Thomas Dority

DORITY, STEPHENS, FINDLEY, POWERS

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 11/11/2011 at 10:08:35

THOMAS DORITY. A foremost place among the agriculturists of Fairfield Township, Grundy County, must be accorded to the subject of this sketch, who owns and occupies a fine farm on section 17, which comprises three hundred and forty acres. For this loyalty, his painstaking efforts to build up his fortune, and for the good principles which have governed his life, he is justly respected by all who know him.

A native of St. Lawrence County, N. Y., our subject was born March 11, 1836, and is the son of Terence and Elizabeth (Stephens) Dority, natives of Ireland. The father received his education in his native land, and after his marriage emigrated to the United States and became one of the first settlers in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., where he operated a farm. In 1867 he came to Iowa, and in company with our subject located on a farm where the latter now lives. With is good wife he was a member of the Catholic Church, and died at the advanced age of ninety-three years. In politics he was a Democrat.

In the parental family of eight children, only one besides our subject is living, a sister, Maria. He was given a fair education in the district schools near his home in New York, and in 1863 he was drafted into the frontier service of his native state, doing guard duty between New York and Canada. In 1867 he came to Iowa and purchased one hundred acres of land in Fairfield Township, which he worked hard to improve and added to until he is one of the largest land-owners in this section.

The lady who became the wife of our subject in 1871 was Miss Catherine, daughter of Luke and Bridget (Findley) Powers, also natives of the Emerald Isle, and to them have been born two daughters, Nellie and Mary. Mrs. Dority was also born in Ireland, and being quite young on the removal of her parents to the United States, received her early training in the schools of Wisconsin, in which state her parents located upon their arrival in this country.

Mr. Dority is well endowed mentally, bringing a well trained mind to bear upon his work. He possesses sound common sense, and is an influence for good in his community. In politics he is a decided Democrat and has served his township in many offices of trust. He is a Good Templar, and with his wife is an active member of the Catholic Church.

Source:
Portrait and Biographical Record
of Jasper, Marshall and Grundy Counties, Iowa
1894