My Genealogy Hound

THOMAS DIGNAN, who departed this life mourned and respected by all who knew him, December 24, 1872, was an early settler of Berrien County, Mich. He was a native of Roscommon, Ireland, and was born in the year 1811. The youth and childhood of our subject were passed on a farm, and he attained to manhood in the land of his birth. Finally, in company with his brother, Frank Dignan, he emigrated to America and arrived safe and happy in the land of promise. Willing to work at any honest employment their hands could find to do, the brothers first labored in railroad construction work. Thomas Dignan had enjoyed the advantage of a good common-school education and was well informed upon the topics of the day. Observing and intelligent, he steadily made his way upward, and soon began to realize the comforts attainable by habits of industry and frugality.

Our subject was married February 28, 1865, to Miss Anna Hastings, born in County Limerick, Ireland, February 14, 1837. Mrs. Dignan was the daughter of James and Catherine (Murphy) Hastings, both natives of the Emerald Isle. In 1863, she came in company with her parents and other members of her family to the United States. The passage across the broad Atlantic was speedy. Embarking at Queenstown upon a steamer, they were only eleven days reaching Castle Garden, N. Y. Remaining but a brief time in the metropolis of the Empire State, the father, mother and their children were soon on their way to the West. Their immediate destination was Niles, Berrien County, Mich., and in this locality the parents after some length of time passed peacefully away. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Dignan settled on a farm in the village of Bertrand, and there our subject successfully devoted himself to the pursuits of agriculture.

Six children brought joy and gladness into the comfortable home. Lizzie, the eldest, who received superior educational training and thoroughly prepared herself for a teacher, is now following her chosen vocation; James, Frank and Catherine are also spared to cheer their mother’s home. Two children are deceased. Our subject was a devout member of the Catholic Church, and, true to its religious precepts, was in the daily business of life upright and earnest. Believing in the “Party of the People,” he was a stanch Democrat, interested in local and national issues. In his death Berrien County lost one of its honest and most substantial Irish-American citizens. His widow remains on the home farm and owns seventy acres of finely improved land. Like her husband, she and the family are worthy members of the Roman Catholic Church. Her life has been an unvarying round of useful industry, and in the advancing evening of her days she can with pleasure recall the memories of the past.