Daniel F. Cunningham, wholesale grocer, belongs to that class of representative American citizens who promote the general prosperity while advancing individual interests of the community in which they reside. He was born on August 4, 1869, in County Sligo, Ireland, and is the son of Bernard and Maria (O'Brien) Cunningham. Bernard Cunningham was a farmer and spent his whole life in Ireland, his parents being Bernard and Mary (O'Connor) Cunningham. His wife, Maria (O'Brien) Cunningham, was born in Ballymote, County Sligo, Ireland, and also spent her life in Ireland. She was the daughter of Edward and Harriet O'Brien, her father being a retail grocer in Ireland.
Daniel F. Cunningham attended the public schools of Ireland and at the age of twelve years laid aside his schoolbooks and began working on the farm with his father. Here he remained until the age of eighteen years when he entered the employ of the R. A. McClelland Tea Company as traveling salesman. When he reached the age of twenty-one years, he decided to come to America and landed in New York city on May 7, 1881. He first settled in Saratoga Springs, New York, where he clerked in a grocery store for William McFarland for nearly three years; then went to St. Johnsville and opened a grocery store under his own name, but remained for only a little over a year, moving his stock to Little Falls in 1885, and locating at the corner of Jefferson and West Shore streets. In 1918 he opened a wholesale grocery store under the name of the Cunningham Wholesale Company and continued until January 1, 1923, when the business had grown to such proportions that he decided to take in a partner and Mr. G. S. Hall entered into partnership with him, and the firm name became the Cunningham-Hall Company, Incorporated. They are still conducting the business and are very successful.
On October 12, 1887, in Little Falls, Mr. Cunningham was united in marriage to Miss Jennie McGurty, who was born on July 16, 1860, and died on May 16, 1923. She was the daughter of Thomas and Mary (McTiernan) McGurty. Both Mr. and Mrs. Thomas McGurty were born in Ireland and died in Little Falls. Mrs. Cunningham was educated in the Little Falls public schools and all of her life was spent in her home city. She was a member of St. Mary's church and of the Rosary Society of Little Falls. She was deeply devoted to her home and family and her life was an inspiration to those who came within the sphere of its splendid influence. Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham were the parents of six children, of whom three sons died in infancy. Three daughters survive: Miss Mary J. Cunningham, who was born in Little Falls, on November 5, 1890, and attended St. Mary's Academy. When only seventeen years of age she became associated with her father in the retail grocery business, and followed him into the wholesale line and is now secretary of the Cunningham-Hall Company, Incorporated; Cecelia A. Cunningham was born in Little Falls, on January 13, 1892, and graduated from St. Mary's Academy in the class of 1910. In April, 1914, she was married to Peter J. McManus, salesman for the McMilligan Book Company of New York city. They reside in Schenectady, and have three children: Robert J., Dorothy E. and John Daniel McManus; Margaret M. Cunningham was born on April 21, 1894, and was graduated from St. Mary's Academy, Little Falls, in the class of 1911. In August, 1920, she was united in marriage to Wilbert Platt, a photographer of Detroit, Michigan. They have two children, Marion M. and Elizabeth Platt.
Mr. Cunningham is an alderman of the fourth ward of Little Falls, and is serving his second term, which will expire on December 31, 1925. He was also a member of the fire and police board for four years. During the World war he was a member of the Home Guards and was on all the Liberty Loan committees and took a very active interest. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus, having taken the third degree, and of the Holy Name Society, both of Little Falls. His church affiliations are in St. Mary's Roman Catholic church of Little Falls, and politically he is a democrat. Mr. Cunningham is president of Cunningham-Hall Company, Incorporated, and he exercises an immeasurable influence for good in the social and business life of his adopted city