USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Biographical history of the American Irish in Chicago > Part 34
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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.
Nomanin Chicago was better known, and to know Frank Agnew was to love him. Strong in his opinions, unwavering in his prin-
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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 Reformation. 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
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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 his 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
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positively refused to acknowledge defeat. His work and the name of Francis Agnew 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- Gillen, 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-
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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 his 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; Luke, who is engaged in the coal business, and the Rev. P. J. Agnew, one of the most eloquent
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priests in 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- American Club of Chicago, which so hospitably entertained Charles Stewart Parnell, 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. Ile 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
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the grave of any man a tribute more sincerely bestowed. It is im- possible, almost in the moment of bereavement, 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 the grim arrest of the hand of death."
Thearticleterminated 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.
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REV. MICHAEL J. FITZSIMMONS.
The Roman 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. Fitzsimmons.
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. Fitzsimmons 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
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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.
R. 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. When 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-
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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 11th, 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 1896, 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 and a fearless advocate.
He was married on April 8, 1896, to Miss Annie R. Fitzgerald of Chicago.
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HON. WILLIAM GILLESPIE EWING.
Hon. William Gillespie Ewing, Judge of the Superior Court of Cook County, was born May 11th, 1839, on a farm in McLean County, Ill. 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 Bloomington 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, Ill., where he remained only eighteen months, and then removed to Quincy, Ill., 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 he 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.
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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 Metamora, a descend- ant of Goodrich (Peter Parley). They have two daughters, Mary and Ruth. 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, 1856, 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.
His 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
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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-
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ias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Royal Ar- canum.
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 4 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, McHenry 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-
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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.
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