Lewis County, West Virginia Biography of JAMES A. TIERNEY ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , July 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 176-177 JAMES A. TIERNEY. The name Tierney has long been an influential one in Weston. The Tierney family was estab- lished here by Patrick Tierney, an Irishman, a man of great energy, public spirit and business acumen, who enjoyed accepted leadership among people of Irish nativity and lin- eage and was one of the most prominent members of the local Catholic Church. His son, James A. Tierney, has had a successful career as a pharmacist, but is now practically retired from active business. He was born at Weston April 2, 1867, son of Patrick and Mary (Malloy) Tierney. Both parents were born in County Galway, Ireland, and the mother was brought by her family to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the age of eleven years. Patrick Tierney was educated in Ireland, and for a number of years was an agent for the National Steamship Line. After locating in Weston he conducted a hotel, a popular place of entertainment known as the Tierney House. He was also a farmer, a contractor and foreman for the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, and built two sections of that road. He accumulated much property, but was always liberal and public spirited in behalf of church and community affairs. He was a democrat in poli- tics. Of his nine children six are still living. James A. Tierney attended public school at Weston and at the age of seventeen began working in a drug store. After three years he went to Baltimore, and while clerking in a drug store attended the Maryland College of Pharmacy, paying all his expenses while in school. He graduated with the degree Ph. G. in 1888, and was then offered and accepted a place as a pharmacist in the Bayview Hospital of Balti- more. He remained there for ten years, and on his return to Weston engaged in the retail drug business. One of his brothers was in partnership with him, and while they started with one store they soon established another and also had a similar business at Glenville. The Glenville business Mr. James Tierney still owns; though he sold his Weston in- terests in 1921. In 1904 Mr. Tierney married Miss Jessie C. Norris, of Glenville. They have two children, James A., Jr., a high school student, and Jessie Norris, attending the grammar school. The mother of these children died in 1918. In 1914 Mr. Tierney married Martha E. Williams, of Plymouth, Michigan, who is a graduate of a Chicago University. They have one son, William Hopkin, born April 2, 1917. Mr. Tierney is a member of the Catholic Church and has always been an interested party man as a democrat. At one time he held the office of mayor of Glenville. He was the dele- gate representing the Third Congressional District of West Virginia at the National Convention of the party at San Francisco in 1920.