Biography of James Purvis McCague, pages 560/561/562/563.  
History of DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, 
Inc., Indianapolis, 1914.



Fealty to facts in the analyzation of a citizen of the type 
of James Purvis McCague is all  that is required to make a 
good biographical sketch interesting to those who have at 
heart the good name of the community,  because it is 
honorable reputation of the man of standing, mire than any 
other consideration, that gives character and stability to 
the body politic and makes the true worth of a county or 
state revered and respected. In the broad light which 
things of good report ever invite, the name and character 
of the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch stand 
reveled and secure, though with modest demeanor, with no 
ambition to distinguish himself in public position or as a 
leader of men, his career has been signally honorable and 
it may be studied with profit by the youth entering upon 
life’s work, for it shows that the man who persists along  
right lines of endeavor will eventually accomplish what he 
sets out to do despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles.  
James P. McCague was born in Holmes county, Ohio, on July 
12, 1846, and is a son of Samuel Cochran McCague and Eliza 
Jane (Barfoot) McCague.  Samuel C. McCague was a son of 
James and Elizabeth McCague, the former of whom was a 
native of the north of Ireland, through of Scotch-Irish 
descent, his ancestors having located in the Emerald Isle 
on account of the religious liberty which they enjoyed 
there and which was denied them in their native land.  His 
wife, Eliza Jane Barfoot, was a daughter of Andrew Barfoot, 
who with his wife came from Scotland, her eldest brother 
having been born on the ocean en route to America.  In 1848 
Samuel C. McCague brought his wife and child to DeKalb 
county, Indiana, locating on the I.N. Cox farm one and one-
half miles south and a little west of Ashley.  After living 
there two years he sold this place and bought eighty acres 
of land one mile west of Sedan, where his death occurred in 
1852, at which time the subject of this sketch was but six 
years old, and the only child. The subject’s mother than 
engaged in teaching school, which she followed until 1855, 
when she became the wife of Aaron B. Smith, to which union 
was born a son, Sanford S., who died May 24, 1913. The 
mother’s married life continued until 1868 when, at the 
death of her husband, she came to Waterloo and made that 
her home for some time.  The subject of this sketch secured 
his education in the district schools, but in 1861, at the 
outbreak of the war of the Rebellion, his patriotic fervor 
was aroused and though but fifteen year old he tired to 
enlist to fight for the Union, but was rejected on account 
of his youth. He then went to Iowa and obtained employment 
on farms in Winnesheik county.  While in that state he 
attended school at Decorah, and there became acquainted 
with two daughter of John Brown, the famous anti-slavery 
agitator of Osawatomie. At the time of the New Ulm massacre 
by the Indians in 1862, he joined and independent military 
company and went to the assistance of the settlers and was 
present at the capture of six hundred Sioux Indians, who 
were sent to Davenport. While on a skirmish Mr. McCague was 
captured and was carried to a gorge, but while the guard 
was sleeping he loosened himself. In so doing he disturbed 
a dog which he killed with the guard’s knife and he then 
made his escape.  In 1863 Mr. McCague tried to enlist as a 
recruit in the Twelfth Iowa Regiment Iowa Volunteer 
Infantry, but was again rejected because of his boyish 
appearance. He then returned to Winnesheik county and 
attended school until the spring of 1864 when he enlisted 
in Company F, Forty-sixth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry, 
a one-hundred-day regiment, with which he served his term, 
participating in the battles of Tupella and Guntown and 
being mustered out in August, 1864.  After receiving his 
discharge from the army Mr. McCague returned to this old 
home near Ashley, DeKalb county, Indiana,  and during the 
first winter here he attended school and then again applied 
himself to farm work, later coming to Waterloo and here 
beginning his association with machinery, which has 
characterized the greater part of his life since.  In the 
spring of 1865 he went to Kendallville and attempted to 
enlist in the army, but having gone first to tell his 

mother of his intentions he was a day to late, the orders 
having been issued to enlist no more men. At Waterloo Mr. 
McCague obtained employment in a planing mill where he 
finally became engineer and after wards ran engines at 
various mills. He was married in 1871 and immediately 
afterwards bought a saw mill and stave factory where he 
manufactured staves for oil barrels. When timber got scarce 
he sold his stave machinery, but continued to operate the 
saw mill, which, however, was burned in1890. He then became 
a practical machinist, bought tools and started a machine 
shop in Waterloo, north of where the town hall is now 
located, conducting this shop until 1901. In 1900 he was so 
unfortunate as to lose an eye by its being pierced with a 
piece of steel, while he was working on a boiler. In 1901 
Mr. McCague invested eight hundred dollars in stock in a 
new concern which was organized to manufacture corn huskers 
and he then turned his shop and machinery over to the new 
concern an became machine shop foreman for two years.  In 
1903, his ability as a machinist and engineer having become 
widely known, Mr. McCague was called upon to take charge of 
the machinery in the electric light and water plant of 
Waterloo, and in 1904 he was given full charge of the plant 
as superintendent and has held that position until the 
present time. Fully qualified by training and experience 
for this important position Mr. McCague has discharged his 
duties with promptness and with painstaking care and enjoys 
the confidence and regard of all who are familiar with his 
work. In 1881 he was gone for a short time, ran a steamboat 
on the Des Moines river. He afterward spent a year at 
Evansville, keeping saws in a saw mill in good shape, as he 
was an expert in that particular line of work and received 
a good salary for this labors.  In 1871 Mr. McCague married 
Nancy A. Bowman, the daughter of James and Jane (Bort) 
Bowman, who are represented elsewhere in this work, and to 
this union have been born seven children, namely:  Charles 
A., and engineer on the Lake Shore railroad, and who lives 
at Elkhart, married Lillian Phillips, and they have one son 
James P.; Nellie A. died at the age of sixteen years; 
Edward Purvis married Rilla Newcomer, to which union was 
born a daughter, Irene, and he died a the age of twenty-
five years; Blanche C., is the wife of Emmett E. Cox, of 
Waterloo; Eston B., who lives two miles west of Butler on a 
farm, is a machinist by trade, and he married Clara Hanes; 
Eugene J., who married Dessie Greenwood, died in 1907 at 
the age of twenty-seven years; Minnie I., died a the age of 
twelve years.  Fraternally, Mr. McCague is a member of the 
Free and Accepted Masons, having passed through all the 
chairs and serving as worshipful master of his lodge. He 
also belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic and here 
enjoys the association with other veterans of the late war. 
He has taken a deep interest in local affairs and has 
served four terms as a member of the town board. In 1872 
Mr. McCague built a fine home in the northeast part of 
Waterloo, where, on a large lot, which has been beautified 
in every respect with large beds of flowers and fancy 
shrubbery, he has erected a beautiful home heated by 
furnace, lighted by electricity and with water throughout 
the house, his home as regards beauty and convenience 
comparing favorably with any home in Waterloo. Mrs. McCague 
is passionately fond of flowers and spend much of her time 
in the care of them, in which she has met with much 
success. Mr. McCague is probably as versatile in his 
mechanical ability as any man in this locality, being not 
only an expert electrician, but a good all-round machinist, 
an expert plumber and an experienced saw man, besides which 
he learned the trade of steam engineer. He is a close 
student of practical mechanics and is a deep reader on a 
wide variety of subjects, being able to converse 
intelligently on many themes which ordinarily do not 
interest the average man. He has passed through a varied 
and strenuous career in many respects, being able to recite 
some very interesting experiences and narrow escapes, but 
is entirely modest and unassuming, caring nothing for 
praise of public applause, and he possesses to and eminent 
degree those qualities of character which beget friendship, 
and in this locality where he has resided for many years he 
has earned the high regard of all who know him. 

Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com