USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume V > Part 26
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FRANCIS J. O'HARA-Though Francis J. O'Hara is one of the well-known men of the leather business in Boston, he is still more widely known for his beautiful tenor voice which has given pleasure to many audiences through- out the State of Massachusetts. Since 1916 Mr. O'Hara has been the successful owner of the F. J. O'Hara Leather Company, of Boston, which is located at No. 110 South Street, in Boston. The firm deals in upper leather of every description for the shoe trade, and dis- tributes more than two hundred dozen skins
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each day, ranking among the foremost leather commission houses in the city.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, June 22, 1876, Francis J. O'Hara is a son of James O'Hara, a native of Ireland who came to this country and was engaged in the retail shoe business to the time of his death, and of Elizabeth (Carroll) O'Hara, also a native of Ireland. He attended the local public schools, and then, after he left the day school and began work, continued his studies in the evening courses of the Boston English High School. In 1893, when he was sixteen years of age, he associated himself with the leather business by entering the employ of the Lennox and Briggs Company, of Boston. For a period of twenty-three years he main- tained that connection, rising through various positions to the responsible one of manager of the Boston branch of the company, which place he filled for several years. In 1916, when he was forty years of age, he founded the F. J. O'Hara Leather Company, of Boston, of which he is sole proprietor, and since that time he has devoted his attention to the development of that concern. Success has been his in abundant measure, and in the comparatively short time of twelve years he has built up a very substantial business and taken his place among the leading commission leather men of the city, dealing in upper leather of every kind used by the shoe trade and distributing about three-quarters of a million skins each year. Throughout his life Mr. O'Hara has found his chief pleasure in music, and his reputation as a tenor soloist is well known throughout the State. In business and in social connections he has always been one who made many friends, and his attractive personality and ready wit are welcome wher- ever he goes. His business and his music, together with his family, have been the control- ling interests of his life, and in all these rela- tionships he has maintained the integrity and the grace which have won him the unqualified confidence of his fellows. Politically, Mr. O'Hara is an Independent. He considers character and ability as of more importance than party affiliations, especially in local offices, and votes
accordingly. His religious membership is with the Roman Catholic church.
Francis J. O'Hara was married, in 1911, to Anna M. Moran, who was born in Boston, and they have six children: Anna M., Francis J., Alice, James, John, and Paul.
THOMAS H. RATIGAN-From the hum- blest position as office boy to the responsible office of a senior partner of the firm, is the record of the connection of Thomas H. Rati- gan with the insurance concern which operates under the name of John C. Paige and Com- pany, of Boston. That record covers a period of some forty-four years, 1883 to 1927, and there is no department of the insurance busi- ness with which Mr. Ratigan is not familiar. The firm handles insurance of every descrip- tion, acting as agents for some eighteen in- surance companies of this country, England, and Scotland.
Thomas H. Ratigan was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, July 16, 1867, and received his early education in the public schools of his birthplace, later continuing study in the Bos- ton English High School. Upon the comple- tion of his education he became associated with the firm of John C. Paige and Company, in- surance agents, in 1883, and he has been con- tinuously identified with that firm to the pres- ent time (1928). He is now a senior partner of the firm and is well known in insurance cir- cles in Boston and vicinity. He has his offices at No. 40 Broad Street, where he is taking care of a very large amount of business, and an office in New York City, located at No. 115 Broadway. The concern handles all kinds of insurance, and, as has been stated, acts as agents for about eighteen insurance companies of this country, England, and Scotland, in- cluding the Atlas Assurance Company, of London, England; Century Insurance Com- pany, of Scotland; Fire Association, of Phila-
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delphia, Pennsylvania; Franklin Fire Insur- ance Company, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; Globe and Rutgers Fire Insurance Company, of New York City; Home Insurance Company, of New York; Importers and Exporters Insur- ance Company, of New York; London and Scottish Assurance Company, of London, Eng- land; Lumbermen's Insurance Company, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Massachusetts Fire and Marine Insurance Company; National Fire Insurance Company, of Hartford, Con- necticut; National Surety Company, of New York; North River Insurance Company, of New York; Palatine Insurance Company, of London, England; Pennsylvania Fire Insur- ance Company, of New York; Phoenix Assur- ance Company, of London, England; Travelers' Insurance Company, of Hartford, Connecticut; and the Victory Insurance Company, of Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania. These companies cover practically every known kind of insurance, aeroplane, automobile, bonds, burglary and theft, fire, casualty, life, accident, and health, also marine. Mr. Ratigan's lifelong associa- tion with this concern and the fact that he has worked his way up from the position of office boy through practically every department of the business has made him an expert in the insurance field and he is widely recognized as such. Along with his business activities Mr. Ratigan has found time for outside interests. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Wrentham State School, to which position he was appointed by Governor Cox; he is a mem- ber of the board of overseers of the public wel- fare, for the city of Boston; and also a trustee of the Union Savings Bank of Boston. Fra- ternally, he is identified with the Knights of Columbus and he is also a member of the Clover Club of Boston, of which he is a past president. He is president of the Boston Pro- tective Department, and a member of the Bos- tonian Society, an associate member of the C. W. Kinsley Post, of the Grand Army of the Republic; a member of the Beacon Society; and is identified with the Boston Lodge, Be- nevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr.
Ratigan is a Past Commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, of Boston. In 1924 he was commissioned captain of the Quartermaster's Corps, First Area Army Base, of Boston. In addition to the connections men- tioned above, Mr. Ratigan is also a member of the governing committee of the Boston Ath- letic Club, a member of the Engineers' Club, first vice-president of the Army and Navy Club of Boston, also of the Boston Chamber of Commerce, of the Insurance Society of Massachusetts, of the Boston Board of Fire Underwriters, of the Luncheon Club, the Uni- corn Country Club, the Wollaston Country Club, the Roggey Point Fishing Club, the Long Point Gun Club, and the Corinthian Yacht Club. Politically, he gives his support to the Republican party. His especial recrea- tional interests are hunting, fishing, golf, and military tactics, and his religious affiliation is with the Roman Catholic church.
Thomas H. Ratigan was married, in 1923, to Agnes E. Lonergan, a native of Boston, Massa- chusetts.
ARTHUR GREGORY McVEY-In prac- tice at the bar of Massachusetts for twenty years, Arthur Gregory McVey has attained a prominent position among his fellow-members and a high reputation as a legal advocate. He be- gan his career with a sound education and has followed it with that consistency that makes for success.
He was born in South Boston, May 28, 1884, and received his early education in the public schools, afterward attending the Ballou and Hobigan Preparatory School, from which he was graduated in 1905. He then took a course at Harvard University and followed this with a course at the Law School of Boston Univer- sity, being graduated from that institution with his law degree in 1919. Admitted to the bar in that year, he established himself in practice
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in Boston and has continued here since. His father was Adolphus Gustavus McVey, for more than thirty-five years yachting editor of the "Boston Herald," born in Boston in 1843 and dying here, July 13, 1912. His mother was Margaret Ann (Murphy) McVey, also a native of Boston, born in 1853, died December 4, 1911. The father of Adolphus Gustavus was Cornelius McVey, a native of Londonderry, Ireland, who came to America in 1820 and settled in Boston. He was a superintendent in one of the Massachusetts State printing plants.
Arthur Gregory McVey is as fond of yacht- ing as was his father, with whom he formerly owned the yacht "Thrush." He is a member of the Catholic Union, a communicant of the Roman Catholic church, attending St. Peter's, in Dorchester, and is attorney and director of the Newbury Street Merchants' Association. He is also a director in the Back Bay Holding Company and in the Lincoln Creameries. He had seven brothers and sisters, a brother dying in infancy-Edward. The others, all living, are: John R .; Grace L., wife of James J. McMorrow; Alice C., wife of George G. Carroll; Frederick J .; Marguerite; and Helen M., wife of Charles F. Flammand.
EDWARD PATRICK BARRY-There are few members of the bar of Massachusetts with records of such distinction in several classes of effort as enter into the life of Edward Patrick Barry, of Boston. Champion athlete in his youth, successful journalist for many years, de- scendant of military heroes and associate by in- heritance of one of the most famous men of American history, he became a member of the bar at a late age, when he had already won distinction in other fields. His history is syn- chronous with the history of Massachusetts, where the family has lived for nearly two cen- turies. Himself a virile man, of sincere culture and sound education, his name has been favor-
ably known in legal circles in Boston and its environs for nearly half a century, while his friends are limited only to his thousands of acquaintances.
Edward Patrick Barry was born in the old Barry homestead in South Boston, at No. 269 West Fourth Street, which still stands. His grandfather was Thomas Barry, a graduate of Dublin University and a distinguished horticul- turist, as well. The birth of Edward P. Barry came on November 28, 1864, his father being Edward William, who was born in the old Barry homestead, built in 1800, in South Boston, in 1834, and who resided there and was engaged in the bakery and confectionery business for sixty years. He retired at seventy-eight years of age and died at the age of eighty-six years; while his mother was Sarah (Shea) Barry, born in Ballybunnion, County Kerry, Ireland, who died in South Boston in 1914, aged eighty-five years. Mr. Barry's grandmother was Bridget Burke, a descendant of the famous Edmund Burke. Mr. Barry's grandparents celebrated the seventy-fifth anniversary of their marriage and both lived to be over one hundred years old, while his own parents celebrated-their sixty- fifth wedding anniversary. Edward William and Sarah (Shea) Barry were the parents of eight children, of whom the following are still living (1928): 1. Mrs. Alice E. (Barry) Cram, of New York City, who is said to be the first woman building contractor in America. 2. Ed- ward Patrick, of whom further. 3. William A., of New York. Edward William Barry was a brother of General George M. Barry, Harvard '62, of Civil War fame, later a resident of New York City, while his great granduncle, Edward Barry, was an associate of John Hancock, first signator of the Declaration of Independence. A brother of Mr. Barry, Thomas Jackson Barry, who died in Boston in June, 1926, was one of the leaders of the Boston bar, and a prominent corporation and theatrical attorney.
Edward Patrick Barry received his education in the public schools of Boston and was grad- uated from Lawrence Grammar School in 1879, and the first graduate of the Boston Evening
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High School, 1883. The following year he owned and managed the South Boston "News," a weekly district paper, which he later sold to resume studies for the purpose of fitting him- self for the Harvard Medical School. A tem- porary blindness, lasting a year, checked this ambition, and later he joined the staff of the Boston "Post" as a special writer. After 'an- other year he joined the staff of the Boston "Daily Advertiser" and "Evening Record," and then went to the Boston "Herald" in the capa- city of special writer and editor of "Sports and Pastimes." He remained with the "Herald" for sixteen years as reporter, special writer and night city editor, at the same time owning and publishing the South Boston "Inquirer" and the Dorchester "Sentinel," two weekly papers. He was a representative of the New York "Herald" and New York "Sun" in New England during part of this period, and also conducted the Bos- ton Advertising Agency. He studied law at Boston University Law School, 1902-1903, and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1904, while holding the position of court reporter for the Boston "Herald." After being admitted to practice, he established himself with his brother, Thomas Jackson Barry, and later established himself alone. Today he has four assistants to conduct his ever enlarging practice.
Mr. Barry has always taken a keen interest in civic and historic affairs, and was instrumen- tal in establishing the first Emergency Hospital for the City of Boston, and bringing about the yearly observance of Evacuation Day. His in- terest in journalism led him to help in organiz- ing the first Boston Press Club, and later the Veteran Journalists' Association of Boston. At nineteen years of age he held the amateur walk- ing championship of the United States. He served as the first president of the First Na- tional Amateur Athletic Association and the second president of the New England Amateur Rowing Association. Mr. Barry was also one of the organizers of the Boston City Club and of the Boston Athletic Association. During the years 1889-1890, Mr. Barry was a member of the Boston Common Council; governor Council
of Massachusetts, 1907, 1908 and 1909; lieuten- ant-governor in 1914, and organized and served as the first president of the Caucus Reform As- sociation of Massachusetts, which brought about the present Australian ballot system. In 1918 he was a candidate for Governor of Massachu- setts, and in 1928 candidate for attorney-gen- eral. In his fraternal affiliations Mr. Barry is a member of the Knights of Columbus, of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, Massachu- setts Catholic Order of Foresters, F. A. U., and Boston Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Edward Patrick Barry has been twice mar- ried and twice a widower, being the father of eleven children, five of whom are living (1928) : 1. Alice E., wife of Harold W. Sullivan, Yale 1924, an attorney now, of Boston. 2. Edward P., Jr., a student at Boston University in the class of 1931. 3. Beatrice E., graduate of Elm- hurst Academy Sisters of the Sacred Heart, Providence, Rhode Island. 4. Thomas Burke, a student at Boston Latin School. 5. Mary L., at the Convent School of Our Lady of Lourdes, Boston.
FRANCIS JOSEPH HICKEY-In the city of Boston, a large number of the younger men of the legal profession are achieving the sub- stantial success which will enable them to be- come worthy successors of the prominent law- yers who have long been known for their abil- ity and who have been prominently before the public for many years. One of the younger men of the profession on Tremont Street is Francis Joseph Hickey, whose offices are at No. 73. He was admitted to the bar in 1922, and has since been busily at work laying the foundations of what has already become a notably successful career. In addition to the care of his clientele, Mr. Hickey is a member of the Massachusetts House of Representa-
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tives, elected from Ward 16, the Suffolk Dis- trict, for 1927-1928, where he is serving on im- portant committees. In 1928 he was reëlected for the term of 1929 and 1930.
His father, James Edward Hickey, was born in Boston, son of a native of Ireland who came to this country and settled here in Boston. For many years he was engaged in the liquor busi- ness here, in the days when that business was a legal one licensed by the government, and he is now (1928) living here retired. He mar- ried Ellen Cummings, a sister of Matthew Cummings, and they had two children: Francis Joseph, of further mention; and James E., Jr., who is a resident of Boston.
Francis Joseph Hickey, son of James Ed- ward and Ellen (Cummings) Hickey, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, March 28, 1890, and as a boy attended the Bigelow Grammar School, from which he was graduated in 1905. He then entered the Boston Latin High School, where he completed a four-year course. One year at Burdett's Business College pre- pared him for a business career, but he later decided to study law, and in 1917 became a student in the law school of Northwestern University, where his course was completed with graduation in 1921. The following year, 1922, he succeeded in passing the required ex- aminations for admission to the bar, and since that time he has been engaged in general prac- tice here in the city of his birth. Friends of Mr. Hickey know that one of his hobbies is political history, but his interest in political affairs is by no means limited to reading and study. He is an able member of the State Legislature, elected from Ward Sixteen of the Suffolk District, and is serving on the Com- mittee on Bills of the Third Reading, the com- mittee which passes upon bills presented for enactment into law before they reach the Legis- lature in general for consideration; and on the Committee on Insurance. Mr. Hickey's constituents are well pleased with his repre- sentation of their interests and feel that they made a wise choice when they elected him. Fraternally, he is identified with the Knights
of Columbus and with the Ancient Order of Hibernians; also with Boston Lodge, Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Hickey is fond of baseball and of boxing and of all out-of-door sports. His religious affiliation is with St. Mark's Roman Catholic Church, of Dorchester, Massachusetts.
Francis Joseph Hickey was married, in Bos- ton, Massachusetts, November 21, 1919, to Elizabeth Bridget Brian, daughter of Redmond John Brian, deceased, and of Martha Mary (Keane) Brian, who is living in Boston (1928). Mr. and Mrs. Hickey have a daughter, Mary, who was born February 17, 1921, and a son, Francis J., Jr., born March 7, 1928. They make their home at No. 1747 Dorchester Avenue, in Dorchester.
DANIEL ALOYSIUS SULLIVAN-Hon- ored with the trusteeship of properties of great value, possessor of hosts of friends in business and social life, the banner of success is mod- estly carried by Daniel Aloysius Sullivan, of Boston.
He was born in Boston, June 28, 1869, son of Michael and Honora (Murphy) Sullivan, the couple being the parents of eleven children. . Michael Sullivan was born in Waterford County, Ireland, and emigrated to America in 1850, his life ending in Boston. Honora (Murphy) Sullivan lived to be eighty years of age. Daniel Aloysius was educated in the Quincy School of Boston, Massachusetts, and was graduated from the Boston English High School in 1885. He became associated with Hawley, Folsom & Martin in 1889 and later with the Hawley-Folsom Company, of which he was treasurer until February 1, 1923. He is a Roman Catholic by religious faith, a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Royal Arca- num, and the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters. His hobby is baseball, his tem-
Bos.ii-11
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perament artistic, with a devotion to good music. He has a country estate at Manchester, Massachusetts, and a city home at No. 382 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston.
Daniel A. Sullivan married, in Boston, February 14, 1906, Isabel Marguerite Mulloy, daughter of John and Ann Mulloy. Their children are: 1. Daniel A., Jr., born in No- vember, 1906. 2. John Mulloy, born in Sep- tember, 1908. 3. Richard S., born in February, 1916.
JOHN FRANCIS SULLIVAN-Large in the affairs of Beverly, Massachusetts, where he maintains his home, and in affairs of the bar of the city of Boston, where he practices his profession, John Francis Sullivan occupies a place of distinction among his confreres, who esteem him sincerely for his ability and unimpeachable character, and among the townspeople of his residential community, for his character and public spirit. Mr. Sullivan is a native of Beverly; he was born on January 6, 1886, a son of Owen Patrick and Mary (Kelly) Sullivan.
Owen Patrick Sullivan was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1844, and died in Beverly, aged sixty-four, in 1908, May 28. For many years he engaged in business in Beverly as grocer, maintaining an establishment at re- tail on the waterfront. His trade was quite thriving, and his dealings with customers to a large extent personal. He was known affection- ately to them, and to others among whom he moved, as O. P. Sullivan, and never as Owen Patrick Sullivan. He was a man of temperate manner, kindly and just, a good husband and father; and his loss was felt deeply by a wide number of people in Beverly and elsewhere. Mary (Kelly) Sullivan was born in Killeigh, Ireland, and died in Beverly at the age of seventy-seven years, March 8, 1922; she was the mother of nine children, of whom seven
are living: Patrick J., Katharine F., Mary F., Margaret T., deceased; Elizabeth T., William J., deceased; Owen A., John Francis, of whom further; and Anna V.
John Francis Sullivan attended the public schools of Beverly, graduated from grammar school in 1900, at the age of fourteen years, and for one year thereafter attended high school, taking his college preparatory work in the Holy Cross Preparatory School. He did not matriculate in Holy Cross College directly, but some years after completion of the pre- paratory courses, and took the degree of Bache- lor of Arts in 1909. Later, in 1920, his alma mater conferred upon him the honorary de- gree of Master of Arts. Meanwhile he attended the Harvard School of Law, whence he grad- uated in 1912, with the degree of Bachelor of Law, and took the examination of the State Bar Association in June of that same year; he passed the examinations, entitling him to practice his profession before any bar in the State, without difficulty, for his has always been a fine mind, and his training had been more than adequate. Since the spring of 1912 Mr. Sullivan has practiced in the city of Bos- ton, now maintaining offices in the Ames Building.
Mr. Sullivan has two hobbies: golf and gardening. The former he indulges in on the links of the Wenham Golf Club, of Wenham, of which he is a member, and the latter on a choice garden plat at his Beverly home, at No. 8 Sherman Street, Montserrat. He is a mem- ber of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and of several minor societies and clubs aside from it and in addition to the golf club. He is a communicant of the Church of St. Mary's Star of the Sea, is devout in its service and most generous in contributions to chari- table and to kindred causes of worthy nature, regardless of race or creed or other limiting distinction.
On June 15, 1919, Mr. Sullivan was united in marriage with Mary Ethel O'Neill, who was born in Danvers, a daughter of William S. O'Neill, who resides in Beverly, and Josephine
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(Madden) O'Neill, deceased. To this union have been born children: John F., Jr., born De- cember 8, 1921; and Mary Jean, born Septem- ber 17, 1925. Mrs. Sullivan, like her husband, is popular; she is a woman of great charm and refinement, and is possessed of those qualities of character which endear one to many.
CHARLES SEBASTIAN O'CONNOR-
A member of the Massachusetts bar, Charles Sebastian O'Connor has achieved a career of genuine distinction in his profession, with an extensive practice and a reputation for bril- liant success throughout Boston and the vicin- ity. Master of a persuasive eloquence, he is frequently called upon to address large gather- ings on questions of public importance, while in various other phases of the community life he plays an important part.
Mr. O'Connor was born on March 1, 1879, in Boston, son of Patrick and Catherine (O'Sullivan) O'Connor, born in County Kerry, Ireland, and both now deceased. Patrick O'Con- nor was a schoolmaster in Ireland, but when he came to Boston as a young man, he became a foreman clothing cutter. Of his marriage eight children were born, of whom six are living: Jeremiah F., Joseph B., Hon. Patrick H., Francis L., Mary E., and Charles Sebas- tian, of whom further. The very Rev. John B. O'Connor, O. P., deceased, was also a son of this marriage. An important member of the Dominican order, he was a man of great learning, generally regarded as the great- est pulpit orator in America, and the author of a history of the Dominican order, of which seventy thousand copies have been sold, and a number of other works, notably "Monasti- cism and Civilization."
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