With the railroad into Decorah came Patrick Delaney.   He had immigrated from Canada to Jackson county, Iowa and in 1880 helped to construct the track to Decorah.  His grandparents had immigrated from Ireland a half century earlier following their arranged marriage.  Pat, himself a Catholic, married a woman from Iowa named Emily Bakkemoen, a Lutheran whose parents were immigrants from Telemark, Norway.  To this union six children were born, all being raised in the Lutheran faith.  One child died in her mother's arms from whooping cough.[4]

While the children were growing up, Pat did almost any type of work asked of him.  He was a carpenter and a storekeeper for many years in the Freeport store which stood until a newer structure replaced the original in 1977.[5]  Pat was said to have been working on a patent in conjunction with a Decorah man and "the prospects were good for him realizing handsomely on it," but the details will probably remain a mystery for Mr. Delaney was found dead on October 16, 1914 by some men on their way to work.   His body was laying two-thirds of the wahy across the Dry Run creak face down in about six inches of water.  It was thought that he had fallen through the openings in the Milwaukee railroad bridge and hit his head on the rocks below as he was walking home between 1:30 and 7:00 on that Saturday morning.[6]  This accident left Emily and her five children without a husband and father.