Rambunctious. Self-driven. Passionate. Enterprising. Pro-slavery. These are just a selection of words that could be easily used to describe the temperaments of the McGee boys, sons of James H. McGee and his wife, Eleanor, that were present when the City of Kansas was yet established and were instrumental in various ways in the growth of a city.
In June, I wrote about the oldest son, Allen Burr Harrison
(A.B.H.) McGee and his remarkable legacy (to read the story, click here!). While researching Allen, I was blown
away by the amount of documents that mentioned more than just this man. He was
the oldest of six boys and each of them led lives that undoubtedly tell the
early history of this city – and of the nation.
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| Illustration published in the Kansas City Star in 1935 depicting the Town Company meeting in One Eyed Ellis's cabin |
It became clear then that I needed to devote more time to
the McGees of Kansas City. Through thousands of pages of documents, there was a
complicated yet fascinating historical drama unfolding in front of my very
eyes.
Let’s examine the lives of these early Kansas Citians.
Fry P. McGee
(1816-1861) – The Man With a 110-Mile Mission
Out of all of the McGee boys, no man’s character is more
debated than that of Fry McGee. Labeled as vicious by some and kind by others,
Fry functioned under two separate umbrellas, most likely due to his extreme
political views and his willingness to sacrifice everything for them.
Bearing his mother’s surname as a first name, Fry McGee was born in Nelson Co., Ky. on May 27, 1816 and moved to Missouri with his family in 1827. In July 1838, at the age of 21, Fry was present at the first sale of what would be the future site of Kansas City (to read more about this early event, click here!). When that sale fell through and new sale was “cried” on November 14th, 1838, Fry joined thirteen other historic figures of KC history to form the Town Company in order to purchase this valuable riverfront land and bank on its ability to hold a booming city.
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| George C. Bingham portrait of Fry P. McGee |
At the cabin of One-Eyed Ellis, twenty to thirty men
gathered under the cover of hand-hewn logs to witness an extraordinary event
that was just another cold day to these early Jackson Co. pioneers. As John C.
McCoy reported, “We retired for warmth to the log house of One-Eyed Ellis and
gathered before a fireplace of blazing hickory logs and christened the yet
unborn baby of a city that was to be there.”
I sure wish we could find more about this illusive One-Eyed
Ellis, because he surely has a story worth writing.
After the purchase of the land was complete, Fry McGee
passed a motion that lots yet to be platted would be sold on credit for six or
twelve months- without requiring security of the purchasers. Setting the terms
so loosely would likely help the lots sell quicker – especially considering
there was a large bluff blocking the new town from the site of Westport
Landing.
Lots were taken up quickly as the levee below along the
Missouri River’s banks was established to encourage commerce and trade in the
foundling settlement. And Fry P. McGee was a pivotal proponent of this early
birth of a city.
Less than a year later, Fry married Martha E. Boothe and
purchased 160 acres of land that included the area around 19th and
Main. He burned brick on his own land, a trade learned from his father who had
established the first brick house in the area, and erected a home in 1841.
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| James H. McGee's home, the first brick house in all of Kansas City |
In 1848, he established his homestead at what would become
513 E. 4th St. In 1844, a flood had wiped out buildings on the south
bank of the Missouri River. This red brick house was one of the first to be
built on land safely above any future flooding. The home was of sturdy
construction; the interior and exterior walls were of brick, and originally,
the home had a carefully carved staircase made of walnut.
More on this home in a second.
For several years, farming seemed to be the focus of Fry
McGee. The draw of the western-bound wagon trains captivated him, so he packed
up and headed out for greener pastures. Although his time in Oregon was
short-lived and he did return to Jackson Co., Fry’s willingness to settle into
the wilderness was something that was repeated.
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| Fry P. McGee's homestead at 513 E. 4th St. in the Kansas City Star |
On a return trip from the west, Fry and his brother, Mobillion
could see the opportunity that existed not too far from Jackson Co., Mo. In
August 1854, just months after Kansas was opened up to white settlement, Fry
and his brother purchased property at a crossing on the Santa Fe Trail. Known
as 110-Mile Creek, their new land was named for its distance of 110 miles from
Fort Osage, Mo.
Fry built a horse and mule barn with walls two feet thick.
He then built a tavern, aptly known as McGee’s Tavern, on the site near
current-day US 75 and US 76 highways in Osage Co., Ks. A four room home
featured two large fireplaces on each side. The east room was supposedly used
to house travelers looking for quick drink and a warm place to stay. Another
room was used for Fry’s three daughters, America, Sophia and Anne. The room on
the west side was reserved for Fry and his wife.
To be clear, Fry owned five slaves in 1850. When he came
into Kansas Territory in 1854, he had three slaves helping with the daily
activities.
When they chose this location, there were very few white
settlers- just a few white men who had married Shawnee women. They were
literally on the edge of the frontier and fashioned to, if Fry could have his
way, form a new town called Washington on this land.
Building a bridge over 110-Mile Creek made sense for the
enterprising McGees. Instead of risking losing a wagon wheel or flooding after
the rains, travelers on the Santa Fe Trail could pay for access to “McGee’s
Crossing.” According to records, Fry charged 25 cents at McGee’s Crossing toll
bridge and would clear during high months around $30 per day.
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| Illustration of Fry McGee's homestead in Osage County, Ks. on 110 Mile Creek, commonly referred to as McGee's Tavern |
Of course, Fry knew his tavern and toll bridge would also be
benefitted from a general merchandise store to help these travelers with any
goods they may need. He also was known to sell whiskey to thirsty Native
Americans that remained nearby.
Due to Fry’s pro-slavery ways, no abolitionist dare settle
near 110-Mile Creek and suffer the wrath. C.R. Green, historian in Osage Osage
Co., wrote of Fry after his death but when his wife was still alive. “A rough
exterior, a slave owner, and quite partisan in politics, the early settlers
found him to be kind-hearted, honest, and never known to shed blood.”
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| Remnants of a barn at 110 Mile Creek, built cir. 1860. Courtesy of Kansas Historical Society |
Others weren’t so kind to Fry. James W. Winchell wrote
“Experiences in Kansas Territory, 1854-1855” and described the McGees as
“Intemperate, quarrelsome, and abusive. Fry McGee was the most drunken, profane
and honest of the lot, having come to Kansas to live and liberally cursing and
feeding all Yankees who were unfortunate enough to enter his presence.”
Apparently after he cursed you out for your beliefs, Fry
would simmer down a bit. Winchell wrote, “He would give you the best his house
afforded, for a moderate price, and ask you to drink with him in the bargain. .
. he was scrupulously honest in all of his dealings.”
Many went out of their way to avoid the boisterous Fry
McGee; however, some men were forced to knock on his door and risk it all.
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| Fry P. McGee and his wife, Martha taken cir. 1860 |
One infamous account comes from Capt. James R. McClure. He
was appointed by Gov. Reeder to take the census of all those residing in Kansas
Territory in 1855.
Unfortunately for him, this included Fry P. McGee.
History tells us that the elections in 1854 were full of
fraudulent activity with pro-slavery neighbors storming the territory to vote
illegally. Another election set for March 1855 needed to establish what
eligible voters there were in each precinct.
McClure stopped at McGee’s Tavern knowing he was the leader
of the pro-slavery movement in this area of the territory. McClure wrote, “I
determined to make myself as agreeable as possible and to avoid any trouble
with these men and especially with McGee, who had presented to me as a very
desperate and quarrelsome man.”
Nonchalantly as possible, most likely with a tremble in his
step, Capt. McClure entered McGee’s Tavern to witness a group of ten to twelve grumbling
men. To keep the peace, McClure quickly ordered a round of drinks to whet the
appetites of these speculators.
“What’s your name and business?” Fry pushed on the stranger
as he leaned against the bar.
Quickly rattling off that he was a Democrat, McClure was
definitely still not safe.
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| Gov. Andrew Reeder |
“What’s your business?” Fry pressed on.
“I’m taking the census on behalf of Gov. Reeder,” McClure
uttered as he took a drink.
Immediately, Fry accused this wayward traveler of being an
abolitionist and a spy. Perhaps to save the government-appointed census taker
some time – but more likely to get him the hell out of Osage Co. – Fry offered
to give him a list of voters in the area so he “would not have to bother
visiting all the people.” McClure bravely asserted he would have time to visit
with everyone.
Amidst smoke and whiskey, Fry screamed, “No damn Yankee will
snoop around this place!”
So, that was the end of the census at 110-Mile Creek.
Forced to stay the night due to the time, McClure spent the
remainder of his visit “in dread of our lives.” Even though the weather was
cold and snow was falling, McClure made the decision he’d rather “face the bad
weather than to spend the night at McGees.”
That election March 30, 1855 was not much better than the
election of 1854- even though the census had been taken. The day of the
election, there was one family (the McGees) living at 110 Mile Creek and about
ten living around Switzer’s Creek. There was really no one else living in the
entire county.
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| Voter fraud in Kansas Territory |
The list of “voters” who stormed to 110-Mile Creek and
camped the night before at McGee’s Tavern includes multiple men with Jackson
Co. ties. They drank whiskey the night before, stayed up late and stormed the
polling place with Fry McGee. Some of the pro-slavery voters of note that stood
next to Fry were Ezra Hickman, Upton Hays and John C. McCoy.
One old man from Jackson Co. stated to a number of men while
at 110-Mile Creek that he had no claim in the territory. He had been paid $1
per day for going there, and he went along with it because “it was better than
staying home and doing nothing.”
When free-state voters showed up to the election, Fry was
standing nearby. He gave these voters a different colored ballot so that everyone
knew how they were voting as he “yelled and cursed at them.” The crowd of
pro-slavery men picked up where Fry left off, badgering these men to the point
that they fled without casting their votes.
Fry died September 17th, 1861 at his home on
110-Mile Creek and was buried at the family cemetery until reinterred in 1881
at Elmwood. The cause of his death is unknown. Some said that his old tavern
was haunted, but most of it today doesn’t exist. The remnants of the thick
walls remain on a private farm, only leaving us to the imagination of what this
small parcel of Kansas history still holds under the earth.
Fry’s homestead in Kansas City at 512 E. 4th St.,
built in 1848, stood for decades. Its sturdy construction stood for 107 years
until it was in danger of being destroyed to make way for an entryway to the
ASB Bridge.
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| The last known photo of Fry McGee's home in the Native Sons archives, State Historical Society of Missouri |
Wouldn’t that have been nice.
The Native Sons needed $10,000 to move the home and wanted
to make it into an information center. They claimed at the time (1955) that it
was the oldest standing structure in Kansas City. The highway commission looked
at the building and decided “the mortar and brick work was so expert it could
be moved without hazard.”
At the time, the home had been altered and made into a
duplex. Besides some settlement causing sinking spots in the wood floors and
the front door being difficult to open, the house was in sturdy shape. The
walnut staircase had been removed prior when the home had been converted.
But efforts were short lived. Even though the windows had
been boarded up, vandals had shimmied their way in, taking pieces of the
building as personal relics for themselves. Windows, door frames, doors and
woodwork had been stripped from her home forever. Two fires set by vandals
damaged the walls and left what was the prominent home of Fry McGee a shell of
its former glory.
The final nail in the coffin was when demolition of an
adjoining building by construction crews endangered what was once deemed sound.
The damage was irreversible. The Native Sons returned the
$6,000 they were able to raise in order to save Fry McGee’s home and walked
away with their heads hung low.
To think that those bricks- those mantels, door knobs, doors
and windows disappeared into the hands of trespassers unable to decipher the
true meaning of preservation makes me sick. And today, we still have landmarks
being torn down to make room for what is labeled “progress.”
Mobillion W. McGee
(1817- 1888) – From Bogus Legislature to California Retirement
Mobillion, a name oftentimes spelled Mabillion, had an
education that matches his lack of consistency with name spellings. Just like
his brothers, he came to the area as a child and married Mary E. Ward in April
1844.
After inheriting some land from his father’s estate in 1840,
Mobillion followed in the likeness of younger brother Milt and joined the
Seminole wars in Florida in 1847. He was most likely drawn to this because of
his knowledge of the Native American languages.
The history of Mobillion is tied directly to the history of
his older brother, Fry. Lucky for me, this means I will keep his section brief.
J
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| Mobillion McGee, taken cir. 1865 |
After settling down with his wife, he bought 60 acres that
would eventually become the subdivision, platted by the subject, known as
McGee’s Summit in 1871. Located near Westport and including Broadway, McGee’s
Summit would later become the heart of Midtown.
Continuing the same pro-slavery sentiments, Mobillion joined
brother Fry at 110-Mile Creek and invested in its interests In 1854. On March
30th, 1855, while the area was under the pressure of the Border Wars
and later the Civil War, Mobillion rounded up his friends and hiked the miles
to Osage Co. to storm Kansas Territory, drink some booze and vote illegally.
They voted illegally to get Mobillion into the Kansas
Territorial Legislature.
There once was a McGee County in Kansas Territory named for
Mobillion - this member of the Bogus Legislature who was elected by his
Missouri-resident friends. In 1860, the Free State Legislature voted to change
the name to Cherokee County. This county on this southeastern edge of Kansas
still holds this name.
Mobillion was a part of an interesting proposition that
today boggles the mind. With help from his friend Robert T. Van Horn, owner of
the Enterprise, they attempted to
establish the new Town of Kansas into Kansas.
We’ve all been there as Kansas Citians…. We announce while
out of town that we are from Kansas City and these uniformed people assume we
live in Kansas.
Let the fight begin!
Van Horn and Mobillion fought to move the eastern border of
Missouri to the Blue River, meaning that all property to the west, including
Westport and the future site of Kansas City would be part of Kansas Territory.
Why, you ask?
Well, this area was heavily saturated with pro-slavery
sentiments. When the elections deciding
by popular sovereignty were held, this would mean that this “new”
boundary of Kansas Territory would include hundreds, if not thousands of
pro-slavery men.
Needless to state, Mobillion’s efforts were not successful.
Mobillion had lived in Osage Co., Ks. for a majority of time
but relocated to Kansas City during the Civil War. In 1883, he traveled to Los
Angeles Co., Ca. and purchased an orange grove. He then took part of this new
land and platted what would be known later as Pasadena.
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| Mobillion McGee's home in Pasadena, Ca. |
He had kept part of this land and built an impressive home
that entertained the Kansas City elite looking for palm trees, sun and a needed
vacation.
A member of the Knights Templar in Pasadena, Mobillion died
June 11, 1888 and was loaded onto a railroad car back to the east to Kansas
City. One week later, Mobillion was buried at Elmwood Cemetery next to his
reinterred family members.
Although it appears he never had his own children, he did
have an adoptive daughter named Josephine Angelo Brown. A small leather-bound
photo album belonging to Mobillion passed to her and then to her family where
it remained virtually undiscovered until an interested family member brought
this album back into the light.
Today, this album of early Kansas City pioneers is a
treasure, full of photos of some of the most prominent families of the era.
Elijah Milton “Milt”
McGee (1819-1873)- A Private Zoo For One of Kansas City’s First Mayors
“Colorful” isn’t even a word that even begins to identify
this incredible yet complicated man of early Kansas City. The fourth born son
of James and Eleanor McGee, Milt came with his family from Shelby Co., Ky. and
evidently received a very limited education. Reading his personal manuscript
tells a story of a man of… high opinion of himself, despite his multiple errors
and erroneous writing style.
In his own autobiography written in third person called “Our
Hero Was,” Milt described that in 1834 (at the age of 15, although often
reported that he left at 12), he took an active part in the Mormon wars and
“soon kicked up a fus with his father whoo was of the same temperature [and so
Milt] blacked the old gentlemens eye and left.”
He punched his father, James in the eye? Wow.
He quickly left to be a part of the Seminole wars in
Florida, and, according to himself, “Much could be said here to his prase.”
After the Seminoles were at peace, “the young hero” returned to New Orleans
where he learned of the war of Texas.
That’d be the Texas Revolution in 1836.
Milt proclaimed he arrived in Matagorda Bay and joined the
ranks of Gen. Sam Houston. “He fought manfully at the battle of San Juanta and
other scrmages.”
I think he meant San Jacinto and other skirmishes.
By 1838, he had wooed and married Sarah De Moss in Matagorda
Co., Tx. and farmed there until 1841. His
only child, Gertrude, was born in 1840.
Hearing of the great valleys and beautiful scenery of
California, “he made up his mind at once to make an adventure west” with two
others. It is suggested he later went to California to find gold. . . and he
did.
With money burning a hole in his pocket and a sense of pride
covering his face, Milt returned to the Kansas City area, buying 240 acres of
prime land south of 12th St. bounded by Main to the west and Holmes
to the east.
This land would later be known as the business center of
Kansas City.
As he began his plans for cashing in on the growth of a city,
he also began a notorious conquest as a border ruffian. One event in May 1855
made national papers. Charged with whiskey and a great hatred of the flood of
eastern immigrants into Kansas Territory, Milt (with “two of his creatures”)
stormed the American Hotel in Kansas City. This hotel was owned by the Emigrant
Aid Society, a group that helped pay up to 25% of the costs for these
easterners to relocate into newly-opened Kansas Territory.
They were largely abolitionists, and they were a threat to
Milt’s plans to ensure Kansas was a slave state.
After bouncing back and forth between two locations, Milt
threatened that if the “damned abolitionists” who entered Kansas and came from “North
of the Mason-Dixon line or belonged to the North” must leave the area at once or
be thrown into the Missouri River.
They swore to level the place and departed before going
through with their threat. So was the life and of the early days of Kansas City
during the Border Wars.
For the record, Milt was Justice of the Peace at the time.
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| McGee's Addition as shown in the 1869 "Bird's Eye View of Kansas City" |
Milt predicted that the fledgling settlement of the Town of
Kansas would flower into one of the most enterprising settlements of the
Midwest. In 1857, he platted a subdivision south of the city known today as
“McGee’s Addition” to encourage people to travel south to his newly-built hotel
at 16th and Grand Ave. This hotel, commonly referred to as Planter’s,
Farmer’s Exchange, and most commonly McGee’s Hotel, became a landmark during
the Border Wars and the headquarters of many pro-slavery men who commonly
stormed into Kansas Territory.
To be clear, this was way
south at the time. Wagons had to drudge through practically impassable rocky
roads perched on the bluffs to get to this new little settlement of the city.
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| Metropolitan Block, McGee's Addition from 1858 |
As he carefully carved out roads and lots in the middle of a
corn field, people laughed at his ambitions “way out in the country.” P.G.
Brock, pioneer engineer, stated in 1887, “We all thought that Milt McGee a
speculative idiot for hitching on his addition to the town.”
Milt managed to encourage people to buy lots in his new Addition
by selling them cheap and only requiring them to promise to build. When he
started his escapade, the only building that existed was his own home at 16th
and Baltimore.
Not only did Milt build in the wilderness, but he also fashioned
an incredibly wide street in the middle of it. He called it “Grand Avenue” and
made sure that its width was as impressive as large boulevards and avenues in large
eastern cities.
Grand Ave. became the widest street in town, and to solidify
its prominence, Milt built a row of two story brick buildings on the east side
of Grand at current-day 13th St.- right in the center of a corn
field. This was the first brick block in all of the city.
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| 1868 advertisement for McGee's Edition published in the newspaper |
In the middle of McGee’s Addition, he built a park (aptly
called McGee’s Park) and named the some of the streets after his family:
Eleanor (Main St.), James (Walnut), Laurel (Oak) and Hackberry (Cherry) ran through
the area, and later streets Mobillion, Milton, Gertrude, Catherine and Amelia
were added.
In 1857, the population of the city was 700; only 21 people
claimed to live in McGee’s Addition and eight buildings had been built.
Milt was a Southerner and infamous wheeler and dealer. He would
meet riverboats filled with droves of people and their earthly possessions at Westport
Landing. Accompanied by a full brass band serenading their arrival and huge
banners announcing his affordable prices for land, Milt would expound of the
greatness of Kansas City and push for the new arrivals buy lots. He was able to
convince some to abandon their westward migration to Kansas Territory and move
a little bit south to McGee’s Addition.
It worked.
Pioneer settler Joseph M. Chick said in 1908, “No one except
Milt McGee would have a lot south of 5th and Main St. 50 years ago, $30
was a good price for big lot south at that point.”
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| Milt McGee's home at 16th and Baltimore taken before 1868 Note the brass band and the unicyclist relaxing on the lawn |
By 1860, just three years after platting the “preposterous”
McGee’s Addition, the area boasted a population of 2,319 and had 469 buildings.
He had always dabbled in politics, assisting his brothers in
electing pro-slavery candidates to the Kansas Bogus Legislature. He would offer
free rides to the polls in Kansas City – but only if you voted for his friends.
A staunch Democrat, he was elected as State Representative
in 1862 and as State Senator in 1865. Pro-slavery before the war but a
supporter of the Union at the outbreak, Milt’s home and hotel were oftentimes a
stopover to many who fought as border ruffians. It was said that after the war
broke out, Milt freed one of his slaves so he could be of use to the Union as a
scout.
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| Milt McGee with a group of Native Americans. Date unknown but likely in the late 1860s. Photo courtesy of the McGee family |
This is what saved Milt from being thrown out of Kansas City
during the war.
In 1868, he upgraded his home and, according to his obituary
in the Kansas City Times, the 13 acre
grounds had an entrance gate made from the lower jawbones of a whale and
included a private zoo complete with a brown bear, a dozen deer, two bald eagles
and other wildlife roaming in a five acre enclosure.
His political reputation during the Civil War and being a
proponent of railroad expansion to Kansas City led him to run for mayor in
1870. On election day, it was reported that Milt supplied kegs of beer on
street corners and voters could get a nip of whiskey from one of the barrels at
his home.
He won.
After serving a year, Milt retired back to his home and continued
to be active in city development. On February 11th, 1873, just days
after returning from a trip from New Orleans, Milt went to lay down and never woke
up from his rest. He was 54 years old.
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| A current view of where the Metropolitan Block of Kansas City was |
Evidence of Milt McGee’s contribution to our beloved Kansas City
can be seen in remnants today. One street that he named does remain as the city
slowly swallowed his family’s namesakes into the street names we know today.
McGee St., of course, does remain.
His hotel was swallowed up by the city and was torn down in
1889 to make way for a brick business block on Grand Ave. between 16th
and 17th St. By the 1930s, only one building remained as real estate
drove prices up and the buildings of McGee’s Addition into the ground. Today,
none stand.
McGee’s Addition today includes Kansas City’s newest landmarks
such as Sprint Center and Power and Light.
Menard and James
Hyatt McGee, Jr- When Guns Go Blazing
The last of the McGee boys born to James H. and Eleanor Fry were
Francis Manor (Menard) McGee (1831-1864) and James Hyatt McGee, Jr. (1837-1895).
Although not as well-known as their other brothers, Menard and James still are
a good portrait of early Kansas City history.
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| (L-R) James, Milt, Mobillion and Allen B.H. McGee, cir 1871 taken in front of the McGee homestead. |
Both these boys were quite young when their father died in
1840, but that didn’t stop them from their duties as a McGee. Both seemed to
spend some time in Osage Co. with Fry and Mobillion, and in 1854-55, they spent
time in Arkansas on a hunting excursion.
It is said that Menard and James killed 34 buffalo in just
shy of two days.
Their love of hunting drew them together, but their paths
varied quite a bit due to inevitable events of the time.
Menard was the only one of his brothers to join organized
service. At the outbreak of the war, he served as a private in Co. D, 3rd
Missouri Volunteer Infantry. His swiftness with a gun was vital in battles at
Pea Ridge, Corinth, Vicksburg and Atlanta.
However, time was running out quickly for Menard.
In a desperate charge led by Gen. Cockrell in Franklin, Tn.
where 600 Missouri men were apparently killed, Menard lost his life on November
30th, 1864. Union losses at Franklin were 189; the Confederates lost
1,750 men. He was 33 years old and unwed.
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| Battle of Franklin illustration (1890), courtesy of Library of Congress |
He was brought back to Jackson Co. and his family erected a
beautiful monument to him at their family cemetery. He, with others, was moved
to Elmwood Cemetery.
James H. McGee, Jr. used his power of the firearm in a
different way. After marrying Ruth Thompson in Clay Co. in 1859, James was
involved in a few skirmishes around the area but never served in formal
military service.
In 1858, he platted J.H. McGee’s Addition, an area that
bordered his mother’s home on the south side and McGee’s Addition, platted one
year earlier by Milt on the east side. Today, this is land that includes 15th
to 17th St. between Broadway and Main St.
In addition to early dabbling in real estate, James also was
involved in livestock trade; however, his love of sports guided him in future
endeavors.
The father of four children, James became most known for his
involvement in hunting and fishing. He was considered to be a “splendid shot”
and a nationally recognized sharp shooter. His love of the sport led him to be
a charter member of the Kansas City Gun Club and one of the earliest promoters
of the Missouri State Fish and Game Protective Association, now part of the Missouri
Department of Conservation.
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| Illustration of James H. McGee, Jr. published in the Kansas City Star (1895) |
By the 1880 census, James was working as a gun dealer.
Perhaps his love of the hunt got in the way of more practical ways of making money.
It was written that “he was at one time a wealthy man but of late years had
reverses.”
So, the youngest of the McGee boys didn’t inherit the ability
to manage his financial wealth that he once had.
On August 21st, 1895, 55-year-old James was found
by his daughter in a very concerning state. His breathing was heavy and the damage
had been done. The Kansas City Star reported
that James “had been for a long time troubled with insomnia and had been
compelled to resort to artificial means to produce sleep.”
James H. McGee, Jr. was
a user of morphine. This use killed him.
At the time of his death, all of his 13 siblings had passed away
except for A.B.H. McGee. His oldest sister, Amelia, had died less than a month earlier
at the age of 82.
Today, J.H. McGee’s Addition includes the Kauffman Center of
the Performing Arts and Webster House.
So Many McGees, So
Many Stories
Believe it or not, I have only scratched the surface of how
much the McGees influenced the early history of the area. Today, our city wouldn’t
look the same without the gusto of brave man and woman who plucked their family
from Kentucky bluegrass and successfully established them just past the bluffs
along the Missouri River in what would be the heart of our cherished city.
Other articles of interest:
The Founding of Kansas City - "The Land Dispute That Led to the Town of Kansas"- click here
Allen Burr Harrison McGee- "The McGees of Kansas City: A Pioneer Legacy" - click here
Election Frauds in 1855- "A Bit of Bull at Bull Creek: The Kansas Frauds of 1855" - click here
Other articles of interest:
The Founding of Kansas City - "The Land Dispute That Led to the Town of Kansas"- click here
Allen Burr Harrison McGee- "The McGees of Kansas City: A Pioneer Legacy" - click here
Election Frauds in 1855- "A Bit of Bull at Bull Creek: The Kansas Frauds of 1855" - click here
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