Patrick Healey Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1247-1248 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	PATRICK HEALEY comes of staunch Irish lineage on the paternal 
side, while the maternal ancestry was of Scottish extraction He was born 
in the province of Ontario, Cornwall, Canada, in the year 1838, being a 
son of Edward and Mary (McDougall) Healey, of whose nine children two 
are living at the present time. When our subject was a mere child his 
father met his death in a blizzard on the St. Lawrence river, and this 
threw the care of the family upon the shoulders of the widowed mother, 
who survived him by many years, her death occurring in 1862, at the age 
of sixty years. When the subject of this review was a lad of ten years 
his mother removed with her children to the city of Chicago, Illinois, 
which was at that time scarcely more than a village, and as each of the 
boys necessarily found it his duty to contribute to the support of the 
family, it is needless to say that Patrick received rather limited 
educational advantages in his youth. In 1861, when the integrity of the 
Union was thrown into jeopardy by armed rebellion, he showed his 
intrinsic loyalty by tendering his services in its defense, enlisting as 
a private in Company K, Twenty-third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, which 
proceededl to Missouri, our subject being taken prisoner by the 
Confederate forces near Lexington, that state. I le was later released 
upon parole, upon the expiration of which he re-enlisted, becoming a 
member of Company K, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, the command going into 
the Shenandoah valley of Virginia, where it served under General Sigel 
and General Sheridan. In 1864 the regiment was sent to Richmond, 
Virginia, the Confederate capital, and Mr. Healey was still in active 
service at the time of Lee's surrender. He received his honorable 
discharge in July, 1865, having served during practically the entire 
period of the war and having taken part in many spirited engagements, 
including some of the most notable battles incident to the progress of 
the great fratricidal conflict. He was discharged in Richmond and then 
returned to Illinois. There, in 1869, was solemnized his marriage to 
Miss Bridget Lamb, who was born in County Mayo, Ireland, and of this 
union have been born six children, all of whom are living, namely: John, 
Edward, Joseph, Maggie, Julia and Mamie. 

	In 1881 Mr. Healey came to Brule county, where he took up a 
homestead claim of one hundred and sixty acres, and on the same he has 
ever since resided, having developed the farm into one of the valuable 
properties of the county and being held in high esteem in the community 
in which he has so long made his home. In politics he is a staunch 
Republican and his religious faith is that of the Catholic church, of 
which both he and his wife are members, while fraternally he is a 
comrade of Kinzie Post, No. 34, Grand Army of the Republic, at 
Chamberlain, which is his postoffice address, his farm being located one 
mile distant.