Although most people think Finley Peter Dunne, the creator of the comic Irish bartender, Mr. Dooley, was born in Ireland, he wasn't; his parents, Peter and Ellen Finley Dunne, however, were Irish. After separate immigrations to America, they had met, married, and settled in Chicago where their son Peter was born on July 10, 1867, hard by St. Patrick's, whose first pastor had been Dunne's uncle Dennis. Young Peter's twin died, but he still had plenty of company from his four sisters and two brothers. Ellen, from garrulous County Kilkenny, was a great reader, while Peter Sr. kept the family nourished through his prosperous carpentry work. Although young Peter was the only son deemed smart enough to attend high school, he graduated last in his class. Still, he succeeded in getting a string of jobs at local newspapers, then bubbling with the racy politics of the booming city; since Peter Sr. was a rabid Democrat, his son entered the fray combat-savvy. When his mother died in 1883, Peter took Finley as his first name to honour her. Had she lived, she would have savoured her son's amazing ascent to city editor at the age of twenty one, and editor in charge of the editorial page of the Chicago Evening Post four years later. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]