Edward J. Carroll

EDWARD J. CARROLL has to his credit a continuous working service as a lawyer in Davenport for over thirty years. He is a member of a notable firm of lawyers. Carroll Brothers, three of whom have been associated in their professional work since Edward J., the youngest member of the firm, qualified for practice.

Mr. Edward J. Carroll, who is a former president of the Davenport Chamber of Commerce, was born in Scott County, Iowa, June 19, 1874. His parents, James and Margaret (Galligan) Carroll, were natives of Ireland and both are now deceased. The father came to this country in the late '50s and the mother a few years later. James Carroll was born April 16, 1833, a son of Alexander Carroll, who first settled in Ohio. James Carroll moved out to Iowa in 1858 and settled on a farm in Le Claire, and was a substantial farmer in that community until he retired and moved to Clinton. There were four children in the family, three sons and one daughter, the latter now deceased. The sons are: A. E. Carroll, born January 22, 1866, W. H. Carroll, born April 16, 1869, and Edward J. Carroll.

All of the boys attended public schools in Princeton Township of Scott County, afterward went to the Northern Illinois Normal School at Dixon, and all of them are loyal alumni of the University of Iowa, where they completed their law courses, the oldest brother graduating in 1893, W. H. Carroll in 1894, at which time the law firm of Carroll Brothers was organized, and three years later Edward J. Carroll came into the partnership. In addition to the practice of law Carroll Brothers have given Davenport a complete service in abstract of titles since 1900.

Edward J. Carroll has taken part in outside civic affairs. He has been president of the Davenport Rotary Club and served as president of the Chamber of Commerce in 1927. He made a splendid head of that organization, and his administration was contemporary with a notable era of improvements and preparations for bigger and better things in Davenport. Mr. Carroll is a member of the Scott County, Iowa State and American Bar Associations, is a former grand knight of the Knights of Columbus, member of the B. P. O. Elks and the Catholic Church.

He married in 1904 Miss Lydia J. Keller, who was born in Clinton County, Iowa, where her people were pioneers. They have seven children. The oldest, Louis F., graduated in 1928 from the University of Iowa and was elected a member of the honorary scholarship fraternity Phi Beta Kappa. The younger children are Ruth M., James E., Edward A., Rose Janette, Richard J. and Robert W.