John Dohany was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, in 1826, the son of John and Margaret (English) Dohany, natives of Ireland, who came to America about 1820, locating first in Pennsylvania, and afterward removed to New Jersey, where the father died in 1833; the mother died in Pennsylvania in 1836.

Our subject came west to Indiana in 1837, where he made his home until he was seventeen. In 1846 he went to Dubuque, Iowa, spending the time until 1851 in Dubuque and Jackson Counties. In the spring of 1852 he went to southern and central Missouri. In 1856 he came to Council Bluffs, and he has done as much as any other man in the city toward building it up. He was one of the few who were instrumental in having the terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad in Council Bluffs, and in many ways has done much to his credit that will stand as a monument of his true worth long after he is gone.

He has always been associated with the Democratic party.

He was married December 31, 1849, to Clara Noble, of Bellevue, Iowa, born in Illinois in 1828, of Puritan extraction, and died in Council Bluffs in 1885. They had five children: Ada, wife of Martin G. Griffin, of Portland, Oregon; Margaret, wife of W. H. Maurer, of Council Bluffs; Adella, at home; Julia, wife of William A. Keelind [s/b Keeline], of Council Bluffs; John, a resident of Portland, Oregon. They are members of the Catholic Church.