The story of the Irish in Boston, together with biographical sketches of representative men and noted women, Part 25

Author: Cullen, James Bernard, 1857- ed; Taylor, William, jr
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Boston, J. B. Cullen & co.
Number of Pages: 542


USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The story of the Irish in Boston, together with biographical sketches of representative men and noted women > Part 25


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41


Cleveland was attracted to the high qualifica- tions which Mr. Galvin possessed, and he accordingly appointed him a United States District Attorney, September, 1887.


HOYNES, EDWARD F., lawyer, born in Boston, February 14, 1858. He was edu- cated in the public schools of Boston, and later attended Boston College, the Harvard Law School, and Boston University Law School, graduating at the latter institution in 1882. He represented Ward 14 in the General Court of 1884. He is at present engaged in the retail dry-goods trade in South Boston.


JENKINS, EDWARD J., lawyer, born in London, England, of Irish parents, Dec. 20, 1854. He came to Boston when but a few weeks old; was educated in the grammar schools of this city, and studied law at the Boston University Law School, was graduated in 1889, and he was admitted to the Suffolk bar on Nov. 30, 1881, and to the bar of the United States Court on Dec. 23, 1881. He was a member of the Boston School Committee and secretary of the Democratic Central Committee in 1876, during the famous Tilden campaign; was a member of the House of Representatives in 1877-'78-'79, during the latter year he ten- dered his resignation as a member; was a Commissioner of Insolvency for the County of Suffolk during the years 1879-'80-'81-'82- '83-'84'-85, and he refused to act longer. While a member of the House of Representa- tives he was the candidate of the Democracy for the clerk of the House. During the year 1881 he was nominated by the Suffolk County Democratic Convention for clerk of the Su- perior Civil Court. In 1885-'86-'88, he was elected as a member of the Common Council, and during that period served as its presiding officer; he was also Trustee for the Public Li- brary of Boston in 1885. He was a member of the Massachusetts Senate in 1887. Mr. Jenkins introduced the order for the abolition of the poll-tax as a prerequisite for voting; advocated the passage of the bill abolishing


EDWARD J. JENKINS.


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the contract system of labor. He secured the passage of the law relative to the practice of dentistry; favored the order authorizing the employment of matrons at police stations. He supported the act regulating the liabilities of employers to make compensations for personal injuries suffered by employees in their service. He introduced and voted for the order to authorize the city of Boston to operate the East Boston ferries free of tolls. He introduced and voted for orders to regu- late the observance of the Lord's day, the purport of which was to secure such modifi- cations as were necessary by the present social conditions of the community. He voted and advocated the making of Labor day a legal holiday. He supported and voted for the bill to establish the hours of labor of per- sons in the service of the Commonwealth, and the several cities and towns thereof, so that eight hours would constitute a working day. He introduced and favored orders to prevent fraud at primary meetings and at general elec- tions. He advocated the creation of a Board of Public Works for the city of Boston, con- sisting of nine members, to be elected by the City Council of Boston. He favored large appropriations for the construction of the public parks of Boston. He supported the bill giving preference in appointments to office to honorably discharged soldiers and sailors without civil-service examination. He voted for all appropriations for charitable institutions, such as the Carney Hospital at South Boston, Soldiers' Home in Chelsea, etc. His record in the Legislature on labor measures is well known. He voted for legislation relative to the better enforcement of the laws on labor; for the laws to secure uniform meal-times for children, young per- sons, and women employed in factories; for the order to secure legislation which would provide for the better ventilation and other sanitary improvements; for the law limiting the hours of labor for minors and women in manu- facturing and mechanical establishments ; for the law which prohibits the employment of children cleaning dangerous machinery; for the law directing that employees in


manufacturing, mechanical, and mercantile establishments be allowed sufficient time to vote; and for the bill, that became a law, causing contract labor in the penal institu- tions of the Commonwealth to be abolished. He is a member of the Central Club, Catholic Order of Foresters, Charitable Irish Society, and many other benevolent organizations. Was a member of the Montgomery Light Guards, being the drummer-boy of the company, and is now a member of the Veteran Association of that organization.


KEATING, PATRICK M., lawyer, born at Springfield, Mass., March 15, 1860. He was a graduate of the Houghton Grammar School in 1874, and also was graduate of the Springfield High School in 1878. He came to Boston, entered Harvard University, and was graduated in 1883. He entered the Har- vard Law School, and remained until 1885. He acquired a more complete and practical knowledge of law in the law office of Thomas J. Gargan, and was admitted to the Suffolk County bar in the summer of 1885. He has been associate counsel with Mr. Gargan in many cases.


KIERNAN, PATRICK B., lawyer, born in Boston, March 2, 1852. He was educated in the Boston public schools, also in a pri- vate school taught by a Mr. Carroll, of Providence, R.I., and later at Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College. He studied law, and after his admission to the bar began to practise in Boston and Chelsea. He is a member of the Charitable Irish Society and the Chelsea Yacht Club.


LEAHY, JOHN PATRICK, lawyer, born in Boston, 1860. Educated in the Boston pub- lic schools, and later received private instruc- tion. He studied law at Boston University Law School, and graduated with the Class of '84. He entered the law office of Mr. Charles F. Donnelly, where he acquired a knowledge of legal technique. Mr. Leahy has been in active practice since 1884, and he has an extensive clientage in the Civil,


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Equity, and Probate Courts concerning trusts, wills, and conveyances of real estate. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Catholic Union of Boston, and is con- nected with the Young Men's Catholic Asso- ciation of Boston College. He gave religious instruction to the male adults at the House of Industry at Deer Island for over two years. He has been Vice-President of the Catholic Young Men's National Union, and also Vice-President of the Archdiocesan Union of Young Men's Societies. His repu- tation as a lecturer and a public speaker is good, and he has won praise as a writer. In two successive years he carried off the fifty-dollar prize offered by the Catholic Union of Boston for the best essay on the subject selected by the Union. He has been a contributor to the Catholic press and magazines. Among the subjects of his lect- ures are : "The American Catholic," " Some Strong Irish Characteristics," "Napoleon," " A Visit to the Roman Catacombs," " Elo- quence."


LIBBY, PHILIP J., lawyer, born in Boston, Feb. 22, 1861. His elementary studies were made at the Boston public schools, and he graduated from Holy Cross College at Worcester, Mass., in 1881. He studied law at the office of Messrs. Crowley & Maxwell, and graduated from the Boston University Law School in 1886, having then received the degree of LL.B. He was admitted to the Suffolk bar in the same year.


MAGEE, FRANK P., lawyer, born in Bos- ton, Jan. 27, 1859. He attended the public schools of this city and the Boston Univer- sity Law School, from which he graduated in 1883. On Feb. 23, 1883, he was admitted a member of the Suffolk County bar, and was later appointed a Justice of the Peace. He represented Ward 18 as one of the mem- bers of the Democratic Ward and City Com- mittee of 1884-'85-'86. He was elected a Commissioner of Insolvency for three years, from Jan. I, 1887, and is connected with sev-


eral societies in this vicinity, notably the Charitable Irish, Ancient Order of Foresters, Roxbury Bachelor Club, and others.


MAHER, PETER S., lawyer, born in South Boston, Dec. 21, 1847. He attended the public schools, and first entered the employ of J. M. Beebe & Co., dry-goods merchants, with whom he remained for five years, until the firm dissolved. He afterwards was en- gaged as clerk for two years in the banking business for William Chadborn. He subse- quently studied law with Geo. F. Verry at Worcester, and came to Boston in 1881, and is at present with Hon. C. J. Noyes.


MANNING, JOHN P., Clerk of Superior Court, Criminal Session, in Suffolk County. Born in Boston, June 17, 1851, and has always resided there. He was educated in the pub- lic schools of Boston, and graduated from the Dwight Grammar School. He received limited instruction at a commercial college, and studied at home. He entered the office of Supreme Court as a copyist, in 1868; was appointed assistant clerk in 1873; was admitted to the bar in January, 1874, on the motion of the late Hon. Chas. R. Train, after three years' study; was elected Clerk the following November, to fill an unexpired term caused by the death of Henry Homer, Esq. Though a Democrat, he received a plu- rality of two thousand four hundred votes more than the opposing candidate. In two years afterward he received but one political nomi- nation, the Democratic, yet he received a plu- rality of eight thousand votes over his oppo- nent; the two last elections he received the nominations of all political parties. He is untiring in his efforts to perform his duties satisfactorily to the bench, the bar, and the public, and is patient and attentive to the wants of all who have business with him. His office and his duties are of the most trying nature.


His knowledge of law is admitted by those acquainted with him to be excellent. He has been a member of the Young Men's Catho- lic Association of Boston College since its


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organization, also the Catholic Union, Charitable Irish Society, and Catholic Order of Foresters.


MCCAFFERTY, MATTHEW J., lawyer, born in Ireland, June 17, 1829; died, June 5, 1885.


At a very early age his parents immigrated to this country, and located in Boston, where young McCafferty attended the public schools. In 1841 the family removed to Lowell, Mass., and Matthew, who was then twelve years old, obtained employment in one of the mills of that city, where he remained four or five years, and afterward learned the machinist's trade. In 1852 he commenced the study of law in the office of Brown & Alger. Two years later he removed to Worcester, and resumed work as a machinist, to obtain addi- tional funds. During that time he read law, evenings, in the office of Hon. Peter C. Bacon, having for a fellow-student Judge Hamilton B. Staples. He saved enough, during the mean time, to pay his expenses at college ; but upon making a visit to Lowell, prompted by filial duty, he expended the money he had accumulated in making his poor mother's homestead more comfortable, and was subsequently compelled to borrow from Gen. B. F. Butler to pay his way through Holy Cross College. After a three years' course he returned to his law studies in the office of Brown & Alger. In March, 1867, he was admitted to the bar in the Court of Common Pleas, at Lowell, and eventually opened an office in Worcester. At the out- break of the Civil War he took a decided stand, and, with characteristic Irish patriot- ism, urged his countrymen to rally in defence of the Union. He served as second lieu- tenant of Company C, Emmet Guards, Third Battalion of Rifles, during its enlistment, and was subsequently commissioned major of the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Regiment. He was a member of the Legislature of 1866, '76, '77, and '79; also of the Worcester School Board; and in 1880 was a Demo- cratic candidate for Congress. In 1883 he was appointed, by Governor Butler, an Asso- ciate Justice of the Municipal Court at Bos-


ton, which position he occupied at the time of his death.


MCGEOUGH, JAMES A., lawyer, born in the County Cavan, Ireland, June 15, 1854. He immigrated and came to Boston in 1859. His preparatory studies were made at the Boston public schools and at Boston College. He afterwards entered the Boston University Law School, and was graduated, with degree of LL.B., in 1874. He was admitted to the Suffolk County bar in the same year. He has won distinction in public life by his meritorious services to the people whom he has creditably represented. He served in the Common Council in 1878, and he was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1879, 1880, and 1881. In the year 1883 he served in the Massa- chusetts Senate. While in the Legislature he made a notable speech, all the more remarkable on account of its improvisa- tion. It was directed against the Agnostic bill, which was introduced and ably sup- ported by Col. T. W. Higginson, in 1881. Mr. McGeough brought about the defeat of the bill by a majority of thirty-three votes. As a member of the State Central Com- mittee in 1887, a district member-at-large in 1888, and a delegate from the Fourth Dis- trict to the St. Louis Convention, he dis- played excellent qualifications for political leadership. He was counsel for the steer- age passengers in their suit against the Allan Line S.S. Co. His argument on behalf of his clients was forcible, positive, logical, which is characteristic of his public speaking. He is a regular Democrat in politics.


MCKELLEGET, R. J., lawyer, born in Boston, June 27, 1856. He attended the public schools of this city, also the English High School, and graduated from the Har- vard Law School of 1878. Since his admis- sion to the bar he has been engaged in the practice of law in Boston.


MCLAUGHLIN, EDWARD A., lawyer, born in Boston, Sept. 25, 1853. He received his


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education at Boston College and at Loyola College, Baltimore, from which he graduated in 1871 with the degree of A.B. Boston Col- lege also honored him with the degree of A.M., in 1877. For the five years between 1871 and 1876 he was engaged as professor at Loyola College, Maryland, and Seton Hall College, New Jersey. Returning to Boston, he studied law in the office of ex-Governor William Gaston, and also attended the Bos- ton University Law School, where he received the degree of LL.B. He was admitted to the bar in 1877. He was elected by the com- mittee who had in charge the general statute revision of 1880, to incorporate in the Public Statutes the amendments made by said com- mittee. He was highly complimented at the time for his valuable work by the present Judge Robert R. Bishop, who was president of the Senate during that year, and also chairman of the committee. He was also one of the two persons appointed under a resolve of the Legislature to superintend the printing of the Public Statutes. Mr. Mc- Laughlin was appointed Assistant Clerk of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1878. Subsequently, upon the accession of Mr. Marden to the Speakership of the House, in 1883, he was chosen Clerk, which position he has held since. He is recognized as a gentleman of scholarly attainments, and is a very popular and efficient Clerk of the House of Representatives.


MCLAUGHLIN, JOHN D., lawyer, born in Boston, Dec. 3, 1864. He received his early educational training in the public schools of this city, and later attended Georgetown College, at which he graduated in 1883. In 1886 he graduated from the Boston Uni- versity Law School, and was admitted to the Suffolk County bar of Massachusetts in the same year.


MOORE, M. J., lawyer, born in South Bos- ton, May 20, 1864. He attended the Boston public schools, the English High School, graduated at the Boston University Law School in 1887, and was admitted to the


bar in 1888. He extended his law studies in the office of J. F. Murphy, and is now in practice for himself, with an office at South Boston. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1886, and is at present a member of the Democratic Ward and City Committee from Ward 13.


MULCHINOCK, JOHN D., law student, born in Boston, July 9, 1855. He is a graduate of the Quincy Grammar School and the English High School. He studied three years at Holy Cross College, and also at Nicolet College, Canada, receiving a diploma from the latter. He represented Ward 12 in the Legislature of 1880.


MULLIGAN, HENRY C., lawyer, born in Natick, March 6, 1854. He is a graduate of Natick High School and Harvard Col- lege, Class of '79. Mr. Mulligan, after his admission to the bar, opened an office in Boston, where he is at present engaged in the practice of the legal profession. He was a member of the Natick School Committee in 1888-89; a trustee of Morse Institute and Natick Public Library since 1885.


MURPHY, JAMES R., lawyer, born in Bos- ton, July 29, 1853. He attended the public schools, Boston College, Georgetown Col- lege, D.C., and graduated at the latter in 1872. In 1873 he received the degree of A.M. from Loyola College, Baltimore, where he was engaged for a few years as a Latin instructor, and also at Seton Hall, N.J. He received the degree of LL.B. from Boston University in June, 1876, and was admitted to the Suffolk County bar in the fol- lowing month of October. He introduced into Massachusetts the process of casting wrought iron, a valuable invention of a Swede, which is now in successful operation in foundry- work in Boston. He was one of the foun- ders of the Young Men's Catholic Associa- tion, and is at present engaged in a lucra- tive law practice in this city.


NAPHEN, HENRY F., lawyer, born in Ire- land, Aug. 14, 1852, and came to this coun-


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try with his parents when an infant. The family settled in Lowell, Mass., in 1855, where he received his early education at the public schools. After removing to Bos- ton he continued his studies under a private tutor, and entered the Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1878. Later he took a further course at Harvard University, as resident Bachelor of Laws, and finally completed his professional education at the Law School of the Boston University. In 1881 he was admitted to the Suffolk bar, and has since practised his profession in this city. In 1882 he was elected a member of the School Committee for three years, and in 1883 was appointed Bail Commis- sioner. He represented the Fifth Suffolk District in the Senate of 1885-'86-'87. During his first year in the upper branch of the Legislature he served on the committees on Probate and Chancery, Election Laws, Drainage, and chairman of Committee on Engrossed Bills. During the same year he opposed the bill for transferring divorce cases from the Supreme to the Superior Court, worked against the Metropolitan Police Bill, and introduced a measure em- powering all courts of record to grant natu- ralization. In 1886-'87 he opposed the introduction of an act that "No person hereafter naturalized in any court shall be entitled to be registered as a voter within thirty days of registration ; " and his action was sustained by the Supreme Court. He advocated the abolition of the poll-tax as a prerequisite for voting, was adverse to the divisions of Hopedale and Beverly, and took a leading and influential part in the legisla- tion concerning credibility of witnesses and the use of opinion. He is a member of the Ward 14 Democratic Committee, Charitable Irish Society, Catholic Union, Royal Society of Good Fellows, Catholic Order of Forest- ers, and was one of the original incorpora- tors of Father Roche's Working Boys' Home.


NOONAN, FRANCIS, lawyer, born in Bos- ton, June, 1860. He is a graduate of one of


the Grammar schools and also the High School of Charlestown. He was admitted to the Suffolk County bar, June 8, 1884, and has since that time been engaged in the practice of law. He was appointed a Notary Public by Governor Robinson, June 23, 1886.


NOONAN, JOHN A., lawyer, born in South Boston, August 25, 1861. He attended the public schools, graduated from the Boston Latin School, took a course at Harvard Col- lege, graduated from the Boston University Law School in 1886, and was admitted to the Suffolk County bar the same year. He later continued his legal studies in the office of Burbank & Bennett in this city, where he is at present located in active practice.


O'BRIEN, JAMES W., lawyer, born in the city of Charlestown, Mass. (now a part of Boston), May 1, 1846, where he has since resided. Charlestown was then a part of Middlesex County, and he was admitted to the bar in that county in 1867. He was a member of the Charlestown City Council in the years 1870 and 1871, serving at the same time as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Public Library. He practised law in Charlestown until its annexation to Boston in 1874, when he removed his office to the city proper. On July 6, 1883, Mr. O'Brien was nominated by Gov. Benjamin F. Butler Judge of the Charlestown District Court, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Judge G. W. Warren. In Massachusetts the ap- pointment by the governor is non-conclusive unless the appointee be confirmed by the Gov- ernor's Council. Governor Butler's Council consisted of six Republicans and one Dem- ocrat, and they refused, in Mr. 'O'Brien's case, to confirm the Governor's appointment, by a party vote of six to one. The Boston papers condemned the partisan and unfair action of the Republican members of the Council in their treatment of Mr. O'Brien, whose qualifications made him worthy of the judgeship, and their conduct in voting against his confirmation because he was a Democrat was severely criticised.


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O'LOUGHLIN, P., lawyer, born in En- nistymore, County Clare, Ireland, July 16, 1849. He came to Boston, June 5, 1864, and was educated in the public schools of this city. He worked in the furniture busi- ness several years, and obtained money enough to take a three years' course at the Boston University Law School, winning the - degree of LL.D. in 1878, and was admitted to the Suffolk County bar in 1879. He was Superintendent of St. Joseph's Sunday-school at the West End for several years, Chief Ranger of St. Joseph's Court of Catholic Foresters, and President of the Charlestown Catholic Lyceum Association.


PLUNKETT, CHRISTOPHER G., lawyer, born in Boston, Aug. 29, 1859. After the return of his father, Capt. Chris. Plunkett, from the war, his family removed to Medford, Mass. Young Plunkett was educated in the public schools of Medford, from which he gradu- ated in 1877. After graduating from the public schools of Medford he entered the Boston University Law School, from which he graduated in 1880, in the meanwhile studying in the office of Hon. John F. Colby. After completing his course in the Law School, and passing a highly satisfactory ex- amination for the Suffolk County bar on June 15, 1881, he was admitted to the Mas- sachusetts bar, upon motion of Hon. Nathan Morse. Since then he has been practising law in Boston. Mr. Plunkett has been elected by his towns-people in Medford to the office of auditor of the town, being the first descend- ant of an Irish-American ever elected to any office in the town of Medford. He has been twice nominated by the Democratic party as its candidate for Senator in the First Middle- sex District of Massachusetts, and is one of the leaders of the young Democracy of the State. On August 29, 1888, he was the orator of the day at the grand reunion of the Massachusetts Ninth Regiment, held at Oak Island, near Boston.


REYNOLDS, JOHN P., lawyer, born in Charlestown, Mass., May 30, 1859. The


public schools and Boston College founded his education, and he afterwards learned the harness-maker's trade, at which he worked for nine years, and at the same time read law. He entered the Boston University Law School, where he was graduated with the Class of 1886, and he was admitted to the Suf- folk bar in the same year. In 1883 and 1884 he was secretary of the Ward 5 committee of the Democratic Ward and City Committee. In 1884-85 he took the school and prison census. He was the assistant registrar of voters for the Charlestown Districtin 1884-'85, and served in the Legislature in 1886-'87. While in the House he served on the committees on Probate, Insolvency, and Prisons. He is President of St. Mary's Mutual Relief Society, and a member of the Ninth Regiment, M.V.M.


RILEY, THOMAS, lawyer, born in the County Cavan, Ireland, Dec. 4, 1849, and was brought from Ireland to Boston during his infancy. He was educated at the public schools, and graduated at the Harvard Law School in 1870, and received the degree of LL.B. He studied law in the office of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, and has been in active practice for eighteen years. He is a good pleader, a forcible speaker, and is noted for his tenacity to the interests of his clients. He early be- came interested in politics, and organized the Young Men's Democratic Club in 1871, was a delegate to the Baltimore Convention which nominated Horace Greeley in 1872, can- vassed Massachusetts and part of New York State for Samuel J. Tilden in 1876. In 1879-'80 and '82 he was prominent in the Butler campaigns.




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