A Thumbnail Sketch of Philip
McAnany
(1842-1906)
Philip McAnany was born in Inniskeen, County Monaghan, Ireland in 1842. Most of the following information comes from Phil Henry, Philip McAnany’s descendant.
After immigrating to the United States, he worked on pack trains to Mexico in his early teens. During the Civil War, he fought in the 65th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Company I, from Lee County, where his mother and several siblings lived. After the war, he lived in Westport, Missouri where he knew Sitting Bull and Bill Hart! Philip brought 149 wagons on his first wagon train through Wind River Pass on the Sweetwater and Wind Rivers in Wyoming.
He married Annie Hawkins (1852-1894) in Ogden, Utah while renting a house from Brigham Young. They had seven children: Philip (1870-1955); John Sarsfield (1871-1949); Jennie May (1874-1940), Henry Walter (1878-1957); Nellie (1879-1973); Lilly Mae (1883-1885); and George (1888-1979).
They moved to Los Angeles and rented Hunter Ranch in 1870. Phil hauled the Cerro Gordo Mine payroll and knew Tiburcio Vasquez, a famous bandit! He bought the 40 acre Home Ranch for $400 on Nov. 4, 1874 and added 40 more acres in 1875. He then purchased 160 acres in Hyde Park and another 160 acres in 1883. Apparently, the ranch properties were between Western Avenue and Vermont Avenue, near what is now the University of Southern California campus. Several of the McAnanys are buried in the Rosedale Cemetery (today the Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery), just north of Interstate 10 at the corner of Normandie Avenue and W. Washington Boulevard, about a mile northwest of USC.
I [Pat McAnany] was told that Philip also owned a water company that brought water down from the Sierras. Several of the sons owned a saloon and real estate company, but the descendants lost whatever they inherited from Phil. His daughter, Jennie, married W.G. Durfee, a "well known horseman" and "one of the big plungers,” [a gambler making large and reckless bets] in 1897. She divorced him ten years later in 1907 on grounds of desertion.
The "baseball" McAnany’s, Tim and Jim, came into the family via their mother, Stella, who married Clifford McAnany (d. 1955) who adopted them. I [Pat McAnany] was told by Phil Henry that their biological father was Polish. Both Jim and then Tim went to Santa Clara University and played baseball. [Wikipedia says that Jim attended USC, which would have been likely, having grown up in L.A.] Jim went up to the White Sox in 1958 from a farm team in Colorado Springs and played outfield for the Sox in their 1959 World series against the Dodgers. Spending one year with the L.A. Angels, he then spent two years with the Chicago Cubs before retiring in 1963 because of an injury.
Jim went into the insurance business in Burbank, California. He and Rosemary had two children, Michelle and Jim. Michelle McAnany played for the Colorado Silver Bullets women’s baseball team. The Silver Bullets played semi-pro men’s teams in 1994 across the country. She was one of the outstanding players. Tim and Nancy have two girls: Katie and Erin, both of whom went to Santa Clara University and are now married. Nancy and Tim live in Playa Del Rey near the L.A. airport. They work at Randall/McAnany, a Painting and Wallcovering Contractor.
[Originally written by Patrick McAnany (1930) in 2006
Last edit by Damien McAnany Luce 2025]
