Margaret & Patrick Ryan - Lennox, Iowa
This picture was taken at Clearfield, Iowa. Photo contributed by Pat Nelson. Another descendent, Kathy Trofka, a great granddaughter of Margaret Ryan (daughter of Margaret and Patrick) and Lewis B Deming, wrote to tell of of her grandmother Margaret's historical importance in medicine: "I find it interesting that she was one of the first female chiropractors in the country."
This is a photograph of Margaret and Patrick Ryan's family taken around 1885. Margaret was the second eldest daughter of James and Nancy Ann Ryan of Allamakee County, Iowa; and was a sister to Batt and James Ryan (Jr.). The first time we saw "Patrick Ryan" was on an 1872 plat map. His farm was next door to James and Nancy Ann Ryan's homestead. We also saw him join John Boney and Nancy Ryan to sign up for citizenship on Christmas Eve.
Based on the Nelson family tree in Ancestry.com, Margaret and Patrick had many children - not all of them are pictured here. The family consisted of the following sons and daughters: Daniel (1867), James (1869), Thomas (1870), Michael (1873), Mary (1874), Anna (1876), Dennis (1878), Margaret (1879), Kathryn (1881), Agnes (1883), Theresa (1885), and Nora (1888)
We have mentioned this family several times on this website, and it is they who provided the first evidence that Nancy Ann Ryan's maiden name was "Campbell." (see Campbell). This information allowed us to confidently contact the Tipperary Archdiocese in Cashel to get baptismal and marriage records associated with our family (see baptismal records). For comparison purposes, you can view Batt Ryan's death certificate, which also shows Nancy Ann's maiden name was 'Campbell.'
It has been awhile since we last wrote of this family, and the collection of articles are noted below. Initially we received information from Margaret Wilson, whose husband was a descendent of Patrick and Margaret Ryan. In our first write-up we provided Margaret's death certificate along with other civil records. We also provided some of Margaret's comments in a secondary story to capture some of her observations of the Ryan family. Later, we received one of the more fascinating stories that you'll see on this site - a young Pat Nelson interviewed her grandfather in 1960 for a grade school project. Her project was to document her grandfather's recollection of his life. See Daniel Ryan,
One of the last things we know about Margaret is that she died at her daughter's home in Dubuque, Iowa. Her daughter was Margaret Deming. See caption.
