William James Honahan

William James HONAHAN was born to John Honahan and Johanna Neil (O’Neill?) 24 November 1836 in Leighlinbridge, County Carlow. John and Johanna had married two years earlier. They lived on St. Lazerian’s Street, in the building just next to the current Meaney’s Bar & Lounge. A daughter, Mary, was born in 1843.

The family moved to Liverpool, England in about 1845, and daughter Anne Mary was born there. Johanna died of cholera circa 1850. John and the children sailed on the ship, Montezuma, arriving in New York on 15 March 1851. John and the girls continued on to Chicago, while William James stayed in New York for a year or two, then joined the family in Chicago. The family surname became ONAHAN in America, it is unknown when or why.

John died in 1859 in Chicago, having worked on the railroad. Mary and Anne were both enrolled in the Sacred Heart school, and eventually joined the convent of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart in St. Louis, Missouri.

William James married Margaret Gertrude Duffy in 1860, and went on to become a civic and Catholic leader in Chicago. He was elected tax collector of the city for six terms, and served on the board of education, the library board, and numerous other social, business and civic organizations. He was the chief architect of the American Catholic Congress in Baltimore in 1889. He received the Papal Laetare Medal in 1890.

William James’s daughter, Mary Onahan Gallery, wrote a biography of him entitled Life of William James Onahan, 1929. He is included in several books about prominent Chicago leaders of the 19th and early 20th century.

William James and Margaret Onahan had eight children, only one of whom survived to adulthood, Mary Josephine Onahan. She married Daniel V. Gallery (son of Daniel J. Gallery, who left County Clare with his mother and sisters in 1856, settling in Chicago). Daniel V. And Mary Josephine Gallery raised their six children in Chicago, three of whom became distinguished naval officers in WWII and the Korean conflict, one became a Priest, one daughter died at 16, the other married and raised a family. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has the German submarine, the U-505, that was captured under the command of Captain Daniel V. Gallery in the Atlantic in 1944 (see Wikipedia article).