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JAMES WILLIAM MANEY
Vol. 3, p. 1085-1086
Book has photo

James William MANEY, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was born January 3,
1862, in Pittsburg [sic], Pennsylvania. He is of Irish Parentage, his
father, Michael Maney, and his mother Johanna HARTNET, were born and
reared in County Kerry, Ireland, near the beautiful lakes of
Killarney. The grandfather of James William MANEY, on his father's
side, was a scholar and teacher in Tralee, County Kerry. Both parents
came to America in their youth and met for the first time in
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Memory of their native country drew them
together, and they were married in Pittsburg in 1850. Five children
were born to the union: Michael, James William, John, Anna and
Margaret. The eldest son, Michael, became a Catholic priest, and died
in the year 1910. The daughter, Margaret, died at the age of sixteen.
Anna is living in Oklahoma City, and John is a member of the firm of
Maney Brothers & Company, general contractors, of Oklahoma City. From
Pittsburg, Michael Maney and his wife went West and became pioneers
in Clark County, Iowa, where they reared a sturdy self reliant family.

James William MANEY grew to manhood on a farm, attending the public
schools, and finishing his education at college, in Red Oak, Iowa. At
the age of eighteen, he started in life for himself with no capital
except his hands, and a sturdy ambition. His Irish blood and his
pioneer training helped to make him the successful and influential
man he has become. He is in every sense a self-made man, having
without financial assistance fought his own way to success.

His first position was as a civil engineer with the Union Pacific
Railway, which he held for four years, severing his connection with
the railway company when twenty-two years old, and starting in the
contracting business.

His first railroad contract was on the Burlington, in the State of
Nebraska. His next important contract was on the Chicago &
Northwestern, when that line was built into the unsettled Black Hills
country, in South Dakota. The country then was very sparsely settled
by white people. Few white families having ventured into that portion
of the frontier, and the whites were largely miners, prospectors and
cowboys, while the rest of the population were Cheyenne and Sioux
Indians. The railroad was built into Deadwood, South Dakota, and over
this line was shipped the wealth from the Homestake Mine, which
became known as the greatest silver mine in the world.

On April 22, 1889, Oklahoma was opened to settlement, and following
the opening of the new country came the railroads. James W. MANEY has
the distinction of having built the second railroad into the new
state. As a young civil engineer and practical railroad builder,
whose successful experience as a railroad contractor made him well
known in several western states, James W. MANEY came into the new and
undeveloped country of Oklahoma in August 1889, and has ever since
been identified with the development and upbuilding of the state. He
soon had organized and perfected a staff of workmen, with ample
facilities for his business as railroad contractor, and he has
handled some very large contracts for railroad building in the state.
One contract alone provided for the construction of 250 miles of
road. A part of many lines in the West were constructed by Mr. MANEY,
and he continued actively in the railroad business and the upbuilding
of the new state.

In 1896 he married Miss Alphonsena Marie GERRER. Mrs. Maney died in
1912, the mother of six children, named Marie, Beatrice, Robert,
Agnes, Florence, and James W., Jr. all of whom are living in the
beautiful home in Oklahoma City.

In 1910, with other prominent men, he promoted the building of the
El Reno Interurban Electric Line, between El Reno and Oklahoma City.
In 1912 he purchased the controlling interest in a new line of
railroad, the Clinton and Oklahoma Western. He became president of
this railroad, and continued the line for thirty miles west.

In 1900 he entered the mill and grain business, building and
becoming president of the Weatherford Milling Company, The Canadian
Mill & Elevator Company, the Thomas Milling Company, and the MANEY
Export Company, of Oklahoma, and the MANEY Milling Company, of Omaha,
Nebraska, and has become one of the leading mill and grain men in
Oklahoma and Nebraska.

He is a man of constructive enterprise and his entire time and
attention has been given to important constructive works, and his
chief satisfaction has been in those permanent developments which he
has promoted and supported.

He owns the controlling interest in the Jordan Valley Land &
Irrigation Project, which comprises a tract of land of 50,000 acres
in one of the most fertile valleys in the State of Oregon, and is
developing this land for intense agricultural purposes. He owns many
farms scattered over Oklahoma, and has large property interests in
Oklahoma City.

James W. MANEY is a member of the Catholic Church, and is affiliated
with the Knights of Columbus, being the first Grand Knight of the
first council organized in the state. He is also affiliated with the
order of Elks. Politically he is a democrat, and in 1890 was elected
county surveyor of Canadian County, being re-elected for the second
term. He was the first to hold that office by election in the county.

This is a brief outline of his work and activities during his
residence in Oklahoma, but is sufficient to indicate the value to the
material and civic upbuilding of the state which has resulted from
the career of this enterprising man.

Typed for OKGenWeb by: Donald E. Conley, November 6, 1998.