My Genealogy Hound

TERRENCE C. CAFFREY, born in South Easton, Northampton County, November 15, 1848, is one of the most successful real-estate men in South Bethlehem, and is also an agent for fire and life insurance. He takes a justifiable pride in looking back over his business career, for, commencing without any means, he today controls a property amounting to thousands of dollars, which he has acquired by his individual efforts.

Mathew Caffrey, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a native of County Meath, Ireland. He located in America in 1847, but afterward returned to the Old Country, where he remained for a short period, leaving his family here. In 1850 he located in South Easton, Pa., and five years later settled near Joplin, in southwestern Missouri, where he purchased a large tract of land and engaged in farming and cattle raising until his death. Catherine (Goodno) Caffrey, the wife of Mathew Caffrey, was also born in Ireland, and became the mother of ten sons and three daughters, three of the former serving in the Confederate army.

The boyhood of Mr. Caffrey, the subject of this sketch, was passed in Missouri, and toward the end of 1863 he enlisted in Mosby’s Cavalry, serving until the close of the war. Then for a few years he traveled in the west, engaged in the cattle business, in the employ of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. In 1878 he returned to the east to visit his birthplace, and he has since continued to make his home here. He soon obtained a position in the Bethlehem Iron Works, receiving good wages, and with rare foresight invested his money in land in South Bethlehem. In 1882, on account of the labor troubles, he threw up his position and opened a hotel on West Third Street, in which he prospered to such an extent that in 1887 he purchased the handsome business block at the corner of Third and New Streets, establishing a hotel which still exists there, which he ran until 1891. When in the employ of the Bethlehem Iron Works he rose to be President of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers.

In 1881 Mr. Caffrey married Miss Ann Kernan, who was born in Phillipsburg, N. J. Of this union three children were born, Katie, Margaret and Warren W. Among the real estate owned by Mr. Caffrey is property on Third Street, consisting of a hotel, two stores and two residences, five stores on New Street and miscellaneous property in different portions of the town. Among this there is a good factory location of one hundred and sixty feet frontage on Second Street, and a hotel which is called the Caffrey House. He has handled much property successfully, purchased a block of land in South Bethlehem, and was one of the first to see the value of lots on Fountain Hill, and all of these investments have brought him handsome returns. His office is located at No. 5 East Third Street, and he represents most of the leading life and fire insurance firms. A supporter of the Democratic party, he is interested in its success, though not an active politician.