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Adam D. McCune

Politician. Born: November 26, 1827, Jefferson County, Ohio. Married: Margaret A. Medill, October 2, 1851. Died: August 18, 1866.

Born in Jefferson County, Ohio, on November 26, 1827, and raised on a farm, Adam D. McCune married Margaret A. Medill on October 2, 1851, and they moved their young family, which consisted of two sons and a daughter, to Kansas in 1857. He immediately purchased 540 acres of land in Leavenworth County, turned "his attention to general farm pursuits," and was active in local affairs. McCune easily won election on June 7, 1859, as delegate to the Wyandotte Convention, and thus became a part of his county's ten-member Democratic delegation. Although he seems not to have played a significant role in the convention, McCune served on the five-member committee appointed to investigate the perjury charge leveled against delegate William Hutchinson near the end of the proceedings. When McCune died on August 18, 1866, just nine years after moving to Kansas, Margaret McCune was left the head of a household of eight children, ages sixteen to two years. "The outlook might have been discouraging to some, but not so to her," reported the Portrait and Biographical Record in 1899. "With indomitable spirit, and assisted by her children, she conducted the farm, superintended the planting and harvesting of the crops, and finally succeeded in clearing the debt. Since then she has been uniformly prosperous."

Entry: McCune, Adam D.

Author: Kansas Historical Society

Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.

Date Created: June 2011

Date Modified: November 2012

The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.