James & Mary (Doran) Boland

BOLAND, DORAN, CLARK, DOLAN, BURKE, WHELAN, BANFIELD, KILLEEN, RYDER, ANDERSON, MINNEHAN, MCLAIN, FLYNN, CLEMENS, TWAIN, MURPHY, MCLAUGHLIN, JESSIP, SIEBOLD, VON HADEN, ZINK, HANSON

Posted By: Kathleen (Boland) Nordaune (email)
Date: 12/26/2010 at 19:21:35

Biography source: Research by Kathleen (Boland) Nordaune of the deceased descendants of James and Mary (Doran) Boland.

James and Mary (Doran) Boland, pioneer settlers of Table Mound Township, Dubuque County, IA, arrived through the port of New Orleans approx. 1847 from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, Ireland, and traveled up the Ohio River to Cincinnati approx. 1849 and resided there a few years, then arrived in Table Mound Township approx. 1854 and began farming. James died February 7, 1870. Mary died November 21, 1878.

James and Mary are buried in what was known as Key West Cemetery, now known as Mount Olivet Cemetery near the corner of and across from St. Joseph's Catholic Church on Key West Drive, Dubuque. They had 9 children as follows:

1. Thomas Boland, born approx. 1838 in Ireland, was a contractor, 1st mate, teamster, Steamboat Captain of Flying Eagle, trader and commercial merchant with Maxwell Fruit Company, he was married to a Margaret Clark December 27, 1873 and born to them were 3 children, Grace, a teacher (born Oct. 1874), Vincent, a post office clerk (born May 1876) and Teresa, a teacher (born March 1878). He died October 9, 1902 in Willow Springs, MO, and is buried in the Holy Family Cemetery near New Melleray which is near Peosta, IA.

2. William Boland, born approx. 1842 in Ireland, was a Steamboat Captain. He was married to Mary Dolan November 27, 1864 at the Cathedral in Dubuque. Born to them were Mary (Boland) Minnehan, Margaret (Boland) McLain, Maurice Boland, William Boland (wife Rene), Irene Boland, Helena (Boland) Flynn and Kathryn Boland, a post master. He died in May 7, 1891, age 49. He is buried in the old section of Mount Olivet Cemetery in the Boland family plot. His widow raised the children in Hamilton Township, Charles Mix County, South Dakota, where they homesteaded not far from the Missouri River.

3. Margaret Boland, born approx. 1844 in Ireland, was married to John Burke April 3, 1865, a ship builder/carpenter. Born to them were 5 children: Etta (Burke) Whelan, Richard J. Burke, Julia (Burke) Banfield, Margaret (Sister Mary Genevieve of the Presentation Order) and Thomas. She died in 1920, the same year as her husband. John Burke died January 1920.

4. Helen/Ellen Mary Boland, was born July 14, 1847, in New Orleans, and was married to Captain John F. Killeen, June 9, 1868, who became the general superintendent and later the vice president of the Diamond Jo Line of steamboats. Born to them were: Thomas E. Killeen, Maurice M. Killeen, Anna Liza (Killeen) Ryder (John Ryder, State Legislator), Dr. Mary C. Killeen, Teacher Katherine M. Killeen, and Nurse Florence F. Killeen. Helen Mary died April 14, 1926. They were part owners of 504 Bluff Street, which is presently known as the Redstone Inn Bed and Breakfast.

5. James P. Boland, born approx. 1851 in Ohio, was a steamboat Captain. He was divorced from Katie McNamara. Born to them was J. M. Boland, a lawyer. J. M. Boland died before his parents. James P. died February 8, 1930 and is buried in the old section of Mount Olivet Cemetery in the Boland family plot.

6. Maurice/Morris Boland, born in Ohio approx. 1853, died May 29, 1875, age 22, in Dubuque and is buried in the old section of Mount Olivet Cemetery in the Boland family plot.

7. Mariah/Marie Boland, born in Ohio approx. 1854, died as a teenager in Dubuque. It uncertain that she is buried in the Boland family plot, but it is assumed she is.

8. John Edmund Boland, born 1856 in Dubuque County, Table Mound Township, was a Steamboat Captain. As a young man, and with his older brother Thomas, he traveled the coast of South America employed by the Maxwell Fruit Company in the commercial fruit trade. Also as a young man he was a cabin boy on the steamboat the Natchez and became acquainted with Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). He was employed as a deck hand with Captain Grant Marsh on June 15, 1876, on the steamboat the Far West at the mouth of the Little Big Horn. After the subsequent conflicts that followed Custer's Last Stand he assisted in taking the casualties to Fort Lincoln which was 1,200 miles away. During his service on the Far West he also made acquaintance with Buffalo Bill Cody who served as a private Indian scout. He is written about in the South Dakota Historical Collections, compiled by the State Historical Society, Volume XXIII, 1947. He staked a claim in Charles Mix County, South Dakota, in approximately 1882 and had the claim perfected after South Dakota became a state in 1890. He was married to Mary E. Anderson, originally of the Dubuque area, and born to them were: James F. Boland, 1883-1969 approx. (wife May Murphy from an orphanage in Chicago), John (Jack) E. Boland, 1886-1955 (wife Birdie Esther McLauglin), Marie Louise "Mayme" Boland, born 1888 (who died in the 1918 flu epidemic), William Joseph Boland, 1890-1975 (wife Lilly Harriet Jessip, Carpenter, whose parents were itinerant sharecroppers, with the home base of Atchison, KS), Charles S. Boland, 1892-1967 approx. (wife Frances Siebold, Von Haden, raised near Kilbourn City, WS, now known as the Wisconsin Dells) , Vincent D. Boland, 1897-1968 (wife Agnes E. Zink originally of Minnesota), and Kathryn G. (Boland), 1898-1972 wife of Joseph Mervin Hanson. John Edmund Boland died April 22, 1943, in Sioux Falls, SD, and is buried in St. Peter's Catholic Cemetery in Platte, SD.

9. Katie Boland, born 1858 in Dubuque, Table Mound Township, died as a teenager, age 17, in Dubuque on October 21, 1875 and is buried in the Boland family plot in the old section of Mount Olivet Cemetery.