John P. Gallagher, 1931 bio

GALLAGHER, BURNS, RAGAN, MCMAHON, BLACK, WALSH

Posted By: Stephen D. Williams (email)
Date: 4/27/2005 at 12:53:32

"A Narrative History of The People of Iowa Vol. 5" pub. 1931, Page 353

"A Narrative History of The People of Iowa with Special Treatment of Their Chief Enterprises in Education, religion, Valor, Industry, Business, Etc." By Edgar Rubey Harlan, LL. B., A.M. Curator of the Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa. Published by The American Historical Society, Inc. Chicago and New York - 1931"

John P. Gallagher is one of the alert and progressive exponents of newspaper
enterprise in his native county and state, and has maintained at high
standard the Williamsburg Journal Tribune, of which he is editor and
publisher in the prosperous and attractive little City of Williamsburg, Iowa
County.

Mr. Gallagher was born on the pioneer home farm of his parents near
Williamsburg, Iowa county, January 1, 1862. His father, the late John
Gallagher, was born and reared in County Tyrone, Ireland, and came to the
United States in the year 1850. After passing two years at in the State of
New York he resided four years at Charleston, South Carolina, and he then,
in 1856, came to the West and gained pioneer honors in Iowa. Here he
procured a tract of prairie land in Iowa county and set himself to the task
of reclaiming and developing a productive farm. Here he passed the
remainder of his life as a substantial farmer and honored citizen, his death
having occurred in 1882 and his widow having survived him more than twenty
years, her death occurred in 1905. Mr. Gallagher was loyal and liberal as a
citizen and in his community gave effective service as township trustee.
His marriage to Miss Catharine Burns, likewise a native of Ireland, was
solemnized in the State of New York, and they became the parents of nine
children, of whom six are living: Charles J., of Davenport, Iowa; Mrs. Mary
A. Ragan, of Bayard, this state; John P., subject of this review; Mrs.
Catharine McMahon, of Inkster, North Dakota, Mrs. Susan A. Black, of
Thermopolis, Wyoming; and Mrs. Jennie Walsh, of Lander, that state.
John P. Gallagher was reared to the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm,
and in the meanwhile he attended the rural schools until 1880, his broader
education having been acquired through self application and practical
experience, and that experience having included his association with
newspaper enterprise--the equivalent of a liberal education. After the
death of his father he continued to manage the home farm for his widowed
mother until 1888, when he entered the railway mail service, as a mail clerk
on the line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad between Marion,
Iowa, and Kansas City, Missouri. In this service he continued until 1901,
and he then became associated with Thomas Osborn in purchasing the
Williamsburg Journal Tribune. This alliance continued until 1920, when they
sold the plant and business, though Mr. Gallagher continued his service as
editor of the paper, in addition to managing his farm, near Williamsburg.
Since 1924 he has functioned as editor and publisher of the Journal-Tribune,
and he has made a record as one of the resourceful and successful newspaper
men of the Hawkeye State. He represented his native county in the Fortieth
General Assembly of Iowa Legislature, and the Fortieth Extra Session and in
1930 was elected to the Forty-fourth Session. He gave valued assistance in
connection with codifying the laws of the state in 1924. He has given three
years of service as a member of the Williamsburg board of education and has
served also as a member of the city Council. In an individual way and
through the medium of his newspaper he has proved an effective exponent of
communal progress and is a loyal and liberal citizen who has inviolable
place in popular confidence and good will. His political allegiance in
given to the Democratic party, he is a trustee and earnest communicant of
the Catholic Church in his home city, and is affiliated with the Knights of
Columbus. He still retains ownership of valuable farm property in Iowa
County. Mr. Gallagher is not married.

[Contributed by Susan Coleman]