WILLIAM J MOONEY, b 1 Mar 1834

MOONEY, ARNOLD, ARMSTRONG, COOPER, BERTELSEN

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 7/11/2004 at 08:13:04

One of the finest country residences in the State of Iowa is that occupied by the subject of this notice. It is beautifully situated, overlooking the Maquoketa and Mississippi rivers, as well as the public highway for a long distance. It comprises 457 acres of land with modern buildings. These, with their surroundings, make a picture upon the landscape which is viewed by the passing traveler with an admiring eye, for they indicate in all their appointments the above of cultivated tastes and ample means.

Mr. Mooney has been a great traveler, visiting many of the important cities of the world, and circumnavigating the globe before settling down to agriculture in the Hawkeye State. He has looked upon Australia and the South Sea Island, and in his contact with many different nations has gathered a useful fund of information in regard to their habits and manner of living. In this county he was one of the earliest pioneers. He was thrown upon his own resources by the death of his father when quite young, and has accumulated his large property solely by the exercise of his own industry and perseverance.

The home of the Mooneys is elegantly furnished. The wife of our subject is a very excellent lady, intelligent and cultivated, and their children are remarkably bright and interesting. To the latter have been given all the opportunities for education which natural refinement and an abundance of means suggests. Mr. Mooney is a thorough business man, and aside from his farming operations has purchased and sold hundreds of acres of land in Washington Township. From this land in the early days he cut large quantities of wood, which he transported to Galena, and during the period of his pioneership distinguished himself by his ingenuity in overcoming obstacles, and his forethought in times of emergency.

The ancestry of an individual has no small influence in determining his character and career. Mr. Mooney is of Irish descent, being the son of Michael and Margaret (O'Neil) Mooney, who were both natives of Ireland, where they were reared and married. Soon after uniting their hearts and fortunes they set sail for the United States, and lived for eight years thereafter in New York City, where the father employed himself as a carpenter and joiner. Next they removed to Utica, N.Y., where they lived one year, and from there went to Cincinnati, Ohio, in the vicinity of which the father purchased land and carried on farming. He finally sold out and made his way to St. Louis, where he remained two years working at his trade. His next removal was to Upper Alton, Ill., where he began dealing in real estate, and resided six years. He there lost the greater part of his property, through the depreciation of State and railroad bonds which he had at the time.

The next removal of the parents of our subject was to Jefferson County, Mo., where they settled on a farm and remained two years. Then selling out the father purchased three span of horses and a wagon, and returned overland to Northern Illinois, settling in Galena, in the fall of 1845. A short time afterward he changed his location to Sand Prairie, in Jo Daviess County, where he only staid during the winter, with the intention of removing to the Pacific Coast in the spring. He was delayed in his plans, and was finally sticken down with brain fever, from which death ensued, in June, 1846, when he was about forty-six years old.

The mother of our subject was thus left a widow with her three sons - James H., William J. and Elias B. The eldest of the two girls, Anna S., was married and lived in St. Louis; and Margaret L., the younger, made her home with her. The plan of going to California of course was abandoned, and when the boys discussed the question of going to St. Louis the mother advised them to remain with her. They finally crossed the Mississippi to this county, and settled in Washington Township, when there were but two houses on the way from Clark's Ferry to Bellevue, and but one between that place and Lyons, in Clinton County. As the settlers came in, the place was in time given the name of Mooney Hollow, by which it is called to this day.

Our pioneers crossed the Mississippi at the mouth of the Maquoketa River, where the mother remained with the team, and sent our subject and his brother, James H., up the river to look for a desirable location. The grass was probably eight feet high. The boys selected their claim on section 25, Washington Townhip, and commenced life on the frontier in true pioneer style. The mother was not permitted to witness the completion of the homestead, her death taking place from cholera, in June, 1851, when she was about fifty years of age.

Our subject at the time of his mother's death was a youth of seventeen, having been born March 1, 1834, in Utica, N.Y. He first attended school in the city of St. Louis, later at Upper Alton, and pursued his studies in all the other places where his parents afterward lived. The boys at the time of the mother's death had about twenty-two acres of land under cultivation, and were raising corn, wheat and oats, selling the corn at 10 cents per bushel, the oats at 12-1/2 cents, and the wheat at 30 cents. In the spring of 1852 James when to California, and the youngest brother being in school at St. Louis our subject was thus left alone to manage the farm. He paid the debts and purchased more land, and in the spring of 1853, thinking he was entitled to a change, rented the farm and also started for the Pacific Slope. His intention was to go by the way of Panama, but the steamer wrecked off the coast of Florida, and the passengers were taken back to New York City. That very same day Mr. Mooney shipped for Australia on the sailing-vessel "Medway," and after a voyage of 116 days landed at Port Phillips Bay, Melbourne. He went into the gold mines and worked there for a time, then visited Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand. After prospecting two months in Van Dieman's Land he sailed for New Zealand. During his whole sojourn in the Southern Pacific regions he received but one latter from Iowa, it being written by James Clarke, manager of Clarke's ferry on the Maquoketa, and who was looking after the interests of the Mooney farm.

Our subject finally returned to Melbourne and took passage on an English sailing-vessel for London. On the way he stopped at various points of interest in South America, in the Provinces of Peru and Chili, and in the latter place was offered $12 per day if he would become overseer of a gang of twenty Negroes who were engaged in washing diamonds. At London he boarded the "Great Eastern,: which was being built on the Thames by a force of 2,000 workmen. He returned home by the way of New York City, and reached the house of his friend Clarke, on the Maquoketa, Aug. 28, 1858.

In the fall of 1860 our subject repaired to St. Louis, and remained there until 1861. He then enlisted in the State Militia, and during those troubulous times was largely engaged in police duty. He assisted in taking down the Confederate flag from the court-house in that city. Finally, accompanied by his sister, he returned to the farm in Washington Township. Remaining there until 1865, he was then married to Miss Olive Arnold. This lady was born in Carroll County, Ill., and was the daughter of Stephen N. and Mary (Armstrong) Arnold, who were natives respectively of Maine and Missouri. They took up their residence in Carroll County, Ill., at an early date, and Grandmother Armstrong moulded bullets for the men at Ft. Elizabeth during the time of the Black Hawk War. After the death of Mr. Arnold she was married to a man by the name of Cooper, and is still living at Hanover, Ill., being seventy-four years old.

Mrs. Mooney was the fifth child of her parents, with whom she remained until her marriage, at the age of twenty years. The newly married couple settled down upon the farm in Washington Township, where they have since lived. Mr. Mooney, in 1874, was called to Virginia City, Nev., to look after the estate of his brother, James H., who had died there. To our subject and his excellent wife there were born nine children, namely: Margaret, the wife of John Bertelsen, who is the mother of one child, a daughter, Olive; Alexis, who died when three and one-half years old; Ellis, John, Olive, Elsie, Frank and Hattie. Mary is attending school at Cedar Rapids.

Mr. Mooney has sailed under different flags, worked under different suns, and managed different enterprises; but in all his wanderings has found no country that he likes as well as America, and no State more desirable than Iowa. He has a fine area of valuable timber on his farm, and at one time owned a large tract of the land in the township. He has built up one of its most elegant homes, and occupies no secondary position among its people. A stanch Democrat, politically, always upholding the principles of his party, he yet has no desire for the spoils of office, and aside from serving as Deputy Sheriff six or seven years, has had little to do with public affairs.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois.)