Strangers to Us All Lawyers and Poetry

Maurice McKenna

(1846-1927)
Wisconsin

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Maurice McKenna, Poems, Rhymes and Verses
(Fond du Lac, Wisconsin: Spencer Palmer, printer, 1890)

"McKenna, Maurice.— . . . . Born of Kerry parentage, at Springfield, Mass., on May 31, 1846. When ten years old he went to Fond du Lac, Wis., and was educated there. He served in the Civil War [with the 39th Regiment Wisconsin volunteer infantry], and was appointed Clerk of the Circuit Court of Fond du Lac at its close, and was subsequently admitted to the Bar. He is now a well-known lawyer in the North-West [Kansas, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota]. His first poem appeared in Boston Pilot when he was fifteen years old."

[Source: D. J. O'Donoghue, The Poets of Ireland: A Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary of Irish Writers of English Verse 284 (Dublin: Hodges Figgis & Co.; London: Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press, 1912)(Gale Research Co., reprint 1968)]

McKenna was a noted criminal lawyer, and at his death at age 81, was one of the oldest practicing attorneys in Fond du Lac. He served as president of the Fond du Lac country bar association for many years. At the age of 18, he enlishted to accompany the 39 Wisconscin volunteer infantry and served until the close of the Civil War. [Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, August 24, 1927]

Maurice McKenna
The Magazine of Poetry and Literary Review

Maurice McKenna
Ellis B Usher, Wisconsin: Its Story and Biography, 1848-1913
(Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1914)

Maurice McKenna
History of Floyd County, Iowa

Poetry

Maurice McKenna, Elva Lee, and Other Poems (Chicago, 1868)

______________, Poems, Rhymes and Verses (Fond du Lac, Wisconsin: Spencer Palmer, printer, 1890)

Writings

Maurice McKenna (ed.), Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Past and Present (Chicago: Clarke, 1912)(Salem, Massachusetts: Higginson Book Company, 1996)

[Note: There is no listing for the Ella Lee, and Other Poems title, referenced in O'Donoghue's The Poets of Ireland, in the OCLC database.]