The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 890 

THOMAS McKIVOR.

Thomas McKivor is the owner of a fine home that stands in the midst of a fifty
acre ranch six miles west of Yakima. He has won a substantial and enviable
position among the business men of this section of the state by reason of
indefatigable energy and unfaltering perseverance. He was born in Huron county,
Ontario, Canada, in 1862, a son of Edward and Alice (McCarty) McKivor, both of
whom have departed this life. The father had devoted his attention to the
milling business in order to provide for his family,

While spending his youthful days under the parental roof Thomas McKivor acquired
a public school education and in his boyhood started out to earn his own living
in Manitoba in connection with railway construction work. He was employed along
that line until he reached the age of forty-five years and was connected with
various important construction projects in Canada. he came to the United States
about 1886, entering the employ of the Great Northern Railroad Company, and
assisted in its building from Devils Lake, North Dakota, to Seattle. In 1898 he
spent eight months in the Klondike. He was with the Northern Pacific Railway
Company for a number of years, but desirous of engaging in business on his own
account, turned his attention to ranching in 1912, locating upon the place on
which he now resides. In 1911 he had purchased this property, which is
pleasantly and conveniently situated about six miles west of Yakima, and he has
here an excellent tract of fifty acres, of which thirty-two acres is planted to
apples, while the remainder is devoted to the raising of hay and other crops.
The ranch is splendidly improved and his fine home stands as a monument to his
progressive spirit and undaunted enterprise. He never allows obstacles or
difficulties to bar his path if they can be overcome by persistent and honorable
effort and he has ever recognized the fact that when one avenue of opportunity
seems closed he can carve out other paths whereby he may reach the desired goal.

Mr. McKivor first came to the Yakima valley to assist in the work on the
Sunnyside canal but afterward left the district. For sixteen years before
establishing his home in Yakima county he had resided in Seattle and he still
owns a beautiful residence there and other property. As a contractor he built
many miles of railway throughout the west and also engaged in construction work
of various kinds. His has been a most active, busy and useful career and his
labors have constituted an important element in the substantial development and
progress of the northwest.

On the 28th of March, 1900, Mr. McKivor was married to Miss Sarah Clark, who was
born in Lowell, Nebraska, a daughter of T. J. V. and Margaret Nancy (Mann)
Clark. Her father was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and came to Yakima county
with his family in the spring of 1884. He was a graduate of the Rock Hill
College of Maryland and a veteran of the Civil war. Later he served as one of
the government scouts in Nebraska. With his removal to the northwest he became
one of the first merchants of Yakima and with the pioneer development and
progress of the town he was closely associated, aiding in laying broad and deep
the foundation upon which has been built the later prosperity and advancement of
the city. He was the first mayor of Yakima and was called upon to represent his
district, comprising Yakima and Kittitas counties, in the legislature during the
last year of Washington's existence as a territory. He afterward returned to
Maryland, and he passed away in that state on the 3d of August, 1892. In his
death Washington lost one who had long been a valued, honored and representative
citizen. His wife survives and is still living in Oregon.

To Mr. and Mrs. McKivor have been born five children: Alice; Victor, who died at
the age of two years; Thomas; Winfield; and Margaret. Mrs. McKivor is a member
of the Catholic church, and fraternally Mr. McKivor is connected with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His political allegiance is given to the
republican party and he never maintains an equivocal position in relation to any
important question, but stands fearlessly by his honest convictions. He is a man
of genuine worth, loyal in citizenship, progressive and enterprising in business
and faithful to the ties of friendship.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.