Tim Meagher
From "Lexington" by Mary Wilson and Sharon Y. Asher, published sometime after 1975.
TIMOTHY MEAGHER, JR.
On October 20, 1975, with the passing of Timothy Meagher, Jr., a large part of the Irish heart of Lexington was lost. Although born in Lexington in October 1886, he was an Irishman in the truest sense, the son of Timothy, Sr., and Sarah Close Meagher.
His formal education stopped with the fifth grade as a result of a dispute with one of his teachers. Afterwards Tim decided to pursue his grandfather's and father's trade and eventually became the village blacksmith. He was married for 66 years to Bertha Hopper who died in August of 1970. They had one son who died in infancy.
Tim's Irish wit and unusual profession brought him recognition far beyond the small town of Lexington. In fact, the Louisville Courier-Journal and Times twice ran articles on him and a Louisville television station news team interviewed him and filmed him at work in his shop. The following article* which appeared in the 1972 Louisville Times catches Tim in words and pictures as so many in his community knew him.
Blacksmith Meagher 86, has always
been a swinger, in the shop and outLEXINGTON, Ind. – Judged by current standards, Tim Meagher, 86, would have been called a swinger in his younger days.
Meagher, a blacksmith who still plies his trade in a shop here, drank whiskey, chased girls, and when things got dull in this tiny Scott County hamlet, he hopped a train to Louisville, North Vernon or wherever the action was.
This town is not exactly a beehive of activity, so Meagher recalled that he spent a lot of time traveling.
The genial Irishman, who is a third-generation blacksmith, admitted he was a pretty good hand at belting down whiskey, saying that at one time his daily consumption often reached a quart.
His traveling resulted in his knowing well the schedules of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad trains that passed through Scott County, and when he needed more booze he would flag down one of the passenger trains headed for North Vernon or Louisville. He said he liked one train that left Scott County about 9 p. m. and went to Louisville.
"You could go down there and have a hot time, and be back here in time to go to work at daybreak," the octogenarian added.
He never missed a day of work, Meagher said.
Why did he decide to quit drinking?
"Well, when I was about 40 I decided I was kind of making a fool out of myself, so I stopped drinking; you know everybody makes a fool out of himself sometime in his life," he said.
Marriage mellowed him a bit, he added. Meagher was married for 66 years. His wife died in August of 1970. They had one son, who died during infancy.
Meagher, who claims he had two occupations as a blacksmith and a farrier (a horse-shoer), is one old-timer who doesn’t yearn for the good "ole days."
He is happy with the marvels of modern-day life, marvels such as television, medical science advances and some of the government reforms.
"Why, if we didn’t have medicine like ‘pennycilin’ and others, a lot of us old people wouldn’t be around," he conceded. Meagher said he enjoys good health and rarely misses a day of work.
"I have a cold once in a while, but I take one of those new medicines, and it usually cures me," he said.
Meagher has no beef with the younger generation, either.
He said a stray hippie wanders through Lexington once in a while, but "I have never had any trouble." He looks on the drug habits of some of the younger generation "as their way of being foolish and they’ll realize some day that it isn’t doing them any good.
"We did things that are just as bad."
As he reminisces about his life, Meagher doesn’t boost about the things that he did, nor does he advocate that other people follow his pattern. He gives the impression that the past was governed by things that he or his wife liked to do.
Spins some favorite yarns
Meagher still does what suits his fancy, but now he disciplines himself to the extent that he works in his little, red blacksmith shop for at least eight hours a day.
Since the death of his wife, he often tarries in his shop in the evenings to swap yarns with other senior citizens of the area who drop y to visit him. After all, he explains, "I live by myself now and there is no necessity of getting home at any set time."
Mechanization of farming has caused a radical change in his work habits, and the almost complete departure of horses as helpers on the farm or as buggy-pullers prompted him to quit shoeing horses.
He said he hasn’t put a set of shoes on a horse since he was 77 years old, and that it is a rare occasion now when he is called on to repair a buggy or wagon.
Meagher, whose back is slightly bowed by the weight of his years, still manages to keep busy sharpening blades for various farm implements, repairing plow points, fixing toys and making an occasional basketball goal for some youthful enthusiast.
Meagher indicates he enjoys the leisurely pace that he can set for himself in his shop.
"I used to have to go to work at 7 in the morning and work to 5 at night," he recalled, "but now I can set my own schedule."
The affable, alert Meagher also likes the pay now. "I used to have to work all day for $1, and there were days that I shoed 10 horses or mules," he said, " and when I stopped shoeing horse we were getting $2.50 per horse."
He quit fashioning shoes for horses because he ran out of customers. "It wasn’t my age or that I was getting afraid to do it; there just was a shortage of horses."
He brags that he never saw a horse or mule that he couldn’t shoe. "Once I started a job I finished it." he said.
The economics of the blacksmithing business were not ignored by Meagher as he recounted his early days.
"We used to pay a penny a pound for shoes and 2 ½ cents a pound for nails, and when I retired as a horse-shoer I was paying 40 cents a pound for shoes and $1.95 for nails," he noted.
A story concerning the 1929 Model A Ford truck that Meagher drives around the county can best describe his attitude towards his fellow man.
"I had this trailer that I made, and this here boy had his Model A Ford sedan he wanted to trade for the trailer; I wouldn’t make a deal with the boy until I talked to his father and told him about his son wanting the trailer."
"When the father told me the machine belonged to the boy, and he could do what he wished with it I offered to trade even. I didn’t want anyone to think that I was taking advantage of him."
Both parties were happy with the deal, and Meagher who converted the sedan into a truck still used the vehicle for transportation.
Bedtime is 8 p.m.
Meagher, who lives in a four-room house west of town, supports himself with his earnings as a blacksmith and on his monthly $80 Social Security check.
He cooks his own meals, and after he cooks his evening meal, washes the dishes and watches television almost until his 8 p.m. bedtime.
Meagher explained he likes to get to bed by 8 every night, but on nights when there is a baseball game on television he misses this deadline. He likes to watch baseball, but doesn’t have too much interest in football or basketball.
Meagher still maintains a keen interest in what’s happening in the world. He reads newspapers daily and watches newscasts on television.
He says he keeps up with politics this way because he seldom gets too far away from Lexington to find out what’s going on.
Voted for one Republican
Meagher is a lifelong Democrat , and he can remember voting for only one Republican in his life – "Chub Everitt over in Scottsburg."
His favorite president was Harry S. Truman because "he was a man who didn’t pass the buck and kept his word."
He revealed he is not going to bolt the Democratic Party this November. "I don’t like this guy (Sen. George) McGovern and some of his ideas, but I’ll have to vote for him," he said.
He’s a staunch advocate of medicare and other social reforms of recent years. "I don’t know what the old people would do without medicare; why my wife’s hospital bill was $1,500 before she died and medicare paid for all except $8," he said.
He did express some dissatisfaction with the way welfare payments are handled in Indiana, and he isn’t too happy with the state tax structure.
"The property tax is too high," he complained, " and I don’t like the sales tax but I guess it’s the fairest tax of all."
Meagher also has some comment about the present educational systems. "They ought to teach these kids how to do something while they are in school, and not just study books," he said.
Meagher sheepishly admits that his formal education was halted in the fifth grade after he had a disagreement with his teacher.
"He kicked the ________ out of me, so I decided to quit school and follow my father’s trade," he chuckled in recounting the abrupt end of his schooling.
He’s been following his trade since then – sometimes in Madison, Butlerville or some other small Southern Indiana town. He’s been in Lexington, now, for 48 straight years.
He expects to keep going for many more years.
"My health’s good and I don’t know why I can’t continue for several years," he declared confidently.
And so we wish he had for his dry wit and ready twinkle in his eye will be missed. We will still expect to see him leaning back in his chair against the front of his blacksmith shop as we pass and we will continue to listen for the sound of his old Model A Ford truck passing.
He was indeed an integral part of Lexington's history!
*Copyright 1972, The Louisville Times, reproduced with permission.
The following was written by Hardy Robinson in honor of Tim Meagher:
THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH
Our Village Smith, a man of might,
A thrifty man is he;
From early morn till late of night,
He is busy as a bee.
His hairy arms are large and strong,
His face is brown with tan;
He’s right on time with just a song
To cheer his fellowman.
The aged and youth both love to stop
And pass the time of day;
They love to sit within the shop
And watch the sparks at play.
They love to watch the red hot steel
And hear the anvil ring;
When days are cold the warmth they feel
So round the forge they cling.
If censure on some absent one
The loungers chance to pass,
His yea or nay is seldom won,
His tongue is not of brags.
With work he's always over run
The farmers say with vim;
When first class work you want done
Just call around on Tim.
And he the work what it may,
He'll do it quick and neat;
The price is right, I want to say,
Our Tim is hard to beat.
And always ready with a jest,
And always wears a smile;
He1s found the secret of success
And plays it all the while.
Louisville Courier Journal
July 2, 1973
'Atsa some spicy interview
For $3 an hour raconteur-blacksmith Meagher will tell you all he knows
By JOHN FLYNN
Courier-Journal & Times Staff Writer
LEXINGTON, Ind.-Timothy Meagher is a raconteur of dirty stories and a polit-ical commentator besides being an 86-year-old radical and this town's black-smith for the past 67 years.
Six days a week he sharpens plow points and forge welds and offers com-ments on a wide range of subjects. Following is an interview conducted while the bright, blue-eyed little man watched over his blacksmith shop.
Question: Do you have time to talk, Mr. Meagher?
Answer: Yes, but it'll cost you $3 an hour.
Question: Meagher, that's a pretty name. Is it German?
Answer: Don't call me no German. I dislike them about as much as the English. It's Irish. T-I-M-O-T-H-Y M-E-A-G-H-E-R!
Question: That's an interesting truck you have. What kind is it?
Answer: It's a 1929 Ford. I put a new engine in it last spring and it starts at 90 miles an hour.
Question: But doesn't that say Chevrolet on the bed of the truck?
Answer: Yep. It used to be a car, but I found that bed at a dump and changed it to a truck. It has a Ford engine and cab and a Chevrolet bed.
Question: You have another engine in your blacksmith shop. What's it?
Answer: It's a 1930 Ford. I use it as power supply to run my tools. Saws, planes and grinders and things such as that.
Question: Let's talk about Watergate. What do you think about it?
Answer: They ought to hang all the sons-of-bitches involved in it.
Question: What's your opinion of the people who say it's just politics?
Answer: They ain't all there.
Question: You sound like a Democrat. Are you?
Answer: You guessed it. I think I cast my first vote for Billy Bryan. At least I remember he and Parker ran together. They had hats that said "Bryan and Parker." I got myself one and reared back proud as a peacock.
Question: Who's the best man you ever voted for?
Answer: No question 'bout that. It was Harry Truman. Best damn president we ever had. What he thought, he said; and what he said, he stood with; and they ain't doin' that no more.
Truman cost me a pig, though. Night of the election against Dewey my late wife, Bertha, was ironin' and I was sittin' and cussing and hollering because I thought sure ol' Harry was goin' get beat. My wife said. 'Bet he doesn't.'
I said, 'OK, I'll bet you one of them piglets the old sow just had against a $5 bill. She agreed and went on ironin'. When the final results came in she looked at me and said, 'Oink, Oink.'
Question: You sound as if you might vote a straight ticket?
Answer: Huh-uh. That's stupid. I vote for Republicans, too.
Question: How many Republicans have you voted for in the past 65. years?
Answer: Two. One was a good friend who was runnin' for sheriff and I must have shoed about a thousand horses for the other one.
Question: Did you vote for George McGovern?
Answer: Damn right, but I wasn't all that proud of it.
Question: Did you ever consider entering politics?
Answer: No. I'm too smooth. They asked me to run for sheriff one time and I turned them down. I said I would have to go down to the 'dives' and arrest all my best friends.
Question: What do you think of women's lib?
Answer: Women's what? I like all women. My mother was a woman. Matter of fact, it's OK for them to vote, but they shouldn't hold office. Come to think of it, though, they might do as well as some of the clowns we have in Washington.
Question: What do you think of Raquel Welch?
Answer: Raquel what?
Question: Do you drink?
Answer: Used to drink a quart a day and shoe horses. Stopped drinking in '39 and stopped shoen' horses in '63.
Question: Do you go to church?
Answer: No.
Question: Why?
Answer: Too damn many hypocrites. They just go to see what the other feller's doin or to look at his wife Course when you get to be almost 87 you should forget about things like that.
Question: When did you stop making love"
Answer: What do you mean 'Stopped' ?
Question: How far did you go in school"
Answer I flunked out in the fifth grade I was always thinkin' about some thin else
Question: Such as?
Answer: Everything
Question: You seem to cuss a lot?
Answer: Yeah that goes with it.
Question: With what?
Answer: With everything. If you had been in this goddamn shop since 1924 you'd cuss a lot, too. Now if you'll listen I'll tell you some things you can't put in the paper
Question: Do you know any clean jokes?
Answer: No I don't study them but did you hear the one about…
Question: Do you have anything physically wrong with you?
Answer: Not that I know of. 'Went to the doctor the other day. Said I had a slight case of bronchitis. Good man. He fixed it right up. Hadn't been there since I stuck my thumb in the saw.
Question: One final question. Do you have any advice for other people?
Answer: No. Let them live their own lives, but they'd better keep an eye on those _____ in Washington.
Article included a photo of Mr. Meagher.
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