JOHN D. DALY - It is with pleasure that we are permitted
to write concerning the talented and enterprising
business man whose name appears above, since
he is one of those men of honor and stability
who form the real strength of any community,
and since he is numbered as one of the leading
business men of the county of Harney, and
has here and elsewhere achieved a success
which is very gratifying both in the results
to him individually and in the general business
world of eastern Oregon, where he has operated.
Mr. Daly was born in Canyon City, Oregon,
on May 13, 1866, being the son of Eugene
and Mary A. (Donohoe) Daly. His parents were natives of County Cork,
Ireland, and came to the United States in
1862, locating in Boston, whence in 1863
they came via Panama, to California, and
in 1864 came on to Canyon City. His father died in 1881 and the mother died
in 1897. Our subject grew up in Canyon City, gaining
a good education from the schools there and
at the age of sixteen years started on a
course of teaching, wherein he made a commendable
record. He gained sufficient money by this labor
to pay his way at college, and he attended
at Santa Clara, California. In the fall of 1890, he came to Drewsey and
in partnership with Abner Robbins started
a general merchandise establishment, which
has since been one of the leading business
houses of the county and is operated under
the firm name of Daly & Robbins. They commenced with a small stock of goods,
labored hard and have built up a fine trade,
because of their wise methods and because
of the manifestation of integrity and uprightness
in all their ways. They have a large stock of all kinds of goods
from dry goods, clothing, furnishings, boots
and shoes, crockery, groceries, and feed
to lumber, hardware, and machinery and implements. In addition to this fine business, Mr. Daly
and his partner are among the leading financiers
of the section, being largely interested
in the First National Bank of Ontario, and
the First National Bank at Burns, Oregon. Our subject is the president of both of these
institutions and they are in a flourishing
condition and well established. The firm also handles a sawmill, twenty-two
miles north from Drewsey, and Mr. Daly has
about one-half dozen ranches of value in
various parts of the country, and he manages
this large amount of business with marked
wisdom and discretion, putting into the entire
lines energy and vigor which are characteristic
of his own personality.
Mr. Daly was married on May 5, 1894, to Daisy
O., daughter of Joseph and Emeline (McAtee)
Robertson, and three children have been born
to them, as follows: Mary E., born June 18, 1895; Eunice M., born
July 25, 1897; Abner R., born September 10,
1899. Mr. Robertson was a native of Scotland, came
to Illinois, and thence in 1860 to Jackson
county, Oregon, crossing the plains with
ox teams. They were six months making the trip having
to fight the Indians considerably. In 1863 he came to Grant county and to Harney
in 1889. Mrs. Daly was born near Canyon City, Oregon,
on February 5, 1875.
Fraternally Mr. Daly is affiliated with the
A. F. & A. M., Burns Lodge, No. 97, and
the A. O. U. W., Drewsey Lodge, No. 119. He dwells in a fine modern residence of nine
rooms, over which his estimable wife presides
with a graciousness and dignity that are
becoming.
Transcribed from Page 659 of Harney County
Biographies from “An Illustrated History
of Baker, Grant, Malheur and Harney Counties
with a brief outline of the early history
of the State of Oregon”, Published 1902 by
Western Historical Publishing Company