James J. Gleeson (1863–1946)

Relationship: 2nd great-grandfather (Gleeson line)

Irish Immigrant, Wisconsin Settler

James Joseph Gleeson was born in 1863 in Croom, County Limerick, Ireland, and was baptized on December 23, 1863. The FamilySearch index for the parish register lists Jacobus Gleeson, with parents Patritii Gleeson and Margaritæ Moloney (image unavailable). His obituary later rounded the birth year to 1864. Based on the prevalence of the Moloney surname in County Clare and the Gleeson surname in the Clare/Limerick border region, James likely hailed from that area of western Ireland, though the exact townland has not been confirmed.

James immigrated to the United States around 1883, arriving in New York from Liverpool/Queenstown at approximately age 19. His parents Patrick and Margaret appear to have remained in Ireland—no U.S. records have been found for them, and James likely emigrated alone as a young man seeking opportunity in America.

Like many Irish immigrants of his generation, James made his way to the Upper Midwest, eventually settling in Wisconsin. On November 23, 1892, he married Maria Ann Fitzgerald in Mondovi, Buffalo County, Wisconsin. Maria was a Wisconsin native whose father had emigrated from County Limerick, Ireland—giving the couple shared Irish roots from neighboring counties.

James and Maria settled in Mondovi and later spent time in Stearns County, Minnesota (where two children were born), before returning to Wisconsin. They had seven children:

Their daughter Anne Barbara Gleeson (1903–1986) was born in Mondovi. Anne would later move to Arizona, where she married Raymond R. Mowrey in 1930—establishing the family's Arizona roots that continue today.

Maria died on approximately July 28, 1916, at age 51, leaving James a widower with several children still at home. Their son Joseph Patrick died the following year at age 17. James later remarried and continued living in the Upper Midwest, splitting time between Wisconsin and Minnesota.

James died on January 28, 1946, in Waite Park, Stearns County, Minnesota, at the age of 81. His daughter Margaret, who had become a Benedictine nun, was the last surviving child, dying in 1980.

James J. Gleeson's life traced a path common to Irish-Americans of his era: emigrating from Ireland as a young man, building a life in the farmlands of Wisconsin, and watching his children scatter across the growing nation. Though he never lived in Arizona himself, his daughter Anne carried the family westward, planting roots in the desert Southwest.

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