Iowa History Project
Harlan, Edgar Rubey.
A Narrative History of the People of Iowa.
Vol III. Chicago: American Historical Society, 1931
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. 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.