McKeown, William (1828-1902)

MCKEOWN

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 4/2/2008 at 22:12:57

William Wesley McKeown
Mar 7, 1828 - July 4, 1902

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.79, Boomer Twp.)
William McKeown, farming, P. O. Harrison, was born in 1828 in Beckwith Township, County of Kent, Upper Canada. He is the son of William McKeown who died before our subject was born. His mother was Jane (Lucas) McKeown; she died in Boomer Township. He was raised on a farm and has followed it for a living all his life. His parents both came from the old country, mother from Ireland, and father born in Ireland, but of Scotch parents, and they were married in Montreal, Canada. He came to Pottawattamie County in 1847, and was at Bybee's Camp that winter. Was married May 9, 1848, also in this township, and has lived here ever since. His wife was Miss Eliza Jane Hall. She had come with her brother from Indiana in 1847. He entered his land, part in 1853 and part in 1855, entering 280 acres, most of which he still holds, and also has bought some meadow land in bottom on Big Pigeon. His farming is mostly corn, but has some stock. When here for some time there was no money to be obtained, so they worked for anything they could get - harvesting for a bushel of corn a day, and used a sickle. Their first house was made of logs, 14 x 16 feet, and covered with split boards. The first year or two, but little prairie was broken, because they did not hvae the teams, but would go where the timber was light and cut it off, then one yoke of cattle could break it. The cultivating was done with a single shovel mostly, some working a horse, others an ox. Their milling first was at the old Indian mill on the Mosquito, but, in 1849, a bill was built on Pigeon Creek in Hazel Dell Township, and then they went to it. Some stores having been opened up, their supplies soon came from Council Bluffs, but the first season they crossed the river to a settlement on the Nebraska side, where there was a store. He is Democratic in politics; is a member of the re-organized Latter-Day Saints' Church. His grandfather was a millwright, and was working at a mill in Ireland, when he was caught and crushed. His wife, or Mr. McKeown's grandmother, was sent for, so she went from Scotland to Ireland, and remained there, and her child was born there, but never saw his father. Mr. McKeown's father remained there till he went to Canada. Mr. McKeown has been married twice; first, in May, 1848 to Miss Eliza Jane Hall, who died in 1870; was married again, in 1873, to Miss Janet H. Kirkwood. He had eleven children by his first wife, nine of whom are still living; he had five by last wife, four now living. Of the thirteen living children, eight are boys and five girls; four are married. The oldest, William Alfred, is married and farming in Boomer Township. Two of his sons, Thomas Allen and Robert, are now engaged in the stock business in Nebraska. Joseph is also married and has a fmaily; he also is farming in Boomer Township. Two of his daughters are married, and are alos living in Boomer Township.

(From the 1891 Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa. p.356)
WILLIAM McKEOWN, farmer, was born in Upper Canada, March 7, 1828, the son of William and Jane (LUCAS) McKEOWN, natives of Ireland but of Scotch ancestry. The senior McKEOWN was a millwright by trade and went to Ireland to work, where he was eventually killed. His son, the father of the subject of this sketch, was left in the world at an early age as an orphan. In 1815 he came to America, landing in Quebec, Canada. He was married to Jane LUCAS, daughter of Andrew and Elizabeth (EDWARDS) LUCAS, natives of Ireland, who came to America in 1818, landing also at Quebec. Mr. Andrew LUCAS was also a farmer, and in his family were thirteen children, viz.: James, Mary, and five others are deceased; George resides in Upper Canada; Ann is the wife of James EDWARDS of Michigan; Andrew is in Canada; and Elizabeth is the wife of George FULLER, also in that Dominion. Jane was born in 1800, brought up as a farmer's daughter, and was married at the age of twenty years. They settled on a homestead, where they remained eight years, and where Mr. McKEOWN died in October 1827, leaving his wife and four children, namely: Thomas, deceased; Jane, the wife of Robert GARDNER and residing in Utah; Elizabeth, the wife of Robert BRICE and living in Canada; and William, the subject of this notice.
The latter, born after his father's death, has never known parental care and protection, and when he was one year old, his mother married James KILFOYLE, a native of Ireland who came to America in 1824 and was a farmer. After that marriage, they moved to Canada West, and in 1848 came to Pottawattamie County where his wife died April 18, 1853. They were the parents of nine children, thus: Francis, deceased; Andrew, residing in Utah Territory; Mary Ann (1) who died in infancy; Mary Ann (2) who married James DAY and has since died; Caroline, who married George SNYDER and has since died; Martha, deceased; Rachel, the wife of John WINEGAR and residing in Utah; Wesley, residing in Orleans; and James, also a resident of Utah. After Mrs. KILFOYLE's death, Mr. KILFOYLE married again, in Utah, and remained in that Territory until his death in 1871 or 1872.
Mr. McKEOWN, whose name heads this sketch, left home at the age of twelve years with the consent of his mother and worked as a laborer, his earnings going to her support. In 1847 he came to Pottawattamie County and settled on 280 acres of wild and rough prairie land in Bloomer Township, the following May. He married Eliza Jane Hall, May 9, 1848, who was the daughter of Joseph and Johanna (CHILLIS) HALL, natives of New York state, and the parents of eleven children, viz.: Joshua, Mary, Alfred, deceased; Joseph, residing in Missouri; Mark, in Utah; five died in infancy. Mrs. Eliza McKEOWN was born in Indiana July 10, 1826, and came to Iowa in 1846, and the next year to this county. She was married in 1848 at the age of twenty-two years. Mr. McKEOWN began to improve his land by erecting a log cabin 14 X 14, building the usual barns, fences, etc., and breaking the land with oxen which he had himself reared; and here he experienced many of the hardships of pioneer life in a wild country. When he reaped his first little harvest, his parents came and he gave up his home and farm once more. After the number of changes from place to place, he - in 1853 - bought forty acres of his present place and spent a year with his wife's father in Missouri. Since then he has added to that first purchase until he now has 280 acres on sections 31 and 32; he has sold forty acres. He has made many valuable improvements in the way of barn, sheds, etc., and erected a fine frame house 16 X 36 feet, two stories high, with cellar 16 X 36. Ornamental trees and an orchard add value to the premises. He has a good farm, of which 240 acres are in cultivation, and the remainder in hay, pasture and timber. He has been a hard-working and industrious man, and now in his old days he has a comfortable home to enjoy.
He takes an active interest in Democracy, has been the Trustee, Road Supervisor and on the Board of Education, and is zealously interested in the promotion of the welfare of his community. He is a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints, as was also his wife, and is highly respected by his fellow citizens. Mrs. McKeown died February 4, 1870, leaving eleven children, born and named as follows: William Alfred, born March 26, 1850, resides in Pottawattamie County; Thomas Allen, born in Indiana, January 9, 1852, now living in Nebraska; Joseph Hall, born in Missouri, June 7, 1854, and now residing in Pottawattamie County; Mary Elizabeth, wife of William BROTHERTON, was born June 12, 1856, and resides in Harrison County, Iowa; Robert Henry, born May 2, 1858, now lives in Nebraska; a girl was next born, November 12, 1859, died in infancy; Martha Jane, wife of Peter ACTON, was born February 20, 1861, and resides in Pottawattamie County; Johanna, born July 30, 1863, is now living in Nebraska; Eliza Ellen, born June 3, 1865, died March 16, 1880; David Albert, born February 16, 1867, resides in Utah; George Wesley, born January 13, 1870, also resides in Utah.
After the death of his wife, February 11, 1873, Mr. McKEOWN married Jennet KIRKWOOD, the daughter of Robert and Mary (MUIR) KIRKWOOD, whose history will be found on another page. By the last marriage, there are nine children, as follows: Arthur Lee, born May 22, 1874; Agnes Belle, August 27, 1875; John Robert, April 7, 1877; Grace May, August 22, 1879; Susan Janet, March 9, 1880; Violet, December 11, 1884; Margaret, November 7, 1885; Alice Annye, July 30, 1887; and Emma Melissa, March 10, 1889. All these children are still at home; two are members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints.