Amador
County
Biographies
PATRICK DWYER
Prominently connected with the hotel
interests of northern California is Patrick Dwyer, the popular and highly
esteemed proprietor of the Globe Hotel of Jackson, Amador County. He is also an active factor in the public
life of the community and is serving as one of the supervisors of the
county. A native of Ireland, he was born
in county Tipperary in 1826, a son of Charles and Bridget (O’Marra)
Dwyer, who also were natives of the Emerald Isle and were descended from old
families of that country. They were
numbered among the industrious farming people of the community in which they
lived, and were devoted adherents of the Catholic faith. They had six sons and a daughter, but Mr.
Dwyer and his sister are the only ones still living. The latter is the wife of Thomas McDonald, a
resident of Oakland, California.
Patrick Dwyer was educated in the
schools of his native land and remained in Ireland until twenty-three years of age,
when he determined to seek a home in America, having received very favorable
reports of the opportunities afforded young men in the new world. Accordingly he crossed the Atlantic to New
York, taking passage on a sailing vessel.
During the voyage they encountered high head winds most of the way and
were thirteen weeks in completing the trip.
From the eastern metropolis Mr. Dwyer came to San Francisco by way of
the Isthmus route, arriving at their destination on the 20th of
October, 1852. Immediately afterward he
made his way to Volcano, in Amador County, proceeding up the Sacramento River
to the capital city and then across the country with a team. For ten years he engaged in placer mining at
various mining camps and made good wages, but never met with any remarkable
degree of success. He was associated
with five men in the operation of the Hydraulic claim at Mahala
Flat, where they took out between two and three thousand dollars worth of the
shining metal, his largest find being a nugget worth two hundred dollars. After working that claim Mr. Dwyer turned his
attention to the cattle business and ranching.
He owned one hundred and sixty acres of land at Prairie Grove, and in
the mountains a tract six miles square, which was used for pasturage. For six years he continued in that business,
meeting with good success; but in 1861 many of the cattle died and the
following year he retired from the business.
He, however, continued to operate his farm and also engaged in mining on
Jackson Creek until 1877, when he purchased the Globe Hotel, which he until
recently conducted with excellent success.
It is a fine three-story brick structure at the corner of Main and Court
streets, in the center of the business district of Jackson, is fifty by sixty
feet, and contains fifty rooms. Mr.
Dwyer conducted the hotel for twenty-two years, being the oldest hotel proprietor
in the town. The comforts and
conveniences which he afforded his guests, his courteous treatment of them and
his earnest desire to please secured to him a very liberal patronage and won
him the regard of the traveling public.
April 1, 1900, he leased the hotel and retired from its management. In addition to this property he has erected
and owns two dwellings in the town and has a ranch half a mile out of the town,
upon which he keeps cows, hogs and poultry for his hotel, thus being able to
supply the hotel with fresh meat of an excellent quality.
Mr. Dwyer was happily married in
1855 to Miss Ann Hanley, a native of Ireland, and their union has been blessed
with seven children, of who six are now living, namely: Charles; William; John; Thomas; Ann, the wife
of Edward Hurst; and Ella, the wife of Charles Ginocchio. One daughter, Maria, departed this life at
the age of sixteen years. Mr. Dwyer and
his family are members of the Catholic Church, and in matters of state and
national importance he votes with the Democratic Party; but at local elections,
where no national issue is involved, he gives his support to the candidates
whom he thinks best qualified for the office regardless of party
affiliations. For a number of years he
has served as a road commissioner, and for the third term, of four years each,
has served as county commissioner. His
record as a public official is most commendable and has gained him the
confidence and good will of his fellow townsmen. His hope of bettering his financial condition
in the new world has been more than realized, and he has not only gained a
comfortable competence and valuable property, but has won a host of warm
friends who esteem him highly for his genuine worth, his uniform courtesy and
genial and kindly manner.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern California”,
Pages 524-525. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Amador County Biographies