Background
The son of immigrants, Condon worked as a clerk in a freight office, then moved to Chicago, Illinois to study maritime law. William Henry Condon was born in Tribes Hill, New York on October 17, 1843.
politician member of the Illinois House of Representatives
The son of immigrants, Condon worked as a clerk in a freight office, then moved to Chicago, Illinois to study maritime law. William Henry Condon was born in Tribes Hill, New York on October 17, 1843.
Condon was educated in a public school in Rouses Point, New York until he was eleven, when he was forced to drop out due to poor health.
He served for four years in the Illinois House of Representatives. Later, Condon became an advocate for memorializing James Shields, publishing a biography and raising funds for his statue at the National Statuary Hall. In the meantime, Condon worked as a clerk in his father's store.
When he was eighteen, he enrolled in a one-year course at Chaplain's Academy. After a brief stint teaching school, he took a position as a clerk in a freight office, where he worked for five years. On August 11, 1866, Condon moved to Chicago, Illinois to study law.
He was admitted to the bar and focused on maritime law. In Richmond v. Moore, which reached the Supreme Court of Illinois, he successfully argued that businesses could legally transact on a Sunday. In 1872, Condon was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives as a Democrat, where he served two consecutive two-year terms.
He later lobbied to approve a $100,000 appropriation to found the Illinois Industrial Home for the Blind in Chicago, approved in the early 1890s. Condon also raised $9,000 for a bronze state of Senator James Shields in the National Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. In 1900, he published Life of Major-General James Shields: Hero of Three Wars and Senator from Three States. Condon was a Catholic and served two terms as president of the Union Catholic Library Association.
He served as president of the village of Caledonia and a member of its board of education, department commander of the Minnesota department of the Grand Army of the Republic in 1901, member of the board of trustees of the Minnesota Soldiers’ Home in 1903, secretary of the board 1907 to 1911, and commandant of the home 1911 to 1918.