ONAHAN, WILLIAM JAMES

Catholic lay leader; b. Leighlin Bridge, County Carlow, Ireland, Nov. 24, 1836; d. Chicago, Ill., Jan. 12, 1919. As the son of John and Johanna Onahan, he lived for a time in Liverpool, England, immigrated to New York in 1851, and joined his family in Chicago in 1854. From office boy and shipping clerk he rose through a flour commission brokerage to high status in the business and political life of Chicago. Onahan was actively interested in political affairs and supported Stephen A. Douglas's presidential aspirations. After marrying Margaret Duffy in 1860, he served during the Civil War as civilian secretary of the Irish Brigade, recruited for the Union Army, and subsequently supported the peace movement and engaged in Democratic ward politics. Business and politics did not preclude Church activities, and he performed countless services for Bp. James Duggan of Chicago, aided the Jesuits in purchasing real estate, assisted several sisters' orders, and engaged in debating at the Catholic Institute and Catholic Lyceum. He was a director of the Catholic Asylum and Reformatory, organized the St. Patrick's Society, and served Abp. John Ireland in promoting Irish Catholic colonization projects in Minnesota and Nebraska. Personal advancement came with his appointment as a member of the Chicago Board of Education in 1863, reform work as city collector, and service as city comptroller and as president of the public library and the Home Savings Bank. In opposing Chicago's socialists, arbitrating strikes, campaigning for temperance, and resisting immigration restrictionists, Onahan performed many civic and religious tasks; for these he received the Laetare medal from the University of Notre Dame, Ind., and was made honorary private chamberlain by Leo XIII in 1895.

Onahan was Chicago correspondent of the New York Freeman's Journal and author of articles in the Catholic World, Illinois Catholic Historical Review, American Catholic Historical Researches, and other journals. He also published in 1895 some of his lectures on the Jesuits, having previously (1891) published The Religious Crisis in France, Our Rights and Duties as Catholics and Citizens, Our Faith and Our Flag, and The Influence of the Catholic Layman. He was for four decades a corresponding member of the Chicago Historical Society and ended his career as president of the Illinois Catholic Historical Society and honorary vice president of the Illinois State Historical Society. Onahan was considered by many the outstanding layman of the late 19th century, and was chosen to organize the Catholic Lay Congress in Baltimore, MD, in 1889. He proposed an international lay congress in Chicago in conjunction with the World's Fair, and also served as organizing chairman of the Columbian Catholic Congress, which met with the Parliament of Religions in 1893.

Bibliography: m. s. pahorezki, The Social and Political Activities of William James Onahan (Washington 1942).

[j. r. betts]