Notes for Samuel McMahan.

Cooper County, Missouri Marriage Index microfilm indicates marriage:

1865 -1870 - McMahan, S. to Alice Tyler, reference Volume C, Page 320.

1870 Missouri Census, Cooper County, Lamine Township, Household 117, Family 121, dated 22 Jul 1870, Page number 17.

Household listing:

Saml McMahan, 37, M, W, Farmer, $2,000 Property value, $500 personal property, born in Mo., Citizen.
Alice G McMahan, 19, F, W, Keep House, born in Mo.
Delena, 2,F, W, born in Mo.
Nora B, 1, F, W, born in Mo.
Robert H McMahan, 28, M, W, Farm Hand, $350 personal property, born in Mo., Citizen. (This is a brother).
 

Samuel McMahan Biography

Samuel McMahan, an enterprising and energetic citizen and well-known business man of Arrow Rock, Saline County, Mo., has during his entire lifetime, identified himself with the prominent interest of the state. Born in Lamine Township, Cooper County, February 4, 1833, our subject has been successfully engaged in various pursuits, boating, merchandising and farming, and possessing the confidence of all his friends and neighbors, received his elective appointment as Justice of the Peace of Cooper County, an office whose duties he discharged for many years with signal ability.

The paternal grandfather, Samuel McMahan, was born in Kentucky, and in 1810, with his wife and family, removed to Missouri, and in 1811 located in Cooper County, and went into the fort built in those early days for protection from the Indians. The paternal grandmother was Miss Sarah Clark, daughter of Daniel Clark, a Kentuckian, who located in Boone County, Mo. The paternal grandparents were married in Kentucky and journeyed from that state to Missouri, traveling by wagon, and consuming many weeks on the way.

After about one year's residence in Missouri, Grandfather McMahan was killed by the savage Indians on his return home from Boonville, whither he had gone on important business. He was shot down by the Indians concealed in ambush. His body was found the next day faithfully guarded from the wild beasts by his two noble dogs, who kept their lonely vigil until the remains were discovered. It was supposed the Indians were creeping toward two men who were cutting honey out of the trees, and who ran for their lives when they heard the report of the shots.

A widow and five sons were left by his death without their nearest protector and friend. The sons were William, Thomas, Samuel W., John W., and Jesse. Twice had their home reduced to ashes by the barbarous Indians, and each time the family had escaped to Cooper's Fort, and there taken refuge. The grandmother remained upon the old homestead until her death, and many times assisted in preparing the buckskins, which in those pioneer days were largely for clothing. The father of our subject, Thomas McMahan, was born June 15, 1803, in the state of Kentucky, and, when only five years old, came with his parents to Missouri. He died in Cooper County in the spring of 1890, at the advanced age of eighty-five years. His wife was Miss Lucy, a daughter of Samuel Ridle, of Maryland. He resided upon the place where his father had located early in the history of the Territory of Missouri.

The extensive farm, constantly increasing in value, is still in the possession of the McMahans, and was held by father and son from 1811 until the death of the father of our subject, who, after living upon the old homestead nearly his entire lifetime, was buried there. His faithful and devoted wife passed away in May, 1867, and was interred beside her beloved husband. The farm is five miles below Arrow Rock and well known to all the residents of the county. The children of this pioneer couple were Erasmus, who died at the age of six years; Samuel, our subject; Sarah, who married William J. Harris, of Cooper County, and died in 1861; Margaret, married to Edward Brown, of Cooper County, Lamine Township; Robert, residing in Cooper County, three miles from Arrow Rock; and Benjamin, steam-boating on the Missouri River, owner and pilot, who lives in Cooper County.

Samuel McMahan, our subject, was married May 16, 1866, to Miss Alice J., a daughter of William and Edmonia (Turley) Tyler, of Cooper County. Mr. McMahan's early life was passed upon the old farm and boating upon the Missouri River. Our subject was in the wood and boating business for a number of years, nearly a score. The buying of land and cutting wood and selling it for fuel were then most profitable, and a business in which Mr. McMahan largely engaged. For about ten years of his early life, he farmed upon the old homestead and aided in caring for the large family of his parents until he was twenty-four years of age. He then built flatboats and ran them. Our subject now owns shares in a gasoline ferry boat, at Arrow Rock, the first of its kind in existence.

In 1882, he engaged in the mercantile business also in Arrow Rock, to which place he moved from his farm. Mr. McMahan sell dry goods, clothes, notions and fancy goods. During the war he enlisted with two of his brothers in Price's command; they were all captured in the southwest part of Missouri, and were imprisoned at Rock Island for six or seven months. Released in the spring of 1865, they made their way home. Mr. McMahan was with Price in his raid through Missouri, and was in Wood's Battalion, Marmaduke's Division. After the war he again resumed the handling and sale of wood. Mr. McMahan and all of his family are members of the Christian Church, of which he has been an honored Deacon for twenty years.

In political affiliations, our subject is an ardent Democrat, and has always been an active advocate of his party, ever taking a deep interest in local and national affairs. He was elected to the office of Justice of the Peace upon the Democratic ticket, and he was almost the unanimous choice of his fellow-citizens. The children of Mr. and Mrs. McMahan are Lena and Nora B., who, with their parents are widely known and highly esteemed.

The McMahans were among the very early pioneers of the Territory of Missouri, and their history is interwoven with the history of the State and nation. Grandfather McMahan was engaged in the Indian War of 1812, and was in Ft. Cooper when Cooper himself was killed. Thomas McMahan was a skillful veterinary surgeon, and had an extensive practice, and his services were sorely missed after his death. No family in the region can point with more pride to their record than the McMahans. But for pioneer men as were the father and grandfather of Samuel McMahan, America now would not be inhabitable. For their children and their descendents they shared uncomplainingly toil and privations, and we to-day reap the glorious harvest sown by brave ancestors amid sacrifice and death at the hands of the merciless savage.

Extracted from "Portrait & Biographical Record of Lafayette & Saline Counties, Missouri" - Chapman Brothers, 1893.

Notes for Alice Jane Tyler.

Middle Name and Birth and Death dates from Park Ridge cemetery record in Marshall Library, Marshall, Missouri.