Daniel Toomey, 7 North 52 West
Daniel was assigned a quarter in 5, 7N 52W in 1876, by Thomas J. Holmes, for service as Colonel in the Georgia Militia, War of 1836.
POSSIBLY
Daniel Toomey, per "An Account of Hickok's Gunfights" reached Deadwood Gulch before the town of Deadwood was laid out in April 1876. He worked as a carpenter in the new city and later located at Spearfish. During his short period in Deadwood he got to know Wild Bill, but was not on intimate terms with him. Nevertheless, he expressed a great admiration for the man, and when he learned that one of the old settlers - perhaps John Bradley - had the rifle he persuaded him to sell it. Upon Toomey's death his wife loaned it to the Adams Museum.
Daniel Toomey is in Lawrence County, Dakota Territory in 1880, farming, single 28, born in New York.
Philip Tooley is a boarder, farm laborer, 22 born in New York. Both had parents born in Ireland.
R. Ravenscroft is also a boarder 52, a farm laborer born in England.
One South Dakota writer described him as " a Brooklyn-born buffalo hunter"
Daniel is buried in Spearfish, 1852-1941 although # 109995495 says he died in San Diego, California.
"D. J. TOOMEY, farmer, P. O. Spearfish, came to Spearfish Valley May 1, 1876, being one of the first men to make a permanent location. He was born on Long Island, N. Y., in May, 1852, and was raised in his native State.
From the "Historical Atlas of Dakota" 1884 by A. T. Andreas
In 1919, the year that D. J. Toomey, a pioneer from Spearfish, S.D., purchased it, the mill—named the D. J. Toomey Produce Company but known as Toomey's Mills—used 60,000 bushels of wheat and was expected to use 100,000 bushels during the following season. The grinding capacity was 80 barrels of flour per day, with laborers working in three shifts.
The Toomey's Mill site was completed in phases. George C. Getchell began construction of the three-story wood-frame mill in 1905, when the Duling and Smith Company was hired to grade the land and build the foundation.
After Toomey bought the mill in 1919, he had a concrete grain elevator built in 1920 by F. W. Lehrach Construction Company from Kansas City.
That same year, Toomey's Mill was reported to be the largest flour mill in the state. Bakeries within a 200-mile radius used the "White Satin" flour milled here.
Toomey's Mills remained a family enterprise—owned and managed by Toomey's daughter, Ella, and his son, Eugene Howard, and Ella's husband, O. Allen Anderson—for many years after Toomey retired.
Howard died in 1964, and the mill closed in 1965. "
January 22, 1941 "D. J. Toomey, 88, at San Diego, Calif., last week took away another of Spearfish's founders and long time residents. With him at his death was a daughter, who had been called to California by Mr. Toomey's serious illness. The Crawford mill burned within the year. At the present time Howard Toomey, the only surviving son, is owner of the Newcastle mill. The Crawford mill burned and the Spearfish mill is operated by O. Allen Anderson. Mrs. Anderson is the only surviving daughter. Surviving Toomey besides his son M. Toomey's death brings to a close one of the most colorful lives of Spearfish pioneers. He was born in New York and his home before he came west was at Brooklyn. He later wrote of it thus: "My first view of the Spearfish valley, in its virgin state, was had from the high ground south of the present Weare home on the morning of May 1, 1876. I thought then and still think it was the grandest sight I ever had seen. A prairie fire that previous fall had cleaned the old grass. It was early spring and the new grass was well along with a heavy snow not a thing to break the view to the west or north. I could see the Redwater bluffs 10 miles away, which did not seem that distance in the clear morning atmosphere. There were no trees of any kind."
His wife, the former Vesta Wales Noyes, who taught school in a log school house in the came to the Black Hills in 1876 and for a short time worked as a carpenter around placer mines in the Reed district near here in the late 70's. Mrs. Toomey, the former Vesta Wales Noyes, who taught school in a log school house in the was in Nebraska, taught school in Deadwood when she first came to the Black Hills. A flood in the Hills washed her school house away, old-timers recall, and it was then she came to Spearfish valley to teach. It was after she came to Spearfish valley that she and Toomey were married.
Six children were born to them, the two surviving children, and three sons, Ed, Ralph and Allan, and a daughter, Maude, who are fish valley until Toomey began his produce company. The family then moved to Spearfish and Toomey built the house now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Leeper. The house later became the property Mr. and Mrs. Toomey went to California to live 20 years ago. They made many visits to Spearfish/
He married Vesta Wales Noyes 1854 – 1941 He married her in 1883 or 1884
LESS LIKELY
The Daniel Toomey in 1900 Chicago, a laborer born October 1850 in Ireland, arriving in 1875. He's married sixteen years to mary January 1845- but 45 years old - born in Ireland. Celia March 1886, James April 1888, and Mary July 1891 were born in Illinois.
Daniel is widowed in 1910 Chicago, a packing house laborere, age 60, with Tessie 22 an electrical shop inspector, James 21 a packing house laborer, and Cecelia Dolan 25 married four years, no children.
Daniel and the three kids are still living together in 1920 and 1930 Chicago.
James 52 and sister Mary 49 are living together in 1940 Chicago.
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