USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > Kansas City > Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. Historical and biographical. Comprising a condensed history of the state, a careful history of Wyandotte County, and a comprehensive history of the growth of the cities, towns and villages > Part 70
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A. A. Lovelace, register of deeds, Kansas City, Kas. The public services of Mr. Lovelace since 1887 have been characterized by a notice- able devotion to the welfare of this county, and his ability and fidelity in his present position have made a lasting impression on the sphere
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of public duty. He is a native of Wyandotte County, Kas., born in 1860, and is the son of Charles and Louisa (Hewitt) Lovelace. The father was born in Tennessee, but grew to manhood in Mississippi, and settled in Wyandotte County, Kas., in 1858. He is still a resident of the county, and although in early days he ran a saw-mill here, later in life he was railroad contractor, and also followed farming. The new town of Lovelace was named in his honor, and he is at present connected with the new smelting works at Turner. The paternal grand- father, Richard Lovelace, was a prominent M. D., and came to Wyan- dotte County, Kas., with the Wyandotte Indians, in 1845, and was in the Government employ. He was of Irish Scotch descent, and died a few years ago. A. A. Lovelace, the subject of this sketch, was reared and educated in this county, and has always been with his father in the contracting business until he was elected to his present position. He was elected county commissioner, in 1885, served two years, and is now filling his second term as register of deeds. He is a prominent young man, and is the owner of lots and acre property here. Mr. Lovelace is an excellent specimen of physical manhood, being over the average in height, and finely proportioned. He is full of push and enterprise, and it is due to him that the extensive smelting works have been located in this county. Mr. 'A. A. Lovelace is also cashier of the Exchange National Bank, with a capital of bank stock of $300,000, the largest concern of the kind in Kansas City, Kas.
Valentine S. Lucas, horticulturist, Quindaro, Kas. Mr. Lucas came to this county May 1, 1857, from Bureau County, Ill., and lo- cated just a little west of Chelsea Park. He is one of the old settlers, and a man who is held in high esteem by his many friends. His father came out in 1855, but owing to the troublous times in the year follow- ing, had to leave, and came back again in 1857, bringing his family, consisting of his wife and nine children. He rented land, and farmed until his death, which occurred in 1865. The following year his widow sold the stock and goods, and went to live with her children, remain- ing with them until her death, which occurred in 1878. Valentine S. Lucas received the usual amount of education given the country boy, until his removal to Wyandotte County, Kas., and after that he at- tended but three terms of school. After the death of his father, he went to the southern part of Johnson County, bought forty acres of land, and after remaining there two years, sold his stock and returned to Wyandotte County. After this he worked on the Kansas Pacific Railroad, and then went direct to breaking on the same road. Later
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on he began selling groceries in Olathe, and still later gained a position on the Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad, remaining on the same for fully a year and a half. He was then on a railroad running out from Atchison for some time, after which he returned to the Union Pacific again, but only remained with this for a short time, when he was tendered the responsible position of yard master at Arm- strong, remaining there for eleven years. After this he was city mar- shal one year, and then was given the position of assistant yard master at the State line, where he remained four years. Having purchased thirty-nine acres of land where he now lives, in 1885, the next spring he moved on this, where he has since devoted his attention to fruit-growing and gardening. He has been fairly suc- cessful, and aside from this, is the owner of some property in Kansas City, Kas. He has been twice married, first in 1874, to Miss Anna Hederman, who bore him three children, two now living: Flora May and Lottie J. A. Mrs. Lucas died in 1880, and he espoused Miss Dora Bernhard, of Wyandotte County, two years later. They are the parents of three children, all sons: Lowel, Lawrence and Oral. Mr. and Mrs. Lucas are members of the Methodist Church, and socially he is a member of the I. O. O. F. and the K. P., of Wyandotte. As he was a member of the State Militia during the war, he and six of his brothers helped to repel Price during his raid here, and were in the fight at Blue and Westport.
Peter Lugibihl, one of the oldest settlers of this city, came here in 1857, and engaged in the boot and shoe and grocery business, which he followed for twenty years. He is now the owner of considerable real estate, both improved and unimproved. Mr. Lugibihl was born in Prussia in 1832, and there remained until 1850, when he emigrated to the United States, settling in Pennsylvania for six years. He then came West, and having learned the trade of boot and shoe maker in his native country, he carried this on after coming to this State. He was married in 1856 to Miss Sybilla Bender, a native, also, of Prussia, born in 1833, and the fruits of this union were three children: Mary (wife of Charles W. Scheller), Amelia (wife of H. S. Grauten), and Frances. Mr. Lugibihl is a member of the Masonic fraternity, K. of P., and is an Ancient Odd Fellow. He was a member of the State Militia during the war, and was on guard duty the principal part of the time. He was elected a member of the council of the old city of Wyandotte for two terms in 1882. He is a representative citizen, and has the characteristics of those born in the old country-honesty, fru-
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gality and great perseverance. Charles W. Scheller, a member of the city council from the Second Ward, was elected to that position at the consolidation of the cities in 1886, and re-elected to the present term. He is chairman of the Committee on Fire Department, Sewers and Gas, and is also a member of various other committees. He was born in Oneida County, N. Y., in January, 1856, and is a son of Charles and Magdalene (Heisel) Scheller, natives of the Empire State. The father was a cabinet-maker, and followed that trade in Utica, N. Y., for many years. Both parents are living. They are descendants of the Schellers in Germany. Charles W. Scheller was reared to man's estate in his native county, where he received a graded-school education, came West in 1878, and began working in the Armour Packing House. He con- tinned faithfully at this, and was promoted from time to time, until he is now time-keeper, which position he has filled for the last five years. He was married in 1882 to Miss Mary Lugibihl, who was born in Janu- ary, 1862, and to them have been born two children: Carl and Edith. He is a prominent citizen.
Michael Lysaught is a contractor of grading in Kansas City, Kas., and is a man who is possessed of much enterprise, intelligence and in- dustry. He was born in County Limerick, Ireland, in 1838, to Pat- rick and Johanna (Chenark) Lysaught, the former of whom was a till- er of the soil. Michael Lysaught had one brother and eight sisters and when but eleven years of age came to America with his brother and a sister and at first made their home in the State of Vermont. They went to Washington, D. C., where Michael learned the carpenter's trade, at which he worked until he came to Wyandotte County, Kas., in 1856. He continued to follow his trade until 1862, when he en- tered the employ of the Government and took 600 head of horses to Fort Union, N. M., and remained in that place for ten years and four months, after which he returned to Kansas and obtained em- ployment with the Union Pacific Railroad Company at Armstrong, which place was his home until 1883. He then left the shops and has since been engaged in contracting. He served one year as deputy street commissioner of Kansas City, and had a verbal contract with O'Connel & Downs, as a partner, and the first year they did a business in contracting of $98,000. They graded Sixth Street, Ann Avenue, Armstrong Avenue, and part of James Street, in North Kansas City, Kas., and Kansas Avenue, on the South Side, from Fourth to Sixteenth Street. They have also graded Third Street, Northrop Avenue, the approach to the Sixth Street bridge, the approach to the Third Street
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bridge, and have filled other smaller contracts throughout the city. They have done over $200,000 worth of grading and are still doing a thriving business. Mr. Lysaught owns several city lots, and two resi- dences. Although a Democrat in politics, he is not a partisan. He is a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church, a member of the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association, and in every respect is a typical Irishman, being warm and generous hearted, temperate, moral and quick witted. He was married in this city to Miss Catherine Gorman, who was born in Washington, D. C., in 1853, and to them the following children have been born: Sarah, John, Michael, James, Mat and Patrick.
Nicholas McAlpine. Personally, and in every private relation and duty of life, too much praise can not be said of Mr. McAlpine, for he is liberal, generous, high-minded, the soul of true honor and unbounded greatness of heart. He is one of Kansas City's most prominent and influ- ential business men, and has always proved himself thoroughly public- spirited. He was born near Belfast, in County Down, Ireland, April 5, 1835, being a son of David and Mary Ann (Campbell) McAlpine, both of whom lived and died in the "Emerald Isle." Nicholas remained in his native land until he was seventeen years of age, receiving a good English education, but at that age determined to seek his fortune in the New World, and his first experience in America was in the city of Philadelphia, Penn. He soon after went to Pittsburgh, where his uncle, John McAlpine, resided and there he secured the position of messenger boy in a broker's office. At the end of one year he became an employe of the Pittsburgh Trust Company, and owing to the friend- ship and aid given to him by John D. Scully, the cashier, he was made thoroughly conversant with the general routine of banking. He re- mained with that firm two years, then spent one year as discount clerk in the Exchange Bank of Pittsburgh, and in 1857, upon the advice of his uncle, who had come to Kansas and located at Wyandotte the pre- vious year, he was induced to come here also. After one year spent in clerking in his uncle's storage and commission house, the following three years were spent in saw and grist milling, as the partner of B. Washington. In 1861, thinking to better himself, he sold out his interest in this mill and returned to Pittsburgh, Penn., where his old friend, John D. Scully, gave him a situation in the First National Bank as assistant teller, a position he filled with success for three years. In 1865 he again came to Wyandotte County, Kas., and here he has since made his home. During a part of 1865 he was freight agent for the old Kansas Pacific Railroad, and during the following
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year he was a member of the firm of Killin, Parks & Co., railroad con - tractors, who built a portion of the central branch of the Union Pacific Railroad, and also a portion of the Missouri Pacific Railroad between Kansas City and Leavenworth. He was married in June, 1866, to Miss Maria Walker, a native of Wyandotte, Kas., and a daughter of Joel Walker. During part of the year 1867 he was employed as a clerk for the firm of Chick, Browne, Manzanares & Co., who were ex- tensively engaged in the overland Mexican trade. In the fall of 1867 Mr. McAlpine was elected treasurer of Wyandotte County, and al- though this county has long been well and justly noted for the sterling honesty and superior capability of her public officials, Mr. McAlpine was one of her most popular servants and filled the position to perfec- tion for two and one-half years. His office was a model of neatness and order, and showed the workings of an intelligent, well-directed mind. In the fall of 1871 he was again elected treasurer, was re- elected in 1873, and this position filled by re-election until the fall of 1877, since which time he has been a dealer in real estate, and is now one of the leading agents of Kansas City, Kas. In connection with this he has been in the banking business in Wyandotte, Armourdale and Argentine, and is at present a member of the Kansas City Circu- lar Belt Railway Company, and the Missouri River Land and Reclama- tion Company, the Kansas River Water Power Company, the Na- tional Smelting & Refining Company, at Lovelace, president of the North Kansas City Land Improvement Company, and is now actively engaged in promoting the interests of these corporations, besides being interested in many other enterprises which have for their object the development of the county. In 1866 he was elected city treasurer of Wyandotte, and in addition to filling this office for one term, he has been a member of the city council the same length of time, making the bean ideal of a public servant. He is a Democrat in his political views, and belongs to the following social organizations: the Masonic fraternity, in which he is a Knight Templar, and the A. O. U. W. He is one of the well-known and honored residents of Wyandotte County, and his views on all subjects are sound and shrewd, showing that he possesses a vigorous and active intellect. He and his wife have four children living: Robert L., Jessie S., Mary Ann and John, who are aged respectively twenty-three, fifteen, seven and three years. His eldest child, Robert L. McAlpine, was born in Kansas City, Kas., May 8, 1867, and in the city of his birth his primary education was obtained, he being an attendant of Palmer's Wyandotte Academy. He
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entered the Kansas State University in the fall of 1882, and graduated with the class of 1887, his career being there marked by a close application and rapid progress. During vacations he attended Spauld- ing's Commercial College, obtaining a diploma dated August 20, 1884, and he was soon afterward employed as a dranghtsman under Messrs. Breithaupt and Allen, civil engineers, of Kansas City, Mo., and dur- ing the summer of 1886 was one of the surveyors for the Kansas City, Wyandotte & North-Western Railway. Upon graduating from the State University of Kansas, he accepted a position under Maj. H. L. Marvin, supervising engineer on the construction of the Missouri Pacific Railway, between McCracken, Kas., and Pueblo, Colo., and in the winter of 1887 he entered the city engineer's office of Kansas City, Kas., where he remained for two years, being specially engaged upon plans for a system of sewerage designed by Pierson & Kiersted, civil engineers, of Kansas City, Mo. He is at present chief engineer of the Kansas City Circular Railway. For a young man of his years he is exceptionally intelligent, and as he possesses many of the charac- teristics of which prominent men are made-moral and personal in- tegrity, and clear, well-balanced, active intelligence-a bright future is predicted for him.
Phil McAnany is numbered among the successful business men of Kansas City, having by his natural ability and energy, gained his pres- ent lucrative position as foreman of the canning department, with the Armour Packing House. He entered the employ of this firm in 1882, and after serving two years was promoted to his present position. He is a man of vast experience, having at one time worked for Slavin's Packing House. He is a wide-awake, public-spirited man, and one who believes in doing full duty alike to self and neighbor. His gen- erosity and liberality of views has won for him many warm friends, and his competence has, at all times, been appreciated by those whose interests he guarded. Mr. McAnany's birth occurred in Westport, Mo., in 1860, and his parents, Nicholas and Mary (Plunkett) McAnany, of the Emerald Isle, where they continued to reside until 1840. The subject of this sketch passed the years intervening between in- fancy and manhood in his childhood's home, receiving a moderate education, and even at an early date practicing habits of industry and perseverance. In 1885 he married Miss Mary Gallager, daughter of James and Rose Gallager. Both Mr. and Mrs. McAnany are members of Father Dalton's church, and manifest great interest in the success of every worthy cause. To such men America is indebted for the en-
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viable reputation she sustains in the commercial circles of other country's men whose watchword is duty, and who, following Hamlet's advice, "Take arms against a sea of troubles, and, by opposing, end them."
George M. McDougal, another early settler, came to Wyandotte County, in 1865, and has been a resident of the same ever since, following agricultural pursuits. He raises about twenty acres of corn, averaging about forty bushels to the acre, and ten acres of wheat, fif- teen bushels to the acre. He bought his first land in 1867, a wild piece covered with heavy timber, paid $5 an acre, and now, with the improvements made on it, it is worth at least $50 per acre. He has since added eighty acres to the original tract, making 120 acres in all, and the entire tract is valued at $50 per acre. He has a fair orchard . of good bearing trees, is extensively interested in the development of improved methods in agricultural life, and securing the best results attainable in that line. He bought his first land of the Blue Jacket's heirs. Mr. McDougal was born in Richland County, Ohio, on Jan- uary 22, 1838, and he is the eighth of eleven children born to John A. and Rachel J. (Hall) McDongal, natives of New York. The parents left that State in 1835, emigrated to Ohio and there they resided until 1841, when they moved to Allen County, Ind., where the father's death occurred in 1845. The mother died in 1879, at the age of seventy-eight. George M. was reared to manhood in Allen County, Ind., and there he obtained a good common-school education. He learned the carpenter's trade, followed it in that county until he left in 1860, when he went to Colorado, and worked in the Georgia and French gulches. There he remained until the fall of 1860, when he went to Iowa, but returned the next spring and was successful in min- ing. He was prospecting most of the time. He enlisted in Central City, Colo., on January 21, 1863, in Company E, Third Colorado In- fantry Volunteers, under Capt. Moses and Col. James H. Ford, and their regiment was sent to guard the railroad in the Iron Mountains. In December, 1863, they were sent back to St. Louis, where they joined the Second Colorado, were mounted and sent to Western Mis- souri to fight the guerrillas. There they remained until November, 1865, when they were ordered out to the plains and joined a scouting expedition, being thus employed until October 3, 1865. After the war Mr. McDougal came to this county and began farming, which occupa- tion he has successfully followed ever since. He does carpentering at odd times. Mr. McDougal was married on November 11, 1865, to
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Miss Lizzie E. Paul, a native of Sheffield, England, born on January 12, 1846, and is the daughter of George and Ann J. Paul, natives of England. To Mr. and Mrs. McDougal have been born five interest- ing children: Ida (wife of William Perkins), Frank, Paul, Roy and Arthur. In his political views Mr. McDougal affiliates with the Re- publican party, and he has filled the office of school trustee nearly the entire time of his residence. He has also been road overseer. He is a member of the G. A. R., Capt. Kingscott Post No. 463, and is also a member of the Farmers' Alliance. Mr. McDougal is enterprising and progressive, and a man who is active in his support of all worthy en- terprises.
M. F. McCall, merchant, Emmet, Kas. Among the enterprising business houses of this town, whose operations are worthy of record, is that conducted by Mr. McCall, who is one of the prominent business men of the town. He was born in Platte County, Mo., in 1861, to the union of William and Elizabeth (Porter) McCall, natives of Ohio and Missouri, respectively. M. F. McCall was sixth in order of birth of the nine children born to his parents, all of whom grew to maturity and are still living: Robert, Lottie, Josephine, Jesse M., William, John and Morton. The maiden name of Grandmother McCall was Calhoun. William McCall, father of our subject, was one of eleven children who grew to maturity: Jesse, Moses, Samuel, Montgomery, Robert, Israel, Nancy, Rebecca, Elizabeth and Mina. M. F. McCall grew to manhood and received a good common-school education in his native State. He began business for himself as a farmer in 1880, and followed this until 1887, when he engaged with Woolmann, selling clothing in Leavenworth. He continued at this but a short time and then embarked in the real estate business, which he carried on until 1889. At that date he bought a stock of goods at Pomeroy, remained but a short time, and then located where he now resides in September of that year. He has a large and well-assorted stock, and is a capable and enterprising business man. Mr. McCall was married in March, I889, to Miss Clementine Turner, daughter of Thomas Turner, a na- tive of South Carolina. One child is the result of this union-Oley B. Mr. McCall is a Democrat in politics, and exercises his franchise on every occasion.
W. H. McCamish, farmer, Bethel, Kas. Mr. McCamish is a prac- tical, go-ahead farmer, and fully appreciates the comforts of a com- petence gained by individual efforts. His birth occurred in Bradley County, Tenn., in December, 1835, and he is one of a family of eight
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children. His father, Samuel McCamish, was a native also of the Big Bend State, and was among the earlier settlers, moving from the upper part of the State to the Cherokee purchase the next year after which the Indians left. He opened up a farm, and there his children were reared. They received very little schooling, a few months per- haps during the winter, and hard work was the rule. When W. H. McCamish was nineteen years of age he came to Kansas, landing at Kansas City, Mo., September 19, 1855, on the way to an elder brother living in Johnson County. Here he kept store and the post-office for his brother, and in about a year he secured the mail contract from Westport to the edge of the Sac and Fox agency, carrying the mail all the time during the border trouble. He was frequently stopped, but the mail bags were his passport. Later an attack of the chills and fever prevented him from doing very much for a year and a half, and he boarded with old Capt. Barker. A Mr. Bacon requested him to go to the store at the Sac and Fox agency, and while there the store was plundered by the guerrillas, and even Mr. McCamish's clothes were taken. After recovering, Mr. McCamish took a claim in John- son County, and worked on the same until the year before the war. He then went to Morris County. Early in the war he enlisted, to keep the Indians back, and then started down to repel Price, but the scare was over ere reaching the scene. He then returned to his claim, and there resided until 1867, coming from Morris County, Kas., to Jack- son County, Mo., and thence to Wyandotte County. He located at what is now known as West Muncie, the old ferry place being his home, and rented the first year. In 1868 he bought the place, and resided there until 1884, engaged in farming. The land was covered with brush, but he soon had this cleared, and ere he sold out he had it all in fruit. As he owned some land in Coffee County, he moved to that, improved, and later sold it, coming back in December, 1885. He sold the land he owned in this county, and then bought eighty acres in the western corner of Quindaro Township, which he devotes to gen- eral farming, but expects in the future to turn it into small fruit and grass. He is a successful farmer, and has held a number of local positions, among them clerk of the school board and road supervisor. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1858 he was married to Miss Mary J. Wells, a resident of Johnson County, and the daughter of G. W. Wells, who was a native of Virginia, but who moved to Kentucky, and thence to Kansas. Mr. and Mr. Mc- Camish are the parents of seven living children: Margaret, Robert F.,
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William H., Charles R. (who died at Laurence, October 10, 1888, at the age of twenty-one years), George W., A. Lee, Edna May and Stella Myrtle. Robert A. is a prominent school teacher, William H. is a postal clerk on the North-Western Railroad, and Margaret is the wife of John Chandler, a farmer, at Louisville, Miami County, Kas. The paternal grandfather of our subject, William McCamish, was under Jackson at New Orleans. The McCamish family is of Scotch origin.
William McGeorge, mayor and druggist, Argentine, Kas. This representative citizen of the county is a native of Dunfries, Scotland, where his birth occurred September 13, 1852, and is a son of Thomas and Jane (Blacklock) McGeorge. The parents sailed for America in 1871, located in Clay County, Mo., near Excelsior Springs, bought a farm, and there the father died in 1885. The mother is still living and makes her home in Clay County, Mo. Their family consisted of seven children, six living, of whom our subject is the eldest. He was educated in his native country and served an apprenticeship in the drug business, graduating in pharmacy. He served four years as an apprentice, and although he thought this a long time, he persevered, and as a pharmacist has few equals. He sailed from Glasgow with his parents, landed in New York, and went with them to Clay County, Mo. After this he clerked in drug stores at different points for some time, and at last embarked in the business for himself at Camden Point, Mo., carrying it on for several years. In the spring of 1880 he went to Rosedale, Kas., started a drug store, and is still running the same. In 1884 he started his present store in Argentine, and at the present time carries on both stores, and is doing a flourishing business at both places. He thoroughly understands his business, and is ranked among the successful men of Argentine. He keeps a large and carefully selected stock of fresh and pure drugs and chemicals, toilet articles, perfumes, sponges, and makes a specialty of physicians' prescriptions. While living in Rosedale he served as councilman for two years, and in 1889 he was elected mayor of Argentine, still filling this position. Socially he is a member of the K. of P. He was mar- ried in 1882 to Miss Morvie Jones, a native of Wales, by whom he has three children: John, William aud Robert.
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