USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Catholicity in northern Ohio and in the diocese of Cleveland from 1749 to December 31, 1900, Volume II, pt1 > Part 13
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
There were five sons in the Deasy family, three of whom were soldiers of the Union. Besides Timothy H., Patrick went to the front and returned at the close of the war, but Cornelius died the death of a patriot in Andersonville prison. The other two sons were James and Daniel. The latter died when a youth. One daughter, Mary, passed away early in life, the other, Margaret, lives with her stepfather, Mr. James Kent, in South Cleveland. During the war the family removed to Cleveland, and thither Corporal Deasy went after his honorable discharge from the army, at Chattanooga, Tennessee. July 25, 1864. He has since remained a citizen of that city.
In 1866, Mr. Timothy H. Deasy was married (by Father Daudet) in Holy Rosary Church. Cleveland, to Miss Mary Bambrick, a sensible and promising young lady, whose early training and virtues are evidenced in her wifehood and mother- hood. To their happy union have been born nine children, one of whom, a boy, died in infancy. Mary, who for years has been the organist of Holy Name Church, became the wife of Mr. Hugh Shannon, of Cleveland; Cornelius J., the second oldest, is unmarried; Sadie I. is the wife of Mr. John M. Mulrooney, president of the Marine Review Publishing Company, of Cleveland ; Margaret, who is married to Mr. Charles A. Patterson, of the Patterson Foundry Company, of Cleveland; Catherine, who
1
MR. TIMOTHY H. DEASY
125
-
IN NORTHERN OHIO.
is unmarried and aids her father in conducting the South Cleve- land post office; Helen, who is a teacher in the public schools; James, who is connected with the J. B. Savage publishing house, and Edward, who holds a position under his father in the post office. Each has been given a good education, the girls all receiving a convent training. The intellectual and domestic training of the Deasy family is creditable to their parents.
In person, as may be gathered from his portrait, Corporal Timothy H. Deasy is a fine appearing, well preserved man. He is positive and decided in character, as becomes a soldier who fought in seventeen battles and in as many more engagements, bravely doing and daring much in the war for the Union. Among the bat- tles in which he participated might be mentioned Mission Ridge, Shiloh, Stone River, Chickamauga, Siege of Chattanooga, etc. He is quite companionable, and in his home life and social relations is both genial and entertaining. Few men, considering his advan- tages, are better informed than is he. His information, character and record have made him prominent, and his public spirit occa- sions his being requisitioned to direct and shape both public and local affairs in his vicinity.
In political matters he is a strict partisan only when his sense of patriotism and his idea of the public good call into activity the intensity of his nature. Once he is convinced that a certain course is right, he not only regards the matter as beyond debate, but he holds it to be his bounden duty to walk in that way, no matter at what cost, or who opposes. Fortunately he is generally sure he is right before he moves, and, therefore, his mistakes, like his regrets, are few. This implies both excellent judgment, great forcefulness, and decision of character.
Corporal Deasy is a man of courage, both physical and moral. In religion he is more sincerely practical than pious. He may look backward since his honorable career invites retrospection ; he looks forward in obedience to his sanguine temperament; but he never fails to look upward through his Catholic faith. In these respects he is the prototype of his late admiring friend, Gen. W. S. Rosecrans, under whom he fought for the unity of his country.
126
A HISTORY OF CATHOLICITY
THE REV. MICHAEL DECHANT.
The year of the establishment of the Diocese of Cleveland, 1347, Joseph and Eva (Klingshirn) Dechant, with their family. emigrated from Bavaria to this country and settled on a farm in the township of Avon, in Lorain county, Ohio. Their household con- sisted of themselves and nine children, the fourth-born of whom is now the devoted pastor of St. Mary's Church, at Millersville, Sandusky county, Ohio, and the subject of these lines.
He was born June 23, 1832, and made some of his preparatory studies in Bavaria, where he lived until his fifteenth year. In preparation for carrying out in this country his resolve to become a priest, he studied for a time under the Fathers of the Sanguinist Order at their institution in Mercer county, Ohio, and later privately with secular priests of the Diocese of Cleveland, among whom was the late Father Hackspiel, of Randolph, Portage county, who was young Dechant's long-time professor.
In 1860, he was pretty well advanced in his studies, at least so thought his friends. Accordingly, he offered himself to the diocesan authorities for examination looking to his fitness for taking up his ecclesiastical studies. He was successful. He was thereupon admitted to St. Mary's Theological Seminary, Cleve- land, and after a course of three years in philosophy and theology he was ordained priest by Bishop Rappe, June 28, 1863.
Father Dechant's first appointment was as pastor of St. Michael's Church, Findlay, Ohio, where he labored enthusiastically from July 17, 1863, until June 1, 1867. Ile was then transferred to take charge of the Church of St. Clement, at Navarre, which place was then known as Bethlehem. He ministered to the Catholics there during more than four years, or until August, 1871, when he was placed in charge of St. Peter's Church, Norwalk. What is now the Church of St. Paul in that city was attached to St. Peter's as a mission. He attended both for one year, when he was relieved of the former, becoming thereby the first resident pastor of the latter. He purchased the site of the present St. Paul's Church, and remained in charge during twelve months. December, 1873, he was commissioned as pastor of St. Alphonsus" Church, at Peru, in Huron county. He remained there fourteen years and
THE REV. MICHAEL DECHANT
127
IN NORTHERN OHIO.
two months. He built two school houses for the congregation, one of them being distant four miles from the church. Every Wednesday he said Mass there for the accommodation of the people of that locality.
Jannary 5, 1888, he was appointed to his present charge as pastor of St. Mary's Church, Millersville, Sandusky county. During his pastorate there, which has now (December. 1900) continued for over twelve years, he has been active in the interests of his people, both spiritually and temporally. He frescoed the church, furnished it with new pews and altars, and also placed therein the hot-water system of heating. In 1892, he built the mission church at Kansas, in Seneca county, and, in 1893, he established the church at Gibsonburg, in Sandusky county. From that date until 1897 he performed double service each Sunday, saying Mass and preaching both at Millersville and at one or the other of the missions at Gibsonburg, Kansas, or Bettsville. He never missed a Sunday service, when in health, during the past thirty-seven years, and he never took a vacation since he became a priest.
Father Dechant, when he came to Millersville, in 1888, found, to his astonishment, that the children of the parish, with few excep- tions, could neither read the catechism in English nor say their prayers in that language. After some difficulty, he changed these conditions, radically changed them, for today he preaches in English each alternate Sunday and Holyday.
The pastor of St. Mary's is now in his sixty-ninth year. He is a man of philosophical turn of mind, of few words, and quiet, easy manner. These characteristics may be attributed as much to his phlegmatic temperament as to his training and long years of experience. His natural and acquired habits of silence, thought- fulness, and deliberation have not only precluded precipitancy of action and speech, but have been the evidences of his appreciation of the aphorisms, "Make haste slowly." "Silence is golden.", Since his ordination, he has worked hard on the mission, at times plodding his weary way along the humbler path which he considered best in keeping with his abilities and the needs of those among whom he found himself called to labor.
128
A HISTORY OF CATHOLICITY
MR. JOSEPH DICK.
Mr. Joseph Dick, of Canton, Ohio, founder and proprietor of Dick's Agricultural Works, is the oldest of a numerous family born to the late Joseph and Mary Ann (Messmer) Dick, of Stark county, Ohio. The elder Dick was twenty-seven years old when he emigrated from Alsace, and, in 1836, located in Stark county. Ohio. His wife was a native of Baden.
Joseph Dick II was born on his father's farm, about seven miles from Canton, Ohio. May 28, 1840. His early schooling con- sisted of only four months in the year, and to enjoy the advantage of a catechetical training he had to journey seven miles. When he was seventeen he began to learn the art of making models for inventors in Canton.' He pursued this calling until 1861, when he found employment in his line in an agricultural implement works, also in that city. He continued there for two years, and then went back to help his father on the farm. After a stay of eight months (1863) he started out in his twenty-third year to make a living for himself. He drifted into Canada and found employment in a large agricultural works in Ontario, where he industriously applied himself as a skilled mechanic and as more than a novice in invent- ing, designing, and drafting. He remained there, despite much local opposition and intrigue, for eleven years, or until the factory. through business collapse, closed its doors, in 1874.
In 1866, he was married there to Miss Rosanna McKittrick, a native of Rochester, New York. She had enjoyed early educa- tional advantages and was more than a mere amateur in the field of art. In domestic affairs, too, she had not been without instruction, as her home life has since given the proof. Three sons and three daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Dick. Their names are as follows, in the order of birth: Emma, now Mrs. George Murray. of Canton; William J., who is with a large manufacturing estab- lishment in Pennsylvania: Charles F., Francis J., Agnes T., and Laura L. Dick. .
In 1874, Mr. Dick and family returned to Canton, where, in a very limited way, he began what has since developed into Dick's Agricultural Works, wherein on a large scale are manufactured Dick's Patent Truck and Sack Holder, Dick's Famous Patent Feed and Ensilage Cutting Machinery, and other products of his
-------
MR. JOSEPH DICK
129
IN NORTHERN OHIO.
invention. In the early days of this enterprise the annual output did not exceed $1,500, but by perseverance and honest work it grew until today (1900) a large number of hands are constantly employed, some of them having a record of twenty-two years in the factory, and an annual business of over $100.000 is done. Mr. Dick is the inventor of all his own machinery. He is up with the times and abreast of the best in the land. Even combined capital has not been able to undo him or supplant in the market the product of his inventive genius. From a small room, 25 x 10 feet, which sufficed for his works in the beginning, the business has increased until 40,000 square feet of floor room are now required.
The character and rating of Mr. Joseph Dick are high. He is strictly honest, faithful, and of unquestioned integrity. He has from childhood been a devoted member of the Catholic Church. Even when in the hotbed of Orangeism in Canada he quietly but persistently maintained himself both socially and religiously. St. John's Church, Canton, is indebted to his munificence for a beautiful marble altar, and also for a constancy in liberally con- tributing to the support of religion and education.
He stands well in the estimation of his fellow citizens. He is a member of the Canton Board of Trade, and is vice-president of the Canton Savings and Loan Banking Company. Notwithstand- ing his pronounced views in favor of Christian education-the school inseparable from the Church-he has, for six years, been an elected member of the Canton School Board. To the intelligent the religion of Catholics is not a hindrance but a help to the development of those qualities which make good citizens. Joseph Dick's record and career have been such as to emphasize this fact. What excellences are his by nature have been strengthened and ennobled by his religion. His neighbors know this, and as a result they respect both him and his faith. When such is the case in Canton there can be no ground for the opposite elsewhere except it be in the individual himself.
If it were not foreign to the scope of this sketch, a more complete pen picture of Mr. Dick would fit in here. Instead let it be simply said that his temperament is even, his manner agree- able and modest, his intellect of a high order, and his family, abiding in one of the finest homes in Canton, is fit to be copied after by all who aim in the direction of the ideal Christian home.
VOL. II
130
A HISTORY OF CATHOLICITY
THE HON. MICHAEL DONNELLY.
The judge of the Common Pleas Court of the third judicial district of Ohio is the Hon. Michael Donnelly, of Napoleon. He was born August 18, 1856, on a farm in Henry county, of which county his adopted city is the seat of justice.
More than half a century ago his parents, Peter and Alice (O'IIearn) Donnelly, natives of Ireland, began their married life in that part of Ohio. Peter Donnelly was then a laborer employed in building the Wabash and Erie Canal through that section. With the first hundred dollars he was able to save he purchased from the Government the eighty-acre farm on which he subsequently made his home and reared his family. Besides the subject of this sketch two other members of the family, James and Peter, are practicing physicians in Toledo, Ohio.
Judge Donnelly as a boy and later as a youth aided his father in clearing and cultivating the land, and in providing for the family. His primary education was obtained in the township school, and later he himself became a teacher in the county, which vocation he followed for several winters. Aiming at a higher education than was then within his reach, he concluded to bestir himself in the way of providing funds to pay his way in college. Accordingly he sought and obtained work in a neighboring stone quarry. After toiling all day he would work with the night-gang until midnight, thereby earning double wages. His pay-envelope he would deliver unopened each week to his mother, who was the treasurer of the family. With the money thus carned and saved to pay his way he entered the Normal University, at Lebanon. Ohio, where, after a four years' course, he graduated, in 1878, when he was in his twenty-second year.
The profession of the law carly attracted him, and, having been offered an opportunity of preparing himself for that calling, he accepted, and entered the law office of the Hon. Justin H. Tyler, of Napoleon, to prosecute his studies. With his usual energy and determination he labored day and night, evidencing on all occasions not only his intellectual aptitude but also his loyalty to the interests of his admiring preceptor and friend. These qualities were later appreciated and fully requited by Mr.
HON. MICHAEL DONNELLY
131
IN NORTHERN OHIO.
Tyler; for, a short time after young Donnelly had presented him- self for examination before the judges of the Supreme Court, at Columbus, in December, 1880, when he was admitted to the bar, his kind preceptor took him into partnership. This Mr. Tyler himself proposed, even at a time when the preferment was sought by many-a fact which was creditable both to himself and to his promising young partner.
Judge Donnelly continued as the junior member of the firm until 1887, when, as a representative member of the Democratic party, he was elected to the office of Probate Judge of Henry county. He ably and faithfully discharged the duties of the office for the full term of three years. His administration was unquali- fiedly endorsed by the taxpayers, and the people demanded that he serve them for a second term. He consented to again stand for the position, and he was triumphantly re-elected. His six years as Probate Judge he followed by five years of close attention to his growing practice and his multiplying business interests. Then, in 1898, he was elected to the Common Pleas Bench, which honorable position he fills to the satisfaction of the bar and the public. He is well fitted by nature and training. for the judicial office, a fact which, since this work was in press, was recognized by his being nominated by the Democratic party for the office of judge of the Supreme Court.
Being a man of affairs, to whom the tangible always appeals. Judge Donnelly has grown in prominence and business importance not alone in his city and county but also in northwestern Ohio. He has always been to the fore when public interests demanded that he act. He took an active part in bringing the Lima Northern Railroad, now the Detroit Southern, to touch at Napoleon, and when others failed in the accomplishment of the project he took it up, in 1895-'96, and carried it through success- fully. As the owner of three thousand acres of the best land in his native county, he attests his faith in the soil, and he evidences through his success in handling realties and equities his apprecia- tion of the tangible sources of wealth. He is the principal owner of the Citizens' Bank, which is the strongest and oldest financial institution in his city and county. Among his possessions also is his interest in the Home Telephone Company, of Napoleon and
132
A HISTORY OF CATHOLICITY
Henry county, of which company he is president. His latest enter- prise is his connection with the Anchor Fire Insurance Company, of Cincinnati, Ohio, of which company he is likewise president.
Judge Donnelly is a strong, self-made man, who is among the most prominent in his section of the state. While retiring and modest he is nevertheless recognized as in the front rank of the notable Catholic laymen of Ohio. As an American of Irish extrac- tion it has never appeared to him that his rights of conscience are his to exercise through mere sufferance. While he never obtrudes his religion, and never questions that of others, he can see no reason why his Catholicity should be a bar to him in any legal or laudable undertaking. He has no apologies to offer in this respect, and no criticisms to make of others. He conscien- tiously performs his duties, not only as a citizen and a Christian member of his community, but also in his official station as judge. He hews close to the line of duty regardless of men, and as a result the people respect both him and his religion, and esteem him as among the most reputable citizens of northwestern Ohio.
July 5, 1887, Judge Donnelly was married to Miss Grace, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Matthew McGurk, of Sandusky, Ohio. A family of seven has been born to them. Their names are: Grace, Ulalia, Cyril, Gerald, Justin, and Edwin. The third oldest, Irene, passed away in April, 1890.
THE REV. PATRICK C. N. DWYER.
The Rev. Father Dwyer, pastor of the Immaculate Concep- tion Church, Grafton, Ohio,* was born near Listowel, county of Kerry, Ireland, June 2, 1858. He was orphaned by the death of his mother, Johanna (Carroll) Dwyer, when he was five years of age, and by that of his father, Daniel Dwyer, when he was in his thirteenth year.
With an older sister he emigrated to this country, in - 1872, making his home at Bay City in the State of Michigan. Being an industrious, energetic lad, he soon found employment, and in less than one year he had his earnings invested in real estate. His
*Since this work has been in press the Rev. Patrick C. N. Dwyer was appointed, July 14, 1901, pastor of the Church of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Warren.
-
-
THE REV. PATRICK C. N. DWYER
1
133
IN NORTHERN OHIO.
investments proving most fortunate he doubled his money and continued to work. He was so successful as to be able to pay his way through college, and even when ordained he yet owned some of the property he earned when a boy.
In 1874, while living for a time in the city of Chicago, and before he began his studies for the Church, among other notables he formed the acquaintance of the wife of the late lamented Presi- dent of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Mrs. Lincoln greatly admired Mr. Dwyer's qualities, and esteeming him as the peer of a large class of excellent young Catholic men, gave him, unsought, a letter of recommendation, which is in part as follows :
"Chicago, Ill., September 28th, 1874.
This note is to certify that Patrick Dwyer is an industrious, intelligent, conscientious young man.
MRS. A. LINCOLN.".
He then began his classical studies, which he completed at Assumption College, Sandwich, Canada. His theological course he made in St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, Maryland, and in St. Thomas' Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota, where he was ordained by Bishop Ireland, June 18, 1886. He labored more than three years in the Diocese of St. Paul proper, when its division, by the erection of the See of Winona, placed him in the new diocese, presided over by Bishop Cotter. He remained there until 1895, making nine years in both dioceses, during which time he made a record that does not often fall to the lot of a priest. He paid off the debts on eight churches, built one, and completed two others.
Indulging his business talent as an investor in real estate he amassed property to the value of $10,000, including what he had when ordained, all of which he donated to paying the debt on St. John's Hospital and Asylum, an institution distant 150 miles from his parish, and for which he was agent, without accepting any remuneration, at a time when he was charged with the labor of attending to four churches. For this munificence he received a glowing letter of thanks from Bishop Cotter, the closing words of which are these :
.
"I thank you most gratefully and joyfully for myself and for our beloved clergy and laity. May generations of God's children
V
134
A HISTORY OF CATHOLICITY
rise up in this His vineyard and bless your name and call you great amongst the chosen and worthy pioncers of this diocese.
"Devotedly and gratefully yours in Christ,
*JOSEPH B. COTTER,
Bishop of Winona."
His multiplied efforts in behalf of religion and education, and the exposure incident to his calling, together with the severity of the climate, so impaired his health that he was forced to comply with the persistent advice of his physician to seek another field of labor. With mutual regrets Bishop Cotter and Father Dwyer parted company.
After a short period of rest he was received into the Diocese of Cleveland the same year. He was at once commissioned as assistant at the Cleveland Cathedral, where he remained from September, 1895, until the same month the following year, when he was appointed temporary pastor of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Toledo, Ohio, during the enforced absence, through illness, of the pastor, the late Father Barry. He labored there three months, in which time he paid off more than $1,500 of the debt on the church.
Following his labors in Toledo, he was appointed temporary pastor of St. Mary's Church, Clyde, Ohio, where he also paid off $1,000 of the debt without having recourse to the agency of either fair, subscription, or assessment. January 11, 1898, he received his appointment as pastor of the Immaculate Conception Church, Grafton, and in a little over two years he freed it from its debt of over $3,000.
Rev. P. C. N. Dwyer is a nervy, energetic man of wonderful endurance, considering his delicate constitution. He possesses indomitable perseverance, and has an accurate knowledge of men and business which he puts to good uses. This knowledge he had before he became a priest, and it has been his stay in many trying circumstances on the mission.
In the foreground of the portraiture of his character is seen the ecclesiastic, in the background the man of business. Over fourteen years ago he forsook the latter for the former calling, and now uses his knowledge of the world only as an aid in his spiritual work. The labors he has performed and the success that has attended his efforts characterize him as a priest worthy of religion, his Bishop and the Diocese of Cleveland.
3
MR. PETER R. FAHEY
-
185
IN NORTHERN OHIO.
MR. PETER R. FAHEY.
Those are reckoned more than provincials whose intellect and views are broad, whose judgments are generously and universally just, and who are equal to impressing themselves on the times and the localities in which they live. Mr. Peter R. Fahey is of this type of men. He has been a resident of the city of Cleveland only since 1889, but so active is his bright mentality, so earnest and intense is his life as a Catholic and a citizen, and so capable is he. both professionally and socially, of living a long time in any place in a few years, that he is entitled to take rank among the oldest and best laymen who are biographically mentioned in this volume.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.