Iowa: Its History and Its Foremost Citizens
Original Edition. 3 Vols. Des Moines, IA: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1915-1916.
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Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Dick Barton.
REV PHILIP JOSEPH O’CONNOR submitted by Norm Prince
Rev Philip Joseph O’Connor, a well known representative of the Catholic clergy in northwestern Iowa, having for thirteen years served the parish of St Joseph’s church at Sioux City, has accomplished substantial results for the benefit of the church and its people. He was born in Eaton, Preble county, Ohio, June 2, 1854, his parents being Philip and Margaret (Lenihan) O’Connor, natives of Ireland. Following the removal of the family to Ottumwa, Iowa, in 1857, he pursued his education in the public and parochial schools of that city and then began preparation for the priesthood as a student in St Francis’ College at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He afterward continued his studies in the University of Our Lady of Angels near Niagara Falls, New York, and received the holy orders of the priesthood on the 16th of March, 1878, Bishop Ryan of the Buffalo diocese conduction the ordination ceremony.
Immediately afterward Father O’Connor entered upon the active work of the church as assistant to Father McLaughlin in Clinton, Iowa. During the five months there spent he established a school with Mother Cecelia in charge. He was then assigned to the pastorate of the Catholic church in Monticello, Iowa, where he remained for five years and under his there the stone church and residence were built, while the work of the church was carefully organized and augmented. For eighteen consecutive years he was the priest at Carroll, Iowa, and again was instrumental in erecting a stone house of worship, in addition to which he fitted up the parish hall and also added to the property, which because of the many improvements placed thereon became very valuable.
In 1900 Father O’Connor made a trip to the Holy Land, spending four months in travel and study there. In 1902 he was transferred to St Joseph’s Catholic church of Sioux City and entered upon his parish duties n February of that years. There he has since remained and thus for thirteen years has guided the interests of the church, enlarging its field of usefulness in many ways. Schoolrooms have been increased in size and renovated and the convent has been enlarged. He has the entire sympathy of his people, whose interests are very dear to him, and he is frequently their counselor and guide in temporal as well as spiritual matters.
JOHN P. O'MALLEY
To characterize John P. O'Malley as a banker and financier and as an influential factor in the democratic party in Iowa is but to shadow forth his career and gives little evidence of the intense and intelligently directed activity which has always featured in his business affairs, making him one of the strong and resourceful men of his part of the state, his efforts contributing to public progress and prosperity as well as to individual success. He is president of the Peoples National Bank of Perry, controlling owner of the Farmers Bank of Gardiner and director in the Bayard ( Ia. ) Savings Bank. In addition he has valuable holdings in improved business property in Perry and extensive farming and other interests. He has ever seemed to possess a genius for devising and executing the right thing at the right time, joined to everyday common sense.
A native of Ireland , Mr. O'Malley was born in County Mayo on Clew Bay , near the town of Westport , May 1, 1861 , the eldest son of Martin and Julia (Baskwell) O'Malley. The head of the O'Malley family was John O'Malley, Sr., a blacksmith by trade. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Annie Dolan, was a sister of the Dolan brothers who in the early '50s settled near Clinton , Iowa , and it was through the influence of the Dolans that the family of John O'Malley, Sr., took up their abode in Clinton county, this state, in the early '60s. Those who settled in Iowa at that time were Martin, James, Patrick, Peter and Bernard and a daughter, who became Mrs. Edward Garrity. All of these, with the exception of Peter and Mrs. Garrity, are still living. The parents, Mr. and Mrs. John O'Malley, Sr., emigrated to America and located in Clinton county, this state after their children had taken up their residence there. He reached the remarkable old age of one hundred and ten years and was in possession of his mental faculties up to the time of his demise. No old settlers' reunion was complete without him and he had the usual gifts of his race - wit and descriptive ability, so that his tales of Irish folk lore were listened to most eagerly. His life was an active and busy one, for he followed his trade at one forge for sixty years in Ireland . His wife reached the age of ninety and both were laid to rest in Des Moines .
In 1867 the family came to Dallas county, settling in Beaver township, where the sons engaged in farming. Martin O'Malley continued to carry on agricultural pursuits until 1896, when he retired and became a resident of Perry. While living in Beaver township he was actively identified with public affairs there and the interests of its schools were foremost in his thought. For many years he was a school director and the high standard of the schools attests the quality of his service in that connection. He was instrumental in securing from the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway the location of a station at Bouton and became founder of the town. On the organization of the Peoples Savings Bank of Perry he became a stockholder and director and continues as a director of its successor, the Peoples National Bank. He was born on the 11th of November, 1833 , and his wife was born in 1836. Both are adherents of the Catholic faith and generous in their support of the church. Of their children the following reside in Perry: John P., of this review; Eliza, who is the wife of John Flanagan, assistant roadmaster of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway; George W., who is engaged in business as a merchant and is a director in the Peoples National Bank; and Julia A., who gave her hand in marriage to John E. Donohue, a locomotive engineer in the service of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway. James F. is one of Dallas county's successful farmers and breeders of Angus cattle, his farm adjoining the old homestead in Beaver township. Bernard C. resides on the old homestead and is also a successful farmer and breeder of shorthorn cattle. In 1914 he built one of the finest residences in Dallas county, this being the third building to be erected on the home farm as a residence.
John P. O'Malley was educated in the old Rose Hill school in Beaver township, Dallas county, and in the Perry high school. He remained upon the home farm until 1888, when his father gave him one hundred and sixty acres of land whereon he began farming on his own account. In 1893, with his brother, George W., he organized the firm of O'Malley Brothers and opened a general merchandise store at Bouton, the undertaking proving a profitable one from the beginning owing to their progressive methods and able management. In 1894 J. P. O'Malley extended the scope of his activities by establishing a grain business and in 1896 he opened a lumberyard which he operated under his own name. Those enterprises were sold in 1900 and with George W. O'Malley he removed to Perry, where they established a furniture business under the firm style of O'Malley Brothers. They built a substantial brick building in which to conduct their interests and J. P. O'Malley remained active in the management of the store until 1904, when he retired from the firm to organize the Peoples Savings Bank of Perry, of which he was elected president. This bank was chartered with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars. In October, 1912, it was reorganized as the Peoples National Bank of Perry and its capital increased to fifty thousand dollars. It has at this writing, in 1915, a surplus of ten thousand dollars and deposits of four hundred thousand. Its officers are John P. O'Malley, president; John C. O'Malley, vice president; and E. D. Carter, cashier. It is a successful banking enterprise, conducted in an able, progressive manner, and its growth has been highly satisfactory. The policy of its management has the confidence of the public and the bank is therefore liberally patronized. Mr. O'Malley also founded the Farmers Bank of Gardiner in 1910, owns the greater part of its stock and is also the owner of a large block of stock in the Bayard Savings Bank, of which he is a director. During the ten years in which he has been active in Iowa banking circles he has been recognized as an able executive, a discriminating financier, conservative in his methods yet possessing initiative and energy. His standing as a banker is attested through the fact that when in 1914 several men prominent in the financial world of Chicago practically perfected the organization of a bank to be known as the Celtic Trust & Savings Bank of Chicago, with large capital, its stockholders, officers and directors to be made up of citizens of the United States of Irish birth or ancestry, Mr. O'Malley was slated for the presidency. The European war so unsettled the money market, however, that incorporation was postponed until more favorable conditions prevail.
Mr. O'Malley has always taken an active part in civic affairs. When a young man on his father's farm he was elected assessor of Beaver township at the early age of twenty-one years and served for six years, his election being a compliment to his knowledge of land values. He was township clerk for several years and was nominated on the democratic ticket for county clerk in 1888. Dallas is a republican county with a normal majority of twelve hundred, and with the Harrison landslide of that year Mr. O'Malley was defeated by about two hundred votes, although running considerably ahead of his ticket. He was afterward elected a member of the city council of Perry, was chairman of the committee on paving and during his service in that connection First, Second and Willis avenues and Warford street were paved. He gave to his committee work the same attention to detail, business sense and financial shrewdness which have placed him among the successful merchants and bankers of the county and his vigilance resulted in Perry having received value for every dollar expended. An appropriation for a government building for Perry had been made but construction failed to begin. Mr. O'Malley made a trip to Washington and urged upon Secretary of the Treasury MacVeagh the necessity of prompt construction. Failing to get as quick results as he desired, he made a second trip, calling on MacVeagh's successor, Secretary McAdoo, and the citizens of Perry are now transacting business in their new postoffice, which was opened in January, 1915. Mr. O'Malley has attended four national conventions of the democratic party: Chicago in 1896; Kansas City in 1900; St. Louis in 1904 as alternate; and Denver in 1908 as delegate and treasurer of the Iowa delegation. He was the Iowa member of the delegation that notified Mr. Bryan of his nomination in 1908. He has twice been a candidate for nomination to congress from his district. He has attended every state convention of his party since he attained his majority. He is an advocate of bank guaranty legislation as enacted in Kansas and Nebraska and he helped secure the insertion of the plank on bank guaranties in 1908 in the democratic platform. He has a wide acquaintance among the leaders of his party and the men of note in the state and the nation.
On the 16th of October, 1895 , at Dallas Center , Iowa , Mr. O'Malley wedded Miss Mary Morrissey, a daughter of Stephen and Lucy Ellen (Woodward) Morrissey, of Beaver township, Dallas county, Iowa . Her father was a native of County Waterford, Ireland, and her mother of Hurricane, Cabell county, Virginia, which is near Harpers Ferry, the Woodward family having been founded in this country during the early days of the Virginia colony, since which time its members have filled positions of honor in town, state and nation. Mrs. O'Malley was born January 28, 1864 , in Poweshiek county, Iowa , and has been a teacher in the Dallas county schools. She is a lady of broad education and is popular in the social circles of Perry. She has traveled extensively with her husband, covering the United States , Canada , Cuba , the British Isles and France . With Mr. O'Malley she has attended three national conventions of the democratic party and has wide acquaintance with democratic men of note and their families. During a tour of Ireland in 1913, Mr. and Mrs. O'Malley visited the old home of her father and slept in the Morrissey home where her father was born. The old home of the O'Malleys was also visited on that trip.
Both Mr. and Mrs. O'Malley are communicants of the Catholic faith and are influential and active in the work of the parish. Mr. O'Malley was chairman of the building committee of St. Patrick's church, erected in 1900. He is a charter member of Perry Council, No. 1243, K. C., is its treasurer and a past grand knight. He belongs to Perry Lodge, No. 407, B. P. O. E. Measures for the advancement and betterment of his home city have his cordial and active support. He is active in controlling business affairs and has much influence in matters relating to the welfare and upbuilding of the community. He enjoys the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens of the county and their high esteem is uniformly given him.
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