Mrs. O'Leary heirs hoping family antique grandfather clock can find new home
The clock is believed to have once resided in the old South Side mansion built by James 'Big Jim' O'Leary, famous gambling boss of the early 20th-century Union Stock Yards area and the son of Catherine O'Leary, the most maligned milkwoman in city history.
Paul Monreal is a fourth-great-grandchild of Catherine and Patrick O'Leary, who endured the enmity of Chicagoans after they were wrongfully accused of starting the Great Chicago Fire, which legend said was started by a jittery dairy cow named Daisy.
Since 1994, the intricately carved, 9-foot-tall behemoth has held court in the entryway of Paul and Susan Monreals' split-level home in New Lenox, where they raised three children. Now empty nesters, the Monreals are downsizing and won't be able to bring the antique clock to their new home. They are hoping someone will take it and display it for younger generations.
The clock had long been in the possession of Big Jim's granddaughter, Geraldine O'Leary Ross, known in the family as 'Doll,' at her home in Coloma, Michigan.
'When I was about that big,' Paul Monreal recalled, raising his hand to his belly, 'I wasn't allowed to touch it. I know it came from the (O'Leary) mansion. And then when it came from the mansion, it went to Coloma. Outside of Doll, who had it, she never really talked about it.'
The clock was constructed by the Tobey Furniture Co. of Chicago, a cabinet maker and dealer in fine furniture dating back to 1856. The Monreals note the clock's wood carvings are similar to those found at the mansion, including faces believed to be Catherine O'Leary. The heirloom isn't trouble-free, Monreal says, requiring winding every month and oiling its wood once every year.
Paul Monreal's grandmother, Anna Frances O'Leary Monreal, was Big Jim's granddaughter. She died tragically along with two of her three young children in a house fire started by a defective stove in south suburban Worth Township in 1943. Her eldest child, Edward Jr., survived and his father remarried. Edward Monreal, who was partially raised by his aunt Doll, shared stories of his lineage, but never spoke of the fire that claimed his own family.
'(Paul's) dad never talked about (the fire),' said Susan Monreal, who grew up with her husband. While the Monreal's home is mostly packed up, their living room was covered in O'Leary memorabilia from their branch of the family tree, from a framed piece of ash that was supposed to be from the Chicago blaze, to a leather-bound listing from the 19th century featuring all of Catherine and Patrick O'Leary's children baptized at Holy Family Church. There are scores of newspaper clippings, keepsakes covering several generations and so many photos of relatives, the Monreals don't know them all.
As with other branches of the O'Leary descendants, the Monreals said they grew up with their own stories of what truly sparked the Chicago fire.
'We were always told,' Susan Monreal said, 'that because it was such a drought in Chicago at the time, that all the sidewalks were wood plank and guys from the saloon would come around and when they walked around they would hit their pipes ashes on the building. And that's what we've always been told (about) how the Chicago fire started.'
The clock isn't only a remembrance of Catherine O'Leary, but also of her son, James Patrick, who made a name for himself outside of the family's dark shadow. 'Big Jim O'Leary had it made,' said Susan Monreal.
Aside from the already extraordinary tale of the O'Leary clan, Jim O'Leary led a life of adventure as a main cog for the city's infamous gambling operations at a time when gangsters battled over control of the Prohibition liquor trade.
Though he grew up poor, Big Jim built a fortune running gambling and booking houses, poolrooms, an amusement park and his famous two-story stockyards saloon, O'Leary's, at 4187 S. Halsted St., despite near-constant hounding from police and reform-minded politicians.
'I've run every kind of a gambling game,' the famously honest gambler told the Tribune in November 1911. 'Every time I heard of a new one, I learned it and tried it. Nobody can say that O'Leary ever ran a crooked game.'
His 33-room, 6,270-square-foot mansion at 728 W. Garfield Blvd., built in 1890 for $100,000, was reportedly built for his mother, who died five years later.
Citing the clock's sentimental value and craftsmanship, Monreal said it didn't occur to him to sell it, wanting younger generations to be able to appreciate it as his family has.
'We could sell it, but what's the dollar value? What's it worth? Who is it worth (to)?' he said. 'Once you start doing that, you're getting rid of history and after that, it's pretty much gone. If I can get it in somewhere where people are looking at it and talk about it, if it's taken care of, well then that's pretty much what I'd be happy with.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
6 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: Chicago's taxicab regulations have fallen apart
As Chicagoans and tourists spilled out of Navy Pier on Wednesday night, a crowd of taxicabs waited for the post-shows and post-fireworks crowd. Their roof-lights all were lit, indicating availability for a ride. Chicago's taxicab regulations require those drivers to take folks without prejudice or favor wherever they want to go, to do so by the most expeditious route and to charge them a regulated price, perhaps accompanied by a nice tip for good service. The cost is determined by a meter. But none of the cabs we tried were willing to use their meters Wednesday night. Once we saw what was going on, we stuck our heads in and out of more than half a dozen, just to make sure this was not a rogue outlier or two. But it was ubiquitous. Cab number 2346 wanted $40 for a ride just a few blocks west. Cab 5660 wanted $50. Others had varying prices, all of which were at least three times the official rate. Tourists and Chicagoans alike were forced into sudden negotiations in what clearly has become an unregulated Wild West, more akin to one of those international cities where cabs don't have meters and routinely prey on visitors. The situation wasn't just outside Navy Pier, either. Even blocks away beyond Michigan Avenue, no cab would offer us a meter-regulated ride into the South Loop. And it wasn't just Wednesday night, either. As we told our story, we heard tell of many other times when cabs were ditching their meters en masse. Basically, whenever there was a special event or bad weather and Uber and Lyft had surge pricing in play. We're not unsympathetic toward cab drivers and we've lamented before how this city's full-on embrace of ride-share companies decimated our once-thriving taxi industry. Not unlike the great parking meter scam, which loses this city tens of millions of dollars a year, City Hall was taken in by the initially low rates those companies used to get a toehold into a market where they had spread lots of money around local politics, and even hired a few of the council folks who they wanted on their side. Now, those prices have risen, and if you stick out your hand on the street, as we all used to be able to do in the city's center and many of its neighborhoods, good luck to you. You don't have to be an economist to see the problem. Cab drivers can see the surge pricing and they want in. Of course, they don't reduce their prices when demand is low. Oh no. And in our experience Wednesday, and also following a Soldier Field concert, they are charging far above even the elevated ride-share price. This is both illegal and predatory. Meters protect people from rip-offs. Cab drivers breaking the law with apparent impunity is damaging to visitors to the city, especially since Navy Pier, for all its success, has no light rail or other visitor-friendly transportation to get people over there. Even the trolley rides are long gone. And for many visitors, bus routes are confusing. It's anarchy out there when you are looking for a ride during a busy period. Clearly, this city's taxi regulations are going unenforced. We've been around for a while. This did not widely happen in previous administrations. No functional U.S. city that we know allows a total free-for-all when it comes to taxi rates; such a policy fails to protect citizens who need them and who certainly don't want to have to get into an aggressive negotiation every time they slip into the back seat. That does not make people feel safe. Chicagoans and visitors to our city deserve clarity and fairness. Cabs, clearly, are out of control. Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration needs to wake up to the problem, crack down on the scofflaws and enforce its own regulations.
Forbes
3 days ago
- Forbes
The Netflix ‘Untamed' Ending Explained: Who Killed Who, And Why?
Untamed I enjoyed my recent time with Untamed, the Eric Bana-starring murder mystery set in Yellowstone National Park. We're meant to figure out who killed a girl who plummets off a mountain, which is seemingly not a suicide, and things…escalate from there. Spoilers are going to follow here for Untamed, which should be fairly obvious if you clicked on an article about the ending. So, we're going to sort through who killed who in the end, and why. Sure, the show spells it out but hey, if you're watching while on your phone or want a deeper dive, here we are. Paul Souter (the local ranger chief) killed Lucy Cook, kind of – We learn at the very, very end that Lucy was actually Souter's secret daughter, whom he gave away to foster care when she was young. She hated him for that and came back to blackmail him lest she tell his wife what happened. Finally, he tries to 'talk to her' and stop her from running after she feels threatened, so he shoots her in the leg. Who among us has not shot someone in the leg to prevent them from running with no real ill intent? But after that, she continues her escape, where she is soon attacked by coyotes, compounding her injuries. She's seemingly about to die from blood loss anyway, so she does in fact fall off the cliff voluntarily. But yes, we're going to put this on Souter, who then kills himself rather than deal with the consequences of all this. The drug gang killed the bait shop kid and the squatter – These two deaths were the hidden drug gang in the mines attempting to clean up loose ends that could lead back to their business. Even though Lucy was one of their runners, they did not kill her. However, there's a somewhat bizarre moment where a bunch of runners are found dead, seemingly from suicide (debatable). Bullseye Jill (Kyle's ex-wife) and Shane (local wildlife culler) cooperatively killed Sean Sanderson – This is a man who has been missing in the park for five years, where Kyle (Eric Bana) discovered that he abducted and killed his son Caleb, as seen on Shane's wildlife cameras. Kyle wanted him arrested and prosecuted, but Jill went to Shane and agreed they should just kill him. Shane did, though we don't know what they did with the body. It was never found. Kyle found out what happened, but all three never said anything to anyone. Naya (deputy ranger) killed Shane who was trying to kill Kyle – I mean, this one was pretty obvious. The finale of the tumultuous relationship between Kyle and Shane has the two trading gunshots in the woods once Kyle figures out he was involved with the drug trade and Lucy (though later we find out he had nothing to do with her death). I'm guessing Shane just figured Kyle was finally trying to kill him over the Sanderson assassination to bury that forever and have him stop holding it over his head for years. In the end, it's just Kyle and Jill with the Sanderson secret, though Kyle admits culpability in leading a compromised search for him five years earlier to a wrongful death investigator. I'm not exactly sure why he did that or what the end result is supposed to be after he leaves the park. In the end, Kyle didn't kill anyone except well, a good amount of drug dealers during the raid. It's complicated. The two red herrings for Lucy over the six episodes were the drug gang and Shane. I was honestly a little surprised Shane turned out to be bad at all, as that almost seemed too obvious, but I guess it wasn't in the way we thought. As for the morality of the assassination of Sanderson, I guess that's for audiences to debate. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy
Chicago Tribune
3 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Ald. Debra Silverstein: Report shows a stunning rise in antisemitism in Chicago. The mayor needs to do better.
The Chicago Commission on Human Relations, or CCHR, just released its annual report on hate crimes and incidents in Chicago, which showed that anti-Jewish hate crimes rose a stunning 58% last year. Antisemitism accounted for more than 37% of all hate crimes reported to the Chicago Police Department in 2024. Jewish Chicagoans make up only 3% of the city's total population, yet we were the target of more than a third of all the hate crimes reported in the entire city. This isn't a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention. Anti-Jewish hate crimes are up sharply across the nation. Notable and shocking examples include the killing of a young couple outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, the firebombing attack on rallygoers in Colorado who were raising awareness about the Israeli hostages and the arson attack on Gov. Josh Shapiro's residence in Pennsylvania. Chicago was also rocked last year by an antisemitic terrorist attack in my own West Ridge community. An Orthodox man was shot in the shoulder while walking to synagogue on Shabbat. The victim was dressed in traditional Jewish garb, and he was only saved because his attacker's gun jammed. Police investigations revealed the shooter was specifically targeting Jewish individuals and institutions. Other hateful incidents have been happening across the city, including the painting of swastikas in Little Village and antisemitic graffiti in Hyde Park, and the placement of anti-Jewish cards on car windows in multiple wards. The incidents in CCHR's report have affected communities across Chicago. In response to this disturbing report, Mayor Brandon Johnson is finally starting to pay attention. He has authorized CCHR to convene public hearings on the rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes in Chicago, echoing a call I made last month with the support of the majority of the City Council. I fear this is too little, too late. As alderman of the 50th Ward, home to the largest Orthodox Jewish community in the city of Chicago, I have been raising the alarm about rising antisemitism for years. I hear daily from my community about antisemitic graffiti outside synagogues and the harassing of residents who are visibly Jewish on our streets. The response from City Hall has been anemic at best and often openly hostile to the concerns and fears of the Jewish community. Johnson has made it clear that the safety of Chicago's Jews takes a back seat to his progressive goals, and I worry how receptive he will be to making actual changes in response to the findings of these hearings. I am pleased that the hearings, which will be held in September, will be convened by CCHR. Its members have been tremendous allies to the Jewish community and to vulnerable communities across Chicago. I trust Commissioner Nancy Andrade to preside over fair and balanced hearings and to hear from voices that represent the vast majority of Chicago's Jewish community — even from groups that have feuded with Johnson in the past — including the Jewish United Fund, Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee and Simon Wiesenthal Center. Jay Tcath: The phrase 'Free Palestine' is freeing no one, but it is killing some of usHowever, I have concerns about whether the mayor's office will allow CCHR to develop an accurate report that reflects the genuine fears of Chicago's Jewish community, especially if the hearings reveal that the mayor's progressive allies have contributed to the antisemitic environment in the city. The CCHR hate crimes report indicates that the rise in antisemitism in Chicago is fueled by misguided reactions to the Israel-Hamas war. Antisemitic people around the world have been using the war as a pretext to spew anti-Jewish hate under the cover of anti-Zionism, as if shooting at Jews in Chicago somehow makes Palestinians in Gaza safer. Much of this rhetoric in Chicago has come from the mayor's progressive allies and at events that the mayor has either praised or supported, such as the college encampments, Chicago Public Schools walkouts and protests that call to 'globalize the intifada.' How will City Hall react if Jewish CPS students testify that they were threatened and intimidated during the school protests, when the mayor already praised the students for walking out? How will the mayor respond to Jewish students who were attacked at DePaul University when his closest allies were at the encampments where knives, pellet guns and other improvised weapons were found? These extreme anti-Israel demonstrations hide under the guise of free speech but are really part of a growing movement of unchecked antisemitism masquerading as political activism. Will the mayor allow the CCHR hearings to reveal this fact or are we in for sanitized proceedings that refuse to address the root causes of anti-Jewish hate in Chicago? Can we expect actual change or just more thoughts and prayers from our city leadership? We will wait and see. But I promise that the Jewish community is tired of being silent. You will continue to hear from us as long as antisemitism remains at crisis levels. And I hope that our allies and every person of conscience in Chicago join us.
