Los Angeles County
Biographies
RICHARD MOLONY
One of the
most interesting of old pioneers of Los
Angeles is Richard Molony, who has passed the
remarkable age of ninety-four years and is still hale and hearty and as active
as a man sixty years of age. He has
lived in Los Angeles
since 1872 and for twenty-five years was engaged in the manufacturing carriages
and wagons as the owner of the business known as “R. Molony, Carriage and Wagon
marker.”
Mr. Molony was born in Syracuse,
New York, February 25, 1839, and when a babe
of six months was taken by his parents to Dubuque,
Iowa, where he grew to manhood on
a farm near that city. The journey was
made by way of the Erie Canal to Buffalo, thence
by sail boat to Chicago, and from there by wagon
to the farm on which his father settled, about sixteen miles form Dubuque. He received his schooling and learned his
trade in Dubuque. In 1862, when twenty-three years of age, he
came to California via the Isthmus of Panama,
landing in San Francisco. He spent ten years at his trade in Sonoma and Marin counties and finally decided he would
come to Los Angeles
and establish himself in business. That
same year he started a shop on Aliso
Street and continued active in business for a
quarter of a century. He manufactured
both light and heavy wagons and fine carriages, importing the materials used
such as steel springs, iron bolts, wood and trimmings. He made and sold the first patrol wagon to
the police department of this city.
Through good management and close attention to detail, he gradually
developed his business until it became the largest in this part of the
state. He retired in 1899 and then
entered into the real estate and insurance business, continuing with the latter
to the present time.
The first
marriage of Mr. Molony was in 1867, when he wedded Ellen Mulcahey, who was born
in county Limerick, Ireland, and by whom four children
were born, three of them growing to maturity:
Mary, the widow of T. J. Cunningham; Mark, who died in December 1920;
and Clement, who is a priest at St. Agnes Church. Nellie, died, aged four years. In 1878 Mr. Molony married for a second wife,
Katherine Fennessy, who was born in County Cork,
Ireland, and four children
blessed this union: William R., a
prominent physician in Los Angeles; and Margaret, Frances
and Johanna, who are at home. The wife
and mother died in 1895. For his third
wife he married Katherine Collins in 1897.
She was also born in County
Cork and died in
1823. Mr. Molony is a charter member of
Junipero Serra Knights of Columbus No. 2404.
He served as delegate to many democratic conventions in the city and
county and has taken an active part in political affairs. In 1879-1881 he served in the city council,
Mr. Toberman being mayor. He was
appointed by Mayor Alexander a member of the Los Angeles Fire Commission and
served with efficiency. After having
erected two homes, one on San
Pedro Street and one on Central Avenue, he built his comfortable
home at 306 South Vergil Street
in 1913. Mr. Molony is well posted on
the happening of the early days of Los
Angeles when there were no street cars and but few
pavements. He has seen Los Angeles grow to be the great city of the
west that it now is, a city of world renown.
Transcribed
By: Michele Y. Larsen on May 17, 2012.
Source: California
of the South Vol. II,
by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 413-414,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles,
Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 Michele
Y. Larsen.
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