My Genealogy Hound

DANIEL SHEEHAN. Among the successful business enterprises of Niles is the plumbing, steam and gas fitting establishment owned and conducted by the subject of this sketch. Beginning in life for himself, he was without capital other than that which is represented by habits of industry and self-reliance. These qualities, combined with excellent judgment and sound common-sense, have secured for him a measure of success beyond what is usually obtained.

A native of Ireland, Mr. Sheehan was born in Portlaw, County Waterford, on the 1st of July, 1843. His parents, Cornelius and Martha (Pike) Sheehan, were natives of the Emerald Isle, and the father was a tailor by trade. In 1844 he brought his family to the United States, landing in New York City, where he remained a short time. In 1848 he came to Michigan, and located in Ann Arbor, where he spent the remainder of his life. Our subject was reared to manhood in Ann Arbor and was a student in a public school of that city. Gibbon has said that “every person has two educations, one which he receives from others, and one, more important, which he gives to himself.” Of the first of these Mr. Sheehan has little practical knowledge, but with the latter he is familiar. His education may be said to have been gained principally in the great school of experience. Through habits of close observation and systematic reading he gained a breadth of knowledge not always possessed by college-bred men.

Upon starting in business Mr. Sheehan followed the trade of a plumber, which he had learned in boyhood. In 1867 he married Miss Mary Kearney, of Ann Arbor, and during the following year he came to Niles, where for a time he was in the employ of John W. Payne, a plumber of this city, whom he afterward bought out. When the water-works were introduced into Niles Mr. Sheehan purchased a stock of plumbing, gas and water fixtures and established a business which has enjoyed a continuous growth. He constructed the sewers of Niles, which he afterward sold to the city, and has in other ways secured the introduction of modern improvements in Niles.

Although of foreign birth, Mr. Sheehan possesses the patriotism of a true American citizen, and during the Civil War enlisted in 1862 as a member of Company H, Twentieth Michigan Infantry, commanded by Capt. Wiltsee. He participated in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, East Tennessee, the siege of Vicksburg, and other minor engagements throughout North Carolina and Tennessee. At the close of the war he was ordered to Washington, where he took part in the Grand Review in July, 1865, and afterward returned to Ann Arbor. Politically he is a Republican. In his religious connections he is a faithful member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church and active in its support.