Lake County IN Archives Biographies.....Walsh, Redmond D. ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 17, 2006, 8:09 pm Author: T. H. Ball (1904) COLONEL REDMOND D. WALSH. Canada has furnished to the United States many bright, enterprising young men, who have left that country to enter the business circles of the United States with its more progressive methods, livelier competition and advancement more quickly secured. Among this number is Colonel Walsh. He has somewhat of the strong, rugged and persevering characteristics developed by his earlier environments, which, coupled with the livelier impulses of the Celtic blood of his ancestors, made him at an early day to seek wider fields in which to give full scope to his ambition and industry—his dominant qualities. He found the opportunities he sought in the freedom and appreciation of the growing western portion of this country. Though born across the border he is thoroughly American in thought and feeling, and is patriotic and sincere in his love for the stars and stripes. His career is largely identified with the history of railroad building in the middle west, and in more recent years he has been a prominent and influential citizen of East Chicago, where he is now engaged in real estate operations. Colonel Walsh was born in the county of Peterboro, Ontario, Canada, and is of Irish descent. His paternal grandfather, William Walsh, was born on the Emerald Isle and died there at an advanced age. He married a Miss Murphy and they had a large family, including Richard Walsh, whose birth occurred in county Cork, Ireland. He was a farmer by occupation and in 1818 he emigrated to Canada, spending his remaining days in that country with the exception of a brief period which was passed in the United States. He always engaged in the tilling of the soil, making that a source of income whereby he provided for his family. He served in the Patriot war in Canada in 1837 and died there at the age of sixty-six years. In early manhood he had married Elizabeth Ford, likewise a native of county Cork, Ireland. Her father, Dennis Ford, was born in Ireland and died in that country at an advanced age. He reared a large family upon his home farm, where his industry and enterprise in the cultivation of the fields brought to him a comfortable living. His grandson, Ted Ford, now lives upon the old home place, which comprises two hundred acres of rich land and which has continuously been in possession of the family from the eleventh century. It was at one time a very extensive tract, but during the reign of Queen Elizabeth it was confiscated, although two hundred acres were afterward restored to the family. By the marriage of Richard Walsh and Elizabeth Ford thirteen children were born, twelve of whom reached adult age, while six are now living: Colonel Redmond D.; Richard, of the Soldiers' Home; Bridget L., the widow of James Haynes, of Corry, Pennsylvania; John, who lives on the old homestead in Ontario; Elizabeth, the wife of James Fyfe, also of Ontario; and Ann, the wife of David Kelley, of the same place. Colonel Walsh was reared on the old homestead farm in Canada and also followed lumbering in his early life. His business career has been characterized by intelligent and well-directed efforts, and he may well be called a self-made man, a representative of the progress and advancement which have been a manifest factor in the history of America in the nineteenth century. His success has not been the result of genius but of individual and continued effort. He acquired a common school education and also received instruction from a private teacher for some time. While in Canada he followed lumbering, taking his timber to the Quebec market. He made several trips to the United States in search of a location which he regarded as favorable, and in 1862, accompanied by his wife, he went to Corry, Pennsylvania. There he entered upon a contract to build the Oil Creek Railroad, which he completed in 1862, and afterward entered the services of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, assisting in the construction of its line from Franklin to Meadville, Pennsylvania. He was superintendent of construction and for some time held that position after the completion of the road. Subsequently he built the Allegheny Valley Railroad from Warren to Pittsburg, and was thus engaged in railroad construction work at the time the Confederate army made its way into Pennsylvania. He then enlisted in order to defend this state and after participating in the battle of Gettysburg, following which time the rebels were forced to retreat, he resumed the pursuits of private life. In 1865 Mr. Walsh took a prominent part in organizing the Fenian Brotherhood. The following year he went west and was engaged as a contractor and superintendent of work on the Union Pacific Railroad, his time being thus occupied until the completion of the line in 1869. In 1870 he entered into business relations with the Central Pacific Railroad Company, with which he continued for a year, after which he went to Kansas, where he was superintendent of the work for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. The period of his connection with that company covered three years, during which time the line was constructed to connect with the Houston & Texas Central road. He afterward became associated with the latter company, with which he continued for three years, and then he returned to Pennsylvania, where he built a coal road from Larabee to Bunker Hill. Subsequently he went to the Buckeye state, where he assisted in the building of the Scioto Valley Railroad and later he was engaged in the construction work of the Springfield, Jacksonville & Pomeroy Railroad, then the St. Clairsville & Bellaire Railroad, and afterwards a railroad extending from Youngstown, Ohio, to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Returning to Ohio he built the valley railroad from Canton to Cleveland, and then went to Colorado, where he engaged in the construction of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad over Marshall Pass, connecting it with the Denver, Rio Grande & Western Railroad at Junction City. Another important contract which was awarded him and which he faithfully and capably executed was the building of the Alpine tunnel, a work which covered two years. He then embarked in mining in Colorado, being interested in several diggings. Returning to St. Louis he was associated with a partner, Michael Coffey, in the construction of the standard gauge road from East St. Louis to Cairo, and later he went to Nebraska and built the approach to the United Railroad bridge at Rulo, Nebraska. There he moved more dirt than any other contractor in the same length of time, three hundred thousand yards being taken away in ninety days. His next work was the construction of twenty miles of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad from Galesburg west. He built the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railroad, and then came to East Chicago, Indiana, where he built the Chicago, Calumet & Terminal Railroad, the contract being awarded him by General Joseph T. Torrence, now deceased. At that time General Torrence promised to make a present of a town lot to the first child born in the town. Not long afterward there were born to Mr. and Mrs. R. W. O'Brien, the former a nephew of Colonel Walsh, twin boys. It seemed necessary that two lots should be given, one to each child, and General Torrence gave one lot, while Colonel Walsh gave the other. The boys are now young men. During his railroad construction work on the site of the present city of East Chicago Colonel Walsh became convinced of the advantages which might be derived from establishing a home here, and he took up his abode here in 1888. It was he who first used an ax in cutting down a tree on the present site of the city. He assisted in laying out the town, being the contractor for all the street work. He also erected ten of the first buildings of this city, and he has continued an active factor in the work of improvement and progress to the present time. In the year 1893 East Chicago was changed from town to a city government. The city council of that date made a contract with a contracting company to build water and light plants. The city council accepted the plants before they were half completed and issued the city bonds for the full amount of the contract. The water works were useless and cost more to keep it in repair than it was worth. Three hundred and thirty thousand dollars of bonds were turned over by the city council to the company. R. D. Walsh took the company into the courts and knocked out two hundred and ninety-six thousand dollars of bonds, and the supreme court of the state of Indiana granted a perpetual injunction against ever collecting either interest or principal on these two hundred and ninety-six thousand dollars of bonds. Then the city council sold, or rather gave the plants back to the bogus bondholders. R. D. Walsh again went into court and took the plants away from the bondholders for the city. All this at his own expense. The plants are now in the city's possession. In 1889 the residents of the town had an election and incorporated East Chicago, and Colonel Walsh at that time was elected the first president of the town board. He has also been treasurer of the city and trustee, and he is a well known and representative resident of this thriving place. Perhaps no man is better known in the county than he, because of his great activity in business. By. his strength of character and mental power he has acquired a handsome competence and by his genial social manner has won many warm friends. Colonel Walsh was married in Ontario, Canada, to Miss Hanna Curtain, who died in 1871. They became the parents of eight children, but all have passed away. Many and eventful have been the experiences which have come to Mr. Walsh in the course of his active business career. While executing his contract in connection with the building of the Union Pacific Railroad he at one time became engaged in battle with the Indians on Rock Creek, Wyoming, and sustained a gunshot wound in the instep, which forced him to go upon crutches for two years. He is now living a retired life in East Chicago. To him there has come the attainment of a distinguished position in connection with the great material industries of the country, especially in the line of railroad construction—a work the value of which cannot be over-estimated. He is a man of distinct and forceful individuality, of broad mentality and mature judgment, and he has left an impress for good upon the industrial world. He earned for himself an enviable reputation as a careful man of business and in his dealings became known for his prompt and honorable methods, which win for him the deserved and unbounded confidence, of his fellow men. For the entire length of his life he has been in sympathy with the independence of Ireland and has always taken an active part in all movements tending toward lessening the oppressed sons of Erin. Additional Comments: Extracted from: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF Genealogy and Biography OF LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA, WITH A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY 1834—1904 A Record of the Achievements of Its People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. REV. T. H. BALL OF CROWN POINT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ILLUSTRATED CHICAGO NEW YORK THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 1904 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/lake/bios/walsh475gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/infiles/ File size: 11.8 Kb