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p. 188
WILLIAM D. MEEK. Prominent
among the well established and substantial business houses of
Des Moines devoted to the craft of printing is the Success
Composition and Printing Company, of which the president and
treasurer is William D. Meek. Mr. Meek during a long and
active career has traveled the difficult self-made road to
success, having started upon his independent life when he was
a child of only thirteen years. With but a limited public
school education and determination to make the most of his
opportunities, he faced the world courageously, and since then
has met and overcome obstacles with persistence until he has
reached a prominent place in the business world, and has
obtained the confidence and respect of those with whom he has
been associated.
Mr. Meek was born at Peoria, Illinois, January 25, 1875,
and is a son of John and Lou (Bell) Meek. His father, a native
of Belfast, Ireland, came to the United States as an immigrant
lad at the age of fifteen years, and secured employment in a
commission office at Chicago, where he was working at the time
of the great Chicago fire of 1871. Following this great
disaster Mr. Meek made his way to Peoria, where he was
employed as an expert accountant, and died at that place about
1887 or 1888. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church,
while Mrs. Meek, also now deceased, who was born on a farm
near Farmington, Illinois, was a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. Of their three children two are now living;
William D., of this review; and Mrs. H. M. Davis, of Des
Moines.
William D. Meek attended public schools but when he was
about thirteen years of age his father died and it was
necessary for him to give up his studies and seek employment
in order to contribute to a family income. He first secured
work in a cracker factory, but at the age of fourteen years
received his introduction to the printing business, of which
he has since been a devotee. For several years after his
arrival at Des Moines, in 1889, he was employed on newspapers
in various capacities, and at one period in his career owned
a half interest in the Shelby County Republican, which he held
for two years. Eventually he entered the Success Composition
and Printing Company, in which he has since worked his way
upward, step by step, until he is now president and treasurer
of the concern, one of the substantial enterprises of the Des
Moines. This concern specializes in catalogue and book work,
and has a modern and fully equipped plant at 607 Third Street.
Mr. Meek is thoroughly familiar with every detail of the
business, and gives his personal attention to every order,
with the result that the company's patronage is constantly
growing and the business is enlarging its scope and taking in
new territory. Mr. Meek is a member of the Central Church of
Christ, in which he belongs to the Board of Deacons. He is a
Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Knights of the
Macabees, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Homesteaders.
He has belonged to the Kiwanis Club for some years and for two
years has been a member of the Board of Directors of that
body, which he has accomplished much in a civic and commercial
way for the city. He was elected to the presidency of the club
in 1930.
On September 18, 1901, Mr. Meek was united in marriage
with Miss Carolyn Shank, who was born and educated at Red Oak,
Iowa, daughter of William Shank, and to this union has come
one son: John W., born January 3, 1910, who is now a student
at Grinnell College.
p. 361
SISTERS of
MERCY For sixty-four years the Sisters of Mercy
in Iowa have given practical humanitarian and altruistic
service to their fellow men in the school, in the hospital, in
the sanitarium, in the home for the aged, in the home for the
working girl,- the expansion of their work during these years
being proof beyond question of its value.
Origin of the Sisters of Mercy: In the early part of the
nineteenth century there lived in Dublin, Ireland, Catherine
McAuley, a cultured young woman of an old and distinguished
family who, possessed of a large fortune and impelled by the
distress and need of the poor of her native country, decided
to devote this entire fortune to the relief and care of
orphans, destitute women and poor schools. The first building
erected for this cause was dedicated September 24, 1827. Soon
many young women joined Miss McAuley to assist in her noble
work, that in a few short years her house was changed from a
secular to a religious institution. On December 12, 1831, the
new institute was confirmed as the Congregation of the Sisters
of Mercy. Following this mark of stability, members rapidly
increased, similar institutions multiplied, not only in
Ireland, but expanded in less than fifteen years to England
and the United States.
Sisters of Mercy in the United States: The first
foundation of the Sisters of Mercy in the United States was
made at Pittsburgh, in 1843, through the appeal made by the
Rt. Rev. M. O'Connor to the Sisters while visiting at their
convent in Carlow, Ireland. He explained the great need for
carrying out the works of mercy in his diocese of Pittsburgh,
and in response to this appeal seven Sisters volunteered to
return with him.
It is recorded in the annals of the Order that when they
arrived in New York, the first person to meet them was the Rt.
Rev. William Quarter, bishop-elect of Chicago. He, too, needed
Sisters to work in the far West, but the most he could obtain
at that time was a promise that the Sisters would come as soon
as possible, which promise was fulfilled when five Sisters
arrived in Chicago, in 1846. This was the beginning of St.
Xavier's, Chicago.
Civil War Volunteers: Although the Chicago community was
only in its early development at the outbreak of the Civil
war, yet the patriotic zeal of its constituents enabled it to
spare eight members to serve their country's cause by
ministering to the sick and wounded. It is of interest to note
that two of this band of nurses were Mother Mary Borromeo
Johnson and Mother Mary Francis Monholland, who later came as
charity workers to Iowa.
The annals record that in September, 1861, these eight
Sisters left Chicago in company with the military officer who
had been sent to conduct them. They set out by way of St.
Louis for Lexington, Missouri, a place they failed to reach.
After many delays and thrilling incidents they arrived at
Jefferson City. Immediately on their arrival they were
requested to take charge of the City Hospital, which was
crowded with sick and wounded soldiers. They remained there
until April, 1862, when, the division being ordered elsewhere,
their services were no longer needed. At Saint Louis, on their
way home, they were met by a sanitary commissioner who asked
them to take charge of the hospital department on the
steamboat Empress, which was carrying wounded soldiers from
the battlefield of Shiloh. One one of its trips up the
Mississippi the Empress reached Keokuk, Iowa, April 16, 1862.
It required two days to remove the sick and wounded soldiers
to the hospital. The Sisters did everything possible to
relieve the suffering of their patients during the five weeks
they spent on their floating hospital.
Sisters of
Mercy come to Iowa: Following the close of the Civil war, in
1867 Mother Mary Borromeo Johnson and four Sister companions
from Saint Xavier Academy, Chicago, opened a school in the
little town of DeWitt. Shortly afterwards doctors from
Davenport asked for Sisters to open a hospital. In response to
this invitation Mercy Hospital was opened in 1868. In 1869 a
school and academy were opened in Independence by Mother Mary
Francis Monholland and her cultured and experienced Sisters.
Davenport having the most desirable location, Mercy Hospital
was made the first Motherhouse of the Sisters of Mercy in
Iowa, and Mother Mary Borromeo Johnson was chosen Mother
Superior. From this house as a center, all the other houses in
Iowa, with one exception, (Council Bluffs), have been either
directly or indirectly founded.
Development in Iowa: Mercy Hospital, Davenport, filled an
urgent need in the pioneer community and its growth was rapid.
From the first day to the present the work has gone ahead;
addition after addition has been erected; the latest is the
new $500,000 building now under construction. Today Mercy
Hospital, together with its departments for nervous and
mentally afflicted men and women, ranks s one of the best
equipped institutions in the country.
From this institution foundations have been sent to Iowa
City, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Des Moines, and Marshalltown. In
later years the labors of the Davenport Sisters of Mercy have
been extended to a Young Women's Home in Davenport and schools
in Davenport, Burlington, West Burlington, Mount Pleasant,
Manilla and Rockwell City.
In 1875 seven Sisters from the Motherhouse in Davenport
opened the Convent of Our Lady of Mercy and Saint Joseph's
School in Cedar Rapids. After some years this Motherhouse was
transferred to Sacred Heart Academy, located in the outskirts
of the city. This community has been devoted almost entirely
to the work of education. At present these Sisters conduct
three hospitals, a junior college, an academy, numerous
schools throughout the state and at Marion a seminary for
boys, a model of its kind.
In 1879, at the urgent solicitation of the Rt. Rev. John
Hennessy, five Sisters from Davenport arrived in Dubuque on
January 13 to found a hospital. This was the beginning of
Saint Joseph's Mercy Hospital. Notwithstanding hardships and
limited funds, the Sisters, with the cooperation of citizens
interested in a great work of mercy, made the establishment a
notable success. It became a Motherhouse in 1882.
The needs of the time made expansion along other lines
necessary. As a result Saint Anthony's Home for the Aged was
opened in 1887, and also Saint Joseph's Sanitarium. This
latter institution is today one of the best equipped and most
popular of its kind in the state.
Besides institutions conducted in Dubuque by the Sisters
of Mercy, they have hospitals in Sioux City, Clinton, Mason
City, Fort Dodge, Waverly and Cresco; schools at Eagle Center,
Bankston, Ackley and Independence.
In 1887 the Sisters of Mercy from Minnesota opened Saint
Bernard's as a Motherhouse and hospital in Council Bluffs. In
1902 Mercy Hospital was erected. Other institutions conducted
by these Sisters include an academy, a seminary for boys,
several schools, a home for working girls, a home for the aged
and three hospitals in Iowa.
Summary of
Institutions Developed and Conducted by the Sisters of Mercy
in Iowa from 1867-1931: The period from 1867 to 1931 has been
an era of rapid and unprecedented growth in schools,
hospitals, sanitariums, homes for the aged, homes for working
girls, and training schools for nurses. The first school
record of the Sisters of Mercy in Iowa in 1867 shows an
attendance of forty pupils. In 1930 the grand total of all
pupils in thirty parochial schools, two academies, two
seminaries for boys and a junior college exceeded 5,000. The
first hospital record shows that during the first year of
hospital service in 1868, seventy-six patients received care
and treatment. The 1930 records show that 30,580 patients were
cared for. The total number of patients treated in their
sanitariums for 1930 reached 3290; total number of homes for
aged, 225; total number of Young Women's Boarding Homes, 200;
and total number in training schools for nurses, 750. The
original band of Sisters who came to Iowa in 1867 numbered
only five; today there are 550 Sisters of Mercy in Iowa. Their
great mission of mercy has extended beyond the borders of the
state to Michigan and Montana.
A New Era: On August 25, 1928, the Sisters of Mercy from
all parts of the United States, having realized the advantages
of united effort, held a general chapter, or convention, at
Cincinnati, Ohio, for the purpose of forming a strong,
well-organized, unified body. As a result, a union of the
majority of the communities, with a total membership exceeding
5,000 which had heretofore been working independently, was
effected. The vast territory which is covered by this great
united body was divided into provinces, each under a Mother
Provincial and all subject to a Mother General, who, with her
council, is located at the General Motherhouse, Washington,
D.C.
Mount St. Agnes: One outcome of this reorganization of
communities of interest to Iowa is that of Mount Saint Agnes,
Dubuque, became the Novitiate for the Province of Cincinnati,
Ohio. In this imposing structure, with its beautiful
Romanesque chapel, its extensive grounds, and location of
great natural beauty, more than eighty-three Novices at the
present time are receiving preparation that will fit them to
continue efficiently and successfully the work inaugurated by
their foundress and carried on so magnificently by their
predecessors for the space of a hundred years.
p. 314
THOMAS A. MORAN, physician and surgeon,
is practicing his profession in his native town of Melrose,
Monroe County, and that community recognizes its debt to him
not only as a professional man, a skilled and earnest worker,
but as a citizen with a wholesome interest in the community as
a whole and every family group therein.
Doctor Moran was born at Melrose October 18, 1876, son of
Anthony and Bridget (McCaffery) Moran. His parents were born
in County Mayo, Ireland, and were married in Pennsylvania, and
in the early 1870s came to Monroe County, Iowa, living on a
farm. His father died in January, 1909, and his mother in
December, 1916. Doctor Moran was a country boy in Iowa,
attended country schools, but looked beyond the horizon of
farm life to a professional career. As one step in his
progress he attended what was then a very fine educational
institution, the old Stanberry Normal School at Stanberry,
Missouri. Later he entered the School of Pharmacy of Highland
Park College of Des Moines, where he was graduated in 1902.
His knowledge of pharmacy was valuable to him in different
ways while completing his medical education. In 1907 he was
graduated from Barnes Medical School in Saint Louis, and had
one year of interne experience and training in the woman's
department of the City Hospital of Saint Louis.
With this training completed Doctor Moran returned to
Melrose and entered into association with his life long
friend, Dr. Michael F. Riordan, in June, 1908. Some of his
first readings in medicine had been under the direction of Dr.
Riordan, and he has always felt deeply indebted to him for his
loyal encouragement and help. For a number of years Doctor
Moran has had more than a local reputation as a specialist in
eye, nose and throat diseases. He has kept himself up-to-date
by post-graduate work in the Chicago Poly-clinic, Chicago Eye,
Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, and Chicago Post Graduate
School. He is secretary of the Monroe County Medical Society,
member of the Iowa State Medical Association and a fellow of
the American Medical Association.
Doctor Moran has for twenty years been a member of the
Melrose Board of Education, and during seventeen years of this
time has been president. He is affiliated with the Knights of
Columbus. During the World war he volunteered but being the
only doctor at Melrose the Government kept him there, where he
was able to serve his country to a greater advantage than in
the field. He prizes the badge of voluntary war service
bestowed upon him by the Government. He enrolled in the
Volunteer Medical Service Corps October 14, 1918.
Doctor Moran married in June, 1909, Miss Margaret Cummins,
of Lucas County, Iowa, daughter of James and Johanna (Geary)
Cummins. Her father was born near Dublin, Ireland and died in
Iowa in 1915, and her mother passed away in 1925. The four
children of Doctor and Mrs. Moran are: Walter, now a student
in the Junior College at Albia; Mary, who graduated from the
Melrose High School in 1929; and Thomas Jr., and John A.
Doctor and Mrs. Moran have a splendid home among the hills of
Melrose, overlooking magnificent scenery in the country round
about.
p. 367
JOHN T. MULVANEY. Recognized as one of the
very able and learned of the attorneys practicing at the bar
of Des Moines, John T. Mulvaney enjoys a large and valuable
practice and the unquestioned respect of his fellow citizens.
He was born at Elkhart, Iowa, April 16, 1870, a son of Bryan
and Catherine (Markham) Mulvaney, he born in Dublin, Ireland
and she in Kilrush, Ireland. When only eight years old she
came to the United States on a sailing vessel and he came to
this country at the age of fifteen years. They met each other
at Des Moines, Iowa, and were married in this city, where he
died in 1880 and she in 1885. For many years he was a buyer of
live stock for large live stock companies. During the war
between the states he traveled through Iowa, Kansas, and
Missouri buying live stock, and was in danger all the time
because of the fact that he had to carry with him large sums
of money with which to pay for his purchases, but, owing to
his foresight and well known courage, he came through the
troublous period without losing any money. Later on in life he
bought a farm in the vicinity of Elkhart, and there he
continued to live until his death. He was an excellent example
of the self-made man, for when he came to this country he was
a poor boy and all that he had he made through his own
exertions. Three children were born to him and his wife; John
T., who is the first born; and twins, Michael J., who is an
attorney practicing with his brother, and a graduate of Drake
University, and Mary, who is unmarried.
John T. Mulvaney went through the public schools of
Elkhart and the law school of Drake University, being
graduated from the latter in 1894, with the degree of Bachelor
of Laws. Immediately thereafter he entered upon the practice
of the law at Des Moines, with office in the Polk Building,
and here he has since remained, having never left this
building, and has built up an ample income and prestige of
high order. He is of a strong individualistic type. This is
his characteristic, and the roots of it run far back in the
sod of the Emerald Isle. As he is, so were his forebears. His
parents were pioneers; the fiber of self reliance they gave
him he strengthened. Nobel in impulse, just in counsel, kindly
in controversy, there is a certain largeness in his
convictions that clothe him with power among his colleagues.
In 1905 Mr. Mulvaney was married to Miss Eleanor Hostetter,
who was born at Brodhead, Wisconsin. She was educated at
Blair, Wisconsin, and took art in the Chicago, Illinois, Art
School. For several years she taught art in the University of
Oklahoma. Mr. Mulvaney has no church connections. He is a
staunch Democrat and prominent in party affairs. At one time
he was his party's unsuccessful candidate for Congress, being
defeated because of a Republican landslide. His practice is a
general one, and is carried on in all of the courts, as Mr.
Mulvaney was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the
United States in 1908, and a number of his cases are taken to
both the state and national Supreme Courts. By reason of his
long and unbroken period of practice at Des Moines, Mr.
Mulvaney is numbered among the older lawyers of the city.
p. 110
JOHN E. MULRONEY. The career of John E.
Mulroney, of Fort Dodge, is strongly entrenched in the history
of the jurisprudence of this section of Iowa where he has won
prestige and esteem both as a private practitioner and public
official. A veteran of the World war, in which he was a member
of the immortal Rainbow Division, he commenced practice in
1922 at Fort Dodge, and in 1928 was elected to the office of
county attorney of Webster County, a capacity in which he is
now serving with energy and ability.
Mr. Mulroney was born at Ruthven, Iowa, February 15,
1896, and is a son of John E. and Anna (Foley) Mulroney. His
paternal grandfather, John M. Mulroney, was born in County
Cork, Ireland, whence he was brought as a boy to the United
States, the family settling in Iowa. When the news of the
discovery of gold in California swept the country Mr. Mulroney
made the long and perilous trip overland to the gold fields,
where, probably because of his fighting spirit and
perseverance, he was one of the comparatively few who gained
success. Subsequently he worked his way back via the Isthmus
and took up his residence in Palo Alto County, Iowa, whence he
removed to Fort Dodge and established himself in a mercantile
business, of which he also made a success. He was the founder
of the First National Bank of Fort Dodge, of which he was a
vice president at the time of his death in 1916, at the age of
eighty-six years and had numerous other business and financial
interests. Mr. Mulroney likewise took an active part in public
affairs and was one of the first county treasurers of Palo
Alto County. His son, John E. Mulroney, the elder, was born at
Fort Dodge, where he was reared and educated, and for many
years was a prominent business man of the city, at the time of
his death being largely interested in real estate. He passed
away in November, 1902, at which time his community lost one
of its progressive citizens, and a leading member of the
Democratic party who had been a delegate to the national
convention that in 1896 nominated William Jennings Bryan for
the presidency. He was a member of the Sacred Heart Catholic
Church, as is Mrs. Mulroney, an native of Fort Dodge, who
still survives him. She is a daughter of Michael Foley, who
was born in Ireland and came to the United States in young
manhood, settling at Fort Dodge, where he was a railroad
conductor in his early days. Mr. and Mrs. Mulroney were the
parents of two children: Ellen, the wife of Willard Peterson,
a high school teacher of San Diego, California; and John E.
John E. Mulroney attended the public schools at Fort
Dodge and spent one year at Creighton University, Omaha,
Nebraska, and when the United States entered the World war
enlisted in the army and went overseas in 1917 as a member of
Headquarters Company, One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Infantry,
attached to the Rainbow Division. He took part in all of the
engagements of that hard-fighting organization, won a
corporal's stripes, and returned to the United States,
receiving his honorable discharge in May, 1919. He then
resumed his studies as a student in the law school of the
University of Iowa, from which he was graduated in June, 1922,
with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He immediately engaged in
practice, and took care of the interests of a large and
important clientele, until his election, on the Republican
ticket, in November, 1928, to the office of county attorney of
Webster County, in which he has since served with great
ability. He has shown the possession of splendid legal
qualities, both as a private practitioner and a public
servant, and has won and retained general public esteem and
confidence. Mr. Mulroney is a member of the Iowa State Bar
Association, the Sigma Chi fraternity and the Phi Delta Phi
legal fraternity, the American Legion and the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks. He is a Republican in his political
convictions and activities and his religious affiliation is
with Corpus Christi Catholic Church.
On June 4, 1929, Mr. Mulroney was united in marriage with
Miss Martha O'Conner, daughter of Morris O'Conner, a leading
attorney of Fort Dodge, and a former law partner of Judge W.
S. Kenyon.
p. 208
REV. THOMAS P. MURPHY. There is greater
need in the world today perhaps than ever before for men of
high purpose, unselfish aims, high scholarship and true
Christian zeal. In every land humanity is appealing for help,
often blindly because of ignorance and it is upon the
shoulders of the enlightened clergy that the responsibility
rests of pointing the way that will lead the discouraged and
weary to spiritual peace and happiness. In every section are
found great teachers who give gladly of themselves that others
may profit, and no Christian body is better represented in
this field than is the Roman Catholic Church. Among those who
have won appreciation for their ability, fidelity, Christian
zeal, none stands any higher than does Rev. Thomas P. Murphy,
pastor of Saint Peter's Roman Catholic Church of Des Moines.
Father Murphy was born at Walnut, Iowa, February 11, 1877,
a son of Patrick and Nora (Lanigan) Murphy, he born in Ireland
and she at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and both are now
deceased. In the early seventies Patrick Murphy came to Iowa
settling in Council Bluffs, where he was employed in the
construction work of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific
Railroad. This was not unfamiliar employment, for he had been
engaged in it while living in the East. Four sons were born to
him and his wife, namely: Michael, who is a farmer residing in
Iowa; William, who is also a farmer; Daniel, who is in the
employ of the Armour Packing Company at Sioux City, Iowa; and
Father Murphy, who is the next to the youngest in the family.
The parents were devout members of the Catholic Church. The
grandparents on each side were natives of Ireland, and all of
them were also Catholics.
His early educational training obtained in the schools of
Walnut, Iowa, Father Murphy later had six years in Saint
Andrew's Academy, of Davenport, Iowa; four years in Kenrick
Seminary, of St. Louis, and he was ordained to the ministry in
1904. For three years thereafter he taught in Saint Ambrose,
Davenport, Iowa, and then entered upon his ministerial duties.
At Guthrie Center and Panora, Iowa, he built churches, and
remained in these two places seventeen years in all, and then,
in 1924, he came to Des Moines to take charge of Saint Peter's
Catholic Church and the school conducted in connection with
it. He has a membership of 1200 in his church and 230 pupils
in his school, and under his energetic control much progress
is being made. This church was established in 1915, and has
grown rapidly. Father Murphy is a member of the Knights of
Columbus of Davenport and is a fourth degree of that chapter.
Not only is Father Murphy highly esteemed in his church, but
by the people of Des Moines generally, for he is recognized as
a man whose influence is of great value in the community and
whose broad-minded charity leads him to render assistance to
all who are in need of it.
p. 318
J. J. MEEHAN, M.D., has been a resident
of Denison for a quarter of a century, and that community has
come to know him not only as a capable physician and surgeon
but a business man and a citizen whose generosity and sympathy
are easily aroused and whose acts of kindness and public
spirit are generally appreciated though definitely known only
to their recipients.
Doctor Meehan was born in Rock Island County, Illinois,
December 25, 1874. His parents, John and Catherine (Garvey)
Meehan, were born in Ireland and came to America when young
people. After their marriage they lived in Rock Island County
until 1882, when they moved to Iowa and settled on a farm
south of Vail in Crawford County. In 1883 they moved to a farm
near Denison, and on this farm they lived until retiring and
moving to Denison, where they spent the remaining years of
their lives. The father passed away at the age of
seventy-nine, in 1912, and the mother at seventy-six in 1915.
Both were devout Catholics, and the political tendency of the
family has always been Democratic.
Doctor Meehan grew up on the home farm, attended the
district school nearby and in continuing his education went
through the old Denison Normal and Business College, the
University of Iowa and from there entered Northwestern School
of Medicine at Chicago, where he took his M.D. degree in 1903.
He first practiced at Missouri Valley, and in 1905 located at
Denison.
In order to provide better facilities for his extensive
private practice and also for the benefit of the community at
large Doctor Meehan in 1916 established the Meehan Hospital,
at 315 East Walnut Street. He has been local physician and
surgeon for the Chicago & Northwestern since 1916, and for
the Illinois Central since 1912. He is a member of the
Crawford County, Iowa State and American Medical Associations
and the Association of Railway Surgeons. Over a period of
years he has been active in the Crawford County Medical
Society, being a past president and served as secretary a
number of years. Since 1928 he has served as city health
physician of Denison.
Doctor Meehan has never married. He is a member of the
Catholic Church and Knights of Columbus, Denison Council. He
has made rather extensive investments in farm lands and is
also a director of the Crawford County Trust & Savings Bank at
Denison. His offices are in the Opera House Block. |
