Patrick J. Mungavin, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Patrick J. Mungavin
PATRICK J. MUNGAVIN as been roadmaster of the Lake Superior division of the Northern Pacific railroad since 1882, and he is known as one of the most indefatigable workers on that division and one of the most reliable men the company has in this region.
Mr. Mungavin was born March 26, 1849, in County Clare. Ireland, son of Michael and Judith (Minogue) Mungavin, who came to the United States in 1850, settling on a farm in Vermont. The father engaged in railroad work. In a few years the family removed to Chesterton, Ind., where Mr. Mungavin carried on a farm and grocery store, and he died there August, 1869, at the age of nearly fifty years. He took considerable interest in the public affairs of the community in which he settled, and was a Democrat in political sentiment. His widow still lives at Chesterton, aged more than three score years and ten.
Patrick J. Mungavin received his education in the public schools, and during his youth worked on the farm and in a sawmill. At the age of nineteen he left home and spent the next several years traveling in the South and West, engaged most of the time at lumbering or on steamboats. Since 1872 he has been at railroad work, in that year entering the employ of the Wisconsm Central Railway Company, with which he continued seven years, in various capacities. Upon the termination of his connection with that company he received a very complimentary letter from Mr. Phillips, the superintendent of construction and general manager of the road, which he still preserves. In May, 1879, Mr. Mungavin became an employe of the Northern Pacific Railway Company, with which he has ever since remained. His first employment was as brakeman, but after five months he became a conductor, and because of his industrious habits and persistent devotion to duty he rose in time to his present position, that of roadmaster of the Lake Superior division. His office is in Duluth, but his duties take him all over the Lake Superior region. Mr. Mungavin has never relaxed his perseverance as a worker, and he is often engaged far into the night, long after his subordinates have finished their day's work. This tireless attention to the details of his numerous duties has won him a high place in the confidence of his employers, and he enjoys an excellent reputation among his superiors on the railroad and commands the highest respect of the men under him.
Mr. Mungavin was married, in 1883, to Miss Mary Tierney, a native of Kentucky, whose father, Peter Tierney, was an early settler of Brown county, Wis. Six children have blessed this union, namely: Mary, Thomas, Catherine, Laura, James and Florence. The family are Catholics in religious faith. Their home is in Superior, and they are among the most respected residents of that place.
Source: J. H. Beers & Company. 1905. Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Lake Region. Chicago, Illinois: J. H. Beers & Company. 554 p.
Page(s) in Source: 170
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook