Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Garrity, Frank I 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 13, 2006, 5:58 pm

Author: History of Grundy County, 1914

Garrity, Frank I. – The commercial interests of Morris, Ill., are being ably 
and worthily represented by Frank I. Garrity, a citizen whose long experience, 
progressive nature, keen judgment and thorough knowledge of trade conditions 
make him well known in the marts of commerce, and are responsible for the 
success which has attended the Morris branch of the great Chicago wholesale 
grocery house of Henry Horner & Company.  Mr. Garrity is a native of Chicago, 
born March 2, 1871, a son of Patrick L. and Nellie (McNellis) Garrity.

Patrick L. Garrity was born in County Mayo, Ireland, February 22, 1843, and 
was six years of age when he came to the United States with his mother, 
Catherine (Lally) Garrity, to join his father, John Garrity, in Chicago, 
whence he had preceded them two years.  An ambitious, determined lad, at the 
age of eight years Patrick L. Garrity received his introduction to business 
life in selling fruit at steamboat landings, soon thereafter securing a 
position with Stevens & French, one of the largest fruit houses of Chicago.  
In 1853 he became a carrier for the Chicago Journal, and two years later was 
employed in a like capacity by the Chicago Dispatch.  He became a mailing 
clerk in 1855, but in 1858 resigned to take a course at Notre Dame University, 
feeling the need of further education.  He spent one year in that institution, 
and then reentered the employ of the newspaper, and subsequently took a 
commercial course in St. Mary’s of the Lake College.  In 1859 he became an 
organizer and stockholder in the company which purchased the first Chicago 
Hotel Reporter, but left his position with that periodical to become cashier, 
paymaster and ticket seller for the North Chicago Railroad Company.  Again 
entering the employ of the newspapers, he was mailing clerk for the Chicago 
Herald.  He was but eighteen years of age, May 1, 1861, when he embarked in 
the confectionery business in partnership with Edward Scanlan, and shortly 
thereafter became sutler in the Fifty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry under 
Col. W. Lynch.  After two years at Camp Butler he returned to the firm of 
Scanlan & Garrity, Mr. Scanlan retiring therefrom in September, 1865.  
Following this Mr. Garrity conducted the business alone until 1871, when he 
lost $100,000 worth of goods in the great Chicago fire, in addition to the 
savings of a lifetime.  In the following May, in the burning of a large 
distillery in which he was interested, he again sustained a heavy loss, and in 
1876 he accepted a position in the wholesale house of Towle & Roper.  Two and 
one-half years later he engaged in the cigar and tobacco business, in which he 
was interested until May 1, 1884, and then joined Hamburger Brothers in 
forming a corporation with $250,000 capital, of which he was president until 
1887.  He was then made general agent of the firm of Heymen Brothers & 
Lowenstein, manufacturers of cigars of New York City and had charge of all 
outside business, at the same time being president of the National Cereal 
Company, of St. Louis, in which he owned the majority of the stock.

Mr. Garrity was married June 21, 1864, to Miss Nellie A. McNellis, daughter of 
John McNellis, of Morris, and to this union there were born the following 
children:  Mary, who married T. A. Noonan, and is now deceased, having had two 
daughters, Carmelita and Helen; Blanche, residing in Chicago; Joseph, M.D., of 
Wisconsin; Frank I.; Maud, deceased, who married Thomas Knickerbocker, and had 
two children, Thomas and Helen H., both of Chicago; Amelia, who married Frank 
K. Young, of Chicago; Angela, who married T. P. Tivy, of St. Louis, Mo.; 
Lawrence McN., of Chicago; and Leo, of New York City.  The father of these 
children died September 23, 1898, while the mother passed away February 22, 
1899.

John McNellis, the maternal grandfather of Frank I. Garrity, was born in 
County Donegal, Ireland, June 1, 1810, and in 1835 boarded a ship for New York 
City.  After arriving in this country he worked around New York and 
Pennsylvania, accepting whatever honorable employment presented itself, and 
subsequently came to Ohio, Kentucky and on to Illinois, arriving in this 
State, March 17, 1842, and coming to Morris, Ill., April 15, 1844.  Here he 
purchased two lots on the corner of Washington and Liberty streets, paying 
therefore $30.  He kept store in the first building in the city, with a stock 
of tea, sugar, tobacco and liquors, and in 1848 commenced to buy grain, a 
business of which he was engaged for twenty years, handling more grain than 
any other man between Chicago and St. Louis, and in four months’ time, on one 
occasion, clearing $80,000.  He was philanthropic and generous, and among his 
benefactions were ten acres of land and the west wing of St. Angelus Academy, 
Holy Cross Society, which alone cost $15,000; $2,000 cash and two acres to the 
Catholic Church; $100 to the Presbyterian Church; $200 to the Congregational 
Church; $250 to the Episcopal Church, and a sum to the Baptist Church.  His 
death occurred January 3, 1878.

Frank I. Garrity received his education in Chicago at St. Ignatius College, 
and at Notre Dame, Ind., and remained with his parents until he was twenty 
years of age, in the meantime receiving a short business training in his 
father’s cigar store.  He then became remittance clerk in the Chemical Trust 
and Savings Bank, and one year later went to St. Louis, where he became 
manager and treasurer of the National Cereal Company.  He spent four years in 
this capacity and then again engaged in the cigar business with his father in 
Chicago, but three years later engaged with the Fair store, spending one and 
one-half years in the receiving department.  Mr. Garrity next entered the 
employ of Swift & Company, at the Union Stock Yards, and as an employe of that 
firm went to Joliet, in the branch house, where he remained five years.  He 
next became Morris representative of E. C. Harley Company, wholesale grocers 
of Dayton, Ohio, and two years later accepted a like position with the Chicago 
firm of Henry Horner & Company.  He has been successful in conducting the 
firm’s business here, and is known as one of the progressive and reliable 
business men of the city.

On December 27, 1893, Mr. Garrity was married in Chicago, Ill., to Agnes Clara 
Brown, who was born at Ottawa, Ill., daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth 
(Doherty) Brown, of Tipperary, Ireland.  Mr. Brown, a merchant of Ottawa, and 
organizer of the Ottawa Volunteer Fire Department, died in that city about 
1878, his widow passing away in the spring of 1899.  Mrs. Garrity was educated 
in the Catholic Convent at Ottawa, and she and her husband are members of that 
faith.  He belongs to the Knights of Columbus, at Morris, and is a Democrat in 
his political views.  In 1898 Mr. and Mrs. Garrity moved into their present 
residence, which was the first brick house in Morris, and was erected by Mr. 
Garrity’s maternal grandfather, John McNellis.

pages 814-815

Additional Comments:
Source:  History of Grundy County, Illinois, Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co. 
Publishers; 1914

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