Alexander Mcconkey

As printed in 1902

ALEXANDER McCONKEY.

Many a lesson may be gleaned from the experience of Alexander McConkey by the younger ‘generation, and none more vital than this—that absolute honesty is the essential cornerstone of character on which the entire superstructure must depend. - Persistence and courage in the face of difficulties also are necessary factors to success, and energy and determination must likewise lend their aid. These are the qualities which have brought prosperity to Mr. McConkey, so that he is now enabled, after years of active connection with agricultural pursuits, to live a retired life, his home being in the village of New Moorefield.

His birth occurred in Pleasant township, near Catawba, December 5, 1832, his parents being Daniel and Matilda (Neer) Mc- Conkey. His father was a son of Archibald and Nancy (Micha) McConkey. Archibald McConkey was a native of Belfast, Ireland. and after coming to America remained in New York for a time. On leaving the Empire state he removed to Kentucky, where he married Nancy Micha, a daughter of Cap- ‘tain Micha, who was an officer in the Revolutionary war, belonging toa New England.

regiment. Daniel McConkey was born in Kentucky, and in 1805, when about a year old, was brought to Ohio by his parents, the family locating one mile south of Catawba, where his father lived until eighty-five years of age. The farm on which he settled is still the property of his descendants. He was a soldier of the war of 1812. Throughout life Daniel MeConkey followed agricultural pursuits, operating the old homestead farm until called to his final rest April 5, 1856, when fifty-two years of age, his death being the result of an injury occasioned by a horse. His wife was a native of Loudoun county, Virginia, and in early life came to Ohio with her parents, Nathan and Jane Neer, settling on a portion of the present site of Catawba. She died in 1885, at the age of seventy-six years, and her remains were interred by the side of her husband in the McConkey cemetery, on the old home farm near Catawba. In the family of this worthy couple were eleven children, five sons and six daughters, of whom Alexander McConkey is the fourth in order of birth and the only one now living. His brother, Nathan McDonald, became captain of Company G, of the Ninetyfourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry and served until the close of the war. He was with Sherman on the famous march to the sea and also participated in the grand review in Washington. At the time of his death he was serving as superintendent of the Children’s Home in Springfield, and he had also been a county commissioner and for two terms represented his districtin the state legislature. A very prominent and influential citizen, he left the impress of his individuality upon public life. Archibald married Sarah Skillman and died in 1856, leaving three children. Enos was a wagonmaster during the civil war and a member of Company F, Eighth Ohio Cavalry. He married May Young and at his death left five children. Alexander was the next of the family. Hiram L. was a soldier of Company G, Ninety-fourth Ohio Volunteer Intantry, held the rank of orderly sergeant and was with Sherman throughout his campaigns. None of the four brothers who were in the army were ever wounded. Hiram was captured’ but was paroled before being taken to prison.

Our subject was reared in the township of his nativity, acquiring a good education in the common schools and worked by the month for a brother one year. His father died about that time and he and his brother then operated the home farm for a few years, or until 1856. Mr. McConkey was married April 14, 1857, to Miss Emeline Cartmell, who was born and reared in Pleasant township, a daughter of Thomas and Amanda (Fisher) Cartmell. Our subject then engaged in farming in Pleasant township until the fall of 1861, when, in the month of September, he donned the blue uniform of the nation and became a member of Company F, Forty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was soon afterward promoted to the rank of sergeant and served until January, 1864, when he veteranized. He was then second: lieutenant in the Eiehth Ohio Cavalry and later was profnoted to first lieutenant of Company D, serving in that capacity until a short time prior to the close of hostilities, when he was commissioned captain. Soon after this he resigned in the year 1865. He was first under fire at Cotton Mountain, at the time of the retreat of General Floyd, and was also in the battle at Lewisburg, and at Dutton Hill and took part in numerous skirmishes.

commissioned

He was in the siege of Knoxville and was captured at Beverly, West Virginia, after which he was sent to Libby prison on the 11th of January, 1864, and was there paroled on the 22d of February following. At the battle of Lewisburg his cap was shot through and thus he narrowly escaped death. At the battle of Libertyville, while on the Hunter raid to Lynchburg, his clothing was riddled with bullets. He was at Philippi, West Virginia, when he learned of Lincoln's assassination, and was a Harper’s Ferry at the time of Lee’s surrender.

While Mr. McConkey was in the service his wife and their one child made their home with her sister, who was the wife of his brother, Captain N. M. McConkey. When our subject returned home he resumed farming on the old homestead, where he lived for a number of years. He afterward spent nine years on the farm of Judge Good, in Moorefield township, and then purchased a tract of land in Champaign county, Ohio, where he lived for several years. At length he sold that property and purchased his present home in New Moorefield.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. McConkey have been born two children. Emma is the wife of S. J. Wilkerson, a member of the board of public affairs at Springfield, who also served as city clerk there for six years. They have four children, Nellie C., Charles McConkey, Florence Goode and Howard. Gilbert died at the age of nine years of lockjaw, caused by a broken arm. In 1901 Mr. McConkey was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who passed away on the 17th of October, of that year, her death being mourned by all who knew her. She was a faithful member of the Methodist Protestant church and an earnest Christian woman.

Mr. McConkey voted for John C. Fremont in 1856 and has supported each presidential candidate of the Republican party since that time. He is deeply interested in all political questions of the day and has served as a delegate to various conventions of his party, but has never been an office seeker, although in 1902 he was elected assessor. Long a (faithful and consistent member of the Methodist Protestant church he is now serving as class leader and as superintendent of the Sunday-school. To-day he is the only surviving member of the Catawba church that was identified with that organization when he joined in 1848. He belongs to N. M. McConkey Post at Catawba, has filled all of its offices and is a member of the Ohio Association of Union ex- Prisoners of War, with whom he has met in conventions at Marysville and at Clyde. His life has always been honorable and upright, and in citizenship he is as true and loyal to-day as when he followed the nation's starry banner upon the battlefields of the south.

As printed in A Biographical Record of Clark County Ohio (1902). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.