Mary (GALLAGHER) DOUGHERTY

GALLAGHER, DOUGHERTY, WADE, MCCONLOGUE, ORIELLY

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 4/3/2011 at 10:49:20

Obituary ~ Mary (Gallagher) Dougherty
March 1, 1829 - January 7, 1916

The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
January, 1916

Mary GALLAGHER was born of Patrick and Mary GALLAGHER, in Clooncarney, Parish of Conwall, Trenta, county Donegal, Ireland, March 1, 1829. May 10, 1848, she was united in marriage with Daniel DOUGHERTY of her own townland in Ireland, and for sixty-four years these two traveled side by side over life's pathway, bearing each other's sorrows and joys.

Mr. DOUGHERTY was called away in death March 26, 1911.

In 1852 they came to America and lived at Norristown, Pa., until 1856, at which time they came to Iowa, locating in Clayton county. In 1863 they moved to Cerro Gordo county and settled upon the farm, the place that has been their home through all these years and where the dear woman closed her eyes in the last long sleep.

Of her sixteen children, the following survive: Hugh, Minot, N.D.; Charles, Daniel, James, John, Bernard, Margaret, and Teresa (sic, should be Theresa), Dougherty, Iowa; Mrs. John F. [Mary] WADE, Des Moines, Iowa; Joseph, who has charge of the express business on the Great Northern Railroad at Willistown, N.D.; and Reverend E. J. DOUGHERTY, Pastor of Holy Family Church, Mason City, Iowa.

~ ~ ~ ~
The World
Dougherty, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
January, 1916

A WELL DESERVED TRIBUTE TO MRS. MARY DOUGHERTY

WIFE OF THE LATE HON. DANIEL DOUGHERTY - A GREAT WOMAN, A MOTHER WHO COULD NOT BE EXCELLED - A WIFE TRUE AND NOBLE - THE QUEEN OF THE HOME - HER HOSPITALITY AND CHARITY UNLIMITED -
THE FRAGRANCE OF HER SAINTLY LIFE WILL
FOR GENERATIONS BE HELPFUL TO THOSE WHO LIVED WITH HER.

(By J. H. McCONLOGUE)

In the County Donagal, Ireland, in March, 1829, Mrs. DOUGHERTY first saw the light of day. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Patrick GALLAGHER, were descendants of a long line of the purest and best of an Irish ancestry. It was in this good Irish home she learned the teachings of her Master and learned the cruelty heaped upon her own people by the heartless laws of the English government and through that learned the sorrows and griefs that come to indiviual mankind because of "Man's inhumanity to man."

In May, 1848, she was married to Hon. Daniel DOUGHERTY, a native of the same townland in Ireland, who was about her own age and together this young couple with noble devotion to each other, journeyed over all these years until March 24, 1911, when her companion answered the summons to go to his long home.

In the year 1851 Mr. and Mrs. DOUGHERTY came to American, taking up their residence in Philadelphia, Pa., where they first made a home. Mr. DOUGHERTY, alive to the demands of a young husband and father to make a home, sought the West for his future efforts. With native widsom he saw the possibities of the growing West and as a further proof of his natural shrewdness he chose Iowa as the place where his activities would develop into realities which would perpetuate his name for many generations.

In the year 1856, Mr. DOUGHERTY visited Cerro Gordo county and entered upon land which yet forms a part of the old homestead. A few years following this event, Mr. and Mrs. DOUGHERTY, with their four children, came to Clayton county, Iowa, where they lived until the spring of 1863, when the young couple settled upon the land which had been entered as above stated in the year 1856, and in this neighborhood they have since lived and maintained a home which has always been a mecca towards which the sojourner wended his way and the wanderer found rest as well as the neighbor and friend found unstinted hospitality.

Trying, indeed, were the years following the settlement of this couple in Cerro Gordo county. We can remember how the whole nation was stirred and threatened with ruin by reason of the civil war which rent homes as well as localities and in this year particularly apprehension was great that the union of our states might be dissolved.

It is not my purpose to exalt this good woman for the material work she did, which was splendid in every way, but to other pens more capable than mine, I would pass that part of the story of her life.

It is rather of her Christian character I would speak. She was ever humble, she was ever gentle and kind, she was ever hospitable, she was always a mother to the young man and to the young woman and would go the limit in order that they might be happy. Her advice was as earnestly and sincerely given to those who were not of her own family as though given to her own children. She had no disposition to excel in wordly affairs. She was modesty and humility personified.

She sought no distinction for her efforts, nor would she tolerate a dominion beyond the scope of her home. She sought no finery, but was queen of her home and her children were her jewels. For her friends and her neighbors she willingly toiled and was ever solicitous of their happiness and comfort.

There are two stations in life that woman alone can fill. The Creator wisely decreed that woman and woman alone should fill the place of wife and mother. No woman ever filled these two important stations more grandly, more humbly and more loyally than did Mrs. DOUGHERTY. Mother of sixteen children and wife to one man for four and sixty years, comfirms the statement I herein make, and tells a story sweet, to down the years will go to other generations when the writer shall have been forgotten.

The true husband knows the value of a good wife. He knows how she can support him in his struggles. He knows her greetings will bring to him comfort, that ever surrounding him with the sweetness of a concering substanital confidence she is a real helpmate; ever proud of the one she can depend upon for strength and support; ever coming to his aid at the crucial and trying moment with suggestions and advice that amount to a marvelous intuition of which he himself is deprived; ever comforting and encouraging him in his struggles and aiding him by that confidence and wifely consideraiton which aid in escaping disappointments.

All of these great obligations Mrs. DOUGERTY performed in a wonderfully superb manner. She was in fact a real wife and a real helpmate to a deserving husband.

Oh what can I say of her as a mother? She was indeed an ideal mother. A true mother to her own large family and to the young community where she was so long recognized she filled the place so well that they now call her blessed. Oh mother! How dear to our hearts is mother! How the mind seems to stand and refuse to move as the thought of mother and mother's doings crowd in upon us. Mother! Ever the friend, ever solicitous, ever devoted. When all others have deserted us, a mother's confidence and friendship only commences. The first at the cross of our lives and the last at the grave of our woes. The one who bore us, and the one who with modest watchfulness, ever guards our footsteps, not only in youthful days, but in grown manhood and womanhood. The one who grieves for us when all others perhaps rejoice at our discomfiture. The one who prayed for her children when others scoffed at their efforts. All these and even more can be truthfully spoiken of the good woman who has gone to rest and as a memento of her goodness as a mother, this humble tribute I lay on her bier.

All I have said is supported by the wonderful physical tribute paid her in her last sickness and at the final obsequies paid to her memory by friends and acquaintances who came hundreds of miles to prove their appreciation of the grand life she had lived.

Tenderly, and with a tinge of joy, six noble sons did on last Monday, January 10, 1916, carry the casket containing the mortal reamins of their saintly mother, Mrs. Mary DOUGERTY, of Dougherty, Iowa, from her home to St. Patrick's church across the street where solemn high mass was sung for her by her son, Rev. E. J. DOUGHERTY, and where other impressive ceremonies which the Catholic church in her devotion to her faithful departes is ever ready to bestow, were held.

From the church to the grave she was borne and gently placed along side of her late husband, Hon. Daniel DOUGHERTY, with whom she toiled and shared the joys and sorrows of four and sixty years, and to whom she was ever faithful, there to rest until a reunion which shall be eternal will have taken place.

Did I say there was a joy on the part of her children in performing the last ministrations to a devoted mother? And why not Joy? Their mother had been granted nigh to eighty-seven years to do the work God had assigned her. She did that work well and her task was finished. The Master she served so long knew that she needed the rest and called her to the home which He had prepared for His faithful children.

The children and grandchildren who stood around her bed as life was ebbing away and saw her pass into a beautiful sleep of a future existence, knew the great work she had done, not only for them, but for all whom she knew needed comfort and succor. They knew the blessed heritage which was theirs and which she bequeathed to them. They felt the sweet aroma of her life as Heaven's gates stood ajar to receive her. Their love for her and their recognition of her great work made their joy assert itself amid the most solemn ministrations which come to us all in the final bestowal of affection upon those whom we love and treasure. She was borne by her children from the home over which she had so gently and yet so grandly presided for eight and sixty years; borne away from the neighbors and friends of over fifty years' duration who saw in her the best of life's qualities; borne away from the community where she had lived and labored for nigh until fifty-five years; borne from those surroundings to be laid in the grave over which she once saw the wild flowers bloom; her last resting place to be in the soil on which she and her husband and children had walked before the time when men did destroy its virgin state.

~ ~ ~ ~

clipping from unknown source
January, 1916

A VALIANT WOMAN IS CALLED TO HER ETERNAL HOME
A SAINTLY MOTHER PASSES AWAY In DEATH AT AGE OF 87 YEARS

Mrs. Daniel DOUGHERTY, Dougherty, Ia., passed away in death on Jan. 7, 1916, in her 87th year. She had been ill during the past four weeks, but only since Dec. 26, did her illness become serious. Her last effort outside the home was her attendance at the three Masses on Christmas day, and the Mass on the following Sunday, and her reception of the Blessed Eucharist in holy communion on both occasions. Her death was calm and peaceful, a fitting end of a saintly life. With the names of Jesus, Mary and Joseph upon her lips, accompanied and strengthened by the graces of the last sacraments of the Church in which she had lived from infancy, her soul went forth to God. Of her sixteen children, eleven yet surviving, with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, knelt at her bedside. At the suggestion of her pastor, Rev. P. D. O'REILLY, she blessed them all in the name of the Blessed Trinity, the closing act of her 87 years.

Obituary

Mary GALLAGHER was born of Patrick and Mary GALLAGHER, in Clooncarney, Parish of Conwall, Trenta, County Donegal, Ireland, March 1st, 1829. May 10, 1848, she was united in marriage with Daniel DOUGHERTY of her own townland in Ireland, and 64 years these two traveled side by side over life's pathway, bearing each other's burdens and sharing each other's sorrows and joys. Mr. DOUGHERTY was called away in death March 26, 1911.

In 1852 they came to America and lived at Norristown, Pa., until 1856, at which time they came to Iowa, locating in Clayton county. In 1863 they moved to Cerro Gordo county and settled upon the farm where the dear woman closed her eyes in the last long sleep - the place that has been her home through all these years. Of her sixteen children, eleven are yet living. They are Hugh of Minot, N.D., Charles, Daniel, James, John, Bernard, Margaret and Teresa (sic, should be Theresa), Dougherty, Ia.; Mrs. John F. [Mary] WADE, Des Moines, Ia.; Joseph, who has charge of the express business on the Great Northern Railroad at Willistown, N.D.; and Reverend E. J. DOUGHERTY, Pastor of Holy Family Church, Mason City, Iowa.

. . . . remainder of clipping is missing. . . .

~ ~ ~ ~

clipping from unknown source
January, 1916

MRS. DANIEL DOUGHERTY CALLED

A wide circle of friends of Mrs. Daniel DOUGHERTY, both in Dougherty and in the county of Cerro Gordo, were saddened to hear of her death at her home in the east part of town Friday morning [January 7, 1916] at 10:30 o'clock, after an illness of two weeks duration. Her death was due to the breaking down of old age.

WONDERFUL CHARACTER

She was the mother of sixteen children and one of the most wonderful characters this county has ever known. Coming with her husband to this country in 1863, they located here, on the farm which has always been the home place, and where she closed her eyes in her last long sleep. Her life has been so intermingled with the large and distinguished family, that she gave to humanity, and she was such an inspiration to her husband, who was one of the most forceful characters of this county, that it would be impossible to place an estimate upon her sphere of usefulness and the far-reaching influence of her life on the great field of human endeavor and beyond its confines.

A most gracious woman of the sweetest personality and the most abundant kindness of heart, she lavished her affections freely upon her family and upon her neighbors and friends, so that she was greatly endeared to the practically all the older families and citizens of this county. Her life was not without its trials and afflictions, but her fortitude of character and her sunshine of soul conquered every obstacle and accomplished every one of her endeavers.

Obituary.

Mary GALLAGHER, the daughter of Patrick and Mary GALLAGHER, was born in Glenswrily, County Donegal, Ireland, March 1, 1829. On May 10th [1848] she married Daniel DOUGHERTY of beloved memory, in the old country, and two children were born before their venture across the seas to their adopted land of liberty. Hugh, the older of the two, still survives, but Allan, the second, died in infancy.

Coming to America in 1852, they located for a time at Norristown, a suburb of Philadelphia, where the husband and father pursued his avocation as a foreman in a foundry at that place. In 1856 the pioneer spirit took hold of them and they turned their faces westward, coming first to Clayton county, near Monoan, and in 1863, again going west, they located here on the farm where the dear woman passed away Friday [January 7, 1916] morning and which had been her home through all these years.

Of the sixteen children, of which she was a fond and devoted mother, eleven still survive. They are: Hugh of Minot, N. Dak.; Charles, James, Daniel, Bernard and John who live here; Joseph, who has charge of the express business on the Great Narthen (sic) at Williston, N. Dak.; Rev. Father E. J. DOUGHERTY, pastor of the Holy Family church of Mason City; and Mrs. John [Mary] WADE of Des Moines; and Margaret and Theresa of this place.

The funeral services were held Monday morning at 10 o'clock from the house to St. Patrick's church, conducted by Rev. Father DOUGHERTY, followed by a large concourse of relatives and friends of the deceased, and the remains were laid to rest in St. Patrick's Cemetery. The bereaved family have the sympathy of the entire community.

Transcriptions by Sharon R. Becker, April of 2011

Cerro Gordo Obituaries maintained by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen