A Memoir of Thomas Desmond with a chapter on The Desmond Genealogy By Humphrey J. Desmond MILWAUKEE 1905 Transcribed by William Desmond with the assistance of Jude Pipes Santa Cruz, California Copyright 2004 In accordance with the wishes expressed by the author in his preface, this transcription is dedicated to the descendants of Patrick Desmond of Gurteen, County Cork, Ireland and of Thomas Desmond of Milwaukee, Wisconsin [2] [Blank page.] [3] PREFACE THIS memoir is limited to fifty copies. It is intended for private circulation among the immediate relatives and descendants of Thomas Desmond, whose life and character it commemorates. He himself would have shunned even such limited publicity; but his children, who remember him with filial honor and esteem and who realize that his counsels and his companionship were with his immediate family so influential for good, wish to [4] preserve among his descendants these recollections, hoping that such a memoir may help to hold us all truer to the principles of faith and conduct which his life exemplified. [5] GENEALOGICAL THE name "Desmond" is not, in its derivation, French; nor is it probable that the Geraldine family were Norman French. They themselves, in the 14th and 15th centuries, regarded themselves as a branch of the Florentine family, Gherardini. "The Desmonds are properly Fitzgeralds, but occupying for centuries the district of Deas Mumhain (pronounced Desmond) or South Munster, they practically lost their original [6] patronymic." (Compendium of Irish Biography, Alfred Webb, p. 136.) The Earls of Desmond in their autographs signed themselves "Maurice Desmond," "Garrett Desmond" or "Thomas Desmond," as will appear from the following facsimile: [Illustration omitted.] The last of the Earls of Desmond, James Desmond, nephew of the fifteenth Earl (the rebel Earl), who was called the "Earl of Straw" because his title was not acknowledged by the English, was captured and immured in London Tower August 16, 1601. In the state [7] documents he is designated "James McThomas," to avoid the acknowledgement of his Desmond title. In a petition for pardon made after five years' imprisonment he signs himself "James Desmond"; but with a view perhaps to conciliating his jailers in behalf of his petition he scratches it out and signs "James Gyerallde." The records available as to the Desmond genealogy are: 1. Kilkenny Archaeological Journal for 1877. 2. The Geraldine Documents, edited by Rev. James Graves, in the Journal of the Archaeological Association of Ireland, 1869. 3. The History of the Geraldines, a work written in Latin by Father [8] Dominic O'Daly (died 1662), This work has been translated and edited by Rev. James Meehan, Dublin, James Duffy & Sons, Publishers. O'Hart, Vol. 1, page 63, states that Munster was divided in three parts; Tuadh Mumhain, or North Munster, known as Thomond; Deas Mumhain, or South Munster, known as Desmond; and Oir Mumhain, of East Munster. the word "Deas" refers to a tribe called the Desii. Desmond included Cork, most of Kerry and part of Waterford. Under the Earls of Desmond the territory known as Desmond was restricted to Bear, Bantry and other portions of southwestern Cork and the southern portion of Kerry. When William the Conqueror planned [9] the invasion of England about the middle of the 11th century he called to his standard adventurers from all parts of Europe; and among those who followed him and fought with him in the battle of Hastings (1066) was, so 'tis said, a youth from Florence of the family of the Gherardini. According to O'Daly, this Gherardini was given the castle and the lordship of Windsor as his reward, and his descendants were the Earls of Windsor, the Earls of Essex and the Geraldine family in Ireland (this latter family including the two great houses known as the Earls of Kildare and the Earls of Desmond). Father Meehan in the appendix of his work gives in extenso copies of papers in the possession of the Duke of Leinster [10] (the Earls of Kildare became Dukes of Leinster in 1766), indicating the Florentine extraction of the family. There is a letter of Leonardo Arentino, secretary of the Florentine republic, dated June 1, 1440, to James, Earl of Desmond, which begins as follows: "If it is true that your progenitors were Florentines by birth, as has been told us, and of the most noble and ancient family of the Gherardini, which even now is one of the most distinguished in this city, we have ample reason to rejoice and congratulate ourselves," etc. There is also an account extracted from the book of memoirs of the family of the Gherardini, composed [11] by Canon Nicholas Gherardini in 1585. He includes in his memoirs those of the family who settled in the island of Hibernia. Christofano Sandini, in his preface to Dante's Divine Comedia, also counts the Irish Geraldines as of the very ancient family of the Gherardini of Florence. Under date of May 27, 1507, Gerald, Earl of Kildare, wrote a letter to the Florentine Gherardini as follows: "Greatly grateful your letters have been to us most illustrious men. From them we have learned the fervor of fraternal love which you bear to your own blood; but to heighten your joy I will inform you briefly of the state of your relatives in these parts.*** There is also a relation [12] of ours in these parts called the Earl Desmond, who holds a lordship extending over one hundred miles*** We desire to know the origin of our family and their number and the name of your forefathers. Whether there are any of them settled in France, what members of our family inhabit Roman states," etc. This letter is signed "Gerald, Chief in Ireland of the family of the Gherardini; Earl of Kildare; Viceroy of the Most Serene King of England." Others besides the Geraldines themselves held the opinion that the family was of Florentine origin. Witness the sonnets of the Earl of Surrey to the Fair Geraldine, daughter of the 9th Earl of Kildare: "From Tuskane came my ladie's worthy race, Fair Florence was sometime her ancient seat." [13] A general summary will here be sufficient as to the career of the Earls of Desmond. fuller and more detailed information is easily available elsewhere. The progenitor of the house landed with the Anglo-Norman immigrants in Ireland A. D. 1169. His son Gerald was viceroy of Ireland, dying in 1205. In the second year of the reign of Edward III. (1329), descendants of Gerald were created, respectively, Earl of Desmond and Earl of Kildare. The Desmond earldom lasted for over three hundred and fifty years. Sixteen Earls are listed in succession, until 1603. The House of Kildare still exists; the twentieth Earl of Kildare became the first Duke of Leinster in 1766. [14] For three hundred years the Earls of Desmond figured prominently in Irish history. Among them were men of piety and men of learning, men of craft and men of cruelty, men who defied kings, formed the Geradine leagues, sought alliances with emperors and made defensive treaties with popes. Almost everything that is romantic in medieval history, bright in chivalry, dark in plot and curious in legend comes into the record of these Geraldines. One of them was known as the poet Earl. One died in the habit of a monk. One sacrificed his earldom to marry for love the daughter of an Irish chieftain. (Moore has made this the subject of a poem: "Desmond's Song.") Several of the [15] Earls followed the English kings in the Scotch and French wars. They were partisans of the house of York in the war of the Roses. They were frequently appointed viceroys of Ireland, the highest representative of the English power in that country. They brought the Dominican order into Ireland and built monasteries at Tralee, Youghal, and other places. They were always popular with native Irish, with whom they inter-married, becoming, as the saying was, "more Irish than the Irish themselves." They spoke and wrote the Irish language and had their brehons and bards in defiance of English law. When the parting of the ways cam at the time of the reformation, they held to the old faith and went down [16] to final defeat and ruin in the so-called Geraldine revolt--essentially a religious war. ("The Heiress of Kilorgan," an historical novel by Mrs. James Sadlier, is an interesting sketch of the Geraldine family.) Alluding to the history of the family, O'Daly says (Meehan's edition "History of the Geraldines," ch. 15, p.131): "Four hundred and fifty years had its branches extended over the four provinces of Ireland; no less than fifty lords and barons paid them tribute, and were ever ready to march under their banners. Besides the palatinate of Kerry, the country, for a hundred and twenty miles in length and fifty in breadth, was theirs. The people did them homage in all their holdings. They had, moreover, one hundred castles and strongholds, numerous seaports, lands that were charming to the eye and rich in fruits. the mountains were theirs, together with the woods; theirs was the rocky coasts and the sweet blue lakes which teemed with fish. Yes, they won all these delightful lands with their good swords, and governed them with their laws. Loved by their own, dreaded by their enemies, they were the delight of princes and the patrons of gifted youth. Oh! but they were a great and glorious race. These lines are from the tribute of Thomas Davis to the Geraldines: "Ye Geraldines! ye Geraldines how royally ye reigned O'er Desmond broad and rich Kildare and English arts disdained. [18] True Geraldines! brave Geraldines as torrents mould the earth, You channeled deep old Ireland's heart by constancy and worth. When Gluckle leaguered Limerick the Irish soldiers gazed To see if in the setting sun Dead Desmond's banner blazed." The last of the Desmond family of ascertained lineal connections with the Earls was John Desmond, nephew of the fifteenth or rebel Earl, who died at Barcelona in 1615. His son Gerald, known as Conde de Desmond, died in the service of the Austrian Emperor in 1632. Undoubtedly there were many other descendants of the Earls left in Ireland, although the devastations of Cromwell and the transplantation of the people have probably destroyed all records upon which any direct lineal descent could be shown. O'Hart, in his "Irish Pedigrees," finds a Dublin family [19] named Healy descended from the Earls of Desmond; one of their ancestors, who lived about 1725, was certified by certain noble gentlemen to be a lineal descendant of the Earls of Desmond. It appears that in the Irish parishes there are few baptismal or marriage records which go back beyond the year 1780. the basis for considering those who now bear the name of Desmond as more direct descendants of the family which once possessed the earldom is largely family tradition, which of course may be merely a matter of pride. (The writer in 1896 met at Bandon, in County Cork, Ireland, an octogenarian Desmond who asserted with great earnestness his lineage [20] with the noble family. Standing at his cottage door he waved his arm, and said: "Our family once owned all this country as far as eye can see." But it is also argued that while Fitzgerald was the patronymic, Desmond was the surname of the noble family. Of course, surnames were not generally adopted in Ireland until the thirteenth century. There were about sixty of the name recorded in 1896 in the Cork county directory. A few of the name also appear in the London and Dublin city directories and in the city directories of almost every large city. In the United States the name appears more frequently in eastern Massachusetts and central New York than elsewhere. [21] I. ANCESTRY BANDON is a town of some six thousand inhabitants located twenty miles west of Cork. It is in that position of the former domains of the Earls of Desmond that was granted to Court favorites, who, however, did not hold it long. by the year 1602 these lands came into the possession of Boyle, Earl of Cork, who sought to substitute English colonists in place of the Irish inhabitants, and who in the process founded the unprepossessing town of Bandon. [22] A farmland or ploughland district adjacent to Bandon is known as Gurteen. Here, about the year 1750, lived Patrick Desmond. He was grandfather of Thomas Desmond (1833-1901), in whose memory these pages are written. So far as family traditions go we cannot trace our ancestry further back than 1750. There may (though I doubt it) be records extant in Ireland which might enable us reliably to date our family history from 1700 or 1650. This may be worth investigation later. For the present I pass on. Patrick Desmond was twice married. The maiden name of his first wife was Brennan. I am unable to ascertain the name of his second wife. He left surviving him ten sons. [23] I. By his first marriage there were five sons and two daughters. The sons were: (1) Dennis, (2) Patrick, (3) Cornelius, (4) John, and (5) Humphrey. (1) Dennis died in Ireland, but his widow and two sons, John and Cornelius, came to America. My uncle Dennis met them at Utica, N. Y., in 1837. John subsequently moved to Port Huron, Mich. (a place that was once known as "Desmond"). My uncle had a letter from him about the year 1858. (2, 3) Of Patrick and Cornelius, brothers of Dennis, I have learned nothing. (4) John remained in Ireland. I [24] met one of his sons in 1896. This was Patrick Desmond of Bandon, born in 1814; and his account of the family was substantially identical with our traditions. (5) The fifth son, Humphrey Desmond, was the father of Thomas Desmond, the subject of this memoir. Of him, later. II. By the second marriage of Patrick Desmond there were five sons: (1) Timothy, (2) Mathew, (3) Daniel, (4) Bartholomew, and (5) William. Daniel settled at Brazier Falls, N.Y. Bartholomew and William [25] settled at Utica, N.Y. Descendants of Daniel now reside in La Crosse and in Alamakee county, Ia. Descendants of Bartholomew still reside at Utica, N. Y. William left no descendants. Patrick Desmond (1750), with whom this sketch starts, had several brothers. My uncle Dennis, in a letter dated Sept. 13, 1900, wrote me: "Patrick Desmond, who died in Cedarburg, was a first cousin to my father. Cornelius Desmond, who died in Utica, N. Y. was also a first cousin. My father had several cousins in Boston and in Fall River, Mass." [26] [II.] HUMPHREY DESMOND HUMPHREY Desmond was born in 1782. In his thirty second year (1814) he married Dorothy Allen, then nineteen years of age. They were married in the parish church at Neucestown, now Bandon. she was of a Protestant family and was baptized in the Episcopalian church. but her mother became a Catholic while Dorothy Allen was a child. I find this passage in a letter my father wrote me in 1896 while I was in Europe: "Mother had two brothers, [27] Thomas and John, after one of whom I was named.*** She had a sister, Lucy, and possibly other sisters. Her mother became a convert to the Catholic church when she was but a year old, but I understand her father died in the Church of England." Bandon and its vicinity was notoriously plagued with sectarian feuds. Humphrey Desmond belonged to the secret society known as the "Whiteboys," organized to defend the rights of his class. In 1829 he came to America, crossing the ocean in nine weeks, and bringing with him his wife and five children, ranging in age from twelve to two years. He was then in his forty-seventh year. [28] He landed at Quebec, and shortly after moved to Kingston Mills, near Kingston Ontario. Here he lived four years and here, October 14, 1833, his youngest son, Thomas Desmond was born. The next year (1834) the family moved to Utica, N. Y., and in 1835 they settled at Little Falls, in Herkimer county. The building of a railroad and the enlargement of the Erie canal attracted many settlers to this vicinity. Here my father spent his childhood years and here two of his sisters, Julia and Mary, were married--the first to Edward Sweeney and the second (Mary) to Simon McGrath, who planned to make his home in the great West. This circumstance may have determined [29] the subsequent migration of our family, but it is also quite likely that settlement on the rich lands of the West was the original plan of Humphrey Desmond. At any rate he purchase one hundred and sixty acres of land in Ozaukee county, Wisconsin, paying the Government twelve shillings an acre therefor in gold. and in 1842 the family began its journey westward over the great lakes from Buffalo. Milwaukee was reached August 29, 1842. Humphrey Desmond was then sixty years of age. He was a man of superior education and, from what I can learn, of considerable force of character. His decision in his sixtieth year to venture into what was [30] then known as the far West in order to found a home for his family was no mediocre act. In this, of course, he was assisted by his wife, a most capable woman, and by a growing family. Three sons--Dennis, aged nineteen; Patrick, aged twelve, and Thomas, aged nine, and a daughter, Elizabeth, aged fifteen, made up the pioneer household. A daughter, Mary (Mrs. Simon McGrath), was settled a few miles distant on a farm. The oldest daughter, Julia, now the wife of Edward Sweeney, remained in New York, and the oldest son, John, then twenty-one, remained in Utica. [31] III. PIONEER DAYS THE "hazard of new fortunes" undertaken by the Desmond family involved the clearing away of woods with the ax of the pioneer and the building of a commodious log house. The pioneers of this neighborhood were the Bonniwell brothers, who had settled there about 1835, and it was known as the Bonniwell settlement. Indians still roamed the forests of southeastern Wisconsin in 1843. My [32] father, then ten years old, alone in the house one day, was visited by a brave to whom he gave a large loaf of bread. The Indian loosened his belt as he ate the loaf, and when it was all gone departed peaceably on his journey. There was a log school house to which my father went. Books were not plentiful in those days. He studied his spelling lesson during the noon hour from the book of a desk mate. He had to start at the foot of the class, but one day he got to the head and kept his place. A new teacher came later to the school who opened the sessions with Bible reading from the King James version. Thomas Desmond made objection and felt obliged to leave [33] the school rather than be forced to conform. For this action, taken upon his own initiative; he was publicly commended by the Catholic priest whose mission it was to visit the Catholic families of that section. Mass for the scattered pioneer Catholic families was often said in my grandfather's house, and Bishop Henni (who came to the Milwaukee diocese in 1844) and Father Kundig sojourned there at one time over night. My father tells of walking into Milwaukee one day in 1847, to get an altar stone for a missionary priest from Bishop Henni. The bishop tied the altar stone about the boy's shoulders and sent him back on his long journey. [36] IV. A NEW HOUSEHOLD ON April 6, 1856, Thomas Desmond and Johanna Bowe were married. She was then about twenty-two years of age. She had come from Ireland with her father, a brother and a younger sister in 1847 and after some years in Buffalo, where her father died, she came west to Wisconsin to visit two uncles, John and Jeremiah Bowe, then settled on farms in the vicinity of the Desmonds. For ten years (1856-66) my father [37] resided on the farm originally cleared by the family. It was located in the town of Mequon, Ozaukee county, a mile and a half from Cedarburg, then a little village, now a small city reached by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railway, about an hour's ride north of Milwaukee. The frame house where he lived and a very good barn which he built in 1853 still stand. During most of the winters he taught district school. His chief occupation, of course, was that of farming. On an adjacent farm lived his brother Dennis, between whom and himself there was always a strong feeling of companionship and mutual confidence. [38] The older brother, John Desmond, had come West after 1852 and gone into the hardware business at Port Washington. Two of my father's sisters, Mrs. Mary McGrath and Mrs. Jeremiah Bowe, were settled on farms four or five miles distant, and a brother, Patrick Desmond also married, had gone to the front in the Army of the Cumberland. Ozaukee county was in those days (as it is today) very strongly Democratic. There was opposition to the war. My father and his brother Dennis were "war Democrats," differing from their neighbors herein. The older brother, John Desmond, was a Republican and at one time the nominee of his party in Ozaukee county for State Senator. [39] [Blank page.] [40] [Portrait of Thomas Desmond omitted] [41] V. MILWAUKEE APRIL 16, 1866, my father having rented his farm (a few years later he sold it), moved with his family to Milwaukee. He was then about thirty-two years of age. His family now included three children. Two others had died in infancy. My father made this change without any definite plans as to what he would do in Milwaukee. He had tired of the farm and thought a change advisable. [42] In November, 1866, he took a position as clerk of the public school board. Subsequently (1872) he was elected secretary of the school board. He held this position until May, 1880, a period of nearly fourteen years. It was work very congenial to his tastes. For nearly three years he was intimately associated with F. C. Pomeroy, then superintendent of schools. A very warm friendship developed. Mr. Pomeroy died Aug. 25, 1869. A delegation of the school commissioners offered to support my father for the vacant position, but, although he might have met the requirements of the place (for he was a natural schoolman) he believed it ought to [43] be filled by a college graduate and therefore he declined. At this time he had won the especial confidence of the school board by discovering an attempt to defraud the city in the matter of furnishing coal for the schools. False weights were used. the school board committee offered to vote my father an additional month's salary for his services in this matter, but as he had merely done his duty he declined the proffer. He systematized the work of the school board; and during the years of his occupancy of the office--which were also years of rapid development in the Milwaukee public school system--he gave a form and shape to many things that are still maintained. [44] It was his purpose to write a history of the Milwaukee public schools and he had gathered much material for that purpose. But a press of other duties postponed the task indefinitely. Meanwhile, his family had increased from three children to nine. And by 1880 the school days of the three older were completed and they had entered upon their life work. This passage occurs in his diary of April 21, 1880: "Just twenty-nine years ago to-day [1851] I commenced teaching school, at which I must have continued every winter [45] and parts of two summers for about fifteen years [1866]. I entered this office on the fifteenth of November, 1866 and now it looks quite certain I shall leave it at the close of my present official term--May 5th, 1880. "I write this at the table in the outer room of my office and I feel that, take altogether, I have been reasonably attentive and faithful." Milwaukee was a strongly Democratic city up to 1876. Following that year the city gradually became Republican; and by 1880 there was a clean sweep in its public offices. This was very much to the regret [46] of a wide circle of schoolmen. I make place for one letter received at the time from a former principal of Milwaukee High School, a man eminent at the time in educational circles: "ILLINOIS INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY, "URBANA, May 8, 1880 "MY DEAR MR. DESMOND: I cannot well avoid saying to you that I regret to learn that you have lost the office held by you so long and so honorably. I hope you step at once into something better. "With the most kindly feelings and remembrances, I am as ever, "Yours very truly, "J. C. Pickard." [47] Early in the following year he became Wisconsin manager for the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, a position which he held for over twenty years. His office was located at 17 Mack Block. My law office adjoined his office and we were practically associated in a business way from 1883 on. These things I could always observe in his methods: 1. Absolute truthfulness and a scrupulous moderation of statement. 2. A disposition to give hose with whom he dealt their own way in interpreting the contract. He believed in foregoing things to which he might be strictly entitled, regarding the good will and friendship of his neighbors as more important. 3. Great tolerance in his judgment of men and opinions. 4. He owed no man and never disputed a claim nor had a law suit. On the other hand, a good many people owed him and he usually left the payment to their convenience. I have known him to throw off one or two years' interest when some one called to pay a note. The duties of his position required him to visit at times different portions of the state and in many places he formed friendships which were no doubt pleasant to him. Mr. George W. Hanley of Marinette, shortly after my father's death wrote me substantially what many others have since said to me: [49] "It was with the deepest regret I learned of your esteemed father's death. I have known him for a great many years and always had the highest respect for him. I found much comfort in meeting him here while on his business trips of late years and will miss him very much." [50] VI. CHARACTERISTICS ASIDE from his business activities he was always interested in church and public affairs. From 1866 to 1875, while the Sunday school of St. John's Cathedral was conducted under lay auspices he participated in that work, and for a time was superintendent and librarian. He had been present at the laying of the corner stone of the Cathedral in 1852 and from 1866 to 1901 was a pewholder, a member of several of the parish societies, and [51] always a contributor to the periodic calls made necessary in the discharge of the indebtedness of the congregation. Religiously, I cannot say that he was emotionally devout. His religion was more on the intellectual side. but he was a practical Catholic from conviction and thoroughly aware of the grounds of his faith and doctrines of his church. In his travels about the state and in his relation with men of all beliefs he liked to discuss in a friendly manner religious matters, but never obtrusively--the occasion usually coming in some remark made in his hearing. His discussions were always amicable and many a non-Catholic thanked him for giving them a clearer [52] idea of the position of the church. It was a matter of principle with him never to allow an erroneous view of the Catholic church to go uncorrected and he always took exception to such expressions as "Romanist" or "Papist." At different times several of his children, at his suggestion stood up in the public school room against historical views prejudicial to the Catholic church and against other practices of a sectarian character. His views in this matter are indicated in a letter which he wrote me in 1878: "If Catholic students have no respect paid to their religious convictions the sooner it is know the better. And it is the duty of anyone [53] that knows such to be the case to make it known. " * * But do it without passion--do it in respectful, dignified, clear, but forcible language. I would advise you to be every [sic] ready and open to avowing your creed and standing upon the rights of citizenship; to ever resist imposition, come from what quarter it may. "Let them see that one can be a Catholic openly, and while manly, and every [sic] ready to defend your rights--yet kind, orderly and respectful to teachers in language, thought and action--but fearless in resisting and denouncing bigotry, falsehood or betrayal of trust." It was an endeavor with him to attend mass daily and this he often [54] succeeded in doing for weeks, making new resolutions after any interruption. I quote from his diary of Tuesday, Oct. 3, 1893: "Arose at 6. Attended 7 o'clock mass. Have started these reforms thus far this month. Discontinued tea and coffee. rise at or before 6. Attend 7 o'clock mass." Politically my father was a Democrat all his life, though upon one occasion he voted the Republican Presidential ticket. Party allegiance was stronger in the period 1856- 90 than it has been since. My father valued the principles of Jeffersonian Democracy more than the party itself as an organization. To invariably vote the straight ticket was not his idea of the best fealty to party. the general course of conduct which he [55] [Portraits of Thomas Desmond and Mrs. Thomas Desmond omitted.] [56] [Blank page.] [57] advised and practiced is somewhat indicated by the following extract which I take from the letter written to one of the sons: "Let your popularity, if you succeed in having such, be based upon your merit and strict attention to your duty and rigid adherence at all times and places to the principles of your church. Keep aloof from all persons and places that are not safe. No Catholic can sacrifice one jot or tittle of his principles and practice for popularity or any other worldly notion. Stand firmly by your own convictions and the teachings of our church. I do not write with any apprehension on this point, but no one is absolutely secure and it is better to make as few mistakes [58] in life as possible. A good beginning is half the battle and now is your time to be particularly watchful, ever on your guard and pray for light and strength to walk as becomes a true follower of the Christian religion." He was an earnest believer in the duty of Irish-American co-operation in promoting Home rule for Ireland. He served on the committee which organized the first notable contribution to the Parnell movement from Wisconsin and was present at all the principal local meetings in behalf of the Irish cause from 1879 to 1890. His home life was sufficient for him in a social way. He had a wide acquaintance and friendship, but [59] few intimate associates outside of his family and immediate relatives. Those whom he knew well in youth and middle age passed away as the years rolled by. for nearly thirty years Edward J. Kelley of Milwaukee was one his closest friends. Mr. Kelley died in March, 1894. In his diary of March 12 my father wrote: "Feel quite despondent, due to death of E. J. Kelley. Seldom if ever, have I known one so well and truly deserving of the good wishes of the entire community." I note that in 1881, when my father desired sureties on a bond usually required by insurance companies of their state agent this friendly service was performed for him by John Furlong [60] and John Dahlman, in their day honored citizens of Milwaukee. His recreations were usually in things intellectual. He was a member of the Curran Literary Society, an organization of local fame in the early '70s. Lecture courses and public addresses by eminent men always attracted him--theaters very rarely. He enjoyed concerts, especially ballad music. It became a habit with him to attend the annual Scotch picnic as part of his interest in matters Gaelic. He was a reader of books rather than of newspapers. Sometimes he read aloud to his family of an evening. I remember especially his reading to us Scott's "Lady of the Lake." Among his books was a fine edition [61] of the poems of Walter Scott--a favorite author. In conversation he was a good listener, but when he spoke it was entertainingly and with the power of personal observation and clear conviction. So far as the use of tobacco and alcohol are concerned he was virtually a total abstainer. I never saw him enter a saloon. His influence with his family was persuasively against the formation of habits or associations that might prove detrimental. this is an extract from a letter he wrote one of his sons: "Your account of those university students that room in the dormitory gives me an impression that discipline and government must be very [62] lax. If boys, in order to acquire an education must demean themselves in that way, better remain uneducated. Be very careful to avoid mingling or becoming intimate with boys that are not studious, intelligent, refined and of good moral character. "You can afford to take no risks in acquiring an education, in exchanging anything that makes good moral character for all the learning the university can boast of. Be ever outspoken and independent in anything pertaining to your religious convictions." To a daughter away at school he wrote: " Keep a journal every night of your work and events of the day, and suggestions where you can improve. [63] Do not study too late at night. Devote at least one hour to study every morning before going to school. Endeavor in time to acquire a systematic habit of study. Avoid memorizing words, but get knowledge after a classified system, so that you can always be ready and able to tell clearly what you know. Be observant, ask questions and get at the bottom of everything you study. Take good care of your health." And here I may note the many ways in which he looked after the education of his family in their younger days and advised and counseled with them as to their careers when they entered upon their work in life. [64] He neglected note of the ordinary duties of a parent. My brother and myself he instructed at home until we were almost prepared to enter the high school. Either we inherited, or found ourselves compelled by our environment, to a taste for books and reading. The religious side of his children's education was particularly looked after by him. One of his methods which he followed from year to year was to require each of his children during their school life to write a synopsis of the Sunday sermon. At the close of each year rewards were given for the best kept sermon books. Diaries were also presented to each one at the beginning of the year and [65] the habit of keeping systematic accounts thus encouraged. We were also encouraged to publish manuscript newspapers. In my case this practice resulted in several manuscript volumes of the Home Magazine, which boyish periodical was not discontinued until I took up the editorship of a regularly printed high school and later of the university paper. We felt our father's interest in all our undertakings of a literary or intellectual character; and his participation in whatever pleasure or glory these might result we always counted upon. His approval was an incentive. [66] VII. LAST YEARS FOR about ten years (from 1891) my father had not been in perfect health. His trouble was early diagnosed as diabetes. Careful dieting and regular habits held the disease in check. His temperament was naturally sanguine and hopeful, his disposition equable and no clouds or misfortunes or crosses (aside from his condition of health) came to him. [57] My father had accumulated property to the value of about $25,000. While conservative in a business way, he never cared particularly for money or wealth. He realized the desirability of being independent, but was not so constituted as to be shrewd or pushing in a financial way. He lived comfortably and brought up a family of nine children, all of whom had the advantage of a good education. Two completed courses at the State University and three of his daughters at State Normal schools. For the last sixteen years of his life he had resided at 810 Van Buren street, a commodious home which he had purchased in 1885. He had [68] built a brick house at 757 Marshall street in 1877, originally intended as a home, but carried as an investment for some time and afterward sold. In August, 1892, accompanied by his daughters Dora and Mary, he spent three or four weeks of travel in the East. He visited Utica and in its vicinity Little Falls, where his boyhood years were passed, and spent a few days with a favorite nephew, Thomas Henry Sweeney, at Geneva, N. Y. Thence he went on to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore (where he called on Cardinal Gibbons) and Washington. this trip he greatly enjoyed and we would have been glad if he had taken more such recreative journeys. [69] That his health in the latter years of his life was fairly good is indicated by such passages in his diary as follows: "Oct. 15, 1898--Had a visit from H. J. and his wife and for the first time had supper with us. Health good. Retired late. Devoted the day to usual occupation." He passed the last five years of his life active as ever in business, although latterly strongly urged by his family retire. In April, 1900, his [70] sons presented him a check for a year's salary in advance, urging him then to give up work. Finally, late in March, 1901, he resigned his position. One of the last entries in his diary occurs April 1, 1901: "My connection with the agency virtually ceases May 1, 1901. Am somewhat relieved to appreciate that the strain of trying to write insurance ceases to worry." His eldest brother, John, died in September, 1900. His remaining brother, Dennis, came from Ackley, Ia., to attend the funeral. this was the last meeting of the brothers. Uncle Dennis died in March, 1901, and my father's death occurred May 6, 1901. [71] VIII. HIS DEATH I subjoin here some extracts from the press at the time of my father's death: {The Milwaukee Sentinel, May 7, '01} "Thomas Desmond, at one time prominent in public life in this city, and of late years a leading insurance man, died at his home, 810 Van Buren street, at 5:30 yesterday morning...At the time of his death he was surrounded by all the members of his family except his eldest son, H. J. Desmond, who has been sojourning in Europe. The latter, however, is now on his way home. In his home life he was domestic and studious in his tastes, being a scholar of marked attainments." {The Evening Wisconsin, May 6, '01} "Thomas Desmond, a man widely known in the world of business, and also among the teachers of the Milwaukee and state [sic], died this morning at his home on Van Buren street. In early manhood Mr. Desmond was a teacher, removing to Milwaukee in 1866, where he was elected secretary of the school board, a position which he held fourteen years. Many of the forms and reports now in use were devised by him and he was held in [73] high esteem by the older principals, and teachers, with whom his career was identified." {The Milwaukee Journal, May 6, '01} "A man of strong convictions and sterling character, he had the confidence of all who knew him. He was interested all his life in church and school work and devoted to his family." {The Herold, May &, '01} "There was no better known or esteemed man in this city than Mr. Desmond. He belonged to one of the most widely known families of Wisconsin." {The Catholic Citizen, May 7, '01} "The deceased had that strong love of the land of his fathers which is supposed to be the heritage of those [74] alone to the 'manor born.' He sympathized deeply with the Irish people in their struggles for freedom and took and active part in all movements to ameliorate their condition. His sympathy was founded on an intimate knowledge of Ireland's history, of which he was an interested student all his life... "Mr. Desmond bore his last illness with becoming patience and equaniminity [sic] and death found him fortified by all the rites of the religious faith which was so strong within him. "The deceased is survived by his wife, four daughters, the Misses Dora, Mary, Julia and Theresa, and five sons, Humphrey J., William J., Frank B., Thomas A., and Joseph G. Desmond. H. J. Desmond is now en route from Europe, the news of his father's illness having been cabled him. "The funeral service were held from St. John's Cathedral Wednesday morning. Rev. M. J. Huston officiated and paid a just tribute to the life and character of the deceased. The pallbearers were P. Henry Reilly, T. J. Neacy, John Foley, Patrick Donnelly, James Conroy, J. J. Quin. Interment was at Calvary cemetery." The following letter also appeared in one of the local papers: [To the Editor} "I desire to pay my respects to the memory of an honest man--Thomas Desmond. I have known Mr. Desmond since my boyhood and can say [76] that a more consistent, conscientious, honorable man I have not known. He pursued the even tenor or his way without ostentation, bent always upon the duty he owed his God and his large family whom he idolized. Though born in this country, he was a far better Irishman than many 'to the manor born.' He loved his fatherland and was a true disciple in religion of Him who saith, 'Be faithful in all things.' He was courteous, kind and affable, the dominating trait in his character being justice. Let us hope that as the dew of the twilight melts in the sunshine the spark of his immortal spirit was absorbed in the sunlight of eternal life. "Jas. C. Pollard... "May 7, '01." [77] "The Germania," "The Columbia, "The Catholic Telegraph" of Cincinnati, the "Irish Standard" of Minneapolis, "The Catholic Tribune" of St. Joseph, "The Catholic Journal" of Memphis, "The Catholic Mirror" of Baltimore, "The Chicago Citizen," and several other papers also had appropriate notices of the deceased."