Mr. Dougherty is a native of the Keystone State, born on a farm in Chester County, near Kennet Square, January 10, 1847. He is the youngest son and child of Philip and Hattie (Perry) Dougherty, both natives of the same county. The father is of Scotch-Irish extraction and the mother of English descent, her grandfather having come to America in 1700. both parents are still living on the old homestead, the father now in his eighty-second and the mother in her eighty-first year.

The boyhood of our subject was passed in the usual manner of a farmer’s son, his studies being prosecuted in the district schools until he was fourteen years old. He then entered Newark Academy, but six months later became a student in the State Normal School, at Millersville, where he prepared for college. In 1864 he matriculated in Union College, in New York State, from which he was graduated in 1868. The following year he came to the Prairie State as Principal of the schools in Morris, Grundy County, going thence to Mt. Morris, Ogle County, where he became Principal of the Rock River Seminary. This institution is one of the oldest in the State, and from it have gone forth some of the most talented men of the commonwealth, among them Senators Cullom and Farwell, ex-Gov. Beveridge, Hon. R. R. Hitt, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Hon. James A. Rawlins, Chief of Gen. Grant’s staff.

Mr. Dougherty remained at the head of that institution until 1878, when he came to Peoria and took up the duties of Superintendent of the city schools. He ranks among the best educators in this State that has so long prided itself on the efficiency of its school system, and is out-ranked by few, even of those in which settlements were first made and schools first organized. His commanding personal appearance is but the index of a brain whose powers are sufficient to grasp abstruse topics and present them clearly and logically to less cultured minds, and the heart that beats in sympathy with the needs of those in whom the hope of the Nation rests. He is highly regarded as a citizen, popular in the community, and endeared to his pupils by many encouraging words and helpful deeds. He is a member of the Temple Lodge No. 46, Free and Accepted Masons, and Commandery No. 3. He is also identified with the Congregational Church.

It would naturally be supposed that Mr. Dougherty would choose for a wife a lady of rare mental attainments, as well as estimable character and social qualities. Such was the case; she whom he won being Anna, daughter of Dr. Richard Edwards, now Superintendent of Instruction for the State of Illinois. Their marriage rites were celebrated at the home of the bride’s parents, December 25, 1871, and they have three children, Mabel, Horace and Ralph, who are developing talent and courtesy under the example and wise training of the father and mother. The Superintendent’s dwelling on East Bluff Street is the center of a circle that includes the best and most talented residents of the city and frequent visitors from other cultured society.

Pages 211-212