Los Angeles County
Biographies
JOHN J. MAXEY
MAXEY, JOHN J., Capitalist, Los Angeles, California, is a native of Ireland, having been born in Tipperary on June 14, 1839. His father was Patrick Maxey and his mother was Margaret (Slingsby) Maxey. Mr. Maxey married in Atchison, Kansas, February 10, 1865, Miss Anna Burk. Six children have been born to them.
When he was four years old Mr. Maxey was brought to the United States and lived at St. Joseph, Missouri, where he grew up, and attended the public schools of that place until 1859, when he launched out for himself into a career which was to be marked by extraordinary activity and adventure.
His first business experience was in engaging in the wagon and carriage business in Western Missouri. He prospered, but the Civil War brought disorder and uncertainty in the region he was working in, and he was forced to abandon his efforts as an independent dealer in the towns where he had opened his business; soon the struggles going on through the country caused him to return to St. Joseph, where he was obliged for a time to work as an employe in a wagon and carriage concern.
In the year 1861 there were two avenues which engaged the attention of men of bold activities; one was the South, where the conflict was being waged, and the other was the then really wild West, with its mysteries and its promises of wealth. Mr. Maxey chose the latter, and in that same year left St. Joseph with a party who made Denver their object, and their means of transportation were wagons drawn by oxen.
On arriving at Denver Mr. Maxey at once found an opening for the knowledge he had already gained; he set u in the blacksmithing and wagon business, making the outfitting of “prairie schooners” a large part of his business, for at that era Denver was the outpost and outfitting point for those who had in view the hazardous journey to California.
In 1862, when Mr. Maxey was but twenty-three years of age, he was engaged by the famous Ben Holliday as a mechanic, going back and forth with the Holliday stages shoeing their horses and repairing the coaches.
That was the time of adventure with the hostile Indians, and Mr. Maxey had his share of those perils in his trips from the Missouri River to California; in the winter of 1865 he was engaged in a running fight with Indians in the now staid and commonplace region between Denver and Atchison, Kansas, and to save his life had to lose the coach.
In the spring of 1866 Mr. Maxey engaged again in coach repairing and general blacksmithing in Denver, but in 1868 became associated as a partner in business with W. J. Kinsey. In 1868 this association was dissolved and Mr. Maxey went into business again for himself, adding farm implements to his stock. At the same time he engaged in the livestock business on a large ranch he had acquired.
So well did he prosecute his affairs that in 1876 he sold out his varied interests and moved to Los Angeles. After arriving in California he found a pleasant occupation in orange culture, and in looking after his personal interests, which consist of large estates in Denver and Los Angeles. All of his property Mr. Maxey administers through the J. J. Maxey corporation, of which he is president.
He is a man of most entertaining character. His stories of the pioneer days would form the
most interesting reading for future generations. He had an intimate acquaintance with most of the
noted characters of the West, men we can but hear about now or see imitated in a Wild West show.
He possesses an intimate knowledge of the early Los Angeles and remembers well the small beginning of most of the great financial institutions of that city.
Transcribed 1-8-10
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 362, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta.
1913.
© 2010 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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