Among the enterprising
business men and prosperous citizens of North Platte, Lincoln county,
Nebraska, the subject of this sketch occupies a prominent place, He
gained an enviable reputation through his honesty and integrity and is
highly respected and esteemed by all. Mr. McMichael is a native of
Crawford county, Pennsylvania, born in 1838, and is a son of Elihu and
Sarah Fitzgerald McMichael. He was raised in the locality of his
birthplace, and at the breaking out of the Civil was enlisted in the One
Hundred and Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania Infantry, serving in the Army of
the Potomac at Chancellorsville and the Wilderness, Gettysburg,
Fredericksburg, Antietam, Beverly Ford and a number of smaller battles.
He was one of the bravest soldiers in his company, and was commissioned
sergeant, always being at the head of the line, and in the thickest of
the fight and coming out of every skirmish without receiving a scratch.
After the war had closed he returned to Pennsylvania and settled in
Clarion county, remaining there for several years, and in 1878 he came
to Nebraska and located in North Platte. He followed the trade of a
builder and contractor, and has carried on this business from the time
of settling here up to the present. He has built a number of the large
buildings here, and many of the finest residences in North Platte and on
ranches in this portion of Nebraska. He is conscientious and faithful in
his work and has gained the confidence of all by his honest dealings and
strict integrity. For many years he owned and operated a ranch in this
section, but recently sold this, and devotes his entire time and
attention to his profession.
In 1860 Mr.
McMichael was married to Miss Mary Leckey, of Butler County,
Pennsylvania, whose family were pioneer settlers in that locality.
Children resulted from this union, as follows: James A., builder and
contractor, also of North Platte, and a rising young business man;
Benton, Clyde, both builders and contractors in this town; Howard, in
the same business, located in Loveland, Colorado: John, of Hyannis,
Nebraska; George of Atlantic, Iowa, secretary of the Young Men's
Christian Association at that place, who devotes his whole attention to
this noble work: Effie, wife of John Krountz, residing in North Platte;
and Jennie, who lives at home with her father, the mother having died in
July 1905.
Mr. McMichael is a
member of the Methodist Episcopal church at North Platte, and held the
office of trustee, which he filled for many years, and he is an earnest
worker in that institution. He is a Republican.
