Carroll County IAGenWeb

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY IOWA

A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement

VOLUME II ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1912

Transcribed by Sharon Elijah June 26, 2020

One of the most extensive land owners and successful agriculturists of Carroll county is Michael Moylan, who is a resident of Union township. He was born in County Mayo, Ireland, on the 18th of July, 1850, and is a son of Thomas and Nora (Connelly) Moylan. The parents were also natives of County Mayo, whence they removed to County Galway, where they continued to reside until they came to America in 1876. Upon their arrival in this country they first settled in Dallas Center, where they lived retired, but later they made their home with their children in Greene county. There the father passed away at the age of seventy-six and the mother seven weeks later at the age of seventy-eight. Both were communicants of the Roman Catholic church. The paternal grandparents were Thomas and Lizzie (Hughes) Moylan, both of County Mayo, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits. Mrs. Moylan passed away in early womanhood, but he had attained middle age before his demise. To them were born four children: Thomas, Michael, James and Catherine. The maternal grandparents were Patrick and Mary (Gannan) Connelly, who also spent their entire lives in the Emerald isle. There Mr. Connelly, who was a farmer, passed away in middle life, but his wife had attained the venerable age of ninety years at the time of her demise. They had a large family, among whose members were the following: Julia, Bridget, Nora, Sarah, Ellen, Margaret and Patrick.

Michael Moylan was a very small lad when his parents located in County Galway, where the father engaged in farming until he came to America. There the lad was reared to manhood, acquiring his education in the common schools of the vicinity. Believing that much better opportunities awaited the ambitious youth in the United States than in the land of his nativity he decided to come to America, so in 1872 he took passage for this country. He first located in Boston, where he remained for five years. Deciding that he preferred agricultural pursuits and the country, in 1877 he moved to Iowa, settling in the vicinity of Dallas Center, where he farmed as a renter for four years. In the spring of 1881 he removed to Scranton, Iowa, where he rented two hundred and forty acres of land, which he operated for three years. Success was attending his efforts and in 1883 he had acquired sufficient capital to purchase one hundred and twenty acres on section 14, Union township, Carroll county, which formed the nucleus of his present homestead. In 1884 he removed to his homestead, the cultivation of which proved so lucrative that he has extended the boundaries of his farm until it now includes over eight hundred acres of land. This has been extensively and substantially improved during the period of Mr. Moylan’s occupancy, while he has brought the land into a high state of cultivation. In connection with the tilling of his extensive fields he has raised stock on a very large scale, both occupations having netted him most gratifying returns. Mr. Moylan possesses the ability to carry to a successful issue large ventures, having a mind which can grasp and hold many details.

Mr. Moylan established a home for himself by his marriage on the 20th of April, 1876, to Miss Bridget Carroll, who was born in County Monahan, Ireland, in May, 1853. Her parents were Michael and Catharine (Daly) Carroll, also natives of the Emerald isle, where the father, who was a farmer, passed away in middle life. Mrs. Carroll joined her daughter in the United States in 1882, continuing to make her home with Mrs. Moylan in Union township until she passed away in 1896, at the age of eighty years. To Mr. and Mrs. Carroll were born six children: Patrick, Kitty, Mary, Julia, James and Bridget, now Mrs. Moylan, who emigrated to the United States in1870. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Moylan were Thomas and Mary Carroll, unto whom were born the following children: Michael, Thomas, Julia, Mary, Catherine and Margaret. The maternal grandparents were Thomas and Mary (Condon) Daly, whose family numbered eight, one son and seven daughters: Mary, Alice, Ann, Lizzie, Margaret, Catharine, Bridget and Patrick.

To Mr. and Mrs. Moylan eight children were born, as follows: Mary, the wife of Lee Brochee, of Guthrie county, who has two children, Paul and Pearl; Thomas, a farmer of Union township, who married Margaret Halligan and is now the father of two sons, Floyd and Lloyd; John, also a farmer of Union township, who married Lizzie Miller and now has two children, Theresa and Leo; William, a farmer of Union township, who married Jennie Clennan and has one child, Aaron Veronica; and Joseph, Francis, Nora and Eva, all of whom are at home with their parents.

The family are all communicants of the Roman Catholic church at Coon Rapids, while Mr. Moylan and three of his sons are members of the Knights of Columbus. His political allegiance he gives to the democratic party, but does not prominently participate in the township campaigns. Mr. Moylan is highly deserving of commendation for the success with which he has met, as it is entirely attributable to the intelligent and capable direction of his affairs. He came to America, as have many of his countrymen, with little or no capital save a willingness to work, laudable ambition and a persistency of purpose which enabled him to convert obstacles into opportunities and attaint he goal to which he aspired.

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