 620 
 
 McCormick, Joseph A 421 
 
 McElherne, Daniel J 336 
 
 McEnerny, James 463 
 
 McEnerny, Michael F 605 
 
 McGarry , James 488 
 
 McGarry, Patrick 432 
 
 McGee, Michael G 467 
 
 McGillen, John 70 
 
 McGlasson, Oscar B 23 
 
 McGoorty, Johu P 112 
 
 McGrath, Michael H 198 
 
 McHugh, Patrick 454 
 
 McLaughlin, James B 606 
 
 McNamara, Mark J 731 
 
 McShane, James C 92 
 
 Madden, Mark F 394 
 
 Madden, Martin B 713 
 
 Madden, Michael S 518 
 
 Madigan, Patrick Q 613 
 
 Madigan, Michael D 608 
 
 Magee, Charles J 441 
 
 Maginn, Bernard B 777 
 
 Maguire, Patrick G 590 
 
 Maher, James 402 
 
 Mahoney, David J 392 
 
 Mahoney, George W 422 
 
 Mahoney, James 693 
 
 Mahoney, John J 502 
 
 Mahoney, John J 465 
 
 Mahoney, John J 656 
 
 Mahoney, Thomas 718 
 
 Mahoney, Joseph P 36 
 
 Mahoney, Charles L 268 
 
 Medill, Joseph 742 
 
 Melody, Thomas R 258 
 
 Melville, Willis 655 
 
 Moloney, Maurice T 746 
 
 Moran, Thomas A 684 
 
 Morgan, Francis H 472 
 
 Morrison, James D 424 
 
 Muldoon, P. J '. 186 
 
 Mullay , Thomas H 288 
 
 Mullen, James J 430 
 
 Mullin, John 609 
 
 Page. 
 
 Mulvihill, Thomas 412 
 
 Murphy, Francis T 758 
 
 Murphy, Henry T 440 
 
 Murphy, John D 704 
 
 Murphy, Michael W 74 
 
 Murray, Bernard P 711 
 
 Musham, William H 513 
 
 Naghten, John 468 
 
 Neagle, Francis C 475 
 
 Neagle, John F 623 
 
 Noon, Michael 499 
 
 O'Brien, John 340 
 
 O'Brien, Martin 322 
 
 O'Connell, Andrew J 484 
 
 O'Connell, John 335 
 
 O'Connell, Thomas 675 
 
 O'Connor, Benjamin F 500 
 
 O'Connor, Maurice M 762 
 
 O'Donnell, Joseph A 98 
 
 O'Donnell, Simon 508 
 
 O'Grady, R. P 576 
 
 O'Hara, John M 480 
 
 O'Keeffe, Patrick J 298 
 
 O'Malley, Thomas F 364 
 
 O'Neill, David L 342 
 
 O'Neill, Francis 308 
 
 O'Neill, Hugh 691 
 
 O'Sullivan, Timothy 794 
 
 O'Toole, James J 361 
 
 O'Toole, Luke 677 
 
 Onahan, William J 779 
 
 Owens, John J 477 
 
 Peevey, James 351 
 
 Philbin, Jr., John J 104 
 
 Powers, Henry 345 
 
 Printy , James A 380 
 
 Qualey, John A 696 
 
 Quin, William J 722 
 
 Quinlan, Daniel B 384 
 
 Quinn, James F 382 
 
 Quinn, Michael J 404 
 
 Quinn, Richard 390 
 
 Rafferty, Joseph P 363 
 
 Ramsay, D. G 700 
 
 Rend, William P 524 
 
 Reilly, John J 353
 
 SOX 
 
 Page. 
 
 Revell, Alexander H 532 
 
 Rice, P. H 159 
 
 Roche, John A 755 
 
 Rogers, Philip M 95 
 
 Rohan, Andrew 496 
 
 Rowan, Thomas 248 
 
 Russell, Dennis P 355 
 
 Russell, Martin J 756 
 
 Ryan, Andrew J 373 
 
 Ryan, Edmund P 376 
 
 Ryan, James J 512 
 
 Ryan, James J 592 
 
 Ryan, Michael 343 
 
 Ryan, Timothy E 801 
 
 Scales, Frank 744 
 
 Scanlan, Frank T 725 
 
 Scanlan, John F 366 
 
 Scanlan, Kickham 76 
 
 Scanlan, Mortimer J 15 
 
 Scanlan, Thomas 667 
 
 Scott, Robert S 750 
 
 Sexton, Austin 654 
 
 Sexton, John 640 
 
 Sexton, Patrick J 633 
 
 Page. 
 
 Shanahan, David E 802 
 
 Sheahan, John S 658 
 
 Sheridan, Thomas F 386 
 
 Smyth, John M , 10 
 
 Smyth, Thomas A 208 
 
 Sullivan, David 123 
 
 Sullivan, Dennis W 490 
 
 Sullivan, John K 504 
 
 Sullivan, Michael 507 
 
 Sullivan, William K 629 
 
 Swenie, John J 770 
 
 Tyrrell, Patrick D 396 
 
 Touhy, Patrick L 374 
 
 Tuohy, James W 540 
 
 Wall, Patrick J 479 
 
 Walsh, Edward J 124 
 
 Walsh, James J 489 
 
 Walsh, John F 483 
 
 Walsh, John R ; . . 760 
 
 Walsh, John W 485 
 
 Walsh, Robert J 707 
 
 Ward, James R 494 
 
 Waterloo, Stanley 754 
 
 Welch, P. H 487
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 977.30049162B52 C001 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN IRI 
 
 0112025382844