Rev. William S. O'Meara Biography


	This biography appears on pages 643-644 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	REV. WILLIAM S. O'MEARA, the able and honored priest in charge of 
the Roman Catholic church in the village of Armour, Douglas county, has 
reason to be gratified with the success which has here attended his 
earnest efforts, both in a spiritual and temporal way, and his zeal and 
devotion, together with his gracious personality, have gained to him 
the high regard of all who know him.  

	Father O'Meara is a native of the beautiful city of Detroit, 
Michigan, where he was born on the 27th of August, 1871, being a son of 
Joseph and Mary (Feehan) O'Meara, both of whom were born in the Emerald 
Isle, whence they came to the United States when young, their marriage 
being solemnized in the city of Detroit, where they still maintain 
their home. The subject secured his early educational training in the 
Jesuit college in his native city, and in 1889-90 he was a student in 
St. Charles College, at Ellicott, Maryland, where he completed his 
classical and literary course, having in the meanwhile determined to 
consecrate his life to the service of the divine Master. He then 
entered St. Mary's College, in Baltimore, where he completed a course 
in philosophy, being graduated as a member of the class of 1894. 
Shortly afterward he was matriculated in Mount St. Mary's Seminary, in 
Cincinnati, Ohio, where he completed his theological course, being 
ordained to the priesthood, at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on the 19th 
of August, 1898 On the 12th of September of that year he came to 
Armour, Douglas county, having been assigned to his present charge, and 
in the spring of the following year lots were purchased for the 
erection of a new church and rectory, the latter being completed within 
that year. The work of organization and initiation fell upon the 
shoulders of Father O'Meara, and from the beginning he enlisted the 
earnest co-operation of his little flock, and the congregation has had 
a steady growth in membership and the work has gone forward in a most 
satisfactory way, the devoted services of the pastor having met with 
appreciation on the part of the people, who have aided him to the full 
measure of their power and with marked self-abnegation. The corner-
stone of the new church edifice was laid on the 3d of October, 1902, 
and the dedication of the attractive house of worship occurred in 1903, 
the beautiful little church standing as a monument to the zeal and 
devotion of priest and people. The edifice is essentially "churchly" in 
architecture. and all appointments, and while there are many in the 
state which represent a larger financial expenditure it is safe to say 
that none is more consistent and graceful in design and none more 
dignified in its ecclesiastical equipment. At the time when Father 
O'Meara assumed the charge here there were but eighteen Catholic 
families in the parish, the church edifice being a small, unpretentious 
frame structure. Within the ensuing four years there was a notable 
influx of church people into the parish, and the congregation now 
comprises more than fifty families. Prior to the incumbency of our 
subject mass was celebrated but once a month, on week days, and the 
holy office is now given three times a month, on Sundays. As the 
numerical and financial strength of the parish is not yet adequate to 
justify the establishment of a parochial school, Father O'Meara has 
arranged to give the children of the parish a special personal 
instruction each morning prior to their attending the public schools. 
In politics he is a Democrat, and is signally true to all the duties of 
citizenship.