Fleming McGaw (Megaw)

MCGAW, MEGAW

Posted By: Richard York (email)
Date: 6/16/2013 at 16:02:25

Boone County Republican 1877

Died at his residence in Worth township, Saturday morning, Nov. 3d of intermittent typhoid fever, Fleming Megaw, in the seventieth year of his age. The above notice chronicles the passing away of another of the old settlers of the county. Mr. Megaw was a native of Philadelphia, where he learned his trade, that of carpenter and joiner, and where he grew up to manhood. He was a soldier in the Mexican war and participated in many of the hard fought battles of that great struggle, being a non commissioned officer in a cavalry company in the division of General Phil. Kearney, the gallant commander, who afterwards lost his life in one of the Virginia campaigns during the late Rebellion. In a cavalry charge in Mexico, Megaw met with an accident which disabled him and from which he never fully recovered. The horse he rode stumbled and fell upon him in such a way as to injure him internally, and cause him to suffer for many years. It is believed that for a number of years he has been the sole survivor of the company to which he belonged. He was an active and out spoken friend of the Union cause during the late war, and had he been physically able to perform the duties of a soldier in that struggle, there is no doubt that he would have entered the army. He was a man of fine social qualities, scrupulously honest in all his dealings, a warm and true friend and neighbor, and a good citizen. He was probably one of the best mechanics in the county, and the evidences of his skill are seen in many of the dwellings and other buildings of the older settlers in the southern half of the country, as well as in Boonsboro and Boone. In this city he helped to build the first business house erected here in 1865. He was twice married, his second wife and two grown children surviving him. The funeral, which was largely attended by his old friends and neighbors, took place at the old home on Sunday, and the remains were buried in the graveyard in the Boone neighborhood. Many of those who thus assisted in paying the last sad rites of respect too their old neighbor evinced a personal sorrow in the loss which not only the bereaved family, but they themselves had sustained. They had learned to know and respect the man despite his faults, and they had proved his worth and sterling qualities of head and heart, through long years of association. Peace to his ashes.

Note: spouse 1) Eliza K. Edmonds-daughters Lydia Ann Megaw and Sarah Barnes Megaw 2) Rachel Johnson-son Samuel Megaw (McGaw)