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CARTNEY, Patrick

Patrick CARTNEY, one of the self-made men of La Prairie township, whose early home was on the other side of the Atlantic, commenced life  without other capital than his strong hands and resolute will and has attained to a fine position, socially and financially, among his fellow-citizens. His homestead, one of the most noticeable in the township, embraces a fertile tract of four hundred acres of land under thorough cultivation. Both as a business man and citizen, the proprietor stands well among the men of his township and vicinity as having materially assisted in the development of Marshall county.

Mr. CARTNEY was born in County Louth, Ireland, in March, 1824, was reared to agricultural pursuits and became steward for a market gardener. In 1860 he emigrated to the new world, coming at once to Peoria, Illinois, where he spent one month with C. CARROLL, and later worked by the month on the farms of R. O. CALDWELL and O. S. SMITH, in all about five years. At the end of that period he had about fifteen hundred dollars to invest, so purchased seventy-two and a half acres of his present farm, to which he has later added, until the boundaries of his land include four hundred acres. He also gives some attention to the raising of hogs and cattle besides his general farm work. Six years ago he erected his present fine residence.

Soon after the close of the civil war, in July, 1865, Mr. CARTNEY was united in marriage with Miss Mary MACKIN, who was born in the same parish in County Louth, Ireland, as her husband, and after coming to the United States worked for ten years for rich families in New York. She has been an industrious, hardworking woman, and to her is due not a little of the success which has come to them. To them have been born five children – Jane, wife of William GREEN, of Fairmont, Nebraska; Katie, at home; Johnnie, who assists his father in the operation of the home farm; Maggie, wife of Frank COLGAN, a farmer residing near the CARTNEY homestead, and Thomas, at home. The family are all devout members of the Catholic church at Camp Grove. Although a democrat in politics, Mr. CARNEY is not strictly partisan, and at local elections casts his ballot for the man whom he thinks will best fill the office. He has held the position of school director, discharging its duties faithfully and well.

Extracted April 2011 by Norma Hass from The Biographical Record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois, 1896.


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