REDMOND TOOHEY
History of Arizona, 1896

Among the sons of Ireland who left their native land to seek 
home and fortune on this side of the Atlantic is the subject 
of this sketch.  Mr. Toohey was born in County Tipperone, 
May 22, 1846, and was the son of John and Mary (Caady) Toohey, 
both natives of the old country.  When but an infant Redmond 
was left fatherless and his mother married the second time. 
He attended the schools of his native country and when 
twenty one years old made up his mind to come to this country, 
where he was sure his chances for making money would be better. 
After reaching America he remained one month in New York City 
and then started for Topeka, Kansas where he learned he could 
better his financial condition. He went to work for the 
A.G.S.F.R.R. and was thus engaged until 1872.  From there 
he went to Texas where he was engaged on the public works 
railroad, until 1879, after which he went to Colorado.  There 
he worked on different railroads, but when he reached Ash Fork 
he sold his outfit, consisting of mules and grading outfit and 
purchased a ranch at the head of Williamson Valley.  This he 
stocked with cattle, but growing tired of the work he bought 
a number of mules and moved back to Ash Fork, where he took 
the contract to haul in the first two smelters ever taken 
into Jerome, his being the first teams over the road.

Mr. Toohey started a store on Ash Fork at the same time, also 
a blacksmith shop and a hotel.  Later he traded the store, 
etc. in Ash Fork for more teams and took contract on the 
Arizona Canal, on which he worked until the contract was 
fulfilled.  After that he bought a ranch thirteen miles 
northwest of Phoenix.  This consisted of 320 acres and he 
was carried it on most  successfully since.  He is still 
engaged in contracting to some extent, having built ten 
miles of Peoria Canal, twenty miles of the North and South 
Railroad, graded twenty five miles of the East Riverside 
Canal and also worked on the Trie Canal.

He was married in Denison, Texas in 1879 to Miss Eliza 
Logan, a native of Ireland and they have six living children: 
Mamie, Nellie, John, Franklin, Elizabeth and Margaret.

USGenWeb Project NOTICE: 
In keeping with our policy of providing free information 
on the internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as
long as this message remains on all copied material. These 
electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for
profit, nor for commercial presentation by any other organization. 

Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must 
obtain express written permission from the author, or 
the submitter and from the 
listed USGenWeb Project archivist. 

submitted by burns@asu.edu