My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in The History of Washington County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

* * * *

Hugh F., J. S. and J. O. McDanield were born in Muskingum County, Ohio, the parents being B. F. and Sarah (Terrell) McDanield. The father was born in Frederick, Md., and when a young man immigrated to Ohio, where he married and reared his large family of eleven children. He and his wife are now enjoying their old age in Wyandotte County, Kan. Hugh F., the elder of our three subjects, was born in 1843, and died June 29, 1888. His boyhood was spent upon a farm, and upon the outbreak of the war, although scarcely of age, he enlisted in the Seventy-sixth Regiment of Ohio Volunteers, serving in battle and on picket line for three years. Re-enlisting at the end of that time in the veteran corps, he served till the close of the war. He then returned home, but being of an enterprising nature soon went to Kansas City, and until 1873 engaged in mercantile enterprises at that place. He then took a contract to build the Kansas Midland Railway from Kansas City to Topeka, and after its completion operated a ranch in the western portion of Texas some time. He then went to Houston and contracted to build the Texas Western Railway, which he completed in 1877. Returning then to Missouri he engaged in the railroad tie and lumber business. In 1881, having learned that the San Francisco Railway would build this way, he came to Fayetteville for the purpose of furnishing ties for the new division. He located permanently at this place, which is in a finely timbered country, and soon began the shipment of railroad ties to western markets, increasing their business year after year until he accumulated a large fortune. They furnished the Santa Fe Railway nearly all its ties, and in 1887 shipped 15,000 car loads, aggregating a business of $2,000,000. In 1886 Mr. McDanield began the building of the Fayetteville & Little Rock Railway, and in 1887 sold it to the ‘Frisco Road, which now operates it. He was the founder of the town of St. Paul, which is destined to become a famous summer resort of Northwest Arkansas, being beautifully situated among the mountains. September 9, l884, Mr. McDanield married Mrs. Emma Coons, of Kirksville, Mo. His death was largely and sincerely mourned, the community thereby losing one of its most honored men, and the State one of its most enterprising and influential citizens. J. O. McDanield was also engaged in farming during his boyhood, and for some years farmed in Benton County, Mo. He joined his brothers in the railroad business in the West, and possesses the same business qualities which contributed to their success. October 16, 1879, he married Miss Frances Haberthier, a native of Warren County, Mo., who is the mother of two children: John and Sarah C. He is a Knight Templar and a Republican.

* * * *

This family biography is one of 300 biographies included in The History of Washington County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Washington County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

To view additional Washington County, Arkansas family biographies, click here

Use the links at the top right of this page to search or browse thousands of other family biographies.