KSGenWeb Digital Library Biographical Sketch of Joseph C. McCully Atchison County, Kansas

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The following transcription is from a 750 page book titled "Genealogical and Biographical Record of North-Eastern Kansas, dated 1900.  These have been diligently transcribed and generously contributed by Penny R. Harrell, please give her a very big Thank You for her hard work!

Joseph C. McCully

This gentleman is a member of that little group of distinctively representative business men who were the pioneers in incorporating and building up the chief industries of the western states.  His name is familiar not alone to the residents of the city to whose development he has contributed so conspicuously but also to all who have been in the least intimately informed as to the history of northeastern Kansas.

He has contributed to its material progress and prosperity to a great degree.  He early had the sagacity and prescience to discern the eminence which the future had in store for this great and growing country, and, acting in accordance with the dictates of his faith and judgment, he has gathered, in the fullness of time, the generous harvest which is the just recompense of indomitable industry, spotless integrity and marvelous enterprise.

Few lives furnish so striking an example of the wise application of sound principles and safe conservatism as does his.  The story of his success is short and simple, containing no exciting chapters, but in it lies one of the most valuable secrets of the great prosperity which it records, and his private and business life are pregnant with interest and incentive no matter how lacking in dramatic action, the record of a noble life, consistent with itself and its possibilities in every particular.

Joseph C. McCully was born in Burlington county, New Jersey, near the village of Westfield, September 1, 1827.  His father, Samuel McCully, was also a native of that state and married Sarah Loveland, who was born near Little Lake Harbor, New Jersey, a daughter of Charles Loveland.

The McCully family is of Scotch origin, the ancestors having lived in the western section of that country of hills and heather.  The father of our subject was a wheelwright by trade and also engaged in the manufacture of carriages.  He died in the village of Hartford, New Jersey, in 1853, and his wife passed away in 1856, in her fifty-third year.

Joseph C. McCully spent his boyhood days in Hartford, where he attended school until seventeen years of age, completing his education in a select Quaker school.  He then learned the trade of carriage making under his father, and when he had mastered the business he came to the west in order to try his fortune on the frontier hoping thereby to benefit his financial condition. 

Arriving in Atchison in May, 1857, Mr. McCully secured a claim of 160 acres, but after two years disposed of his land and returned to the city.  Here, in 1859, he opened a carriage shop and is now extensively engaged in the manufacture of carriages, buggies and other light vehicles.  In the early days he also manufactured heavy wagons used by freighters in crossing the plains.

He now employs a large force of workmen and occupies a factory 45 x 80 feet, two stories in height. There are different departments for the painting, wood work and iron work, and a force of from seven to ten workmen are employed.

He turns out an excellent grade of carriages and the output of the factory is very large.  Since 1881 business has been carried under the firm name of McCully Brothers and the enterprise is accounted one of the leading business interests of the city.  In 1862 Mr. McCully was united in marriage to Miss Rose Griffey, then a resident of Atchison, but formerly of Kentucky.

Their marriage occurred during the troublous times of the Civil War.  Mr. McCully was then an advocate of Republican principles and believed in a free soil state.  He became a member of the Eighteenth Kansas Militia and during the war went with it to pursue the rebel general, Price. 

Mr. McCully has taken an active part in public affairs and for two years was a member of the city council.  In 1862 he was elected the treasurer of Atchison county and served for four years, discharging his duties with marked fidelity and ability.

Socially he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.  His efforts in business have been crowned with a desirable success and in addition to his carriage factory he owns considerable property in Atchison.  His efforts have been directed along well defined lines of labor and his investments have been so judiciously made that he has derived there from a handsome competence.

In all life's relations he has been honorable and upright, and he stands today one of the most highly respected citizens of Atchison, esteemed in social, political and business circles.

Last update: Friday, January 13, 2006 23:23:25

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