Edwards, Rev. Jonathan.  "An Illustrated History of Spokane County, State of
Washington."  San Francisco: W. H. Lever, 1900.  p. 311.
 
JAMES MONAGHAN

     Is a native of Cavan country, Ireland, born in September, 1839.  In 1856 he
emigrated to New York City.  In May, 1858, he came to Vancouver, Washington, and
on September 20, 1860, arrived in Spokane county.  He took charge of a ferry
where the Laprey bridge now is, and soon became its owner.  In 1871 he took a
four years' contract to carry the mail from Cowley's Bridge to Colville.  In
1873 he went to Colville and, with Louis Fenwick, opened a general merchandise
store which they operated until 1879.  From 1878 to 1882 he was under contract
to carry the United States mail from Colfax to Colville, via Spokane.  He lived
in Walla Walla for two years, then was for a long time engaged as a trader at
the mouth of the Spokane river.  In 1884 he went to Coeur d'Alene, and, with C.
B. King, became interested in the first steamboat on the lake.  They also had a
post-trading station at Fort Sherman.  Mr. Monaghan sold out in 1886 to C. D.
Corbin and came to Spokane where he had large property interests.  For many
years he took government supply contracts, and he and Mr. King furnished all the
ties and timbers and constructed all the bridges on the Spokane Northern.  Mr.
Monaghan has also been an extensive dealer in Spokane real estate, and is now
interested in many mining companies.  In 1893 he helped open the Caribou mines,
serving for awhile as president and manager of the company.  He once ran for the
state senate, but was defeated.  He was married in Walla Walla, Washington,
November 30, 1870, to Miss Margaret McCool, native of Donegal county, Ireland.
Their oldest son, John R., won the competitive examination, and was appointed by
John L. Wilson to the Naval Academy at Annapolis.  He graduated in 1895, served
two years on the Olympia in Chinese waters, then returned to the United States
and passed his final examination.  He was appointed ensign and assigned to the
monitor Monadnoc.  He was later transferred to the Alert, and took part in the
survey work on the Nicaragua canal.  He returned to San Francisco, was assigned
to the Philadelphia.  He participated in the flag raising at Honolulu, served in
Central America, and then at Apia, in Samoa, where he was killed by the natives
April 1, 1899, along with Lieutenant Lansdale.  Thus nobly perished one of whose
achievements Spokane is justly proud.  The other children of Mr. and Mrs.
Monaghan are Margaret, Ellen, James, Charles and Agnes.


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Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in August 2006 by Diana Smith.

Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies
Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the
individual featured in the biographies.