Available Sources
Records
1875 A. T. Andreas Atlas
1880 Dubuque County History
Honorable William B. Allison
Eugene Anderson
Sanford A. Atherton
Honorable Isaac W. Baldwin
Dickson Beatty
F. E. Behrens
Henry Bockenstedt
John Bomacke
General Caleb Hoskins Booth
Nicholas Bray, M. D.
William Bray, M. D.
Edward Brown
John D. Bush
Edward Butler
Cascade Biographies
Dr. Rodolphus Clark
Bernhard Claus, Jr.
Frank W. Coates
Honorable Dennis Nelson Cooley
Reverend Mark Cooney
Hugh Corrance
Patrick F. Cunningham
Mell H. Cushing
Peter Dawson
John Driscoll
Charles Henry Eighmey
Jesse P. Farley
George Fengler
Mrs. Catherine Fries
Albert Gasser
Henry Gehrig
A. P. Gibbs
Theodor Goerdt
John R. Goldthorp
Honorable Julius Graves
Charles H. Gregoire
Ezra Gregory
Daniel Hallahan
Nicholas Hansen
Honorable Thomas Hardie
Henry Henkels
Rev. James Hill
Nancy R. Hill, M. D.
Asa Horr, M. D.
James Howie
Edward R. Jackson, M. D.
Francis Jaeger
Henry J. Jecklin
Reverend Clement Johannes
Evan E. Jones
General George Wallace Jones
John Kantlehner
Joseph K. Kaufmann
James Kelly
John Kleinschmidt
F. H. Klostermann
A. R. Knight
Honorable Frederick M. Knoll
Paul Lattner
Honorable Wendelin Lattner
Thomas Lochner
Christian Loetscher
Norton J. Loomis
Delos E. Lyon
J. E. Maguire, M. D.
W. A. Manhart
George Marshall
M. H. Martin
Honorable James McCann
Benjamin McCluer, M. D.
Susan Ann McCraney
A. S. McDermott
James and Martha McGee
James McGrath
M. F. McNamara
Jacob Michel
Charles Miller
Adam Mink
George Mollart
William J. Morgans
James Mullin
Dorrance Dixon Myers
Nicholas P. Nicks
Frederick R. Nitzsche, M. D.
J. J. E. Norman
Honorable Peter Olinger
Bernard J. O'Neill
John P. Page
Frank Paley
John Palmer
Rev. Frederick William Pape
Thomas Phillips
Joseph Platz
Andrew Rahe
Honorable James Rowan
Reverend Roger Ryan
George Salot
Colonel C. J. W. Saunders
John Sauser, Jr.
Joseph Schemmel
George Schmitt
Short Biographies
Joseph Simones
John F. Sloan
Charles F. Smyth
Johanna (Baker) Specht
Ralph Spensley
Daniel Stallard
J. Peter Stendebach
Honorable William W. Stewart
Oren Stuart, M. D.
James Sweeney
John Tibey
Paul Traut
Matthew Tschirgi
Hon. Christian Anton Voelker
Chester H. Walker
William Watson, M. D.
F. W. Wieland
Louis Witter
Jacob Zollicoffer
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A.
S. McDermott
Extracted from Portrait and Biographical Record of Dubuque, Jones and
Clayton Counties, Iowa, 1894 Reprinted by Higginson Book Co., Salem,
Massachusetts, p. 182
A. S. McDERMOTT, dealer in agricultural
implements, is the senior member of the firm of McDermott & Biggins
of Dubuque. In this city he was born on the 18th of September 1834, and
is therefore one of its oldest residents, his parents being among the
honored pioneer settlers of the county. His father, James McDermott, was
a native of Ireland, and on immigrating to the United States, took up
his residence in Pottsville, Pa. He was united in marriage with Priscilla
Lendeman, whose father was a Frenchman and his mother a German lady. The
year 1833 witnessed the arrival of James McDermott in Dubuque. Here he
engaged in lead mining until 1837, when he removed to Prairie Creek Township
and began farming, which occupation he followed until his death in 1877.
He was born July 4, 1804. He took an active part in public affairs, did
all in his power to promote the growth and up building of the community,
and in politics was a supporter of the Democratic Party. His wife, who
was born in 1812, was called to her final rest in 1883, at the age of
seventy-one years.
A. S. McDermott has the honor of being the first male child born in the
city of Dubuque. He spent his boyhood days upon the farm and was early
inured to the arduous task of developing wild land. His educational privileges
were limited, but his training in the fields was by no means meagre. When
he entered upon a business career for himself it was as a farmer, and
to the improvement and cultivation of his land he devoted his energies
until 1854, when he came to Dubuque and learned the carpenter's trade.
On the 5th of June 1855, he left this city and went to Rice County, Minn.,
with a squad of men under Gen.. James Shields, who went thither in order
to establish a settlement and became the pioneers of that locality. They
founded a trading post and engaged in trading with the Indians all through
the country as far up as Lake Superior. Mr. McDermott learned the language
of the redmen, with whom he could converse fluently in their own tongue.
He remained in Minnesota until the fall of 1857, when we again find him
in Dubuque. In the spring of 1864 he went to Montana. On the 1st of March
he left home and crossed the plains to Virginia City, where be arrived
on the 10th of July, 1864. He was there engaged in gold mining until the
15th of October of the same year, when he crossed the mountains into Idaho
and made his way to Idaho City; there he opened a carpenter shop, carrying
on business along that line for a time. Later he traveled through Oregon,
Washington, California and British America, and on the 31st of October
1866, returned to Dubuque. He then resumed farming, which he carried on
until 1881. He was regarded as one of the leading agriculturists of the
community, a reputation that was sustained by the neat and thrifty appearance
of his place.
Mr. McDermott was married December 21, 1858, to Miss Margaret McDermott,
a native of Ireland. To them have been born eight children, five sons
and three daughters: H. J., who is now living in St. Paul, Minn.; C. J.,
also of St. Paul; Ambrose, of Butte City, Mont.; Gus P. and John A., of
Dubuque; Mary and Maria, at home, and a daughter deceased.
In the spring of 1881, Mr. McDermott formed a partnership with Hon. James
McCann and together they engaged in the sale of agricultural implements
until Mr. McCann was elected Sheriff of Dubuque County. The connection
was then discontinued and Mr. McDermott was alone in business until 1893,
when Thomas F. Biggins joined him. Under the firm style of McDermott &
Biggins they now conduct business and are enjoying an extensive trade,
which they well merit. In 1871 our subject patented the McDermott Cultivator
and has since manufactured the same. He was one of the organizers of the
McDermott Cultivator Company, and as early as 1868 he had attached a spring
to the cultivator which he patented. He has also issued several other
patents and his inventions are useful and are now much used. He possesses
much genius as a mechanic and is a man of more than ordinary ability,
who well deserves mention among the best citizens of Dubuque. He has traveled
extensively over this country, especially in the northwest, and is a well-informed
man. In politics he is a Democrat. He and his family are members of the
Roman Catholic Church. |