ABSTRACT
Finley Peter Dunne was born Peter Dunne, Jr., in St. Patrick's Parish on Chicago's Near West Side, on July 10, 1867. Finley was his mother's maiden name, which he would adopt shortly after her death from tuberculosis in 1883. He was the fifth of seven children and born a twin to middle-class Irish immigrants. His father, Peter Dunne, was from Queens and Ellen Finley was from Kilkenny; she was 25 years younger than her husband, who was a carpenter and real estate owner. Immediately after graduation from high school in 1884, Dunne went to work for the Chicago Telegram. Throughout the 1890s, whether for the Post, or after 1896 for the Daily Journal, Dunne wrote scathing, reform-minded satire, lambasting corrupt common councilmen, "Boss" John Powers, traction magnate Charles Yerkes, and George Pullman.
