NAUGHTON, Michael and Mary
Michael Naughton and his wife Mary immigrated to the US from Ireland in 1838 through the port in Philadelphia.
They came with their sons, Edward b. 1832 and John Jr. "Jack" b. 1836. They may have also come with brothers
of John Naughton, but there is no current record of them, only stories from KY. The manifest of the British brig
"Sea Horse", which sailed from Cork to New York in 1835, lists Michael "Norton", his wife Mary,
and his sons Edward (age 3) and John (age 1). (John C. Roberts, 2008) They settled in Larue Co, Hamilton KY, or
Jefferson Co. Ky very soon after their arrival. They lived there until they moved to Coffey Co. Ks. in about 1850-1857
when the Kansas Territory opened up. The rest of their children were all born in Ky.
Children of Michael and Mary Naughton:
Edward b. 1832 Ireland m. Harriett Ann Welker in KY
John, b. 1836, Ireland d. Jan 1873 age 37, CF Co. KS, M. Margaret M. Heffron
Michael "Thomas", b. 1839, KY d. Jan. 1875, age 35, never married
Catherine, b. 1842, KY d. 20 Jun 1908 GW Co. KS, M. David Roche
Nancy Belle, b. 1845, KY d. 10 Jun 1885 M. Patrick Grace
James P., b. 1848, Ky. D 07 Dec 1865, consumption or pneumonia
Mary A. b. 1838 No record after KY
Information about the death of Michael Naughton was found in History of Greenwood County KS. He is listed as dying
Nov 18, 1857, possibly in Leavenworth or before the Land Patent was signed in name of John Naughton in CF Co. Author:
Greenwood County Historical Society.Publication: Josten's Publications, Wichita, KS, 1986 & 1990 Page: Vol.
1
Michael Sr. did not show up in the CF Co. Census. If he did make the trip with the family to Kansas, he died before
any record was made of his presence there; he was not in the Coffey co. census of 1860. Records indicate that John
"Jack" Naughton, oldest son, age 24, was the homesteader in Pleasant Twp, Otter Creek and Edward Naughton
settled in Ottumwa. It is not know if Edward made the trip with the rest of the family or came later. The head
of the household was listed as John “Jack” Naughton age 24.
Jack homesteaded the following land: Southeast qtr, Sec. y, Twp 21 So, Range 15 East, (Pleasant Twp) containing
160 acres. Two Naughton's are listed as being in Coffey Co. home guard company during the Civil War; Thomas and
John. James Naughton (1) died of Dec. 7, 1865 and is buried in baker Cem. No other Naughton's are listed as being
buried there however, it is reasonable to believe that Jack was buried in Baker Cem, or with his mother at Calvary
Cem. Mary Naughton died after 1860 and is said to be buried at Calvary Cemetery in Burlington KS but no record
of her burial has been found.
Of the 6 children of Michael and Mary Naughton, Jack, Nancy, Edward and Catherine all lived long enough to marry
and have children. Jack Naughton's homestead adjoined the Heffron homestead on Otter Creek. Kansas Tax Records
show that John "Jack" Naughton and Michael Thomas Naughton were in the whiskey distilling business in
the 1860's.
Naughton, John "Jack" and Margaret Mary Heffron:
Margaret Mary Heffron was the fourth of nine children of Michael and Margaret "Ellen" Heffron, original
homesteaders in Coffey Co who settled there in the spring of 1857.
Magaret or "Mag" was born Nov. 10, 1843 in Kentucky. Her parents emigrated from Ireland and settled in
Ky for about 20 years. Confirmation of their residence in Muhlenberg Co. Kentucky was obtained through Muhlenberg
Co. Census of 1850 under the name of "Haffner" but all children's ages, names, and dates of birth match
these records and this information has been submitted to the Muhlenberg Co. records history.
.
Mag married John "Jack" Naughton, who has also migrated from Kentucky and settled on the adjoining section
sometime before 1860, possibly traveling there with the Heffron and Casey families and staying as short time in
Leavenworth. Mag and Jack farmed and had four children. Jack died in Jan. 1873 of "galloping consumption".
At that same time, a measles outbreak had left his two young sons, ages 4 and 18 mos. deaf. About six months later,
in July 1873 their fifth child, Margaret "Maggie" (McIlvain) was born, also deaf. In May, 1873, Mag's
father, Mike Heffron was killed in a farming accident, drug by his horses who had stirred up a bee hive.
Children of John "Jack" Naughton and Mary Margaret Heffron Naughton:
1 John Jack Naughton b: 1836 in Waterford Co. Dungarvan, IRELAND d: Jan 1873 in Otter Creek, Coffey Co. Burlington,
KS on homestead +Margaret Mary Heffron b: 10 Nov 1843 in Fleming Co. Kentucky d: 04 Jan 1916 in Beloit, KS m: 1864
in Coffey Co., Burlington, KS Otter Creek
.......... 2 Mary Ellen Naughton b: 11 Aug 1865 in Burlington, KS, Coffey Co. Otter Creek d: 18 Feb 1952 in Tribune,
KS
.............. +John Franklin Grubb b: 06 Jan 1860 in Huntsville, Butler Co. Kentucky d: 02 Dec 1923 in Densmore,
Kansas, Norton Co. m: 25 Apr 1895 in Burlington, KS, Coffey Co. Otter Creek
.......... 2 James M. Naughton b: Jun 1867 in Burlington, KS, Coffey Co.Otter Creek d: 13 Jun 1915 in Helena MT,
bur Densmore Ks. body was shipped to Ellen Grubb in Garden City or De
.............. +Josephine Jobe b: 1875 in Randolph Co, Arkansas d: Abt. 1934 in in Randolph Co. Arkansas m: 11
Jun 1895 in Pope Co. Arkansas
.......... 2 Edward Ewing Naughton b: 12 Mar 1869 in Burlington, KS, Coffey Co. Otter Creek d: 22 Feb 1890 in Burlington,
KS, Coffey Co. Otter Creek bur Baker Cem
.......... 2 John Thomas "Teeter" Naughton b: 01 Jul 1871 in Burlington, KS, Coffey Co. Otter Creek d:
09 Feb 1938 in Parkerville, KS, heart problems
.............. +Mary Emma Raney b: 08 Apr 1879 in Uniontown, Ks. Bourbon Co. d: 19 Jul 1957 in Chanute, Ks. (Neosho
Co.) m: 07 Mar 1900 in Uniontown, Ks. Bourbon Co.
.......... 2 Margaret Mary Naughton b: 15 Jul 1873 in Burlington, KS, Coffey Co. Otter Creek d: 04 May 1954 in
Olathe Community Hospital, Olathe Ks.+Edward Henry McIlvain b: 10 Sep 1868 in Cold Springs, Campbell Co., Kentucky
(grew up in Council Grove KS) d: 02 Nov 1947 in at his home, Olathe Ks. bur. Olathe Memorial Cemetary, Olathe Ks.
m: 10 Jun 1903 in Olathe, Ks., Johnson Co.
Other important family events around this time on Otter Creek included:
1867: James Heffron died of pneumonia after falling in Otter Creek through the ice; he was 27 yrs. old.
Ellen Heffron and Sam Casey lose first child, Alice
1873: Lydia Heffron marries J. Shawver and moves two sections over.
1876: Elizabeth and Ned Heffron marry the same day.
1877: All of the Heffron sisters deed their share of the original Mike Heffron homestead to Ned Heffron.
1878: Kate Casey, dau. of Ellen Heffron Casey, dies
1879: Mag Naughton marries Sandy Grennan
Ed Naughton leaves for KanSchool for the Deaf
1880: Will Grennan born
1881: John and Margaret Naughton leave for School for the Deaf
Ned Heffron's infant son, Johnnie, dies
1882: Nora Grennan Born to Mag and Sandy
Elizabeth H. Shawver's second child born and
Elizabeth dies a few days later (Mag's sister)
1885: Ned Heffron loses son, James, one of twins.
1889: Margaret Naughton (McIlvain) leaves KSD for school in Iowa
1897: John Casey, son of Ellen Heffron Casey, dies
1898: Frank Shawver's second wife dies; turns farm over to daughter
1892: Margaret Ellen Fitzgerald Heffron dies at 81. (Widow of Mike Heffron)
Ellen Naughton leaves to work in Kansas City
Lydia Heffron Shawver (Mar. Ellen Heffron's dau) dies at age 44.
Ann Heffron, wife of Mag's oldest bro. John, dies at age 43.
Ann Heffron's 2 yr. old dau., Lydia, dies seven months later.
James Naughton gives mother power of atty.to sell his share of the Naughton homestead and leaves the state. Mag
and Sandy's log cabin burns. They relocate the house near the school.
1894: James Naughton marries in Arkansas.
1895: Ellen Naughton marries John Grubb, moves to Densmore, Ks.
1896: Mag and Sandy leave Otter Creek for Beloit to work for wages on their
way to Norton Co.
Margaret Naughton (McIlvain) leaves for Galludet College in Washington
D.C. for one term. Returns in 1897.
After Jack's death in 1873, Margaret hired Alexander "Sandy" Grennan as a farm laborer and continued
farming. She and Sandy Grennan married Sept. 21, 1879. The Grennan children were born on the Jack Naughton homestead
on Otter Creek in the log cabin Jack built. The cabin was a big log room 20x 20 feet with an upstairs open loft
room. As the family grew, a frame kitchen and frame bedroom were built on to the original log cabin. In 1892, the
home burned down. Mag, was canning tomatoes. She had built a big fire and while she was picking tomatoes the house
caught fire and burned. Sandy was at George Hunt's helping with the grain threshing. William and Frank were in
a corn field not too farm from the house picking corn for the hogs. William looked up and saw the house on fire.
He and his brother Frank started for the house pulling a small wagon full of corn. An axle on the wagon broke while
going across the railroad tracks as the two boys scurried home trying to get there in time to aid their mother.
After Sandy and Mag lost their house through the fire, they lived in the grainary until a frame home could be constructed.
The new house was 1/2 mile east of the house that had burned and right across north from the school house on Baker
land.
The Naughton, Casey, Baker, Shawver, Heffron and Grennan children went to school at No.6 school. In the winter
the boys would skate to school down Otter Creek. There were about 45 enrolled in the school, all first cousins.
One of the teachers, Louie Hannen, taught three terms and boarded at the Sandy and Mag Grennan home. Nora Grennan,
Sandy's sister, taught several terms at No. 6 school.
In 1896, Sandy and Margaret Grennan left Burlington and moved to Beloit Ks. Hard times on the farm prompted the
move. Sandy got a job as a farmer and Margaret got a job as a cook at the Girls Industrial School in Beloit. The
family lived in a cottage north of the school. In the fall of 1896, Will Grennan, returned to Burlington to help
his grandfather James Grennan with the farm work. He stayed there 2.5 years. In the evenings, Will would study
with his grandfather James.
In 1899 Sandy became deputy sheriff in Beloit under Jake Eresch. At the time of his job, the family lived in part
of the jail.
In 1900, Sandy used $200, one hundred that Will had saved and one hundred that he and his wife Margaret has saved,
and put the money as a down payment on 320 acres of farm land in Norton Co., KS. The land was 1 mile west and 4
mil. orth of Densmore. KS. At first they rented the land to renters. Then in the spring, of 1902, Will and his
brother Frank went to Norton to farm the land that they had purchased. Will and Frank batched living in an old
log house with one sod room. Busy with farming and livestock, Will did not teach school that year.Soon, Sandy and
Mag moved to the arm. In 1902, Rose Grennan married Joseph Ludwig.
In the Spring of 1907, Will and Mary rented the Donnelly place 1 mile north of Densmore and lived there until 1910,
when they moved to the homeplace 5 miles from Densmore. From 1910 to 1912, Mag and Sandy made their home with their
children, lending a helping hand. Margaret served as a midwife with the birth of each new grandchild and helping
to raise them.
In 1912, Mag went to Colorado to stay with her son John T. Naughton and their family. While there, she took a claim
in Washington Co. Colorado. Stories tell of how Mag came and assisted the family when children were born. In 1915
Mag developed a tumor and came back to Beloit for surgery. (Probably cancer of the uterus). She didn't recover
from the operation and died in the Beloit Hospital (the old hospital on Lincoln Street run by Dr. O'Brien and Mary
Stover). on Jan 4, 1916. She was 69 years old. Sandy Grennan continued to live in Grand Island with his son Frank
and Nellie and their family until his death in 1945.
John and Emma lost both of their mothers--Margaret Joanna Raney and Margaret Heffron Naughton Grennan--while
they were living in Colorado, only days apart and just prior to the birth of Margaret Joanna Naughton (Roberts)
in Feb. 1916.
John had been fighting a losing battle trying to hold the claims to his and his mother's land. Mag apparently visited
them often, staying much of the last 2-3 years of her life. She was concerned for their welfare and also trying
to hold her claim. She assisted in sending the older children to live with John's sister Ellen in Densmore or Garden
City, or to Margaret McIlvain's in Olathe where they could attend school. John gave up the claim after Mag's death
and the birth of their last two children in 1916 and 1920, being literally "starved out," and returned
to Parkerville Ks where he died 09 Feb 1938 of heart disease. Emma lived with her son John T. Naughton Jr. and
her other children until her death in Chanute KS in July 1957.
Sources:
Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri Census records, 1850-1930
Kansas Tax Records, 1860-1865
Kansas Land Patents, 1850-1870
Coffey Co. Probate Records, re: Michael Thomas Naughton
Cemetary List of Baker Cemetery, Burlington KS
Researchers:
Carl James Heffron, John C. Roberts, Gary G. Naughton, Tammi Naughton Hawk
