By Michael Patrick O’Brien–
We do not often think of Ogden, Utah, as a significant source of Irish culture or of Catholic history. Yet, during St. Patrick’s month (March), I am proud and excited to report about at least one important character of Irish Catholic history who actually lived in my own hometown.
His name was Dominick (“Don”) Maguire. The son of Irish immigrants, Don was born in 1852 in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, the home state of my ancestors. (St. Johnsbury also is where my own great, great uncle, Thomas J. Leonard, another Irish immigrant and a newly-ordained priest, first served as a church pastor.) Maguire came to Ogden, with his father John, via the transcontinental railroad. John Maguire viewed Ogden as a central supply depot which he and his sons could use as a base for their business activities.
I have been reading all about Don Maguire in an interesting book, Gila Monsters and Red-Eyed Rattlesnakes (University of Utah Press, 1997), written by my friend and fellow Boy Monk blogger Gary Topping. Gary, an accomplished historian and the archivist for the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, prepared the book by studying and editing Maguire’s manuscripts chronicling his western trading expeditions during the years 1876-79.
Gary Topping describes Maguire as “a genuine Western character whose courage, curiosity, resourcefulness, and offbeat sense of humor stand out even in a region famous for people with such qualities.” Gary also notes that there are “reasonable suspicions” that Don “was inclined to overstate the truth.” Colorful indeed.
Maguire travelled throughout the West and, as noted in Gary’s book, interacted with many unique historic characters, including famous LDS leader Porter Rockwell. Don eventually died in 1933 after an auto accident. Gary reports that Don was hit by a car coming home from church after going to confession…what great timing!
Maguire’s home in Ogden, located just over a block from where I lived as a boy, still stands today and is listed on the United States National Register of Historic Landmarks. Oblivious me, I used to walk by the home almost every week on my way to the Weber County Library or the old Deseret gym, never knowing until recently about its historical significance.
Citing to other local historians, Gary’s book also notes that Don Maguire attended the first Catholic mass (by Father Patrick Walsh) in my boyhood town, celebrated at the Ogden home of his brother Michael Maguire in January of 1873. Gary calls the Maguire family part of Ogden’s “embryonic” congregation of Catholics. Don Maguire and his family were founding members of St. Joseph’s church, one of Utah’s oldest church structures, built in Ogden beginning in 1899, and where I eventually served as an altar boy.
I always have enjoyed St. Patrick’s Day, but growing up in Utah one also can feel far removed from Irish Catholic history and culture. Gary’s book, and the story of Ogden’s Don Maguire, have helped me bridge the gap.
(You can read more about Don Maguire in Gary’s book, or here: http://www.icatholic.org/article/don-maguire-utah-catholic-adventurer-1086158)
