Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 684
JAMES DOUGHERTY

James DOUGHERTY, ranks among the early settlers of Harrison County. He located in St. John's Township, on section 26 and 35, in 1858, where he bought forty acres of land, to which he has added until he has two hundred and ten acres. Vast has been the change since he purchased his wild land, and made various improvements up to the present time. His nearest post-office and trading point was Council Bluffs. He lived in a log cabin, and the snow would sift through the clapboard roof and had to be removed each day for weeks at a time. This house served the purpose of a home until 1861, when a frame house was built. He has since built a fine residence.

Of his early life it may be said that he was born in Ireland, in the County of Davey, October 30, 1827. He can trace his ancestors only to his grandfather, James DOUGHERTY, who married Nancy FISHER, and they had three children, one of whom was our subject's father, James DOUGHERTY, born in Ireland. He married Miss Jane NELSON, a daughter of John and Jane (Watson) NELSON, who reared seven children, two of whom are in the United States. The children were John, Thomas, James, William, Margaret, Jane and Nancy.

Our subject's early life was spent in the Emerald Isle, where he received a common-school education. He remained at home on his father's farm until he was seventeen years of age, when his father gave him money to pay his passage to America. He sailed for this country in March 1848, and landed in New York City, and went to Roundout, on North River, where he visited relatives for a time. One of his cousins was a railroad contractor, and he worked for him several years. August 10, 1854, he married Mary SNYDER, a daughter of Patrick and Catherine (FLAHERTY) SNYDER, natives of Irland, who came to this country in 1851.

Mr. and Mrs. DOUGHERTY are the parents of twelve children, seven of whom are living -- Mary, deceased; Catherine (Mrs. PRATER) of Missouri Valley; John and Thomas, deceased; Jane (Mrs. WARD), living near Logan; James, a resident of Harrison County; Rosella (Mrs. HILLIARD), a resident of this county; Lydia, at home; Teresa, Robert, now in Colorado; William and Charles are deceased.

Politically, our subject affiliates with the Democratic party, and in religious matters, he and his family are members of the Roman Catholic Church.

To have been a pioneer of Harrison County as early as 1858, was to encounter many hard-ships, to undergo many pleasures. Money was scarce and the settlers were far from market, and far from each other. Verily, the present and future generation will never know, save by history all that the vanguard to settlement went through in developing Western Iowa. All praise to those who came and remained through those perilous years.

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