Deady, Matthew P. (Matthew Paul), 1824-1893

Matthew Paul Deady, son of Daniel and Mary Ann (McSweeny) Deady, was born near Easton in Talbot County, Maryland on May 12, 1824. The Deady family worked a farm first in Maryland and, after 1828, in Wheeling, Virginia. Deady received his early education from his father and later at Wheeling's Lancasterian Academy. In 1837, three years after Mary Ann Deady's death, the family moved to Ohio. From 1841 to 1845 Deady was apprenticed to a blacksmith and, at the same time, attended Barnesville Academy, studying law under Judge Kennon of St. Clairsville, Ohio. Following his course work he taught school in Ohio for about two years at which point he was admitted to the bar.

In 1849 Deady made his way to Oregon, settling in Lafayette and teaching school for a few months during the winter of 1849-50. In March 1850 he established a law practice in Lafayette and shortly thereafter was elected a representative to the Oregon Territorial house of representatives. He served three sessions, and in 1853 was appointed an associate justice for the Oregon Supreme Court's southwest district, based in the Umpqua valley. He was elected Lincoln County delegate to the Oregon Constitutional Convention in 1857 and ultimately presided over that body. Upon Oregon's admission to the union in 1859, Deady was appointed U. S. District Judge for the district of Oregon by President James Buchanan.

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