According to family legend, John J. Haley was born in Tipperary, Ireland, August 15, 1846[1].  He immigrated to the United States in 1860[2] at age 13 or 14, and subsequently became a naturalized citizen.

 

Nothing is known of his life until he bought property in New Era, Oregon, near Oregon City, on April, 2, 1888.  According to land records, he bought part of the Donation Land Claim of Andrew J. Vickers.  The purchase comprised 60 acres, Section 25, Township 3, Range 1.

 

On March 4, 1889, at age 43, he married Katherine “Kate” Neary[3].  They were married in Seattle, Washington the same day that her cousin, Mary Neary, married Paul Cotie, a French Canadian immigrant.  Kate was born in 1858 in Hudson, Wisconsin.   She was the eldest of 13 children, born to James P. Neary and Bridget Hopkins.  At the age of two, she moved with her family to Erin Prairie, St. Croix County, about 20 miles east of Hudson, an area that was being settled by Irish immigrants.  It is not known how, when and where Kate met her future husband John.  She lived with her family in Erin Prairie until the 1885 Minnesota census lists her as living in Minneapolis at age 27.  She either came west with her cousin Mary Neary and met John Haley in Seattle, or settled in the Oregon City area and met her future husband there after arriving from the Midwest.  Since John already owned property in New Era, it’s possible that they met in Oregon and went to Seattle to be married.

 

John and Kate’s first child, Alice Ellen, was born in New Era, Clackamas County, Oregon on February 14, 1890. 

 

John and Kate’s second child, John Jr. was born September 18, 1891, probably in New Era, Oregon.   In April 1892 John and Kate sold the New Era property and on July 22 of that year bought property[4] from Avolene Hatch on Bluff Road, near Sandy, Oregon.

 

After moving to Sandy, twins, Joseph Sanford and William Edwin were born on August 23, 1894, Mary A., born October 23, 1896 and finally, Anna E., born August 20, 1899. 

 

The only census record found so far is the 1900 census, listing John Haley, shows the family living on this property, with John working as a farmer.  The 1976 newspaper obituary for his oldest daughter, Alice Haley-Severin, says “that her father was a pioneer horse trader, who drove horses from Shaniko over Mt. Hood to Portland.”  No other evidence has been discovered to corroborate this story.

 

On January 12, 1901, John J. Haley died in St. Vincent’s Hospital in Portland, Oregon of colon cancer.  Two days later he is buried at St. Joseph’s Cemetery[5] on Powell Boulevard in Gresham, Oregon.

 

Two years later, on January 26, 1903, at age 44, Kate Haley married a local Sandy farmer, John McDonald, a widower, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church.  John, born in Ireland in 1843, owned property east of the Bluff Road property where the Haley family lived, called Sandy Ridge.  He bought this property in June, 1887 and farmed there with his brother Patrick who was also a widower and 18 years younger.  Sometime after the marriage, the Haley family moved onto the McDonald’s Sandy Ridge Property.  The family may have continued to farm the Bluff Road property during this time.  Patrick McDonald cannot be found in the records after the 1900 census.

 

On December 6, 1908, John McDonald died of heart disease.  His place of burial is also apparently at St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Gresham, Oregon.[6] 

 

At age 50, Kate was single again.  Apparently, the family continued living on the McDonald property on Sandy Ridge and also continued to farm the original Haley property on Bluff Road.  The Census of April 15, 1910, shows Kate and the five children family living on the McDonald, Sandy Ridge farm.

 

On August 21, 1911, the oldest daughter, Alice was married to William F. Severin, the son of Veronica Musa-Severin, also of Sandy, Oregon.

 

In September, 1913, Kate married John Daly of Portland.  It’s possible that prior to this time, Kate may have moved to Boring, Oregon and met Daly there.  John Daly was born in Ireland in 1853.  They appear to be living in Boring, when on August 1, 1914, John Daly died of Enteritis and is also buried at the St. Joseph's cemetery in Gresham, Oregon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] 1900 Census says birth year was 1844.  The death certificate say birth year was 1846.

 

[2] 1900 Census, Oregon, Clackamas County, Cascade Precinct, Roll 623-1345, Page 6A, Enumeration District 84

 

[3] The surname “Neary” was spelled differently at different times by family members.  For instance, Kate signed her marriage certificate “Katie Narey” but the person completing the form spelled her name as”Kate Nary.”

 

[4] SW quarter of the NE quarter and the NW quarter of the SE quarter of Section 23, Township2, Range 4.  Book 48, Page 42.

 

[5] This cemetery was called “Kronenberg Cemetery” at that time, carrying the name of the original occupants of the cemetery.

 

[6] The death certificate for John McDonald say his burial was at the Zimmerman Cemetery in Clackamas County.  However, documents from an inventory of St. Joseph’s indicate he is buried there.