John Corby, Mayor of St. Joseph from 1856 to 1857 was described in a biographic sketch in "The History of Buchanan County..."
John Corby, prominent as a philanthropist, railroad promoter and builder, merchant and banker, and pioneer in many of the enterprises which helped to make St. Joseph the city it has become, was born in the city of Limerick, Ireland, June 24, 1808. He was the second child and eldest son in a family of ten children, whose parents were John and Bridget (Shehan) Corby, who, in 1820, with their family, emigrated to America and settled on a farm in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. There John Corby remained only a few years, and then started out in the world to find an honest means of obtaining a livelihood. His industrious and frugal habits soon enabled him to become an employer instead of being employed, and in a few years he became a contractor on the Baltimore & Washington Railway, one of the first railroads built in the country. He afterward took a and carried out large contracts on the Pittsburg & Erie Canal, on the Grand Slack Water Navigation project for Licking River, Kentucky, on the Madison & Indianapolis Railroad, and also contracts for railroads, pikes and levees in Ohio, Kentucky, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana.
During a trip to the West, Mr. Corby visited St. Joseph in October, 1843, and with wise foresight reached the conclusion that this would become a commercial city of note. It was then a mere trading post, but with unerring judgment he read the future in store for it, and purchased a number of lots from Joseph Robidoux. In the following spring he bought out a large stock of goods, commenced merchandising, and erected the first brick house in the town. For a number of years he carried on the largest retail business in the vicinity, investing his profits in real estate, which, in later years, yielded rich returns. In 1857 he retired from the dry goods trade and opened a banking house, in which line of business he continued until his death.
Mr. Corby was made mayor of his adopted city, and served many times as a member of the City Council, in all of which positions he not only gave entire satisfaction to his constituents, but did honor to himself and at the same time advanced the best interests of the municipality. In public positions he brought to bear on affairs the same wisdom, sagacity and honesty which in private life made him respected, honored and successful.
Mr. Corby was one of the originators of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, taking an active part in securing its charter and franchise. In order to determine the best route for the road, he also made several carriage and horseback trips across the State. He was a member of its first board of directors, which position he resigned to become a contractor, and as such constructed twenty-five miles of the road. The Roseport & Maryville, or Palmetto Railroad Company, was organized in 1857, with General Jeff Thompson as president, and John Corby as vice president.
Later Mr. Corby became the president of this company, and under his administration it was consolidated with the Northern Railroad of Kansas under the name of the St. Joseph and Denver City Railroad Company. By this act the company secured 125,000 acres of land, granted by the State of Kansas to the Wathena (Kansas) Railroad Company, and this insured the success of the enterprise. In those early days Mr. Corby was also a director in the St. Joseph & Topeka Railroad Company. In 1856 he was elected mayor of St. Joseph, being always foremost in every enterprise from which benefit could accrue to the city of his home. In 1858 he was one of the incorporators of, and a director in, the St. Joseph branch of the bank of this State, and when this was, in 1864, merged into the State National Bank, he became a director of that institution, and so continued until a short time before his demise.
On May 30, 1852, Mr. Corby was united in marriage with Miss Amanda Musick, youngest daughter of the late Honorable Joel L. Musick, of Florissant, St. Louis County, Missouri. After a life of constant activity he was attacked with heart disease in 1867, and consulted some of the best physicians in the United States, with but little benefit. In 1869 he visited Florida, where he spent a part of the winter, returning to St. Joseph on February 2, 1870, and residing there until his death on the 9th of May following. In many respects he was a remarkable man, and though by nature he was given to the accumulation of wealth, his methods were characterized by strict integrity, a practical piety and a warm, kind-hearted and wise charity. He made liberal donations to St. Joseph Seminary of the Sacred Heart and other institutions in earlier years, and one year gave to the St. Joseph Hospital between $4,000 and $5,000; in the same year he gave $5,000 to a female seminary to be located on St. Joseph Avenue and Albermarle Street, $10,000 and lots for building the St. Joseph Cathedral, and 160 acres of land, valued at about $10,000, for a Catholic cemetery near the city, thus making a total of about $30,000 dispensed during that year alone for religious, educational and charitable purposes.
