Biography of
Anthony Doherty
p. 1460
ANTHONY DOHERTY.
Selfmade is a word that comes quickly to mind when a man has overcome
difficulties that have beset his path and used them as stepping-stones by
which he has climbed to a large
measure of success in life. It is an honorable word and stands for industry,
perseverance, courage and selfdenial, and may justly and appropriately be used
in commenting on the life and career of Anthony Doherty,
one of the prominent
business men of Clay City, Illinois. That success should come to such a man is
in justice due, for the untrained lad who overcomes obstacles by sheer
persistency and indefatigable labor certainly deserves such reward. Mr. Doherty
was born in the state of Louisiana, August 11, 1858, and is a son of
Robert H.
and Sarah A. (Smith) Doherty,
and grandson of Anthony
and Charlotte (Swayzee)
Doherty.
Mr. Doherty‘s grandfather was a
wealthy Louisiana planter and slaveowner, and died just before the Civil war,
while his grandfather on the maternal side was a native of Massachusetts who
moved to Louisiana and there spent the rest of his life. The latter had a family
of five children, to all of whom he left a good estate, Robert H. Doherty
was
born
in Louisiana, November 3, 1831, and received excellent educational
advantages, being a graduate of Bethany (Virginia) College. He was engaged in
sugar planting in his native state. He died September 27, 1860. His widow was
left with the estate that had been given her by her father, but this was lost,
like thousands of other fortunes, when the Confederacy went to its doom, and
Mrs. Doherty was persuaded to move to a little farm belonging to a maiden aunt
in Illinois. Accordingly, she came to this state in 1871, settled on the little
property and proceeded to rear and educate her children as best she might, and
Anthony secured a good education in the schools of Clay City. After completing
his mental training he started life on his little forty-acre
P. 1461
farm, but he had no inclination
for the vocation of an agriculturist and after giving the life a trial entered a
drug store, working for a year without pay, except his board, in order to learn
the business.
During the next two years he worked as a clerk in drug stores at
a salary of thirty dollars per month, but found he was not advancing fast
enough, and so secured employment as a school teacher. During the next six years
he was employed as an educator in various parts of the county and for one year
was principal of schools in Clay City, and in 1882 found he had saved enough, by
constant economy, to purchase a one-half interest in a drug store. Subsequently
he and his partner divided the stock and Mr. Doherty took his brother as
partner, under the firm name of Doherty Brothers, a concern that has conducted a
pharmacy in Clay City for more than twenty-eight years. In 1881 Mr. Doherty first went on the road as a commercial traveler for a drug house, and he has
traveled nearly all the time since. At one time he decided to leave the road,
but after a short trial found that his health demanded traveling, and
accordingly took up the work and again became a “Knight of the Grip.” Since 1899
Mr. Doherty has been in the service of the J. S. Merrill Drug Company, and he is
known to members of the trade all over the, country. Mr. Doherty has invested
much of his capital in valuable lands in Illinois, and now owns an excellent,
well-paying farm of one hundred and forty-eight acres, located near Clay City.
He is a capable business man, and to each of his several enterprises brings a
complete and intricate knowledge of detail, showing the result of careful and
conscientious study. He is a prominent Mason, belonging to Clay City Lodge, No.
488, A. F. & A. M.; Flora Chapter, No. 154, R. A. M.; Gorin Commandery, No. 14
K. T. of Olney, and has served as master of his lodge and as district deputy
grand master for a number of years He gives his political allegiance to the
Democratic party, but has been too busy to think of seeking public preferment.
With his family he attends the Christian church.
Mr. Doherty was first married to
Miss Maggie Smith, who died July 5, 1880,
daughter of
John Smith. On December 28, 1881, his second marriage occurred, when
he was united with
Miss Clara Souther, daughter of
Simon Souther, a native of Wurtemberg, Germany.
Mr. Souther who was a carpenter by
trade and came to the United States
when a lad of eight years, lived for a number of years at Salem, Illinois.
Mr.
and Mrs. Doherty have had seven children, namely:
Ethel, who married Dr. C. E.
Duff, a well-known dental practitioner of Lawrenceville, Illinois;
Robert, an
electrical engineer at Schenectady, New York, in the employ of the General
Electric Company, and a graduate of the class of 1909, University of Illinois; Maude, who lives at home with her parents;
Stephen Swayzee, who in April, 1912,
graduated from the Chicago Veterinary College;
Thomas Anthony, traveling in
Illinois for a wholesale drug establishment; Chester C., a student at the
Lawrenceville high school; and
Kathleen, who lives at home and is attending school.
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