USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Biographical history of the American Irish in Chicago > Part 16
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(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,
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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
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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
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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 $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. Herdlicka.
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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, Ill., 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'
P. J. Barry.
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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, Ia., 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. Clarkson, 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-
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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 Club 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.
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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
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in 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.
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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
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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 Cahill, 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, 1861, 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.
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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, Ill.
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 Ilibernians, located at La Grange, Cook County, Ill., and also 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
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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 elsewhere. 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.
Thomas H. Mullay
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The boy 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.
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