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James Dowd
1870 - 1932
James E.
Dowd, age 62, widely known real estate agent, was instantly killed August 22,
1932, when a Milwaukee Road passenger train struck the automobile in which he
was driving. The crash occurred at
Twelfth Street, just east of the malt house, and wreckage containing the driver
was carried to Ninth Street before the train was brought to a stop.
The
accident occurred at 6:40 pm, within a few steps of the home of Dowd at 409
Sixth Street.
The
crossing is considered a dangerous one and has been the scene of other
fatalities.
Reports
said Mr. Dowd suffered a stroke about two years earlier and his hearing had
been affected.
The
train was westbound, from Milwaukee to Madison.
Mr. Dowd’s body was badly mangled.
He was on his way home from the Breakenridge
farm south of the railroad tracks and stopped his auto as a freight train was
going east, and as soon as it passed he started across the double tracks when
passenger train No 23 going west hit his car and crushed it to pieces.
The
body was removed to the James W. Boyle chapel after Louis Auerbach, Jefferson
County coroner, arrived in the city for an investigation. He announced there would be no inquest.
Deceased
was born in the town of Shields on May 12, 1870, son of the late Mr. and Mrs.
Patrick Dowd. On November 27, 1895, he
married Miss Ellen Hilker
of the town of Portland. He located in
Watertown with his wife some years later and for many years was engaged in the
livery business at North Second and Cady streets.
Survived
by one son, A. Errol Dowd of Beaver Dam and two daughters, Miss Eleanor Dowd of
this city and Mrs. George Opem of Minneapolis,
Minn. Four sisters, Mrs. Dennis Kelly of
St. Paul, Mrs. Jack Fallon, Miss Margaret Dowd and Mrs. Peter Ferwerda of Beloit and five brothers, George of Waterloo, Mose of Reeseville, Albert of
Watertown and John and Robert of Minneapolis also survived.
He was
a member of St. Henry’s and of Branch 120, Catholic Knights of Wisconsin.
His
funeral took place from the Boyle chapel with services in St. Henry’s, the Very
Rev. Dean F. X. Schwinn officiating. Burial was in the parish cemetery.
Waterloo Courier, 08 25 1932
Watertown Gazette, 08 25 1932
Cross-References:
Fathers John
and Patrick Dowd
Father
Patrick Dowd was ordained in 1959 and celebrated his first Mass at St. Jerome’s
in Oconomowoc. Father John Dowd,
Patrick’s brother, was ordained in 1962 and also celebrated his first Mass at
St. Jerome’s. Although both graduated
from the Oconomowoc High School, both might be considered sons of St. Henry’s,
as their father was former parishioner A. Errol Dowd, for many years a member
of the choir and a lifelong friend of its director, R. M. Hahn. They are also the grandsons of James Dowd,
who for many years operated a livery service on North Second and Cady Streets,
little more than a block from the church.
Riedl, Kenneth M., A Church Built
on the Rock: The 150-Year History of St. Henry’s Catholic Church, Watertown,
Wisconsin, 1853-2003, (Madison: Omnipress), 2003,
p 312.
History of Watertown, Wisconsin