Pgs 944 - 45

CHARLES  MAGEE, SR., has for thirty-three years been connected with the lumber business in Shawano county, and his well-spent life and sterling worth have gained him the high regard of all with whom he has come in contact.   He was born April 28, 1828, in Kingston, Canada, and is a son of John and Susanna (Cook) Magee, both of whom were natives of County Cavan, Ireland. In their family were the following named children — Charles, John, Robert, Dick, Joe, Kittie, Bessie, Hannah, Susie and Martha.      
  
Our subject received but meager school privileges, for the schoolhouse was a long distance from his home, and as he was one of a large family his services were needed in the development and improvement of the new farm. He followed farm work until twenty-two years of age, and then began work on the Northern railroad in Upper Canada. On September 15, 1851, he was married, in Upper Canada, to Miss Margaret Thompson, who was born May 18, 1833, twenty miles north of Toronto, daughter of George Thompson, who came from County Monaghan, Ireland. After his marriage Mr. Magee located in Newmarket, Canada, and worked on the railway. Later he was employed on the construction of the Grand Trunk railway, taking a contract for building three miles of the road, near Guelph, Canada.  In 1853 he came to Wisconsin, and six weeks after his arrival sent for his wife and child, the family being among the piooneer settlers of Two Rivers, Manitowoc county, which was their home until September, 1861. With an ox-team and a large covered lumber wagon he then moved his family to Shawano, taking nine days to make the trip, for he had to follow a very circuitous route, few roads having then been laid out. 
      
Mr. Magee had disposed of his land in Manitowoc county, and on reaching this place he made a temporary home in a partially finished house on a lot that was given him by H. C. Naber, who was then making an addition to Shawano, and giving away lots in order to induce settlers to locate here. Our subject built a log cabin, in which he spent the winter of 1861-62, and when the homestead act was passed in the latter year he secured an eighty-acre claim in Section 13, Richmond township. He had previously located on the bank of the Wolf river, but when the bridge leading to his home was swept away he settled on his claim, and for seven years lived in the house, which he there erected; during that time he was profitably engaged in lumbering. In the fall of 1871 he removed to the township of Richmond, on a farm covered with a second growth of timber, and surrounded by a pole fence. He erected the first building upon that tract of 100 acres, and it has since been his place of residence.
     
While living in Canada Mr. and Mrs. Magee had a daughter, Elizabeth, who became the wife of William Ainsworth, and died in Angelica, Wis. Since their arrival in the United States the family circle has been increased by the birth of the following children: James, who is successfully engaged in the lumber business, and has a good home near his father; Martha. S., wife of August Anderson, of Richmond township, Shawano county; Mary A., wife of John C. Black, of Shawano; George, who is engaged in the lumber business; Charles W., foreman of the Winneconne Lumber Co., of Shawano; Letitia, who died in infancy; Margaret, wife of William Gibbs, of Shawano; and Beatrice M., a teacher in the high school of Shawano. Another member of the family is Grace E., the only child of their eldest daughter, who has lived with them since she was fourteen months old. Besides the property previously mentioned Mr. Magee owns seventy acres of rich land. His possessions have all been acquired through his own efforts, and untiring industry, enterprise and good management have brought to him a success of which he may well be proud. He takes an interest in the success of the Republican party, which he supports by his ballot; but has never been an office-seeker. He and his wife hold membership with the Presbyterian Church of Shawano, and he has served as one of its officers. The family is one of prominence in the community, its members holding a high position in social circles and none are more worthy of representation in this volume than the Magees.