Week 48: Thief #52Ancestors

Beyond finding royalty, it’s every family historian’s dream to find that scoundrel ancestor who can add some excitement and interest to your family tree. I’ve yet to find any royals but my husband’s 3rd great-uncle, while not a thief, was a colorful character who had multiple run-ins with the law.

Dennis (Denny) Hagarty was born in Donoure, Rathbarry, Cork, Ireland in 1832 to Patrick and Mary Feen.[1] [Side note: a boon to researching Irish Catholics was the digital publication of Catholic Parish registers a few years ago. These records have allowed us to piece together some of Denny’s family-members including two possible brothers.]

Denny and his mother immigrated to the U.S. 1834, leaving behind Patrick and the brothers.[2] What happened to them has yet to be learned. Arriving in New York, they made their way to Massachusetts where Mary apparently married her second husband, John Fitzgibbon (I have yet to find a marriage record). When John and Mary moved the family to Illinois in about 1856, twenty-four Denny came with them.[3]

Denny settled in Marshall County, Illinois, married Margaret O’Brien, and had at least eight children.[4] The census records show that Denny was a farmer and “laborer.” But going beyond the census records reveals a more scandalous side to Denny. 

The first “legal” entanglement I found involving Denny was a suit he brought against an agent for Fisher & Sons in 1863 when they refused to pay for his over-time labor. Denny won in the lower courts and the case made its way to the Illinois Supreme Court where the judgment for $1.65 was affirmed.[5]

In 1873, George Bell sued Denny for the value of a steer he allegedly killed.[6] The poor steer was apparently hacked to death with an axe. The Henry Republican (Henry, Ill.) reported that the steer “annoyed” Denny by getting into his yard. However, because there was no eye-witness to the event, the jury found in Denny’s favor.[7] The newspaper account makes it pretty clear that at least the Henry Republican thought Denny was undoubtedly the perpetrator.  

Three years later, Denny and several other men were indicted for murder. According to the Henry Republican’s account, a shoot-out occurred at a house in Lacon, Illinois, involving a crowd of thirty to forty men. Three men were shot, two in the head, and one died.[8] The newspaper’s initial report identified Denny and the others and again the Henry Republican made clear its thoughts:

Surely it is a clear case of deliberate murder, and the Marshall county will have the spectacle of a wholesale handing scene, at no future day, we have no doubt if sheriff, judge and jury do their duty, and these parties get their just deserts.[9]

However, as before, Denny was found not guilty.[10] The Henry Republican was decidedly not happy about this, noting the poor prosecutor was out-numbered by seven defense attorneys. The paper was particularly upset that Denny got off, claiming that the evidence against him was “overwhelming.”[11] So outraged by the verdict, the paper called the jury grossly stupid and published their names so that the people of the county could “know where to find” them.[12]

One would think that with all his legal troubles, Denny would either move out of Lacon or at least maintain a low profile. Not our Denny. In 1880, only four years after the murder trial, Denny was granted a liquor license for a saloon, which the newspaper noted had been closed previously for not having said license.[13] In 1887, Denny got in trouble again for keeping his saloon open on a Sunday.[14]

Despite their previous unambiguous distain for Denny, when he joined the Republican party, the Henry Republican put the following notice in their paper:

Denny Haggerty, the saloonist, has formally renounced the evils of democracy, and now comes forth as a defender of the grand old party, with all its attending virtues and warts. We bring forward his name as a candidate for the legislature on that ticket two years hence. He would receive the support of the good Christian people of the party and the 20th district would thus keep up its reputation in this line.[15]

Quite the change of heart from a paper that only a few years earlier called for his hanging.

In addition to his saloon business, Denny purchased a “big omnibus” in 1887. The newspaper predicted that he would “pass everything on the road.”[16] I was super curious about what an 1887 “omibus” looked like and I found a picture of one from the 1890s in the Encyclopedia of Chicago website. I’ve attached for your viewing pleasure. Since these types of vehicles were used mostly in cities, it must have been pretty darn cool for little Lacon, Illinois to get one (although it was the county seat, it’s population in 1890 was only 1,649).[17]

When Denny died in December of 1889, the Henry Republican described him as “a notorious and prominent character.”[18] Not untrue.

[1] Ardfield and Rathberry parish, Diocese of Cork and Ross, Ireland, baptisms and marriages, 1800-1837, Denis Hagarty, 11 January 1832; digital image, “Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915,” Ancestry (http://ancestry.com : accessed 1 December 2019); citing Catholic Parish Registers, National Library of Ireland.

[2] Manifest, Barque Wm Glen Anderson, 19 July 1834, third page, lines 147 and 148, Mary and Denis Haggarty; database with images, “New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1891,” FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : accessed 1 December 2019), 023-21 May 1834-19 Jul 1834 > image 169 of 776; citing NARA microfilm pub. M237.

[3] 1860 U.S. census, Marshall Co., Ill., population schedule, Lacon, p. 72 (penned), dwelling 548, family 526, Dennis “Fitzgibbon” in household of John Fitzgibbon; NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 210.

[4] 1880 U.S. census, Marshall Co., Ill., population schedule, Lacon, e.d. 151, p. 18B (penned), dwelling 177, family 183, Dennis Haggerty; NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 235.

[5] Norman L. Freeman, Reports of Cases at Law and in Chancery Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Illinois, vol. 36 (Chicago: E.B. Myers & Chandler, 1867), 128-30; digital images, Google Play (http://play.google.com : accessed 24 March 2015).

[6] "Miscellaneous Items," The Henry (Illinois) Republican, 4 December 1873, p. 8, col. 1.

[7] Ibid.

[8] "Local Correspondence, Lacon," The Henry (Illinois) Republican, 24 August 1876, p. 5, col. 1.

[9] "A Tragedy at Lacon," The Henry (Illinois) Republican, 17 August 1876, p. 8, col. 3;

[10] "The Haggerty Case," The Henry (Illinois) Republican, 26 October 1876, p. 4, col. 2.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Ibid. "Local Correspondence, Lacon," The Henry (Illinois) Republican, 15 March 1877.

[13] T.E. Mizer, "Vicinity News, Lacon," The Henry (Illinois) Republican, 10 June 1800, p. 1, col. 4.

[14] “Court House Matters,” The Henry (Illinois) Republican, 27 January 1887, p. 4, col. 4.

[15] "Our Vicinity, Lacon," The Henry (Illinois) Republican, 27 January 1887, p. 6, col. 2.

[16] "Our Vicinity, Lacon," The Henry (Illinois) Republican, 30 June 1887, p. 1, col. 1.

[17] Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org), “Horsebus,” rev. 16:57, 16 November 2019. Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org), “Lacon, Illinois,” rev. 12:01, 30 August 2019.

[18] "Local Melange," The Henry (Illinois) Republican, 19 December 1889, p. 9, col. 3.

Horse-Drawn Omnibus, ca. 1890s; Chicago Historical Society, ICHi-37094; digital image, The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago, Chicago History Museum, The Newberry Library, and Northwestern University, (http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/3751.html : accessed 17 June 2017).