McDonough ILGenWeb

TIERNAN, Patrick Henry, a well-known brick manufacturer and mason contractor of Macomb, McDonough County, Ill., was born June 7, 1863, in Macomb, and there received his education in the public school. His parents, Patrick and Margaret (Hanlon) Tiernan, were natives, respectively, of County Roscommon and City of Dundalk, County Donegal, Ireland. His maternal grandfather, John Hanlon, was also of Irish birth. Mr. Tiernan is the eldest of five children born to his parents. His father came to Macomb in 1854, and worked at his trade of plasterer, taking contracts. He died in 1894, his wife having passed away in 1892. The subject of this sketch completed his school studies at the age of eighteen years, and then learned the plasterer's trade. He started as a contractor in mason work in southeastern Kansas. He had charge of all mason work for the Gould system in that region, and in southwestern Missouri for ten years. He then returned to Macomb and continued contracting. In 1895 he bought a brickyard of Sebree & Merriman, which he developed from a hand-manufacturing plant to a steam system, with a capacity of 25,000 brick per day. He employs an average force of thirty men, and in the summer season the number reaches one hundred. For a radius of sixty miles around Macomb he performs the work of his trade, and goes wherever his contracts call him. He was the first successful layer of cement walks in Macomb. He did the mason work of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Baptist Church, Marietta Phelps and St. Francis Hospitals, and other large buildings in Macomb. He is a contractor and builder of exceptional ability and skill and has attained a wide reputation in his line.

Mr. Tiernan was married October 7, 1896, to Mary Colgan, who was born and schooled in Galesburg. Ill. The children resulting from this union are: Claude, born September 2, 1897; Louis, born October 9, 1899, and Gertrude, born June 18, 1905. Politically, Mr. Tiernan is a Democrat. He was elected Alderman of the Fourth Ward in 1899, and was re-elected, holding the office up to the present time. Fraternally, he is connected with the I. O. O. F. and the M. W. A. In religious faith, he is a Catholic.

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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of McDonough County, compiled by Dr. Newton Bateman, and Paul Shelby, 1907, volume 2, page 1021, extracted 07 Aug 2020 by Norma Hass.