The Irish standard., 1907-02-23
THEIR EARLY LIFE
How the Creighton Boys Met
the Bigotry Of
The. Western Reserve Now Told
49,: For the First Time.


multi millionaire and public benefac-
! tor, one OF the best Catholics and
noblest and most useful citizens the
country ever has had. Outside Of his
great benefactiona, it has been esti-
mated that his daily responses to the
requests Of the needy aggregated over
$4,000 year. OF the early history OF
the Creighton family in America the
Catholic Columbian says:
The Omaha CreiEhtons Went t"
Nebraska from Ohio over forty years
ago. The father OF Count Creighton,
to cali the latter hy the title The
Pope has bestowed upon him. cams to
this country from the Emerald Island
early in the nineteenth century and
located first at Philadelphia. Soon
after. his arrival in the Quaker City,
he wooed and won for his wife an esti-
lnable Irish-American girl, to whom he
was anarried in 1911, at Mt. Mary's
Church. Tho elder Creighton was
quick to recognize the better oppor-
tunities for advancement that the
Western states of those days held out
to young men, and not long after his
marriage, he turned his face toward
Ohio, and after brief stay in Barnes
ville Belmont county. the family about
the wear 1880 moved TO d farm, which
they occupied many years, halfway
between Newark and Somerset. The
object of settling here was principally
t, be as near as possible to the Catho-
lie settlements then growing up around
the churches which tho Dominican
Fathers were establishing in Perry
county, of which Somerset Was the
county town.
Nine children Mere born I" MI
Creighton and his worthy wife. two OF
whom, John A., and his brother Ed
ward, who died twenty years agn, Ner"
destined to achieve wealth, fame and
honor in Nebraska, a section nf the
country OF which at the time they ell
tered it practically little or nothing
; The younger Creightors passed their
boyhood after the usual manner "f
Western lads living OH :, farm. I'm
their earlier years .and until the Do
nlinicans provided collegiate facilities,
they attended the brief sessions of
the district school and nj the clos"
of the school hours helped Oh the farm
in whatever capacity they could. It.
is related Of the Creighton boys by
members: of the family still living,
that When working on the turnpike
road (the railroad OF those days.,
running near their fathers residence
between Wheeling and Columbus, they
were often beset by other boys inclined
10 quarrel with them ON the score of
words came TO blows. their assaiants
got the worst of it. 1t is further r"-
lated by members of the family> that
the young Creighton hoys and Philir
Sheridan oftcu worked together on the
'pike." and that in a short while they
became the terror of AL VIII" would
dare insult them on account nf creed
or race. That same Philip Sheridan
afterwards became lieutenant general
Of tine whole army OF the United States
and a mar Of world wide fame. Hero,
i'm the instances Of ,hs Creiehtons and
Fighting Phil we have another IL
lustration Of tn. Adage tha! The boy
is father of tile man"
With SO large family to rroviie
for the elder Creighton early in1~
pressed upon his sons the, necessity
OF. making their own way in lie world,
and two Of. the boys, john a. and Ed
ward, who had doubtless nf'en heard
their father relate how hs had gone
westward from Pennsylvania and Ohio.
began to look further westward them
b selves, as if searching for more prom
Using openings there than those which
4 they. saw around ther:. Edward ap-
\ pears to have been the first to deter
mine to follow the setting sun in quest
received his sole inheritance from his
s father, q. wagon and a team of horses
and there being virtually no railroads
~ or steamships TO travel by at that
"a period, :tlle son started on MS journey
irgs. in his own conveyance. The first
employment that he secured was scrv-
8 ice jim q telegraph enterprise, for which
he furnished poles for the lines with
Which the company was then connect
4 ing. some western centers: and later
a on; slae was made superintendent of the
] W orlS OF constructing these commune
M cations, and began to attain wealth
and influence. During the interval be-
NJ tween lS47 and 1859, he was occupied
a In this work. and among the connect
@ ing telegraphic lines whose erection