Joseph Mitchell Fegtly 1849-1931

FEGTLY, KUHN, FARREN, STALKER, TUCKER, RANDALL

Posted By: Fred Rucker (email)
Date: 9/13/2006 at 20:12:22

Joseph Mitchell Fegtly was the third of nine children of John Wesley and Martha Kuhn Fegtly. Born in Wayne County Ohio on 10 Mar 1849, he came to Van Buren in 1854 when his parents settled in Harrisburg Twp Utica. In 1877, he graduated from IWU and taught school. He left Van Buren for Butte Montana in the mid-1880s where he worked as a bookkeeper for a lumber company. In 1887, he married Mary Virgina Farren (1846-1900) in Missouri. As a foreman in the early 1890s, he ran Chinese labor camps building railroads in Montana. His wife’s health forced a move south where he worked in the lumber/building trades. After a divorce in 1903, he moved to Pasadena CA, later marrying Laurina Fraser Stalker in 1911. He died in Pasadena on 3 May 1931 and is buried there. He wrote several articles for The Enterprise (Birmingham) on his adventures out west.

Source: Compiled from family notes. He is my great-granduncle.

Obituary:

Joseph M. Feglty

Joseph M. Fegtly, a resident of Pasadena for twenty-eight years, passed away at his residence, 511 North Mentor avenue, yesterday. He is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Kate Tucker and Mrs. Sarah O. Randall, both of Pasadena; and one brother, Newton Fegtly of Vale, Ore.; also four nephews and four nieces. He was a member of Pasadena Presbyterian Church. Funeral services will be held tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. from the Orange Grove Chapel of C. Hal Reynolds, & John W. Eberle Mortuary, 825 East Orange Grove avenue, conducted by Rev. James Leishman. Burial will be at Mountain View."

Source: Unknown newspaper obituary, Monday, May 4, 1931.

Obituary

RITES FOR MONTANA PIONEER CONDUCTED

J.M. Fegtly's Career in Northwest Colorful

The eighty-two years of Joseph M. Fegtly, whose funeral was held yesterday, covered a most interesting period of history. An early part of his life was spent in Montana during the romantic days of that state, where he taught for a while and later went into the lumber business. His lumber operations brought him into connection with the building of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and his graphic descriptions of his experiences gave much entertainment to his friends.

At one time he was in charge of hundreds of Chinese laborers. There were many rough characters in the construction camps, and at times it was necessary to administer justice in a primitive way, far as they were from civilization and the protection of the law. Mr. Feglty came to Pasadena in 1903 and became a member of the Pasadena Presbyterian Church that same year. He survived his wife less than two years, and leaves two sisters, who live in Pasadena, a brother in Oregon, and several nieces and nephews. Dr. James Leishman had charge of the funeral.

Unknown newspaper obituary (1931)