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. Our father John Culligan, was the only child of Thomas and Anna Honore Culligan. He was horn in Littleport, Iowa, on January 2, 1858 and was baptized at Holy Cross Iowa, on January 14, 1858. (Verified) We have been told that during one winter, his mother sent him to live in the home of his aunt, Mrs. Margaret Fitzpatrick, because she did not wish him to remain in his own school district due to the "drinking" among his companions. When the family moved to Western Iowa, he was 13 years of age. He, no doubt, entered the district school there but we have no proof of this. We were told by his cousin, Mrs. Mary Doherty, that for two winters he and a friend, William Daly, lived in the home of Benjamin Kennedy, a well educated teacher who tutored them. We do not know how long he continued in school or what he did after he reached the age of 18 except that he continued to live on his parent's farm. When about 25 years old, he went to a Business College in Sioux City, Iowa. When he returned to Maurice, he was made cashier o f the Maurice Bank. In 1890, he passed an entrance examination and was admitted to the (College of Law, University of Iowa. In the meantime he had been married to Molly Courtney on April 9, 1890, and she went with him to Iowa City, Iowa. She remained with him the first year, but then next year she and her small daughter stayed with his parents in Maurice Iowa. On June 14 1892, my father received his Bachelor of Law degree and on July 2, 1892 he was admitted to the Bar of the State of Iowa. In the fall of 1892 þ he moved his family including his parents to Yankton, South Dakota where he opened an office. On the upper left hand corner of his letter-head were the words "John Culligan, Attorney at Law - Real Estate - Loans". He purchased a large tract of virgin land and with help broke the sod and put it under cultivation. We lived in Yankton until 1898 when my father decided to move to Sioux City Iowa where the opportunities for education were better for his four children and business opportunities were greater for himself. After coming to Sioux City he became interested in the Hidden Fortune Gold Mining Company near Lead, South Dakota. He bought some of the stock and was said to be one of the heavy investors. It was planned that he would go to Lead to represent the Sioux City Investors in the Company. These plans never materialized for he became ill suddenly with acute appendicitis. In those days they did not advise an operation while the fever was high. However, when it subsided it was too late and he died, following the operation, on February 18, 1902, He is buried in the Culligan family lot at Calvary Cemetery, Sioux City, Iowa. Our mother, Mary Courtney Culligan, was born on June 12, 1861 in Garryowen, Iowa, the daughter of Dennis and Bridget Courtney. She came with her father to Lemars, Iowa in 1883. She kept house for him and her brothers, occupying her leisure time in learning dressmaking and doing fine art work. Friends who knew her at the time said she had an out-going disposition and self-confidence. After her marriage to my father on April 9, 1890 she went with him to Iowa City, Towa, where they secured a furnished apartment. My mother not only kept up this apartment but also took music lessons so she could accompany my father, who played the violin. The following year, my mother stayed in Maurice with parents and father returned to Iowa City to complete Course. At the end of the year she and her year old daughter went to the commencement exercises at Iowa City. As was previously stated, we moved to Yankton, South Dakota, in the fall of 1892 and remained there until 1898, when we moved to Sioux City, Iowa. In the summer of 1901, Mother's cousin, Hannah Curran, and her niece, Kate O'Connor, (later Sister Nary Clarus) came to pay us a visit. In 1937, Sister Clarus wrote me a letter recounting this visit. She said in part, "You can always look back with gratitude that your childhood days were passed in an ideally happy home that was truly 'a little bit of heaven'. Your mother used to say that if the heavens opened up and dropped down a man he could not be more made to order than her Johnnie." The next year she was faced with the sudden death of her husband and the responsibility for the care of his parents and four small children. She was crushed, but she carried on and within a year had sold our large home and bought a smaller one. She kept the farms we owned in Yankton, South Dakota, and Sioux County, Iowa. She rented them "on shares" and we lived on this income. In 1907, mother sent Emmett and John to St. Thomas Military Academy in St. Paul. Our grandparents passed away in 1906 and 1908. In 1909 I finished High School and mother decided to move to St. Paul so I could enter the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and Leo could join his brothers at St. Thomas Academy. We lived not far from the Academy until mother's death on December 31, 1928. It was mother's constant prayer that she would not be called from this life until her four children were self-supporting and capable of facing lifes problems. She always said an education is a priceless heritage; that if she gave us a good education, she owed us nothing for no one could take it from us. When the end was near, she seemed to realize that her work in this world was almost completed. She said, "I am ready now to go home to Johnnie." She was buried in the family lot at Calvary Cemetery, Sioux City, Iowa. |