James McCluggage, a Butler county pioneer and prominent citizen of Richland township, is a son of Thomas and Eliza J. (Kerr) McCluggage, who were born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, but spent most of their lives in Holmes county, Ohio. The McCluggages were descended from Irish stock. In his earlier life in Pennsylvania, Thomas McCluggage freighted with a large six-horse wagon from Pittsburg to various frontier points. In their early married life Thomas McCluggage and his wife immigrated to Holmes county, Ohio, where ten children were born to them, of whom there are now living four boys and five girls. The parents and most of the children moved to Kansas in the early eighties, and the parents settled at Douglass, in this county, where their eldest son, Dr. J. R. McCluggage, was a practicing physician. They both died there.

James McCluggage, the subject of this sketch, was born in Holmes county, Ohio, in 1846. He spent his boyhood there, helping make a home in the frontier, and attending the short winter school terms. He learned from his father the main points of farming and stock raising, and in 1872, he set out from Mason City, Ill., where he had spent four years, to make a home for himself in the Osage lands of Butler county. He preempted a quarter section, one mile south of the present site of Rose Hill in Richland township, and this has been his home ever since. His country home, one of the best in this section of the State, is on 200 acres of his land, which he retained after dividing up many acres, nearby, among his four sons. Mr. McCluggage is an example of the successful farmer, and like most other farmers in this section, his success has been brought about mainly by stock raising and breeding. The Galloway cattle of the McCluggage farm have been a marked feature in the annals of stock raising in this county for years.

In 1877 Miss Jennie McMillian, of this county, became the bride of James McCluggage. They are the parents of five children, four boys and one daughter: Miss Jennie C. McCluggage, who is the youngest of the children and is in college. She had the distinction of being the youngest to graduate in any Butler county high school in 1915. J. Ralph McCluggage, the eldest son, after attending Lewis Academy, Wichita, settled on farming as his life work and resides a mile northeast of his father's home. Francis J. McCluggage, second son, is assistant cashier of the Rose Hill State Bank. He is married and lives at Rose Hill. The two younger sons, T. V. and R. T., were inclined toward the law. The for-

mer graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor in the class of 1910, and is a member of the law firm of Hawks & McCluggage, Wichita, Kans. R. T. McCluggage, the youngest son, finished the law course at Kansas University in the spring of 1915 and is now located at Augusta.

James McCluggage has always been prominent in furthering the things that benefited his community. He served several terms as township trustee and treasurer, but he never aspired in politics. In 1906, he was one of the organizers of the Rose Hill State Bank, and became president of that institution, which position he has since held.

Besides the late Dr. J. R. McCluggage, now deceased, a sketch of whom appears in this volume, James McCluggage has been cheered by the association of several brothers and sisters who have made their homes in this county. M. S. McCluggage, a bachelor brother, makes his home with him; Mrs. Robert Warrender, a sister, lives on a farm in Richland township; Mrs. George Warrender, another sister, lives at Augusta, Kans., and Mrs. Will Cutting, resides in Pleasant township. Morgan McCluggage formerly lived in this county, but now resides at Mason City, Ill. A sister, Mrs. Mart Thompson, lives at Minneapolis, Minn., and Mrs. Frank Beedy at Aitkin, Minn.

Mr. McCluggage has a wide acquaintance over Butler county, and is well known as one of the substantial men of this section of the State.

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