Sheriff Alfred McFeely

Served as Sheriff of Grant County from 1888 to 1890

​Sheriff McFeely was born on August 31, 1836, and died on June 25, 1923

Sheriff Alfred McFeeley took office after the death of Robert L. Jones. Sheriff McFeeley was born in Hamilton County, Ohio in 1836 which is where Cincinnati was located.

William W. Mcfeeley, assistant cashier of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Marion, is a son of Alfred and Sarah (Worthington)McFeeley, residents of Marion, Indiana, and among the most popular and prominent people of this section of the state.

Alfred McFeeley, the head of the family in this state and in Grant county, was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, on August 31, 1836, and he came from Union City to Marion in 1874, since which time he has been a continuous resident of this city. Early in life he became a miller, a business with which many of his name had been identified in prevous years, operating flouring mills throughout the country, and when he first located in Marion he was connected officially with the old mill in Cemetery Boulevard that was long known as the McFeeley mill. He and a brother, Thomas McFeeley, first owned the mill, and they later sold it to an uncle, one Joseph McFeeley, who thereafter operated it for many a year. During a heavy storm on one Fourth of July, the mill was moved from its foundations by the wind, and from that time on as long as a stone stood there, it was known as the McFeeley Cyclone Mill, for many years constituting a land mark along the way to the Marion I. 0. 0. F. cemetery.

When R. L. Jones was killed by a horsethief soon after he was elected to the office of county sheriff for Grant county in the year 1888, Mr. McFeeley received the appointment to the vacancy thus created, and since that time he has frequently been prominent in public life in the county. He was for several years the trustee of Center township before the Associated Charities had in charge the .relief activities of the city of Marion, and he handled alone and unaided the local charities, in addition to school and other township business of important character. The trustees of Center township were entrusted with the care of the indigent of Marion, and it was a duty that other township trustees knew little or nothing about, most of the responsibility falling upon Mr. McFeeley.

For many years Mr. McFeeley, usually known as "Squire" McFeeley, has served as justice of the peace of Center township, and he has in that time established a reputation as the "marrying squire," his record down to date accrediting him with three hundred and forty-four marriages. He ever has a pleasant word for the bride, and points out with pride the fact that the nuptial knots he ties are not immediately severed in the divorce courts. He is of the opinion, however, that when the Indiana legislature sees fit to enact a law permitting a justice of the peace to untie the marriage knot, he will have quite as much business at the other end of the line, for he maintains that divorce is as much in demand as marriage in these later days.

Squire McFeeley is a veteran of the Civil war, having served as a member of Company K, Fortieth Ohio Regiment for three years, after which he was transferred to the Fifty-first Ohio, and his total services amounted to four full years. Owing to his advanced age and the length of his service, he is now on the pension lists as a one dollar a day pensioner, which, in connection with the revenue that comes to him in his capacity as the "marrying justice," permits him to pass his declining days in ample comfort. He visited Fort Recovery, Ohio, on Juiy 1, 1913, where a $25,000 monument was unveiled in honor of General St. Clair, one hundred and twenty-two years after the battle he fought with the Indians at that point, and although a full century has passed by since the battle of Mississinewa, the Squire believes the Grant county battle field will in time be designated with a similar monument. He is familiar with the entire course of the Mississinewa, having been reared at the "spreads" in Mississinewa township, in Darke county, Ohio, where the river has its headwaters, and where for miles it is little more than a swamp drain.

Mr. McFeeley is one who enjoys a story well told, and few there are in these parts who can tell more apropos tales than he, all of them suggested by something in the circumstances of the moment, and always right to the point and glimmering with sparkle and brightness. Thus is it that the bride and groom are always started cheerily upon their way—a fact that seems to insure him of ample future patronage.

William W. McFeeley is one of the three children of his parents—one of them, Otto H. McFeeley, being a resident of Oak Park, Chicago, and a sister, Mrs. Gertrude Landauer, a resident of Marion. On December 11, 1905, Mr. McFeeley was married to Miss Ethel Morehead, who died on September 12, 1908. ,She was a daughter of 0. H. P. Morehead and a granddaughter of William Morehead, who was among the last veterans of the Mexican war. The Morehead family have in recent years moved to Tennessee, after long years of continued residence in Grant county. Mr. McFeeley, since the death of his young wife, has taken up his residence with his aged parents, and there has continued to make his home as in earlier years.

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Leader Tribune

June 26, 1923

EX-SHERIFF

AND PIONEER

DIES MONDAY

Alfred McFeeley, 86, In Usual Health Shortly Before He Passed Away

Funeral services for Alfred McFeeley, 86 years old, for more than fifty years a resident of Marion and at one time sheriff of Grant county, who died suddenly at nine o’clock yesterday morning at his home, 1621 South Boots street, will be held from the residence at two-thirty Wednesday afternoon, with the I.O.O.F. lodge, of which he was a member, in charge. Rev. E. M. Ellsworth, pastor of the First M. E. church will officiate.

Burial will be made in the I.O.O.F. cemetery. Friends may call at the residence at any time until the hour for the funeral.

Was in Fair Health.

Mr. McFeeley had been in fair health and was able to attend the Memorial Day program. He was taken ill the next day with pneumonia, but was improving from this disease. Yesterday morning he appeared in his usual health and was able to eat breakfast. After breakfast he went to his bed and within a short time had passed away, heart trouble being the cause.

Surviving are the widow, one daughter, Mrs. Jesse Landauer of this city, and two sons, Will, cashier at the local Pennsylvania freight station and Otto McFeeley publisher of a newspaper in Oak Park, Ill.

Mr. McFeeley was born near Union City, Ohio, on August 31, 1836. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted in an Ohio regiment, serving four years in the army. In 1873 he and his family came to Marion where he built what was later known as the McFeeley mill, which was located on Lincoln boulevard, at a point near the Union Traction line passes under the Pennsylvania viaduct. He planted the long row of willow trees which now line the river bank in that vicinity. Mr. McFeeley had the distinction of being the first person in the city to have a telephone in his residence.

At One Time Sheriff

In 1890 Mr. McFeeley was appointed sheriff of Grant county to fill the unexpired term of Sheriff Robert Jones, who was shot and killed in attempting to make an arrest. In 1904 he was elected trustee of Center township, receiving the largest majority ever given a candidate for that office. Later he was appointed as a justice of the peace and during his term of office as justice of the peace united in marriage almost 1,000 couples.