Jan. 26, 1887 Condolence Letter from O’Neill Ryan of St. Louis, MO

February 21, 2018

O’Neill Ryan (1860-1939), a young attorney in St. Louis, Missouri, wrote this condolence letter to John F. Armstrong on 26 January 1887. In 1884, at twenty-four, Ryan was elected one of the vice-presidents of the Irish National League of America (INLA) at the Boston convention. At the INLA convention in Chicago in 1886, he was named as a potential candidate for president of the organization. John F. Armstrong of Georgia was also mentioned as a possible candidate for the position.

Ryan was a well-known Irish nationalist until his death in 1939.

For more information on O’Neill Ryan, see the References and attached notes below.

Marie Van Sant Hudson contributed research for this post.

References

“Funeral Service Tomorrow for Judge Ryan, 79,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO), 8 January 1939, online archives, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 9 March 2018), citing original p. 10.

“Ireland and Chicago,” Inter-Ocean (Chicago, IL), 18 August 1886, online archives, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 11 March 2018), citing original p. 6, col. 2.—-Notes: O’Neill Ryan of St. Louis, MO was named as a possible candidate for president of the Irish National League of America at its convention in Chicago in August of 1886. John F. Armstrong of Georgia was also mentioned as a candidate.

Irish National League of America, Second Annual Convention of the Irish National League of America – Held At Boston, Mass. August 13th & 14th, 1884 (Lincoln, Neb.: Journal Co., State Printers, 1884), pp. 2 and 23; digital images, Google Books ( https://books.google.com : accessed 9 March 2018).—-Notes: O’Neill Ryan of St. Louis, Missouri was elected as one of the vice-presidents of the Irish National League of America at the 1884 convention in Boston.