PATRICK BYRNE

For thirty years Mr. Byrne has been a resident of Nemaha county and has been identified with its progress, particularly along agricultural and stock raising lines. He now makes his home on section 30, Nemaha township, where he owns a valuable property that has been acquired entirely through his own labors. A native of the Emerald Isle, he was born on the 22nd of April, 1841, and was only eleven years of age when he came to America with his parents, Michael and Margaret (Dotherty) Byrne. They, too, were natives of the same locality and on crossing the Atlantic they took up their residence sixty miles southwest of St. Louis in Washington county, Missouri. The father died there at the age of fifty-three years and the mother's death occurred in Nemaha county, Kansas, when she had reached the age of sixty-seven years. In their family were seven children, five of whom are now living.

Patrick Byrne, the eldest son, was reared in Washington county, Missouri, between the ages of eleven and twenty years. He then left the parental home and began work in the employ of the government in St. Louis. Subsequently he went to New Orleans. where he spent three years as an employe of the gas works of that city, after which he returned to Wyoming, where he made his home until 1870, -- the year of his arrival in Nemaha county. Here he purchased his present farm of James Taylor. There were no improvements upon it at the time and the substantial buildings which now adorn the place stand as monuments to the thrift and enterprise of the present owner. The well kept fences divide the farm into fields of convenient size and an orchard of one hundred and seventy trees, all planted by Mr. Byrne, yields its fruits in season, and not only furnish many a delicacy for the table but also add materially to his income. His first house was a small building, but he has added to it until he now has a very comfortable and commodious residence of eight rooms. Good barns and other outbuildings add to the value and attractive appearance of the place and in extent his farm is eight hundred acres, for, as his financial resources increased, he has enlarged its boundaries until it now comprises considerably more than a section of land. He makes a specialty of feeding stock, the rich meadows furnishing excellent pasturage for successfully conducting such a business. He now has over one hundred head of cattle upon his farm and about one hundred and twenty-five hogs and annually ships three car-loads of cattle.

In 1873 Mr. Byrne was joined in wedlock to Miss Annie Glynn, who was born in England and is of Irish lineage. She was not two years of age when she was brought to America. By her marriage she has become the mother of thirteen children: Mary Ellen, the wife of Louis Wenzell, a prominent farmer; Agnes, the wife of Ed Koegan, of Clear Creek township, Nemaha county; Tresse, the wife of Pat Bynam, an employee of the Northwestern Railroad Company; Michael, deceased; Margaret; Frank; Elizabeth; William; Rosa May, deceased; Cora and Alice, twins; Thomas, deceased; and Johnnie. All were born on the farm which is now the home of the parents. Mr. and Mrs. Byrne are prominent members of St. Mary's Catholic church at St. Benedict and contributed liberally to the building fund at the time of the erection of the large church edifice in which the congregation now worship. Mr. Byrne is a Democrat in his political views, but is not active in the work of the party, preferring to devote his energies to the further development and cultivation of the home farm, wherefrom he secures a good income.