58 Facts About Matthew Deady

Matthew Paul Deady was a politician and jurist in the Oregon Territory and the state of Oregon of the United States.

Matthew Deady served on the Oregon Supreme Court from 1853 to 1859, at which time he was appointed to the newly created federal court of the state.

Matthew Deady served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon in Portland, as the sole Judge until his death in 1893.

Matthew Deady spent time as a teacher in both Ohio and Oregon.

Matthew Deady read law in Ohio and practiced law for a time in that state before immigrating to the Oregon Territory via the Oregon Trail.

Matthew Deady was president of the University of Oregon's board of regents.

Matthew Paul Deady was born near Easton, Talbot County, Maryland, on May 12,1824.

Matthew Deady's parents were Daniel and Mary Ann Deady.

Matthew Deady's father was born in Ireland on September 25,1794, and married McSweeny on June 10,1823.

Matthew Deady was the oldest of five children in the family.

Matthew Deady began his education at the school where his father was a teacher, remaining at that school until the age of twelve.

Deady's family was split up, with Matthew sent back to Baltimore for two years.

Matthew Deady then returned to Wheeling to live with his father while attending school and working in a local music shop.

Matthew Deady spent the next four years working for his father on the family farm, engaged in manual labor, while reading extensively in his spare time.

Matthew Deady read law in St Clairsville, Ohio, under the guidance of judge and former Congressman William Kennon.

Matthew Deady passed the Ohio bar on October 26,1847, and began practicing law in St Clairsville at the office of Henry Kennon.

Matthew Deady remained there until on April 17,1849, he began his overland journey over the Oregon Trail to the newly created Oregon Territory.

Matthew Deady originally was to travel with a government designated Indian agent and the agent's family.

At Fort Leavenworth the agent remained, and Matthew Deady continued his journey in the company of a United States Army regiment bound for Fort Vancouver.

Matthew Deady began teaching as his occupation to make ends meet.

Matthew Deady first worked for room and board, but for the second term of the school year he was paid $75 per month.

On June 24,1852, Deady married Lucy A Henderson, with whom he had three children who survived childbirth.

Matthew Deady represented him at trial and was to receive as payment Wimple's land claim via his will.

In 1852, Deady was among many legal minds and politicians in the territory such as Joseph C Avery and Robert Moore that signed a petition asking Governor John P Gaines to pardon Nimrod O'Kelly after O'Kelly's controversial conviction for the murder of Jeremiah Mahoney.

Matthew Deady was elected to the Oregon Territorial Legislature in 1850, where he represented Yamhill County as a Democrat in the lower chamber House of Representatives.

Matthew Deady was an early member of the Democratic Party in the territory.

Matthew Deady helped with this process, in what became the first volume of laws published in Oregon, Matthew Deady's General Laws of Oregon.

In 1851, Matthew Deady was elected to the upper chamber Council, and the following session served as President of that chamber.

However, it was discovered that the commission named "Mordecai P Deady"; as there was no such person, Deady withdrew from the court on the grounds that the commission was invalid, with McFadden taking his place for the remainder of the term.

Historian Sidney Teiser noted contemporary speculation that both the commission and the error were the result of interference by Joseph Lane: as a result of the commission, Matthew Deady abandoned his plans to run against Lane in an upcoming election, and as a result of the commission being nullified, Lane had the opportunity to recommend someone else as Matthew Deady's replacement.

Matthew Deady was assigned to the southern counties of the territory, holding court in each county twice per year.

Matthew Deady won election to a full term in 1858 to take effect once Oregon became a state, but resigned before taking office in 1859.

In 1857, Matthew Deady was elected as a delegate to the Oregon Constitutional Convention.

Matthew Deady became president of the body and was influential in shaping the new state constitution, which outlawed slavery but excluded African-Americans from settling in the new state.

Matthew Deady successfully advocated for provisions in the document to set six-year terms for judges, four-year terms for state officers, and biennial sessions for the legislature.

Matthew Deady led the southern party, which opposed state education in all forms.

Matthew Deady was paraphrased as approving the Dred Scott decision.

Matthew Deady was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 9,1859, and received his commission the same day.

Matthew Deady's service terminated on March 24,1893, due to his death.

Matthew Deady held the first session of the court on September 12,1859, in Salem, but had the court relocated to Portland by the start of the September session of 1860.

Matthew Deady moved to Portland where he helped to found the Multnomah County Library.

Matthew Deady served as president of that organization for a number of years.

That courthouse was first named the United States Building, and is named the Pioneer Courthouse, with Matthew Deady moving into the building when it was finished in 1875.

In 1867, United States Supreme Court justice Stephen Johnson Field assigned Matthew Deady to serve as a circuit court judge for the United States circuit court located in San Francisco, California.

Matthew Deady did the same in 1868 and 1869 since there was no circuit court judge assigned to the West Coast at that time, spending three months in San Francisco each year.

Matthew Deady designed the university's seal, which is still used by the school.

In 1874, in a district court case, Deady ruled in favor of Marcus Neff in a lawsuit against Sylvester Pennoyer concerning unpaid legal fees to John H Mitchell and a sheriff's auction of Neff's land to Pennoyer.

In 1885, Matthew Deady admitted Mary Leonard to the federal bar, the first woman admitted to practice in Oregon, though the Oregon Supreme Court at first denied her admittance to the state bar on technical grounds.

Matthew Deady often drafted the legislation that led to state statutes, thus playing a crucial role in the lawmaking process in the state of Oregon between 1859 and 1872.

Matthew Deady was the author of the state's business incorporation act.

Matthew Deady relied on financial help from his associates in order to supplement his small salary as a federal judge.

In contravention to his earlier stances during the Oregon Constitutional Convention, Matthew Deady later denounced violence against Chinese Americans during the 1870s and 1880s, even convening a grand jury to examine charging anti-Chinese crowds with criminal acts.

In Portland, Matthew Deady helped establish the University of Oregon's law school.

Matthew Deady came into possession of Mitchell's love-letters from yet another affair, and exposed them to The Oregonian, who gleefully published them.

Matthew Deady was named as a regent to Stanford University by then United States Senator Leland Stanford.

Matthew Deady gave many public speeches and was a prolific writer on the law and other subjects, in addition to his national reputation in the legal field.

Matthew Deady was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1888.

Matthew Paul Deady died in Portland on March 24,1893, at the age of 68.