Tulare County Biographies

JOHN J. DUGGAN

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
        John J. Duggan, of the firm of Duggan & Roberts, morticians at 
Porterville and proprietors of a well appointed undertaking establishment and 
funeral parlors in that city, is a native of Ireland but has been a resident of 
the United States since the days of his boyhood, having come to these shores 
when seventeen years of age, and after residing in Boston and in Chicago for a 
time made his way out to California where he since has been quite content to 
remain, having now been a resident of this state for about a quarter of a 
century. Mr. Duggan was born June 24, 1877, and is a son of Patrick and Bridget 
(Crowley) Duggan, both of whom also were natives of the Emerald Isle and are now 
deceased. In his day Patrick Duggan was quite a "rambler" and his operations in 
various parts of the world included a series of quite interesting adventures in 
the gold fields of Australia.
        Reared in his homeland, working on farms during the summers, John J. 
Duggan had his schooling in Ireland and remained there until he was seventeen 
years of age when, in 1894, he came to the United States, his objective by prior 
arrangement being Quincy, Massachusetts. He presently left that place and found 
employment in the city of Boston, where he remained about five years, at the end 
of which time he went to the city of Chicago and was there employed for three 
years. He then headed for the Pacific coast and was for some time a resident of 
Los Angeles, going thence to San Francisco. In 1903 he became employed by the 
board of park commissioners of San Francisco and was thus employed when in the 
spring of 1906 that city faced the task of reconstruction. Following the fire 
Mr. Duggan was appointed an inspector to examine the condition of standing 
chimneys and was thus engaged for six months or more until the menace from that 
direction had subsided. He then became engaged in concrete work in building 
operations, in which he continued until in the spring of 1911, when he and his 
family started out on an automobile tour over the state, Mr. Duggan finding 
pleasant relaxation by working along the way in the fruit orchards. It was thus 
that in the fall of that year (1911) the Duggans came to Porterville, which ever 
since has been their home, for they found here a very pleasant and wholly 
desirable place in which to take up their permanent abode. Upon his arrival in 
Porterville Mr. Duggan became connected with the concrete operations of the Ball 
plant and was thus occupied until in 1918, when he became engaged on his own 
account in the manufacture of irrigation pipe and in general concrete work. In 
August, 1924, he sold that business and formed his present connection with the 
undertaking operations of W. I. Roberts and has since been engaged in the 
undertaking business at Porterville, this concern carrying on its work under the 
firm name of Duggan & Roberts.
        While at Boston, John J. Duggan was united in marriage to Miss Maria 
Buckley, who also was born in Ireland, and they have five children : Dorothy, 
Catherine, John Joseph, Hugh and May. The Duggans are republicans and are 
members of the Roman Catholic church. Mr. Duggan is a grand knight of the local 
council of the Knights of Columbus and is also affiliated with the local lodge 
of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and with the local aerie of the 
Fraternal Order of Eagles.
 
Source:  History of Tulare County and Kings County, California � Kathleen 
Edwards Small & J. Larry Smith, Vol. II, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1926., p. 421