My Genealogy Hound

JOHN MAHON was born in Delaware county, N. Y., October 5, 1824. His father, Paul Mahon, was born in Ireland and came to America in 1798. He was well educated and taught school in New York State for several years. He married Miss Lyda Moore, daughter of Col. John Moore, who served with distinction in the Revolutionary war. Soon after marriage they emigrated to Pennsylvania, where they resided during the remainder of their lives.

John Mahon was the fourth of a family of nine children. He left home when a lad ten years old, and has never seen his parents since. He went to New York and lived with an aunt until he was old enough to learn a trade, and then served an apprenticeship as a machinist at Troy, N. Y., and soon afterwards accepted a position in the United States arsenal at Springfield, Mass. He was in Washington, D. C, during the Polk administration, where he was connected with the Adams & Shoemaker Express Company. In 1846, he enlisted, at Brooklyn, N. Y., in the navy department and served on board the Trenton in the Mexican war. In 1848 he returned to New York, and soon sailed for California on the steamer Fremont. While in California he was engaged in mining and various enterprises. During his stay in the West he made several trips to Panama and various other places of note. He also spent several years in the Mare Island navy yard, now one of the largest in the United States. During his several years’ residence in California, he became intimately acquainted with many of the most prominent public men in that state. He was a special friend of Senator Broderick, who was killed by Judge Terry, and knew the latter very well, but disliked him very much. In 1869, he visited Pennsylvania, where he met and married Miss Harriet Kilgore. She was a daughter of W. H. and Lyda Kilgore, the former a native of New Jersey, the latter of Pennsylvania. Soon after marriage Mr. Mahon went to Idaho, where he worked at his trade for about a year. He came to Buffalo county, Nebr., in October, 1871, and was the first settler on the site where now stands the magnificent city of Kearney. He built the first house and helped to lay out the town site. He had charge of the real estate in the town belonging to the Union Pacific and B. & M. companies, for about two years.

In the spring of 1875 he assisted in the survey of the Fort Kearney Reservation and then took a claim on which he resided for about four years. He then moved to Custer county, where he was engaged in stock-raising for about ten years. He next purchased a farm near Armada in June, 1889, and is now living on it.

Mr. Mahon had a varied and interesting experience during his early settlement in this county. He was one of its earliest settlers and knows something about pioneer life in a new country. He has seen the time when buffalo were plenty in this county and has eaten some of the meat of a buffalo killed on the ground where Kearney now stands. He has watched with a keen eye the wonderful development of this country, and the rapid progress made has far exceeded his most sanguine expectations; but he believed from the start that there was a bright future in store for this rich and undeveloped valley of the Platte.

Mr. and Mrs. Mahon have but one child — Willie, born in Kearney, July 23, 1876. Mr. Mahon is a member of the Masonic and K. of P. fraternities and is also a member of the Pioneer Association of California. He is an ardent believer in temperance, and during his varied experience in life he has never tasted a drop of intoxicating liquor. He is no politician, but has always voted the republican ticket, he stands high socially and morally and enjoys the confidence and respect of all his associates.