USA > Kansas > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Kansas > Part 40
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
up-to-date railroad man. Mr. Phillips was married in 1875 to Miss Susan M. Gierhart, of Geneseo, Ill. Three children were born to this union : Sarah, the wife of Clarence F. Hoagland, of Greeley county, Kansas; Hiram W., merchant, Los Angeles, Calif., and Irolee, who died in childhood. The wife and mother departed this life in Olathe, October 17, 1885, and Mr. Phillips married for his second wife Mrs. Rebecca J. Kelley, who died October 18, 1909. Mr. Phillips is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the First Presbyterian Church. He is one of Johnson county's leading citizens.
W. H. McKoin, proprietor of the Model laundry, Olathe, Kan., is a native son of Johnson county. He was born in Lexington township, December 20, 1880, and is a son of J. J. and Susan (Utterback) McKoin, natives of old Kentucky. J. J. McKoin was born in Lexington and in 1857, came to Kansas with his parents and located at Spring Hill .. He was one of the pioneer school teachers of Johnson county. He read law and after being admitted to the bar practised for several years, and served one term as county attorney of Johnson county. In 1893 he was appoint- ed Indian agent under President Cleveland's second administration and served in that capacity at a number of different agencies in the West and Southwest until 1896 when the administration changed and Mr. McKoin's successor was appointed. He then returned to Olathe where he now resides, and is one of the honored pioneers of Johnson county. His wife died several years ago and he is now living retired. He has been a lifelong Democrat and has been active in his party organization and has helped fight the battles of Democracy for over half centry. To J. J. and Susan (Utterback) McKoin were born three children and W. H., whose name introduces this sketch, is the only surveyor. W. H. McKoin at- tended the public schools of Olathe and later attended the University of New Mexico two years and also spent two years at Kansas University at Lawrence. He then entered the employ of the Santa Fe Railroad Com- pany in the capacity of clerk in the superintendent's office at Needles, Calif., and after remaining there about one year, in 1899, he took a posi- tion as fireman on the Arizona division of the Santa Fe, and ran be- tween Needles and Bakersfield, Calif., and Los Angeles, and later he was promoted to engineer, shortly after reaching his twenty-first year, and ran a locomotive on the Arizona division of the Santa Fe about four years. In 1896 he was transferred to the Mountain division of the same railroad and ran from La Junta to Raton for a year and during the panic of 1907 he was laid off. He then came to Olathe and bought the laundry plant which is known as the Model laundry. This is the best equipped laundry in Johnson county. It is a substantial one-story brick structure, located at 132 South Cherry Street, Olathe, and is equipped with all modern machinery. The building is 23x109 feet, and when running full capacity Mr. McKoin employs sixteen operators. Mr. Mc- Koin was united in marriage July 28, 1896, to Miss Inez Hancock, of
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THE HISTORY OF SOLANO COUNTY.
States in 1853, first settling in the city of New York, where he remained some years, when he came to California, in 1857. In 1861 he opened the Union Hotel in Vallejo, remaining its proprietor for ten years. In 1874 his present business was established, and two years afterwards he first started in thé lumber trade. Mr. McCudden is one of Vallejo's most hon- ored citizens ; his election to the Board of Supervisors in 1877 proving the estimation in which he is held.
MCDERMOTT, ROBERT, born in Ireland in 1841, and came to America in 1842 with his parents, who settled in Lower Canada, where they re- sided till 1848, when they moved to Upper Canada. In 1859 he crossed to the United States, and took up his residence in McComb county, Mich- igan, remaining there till 1860. In April of this year he enlisted in Co. A., Ninth U. S. Infantry, and was stationed in the Detroit -Recruiting district for some time, when he went to the North Pass of the Rocky mountains, where he got his discharge under the Minor's Act. He re- mained in that section of the country till the fall of 1863, when he again enlisted in the First Oregon Infantry, and served till the end of the war. Arrived in Vallejo in June, 1867, and purchased the one-half interest of F. O'Grady, in the Empire Soda Works. Married April 19, 1869, Catha- rine Monaghan, a native of Ireland.
McDONALD, T. P., born in Galena, Joe Davies county, Illinois, March 21, 1850, and in 1857 moved with his parents to Nevada county, California, where he remained till 1867, when he came to Vallejo, and entered into - the employment of E. McGettigan, in the wholesale liquor business, until 1875, when he became clerk at the Howards, filling that position till Sep- tember, 1878, when he formed his present partnership with James Ward. Mr. McDonald has been a member of the Vallejo Rifles since 1869; held the office of Second Lieutenant for four years, and was promoted to be First Lieutenant in May, 1877.
McDONALD, WILLIAM, born in Frostburg, Alleghany Co., Maryland, in 1850, and moved with his parents to California in 1854, first settling in San Francisco, where they remained three months, and then accompanied them to Vallejo. In 1867 he began an apprenticeship in the bricklayer's department in the Mare Island Navy Yard, where he was employed till elected City Marshal by the Republican party in 1878. Mr. McDonald's father died in Vallejo, Sept. 19th, 1875; his mother is still living, how- ever, and makes her home with him. He married, May 29th, 1870, Miss Mary Brown, by whom he has two children : Amelia, born April 8, 1871, and William, born February 10, 1875.
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THE HISTORY OF SOLANO COUNTY.
McGETTIGAN, EDWARD, was born in County Donegal, Ireland, March 20, 1840, and emigrated to America in 1856, arriving in New York in January, 1857. He at once removed to Philadelphia, where he sojourned one year, at the end of which he sailed, via Panama, for San Francisco, arriving there in June, 1858. He lost no time, but went to the mnoun- tains and engaged in mining in Butte county. In May, 1859, he located in Vallejo. In 1862 he established the Vallejo Brewery in company with A. Murray and James MeGarvey, but sold out his interest in 1865. Shortly after this date he opened the Empire Soda Works. In 1874, the Vallejo Brewery was in the market ; he therefore purchased it, changing its name to the Pioneer Brewery, after having first rebuilt and refurnished it.
To Mr. McGettigan, aided by General Frisbie, is due the building of the street-ear railroad in Vallejo, whereby real estate was improved to the extent of many thousands of dollars, enhancing thereby the condition of many of the poorer elass of citizens. He was twice elected to fill the re- sponsible position of City Trustee ; how well he discharged the duties of that office, the records of the corporation can truly attest ; and as one of the Directors of the Saving and Commercial Bank, his true honesty is best told by the valuable services rendered in placing that institution upon a sound and solid basis, rendering that aid, which the general erash de- manded, by surrendering the earnings of twenty years' toil to meet his obligations and perpetuate his honor and integrity as a man and a worthy eitizen. Mr. MeGettigan is also largely interested with General J. B. Frisbie in the following mines in New Mexico: Consolidated Hidalgo, and Esperanza Consolidated, ventures which bear every promise of being both valuable and fruitful. He married in 1864, Miss Mary A. O'Grady.
McINNIS, J. A., (grocer) was born in Prince Edwards Islands on March 4, 1838, where he remained till 1855, being raised on a farm ; emigrated to Boston, Mass., in 1855, and engaged in working at different occupations till June 7, 1857, at which time he joined the U. S. Navy as a marine and was stationed at the Charleston Navy Yard, making a eruise on the U. S. " Merrimac " to the South Pacific Squadron ; stationed there till 1860 ; returned to Norfork, Virginia, and was transferred to Charlestown Navy Yard, Mass .; remained on duty as a non-commissioned officer till September, 1861; transferred to headquarters, Washington, D. C., and joined the Marine Batallion, under Major John G. Reynolds, and joined the expedition under Commodore Dupont and General W. T. Sherman, which left Handon Rose, Virginia, for Port Royal, South Carolina, from which port they sailed in October following on the Ship Transport " Governor." On this voyage, while off Cape Hatteras, they encountered a terrible hurricane, the steamer being wrecked in the gale, losing one
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
who hustles while he waits, and that is the precept which he has prac- ticed for nearly fifty years on the plains of Kansas. When he was endeavoring to get his start in this county, he encountered the many hardships and disappointments common to the lot of the Kansas pio- neer, but the obstacles vanished before persistent industry and today Mr. McCann is a rich man. He was married in April, 1860, to Miss Anna McGraw, a native of Florida, Montgomery county, New York, born March 10, 1842. To this union were born the following children : Mary, wife of Fred Boge, Alberta, Canada; William, on the home place ; Eva, wife of Charles Meal, Miami county, Kansas. Mr. McCann's first wife and mother of these children died June 2, 1884, and in December, 1889, he was married to Luvina Willmuth Cleek, a native of Caldwell county, Missouri. She was born April 13, 1857, a daughter of Andrew J. and Emeline (Salisbury) Cleek, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Ohio. Andrew J. Cleek is a Civil war veteran, having served in Company G, Sixth regiment, Missouri cavalry (Union). Mr. Cleek's wife and children remained with her father, Mr. Salisbury, who lived near Lawrence during the Civil war. After Mr. Cleek was discharged from the service, they lived near Shawnee until 1871 and they now reside near De Soto. To Mitchael and Luvina W. (Cleek), McCann one child has been born, Martin M., born May 17, 1891. Mr. McCann is a Democrat and one of the reliable' old landmarks of Johnson county.
George C. Knabe, a representative farmer and stock raiser of Gardner township, is a native of Kansas. He was born in Baldwin City, Douglass county, October 10, 1861, and is a son of Henry and Christina Knabe, natives of Germany and pioneers of Kansas, coming to this State in 1855. Like most of the early-day settlers in the Sunflower State, the Knabe family was poor, they had no capital and practically all that they owned of this world's goods was represented by their clothes. Before coming to Kansas they had lived in Wisconsin about four years, but had made little progress there. Shortly after coming to this State and set- tling in Douglas county, the father bought a claim of 160 acres from an Indian and was in a fair way to succeed, when death overtook him and his widow and five small children were left to shift for themselves. The father died in 1867. The mother married again and died in 1910. George C. Knabe left home when he was thirteen years old and worked out by the month as a farm hand for five or six years. In the winter time he attended school and worked for his board, and in that way obtained a very good common school education. About the time he was of age or a little before he had saved enough out of his earnings to buy a team and wagon and rented land for a time. In 1885, he bought eighty acres of land and went in debt for all of the purchase price. A short time afterwards he sold this eighty at a profit of $900 and bought 160 acres in Johnson county which is a part of his present place. It was the fol- lowing year that oats brought only seven cents per bushel. Oats were
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the only crop Mr. Knabe raised that year which could be converted into ready cash, and as seven cents per bushel would hardly pay for market- ing, he found himself lapsed on his land payments and delinquent on his taxes. Those were sad days and he became despondent, not knowing how to save his farm and meet other expenses. Hoping to get more for his oats in Kansas City, Mr. Knabe drove with a heavy load to that mar- ket and peddled them on the streets realizing fourteen instead of seven cents per bushel. While peddling out his oats, Mr. Knabe had occasion to leave his team on the streets unwatched for a few moments. On his return he found a policeman driving them off. Already discouraged almost to the breaking point, a vision of a fine, taking probably every dollar he had realized on his oats, made him feel that he was approach- ing a real tragedy. It meant the last hope gone, of reclaiming his 160 acres of land and the sorry story he would have to tell the folks anxiously awaiting his return back on the farm. Crushing down his emotions as much as possible he approached the policeman and said: "Partner, those lines would look much better in my hands than in yours." The words were spoken calmly, but they were eloquent in that a breaking heart was back of them. The policeman began to scold, but as Mr. Knabe came nearer he saw something in his face that turned the severe look into a smile, and without a word more he turned the team over to its rightful owner. Six years later he bought eighty acres more, upon which his present residence is located, and has bought additional land from time to time in Johnson county until he now owns 480 acres of some of the best land in Johnson county. Mr. Knabe has invested extensively in western land and a few years ago bought 380 acres in Scott county, Kan- sas, which he sold at a profit of $1.500 after holding but a short time and he now owns 480 acres in Scott county, which he is holding for specula- tive purposes. Mr. Knabe is engaged in general farming and also raises a great many cattle and hogs. He is one of the very successful men of the county and is a close student of the advancing agricultural methods as well as of men and affairs generally. Mr. Knabe was married, March 27, 1883, to Miss Matilda Lebmann, a native of Missouri and a daughter of Henry and Charlotte Lebmann, natives of Germany. To Mr. and Mrs. Knabe have been born the following children: Lydia, a teacher. Gardner, Kan .; Elizabeth, at home; Mary, teacher, Hopwell, Kan .; Charles, George, Gertrude and Elmer, all residing at home. Mr. Knabe is a Republican and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fllows and the Grange. He is a stockholder in the State Bank of Gardner.
S. R. Hogue, a Civil war veteran and Kansas pioneer, now living re- tired at Spring Hill, is a native of Illinois. He was born in Warren county, April 21, 1837, and is a son of S. L. and Mary (Hamilton) Hogue, natives of Indiana, who removed to Illinois at a very early date and spent the remainder of their lives in Warren county. The father was a soldier in the Black Hawk war and prominent in early-day politics. He
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was the first sheriff of Warren county, Illinois, and died in 1841 and his wife passed away while visiting at the home of her son, S. R. Hogue, in Kansas, in 1886. S. R. Hogue was next to the youngest of a family of six children and was only four years old when his father died. He grew to manhood on the little Illinois farm and when thirteen years old his elder brother was married and the chief responsibility of supporting the mother and sisters fell on S. R. He remained at home and continued to manage the farm for his mother and his sister who still remained at home until he was twenty-one years old when he came to Kansas with a party of five others for the purpose of looking the country over with a view of settling here. They drove through from Illinois, the journey requiring six weeks. Mr. Hogue was favorably impressed with the soil and climate and after returning to his Illinois home came back to Kansas the following year and took a claim in Miami county, near the Johnson county line, and lived on this place until 1883 when he sold it. He was here during the stirring days of the border war and on August 1, 1862, he enlisted in Company I, Twelfth regiment, Kansas infantry. During the summer of 1863 his regiment was quartered at Ft. Leavenworth, hav- ing spent the winter of that year at Wyandotte. In November, 1863, the regiment was ordered to Ft. Smith, Ark., where they remained until March, 1864, when they were ordered out on what is known as the Cam- den raid. They had some fighting on the way there where they were supposed to be joined by the Red River expedition. The Red River expedition proved unsuccessful and the juncture with those troops was not made and in the battle of Saline river, which followed, Mr. Hogue was taken prisoner. At that time he ranked as sergeant and was cap- tured while commanding a detail who were carrying the wounded from the field. On account of the heavy timber his detail got too far in ad- vance and were cut off and captured by the Confederates. After his cap- ture Sergeant Hogue learned that the prisoners were to be removed to a Confederate prison in Texas, and he and a comrade named Haight began to lay plans for their escape but when they first planned to do so, Haight was too ill to make the attempt when the time came, but they successfully effected their escape a few days later. They walked twenty miles the first night and forded the Saline river. Mr. Hogue was unable to swim and his comrade pushed him across the river on a log. After many hazardous experiences and narrow escapes they reached the Union lines at Little Rock after three days. They endured many hardships and privations on this trip and to make a successful escape under the condi- tions was nothing less than miraculous. The ordeal proved too much for Haight's physical constitution and he died a few days after reaching Ft. Smith, where they were transferrred after reaching Little Rock. Mr. Hogue remained with his regiment in Arkansas until after the close of the war and was discharged June 30, 1865, at Little Rock, Ark., and was mustered out at Lawrence, Kan., in July following. He then returned to his wife and girl baby in Miami county, the child having been born
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while he was in the army and was about a year old. Mr. Hogue walked thirty miles the night he reached home. He was a good soldier and made a brilliant military record and like many others he never fully recovered from the withering effect of disease contracted in southern camps and on the battlefelds. He contracted scurvy while in the service and for eight- een years after the war was a sufferer from that malady. After resum- ing farming in Miami county he met with many discouraging conditions that confronted the Kansas pioneer. Droughts, grasshoppers and crop failures came in regular routine but he had faith in the country and stuck to it and finally won. In 1877, he was elected manager of the Spring Hill Grange store and capably conducted that business until 1881. He then bought a hardware store in Spring Hill and conducted that business for twenty-four years, during which time he did an extensive business and met with well merited success. In 1904 he sold this business and has since been living retired with the exception of supervising his various in- terests and investments. He is a large landowner and has 250 acres in Miami county, five miles southeast of Spring Hill, and also owns consid- erable land in Texas. He is a stockholder and director in the Spring Hill Banking Company, and was president of that institution during the years of 1910 and 1911. Mr. Hogue has been twice married, his first wife being Miss Emily Hogan, to whom he was married in 1860. She was a daughter of David and Elizabeth Hogan, the former a native of Ten- nessee and the latter of Indiana, and were early settlers in Illinois, where the father died in 1847 and the mother came to Kansas with her family in 1859. Mrs. Hogue died in 1885, leaving one child, Edith May, married H. R. Sibley, and is now a widow, residing in Kansas City. About a year after his first wife's death, Mr. Hogue married Catherine, daughter of Godfrey and Catherine (Schul) Godfrey, natives of Virginia. To this union have been born three children : Lillah married R. G. Hemenway, Haven, Kan .; Norris S., a druggist, Spring Hill; Rowena L. resides at home. Mr. Hogue is one of the substantial citizens of Johnson county and has a wide acquaintance and many friends. He is a Knights Templar Mason and Mrs. Hogue is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star.
Joseph Holmes, a prominent farmer of Oxford township, has had a remarkable career. The story of his military service under two flags is. unusual. When a boy in Jackson county, he was in close touch with the doings of the border war and learned of numerous crimes commit- ted on both sides. When he reached maturity he enlisted in the Con- federate army and was a member of the Mounted Rangers of Missouri, and fought under the stars and bars for six months and received an honorable discharge. He then returned home to care for his sick mother in Jackson county when order No. II was issued and he fled to the- mountains of Colorado. There he enlisted in the Union army and for several months fought Indians under the stars and stripes and at the expiration of his term of service was honorably discharged and now
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draws a pension from the United States Government. Joseph Holmes is a native of Hawkins county, Tennessee. He was born January 22, 1842, and is a son of Urial R. and Sally (Harris) Holmes, both natives of Virginia and of old Virginia stock. Urial R. Holmes and the Harris family settled in Tennessee in 1825 and in 1854 went to Missouri, locat- ing in Jackson county, where Urial Holmes died in 1856, at the age of forty-seven years. Urial Holmes and Sally Harris were the parents of nine children as follows: Samuel died in Texas in 1895; Richard, Santa Fe, Mo .; Joseph, the subject of this sketch; John, killed while serving in the Confederate army during the Civil war ; Mary married Mr. Hayes ; Urial R. lives in Jackson county ; Sally married Richard McAllister, Olathe; Hillman resides in Jackson county, Missouri, and Harold died in infancy. The mother of these children died March 4, 1864. When the Civil war broke out, Mr. Holmes served for six months with Colonel Rosser's rangers and in the fall of 1863 went to Colorado and served in the Union army two years. He was married December 4, 1873, to Miss Tabitha A. Cummings. She was a native of Kentucky and a daughter of Hiram Cummings, a Johnson county pioneer. They were the parents of eleven children, nine of whom grew to maturity, as fol- lows: Richard Hiram, farmer, Oxford township; Oliver S. died March 3, 1915 ; Emery C., killed by lightning, June 30, 1914; William G., farmer, Oxford township; Roy, on the home farm; Eaton, also on the home farm; Lena May married Emmett Pitt and is now deceased ; W. Bryan resides at home ; Stella May and Arthur, deceased. Mr. Holmes is one of the successful farmers and stock men of Oxford township. His farm consists of 180 acres of well improved land and is one of the valuable farms of Johnson county. Mr. Holmes is a Democrat and takes a live interest in events of the times. The family are members of the Metho- dist Episcopal church.
W. W. Fagan, Olathe, Kan., is one of the veteran railroad men of this country. His career is so closely interwoven with the early construction and operation of Kansas railroads that the story of his life and experi- ence is no small part of the railroad history of eastern Kansas. He is a native of Guilford, Dearborn county, Indiana, born March 20, 1841, and is a son of John and Jane (Ward) Fagan. The father was a native of Lancaster, Pa., and the mother of Paterson, N. J. The father was a wagon maker in early life, back in Pennsylvania, but came to Indiana in 1838, following his trade until 1850, when he became a locomotive engineer on the Indianapolis & Cincinnati railroad, which is now part of the Big Four system. In 1872 he came to Kansas, entered the employ of the Santa Fe as locomotive engineer and pulled the first construction train out of Atchison in the construction of the Atchison & Topeka railroad. After running a locomotive for a number of years on the Santa Fe he became roundhouse foreman at Atchison and served in that capa- city for ten or twelve years and retired about two years before his death,
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in 1911. His wife died in 1908. W. W. Fagan, whose name introduces this review, was one of a family of four children and is the only one of the family now surviving. He spent his boyhood days in Lawrenceburg and Guilford, Ind., and began his railroad career when a boy of ten years as a newsboy on the Indianapolis & Cincinnati railroad, and be- gan firing on that road in 1857 when a little past fifteen, and about a year later was promoted to engineer and at the unusual age of sixteen ran an engine on the Indianapolis & Cincinnati railroad and remained in that capacity until 1867 when he became train dispatcher and road- master and conductor. Mr. Fagan has in his possession an interesting relic of his early railroading career. In 1864 he and the superintendent differed over some minor matter about the engine and Mr. Fagan resigned and asked for a letter of recommendation which he received, a copy of which follows: "Indianapolis & Cincinnati Railroad, Superintendent's Office, Cincinnati, December 27, 1864. The bearer, William Fagan, has been in the employ of this company as locomotive engineer for the past seven years. He is a good engineer. Robert Meek. Supt." Mr. Fagan went to another company and got employment as an engineer but after making one run received a telegram from his former superintendent to come back and take his old run and that he would raise his pay $5 per month. He returned to his former employer and remained with him until he was promoted. In 1869 he came to Topeka, Kan., and on June 6 entered the employ of the Santa Fe as conductor on a construction train from Topeka, southwest. This was the first construction train on the Santa Fe and when Mr. Fagan entered the employ of that company the Santa Fe railroad had four miles of tracks west of Topeka and their equipment and rolling stock consisted of ten flat cars, one hand car, one coach and a locomotive. He remained in that position until the fifteenth day of November when he was appointed superintendent and had charge of track maintenance and operation and remained in that capacity until May, 1874. At that time he became associated with C. K. Holliday, a Mr. Chapman and others and they organized the Kansas Midland Rail- road Company and started the construction of a railroad from Topeka to Kansas City. Mr. Fagan was superintendent and Chapman was everything else, as Mr. Fagan expresses it. The road was constructed from Topeka to Lawrence in 1874 and the following year completed to Kansas City. Mr. Fagan resigned the superintendency of that road November 20, 1875, and became superintendent of the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad from Cameron, Mo., to Kansas City, and later from Brookfield, Kansas City and St, Joseph to Atchison. On the first day of January, 1880, he took charge of the Central branch of the Union Pacific, now Missouri Pacific, in the capacity of superintendent. When he took the road it only went as far west as Greenleaf and during his ad- ministration it was extended to Downs, and the two branches on west to Lenora and Stockton. Mr. Fagan says this railroad was constructed
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