Zachariah "Zack" P. Mulhall

Zack was born Zachariah P. Vandeveer on September 22, 1847 in Cooper County, Missouri, near the town of Boonville. His parents were Zachariah P. Vandeveer (b 1817) and Malinda Loving Vandeveer (b 1830). The elder Zachariah Vandeveer was a prosperous farmer and slave owner who operated a farm which adjoined his brother-in-law Tim Herd’s farm, and his father, William farmed nearby, as well. Zachariah had a flamboyant older brother, Logan Vandeveer, who moved to Texas as a young man, taking up arms in the fight for Texas independence. Vandeveer was badly wounded at the battle of San Jacinto where he was part of the first wave of men attacking Santa Anna. After recovering from his wounds, Logan Vandeveer was awarded over 1,400 acres of land in Burnet and Travis Counties, near the location of Austin, Texas, today. He soon became a famed Texas Ranger, and was known throughout Texas as a prominent cattleman. By 1850, Logan Vandeveer was a major supplier of beef for the United States Cavalry, and his ranch continued to grow in size.

By 1853, Logan Vandeveer was actively urging his father, brother, and brother-in-law, still in Missouri, to move their families to Texas and join in the prosperity that he was enjoying. Finally, his family members relented, and his father, William Vandeveer and his wife, Rachel, his brother, Zachariah and wife, Malinda and son, Zachariah, and Tim and Martha Hurd and their children all moved to Bastrop, County, Texas, located just southeast of Austin. Within a year of moving to Texas, Malinda Loving Vandeveer died, leaving Zachariah and his extended family to raise young Zachariah, then seven-years old.

In late August of 1855, Zachariah Vandeveer, Logan Vandeveer, J. C. Bradley (Logan Vandeveer’s foreman), and two other men took a herd of cattle and drove them to New Orleans where Logan Vandeveer had a buyer for the livestock. Within days of their arrival in New Orleans four of the five men contracted yellow fever, and on September 2, 1855, Logan Vandeveer died, and two days later, his brother, Zachariah died from the disease. The third member of the crew died on September 9th, and the fourth was taken ill on September 8th, a day before J. C. Bradley wrote to the ranch, advising them of the death of Logan and Zachariah Vandeveer in New Orleans. The bodies of the three men were not returned to Texas, but instead they were placed in graves in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. J. C. Bradley died just a few months later.

Logan Vandeveer had married Lucinda Mays in 1838, and the couple had seven children who lived on the Burnet County, Texas ranch. Crushed by the loss of her 40-year-old husband, she felt incapable of caring for young Zachariah, now an orphan. Tim and Martha Hurd, deeply affected by the loss of Martha’s two brothers, decided to return to Cooper County, Missouri, but they, too, were unsure that their home was the best place for Zachariah.

Malinda Loving Vandeveer had a sister, Susan Loving Mulhall, who lived in St. Louis, Missouri. Susan Loving was married to Joseph Mulhall, a prosperous butcher who owned the Mulhall Packing Company. The Mulhalls were financially successful, and they were happy to take Malinda’s orphaned son, Zachariah and raise him as their own. Zachariah, well-accustomed to new environments even by the age of nine, adjusted to life in the Mulhall family well. He began using a new name that would be his for the remainder of his life: Zack Mulhall.

As Zack Mulhall’s work with the ATSF required him to travel in Kansas and the Western states, Zack was often away from the family’s home in St. Louis. His cattle enterprises led Mulhall to the Oklahoma Territory, so it wasn’t a surprise that in about 1885, Zack Mulhall happened to be conducting business in the southeast Kansas town of Parsons, located just 30 miles north of Indian Territory. It was in Parsons that Zack became acquainted with a seventeen-year-old girl, Mary Smith, who was working as a waitress at a roadhouse.

Mary Smith was born in 1870 or perhaps as census reports suggest, 1869, in Illinois, the third daughter of William V. Smith and Martha Haskett Smith. By 1870, the Smiths had moved to Jefferson County, Iowa where they resided for just over ten years. In 1875, the Smiths had a son, William, but by the 1880 census, Mary’s oldest sister, Laura had moved to Republic County, Kansas, where she lived with her mother’s brother, Eli Haskett and his family at Belleville, Kansas. By 1885, Laura had married William Little, and the couple farmed in Jewell County, Kansas at Burr Oak. In that census, Mary Smith, said to be 17 years old at the time, lived with the Littles, but by the end of the year, Mary had moved to Parsons, where she took a job as a waitress.

Zack Mulhall was infatuated with the young Miss Smith, and he wasted no time in making promises to her of a good life together. By July of 1887, Mary Smith was pregnant with Zack Mulhall’s child, and on April 23, 1888, she gave birth to a son, Charles Mulhall. Evidence suggests that Charley Mulhall was born in Missouri, and it may well be that Zack had moved Mary Smith to a St. Louis apartment by the time she gave birth.

While Mary Agnes Mulhall maintained their home in St. Louis, Zack traveled across Kansas, Texas, and Indian Territory (and Oklahoma Territory) for the ATSF, while becoming heavily involved in the cattle business. In the late 1880s, he headquartered his cattle business at Winfield, Kansas before making his big move to Oklahoma in the “Run of 1889” when portions of Oklahoma were opened to settlement.

One young man that Mulhall employed first at the ranch and later with the Mulhall Wild West Show was Will Rogers, a teenager from Claremore, Indian Territory.

Source and additional information: https://flinthillsspecial.com/2020/12/04/lucille-mulhall-and-the-mu...

Published in the Big Spring Daily Herald on Friday, September 18, 1931:

FRONTIERSMAN DIES MULHALL, Okla., Sept. 18 (AP) Colonel Zach Mulhall, pioneer frontiersman and wild west showman, died at his ranch home here today. The funeral will be held Sunday. His wife died recently and he had been failing in health ever since.

Published in the Oklahoman on Monday, September 21, 1931:

Simple Service Held for Zack Mulhall

Mulhall, Sept. 20 – On the ranch plot he homesteaded here 42 years ago in the realization of a youthful dream, Col. Zack Mulhall, pioneer ranchman and showman, was buried Sunday afternoon in the presence of 5,000 Oklahomans from all walks of life.

Simple Catholic funeral services marked the final rites of the man whose life typified the southwestern trailblazer of the last century. (more omitted)

Col. Mulhall died Friday, almost eight months after his wife, known in this community and all over Oklahoma as "Mother" Mulhall, passed away. Her death was a shock from which the plainsman, 84 years old, was unable to recover.

He is survived by daughter Lucille, son Charley Mulhall, Los Angeles, Calif.; daughter, Mildred Carmichael, Ocala, Fla.; grandson, Billy J. Mulhall. Interment was made in the family sepulcher, near the farmhouse.

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"Daughter' Georgia Mulhall. Born May or Sept 1872 possibly in St. Louis. She was actually Zacks lover and traveled with family doing the wild west shows. She was mother to Charlie and Mildred who both were taken to Mother Agnes after Logan's death to be raised as her own. Charlie discovered the lie and told Mildred when they were teenagers.

Contributor: desiree michaelson (49825591) • desireemichaelson22@gmail.com

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Feb 16 2021, 22:25:08 UTC