WI BIO - Kewaunee Co - ROONEY, Patrick J.

History of Northern Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical, 1881, vol I, p 431

Patrick J. ROONEY, Clerk of Circuit Court, Kewaunee, Kewaunee County, 
Wisconsin, was born 14 February 1839 in County Down, Ireland, and came to 
America with his parents about 1846. They passed one year in New Bedford 
[Bristol County], Massachusetts, and removed to Milwaukee [Milwaukee County, 
Territory of Wisconsin] in the fall of 1847. [Wisconsin became a State 29 
May 1848.] There [Milwaukee] he received a common school education, and at 
the age of fifteen years he commenced the printer's trade, which he followed 
until 1857, when, accompanied by his parents, he removed to Kewaunee, 
Wisconsin, and engaged in farming. He was employed in setting type on the 
first newspaper published in Kewaunee [22 June 1859?].

Patrick J. ROONEY enlisted in 1862 in Company A, 27th Wisconsin Infantry, and 
served until 31 July 1865. He then returned to Kewaunee and devoted his time 
to farming until 1871, when he sold his farm and took a trip to Minnesota and 
Nebraska, and returned to Kewaunee and engaged with Mr. REED to take charge 
of the Kewaunee "Enterprise." Mr. ROONEY had full charge of the publication 
of the paper for about three years. He has been Town Superintendent of 
Schools, Town Clerk, and was elected Town Treasurer in 1866, which office he 
held until 1871. He was elected Clerk of Circuit Court in the fall of 1874, 
and has been acting in that official capacity, being re-elected each 
successive term.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly