George W. McClintick. Kansas ought to remember the late George W. McClintick as a pioneer editor and newspaper man, and one of those who gave dignity to journalism and contributed not a little to Kansas’ place in literature.
During much of his active life he lived at McPherson, where he died and where his widow, Mrs. Hester A. McClintick, still resided. George W. McClintick was born on a farm in Hancock County, Ohio, December 31, 1852, and died at McPherson, Kansas, August 21, 1903. His parents were Rev. William and Mary (Robbins) McClintick, of Scotch and English descent, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Virginia. From Ohio Rev. William McClintick removed with his family to Iowa, later to Nebraska, and for a number of years conducted a nursery near Lincoln. In 1872 he and his family came to McPherson and were among the early settlers of that county. Rev. William McClintick was a minister of the Free Methodist Church and organized the first church of that denomination in McPherson County. While in Kansas he followed farming and preaching and was also serving as mayor of McPherson at the time of his death on March 21, 1879. His wife died September 29, 1879. Their children were Emma, George W., Olive, Mary and William, all now deceased except Emma.
George W. McClintick spent his early youth in Michigan and Nebraska, and was a graduate of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He was twenty years of age when he came with his parents to McPherson County, Kansas, and there he learned the printing trade in the office of the McPherson Messenger. Later he bought that paper, and on becoming its editor changed the name to The Independent, publishing it until 1879. He possessed true journalistic ability. He was also a forceful writer and from the advocacy of principles and causes to which he was devoted he frequently turned aside to the quieter fields of history and occasionally poetry. He was the author of many historical sketches and wrote and published in his papers a history of McPherson County, and was always a recognized authority on historical and political movements.
In 1880 Mr. McClintick went to New Mexico, and while there established and conducted the first daily newspaper at Socorro. He then returned to McPherson and was publisher of The Leader until 1889.
With the original opening of Oklahoma Territory he established the Frisco Herald and published it in a pioneer country for two years. Later he established the daily and weekly Courier at El Reno, and gave that city its first daily paper. On the opening of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indian country in Oklahoma he made the run for a claim and secured a homestead six miles west of El Reno. That homestead with its subsequent improvements and development is now the property of Mrs. McClintick.
In July, 1903, Mr. McClintick returned to McPherson and established the Kansas American, but had conducted it only six weeks before he died. This paper was continued for three years by Mrs. McClintick and her son, George W., Jr.
Wherever he lived, whether in Kansas, Oklahoma or New Mexico, the late George W. McClintick was a man of influence and his ability could not but be recognized. In 1879 he represented McPherson County in the State Legislature, having been elected on the people’s ticket. From 1872 to 1876 he served as postmaster of McPherson. On account of the vigor of its opinions editorials became widely quoted.
On March 1, 1876, at McPherson, Mr. McClintick married Miss Hester A. Dixon. Mrs. McClintick was born on a farm in Woodford County, Kentucky, February 28, 1858, a daughter of Thomas J. and Martha S. (Carroll) Dixon. Her father was born in Kentucky November 11, 1832, and died at McPherson, Kansas, July 29, 1884. He and his wife were married in 1855. She was born in Kentucky May 25, 1836, and died at McPherson May 1, 1913. There were eleven children, eight daughters and three sons, in the Dixon family, namely: Emily Anna, Hester A., Sallie E., James L., George W., Susie, Jessie V., Maggie, Mary T., Mabel and Wade W.
Mr. and Mrs. McClintick had four children: Mattie, Eura, George Washington, Jr., and Mary. George Washington, Jr., was born October 26, 1884, and the youngest, Mary, was born November 24, 1893. Mattie, the oldest, was born November 29, 1876, was married September 2, 1894, to Robert Gleny and they now live at Fresno, California, their three children being Martha, Charlotte and George W. Eura, who was born March 21, 1878, was married in 1900, to A. P. LeMieux, who died January 29, 1903. There was one child of that union, DeLisle. Mrs. LeMieux married in 1907 Joseph Beriani, and she had two children by this marriage, Mary Constance, now deceased, and Geraldine.