Flanagan, John

6 Feb. 1829–10 July 1902

John Flanagan, manufacturer, was born in Pitt County, the son of Thomas Flanagan (d. 1831) and Sophia Turnage (d. 1829). After completing his apprenticeship at the Nelson Carriage Factory in Greenville, Flanagan worked in Washington where on 5 Dec. 1855 he married Mary Wise Gaskill (24 Aug. 1841–24 Apr. 1926), daughter of John Stanley Gaskill (1817–48) and Mary Ann Liverman (1818–81). In 1856 he moved to Hamilton where he set up his own business. Six years later he enlisted in the Seventeenth North Carolina Regiment in which he served until the end of the war. His business having been destroyed in General J. G. Foster's raid, Flanagan in 1868 moved to Greenville where he established the John Flanagan Buggy Company. By 1896 the company produced an average of one vehicle per day; it also manufactured and sold coffins.

Active in local affairs, Flanagan served terms as Greenville town commissioner and Pitt County commissioner, tax collector, and treasurer. Elected mayor of Greenville, he declined the honor because he did not have time to devote to the post. He was the father of eleven children: John Gaskill, Florence (Mrs. George Dancey), Sophia (Mrs. Edward H. Shelburn), John William, Laura, Charles, Roy Chetwynd, Edward Gaskill, Blanche (Mrs. James F. Davenport), Anna Doris (Mrs. Benjamin E. Patrick), and Lela. A Baptist, Flanagan was buried in Cherry Hill Cemetery, Greenville. A charcoal portrait of him is in the possession of the family.