For
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume II, Biographical, 1911, page 513
THOMAS CASHMAN....Among the sons of early Irish parentage living in Muscatine county is Thomas Cashman, who is the owner of a highly improved farm on sections 19 and 20, Seventy-six township, which he transformed from wild land to one od the most attractive places in the county. He was born in the same township, December 17, 1849, and is a son of Bartholomew and Mary ( Forrest ) Cashman. The father, who was a native of County Cork, Ireland, came to America, landing at St. Johns, New Brunswick, Canada, in 1820, and after living there for several years removed to Pennsylvania and later to Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky, finally locating on section 16, Seventy-six township, Muscatine county, Iowa, in 1847. This region was then mostly in its primitive state and much of the land still belonged to the government. He built a little log cabin with puncheon floor and clapboard roof, in which he began his career as a Muscatine county farmer. He was a man of great industry and perseverance and prospered to such an extent that in three years he built a comfortable residence, which is still standing and is owned by the subject of this review. Here the father lived until he passed away in 1895. Politically he was in sympathy with the democratic party. He was a faithful member of the Catholic church and assisted in organizing the first church in that denomination in Seventy-six township in 1856, donating an acre of ground for its location. His wife was born in County Cork, Ireland, but they were married in the United States in 1830. There were nine children in the family : Margaret and James, deceased ; Elizabeth, the widow of John Shanahan, of Parnell, Iowa ; William and Ellen, deceased ; Henry, of Custer county, Nebraska ; Johanna and Mary, deceased ; and Thomas our subject.Educated in the country schools, Thomas Cashman was reared upon the home farm and continued with his parents until after reaching manhood. Desiring to become acquainted with the great world of which he had little conception, he went to the gold mines of California, where he remained for five years, gaining a great deal of experience amid strange scenes and in contact with strange men which it is impossible to acquire under ordinary circumstances. Having married when he was thirty years of age, he located on his present farm which was then wild land and upon which he has made all the improvements, erecting a comfortable residence, commodious barns, outhouses and fences, constructing ditches and bringing the place, which now comprises two hundred and eighty acres, to a high state of cultivation. He is one of the most extensive feeders of cattle and hogs in Seventy-six township.
In 1880 Mr. Cashman was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. McCall and seven children were born to them : William B., now on the home farm assisting his father ; James, a railroad man of Memphis, Tennessee ; Nellie and Edwin, at home ; Mary, a student in the school of The Immaculate Conception at Davenport, Iowa ; Philip, who is also attending school ; and Harry, at home.
Mr. Cashman has seen a great deal of the vicissitudes of life, especially in the mining camps of the west, and in the course of his business career and has assisted in many ways in advancing the interests of those with whom he has neen associated. Always actuated by worthy aims, he has attained a high place in the regard of the people of Seventy-six township and today no man is more sincerely esteemed. Politically he is independent, voting for the men he regards as best qualified for the office regardless of party affiliation. Religiously he gives his adherence to the Catholic church---the church of his parents.
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