St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church

MICHAEE MeDONOUtiH, former. Sec. 34 ; P. O. Riehwood or Watertown ; born in County Clare, Ireland, in 1821 ; spent his early life in his native land, and came to America in 1845 ; resided seven and one-half years in Hampden Co., Mass., working for the whole-souled Yankee farmers, and earning money to get his start, earning his first thousand in this laborious way ; after taking a better half, he came to Shields in 1852, locating on eighty acres of land, of which ten were cleared, on which was a log shanty ; here the family lived fifteen years, clearing and breaking the land, pioneer fashion ; the eighty has grown to a well-improved farm of 200 acres ; the log house of pioneer days was replaced by a large modern brick house in 1868. Married Miss Mary Doyle, of County Clare, in 1852; they have five children ; Mary, the eldest, is the wife of Joseph Brooks, of Emmet ; then follow Margaret, Jane, Thomas and Katie. The family arc Catholics ; Mr. McDonough is an Independent Democrat in politics. Beginning at 25 years of age with nothing but health and a brave purpose, he may justly consider his life a success.

Passage source: The History of Dodge County, Wisconsin, Containing ... Its Early Settlement, Growth ... an Extensive and Minute Sketch of Its Cities ... War Record, Biographical Sketches, published 1880.

NICHOLAS O'CONNELE, former. Sees. 21 and 22 ; P. O. Riehwood ; born near New York City in i845; son of .Michael and Mary O'Connell, who came to Shields from New York in September, 1848, locating on the present homestead; N. O Connell was educated in Shields, living on the i'arm until he was 22 years of age, when he entered the store of E. Sweeney, Watertown, remaining nearly three years. He owns eighty acres of land on Sec. 22, his father owning the eighty-acre homestead on Sec. 21. Mr. O'Connell is Independent in politics, and has Jseen twice Treasurer of Shields; the family belong to the Roman Catholic Church. .Mr. O'Connell has paid much attention for some time past to improved stock, now owning full-blood and grade short-horns from the noted herds of J. Jones and J. Miles, of Waukesha Co. ; he also owns a flock of thoroughbred Leicester sheep from the flocks of J. Whittaker, Oconomowoc, John Jones and J. Smith ; Mr. O'Connell makes a specialty of the Poland- China hogs, selling to Northern Wisconsin breeders, having bought from D. Peck, of Dane Co., and H. Flynn, of Watertown.

Passage source: The History of Dodge County, Wisconsin, Containing ... Its Early Settlement, Growth ... an Extensive and Minute Sketch of Its Cities ... War Record, Biographical Sketches, published 1880.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Shields Town - 4,079 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.