Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Walsh, Thomas A 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 13, 2006, 8:28 pm

Author: History of Grundy County, 1914

Walsh, Thomas A. - From our friendly and peaceable neighbors to the north, the 
Canadians, the United States is indebted for some of its best citizens, for it 
is rare, indeed, that the individual born on Canadian soil fails to prove a 
thrifty and valuable addition to the community in which he locates on coming 
to this country.  In this class is Thomas A. Walsh, a retired citizen of 
Grundy County, Ill., who for more than a half a century has been a resident of 
Vienna Township. Mr. Walsh was born in Lower Canada, November 12, 1835, and is 
a son of Robert T. and Elizabeth (McKeown) Walsh. His parents, natives of 
Ireland, were married there, and shortly thereafter emigrated to Canada, where 
the father was first a bookkeeper and later engaged in agricultural pursuits.

Thomas A. Walsh received ordinary educational advantages and was reared to 
agricultural pursuits, remaining with his parents until reaching the age of 
twenty-three years. At that time he came to Kendall County, Ill., and 
commenced working as a farm hand, but in 1860 moved to Mazon, Ill., and with 
his cousin, John Hamilton, engaged in operations on his own account. In 1862 
Mr. Walsh purchased 320 acres in Vienna Township, with a partner, whose 
interests he bought one year later, and also added sixty acres to the original 
purchase. During the years that followed he became an extensive farmer and 
stock raiser, and was known throughout this section as a substantial and 
energetic citizen. A severe attack of asthma, however, in 1882, caused his 
retirement, and since that time the operations on the home place have been 
carried on by his sons. Mr. Walsh is possessed of an enviable reputation for 
integrity and fair dealing, for public spirit and for generosity.

On March 30, 1868, Mr. Walsh was married to Miss Priscilla Ward, who was born 
January 11, 1845, in Oneida County, N. Y., daughter of Samuel and Harriet 
(Fellingham) Ward, natives of County Suffolk, England. They came to Kendall 
County, Ill., in 1847, and to Mazon Township, Grundy County, in 1852, and here 
passed the remainder of their lives. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Walsh 
were as follows: Elizabeth, who became the wife of Fred Dix, of Vienna 
Township; William, a resident of Verona, Ill., married Daisy Foster; Margaret, 
who married George Beal, of Verona, Ill.; Jessie, who married Frank Ransley, 
of Vienna Township; Hugh, of Alberta, Canada; Edmund C., residing with his 
parents, who was married in June, 1912, by Rev. H. E. Ketchum, to Iva Finch, 
and they have one daughter, Mary E.; Mary E., who died January 14, 1878; and 
George, who died September 11, 1891.

page 917

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

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