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From: "Cathy Joynt Labath" <>
Subject: [IA-IRISH] Bio of James Conlin
Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 12:56:22 -0600

Surnames: Conlin, Sheman, Lavin, Finn, O'Brien, Miller, Foley

History of Dubuque County, Iowa; Weston A. Goodspeed, ed. by F. T. Oldt and
P. J. Quigley; Chicago: Goodspeed Hist. Assoc. 1911

James L Conlin, mayor of the village of Cascade, a director in the Cascade
bank, retired farmer,stock raiser and real estate dealer, was born at
Lexington, Kentucky. John Conlin, his father, was a native of County
Leitrim, Ireland,and came to the United States when a young man, making the
passage across the ocean in a sailing vessel. At the time of his arrival the
South was holding out inducements for the better class of settlers and Mr.
Conlin was attracted to the Blue Grass region of Kentucky. He located at
Lexington and was there engaged in contracting many years. in 1843 he
married Ellen Sherman, and died in 1847 when a comparatively young man.
Three children were born to this marriage: Thomas, who died from the effects
of gun shot wounds received in the Confederate service; James L., the
subject of this sketch, and John, a resident of Dubuque county. Mrs. Conlin
subsequently married James Lavin, who died in 1863, and they were the
parents of Sarah, Ella, Margaret and Luke. in 1857 the family moved to this
county and eventually established a permanent home on section 18, in White
Water township. Here the mother passed away in 1905, at eighty-two years of
age. James E Conlin received his early schooling at Lexington, Kentucky, and
when a young man learned the saddlery and harness business in Iowa,
following this occupation in various localities of this state and in
Kentucky and Tennessee. He then returned to Cascade, Iowa, and embarked in
the drug trade, and later in general merchandising. Eventually he retired
from mercantile pursuits and engaged extensively in buying and selling land,
at which he had been unusually successful. For half a century Mr. Conlin has
been identified with the growth, development and prosperity of Cascade and
has witnessed the progress of the place from a small hamlet to its present
proportions. There have been few public enterprises tending toward the
general good that have not had him a warm supporter. He was one of the
original six first directors of the Cascade bank, and since its organization
has always been on the directory. In politics he is a Democrat, and in
addition to holding various other positions of honor and trust, has served
three terms as mayor of the village. Mr. Conlin married Miss Ann Finn, whose
family is prominently mentioned elsewhere in this work, and to them have
been born these children: Jenemine; John Thomas, cashier of the Farmes and
Merchants' Bank, Cascade; Sabina, the wife of William J. O'Brien; Gertrude,
now Mrs. John Miller; and Bertha, who married Edward Foley, and resides in
Jones County, Iowa. The family are of the Roman Catholic faith in religion.


The Irish in Iowa
http://www.celticcousins.net/irishiniowa/

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• [IA-IRISH] Bio of James Conlin by "Cathy Joynt Labath" <>