EDWARD M. TIERNEY.

Edward M. Tierney

    In this age when one hears much concerning graft and unfaithfulness in public office it is refreshing to turn to the record of such a man as Edward M. Tierney, who is the present efficient treasurer of Carbon county, Wyoming, making his home at Rawlins. His has been an active and useful life in business connections and his fellow townsmen, recognizing his worth and ability, called upon him to serve them in a position of public trust. He was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, August 15, 1861, a son of Martin and Johanna (Sullivan) Tierney, both of whom were natives of Ireland. The father left the Emerald isle in 1844 to come to America, and first settled at Baltimore, Maryland, while later he removed to Piedmont, West Virginia, where he resided until his death, which occurred in 1899, when he was sixty-seven years of age. He was a railroad man, connected with the Baltimore & Ohio during the entire period of his active life, assisting in the early construction of that road. His political allegiance was always given to the democratic party and he was one of the active workers in its ranks. He had many friends among the leading statesmen of his day and was a man esteemed most highly by all who knew him. His religious faith was that of the Roman Catholic church, of which he was a devout adherent. His wife came to America in 1848 with her parents, who settled in Martinsburg, West Virginia. She was married in that state and was a resident of Piedmont, West Virginia, to the time of her death, which occurred in 1886, when she was fifty-two years of age. By her marriage she had become the mother of twelve children, six sons and six daughters, seven of whom are yet living, three sons and four daughters.
    Edward M. Tierney, who was the fifth in order of birth in this family, was educated in the public and parochial schools of Westernport, Maryland, and also attended a night school at Piedmont, conducted by Professor Martin O'Gorman. He spent two years as a student in that institution and there completed his education, and his later lessons have been learned in the school of experience. His first employment covered five years' apprenticeship with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company at Piedmont, where he learned the machinist's trade. He afterward followed the trade as a journeyman until 1886. In the meantime, in 1884, he had removed to Rawlins, Wyoming, where he had become an employe of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, working in the shops at his trade as a machinist for two years. He was then appointed general foreman and served in that capacity for twelve years. Later he spent five years as master mechanic and was transferred to Laramie, where he occupied a similar position for two years. On the expiration of that period he again came to Rawlins and through the succeeding five years was again master mechanic, but resigned his position in 1913 to engage in business on his own account. He turned his attention to general merchandising in connection with T. T. Cullen and William Niland under the firm style of the Cullen Commercial Company, Inc., of which Mr. Tierney is the vice president, and he is thus actively identified with one of the important commercial interests in the city and also figures in financial circles as the first vice president of the Stock Growers National Bank, which he aided in organizing. His business interests are of a still more extensive scope, for he is the president and manager of the Niland Sheep Company, a Wyoming corporation, which ranks with the leading sheep growers of this state, and he is the vice president and secretary of the Tierney Sheep Company, also a Wyoming corporation, which is a prominent factor in connection with the sheep industry in the west.
    Mr. Tierney has been married twice. In 1888, in the western part of Maryland, he wedded Miss Katie I. Hogan, who died in Denver, Colorado, in 1906 at the age of forty-two years. She was the mother of five children, two of whom passed away in infancy, while one daughter and two sons are yet living. The eldest is Edna, wife of Arthur H. Rasmusson, of Rawlins, and has a daughter, Kathryn Alice, born November 4, 1917. The two sons are William and Joseph. The former, born in 1896, is now studying law in the Catholic University of Washington, D. C. Joseph, born in 1900 in Laramie, is a senior in the high school of Rawlins. Mr. Tierney's second marriage occurred in Rawlins in 1911, when Mrs. Driscilla Loomis, nee Farley, became his wife.
    Mr. Tierney has membership in the Roman Catholic church and belongs to the Knights of Columbus and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He has always taken an active part in politics and gave his support to the democratic party until 1900, when he joined the ranks of the republican party. He is deeply interested in political questions and civic affairs and he served four years as city trustee, from 1889 until 1892 inclusive. He is the present county treasurer of Carbon county, making an excellent record in the discharge of his duties and proving a most careful custodian of the public funds. His career has been marked by steady progress since he started out in life on his own account a poor boy, beginning work for the railroad when fifteen years of age. Actuated by laudable ambition he has steadily advanced, utilizing every opportunity to win success, and gradually step by step he has worked his way upward. After a number of years devoted to railway service he felt that his earnings justified his embarkation in business on his own account and he became connected with mercantile interests in Rawlins in 1899, while in 1902 he extended his efforts to include the sheep industry' and he is also today a factor in the banking circles of his adopted city. In his vocabulary there is no such word as fail and he has carried forward to successful completion whatever he has undertaken. There is much that is inspirational in his life record, showing what may be accomplished when there is a will to dare and to do. Opportunity has not had to knock more than once at his door, for he has immediately invited her over the threshold. His chances for advancement have been wisely and intelligently used and he is today one of the valued business men and honored citizens of his adopted state.


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