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1907 Past and Present Biographies
J. Albert GallaherJoseph H. Gallaher, father of J. Albert Gallaher, was a student at Washington College in Pennsylvania and was a man of more than ordinary ability. He possessed strong literary tastes and he had the distinction of being the first man to advocate in print the nomination of Abraham Lincoln for the presidency. During the greater part of his life he followed merchandising, carrying on business at Pittsburg and in Monongahela City, Pennsylvania. While in Pittsburg his store was destroyed in the great fire which there occurred and later he erected the first brick block of that city, adjoining the Monongahela House. In 1855 he removed to Peoria, Illinois, where he engaged in the manufacture of cigars, tobacco, etc., as a wholesale dealer, continuing the business throughout the period of the Civil war. In 1869 he removed to Iowa, settling in Jefferson, and became the owner of six hundred acres of land, now a part of the town site. He had entered this from the government in 1854 and following his removal to the state be platted this into town lots. By reason of his description of that part of the town wherein lies the courthouse grounds, the attention of the commissioners was called to the town site and Jefferson was accordingly founded. In 1872 Mr. Gallaher opened here a general store, which he conducted until 1880. He also owned three hundred acres of land in Carroll county, one hundred and sixty acres of which is now within the town of Coon Rapids. He laid out all that town with the exception of forty acres platted by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company and which he had sold to that company. Prior to his removal to Peoria, Illinois, he had purchased a tract of land there and laid out an addition to that city. After his operations in Coon Rapids he speculated in city property in Pueblo, Colorado, for a year and a half and subsequently added a subdivision to the city of Denver in the ’80s - a property which is still owned by his estate. In Boise City, Idaho, in 1890, in connection with others, he bought a tract of one hundred and sixty acres adjoining the city, which he had platted into town lots, being engaged in the sale of the same at the time of his death. That addition is called Rosedale and the property is now owned by J . Albert Gallaher and his sisters. The father was well known as a speculator and a man of affairs, who wielded a wide influence and was always successful in his undertakings. He was a pioneer in establishing town sites in the western country and he displayed wonderful prescience in determining the value and future possibilities of any property. His purchases were judiciously made and proved very profitable. Aside from his private business affairs, Mr. Gallaher was well known as a citizen of worth and value, taking an active part in many affairs which touched the general interests of society. He attained to high rank in Odd Fellowship in Illinois and was well known in the order in that state. In politics he was always a republican and a strong protectionist. He served as mayor of Jefferson, was a member of the city council and also a member of the school board. He was always strong in his convictions and neither fear nor favor could swerve him from a course which he believed to be right. He had a good legal mind, was a man of extraordinary business judgment and ability and .in his estimation of the value of an opportunity was seldom, if ever, at fault. He regarded, too, with a correct estimate, the great questions involving the welfare of the race and the public policy. He attended the Presbyterian church and was a liberal contributor to various movements and measures worthy of public support. His life in its varied activities called him to the attention of his fellowmen and won for him the high regard of those with whom he was associated. His was an active, useful and long life and on the 8th of February, 1904, he passed away in his eighty-third year. He had for about four years survived his wife, who died on the 19th of January, 1900, in her seventy-ninth year. She bore the maiden name of Diana Walker Speers, was born in Pennsylvania and was of English and Swedish ancestry. In the paternal line she represented one of the first families of the Keystone state. Her grandfather, four times removed, was Charles Christopher Springer, a Swedish baron of renown in his country. He brought two colonies to America, locating in what is now the city of Wilmington, Delaware, by grant from the King of Sweden, and in turn leased these lands to his tenants for ninety-nine years. This land is now involved in what is known as the Springer estate and is said to be worth more than a hundred million dollars. By her marriage Mrs. Gallaher became the mother of five children: Mary V., the wife of Frank Thompson, a mining broker of Grand Junction, Colorado; Cornelia D., the widow of Zachary T. Funk and a resident of Omaha; Josephine E., who is living in Boise City, Idaho; William S., who died in infancy; and J. Albert, of this review. In taking up the personal history of J . Albert Gallaher we present to our readers the life record of one widely known in Jefferson. In his boyhood he was a student in the public schools of this city and on the 13th of September, 1883, he entered the law department of the Iowa State University at Iowa City, from which he was graduated on the 18th of June, 1884. In the following April he began practice in Jefferson, where he has since remained and in his profession has met with gratifying success, although his attention is now largely given to the supervision of his town site interests. He was admitted to the federal court in 1884 and his knowledge of the law has been of the utmost benefit to him in his management of personal affairs. In 1900, Mr. Gallagher was married to Miss Katharine A. Ball, who was born in Chicago in 1870 and is a daughter of Jube H. and Missouri (Beck) Ball. Her father was a farmer in Illinois and afterward at Vinton, Iowa. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Gallagher have been born three children: Burrell L., born April 28, 1901; Raymond A., on the 2d of June, 1904, and a baby boy, born October 2, 1907. Mrs. Gallaher is a member of the Baptist church and through both the paternal and maternal lines she is entitled to membership in the Colonial Society. Mr. Gallaher belongs to the Greene County Bar Association and to the State Bar Association. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and several years ago he served as justice of the peace and city solicitor. His interests are varied and although much of his realty came to him through inheritance he has displayed in its management and control excellent business ability and executive force. Much of his life has been passed in Jefferson and his history is therefore well known to his fellow citizens, who find much in his life record to commend and little to condemn. Indeed he has many warm friends, whose friendship he justly values as infinitely more desirable than wealth, fame or position. |
Transcribed from "Past and Present of Greene County, Iowa Together With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Prominent and Leading Citizens and Illustrious Dead," by E. B. Stillman assisted by an Advisory Board consisting of Paul E. Stillman, Gillum S. Toliver, Benjamin F. Osborn, Mahlon Head, P. A. Smith and Lee B. Kinsey, Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907.  Site Terms, Conditions & Disclaimer |