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1900 Whiteside Bios > James Leahy


Source: The Biographical Record of Whiteside County, Illinois
Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 1900
Transcribed by Denise McLoughlin
Tampico Area Historical Society

http://www.tampicohistoricalsociety.citymax.com

 

Page 348

 

 

JAMES LEAHY. A brilliant example of a self-made American citizen an a grand exemplification of the progress that an ambitious foreigner can make in this country of unbounded opportunities, is shown in the case of James LEAHY, whose home is on section 28, Hahnaman Township, Whiteside county, Illinois. His singular success is due to his own energy and the high ideal which his lofty and laudable ambition placed before him. Success in any walk of life is an indication of earnest endeavor and persevering effort, --characteristics which he possesses in an eminent degree.

 

Mr. LEAHY is a native of Ireland, and when a young man of twenty-two years crossed the broad Atlantic, landing in New York May 20, 1857. After working in a lumberyard of the city for over a year, he came to Whiteside county, Illinois, in 1859, and here was employed as a farm hand by the month for three or four years. He manifested his love for his adopted country by enlisting in August, 1862, in Company C, Seventy-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Cumberland, and from private he was promoted to the rank of corporal and later sergeant. He participated in numerous battles and skirmishes, including those at Perrysville, Kentucky, Stone River, and Nashville, and in the Atlanta campaign he was almost constantly under fire for nearly six months. Late he took part in the battles of Franklin and Nashville. He was twice wounded, receiving a slight gunshot wound during  the battle of Perrysville, and still carries those honorable scars received while defending the old flag and the cause it represented. At the close of the war he was honorably discharged and mustered out at Harker, Tennessee, June 12, 1865.

 

Mr. LEAHY returned to Prophetstown, Whiteside county, and the following year he bought one hundred and twenty acres of land where he now resides. This he has since converted into a fertile and productive farm, supplied with all the conveniences and accessories found upon a model farm of the nineteenth century. He has added to his home farm until now within its boundaries are two hundred and fifty acres, and he also has two other farms, one of two hundred and eighty acres, the other of one hundred and twenty, making in all six hundred and fifty acres of valuable and highly cultivated land. It is needless to say that he thoroughly understands the occupation he has chosen as a life work as his wonderful success testifies to that fact, and he is a business man of far more than ordinary ability.

 

On the 12th of June, 1866, in Sterling, Mr. LEAHY was united in marriage with Miss Julia SHANAHAN, also a native of  Ireland, who came to the new world when a young lady and died in 1884, leaving nine children, two sons and seven daughters, all still living. For his second wife, Mr. LEAHY married Miss Johanna Courtney, a native of Whiteside county, by whom he has six children.

 

Politically Mr. LEAHY is an uncompromising Republican, and has served as a committeeman of his township and as a delegate to county conventions of his party. He has ever taken quite an active and prominent part in local politics and has most creditably filled the office of township trustee, school director and comnissioner of highways for eighteen years. For forty years he has been identified with the interests of this county, and is among the most valued and useful citizens of his community, giving his support to every enterprise which he believes will prove of public benefit.

 

 

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