William Patrick Hackney, b. 1842 in Van Buren, Iowa, died July 28 1926 at the Sawtelle Soldiers Home in Los Angeles, was the son of Jacob Tivis Hackney and Lucy Chapman and a nephew of this website’s William S. Hackney, and cousin of our Sarah Hackney who married Samuel Kelly Crockett. William Patrick’s father also moved to Cowley county, Kansas with him, they settling a county over from our direct line Hackneys. He came to Kansas in 1870, and located at Arkansas City in Cowley; removed from there to Belle Plaine, Sumner County, in 1871, and remained there until 1873, when he removed to Wellington, Sumner County, and in 1874 to Winfield.
* * * * * * * * * *
WILLIAM PATRICK HACKNEY
A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written and compiled by William E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, copyright 1918; transcribed by Randy Wright, student from USD 508, Baxter Springs Middle School, Baxter Springs, Kansas, September 1997.
WILLIAM PATRICK HACKNEY was born in Iowa, in 1842; migrated with his father to Illinois in 1850. Entered the United States Army in 1861 as a private and mustered out as captain of his company four years after. Was in many battles; and wounded twice.
Came to Kansas in 1870; was a member of the lower house of Legislature in 1872 and 1874, from Sumner County; and from Cowley County in 1876 and 1905; was in the upper house from 1881 to 1885.
Owes no man a cent, nor a grudge. Wishes all men well, and enjoys every one of his waking hours.
The foregoing is all that Mr. Hackney desired in this work. His position in Kansas, however, has been one of prominence, and it is believed that there should be some additional material concerning Mr. Hackney’s life in Kansas. He has taken a large part in public affairs and in favor of the best interests of the state. He was the first man to publicly announce himself in favor of the election of Preston B. Plumb as United States senator. He was frequently a member and sometimes chairman of the state conventions of the republican party, and his services were in demand in the party councils and the campaigns. As a lawyer Mr. Hackney has always occupied a prominent place in the Kansas bar.
Mr. Hackney wrote a scholarly pamphlet entitled “The American Merchant Marine.” It was written in reply to an editorial in the Saturday Evening Post. When it was completed it was too long for a newspaper article, and he feared that in the quotations they might make from it the true intent of the pamphlet would not be made clear. He then addressed it to Congress and had it printed, sending copies to the President and all heads of departments, and also sending a copy to each senator and congressman. He supplied civic bodies of the coast cities from Portland, Maine, to Seattle, Washington, with copies of this treatise. He sent copies to the leading newspapers of the country.
As a result of his efforts, a wide discussion of the matters treated was had throughout the country. The sentiment created by the pamphlet and these discussions, no doubt caused the present Congress to pass a law for the upbuilding of our American merchant marine, and the appropriation of $50,000,000 to aid in that important matter. In the future history of ship building in America, the work of Mr. Hackney will be considered as a beginning of the agitation for the rehabilitation of the shipping industry. It is a complete review of the whole question. The book was timely and important to a people with a coast line of 25,000 miles, and the largest overseas freightage in the history of the world.
Mr. Hackney tells of the day when we had statesmen instead of politicians, and how these statesmen legislated for us and gave us the greatest marine tonnage per capita in the history of the world. He also makes plain how their successors permitted England to influence our Legislation on marine subjects until we had been deprived of our shipping facilities and privileges.
It is the opinion of his friends that something more ought to be said of his army record. No better soldier ever lived in Kansas than W. P. Hackney. He was in the battles of Fort Henry, Fort Donelson Shiloh, Corinth, Nashville, Altoona Pass, Wise’s Forks and in many other battles. He was wounded at Altoona Pass on the 5th of October, 1864, one ball passing through his right cheek and one through his body. He was not mustered out of the service until July, 1865. He is an influential member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He is one of those who fashioned the State of Kansas–one whose memory the people will ever cherish.–Editor.
A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written and compiled by William E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, copyright 1918; transcribed by Randy Wright, student from USD 508, Baxter Springs Middle School, Baxter Springs, Kansas, September 1997.
* * * * * * * * * *
W. P. HACKNEY, State Senator and attorney at law, was born in Van Buren County, Iowa, in 1842, son of Jacob T. and Lucy Chapman Hackney. At the age of eight years he removed with his parents to Logan County, Ill., where he was educated. At the age of eighteen, in 1861, he entered the army; enlisted in Company H, Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteers. Entered as a private and at the end of three months was promoted to Corporal, after nine months to Sergeant and subsequently to Orderly Sergeant, which position he held for nearly two years. In January, 1865, he received a commission as Captain, commission dating from October 5, 1864. He participated in the engagements of Ft. Henry, Ft. Donelson, Shiloh, taking of Corinth and the battle of Corinth, Nashville, Altoona Pass, Wise’s Forks and other engagements of his command, and was wounded at Altoona Pass on the 5th of October, 1864, by a ball through his right cheek and one through his body; was disabled until the battle of Nashville, and was mustered out in July, 1865. On returning to Illinois, he engaged in farming until April, 1867, when he commenced reading law at Lincoln, Ill., with Col. W. D. Wyatt; he was admitted to the bar in the fall of the same year, and commenced the practice of law. In January, 1868, he was married to Miss Callie L. Vanderventer, daughter of Andrew and Nancy Vanderventer, has had two children – Lyonel V., deceased, and Clyde W. Hackney. He is a Republican in politics. He was Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue for the Eighth District of Illinois. He came to Kansas in 1870, and located at Arkansas City, this county; removed from there to Belle Plaine, Sumner County, in 1871, and remained there until 1873, when he removed to Wellington, Sumner County, and in 1874 to Winfield. He has devoted his time exclusively to the practice of his profession. In 1872 and 1874, he represented Sumner County in the State Legislature, and represented Cowley County in 1876, and represented Cowley County as State Senator in 1881-83. He is a member of the G. A. R. Post, No. 85.
SOURCE: William G. Cutler’s History of the State of Kansas
* * * * * * * * * *
Cowley County Censor, March 18, 1871.
Mr. Barton, a live and enterprising man and one of the leading citizens of Belle Plain, paid our town a visit this week with his carriage and mules. He reports Hackney and wife as contented and happy in their new home. We are sorry to lose Hackney from Cowley. Cowley ain’t Cowley without Hackney anymore than a tender is a tender without an engine. But then Hackney will come over here to do his courting in the future, by permission of his better half, whom we hope he will always bring along.
* * * * * * * * * *
LOCATION OF WINFIELD DEPOT
Winfield Courier August 14, 1879.
We give M. L. Read, M. L. Robinson, and W. P. Hackney the credit of securing the depot where they desired. There had been a desire on the part of some to locate it east of town, but no proposition was made in that direction. The only proposition made to Mr. Strong other than that of Mr. Read was for the location west of town between 9th and 10th streets, but this proposition was not put in form and therefore probably not considered. Mr. Lemmon took no part in these matters. If he holds his office by accident, lightning has struck twice in the same place.
* * * * * * * * * *
Cowley County Courant, November 17, 1881
HACKNEY & McDONALD, ATTORNEYS AT LAW. North side of 9th avenue, between Main and Millington streets, Winfield, Kansas.
Cowley County Courant, November 17 1881.
Every new building erected on Main street now is not, as then, dedicated with a dance, nor do married women attend them with children in arms, nor do they deposit their kids in the laps of blushing bachelors and join in all hands around. Our Justices of the Peace, when about to unite a loving couple, don’t tell them to “stan” up thar an’ I’ll fix you.” Our butchers, now, don’t go down behind Capt. Lowery’s house, shoot a Texas steer, cut him up with an axe and sell out the chunks before they are done quivering. The writer does not, on nights like Thursday last, rise up from his bed of prairie hay and water, in a little wall tent, and light out for the log store to get out of the wet. All of that kind of fun has passed away and we have had a new deal all around. Some of the men that in those days were frying bacon and washing socks in their bachelor shanties, are now bankers, postmasters, district judges, and palatial hotel keepers. The vigilantes are not now riding over the country every night making preparations to go to Douglass and hang its principal citizens. The bad blood stirred up by the memorable Manning-Norton contest for the Legislature has long since been settled. Winfield and Arkansas City have buried the hatchet; Tisdale, ditto. Our merchants don’t sell Missouri flour for $6 per sack, corn for $1.50 per bushel, and bacon for 33½ cents per pound. Bill Hackney (now the Hon. W. P.) does not come up every week to defend Cobb for selling whiskey in Arkansas City without a license. Patrick, the editor of the Censor, (our first newspaper) and Walt Smith, the proprietor of the “Big Horn ranch” on Posey Creek, have both gone west to grow up with the country. Fairbanks’ dug-out has been in ruins for years. Dick Walker is still running conventions, but not here. A. T. Stewart is no longer one of the boys. Speed, with his calico pony and big spurs, is seen no more on the Baxter Springs trail. Jackson has laid down the saw and plane and joined the ranks of the railroad monopolists. Colonel Loomis has shed his soldier overcoat. Zimrie Stubbs has climbed the golden stair, Nichols is married, Oak’s cat is dead: in fact, Bent, there is nothing anymore like it used to was in Winfield.
* * * * * * * * * *
TRAVELER, SEPTEMBER 7, 1881 – EDITORIAL PAGE
A GOOD ONE ON HACKNEY. We take the following from the Wichita Beacon in regard to Hon. W. P. Hackney, the great temperance reformer of Cowley county.
“Mr. Hackney, of Winfield, the able prohibition legislator, having succeeded, he thinks, in driving whiskey off the streets into the houses of Winfield, determined to try his hand in the village of Douglas, Butler County. He employed a small boy to go to a drug store and purchase a pint of “tea,” furnishing the lad with the money. The boy followed the instructions, went to the drug store and asked for a pint of “tea.” The proprietor replied that he was busy, and for the boy to call again in a few minutes and he would get it for him. The boy returned and the flask of “tea” was handed to him. “How much?” asked the boy. “It is high, but there is a good deal of trouble now in the “tea” trade, and we have to put on the price.” The boy took the “tea,” paid the money, and delivered the package to the Great Reformer. Bill smelt of it and then asked the boy, “What in the h___l did you ask for?” “Tea,” said the young cat’s paw of this honored reformer. “Well, by g__d, you got tea.”
This, indeed, is a good joke; told in good style and takes wherever it is read, but for fear it might mislead the public by being taken for a fact, we have to say that the Hon. Wm. P. Hackney has not been in Douglas for three years, and at the time the story is credited, he was in Colorado; besides he never sends boys on important business, and is too good a judge of human nature to make a mistake in a man. As a joke it is well enough, but for a fact the story is without any foundation whatever. It won’t hurt Mr. Hackney, however, as he is used to being lied about.
Leave a Reply