USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Biographical history of the American Irish in Chicago > Part 2
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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
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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 Garfield 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, thirtee 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.
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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 comes of that sterling Scotch Irish ancestry that has given America so many brilliant, successful and eminently useful citizens. His father was Francis M. MeGlasson, 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 Absolom 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.
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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
Jum 7 7iments 3
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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 Vindicator 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
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of the patriotic Father John Kenyon, pastor of Templederry, 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-Camp to the late Brigadier- General William F. Lynch, ex-Colonel Fifty-eighth Illinois Volun-
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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. Finerty 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- mify 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-
.
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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,
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'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 Railways, 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-
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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
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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 he 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. Blaine, who embodied his views on the great American questions of the day, Mr. Finerty 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 Blaine 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 many of the leaders of the
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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- vive-John 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
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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 so doing has earned for himself the respect and esteem of all nation- alities and of all creeds, as well as a place in 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.
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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
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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.
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