Biographical Sketches

EDWARD MCSORLEY

EDWARD MCSORLEY, County Treasurer of Jefferson County, was born at Deerfield, Oneida County, New York, in 1830.  His father, Henry McSorley, was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1800, and came to the United States in 1824, locating in Oneida County.  He was married there to Miss Margaret McIncrow, a native also of Ireland, and they had five children, one of whom died in infancy.  The mother died at the age of fifty-nine years, and the father lived to the age of eighty years.  They spent their entire lives after coming to the United States in Oneida county, where by honest industry they secured a competency.

Edward McSorley, their second child in order of birth, received his education in the public schools of his native town, and was early inured to farm labor.  He began life on his own account as a school teacher, supplementing his work in the school-room with farming.  In company with his brother he worked large tracts of land.  In 1868 he came up the Missouri river to Montana, spending six weeks in the journey, and first settled at Fish Creek, Jefferson county, where he was engaged in placer mining for a time.  Mr. McSorley then conducted a store until 1878.  In that year he was elected Treasurer of the county, was three times re-elected, and in 1886 secured the appointment of Postmaster of Boulder, under Cleveland's administration.  He afterward served three years as clerk of the First National Bank of Boulder, and in 1892 was again elected Treasurer of his county, which position he still holds.  He has given bonds to the extent of $75,000, and about $60,000 passes through his hands annually.  Mr. McSorley is a man of good business ability, of the highest integrity of character, and has all his life been a faithful adherent to the principles of the Democracy.

Source: Transcription from the book, An Illustrated History of the State of Montana, by Joaquin Miller, published in 1894; located on the website, Internet Archive (http://archive.org), accessed 12 May 2023.

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