USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Biographical history of the American Irish in Chicago > Part 49
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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 11th, 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
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ManualWorry
797
AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO.
Dorney's career may well be considered an epitome of labor, inci- dent, trial and success inevitable to rapid progress under great difficulties. 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 11th 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. Dorney 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. Dorney 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 St. 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
799
AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO.
ordination to the priesthood, January 27th, 1874. In speaking of this momentous period of his life, Father Dorney 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, Clark 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 found 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 11th 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
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
801
AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO.
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 60,000 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. E. 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. His family landed at Pitttsburg, Pennsylvania, and remained in that city until 1855, thence to Chicago, which was
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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. Shanahan, 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
803
AMERICAN IRISH IN CHICAGO.
a boy, and in 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 he graduated, and also attended the old university. His first employment was with the National But- terine 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. Shanahan is acting as manufacturer's agent and 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 honorable position he still holds at this writing. In the Thirty-ninth General As- sembly Mr. Shanahan 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
-
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE
Main Street, devoting what little time he can obtain outside of his political and business duties to social intercourse.
Mr. Shanahan 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.
INDEX.
Page.
Page.
Agnew, Francis 568
Conway, Thomas L. 460
Ahern, James J
247
Conwell, James. 719
Arthur, William H
106
Coogan, John J. 501
Bailey, M. B .. 764
Cooke, John S. 520
Barrett, John P.
666
Corcoran, Matthew J. 151
Barry, Patrick T
278
Corkery, Daniel.
426
Bidwell, Joseph E 265
Corrigan, Charles E 263
Braden, Joseph C.
714
Creelman, Alvah L.
200
Brenan, Thomas.
782
Cremin, John F
687
Boyle, Lawrence P 118
Cudahy, John. 176
Buckley, William 660
Cudahy, Michael. 192
Bulger, William J. 773
710
Cunnea, William A. 305
Burke, Thomas.
694
Curtis, Bernard. 683
Burke, William H.
255
Dadie, John. 303
Burns, James
594
DeLany, Martin A. 554
Byrne, James A.
257
Delaney, Daniel. 168
Byrne, John.
790
Devine, Miles J. 678
Cahill, Daniel P.
182
Devlin, Frank A.
54
Cahill, Patrick J.
164
Dignan, Patrick.
436
Callahan, John J.
674
Dillon, John.
585
Campion, John.
556
Dillon, William
769
Cannon, Thomas H.
83
Dixon, Arthur
16
Carmody, Jeremiah H. 551
Dolan, Bernard 625
Carroll, John M. 641
Donahoe, Daniel 727
Case, Theodore G. 346
Donahoe, John T. 536
Casey, John D. 174
Donahoe, Patrick J 262
Cavanagh, Patrick 737
Donlin, John H. 452
Clare, John F
43
Dooley, James C.
210
Coburn, Henry M. 132
Dorney, Maurice J
796
Coburn, John J. 190
Dowling, John 1 545
Colby, Francis T. 558
Downey, Joseph. 38
Cole, Francis R.
238
Doyle, Austin J. 90
Collins, Alexander 736
Doyle, James M. 587
Conroy, Anthony F.
143
Doyle, Patrick.
252
805
.
Cullerton, Edward F 553
Burke, John C.
806
INDEX.
Page.
Page.
Duffy, Joseph J
218
Hartigan, Thomas L. 236
Duncan, James W.
458
Hartnett, James. 44
Dunne, Edward F
543
Hayes, Frederick W. C. 651
Dunne, Michael J.
538
Hayes, Michael.
600
Dwyer, Edward J.
522
Healy, Patrick J 597
Egan, Edward H. 243
Egan, James J.
739
Henely, Lawrence. 153
Ennis, Lawrence M 516
Hennessy, John J 219
Enright, John W 202
Hennessy, Peter J. 774
Ewing, William G.
580
Hereley, Millard B. 603
Fagan, Thomas J.
723
Hereley, William M.
602
Fanning, Charles A
277
Hill, Fremont. 144
Hogan, James A 154
Farley, John W
286
Hogan, Martin.
793
Farrelly, James J.
285
Feehan, Patrick A
5
Hopkins, John P 634
Feeney, Patrick C.
272
Hoyne, Frank G. 86
Ffrench, Charles 642
Hunt, Nicholas. 627
Finerty, John F 24
Hunt, Thomas F 318
Fitzgerald, Henry J 638
Hurd, Harvey B. 138
Fitzpatrick, Patrick V 447
Hurley, Timothy D. 60
Fitzsimmons, Michael J 575
Hyland, Jeremiah S. 708
Flanagan, Patrick B. 689
Hynes, William J
721
Flinn, John J.
282
Jeffery, John B.
450
Foley, William C.
266
Foley, W. M.
749
Fowler, Anderson
547
Gallagher, Michael F
332
Keane, Michael J.
110
Keating, John T .. 134
Galligan, Thomas F
589
Gannon, Michael V.
114
Gannon, Richard C.
294
Kelley, Thomas H.
228
Garrity, Patrick L.
406
Garvy, William J.
334
Kelly, James J.
170
Gaynor, John.
316
Kelly, Michael J. 637
Gearon, Michael B
330
Kelly, Patrick F. 706
Gibbons, Walter J.
599
Kelly, Thomas 222
Glennon, Edward T. 583
Kenney, Thomas A. 253
Greene, John. 786
Kincade, James 244
Kinsella, John J. 703
Gunning, Robert J. 581
Lahiff, Edmund M. 732
Hagan, James M 778
Langan, Michael. 461
Hall, Thomas 595
Law, Jr., William
614
Hanecy, Elbridge. 68
Lynch, John A. 59
Hannan, John 505
McCarthy, John. 617
Hanney, Patrick M. 212
McClaughry, Charles C. 626
293
Kehoe, Miles.
226
Jemison, John N. 611
Joyce, Joseph. 443
Kavanagh, Jr., Marcus 356
Gallery, Daniel J. 435
Keeley, William E
Kelly, James J. 306
Gubbins, John J. 315
Hendricks, John C. 235
Fanning, Michael F 593
Hogan, Thomas S. 416
807
INDEX.
Page.
Page.
McClory, Frederick S 446
Mulvihill, Thomas. 412
McConnell, Samuel P. 620
Murphy, Francis T. 758
McCormick, Joseph A. 421
Murphy, Henry T. 440
McElherne, Daniel J.
336
Murphy, John D. 704
McEnerny, Jam 463
Murphy, Michael W 74
McEnerny, Michael F
605
Murray, Bernard P 711
McGarry, James
488
Musham, William H. 513
McGarry, Patrick. 432
Naghten, John. 468
McGee, Michael G 467
Neagle, Francis C. 475
McGillen, John. 70
Neagle, John F 623
McGlasson, Oscar B. 23
Noon, Michael 499
McGoorty, John P.
112
O'Brien, John 340
McGrath, Michael H. 198
O'Brien, Martin 322
McHugh, Patrick 454
O'Connell, Andrew J. 484
Mclaughlin, James B. 606
O'Connell, John 335
McNamara, Mark J 731
O'Connell, Thomas.
675
McShane, James 92
O'Connor, Benjamin F 500
Madden, Mark F. 394
O'Connor, Maurice M. 762
Madden, Martin B.
713
O'Donnell, Joseph A
98
Madden, Michael S.
518
O'Donnell, Simon. 508
Madigan, Patrick Q
613
O'Grady, R. P. 576
Madigan, Michael D.
608
O'Hara, John M. 480
Magee, Charles J. 441
O'Keeffe, Patrick J 298
Maginn, Bernard B. 777
Maguire, Patrick G 590
O'Neill, David L. 342
Maher, James. 402
O'Neill, Francis 308
Mahoney, David J. 392
O'Neill, Hugh. 691
Mahoney, George W 422
O'Sullivan, Timothy 794
Mahoney, James. 693
O'Toole, James 361
Mahoney, John J. 502
O'Toole, Luke. 677
Mahoney, John J. 465
Onahan, William J 779
Mahoney, John J. 656
Owens, John J 477
Mahoney, Thomas 718
Mahoney, Joseph P.
36
Philbin, Jr., John J 104
Mahoney, Charles L.
268
Powers, Henry 345
Melody, Thomas R.
258
Melville, Willis
655
Quin, William J 722
Moloney, Maurice T
746
Quinlan, Daniel B. 384
Moran, Thomas A. 684
Quinn, James F. 382
Morgan, Francis H. 472
Quinn, Michael J. 404
Morrison, James D. 424
Quinn, Richard. 390
Muldoon, P. 186
Rafferty, Joseph P 363
Mullay, Thomas H 288
Ramsay, D. 700
Mullen, James J. 430
Rend, William P 524
Mullin, John. 609 Reilly, John J. 353
Peevey, James 351
Medill, Joseph. 742
Printy, James A. 380
Qualey, John A. 696
O'Malley, Thomas F. 364
808
INDEX.
Page.
Page.
Revell, Alexander H.
532
Shanahan, David E.
802
Rice, P. H.
159
Sheahan, John S.
658
Roche, John A. 755
Sheridan, Thomas F 386
Rogers, Philip M
95
Smyth, John M
10
Rohan, Andrew
496
Smyth, Thomas A
208
Russell, Dennis P.
355
Sullivan, Dennis W
490
Russell, Martin J
756
Sullivan, John K.
504
Ryan, Andrew J. 373
Sullivan, Michael. 507
629
Ryan, James J.
512
Swenie, John J.
770
Ryan, James J.
592
Tyrrell, Patrick D
396
Ryan, Michael.
343
Touhy, Patrick L.
374
Ryan, Timothy E.
801
Tuohy, James W
540
Scales, Frank
744
Wall, Patrick J.
479
Scanlan, Frank T.
725
Walsh, Edward J
124
Scanlan, John F.
366
Walsh, James J. 489
Scanlan, Kickham
76
Walsh, John F. 483
Scanlan, Mortimer J
15
Walsh, John R.
760
Scanlan, Thomas. 667
Walsh, John W 485
Scott, Robert S.
750
Walsh, Robert J.
707
Sexton, Austin O
654
Ward, James R.
494
Sexton, John.
640
Waterloo, Stanley 754
Sexton, Patrick J. 633
Welch, P. H.
487
Rowan, Thomas. 248
Sullivan, David .. 123
Ryan, Edmund F. 376
Sullivan, William K.
1000
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