San Joaquin County
Biographies
DENNIS TUMELTY
DENNIS TUMELTY, of the firm
of McKinnon & Tumelty, bridge builders and general contractors of Stockton,
was born in Down County, Ireland, August 23, 1843, a son of Henry and Elizabeth
(Fitzsimmons) Tumelty, both native of that county. The father, by trade a
mason, died at the age thirty-five, the result of a fall from a building on
which he had been at work three years before. The mother, born in 1806, died in
her native county in 1881, and her parents also lived to a good age, having
passed middle life by some years. Grand-uncle Matt Tumelty, a farmer in Down,
reached the age of ninety-six.
The subject of this sketch received some
schooling in his youth, and helped on the farm on which he was brought up. At
the age of seventeen he went to Scotland and learned the trade of ship
carpenter in Ardrossen on the Clyde, serving an apprenticeship of five years.
He there worked one year as journeyman, and three years at different points on
the Clyde. He was married in Glasgow in 1869, to Miss Catherine Lynch, born in
Ayrshire in 1847, a daughter of Henry and Agnes (Boyle) Lynch. He continued
working at his trade on the Clyde until 1871, when he left for America with his
wife and child, arriving in New York on the 27th of June. He went
direct to Sarnia, Ontario, working there three months, and thence to Lapeer,
Michigan, where he worked nine months in a lumber camp as engineer, having
acquired some knowledge of that business on the Clyde. In 1872 he again engaged
at his trade of ship carpenter in Port Huron, Michigan, where he remained until
1875, when he came to California and settled down in the same line of work here
in June of that year. In 1878 he first became connected in business with his
present partner and with two others, and soon engaged in taking contracts. After
some changes in membership, the present firm of McKinnon & Tumelty,
consisting of August McKinnon and Dennis Tumelty, was formed in January, 1883.
They have done considerable work in the bridge-building line in this county, as
well as in the counties of Stanislaus, Calaveras, Kern, Tulare, Sacramento and
Contra Costa. They employ gangs of workmen varying from twenty-five to 125 or
more, according to the magnitude and urgency of the contracts on hand.
Mr. and Mrs. Tumelty are the parents of
five living children: Richard Charles, born in Scotland, June 26, 1870, is in
the employ of McKinnon & Tumelty as engineer; James, born in Port Huron,
Michigan, October 3, 1873, is learning the trade of plumber in this city in
1890; Catherine, also born in Port Huron, August 31, 1875, Hugh, born in
Stockton, May 13, 1877; William D., also born in this city, August 13, 1883.
Mr. Tumelty is a member of the
Irish-American Association.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Page 647. Lewis Pub. Co.
Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
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