James Bergan pays no divided
loyalty to Clayton county, Iowa, though he claims
Macoupin county, Illinois, as the place of his birth,
which there occurred on the 27th of July, 1862. He
has been a resident of Clayton county since he was a
child of about four years and here he is now
associated with his brother John in the ownership of
one of the large and splendidly improved farms of
Sperry township, where they stand forth as
enterprising and influential exponents of
agricultural and live-stock industry in this favored
section of the Hawkeye state. The parents, Patrick
and Elizabeth (Stulley) Bergan were born and reared
in Ireland and came to the United States in 1848.
They continued their residence in Illinois until
1866, when they came to Clayton county, Iowa, and
settled on a farm in Highland township. There they
passed the remainder of their lives, earnest, kindly
and upright folk who won independence through their
own endeavors and who commanded the high regard of
the community in which they long lived and labored,
both having been communicants of the Catholic church.
Of the eight children six still survive the honored
parents.
James Bergan was reared on
the old homestead farm and gained his early education
in the schools of Highland township. He remained at
home until the death of his parents and he and his
brother John then purchased the farm upon which they
and their families now reside, the same comprising a
fine estate of two hundred and forty-five acres, in
section 16, Sperry township, and the brothers having
improved the property with substantial and
essentially modern buildings. They are associated
also in the ownership of twenty acres of land within
the corporate limits of the village of Volga.
James Bergan has been loyal
and liberal in the support of measures and
enterprises tending to advance the communal welfare,
is a staunch Democrat in politics but has never been
imbued with any ambition for public office. He and
his wife are zealous communicants of the Catholic
church, and prior to her marriage Mrs. Bergan has
been a successful and popular teacher in the district
schools of Clayton county. They have no children. In
1912 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Bergan to
Miss Katherine Minihan, who was born in Highland
township, this county, in the year 1870, and whose
parents, Patrick and Mary (Gaynor) Minihan, were well
known and highly esteemed citizens of this county at
the time of their death, both having been born in
Ireland and having been children at the time of the
immigration of the respective families to the United
States. Mr. and Mrs. Minihan became the parents of
seven children, all of whom are living except one.
source: History of
Clayton County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical
Times Down to the Present; by Realto E. Price,
Vol. II; pg. 42-43
-OCR scanned by S. Ferrall
