James Manney Hagaman 1830 - January 18, 1904 was a lawyer, land agent, newspaper editor, and the founder of Concordia, Kansas

Concordia, Kansas

Concordia is a city in and the county seat of Cloud County, Kansas, United States. Located on the Republican River in the Smoky Hills region of the Great Plains, Concordia was founded in 1871 and is an economic and cultural center in north-central Kansas...

. He and his wife settled in what is now Cloud County

Cloud County, Kansas

Cloud County is a county located in North Central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 9,533. Its county seat and most populous city is Concordia.-19th century:...

 in 1860. In addition to founding the town of Concordia, he is credited with leading the movement to separate what was then Shirley Township from Washington County

Washington County, Kansas

Washington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 5,799...

 in 1866.

Political career

In 1866, the people of Shirley Township sent Hagaman to Governor of Kansas

Governor of Kansas

The Governor of the State of Kansas is the head of state for the State of Kansas, United States. Under the Kansas Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the Kansas executive branch, of the government of Kansas. The Governor is the...

 Samuel J. Crawford with the petition requesting the right to organize as a county. The governor granted permission and Shirley Township became Shirley County (later "Cloud" County).

Hagaman was elected county clerk and promptly became a candidate to be the first to represent Shirley County in the Kansas House of Representatives

Kansas House of Representatives

The Kansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kansas Legislature, the legislative body of the U.S. State of Kansas. Composed of 125 state representatives from districts with roughly equal populations of at least 19,000, its members are responsible for crafting and voting on...

, losing to John B. Rupe. In 1868, he ran again for the Kansas House and this time won, barely defeating a man named Donoho. He later served two terms as Mayor of Concordia from 1878-1880 and also served five terms on the city council.

The founding of Concordia

As Hagaman rose to political power in the state of Kansas, he faced political opposition in the town of Clyde, Kansas

Clyde, Kansas

Clyde is a city in Cloud County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 716. Clyde is named for Clyde, Ohio and was originally known as Hamilton.-Geography:Clyde is located at...

 from several sources. In her book on the history of Concordia, Janet Pease Emery wrote:

"Jim Hagaman was done with Clyde. He swore it would never be the county seat. If it took every ox, cow, and horse he owned, he'd see that the courthouse went elsewhere -- even if he had to build a town himself.

Madder than hops, Hagaman took out a claim in Lincoln Township and founded Concordia."

Newspaper editor

In 1879, Hagaman (along with his son James E. Hagaman) founded The Concordia Blade newspaper, the third local newspaper printed in the town. The paper struggled in its early years, as did the other local publications (The Empire and the Republican). In 1889 he sold out his interest to The Blade Publishing Company. All three papers were later merged to form the Concordia Blade-Empire

Concordia Blade-Empire

The Concordia Blade-Empire is a local newspaper for Concordia, Kansas. It is the official newspaper for Cloud County, Kansas. The paper publishes five days a week, Monday through Friday.-History:...

which is still in publication as of 2009.

His death

James Hagaman died in Concordia in 1904. Although he had been behind the scenes for over 25 years and in front on both the town council and as the mayor, the city council made no official mention of his passing. Janet Pease Emery's book states "Hagaman left life passively, causing not a ripple in the pond where for so many years he was the big fish." Although no one knew how old he was at death, those close to him guessed he was around 73 years old. His widow Mary Hagaman purchased a cemetery plot and presumably buried him there in an unmarked grave.