Joseph McNulty facts for kids
Joseph McNulty (born 1840 or 1841 – died 1909) was an American pioneer and a "lawman" from the Old West. He also served in the Kansas Legislature in 1873. He was the first person from Rooks County, Kansas to become a member of the Kansas Legislature.
Early Life and Settling Rooks County
Joseph McNulty was born in Canada on March 3, 1841. From the age of fourteen, he worked as a farmer and a blacksmith.
He was the very first person to settle in Rooks County, Kansas. He claimed the first piece of land there in June 1871. He did this under the Homestead Act, a law that allowed people to get land if they lived on it and improved it.
McNulty also helped start the first town site in the county, which was called Stocktown. Many early settlers, including McNulty and his four brothers, were cattle dealers. Today, this town is known as Stockton, Kansas, and it is the main town, or County seat, of Rooks County. Joseph McNulty later studied law and became a lawyer in Stockton.
Serving as a Lawman and Legislator
Joseph McNulty was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives on December 31, 1872. He served in the state's 1873 legislative session. His younger brother, Francis McNulty, who was also a lawyer, later served as Rooks County's representative in 1875.
In 1874, Kansas Governor Thomas A. Osborn chose Joseph McNulty to be the Sheriff of Rooks County. He filled this role until an elected sheriff could take office. Later that year, McNulty was elected to serve a full two-year term as sheriff.
Kansas was still a wild place when McNulty was sheriff. In June 1875, two men were selling ponies near Stockton. Sheriff Joseph McNulty and Sheriff Alexander Ramsey from a nearby county thought the ponies might be stolen. They rode up to one of the men and told him to give up.
The suspected horse thief tried to escape and both sheriffs and the thief fired their guns. Sheriff Ramsey and the suspected thief were both killed. The other suspected horse thief was shot but got away. The ponies were recovered safely.
Sheriff Ramsey, who was also a lawman in Hays City, had caught a famous horse thief known as "Dutch Henry" a year earlier. Sheriff Ramsey had a reputation for breaking up groups of horse thieves.
Later in his life, Joseph McNulty was badly injured when his horse fell on him. He had served in the U.S. Civil War as a Quartermaster Sergeant. Because of his injury, he received a special "invalid" pension from the army. This pension was even increased by the U.S. Congress in 1907.
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