Home > United States of America > Nebraska > Box Butte County > Hemingford > Hemingford Cemetery > John Chalmers McCorkle

John Chalmers McCorkle

View larger map

Birth	:	31 Jan 1858 Iowa, USA
Death	:	1934 Box Butte County, Nebraska, USA
Burial	:	Hemingford Cemetery, Hemingford, Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate	:	42.3125000, -103.0541992
Plot	:	Section 3, Area C, Space 10H
Inscription	:	Father
Description	:	John C. McCorkle Manager of the Nebraska Land Company of Alliance, is a well known and highly respected citizen of Box Butte county, and has been one of its most substantial stock raisers and ranchmen, as he is one of the early settlers of the Panhandle, having passed more than thirty-four years in western Nebraska. Wonderful changes have been wrought in that time and, in a way, they may be typified by the comparison between Mr. McCorkle's first home, a tent in summer and a log house for winter, on a lonely wind swept prairie, with his present handsome... Read More	John C. McCorkle Manager of the Nebraska Land Company of Alliance, is a well known and highly respected citizen of Box Butte county, and has been one of its most substantial stock raisers and ranchmen, as he is one of the early settlers of the Panhandle, having passed more than thirty-four years in western Nebraska. Wonderful changes have been wrought in that time and, in a way, they may be typified by the comparison between Mr. McCorkle's first home, a tent in summer and a log house for winter, on a lonely wind swept prairie, with his present handsome residence in the city. In all this change and development Mr. McCorkle has taken an active part and today is one of the foremost factors in opening up the still available virgin farm lands of the county. Mr. McCorkle was born in Columbia, Iowa, the son of John G. and Susan (Rumsey) McCorkle, the former a native of Indiana. He was next to the youngest in a family of nine children born to his parents and remembers with a whimsical smile that the first money he earned was helping his brother herd sheep at a salary of ten cents a day. John McCorkle was a farmer in Iowa so that the children were reared in the country, attended the public school near their home which required a walk of three miles back and forth each day. The boy remained at home until his seventeenth year, then worked for his brother driving oxen breaking hazel brush land in Iowa. On March 12, 1878, Mr. McCorkle married Miss Flora McMannis, born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, the daughter of Jawhue McMannis, and to this union four children were born: Minet, died in infancy; Inez L. (McCorkle) Dunning, a widow who has one child six years old and now resides in Alliance with her parents, was a graduate of the Peru Normal school and taught in the Alliance schools for eight years; Orville, deceased, and Norman A., a graduate of the high school at Alliance who later took a special course in the Boyle Business College of Omaha, then entered the superintendent's office of the Burlington Railroad, remaining three years before he enlisted in the navy when war was declared against Germany. Mr. McCorkle was assistant recruiting officer at Kansas City four months before being transferred to New York and shortly assigned to duty abroad the Iowan, a freighter. He made one trip across the Atlantic on her when she was made into a transport, following which he made three trips to Europe safely, and was mustered out of the service in Kansas City in April, 1919, and at present is located on a two thousand acre ranch in which he holds a large interest. John, McCorkle came to western Nebraska in July, 1886, on account of his wife's health. They camped out at first in a tent on Pine Ridge, Dawes county, forty miles northwest of the present town of Alliance. During that first summer he broke sod on the prairie for the amusement of it as he had become very expert in this method of plowing in his youthful days in the hazel brush of Iowa. The country was thinly populated, settlers were few and far between and the Panhandle of that day deserved the name of "wild and woolly west." Early in the fall a heavy snow fell and Mr. McCorkle and his wife were unable to make the trip back to the home at Superior, Nebraska, so Mr. McCorkle built a comfortable log house, took a pre-emption claim, remained during the winter of 1886 and spring of 1887, proved up on it and was thus enabled to put a mortgage on the land and raised sixteen hundred dollars in cash for his living expenses and also bought a good team of oxen, the best animals for breaking prairie sod. He then filed on a homestead, commuted this claim and raised another sixteen hundred dollars with which money he engaged in the live-stock business. That was the heigh-day of the cattle business as there were vast stretches of open range over which the great baronial cattle companies ranged immense herds, while smaller dealers were also able to take advantage of the government privileges. Mr. McCorkle bought and sold live stock on a large scale from 1887 to 1890, living during that period on the homestead. The latter year he moved into the town of Hemingford, there establishing a cattle and hog market of his own and at the same time began to deal in horses. In 1893, he shipped two cars of the finest horse flesh ever gathered together in the northwest as they were from four to six years old and weighed from twelve to fifteen hundred pounds, selling at about seventy-seven dollars apiece in the St. Louis market, a remarkable price for that time. In 1895 Mr. McCorkle sold his business to accept a position as foreman of the Carey and Arle Cattle Company at a salary of twenty-five dollars for himself and wife, who cooked for the outfit, but it needs not be said that the salary was very soon raised when the owners found what an excellent manager they had. For nearly eleven years the McCorkles remained with this company who made it well worth their while to do so. In the fall of 1905, they came to Alliance to live and Mr. McCorkle went into the real estate firm of Watkins and Tagean, which then became Watkins, Tagean and McCorkle, though Mr. McCorkle still had outside business interests as a live-stock man. Two years later Mr. McCorkle bought out his partners in the real estate branch and reorganized it as the Nebraska Land and Loan Company, becoming its chief executive and manager. Under his management anyone can buy an interest in the company, as it will sell a customer a farm at an agreed price, the customer holding the deed and title in his own name and when the land is sold he receives one-half the advance on the land for his profit in the company, which incurs all the expense of handling and selling the land, thus putting the time and expense against the stockholder's investment, though he holds the security, which makes a most satisfactory and absolutely safe investment. The office of the company is located on the first floor of the First National Bank, on Box Butte Avenue, where the books show more than a hundred satisfied customers. At the present time Mr. McCorkle and his son Norman are in charge of the business which has proved a success in every way and a most desirable investment. Their farms and ranches offer many and varied opportunities to anyone who has money on which they desire a good return and at the same time an absolutely sound proposition. Source: History of Western Nebraska and Its People; Banner, Box Butte, Cheyenne, Dawes, Deuel, Garden, Kimball, Morrill, Scotts Bluff, Sheridan, and Sioux Counties. A Group Often Called The Panhandle of Nebraska, 1921 Transcribed by: Mary Saggio Contributor: Marvin Bowman (46921462)

frequently asked questions (FAQ):

Where is John Chalmers McCorkle's memorial?
John Chalmers McCorkle's memorial is located at: Hemingford Cemetery, Hemingford, Box Butte County, USA.
When did John Chalmers McCorkle death?
John Chalmers McCorkle death on 1934 in Box Butte County, Nebraska, USA
Where are the coordinates of the John Chalmers McCorkle's memorial?
Latitude: 42.3125000
Longitude: -103.0541992

Family Members:

Parent

Spouse

Flora Ann McMannis McCorkle

(1860 - 1950)

Siblings

Sallie Ann McCorkle Landon

(1850 - 1886)

Samuel P McCorkle

(1862 - 1899)

Children

Inice Laverne McCorkle Dunning

(1879 - 1970)

Orville Bliss McCorkle

(1880 - 1899)

Minet McCorkle

(1890 - 1890)

Flowers:

Nearby Cemetories:

1. Hemingford Cemetery
Hemingford, Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.3125000, -103.0541992

2. Saint Johns Lutheran Cemetery
Hemingford, Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.2785520, -103.0046210

3. Nonpareil Cemetery
Hemingford, Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.2631149, -103.0824258

4. Ball Cemetery
Hemingford, Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.3372300, -103.2293300

5. Pioneer-Box Butte Cemetery
Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.3640700, -102.8502400

6. Katen Cemetery
Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.4267006, -102.8908005

7. Lawn Cemetery
Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.3224630, -103.3083830

8. Fairview Cemetery
Alliance, Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.2409160, -102.7879280

9. Marsland Cemetery
Marsland, Dawes County, USA
Coordinate: 42.4660988, -103.2838974

10. Saint Johns United Lutheran Church Columbarium
Alliance, Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.1178900, -102.8794100

11. Calvary Cemetery
Alliance, Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.1264000, -102.8569031

12. Saint Matthews Episcopal Church Columbarium
Alliance, Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.1106300, -102.8748000

13. Bohemian Pioneer Cemetery
Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.2946300, -103.3862200

14. Immanuel Lutheran Church Columbarium
Alliance, Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.1053100, -102.8711700

15. United Methodist Church Columbarium
Alliance, Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.1013300, -102.8710400

16. Alliance Cemetery
Alliance, Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.1104965, -102.8367996

17. Snake Creek Cemetery
Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0889015, -103.2742004

18. Pleasant Hill Cemetery
Chadron, Dawes County, USA
Coordinate: 42.5547300, -102.8429000

19. Evergreen Cemetery
Alliance, Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0244000, -103.0542000

20. Nebraska Veterans Cemetery
Alliance, Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0745700, -102.8182800

21. Belmont Cemetery
Belmont, Dawes County, USA
Coordinate: 42.5527992, -103.2964020

22. Highland Center Cemetery
Dawes County, USA
Coordinate: 42.6100006, -103.1258011

23. Letan Cemetery
Letan, Box Butte County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0162290, -102.9367660

24. Saint Peters Cemetery
Sheridan County, USA
Coordinate: 42.4975014, -102.7161026