Thomas Maloney

THOMAS MALONEY. - Among the Kansas pioneers - men of strength and daring and integrity - who in the early days subdued the splendid untamed acres and blazed the trail for latter-day civilization, was Thomas Maloney, a native of Ireland, whose memory is still held dear in the hearts of those who knew him. He was born in County Clare, Ireland, in 1808, and came to America when twenty-five years of age, in search of the wider independence and opportunity of the new world - the land of promise - as it appears to the foreigner. After landing he located for a time in the great city in which he had first put foot, New York, and he then went to New Orleans. In that southern city he married Margaret Shea and came to Wyandotte county in 1863, when the Civil war was in progress. He located on the Mary Walker place where the water works plant is now situated and rented here for four years. Desiring to be more independent he bought thirty acres from the Indians, all of this being in a wild and uncultivated state. There was a log house built by the Indians upon this land and Mr. Maloney had to cut through the thick brush to get into the house. Then the timber was so thick upon his place that upon one occasion he got lost upon it when hunting the cows.

With courageous determination he set to work single handed to clear the tract and here met with success in his operations. In 1888 he built a more modern home, after removing the structure built by the Indians in which his children had been reared. His devoted wife and helpmeet was taken from him in 1889 at the age of sixty-eight years and is buried in the St. Johns cemetery, where now beside her rests her husband. He lived to a great old age, being ninety-five years old when summoned to the Great Beyond, the year of his demise being 1903.

To the union of Thomas Maloney and his good wife were born three children, as follows: Mary Ann, now Mrs. Hugh Brougham, born October 23, 1851, and living on Parallel road; Joseph A., born March 23, 1858, an electrical engineer now residing in Mobile, Alabama; and Matilda Agnes, born October 30, 1861. These children attended the district school, with the exception of Mary who was educated in Kansas City, Kansas.

The daughter Matilda is the sole owner of the old home and she is still living upon it. It also includes eighteen and one-half acres, bought subsequent to the original tract. The farm is in grass and alfalfa and is well located and valuable.

Joseph A. Maloney was one of the organizers of the horse league that put a quietus on the horse thieves in this part of the country in the early days. A Democrat in politics and a Catholic in religious belief, he was one of the charter members and organizers of St. Mary's church, now the parish of Father Anthony Kuhl.