Person:John Falvey (1)

Patrick Falvey was born October 28, 1866 on a farm near West Bloomfield, New York. He was the second oldest of thirteen children and his father was a farmer. Pat stayed home until 22 years old, working most of the time for neighbors as a farm laborer for wages ranging from $15 to $18 per month for seasonal work. He went west in 1888 and got a job with a farm implement dealer at Cogswell, North Dakota, in July 1891, as a handyman. That fall he was transferred to a farm near Lisbon, North Dakota. He worked as a farm laborer for three seasons, except during threshing time he operated a threshing machine in which he had half interest. He met Elizabeth Boyle of Brechin, Ontario, Canada, who was staying with her sister and husband near Englevale, North Dakota. They were married in November 1892, and in 1893 moved nine miles north of Lisbon. Pat bought a section of land under contract and another threshing machine and farmed there for three years. He sold his land and moved to the north end of Eckelson Lake in the spring of 1896, where he had purchased a homestead right. He built a 16' by 24' shanty with a slanting roof. Three sons were born while they lived in the shanty - Arthur, Daniel and Thomas. In 1899 he bought 320 acres in Anderson Township - North 1/2 31-141 North �€“ 60 West at $9.00 per acre. There was no sod broken at the time. Two more boys, John and William and two daughters, Margaret and Mary, were born. All the children attended a one-room school in Anderson Twp. Mr. Falvey was treasurer of this school district for many years.

He bought his first car in 1915, a Ford Model T Touring car. From 1928 until he quit farming in 1936, one crop failure followed that of another for eight consecutive years. He said that in face of it all, he continued to farm on a larger scale than his finances warranted, which caused him to go broke, and he lost the farm through mortgage foreclosure in 1936. As of 1975 there are only two children surviving. They are: Mrs. Mary Eastman, who works in the office of Public Instructions, Food Services Dept., Bismarck, North Dakota, and William, who is with the Telephone Company and his wife, Loretta, reside in Oklahoma City. Mr. Falvey passed away in 1947. He was preceded in death by his son John in 1925, Thomas, 1935 and daughter Margaret 1942, Daniel, 1949, his wife in 1950 and Arthur in 1966. His daughter Mary, resides in Bismarck and has a son Patrick and a daughter Colleen. William and his wife Loretta reside in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Thomas Falvey's children, Betty Ratzlaff, resides in Grand Forks, North Dakota; Mary Adlene, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 67

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   memorial # 77130183