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I\NE
OoW^l
HISTORY
OF
RENO COUNTY
KANSAS
ITS PEOPLE, INDUSTRIES AND INSTITUTIONS
By
SHERIDAN PLOUGHE
With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and
Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families
VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
1917
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY, Inc.
Indianapolis, Indiana.
THE K\'^ ''■O-K
PUBLIC LI3,P4T^Y
Ai.'LOR-, LENCXAND
TlLDENt^OUNDATiONS
R 1931 '
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I— EARLY EXPLORATIONS OF THE WEST 33
Opposition to Louisiana Purchase — Lewis-Clark Expedition — Major Long's
Expedition and Noteworthy Incidents Connected with it — Other Explorers —
Jacob Fowler's Explorations and His "Journal of Travels" — Lieutenant Wil-
kinson.
CHAPTER II— PHYSICAL APPEARANCE AND EARLY CONDITIONS 42
Conditions in Reno County Similar to Those in Other States — Characteristics
of the Early Settlers — Lack of Transportation Facilities — Wild Geese — Wild
Game — Bufifalo Grass, a Wonderful Forage — Monotony of the Scene in Early
Days — A Wonderful Transformation.
CHAPTER III— THE ARKANSAS RIVER AND OTHER STREAMS 45
Coronado, the First Explorer of the West — Naming the Arkansas River —
Description of the River — Explorations of Zebulon Pike — Jacob Fowler's
Journeyings^Cow Creek and Some Queries Concerning It — Disastrous
Floods — Flood Prevention Work — Straightening of the Channel — The Drain-
age Canal — ^The Ninnescah and Salt Creek.
4 CHAPTER IV— THE OSAGE INDIANS 54
fc Few Indians in Kansas After the Advent of the White Man — Osage Indians,
Original Owners of Reno County Territory — Original Indian Claims to the
Land — The Osage Treaties— The Osage Trust Lands— Indian Habits and
Customs.
^ CHAPTER V— THE BUFFALO 60
1 Physical Pecularities of the American Buffalo, or Bison — The Buffalo Range
^ ' — Probable Age of the Species — Immense Size of Herds — The Buffalo Grass
^ — Condition of the Soil After the Herds Had Passed and Its Effect on
_. Drainage — Habits of the Buffalo — Buffalo as Food — Disappearance of the
'— Buffalo a Chief Cause of the Breaking Up of the Tribal Relations of the
Indians— Extermination of the Buffalo in the Interest of Peace — Buffalo
Bones — Hide Hunters — ^Buffalo Wallows.
CHAPTER VI— EARLY TRAILS ACROSS THE COUNTRY 67
2i!ll The Tide of Emigration Westward After the Civil War— The Cattle Busi-
ness — Immense Herds of Texas Cattle Driven North — Some of the Early
Cattle Men— The Cattle Trails— The Romance of the "Trail" and the
"Round-up."
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII— BOUNDARY LINES 71
Legislative Acts of 1853, Creating Counties — Only Meager Descriptions Pos-
sible — Descriptions Simplified by Survey of 1857 — Numerous Changes in
County Boundaries — Creation of Reno County — C. C. Hutchinson and His
Influence on Early Development of the Country — His Choice of a Townsite
— Reno Given Its Present Form — Attempts to Divide the County.
CHAPTER VIII— THE EARLY SETTLERS 76
First Settler in Reno County— Other Earliest Settlements and Those Who
Immediately Followed — First Settlements Along Water Courses — Early
Game — An Indian Scare — Early Land Survej^s — Many Inaccuracies — Official
Record of the Complete Survey of Reno County.
CHAPTER IX— SOME FIRST THINGS - 82
First Marriage — First Birth — First Threshing Machine — First Political Con-
vention — First Death — First Cemetery — First "Joint" Raid — First Alfalfa —
Building of the First Silo — The Last BufTalo — Building of the Rock Island
Railroad — A Big Powder Explosion — The Water and Light Plant in Sherman
Street, West.
CHAPTER X— A YEAR OF DISASTER 94
The Year 1874, a Dismal One for the Pioneers of Reno County — A Hot
Year and Extended Drought — The Locust Scourge — The Kansas Relief
Fund — Pioneers Refuse to Be Discouraged, and Their Ultimate Triumph.
CHAPTER XI— ORGANIZING THE COUNTY 98
Petition for Creation of Reno County, Its Approval By the Governor, and
His Order for the Organization of the County — The First Election — C. C.
Hutchinson the First Representative in the Legislature — First Election for
County Officers — Some of These Officers — Hutchinson to be a Temperance
Town — Tlie Herd Law and Its Importance to the Early Settlers — Census
Roll of Reno County, January 18, 1872.
CHAPTER XII— TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATIONS 110
Reno, the First Township — Creation, First Officers and Other Items of In-
terest Concerning the Townships of Valle}', Little River, Haven, Clay,
Castleton, Center, Lincoln, Nickerson (Grant), Salt Creek, Troy, Langdon,
Medford, Miami, Grove, North Hayes, Yoder, Grove, Loda, Hayes, Bell,
Albion, Roscoc, Enterprise, Plevna, Huntsville, Walnut, Sylvia, Medora, Ar-
lington and Ninnescah.
CHAPTER XIII— POLITICAL PARTIES 124
Reno County Settled Largely by Old Soldiers — Republican Party Dominant
Througliout the Historj' of the County — Relative Party Strength — The Pro-
hibition Question — Notable Political Contest — The Largest Political Meet-
ing Ever Held in the County — Management of Political Parties — Protest
Against the Convention System, Resulting in the Primary Law — Present
Political Independence of the Voters.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIV— THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS 120
Management of the County's Finances — The First Board of Commissioners —
Commissioner Districts — Notable Political Row of 1873— Personnel of the
Board During the Eighties — Change in the Election Laws — Pioneer Officials
Lacked "Vision."
CHAPTER XV— PROBATE JUDGES OF RENO COUNTY 135
An Important Office — Statistics Showing the Growth of the Office — Foreign
Wills and Guardianships — Appointment of Administrators — Department of
Domestic Wills — Adoption Cases and Juvenile Court Work — Marriage Li-
censes — List of Probate Judges.
CHAPTER XVI— CLERKS OF THE DISTRICT COURT 142
Office Noted for Long Tenure of Officials — Women Elected to Office — First
Case in District Court — Separation of the Criminal and Civil Cases.
CHAPTER XVII— COUNTY CLERKS 146
The First County Clerk and His Successors^Growth of Office in Importance
— Duties of the Clerk — Conviction for Embezzlement — Present Records Com-
plete and Accurate.
CHAPTER XVIII— COUNTY ATTORNEYS 151
One of the Most Important Offices in the County — Incumbents of the Office
Since Creation of Same — Influence of the Populists— Vote Indicates Growth
of County.
CHAPTER XIX— REGISTER OF DEEDS 156
The First Register of Deeds and Those Who Have Followed Him — Impor-
tant Functions of the Office — Statistics for 1916.
CHAPTER XX— SURVEYORS AND CORONERS 160
Strange Grouping of These Two Offices — First Surveyors of tlie County
— The County Coroner and His Duties and Status — Those Who Have Held
the Office.
CHAPTER XXI— REPRESENTATIVES AND STATE SENATORS 165
C. C. Hutchinson, Reno's First Representative in the Lower House — Re-
sume of the Ensuing Elections — Rivalry Between Country and Town— State
Senators.
CHAPTER XXII— SOME EARLY BOND ELECTIONS 172
Absence of Money in Early Days an Embarrassment — Small List of Personal
Property Taxpayers — Unequality of the Burden — Bonds Necessary — First
Bond Election — The Building of Bridges and of a Court House — Road-
making, An Important Question — C. C. Hutchinson's Vision of Future Reno
County.
CHAPTER XXIII— BONDS OF THE COUNTY AND ITS SUBDIVISIONS.. 177
Early Necessity for Public Improvements — County Compelled to Borrow
Money and Issue Bonds — Bonded Indebtedness, 1916 — Bonded Indebtedness
of the Townships.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXIV— REi\0 COUNTY'S FINANCIAL MATTERS 181
Trouble in Providing for the Early Expenses of the County — Necessity for
Bond Issue — Little Market Demand for the Bonds — The Tax Rolls in 1872
— Railroad Injunction Suit Against the County Against Levying Taxes —
Compromise With the Railroad — Statistics Concerning the Increase in the
Value of Taxable Property — County's Bonded Indebtedness — Ofifice of
County Assessor — The County's Progress.
CHAPTER XXV— BUILDING THE MISSOURI PACIFIC 188
Early Rivalry Between Towns for Railroads — The Wichita-Hutchinson Con-
tention — Final Triumph of the Hutchinson Crowd in Their Efforts to Bring
the Missouri Pacific Here.
CHAPTER XXVI— THE HUTCHINSON & SOUTHERN RAILROAD 193
Originally a L'nion Pacific Project — Controversy Among the Projectors of
the Road as to its Route — Its Eventual Building to Reno County — A Profit-
able Transaction for the Promoters.
CHAPTER XXVII— EARLY FARMING 199
Crude Methods of the Pioneer Farmer — Importance of the Early Hay and
Corn Market — Favorable Effect of the Herd Law — First Grist-mills — Prairie
Fires and Their Effect on Timl)er Growth — Diversity in Farming — Pioneer
'Orchards — Milk and Eggs.
CHAPTER XXVIII— RENO COUNTY FAIRS* 206
The First Reno County Fair — Splendid Growth of Later Fairs — ^Beginning
of the Present State Fair as an Institution — Its Phenomenal Success and
Present Status.
CHAPTER XXIX— THE GRAIN BUSINESS 211
First Grain Buyers of Reno County — Board of Trade — Present Vast Propor-
tions of the Traffic — Flouring Mills.
CHAPTER XXX— POSTOFFICES AND MAIL ROUTES 214
First Overland Mail — Hutchinson a Mail Distributing Point — -Star Routes —
Postmasters in Reno County — Free Delivery in Hutchinson — Postal Receipts
— Rural Free Delivery.
CHAPTER XXXI— SCHOOLS. RENO COUNTY 22i)
Incomplete. Records of the Early Schools — Unpractical Method of Forming
First School Districts^ — h'irst District Organized in 1872 — Later Ones — Bond-
ed Indebtedness of School Districts — Later Bond Issues — Consolidated Rural
Schools — Rural High Schools — The Standardized School — School Statistics
— County Superintendents — Reno County High School.
CHAPTER XXXII— NEWSPAPERS OF THE COUNTY 237
Reno County Fortunate in an Abundant Supply of Newspapers — Zeno Tharp,
Optimist — First Newspaper in the County — A "Boomer" on the Job — Later
Newspaper Developments — Some .Short-lived Papers — Other Papers — News-
papers as an Asset to the Community.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXIII— FIRST CHURCHES IN THE COUNTY 243
First Public Religious Service in the County — Early Baptist and Methodist
Societies — Congregationalist Church— The Presbyterian Church — Christian
Church — Catholic Church — ^The Universalist Society — Church Growth Keep-
ing Pace With the Growth of the County.
CHAPTER XXXIV— EARLY DOCTORS OF RENO COUNTY 247
Strenuous Lives of the Early Doctors — -First Doctor in Hutchinson — Other
Physicians Who Looked After the Health of the Pioneers — County Medical
Society — Hospitals — The Red Cross Society.
CHAPTER XXXV— BANKS OF RENO COUNTY 250
The First Bank and Other Early Financial Institutions — Other Banks Which
Have Been Started in the County — Financial Standing of the Banks.
CHAPTER XXXVI— THE RENO COUNTY BAR 254
Lawyers of Reno County Men of Ability and High Character — Nature of
Early Legal Business — Early Lawyers of Reno County— Bachelors Argue
for Woman Suffrage — Some Present Members of the Bar — Younger Members
of the Bar — Convicted Lawyer Disbarred.
CHAPTER XXXVII— THE NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT 263
Creation of the Ninth Judicial District — Counties in the Original District
and Changes in the District Boundaries — Judges of the District Court.
CHAPTER XXXVIII— CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS IN RENO COUNTY 269
Complete List of Union Soldiers Living in Reno County in 1890, with the
Number From Each State.
CHAPTER XXXIX— STATE MILITIA— COMPANY E 299
First Military Company in Reno County — Indian Scare — Home Guard Com-
pany — Organization of Company E — Roster of the Company During the
Spanish-American War and at the Time of its Second Call to Service, in
1916 — Machine Gun Company.
CHAPTER XL— COMMUNITY MUSIC 306'
Social Gatherings Among the Pioneers — Music One of the Features of All
Public Occasions — Some Pioneer Singers — An Early Music Teacher — First
Public Concert — State Music Teachers' Association — The Musical Jubilee —
The Municipal Band.
t
CHAPTER XLI— SMALLER TOWNS IN RENO COUNTY 310
Brief Description of Nickerson, Arlington, Castleton, Haven, Partridge, Abby-
ville, Plevna, Langdon, Medora, Buhler, Elmer, Turon.
CHAPTER XLII— FORTY-FIVE YEARS IN RENO 316
Phenomenal Progress of the County Since Its Organization — Comparative
Statistics— A Brief Contrast of Conditions — Growth of the City and Villages
—Public Utilities.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XLIII— THE BEGINNING OF HUTCHINSON 319
C. C. Hutchinson's Contract Witli the Railroad to Build a Town — Obstacles —
Hutchinson's Preseverance and Untiring Zeal — Beginning of the Town —
First Buildings and Business Concerns.
CHAPTER XLIV— HUTCHINSON, A CITY OF THE THIRD CLASS 324
Incorporated as a City — First City Election — First City Ordinance — First
Boundaries — Protection From Prairie Fires — Early City Ordinances — Hitch-
ing-post Questions — By Way of Contrast — Various City Elections — The Sa-
loon Question — Promotion of Public Improvements — Census Taken — De-
velopment of Public Utilities — Fire Protection — City Finances — Permanent
Improvements.
CHAPTER XLV— HUTCHINSON, A CITY OF THE SECOND CLASS 336
Governor Marin Proclaims Hutchinson a City of the Second Class in 1886 —
City Divided Into Wards — Street Car Line Franchise — Aid to Railroads — Citj^
PJections — City Boundar}' Line Extended — A City Boom — Construction of a
Sewer System — An Enterprising Editor — Council and Mayor at Outs — City
Warrants Discounted — More Aid Granted Railroads — City Building Pur-
chased — The Coming of Natural Gas — Cit)^ Finances — Carnegie Library
Offer Accepted — Interesting Financial Expedients — Street Paving — Drainage
Ditch — Street Car Line Franchise — Commission Form of Government.
CHAPTER XLVI— HUTCHINSON AS A CITY OF THE FIRST CLASS 350
New Form of City Government — First Meeting of the Commissioners —
Early Acts of the Board— Internal Improvement Bonds Ordered by Popular
Election — Street Improvements — Move to Make Hutchinson a City of the
First Class — The Convention Hall — Public Band Concerts — Recent City
Elections — Automobile Parking — Sundaj- Closing — Further Improvements
Ordered.
CHAPTER XLVII— THE SALT INDUSTRY 356
The Rock Salt Deposit in Reno County — First Knowledge and Use of Native
Salt — Later Discovery of the Rock Salt and Quick Development of Its
Production — The First Salt Plants — Expansion of the Salt Market — Yearly
Output of the Field — Consolidation of the Industry — Log of the Drill —
Analysis of the Brine.
CHAPTER XLVII I— BUILDING UP THE SALT INDUSTRY 366
Rebates on Freight Shipments — Investigation by Interstate Commerce Com-
mission — Judgment of the Commission — Healthy Growth of the Salt Busi-
ness, which is now an Important Factor in the Business Life of the City.
CHAPTER XLIX— LOCATING THE PACKING HOUSE 111
Subsistence of the Boom Left Hutchinson in a Bad Way — R. M. Easley
Makes "Ten-strike" in Contracting with Packing House to Come to Hutchin-
son — Overcoming Many Obstacles — Tremendous Efforts of Local Commit-
tee Finallv Rewarded with Success.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER L— SODA-ASH PLANT AND STRAWBOARD WORKS 1>11
First Soda-Ash Plant and Its Subsequent Development — The Strawboard
Works — Other Industries.
CHAPTER LX— THE SCHOOLS OF HUTCHINSON 381
First School in Reno County and the First Teachers — School District No. 1
Organized — -Issue of Bonds for School Purposes — Gradual Growth of the
Schools — Buildings — Complete System of Records — The Alumni Associa-
tion — Superintendents of City Schools — Notable Record of Teaching Service.
CHAPTER LII— THE Y. M. C. A. AND Y. W. C. A 486
First Young Men's Christian Association in 1876 — Another Attempt in 1885 —
Organization of the Present Association in 1909 — Splendid Work of the
Organization and Its Present Healthy Condition — The Young Women's
Christian Association.
CHAPTER LIII— THE WEATHER 390
Complete Weather Records of Reno County from January, 1874.
HISTORICAL INDEX
A
Abbyville —
Bank 252, 253
Location 313
Mail Service 224
Name 313
Newspaper 241
Postmasters 218
Schools 230
Railroad 313
Albion Township , 120
Alfalfa, First 86
Arkansas River 45
Arlington —
Bank 251, 253
Beginning of 311
Mail Service 224
Name 311
Newspaper 240
Postmasters 220, 312
Schools 229, 312
Townsite ■ 311
Arlington Township 123
Assessor, County 186
Assessor's Valuations 181, 184
B
Bank Statistics ^ 253
Banks 250
Baptist Church 243, 245
Bar, The 254
Bench and Bar 254
Birth, First 82
Bond Elections, Early 172
Bonds of School Districts 226
Bonds of the County 172, 184
Bones, Buffalo 65
Booth 221
Boundary Lines 71
Buffalo 60
Buffalo Bones 65
Buffalo Grass 43, 60
Buffalo, The Last 88
Buhler—
Bank 252, 253
Location 314
Mail Service 224
Mill 213
Newspaper 241
Postmasters 219
Townsite 314
c
Castleton 221, 224, 252, 312
Castleton Township HI, 113, 245
Catholic Church 245
Cattle Industry 67
Cattle Men 67
Cemetery, First 82
Census Roll, 1872 104
Center Township 111, 113, 179. 244
Chisholm Trail 68
Christian Churcli 245
Churches, First - 243
Civil War Soldiers 269
Clay Township 113, 180
Clerks of County 9. 146
Clerks of District Court 99. 142
Climatology 390
Commissioner Districts 129
Commissioners, County 98, 100, 129
Community Music 306
Company E, State Militia 299
Congregational Church 244. 245
Consolidated Rural Schools 228
Coronado 45
Coroners 99, 162
County Assessor 186
County Attorneys 99, 151
County Clerks ._ 99, 146
HISTORICAL INDEX.
County Commissioners 98, 100,129
Count}' Expoiuiitures 184
County Fairs 206
County Finances 181
County Medical Society 249
County Officers, First VV
County Organized 98
County Superintendents 100, 235
County Surveyor 99
Court House 174
Cow Creek 49, 201, 327, 329
Darlow 221, 224
Death. First 82
Disaster, Year of 94
District Court Z63
District Court, Clerks of 99, 142
District Court, First Case in 144
District Court, Judges of 259, 264
Doctors, Early 247
Drainage Canal 52
Early Bond Elections 172
Early Conditions of County 42
Early Explorations 33
Early Farming 199
Early Land Surveys 79
Early Lawyers of' Reno County 255
Early Music 306
Early Settlers 76
Early Trails 67
Easley, Ralph M. 189, 238, 339, 372
Education 225
Elections 124
Elmer 314
Enterprise Township 121
Explorations of the West o3
Fairs 206
Farming, Early 199
Farm Statistics, Early 316
Finances of County 181
First Churches 243
First Things 82
Forty-five Years in Reno 316
Fowler, Jacob 39, 47
Frosts 397
Fruit Growing 204
G
Game, Wild 43
Geese, Wild 42
Grain Business 211
Grant Township___110, 114, 179, 202, 245
Grasshopper Plague 68, 94
Grove Township 117, 119
H
Hamburg 219
Haven —
Bank 251
Beginning of 312
Incorporation 313
Mail Service 224, 312
Mill 213
Name 312
Newspapers 240, 241
Postmasters 219
Railroads 312
Haven Township 111, 112
Hayes Township 120, 180
Herd Law 102, 200
Hide Hunters 65
High Schools, Rural 229
Home Guards 300
Hospitals 249
Huntsville Township 121
Hutchinson —
A City of the Frst Class 350
A City of the Second Class 336
A City of the Third Class 324
Banks 250, 253
Beginning of 319
Boom Days 338
Bonds 179
Boundary Lines 337
Board of Trade 312
Carnegie Library 346
Census of 1880 331
Churches, Early 243
City Building 343
Commission Government 349, 351
Convention Hall 352
Doctors, Early 247
HISTORICAL INDEX.
Hutchinson —
Drainage Canal 52
Early Conditions 327
Early Events 319
Elections 324, 353
Finances ^_333, 334
Fire Protection 332, 334
Floods 51
Free City Delivery ^~^
Gas Franchise 334
Grain Business 312
Hitching Post Question 326
Hospitals 249
Incorporation as City 324
Industries 339, 356, 366, 377, 379
Improvements 329
Lawyers 255
Library Started >>44
License Problem 328. 331
Mail Service 214, 224
Mills 212
Municipal Bonds 309, 353
Music 306
Natural Gas 343
Newspapers 238, 242
Ordinances, First 324
Packing House 339, 112
Postal Receipts 223
Postmasters 217
Public Utilities 331
Public Improvements 329
Railroad Aid 342
Salt Industry 356, 366
School Bonds 381
Schools 381
Sewer Construction 346
Sidewalks Constructed m
Strawboard Works •^^9
Superintendents of Schools 384
Temperance Town 102
Townsite 320
Tree Planting 330
Water Plant, Early 92
Waterworks . 334
Weather 390
Y. M. C. A. 386
Y. W. C. A. 388
Hutchinson & Arkansas River R. R. 367
Hutchinson & Southern Railroad--- 193
Hutchinson, C. C, 72, 74, 75, 11, 98
102, 105, 165, 171, 176, 247, 250,
319, 321.
I
Indebtedness, Bonded, of County 178, 184
Indebtedness of School Districts — 226
Indian Customs 58
Indians 54
Indian Scares 78, 299
Judges of Probate Court _
Juvenile Court Work
..99, 135, 260
138
K
Kansas State Fair Association 209
L
Land Surveys, Early 79
Langdon —
Bank 251, 253
Incorporation 314
Location 314
Mail Service 224
Newspaper 240
Postmasters 220
Schools 230
Langdon Township 115
Lawsuit, First HO
Legal Profession 254
Lerado 222, 241
LesHe 221
Lewis-Clark Expedition 34
Lincoln Township H-^
Little River Township 111, 112. 179, ISO
Loda Township 119, 120
Long Expedition 34
Louisiana Purchase 34
M
Machine-gun Company 303
Mail Routes 214
Marriage, First 82
Marriage Licenses 139
Medford Township 116
Medical Profession 247
Medical Society 249
Medora 221. 314
Methodist Church 243, 245
Miami Township 117
Military Record 269. 299
HISTORICAL INDEX.
Mills. 200. 212
Missouri Pacific Railroad 188
Music 306
Musical Jubilee 307
N
Netherland 222
Newspapers ^^"^
Nickerson —
Bank 252
Beginning of 310
Bonds 179, 180
Churches, Early 245
Incorporation -^H
Mail Service 224, 311
Newspapers 240. 311
Postmasters 217
Railroad Interests lf^3
Schools 311
Townsite 310
Nickerson College 235
Nickerson Township, See Grant
Township.
Ninnescah Creek ^3
Ninnescah Township 123
Ninth Judicial District 263
North Hayes Township 117
o
Olcott 241
Orchards 204
Organization of Townships 110
Organizing the County 98
Osage Indians 54
Osage Trust Lands 57
P
Partridge —
Location 313
Mail Service 224
Name 313
Newspaper 241
Postmasters 218
Railroads Ji3
Schools 230
Physical Appearance of County 42
F'hysicians, Early 247
Pike. Zebulon 46
Political Parties
Press, the ^'^'^
Pretty Prairie __-221, 224, 241, 251, 253
Plevna —
Bank 252, 253
Location 314
Mail Service 224
Newspaper 241
Postmasters 218
Schools 230
Plevna Township 121
Postmasters 216
Postoffices 214
Powder Explosion 89
Prairie Dogs 43
Prairie Fires 202
Precipitation 397
Presbyterian Church 244
Primary Law 127
Probate Judges 99, 135, 260
Prohibition Question 125
R
Railroads -Ji, 88, 176, 182, 188, 193, 367
Rainfall 397
Rebate Hearings 367
Red Cross Society 249
Register of Deeds 99. 156
Reno Center 218
Reno County High School 235
Reno County Medical Society 249
Reno Township _ 110. 181
Representatives 16o
Roads 174
Rock Island Railroad 88
Roscoe Township 121
Rural Free Deliver}^ Hi
Rural High Schools 229
Rural Schools 228
S
Salt Creek 53
Salt Creek Township 115. 116
Salt Creek Village 218
Salt Industry 356. 366
School Districts 225
School Statistics 231
Schools 225
Senators, State 170
Settlement of the Countv 76
HI^TORTCAI. INDEX.
Sherifif 99
Silo, First 87
Spanish-American War 301
Standardized Schools Z30
Star Mail Routes 214
State Fair 207
State Militia 299
State Senators 170
State Tax 184
Streams 45
Sumner Township 119
Superintendents of County Schools
110, 235
Surveys, Early 79
Sylvia City —
Bank 251, 252. 253
Bonds 180
Mail Service 224
Mill 213
Newspapers 240, 241
Postmasters 217
Sylvia Township 122
T
Temperature 390
Tharp, Zeno 115, 116, 237
Threshing Machine, First 82
Township Organizations 110
Towns of Reno County 310
Trails, Early 67
Treasurer y9
Treaties with Indians 55
Troy Township 115, 116
iuron —
Bank 251
Location 314
Mail Service 224
, Mill 213
Name 315
Postmasters 220
Townsite 315
u
Universalist Churcli ^ 246
V
Valley Township 111, 202
Valuations 181, 184
\'eterans of Civil War in Reno 209
W •
Walnut Township 122
Water and Light Plant, Early 92
Weather Records 390
Wild Game 1 , 43
Wild Geese 42
Wilkinson, Lieutenant 41
World War 303
Y
Yoder 219
Yoder Township 117
Z
Zenith 217
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX
A
Abel, Josiah W 274
Aelmore, Martin A 491
Akin, Rev. Dudley D.. D.D 322
Allmon, Elbert 6 382
Anderson, Joel M 208
Armour, Thomas G 101
Ash, Fred W 461
Asher, Arthur E 62
Astle, George 252
B
Bailey, J. N 775
Bailey, Joe F 457
Bain, Millard F 661
Ballard, Benjamin F 511
Bangs, Merwin B 243
Barr, Walter G 757
Barrett, George . 22>2
Barrett, M. L 623
Barrett, Nelson T 183
Barton, Edward E 760
Bay, €. M 528
Bay, Clyde 740
Bay, Delmar E 507
Bear, Arthur M 439
Beck, Konrad C 517
Bennett, Capt. William R 296
Bigger, Leander A 714
Bixler, Thurman J 282
Bloom, Charles 144
Boehm, John J 263
Bonnet, Lee 527
Bowman, Eli 196
Bowser, George R 160
Bowser, Lemon 162
Brainard, Capt. Jesse 192
Branch, Charles M 55
Branine, Judge Charles E 36
Brewer, Eliher L 271
Brown, Harlow B 764
Brown, Morrison H 291
Brown, William A 303
Buettner, J. H 550
Burgess, William H 387
Burris, Martin 256
Buser, Atlee M. 626
Bush, Charles H 405
Bush, James M 659
Buskirk, James E 639
Bussinger, Martin C 12
Byers, O. P 697
c
Cain, Morris R 614
Calbert, Robert E. L 747
Campbell, John H 283
Campbell, John W 378
Cantwell, George W 674
Carey, Hon. Emerson 33
Carpenter, Fred H 275
Carr, William E 217
Carson, William F 121
Catte, Joseph 371
Chamberlain, Grant 486
Chapin, Cornelius O 368
Chubbuck, Willis J 530
Citizens Bank of Hutchinson, The_ 54
Claybaugh, C. W 111
Clothier, J. B 568
Coffman, Capt. George T 560
Coleman, Lewis W. 429
Coleman, Monroe 389
Collingwood, J. M 768
CoUingwood, John A._l 681
Collingwood, Mrs. Mary 748
Comes, John W 384
Cone, William R., D.D.S 203
Conkling. Charles A 707
Connelly, William M 470
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX
A
Abel, Josiah W 274
Aelmore, Martin A 491
Akin, Rev. Dudley D.. D.D 122
Allmon. Elbert O 382
Anderson, Joel M 208
Armour. Thomas G 101
Ash. Fred W 461
Asher, Arthur E 62
Astle. George 252
B
Bailey, J. X 775
Bailey, Joe F 457
Bain, Millard F 661
Ballard, Benjamin F 511
Bangs, Merwin B 243
Barr, Walter G 757
Barrett, George HI
Barrett. M. L 623
Barrett, Xelson T 183
Barton. Edward E 760
Bay, C. M 528
Bay, Clyde 740
Bay, Dclmar E 507
Bear, Arthur M 439
Beck, Konrad C 517
Bennett. Capt. William R 296
Bigger, Leander A 714
Bixler, Thurman J 282
Bloom, Charles 144
Boehm, John J 263
Bonnet, Lee 527
Bowman, Eli 196
Bowser, George R 160
Bowser. Lemon 162
Brainard, Capt. Jesse 192
Branch, Charles M 55
Branine, Judge Charles E 36
Brewer, Elrtier L 271
Brown, Harlow B 7M
Brown, Morrison H 291
Brown, William A 3(J3
Buettner, J. H 550
Burgess. William H yiM
Burris, Martin 256
Buser, Atlee M. 626
Bush, Charles H 405
Bush, James M 659
Buskirk, James E 639
Bussinger, Martin C 12
Byers, O. P 697
C
Cain, Morris R 614
Calbert, Robert E. L 747
Campbell, John H I'^i
Campbell, John W 378
Cantwell, George W 674
Carey, Hon. Emerson 2>'S
Carpenter, Fred H 275
Carr. William E 217
Carson, William F 121
Catte, Joseph 371
Chamberlain, Grant 486
Chapin, Cornelius O 368
Chubbuck, Willis J 530
Citizens Bank of Hutchinson, The. 54
Claybaugh, C. W 111
Clothier, J. B 568
Coffman, Capt. George T 560
Coleman, Lewis W. 429
Coleman, Monroe 389
Collingwood. J. M 768
CoUingwood, John A._l 681
Collingwood, Mrs. Mary 748
Comes, John W 384
Cone. William R.. D.D.S 203
Conkling, Charles A 707
Connellv. William M 470
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
Cook, Fred \V., U.V.S 5J
Cook. J. W 776
Cooper, S. Leslie 774
Cooler, Fred W 117
Cooler, George W 2(A
Copeland, Cornelius B 41(S
Cost, Frank H 684
Crabbs, Abraham B 366
Crawley, William 1' 720
Crotts, Samuel M 588
Crow, Edward G 719
Crow, George L 277
Crow. William R 320
Curnutt, Henry G 151
D
Dade. Arthur 174
Dade. Ernest 546
Dade. Richard G 656
Danford, E. F 632
Danford, Isaiah 221
Danford. Louis P 72i<
Davics, John M 245
Dean, Albert A 7{)3
Deatz, A. J 586
Deck, Peter 373
Decker. Thomas J 670.
Dick. James L 478
Dillon, Franklin E 267
Di.xon. Albert P 215
Dunn, George W 493
Dunn. F. M 489
Dunsworth, Buckner W 383
Duvall. Hunter T.. M.D 562
E
Eastman. Byron A 723
Eastman, Wilbur B 370
Elliott, Alphcus E 272
Ellis, Peres 424
Erkcr, George A 730
Eskelson, Swan 155
Everett, Elmer 536
F
Fairchild, William G 85
Fall. George T 624
Farley, Joseph P 218
Farrell, Rev. William M 286
Farthing, Peter R 520
Farthing. Sylvester 261
Fearl, Frank E 672
Iferguson, James E.__ 295
•Ftrnie, George K 450
Field, Hon. F. C 312
Firebaugh, I'rank F 495
Fontron Family, The 134
Forsha. Fred A 738
Fountain. Albert S.. M.D 552
Eraser. Thomas J 494
G
Gantz, George R - 622
Gaston, Samuel D ^ 112.
Gibson. .Charles 370
Giles, Benjamin E 138
Glass, John W 107
Graham. Robert J 146
Gray. George T 363
Graybill, Samuel S 288
Grayson, John W.__ 512
Green. James 496
Guymon, Edward T 64
H
liadlcy, Levi P 104
Hall. Justus O 437
Hall, Ross E 299
Hamilton, Frank D 226
Handy, Edward S 185
Harden, Albert E 178
Hardy. Xoah 541
Harms, Henry W 612
Harris. Walter B 133
Harsha, Juhn i' .__ S2
Hartford, Col. Henry 200
Hartmann, Henry P 509
Harvey. Royal M 655
Haston. James 780
Haston, Samuel 412
Hedrick, Capt. John M 77
Herr. J. Xevon 57
Herrcii, Isaac W 756
Hershberger, Randall P 195
Hiatt. Charles E :_ 779
Hirkey. John 650
Hickman. Overton '___ 572
BIOGt-fAPHICAL INDEX.'
Hickman, William fl. H.--.-— — 6^1
Hill, Harrison A 410
Hinds, David H 667
Hinman, Milton E 709
Hinshaw, William H 584
Hirst, Frederick 119
Hirst, George 80
Hirst, William 96'
Hitchcock, Charles O 361
Hoagland, Ben S 573
Hoagland. Lieut. Martin 396
Hodge, L. D 503
Hodgson, Herbert C 314
Hodgson, William 336
Hodgson, William L 519
Holaday, Harry E., D.V.S 734
Holdeman, A. R 783
Hornbaker, Finlcy D 504
Hoskinson, George W ' 348
Housinger, Nicholas 743
Howell, Ed. G — - 409
Hiickleberry, Andrew J., Jr lo7
Hudson, William L 380
Hurd, E. R ^ 630
Hutton, Emmett 259
Hutton & Oswald _____ 258
Hutton, Samuel F 606
J
Jennings, Thomas 583
Jessup, Barclay L 319
Jewell, Warren D 593
Johnson, Arthur W 428
Johnson, Jesse W 67;)
Johnson, William H 451
Jones, Peter C 1^-
Jones, Robert S 596
Jones, Walter F 543
Justice, Richard 581
Justus, J. F 771
' K
Kautzcr, John D 342
Kellams, James C 431
Kelling, Henry 415
Kennedy, Thomas K : 498
King, David H 616
King, Joseph W 646
Klein, Frank F . 712
Koontz, George M.__l ." 364
Krockcr, George T 464
L
Lambert, 'Charles A 315
Larabee, Frederick D 602
Layman, Roscoc C i.-J 308
Lcatherman, William A '. 508
Lee, George W --_-'- 416
Leighty, Stephen S _____J',176
Leonrod, George von, M.D.__i -640
Leslie, John F 628
Loe. William A 472-
Long, William E.-.ii :_.___-_- 269 '
Lovelace, James R — '- — _ — 3<X)
Mc
McCandless, Archibald W . 598
McCowan, Samuel 3^0
McDermed, Frank M 213
McDermed, Robert F 1 566
Mcllrath, James H 688
McKeown, B. 677
McKinstry, James 5.i3
McLaughlin, T. R ____- 280
McLeod, Hector K ____■___-_— 110
McMurry, James F 136
M
Mackay. James B. ^4
Magwire, Frank 240
Markham, John J 434
Marshall, Elmer E <^57
Martin,. Edward T 351
Martin, Frank A 402
Martin, Hon. Frank L 331
Mastellar. D. H 607
Meyer, Dietrich 488
Meyer, Eugene L 39
Miller, Clark C '^^-
Miller, Eugene T ^■~>-
MiUer, William H 249
Mills, James 317
Mitchell, Hon. William H _48
Moore, David A 5/9
Moore, Rev. Daniel M., D.D 67
Moore, Marcellus 236
Morgan, Hon. William Y 440
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
Mourn, George W 165
Mueller, William, Jr iZS
Myers, Dr. James 188
Myers, John A 224
N
Xafzinger, John 532
Nation. Pet 76
Xeeley, Hon. George .\ 44
Nelson, James 432
Nelson, John W 604
Nelson, Peter A 211
Nettleton, .Adelbcrt M 229
Neuenschwander, Henry 154
Nicholson, George 426
O
Obee, Louis H 548
Olmstead, Oscar W 175
Oswald, Charley W 258
P
Parish, James W 375
Payne, Walter W 699
Pearson, William 148
Pcckham, Charles W 352
Peirce, Walter C 344
Penney, James L 131
Pennington, William R 544
Peterson, Arthur I" 339
Peterson, Charles 340
Ploughe, Sheridan 752
Potter, James C 617
Potter, John W 678
Potter, Martin H 635
Poulton, Irvin W 448
Presby, Wilbur F 634
Price. Rhys K 762
Priddle, Vincent 171
PrigK. Hon. I-rank V 557
Puterbaugli, Samuel G 70
R
Rabe, Henry 620
Ramsey, Herbert E 223
Rayl. Levi 482
Ream. William B 413
Reed. John A 92
Reichenberger, Nicholas 745
Reynolds. Melvin J 140
Kexroad, William W 310
Rice, Thomas J 376
Richhart. David E 115
Rickcnbrodc, Harvey J 460
Roberts, Pierce C 126
Rowland, John 683
Rowland. Prof. Stewart P ' 86
Rutherford, Gordon S 642
Rykcr, Charles A 60
Sallec. Garrett 167
Sanders, John R. 407
Scales, Herbert L.. M.D 559
Schardein, Fred 199
Schardein, John 181
Scheble, Alfred R 515
Schlaudt, Arthur H 447
Schmitt, E. B. 294
Schoonover, John L' 608
Scedle, Charles 172
Shafer. Omaha T 653
Shea, Patrick 456
Shirclifif, Edward E 592
Shive, Eads E 741
Short, George B. 164
Shuler, William D 99
Shuylcr, John S 5/8
Sidlinger, Samuel H., M.D 41
Siegrist, Arthur L 231
Sicgrist, George W.: 524
Siegrist, Jacob L 328
Simmons, John S 98
Skeen, Mrs. Elizabeth 400
Slavens, Oscar R. 576
Smith, Charles H 686
Smith. E. B., A.M 706
Smitli, Fay 467
Smith. Isaac 254 ,
Smith. James W 228
Smith. John F 522
Smith. I'arke 292
Smith. Wilson 142
Snyder. Charles M 539
Specht, Robert T.. Jr 443
Spencer, Orlando 770
Spencer, Ornaldo 770
Biographical index.
Sponsler, Alfred L 304
Sponsler, William J 564
Spront, John .. — 772
Sprout, James H 459
Steelier, Christian 480
Stevens, Nelson P 701
Stevens, Rev. William B 454
Stewart, Richard A., M.D 767
Streeter, Ray G 534
Suter, Arthur H 123
Swarens, Albert L 168
Switzer, Alexander M 392
T
Taylor, Carr W 444
Taylor, Harry H 124
Teed, Edson L 465
Thacher, Mowry S., M.D 679
Thompson, Henry S 669
Thompson, Will S 479
Thorp, Fred W 220
Thurman, J. S 247
Turbush, George 159
U
Updegrove, Jacob B 347
V
Van Eman, William J 234
Vincent, Hon. Frank 500
W
Waddles, Howard 753
Wagoner, Charles E. 128
Wall, David L 690
Wall, Mrs. Henrietta Briggs 692
Watson, Lawson 663
Weesner, Fred 391
Wells, Charles A 755
Wespe, Oscar S 600
Wheeler, J. O 143
Whinery, Lorenzo V 648
Whiteside, Houston 205
Wiley, Francis M 665
Wiley, Vernon M 475
Williams, Judge Charles M 190
Williams, Walter F 758
Winchester, Charles S 513
Winsor, George R 453
W^ithroder, John 638
Wittorfif, John 643
Wolcott, Frank D 704
Wooddell, Charles N 652
Woods, Mrs. Mary M. (Lippitt)_-_ 736
Y
Yaggy, Edward E 88
Young, Jacob A 118
Yust, George H 420
Z
Zimmerman, George 238
Zimmerman, John S 474
BIOGRAPHICAL
HON. EMERSON CAREY.
The natural limitations of a review of this character prevent anything
like an exhaustive or complete record of the various enterprises with which
the Hon. Emerson Carey, of Hutchinson, this county, is connected; neither
can there be set out here in detail the history of the present status of these
industries or a detailed account of the very considerable improvement and
extensive new works that have been brought into operation within the past
few years. The Carey industries really comprise four distinct industries,
each one being magnitudinal in its individual capacity and scope. The salt
plants have a capacity of two thousand barrels a day and are the only plants
of the kind in the world equipped with a quadruple-effect vacuum system for
the manufacture of salt. The ice plant has a capacity of eighty-five tons a
day, and there is a cold-storage space of over half a million cubic feet. The
cold-storage plant is equipped with triplicate machinery throughout the whole
system., as a sure safeguard in case of a breakdown. By a new process the
salt is manufactured in enclosed vessels, which are absolutely dust proof, and
no chemicals whatever are used to whiten or purify it. The grain is abso-
lutely uniform and during no part of the process of manufacture is it touched
by hand. The hundreds of barrels of salt that roll out of the city of Hutch-
inson daily on long freight trains, tell a tale of industry that no rhetoric can
match. The history of the Carey industries is a record of development and
expansion, one of the most interesting in the industrial annals of Kansas.
As it is commonly said in Hutchinson that Emerson Carey is the Carey
industries personified, it will 1)c interesting to the reader to note at this
point some of the salient points in the career of that energetic captain of
industry.
Emerson Carey was born on a farm in Grant county, Indiana, on
January 22, 1863, son of Samuel and Nancy J. (Bundy) Carey, both natives
of that same county, the former of whom was born on July 28. 1839, and
the latter, April 15, 1842. Samuel Carey was the son of Robert and Susan
Carey, pioneer residents of Grant countv. who with their children and the
\3a) ' .
34 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
various members of the latters' families emigrated in 1868 to Shelby comity,
Illinois, where the remainder of their lives were spent. Nancy J. Bmidy
was the daughter of Talbot and Jane Bundy, also pioneer residents of Grant
count}-, who, about the year 1865, emigrated to Champaign county, Illinois,
where they also resided the rest of their lives.
Samuel Carey was reared amid pioneer conditions in his early Indiana
home and was married before he and the other members of the family moved
over, into Illinois. lie was possessed of the true instinct of the frontiers-
man and after reaching Illinois, kept moving farther w^estward as advancing
settlements encroached on his pioneer locations, it having been his custom to
get a farm under cultivation, sell it and move on. Before coming to Kansas
he had thus made his home, successively, in Shelby, Douglas and Vermilion
counties, in Illinois, clearing up farms; his son, Emerson, sharing in all the
vicissitudes of these numerous advances toward the continually receding
frontier. In 1878, Samuel Carey came to this state and took up a tract of
govermnent land in the Sterling neighborhood of Rice county, from w'hich
he presently moved to AlcPherson county and thence, in 1880, came to Reno
county and rented a considerable tract of land on the edge of the flourishing
village of Hutchinson, at that time virgin prairie, in what is now known as
the Sunflower addition to the city of Hutchinson, and for a time engaged
in farming there. He then became associated w'ith his son, Emerson, in the
coal and building-supply business and later assisted in the organization of
the Carey Salt Company and in other w^ays became a prominent factor in the
development of the industrial life of Hutchinson. Samuel Carey was by
birthright a Quaker, but after his marriage he joined the Methodist church,
in conformance with his wife's faith, and in this faith their children were
reared. There were fourteen of these children, as follow^ : Almeda, who
married V. M. Gratton and lives at Kenton, Kansas; Marrietta, who mar-
ried Charles Nelson and lives in Hutchinson, this county; Emerson, the
immediate subject of this biograi)hical review; Susan (deceased), who mar-
ried Ethan Thf>mas ; Arthur, who lives in Hutchinson; Elizabetli. who mar-
ried Isaac Palmer and lives at Halstead, Kansas; Emma, w-ho married Burrett
Hanks and lives near Sterling, Kan.sas; Bertha, who married Harvey Craw-
ford and lives at Stafl^ord, Kansas; Rosa, who married James Kirk, and
lives in Texas; Edith, who married I^. Allen \\'inchester and lives in Hutchin-
son; Eva. who married W'averly S. Albright and lives in Hutchinson; Aland,
who married Dr. J. J. Brownlee. of Hutchinson ; Claude, who lives in Cali-
fornia, and Albert, who died in infancv. Samuel Carev died at Hutchinson
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 35
on March 9, 1905. His wife had preceded him to the grave about ten years,
lier death having occurred on July 2, 1896.
Emerson Carey was live years of age when his parents left Indiana
and was fifteen years of age when they entered Kansas in 1878. He had
accjuired some schooling in IlHnois and upon coming to Kansas attended
school at Sterhng one wnnter. The next winter he attended a district school
in McPherson county and the next winter he entered the schools at Hutchin-
son, he being then seventeen years of age. For the first three years after
coming to this county he assisted his father on the farm and then for two
years he worked in Hutchinson for Mr. Hale, who was engaged in the retail
coal business. In 1885 he started in the retail coal and building supplies
business on his own account, under the firm style of Conn & Carey. A
short time later the firm became Carey, Beers & Lee and thus continued
until 1890, in which year Mr. Carey took over the business alone and so
continued until 19 10, in wdiich year he closed it out. In the meantime, in
1896, Mr. Carey had organized the Hutchinson Ice Company, which com-
pany is still doing business and supplies most of the ice for that city. In
1900, in connection with the operation of his ice plant, Mr. Carey started
the Carey Salt Company, which began operations in a small way, but which
has gradually gro\vn to its present enormous proportions, with a producing
capacity of two thousand barrels a day, one of the most important industries
in central Kansas. A man of indefatigable industry and boundless energy.
Mr. Carey became interested in various other enterprises as the time passed
and has become one of the most important factors in the industrial develop-
ment of this section of the state. He was one of the chief organizers, chief
owner and first president of the Hutchinson Interurban Railway Company;
helped organize and was president of the Kansas Chemical Manufacturing
Company of Hutchinson, and is also president of the Grand Saline Salt
Company, of Texns.
On September 26, 1888, Emerson Carey was united in marriage to Anna
M. Puterbaugh. who w'as born near Mackinaw, Illinois, daughter of John
and Olive Puterbaugh. who were among the earliest pioneers to settle in
Harvey county. Kansas. They located at Newton in 1873. where for years
Mr. Puterbaugh was engaged in the real-estate business. In 1S85 they
moved to Hutchinson, where Mr. and Mrs. Puterbaugh spent their last days,
the death of the former occurring in 1888 and that of the latter in 191 1.
To Emerson and Anna M. ( Puterbaugh) Carey four children have been
born, namely: Horbard J., born in 1892. a graduate of Cornell University,
who assists his father in the management of the Carey Salt Company, mar-
36 RE.XO COUXTV. KANSAS.
ried Louise Banks, of Ithaca, New York, and lives on Xorth ^^lain street in
Hutchinson; Charles K., 1894, for three years a student at Cornell, mar-
ried Alice Degnan, of Jersey City, Xew Jersey, and assists his father in
superintending- the Carey industries; William, 1902, and Emerson, Jr.. 1906.
Mr. and Mrs. Carey are memhers of the Christian church and are acti\e in
all good works in and ahout Hutchinson. After, his marriage in 1888 Mr.
Carey built a home in the eleven hundred block on ]Main street and in 1898
located at his present beautiful home at 821 North ]\Iain street, a home widely
known for its cordial hospitality.
Mr. Carey is a Republican and in 1908 was elected to represent this
district in the state Senate and was re-elected in 19 12. He has never been
a candidate for any other pul)lic office. He is a thirty-second degree ^lason.
a member of the lilue lodge and the commandery at Hutchinson and the con-
sistor}- at Wichita. He also is a member of the Ancient Order of United
Workmen.
JCDGE CHARLES E. BRANLXE.
Few namts in the long list of judges and lawyers who have so notably
served the people of Kan.sas during the past generation are better known
or held in higher regard by the people general!}- throughout this section of
the state than is that of the Hon. Charles E. Branine, a prominent attorney
of Hutchinson, this county, and former judge of the ninth Kansas judicial
district, who has been a resident of Hutchinson since the year 19 10. follow-
ing his election to the district judg.--liip. and who Ijefore that time had
attained wide distinction as a practitiuner at Xtwton, this state, and who,
since resuming his practice, at the close of his honorable judicial tenure, lias
added so conspicu(msly to his well-earned success that liis nian\- friends
confidently predict that the future liolds for him still hi^lier lionors in the
service of the public.
Charles E. Branine was horn on a farm on the old grade road near St.
IClmu. h'ayette county, Illinois, on .March 7. 1864. a .^on of Joshua and
Margaret J. (Dewese) Branine. the former of whom was liorn in Decatur
county, Indiana, March 7. 1834, and the latter in ( )hio in 1835. the Branines
being of Irish ancestry and the Deweses of Erench stock. Joshua Branine
was reared in Decatur county. Indiana, a iueml)er of oue of the pioneer
families in that historic section of the Hoosier state, and in i860, not long
after his marriage, emigrated to Illinois, where he bought government land
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 37
in l''ayelte count}-, which he inipr<.\c(l and nn which he and his fami-lv lived
until the springof 1874, at which time he hrout^ht his family to Kansas and
settled on a (|uarter sccti^u i)i land, which he jjurchased near the i^rowinj^
town of Xewton. and there he li\xd untiri'893, when he .and his wife retired
from the farm and moxed into Xewton, where their last days were sjjcnt,
Joshua r.ranine dying in Novemher, 1808, and his widow in Novemher.
i(;i_'. jo-lma I)ranme A\as a most ardent IveimhHcan and .-dniost- worshipped
the memory of Ahraham Lincoln. He was more or less active in local
politics and for years ser\'ed his township rirost acceptahly as tcrwnship trus-
tee. He and his wife Avere devoted members of the Methodist church, in
which he long was a class leader and of^ce- bearer; and their chddren Were
faithfully reared in that faith. These children, ten in number, were a^
follow: Alary C, who married S. B. Holdeman and lives on the home farm
in Harvey county, Kansas ; Ira, who died in infancy; George W., a pros-
perous farmer of Kingman county, Kansas ; Elmer L., also a farmer living
near Blackwell, Oklahoma; Charles E., the immediate sul)ject of this bio-
graphical sketch; Sarah E., who married Everett Anderson, of Newton,
this state, for twenty-live years- past a telegraph operator in the employ of
the Santa Ee Railroad Company; John K., also a prosperous Kansas farmer;
Ezra C, a prominent attorney, member of the tirm of Branine & Hart, Xew-
ton, Kansas, who studied law in the office of his lirother, .Charles E., and
for seventeen years, and until the time of the latter's election to the district
judgship, was a partner of his brother; Jeanette, who married the Rev.
AA'illiam J. Shull, a minister of the Methodist cluu-ch. now located in
McPherson countv, this state, and' Anna J., who marrietl Charles Joseph,
stock dealer and farmer li\-ing at Potwin, Kansas.
Charles E. Branine was ten years of age when his parents came to
Kansas, in 1874, and his elementary education therefore was continued in
the district schools of Harvey county. He later attended the public schools
in X>wton. and supplemented this course by a course of one year at" Baker
Universit}' and one year at the University of Kansas. He then taught
school in his home district for one year, after which he entered u])on a
rigid course of reading in the law office of that sterling- old lawyer. J; W.
Ady, of Newton, former United States district attorney' and an orator of
rare power. In November, 1889, ' Charles -^E. Branine rented an office in
Newton, took the bar examination one night.= was admitted to the bar and
the next day in a barren little office without a dollar started in the practice
of the nrofession in which he was destined to achieve large note. In this
same office room, which, however, was not long as bleak and barren as at
38 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
first, he remained nineteen years, until 1908, the year of his election to the
district judgeship, !>} wliich he had become a lawyer of note and power
throughout this section of the state. In 1892 Judge Branine's brother, Ezra
C. Branine. a lad of twenty, right off the farm, entered his brother's law
office and entered seriously the study of law. He was admitted to the bar
in 1893 and in the next year became his brother's partner, a mutually agree-
able connection which continued until Judge Branine assumed his judicial
functions.
\\'hile studying law in 1888. Judge Branine was elected justice of the
peace of Newton township and occupied that office for two years. In 1889
he \\as appointed United States commissioner for his district and in 1892
was elected county attorney for Harvey county. It was during his four
years tenure in this office that the famous Rogers record-burning case was
brought to trial, a trial that continued for three years, being tried twice in
the district court and twice in the supreme court, and in which Judge
Branine figured quite prominently, his management of the prosecution gain-
ing for him a wide reputation as a brilliant and talented lawyer.
Judge Branine ever has been an ardent Republican, as was his father
before him, and in 1898 served his party as county chairman. In 1900 he
was elected to the state Senate from the thirteenth Kansas senatorial dis-
trict, comprising Harvey and McPherson counties, and served with dis-
tinguished ability in the up])er house of the Legislature from 1901 to 1905.
In November. 1908, Senator Branine was elected judge of the ninth Kansas
judicial district, comprising the three counties of Reno, Harvey and Mc-
Pherson. and in January, 1909, ascended the bench, serving as a just and
impartial judge until January, 1913. at which time he opened an office for
the practice of law in the city of Hutchinson, and has been located there
ever since, never having been out of the harness a single day. Judge Bran-
ine enjoys the imi(|ue record of having gone directly from the practice to
the l)ench and from the bench 1)ack to the practice without missing any
time. In July. 1910, he had moved liis family from Newton to Hutchinson,
in which latter city he bad built a handsome residence at 114 Twelfth
street, west, and where he still resides, the I'ranine home being widely known
for the fine character of its hospitality.
On October 8. 1891. Charles E. Branine was united in marriage to
Mary E. Rigby, who was born in Doniphan county, Kansas, daughter of
Jonathan A. Rigby and Jane A. ( Ferguson) Rigby. the former of whom,
now deceased, was for many years a building contractor at Concordia, this
state, and the latter of whom, a native of Ireland, of Scotch parentage, is
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 39
Still living. Mary E. Rigby was a school teacher at Concordia and later at
Newton and it was there that she and Judge Branine formed the mutual
attachment which led to their happy union. To this union two children have
been born, Harold R., born on October lo, 1892, graduated from the New-
ton high school in 1910 and from Kansas University in 1914 with the
degreet section of the state of Illinois and
became quite well-to-do. He was an active member of the Methodist church
and was prominent in all good works thereabout. Upon the death of his
wife, in 1846. he married a^ain and lived to a ripe old age. One of his
brothers was a soldier during the Mexican War.,'' Mary Elizabeth (Ste-
phens) Neeley is the daughter of Elijah M. and Catherine Stephens, the
former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Iowa. Elijah Stephens left
Kentucky during the days of his early manhood and went to Missouri,
where he became a pioneer physician. Upon the breaking out of the Ci\il
War, he enlisted in the Union army and during the latter part of the war
was made surgeon of his regiment. ■ At the battle of .Wilson's Creek he was
seriously wounded, but recovered and lived many- years of usefulness, his
death occurring in 1904, he then having been eighty-three years of age.
His widow, whom all the family lovingly call "Kittie," is still living at
Carl Junction, Missouri.
(ieorge M. Neeley, father of the subject of this biographical review, was
bereft of his mother by death when he was seven years of age and he was
taken into the home of the Defontaine family and grew to manhood on an
Illinois farm. He then went to Texas, where he spent eighteen }-ears as a
cotton planter and broker, at the end of w^hich time he returned to Detroit,
Illinois, where he engaged in merchandising until 1884, in which year he
went to Joplin, Missouri, where he remained until 1893, after which he
went to Oklahoma, where he homesteaded a considerable tract and is now
Hving, very comfortably situated, at Wellston, Oklahoma. During the Civil
War, George M. Neeley served as a soldier in the Confederate army, a
member of Company D, Third Arizona Regiment, which was recruited in
northwestern Texas. He served three years and nine months, among the
notable engagements in which he participated having been the battle of Red
River, and he was wounded twice. A.t the close of the war. under the mis-
taken apprehension that Confederate soldiers were to be shot by the Federal
government, he departed for Mexico and remained over the l^order for two
years before learning that it would be perfectly safe for him to return.
46 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Upon returning to Texas, he took the oath of allegiance and presently was
appointed county judge. Upon the expiration of that term of office he was
appointed United States marshal for the eastern district of Texas. Upon
his return to his boyhood home in Illinois, he entered actively into the politi-
cal life of that community, as a Democrat, and served as a justice of the
peace much of the time during his later residence there. George M. Neeley
was twice married. By his tirst wife, who was a McKeever, he had two
children,-. Albert ]\Iarion, who died in Texas in 1883, at the age of twenty
years, and Emma, who married John D. Howard, a merchant of Joplin,
Missouri, where she is still living. To his union with Alary Elizabeth
Stephens, four children were born, namely : Lillie, who is living with her
parents at W'ellston. Oklahoma; George .\., the immediate subject of this
sketch; Elva, v.ho married John Dunham and lives at W'ellston, Oklahoma,
and Lola, who married James A. Dunham and lives in the same city.
George A. Xeeley was but five years of age when his parents moved
to Joplin and A\as thirteen years of age when they moved from that city to
Oklahoma, his elementary education therefore having been gained in the
common schools of both Missouri and Oklahoma. This he supplemented by
a course in the Southwestern Baptist University at Jackson, Tennessee, after
which he entered the law school of the University of Kansas, from which
he was graduated in 1904. Prior to that time he had taught school for four
years in the schools of Oklahoma and had likewise been sedulously engaged
in the private study of law at home. Following his graduation, in 1904.
Mr. Xeeley opened an office for the practice of his profession at Wellston
and remained there one year. He then married and moved to Chandler,
county seat of his home county, where he entered the law office of Malcolm
D. Owen, as junior partner, a mutually agreeable connection which con-
tinued for three years and six months, or until the time of his decision to
locate in Hutchinson. Upon going to Hutchinson, Mr. Xeeley entered the
law office of Carr W. Ta\lnr, with whom he was engaged in practice for
two years and six months, at the end of which time he opened an office of
his own.
At a special election held on January i. 1912, George A. Xeeley was
elected to represent this district in Congress, to fill the unexpired term of
Congressman Edmund H. Madison, and in Xovember following was elected
for the full succeeding term, at that election receiving the greatest plurality
ever given a candidate for Congress in the state of Kansas. Congressman
Xeeley arrived at Washington to fill out Mr. Madison's unexpired term on
REi\0 COUNTY, KANSAS. 47
January 29, 1912, the fiftieth anniversary of the admission of Kansas to the
Union of states. Upon being presented by one of his colleagues to receive
the oath of office in the House, he was pleasantly greeted by Speaker Clark,
who, gravely addressing the House, said that he had two important events
to announce: 'The taking of the oath of office by the second Democratic
congressman ever elected from the state of Kansas; and that on the fiftieth
anniversary of the admission of his state," which announcement was re-
ceived with much applause on the part of the assembled representatives.
Representative Neeley took a very active part in the deliberations of the
Cougress and, for a new member, received some very important committee
appointments, a mark of distinction which his friends in his home district
properly appreciated. As a member of the celebrated Pujo "money trust"
investigation committee, he assisted materially in that extensive inquiry and
helped wTite the exhaustive report of the committee. He also was a mem-
ber of the important committee on banking and currency, which framed the
federal reserve act, and it was he who led the fight both in the committee
and in the majority caucus for the inclusion of the "agricultural credits"
clause in that act. In 19 14 Representative Neeley received the nomination
in the state-wide primaries as the Democratic candidate for the United
States Senate in this state, and in the memorable election of that fall, in
which more than fi\e hundred and twenty-six thousand votes were cast, he
failed of election by the narrow margin of three thousand eight hundred
and ninety-four votes, a circumstance which caused even some of those
who had most earnestly opposed his candidacy to admit that if certain
alleged election frauds had been cleared up he would have been found to
have been elected. In January, 19 12, Mr. Neeley formed a partnership,
for the practice of law, with A. Clare Mallory, which partnership still exists.
In 19 1 5 he was made president of the Farmers National Bank of Hutchin-
son, which was organized in that year, and is now serving in that capacity,
and is also vice-president of the Farmers Hail Insurance Company, having
its principal office at Hutchinson.
On Monday, October 31, 1904, George A. Neeley was united in mar-
riage to Eva AI. Hostetler, who was born in Bedford, Indiana, daughter of
Jonathan and Martha Hostetter. Jonathan Hostetter, whose wife died on
December 26, 1912, is a veteran of the Civil War and for many years was
a prominent merchant in Indiana. He is now living at Mulvane, this state.
To Mr. and Mrs. Neeley two children have been born, George Newland,
born on August 5, 1905, who died on December 21, 1907. and Eva ]\Iar-
48 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
garet, born on February \j. 191 1. Mr. and ^Frs. Neeley are members of
the First Christian church at Hutchinson and Mr. Neeley is a member of
the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective
Order. of Elks and the ^^lodern Woodmen.
HOX. WILLIAM H. .MITCHELL.
The Hon. Wilham H. Mitchell, former member of the Kansas state
Legislature, a prominent retired stock farmer of Huntsville township, this
county, now living at 411 Seventh avenue, east, in the city of Hutchinson, is
a native-born Hoosier, a fact of which he never has ceased to be proud,
though for many years he has been a stanch and loyal Kansan. He was
lx)rn on a farm near the city of Bedford, in Lawrence county, Indiana,
March 8. 1S44, son of ^^"illiam C. and Alary J. (Francis) Alitchell, the
former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Indiana, whose last days
were spent on their Indiana farm.
\\'illiam C. Mitchell was the son of James and Nancy (Campbell)
Mitchell, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania on October 14, 1767,
and died in Monroe county, Indiana, June 9, 1846. James Campbell and
wife reared six sons and three daughters, all of whom save one daughter
married and. reared families of their own. One son, Joseph, removed to
Iowa about 1850 and there reared a large family, one of his sons, James,
being a veteran of the Civil War. Another son, George, also removed to
Iowa in an early day and two of his sons, Thomas and \\'illiam Oscar, were
veterans of the Civil War. The latter became a state senator in Iowa and
was twice elected to the Legislature. Another grandson of James ^Mitchell
became one of the leading lawyers of Ottumwa, Iowa, and was elected to
the bench. W illiam C. Mitchell was born in Kentucky in 1807 and died in
Indiana on July 30, 1885. ^'^^ married in Indiana, Elizabeth Francis, and
to that union six children were burn, namely: Elizabeth IM.. who married
I. H. Waynick and reared a large family; Mrs. Alartha A. Norris, who
lived at Charlton, Iowa; David T.. who became a lieutenant-colonel during
the Civil ^^"a^, later moving to Kansas, where he became one of the organ-
izers of Neosha county in 1865; later moving to Columbia, Alissouri; i^Irs.
Nancy A. Douglas, a resident of Charlton, Iowa; William H., the subject of
this review, and James F., who remained in Indiana, a dealer in lumber. The
mother of these children died in 1848 and William C. Mitchell married, sec-
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 49
ondly, Mary J. Erwin and to that union were born four sons and one daugh-
ter. Two of these sons, Samuel E. and Lewis, remained in IncHana; George
settled near Augusta, Oklahoma; Bennett, the first Ijorn, died when he was
three years old, and Katie, the only daughter, died at the age of five years.
Mrs. Mary J. Mitchell survived her husband about one year.
William H. Mitchell was reared on the paternal farm in Indiana and
grew up with very little schooling, the whole number of his days in school
aggregating less than a year. On July 9, 1861, he then being but seventeen
years of age, he enlisted for service in the Union army during the Civil War
in Company A, Twenty-fourth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and
served for three years with the Army of the AVest, being mustered out at
the end of his term of enlistment, July 31, 1864, at Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
His health being somewhat broken, Mr. Mitchell did not re-enlist. He
•returned to his home in Indiana and in 1865 went to Iowa, where he entered
school, but soon withdrew, on account of defective vision, and returned in
the spring of 1866 to Indiana and the same year came to Kansas, where he
joined his brother. Col. David T. Mitchell, in Neosha county.
In August, 1867, Mr. Mitchell again returned to Indiana, where he was
married and in the following month he and his bride, together with his
brother, James F., a brother-in-law, H. C. Mallott, and John Stone and wife,
drove through with four "prairie schooners" to Kansas and pre-empted
claims twenty miles south of Humboldt. In the fall of 1869 Mr. Mitchell's
wife died and he took his two small children to Indiana, where he remained
for a couple of years farming. In the fall of 1871 he married another
Indiana girl and returned to his Neosha county homestead. In 1873, on
account of his wife's failing health, he returned again to Indiana, where he
.remained until 1884, in which year he returned to Kansas and settled in
Reno county. He bought of John Puterbaugh the old Wampler timber
claim of a quarter of a section in LIuntsville township and later one hundred
■and twenty acres south of that, and went in quite extensively for raising
cattle. Later he engaged extensively in the breeding of purebred Poland
China hogs and became quite successful as a stockman. In 1906 he retired
from the active labors of the ranch and moved to Hutchinson, where he still
;live,s, though retaining the ownership of his valuable farms.
Mr. Mitchell has taken an active interest in civic affairs ever since com-
ing to Kansas and has been conspicuously prominent in the various move-
ments designed to better the conditions of farm life and promote the interests
of farmers generally. For twelve successive years he: was president of the
(4a) ■- ■ ■• - ■
50 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
school board of Hunts ville township and served for two terms as justice of
the peace there. During his residence in Xeosha county he served as town-
ship trustee. ]\Ir. Mitchell was secretary of the first Greenback party county
organization effected in Lawrence county, Indiana, and attended numerous
district and state conventions of that historic party. He joined the Grange
in Indiana and was secretary of his local organization. He also was lecturer
for the Patrons of Husbandry until he left Indiana in 1884. When the
Farmers Alliance was formed in Kansas Mr. Mitchell took an active part in
the aft'airs of that organization and was engaged as countv lecturer for the
same, in that capacity attending all the national conventions of the alliance.
\\'hen the Farmers Alliance was merged wath the Populist party Mr. Mitchell
took an active part in the aft'airs of the latter party and was chairman of the
first Populist convention held in Reno county and was later nominated by
that party as its nominee for representative in the state Legislature from the
seventy-third representative district. In the fall of 1890 he was elected
representative and served during the ensuing session of the Kansas General
Assembly. In 1892 he was re-elected, but his opponent, W. J. Dix, con-
tested the election on the ground of a controversy over boundary of the
district. Mr. Mitchell took his seat in the House, but a decision of the
supreme court on the issue of the disputed boundary automatically unseated
him. During his service in the Legislature ]\Ir. Alitchell was one of the
members of the committee appointed to act in the matter of charges in the
impeachment of Theodosius Bodkin, a matter of much political moment in
that day; which charges 'Sir. Bodkin successfully resisted. ^^Ir. ^Mitchell
was one of the committee of investigation that investigated the Bodkin mat-
ter and was also one of the impeachment board that tried him. After the
subsidence of the Populist movement 'Sir. ^^litchell remained absolutelv inde-
pendent in his political views, but since 1912 has regarded himself as a
progressive Democrat.
When the American Society of Equity was organized in the early part
of the past decade for the purpose of securing to the farmers of the country
a more equitable share in the profits of their products, Mr. IMitchell took a
prominent part in the promotion of the movement and was made president
of the local branch of the society and a delegate to the state and national
meetings of the same. He was a delegate to the national convention of the
society in Indianapolis in 1907. when the Everett faction was so vehemently
resisted. Mr. Mitchell was made the spokesman of the opposing faction
and when the minority delegates finally withdrew he was made chairman of
the ''rump'' convention and was elected president of the National Farmers
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 5!
Society of Equity, organized to give new life to the demands of the real
farmers composing the same. He served as president (jf the new society
for one year and was then elected vice-president and director of the organ-
ization, a position he held until 19 14, when, at llie national convention lield
at Omaha, he declined to serve any longer, on account of his increasing years
and the state of his health, though he still retains active mcmhershi}) in the
society. In 1914 Mr. Mitchell was elected vice-president of the American
Farmers Federation (a federation of all the societies founded for a like
purpose) and is still serving in that capacity. In 191 3. Mr. Mitchell was
appointed administrator of the Samuel Adamson estate and much of his
time since then has l)een occupied in administering the estate. ^^Ir. Mitchell
is a past commander of Joe Hooker Post No. 17, Grand Army of the Repub-
lic, at Hutchinson, and for some time has been agent, by appointment of
county commissioners, in a movement to secure the placing oi proper head-
stones at the graves of all deceased soldiers of the Civil War, the govern-
ment having signified a willingness to furnish the stones if the various
counties will provide for the erection of the same. Mr. Mitchell was at one
time President of the Indiana Old Settlers Society of Kansas and served for
three years and has been associated with it since its organization.
In September, 1867, in Indiana, William H. Mitchell was united in mar-
riage to Amanda Wood, who died on September 29, 1869, leaving three
children, Olla E., born on June 22. 1868, now a farmer living at Carmen,
Oklahoma, and Willie and Jesse W., twins, the former of whom died when
three months old and the latter of whom is now^ living in Law^rence county,
Indiana. On September 26, 1871, Mr. Mitchell married, secondly, Nancy
L. Stipp, who was born in Lawrence county, Indiana, and to this union ten
children have been born, as follow^: Cadda A., who married J. W. Spilman
and lives at Valley Falls, Kansas; Virgil W. and Edward (twins), the former
of whom is a farmer living near Abbey ville, this county, and the latter of
whom died when four months old; Michael F. and David P>. (twins), the
former a farmer living twelve miles west of Hutchinson on the Griffin farm,
and the latter manager of the White Lumber Company at Fowler, this state;
Hattie M., a graduate nurse at Los Angeles, California; Mattie E., who
married J. Frank Rush, a fireman in the employ of the Atchison, Topeka
& Santa Fe railroad, with headquarters at Newton, this state; Lottie P.,
who married Joseph Vazis, a mechanic, living at wSt. Louis, Missouri ; James
L., who operates his father's farm in Huntsville township, and Grace P., who
married Elliot H. Chappel and lives in ?Tutchinson.
52 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
I'KED \V. COOK, D. \'. S.
Dr. ■ Fred W. Cuuk, wlio, since April 15, 1914, has been mayor of
Hutchinson, and for many years has been actively engaged in the practice
of veterinary surger\ in Hutchinson, is one of the most talented members
of his profession in the state, and has done as much, perhaps, to elevate its
standard of excellence as any other man in the profession.
Fred W. Cook was born in Worcestershire, England, May i, 1858.
His parents were Joseph and Martha Cook, who were also natives of that
coimtry. His father was a landed proprietor. In connection with his agri-
cultural pursuits he also followed the profession of a veterinary surgeon
at Bredon, England, where his death occurred in 1876. Two daughters of
the family came to America with h'red W. They are: Annie, the wife of
J. O. Shuler, a farmer of Reno county, and Laura, the wife of J. C. Bad-
deley, assistant manager of the Morton Salt Company, and a member of the
Hutchinson school board. Later three other sons of the family came to
America, namely: Walter, a Imilding contractor of Hutchinson; Arthur, a
farmer of Reno county, and I'rank. a blacksmith of Hutchinson. George,
another member of the family, still makes his home in Bredon, England,
where he follows the occupation of a building contractor.
The subject of this sketch received a liberal education in the public
schools of the neighborhood in. \\liich he spent his early years. He grad-
uated in the Blue school of his nalixe town, after a five-year course, at the
age of seventeen years. He then entered an apprenticeship in scientific horse-
shoeing, and three years later, after thoroughly mastering the art. he turned
his attention to agricultural pursuits and stock raising on a farm of two
hundred acres. He continued to devOte his time ruid attention to this luisi-
ness until 1881. In that )'ear he left the land of his birth and turned his
face toward the New World. Tiie older settled states did not appeal to him
as a desirable place in which to locate and he did not tarry long there. His
arrival in America was at a })eriod wlun tliere was a great migration towards
the western states where lands were chea]) ;md the o])poriunities for industry
and enterprise to win success in tluir development. Ivansas was one of the
states in which these opportunities were alTnnkd and tn ihis state Mr. Cook
directed his steps. He found a desirable location in Grant tnwnshi];, Reno
county, where he purchased a (juarter section of land and at once began its
cultivation. He gave special attention to the raising of fine .stock, princi-
pallv, Hereford and Shorthorn cattle, and Cleveland Bay and Hamiltonian
horses. He followed this line of industry for three years with good sue-
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 53
cess. In tlic fall of i<S85 he entered the Ontario \"eterinary Collei^e. of
Toronto, Canada, where he eonipleted a three-year course, graduating on
March :;o, i(S8tS, with the degree of Doctor of W'terinary Surgery.
After his graduation Uoctor Cook returned to llutchinson and hesran
the practice of his chosen profession, in which he has met with exceptional
and merited success. His increasing practice soon demonstrated the need
of a suitahle phice for the treatment of suhjects and, in 1801. he erected
his present infirmary which is equipped witli all modern appliances and
conveniences known to the profession, for the treatment of all classes of
disease, and for performing various operations required in the profes.sion.
This, without doubt, is the best equipped institution of the kind in the state,
and in his chosen profession Doctor Cook stands second to none in the
W'est. During the past twenty years he has also dealt extensively in high
grade horses, buying and selling locally, or shipping to outside points, and
in this business he is meeting with an ecfual degree of success; his well kno\vn
reliability in all trade transactions having gained for him the confidence of
the entire public.
In June, i<^83, Fred W. Cook was married at Astoria, Illinois, to Afin-
nie Oviatt. a daughter of Henry and Alary (Jones) Oviatt. The father
was a nati\'e of New York, and, during the W^ar of the Rebellion, served
as a 1)rave and faithful soldier in defence of the flag. One daughter and
one son have brightened and blessed this union. Alary Pauline, l)orn in
Hutchinson, July 10, 1894, graduate of Hutchinson high school, attended
Redlands Universitv, in California, one year, studying vocal and instru-
mental music, and is now at the State Normal School, at Emporia, Kansas,
studying music and domestic science. William Lawrence, born in Hutchin-
son, February 29, igoS. named for the eminent Baptist divine. Doctor
Lawrence, of Chicago.
For many years Doctor Cook served as president of the Kansas State
Veterinary Association, and is a member of the Missouri \^alley X'eterinary
Association. Li 1888 he was state veterinary surgeon of western Kansas.
The cause of education has also found in him a stanch and abiding friend.
For ten or twelve years he served as a member of the board of the Reno
high school, at Nickerson, and for eighteen years as a member of the school
board of Hutchinson. For two years he was president of the school board,
and for manv vears was chairman of the Imilding committee in charge of
the construction of new 1)uildings.
Doctor Cook devoted his best efforts to secure the establishment of the
First Baptist church in Hutchinson, and during his entire residence here
54 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
has served as a member of the official board : for twenty-three years he has
served as superintendent of the Sunday school and a teacher of a Bible
class in the school.
In March, 19 14. Doctor Cook was nominated as a candidate for mayor
of Hutchinson, on the law enforcement, or reform ticket, and was elected
in April of that year, defeating Lincoln S. Davis, the opposing candidate.
He was re-elected in .\i)ril. i<)i5. with James P. Harsha as the opposmg
candidate. In the administration of this office he has followed the same
ideals that have characterized his professional and business dealings. As
a public official, as well as a private citizen, he enjoys the confidence and
esteem of the community. He has a beautiful home at 215 Second avenue,
east, where he and his family have resided for many years.
THE CITIZENS BAXK OF HUTCHIXSOX.
Amung the substantial and well-established financial institutions of this
part of the state of Kansas few. if any, have a wider connection or a solider
foundation than has the Citizens Bank of Hutchinson. Organized in 1892.
the Citizens Bank was the natural outgrowth of conditions existing at that
time in Hutchinson and vicinity and from its very inception has been a suc-
cess, filling, as it did then, and still does, a very vital necessity in the com-
mercial and general business life of this community. Founded l)y men of
high purpose, keen business sagacity and of unquestioned financial solidity
and responsiijility, its stockholders and directorate including the names of
some of the best-known men in the local business world, the Citizens Bank
of Hutchinson inspired the confidence of the community from the very
moment it opened its doors, and that confidence has ne\er been abused in
any fashion by the directing heads of the sound old institution.
Previous to the time of the organization of the bank, in 1892. James
B. Mackav. a banker who had moved to Hutchinson from Illinois durins: the
later eigiities. he having had a bank in a small town near Galesburg. had
been engagetl in the banking business at Hutchinson and when the need of
a new bank became apparent to him he associated with himself James Duke-
low, T. ]•'. Leidigh. Dr. I-'red W. Cook and Frank P. Hettinger and organ-
ized the Citizens Bank. They bought the building at Second and ]\lain,
which is still occupied by the Ijank, from the old Bank of Commerce, paying
about ten thousand dollars for the building and site. The bank started
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 55
small. There was probably not more than twelve thousand dollars cai>ital
stock to start with. It is characteristic of Mr. Alackay that wlu-n the new
bank showed a loss the hrst year (ir two, not making expenses, he paid from
his own pocket to cover the deliciency. telling his colleagues that he was
responsible for getting them into it and that he would stand the loss. But
the bank soon got onto its feet and was going good. It prospered from
year to year and is now one of the strongest financial institutions in central
Kansas. Mr. Mackay remained in active charge of the bank as ])resident
and cashier for many years, his fine conservatism and sound judgment,
together with his wide knowledge of financial conditions liereabout, unde-
niably adding much to the solid success achieved by the institution which
he thus served. A few years ago, when the business became so heavy as to
require it, Charles M. Branch was called from the First National Bank to
become cashier of the Citizens Bank, and in 1915, when Mr. Mackay was
forced to leave the bank and take a season of rest in California, Mr. Branch
stepped into his place as acting president. In the middle of January, 19 16,
Mr. Mackay definitely retired from the presidency of the bank and at his
suggestion and request Mr. Branch was elected president to succeed him.
James B. Mackay is a native of Scotland, having been born in the city
of Edinburgh. Some time after coming to this country he located in Iowa,
where he was engaged in the banking business for some time, later going
to Illinois, where he continued his banking business until his removal to
Hutchinson, as above noted. Mr. Mackay has long occupied a high posi-
tion in the business life of this c'ommunity. He and his wife have a charm-
ing home at 725 Washington street, north, in Hutchinson. The veteran
banker continues his interest in the bank and will remain on the official
staff as vice-president.
Charles M. Branch, president of the Citizens Bank of Hutchinson, may
properly be regarded as a pioneer of Reno county, he having been fourteen
years of age when he came to this county with his parents in 1873. He
has been a witness of the wonderful development of this section of the state
from the very earliest da3^s of its settlement and has ever done his full part
in the promotion of that development, long having been regarded as one of
the most active factors in the ])usiness life of the community. Charles ^l.
Branch is a native of Iowa, having been born in the town , of Mnton. in
Benton county, that state, September 27, 1859, son of Phineas C. and Sarah
(Chapin) Branch, the former of whom was born at Aliddleton, near Rut-
land, Vermont, in 1824, and the latter in 1826 in ^Massachusetts, who later
56 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
became pioneers of this coiint\- and Imih of whom ched in Hutchinson, to
which cit_\- they had retired from the farm in their declining days.
Phineas C. Branch was fourteen years old when his parents emigrated
from \'ermont to Illinois, the family settling on a homestead farm in that
state, where the parents spent the remainder of their lives. Phineas C.
Branch liecame a dentist in Illinois and in 1S55 moved to Vinton, Iowa,
where he engaged in the practice of his profession and was thus engaged
until he came with his family to Keno county in 1873. During the Civil
War. ?^lr. Branch enlisted as a pri\ate in Company G, Thirteenth Regiment,
Iowa \ olunteer Infantry, with w hich regiment he served for three years.
In the fall of 1873 he gave up his practice as a dentist, desiring a change
to outdoor life, and having been attracted by the glowdng reports then pro-
ceeding from this section of Kansas, came to Reno county. He entered a
soldier's homestead and a timber claim in Med ford township and there
established his home. He enlarged his original holdings by the purchase
of two hundred and fi irty acres additional in Medford township and when
he retired from the farm and moved to Hutchinson, in 1901, was regarded
as one of the most substantial citizens of his part of the county. He was
a stanch Republican in earlier life, l)ut later became an ardent Prohibitionist
and was an earnest laborer in the cause during the height of the anti-saloon
campaign in this state. He and his wife were devout members of the Bap-
tist church and were counted among the leaders in all good works in their
neighborhood. But two chilih-en were born to them, sons both, Charles M.
and Andrew C, tlie latter of whom is living at Sterling, Kansas. Mrs.
Branch died in IQ02, the year following her removal to Hutchinson, and
Mr. Branch survived her about ten years, his death occurring in 191 2.
Charles M. I'rancli wa^ about lnurteen years old when he came to Reno
county with his parents and his schooling, which was interrupted by his
removal from \"inton. was resumed in the district school in the neighbor-
hood of his i)ioneer home in Medtoril lownvliip, which he sui)i)lemente(l by
one vear of attendance in the iiigh school at Sterling. In 1886 he w^as
engaged as a teacher in liic hclujols at Sterh'ng .and was thus engaged for
three years, at the end of whicli time ho entered the serxice of the Rice
County Bank at Sterling as a bookkeeper, a positicjn whicli he occu]:)ied for
nearlv two. years. His services then were engaged by tlie I'irst National
Bank of Hutchinson and for fourteen years he served in tlie capacity of
bookkeeper in that institution, after which he was made assistant cashier, a
position which he occupied until January i. 1902. on which date he assumed
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. • 57
the position of cashier of the Citizens Bank and was so engaged until his
elevation to the presidency of that institution, in January, 191 6.
On January 5, 1910, Charles M. Branch was united in marriage to
Lenora Scott, who was Ijorn in Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Branch have a very
pleasant home in Hutchinson and take a proper part in the general social
activities of the city.
J. NEVON HERR.
The notable improvement in the morale of the inmates of the Kansas
state reformatory at Hutchinson, this county, since Superintendent Herr
took charge of that institution in 191 3, has been the subject of congratula-
tory comment in all parts of the state, so many improvements having been
made by him not only in the system of institutional administration, but in
the general equipment of the reformatory and the beautification of the
grounds, all reliecting most generously the humane spirit underlying mod-
ern correctional methods, that the inmates have been affected most whole-
somely; so much so, indeed, that an entirely new spirit may be said to be
dominating the entire population of that admirable correctional institution.
Immediately upon taking charge of the reformatory, or as soon there-
after as he could acquire a proper working acquaintance with the institu-
tion and its more vital needs, Superintendent Herr extended the honor
system among the inmates, this humane expression of his confidence in the
basic uprightness of mankind having had an immediate eft'ect upon the gen-
eral deportment of the unhappy young men under his care, who at once felt
themselves "on honor" Ijound to give conformance to the general rules laid
down Ijy this humane new administration. One of the first of these new
regulations \va.s a complete reformation in the matter of the institutional
dress of the inmates, all institution marks carrying the brand and stigma of
the old "convict" system being eliminated, the effect of which alteration in
the reformatory "uniform" being an immediate improvement in the spirit
of the inmates, who responded most readily and with unanimous heartiness
to this appeal to their better natures. In the way of provision for whole-
some relaxation during the idle hours of the inmates, Superintendent Herr
has installed a motion picture outfit in the reformatory, through which
medium the inmates are at proper times and for the time being lifted out of
their self-centered lives and given an opportunity thus to keep in touch with
58 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
the outside world, attendance nn these exhihitions being practically unre-
strained and without guard, an ai)i)eal to the pride and self-respect of the
institution's population which has been met in the spirit in which it has been
made. The population of the reformatory also is given the privilege of the
grounds on such evenings as are marked b}- proper weather conditions, these
"outings" also being practicall}- unrestrained and unguarded. The value of
these two experiments in institutional management has been exemplified to
to the complete satisfaction of the reformatory authorities, it having been
demonstrated that the moral tone of the institution has been elevated thereby
in an extraordinary manner, the young men there under restraint having
thus been given an outlet for their thoughts that has resulted in most cases
in a complete rehabilitation of their mental attitude toward the place, which,
naturally enough, has resulted in a general betterment of their morals and
in their more decorous behavior. A striking manifestation of this improved
attitude on the part of the inmates toward the institution to which they
temporarily are attached has been found in the -organization by the young
men there restrained of a "Betterment League," which holds regular
meetings, unrestrained and without guard, at which all matters looking to
the general betterment of the lives of the members of this league are given
proi^er consideration, the members of the league binding themselves to report
to the administration any infringement of the mild rules laid down for the
conduct of these meetings which might result in an}- wa}- in a curtailment
of the privileges thus accorded. These reports are not in any manner under-
stood as being based upon a system of "spying" on the part of the members
of the league, the members agreeing to resort first to proper moral suasion
in the case of a possiljly refractory member before reix)rting delinquencies
on, the latter's part. The effect of improved conditions in the conduct of the
school and library in CDimection with the reformatory also have proved
largely beneficial and it is understood that a great work df real and i)erma-
nent reformation is going on in the lives of man\- unfortunate y(Oung men
under the humane system now operative under Superintendent Herr's ad-
ministration.
Not only in the purely correctional and reformatory aspects of the
institution has extensive imjjrovements been noted since 'Mv. Herr took
charge of the reformatory, but in the physical aspect of the place, such as
in the improvement of the grounds and the enlargement of the equipment
of the reformatory, there has been marked betterment. A manual training
department, where the young men are given technical instruction in the
leadine trades, has been installed bv I\lr. Herr and an irrigation svstem has
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 59
been provided as a means for the pnjper and prolital)le cultivation of the
reformatory farm, while the formerly nnsiohtly tract at the front of the
grounds, once a mere ui^ly weed patch, has been converted into a real beautv
spot by the exercise of a bit of intelligent direction in the way (jf landscape
gardening. A large cement fish pond, stocked with several \'arieties of fish
and surrounded by flower pots also has been ])rovided and fifty acres of
what once was a barren sand waste has been con\'erte(l into a beautiful
catalpa grove. The effect of all this intelligent direction has I)een to give
the inmates of the reformatory an entirely new outlook on life anrl the
conditions temporarily surrounding them, improving their morals and mak-
ing them more amenable to discipline, while the better spirit of contentment
that prevails under these altered conditions has been well proved by the
fact that there have been Init three elopements from the institution since Air.
Herr assumed the superintendency of the same. Mr. Herr's valuable experi-
ments have attracted wide attention among sociologists and penologists all
o^'er the country and have been the subject of numerous interesting treatises
presented in various high-class magazines and periodicals devoted to social
betterment.
J. Nevon Herr, superintendent of the Kansas state reformatory, is a
native of Pennsylvania, ha\-ing been born in Dauphin county, that state, on
March 3, 1875, son of Abraham R. and Elizabeth (Shenk) Herr, both
natives of Pennsylvania, of that sterling stock known as Pennsylvania Dutch,
the Herr family in this country, however, having originally been founded
by a Swiss, who emigrated to America in colonial days. Abraham Herr
was a farmer and stockman in Pennsylvania, who, in March, i885, came,
with his family, to Kansas, locating in the Kiowa neighborhood of Barber
county, where he bought a half section of land, on which he made his home
and where he died in the following June. His widow married, secondly.
Henry Somner, who died five years later, and the widow now li\es in
Wellington, this state. Abraham R. Herr and his wife were earnest mem-
bers of the Methodist church and their children were reared in tliat faith.'
There are five of these children still living, those besides the subject of
this biographical review being as follow : Allan, a prosperous farmer and
stockman, of Medicine Lodge, this state; A. L., a prominent attorney, of
Chickasha, Oklahoma, who married Bertha Dowaitain ; Uriah C. postmaster
of Medicine Lodge, this state, and publisher and editor of the liidc.v at that
place, and Ada, a school teacher, ^^ho lives with her mother at Wellington.
J. Nevor Herr w^as twelve years of age when his parents came to Kan-
sas and he has resided in this state ever since. His elementary education
6o RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
had been received in the schools of his home neighborhood in Dauphin
county, Pennsylvania, and this was supplemented by the instructions he later
received in the high school at Kiowa, this state, from which he was grad-
uated, after which he entered the cmi)l(iy of a corporation department store
at Kiowa, with which CDUccrn he remained for eighteen years, his advance-
ment in service with the company Ijeing so rapid that during the last few
years of his connection therewith he was president of the corporation.
During his residence in Kiowa. Air. Herr took a prominent and active part
in ci\-ic affairs and was regarded as one of the leaders in the ranks of the
Democratic party in Barber county. For four years he served as mayor of
Kiowa and his administration of tlie duties of that office was marked by
many and substantial iiuprovements to the town. For four years also Mr.
Herr served as a representative in the state Legislature from Barber county
and it was during his tenure in this latter office that he received his appoint-
ment as superintendent of the Kansas state reformatory at Hutchinson, his
administration in that important office dating from August i, 1913. since
which time he has had his residence in the administration building of the
reformatory.
On May 12. iqot. J- Nevon Herr w^as united in marriage to FJdith
Potter, who was lx)rn in Xew^ York state and who came to Kansas when
five years of age with her parents, Orman J. Potter and wife, the former of
whom was a farmer and carpenter, and to this union two children have been
born, Eleanor Lucile, born on [March 4. 1903. and Harold. Februar}^ 3,
1908.
Mr. Herr is a member of the Masonic lodge and of the Knights of
Pythias and the Modem Woodmen, in the affairs of which orders he takes
a warm interest.
CHARLES A. UVKI:R.
Charles .\. Kyker. president of iIk- Kansas Central Indemnity Com-
pany, of Hutchin.son, this county, is a Hoosier. liaving been born on a farm
in Jefferson county, state of Indiana, on January j 1 . 1S59, son of Joseph
H. and I'.liza S. ( McLelland ) Ryke'r. both natives of Indiana, the former
of whom, born in 1826. died in iSSi. and the latter, born in 1830, is still
living.
The Ryker family in America bad its origin in Flolland. the first of the
name to come to this country having located in Xew York in colonial days.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 6l
Gerardus Ryker was the first of the name to settle in Fiuhana, havin<( been
one of the first white men to make a home there, ile settled near the
northern bank of the Ohio river not far from where the city oi Madison
later arose. His son, the great-grandfather of Charles A. Ryker, was born
on the pioneer farm in what is now Jefferson county, as was his son, the
father of Joseph H. ; the latter was reared there and spent his last days
there. During the Civil War, Joseph H. Ryker served the cause of the
Union as a soldier in Company A, Fiftyrfifth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer
Infantry, and at the close of the war returned to the farm, where he spent
the rest of his Hfe, his death occurring in 1881, and his widow is still living
there. Joseph H. Ryker and wife were members of the Presbyterian church
and their seven children were reared in that faith.
Charles A. Ryker spent his youth in Hanover, Jefferson county, Indiana,
and his elementary education was received in the local schools there, this
course being supplemented by a course in the sterling old Presbyterian insti-
tution, Hanover College. In 187Q, he then being twenty years of age,
Charles A. Ryker came West, locating at Burlington, in Coffey county, this
state, where for eight years he worked for mercantile and lumber firms and
where he cast his first vote for the Republican party. In 1887 he came to
this county, locating at Hutchinson, where he took charge of the lumber
yard of the Wisconsin Planing Mill Company, and continued in the lumber
business, as manager for different firms, until his election, in 1900, on the
Republican ticket, to the office of county treasurer, in which office he served
for five years, his term of office having been extended by the Legislature.
From the time of his arrival in Flutchinson, Mr. Ryker had taken a thought-
ful part in the political affairs of the city and county and had, previous to
his election to the treasurer's office, served the public very acceptably both
as a member of the city council and as a member of the school board. In
1906 Mr. Rvker was elected a member of the state railway commission and
served in that im|>ortant capacity until the end of 1910. He, for years,
served as a member of the Reno county Republican central committee and
has been a frequent delegate to the state conventions of his party. In 1910
Mr, Ryker started in the commission business, under the firm style of the
Ryker Realtv and Commission Company and has so continued to this time.
Early in 191 5 he was instrumental in effecting the organization of the Kan-
sas Central' Indemnity Company, capital stock one hundred thousand dollars,
and was elected president of that promising insurance concern, a position
he now holds.
In 188 1, at Burlington, this state, Charles A. Ryker was united in mar-
62 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
riage to Eva Dickinson, who was born in Kansas and whose father, George
H. Dickinson, is still a resident of Burlington, and to this union one child
has been born, a daughter, Cornelia, who has been a student at Hanover
College, in Indiana, she being a representative of the third generation of her
family to attend that excellent old institution, ^ir. and iNIrs. Ryker are
members of the Presbyterian church, and take an interested part in the
various social and cultural movements of their home town. They have a
very pleasant home at 424 A\-enue A, east, which Mr. Ryker built in 1905.
Mr. Ryker is a member of the .Vncient Order of United Workmen and
of the Modern Woodmen. He is a member of the Commercial Club, which
he has served in the official capacity of secretary, and takes a general inter-
est in all movements designed to promote the advancement of conditions in
all proper ways hereabout.
ARTHUR E. ASHER.
Arthur K. Asher, president of the Commercial National Bank of
Hutchinson, this county, has been a resident of Kansas for twenty-nine
years, or since he was twenty-one years of age, and has been a continuous
resident of Hutchinson since 1906. his previous residence in that city, begim
in 1897. having been interrupted in 1903 by a change in luisiness which
took him to Stafford for a period of three years, after which he returned
to Hutchinson, which has been his home ever since.
Arthur E. Asher was born in Oldham county. Kentucky, on 'Sls.y 14,
1863, son of Milton and Martha L. ( Eddins) Asher. both natives of that
same county, both of whnm were born in 1835. ?\Jiltun Asher was the son
of James D. Asher, of Irish descent, a pioneer in Oldham county, Kentucky,
whose last days were spent there. James D. Asher and wife were members
of the Christian church and were the parents of eight children, who were
reared in that faith. Martha L. Eddins was the daughter of Abraham and
Mary Eddins, both of whom were natives of Kentucky and members of the
Methodist church, warmly opposed to the institution of slavery which then
existed in most parts of Kentucky.
Milton .\sher was reared in Oldham county, Kentucky . and became a
carpenter, millwright and bridge builder. He married there and inherited
a part of the paternal farm, becoming 'a man of considerable means. In
1886 he emigrated with his family to this state and located at Stafford, that
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 63
being before the clays of the raih-oad there, and there he was engaged
extensi\ely as a building contractor for years. In 1897, ^^ the time his
son, Arthur E., moved to Hutchinson, he and his wife also moved to that
city, and there they both spent their last days, Mrs. Asher dying two years
later, in 1899, and Milton Asher dying on January 27, iqii. They were
earnest members of the Christian church and their children were reared
in that faith. Of these children, four in number, Arthur E. Asher, the
immediate subject of this sketch, is now the sole survivor, the others having
been as follow : Andrew Jackson, a farmer, who died at the age of twenty-
four; Alonzo, a pharmacist, who died at the age of twenty-two, and Rosa
L., who died at the tender age of four.
Arthur E. Asher was reared in Oldham county, Kentucky, receiving
his education in the district school of his home neighborhood and at the
college at Campbellsburg. He was twenty-one years of age wdien he came
to Kansas with his parents and for a time after locating at Stafford he was
engaged in the lumber business in the employ of Fair & Shock. He then
entered the employ of the Bank of Stafford and thus began his successful
career as a banker. In 1895 he was made cashier of that bank, but two
years later, in 1897, ^^^^ that concern and located in Hutchinson, where he
effected the organization of the St. Johns Trust Company, a concern for the
exclusive use of cattlemen, and w^as made secretary of the company. In
1903 that company liquidated and Mr. Asher returned to Stafford, where
he organized the First State Bank of Stafford and w^as made president of
that institution. In 1906 he returned to Hutchinson and organized the
Commercial National Bank, of which he was made president, a position which
he has held ever since. In 1908 Mr. Asher extended his banking operations
to Mineola, this state, where he organized the First National Bank of Mineola
and was made president of that institution, wdiich office he still holds, at the
same time retaining an interest in the First State Bank of Stafford, of
which he formerly was president, and of which he still is a director. Mr.
Asher is an alert, up-to-date business man and is interested in various other
enterprises in and about Hutchinson, among which is the Hutchinson Build-
ing and Loan Association, of which he is vice-president and one of the
directors.
On December 8, 1888, Arthur E. Asher was united in marriage to
Gertrude M. Sommers, who was born in Illinois, daughter of Alexander and
Elizabeth Sommers, early residents of Stafford. Alexander Sommers was
a carpenter and builder, who took a prominent part in the upbuilding of the
64 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
town of Stafiford in the earlier days thereabout. He died there and his
widow, who is still living, is making her home with Mr. and Mrs. Asher.
To Arthur E. and Gertrude M. (Sommers) Asher three children have
been bom, namely: Lucile. born in 1890, who married Ernest Dickerson,
a traveling salesman, of Hutchinson; Mildred, who married Ray H. Tinder,
a lawyer, of Hutchinson, and has one child, a son, Charles Elston, born in
April, 191 5, and Helen, 1898, who is attending high school. ]\Ir. and Mrs.
Asher are members of the Christian church and Mr. Asher is president of
the- official board of the congregation to which he is attached. He and his
wife take an active part in the social life of the city making their presence
felt in many useful ways and are held in high regard. Their home at
1009 North Main street is one of the most attractive in the city.
Mr. Asher is a Democrat in matters relating to the policies of the
national government, but in local politics is inclined to be rather independent,
holding to the view that the man instead of the party should be the guide
to the voter in local elections. For seven years he served on the Hutchinson
school board and has been a member of the city council for years, his services
in both of these offices having proved of large value to the community.
Mr. Asher is a Mason and has attained to the York Rite in that order, being-
one of the most active members of the coramandery of the Knights Templar
at Hutchinson, and is also an active member of the Ancient Order of United
Workmen.
EDWARD T[XD.\LE GUY.AION.
Edward Tindall Gminon, one of the best-known and most representa-
tive business men in Hutchinson, founder of the town of Guymon, Okla-
homa, and prominently identified with many of the most extensive corpora-
tions in and about Hutchinson, as well as in other sections of the state, is a
native of Illinois, but has been a resident of Kansas since 1879. He was
lx)ru on a farm near Warsaw, in Hancock county, Illinois, in August, 1859,
son of John and Jane (Griggsby) Guymon, both natives of that same state,
the former born in 1838. and the latter in 1836.
John Guymon was a farmer. When the Ci\il \\\ir broke out he
enlisted in behalf of the Union cause and went to the front as a private in
Company F.. Seventy-eighth Regiment, Illinois \"olunteer Infantry, with
which he served valorously until captured l)y the enem\-. He was confined
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 6
3
in Andersonville prison, where he died in 1864. After the unhappy death
of her soldier husband, Mrs. Guynion took her three chikh-en and went to
Hve with her ])arents in Missouri, remaining there for several years, but later
returning to Illinois. She is now making her home with her only remaining
son, the subject of tliis I)iographical sketch, at Hutchinson, as is her only
daughter, Irene, who married Henry Ellison. The other son, Roy, a resi-
dent of Los Angeles. California, died in 191 1.
Owing the straightened circumstances surrounding his youth, Edward
T. Guymon had little opportunity for securing an education in his boyhood,
his schooling having been confined to attendance for two or three months
each winter for a few winters in Illinois and Missouri, and at eleven years
of age he engaged his services to an Illinois farmer for eight dollars a month
and W'Orked for that man for four years, at the end of which time he began
clerking in a store at Coalsburg, Illinois, where he worked until the spring
of 1879, when he came to Kansas, stopping at McPherson, where he was
employed for a time as a carpenter's helper. He then secured a place as a
clerk in the store of L. H. Thompson, now a resident of Hutchinson, who
was then engaged in business at McPherson, and remained thus engaged for
two or three years, at the end of which time he was engaged in the Barnes
general store, where he remained for some time. He then left McPherson
and went to Lakin, a coal-mining town, where he remained two years, a
part of which time he was employed as a railroad section hand, after which
he returned to McPherson and began clerking in the Fegley store, later
going to the Hacklethorn & Northup grocery store, in the same town. Pre-
sently, Mr. Guymon bought the interest of Mr. Northup in the store and
was a partner in the business for three years, at the end of which time he
sold his interest and secured a half interest in a meat-packing plant and
w^as thus engaged for two years. Then Mr. Guymon, in partnership with
Messrs. Irvin, Lloyd and Oakley, established the Star Grocery Company at
McPherson and from that time on began to make his influence felt as a man
of affairs. In 1888 the firm established a branch store at Liberal, this state,
and Mr. Guymon took cliarge of the same in person, remaining there for
three years. In 1901 he moved to Lewistown, Illinois, where for two years
he was engaged in the manufacture of a grain weigher, at the same time
retaining his ownership of the store at Liberal, the Star Grocery Company
meanwhile having dissolved. The Star store at Liberal had grown to be an
extensive wholesale as well as retail store, supplying the trade throughout
that section of the state, as well as in parts of Oklahoma, Texas, New
(5a)
66 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Mexico and Colorado. In the meantime Mr. (iiiymon was rapidly developing
other interests and in 1902 moved to 1 lutcliinsun, where he ever since has
resided, operating his extensive business connections from that central point,
and has long been regarded as one of the most substantial citizens of central
Kansas. Upon locating at Hutchinson he bought the beautiful AA'ood home
at 1019 North Main street and is still living there.
Among- the numerous concerns in which Mr. Guymon is actively inter-
ested is the Guymon-Petro Wholesale Grocery Company, of Hutchinson,
of which he is president; the Commercial National Bank, of Hutchinson,
of which he is vice-president; a director and one of the founders of the
Hutchinson Electric Light and \\^ater Company; vice-president of the Lib-
eral Elevator and Hutchinson Termmal Elevator Company and director of
H outran Loan and Trust Company; vice-president of the American Ware-
house Company; former president of the Guymon Bank of Oklahoma, be-
sides which he is the owner of grocery stores in several towns in Kansas,
Oklahoma, Colorado, Nevada and Canada, and has been interested in a num-
ber of cattle ranch corporations. It was in 1902, the year in which he took
up his residence in Hutchinson, that ^Ir. Guymon laid out and founded the
town of Guymon, named after himself, in Oklahoma. That town has grown
to be a place of nmre than eighteen hundred population, with about forty-
five business establishments. Mr. Guymon was president of the company
which promoted the town and is actively interested in a number of enter-
prises in the place, such as grain elevators, stores and the Ijank, the latter of
which Mr. Guymon founded and was for some time its president. Mr. Guy-
mon also has railroad and other interests, his combined connections easily
making him one of the leading capitalists of Kansas. Mr. Guymon is a
Republican and while living at Liberal served as a meml)er of the city coun-
cil, but has ne\er sought other offices.
In June. 1S87, hxhvard T. Guymon was united in marriage to Erances
Mary Flagg, who was born in Illinois, daughter of George and Mary Flagg,
the former of whom died in 1900 and the latter of whom is still living. To
this union one child has been born, a son. I-Mward Tindall. jr.. born on
June cS. 1900. Mr. Guymon is a thirty-second-degree Mason and a noble of
the .Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, a member
of the consistory and the shrine at Wichita, and takes a warm interest in
Masonic affairs. He is a member of the Hutchinson Commercial Club and
the Country Club and in the affairs of both of those local organizations he
takes an active interest.
KENO COUNTY, KANSAS. G-J
Mvx. DAxna. Mox'rn-'rii moorr, d. d.
Tlie minutes of the first meetino- of the ]iresbyter\- of tlie I'resljyterian
church of this section of Kansas following the death of the hunented Rev.
Daniel Alontieth Moore, D. I)., in 1900. carries the following- triliute of
respect and ex])ression of esteem for the memor}- of a great and good man;
a man who had done \ery nnich for tlie spiritual and cultural advancement
of this part of the state :
"Doctor Moore was a ripe scholar, always a student, not only of the
Scriptures, but also of the best literature and current events. The honorary
degree of Doctor of Divinity was worthily bestowed upon him bv his alma
mater in 1897. Doctor Ahxjre was an old-time gentleman of rare dignitv
and ccjmmanding presence and was distinguished for his urbanity and hos-
pitality. His religious experience was rich and relined in his declining-
years. "
Daniel Alontieth Moore, who was the hrst ordained clergyman to pro-
claim the message of the Gospel in Reno county, was a native of Ohio,
having- been born in the village of Cortsville, in Mahoning county, that state,
on January 2. 1824. At the age of fourteen, having then completed the
course in his home school, he was sent by his parents to li\e with his uncle,
the Rev. John A'lontieth, at Elmira, Ohio, and under the fine influence of
that good clergyman he was reared to useful manhood. Upon completing
the high-school course at Elmira, the studious lad was sent to the academv
at Darlington, Pennsylvania, from which he was present!}^ graduated, after
which he entered Western University at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from
which he was graduated at the age of twenty-two, after which he entered
Lane Theological Seminary at Cincinnati, from which sterling old sectarian
institution he was graduated three years later, and presently was ordained
a minister of the Gospel 1)}' his home presbytery. For a short time after
his ordination, the Rev. Daniel }iT. Moore was engaged as acting pastor of a
country church in Brown county. Ohio, and it was while thus living his
"day of small things" that he married, in June, 1849, Ellen McMillan,
daughter of Captain McATillan, of Ripley, Ohio, who died on X^.weml^er 6,
1850, leaving one child, born (jn April 22, 1850, which died on August 11,
of that same vear. At Manchester, Ohio, Deceml>er 30. 1851, Rev. Daniel
M. Moore married, secondly, Mary A. Ellison, daughter of William and
Mary K. Ellison, who was a faithful and competent helpmate during his
long and difficult ministry.
The first charge to which the Rev. Daniel H. Moore was called and in
68 REXO COUNTY. KANSAS.
which he was installed as pastor wa> the Second Presbyterian church of
Greenfield, Ohio, the congre,^ation of which he served as pastor for a period
of twelve years, at the end of whicii time he accepted a call from the Pres-
byterian church at N'ellow Springs. Ohio, and was pastor of that church for
nearly hvQ years. In j868 he accepted a call from the "new school," or
"free." Presbyterian church at Lawrence, this state, and thus began his
long period of ministerial .^er\ice in Kansas. Doctor ]\Ioore, during ante-
bellum days, ever had been ])ossessed of strong anti-slavery convictions and
had acquiesced in the di\-ision of the church on that question, but upon the
removal of the cause of this (li\ision was among the first to seek a recon-
ciliation between the two wings of the church and it was during his pastor-
ate of the "free" church at Lawrence and largely through his efforts that the
"new school" and the "old school" churches in that city were reunited, both
pastors resigning in order that the united church might call a new pastor.
In 1873. two years after the founding of the town of LIutchinson, Doctor
Moore accepted the call of the little Presbyterian church at that point to
"come over and help us," and thus became the first ordained minister of the
Gospel to i)reach in Reno county. The Presbyterian church at Hutchinson
at that time was composed of but ^even members, but during the seven years
of Doctor Moore's pastorate th.ere the growth of the congregation was pro-
portionately much larger than was the growth of the town. During these
seven years of earnest and consecrated effort on the ])art of Doctor Moore
that good minister so impressed his individuality upon the congregation
and upon the community as a whole as to give to that pioneer church the
sterling characteristics that still distinguish it, he clearly having laid the firm
foundation upon which its present strength is built.
It was during his pastorate at Hutchinson that Doctor IMoore was
selected as a member of the committee which organized the presbvterv with
which the Presbyterian church at that ])oint is still connected, and it was he
and the l\ev. Mr. Overstreet who drew the first standinu- rules for the "ov-
ernment of the presbytery, and no otlur man has been so long or so effi-
cientlv connected with the work of the ],resbytery as was he. Upon leaving
Hutchinson, in 1880. Doctor Moore filled charges at Carthage. Illinois;
Columbus. Kansas; Ft. Worth. Texas, and 1^1 Paso, same state, and in 1887
returned to Hutchinson to pass the remainder of hi< (la\s among the mem-
bers of his family and among the firm friends he had made during the time
of his long jiastorate there in pioneer days. His interest in Hutchin.son and
in her people never waned and in the very hour of his death, at a few min-
utes past nine o'clock on August 2, 1900. the aged clergyman feebly ex-
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 69
pressed his re<;ret that the state of his heahh wduM prcMiit his atteiKhmce
on the annual meeting- of the old settlers of Ueno countv that was heing
held in Hutchinson that day.
To the Kev. Daniel M. and Mary K. ( l-Tlison) ]\Iooi-e three children
were horn, \V. E. /Moore, of Peru, Illinois; 1^. M. Moore, manager of the
Hutchinson Printing Conipan)-, of Hutchinson, and Mrs. E. L. Meyer, wife
of the president of the h'irst National Bank of Hutchinson.
Edward M. Moore was horn in the town of Greenfield, Highland
comity, Ohio, in 1861, during the ])eriod of his father's pastorate at that
place and he was seven }-ears of age when he came with his parents to Kan-
sas in 1868. His early schooling was received at Lawrence and he remained
there until in jMarch, 1874, when he followed hiis father to Hutchinson and
became "de\il."' or printer's factotum in the ofifice of the Hutchinson Nezvs.
In the early fall of that year, W. F. Wallace started the Indcprudcnt in
Hutchinson and young Moore transferred his services to that paper, con-
tinning as printer there under the successive ownerships of E. Conway
Bruffy, a Virginian, and Jaj) Tm^pin, an Indianian. Wlien tlie Inferior
Herald was launched l>y \V. C. Bowles, J. W". Kanaga and others, with
Henry Inman as editor, Mr. Moore went over to that paper, serving the
owners thereof as printer until they sold to J- W. Kauaga, after which he
continued with the latter owner for three years, doing the printing of the
paper under contract. In 1882 Mr. Moore left Hutchinson for a time and
went to Peru, Illinois, where he \vas engaged as shipping clerk by the
Illinois Zinc Company until 1886. in which year he returned to Hutchinson
and engaged there in the plumbing business for one year, at the end of
which time he resumed his connection with the printing trades, taking
employment in the printing department of the Huicliinson Xcivs. under R.
M. Eansley, editor. Presently IMr. Moore was given charge of the circula-
tion department of the Nc:cs and when the Sponslers bought the paper he
was made advertising manager. In 1895 Edward M. Moore and W. Y.
Morgan bought the Hutchinson Daily News, Mr. Moore acting as Inisiness
manager of the same until 1908. In 1909 the Hutchinson Printing Com-
pany ( "Jav Hawker Press"') was incori)orated to take over the job-printing
department of the News, that paper no longer to engage in the iob-])rinting
business, and Mr. Moore was made manager of the same, which position
he still holds, retaining his interests in both the printing company and the
newspaper.
Edward M. Moore has been twice married, his first wife having been
Clara A. Mclnturff, who was born in Trenton, Missouri, daughter of
70 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Andrew and Lncretia Mclnturff, early settlers of Reno countv, who home-
steaded a i)lace in Lincoln townshi]) in 1873. later nioxing- to Hutchinson,
where Mr. Alclnturff became a well-known photographer, in which business
he continued until his death. Mrs. Moore died in 1908, without issue, and
on August II. 191 1. Edward M. Abjore married, secondly, Belle Rice, who
was born in Ohio, daughter of George and Elizabeth Rice, the former of
whom, now deceased, for years was a well-known building contractor in
Hutchinson, who erected the Masonic Temple, numerous school buildings
and other important buildings throughout the city and county, and whose
widow is now makin": her home with Mr. and Mrs. JMoore.
Mr. Aloore is \-ery prominentl}- connected with the order of the United
Commercial Travelers, in the affairs of which he takes a warm and actue
interest. Ik- has served as the grand treasurer in the state organization of
that ix)pular association and has several times been a delegate to the national
conventions of the organization.
SAMUEL G. PUTERBAUGH.
Samuel G. i'uterbaugh, a well-known retired banker of LIutchinson, this
county, is a nati\e of Ohi(j, he ha\ing been born on a farm in the Xcnia
neighborhood of that slate on November 11, 1840, son of David and Cath-
erine (Snyder) I'uterbaugh, the former of whom, born in 1800 died in
1864, and the latter, born in 1803, died in 1853.
Davifl T'uterbaugh was ])orn near the town of Hagerstown, Pennsyl-
vania, and was reared on a farm there. Eollowing his marriage, he and
his wife mo\ed to (ireene county, Ohio, where they li\ed on a farm imtil
1850, in which year they mo\'ed with their famil\- to TlliiK^is, settling in
Tazewell county, where the)' eslabli>iK(l a new home, in ^v]licll Mrs. Puter-
l)augh died three years later. David I'ulerbangh lived until i8()4 and became
one of the well-to-do men of that section, ha\ing ])ecn the owner of more
than one thou.sand acres of land. \\'hile b\ing in ( )hio, he and his wife
were members of the German Lutheran ilnn-ch. but upon mo\ing to Illi-
nois, finding no church of their denomination there, became nieni])ers of the
Christian church, 'ihey were the j)arents of ten children, of whom only one
besides the subject of this bicjgraphical review is now surviving, David
Puterbaugh, a real-estate speculator and traveling salesman, of Kan.sas Citv.
.Another l)rother, John Puterbaugh was for vears a resident of Hutchinson,
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 7 1
this county, he having been engaged in the agricultural business there and,
in boom times, was well known as a real-estate speculator. He died in 1888.
Samuel G. Puterbaugh was ten years of age when his family moved
from Ohio to Illinois and in the latter state he went to school but one year.
He grew up on the farm in Tazewell county and u])on the hrst call to
arms after Ft. Sumter had been hred on enlisted in the l^ighth Regiment,
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for the three-months service, and served in that
regiment for six months, at the end of which time he enlisted in the Third
Illinois Cavalry, with which he served until the close of the war, the greater
part of this service having been in the Army of the West, under General
Grant. Mr. Puterbaugh was wounded twice, once in 1862 and again in
1863. At the battle of Lafayette, Mississippi, he was taken prisoner and
for eight months was kept in durance by the Confederates, for one month
at Mobile and the remainder of the time in Belle Isle, Richmond. Pie then
w^as exchanged and until the end of the war served in the Tennessee cam-
paign, near Memphis and X^icksburg.
At the close of the war, Mr. Puterbaugh engaged in the dry-goods busi-
ness at Mackinaw, in Tazewell county, Illinois, in partnership with his
brother John, wdiich connection continued for three years, at the end of
which time the brothers sold their store, John coming to Kansas and Samuel
G. moving to Pekin, county seat of his home county, where for four years
he served as deputy clerk of the circuit court, at the end of which time he
became a candidate for the office of county cjerk. on the Greeley ticket, and
w^as defeated by only sixty votes. He then went to Chicago, where he
entered the service of the John V. Farwell Company, wfth which he was
connected for fixe years in the capacity of a traveling salesman, after which
he transferred his services to Carson, Pirie, Scott & Company and was
for twenty-five years engaged with that company as a general salesman,
having charge of their Kansas territory, meanwhile making his home in
Chicago. He then became interested in the \\>1)1)-Freyschlag Company at
Kansas City and, resigning his position in Chicago, moved to Kansas City
and took charge of that company's affairs. This work, however, proved too
confining and in 1904 Air. Puterbaugh traded a part of his stock in the
Webb-Freyschlag Company for a general store at Lyons, this state, and
moved to the latter place, where he lived for two years. Upon finding his
health completely restored he came to this county in 1907. locating at Hutch-
inson, where he organized the Reno State Bank, though still retaining his
'Store at Lyons. He was elected the first president of the Reno State Bank
and served that institution in that capacity until the time of his retirement
72 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
from active business affairs, and still makes his home in Hutchinson, being
the owner of a very pleasant home at 1006 North ]\Iaine street, of modern
style and \ery attractive, built in 191 1.
On February 16, 1887, Samuel G. Puterbaugh was united in marriage
to Nora L. Webb, who was born in .Macon, Illinois, and who is a reader
in the Christian Science church at Hutchinson. ]\Ir. and Mrs. Puterbaugh
have an adopted daughter. Elizabeth B., who was born in November, 1909.
Mr. Puterbaugh is an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
MARTIN CHARLES BUSSINGER.
Martin Charles Bussinger, one of the best-know*n retired farmers of
Reno county, now li\-ing in Hutchinson, former trustee of Center township,
an honored veteran of the Civil War and one of the real pioneers of this
county, he having been a resident here since the year 1873, is a native of
Ohio, having been born in the village of Gnadenhutten, Tuscarawas county,
that state, June 2, 1843, son of Anselm and Sarah (Reiser) Bussinger, the
former a native of the republic of Switzerland and the latter of Pennsylvania,
born in the city of Philadel^^iia.
Anselm Bussinger was born in 1802 and was about nine years old when
he came to this country from Switzerland with his parents in 181 1, the
family locating in the city of Philadelphia, where young Anselm grew^ to
manhood and wjiere he learned the cabinet-maker's trade. He married in
that city Sarali Reiser, who was born in Philadelphia in 1806, ttaughter of
a physician, and presently moved to Gnadenhutten, in Tuscarawas county,
where he was for some years engaged at his trade of cabinet-making, later,
in April. 1859, moving to Indiana and locating on a farm in the neighborhood
of the city of Terre Haute. Years later he and his wife came to Ransas and
their last days were spent in this state, his death occuring in Reno county in
1876 and hers, ten years later, in 1886, in Ringman county. Anselm Buss-
inger was a Republican and he and his wife were members of the Congrega-
tional church. They were the parents of six children, those I^esides the
subject of this biographical review being as follow: Henrietta, born in
Philadcljihia. who married Dr. Samuel B. Livingston; Henry, born in Phila-
delphia: John, born in Pittsburgh; Sophia, born at Gnadenhutten, Ohio, and
Louisa, also lx)rn at the last named place, which also w'as the birthplace of
M. C. Bussinijer.
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RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 73
]\[artin C. P)nssinii:er was aljout sixteen years of age when the family
moved from Ohio to Indiana, in tlie spring of 1859, locating on a farm in
the Terre Hante neighborhood, and he was living there when the Civil War
broke out. Tpon the call for volunteers to defend the flag and suppress the
rebellion, Mr. Bussinger, following the example of thousands of other
patriotic young men of Indiana, abandoned his civil pursuits and (jffered his
services as a soldier. He enlisted in Company K, Eighty-fifth Regiment,
Indiana X'olunteer Infantry, which was organized at Terre Haute, lohn P.
Baird, colonel; Lewis Pucket, captain of Company K. The bjghty-hfth
Indiana was mustered in on August 12, 1862. and was mustered out, June
12, 1865, at the close of the war. Mr. Bussinger followed the fortunes of
this regiment from the start to finish, participating in the marches and minor
skirmishes, in the early months of service, in Kentucky and Tennessee; the
severe engagement at Thompson's Station, Tennessee, March 3. 1863. when
the greater part of the Ijrigade to which the regiment was attached was over-
whelmed by a superior force and taken prisoners ; in the Atlanta campaign
under Sherman, participating in the battles of Resaca, Dallas, Culp's Farm,
Peach Tree Creek and others ; in the march to the sea, the siege and capture
of Savannah ; thence through the Carolinas, participating in the last severe
engagement of the war, at Averysboro, North Carolina; thence on to Ben-
tonville", Goldsboro and Raleigh, being stationed at the latter place when
Lee surrendered; thence on to Washington, participtating in the final Grand
Review of the army at the close of the war.
During Sherman's march from Atlanta to the sea, the army was wholly
dependent upon the country through which it passed for subsistence. Details
were made from the several commands and sent out each day, some distance
from the line of march, to gather food and forage. These details were under
command of an officer and a strong guard as a protection against straggling
bands of the enemy. Not infrequently soldiers of Sherman's army would
leave the command to forage on their own account, taking the risk of being
captured and severely deal with by the enemy. ^Ir. Bussinger took a risk
of this kind, and a narration of his experience in getting back with his
"supplies" to the ''safety zone" will be of interest in this personal sketch.
"It was dangerous business, going out foraging," said he, "for the
'Johnnies' were prowling about all the time. Once I came very near being
captured. I was sent by my lieutenant down to a white house to forage
around for food. He said it was half a mile, l)Ut I found it a good deal
farther.
74 ~ RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
"There were three women on the porch. I kept my eye on them, for 1
dichi't want to take any chances and 1 wasn't snre whether or not they would
tight. I hacked awa}- from them, meanwhile keeping an eye on them, while
I searched for food. In the smoke house 1 found some sides of bacon, sev-
eral of which I hung to my saddle and then started otT. I didn't have a gun
and when I saw a man ahead I made an effort to get away, but he saw me
and took after me calling on me to surrender; but I kept on going and
finally got awav. I found that the 'Johnnies' had driven my company away
when I got back to where I had left it, and I had a close call in linding my
company.
"At another time, soon after leaving Atlanta, I went out foraging on
my own hook. We were getting short of food and I was mighty hungry.
I decided to go out and see what I could get. I was warned not to go, for
the rebels were all around us. and they were hanging every forager they
caught and filling the bodies full of bullets. But I decided that I'd take a
chance. I was so hungry that I didn't much care ; I'd about as soon be killed
as to die of starvation. I thought. So, early the next morning. I struck out
before the boys were up. In a short time I came to a house and after looking
around found 1 was safe. Finding a sack of flour in the house I picked up
the sack and started off A\ith it. i ran across an old negro and made him
carry the sack for me. He begged hard to be relieved, as he said there were
rebels all around ; 'they's thousands of "em right over dar in de woods,' he
said, but I made him go ahead and carry the sack. He begged every step of the
way. and was almost scared to death, for fear there'd be a 'relj' liehind a tree
ahead. Finally, we got to the road which would take me to our lines, v. hen
I saw some chickens that tempted me. I knew I'd l)etter l)e hurrying along,
but I couldn't leave those chickens. The old negro kept insisting that the
'rebs' were coming. l)Ut I made him catch three hens and a mule for me.
Then, witli my sack of Hour and three chickens on tlie nuile, I struck oft*
down the road. 1 (hdn't meet anv 'reb>' and got l)ack t(i camj) safe with the
suj)plies. W'e had good eating in my mess for a few days."
-After his discharge from the arm\-. at the close of the war. Air. Buss-
inger returned to Terre Haute and remained there until the fall of i866.
when he went to Coles county, Illinois, where he remained for about two
years, working on a farm, and where he was married, after which he moved
to Iowa and located at Charitan. in Lucas county, where he remained until
the fall of 1873. when he and his family came to Kansas and located in Reno
county, where they ever since have made their home. It was in September,
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 75
1873, that Mr. Bussinger settled on his homestead in Center t(nvnship, this
county, he and his family thus having heen auKjng the earliest pioneers of
that part of the county. He developed that homestead farm and became a
large landowner and one of the most intiuential residents oi the county. For
years he served as trustee of Center township, and in other wavs did his
part in the development of the ci\ic interests of the communii\-. Mr. Buss-
inger is a Republican and has, ever since coming to this ctjunty, given his
earnest attention to local political affairs. In 1901 Mr. Bussinger sold his
farm and moved to Hutchinson, where he started his children in business and
has since then lived retired.
It was on December 2, 1867, in Coles county, Illinois, that Martin C.
Bussinger was united in marriage to Sarah C. Johnston, who also was born
m Tuscarawas county, Ohio, November 2, 1842, daughter of Christopher
and Grace L. (Kennedy) Johnston, the former a native of Ireland and the
latter of Ohio, and to this union ten children were born, three of whom died
in infancy, the others being as follow: Gracie, born in Coles county, Illinois,
who married Lincoln S. Davis and died at Partridge, leaving a daughter,
Charlotte G. ; Charles, born in Lucas county, Iowa, who married Eliza Paine;
Bertha, also born in Lucas county, who married George H. Pickens, a Reno
county farmer, and has five children, George, Grace, Bertha, Claude and
Harold ; Harry, l>orn on the homestead farm in Center township, who married
Abbie Pickens and has four children, Charles, William, George and Robert ;
Eugene, born in Center township, who married Selma Austman ; Louise,
born in Center township, who married C. E. Pickens, a Reno county farmer,
and has three children, Carl. Helen and Francis, and Annette, also born in
Center township, who married H. L. Eales, proprietor of an automobile
repair shop at Hutchinson, and has one child. Bertha.
Mr. and Mrs. Bussinger are earnest members of the Methodist church
and for years ha\'e been acti\-e in the work of that denomination in this county.
Upon coming to this county they brought their letters from the Methodist
church at their former home and put the same with these of the congregation
of the First Methodist church at Hutchinson, with which the}' ever since
have been connected. Mr. Bussinger was a member of the original building
committee of the church and was superintendent of construction when the
first church was built; also, as an officer of the church, taking an active part
in the work of refurnishing and decorating the edifice in February, 1908.
He is now a memlier of the board of trustees of the First ^lethodist church
and continues to maintain his warm interest in the aft'airs of the same.
76 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
PET XATIOX.
Pet Nation, cattleman and banker, vice-president of the First National
Bank of Hutchinson and for }-ears one of the leading" factors in the com-
mercial and nnancial life of that citv, thouoh a Hoosier hv birth has been a
resident of Kansas since he \\"as a boy fourteen years old and a resident of
this county since he was eighteen, hence is as true and loyal a son of Reno
as thou2:h "nati\e ;md to the manner born." He was born on a farm in
Henry county, Indiana, in 1864. son of Sylvan and Sarah Nation, both
natives of that state, the latter of whom died in 1903, at the age of sixt}-
two, and the former nf whom is living at Emporia, this state, in his eightieth
year, for many years one of the best-known cattlemen in that section of the
state.
It was in 1881 that Sylvan Nation left his farm in Indiana and with
his family came to Kansas. He located at Emporia and in that vicinity
engaged in the cattle lousiness on a constantly growing scale until he presently
became known as one of the most extensive ranchmen in the state and is
still actively engaged in the business in \vhich for years he has made so
distinct a success. His three sons followed in his footsteps and all became
successfid, the subject of this sketch having two brothers, Fred and Carl,
who are largely engaged in Ihe cattle business, with headquarters at Emporia.
Pet Nation was se\enteen years old when the family came to Kansas
in i88f and he at once entered, heart and soul, into the fine free life of the
open range. As a cowboy on his father's ranch, he reached his physical
growth early and learned the cattle business from the bottom u]), early
becoming a thoroughl}- experienced and com]:ietent cattleman. When
eighteen years old, in 1882, he came to Reno county and started in the cattle
business on his own account. Si.x years later, in 1888, following his mar-
riage, he m»j\-ed onto a half section of land in the northern part of ]\eno
township, on Cow creek, rmd there established his Imme, but presentlx' his
operations had expanded to such a point that he found he could conduct
his affairs more advantageously from the \antage ground of the city and in
1890 he moved from the farm into Hutchinson, where he ever since has
made his home, directing his cattle business antl other extensive interests
from that point. Some time after locating in Hutchinson INTr. Nation sold
his Reno county ranch and bought a much nn ire extensixe ranch over in
Chase county, which he has since oi)erated very successfully. He also is
actively identified with the financial and commercial interests of this com-
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. //
ninnity and as vice-president uf the l'"irst Natinnal IJank ui IhUchin.sun, liie
oldest and strongest Innancial institution in central Kansas, is reco_^nized
as one of the leading and most intluential factors in the financial life of this
section of the state, and has done much to advance the material welfare of
the community.
In 1888 J\fr. Nation was united in marriage to Nettie Price, daughter
of P. P>. and Sarah I'rice, the former of whom, for years was one of
Hutchinson's leading real-estate men, is now deceased and the latter of
whom is still lixing in Hutchinson. To this union one child has heen horn,
a daus^hter, Eula, who married Edward W. Mever, assistant cashier of the
First National Bank of Hutchinson, and lives at 510 Avenue A, east. In
1902 Mr. Nation erected a fine residence at 512 Avenue A, east, and there
he and his wife are very pleasantly situated. Mr. Nation is a member of
the Hutchinson Commercial Club and takes an earnest interest in the affairs
of that organization, constantly on the alert to promote any movement hav-
ing to do with the further de\elopment of his home town.
CAPT. JOHN M. HEDRICK.
Capt. John M. Hedrick, who enjoys the local distinction of being the
only man ever elected to three terms as sheriff of Reno county, is a veteran
.of the Civil War and one of the real pioneers of this county, he having come
here the year after the first permanent settlement in the county, when this
section was a virgin plain, buffaloes and hostile Indians then roaming at
will hereabout.
John M. Hedrick was born in Clark county, Ohio. August 22, 1840,
son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Patterson) Hedrick, the former of whom was
a native of Kentucky and the latter of Pennsylvania. Isaac Hedrick was a
prominent farmer and stock buyer and drover, well known throughout
eastern and central Ohio, whose custom it was to buy up cattle, fatten them
on his farm and drive theni to the eastern markets. During the Cixil War
he served the Union cause as a member of the famous Ohio "squirrel hunters"
and was a patriotic antl influential citizen, eight of whose sons served as
soldiers in the Union army during the war and the eldest of whom, Da\id,
also had been a soldier in the Mexican War. Isaac Hedrick was twice mar-
ried, his first wife, mother of the subject of this sketch, having been the
mother of seven children. Following her death, Mr.> Hedrick married a
/S RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
widow who had hve chiUh'cn bv her former niarriaf^^e and to this second
union ten cln'ldren were Ixirn. n.iakino- twentv-lwo cliilchT'n in the Hedrick
family. Captain llech'ick has hut one full brother living", William, a farmer,
who lives at Palmyra, Missouri. Another brother. J"^;eph. now deceased,
was for years a well-know n painter in Hutchinson, this county.
The boyhood of John M. Hedrick was spent upon the paternal farm
in Ohio, school periods being limited to attendance three months a year in a
little log school house, and very earlv he began assisting his father in the
business of driving .cattle, making trips through Ohio and into Illinois and
Indiana after cattle, whicli later would be driven to eastern markets. He
spent the winter of 1859 with his brother in Brown county, Illinois, return-
ing the next spring to his home in Ohio. On April 17. 1861, John ]\I.
Hedrick enlisted, at Columbus, Ohio, in Company F, Twenty-second Regi-
ment. Ohio \'olunteer Infantry, in response to the President's call for three-
months volunteers. In September of that same year he re-enlisted, this
time taking service in the Fourth Ohio Cavalry, with wdiich he served until
July, 1865, a i^eriod of nearly four years. He was mustered in as a private,
but gradually was promoted ar.d in the summer of 1864 was made the cap-
tain of his company. Captain Hedrick's service throughout the war was
with the Army of the Cuml)erland and he participated in most of the severe
engagements undert;iken !)}• that great army. On his twenty-fourth birth-
day, during Kilpatrick's raid at Lovejoy Station, near Atlanta, Captain Hed-
rick was wounded and for a time was laid up in the hospital. During
Sherman's march to the sea he was in \\'ilson's caxalry brigade and fought
at Stone's River and in all the cavalry raids around Chattanooga and
Atlanta. Seven of Captain 1 ledrick's brothers also served tlie Union cause
as soldiers during the Ci\il War and at one time one of his half-brothers,
Louis, was serving in his company.
At the close of the war Captain Pledrick returned home and married
and in iNhS went to Brown county, Blinois, where he bought a farm and
there remained for two years, at the end of which time he sold out and
UK^ved to ( lrund\- county. Missouri, where he remained two years, engaged
in farming, and then came to Kansas, arriving in Reno county on September
17, 187J. c)nly one year after the tirst permanent settlement in the county.
Captain Hedrick homesteaded a claim in Lincoln township and also "pnned
up" a timber claim in the vicinity of his homestead, and there established a
new home. In the spring of 1875. Captain Hedrick was the hero of an
incident which effectually put a stop to further attempts at claim "jumping"
in Reno county. The claim of Fay Smith, a neighbor of Captain 'Hedrick
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 79
and tlic later (lci)uty sheriPt" under him, had lieeii "juniped" by a man of
the name oi PMerce. This acticni aroused the ])i(ineers of that section and
about forty of them gathered, under Captain lledrick's direction, captured
Pierce and under threats to (h-o\vn him in a pool in the creek on the Hed-
rick farm com[)elled him to sign a rehnquishment of his claim and get out
of the country. This incident made Captain Hedrick the hero of Reno
county and that fall he was elected sherit^' on the ]\epul)lican ticket. He
was re-elected to that office in the next election, serving two terms of two
years each, and then waited two years and w^as again a candidate and was
triumphantly re-elected, thus having the distinction of being the only man
in Reno county who has served three terms as sheritT. Following his service
in the sheriff's office, Captain Hedrick returned to his farm, where he lived
ten years, at the end of which time he sold his Lincoln tow'nship home-
stead and bought three hundred and twenty acres in the northeast part of
that same township, where he lived until 1904, in which year he retired from
the active life of the farm and moved into Hutchinson. In 1906 he bought
ten acres in South Hutchinson, where he has a very pleasant home and
where he is living in quiet retirement.
On November 9, 1865, Capt. John M. Hedrick was united in marriage
to Catherine Kneister, of Aladison county, Ohio, to which union three chil-
dren were born, Dolly, who married Alfred Wainner and lives in Lincoln
township; Johanna, who married Benjamin S. Wainner. a clerk in the post-
office at Hutchinson, and Edward, a farmer, li\-ing near Big Sandy, Alon-
tana. The mother of these children died on August 21, 1897, and on Janu-
ary 2, 1901, Captain Hedrick married, secondly, Mrs. Mary (Ingraham)
Wilson, widow of Smith Wilson, who died in 1895, '^"<^^ daughter of Oliver
and Marv Ingraham. Oliver Ingraham died when his daughter. Mary,
was three vears of aoe and his widow and children moved from their home
in Blair county, Pennsylvania, to this county, in 1879. and bought a farm in
Reno township, where they established a new^ home.
Captain Hedrick is an ardent Republican and from the day of his com-
ino- to Reno countv has taken a warm interest in civic affairs. In addition
to his distinguished services as sheriff of the county back in pioneer days, he
also served as justice of the peace for years and in other ways has given
his most intelligent attention to good government. He is a member of the
Grand Army of the Republic and for years has given close attention to the
affairs of the local post. He also is a member of the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, in the affairs of which he also is warmly interested.
.80 RENO COUNTY. KANSAS.
GEORGE HIRST.
The late George Hirst, for many years one of the best-known and most
popular farmers of Lincoln township, this county, whose death on October
29, 191 5. was the occasion of much sorrow in that community, was a native
of ^^'isconsin, having been born in the town of Darlington, that state, Jan-
uary 13, 1856. son of George and Elizabeth (Brilbrough) Hirst, both natives
of England, whose last days were spent in Reno county, they having been
for years highly respected residents of Lincoln township.
George Hirst was born in the city of Leeds, England, and grew up there,
becoming a very proficient cabinet-maker. Shortly after their marriage he
and his wife came to the United States, settling at Janesville and later at
Darlington, Wisconsin, where for twenty years ]Mr. Hirst followed the
trade of carpenter, during that time doing much for the upbuilding of the
town. In the fall of 1872 George Hirst came to Kansas, homesteaded a
tract of land in section 6, of Lincoln township, and there established his
family in the spring of 1873. The Hirsts at once entered actively into the
community life of that section and it was not long until they were regarded
as one of the most substantial and useful families in the neighborhood. J\Ir.
Hirst served for one term as a member of the school board, and in other ways
displayed his interest in the common good. He died on July 25, 1897, and
his widow survived until September 25, 1914, her death occurring at Hutch-
inson, in which city she had made her home in her later years. -They were
the parents of eight children, of whom George, the immediate subject of
this memorial sketch, was the eldest son and the third child, in order of
birth. I'urther details of the liistory of this interesting pioneer family are
set out in the biographical .sketch relating to William Hirst, a prosperous
farmer, of Lincoln township, presented elsewhere in this volume.
George Hirst spent his boyhood in his native town of Darlington, Wis-
consin, receiving his education in the schools of that city, and was seventeen
years old when he came with his parents to Reno county in 1873, the family
being among the very earliest settlers of Lincoln township. His father was
not in robust health and George, the eldest son, early became the mainstay
in the labor of developing the homestead farm. Upon him fell very largely
the difficult task of "breaking out'' the prairie and he lived at home, practi-
cally managing the jjlace, until ten months after his marriage, in 18S2. A
year previous to his marriage, Mr. Hirst had bought a tract of eighty acres
adjoining his father's farm and on this place he remodeled the house that
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 8 1
then was standing there and in it established his home. He later bought
another "eighty," a mile east of his home and in 1914, upon the death of his
mother, bought eighty acres of the old homestead tract, besides which he
was the owner of a one-third interest in a half section of land in Troy town-
ship, and at the time of his death was accounted one of the most substantial
and progressive farmers in that part of the county. Not only was he diligent
in his own business, but he had a fine regard for the public service and had
rendered efficient and valuable aid in carrying on the functions of local gov-
ernment, having served as treasurer of the local school board for more than
thirty years and for some time also served as township clerk. He was not
an intense partisan in his political allegiance, ever supporting such candidates
for office as he regarded best (jualified for the offices sought, irrespective of
their party indorsement. Mr. Hirst was a member of the American Order
of United Workmen, in the affairs of which organization he took a warm
interest, and was held in high regard by his neighbors and throughout the
county generally, he having had, as a pioneer, a wide acquaintance through-
out this whole region.
On December 25, 1882, George Hirst was united in marriage to Elma
Templin, who was born in the village of Elizabeth City, Indiana, November
14, 1858, daughter of Lancy Jefferson and Mary Ann (Learner) Templin,
the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Pennsylvania. As a young
man Lancy J. Templin became an ordained minister of the Methodist church
and for some years was a preacher in a Howard county circuit in his home
state. Becoming afflicted with an asthmatic affection, he sought relief in the
ideal climate of this section and in 1876 came to Kansas, locating at Hutch-
inson. For several years he was engaged as a school teacher and after a
period of admirable and useful service in that connection rented a farm near
Hutchinson and for four or five years was engaged in farming. In the spring
of 1882 he and his wife moved to Canon City, Colorado, and there Mr.
Templin was engaged in raising fruit and garden stuff for several years,
at the end of which time he moved to California and after a residence ot
three years in that state returned to Colorado, locating at Florence, in that
state, where his death occurred on December 19, 1900, he then being sixty-
five years of age. His widow, who still survives, and who celebrated the
eighty-second anniversary of her birthday on April i, 191 7, is now making her
home with her children. To Lancy J. Templin and wife six children were
born, as follow: x\lice, who married the Rev. J. M. Clark, a minister of
the Methodist church, was killed in a highwav accident when thirty-twoj
(6a) ' .
82 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
years of age, a pony which she was driving having backed off an embank-
ment, throwing ]\Ifs. Clark in Mich a manner that her back was broken;
FJma. widow of Air. Hirst; OHn, for many years a member of the faculty of
the University of Kansas at Lawrence, he now being dean of that institution;
Larner. whose whereabouts have long been unknown to the family; Ida,
who married George J\I. Deibert, a furniture dealer and undertaker, of Flor-
ence, Colorado, and Dana, who is engaged in the United States reclamation
service, now stationed at Rupert, Idaho.
For four years after coming to Reno county Mrs. Hirst taught school,
being thus engaged in ]\Iedford, Reno and Lincoln townships, and ever has
taken a warm interest in the social and cultural activities of the community,
her capable and useful services in that connection being greatly appreciated,
particularly in the neighborhood in which she so long has made her home,
and she is held in the highest esteem throughout that whole section. She
has a very pleasant home in Lincoln township and is quite comfortably sit-
uated there, two of her sons continuing to make their home with her. She
is the mother of four children, namely : Jesse Templin, born on November
23, 1883, unmarried, who is now operating a farm which he bought near
Pine River, Minnesota; Daisy, February 27, 1888, who married Will E.
Homan and lives on a farm near ]\IcAllen, Texas; Warren Leroy, Decemljer
17, 1890, unmarried, who is the active manager of his mother's farm, and
George Ivan, January 13. 1896. who is also still making his home with his
mother, a valuable assistant in the operation of the home place.
JOHN P. HARSPIA.
Former Mayor John I', llarsha, of Hutchinson, wlio is now living
comfortably retired at his pleasant home at 207 Avenue A, east, in that
city, is a nati\e of Pennsylvania. ha\ing been l)i)rn in the Unxu of Harsha-
ville, I5eaver county, that state, September 6, 1849, son of Dr. John M. and
Mary (Dawson) ilar>lia, both natives of that same county and members of
prominent fann'lies thereabout, and Ijotli "I win mi are now deceased.
Dr. John M. llarsha was a practicing physician at Ilarshaville, who,
in 1854, moved to Washington county, Ohio, locating near the town of
Marietta, where he laid out the town of Cutler, upon the completion of the
railroad now operated by the Baltimore & Ohio Southwe.«;tern Railroad
Company, and also was the owner of other extensive land interests. In
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 83
1S72 he ii!()\c(l ti) Shaw iiectown, lUiiiDis, and made hi> Ikhik- there, praelic-
ing his ])r()tessi()n, until 1872, in whieh \ear he came t<i Kansas, locating in
Reno coiintw where he honght Iwehe hundred acres of land in Lincoln
townshi]) and lived there tnitil iSjS, when, following his election to the
office of county surveyor, he moved to Hutchinson, the comit)- seat, where
he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1885, at the age of
sixty-six. Doctor Idarsha not only was a practicing ])h\sician of wide
reputation hereabout, liut was a civil engineer of much ability, having learned
surveying under his father, John Harsha, who was one of the best-known
civil engineers in Pennsylvania in his day, and in his official capacity as
county surveyor of Reno county performed a \aluable service in l)ehalf of
the public. He was a Whig originally, but upon the formation of the
Republican party became a Republican and was thereafter affiliated with
that party. He was a member of the United Presbyterian church and ever
was active in good works. Doctor Harsha was twice married. His first
wile, who, before her marriage was Ivlary Dawson, died in i860, at the age
of thirty-two years, leaving three children, of wdiom the eldest was John P.
Harsha. the subject of this biographical review, the others being William
C, a merchant of Partridge, this state, and Benoni R., who died at his home
in Mncennes, Indiana, in October, 191 2. Following the death of the mother
of the above children, Doctor Plarsha married, secondly, in 1863, Amanda
]\I. Garen, who is now living in Kansas City, Alissouri.
John P. Plarsha was five years of age when his family moved from
Pennsylvania to Washington county, Ohio, and he recei\ed his elementary
education in the local schools of his home neighborhood, supplementing the
same by a course in Bartlett College at Plymouth, Ohio, from which excel-
lent old institution he was graduated, after which, in T86g, he then being
twenty years of age, he entered the ser\ice of the road now known as the
Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern as secretary to the su]ierintendent of con-
struction, with headcpiarters at Shawneetown, Illinois, and remained with
that company for eighteen years, eventually becoming travehng freight and
passenger agent, with jurisdiction over business originating at Ohio, Missis-
sippi and Cumberland river i)oints. In 1882 ^Ir. Harsha came to Reno
county on a visit to his father and was so highly impressed by the possi-
bilities then presented in land investment that he bought twehe hundred
acres of land in Salt Creek and Center townships and proceeded to develop
the same. In March, 1887, he moved to Hutchinson and opened a retail
grocery store near the corner of Sherman and Main streets, under the
firm name of Harsha & Duval, which firm sold out in 1888, after which
84 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Mr. Harsha was instrumental in the organization of the Hutchinson Whole-
sale Grocery Company, J. F. Greenlee, president; Frank Vincent, vice-presi-
dent; John r. Flarsha, treasurer, and J. S. George, secretary, which firm
quickly established itself on a very substantial business footing, becoming
known far and near throughout the territory covered by its salesmen. In
1894 Mr. Harsha bought ]Mr. Greenlee's interest in the company and became
president of the same, a position he retained until April 26, 191 5, at which
time he retired from active business, though still retaining some of his
former business connections and is still president of the Antheline Manu-
facturing Comi>any, of Hutchinson.
From the very beginning of his residence in this county, J\Ir. Harsha
has taken an active interest in political affairs and has given valuable service
to the public in a civic capacity. For three years he served as a member
of the city council and then, in 1897, was elected mayor of Hutchinson on
the Republican ticket for a term of t\\o years. He was re-elected upon the
expiration of that term and thus served four years. In 1903 he again was
elevated to the office of the city's chief executive and was retained in office
three successive terms, thus making a service of ten years in the mayor's
office, a distinction accorded no other man in the political history of Hutch-
inson. During Mayor Harsha's incumbency man}- notable improvements
were made in Hutchinson, including the Cow creek drainage canal, which
was built under his administration, undoubtedly a measure which has saved
Hutchinson some very disastrous floods and has been of great sanitary
benefit to the whole community. In other ways, too, 'Mr. Harsha has
proved his enterprise and ])ul)lic spirit and the people of this community
gladly accord to him tlie credit of ha-ving been the means of accomplishing
much in behalf of the coninmn good.
On September 14. 1N73, John \\ Harsha was united in marriage to
Alctha A. Camplicll, whc was born in Xcw Cumberland, I lancock county,
\'irginia, now a part of West X^irginia, daughter of John and Ruth fSwear-
engen ) Campbell, both natives of that section, wlicrc all ihcir lives were
spent, and to this union four children have been born, namely: Ruth, who
married William Snyder, a traveling salesman, and now 1i\es in Los Angeles,
California; May, who i-^ fixing at home with her parents; Clyde B., a traxel-
ing salesman for the llulchinM»n \\'holcsalc Grocery Companw who mar-
ried Xell Devine and makes his home in Ilntclfinson, and Harr\-, also at
home. The Harshas have a very pleasant lionic at 207 Avcntie A. east,
which ^.Ir. Harsha bought in 1900.
Mr. Harsha is a member of the Knights of Pvthias and the Benev-
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 85
olent and Protective Order of I^lks. and takes a warm interest in the affairs
of those two popnlar orders. Airs. Marsha is a niemher of the Chri.stian
church.
WILLIAM G. FAIRCHILD.
W ilHani G. Fairchikl. of Hutchinson, long recognized as one of the
leading members of the l)ar of Reni; county, is a native of New Jersey, he
having been l)orn in Alonmouth- county, that state, the only son of Samuel
G. and Sarah A. (Hoff) Fairchikl, the former of whom died in 1909, at
the age of eighty-one, and the latter of whom still is living at Keyport, New
Jersey.
Samuel G. k^airchild was for many years one of the best-known men in
maritime circles in the East. He was the owner of an extensive line of
ships and for eighteen years was in the service of the government as inspector
of steamships for the third district, which includes the port of New York.
William G. Fairchikl, the only child of his parents, received his early
education at the militar}- school at Cheshire, Connecticut, from which he
was graduated in 1879, and entered Sheffield, ^^ale, but cjuitting on account
of ill health. As a boy and young man he spent considerable time at sea in
\arious capacities, from supercargo to master, spending almost two years of
this time in Mexico. After this he returned to the United States and was
for some time engaged in civil engineering and helped to lay out and Ijuild
the town of Macksville, Kansas. In 1888 he was admitted to the supreme
court of Kansas, immediately thereafter becoming the law ]:)artner of H. C.
Johns, at Larned, which mutually agreeable connection continued until the
death of Mr. Johns in 1894. In 1892 Mr. Fairchikl closed his Larned
office and with Air. Johns came to this county, locating at Hutchinson, the
county seat, where he has been engaged in the practice of his jirofession
ever since. After the death of Mr. Johns, Mr. Fairchikl formed a partner-
ship with James McKinstry, which was dissolved in 1899 and a few years
later, in 1902. he formed a partnership with Howard Lewis, wdiich still con-
tinues, this well-known legal firm having 1>een ver}- successful.
On April 29, 1891, William G. Fairchikl was united in marriage to
Ellen F. Campbell, who was born in the state of New York, daughter of
Charles E. and Anna (Foster) Campbell, formerly of Ft. \\'orth, Texas,
who are now living in Hutchinson, this county. To this union two chil-
dren liave lieen born. Samuel 'G., who, after an engineering course in the
86 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Kansa-^ State University, is now with tlie Santa Ve Railroad Company, and
Stephen J., a student in l\em])er Mihtary School at Boonville, -Missouri.
The I'^airchild family has a very pleasant Imme at 551 Sherman street, east,
in tlic cit\' of Hutchinson.
PROF. ST1-.A\'ART P. ROWLAND.
In 1914 when the hicnnial (|uestion of electing a county superintendent
of schools in Reno came up there was considerable agitation in certain
quarters looking to the possibility of a change in the incumbency of that
otTtice, the argument achanced in tlie ((uarters intimated being that it was
not "good politics" to kee]) on retaining, year after year, a Democrat in
a public office in a county which then was and for years had l>een strongly
Republican. The teachers of the county, getting wind of this agitation,
put their heads together and drafted a series of resolutions, signed by prac-
tically every teacher in the C(3unty, as well as by the principal and teachers
of the Reno county high school and the principals and teachers of the
graded schools throughout the count^^ Needless to say, Professor Row-
land, superintendent oi the Reno county schools since the year 1908, was
again re-elected by his usual handsome majority.
The resolutions thus referred to recited, on the part of the teachers,
the story of "the unusual record of our i^resent superintendent" and pointed
out some of the ''remarkable results" ol>tained under his administration
of the affairs of the county sui)erinten(lent's office, at the same time declar-
ing that "the consensu^ <>f o])inion is that the office should remain com-
pletely remox'ed from politics as it has been for the ])ast few^ years," urging
that "the success of past years promises even greater success for the future"
and declaring, in conclusion, [he belief of the teachers "that the continuation
of this great work ^lionld be left in tlie hands of the man most responsible
for its recent rapid im]iro\enient. ' The \otcrs ratified these resolutions
and Professor Rowland i> -till administering the affairs of his important
office, the duties and responsiliilities of which he t.'ikes so closely to heart
th.at during the i)ast few year> lie ha> declined several flattering propositions
to transfer his services elsewhere, believing that hi> valuable labors in behalf
of tile schools of Reno county are still unlini>hed.
Stewart P. Rowland was born on a farm in Xoble countv, Ohio, Mav
27, 1870, son of Perry and Mary E. (Ellison) Rowland, the former of
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 87
whom, born in that same county in 1829, is still livinc^ and the latter, born
about fifteen miles from the cit\' of r.iverpool, Juigland, in 1S36. died in
June. 191 1, at her home in Reno townshi]), this county.
Perry Rowland was left an orphan at the tender age of four years and
was reared in the family of James Taylor, growing up on a farm in his
native county. Following his marriage, in that same county, he rented a
farm and established a home of his own, later buying the place, and
remained there until 1878, in which year he sold his Ohio farm and came,
with his family, to Kansas, buying a quarter of a section of land north-
west of Hutchinson, in Reno townshij), this county, where he still lives.
Perry Rowland prospered in his farming operations and gradually enlarged
his land holdings until now he is the owner of five hundred acres of choice
land surrounding his fine home in Reno township. During the Civil \A\ar
Perry Rowland served as a soldier in the Union army for three years, a
member of the Ninth Ohio Cavalry, attached to the Army of the West,
which was with Sherman to the sea. He is a Democrat and for many years
has been regarded as one of the leaders in the civic life of the community
in which he lives. He is a Methodist, as was his good wife, a liberal sup-
porter to the cause of the church, and his children were reared in that
faith. These children, all of whom are living, in the order of their birth
are as follow: John E., a prominent farmer and fruit grower of Clay
township, this county; Charles W., also a farmer, living in Reno township;
Eliza J., unmarried, housekeeper for her father; James P., a large land-
owner, who also makes his home with his father; Stewart P.. the immediate
subject of this biographical sketch, and Alfred E.. an extensive stockman,
who manages his father's large farm.
Stewart P. Rowland was eight years of age when his parents came to
this county and his elementary education was received in the district schools
of his home neighborhood, after which he entered Hutchinson high school
and presently entered the ranks of Reno county's fine teaching force, appli-
cation for his first teacher's certificate having been made at the age of six-
teen. His success in this initial examination was the beginning of his
useful career in the educational life of this county. The young teacher
continued his studies while teaching, and for a few years spent his summer
vacations in school, taking a three-years course at the Kansas Normal Col-
lege at Ft. Scott, and later a course of two vears at the Universitv of
Nebraska at Lincoln. His health then becoming somewhat impaired, Pro-
fessor Rowland relinquished his studies for awhile and recuperated through
wholesome physical labor on his father's farm, later resuming his work of
88 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
teaching in the district schools and in tlie teachers' institutes, he having
earlv in his teaching career secured the necessary certificate of his qualifi-
cations as an institute teacher, and was thus engaged until his election to the
otTfice of county superintendent in 1903. the duties of which he entered upon
in ]\Iay, 1909, and which he since then has been faithfully performing,
having been re-elected in each biennial election since that time, regardless
of the fact that he is a Democrat and that Reno county is normally Repub-
lican; his first election having been \\on by a majority of one thousand
and nineteen votes. In further, preparation for his scholastic career. Pro-
fessor Rowland took a course in the Hutchinson Business College at
Hutchinson, from winch he was graduated and in which excellent commer-
cial scliool he taught during the year following his graduation.
Professor Rowland has a state-wide reputation as an educator and for
some years has conducted a June normal school for teachers, the attendance
on the last such short course having been about t\Vo himdred and fifty. He
is a member of the executive committee of the Kansas State Teachers'
Association and at the 1916 session of the Central Kansas Teachers' Asso-
ciation, held at Hutchinson, wth an attendance of one thousand teachers,
he was president of the same. In the chapter relating to education in the
historical- section of this work, the general development of the school sys-
tem of Reno county is admirably presented l:)y the historian. Professor
Rowland has been a very potent factor in that development and he very
properly takes modest pride in his accomplishments in that direction. Pro-
fessor Rowland owns a half section of land near Hutchinson and takes
much interest in the development of his farm along the best approved lines
of modern agriculture.
f-nWAK'I) I'SIU'R VAGGY.
Edward J'L.shcr Vaggy, of I huiliin.son, one of the best-known and most
progressive citizens of this secti(.jn of Kansas, president of the Yagg}^ Plan-
tation Company, an incorporation of the great estate of the late L. W.
"i'aggy in Grant township, this county, and for years prominently identified
with the work of developing the resources of this region, is a native of
Chicago, born in that city. March 19, 1876, son of L. W. and Sarah E.
(Esher) ^'aggy, the former of whom was l)orn in Plainfield, Illinois, and
the latter in Cleveland, Ohio, both now deceased.
E'pon completing the course in the old Xorthw^estern College at Naper-
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 89
ville, Illinois, I.. W. Vaggv went to Chicago, where he became engaged in
the publishing business and for twenty-five years was one of the jjest-known
publishers in the United States. He was president and chief- stockholder
of the great Western rnl)lishing House, which had seventeen branch offices
and five thousand agents throughout the United States, the principal work
of wdiich was the publication of maps and studies for colleges and high
schools, that company for years having occupied a foremost position in that
particular branch of the publishing business in this country. Mr. Yaggy
also was quite a mechanical genius and was the patentee of numerous
devices of a convenient sort, the first of which was a stubble turner, which
yielded him considerable revenue. He also patented an adding machine,
advertising devices of different types, a '"royal scroll" for the display of
pictures and a Chautauc[ua desk. For his notable service in preparing a
relief map of the United States for the use of the Smithsonian Institute at
AVashington Mr. Yaggy was created a fellow of the Royal Geographical
Society of England and was widely known in general geographic circles.
While on a hunting trip through this section of Kansas in 1888, L. W.
Yaggy observed a well being dug on the Thomas Parker ranch just north-
west of Hutchinson and noted that the water was only a few feet below the
surface of the soil. Recognizing the potentialities of such a condition, ^Ir.
Yaggy immediately purchased the entire Parker estate of one thousand
three hundred and fifty acres and planted the same to catalpa and apple
trees, the revenues from which since then have amply demonstrated the
accurac}' of his foresight. The plantation now bears five hundred acres of
catalpa trees and eight hundred and eight acres of apple trees and is one of
the most profitably productive plantations of the sort in the country. There
are no fewer than one million catalpas growing on the place and fifty thou-
sand apple trees, six hundred acres of which latter are now bearing and the
rest coming into bearing. In the season of IQ15 two hundred and ten thou-
sand bushels of apples were sold off the Yaggy plantation, the principal
varieties being the popular Jonathan, the Grimes Golden, Wine Sap. Roman
Beauty and York Imperial. There also is a considerable acreage of cow-
peas, potatoes, sweet potatoes and \\heat grown on the plantation and in
sea'feon three hundred mCs^i are employed on the place, while a constant force
of more than thirty men is required to operate the plantation. About five
hundred thousand gallons of spraying material is used annually on the trees
and the great plantation is operated along the latest approved and most
up-to-date lines. ]\Ir. Yaggy's examples and methods have been followed
by others in the neighborhood and the Arkansas river valley, as a result, is
90 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
becoming widely renowned as a natural fruit-bearing center. The catalpa
industry is growing yearly in importance and is now thoroughly established,
these hardy trees coming more and more into demand, their durable fiber
giving them a high value for use as fence posts and railroad ties. It has
been found that it requires ten years to grow the first crop of catalpas, eight
years the second and seven years the third. Some time before his death L.
A\'. Yaggy, in order to simplify the inheritance of his estate, incorporated,
for two hundred thousand dollars, the Yaggy Plantation Company, in favor
of his three sons, who now compose the company, its directorate and
officiary, as follow : President, Edward E. Yaggy ; vice-president, A- F.
Yaggy. of Chicago, and secretary-treasurer, W. E. Yaggy, of Hutchinson.
The elder Yaggy died at a sanitarium at A\^atkins Glen, New York, in Octo-
ber, 191 2. His wife had long preceded him to the grave, her death having
occurred in Chicago.
Edward, E. Yaggy received his preparatory schooling in the academy
and college at Lake Forest, Illinois, and then entered Yale, from which he
was graduated, after a three-years course, with the degree of Bachelor of
Arts, in 1899. With a view to broadening his education and in order to
perfect himself in French and German, Mr. Yaggy then went abroad and
for eighteen months or more attended lectures in the university at Geneva,
Switzerland, and in the University of Erlangen, in Bavaria, upon the com-
pletion of which course he returned to the United States and entered upon
the duties of manager of his father's estate in this countv and has ever since
then been thus engaged. The Yaggy estate included, besides the great plant
of the Yaggy Plantation Company in this county, valuable lands in other
parts of Kansas and in Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska and the Yaggy
brothers are thus very well circumstanced, the head of the company long
having been regarded as one nf iIk- most substantial citizens of this part of
the state.
r)n December ij, 1905. at Kansas City, Missouri, Edward E. Yaggy
was united in marriage to Eaura Reed, who was born in that citv. daughter
of Homer and Eaura (Coates) Reed, the former a native of Michigan and
the latter of Pennsvlvania. Homer Reed was born at Leslie, ]\licliiean,
and upon completing his studies in tlic University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
went to Kansas City, where he has li\ed e\er since and where he for many
years has been ])rominently identified with the real-estate interests of that
city. It was not long after locating in Kansas City that Mr. Reed mar-
ried Laura Coates, who was l)orn in West Chester, Pennsvlvania, daus^hter
of Kersey Coates and wife, who settled in Kansas City when that place was
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 9 1
a village of seven luindred and fifty popnlation. Kersey Coates was a man
of large induenee in the early, bnstling days of Kansas City and it was
chiefly dne to his personal activity in the matter that the fnturc of his home
town as a railroad center was determined, his influence havinc^' been the
decisive factor in making that cit}' instead of Leavenworth the center of the
railroad interests of this section in pioneer days. Homer Rted has a beauti-
ful home in Kansas City, his place at Waldo, "Sunny Croft,'' being one of
the most attractive residences in that city. To him and his wife six chil-
dren have been born, those besides Mrs. Yaggy being as follow : Kersey,
who is engaged in the dr}'-goods business in Chicago; Thomas H., manager
of the Baker Asphalt Company's interests at Birmingham, Alabama; Sarah
K., who married Alfred \V. Stone, now assistant treasurer of the Vander-
bilt lines west of Buffalo, wnth offices in the Grand Central depot at Xew
York; Homer, Jr., engaged in the life-insurance and loan business at Kansas
City, and Isabel, who is at home with her parents.
Laura Reed Yaggy is a violinist of much ability, widely known to the
concert stage, whose performances Thaddeus Rich, in a personal letter to
Mrs. Yaggy, declifres possess "a rare combination' of temperament and
finish * '•'• * a facile technique and a very warm and beautiful tone."
In closing his letter of felicitation, the concert master wrote : "I am sure
your playing will bring you great success and my heartiest congratulations
and best wishes accompany you." Mrs. Yaggy has appeared with great
success with such artists as Johanna Gadski, Paulo Gruppe, Arthur Middle-
ton, James ^^'hitaker, Barbara Waite, Ida Gardner, Raphael Navas and
others. She began violin lessons when seven years old and at eleven played
the "Sou^'enir de Haydn" of Leonard in a public concert. At the age of
thirteen she played the Mendelssohn Concerto entire with the Kansas Citv
Symphony. Madame Camilla U^rso, the famous violinist, was present on
that occasion and was so captivated by the performance that she later sent
for the young violinist to come and live with her in Minneapolis to continue
her study. At the age of fourteen Miss Reed played Vieuxtemp's "Fan-
tasia Appassionata" entire with the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra and
after studying nearly a year with Leopold Lichtenberg, of New York, she
played, at the age of seventeen, the great Max Bruch G Minor Concerto at
one of her own concerts. This early career was temporarily interrupted
by her marriage at the age of eighteen, but after seven years of retirement
Mrs. Yaggy again felt the lure of the concert stage and made her appear-
ance, in April, 1913, as soloist with the ^Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra,
the Kansas City Symphony, and recently with the New York Philharmonic
9-? RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
at the Hutchinson 1916 festival. (le\oting a part of her time to the concert
stage. She is the possessor of a rare Sanctus Seratine vioHn, which sold
thirty years ago for three thousand dollars and is today worth much more
than that figure, being considered one of the most A-aluable instruments in
the United States. ]\Irs. Yaggy is the founder of tlie Apollo Club at
Hutchinson and was the first president of the same. She is still an active
member of the clul) and is now serving as vice-president. She is an ardent
suffragist and during the memorable campaign of 1912 was president of
the Reno County E([ual Suft'rage Association.
To ]\lr. and Mrs. Yaggy two children have been born, a son and a
daughter, Laura Coates and Edward Esher, Jr. ]\Ir. Yaggy is a member
of the Hutchinson Country Club. During his Yale days he was actively
affiliated with the Zeta Psi fraternity and still retains a warm interest in the
doings of that association. He takes a good citizen's interest in local civic
aft'airs, ever an ardent champion of good government, but in his political
views holds himself independent of political parties.
JOHN A. REED.
John A. Reed, a well-known and well-to-do pioneer farmer of Valley
township, this county, an honored veteran of the Civil War; a continuous
resident of this county since March, 1871 ; first constable of his home town-
ship and who claims the distinction of being the oldest continuous resident
of a homestead farm in Reno count)-, as well as having been the first black-
smith to locate in this county, is a Hoosier, a fact of which, even though
loyal Kansan as he is, he has never cea.sed to lie pnuid. He was born on a
pioneer farm in Wabash county. Indiana. Xo\-ember 24, 1843, ^o^'' *^^
-M.itthew and Isabelle (McCutchcn i Reed, both natives 'of Pennsylvania, in
which state they were reared and married.
Matthew Reed was born on a farm in l'ennsy]\ ania in I'cliruary, 1800.
There he married Isabelle McCutchen. who was born on November 31, 181 1,
and in the early thirties immigrated t<> Indiana, settling in the heavy timber
lands in Wabash county, that state, where he proceeded to clear his home-
stead tract and carve out of the wilderness a home for his family, presently
becoming one of the most substantial residents of that community. Matthew
Reed was a Whig in his political affiliations and he and his wife were among
the leaders in the Methodist church in their communitv. ^vlatthew Reed
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 93
died on September jy, 1849, and after his death his widow and the older
sons continued to operate the farm until her death on June 15, 1857. There
were seven children in the family, as follow : Andrew, who died in Colo-
rado; Samuel and Sarah, twins, the former of whom lives at Riverside,
Colorado, and the latter, Mrs. Hoffman, lives at Perry, Iowa; Nancy Jane,
who married Samuel Haggy and lixes in Minnesota; Margaret C, widow
of Jerome Swihart, now living- at Joplin, Missouri; John A., the subject of
this biographical sketch, and ]\Jatthew^ Barnett, w^ho lives at Muskogee,
Oklahoma.
John A. Reed spent his boyhood on the home farm in the woods in
Wabash county. Indiana, receiving his elementary education in a little sul)-
scription school conducted in a log house, after the manner made familiar
in "The Hoosier Schoolmaster." He was but seven years old when his
father died and was thirteen when his mother died. He then w^ent to the
town of North Liberty, near South Bend, where he w^as able to attend a
good school for three months in the year. There he was apprenticed to a
blacksmith and learned the smith's trade, working at the same for more
than t\\o years. Though but a boy wdien the Civil War broke out he was
bent on enlisting at the time of President Lincoln's first call for volunteers,
but the strong objections of his sisters interposed and his youthful patriot-
ism was for the moment curbed. Undaunted, however, by the failure of
his first attempt to enroll himself as a soldier of the Union he went over
into Illinois, ostensibly on a visit to an uncle at Bement, and there, on July
3, 1 86 1, enlisted in Company A, Thirty-fifth Regiment. Illinois Volunteer
Infantry, Avith which he ser\-ed for three years and three months. The first
engagement the Thirty-fifth Illinois had with the enemy was at Springfield,
Missouri ; thence on to Pea Ridge, Corinth, Perryville and Murfreesboro,
after which, under General Rosecrans, it was hemmed in at Chickamauga
for thirty days, subsisting on quarter rations. Sherman and Hooker then
came up with reinforcements and the Thirty-fifth went on with Sherman
into Georgia, participating in all the arduous phases of the campaign on to
Atlanta. Upon the fall of Atlanta, the TJiirty-fifth's three-years period of
enlistment having expired, the regiment was sent to Springfield. Illinois,
where it was mustered out on September 27. 1864, Mr. Reed then being
twenty-one years of age.
Upon the conclusion of his military service J. A. Reed returned to
Liberty Mills, Indiana, where he remained Avorking at his trade until 1866.
in which year he went to Iowa, where he joined his brother. 'Andrew, who
had settled on a homestead farm in Dallas countv. that state, some time
94 REXO COUNTY, KANSAS.
before, and there he wcjrkccl for a vear, after whicli h.e went to Des Moines,
Avhere he began working- in a bhicksmith sho]). In 1868 he went to Rock
Island. IlHnois. and after working for awhile in that city came to Kansas
and was for some time employed at his trade in Atchison, later going to
W ilson county, in the eastern part of this state, where he opened a black-
smith shop of his own. which he operated for about three years. Then,
in March, 1871, he came to this part of the state and filed a pre-emption
of the northeast quarter of section 26. in what is now Valley towaiship,
Reno county, but \\ hich then was in Sedgwick county. He later changed
that claim to a timber claim and still lives on half the latter, having sold
the west half of it years ago. ]\Ir. Reed thus claims the distinction of
being the oldest settler in Reno countv who still resides on the farm on
which he located.
After locating his claim John A. Reed went back to- the mouth of Little
river, where there was a saw-mill and where he w-orked at his trade for
two or three weeks, at the end of which time he brought his tools with him
and returned to his claim, where he threw up a sod shanty and there opened
a l)lacksmith sh'jp, the first blacksmith shop established in what is now
within the confines of Reno count}'. At that time there were not more
than half a dozen families living in this county. x'Vcross the river there
were great herds of buffaloes, thousands of them, and the early settlers
suffered no lack of fresh meat. Mr. Reed "bached" in liis sod shanty
and found diversion hunting Imffalo between jolis in his smithy. The
pioneers welcomed the coming of the smith and came to him from points
many miles distant to ha\-e their ]}lows sharpened and to secure such repairs
as were necessary to their meager agricultural im])lements. In the fall of
1871 he dr(»\-e to Newton, then the krniinu'^ of the Santa Fe road, and
hauled back a load of lumber with which he constructed a somewhat more
comfortable shack than his sod shanty. In the winter of 1872 he went to
Hutchinson, nineteen miles distaiil, the only jxilHng i)]ace in the county, t;o
vote in the tlrst election called in Keno count}-. In that election C. C.
Hutchin.son was elected representative iyi>u] this district to the state Legis-
lature and in the following session of the (rcneral Assemblv secured the
enactment of a law defining the bound.-iries of Kenn countx. wlu'ch brought
\'alley township within the confines of tins county. Mr. lietd has alwavs
l)een a Republican and from the very beginning of a civil conimunitv here
has taken an active part in local politics. .\t the ilrst election held in
\'alley townslfip he was elected constable and he later was elected to the
office of township trustee and later, township treasurer, while he nearly
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 95
always has represented his precinct in coinitw district or state conventions.
Mr. \\(ie(\ set out l\jrty acres of tinil)cr un his timlier claim, but found
that the care of this grove in its early stages required t<JO much of his tiine;
so in 1873 ^1^ homesteaded a tract of one hundred and sixty acres one and
one-half miles east of his original entry, the same being the northeast
c|uarter of section 22, Valley township, and thereon he built a frame house
and a blacksmith shop. In 1875 he married and sold his l)lacksmith tools
to And}' Ballard, who started the first blacksmith shop in the town of
Burrton, and began to give his undivided attention to farming. In 1877
he and his wife moved back to his timber claim and there have lived ever
since. It was with difficulty that Mrs. Reed could become accustomed to
the frequent presence of Indians about the place and upon the first sign of
the approach of a party of redskins would run over to stay with the neigh-
bors until the hunting party would pass on. After selling his tools, Mr.
Reed found himself "lost" without the old familiar implements of his
smithy and so bought a new outfit and re-established his smithy, much to
the gratification of his pioneer neighbors. He presently sold the farm he
had homesteaded and bought an "eighty" adjoining his timber claim, which
he still owns. In 1909 he built his present comfortable dwelling and he
and his wife are very pleasantly situated. The old house built in 1875
continues to stand on the home place and is a prized relic of pioneer days.
On July 17, 1875, John A. Reed was united in marriage to ]\Iary I.
Moore, who was born in Greene county, Tennessee, December 10, 1856,
daughter of William T. and Rachel (Ellis) Moore, the former a native of
North Carolina and the latter of Tennessee, who came to Reno county in
1873. William T. Moore was but a boy when his parents moved from
North Carolina to Tennessee and in the latter state he grew to manhood
and married, farming in that state until 1858, in which year he moved with
his family to Sullivan county, Missouri, where he bought a farm. During
the Civil War he served the Union cause as a member of the JNIissouri
Home Guards, and in 1873 he and his family came to this county, home-
steading a farm in V^alley township. Mr. Moore and his wife later retired
from the farm and moved to Hutchinson, where he died on November 28,
1893. ^t the age of fifty-eight, his widow surviving him for about fifteen
years, her death occurring on February 5, 1908, she then being at the age
of seventy-two years and eleven months. They were the parents of ten
children, of whom Mrs. Reed is the eldest. To Air. and Mrs. Reed no chil-
dren have been born, but they adopted a live-months-old baby girl, Annie
Laurie, whom they reared with as much loving care as they could have
g6 RENO COUNTY. KANSAS.
bestowed upon a child of their \er}' <:)wn, and who married James ]\Iorgan,
a well-known farmer of X^alley township, this county, and has five children.
Wallace R.. Clayton S., Mayme. Mildred L. and Everett C. ]\Ir. Reed is
a member of the ]\Iasonic lodge at Burrton and takes much interest in the
affairs of that order.
WILLIA^^r HIRST.
William Hirst, a well-known and substantial farmer of Lincoln town-
ship, this county, who has lived here since he was two years old. is a native
of \\^isconsin, having been born at Darlington, that state, December 20,
1870, the youngest of the eight children of George and Elizabeth (Bril-
brough) Hirst, natives of England, both of whom were born at Leeds, the
former in 1824 and the latter in 1826, and both of whom became respected
residents of this county, where their last days were spent.
George Hirst was reared in the busy city of Leeds and grew' up there
to the cabinet-making and pattern-making trades, becoming a very competent
craftsman. .V year or two after their marriage he and his wife and their
first-born child came to America, in 1854, locating at Darlington, Wisconsin,
some kinsfolk of Mr. Hirst having previously located there, and there they
made their home for nearly twent}'' years, Mr. Hirst being engaged as a car-
penter. In the fall of 1872 George Hirst, his attention having been attracted
to the possibilities presented in this region, came to Kansas looking for land.
The lay of the land in Reno county pleased him and he homesteaded a tract
in section 6, of Lincoln township. He then returned to Wisconsin and the
next spring brought his family to Reno county and entered upon the occu-
pation of his homestead, the Hirsts thus having been among the very earliest
settlers of Lincoln township. George Hirst was an industrious farmer and,
with the assistance of his sons, developed a fine property, the family coming
to be regarded as one of the most substantial and influential in that neigh-
borhood. Mr. Hirst not only was diligent in his own business, Ijut was atten-
tive to the general needs of the community and served his township very
acceptably for some time in the capacity of township trustee. He also was
on his local school board for many years and in other ways did what he
could to advance the common cause hereabout in pioneer days. His wife
was a niember of the Episcopal church and she also was active in all good
works, both being held in high esteem throughout that section of the county.
George Hirst died on his farm on July 18. 1897, and his widow^ survived him
for seventeen years, her death occurring at Hutchinson on September 25,
fT
V
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 97
1914. They were the parents, of eight children, namely: Anna, who died
at the age of sixteen; Hannah, now deceased, who married John Eaton, of
Darlington, Wisconsin, who also is dead; George, a wealthy farmer, who
died on the old homestead in Lincoln township on October 29, 191 5; Mary
Ann, who died at the age of eighteen; Lila, now deceased, who married G.
W. Woodard, of Hutchinson; Samuel, who married Myrtle Rogers and
lives in Hutchinson, where he is a dealer in photographic supplies; Fred, a
farmer in Center township, this county, and William, the immediate subject
of this biographical sketch. George Hirst was the first photographer of
Hutchinson and his daughter learned the trade and succeeded her father
and Samuel then succeeded his sister and conducted the business until 19 15.
So the Hirst family has been connected w^ith that business for many years.
William Hirst was two years of age when his parents came to this
county from Wisconsin and he grew to manhood on the homestead farm
in Lincoln township, receiving his education in the school in district No. 41.
He did not marry until he was thirty years of age and in the meantime
remained on the home place, which he took charge of, in his mother's behalf,
after the death of his father, in 1897. ^^^ 1912 he bought a quarter of a
section of his own in Lincoln township and after his mother's death, in 1914,
moved onto his own place, where he since has made his home and where
he and his family are very pleasantly and comfortably situated. In addition
to his land holdings in Lincoln township, Mr. Hirst is also the owner of a
third interest in a half section of land in Arlington township and the owner
of a cjuarter section in Hamilton county, this state, besides which he owns a
house and lot in Hutchinson, at 410 B avenue, east, and is considered quite
well-to-do.
On October 23, 1900, William Hirst was united in marriage to Mar-
garet Hardcastle, who was born at Hutchinson, this county, daughter of
Joseph and ]\Iinnie Hardcastle, early residents of that city, the latter of
whom is still living, and to this union one child has been born, a daughter,
Margaret Elizabeth, born on September 28, 1903. Joseph Hardcastle for
years was one of Hutchinson's best-known citizens. He was regarded as
quite well-to-do until the '"boom"' collapsed after the middle eighties, at
which time it was found that he had lost practically all his fortune in the
sudden depreciation of property values which followed that collapse. Mr.
and Mrs. Hirst are highly respected residents of their neighborhood, taking
an active part in the common life of that community, and are held in high
esteem bv all thereabout.
(7a)
98 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
JOHN S. SIMMONS.
John S. Simmons, a well-known lawyer of Hutchinson, fonner speaker
of the Kansas House oi Representatives and prominently identified with
banking interests hereabout, is a native son of Kansas, born in Douglas
county in i860. Upon concluding his studies at Baker University he began
to read law and was admitted to practice, at the bar of the Crawford circuit
court, in 1886. He opened an office for the practice of his profession at
Dighton and quickl}- took a prominent place in the general affairs of that
part of the state. For two terms he served as county attorney for Lane
count}-; represented that county in the lower house of the Kansas General
Assembly for two terms and in 1907 was elected speaker of the House.
From 1899 to 1904 Mr. Simmons served as superintendent of the Kansas
state reformatory and was a member of the board of management of that
institution for four years, being appointed by Governor Hoch. In 1895
he was elected president of the State Bank of Dighton, which position he
ever since has held, and is also a director of several other banks. Follow-
ing his service as speaker of the House ]\Ir. Simmons became attracted to
Hutchinson as a desirable place of residence and in June, 1907, moved to
that city, where he ever since has made his home. He formed a partner-
ship with \\'hiteside & Tyler in the practice of the law and upon the disso-
lution of that firm began to practice alone and so continued until 1910,
in which year he formed a partnership with Ray H. Tinder, which arrange-
ment continued' for three years. In 19 13 Mr. Simmons admitted into part-
nership his nephew. K. K. Simmons, who was graduated from the law
school of Kansas University in that }-ear. and this mutually agreeable
arrangement continues. In addition to his extensive general practice Air.
Simmons 4ias for many }ears served as attorney for the Santa Fe Railroad
Compan\-. Since taking u]) his residence in Hutchinson AFr. Simmons has
continued his active interest in political affairs and is regarded as one of
the leaders of the Repul)lican party in this section of the state. In 1914
he was his party's nominee for Congress from the seventh Kansas district,
but his candidacy was no more successful than that of the general ticket
that year.
In 1886 John vS. Simmons was united in marriage to Fmma Brown,
daughter of Capt. G. W. Brown, of Osage county, this state, and to this
union four children have been born. Mrs. Simmons is a prominent figure
in Kansas club circles and is past president of the Kansas Day Club. Air.
Simmons is one of the directors of the Hutchinson Young Alen's Christian
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 99
Associalion. a nK'nil)er of llic I lutcliinson Commercial Cliil) and a member
of the Hutchinson C"ountry Chil). in the affairs of all of which organizations
he takes a warm interest.
WILLIAM D. SHULER.
William D. Shuler, one of the oldest and best-known pioneers of this
county, for years lo^■ing■ly kncjwn throughout the Grant township neighbor-
hood as "Squire" Shuler, is a native of Virginia, having been l)orn in Page
county, that state, on June 23, 1833, son of George and Tabitha ( D(jvel)
Shuler, both natives of that same count}-, the former of whom, born on
December 2^, i794. died on April 28, 1873, and the latter, born in 1796,
died on June 8, 1857. The former was a member of the Methodist church
and the latter of the Christian church. They were the parents of eight
children, five sons and three daughters, of whom the subject of this sketch
is the youngest, and only three survive, the others having been John, Diana
D., Noah W., Elizabeth Ann Aylshire, who died at the age of twenty-four;
George W., Andrew Jackson and Sarah Jane, who married John Aylshire,
her brother-in-law, who was killed in battle during the Civil \\ ar. and who
later married James E. Morris and died in this county in 1895. '^"'^l h^ ^li^^l
later.
George Shuler was the son of John Shuler, who was born in Pennsvl-
vania, son of John Shuler, a German, who came to America and settled in
Pennsylvania. The younger John Shuler married a Keyser in Pennsvl-
vania and later moved to A'irginia, where he became a large landowner, and
where he spent the rest of his life. Grandmother Shuler died in Illinois at
the age of ninety-five years. She married IMike Ste]). George Shuler was
reared on the plantation in \'irginia and in turn became a large landowner
and one of the leading men in his neighborhood. His first wife died in
1857 and he married, secondly, a \\idow, Wrs. Kite, and l:)oth spent their
last days in Virginia.
William D. Shuler li\ed on the home ])lace in Virginia until he was
growai, acquiring a liberal education meanwhile, and his father gave him
half the home farm of nearly four hundred acres, on which he lived until
1875, t^"*^ time of his coming to this county. When A^irginia ordered a vote
on secession in 1861 he was one of twelve voters in his precinct who voted
for a continuance of the LTnion. He was drafted into the Second \^irginia
Infantry, under "Stonewall" Jackson, despite his oj^position to secession and
562774A
lOO RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
served for a year before employing a substitute to take his place, during
which time he participated in the battles at Blue's Gap and near Harper's
Ferry. Ujxm leaving the army he returned home and there was seized by
Union forces. Upon explaining his position toward secession, however, he
was released and the federal soldiers gave orders that his place should not
be molested. 'J'hey had destroyed all other property in the valley. In 1875,
attracted b}' the promising word from this section of the country, Mr. .Shu-
ler came to Kansas, locating in Reno county. He bought Lon Mead's relin-
quishment to eighty acres and the relinquishment of an adjoining eighty in
section 28 of John Gaus, in Grant township, and there he established his
new home. At first he ])uilt a small frame house, twelve by sixteen feet,
and in 1878 built a better house. On his place at that time there were the
only three trees. One of these trees, a giant cottonwood, five feet in diame-
ter at the base, stood until 191 5, when it went down during a heavy wind
storm. ]\rr. Shuler prospered from the very beginning of his farming
operations and has assisted in buying farms for all of his sons, more than a
section of land in all. 'Sir. .Shuler f|uickly took his place as one of the lead-
ing men in that community. He had served as justice of the peace in his
\'irginia home and presently his pioneer neighbors elected him justice of
the peace- in Grant township, a position he held for years, and is still known
as ''Sfjuire" by his many friends thereabout and throughout the county. He
was also trustee for a number of years. He is a Democrat, though quite
liberal in his political views, and has also voted the Prohibition ticket, He
is an ardent Methodist and the year after his arrival in this county went
around the neighborhood stirring up sentiment in behalf of the establish-
ment of a Sunday school in Grant township and succeeded in having such
an institution started in the school house near his home. He later headed a
subscription paper with a liberal subscription and' took it around among his
neighlxjrs and thus secured the establishment of the ^Mitchell ATethodist
church in his home townshi]). nf which he has been one of the leading mem-
bers for many years.
On .August (). 1855, in I'agc county. \'irginia. ^^'ilh'am D. Shuler was
united in marriage to Sarah Ann Koontz. who was born in that county,
August j8. 1839, daughter of Da\id and l-llizabcth Koontz, natives of \^ir-
ginia, and to this union fwe children were born, nameh^ : Preston P., a
cement manufacturer and farmer, of Wakeeney, this state: Jacoli O.. of
whom further mention is made later on in this review; Lee. a fruit raiser
at Hotchkiss, Colorado; Martin B., who is now living retired at Santa Rosa,
California, and Walter, who is engaged in the dairv business in Reno town-
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. lOl
ship, this countv. Tlie mother of these chihh-cn (hcd on Octoher 19, 1896,
and for the past few vears Mr. .Shnler has 1)een making his home with his
sons.
Jacob O. Shuler, who was horn in Page county, \'irginia, on Fel)rnary
4, 1859, was si.xteen vears of age when his father, W'ilham D. Shuler. came
to this county with his father, and he grew to manhood on the old .Shuler
farm in (irant township. Following his marriage, in the fall of 1884. he
bought the" northeast quarter of section ly. in Grant township, and there
established his home and has lived there ever since. He later bougb.t a half
section in Reno township and also a quarter section. He is a Democrat and
has taken an active interest in Icjcal political affairs and is now treasurer of
his home township. He and his family are members of the Methodist
church and he gave the land on which the Mitchell Methodist church was
built, on one corner of his farm. He is a member of the Court of Honor
and takes a warm interest in the affairs of this society. Mr. Shuler is an
extensive farmer and has given much attention also to raising cattle and
hogs.
On November 6, 1884, Jacob O. Shuler was united in marriage to
Annie Cook, who was 1;)orn in Gloucestershire, England, daughter of Joseph
and Martha (Barnes) Cook. Mrs. Shuler came to this county in June.
1883, in company wdth her sister, Mrs. Laura Baddeley. and her two
brothers. Fred Cook, the present ma}or of Hutchinson, and Walter Cook,
also of Hutchinson. To Mr. and i\[rs. Shuler four children have been born,
as follow: A\'illiam Archie, born on October 13. 1885, at home; Flarold,
August 17, 1887, who married Alyrtle Oldsworth and lives on a farm in
Reno township; Gill)ert A., December 17, 1893, and Annie Gertrude. Octo-
ber 6, 1895, married Arthur W. Lancaster and lives in I'ieno township.
TFTOMAS G. AR^IOUR,
Thomas G. Armour, one of the publishers (^f llic Wholesaler, pub-
lished at Flutchinson, this county, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on
December 6, 1872, son of Thomas D. and Eliza (Sloan) Armour, the
former of whom was born in Randolph county, Illinois, in 1830. and the
latter in Belfast, Ireland, in September, 1837. Thomas D. Armour was a
son of lames C. Armour, a native of Scotland and an earl\- settler in Ran-
dolph county, Illinois. Eliza Sloan was a daughter of Robert and Belle
102 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Sloan, both of whom were born in Count v Antrim, Ireland, where their last
days were spent. In 1848 the three Sloan children, Robert, Jr., aged six-
teen; Belle, aged fourteen, and h'liza. aged eleven, came to America and
made their way to St. Lotiis, where thev were received b}- friends of the
family, and where Robert, now deceased, went to work for the \\'hittier
Packing Company, lie Itaving learned something of the packing business in
Belfast, where his father was engaged as a meat packer. Aunt Belle Sloan,
who never married, also is now deceased, the only one of that family now
surviving being Eliza, who is living at Wichita.
Thomas D. Armour was reared on a farm in Illinois. As a young man
he went to St. Louis, where he engaged in the transfer business and where
he lived until 1890, in which ^■ear he moved to Wichita, this state, becoming
a considerable landowner, and there he died in August, 1906. For some
time before moving to Wichita, Thomas D. Armour had been engaged in
the development of coal lands in southern Illinois. He and his wife were
the parents of three children, Robert, a farmer, living in South Dakota;
Thomas G., the subject of this biographical sketch, and Belle, who lives
with her mother at \\'ichita, this state.
Thomas G. Armour was reared in St. Louis, in the public schools of
which cit\' he received his education. As a boy he learned the printer's
trade in St. Louis and in 1890 went to Sterling, this state, where for three
years he was engaged in the printing" business whh J. E. Junkin. In 1893
he moved to Hutchinson, where he became employed in tlie job department
of the Hutchinson News, and has ever since made that city his home. Mr.
Armour continued on the staff of the A'rr».,s- until 1005, and in 1906 he and
.A. L. Sponsler began the publication of the Times. The next year, in 1907,
they also began the jjublication of The Wholesaler, and in 1910 they
merged the Times with 7 /;<■ Jrholesaler and discontinued the publication of
the former paper, 77/r Wholesaler still being continued and is (|uitc suc-
cessful, Mr. .Armour being the active manager of the same. Shortly after
the Times was started. Messrs. Armour and Spon.sler erected a two-story
office l)uilding at too-ioj South Main street. >dr. Armour takes consid-
erable interest in other enter])risc's of one kind and rmother in Hutchinson
and is one of the incor])orators of the Central ."^^tate Bank. incor])orated in
1915.
On .A])ril 8. 1901. Thomas G. .Armour was united in marriage to
Fannie M. Graves, who was born in Troy townshij). this count}", daughter
of \\'illiam and Hannah ( ^'ardy ) Graves, who was accounted among the
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. IO3
earliest settlers of Reno county and both of whom are still livinc(, comfort-
ably and pleasantly retired at their home in South Keno.
William Graves was l>orn in Cambridgeshire, b'ngland. on February 2.
1836. son of James and Mary (Coxell) Graves, farming peo])le, the former
of whom was a Baptist and the latter of whom held to the views of the
established church. They were the parents of six children, two sons and
foiu" daughters. Both of the sons, John and \\^illiam, and two of the
daughters, Sarah and Betsey, came to America, William being but seven-
teen years of age at the time he arrived on the shores of the New W^orld.
John Graves is still living, a prosperous retired farmer in Benton county,
Indiana; Sarah, who married William Burton, lives in Nebraska, and Mrs.
Betsey Clinton died in Michigan. The father of these children came to
America when seventy-five years of age to spend his last days with his
children and died in Benton county, Indiana, at the age of ninety-seven.
Upon reaching the United States, William Graves located in Niagara
county, New York, where he worked on a farm and on the Erie canal for
three years. In 1856, the year following his marriage in Niagara county,
he bought a farm of eighty acres in Benton county, Indiana, to which he
later added until, in February, 1876, at which time he moved with his
family to Troy township, this county, he having two years before bought
three hundred and twenty acres of railroad land in that township, and there
he lived until January, IQ08. when he and his wife retired from the farm
and moved to South Hutchinson, where they now live, being very comfort-
ably situated there. William Graves, during the active days of his farming
operations, was one of the most extensive cattlemen in Reno county, his
farm, which he had enlarged by the purchase of additional tracts until it
comprised four hundred and eighty acres, having mainly been given over
to the raising of purebred Durham cattle. He is an ardent Republican and
during his residence in Troy township served on the school board.
On June 26. 185s. in Niagara county. New York, W^illiam Graves was
vmited in marriage to Hannah Yardy, who was born June 21, 1836, in the
town of March, Cambridgeshire, England, daughter of ^^'illiam and Anne
Yardy, both natives of the same section of England, the former of whom
was foreman of a large estate. Hannah Yardy was 1)ereft of her father by
death when she was little more than a year old and her mother died when
she was fifteen years of age. In 1854 she came, with her sister, Anne, and
the latter's husband, A\'illiam Clark, to America, settling, with them, in
Niagara county. New York, where she was married in the following year.
To William and Hannah Graves eleven children were born, namelv : lames,
I04 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
who lives on a farm in Reno township, this county; W'ilham, who hves in
Benton county, Indiana; ^ylary. who died in infancy; John R., a bridge car-
penter, who hves at Fruita. Colorado; Sarah, who married John Tharp
and lives in Hutchinson, this county; Henry A., who lives on one of the old
home farms in Troy township; Lily, who married James Dawson and lives
on a farm in Troy township; Fannie AL, who married Mr. Armour; Rose,
who lives in Hutchinson, widow of William Lewis, and Frankie, who died
in infancy.
To Thomas G. and Fannie 'M. ( Graves) Armour two children have
been born. Phylis, born in igoj, and Thomas G., Jr., August 22, 1914.
^Ir. and Mrs. Armour have a very pleasant home at 812 North Walnut
street built in 1902. and are held in high esteem by their many friends in
and about Hutchinson. ]\[r. Armour is a member of the Ancient Order of
United A\'orkmen and of the Knights of Pythias and take a warm interest
in the affairs of both of these orders.
LEM P. HADLEY
Levi P. LTadley, a well-known pioneer of Reno county and honored
veteran of the Civil War, who is now living comfortably retired from the
more active duties of life on his fine farm in Reno township, where he has
made his home since 1874, is a Hoosier, a member of the famous Hadley
family, well known throughout central Lidiana, which has numbered among
its members a judge of the supreme court of Indiana, a treasurer of state
and others distinguished in the civic and social life of the old Hoosier state.
He was lx)rn in Hendricks county, Indiana, not far southwest of the state
capital, on February 25, 1840, son of Joab and Mary (Pickett) Hadley, both
natives of North Carolina, of Quaker parentage, whose respective parents
had settled in the Plainfield neighborhood of Hendricks county at an early
day in the settlement of that sterling old Quaker community.
Joab Fladley was one of the leaders in the Quaker community and was
the owner of a farm of two hundred acres in Hendricks county. He mar-
ried Mary Pickett and to this union five children were lx)rn, namely: Calvin,
who died in Douglas county, Kansas; Atlas, who is still living in Hendricks
county. Indiana ; Melissa, who married Wesley Kellum and died in Indiana
in 1913; Levi P.. the immediate subject of this biographical sketch, and
Hannah, who married Noah Kellum and died in July, 19 15, in Hendricks
.J^ Hoxiu
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. IO5
county, Indiana. Joab liadlcy died in 18.4.2 and his widow married, secondly,
Jacob Chandler, a prominent member of the Quaker community there, a
farmer of means, and to this union three sons were born, John, who lives
in Hendricks county, Indiana; Hadley, who died in 1900, and William, who
is living- at Plainfield, Indiana. Jacob Chandler died on his home farm in
Indiana at the age of eighty years and his widow died in 1900, at the age of
eighty- four.
Levi P. Hadley was reared on the farm in Hendricks county, Indiana,
receiving his elementary education in the district schools of Guilford town-
ship, that county, which he supplemented by a short course in Earlham Col-
lege, at Richmond, that state. On July 28, 1861, he enlisted for service in
behalf of the Union in Company E, Twenty-sixth Regiment, Indiana \^ol-
lunteer Infantry, and served for three years and fifty-five days. During
this service he participated for four weeks in the siege of Vicksburg and
took part in the memorable Yazoo River expedition. During the battle
of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, he was' severely wounded in the knee. Upon
the conclusion of his military service, Mr. Hadley returned to his home in
Indiana and on September 12, 1865, was united in marriage to Mary Jane
Jessup, who was born and reared in Hendricks county, that state, and who
was generally and lovingly referred to throughout that community as "the
best and brightest girl in the township." Mr. Hadley had inherited a tract
of sixty-four acres, his portion of his deceased father's estate, and on that
small farm he and his wife and their growing little family made their home
until 1874, in the fall of which year they came to Kansas, settling on a
tract of railroad land in Reno township, this county, where they established
their permanent home and where Mr. Hadley is still living.
Mr. Hadley had made a trip to this county in August, 1874, and,
despite the horrid scourge of grasshoppers which the pioneers had endured
that summer, was so deeply impressed by the possibilities presented here-
about as a choice agricultural region that he bought the north half of section
3, township 26, range 6 west, in Reno township, and immediately made
arrangements for the removal of his family to this county, and they arrived
here on November 18, following. Mr. and Mrs. Hadley at once took a lead-
ing part in the development of a higher social order in this county and from
the very day of their arrival here their influence ever'' was exerted in behalf
of better things. Mr. Hadley was a vigorous and progressive farmer and
prospered in his agricultural operations, soon becoming recognized as one
of the county's most substantial citizens.
In the absence of an organization of a Society of Friends hereabout.
106 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Mr. and r^Irs. Hadley identified themselves with the Alethodist communion
and immediatel}- became leaders in the same. Mrs. Hadley's native ability
and strong and admirable force of character quickly brought her to the
front in all woman's movements here and she was particularly active in the
ranks of the \\'oman's Christian Temperance Union, by both voice and pen,
even from the very first days of the prohibition agitation in this state, labor-
ing in that behalf and will e\er be remembered as one of the faithful leaders
in the movement which eventually gave to Kansas its state-wide prohibitory
law with relation to the liqucn- traffic. She was superintendent of the evan-
gelistic department of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and when
the issue of "wet" and '"dry" came up in Reno county she swung the tide of
battle in the balloting from what had seemed an inevitable "wet" victory to
a victory for the "drys." It was generally conceded by all that the colored
vote, which then held practically the balance of power, would be cast in
favor of the "wets." But nothing daunted by this seeming- preponderance
against the cause she so ardently was advocating. ]\Irs. Hadley went right
among the colored voters and so strongly influenced them in behalf of the
prohi])ition cause that the county turned a sufificient majority in favor of the
"drys," the old politicians ungrudgingly giving her full credit for having
altered the whole course of a campaign which they had regarded as closed
when their "straw" A'otes had revealed an apparently overwhelmingly pre-
ponderance of "wet" sentiment. ^Ivs. Hadley was working in behalf of the
Evangelistic L'nion. which organization made her superintendent of the work
among the colored ])eople. Mr. Hadley also was a strong supporter of the
prohibition cause and was one of the most vigorous and effective champions
of the "drys."
In 1889 Mr. and Mrs. Hadley recognized the need of a church in the
then rapidly develo])ing manufacturing section of the city of Hutchinson,
it Ijeing apparent to them that the peo])le living in that section were not
properly favored in the matter of a church or other proper social center.
Mr. lladlev shouldered the rcs])onsibilitv for the undertaking:, sienine the
notes for the erection of the church 1)uilding on A^■enue F, and for several
years, until the new congregation had proved itself self-supporting, practi-
cally carried the church along, guaranteeing the minister's salary and seeing
to the upkeep of the church. The grateful people who came to form the
congregation of the church in Avenue F flisplayed their appreciation of Mr.
Hadley's efforts and the church to this day is known as the Hadlev Meth-
odist church, a very proper memorial to the unselfish labors of Mr. and Airs.
Hadley in its behalf. Mrs. Hadley died on February 22, 1903, and there
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. • IO7
was wide mourniiit;- llironghoiit the county at the news of her passing, for
she was a woman who liad done well her jjart in the s(jcial development of
this county. To Mr. and Mrs. I ladley three children were l>orn. Herbert.
wlio is managing his father's extensive farm in Reno township and in
whose household his venerable father is making his home, married Rosa
Burch and has four children, Eldon, Mary. John and Rose Elizal)eth ; Wilma,
who died May 8. 19 12. married George B. Manning and lived in the city of
Hutchinson and had si.x children. Marian, Winifred, Jane, Florence, Marie
and Msable: Alta G. married William Newling, proprietor of a dairv farm in
Reno township, and has two children, George and Nina.
JOHN WESLF.Y GLASS.
John Wesley Glass, a Well-known and prosperous farmer of Lincoln
township, this county, now practicallv retired from the active labors of the
farm, is a native of the great Keystone state, having been born in Franklin
county. Pennsylvania. April 17, 1853. son of Jacob and Sarah Ann (Guth-
rie) Glass, both natives of that same county and who spent their lives there.
Jacob Glass was a son of George and Hannah Glass, natives of Ger-
many, who came with their respective parents to America in their child-
hood, both families settling in Franklin county. George Glass was a soldier
in. the patriot army during the Re\'olutionary War. and John W. Glass has
the watch which his grandfather boueht in Baltimore the dav he was mus-
tered out of the service at the close of the war in 1783. George Glass was
a carpenter, and both he and his wife had been reared in the ^lennonite
faith, though in later life they were earnest adherents of the ]\Iethodist
church. He lived to the great age of one hundred and six years, and his
wife lived to be ninety-six. Jacob Glass learned the mason's trade in his
youth and became a very competent craftsman, in after years becoming a
very successful contractor in that line. He married Sarah Ann (juthrie. a
neighbor girl, who was born in Franklin county. Pennsylvania, daughter of
James F. and Lsabelle Catherine ( Wagonseller) Guthrie, natives of England,
who came to America, settling in Chester county, Pennsylvania, later mov-
ing to Franklin^county. same state, and both of whom died in Chambersburg.
When the Civil War broke out Jacol) Glass enlisted in Company A.
One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Regiment. Pennsyhania Volunteer Lifan-*
try, attached to Hancock's Brigade, with which he served for nine months.
9
I08 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
at tlie end of which time he enhsted with a \-eteran regiment, with which he
served to the end of the war. his regiment having been engaged in such
noted battles as those of Antietam, Gettysburg and Chancellorsyille. During
the time of the rebel invasion of Pennsvlvania the city of Chambersburg
was l)urned l)y the invaders and after the war Jacob Glass tilled large con-
tracts for mason work in connection with the rebuilding of the city, having
twenty-five or thirty men working under him for years. The battle of
Gettysburg was fought within twelve miles of the Glass home and the roar
of the battle shook the windows of the house. John W. Glass then was
but ten years old, l)ut he was taking an active part on the outskirts of the
desperate struggle between the two mighty armies and succeeded in cap-
turing a gun from a straggling rebel soldier who was on the way to the
battle and he still has that gun. in proof of his claim that although only ten
years old at tlie time he silenced one rebel gun at Gettysburg. After the
battle the lad carried water to the wounded on the battlefield, vivid memor-
ies of that great l^attle still being retained by Mr. Glass.
In 1859 Jacob Glass had bought a farm at the edge of the town of
Scotland, in Franklin count}', and moved his family onto that place, which
was the family home for years. In their declining years, Jacob Glass and
wife moved to Green village, that same count}-, and there spent their last
days, the former dying in October, 1896. at the age of seventy-eight, and
the latter in 1903, at the age of eighty-six. Both were life-long members
of the ^ilethodist church, in which faith their children were reared, and
Jacob Glass had been for many years both a trustee and a steward of the
church. He was a Republican and had served very efficiently as sheriff of
Franklin county. He and his wife were the ]>arents of nine children, as
follow": James A., who was shot and killed ])y a re])el spy at liis home;
lsal)elle Catherine, who married John J. Allen, both now dead; George A.,
a bachelor, who died at llagerstown. Maryland, at the age of sixty-two;
Jacob \\'., a Maryland merchant, now deceased; John \\'., tlie immediate
subject of this biogra])hical sketch; Hannah Jane, who died in infancy;
Sarah Elizabeth, who died at the age of fifteen years; Charles S., a mer-
chant, who died at Greencastle. T'ennsylxania, in October, 1915. and A\'ill-
iam 1''.. a merchant of Scotland. l'enns}l\ania.
John W. (ilass receix'ed his early education in the school in the neigh-
borhocKl of his home and all his life has added to that l:)y wide reading and
close observation until he is regarded as a very well-informed man. He
has traveled quite extensively and lias had a varied experience. He claims
the distinction of being the onl}- man in Reno county who has met every
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. IO9
President of the United States from Lincoln to Wilson and has shaken
hands with all save Mr. Taft. the latter of whom was nursing a badly
bruised hand, the result of too much handshaking during a previous recep-
tion, at the time he had the honor of meeting him. At the age of twenty
years, Mr. Glass left home and started firing a locomotive on the Pennsyl-
vania railroad between Harrisburg and Altoona. After about eighteen
months thus engaged he was caught in a nastv wreck and decided that the
life of a railroader was not the life for him. After reaching that conclu-
sion, Mr. Glass pursued the less hazardous life of a farmer for thirteen
months, working as a farm hand on farms in Mahoning and Stark counties,
Ohio, and in March, 1875, went to Richwood, in Union county, same state,
and worked on a farm in that neighborhood until the following October, at
which time he rented a farm near Prospect, Marion county. Tn 1877 he
married the niece of the man who owned the farm and continued to make
his home on that place until 1881. in which year he moved to Prospect,
where he was engaged in the mercantile business until January i, 1886.
He then sold his store and came to Kansas, settling in Meade county, wliere
he pre-empted a quarter of a section of land, which he "proved up'' and
sold, and in the fall of 1887 moved to the town of Meade, where he opened
a general store, which he conducted until March i, 1890, on which date he
sold out and came to this county, locating at Hutchinson, where he bought
the Daniel Sickling meat market, at 10 South Main street, which he sold in
the spring of 1891 and began \\^orking in the Hutchinson packing house,
soon being promoted to the position of foreman in the same, and was thus
engaged until 1894, in which year he engaged in the feed business at 4
South Main street, in the same city. In October, of that same year, he sold
his feed store and rented the E. L. Myers farm in Reno township, where
he made his home for five years, at the end of which time, in the spring of
1905, he moved to a farm in Lincoln township that he had bought the
previous fall, the same being one-quarter of section 18, in that township,
and there he has made his home ever since, being very well established and
quite comfortably situated. LTpon taking possession he built a good farm
house on his place and in 1910 built a fine, modern, concrete barn, which he
declares is as thoroughly finished and as well equipped as any barn in the
countv. Upon engaging seriously in the agricultural business. Mr. Glass
went into the registered Shorthorn cattle business, also raising and market-
ing some mules, and has made money out of his live-stock undertakings,
besides being very successful in his general farming operations, being now
regarded as one of the substantial farmers in his part of the countv. \\\
no RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
April, 1915. Air. Glass was struck liy an automobile and severely injured,
the result of his injuries having left him so painfully crippled that he now
is practically retired from the active labors of his farm, though still pos-
sessed of his old ability as a manager and director of aflairs thereon.
On Deceml^er 9. 1877, John \\'. Glass was united in marriage to Emma
A. Freeman, who was born in Marion county, Ohio, daughter of Alvin A.
and Louisa (Rush) Freeman, the former of whom was born in Marion
county, Ohio, and the latter on the Atlantic ocean while her parents were
coming to this country, and to this union the following children have been
born, namely: Charles Orlando, born on April 27, i8cSi, who married
Gertrude ]\Iinner, and is now a successful building contractor at Tampa,
Florida; Lulu, August 23. 1883. who married C. E. \\ Coleman and lives
in Reno township, this county; ^^'elcon'le E., April i, 1886, who married
Marjorie Graves and lives in Reno township; Hazel, July 29, 1888, who
married A. G. .Siegrist and lives in Reno township; Jacob A\'infield, Decem-
ber 8, 1890. a teacher in the Reno county schools, \yho makes his home with
his parents, and Mabel Juanita, ]\Iay 13. 1893, '^^so a school teacher, who
lives at home. Mr. and Mrs. Glass are earnest members of the ^Methodist
church and their children have been reared in that faith. Mr. Glass has been
a class leader in the ^Methodist church continuously since 1875 and upon
moving to Reno township, in T900, assisted in a Sunday school which had
been organized in the Poplar school house. ' Out of that well-directed move-
ment grew the organization of the Poplar ^Methodist Episcopal church, and
for eight years after the church was Imilt he served very earnestly and ^erv
efficiently as president of the board of trustees of the church. Mr. and Mrs.
Glass for years have been regarded as among the leaders in the communitv
life of their neighborhood and they and their family are held in high e.steem
throughout that entire section of the county. Mr. Glass is a Republican
and ever has given a good citizen's attention to the political affairs of the
countv, though never having been included in the office-seeking class.
IH-CTDR K1'.\X1-:T1I AIcLEOD.
Though a com])aratively newcomer in Reno countv, H. K. McLeod,
president of the Reno State P.ank at Hutchinson, has firmly established him-
self in the regard of those connected with the commerccial and financial
circles of this county and is being generally recognized as one of the leading
financiers of this section of the state.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. I 1 I
Hector Kenneth McLeod was born in Trince luhvard Island, Canada,
on Septeml)er 25, 1868, son of Donald and Anne (McKenzie) McLeod. both
natives of that same place, the former born on January 20, 1826, and the
latter October 10, 1836, and both are still livini^-. Donald McLeod is the
son of Angus McLeod, and Anne (McKenzie) McLeod is the daughter of
Hector Kenneth McKenzie. both born and reared near Belfast, Ireland, of
Scotch Highlander descent and l)oth of whom were elders in the Presbyter-
ian church for more than fifty years. In 1804 Angus McLeod and Hector
. Kenneth McKenzie emigrated, with their respective families, to Prince Ed-
ward Island, landing- from the good ship "Polly," that having l)een about
the time the b^rench were dri\en out of Arcadia, an event made famous by
Longfellow's "Evangeline," and there both the McLeods and the McKenzies
became farming people.
Donald McLeod was reared on the paternal farm in Prince Edward
Island and upon reaching manhood engag"ed in the mercantile business at
Eldon, in his native island, and he and his wife still live there, though he
has been retired from lousiness for the past thirty years. He has been an
elder in the Presbyterian church for the past forty-five years and is regarded
as one of the leaders in his community. He and his wife have a very pleas-
ant home and one hundred acres of land. To them four children were
born, namely: Rev. M. J. AIcLeod, pastor of St. Nicholas German Re-
formed church in New York City, established in 1728, the oldest church in
that city, and attended by the old Dutch families of Gotham's "400;''
Davina, who married Dr. Harry D. Johnson and lives at Charlottetown ;
Hector Kenneth, the immediate subject of this biographical sketch, and Ada
Belle, who married Arthur G. Putnam, manager of the Royal Bank at A\an-
couver, British Columbia.
Hector Kenneth McLeod. in the days of his youth, spent his school
vacations in the store of his father, acquiring an excellent commercial edu-
cation. The schooling he received in the public schools of his home town
was supplemented by a course at Prince of Wales College, from which he
was graduated in 1890, after which he became connected with the legal
department of the Phoenix Insurance Company, of Brooklyn, New York,
and was stationed in the company's offices at Chicago, where he remained
until 1899. In the meantime he had been sedulously pursuing his legal
studies, and in 1898 he was graduated from the Chicago College of Law.
In 1899 he came to Kansas, locating at Ellis, where he organized the Ellis
State Bank and was at the head of the same, acting as cashier for thirteen
years, at the end of which time, in 1913, he liought an interest in the Reno
112 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
State Bank, of Hutchinson, this county, and was made vice-president of the
same. He then moved to Hutchinson and on January i, 191 5. was elected
president of the l)ank. Upon leaving VAWs, Mr. McLeod did not sever his
connection with the i^llis State Bank, and is now vice-president of that
institution.
On June 26, 1901, Hector Kenneth McLeod was united in marriage to
Helen E. Burbank, A\ho Avas born in Montreal, Canada, daughter of Robert
and Emily Burbank, who came to Kansas in 1890, settling at Ellis, where
Robert Burbank. who is now deceased, was for some years engaged in
mercantile business, and where his widow is still living. To Mr. and Mrs.
McLeod two children have been born, Donald Angus, born on September
3, 1903, and Hector Kenneth, Jr., May 10, 1907.
SAMUEL D. GASTON.
To the late Samuel D. Gaston, for many years a prominent farmer
and cattleman of this county, belonged the honor of having been the first
homesteader south of the Arkansas river in Reno county. When he filed
his claim there the stakes marking the site of the city of Hutchinson had
not yet been driven and the county had not yet been organized. He took a
leading part in the development of social and economic conditions in his
neighborhood and was a substantial and useful citizen, whose memory ever
will be cherished thereabout.
Samuel D. Gaston was born in the county of A\'heeling, \'irginia (now
\\''est \^irginia), April 24, 1827, son of John and Mary (Farris) Gaston,
it that the ancestor of the Gaston family in America was a younger brother
of a king of France, and held a stronghold in northern France. The king
both natives of that state, members of old colonial families. Tradition has
sent a strong force against him, but he and his followers defeated the king's
forces, routing them utterly. Gaston knew, however, that his victory was
only temporary ; that he could not long hold out against the resources of
France, and believing that di.scretion was the better part of valor, crossed
the channel and found refuge in Ireland, becoming there the founder of a
numerous family, a descendant of one branch of which emigrated to Ameri-
ca in an early day in the settlement of the colonies and became the founder
of the family in this country. John Gaston was reared a farmer in Virginia
and there married Mary Farris. some years later, when his son, Samuel D.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. II3
was a child, locating in Delaware county, Ohio, where he and his wife spent
the remainder of their lives. They were earnest memhers of the Presby-
terian church and their chiklren were reared in that faith.
Samuel D. Gaston was reared on a farm in Delaware county, Ohio, and
was married in that neighborhood. Shortly thereafter 'he moved to Illinois,
his elder brother iKuing- previously established a large stock farm in McLean
county, that state, and after a sometime residence in that county moved over
into Logan county, same state, where he l^ought a farm, where he remained
until he and his family came to Kansas in the spring of 1871. Upon arriv-
in this state the Gastons settled at Paoli, in Miami county, where they spent
the season. Li August, of that year. Samuel D. Gaston came over into the
section now comprised in Reno county, hunting buffaloes. He was so well
pleased with the appearance of the land hereabout that he filed a homestead
claim on the southwest quarter of sction 4, township 24. range 5 west,
which, when the county was later organized, lay in Lincoln township, and
in 1914, upon the organization of Yoder township, became a part of the
latter township. Samuel D. Gaston's claim was the first filed on land south
of the river in Reno county. At that time there was not even a shack on
the site of the present flourishing city of Plutchinson and the county had
not been organized. Upon filing his claim, Mr. Gaston built a sod shanty
on his tract and then returned to Paoli. where he wintered with his family.
In the following February he and his eldest son. S. Clinton Gaston, started
for Reno county, and on March 2, 1872, reached their homestead. ^^Ir.
Gaston found that a party of Texas cowboys who had been herding cattle in
that locality had taken possession of his sod shanty, but there was no diffi-
culty in establishing his rights and he set about preparing the place for the
reception of his family, his wife and the other children joining him and his
eldest son in the little sod shanty on the plain in ]\Iay. There Samuel D.
Gaston established his home, later erecting a more suitable residence, which,
in 1893, he supplanted by the fine, large house which now marks the home-
stead, and there he spent the rest of his life, becoming a prosperous farmer
and cattleman. He started his herd in 1874 and for years was actively
engaged in cattle raising, in which he did well, at the time of his death, in
June, 1904, being regarded as one of the most substantial citizens of that
part of the county.
In 1854 Samuel D. Gaston was united in marriage in Ohio to Hester
A. White, who was born in Morrow county, that state, daughter of Tim-
othy and Sarah White, natives of Ohio, the former of whom was a well-
(8a)
114 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
known practicing physician in that section, who later moved from Ohio to
iMissouri, thence to IHinois and thence to PaoH, Kansas, where JMrs. White
died, Doctor White's last days being spent at the home of his daughter,
^Irs. Gaston, in this county. To Samuel D. and Hester A. (White) Gaston
seven children were born, as follow : Samuel Clinton, who is managing
the old home farm in Yoder township ; Ida, now' deceased, who married
Da^•id Tavlor, of Hutchinson, this countv ; William E., who is engag'ed in
the life insurance business at W^ichita, this state; Alice, who married Harry
\A'ainer, a well-known farmer of IJncoln township, this county; John Wal-
ter, an extensive wheat farmer, of Pawnee county, this state; Grace, w^ho
married A. H. ^IcHarg, a Lincoln township farmer, and Lee, unmarried,
who lives with his*eldest brother on the old home farm. Mrs. Hester A.
Gaston, widow of Samuel D. Gaston, died on October 17, 191 5.
Samuel Clinton Gaston, eldest son of Samuel D. and Hester A. (White)
Gaston, was born in Dalaware county, Ohio, in 1855, and received his early
education in the district school in the neighborhood of his home there. He
was fifteen years old when he came to this county wdth his father, and thus
may be regarded as one of the very earliest settlers of Reno county. He
went through all the hardships of pioneer life hereabout and has witnessed
the complete development of this region from its primitive state to its
present high state of cultivation. He has a distinct recollection of the days
when the Santa Fe construction crew was driving the grade stakes along
the line of the road where the populous city of Hutchinson is now situated,
but on which there was then not a sign of the coming city, and also recalls
having seen C. C. LIutchinson, founder of the city of Hutchinson, at Har-
ner's shack on the north side of the river, before LIutchinson had decided
where to set the stakes for the city he even then had in his mind's eye. The
elder Gaston was much troubled with rlicumatism and e\"en from the days
of his voung manhood, .'~^. C. Gaston took a lead in the work (^f developing
the homestead. In kkjj he opened a general store in the new town of
Yoder and was appointed first postmaster of that village, but the next year
returned to the farm where he ever since has continued to reside. He is
unmarried and he and his youngest brother, Lee, fjuite successfully "bach
it'' together in the old home. I-'or several years they were engaged in the
wholesale dairy business, with a line herd of Jcr.seys. S. C. Gaston is an
active and influential Republican and was elected first trustee of Yoder
township upon the creation of that civic unit in 1014. He takes an earnest
interest in general public affairs and is looked upon as a substantial and
progressive citizen.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. II5
DAVID !<:. RICiniART.
Da\i(l E. Richhart, a well-known n;i(l well-to-do farmer of this C(junty,
now living at Nickerson, is a natix'e of Illinois, having hel^n horn on a farm
near Jacksonville, that state, November 2, 1855. son of Henry and Betty
(Taylor) Richhart, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of England,
who became pioneer residents of this county, where their last days were
spent.
Henry Richhart, an honored veteran of the Civil War, was hcjrn near
Chillicothe, in Ross county, Ohio, September ly, 1829, son of Elenry and
Susanna Richhart, natives of Pennsylvania, and farming people, who moved
to Ohio in early days and spent the rest of their lives in the Chillicothe
neighborhood. They were members of the Alethodist church and substan-
tial people in that community. The younger Henry Richhart was reared
in Ohio and when a young man moved to Illinois, wdiere he became a
farmer. On February 10, 1852, he married, at Aaronsville, that state,
Betty Taylor, who was born in England on May 9, 1834. and who was
seven years old when her parents, Ernest and Alice Taylor, came to this
country from England, la.nding at New Orleans in 1841 and making their
way up the river to Illinois, where they entered a homestead of eighty acres
and spent the rest of their lives there. In August, 1861, Henry Richhart
enlisted for service in the Civil War in the Twenty-first Regiment, Missouri
Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for three years and seven months.
He was in the battles of Bull Run, Vickslmrg, Chattanooga, Charleston and
a number of other important engagements, besides marching with Sherman
to the sea and from the effects of powder burns lost his sight. In 1873
he and his familv came from Illinois to Kansas and he homesteade<l a tract
of land on the border between Reno and Rice counties, part of the land
lying in each countv, and there he established his home, remaining there
until 1880, in which vear he and his wife retired from the farm and moved
to Nickerson, where their last days were spent, her death occurring on ]\Iay
14, 1903, and his on May 9, 1906. Both were earnest members of the
Methodist church and were a.mong the organizers of a church of that denom-
ination in their neighborhood in pioneer days, Henry Richhart serving as a
trusteee of the same to the time of his death. For years also he was a
justice of the peace and did his i)art well in the pioneer community. To
him and his wife but two children were born, the subject of this sketch
having had a sister, Alice, born on September 10, 1854, who married Daniel
Il6 REXO COUNTY, KANSAS.
\'an Xatton. a farmer living north of Xickerson, and she died at Xicker-
son, May 22. 1907, without issue.
David Richhart was about eighteen years old when he came to Kansas
with his i^arents in 1873, and his schooling was completed in the school in
district Xo. 24. one mile east of Xickerson, now recalled as the old Xicker-
son school. He married in the fall of 1885 and homesteaded a farm not
far from that of his father on the Reno-Rice county border, and proceeded
to develop the same. He was a successful farmer and stock raiser and from
the very first prospered in his operations, gradually enlarging his land hold-
ings until he now is the owner of a fine farm of six hundred and forty
acres, one-half of which lies in this county and the remainder in Rice county.
In 1898 he retired from the farm and he and his family moved to X'icker-
sofi, where they are very com.fortably and very pleasantly situated. ]Mr.
Richhart is a director of the State Bank of X'ickerson and a stockholder in
the Farmers Elevator Company, of the same place, long having been regarded
as one of the most substantial and public-spirited men in that place.
On October 15, 1885. David Richhart was united in marriage to ^lary
Cochran, who was born in Pennsylvania on April 12, 1859, daughter of
\\'illiam and Margaret (\Mlson) Cochran, and to this union three daugh-
ters have been born, Ethel Lucile, born on Xovember 26, 1889; Alma ^la.T-
garet, Xovember 2. 1891, and Letha Elizabeth. July 6, 1893; the two elder
are teachers in the Reno and ^IcPherson county public schools and all three
are graduates of the Reno county high school. Ethel and Alma are grad-
uates of the Southwestern College at A\'ingate, Kansas, and Letha, the
youngest, is taking the domestic science and art course at the Kansas State
Agricultural College. Mrs. Richhart and her daughters are members of the
Methodist church at Xickerson, and the family takes an earnest part in the
general' good works of the comnnmity. 'S\r. Richhart is a member of the
Modern Woodmen of .\merica and of the Anti-Horse-Thief Association,
in the affairs of which organizations he takes a warm interest.
Mrs. Richhart's father, William Cochran, was born in Ireland on Feb-
ruary 22, 1 81 2, and when seven years of age came to America with his
parents and his si.sters, l-'lizabeth and Jane, who settled^ near Jamestown,
in Mercer county, Pennsylvania. I'dizabeth Cochran married Samuel Porter
and Jane married Alexander McElhanney, the two families making their
homes near the home farm, remaining there the rest of their lives. They
were devout members of the Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) church.
There William Cochran grew to manhood and in 1843, at Slippery Rock,
Pennsvlvania, married Margaret \Mlson. who was born in 1820, daughter
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. # II7
of Thomas aiul Margaret (.Xdanis) Wilson, the former of wlimn died on
August 14, 1862, and the hitter September 26, 1865. Thomas Wilson was
the son of Ezekiel and jane Wilson, who came to America from Scotland
and settled near Newcastle, Pennsylvania, where their last davs were spent.
They also were earnest members of the Reformed I'resbyterian church. To
\\'illiam Cochran and wife nine children were born, Nancy Ann (deceased),
Samuel R., iMargaret S.. Thomas Wilson. David H. (deceased), William
R., Marv T. (\\ife of Mr. Richhart). Elizabeth Porter and Allen.
FRED \A-. COOTER.
Fred W. Cooter. president of the State Exchange Bank of Flutchin-
son. is a native son of Kansas and has lived in this state all his life. Though
not born in Reno county, he has lived here since his early infancy and has
never known another home, being therefore, very properlv regarded as one
of the real sons of Reno. He was born in Leavenworth, this state, Septem-
ber 12, 1872, son of George W. and' Elizabeth (Plartford) Cooter, the for-
mer of whom, now living retired in Hutchinson, was former treasurer of
this county and for many years one of its most prominent and intiuential
citizens. In a biographical sketch relating to the elder Cooter, presented
elsewhere in this volume, there is set out a comprehensive history of the
Cooter family in this county, to which the reader is respectfully referred in
this connection for details regarding the genealogy of the subject of this
biographical review.
Fred W. Cooter was but one year old wdien his parents moved to Reno
countv and became homesteaders in Little River township, thev being: among-
the very earliest settlers and pioneers in that section of the countv. He was
reared on the homestead farm and received his education in the public
schools and a business college course, between terms of school, taking his
full part in the laljor of developing the home place. A\'hen his father was
elected county treasurer, in 1891, he moved with him to Hutchinson and
served as deputy treasurer during the two terms in that office filled bv the
elder Cooter, and thereafter served two years as deputv treasurer under
\\'. E. Burns, his father's successor. In 1898 Mr. Cooter was made assistant
cashier of the State Exchange Bank of Hutchinson, and presentlv was
elected cashier of that institution, serving in that capacity until his election
to the presidency of the bank in October, 1913, since which time he has
Il8 RENO COUNTY. KANSAS.
cle\otL*(.l his l3est energies tu the success and de\elopment of that excellent
financial institution. Mr. Cooter is an eneroetic. enterprising and puljlic-
spirited man of affairs and holds a high position in the commercial and
financial life of the comr.iunity.
In 1895 Fred \\'. Cooter was united in marriage to ^Myrtle Synipson.
Both are members of the Episcopal church and both he and his wife are
deeply interested in all meastires designed to advance the general, moral and
social interests of the community and take an interested part in local good
works. Mr. Cooter is a member of the Ancient Order of United A\'orkmen
and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that organization and is chair-
man of the finance committee of the Grand Lodge. He has served as a
member of the board of education of Hutchinson.
JACOB A. YOUNG.
Jacob A. Young, a well-known pioneer farmer of Roscoe township,
this county, and an honored veteran of the Civil War, is a native of the
great Keystone state, having been born in Millin county, Pennsylvania,
February 4. 1845, ^'*" "^' J'>hn and Harriet (Rudy) Young, both natives of
that same count)-, the former of whom was the son of John Young, a native
of Germany, who settled in Alifiin county u])on coming to this country and
there established the family.
The vounger b'hn ^'oung was reared in Mifiin county, was married
there and there he continued to make his home until 1864. in which year he
came West and settled in Cedar count}-, Towa, where he lived on a rented
farm until 1877, when he came to this county and joined his son, Jacob A.,
the subject of this sketch, who had located h.erc three years before, and here
he died three years later, in 1880. He was a Republican and he and his
wife were members of the Dunkard churcli, in which faith they reared their
children, twelve in numl)er, Jacob A., Lewis, Daniel, Amanda, Noah, Adam,
John. Alison, James, Aliigail, Ellen and I^lizabeth. all of whom are still
living save Lewis, Daniel. l-'Jizabeth and Alisnn.
Tacob A. Young was reared on the home farm in ^^Tiflin county, Penn-
sylvania, receiving his education in the neighboring district school, and in
1862, he then being but seventeen years of age, enlisted for service in the
Union army during the Civil War, in Company T, Twelfth Pennsylvania
Reserve, and while thus connected participated in the seven-days battle before
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 1 19
Ivichniond. He tlien was stricken with tyi)hoi(l fever and upon his recovery
w^as discharged on a physician's certificate of (hsahility. Later he re-enhsted
and. as a meml)er of Company B, One Hundred and Forty-seventh Regi-
ment, Pennsylvania Vohmteer Infantry, served until the close of the war,
during- which service he was with Sherman to the sea. Upon the conclusion
of his military service, Mr. Young rejoined his parents, who had meanw'hile
moved to Iowa, and in that state, in 1870, married Sarah E. Hagarty, daugh-
ter of S. K. Hagarty and wife, and in 1874 came to Kansas with his wife
and two children, entered a soldier's claim to a tract of land in Roscoe town-
ship, this county, established his home there and has ever since resided on
that homestead, he and his wife long having been regarded as among the
leading pioneer residents of that part of the county. To his original home-
stead, Mr. Young has added by purchase until he now is the owner of three
hundred and twenty acres and is looked upon as a very substantial citizen.
He has taken an active part in local politics and has served as trustee, clerk
and treasurer of Roscoe township.
To Jacob A. and Sarah E. (Hagarty) Young nine children have been
born, as follow: S. E., Albert, of Iowa; J. P., Rebecca, of Wichita; Rose-
mary, also of Wichita; Delia, Pearl, of Wichita, who for two years served
as assistant to the probate judge ; Elizabeth and Helen, all of whom are
living. Mr. and Mrs. Young and their family are members of the Presby-
terian church at Pretty Prairie and are active in the w^ork of that church.
Mr. Young is an Odd Fellow, and both he and his wife are active members
of the Daughters of Rebekah, in the affairs of which organization they
take a w^arm interest.
FREDERICK HIRST.
Frederick Hirst, trustee of Center township, this county, and one of
the best-known farmers of the Partridge neighborhood, is a native of Wis-
consin, having been born in the town of Darlington, that state, August 24.
1868, son of George and Elizabeth (Bilbrough) Hirst, both of whom were
born in the city of Leeds, England, the former on June 21. 1825, and the
latter May 19, 1828.
George Hirst was trained to the cabinet-maker's trade in his native city
and also obtained a fine practical knowledge of the photographer's art. He
married in 1855 and he and his wife at once came to the United States,
settling at Janesville, \^'■isconsin. There Mr. Hirst engaged in the cabinet-
I20 RENO COUNTY. KANSAS.
making business antl made his home there for several vears, at the end of
Avhich time he moved to Darlington, \\'isconsin, and established a photograph
gallery, wliich he oi>erate(l until 1872. in the spring of which year he came
to this county and opened a photograph gallery in the promising village of
Hutchinson, then but a }-ear or two old. The next spring he brought his
family here from Wisconsin and in that same year homesteaded the south-
east quarter of section 6, in Lincoln township, this county. The next year,
1874. he established his home on the' homestead tract and was living there
when the grasshopper j^lague swept over this section, the voracious insects
eating the siding off his house. In 1878 George Hirst turned the photo-
graph gallery in Hutchinson over to his eldest son, George, and thereafter
devoted his whole time to his farm, spending the rest of his life there. He
and his wife were Episcopalians in their religious persuasion, but during
their residence in this county were not affiliated with any local church. ISir.
Hirst was a Democrat and for several years served as justice of the peace in
and for Lincoln township. He died on July 25, 1898, and his widow sur-
vived him for sixteen years, her death occurring on September 25, 1914.
They were the parents of seven children, namely: Hannah, now deceased,
who married John Eaton: George, Jr., a well-known farmer of Lincoln
township, who died in the fall of 1915 and a memorial sketch of whom is
presented elsewhere in this volume; Lida, who married George A. Wood-
ward and died in 1885; ]\Iary Ann, who died in childhood: Samuel, of
Hutchinson, who for years operated Hirst's i)hotographic studio in that
city and who is now a tra\'eling salesman for a photograph supply house ;
l-"rederick. the subject (if this sketch, and A\'illiam, a farmer of Lincoln town-
ship, a sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume.
b'rederick Llirst was five years old when his parents moved to Hutchin-
son from Wisconsin in 1873. The next year the family moved to the
homestead farm in Lincoln townshij) and there he grew to manhood, receiv-
ing his education in the district school in tlie neighborhood of the home
farm and assisting in the development of the homestead until his marriage,
in 1894. l-'our years before his marriage he had bought the south half of
the southeast cjuarter of section 5, in Lincoln township, and after his mar-
riage established his home on that place. .\ vear later, however, he sold
that farm and bought the southeast quarter of section tt. in Center town-
ship, where he ever since has made his home and where he is ^•ery pleasantly
situated, the excellent farm house and other improvements on the place
bespeaking the progressive character of the owner's farming methods. In
1914 Mr. Hirst bought eighty acres of his father's old place in Lincoln
RK.XO COUNTY, KANSAS. 121
township and is also the owner of a one-third interest in a three-hundred-
and-twenty-acre tract of pasture land, the west half of section 31 in Troy
township. Mr. Hirst is a Democrat and is at ])resent serving- as trustee of
Center townshii) and as school director for eii^hteen years, giving his most
thoughtful attention to the administration of the affairs of that important
office. He is a memher of the local lodge of the Modern Woodmen and
takes a warm interest in the affairs of that organization.
On March i, 1894, Frederick Hirst was united in marriage to Lucy
Walter, who was born in Reno township, this county, December 16. 1873,
daughter of Christopher and Eva (Lohr) Walter, both now deceased, who
were pioneers of that section of the county, having homesteaded the south-
east quarter of section 30 in Reno township in 1872, thus having been among
the very earliest settlers of Reno count}-, and to this union four children
have been born, as follow: George Walter, born on Julv 15, 1896, now
attending an automobile school in Kansas City, Missouri ; Bert HarxTv, July
25, 1898, .who is attending the high school at Partridge; Eva ]\Iarie, April
16, 1907, and Frederick, Jr., November 30, 1914.
WIELTA^r F. CARSON,
William F. Carson, a well-known farmer of A'alley township, this county,
an honored veteran of the Civil ^^'ar and a pioneer settler of Reno county,
is a native of Ohio, having been born on a farm in Brown county, that state,
September 24, 1840, son of William G. and Elizabeth ( Finley") Carson,
both natives of that same state, the former of whom was born in Ross
county and the latter in Brown county.
\\^illiam G. Carson was reared on a farm in Ross county and u]wn
reaching manhood's estate rented a farm there, after his marriage, and
lived there until 1856. when he and his family drove through to \\'oodford
county, Illinois, where he rented a farm and made his home. His wife died
there in i860, at the age of forty-two years, and in 1868 he went to Adams
countv, Iowa, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring
in 1892, at the age of eighty- four years. He was a Republican and he and
his wife were members of the United Presbyterian church, in the rigid tenets
of which faith their children were reared. There were ten of these children,
namelv : ]\Irs. Margaret Parker, now living in Nebraska: William F.. the
subject of this biographical sketch; ]\[ary, unmarried, who is making her
122 REXO COUNTY, KANSAS.
home with her hruther-in-law in Liwa; Samuel, who hves in Idaho; Jane,
now deceased, who married James Ramsev ; Wilson, who died in California
in 191 5; Sarah, who died in her early girlhood; James, a Nebraska farmer;
Ebenezer, who was last heard from in Alaska, and Cyrus, who died in
infancy.
\\'illiam F. Carson was about sixteen years old when he moved with
his parents to Illinois, and he finished his schooling in the latter state. On
August 13. 1862, he enlisted hi Company C, Seventy-seventh Regiment,
Illinois A'olunteer Infantry, and served W'ith that regiment until the close
of the Civil War, being mustered out at Alobile, Alabama, July 10. 1865.
Mr. Carson participated in all the activities of his regiment up to the day
of the great charge during the siege of Vicksburg, at which time he was
captured by the enemy, ]\Iay 22, 1863. The next day he was paroled and
he at once returned home on parole, where he remained until August 28,
on which day he reported at the parole camp at Benton Barracks. In Novem-
ber, 1863, he was exchanged and at once rejoined his regiment, then at
Brady City. Following the Red River campaign the Seventy-seventh Illi-
nois was sent to New Orleans for garrison duty, after which it was sent on
to Mobile, in the siege and capture of which city it took a prominent part,
and after participating in the reduction of Spanish Fort and Ft. Blakeley
returned to ]\Iobile, where it was mustered out.
Upon the conclusion of his military service, Mr. Carson returned to
Illinois and began farming on his own account. He married in 1867.
bought a farm, which he presently increased by further purchase and there
made his home until he came to Kansas early in the spring of 1878. He
disposed of his interests in Illinois and on March 11, 1878, chartered a car
in which to transport his l>elongings and came to this county, his destination
being Hutchinson. After looking about a bit he bought an eighty-acre tract
in section 30. \'allcy township, and there established his home in a one-room
house, which served as a dwelling until he later erected a more comfortable
dwelling. There he lived for six years, at the end of which time, in 1884,
he bought another ''eighty'' in the same section and moved onto the latter,
where he still makes his home and where he and his wife are very pleasantly
and comfortably situated. Mr. Carson was a Republican until the forma-
tion of the Progressive party in 191 2, since which time he has favored the
latter party. In 1894 he was elected justice of the peace for Valley town-
ship for two years. He is an active member of Joe Hooker Post, Grand
Army of the Republic, at Hutchinson, and takes a warm interest in the
affairs of that patriotic organization.
KENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 1 23
On Deceml)er 25, 1867. hy Rev. J., \\ . W est. Williain F. Carson was
united in marriage to I'hoche j. I'aird, wln) was Ix^rn on .\ugust 11. 1840,
in Brown county, Ohio. Mrs. Carson's native county, l)Ut wlio was not
acquainted witii him until she mo\ed to IHinois with her parents, Har\-ey
and Marg-aret ( Kirkpatrick) Baird, the former a native of North Carolina
and the latter of Ohio, who moved to LaSalle county. Illinois, in 1856, and
there spent the rest of their lives on a farm. T(j this union hut one child
has been l)orn, a daughter. Rachel Jane, who married Pliny Cohcrlw a well-
known farmer of Valley township, and has four children, Clyde, Elsie,
Lucile and Harry. Mr. and Mrs. Carson are members of the Valley Pres-
byterian church, of which. Mr. Carson was for some years a member of the
board of trustees.
Mrs. Carson has a cupboard of walnut which was made over sixty
years ago in Ohio from walnut lumber taken ofif her father's farm, her
sister also ha\'ing a table of the same. Mr. Carson has a piece of the flag-
staff that was shot off by Farragut at Fort Hinman. He had many narrow
escapes, having his canteen pierced by bullets, also his tin cup on two occa-
sions. The Carsons burned corn stalks the first two wdnters to keep warm.
ARTHUR H. SUTER.
Arthur H. .Suter, cashier of the Commercial National Bank of Hutch-
inson, and one of the best-known and most prominent figures in financial
circles hereabout, is a native of Missouri, born at Palmyra, in ]\Iarion
county, that state. May 18, 1877, son of Thomas J. and Elizabeth (Gash)
Suter, both natives of Missouri, the former born in 1846 and the latter in
1853-
For three generations the Suter family has been engaged in the Ixank-
ing business. Thomas J. Suter's father, Verdner Suter, aided in the organi-
zation of the Marion County Savings Bank, and for years was president of
the bank, acting in that capacity until his death. In his early youth, Thomas
J. Suter became vice president of the above named bank, and ever since has
been connected with that institution. His wife died in 19 12, at the age of
fiftv-nine. They w^ere the parents of two sons, the subject of this sketch
having a brother, Ira T. Suter, still living at Palmyra, Missouri.
Arthur H. Suter received his early education in the schools of Palmyra,
Missouri, and when but a boy started to work in the bank with which his
124 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
father was connected, lie was fir^t eniplcncd as a collector, later was made
bookkeeper, and was advanced to the positinn of assistant cashier, all the
time giving- his most studious attention to the technical details of the bank-
ing business, and thus ac(!uiring a Ijroad general knowledge of the business.
In pursuit of wider experience in the vocation to which he had devoted
his life and his energies he went to St. Louis, where for several years he
was connected with the Mechanics National Bank of that city. In 1902
Mr. Suter organized the Farmers and Traders Bank at Hardin, Ray county,
^Missouri, an institution with a capital and surplus of fifty thousand dollars.
and for three years was cashier of the same. He then sold his interests in
that bank and came to Kansas, locating at Hutchinson, where, with others,
he organized the Hutchinson Building and Loan Association, and Wcis made
secretary of that institution. On July i, 1908, Mr. Suter was elected cash-
ier of the Commercial National Bank of Hutchinson, and ever since has
occupied that position, gi\ing his whole attention to the duties of the same,
being recognized as a conservati^■e banker of ability. The Commercial
National Bank of Hutchinson was opened for lousiness on November 20,
1906, and is regarded as one of the best established and most substantial
financial concerns in this part of the state, and Mr. Suter is one of the repre-
sentative stockholders in this institution. While devoting his undivided
attention to l)ankin"-, Mr. Suter has also taken a keen interest in farming;
and stock raising, and is the owner of twelve hundred acres of good farm
L'lnd in Comanche and Haskell counties, this state. He is also the owner
of valuable down-to\\n Ijusiness properties in Hutchinson.
In 1902 .\rtluu" IT. Suter was married to Ottie H. Heather, who also
was born at I'ahnyra, Missouri. ]\lr. and i\Irs. Suter are members of the
Christian church and take an earnest interest in the general work of the
same, as well as in all good works liereabout. hraternally, ~\lv. Suter is a
Mason, taking an active interest in the work of that order.
HAKRV IT. T WLOR.
Harry H. Taylor, of the Taylor Motor Company, ITutchinson, this
county, official jiilot and chief promoter of the '".S.-mta Fe Trail" and one
of the l)est-known automobile men in the state of Kansas, is a Hoosier,
having been born in Clark countw Indiana, not far from the banks of the
Ohio river, February 5. 7869. son of S. D. and Priscilla (^lonroe) Taylor.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS, 12
D
S. D. Taylor was a farmer and in 1871 moved from Indiana to Illinois.
He bought a large farm in Jasper county, that state, and tliere spent the
rest of his life, his death occurring in TO05. His widow is now making
her home with her children in Chicago.
Harry H. Taylor was hut two years old when his parents moved from
Indiana to Illinois, and he was reared on the paternal farm in the latter
state, receiving his education in the public schools in the neighborhood of
his home. In 1888, at the age of nineteen years, he came to Kansas and
located at Hutchinson. He engaged in newspaper work and for one year
was employed in the office of the Hutchinson Democrat. In i8qo he began
working in the office of the Hutchinson Daily Ne7us, R. M. Easley, editor,
and remained with that newspaper for several years, first as mailing clerk,
then as bookkeeper and then as manager of the office-supplies department.
In 1909 Mr. Taylor began a study of the possibilities presented by the auto-
mobile business and organized a company, known as the Taylor Motor
Company, the other stockholders being W. Y. Morgan, L. A. Bunker, E. T.
Guymon and Dr. H. G. \\^elsh. This compariy secured the local agency for
the sale of the Ford automobile and established a garage and general repair
and supply and service station at 1TI-119 Sherman avenue, east, and Mr.
Taylor is still located there, having made a great success of the business.
He long ago bought the stock held in the concern bv his associates and is
now the sole owner of a very prosperous and growing business. The first
year he was engaged in business, 1909, his company sold nine automobiles.
In 1 9 14 he sold eight hundred and seventeen cars and now employs a force
of twenty-six men in his place. He is also interested in several real-estate
companies and is one of the directors of the Hutchinson Daily News Com-
pany.
Mr. Tavlor has been looked u]:)on as one of the leading aut(^mobile men
of Kansas for vears. The good roads movement has lieen one of his chief
concerns and he was one of the most active leaders in promoting the same
throughout the state, having l)een the official pilot of the new "Santa Fe
Trail" ever since the creation of that modern highway over the ancient
trail. Mr. Tavlor is a member of the Kansas City Automobile Club and of
the Hutchinson Country Club. He is a Republican and for years has been
activelv interested in local politics, but has never been an aspirant for jiublic
office.
On September 24. 1895, Harry H. Taylor was united in marriage to
Dora Reddersen. who was born in Ohio, daughter' of William and Augusta
(Groschmer) Reddersen, the former of whom is a retail shoe merchant, and
126 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
to this union lia> been born one cbiUl, a daughter, Dorothy, born in 1896,
whn was graduated at Dana Hall, Wellesley, Massachusetts, in June, 1915.
Mr. Taylor is a thirty-second degree ^NJason, a member of the consistory
and of the Mystic Shrine at Wichita, and is also an Elk.
PIERCE C. ROBERTS.
Pierce C. Roberts, a well-known and well-to-do retired farmer of Valley
township, this county, who for years has made his home in E[utchinson,
where he and his family are very pleasantly situated, is a native of Kentucky,
born on a farm in Xelson county, that state, August 18, 1856, son and only
child of John \\'. and 3,Iargaret (Weekly) Roberts, both natives of that
same state, the former of ^^•hom died in Nelson county in 1862. In 1865
his widow married, secondly, Lee G. Bruner, with w^hom she moved in that
same year to Martin county, Indiana, where she lived until her death, March
21, 1916, at a ripe old age.
Pierce C. Roberts was but six years old when his father died and was
about nine when he moved with his mother and his stepfather to Martin
county, Indiana, where he continued his schooling in the local schools. He
was reared a farmer and after his marriage in the fall of 1882 to a neighbor
girl continued farming in ?\Iartin countv until in Alarch of 1888, when he
and his wife and their two }-uung sons came to Kansas, where the}- ever
since have resided. U])on coming to this state ^Ir. Roberts bought a cpiarter
of a section of land in Byron townslii]). Stafford county, where he lived for
thirteen years, at ihe end of which time he s()ld that jilace to advantage and
came over into Reno county. He bought the west half of section 2^, in
X'alley townshi]). which he still owns, and which he has developed into a
very fine piece of property. After a residence of three years on that farm
Mr. Roberts retired from the acti\e labors of the farm and moved to Hutch-
inson, where he has lived e\er since. I^])imi nioxing to Hutcliinson Mr.
Roberts bought the r-esidence at iioo Xnrtli .Main street, which he still owns
and where he and his family made their home until in 1915, when he built
his present residence at 14 lde\enth avenue, east, where he an<l his family
are ^■ery comfortably situated. Sime locating in Ifutchinsun. .Mr. Roberts
has taken an active part in i)ul)lic affairs :ind fur more than eight years has
served as a deputy city assessor. He is a member of the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that organiza-
tion, as does Mrs. Roberts, who is a member of the Daughters of Rebekah.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 1 27
It was on November ly, 1882, in Alartin county, Indiana, that Pierce
C. Roberts was united in marriage to Martha Imogene Smith, who was born
in that county on December 7, 1857, daughter of Dr. Nicholas S. and Mary
J. (Charles) Smith, both natives of Orange county, Indiana, and prcjminent
and influential residents of that section of the Hoosier state, the latter of
whom is still living, making her home at Hutchinson, this county, in a ripe
old age. Alary Jane Charles was born on September 22. 1836, and on
February 12, 1857, at Natchez, in Martin county, Indiana, was married to
Dr. Nicholas S. Smith, who was born on August 31, 1828, son of a prominent
pioneer Baptist preacher, who had emigrated to that section of Indiana
from Kentucky. Doctor Smith's eldest brother, Daniel, also was a physi-
cian, but when his brother entered practice he turned his attention to the
gospel ministry, was ordained a minister of the ^^lethodist church and thus
continued until he was placed on the honorably retired list. Doctor Smith's
second brother, Harrison, also was a minister, but followed his father in the
Baptist faith and was for many years a minister of that church. The ven-
erable Mrs. Smith still recalls the days when she would sit for an hour and
a half listening to the sermons of the Rev. Harrison Smith without growing
W'Cary. There were three other brothers. Ford, John and Benjamin Smith,
who, though not ministers, were very pious men and active in all good
works. Mrs. Smith's father, William Charles, was the son of William
Charles, one of the earliest settlers of Orange county, Indiana, who was killed
by Indians while plowing in his field near the pioneer blockhouse at French
Lick Springs in that county. The son, William, then was but two years old
and a year later was orphaned, indeed, when his mother died, unable to re-
cover from the shock and grief due to the murder of her husband, and he was
reared to manhood by a cousin, Azor Charles. Dr. Nicholas S. Smith
enlisted for service in the Union army upon the breaking out of the Civil
War and wTut to the front as first lieutenant of Company A, Seventeenth
Regiment. Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for three
years, at the end of wdiich time he received his honorable discharge on a
phvsician's certificate of disability, illness incapacitating him for further
service. To Doctor Smith and wife three children were born, Airs. Roberts
having had two brothers, Daniel L. Smith, former clerk of Pueblo county,
Colorado, wdio died on March 13, 1900, and Delos V. Smith, who is engaged
in the saddlery business at Hutchinson. Daniel L. Smith married Eugenia
Day, of Pueblo, Colorado, and had four children, Darwin Bidwell. Alarth^
Irene, W^olcct and Elizabeth. Delos V. Smith married Bessie Bloom and
128 REXO COUNTY, KANSAS.
has one child, a son. Delos. Dr. Nicholas S. Smith died at his home in
Martin county. Indiana. June 12. 1867, his health having been permanently
impaired by his service in the army.
To Pierce C. and Martha Imogene (Smith) Roberts three children
have been born, sons all, Harry W'., born in ]\Iartin county, Indiana, Novem-
ber 17, 1883, now operating a general store at Elkhart. Kansas, who mar-
ried Ethel Burnett. December 25. 1908, and has three children, Eugene Pierce,
born on October 17, 1909; Harry Daniel, December 26, 1912, and died in
May, 1913. and Robert Burnett, August 20. 1915; Daniel Leroy, born in
Martin county, Indiana, February 8. 1886, a progressive young man in
partnership with his brothers at Elkhart, who married ^Margaret Newey,
March 23, 1907, and has two children, Margaret Estella, born on June 17,
191 1, and Daniel Leroy, Jr.. June 15. 1915, and Chester I., born in Byron
township, .Stafiord county, this state, November 16. 1893, '^^'ho is connected
with his brother in the general mercantile business at Elkhart. i\Ir. and
Mrs. Roberts are members of the Christian church and take a proper inter-
est in the various beneficences of the same as well as in all worthy move-
ments for the advancement of the common interest hereabout.
CHARLES E. WAGONER.
The late Charles E. Wagoner, for years a well-known and popular
dairyman in tlie Hutchinson neighborhood and later prosperous rancher
and stockman, wlio died at his home in Reno township, this county, on June
5, 191 1, was a native of Ohio, having been born on a farm near Bellevue, in
Huron county, that state, on June 5, 1863, and his death occurred on the
forty-eighth anniversary of his birth. He was the son of Levi and Sarah
Wagoner, farming people of Ohio, who came to Kansas about the year
1880 and settled on a farm near the town of .Sterling, in Ixice county, where
they spent the remainder of their lives, devout members of the Christian
church. Besides the subject, another of their sons came to Reno county,
Da\ id \\''agoner, who is a well-known farmer in Valley township.
Charles E. Wagoner was about sixteen years old when he came to
Kansas with his parents and he grew to manhood on the home farm in
Rice county. He married young, in 1883, and then bought a farm lying
between Sterling and Lyons, in Rice county, on which he lived for a few
years, at the end of which time he sold it and for a time thereafter rented
farms in the Sterling neighborhood. He alwaAS was interested in cattle and
RENO COL^NTY, KANSAS. I2(J
was considered an ex])ert in their care. It was his great desire to become
an extensi\-e stockman, hut the seasons of (h'ought and liol winds about that
period so strongly mihtated against his success that in 1900 he still was a
poor man. In 1901 he decided to make a change of base and with this end
in \iew came to Reno count}', where, on the outskirts of Hutchinson, he
engaged in market gardening for a season, at the same time doing a small
business in the dairy line, he having brought nine cows and a team of horses
with him. Idie dairy l)usiness seemed promising and he presently bought
out the extensive equipment of the Charles Bloom dairy and went into the
business on a considerable scale. He had practically no money to pay down
for the equipment he bought, but he was able to secure the same on advan-
tageous terms and was successful from the very start, it not being long
before he was the ]>roprietor of the leading dairy farm in the county, his
product proving so popular in and about Hutchinson that he was enal)led to
raise the rate to a price above five cents the quart, the first time such an
increase had been attempted in Hutchinson, without creating a protest on
the part of his customers. He and his wife and his children all worked
diligently and with excellent results, their business prospering beyond their
most hopeful expectations.
When Charles E. Wagoner arrived in Reno county in 1901 he was
eight hundred dollars in debt and possessed practically nothing save the nine
cows and the team of horses abo^'e mentioned. Ten years later he was the
owner of four hundred and twenty acres of choice land in Reno county, all
paid for and producing him a handsome revenue from his extensive opera-
tions in cattle. From the profits of his dairy business he bought, in 1907,
a half section of land from William Buttles, in Clay township, remodeled
the house which stood on the same, put up modern farm buildings and
engaged in cattle raising, the pursuit in which his heart had always been
most closely concerned. In 19 10 he sold the dairy business and devoted his
whole attention to cattle raising and was greatly prosperous, a short time
before his death he having bought an additional hundred acres adjoining his
original half section in Clay township. His specialty was pure-bred Short-
horn cattle and Poland China hogs and his stock farm soon gained a wide
reputation for the fine quality of its stock. Since his death his widow and
her three sons have continued successfully to manage the farm. Mr. \\'ag-
oner was a member of the Christian church, as are all the members of his
family. He was a Democrat, and in his lodge affiliations was connected with
the Ancient Order of United W'orkmen and the Knights of the ]\Iaccabees.
(9a)
130 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
On December 4. 18S3. Charles E. \\'agoner was united in marriage to
Emma Gibson, who was born in (_"edar county, Iowa, February 20, i860,
daughter of James and Sarah Gibson, both of whom were born in the city
of Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania. 1)ut who did not meet until they were grown
and living in Cedar county, Iowa. James Gibson, for eighteen years, had
done service as a bookkeeper in a commercial concern in Pittsburgh and
then, deciding to get a touch of the West, moved to Iowa, settling in Cedar
county, where he bought a farm and there he married, his wife having lived
in that county since her childhood, her parents having moved from Pitts-
burgh. In the spring of 1875 James Gibson sold his Iowa farm and came
to Kansas, driving through with his family and such portable belongings as
conveniently could be loaded in the w-agon, and driving several cows along,
the family arriving at Sterling, in Rice county, on June i, 1875. On their
way they had driven through Hutchinson, the little daughter, Emma, now
Mrs. Wagoner, driving the cows through the main street of the town. She
recalls to this day the dreary appearance presented at that time by the strag-
gling village, a half waste of drifting sand dotted by houses of a very crude
style of architecture. Upon arriving in Rice county, James Gibson bought
a half section of land and later bought more land, presently becoming quite
well-to-do. He and his w^ife were devout people, members of the Christian
church, and earnest folk, who set about establishing the new home very
energeticalh'. They were the parents of eight daughters and one son, the
latter of whom, the youngest of the family, was the only one of the family
born in Kansas. Upon their arrival in Rice county, the Gibsons were poor,
but all hands set to work and pretty soon they began to see their way clear.
The older daughters taught school and brought home every cent of the
money thus earned, all going into the common fund with which to pay off
the mortgage on the original purchase of land. Emma Gibson, now ^Irs.
Wagoner, was the eldest of these eight hel])ful daughters and much of the
burden of providing ways and means fell upon her willing shoulders. At
the age of sixteen she began teaching school and from the first was success-
ful, continuing her service as a teacher for ten years. During the earlier
years of this service her father begged her not to marry, but to stav with
him, a helpful daughter, until the obligation of his debt was released and
she promised to do so ; and kept her promise. Mrs. Wagoner is a very
capable woman and is making a very successful farm manager. She is ablv
assisted by her three sons. Vernon, who was born on June i. 1894; Perlon,
February 22, 1897, and Harlon. April 9. 1900.
RFNO COUNTY, KANSAS. I3I
jAMiLS L. l'^:xxI•^■.
Associated with the hiisiness interests of 1 lutchinson, Reno county,
Kansas, almost from the \ery beginning of that town, the late James L.
Penney played an important part in the upl)nilding- of this now thriving city.
While Air. Penney was a successful Imsiness man, he was not content to
work for his own interests only, but was ahvays ready to aid every measure
for the 1>enefit of the public, and especially for his interest in the cause of
education will he long be remembered in the city of Hutchinson.
James L. Penney was born in the pleasant village of Adams, in Jeffer-
son county, New York, June 5, 1848, the son of George and Mary (Gard-
ner) Penney, both of w'hom were natives of the Empire state.
George Penney was of English descent and was a farmer in Jefferson
county. Both he and his wife lived in New York state all their lives, and
were devoted members of the Baptist church. They were the parents of six
sons and one daughter, the subject of this sketch being the youngest of the
family.
James L. Penney attended the public schools of his native town, and
was graduated from the Hunger ford Institute at Adams, New^ York. After
teaching school in New York state for several terms he went to live with a
brother in LaSalle county, Illinois, and taught school in that locality one
winter. In 1869, Mr. Penney went to Topeka, Kansas, and became cashier
of the Alfred Ennis Company, w^hich firm carried on a law and real-estate
business.
The town of Hutchinson was founded in 1871 by C. C. Hutchinson,
who determined, in the year following, to establish a bank in the new town.
Accordingly, he wrote to the Ennis Company in Topeka to recommend a
young man for cashier of the new bank. The company recommended Mr.
Pennev, and so, in April, 1872. he, came to Hutchinson as cashier of the
Reno County Bank — the first I^ank in Reno county. The bank passed safely
through the panic of 1873, and after an existence of four years was sold
out in 1876. Mr. Penney then bought a partnership with J. S. George, with
whom he was associated for two years in the grocery business. He then
went to Odell, Illinois, and joined his brother, Seth H. Penney, in conduct-
ino- a ofeneral store, remaining there about two vears.
Mr. Penney returned to Hutchinson in 1880, and built a corn and wheat
feed-mill on the bank of the mill race where Avenue C is now located.
Later he formed a second partnership with J. S. George in the Hutchinson
132 RENO COUNTY. KANSAS.
Produce Company, which was located on the corner of Washington and
First streets. Subsequently. .Mr. Penney organized the Hutchinson ]\Iusic
Company, at \j South .Main street, of which company he was president and
main owner, and in which business he continued until his retirement from
active affairs in 1908.
On April 8, 1873, James L. Penney was united in marriage in Topeka,
Kansas, with Mary McLaughlin, of Indianapolis, Indiana, the daughter of
Col. John A. and Louisa ( Moorhouse) McLaughlin, both of whom were
descended from Re\olutionary ancestors. The maternal grandfather of
Col. John A. ^IcLaughlin, a Kimberley. emigrated from Connecticut to
Ohio, where he secured a land grant gi\en to Revolutionary soldiers. Louisa
Moorhouse came from an old A'irginia family, her great-grandfather, Col.
Robert McFarland, having ser\ed in the American Revolution.
James L. and Mary (AIcLaughlin ) Penney were the parents of three
children, Louis Arthur. A\ho died when two years old, Elizabeth, Alice and
Edith Louise. Elizabeth Alice Penney is the wife of John F. Fontron.
who is associated with the Fontron Loan and Trust Company, of Hutchin-
son. Edith Louise Penney on June 29, 191 1, was married to Oscar A.
Peterson, of Hutchinson.
James L. Penney served as secretary and treasurer of the Hutchinson
school board for several terms in the early seventies. He promoted the
movement to issue bonds to build the first large school house in the city.
This bond issue was opposed b}- citizens in certain sections of the cit\' who
wished the school house located in their neighborhood. As the time for
the election drew near it looked as though the l)ond issue would be defeated,
and it was mainly due to tlie efforts of C. C. Hutchinson and ]\[r. Penney
and his wife that the bond issue was carried. Mr. Penney sold the bonds
in Kansas Cit\- and with the proceeds he and his associates l)uilt the "Sher-
man Street school house," which was the school attended by all the Hutchin-
son pioneer children. This building served fur fort}' years, when it was
torn down in 191 5. to be replaced by a modern building.
^{r. l^enney served on the school board for several terms at a later
psriod. He was an ardent Republican, and w-as especiall}- interested in good
local government. He was a charter member of the .\ncient Order of
L'nited Workmen. He attended the Presbyterian church. James L. Penney
died in Llutchinson on March 29, 1914. and was sincerely mourned by all
who knew him.
\\'hen Mr. and Mrs. Penney returned to Hutchinson they resided in
the first block on Avenue B, west, and lived there for twentv-two vears.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. I33
111 i(j()_', llic\ liiiill tlic rcM(lcncc at 52 1 Slicrniaii a\cnue, east, which Mrs.
rciuic}- still owns, lliis home is l)uilt on a ]<<{ which is ])art of an acre in
the C. C. llntchinson farm on wliich the cit}- was fonndcd. Mrs. I'enney
had owned the acre tract since 1876.
Mrs. .Mary ( McLani^hHn ) I'enney. is a member of the Dangliters of
the American Rc\'olntion. Dnrin^" her residence in llntchinson she has seen
the strag'.^ling- village grow into a beantiful and ])r()S]jerous city and can
take jnst pride in the knowledge that she and her husband helped in this
development.
WALTER B. HARRIS.
Weaker B. Harris, official surveyor and civil engineer of Reno county
and one of the best-known civil engineers in Kansas, is a native of Arkan-
sas, having been born in Stone county, that state, August 18, 1868, son of
Augustus B. and Carrie W (Stevens) Harris, the former a native of
Arkansas and the latter of Tennessee, both now deceased.
Augustus B. Harris ^^•as reared on a farm in his native state and grew
up to strong, robust manhood. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted
in the cause of the Confederate states and served to the close of the war,
being present with Lee at the surrender at Appomattox. He participated in
the battle of Shiloh and numerous of the bloodiest engagements of the war,
receiving se\'eral wounds, whicli uncloubtedlv shortened his life. L^])on the
conclusion of his military service he walked back from \"irginia to his liome
in Arkansas and there engaged in the general mercantile business in his
home village, being thus engaged until liis death, at the age oi thirty-six
years, in 1874. His widow sur\-ivcd until 1912, her death occurring at San
Antonio. Texas. She was the mother of three children, the sul\iect of this
sketch ha\'ing two sisters. Mabel, who married R. J. Jeffrev and li\es at
Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Margaret, who married T. A. Black, a grocer
at vSan Antonio, Texas.
\A'alter B. Harris was six years old when his father died. His ele-
mentar}' schooling was olitained in the schools of his home village and he
later entered the Missouri School of ?^Iining at Rolla, from which he was
graduated after a four-years course in 1895, with the degree of Civil Engi-
neer. Thus equipped for the calling to which he had devoted his life, Mr.
Harris took employment with the Frisco railroad, in Missouri, as a ci^•il
ensfineer. later going- to the Midland Vallev, in Oklahoma, in the same
134 RENO COUXTV, KANSAS.
capacity. He also surveyed numerous branch railroads, and was thus
engaged unt'il he was installed as assistant city engineer at Hutchinson in
1905. .\fter two years of service in that connection he was employed on an
irrigation project in Xew Mexico for a year, at the end Of which time he
returned to Hutchinson and resumed his former place in the city engineer's
office, and was thus engaged until his appointment in 1910 to the office of
county engineer of Reno county, which position he ever since has held.
'Sir. Harris is a member of the Kansas Engineering Society and is one of
the l^est-known civil engineers in this state.
On July 5. 1904, at St. Louis. ^Nfissouri, Walter B. Harris was united
in marriage to Eliza B. McKinley, who was born in Pennsylvania, and to
this union two children have been born, Margaret ^T., born on May 5, 1906,
and A'ictor B., July 2, 1908. 'Sir. Harris has a very pleasant home at 122
Seventh avenue and he and his wife take an interested part in the, various
social and cultural activities of their home town.
THE FOXTROX FAMILY.
The founder of the Fontron family in America, prominently repre-
sented in Hutchinson. Reno county, Kansas, by Joseph A. Fontron, Louis
E. Fontron and John F. Fontron, was Joseph \'onthron. an Alsatian, who
came to the L'nited States in 1832. locating in Peoria county. Illinois. He
erected and operated the hrst grist- and saw-mill in the city of Peoria,
known at that time as F't. Clark. Fie was also largely interested in farm
lands there. After his death the name of \'onthron was Anglicized, becom-
ing Fontron.
In 1838 Joseph \'onthron married Katherine Herr, a Bavarian, who
came to this country and located in Peoria county, Illinois, in 1832. In
1849, attracted by the gold fields of California, Joseph A'onthron left his
interests and started for the new Eldorado. He died in California in 1851,
leaving a widow and four children, the eldest. Mary, still living in Peoria,
Illinois; Katherine and Elizabeth, deceased, and Joseph .\. Fontron. then
five years of age.
Joseph A. Fontrun was married at Hennepin, Illinois, in 1870 to Anna
Feltes, who was born at Kinderhook, Xew York, March 10. 1852, and was
the dausrhter of Peter and Elizal)eth (McDermott) F^eltes. After their
marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph A. Fontron lived in Henry. Illinois, until
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 1 35
1873. Tliev then rcniovod to C.'istleton, Stark county, Illinois, where for
three years Mr. Fontron was engaged in the mercantile husiness. In 1876
they came to Hutchinson, Kansas. Mr. h^ontron was engaged for one year
in the mercantile business, erecting a two-story luiilding on lot Xo. 5, North
Main street, which building is still standing. The next fifteen years were
spent by ATr. Fontron and family upon a homestead in Grant township,
this county. In i8()i the family returned to Hutchinson where J. A. Font-
ron served as probate judge for three terms and in 1907 he engaged in the
real-estate and loan business. He has always taken an active interest in
general business and civic affairs of Hutchinson and Reno county, and
assisted in organizing the Hutchinson Building and Loan Association and
for two years acted as its president. Since 1897 'i^' '''^^s been actively
engaged in the real-estate and loan business, merging his interests with those
of the Fontron Loan and Trust Company upon the organization of the latter
in May, 19 15.
Five children were Ijorn to Joseph A. and Anna Feltes Fontron, namely:
Eva, Joseph P., Mabel, John F. and Louis F. Eva Fontron, who was born
in Henry, Illinois, August 5, 1871. married W. D. Puterbaugh, eldest son
of John Puterbaugh, in 1894, and died on December 21. 191 5. at North
Yakima. AA'ashington. Joseph P. Fontron was born on ]\Iarcli 22. 1873, at
Castleton. Illinois, and married Fan Hardy, daughter of George \\'. Hardy.
of Hutchinson, Kansas, in J904. Joseph P. Fontron is .now a prominent
attorney of Kansas City, Missouri. ^ label I-'ontron. born in Castleton, Illi-
nois. June 12, 1875, '^"*' married Paul Uewman on July to, 191 i. is now
residing in Deadwood, South Dakota. John F. Fontron, born in Hutchin-
son, Kansas, ]\Iarch 15, 1877, married Elizabeth Alice Penney, daughter of
J. L. Penney, December 31. 1902. John F. Fontron was for fourteen years
engaged in the jewelry business at IMcPherson, Kansas, returning to Hutchin-
son in T915 and becoming associated with the Fontron Loan and Trust
Company as secretary-treasurer, upon the organization of that institution in
May. 191 5. To Mr. and Mrs. John F. Fontron were born three children.
John. Jr., born on December 2. IQ03 : Dorothy, born on April 2^, igo;, and
Alice, born on October 9, 1910. Louis E. Fontron, who was born on the
farm in Grant tmvnship I\cno county, Kansas, January 28, 1879, was twelve
}ears of age a\ hen the familx' moved to Hutchinson. In tooi he entered
with his father in the real-estate, loan and insurance business, in \\hich he
has since been engaged and diu'ing which time he has become one of the
prominent l(>an men in thi< i)art of the state. In 191 5 he organized the
Fontron Loan and Trust Compau}-, of which, he was elected first president.
136 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
the iDo.sitiun which he now holds. This marked the tirst trust company
organization in Hutchinsun and central Kansas. In October, 1902. Louis
E. Fontron was married to Mary Elizabeth Bigger, of Hutchinson, Kansas,
daughter of L. A. Bigger, in a biographical sketch of whom presented
elsewhere in th.is issue there is set out a history of the Bigger family in
this county. To this union two children ha\e been liorn, Elizabeth, born on
December 25, 1903, .-md Anna, biM-n on September 11, IQ07.
In the spring of 1913 Louis E. Fontron was elected mayor of Hutchin-
son, which official position he held for one term, declining to seek a second
term in order to devote himself to his business interests.
JA^IES FRANKLIN McMURRY.
. James Franklin ^IcMnrry, a well-known and progressive farmer of
Lincoln township, this count}', is a native of Tennessee, having been born on
a farm in Haywood county, that state, September 17, 1846, son of William
H. and !\iartha T. (Faires) AIcAIurry, the former of w'hom was born near
Murfreesboro, in that same state, in April, 1823, and the latter in Alabama,
in August. 1823, both of whom spent their last days in this county, having
come here from Tennessee a year or two after Reno county was opened for
settlement in the early seventies.
William Fl. 2\IcAlurry was reared on a farm in eastern Tennessee and
when still a boy moved with his parents to Haywood count}-, in the same
state, where he later married and bought a tract of "Congress land" at one
dollar and twenty-rixe cents an acre. He presently sold that farm and
bought a larger one, on which he made his home until 1872, in which year
he and a couple of his Tennessee neighbors, James A. ]\Ioore and H. D.
Freeman came to Kansas on a prospecting tour. In the fall of that year
Mr. McMurry bought a full section of railroad land in Lincoln township,
this county, the same being section 2^. He arranged for the erection of a
house on his section and returned to Tennessee, coming back to Reno county
the next year with his family and establishing his home on his new place in
Lincoln township, and there he and his wife remained the rest of their
lives. William FI. McMurry was a Union man during the time of the Civil
War and was a Republican ever after, his influence with the party hereabout
during pioneer days having considerable weight. He became a substantial
farmer and an extensive dealer in hogs, taking a good deal of pride in the
(JcM J\
'if M^'m^wvi^.
RENO COriXTY, KANSAS. I37
hi^h <;r;ulc of hugs that lie raised on his place. He and his wife were mem-
bers t)f the Methodist church and took an earnest and an inllucnlial ])art in
all good works in their neighborhood. Mr. McMnrry died in 1903, he then
being eighty years of age, and his widow survived him for three years, her
death occurring in 1907, at the age of eighty-four. They were the parents
of seven children, as follow: James F., the immediate subject of this bio-
graphical sketch; Harriet, who lives in Lincoln township, widow of D. AT.
Stewart; Elizabeth Jane, who married J. C. Moore and lives in Hutchinson,
this county; Mrs. Susan F. Allen, now deceased; Ffugh L., who died in
October. 1876, at the age of seventeen years; William bdi, a retired farmer,
now li\ing at W'intield, this state, and Charles W., who lives on a farm in
Lincoln township, this county.
James F. McMurry grew up on the home farm in Haywood county,
Tennessee, receiving an excellent education in the subscription schools in the
neighborhood of his home, the public-school system not being- inaugurated in
that state until after the Civil War, and at the age of twenty-one began
teaching in the puljlic schools and was thus engaged for ten years, farming
during the summer months. In 1869 he married and for a year thereafter
lived on a rented farm. He then bought a small farm of sixty acres and
there made his home until 1S84. in which year he followed his father's excel-
lent example and came to Kansas, arriving in Reno county in December of
that 3^ear. He located in Lincoln township, near his father's extensive place,
and for six years rented farms in that vicinity, prospering meanwhile, so
that in 1891 he was al)le to buy a quarter of a section of excellent land in
Lincoln township, the same l^eing the northwest cjuarter of section 22, and
has made his home there ever since. Upon taking possession of his farm,
Mr. McMurry enlarged the house that then stood on the place and has other-
wise improved the farm, also bringing it up to a high state of cultivation ; in
addition to general farming being also largely interested in the dairy busi-
ness, from which he derives considerable profit. IVIr. McMurry is a Republi-
can and has served his party several times as a precinct committeeman: From
1904 to 1908 he served the county very acceptably as a member of the board
of county commissioners and is widely and most favorably known through-
out the county.
On December 2, 1869. James F. McMurry was united in marriage to
Ann Mariah Thomas, who was born in Hayw^ood county, Tennessee, August
18, 1849, daughter t)f John B. and ]\larcia (VanBuren) Thomas, the former
a native of \''irginia and the latter of Kentucky, early settlers in Haywood
county, and to this union seven children have been born, namely : Edgar L..
138 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
I
born on July 31. 1870, who was killed in an automobile accident on December
26. 1909; Guy T., November 20, 1871, who married Rhoda Hertzler and
lives on a farm near Ft. Benton, Montana; Lulu J., June 11, 1874, who
married W. E. Uhl and lives in Ft. Benton county, Montana; Ernest and
Pearl, twins, June 26, 1878, the former of whom married Cora Gander and
was killed by a runawav team on x\pril 16, 1913, and the latter married J. O.
McXew and died on October 22, 1901 ; Linnie Kate, July 2, 1880, who mar-
ried J. O. Dix and li\-es on a farm in Lincoln township, this county, and
Hugh. January 10, 1S85. who died on August 10, 1889. The McMurrys
are members of the jMethodist church at Elmer and for years have been
active in the various beneficences of the same. Mr. McMurry being a member
of the board of trustees of the chiuxh. The family is regarded as one of
the most substantial factors in the community life thereabout and its mem-
bers are held in high esteem by all.
BExXJAMIN E. GILES.
Benjamin E. Giles was born in Tazewell county, Illinois, January 22,
1865. His father, Stelle Giles (1833-1907), was reared near Plainfield,
New Jersey, married ]\Iary C. Albro (1826-1909), of Newport, Rhode
Island, pioneer farmers in Illinois from 1850 to 1877, '^''^'^^ lived one year
in Hutchinson, Kansas, in a house which is still standing at First and jMaple
streets, the property belonging to John Nelson. In the spring of 1878,
Stelle Giles and his sons drove to Barton county and purchased land at the
head of Cow Creek, and the same fall was joined by the family, and there
they became extensive farmers and stockmen. When, in 1887, the Mis-
souri Pacific railway was built, Benjamin ]>. Giles helped secure the right
of way, also aided in having bonds voted in different townships. This rail-
road crossinj^ their land, they formed a company and foun.dcd Giles City,
now Chaflin. ludsre llamiltun. who laid out the railroad, li\cd with tliem
while there. Chaflin, becoming- prosperous, later shi])ped more wheat in
one year than any other town in Kansas. Mr. (riles ])uilt a fine suburJjan
home and continued his farming operations \villi great success, and in 1900,
sold out and moved to Stillwater. Oklahoma. ]\lr. and Mrs. Giles were
members of the Baptist and Christian churches, respectively. Their chil-
dren are as follow : Mrs. Mary A. Bass, of McPherson ; ]\Irs. Estella New-
combe, of Great Bend; Emma, the wife of H. W. Galloway, of Pawnee
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 1 39
county; William A., of r.-nvncc county; S. A., of Denver, Colorado; i'.enja-
niin E., of Hutchinson; Carrie, the widow of I.. W. Cook, formerly an
editor of Elmwood.
Benjamin E. Giles came to Kansas when thirteen years of age, attended
the old Sherman street school in Hutchinson, and herded cows on the com-
mons on the site of his present residence. After the family moved to Barton
county, he rode five miles to school until one nearer his home was started,
and finished his schooling- at Great Bend, in the meantime working hard.
After leaving school he hought a farm six miles northeast of Chaflin, and
in 1897 engaged in the real estate business at Great Bend, with Porter
Young, remaining with the firm for six years, and during this period the
firm 5old five hundred thousand acres of mostly western lands, which was
claimed to be the greatest record in the state. Besides his real estate busi-
ness Mr. Giles was also extensively engaged in farming and stock raising on
an acreage of between two and three thousand acres, and for three years
owned and operated a ranch consisting of thirty-four hundred acres in
Hodgeman county, Kansas, keeping nearly one thousand cattle and many
mules and horses. In 1909 he bought and located on the George Cole farm,
northwest of Hutchinson, in order to give his children rural and urlian
advantages. In 19 14 he purchased his present home, an attractive bunga-
low at 211 Ninth avenue, Hutchinson. He owns nine hundred and sixty
acres of land in Pawnee county, Kansas, which is managed by his son,
Elton, and a son-in-law. A. E. Immenschuh. He also owns a wheat farm
of nine hundred and sixty acres in Kiowa county, Kansas, purchased in
1899, ^^^d managed b^- his son, Leonard, as well as five hundred and sixty
acres in Ford county, Kansas.
On April 20, 1887, at St. John, Benjamin E. Giles was married to
Nydia B. Lamb, a native of Butler county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter
of Daniel and Malinda Lamb. In 1885 Mrs. Giles' parents moved from
Pennsvlvania to Kansas, purchasing a half section of land near Chaflin.
Later thev moved to St. John, but are now living at Grand Junction, Colo-
rado, aged ninety-eight and seventy-eight, respectively. To Mr. and Mrs.
Giles have been born the following children: Alice, the wife of A. E.
Immenschuh, has two children. Benjamin and Eugene; Ethel, the wife of
Elmer Justice, of Garden City, Kansas, has one son, Lawrence: Elton, a
CTaduate of the hidi school at Hutchinson, and later a student for a vear
at Emporia College, spent one year at the Kansas State Agricultural Col-
lege, Manhattan, Kansas, and won much fame as a foot-ball player: Helen.
I40 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
a kindergarten teacher in 1 1 nichin^on. and (.iertrudc and Margaret, the last
two named being >iill in school.
Mr. Ciiles is a Repnblican in ])i)litics, and has always taken a ])rominent
part in all matters of local iniiiortancc and npbuilding. He was chief pro-
moter, a director and is now vice-president ()f the Straw-Board Manufactur-
ing Company, of Hutchinson, which is a large and prosperous concern. He
is president and chief organizer of the Hutchinson & Western Interurban
Railway Company. He is a Mason, belonging to the blue lodge and con-
sistory at Great Bend, and to the Mystic Shrine at Salina. He is a charter
member of the lodge of Odd Fellows at Chaflin, and is a trustee, though
non-member of the congregational church at Hutchinson, to which his wife
belongs, and assisted in its building.
MELVIN J. REYNOLDS.
A descendant of one of the old families of Virginia, the subject of this
sketch was early thrown on his own resources. After the family had
suffered considerable loss in the general havoc wrought by the war between
the States, Melvin J. Reynolds came to the West and after years of diligent
application is now comfortably situated on a fine c[uarter section in this
county.
Melvin T. Reynolds was born on August 31, i860, in Russell county,
\"irgiiiia, the son of Isaac V. and Sarah J. ( Ferguson ) Reynolds, 1)oth of
whom were born in Russell countw where the family had lived for many
generations. Isaac \'. Reynolds was the son of Ira Reynolds, who was the
owner of a large plantation in A'irginia before the war.
During the Ci\i] War, Isaac \'. Reynolds served in the Confederate
arm}- in the Sixteenih Virginia Cavalrw under the command of General
McCausland. .\fter serving throughout the war, Isaac \\ Reynolds returned
to his home, but he never recovered from the effects of a cold contracted
while in the army, and died in 1866. at the age of twenty-nine years.
Sarah J. Ferguson was born on December 21. 1837. She was married
to Isaac \'. Reynolds a short time before the war. W hen her husband died
in t866 she was left with the care of two small cliiMren. and seeking a bet-
ter location in which to rear her family than the then de\astated region of
her home seemed to offer, she removed to Illinois, in 1873. and located in
Adams count}', where she kept honsc for se\en years for AA'illiam Burke.
RENO CUL'NTY, KANSAS. [4.I
Later, Mrs. Iveyiiukls bought :l farm in thai ciinit}', and h\e(l in lllincjis the
remainder of her hfe. She (hed at I'dlen Grove, llhnois, Deeeniber 23,
1907, at the age of se\ent}- }-ears. Mrs. Reynolds was a member of the
Missionary Baptist ehurch and was aetive in all gcjod \v(jrks in that eom-
munion.
Isaac \\ and Sarah j. (Ferguson) Reynolds were the parents of two
children, namely: Melvin J., the subject of this sketch, and Ira, a farmer
in Adams county, Illinois, who lives on the old home farm of one hundred
and forty-three acres.
In Virginia, Mel \ in J. Reynolds attended subscription school for a few
terms, the tuition being paid l)y his mother through tlie sale of chestnuts,
cabbage and tobacco. When the family removed to Illinois in itS/^, Melvin
J. was thirteen years old. He attended the district school in the winter
and worked on farms in the summer, living in Adams county with his
mother until he was twenty-two years old.
In 1882, Mr. Reynolds \\'ent to Sumner count}', Kansas, where he
secured employment with A. B. Burke, a big sheep man, with whom he
worked for eleven years. At that time the sheep were on the open range
and were herded from Nebraska to southwest Texas, changing pastures
with the seasons. Mr. Reynolds soon became an expert in the shee]) luisi-
ness and was made foreman of the outfit, subsequently he became financially
interested with his employer. Mehin J. Reynolds came to Reno county in
1894 and located in Salt Creek townshi]), where he rented a farm of Closes
C. Stahly. Mr. Reynolds conducted this farm on a rental basis for manv
years, and finally, in 19 12. ]nu'chased one hundred and sixty acres of the
place, being the southeast (juarter of section 32. Mr. Reynolds has ]nit
numerous improvements on the farm. He keeps a good grade of stock and
engages principally in wheat farming, which has Ijeen very profitable in
recent years.
Melvin J. Reynolds was married on November 26, 1900. to .\my Stahly.
who was born near Nappanee, in Fdkhart county, Indiana, the daughter of
Moses C. and Mary fNisley) Stahly. Moses C. Stahly came to Reno
countv, Kansas, from Indiana in 1885, and bought a farm in Salt Creek
township. In 1903 he and his wife moved to Hutchinson, where tliey still
live and where Mr. Stahly is engaged as a carpenter.
]Mr. and Mrs. Revnolds are the parents of one son, Ferguson, who was
born on October 23, 1904. Mr. Reynolds is a Democrat, and takes a
proper interest in all matters afl:'ecting the welfare of the community. He
and his wife have a wide circle of friends in this part of Reno county.
M- RENO COUXTY. KANSAS.
WILSON SMITH.
Wilson Smith, best known as one of the influential citizens of Nicker-
son, Reno county, Kansas, was born on September 28, i860, in Peoria,
Illinois, and is the son of Henry and Margaret (Wilson) Smith, who were
both born in Ireland. Henry Smith was born in 1826, and died in 1902.
He immigrated to America previous to his marriage and located in Phila-
delphia. Alargaret Wilson was l^rought to this country when a girl and her
marriage to Henry Smith was solemnized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
where she then lived. Her death occurred in 1862. She was the mother
of five sons, whose names follow: Robert and William, deceased; Lewis
C, Robert, who has been unheard from for many years, and Wilson. After
the death of Alargaret (W'ilson) Smith, her husband married Mariah (Wil-
son) Reece, widow of Joseph Reece, and of this second union four children
were born, namely : Mariah, Newell, David, deceased, and Loren. Mariah
(Wilson) Reece was the mother of one child by her first marriage, Jennie.
Henry Smith was a resident of Illinois at the time of his death and both he
and his wife were active in local church aftairs, being devoted members of
the Presbyterian church.
Wilson Smith lived in Illinois until twenty-two years of age, when he
located in Butler county, Kansas. After his marriage and for the past
thirtv vcars Lewis has lived with his brother. Lewis Smith is a farmer who
operates a place containing about six hundred acres of land and first began
his career in this vocation in 1877.
On February 18, 1886, \\'ilson Smith was united in marriage to Alice
Thompson, daughter of AA'illiani P. and Mary A. (Kizer) Thompson. A\'il-
son Smith and wife are the parents of two children, Laura and Edith, who
are both in training at the State Normal School at Pittsburg, Kansas. The
marriage of Wilson Smith and Alice Thompson was solemnized in Wash-
ington. Illinois. Alice (Thompson) Smith was born on Decemlicr ti. i86t,
and is (;ne of ten children born to the union of her jiarents. five of whom
are now living. Their names follow: Elizabeth and l^lij.-ih, deceased; Celia
A., I.ucinda E., Mary Louisa. Ella. Alice. Emma C. and two who died in
infancy. \Mlliam P. Thompson was a native of Pennsylvania, while his
wife was born in \'irginia. They met and married in Ohio, in 1841, and
thence removed to Illinois where they established a permanent home. Both
husband and wife were active members of the Christian clnu'ch and liberal
supporters of same. William P. Thompson was born in 1817 and his death
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. I43
occurred on April 2j, 1903, his wife preceding him by ten years. She
was born in 1821.
Wilson Smith was a resident of Kansas for three years previous to
his marriage, returning to Illinois for his bride. Upon his return to this
section, they purchased eighty acres and added to it until they had seven
hundred and twenty acres of land in Westminster township. Mr. Smith
continued to make that his home until 1908, at which time he removed to
the town of Nickerson. Since coming to this city he has been identified
with all progressive civic questions and has served as a member of the town
council for three years past. He is also active as a member of the Christian
church, serving its interests as an elder for seven years.
T. O. WHEELER.
J. O. Wheeler was born in Jackson county, Indiana, November 8, 1830.
He is a son of Orrel H. Wheeler, who was born in Vermont. His mother
was Elizabeth Love, a daughter of John Love, who moved from eastern
Tennessee to Indiana, where he lived the remainder of his life. He was a
soldier in the War of 181 2.
Mr. Wheeler's paternal grandfather was Nehemiah Wheeler, a New
Englander, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, entering the service
at the age of sixteen years. Nehemiah Wheeler first settled in Ohio, but
later moved to Jackson county, Indiana, where he lived the remainder of his
life. His wife was Thursie Hall. He was a son of Enoch Wheeler, and
the grandson of Samuel Wheeler, who was the first representative of the
Wheeler family who settled in America. .
Orrel H. Wheeler's education comprised three months in a country
school, but he became a w^ell-read man. He was twice married, his first
wife being J. O. Wheeler's mother. He came to Jackson county, Indiana,
with his father's family, when twelve years old. He learned the carpenter's
trade, but after moving to Jasper county, Illinois, he followed farming the
rest of his life, his death occurring in the latter county.
y. O. Wheeler received his education in the common schools of Jack-
son countv. Indiana, and was a student in the high school in Jennings county,
Indiana. After leaving school Mr. Wheeler took up farming and also learned
the carpenter's trade. LIpon the breaking out of the Civil War. he enlisted
for service in the L"''nion army on August 14, 1862, and served three years
144 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
with the Ninet3--eighth Rtginient, Illinois \'oliinteer Mounted Infantry. He
received gunshot wound'; in the hand antl in the hack while in the service,
and from third sergeant he was promoted to hrst sergeant, then to first
lieutenant. After the war he resumed farming, and in May, 1873. moved
from Indiana to Kansas, homesteading land four miles west of Nickerson.
Here he and his family endured all the hardships of the earlv Kansas
pioneers, hunting Imtialo hones for a living and contenchng with the grass-
hopper plague. Mr. Wheeler has now retired from active life, heing almost
blind.
On August 16, 1852. J. O. Wheeler was married to Mary Ruddick,
who was a native of Jackson county, Indiana, and who died on July 13,
1914. They were the parents of the following children: Emma E., who
married Albert Dean and they have seven children; Alice, who married J.
yi. Asher; Solomon, Julia, Clara Jane, who married William Dean and thev
have five children ; Charles Harvey, who is now living on the farm, married
Eannie Johnson and they have five children. All are deceased but Charles
Elarvey. ?vlrs. AAdieler in early life ^^■as a Quaker, liut later was a member
of the ^lethodist church, in which denomination Mr. "Wheeler is still acti\-e.
CHARLES BLOOM.
Charles Blodni. who for many years was one of the best-known busi-
ness men in Hutchinson and who later lixed very comfortably on his fine
farm in Reno township until his death on January 29, 1916, was a native
of Germanv, haxing been born in ilic town of \\'aldmohr, Rhenish Bavaria,
on June 24, 1846, son of I'liili]) and i\iary (Zimmer) Bloom, both born and
reared in l'>avaria, members of the German Reformed church, and the for-
mer of whom was a blacksmith.
In 1856 the Bloom family emigrated to America, the vessel on which
they sailed being forty-eight days on the way to the ])ort of Xew York.
Upon arriving in ihi- conntrw the Blooms located al Tiffin, in Seneca county,
Ohio, later moving to a farm near that city, where Air. and Mrs. Bloom
s]ient the remainder of tluir li\es, both dying in 1870, the former at the age
of seventy-two and the 1,'itter at the age of lifty-six. They were the par-
ents of seven children, of whom the subject of this biographical sketch was
the voungest, the others being as follow: Thilip. Jr., now deceased, who
was a farmer in Ohio; Jacob, now deceased, who was a blacksmith in Ohio;
CO
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. I45
Caroline, who died unmarried in Indiana; Charlotte, now deceased, who
married George Hartman, of Seneca county, Ohio; Mary, who married
William Leper and lives in Tiffin, Ohio, and Dora, who lives in Ft. Wayne,
Indiana, widow of Luther Allbrecht.
Charles Bloom was six years of age when he arrived in this country
with his parents and his schooling therefore was wholly confined to the
American system of education. He performed valuable labors in his youth
in assisting in the clearing of the home farm in Seneca county, Ohio, and at
the age of twenty-two, in 1868, he came to Kansas and entered a claim in
Wilson county, but the fever and ague at that time were proving such draw-
backs to that section of the state that he abandoned his claim and went to
Andrews county, Missouri, where, in the village ofBalco, he opened a black-
smith shop, he having learned that trade from his father, and was thus en-
gaged until 1872, in which year he rented a farm in that same county, he
having married there in the fall of 1871, and there he lived for four years,
at the end of wdiich time he decided that Kansas offered better opportuni-
ties for material advancement and returned to the state he had left in disgust
seven or eight years before. He arrived in Reno county on July 18, 1876,
where he lived until his death. Upon his arrival here he settled in Hutchin-
son, even then a most promising village, and bought a building on the corner
of Second and Main streets, in wdiich, in partnership with his brother-in-law,
A. M. West, they started a livery stable, which they conducted for some
time. In 1878 Mr. Bloom and his partner bought the water-power flour mill,
which they operated until 1901. Mr. Bloom also was the organizer and one
of the five men who composed the wholesale grocery concern of C. Bloom
& Company and was connected with that flourishing business until 1901, at
the same time being actively connected with the retail grocery and general
store of the A. M. West Company, from 1883 to 189 1, dividing his time
about equally between the two enterprises. In 1895, five or six years before
his retirement from business in Hutchinson, Mr. Bloom had jjought two
hundred and forty acres of the Wolcott ranch, west of Hutchinson, and
after his retirement made his home there. For several years he operated an
extensive dairy there, but in later years confined his attention wdiolly to gen-
eral farming and gave his personal attention to the management of his well-
kept farm. In 1910 Mr. Bloom's second son, Ralph H. Bloom, opened a
livery barn in Hutchinson and Mr. Bloom had an interest in that concern.
On October 3, 1871, Charles Bloom was united in marriage, in Seneca
county, Ohio, to Margaret E. West, wdio was born in that county, daughter
(loa)
146 RENO COUXTY. KANSAS.
of James and Julia \\"est. and i" ihU union three children have been born:
H. Clayton, a retired merchant living in Hutchinson; Ralph H., who operates
a hvery barn in Hutchinson, and Bessie, who married Delos Smith, president
of the Hutchinson ^\'holesale Saddlery Company.
'\[v. Bloom was a Democrat and during the early years of his residence
and during the time of his active business career took an active and influen-
tial part in the political affairs of Reno county and of the county seat town,
but never was an office seeker. He was honorable and upright in all his
relations in life, and will be long remembered by his many associates and
friends.
ROBERT JA:\IES GRAHAM.
The late Robert James Graham, for more than twenty years one of
Hutchinson's sterling and most substantial citizens, a man highly respected
throughout the whole county, active and influential in all good works here-
about, whose widow, ^^frs. Sarah Marshall Graham, is still living in Hutch-
inson, honored and respected l)y the entire community, was a native of
Ohio, ha\"ing been Ijorn on a farm in Morrow county, that state, ]\Iarch 8,
1850, son of Thomas and Isabelle ( Walker) Graham, both natives of \\'ash-
ington county, Pennsylvania, and both of sterling Scottish descent.
Soon after their marriage, Thomas Graham and wife left Pennsylvania
and moved over into central Ohio, settling in Alorrow county, where they
bought a farm and there spent the remainder of their lives, Mrs. Graham
dying when the subject of this sketch was nine years old. Eight children
were born to Thomas Graham and his wife and all were reared in the strict
f;uth of the Reformed church, both ]\Ir. and ^Frs. Graham having been
rigid "Covenanters." Thomas Graham was a good farmer and an excellent
manager and liecame a man of considerable substance, his children being
given every advantage in the way of schooling and cultural training, all
becoming good citizens, serving usefully in their respective callings.
Robert j. Graham received his elementary education in llie schools of
his native county and supplemented the same In- a thorough course in
01>erlin College, from which he was graduated witli honors. He had been
reared to the life of the farm and soon after his marriage, on .Vpril 23,
1873, bought a farm in Richland county. Ohio, where he made his home
until 1884. in which year he disposed of all his holdings there and came
West with the intention of settling in Dakota. On the way out he stopped
KKXO cor XT Y, KANSAS. I 47
at liutchinsiui, this county, to make a \isit wilh his Ijruthcr-in-law, W. K.
Marshall, who had located in that city some time previously, and during
that visit hecame much im])ressed with the possibilities of this section of the
state. He continued his trip to Dakota, however, hut after having- received
so favorahle an impression u\ conditions hereabout was not much impressed
with conditions in Dakota. Upon his return to Hutchinson, Air. Graham
told his wife, who meanwhile had remained there, that they would remain
in Hutchinson that winter and if conditions still seemed favorable in the
following spring they would make their home here. During that winter Mr.
Graham's liking for Kansas increased and in the spring he buught three
hundred and twent\- acres of land in Lincoln towaiship, continuing, how-
ever, to make his home in Hutchinson, managing the farm from his home
in town. Later he increased his investment in Reno county realty by buying
the quarter section just north of Hutchinson, which his widow sold in 1909
to the Kansas State Fair Association and which has been converted into the
state fair grounds.
In the early nineties Robert J. Graham became a partner with Air.
Ardery in the A. & A. drug-store enterprise at Hutchinson and for ten
years was an acti\e partner in the same. He also was interested in various
other enterprises in and about the city and was long regarded as one of
Hutchinson's leading citizens, so that at the time of his death, on October 18,
1905. he was widely mourned, the community recognizing that he had been
true and faithful in all the obligations of life. In 1888, four years after
taking up his residence in Hutchinson, Mr. Graham built a pleasant home at
310 Fourth avenue, east, wdiere his widow still lives, very comfortably sit-
uated and enio\ini?- the constant evidences of the high esteem in which she
is held by the entire community, her devotion to all good works hereabout
havine endeared her to all. Mrs. Graham is alone in her home, so far as
family is concerned. Three of her Imbies died in infancy and the only child
who grew to maturity, her dearlv lo\-ed daughter. Myrtle, who married
Harry Squire, died in Feliruary, 1909. Mrs. Graham's parents, Robert and
Rebecca (Riddle) Alarshall, died in Richland county, Ohio, before her mar-
riage to Mr. Graham, but she has a sister. Airs. Dora Silver, wife of George
Silver, of Ellsworth, this state, and a brother, Edgar Alarshall. a i^rtMninent
clothing merchant of Alansfield, Ohio. Another brother, the late William
R. Alarshall, was for years a wTll-known resident of LIutchinson, this county.
Robert L Graham was an earnest member of the Presbyterian church
at Hutchinson, in the ^■ar^ous beneficences of wdiich he ever took a warm
interest, his widow still being devoted to the same. Air. Graham was a Re-
148 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
publican and ever took a good cilizen"s interest in local political affairs,
being greatly concerned in good go\'ernment, though never having been
included in the office-seeking class. He was a member of the order of Mod-
ern Woodmen, in the aft'airs of which he took a warm interest and durine:
the two decades and more in which he made his home in Hutchinson was
regarded as one of that city's most popular citizens, a friend to all, all
friendly to him, a good neighbor and an enterprising and public-spirited
citizen.
WILLIAM PEARSON.
AMlliam Pearson, a veteran of the Civil ^\^ar and one of the pioneer
farmers of Reno county, who lived retired at his pleasant home at 221
Eleventh avenue, west, in Hutchinson, until his death, on September 12,
191 5, was a native of the Emerald Isle, having been born in Londonderry,
County Derr}-, in the north of Ireland, on ]\Iarch 29, 1841, son of Gibbons
and Jane (Wilson) Pearson, both natives of that county, of Scottish descent,
the former of whom was a member of the established church of England
and the latter a Presbyterian.
Gil)bons Pearson was a contracting teamster, the owner of more than
a dozen teams, who had the contract to do all the hauling between London-
derry and a neighborhood village. In 1841 he emigrated with his family to
America, stopping for a sliort time in New York City, where he was
employed as a teamster, presently moving to a town in Pennsyhania, where
he died within the year. His widow never remarried and presently moved-
l)ack to New York City, where she spent the remainder of her life. She
was left with se\en children, live sons and two daughters, upon the death of
her husl)and, and she bravely kei)t her family together, l)ringing them up to
lives of usefulness. Of these children, the subject of this biographical
sketch, who was next to the youngest, was the only one who ever came
West, the others making their homes in New ^'ork City rmd Brooklyn, and
they are all now deceased.
\\'illiam I'earson was an infanl in arms when he was brought to
America by his parents and was but two years of age when his father died.
He attended the public schools of New York City and at the age of four-
teen liegan learning the carpenter trade. In ^^lay, 1861, when twenty years
of age. he responded to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers to help
put down the rebellinn of the Southern states, enlisting in New York City
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. I49
in L'oinpaii}- 1'", ScNcntx-niiUh l\c,i;iincnl, Xcw N'ork XOlnniccr liifaiilr)', the
famous "HiohiaiKlcrs." with which he served for a htlle iiKjre than three
years, being mustered out in June, 1864. During this term of service, Mr.
Pearson was a jjarticipant in some of the most important and bloody en-
gagements of the L'i\il War. His regiment was attached t(j the Ninth Army
Corps, First Division of Hurnsides' Army, and was present at Ijoth Ijattles
of Bull l\un, of Port Ro^al Ferry, South Carolina; of South Mountain,
Antietam, Fredericksburg, V'icksburg, Jackson, Blue Springs, the siege of
Knoxville, the Wilderness. Spottsylvania, Hatchers Run and Petersburg.
At the close of his army service, Mr. Pearson returned to New York
and entered the employ of his brother, Alexander, who was engaged in the
manufacture of sewing-machine cases for the Grove & Baker factory, and
in 1867 became his brother's partner, this arrangement continuing until
1872, in which }ear he engaged in the retail furniture business in the city
of Brooklyn and became quite successful in that line. In the meantime, in
1866, he had married and had established his family in a tine three-story
house in the citv. In 1874 an asthmatic trouble with which Mr. Pearson
for some time had been afflicted became so pronounced that it was declared
imperative that he should seek a different climate. With that end in \"iew
he came to Kansas, leaving his family in their home in Brooklyn, and sought
relief from his disability in the far-sweeping and health-giving l^reezes of
Reno county, living here during the summer and fall of 1874, "batching"'
with a homesteader in Medford township, and was so agreeably impressed
with the possibilities of this region that he bought a quarter of a section of
land thereabout as an investment. To his great joy, he presently found that
his asthmatic afHiction had entirely disappeared and he returned home, con-
fident that he was ]5ermanently restored ot his former excellent state of
health. He had not l)ecn home more than a f(^rtnight, however, until his
olrl enenn-. the asthma, again attacked him and this time with such force
that his life was despaired of. Pie hastened back to his old quarters in this
county and then and there decided to make this his permanent home, his
affliction again having disappeared.
Preparatory to the establishment of his new home. Mr. Pearson home-
steaded one-quarter of section 12. in Medford township, adjoining the (juar-
ter of a section he previously had bought, and set about the erection of a
home. Not content to 1)ring his family, accustomed to the comforts of their
hue home in the city, to such a form of habitation as that represented in the
"shacks" such as his pioneer neighbors had I)uilt on their homestead lands,
Mr. Pearson, at much trouble and no small expense, caused to be erected a
150 RENO COL'XTY, KAXSAS.
large frame house, one and one-half stories in height, lilled in Ijetween the
weather-hi larding and the plaster with brieks, in order to make it as near
winter-jiroof and c)clone-proof as p,ossilde, tlie house being prol^ably the
largest and l)est house in the count}- at that time. "Sir. Pearson's care in
thus proxiding for the coming needs of his family was -a matter of wide
comment throughout the county and one of the Hutchinson newspapers of
that date was moved to remark that "a New Yorker has come to the coimty
and has built a mansion on his farm." When all was in readiness, Air.
Pearson sent for his wife and family, having meanwhile closed out his busi-
ness interests in the city, and they arrived on July 4, 1876.
In order to gain a closer acquaintance with his pioneer neighbors and
as a suitable "house-xxarming" for the nexx' home. Mr. Pearson had extended
a general in\itation throughout the countryside for all the pioneer neighbors
to gather in at his nexv home on a certain evening and become acquainted
with his wife and family. The response to this cordial invitation was gen-
eral, the jieople of that then sparsely settled country coming distances of
twenty miles or more to take part in the festivities. That had been a season
of hard fortune for the peo])le hereabout, what with the drought and the
grasshoppers, and the opportunity thus to break the dread monotony of
conditions on the prairie was not to be overlooked. A nuinber of great
turkeys, together with "lashin's of fixin's" had been provided for the occa-
sion and the Pearson home then and there established a reputation for hos-
pitality that it ever retained. The only musicians in Hutchinson, four in
number, had been brought out to the new homestead to provide music for
the dance which followed the feast, and dancing was kept up in the new
barn, the floor of which had been converted into an admirable dancing sur-
face, until six o'clock the next morning. The floor of one of the large
rooms in tiie house was nearly covered with the sleeping babies, thus tucked
away for the night while their respective mothers were enjoying the festivi-
ties. And thus the Pear.sons established themselves in Reno county, the
"house-warming" which inaugurated their ,arri\al here still being a matter
of pleasant recollection on the part of the survi\ing "old-timers," who have
never ceased to keep in mind the ojiening of the new home.
From the very beginning of his farming operations in this cnintx'. Mr.
Pearson w\as successful and he graflually enlarged his original holdings
until he became the owner of inv.v hundred acres of valual)lc land. In 1902
he retired from the active duties of the farm and he and his wife, who had
ever been a valuable and competent helpmate in the life on the farm, moved
into Hutchinson, where she is now living in a very pleasant home at 221
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. I5I
Eleventh street, west. On jnl\- 3, i()if», Mr. and .\h>. I'earson would have
celebrated their ""-olden wedding-.'" had he li\ ed, that date marking the fiftieth
anniversary of their marriage in Xew \'ork Cit}- on July 3, 1866. Mrs. Pear-
son, who before her marriage was l^llen Edwards, was born in Canada and
located in New York City when a small girl, her ])arcnts, Matthew and
Jane (McLean) I*~dwards, moving to the city at that lime. To the
union of William and l^llen (Edwards) Pearson eight children were born,
namely: Alexander, who is engaged in the furniture business at Eugene,
Oregon; Ella, wdio died at the age of twenty; Thomas Burnsides, who lives
on the old homestead farm in Medford towaiship; William Gibbons, who is
engaged in the piano business in Kansas City, Missouri ; James Lincoln,
connected wdth the Zinn Jewelry Company at Hutchinson ; Jennie, who mar-
ried Charles Smith, a well-known farmer of Reno towaiship, this county;
Mary E., who married William Davis, a Medford township farmer, and
Sarah M., who married Herman- Hostetter and died on Eebruary 12, 1909.
Mr. and Mrs. Pearson w^ere members of the Alethodist Episcopal church
and their children were reared in that faith. Mr. Pearson was a Mason and
a member of Joe Hooker Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and for years
took a warm interest in the atlairs both of the lodge and of his fellow-
veterans of the Civil War.
HENRY G. CURNUTT.
Henry G. Curnutt, an honored veteran of the Civil War and a pioneer
farmer of this county, now living pleasantly retired in the city of Hutchin-
son, is a Hoosier, having been born in Fayette county, Indiana, December
24, 1844, son of Calloway and Lydia (Hutchings) Curnutt. the former of
whom w^as a Virginian who migrated to Indiana wdien a boy. with his par-
ents, and the latter a native of Indiana.
Callow^ay Curnutt grew- to manhood in Fayette county, Indiana, being
reared on a pioneer farm, and upon reaching manhood's estate began farm-
ing on his own account. He married a neighbor girl and established a
home there, in which he and his family lived until 1849, i" which year they
moved to Montgomery county, Indiana, settling on a farm near the village
of New Richmond, on which he and his wife spent their last days. They
were Methodists and substantial and useful members of the community in
which they lived. Calloway Curnutt died in 1858, in his fortieth year, and
15- RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
his widow survived him but live years, her death occurring in February,
1863. at the age of forty-five. I'hey were the parents of eight children, five
sons and three daughters, of whom tlie subject of this biographical sketch
was the third in order of birth, and but one other of whom, the Rev. Will-
iam Curnuii. now deceased, for years a well-known minister of the Meth-
odist church at Tola. Kansas, ever came to this state. One of the other
sons, P""rank Curnutt, next older than Henry G., Avas killed in battle at
Stone's river, while fighting for the cause of the Union during the Civil
War.
Henry G. Curnutt was five years old when his parents moved from
Fayette count}' to ^Montgomery county, Indiana, and he grew to manhood
on the home farm in the latter county, receiving his education in the pioneer
district school of that neighborhood. On July 25, 1862, he enlisted in Com-
pany E. Seventy-second Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, for service
during the Civil War, and served until February 4, 1863, on which date he
was honorably discharged on account of physical disability, having been
confined in hospital for two months previous to his discharge. His regiment
was attached to the -\rmy of the Cumberland and among the important
engagements in which he participated was the battle of Castillian Springs.
x\t the termination of his military service, Mr. Curnutt returned home and,
after recuperating from his weakened condition, took active management of
the home place, he being the eldest of the sons of their wddowed mother at
home. His mother died in the same month in which he was discharged
from military service and he kept things going at home for five years, or
until 1868. in which year the family dis1>anded and he went to ]\Iacon
county, Illinois, where he rented a farm and esta1)lished a home of his own.
On May 21, 1867. Mr. Ciu'nutt had married Dortha E. Smith, who was
born and reared in Montgomery counl_\ . Indiana, and who al)ly assi.sted him
in creating the new home in Illinois. She died there on June 10. 1875.
leaving two children. Frank, who now li\e> in (\'i(l(lo countw Oklahoma, he
having drawn a valuable farm claim in ihc allotment of lands when the
Indian territory was opened for settlement, and May. who married Harry
Camren, of Montgomery county, Indiana, and died in h'ebruary, igo6.
Following the death of hi> wife, FTenry G. Curnutt ga\e U]) liis farm-
ing operations in Illinois and, lea\ing his small daughter with kinsfolk in
Indiana, came to Kansas, seeking a new strut amid the conditions that then
seemed so promising in this count}'. He homesteaded a claim in Huntsville
township and on February 14. 1877. married, secondl}-. in that township,
Sarah E. Wilson, who was born in Muskingum coimty, Ohio, on February
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. I 5 ^
3. 1849, (laughter of Samuel and Catherine (McMahon) Wilson, the former
a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of (^hio, who were married in the
latter state and made their home in Muskingum eounty, w^here Samuel Wil-
son followed farming until the time of his death, in 1(852. He and his wife
w-ere the parents of six children, Mrs. Curnntt heing the sixth in order of
birth. Of these six children, hut one other is now living, Robert Wilson, a
resident of Belvidere, Nebraska. The Widow Wilson did not remarry and
upon the opening- of Reno coimty to settlement came here with her family
and homesteaded a cjuarter of a section of land in Huntsville township,
where she created a new home, which, however, she did not live long to
enjoy, for her death occurred in 1875, she then being sixty-three years,
nine months and ten days of age. Not long after his marriage in this
county, Mr. Curnutt sold his homestead and bought the northwest quarter
of section 2, township 2t^, range 9 west, in Huntsville township, and as he
prospered in his farming operations added to the same until he now is the
owner of a fine farm of two hundred and thirteen and one-half acres there,
on which for years he carried on, cjuite extensively, general farming and
stock raising and became quite well-to-do. In 1898 he and his wife retired
from the active duties of the farm and moved to Nickerson, this county,
where they lived until in April, 1913, in wdiich month the\' moved to Hutch-
inson and bought a pleasant home at 305 Sixth avenue, east, where they are
now living.
To Henry G. and Sarah E. (Wilson) Curnutt two children have been
born, William, who is managing the home farm in Huntsville township,
married Pearl Decker and has two children, William and Nellie, and Alma,
wdio married Bartley Jessup. a banker of Abbeyville, this countv. and has
two children, Ruth and I^reda Ellen. Mr. and Mrs. Curnutt are members
of the Methodist church and for vears have l)een active in the s:ood works
of that denomination. Eor seven years Mr. Curnutt was superintendent of
the Sunday school of the Methodist church in Huntsville township, a .stew-
ard of the church and a consistent financial supporter of the same. Mr.
Ctu-'nutt also was acti\e and influential in the promotion of the interests of
the schools of that townshi]-) and for sixteen years was treasurer of the com-
bined school districts of his neighborhood, inclusive of four districts, and
did much to help elevate educational standards thereabout. He is a Repub-
lican and has ever given a good citizen's attention to the political affairs of
the county. Enterprising and energetic, he took a prominent part in the
promotion of the various interests of his home neighborhood and for eight
years was president of the Nickerson Telephone Company, a concern which
154 RENO COUNTY. KANSAS.
he helped to cstalilish. Mr. Cunuitt is an active member of Joe Hooker
Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and takes a warm interest in the affairs
of that patriotic society.
HENRY NEUENSCHWANDER.
Henry Neuenschwander, a well-known farmer of Salt Creek township,
this county, is a Hoosier by birth, having been born in Adams county,
Indiana, on January 17, 1878, son of Jacob Neuenschwander and wife,
members of the ]\Iennonite colony in that county, who were the parents
of five children, three of whom are still living, those besides the subject
of this sketch being Xoah, who lives in Oklahoma, and Josie, who married
George Keller and also lives in Oklahoma. The mother of these children
died when her son, Henry, was a baby, and the latter has no recollection of
e\er having heard her name. Jacob Nuenschwander married, secondly, Bar-
bara Eagley, and in 1884 he and his family came to Kansas, settling in this
count}-, \\here he bought a cjuarter of a section of land in Salt Creek town-
ship and established a new home. To his second marriage two children
were born, a daughter who died in youth and a son, Emil, who is now
li\ing in Oklahoma. In 1900 Jacob Neuenschwander sold his place in this
county and moved, with his family, to Beaver county, Oklahoma, where he
and his wife are still liviu"'. devout members of the ]\Iennonite colonv there.
Henry Neuenschwander was six years old when he came with his
family to this county and he was reared on the home farm in Salt Creek
township, attending the district schools and living the simple and somewhat
puritanical life of a ]\Iennonite farmer boy. ITe was twenty-two years old
when he accompanied his father and the other members of the family to
Oklahoma. He remained there two years, assisting his father in getting
settled in his new home, after which he returned to this county, married
and rented a farm in Enterprise townshi]). on which he made his home until
191 2. in which year he bought a quarter of a section of the farm of his
father-in-law, John Schott, the southwest quarter of section :;, in Salt Creek
township, including the Schott homestead, and there he has since made his
home, becoming a prosperous and substantial farmer, his father-in-law,
whose wife died in 1887, making his home with him and his wife. All are
members of the Mennonite church, substantial and excellent people, who
lend much to the general stability of that section of the county. Mr. Neuen-
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. I :^
:)D
schwandcr never votes, in common with the ])racticc of the people of his
faith, l)nt once served as clerk of the school district. 'rh')Ui:;^h, in the main,
followinii" the old-fashioned \\a_\-s of his fathers in the manner (jf condncting
his farm operations, he does not wholly decry modern methods and finds his
b'ord antomobile a i^reat help and convenience.
On Angust ig, 1902, Henry Neuensch wander was nnited in marriage
to Lncy wSchott, who was born in Wayne connty, Indiana, danghter of John
and Katie Schott, and who came to this county with her parents when, she
was four years old and here grew to womanhood. John Schott is a native
of France, having been born in a ]\Iennonite settlement in the eastern part
of that country. As a young man he emigrated to the United States and
finallv located in Allen countv. Indiana, in the Ft. Wavne neitrhborhood.
where he married, later moving to Wayne county, in the neighljorhood of
Richmond, Avhere he lived until 1878, in which year he and his familv came
to Kansas and settled in this county, buying the southwest quarter of section
3, in Salt Creek township, railroad land, and there made their new home. As
noted above, Mrs. Schott died in 1887, and in 19 12 Air. Schott sold his
farm to his son-in-law, Mr. Neuenschwander, who had married his daugh-
ter, Lucy, youngest of his children in a family of six. Mr. and Mrs. X'eu.en-
schwander have one son, Paul J. They also have in their household Helen
and Arthur, whom they have undertaken to rear to manhood and woman-
hood.
SWAN ESKELSON.
No history of Reno county would be complete without fitting reference
to the* life and the works of the late Swan Eskelson, one of the very earliest
settlers of this county, who braved all the privations and the distressing-
conditions that confronted the ]iioneers of this section during the early years
of the settlement hereabout and who succeeded largely, in tiiue coming to
be one of the most substantial farmers and stockmen of the Hutchinson
neighborhood, his fine farm in Clay township having been developed froiu
the homestead which he entered there in 1871, three months after the tirst
settlement made in Reno county.
Swan Eskelson was born near the town of Wexo, Sweden. December
3, 1826, and was past eighty-nine years of age at the time of his death, on
January 15, 1916. He was the son of Eskel and Ingebar (Jahnsdatter)
Swanson, natives of the kingdom of Sweden, who spent all their lives in that
156 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
country, rearing their children in the faith of the Lutheran church. Eskel
Swanson died in 1856 and liis widow sur\i\ed him many years, her death
occurring in 1884, she then heing past ninety years of age. Swan Eskelson
was reared on a farm and when twenty-two years of age married Kersting
Germanson, who was born in Sweden in October, 1825. After his marriage
he tilled his father's farm, rearing liis family there, until the spring of 1871,
at which time he came to the United States, he and the other members of
his famil}- joining at Topeka. this state, in June, his sons, John, who had
come to this country in 1869, and Peter, who had followed in 1870. Upon
arriving in Kansas, .Swan Eskelson lost little time in seeking a homestead
tract and in the summer of 1871 homesteaded the northw^est quarter of sec-
tion 24. in Clay township. Reno county, in addition to which he bought
eight} acres of railroad land and there he established his home. Erecting
a little shack on his homestead on the plain. Swan Eskelson faced the task
of developing a home in the midst of rather unpromising conditions, but he
weathered the hardships of the grasshopper years and the years of drought
and flame and presently began to prosper. He early made a specialty of
stock raising, the free range at that time offering large opportunities for the
successful prosecution of that business, and made a fortune. He later
bought another quarter section in Clay township and became one of the
county's most substantial farmers. His wife died on June 29, 1897, and in
1900 .Mr. Eskelson sold most of his land and moved to Hutchinson, where
he built a home and prepared to spend the Ixdance of his da}-s in the city,
but conditions in the pent-u]) environment were not to his liking and he
returned to the farm, built a new house near that of his daughter, Mrs.
Hannah Strandberg, w-ho now owns the old home place, and there regained
the freedom of spirit he could not feel in the cit}'.
On January 15. 1916, ]\Ir. Eskelson suffered an attack of heart disease
while entering an interurl)an railwa\' car in fmnt of the Baldwin bote! in
Hutchinson to return to his home near Kent station and before medical
assistance could be secured was dead. Mr. l-lskelson for man\- years had
been regarded as one of the leaders of the considerable Swedish colon\ in
this county and his sudden death was widely mourned l)y his many friends.
He was an ardent l\e])ul)lican and had served his home township in the
capacity of trustee and as treasurer. He and his w'ife were earnest mem-
bers of the Swedish Eutheran church at Ilutcbinsdn and their children were
reared in that faith. There were six of these children, namely: The late
John E.skelson, who at the time of his death was the owner of eighteen hun-
dred acres of land in Clay township, his widow now being the largest land-
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. I 57
owner in Clay townsliii); I'ctcr. liorn on October 28, 1848. a well-known
retired farmer Ii\in^- on his line farm in Clay townshii); Christine, who mar-
ried Allman Peterson, a Clay township farmer, both now^ deceased; M<>llie,
wife of Jacob C. Hartshorn, of Los Angeles, California; Lena, wife of
James Freese, of Hutchinson, and Hannah, wife of Peter Strandberg, a well-
known farmer of Clay township, living on the old Lskelson homestead.
ANDREW JACKSON HUCKLEBERRY, JR.
Andrew Jackson Huckleberry, Jr., one of Reno county's best-known
young practical farmers and an extensive buyer of horses and mules, whose
operations extend all o\'er the plains and mountain states, is a native of
Texas, having been born in the towai of San Angelo, in Tom Green county,
that state, on December 28, 1884, son of Andrew Jackson and Lilly (Hum-
phrey) Huckleberry, pioneers of this county, wdio were temporarily residing
in Texas at that time, the former of whom is still living in this county, at
the age of seventy-eight, and the latter, born in Lexington, Kentucky, in
1852, died in 1903.
The senior Andrew J. Huckleberry, who is a remarkably well-preserved
old gentleman and who is still living on his fine place in Salt Creek town-
ship, which has been his home since 1872. the year after the first permanent
settlement in Reno county, is one of the most interesting figures hereabout,
a veteran of the Civil War, a gentleman of much learning and wide infor-
mation, widely traveled, courtly in his ways, after the manner of the old
school, and a most engaging conversationalist. He is a Hoosier by birth,
having been born in Clark county, Indiana, on the banks of the Ohio river.
He received an excellent education and as a young man was engaged as
bookkeeper on one of the fast packets then plying the waters of the Ohio,
later being promoted to the position of shipping clerk. When the Civil War
broke out he enlisted in the Fourth Indiana Cavalry and served for four
years, participating in all the notable engagements taken part in liy that gal-
lant regiment, including the battles of Chattanooga and Murfreesboro, and
marched with Sherman to the sea.
At the close of the war, ]\Ir. Huckleberry settled in Saline county, Mis-
souri, where he shortly afterward luarried Lilly Humphrey, a Kentucky
girl then living there, and successfully engaged in business. In the spring
of 1872, attracted by the promising possibilities presented in this part of
15^^ RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
K;insas, he came to Reno count}-, the first permanent settlement having been
made here the year before, and homesteaded a quarter of section 20, town-
sh'ip 23. range 7 west, in Salt Creek township, and there made his permanent
home. To this tract lie later added, by purchase, an adjoining Cjuarter sec-
tion, and on this well-kept and admirably-improved old home place he is
now spending in cjuiet comfort the pleasant "sunset time" of his life. Mr.
Huckleberry was among the \evy hrst settlers of Salt Creek township. He
came to Reno count}' with about fourteen hundred dollars in mOney and
among his other possessions, most precious in the pioneer community, were
three head of mules, a team of horses and a new wagon, he having been the
first man in the township to own a team of horses or mules. One of the
other settlers was the proud possessor of one horse and one ox, which he
used effectivel}" in team work. The early settlers were glad to bargain with
Mr. Huckleberry for work on his place, taking in pay therefor the use of
his teams with which to haul buffalo bones to Hutchinson, at that time a
flourishing market for these "natural products of the soil." As a pioneer,
Air. Huckle1)erry passed through all the hardships of the grasshopper plague
and the later plagues of flame and drought and his ^■ivid recollections of that
period form an inexhaustibde and accurate source of information regarding
that i-nha])i)y chapter in the history of Reno county. In the early eighties
Air. and Mrs. Huckleberry left this county, the state of Mrs. Huckleberry's
health at that time seeming to require a change of climate, and for fifteen
years were in residence elsewhere, first lixing in Texas, then in Arkansas
and then in Xew Mexico. Though ever regarding his homestead place in
Salt Creek township as his permanent home and being pleasant!}- situated
there in the household of his son, who f(jr some time has Ijeen the practical
manager of the place, Mr. Huckleberry has spent much of his time in tra\el
and is thus a man of wide and gcncrril information. He is a member of the
Methodist church at Partridge and ever lias displayed a i)ro])er interest in
good works hereabout. lie is a Rcj^ublican and while gi\ing a gotxl citizen's
attention to the political affairs of the count\-. ne\cr has been a candidate
for ])ublic office. Besides his son, tlic junior A. ]. 1 Iucklcl)crr}-. .Mr. Huckle-
l)crr}- has a daughter, .Ada, who niai-riid Wilh'ani C. Layman and lives on a
farni south of Arlington, this county.
A. J. Huckleberr}-. Jr., was l)Ut a sni.all boy when In's jiarents returned
to Reno county to make their definite home. During the period of his school
days his parents moved to Hutchinson in order that he might live there and
receive the benefits of the city schools. Upon completing the common-
school course, he attended the State Agricultural College at Manhattan. Tn
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. I ^ij
1903 lie married and for some years past has been in active charge of the
old home farm of tliree hunch-ed and twenty acres in Salt Creek township,
where lie makes his home. Most of his time, however, is spent in buying
horses, liis operations in this hne taking him all over the plains and moun-
tain states, he ])eing one of the most extensive dealers in horses an<l mules
in Kansas. Upon the outbreak of armed hostilities in luu'opc in 19 14, he
contracted with the British, French and Italian governments to furnish ani-
mals for war purposes and has shipped since then more than two thousand
horses and mules.
On May 9, 1903, A. J. Huckleberry, Jr., was united in marriage to
Maud Gregg, who w^as born in Worth county, Missouri, daughter of the
late \\'illiam M. Gregg and wdfe. Mrs. Huckleberry's mother is a resident
of this count}', her home being in Enterprise township.
GEORGE TURBUSH.
George Turbush, one of the leading factors in the mercantile and bank-
ing circles of Nickerson, Reno county, Kansas, has for many years been
identified with the progressive element of this section. His birth is recorded
as having taken place on June 22, 1845, ^" Albany, New York, where he
was reared. For nearly four years prior to his removal to this part of the
country, he was engaged with the Clinton Wire Company, of Clinton. ]\Ias-
sachusetts. Terminating his connections with this concern, he removed to
this county, where he arrived in January, 1874.
Just the year previous to the last named date, George Turbush was
united in marriage to Flelen A. Haskins, a native of Ne\v York state, and to
their union w^ere born these children: Elmer E. and Ernest F., both born
in this state. Elmer E. was married to Anna Foley, and is living in Denver,
Colorado, while Ernest married Nellie Shears and resides in Nickerson,
Kansas. The w-edding of George Turbush and Helen Haskins was solemn-
ized in January, 1873. Soon after his marriage, George Turbush became
the owner of a soldier's homestead, consisting of one hundred and sixty
acres, which he sold in 1883. He then entered the hardw^are business in
Hutchinson, Kansas, and continued in that place and enterprise for a period
of ten years. Some three years prior to the termination of his business con-
nections in Hutchinson, Kansas, he had engaged in the same business in
Nickerson, Kansas, to wdiich place he finally removed. While in Hutchin-
l6o RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
son, Kansas, he was the president and manager of the Hutchinson Hard-
ware Compan}-. Kor ten years he ser\ed his community as its mayor and
has also been a director of the Nickerson State Bank, of which institution
he was also one of the incorporators.
George Turbush enlisted for service in the Civil War in December,
1863, in the Eighth Regiment, of the \'ermont Volunteer Infantry, and
served until the close of the war under General Sheridan. He is now a
member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He is also a member of the
Free and Accepted Masons, belonging to the chapter and commandery. In
his religious affiliations he is connected with the Congregational church.
GEORGE R. BOWSER.
The late George R. Bowser, who, at the time of his death, in 1901, was
regarded as one of the largest landowners and most substantial and success-
ful farmers of Lincoln township, this county, was a native of Pennsylvania,
having been born in Armstrong county, that state, July 18, 1837, son of John
and Julia Ann (Burnham) Bowser, both natives of the same county, farm-
ing people of the sturdy sort, members of the Church of the Brethren, com-
monly called Dunkards, frugal in their ways and earnest in all their doings.
In ICS54 John Bow^ser and his family and Jonathan Martin, a neighbor,
and the latter's family, decided to push on out of Pennsylvania into the then
West. The two families, disposing of their lands and all their belongings
save such portables as they conveniently could pack into their wagons as a
nucleus f(jr the housekeeping that would be necessary in their new homes,
drove out of Pennsylvania, through Ohio and through Indiana into Illinois,
in which latter state they bought farms near each other in Schuyler county
and established new homes in what was then ])ractically pioneer country, and
there John Bowser and his wife and Jonathan Martin and his wife spent
their last days, having established comfortable homes in the midst of their
broad acres in which their declining years were passed.
When the I'nig jnurncy from Pennsylvania was made there were two
youthful members of the party who, even then were sweethearts. George R.
Bowser, then seventeen years of age, and Jane Martin, slightly the lad's
junior. She, too, had l)een born in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, daugh-
ter of Jonathan and Lydia (Sylvus) Martin, both also natives of Pennsyl-
vania and farmers, who left their home a few miles north of Kittanning,
MR. AND MRS. GEORGE R. BOWSER.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. l6l
along- the Allegheny river, together with the P>owsers, to make their home
in Illinois, in which latter state they spent the rest of their lives, .Mrs. Mar-
tin, who was horn in 1820, dying in 1865; l^^i" husband, wdio w^as born in
1818, snr\iving- until 1904. George R. Bowser and Jane Martin grew to
maturity on their neighboring- farms in Illinois and on March 11, 1861, were
married. After his marriage, George R. Bowser rented farm lands in Illi-
nois and li\-ed there as a tenant farmer until 1868, by which time rents had
become so high that he and his wife decided to push on farther West, seeking
cheaper land, packing their necessary belongings in a covered wagon they
and the two or three small children by which their union then had been
blessed, moved over into Missouri, where the family made a home on rented
land for eight vears, at the end of which time thev came to Kansas, locatinof
in Reno county, arriving in Hutchinson on jMay 27, 1876. ]Mr. Bowser
bought a farm on the "Sun City Trail" in Reno township and there he and
his family made their home for four years. He then traded that tract for the
relinquishment of a timber claim in Lincoln township, the same being the
northwest quarter of section 24, of that township, and there established a
permanent home. Several years later, when it came time to "prove up" his
claim, he found that through no fault of his own all the provisions of the law
governing- the entry of timber claims had not been rigidly followed out and
that he had no title to the land which he had improved and on which he had
established a home. However, the land officers permitted him then to home-
stead the place and thus he got title to it, after all.
AAdien the Bowsers settled in this county they were verv poor and had
little but their willing hands and stout hearts to back them in the struggle
which the pioneers of that period were compelled to undergo. The first few
years, therefore, what with the bad seasons and the blighting winds, were
discouraging, indeed, and it is not unlikely that if they had had funds suffi-
cient to pay their passage out, they would have left the county, as so many
others did during that time. But they "stuck it out,"" and in the end were
greatly rewarded, for at the time of his death, on May 25. 1901, George R.
Bowser was the owmer of eleven hundred and eighty acres of fine land in this
county and was besides independently rich in money, all made on the land
and in the cattle and the hogs that he sent to market during the many active
years of his life. ]Mr. Bowser w'as a Democrat and took a good citizen's
part in the political life of his community, at one time serving the township
as assessor. He and his wife were active members of the Harmony Baptist
church in Lincoln township and did well their part in promoting proper con-
(iia)
1 62 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
ditions of li\iiig' during" the earl}- days when that community was being
organized.
After the death of Mr. Bowser, his widow managed the farm for a few
years, ever having been a strong, capable woman and an admirable manager,
and during that time bought and paid for two farms, thus adding more to
the family's already extensive landed wealth. She then decided to divide
the estate among her seven children and each one received eleven thousand
eight hundred dollars, or its equivalent in land, and Mrs. Bowser, still has a
large annual cash income from the investments made with the remainder.
Airs. Bowser still makes her home on the old home place, which now is
owned by her youngest son, Arthur, who is unmarried and also makes his
home there. There w'ere seven children born to George R. and Jane (Mar-
tin) Bowser, as follow: Lemon, a well-to-do farmer, living near Darlow,
in this county; Curtis, who lives on a three-hundred-and-twenty-acre farm
on the Ninesca river in this county; Nettie, who married Louis B. Werkeiser,
a big sugar-beet farmer near Greeley, Colorado; Frank, who lives in Ne-
braska; George, who lives on a farm adjoining the old home place in Lincoln
township; Arthur, who ][\es with his mother on the old home place, and
Daisy, who married Clarence Llamilton and also lives on a farm in Lincoln
township. The Bowser family is very properly regarded as one of the most
substantial families in that part of the county and all the members of the
same are held in high regard by their many friends thereabout.
LEMON BOWSER
A..
Lemon Bowser, a well-to-do and progressive farmer of Lincoln town-
ship, this county, and one of the best-known men in the Darlow neighbor-
hood, is a native of Illinois, having been born on a farm in Schuyler county,
that state, March 6, 1862, eldest of the seven children l)orn to George R.
and Jane (Martin) Bowser, botli natives of Pennsylvania, who moved from
that state with their respective parents to Tllinois, where they were married,
later moving to Missouri, whence they came to Kansas, locating in Reno
county in 1876, becoming well known among the early pioneers of Lincoln
township and large landowners, George R. Bowser having been, at the time
of his death, in 1901, the owner of eleven hundred and eighty acres of fine
land in this countv. His widow is still living on the old homestead in Lin-
coin township, where she enjoys many evidences of the respect and esteem
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. I 63
oi" that entire iieighborliood. In a memorial sketcli relating- to the late
George R. Bowser, presented elsewhere in this volnnie, there is set out a
full history of this interesting pioneer famil)-, to which the reader is respect-
fully referred in this connection.
Lemon Pxjwser was about six years of age when liis ])arents m(;\ed
from Illinois to Harrison county, Missouri, and in the laller place he
received what meager schooling he was able to get in his youth, ])ut as he
was the eldest child and h.is parents at that time were not in aflluent circum-
stances by any means, he was kept busy on the farm assisting his father
even from a very early age and his attendance at scht^ol was quite limited.
He was fourteen years old when the family came to Kansas and settled in
this county, having driven through in two covered wagons, driving seven
head of cattle, and after that he had even less opportunitv for schooling, for
the manifold tasks of developing the pioneer farm on the old "Sun City
Trail'' required all the assistance he could give his father. In 1881 the
family moved to what became the Bowser homestead in Lincoln township
and there Lemon Bowser lived until his marriage, in 1888, working dili-
gently in his parents' behalf, a large factor in getting' them well started on
the road which led to their eventual wealth. After his marriao-e. Lemon
Bowser for a few years rented land in Lincoln to\\nsliip and in t8q2 bought
the northeast f[uarter of section 22, in that same township, the farm on
which he ever since has made his home, and straightway began to improve
the same and has since added to this quarter an eighty adjoining, it not being
long until he had one of the best-developed places in that section, and in the
Elmer neighborliood he has an eighty-acre tract. Tn ic^oi he erected h.is
present comfortable and commodious farm house, and the other l)uildings
of the farm are in keeping with the same. In addition to his general farm-
ing, Mr. Bowser is also largely interested in the raising of purelired Perche-
ron horses, his colts of that strain being in wide demand throughout that
section. He also is the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of pasture
land in Minnescah township, which he inherited from his father, and is
accounted one of the substantial men of his neighborhood. In other at¥airs
he has displayed a good citizen's activity and is now president of the Darlow
Telephone Company, previous to his elevation to the head of that concern
having l)een treasurer of the company. Mr. Bowser is an ardent Socialist
in his political views and is one of the most vigorous advocates of the prin-
ciples of that party in this county.
On August 22, 1888, Lemon Bowser was united in marriage to Martha
E. Tharp, who was born in West Virginia, daughter of John and ]\Tary
164 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Jane Tharp, for }cars well-known pioneer residents of Reno county, who
moved to Oklahoma in igoo, where Airs. Tharp died in 19 15 and where
y\v. Tharp still makes his home, and to this union two children ha\-e been
horn, Grover, horn in i88(;, who married Minnie Klein and lives on a farm
in the Elmer neighborhood in this count}-, and Earl, born in 1892, who
lives at home with his parents, 'fhe Bowsers have many warm friends in
Lincoln township and throughout the county and are held in high regard
bv all.
GEORGE B. SHORT.
George B. Short, a well-known and progressive young farmer of Salt
Creek township, this county, is a native son of Reno county, having- been
born on a farm in Salt Creek townhsip, not far from his present place of
residence, October 6, 1S87, son of George AI. and Mary (Crook) Short,
both natiN-es of Greene county, Illinois, where they grew up and where
they were married, the former of whomi, born in 1858, died on February 11,
191 1, and the latter, born on March 6, 1863, is still living, making her home
with her children.
In 1884. not long after their marriage, George AI. Short and his wife
left Illinois and came to Kansas, settling in Reno county and Iniying an
unimproved tract in Salt Creek township. Air. Short improved that place,
erecting substantial buildings on the same and brought the farm to an excel-
lent state of cultivation and there the family made their home until 1899,
in which }-ear he sold the farm and bought the southwest quarter of section
34, in the same township, the old T. B. Hand farm, one of the first tracts
brought under cultivation in Salt Creek township in pioneer days. Two
years later Air. Short bought the "eighty" adjoining- on the south, across
the line in Center tr)wnshi]i, and on the new- place he spent the rest of his
life, except the last year, when he li\e(l in Partridge, being accounted one of
the most substantial farmers in the neighborhood, in addition to his general
farming being also an extensive feeder of lixe stock, making a specialtv of
the raising of purebred Poland (hina hogs. Air. !^hort was a Democrat and
took an active jiart in local politics. ha\ing been an office-holder in Salt
Creek town>hip during nearly all of the time of his residence there, serving
the township variously in the several capacities of trustee, clerk and in other
ways. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and
of the Alodern Woodmen of America, in the affairs of both of which orders
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. I 65
he took a warm interest, and (lin-in<>' their residence in Illinois he and his
wife were niemhers of the Lhiiled IJrethren elmreh. The)- were the i)arents
of fonr ehildren. namely: Howard C, who lives on a farm near IMuffton,
Arkansas: George B., the immediate snhject of this hiographieal sketch;
Mayo W., unmarried, who li\es at Xewton. tliis state, and Mrs. Annahelle
AMn'te, wh.o lives on a farm in Center township, this eoiintv.
I^'ollowing his schooling- in the district school in the neighhorhood of
his home, George B. Short attended the county high school at Xickerson
for four \cars and worked on his father's farm until his marriage, in T910,
after which, for three vears, he was engaged in the transfer husiness at
Partridge. Upon the death of his father, in iQii, he was made administra-
tor of the latter's estate and in 1014 moved onto the home farm and has
ever since made his home there, doing well with his agricultural operations.
Mr. vShort is a Democrat and during his residence in Partridge rendered
excellent puhlic service as a memher of the city council.
In Fehruary, 19 10, George B. Short w^as united in marriage to Svlvia
W. Hand, who was horn on the pioneer homestead (.u which she now lives,
daughter of T. B. Hand and wife, pioneers of Salt Creek township, the
former of whom is now deceased and the latter living in California, and to
this union one child has heen horn, a daughter, Beatrice, horn on Decemher
25, 19 10. Mr. and Mrs. Short take an active interest in the general social
affairs of their neighhorhood and are held in high esteem hv their manv
friends throughout that neighhorhood. Mr. Short is a memher of the Odd
Fellows lodge at Partridge and takes an active interest in the affairs of that
popular order.
GEORGE WASHINGTON .MOURN.
George Washington Mourn, one of the l)est-known pioneer farmers of
Reno county, proprietor of a fine farm in Walley township and for many
years one of the leaders in the con.miunitv life of that neighhorhood. is a
"Virginian, having hecn horn in >Monroe county, that state (now in West
Virginia), h>hruary 2-/. 184T, son of Hoke and Jane AFourn. hoth natives
of that same state, the former of whom was killed hy a fall from a hay loft
in 1859. Hoke Mourn and wife w^ere the parents of four children, three
sons and one daughter, the latter of whom is dead, the suhject of this
sketch hax'ing two l)rothers, James and Edward. The Widow Afourn mar-
1 66 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
ried, secondly, Herliert Shorthold, and died in McLean county, Illinois, in
1878.
George W. AFourn attended school during his boyhood in a log school
house five miles from his home, walking that distance twice each day dur-
ing the school terms. He was reared to detest the slave-holding system and
when the Ci\il War l^roke out his sympathies were with the cause of the
Union. Despite his A'iolent opposition to secession, however, he was forced
into the service of the Confederate army by conscription, but presently man-
aged to desert and took service with the cause of the North as fireman on
the government steamboat "A'ictor 2," continuing such service on the Ohio
and Big Kanawha rivers for three years. He had married in 1861 and in
the fall of 1865 returned to ^\''est Virginia and began working as a carpen-
ter for his brothers-in-law, Henry O. and William ]M. Smith, the latter of
whom afterward became a contracting carpenter in Hutchinson, this county.
In 1868 George A\'. ^^lourn and familv and one of ]\Irs. ]\Iourn's brothers
started A\'est with a three-horse team and wagon. Upon reaching Missouri
the brother became ill and the party stopped in Boone county, that state,
where they remained three years, at the end of which time, in November,
1 871, ]\Ir. Mourn and his family came to Kansas, locating in Reno county.
thus becoming among the very earliest settlers of this county. Mr. Mourn
homesteaded eighty acres and a timber claim of one hundred and sixty acres
in section 32. \^alley township, and there established his home. He built a
shanty of box boards and settled down to the strenuous task of developing
his claim. Tn the spring of 1872 he "broke" ten acres and got in a liit of
corn. That same year he worked with the construction crew of the Santa
Fe Railroad Company and thus made a little ready cash. Buffaloes at that
time were still plentiful on the plains and the family had no difficulty in
obtaining fresh meat, but other supplies were not so easily obtained, Newton,
the nearest market and postoffice, being twenty-five miles away; while Mr.
Mourn had to dri\c eijjhtv miles to mill the first few \"ears he lived in this
county. When the grasshoppers came, in 1874, he saved his cabbage ])atch
by keejjing wet grass fires about the i)atch for two weeks.
In 1876 Mr. Mourn .sold his homestead "eighty" and moved to his
timber claim, where he ever since has made his home. In addition to the
dwelling he erected there he i)Ut u]) a blacksmith shoji on the place and for
twenty-five years worked at that trade, his sons looking after the farm. For
a quarter of a century he also operated a sorghum mill, farmers for miles
around bringing their cane to him to be converted into good Kansas sorg-
hum. Since 1900 Mr. ]\lourn has kept thirty hives of bees and his apiary
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 167
long has been his principal ''holjby;" that and in(lul5j;ing in reminiscences of
pioneer days, for there are few of the surviving pioneers of Reno countyj
whose reminiscences of the early days are more varied or more interesting
than those of Mr. Mourn. He served on the first jury ever impanelled in
Reno county. He is a Republican and for two years served as treasurer of
Valley township, also having served as a member of the first school board
in his township.
On September 8, 1861, George W. Mourn was united in marriage to
Mary Frances Smith, who was born within two miles of her husband's
birthplace, February 25, 1842, daughter of Joseph and Susan Smith, both
of whom died in West Virginia. To this union eleven children were born,
namely : Ida May, who married W. E. Woodward and lives in Clay town-
ship, this county; Viola, who married Frank D. Barnes and lives in Valley
township; George, engineer at the strawboard works at Hutchinson; Mary
Eliza1)eth, who married William T. Gregory and died on April 19, 1904;
Luella, who married George Hoskinson and lives in Valley township; Will-
iam H., who lives in Clay township; Rosa, born on November 22, 1872,
who died on December 6, 1872; Effie A., who married V/esley Jackson and
lives on a farm near Burdette, this state; Lillie, who married Charles Hos-
kinson and lives in Valley township; Bertha, who married Samuel Imel and
lives in Valley township, and Mertie, who married a Mr. Triplett, and mar-
ried, secondly, Delva Butler, who is farming the old Mourn home farm.
Mr. and Mrs. Mourn also adopted a child, Sadie May, who married Giles
Day and lives in Burrton. Mrs. George W. Mourn died on November 22,
19 1 2, and was Inn-ied in Burrton cemetery, Harvey county, Kansas.
GARRETT SALLEE.
Garrett Sallee, a well-known farmer of Grant township, this county, is
a native of the great Blue Grass state, having been born in Mercer county,
Kentucky, September 27, 1868, son of A. J. and Margaret (Vast) Sallee, both
natives of that same county, the former of whom was l)orn on September 8,
1848, and the latter, September 16, 1848, she having been the daughter of
Jacob Yast, a Kentucky farmer and a soldier on the Union side during the
Civil War. Margaret (Yast) Sallee died in 1871, leaving three children. John
Garrett and \\'illiam. A. J. Sallee then married, secondly, Lucy Divine,
and to this second union nine children were born. ?^[ary Ann, James H.,
l68 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Levi, George, Grundy. T.ntlier. Xancy, ]\Iartha and Richard. In 1888, he
then being forty years of age, A. J. Sallee disposed of his interests in Ken-
tucky and came to Kansas locatino- in Reno count^•. He bous:ht four hun-
dred and twenty acres in A'alley township and there estabhshed his home,
remaining there until 1903, in which year he moyed to Oklahoma, bought
a half section of land in Alpha county, that state, and there has made his
home eyer since.
Garrett Sallee was about twenty years old when he accompanied his
father to this county from the old home in Kentucky in 1888, and he has
lived here ever since. The yer.r after arriving' here he married Lydia Hale,
who also was born in ]\Iercer county, Kentucky, and who had come to Reno
county with her parents. Elijah Hale and wife, in 1887. He then began
farming on his own account and has prospered in his undertakings until
now he is the owner of eight hundred and forty acres in this county and in
the adjoining county of Rice. In Alay, 1896, he moved to the fine farm
on which he is now living, in Grant township, and there he and his family
are very jileasantly and comfortably situated. He is active in township
affairs and is looked upon as one of the most substantial and influential
farmers in that neighborhood. In addition to his extensive operations in
the way of general farming, Air. Sallee devotes considerable attention to the
raising of fine cattle and his Herefords command the top of the market.
To Garrett and Lydia (Hale) Sallee two children have been born,
daughters both. Bertha \\. born on N^ovember 11, 1889, and Flora Myrtle,
August 2"/, 1897. Mr. and Mrs. Sallee are members of the Christian
church at Xickerson and Mr. Sallee is a member of the Modern AA^oodmen
of America.
ALBERT LEE SWARENS.
Albert Lee Swarens, one of Reno county's best-known farmers, who
lives with his stepmother, .Mrs. Lewis Swarens. on a fine farm adjoining the
city of Hutchinson on the northwest, is one of the original ])ioneers of this
county, as is Mrs. Swarens. there ha\ing ])ccn l)ut two other families living
within miles of them when they arrixcd at the point at which they still reside,
in the vear 1871, the town of Hutchinson not then even having been staked
out. They consecjuently have witnessed the whole of the wonderful develop-
ment of this section of the state and may be accepted as authorities upon all
questions relating to the history of Reno county and particularly of the
RENO COl'NTY, KANSAS. lfi()
neit^hl)! irliood about Tlutchinsoii, in which they ha\c H\c(l from the time of
tlu' bcginnin<^- ot" a social order hereabout; doing well their respective parts
in the de\"elopmeni of llie community which is so dear to both of them.
Mrs. Lewis Swarens is a woman of the true ])ioneer type and during all the
}'ears she has H\e(l in this county has done her whole duty as a neighljor and
a friend to all. In her gentle heart there never has been room for mistrust,
it ever haxing been her rule to believe only the best things regarding her
neighbors, and throughout her long life in this community she ever has
borne the profoundest respect and esteem of all.
Albert L. Swarens was born in Woodford county, Illinois, October 25,
1851. son of Lewis and Mary Ann (Watkins) Swarens, the former of whom
was born in the town of New Albany, Indiana, on October 5, 1822, and the
latter in Illinois. Lewis Swarens left the old Ohio river town. New Albany,
when a boy and with his parents moved to Woodford county, Illinois, where
he grew to manhood and where he was married in 1845. I" 1856 he moved
with his family to Ilardin county, Iowa, where he bought two hundred and
forty acres, and there he made his home until 1862, in which year he was
seized with the "California fever," and, in company with several other famil-
ies, the train comprising thirty-two wagons and one buggy, started on the
long oxerland journey to the land of golden promises. En route the partv
had several fights with hostile Indians and the redskins stole all their cattle.
Upon his arrival in California, Lew^is Swarens encountered only disappoint-
ments. In the winter of 1863 his wife died, at the age of thirty-five years,
and shortly thereafter his eldest daughter, Evaline, died, both being buried in
Calaveras county. His eldest son, Frank, joined the army and he did not
see him again for years. With two small children on his hands amid new
and untried conditions, Mr. Sw^arens decided to make his way back to the
old home in Illinois. He and the two children, Albert L., then about twelve
of age, and the little sister, Laura, boarded a \essel at San Francisco and by
way of Panama, presently arrived at an Eastern port, whence thev returned
to Woodford county, Illinois, where the children were left with relatives,
after which Mr. Swarens again started \\'est. h^or some time he tried his
fortunes in the mining region about Ogden, Utah, and later in Oregon, l)ut
without success. In North Ogden he met Sylvesta Rice, who had located
there with her parents in 1862, and on December 25, 1865, they were married.
Sylvesta Rice was born at No. i. Park cottages. New' Park road, Brix-
ton Hill, Surrey, near the city of London, in England, on September 28,
1848, daughter of James and Elizabeth (Alurrell) Rice, the former of whom
was born in Sussex on November 3, 1824, and the latter in Kent, April 17,
170 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
1824. and who were married on November 22, 1847. ^^ ^^55, James Rice
and his family came to the United States, landing from the sailing vessel,
"Emerald Isle," at the port of New York. For seven years the Rices made
their home in New York, James Rice being engaged as an engineer in a
factory there and in 18G2 decided to migrate West. They made the trip
across the plains in "prairie schooners," drawn by ox teams and located at
North Ogden, where j\lr. and Mrs. Rice became associated wuth the Mormon
church, having previously been members of the Episcopalian church, having
been reared as members of the established church in England. They were
the parents of seven children, of whom Syl vesta, Mrs. Swarens, was the
eldest. She, however, did not join the Mormon faith.
Following their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Swarens remained in
Utah, ]\Ir. Swarens working at the carpenter trade until 1870, in which year
they made a visit to friends in Cass county, Missouri, and from there w^ent
into the Cherokee strip in Indian Territory, w^here for a year Mr. Swarens
was engaged as a contractor getting out railroad ties. In the spring of 1871
his son, Albert Lee Swarens, then grown to manhood, having rejoined him
in Missouri, Mr. Swarens rigged out another "prairie schooner" and drove
across country to Reno county, arriving at the site now occupied by the city
of Hutchinson on June 17, 1871. At that time John Shehan and Mr. Frazier
were the only people living within miles of that spot. Lewis Swarens home-
steaded the southwest quarter of section 22, township 23, range 6 west, and
there he and his wife and family proceeded to make a new home, their first
place of abode there being a mere "dugout," which three years later was sup-
planted by a house. The Swarens w^ere very poor upon starting their new
home in this county, but they were industrious and wdth the true pioneer
spirit made the best of the situation, eventually prospering, Lewis Swarens
having l>een the owner of seven hundred and forty acres of choice land at
the time of his death, on April 10, 1903. Since his death his widow and his
son, Albert L., who is unmarried, have continued to make their home on the
old homestead, where they have a fine farm of two hundred acres, besides
being the owners of three quarter sections of excellent land in Medford
township, this county.
To Lewns and Sylvcsta (Rice) Swarens one child was Ijorn, a son,
Lewis Leander, born on November 29, 1868, who died on June 17, 1889,
his death having been due to a distressing accident. \Miile breaking a wild
bronco he was thrown so violently as to break his leg in such a manner as to
require amputation and he died under the shock of the operation. Lewas
Swarens's daughter, Laura, who was left motherless in the wilds of Cali-
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. I7I
fornia and who was returned to relatives in Tllinois after the long trip across
the isthnuis of Panama, married George Darnell and now lives at Sunny-
side, California.
Albert L. Swarens is a good farmer and keeps his place ii]j in fine shape
and his horses are of excellent stock. lie is a Democrat, Ijut is somewhat
independent in his political views, believing that the man and not the party
should l)c the controlling factor in determining the voter's judgment at the
polls.
VINCENT PRIDDLE.
\'^incent Priddle, well-known farmer of Valley township, this county,
and one of the most extensive landowners of Reno county, is a native of
England, having been born near the town of South Petherton, in Somer-
setshire, January i, 1862, son of Stephen and Charlotte (Pipe) Priddle.
both natives of that same vicinity. Stephen Priddle was foreman of a brick
yard. In 1868 he came to the United States and settled in Albany, New
York, in the vicinity of which city he rented a farm and there spent the
remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1885, he then being sixty years
of age. His widow died in 191 1, at the great age of ninety-tw^o years. Her
son, the subject of this sketch, paid her a visit at the old home in England
just four months before she died. There were thirteen children born to
Stephen Priddle and wife, of whom Vincent Priddle was the eleventh in
order of birth. Twelve of these children grew to maturity. Three of Mr.
Priddle's sisters are living in England; four sisters in the United States;
one brother, Edgar, lives in Schenectady, New York, and one sister, Betsey,
who married Samuel Collins, lives in Valley township, this county.
Vincent Priddle never went to school a day in his life. As a boy he
worked on a farm, for which service he received thirty-six cents a week.
Eleven years after his father had come to America he followed. Previous
to this some of the other children came over together, and worked on a farm
in the neighborhood of the point in New York state where his father had
located. It w-as in 1880 that Vincent Priddle came to this country, he then
beinsr eis^hteen vears of age, and in 188^ he came to Kansas, locating in
Harvey countv, where he worked on the Byle farm, south of Burrton, for
thirteen month-:, at the end of whidi time, in 1885, he bought eightv acres
in this county, the south half of the southwest quarter of section 16, in ^'al-
lev township. The place was wholly unimproved and he straightway set
1/2 RENO COUXTY, KANSAS.
about gettini^- it under cultivatidu. He set out a fine grove and a splendid
orchard and soon had one of llie 1)est-kept farms in the neighborhood. Mr.
Priddle was a good farmer, energetic and industrious, and prospered from
the \er\- start of his operations. He went into cattle raising on a somewhat
extensive scale and as he prospered added to his land holdings until now he
is the owner of twehe hundred and se\enty acres of fine land in A^alley
township. Three hundred acres of this land he rents out and manages the
remainder liimself. Since 1905 he has l^een one of the directors of the
Farmers Grain Company at Haven and in other ways has taken an active
part in the general business life of the communit}'. J\Ir. Priddle is an earnest
member of the United Brethren church, of which he has been a trustee for
thirty years; in which he also has iDeen a class leader and the Sunday school
of which cluu'ch he is now superintendent.
In ?ilarch, 1883, Vincent Priddle was united in marriage to ]\Iary Fol-
let. to which union eight children have been born, as follow : Charles, a
minister of the United Brethren church at Pensacola, this state; Anna, who
married E. E. Barrett and lives near Dodge City ; Leo, who is a valuable
assistant to his father in the work of managing the big farm, and Hazel
and Edgar, also at home, and three who died in childhood. Air. Priddle is a
prominent Mason, a member of the l)lue lodge of that order at Haven and
of the consistorv at AA'ichita. He also is a member of the Ancient Order
of United AA'orkmen and in the affairs of both of these orders takes a warm
interest.
CHARLES SEEDLE.
Charles Seedle, a well-known farmer of Reno count \\ owner of a half
section of well-improved kind in \'alle_\- townshi]), where he has resided
since 1884, is a native of Ohio, having been born in (Ireene count}", that
state, March .:; 1 , 1.^56, kist Ijorn of the clc\-en chiklren born to Ids parents,
and the onlv one now survivincr. I lis father, hovu in I 'cnnsvlvania, son of
German parents, and who (bed when the sul)iect of this sketch was a small
boy, was a shoe-maker by trade. lie married a widow. Mrs. Eliza (Alich-
ael) Houser, also born in Pennsyhania, who was the mother, b\- her lirst
marriage of two sons. Henrv and b»hn Houser, \\ho came to Kansas in
1884 and settled in Osage county. John Houser died in Ohio.
Orphaned when he was a l)aby, Charles Seedle was cared for when a
child in successive families, including those of the Haggard and Mack famil-
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. iy;i,
ies, and from the age of thirteen to twenty years in the family oi W'ilham
l^'erguson. His earl}- echicatiun was whoUy nt'^lected and at the age of four-
teen he had not }'et learned the ali)hal)et. Reared (ni (jreene eount}' farms,
he became an excellent farmer and when he was twenty years old hegan
"working out" on his own account, being thus engaged until the time of his
marriage, at the age of twenty-four, when he rented a- farm in liis native
county and set u]) a home for himself, remaining there for four years, at
the end of which time, in the sj^ring of 1884, he came to Kansas on a hc^me-
seeking tour and bought one-half of the northwest quarter of section 17, in
Valley township, this county, and early the next spring brought his family
here, arriving on March 1, 1885. On his farm w-as a two-room house, a
small barn and a few trees. Upon taking possession he at once entered upon
the task of improving his place and bringing it to a proper state of cultiva-
tion" and as he prospered gradually added to his land holdings until now he
is the owner of three hundred and tw^enty acres of well-improved land sur-
rounding his home, he having bought from time to time three "eighties"
adjoining his home place. Though very poor when he started farming in
Reno county, Mr. Seedles has done well and is regarded as one of the
substantial residents of his community. He erected his present excellent
farm house in 1900 and the other improvements on the farm are in keep-
ing wdth the same. Mr. Seedles is "independent" in his political views,
believing in supporting the best men for public office, regardless of party
affiliations.
On December 25, 1879, Charles Seedles was united in marriage to
Tabitha Sutton, who was born on March 5. t86i, in Clinton county, Ohio,
daughter of Jeremiah and Mary Ann (Culbertson) Sutton, farming people,
the former of whom died in Ohio in 1888, aged fifty-four years, and the
latter in 1887, aged forty-eight. To this union four children have been
born, namely : Dora, who married the Rev. Charles Priddle, a United
Brethren minister stationed at Pensacola. in the neighboring count\- of
Kingman, and they have three children, Harley, Clyde and Cdenn : Jesse,
who farms a part of his father's place in Valley township, married Jennie
M. White, and they have two children, Jesse E. and Clyde M. ; Oscar, who
owns a farm of his owai in V^alley township, married Golda Adkins, and
they had two children, Ruth E. and Esther, who is deceased, and Walter Mel-
vin, who died when three years old. Mr. and Airs. Seedles are earnest
members of the United Brethren church at Pleasant Grove, of which Afr.
Seedles has been a trustee for nearlv thirtv vears, and are active in church
174 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
work. ^Fr. Seedles is a member of Haven Lodge No. 287, Ancient Order
lit United Workmen, and takes a warni interest in the affairs of that organi-
zation.
ARTHUR DADE.
Arthur Dade, one of Hutchinson's most energetic and substantial busi-
ness men, a capitahst whose interests and investments hereabout make him
an important factor in commercial and realty circles in this county, is a
native of ^Maryland, having been born in Montgomery county, that state, on
Alay 4, 1872. son of the late Alexander and Susan Ann (White) Dade,
prominent pioneer residents of Reno county, who settled here in 1878, and
has been a resident of Reno count}- since he was five years of age. In the
biographical sketch relating to Arthur Dade's brother, Ernest Dade, pre-
sented elsewhere in this \olume, there is set out in detail a history of the
Dade family, to which the reader is respectfully referred in this connection.
As stated above, Arthur Dade was five years old when he came to Reno
county with his parents, who settled in Reno township, and he grew to man-
hood on the paternal farm there. He received his elementary education in
district school Xo. 65, supplementing the same by a course in the Hutchin-
son high school, from which he was graduated with the class of 1892. For
three years after leaving school he continued to assist his father in the opera-
tion of the home farm and then rented a farm in Reno township, on which
he commenced operations on his own account. Soon thereafter, however,
he Ijought a farm in the Poplar district in Reno township, Ijut presently sold
that place and bought another farm near the railway station at Whiteside, in
the .same township, which he worked for a year. In 1913 Mr. Dade bought
two hundred and forty acres of the old William l-"air section in Reno town-
shi]), which he still owns. ha\ing sold the farm near Whiteside. In 1909
Mr. Dade moved to Hutchinson, for greater convenience in managing his
growing interests and the next year erected a very pretty residence at 2y
Eleventh avenue, east, in which he and liis family ha\e <ince resided. He
inherited some property from his father's estate and has been fortunate in
his own investments, his entire time now being devoted to the management
of his extensive interests, looking after his farms, his various bits of city
property and other investments. In 1913 Mr. Dade erected a Inisiness l)lock
at 411-413 North Main street, in the city of Hutchinson and also owns a
business block at 11 South I\Iain street and one across the street from the
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. J 75
same at 12 South Main street, which Imildings are profitably occupied by
retail stores and offices. Mr. Dade also is a director in the Kelley Milling
Company at Hutchinson.
On January zy, 1904, Arthur Dade was united in marriage to Jessie E.
Myers, wdio was born in Urbana, Illinois, daughter of John A. and Mary
L. Myers, the former of whom is now li\ing in Hutchinson, and a biography
of whom is set out in another place in this volume. Mr. Myers is a former
commissioner of Reno county and one of Hutchinson's most substantial
citizens. To Afr. and Mrs. Dade two children have been born, John Travis,
born on June 16, 1908, and Ernest Vincent, November 27, 1912. Mr.
Dade is a Democrat, as was his father Ijefore him. and ever since arriving:
at vears of maturity has given a good citizen's attention to local political
affairs, though never having been included in the office-seeking class.
OSCAR W. OLMSTEAD.
Oscar W. Olmstead, one of the best-known farmers of Grant township,
this county, and a pioneer of that section, who is still living on the quarter
section he pre-empted in 1872, is a native of Michigan, having been born on
a farm in Oakland county, that state, March 26, 1S49, son of D. D. and
Janet (Reid) Olmstead, both natives of the state of New- York, the former
of whom was born on March 16, 1823. and the latter, March 7, 1826, who
became pioneers of Reno county and here spent their last days.
D. D. Olmstead was the son of David D. and Anna Olmstead, both
natives of New York state, both of whom spent all their lives in that state.
He grew to manhood there, spent two years in Canada, and married Janet
Reid, daughter of William Reid, a native of Scotland, who had come to
America wdien a mere lad. After their marriage D. D. Olmstead and wife
lived in Michigan, where in Oakland county they established their home
on a farm, where they lived until 1872, in which year they came to Kansas
and settled in Reno county, thus becoming among the very earliest settlers
of this county. D. D. Olmstead pre-empted one quarter of section 24, in
Grant township, and there established his new home, both he and his wife
spending the remainder of their lives there, his death occurring in August,
1884. She died in August, 1878. He was a thirty-second degree Mason
and he and his wdfe were members of the Methodist church, in which faith
their children were reared. There were eight of these children, of whom
1/6 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
four are still living, Oscar, the second in order of birth, Josephine, Herman
and Ida. Those deceased were William, a \eteran of the Civil War, Susan,
Charles, Samuel and Ellen.
Oscar \\'. Olmstead was reared in Oakland county. ^Michigan, receiving
his education in the school in the neighborhood of his home, and was about
twenty-two years old when he came to Kansas with his parents. Upon
arriving in Reno county in 1S72, thus having been among the pioneers of
this county, he pre-empted a quarter of a section of land in section 24, in
Grant township, his present home, and proceeded to '"break" and develop the
same. On April 25, 1884. he married Essie Y. Jeffers, who also was born
in Michigan, her birthplace being in Oakland county, and who came to Kan-
sas with her parents, Aaron and Sarah Jeffers, in the fall of 1883, the
family settling in this county, and he here established a home, but later
moved to Indiana in 1890, where JNIr. Jeffers is still living and where Airs.
Jeffers ched.
To Oscar \\'. and Essie J. (Jeffers) Olmstead six children have been
born, James, Bertha, Leo, Victor, Leona and Hazel. Miss Bertha Olm-
stead is a teacher in the public schools of Rice county, this state. The Olm-
steads are members of the Christian church. ]\Ir. Olmstead is a substan-
tial farmer and his well-kept place shows evidences of his careful manage-
ment.
STEPHEN S. LEIGHTY.
Stephen S. Leighty, a well-to-do and well-known retired farmer of Lin-
coln township, this county, now living in a pleasant home at 100 Eleventh
avenue, east, in the city of Hutchinson, to which place he moved in the fall
of 191 1, he then having retired from the active labors of the farm, is a
native of the great Keystone state, having been bom on a farm in Fayette
county. Pennsylvania, February 20, 1853, son of Stephen S. and Eliza (Hut-
son ) Leighty, the former of whom was born on that same farm and the
latter of whom was a native of the state of ^Maryland.
The senior Stephen S. Leighty grew to manhood on the farm on which
he was born and upon the death of his parents bought the interests of the
other heirs in the place and there spent all his days. He married Eliza Hut-
son, who died in 1863, leaving nine children, as follow: \Mlliam, a veteran
of the Civil War. who now lives in Staft'ord count), this state; Henry, a
farmer, hving in McDonough county, Illinois ; Catherine, who married MW-
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 1/7
ton Blair and Ihcs on a farm near the town of Prairie, in Oklahoma; Zach-
ariah Taylor, a farmer of Fayette county, Pennsylvania; Rebecca, who mar-
ried Joseph Piersol and also lives in h^ayette county, Pennsylvania; Anna S.,
who lives in Stafford county, this state, widow of Robert Rankin; Stephen
S., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch; Eliza J., who married
Dempsey Woodward and lives in Ohio, and Agnes, who married George
Cox and lives in Woodson county, this state. Upon the death of the mother
of the above children, the elder Stephen S. Leighty married, secondly, Mary
Hare, also now deceased, and to this second union three children were born,
Emma, who married Chester Gwinn and lives at Uniontown, Pennsylvania;
Grant, who lives on the old home place in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, and
John, who lives in Washington, same state.
Stephen S. Leighty, Jr., was reared on the home farm in Fayette county,
Pennsylvania, receiving his education in the district school in the neighbor-
hood of his home. He was ten years old when his mother died. He con-
tinued living at the old home until his marriage at the age of nineteen, after
which his father bought a farm adjoining the home place and put him in
charge of the same and he there made his home until 1882, in which year he
came to Kansas, locating in this county, where he bought a cjuarter of a sec-
tion of school land in Eincoln township, the same being' in section 36 of that
township, and there established his new home. ]\Ir. Leighty was successful
in his farming operations from the very beginning of his residence in this
county and when he retired from the farm in September, 191 1, and moved
to Hutchinson, he was accounted to be very well-to-do. For his original
quarter section in Lincoln township Mr. Leighty paid fourteen hundred dol-
lars into the school fund. For that identical quarter section he since has
refused an ofl'er of sixteen thousand dollars. As he became established on
his place, Mr. Leighty gradually increased his land holdings until he became
the owner of four hundred and sixty acres of fine land in Lincoln and Yoder
townships, which he still owns. In 1897 he erected a line, modern farm-
house on his place, which is considered to be one of the best-improved farms
in that section of the county.
In addition to looking after his extensive agricultural interests i\Ir.
Leighty found time to give his attention to various other enterprises in the
neighborhood and for years was considered one of the most active and enter-
prising citizens of Lincoln township. He helped organize the Darlow Live
Stock and Grain Exchange and was the first president of that useful organ-
ization. He also helped to organize the Darlow Telephone Company and
(12a)
IJO RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
for years was a director of the same, doing much to promote the extension
of the telephone service in that part of the county. In ci\ic affairs also he
took an active interest and for eight years served as township treasurer, while
for twenty years he served as a valued memher of the school hoard. Mr.
Leighty was a Repuhlican when he came to Kansas, hut he went over to the
cause of the Populists and when that cause declined and ceased to he, he
became a Democrat and is still affiliated with that party. He and his wife
are members of the Congregational church at Hutchinson and he is a mem-
ber of the hoard of trustees of that organization.
On XoA'emher 13. 1872, Stephen S. Leighty was united in marriage to
Nancy J. Harper, who was born in Fayette county, Pennsyh-ania, daughter
of Samuel and Sarah Anna (Wadsworth) Harper, and to this union six chil-
dren have been born, namely : Harper, a farmer of Yoder township, this
count v ; William G., who is farming part of his father's place in Yoder
tow-nship; Stephen S.. HI, who owns a farm in Ford county, this state,
where he makes his liome ; Clyde A\\, who also owns a farm in Ford county,
where he makes his home; Sabina E., who is attending college at Winfield,
and Alice, who married George Getter and died at the age of twenty-three.
^Ir. and Mrs. Leighty have adopted Alice Margaret Leighty, the daughter of
Harper, the eldest son.
ALBERT E. HARDEN.
Albert E. Harden, a well-known and progressive farmer of Grant
township, this county, is a native of Towa, having been -born on a farm in
Van Buren county, that state, .\\)v\\ i, 1865, son of Levi and Elvira (Brad-
ford) Harden, the former a nati\e of Ohio and the latter of Rhode Island,
w'ho w-ere married in Iowa and Mr. Harden later came to Kansas, being
numbered among the pioneers of Reno county.
Levi Harden was born in I locking county. Ohio, January 19, 1834, son
of Even and Maria fWolf ) Harden, \)<<{h natives of that state, the former
of whom was born on A])ril 13, 1803, and the latter. October 2. 1814, who
later moved to low'a, where his last days were spent. Even Harden dying at
the age of fifty-six years. He and ln\ wife were the j.arcnts of eight chil-
dren, of whom Levi was the eldest, the others being as follow : Jacob,
born on .\pril 26, 1836, now deceased; John, June 13, 1838, deceased; W'ill-
iam, June 23, 1840; Eliza, May 6, 1843; Isabelle, April 14, 1846; George,
February 12. 1849; Martha. October 20, 1852, and Philip, March 3, 1856,
KliNO COUNTY, KANSAS. l/i)
deceased. Levi Harden was well j^rown when lii^ i)arents ni(ned to Imva.
( )n December ii, i8f):;. in that stale, he was nnited in niarriaoe to MKira
Bradford, who was horn near I'rovidence, Rhode l>!and, Jnly 3, 1840,
daughter of Albert Bradford and wife, the latter of whom was a Phillips,
and who were the parents of three sons and four daughters: Alr.s. Marie
Corbett, of Texas; Miss Evelyn; Mrs. Laura Sandheim, oi Seattle; Mrs.
Elvira LLirden ; Alonzo, a veteran of the Civil War, now living at Hayward,
California; Leander, also a veteran of the Civil War, lives in Ijonaparte.
Iowa, and W^alter, also of Bonaparte, lo\^•a. Albert Bradford was a direct
descendant of Governor Bradford of Colonial fame. He moved from
Rhode Island with his family to Iowa and there spent the remainder of his
life, a resident of \'an' Buren county. To I-evi and J^^lvira (Bradford)
Harden but one child was born, the subject of this sketch, whose mother
died on July 31, 1867. Levi Harden married, secondly, Mrs. Fannie
(Berry) Doughty, widow of J. Doughty, who was the mother, 1)y her first
marriage, of tw'O children, Homer G. and Mary Virginia. To this second
union three children were born, Sophia, born on October 16, 1872, who died
at the age of sixteen; Lamiel J., May 24, 1874, and Dora, December. 26,
1876, wdio now li\es in Oklahoma. On March 17, 1877, Levi Harden
came to Kansas and settled in Reno county, where he bought a quarter of a
section of land on which he lived until his retirement from the farm. He
is now making his home with a daughter in Oklahoma. He is a member of
the Evangelical church and is a Mason.
Albert E. Harden was about twelve }-ears old when he came to this
county W'ith his father and he grew^ to manhood on the home farm. On
February 26, 1890, he married Mattie Moorman, wdio was born at Sandy-
ville, Iowa, January 5, 1869, and located on the farm on which th.ey are now'
living in Gran.t township, this county. In 1911 Mr. Harden erected his
present modern farm house and he and his family are very pleasantlv situ-
ated. The house is erjuipped with electric lights and man^• of the con-
veniences of modern life. Mr. Harden is a progressi\e farmer and is doing-
well on his well-kent i:ilace of two hundred acres. He takes a good citizen's
part in public affairs and has been a member of the local school board since
190 1. To Mr. and Mrs. Harden three children ha\'e been born. Evert Earl,
born on ]\Iay i, 1893; Leon Clyde, IMarch 13, 1895, and Alva Anthony.
December 30, 1897, all at home.
Mrs. Harden's father, AA'illiam Henry Moorman, a well-known retired
farmer of this county and a veteran of the Civil War. was born in High-
land county, Ohio, August 12, 1840, son of John Thomas and Mary (Van
l8o RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Pelt) Mtxirman, the former nf wlujni was horn in Campbell county, \ ir-
ginia. Fel)ruary 20, 1810. and the latter in Belmont' county, Ohio, July 28,
1856. John T. Moorman was the son of Reuben and Lydia (Johnson)
jMoorman, both nati\es of A'irginia, the former born on March 2^, 1777, and
the latter, January 25, 1779. Reuben Moorman was a soldier of the Amer-
ican Revolution and after his death in 1817 his widow moved to Ohio to
accept a grant of land tendered 1)}- the government in behalf of his services.
Reuben ^[oorman's parents, Micajah and Effie Moorman came to America
from Wales and settled in the colony of Virginia. They were Quakers
and founded a now widely connected family in this country. John T. Moor-
man went over into Ohio with his widow^ed mother and there he married
Mary \'an Pelt, member of a pioneer famil}- of Belmont county. After
their marriage he and his wife settled in Highland county that same state,
where they lived until 1849, in which };ear they emigrated to low'a and
settled on a (juarter of a section of land in AVarren county. There John T.
Moorman died on December 23, 1882. His wife died many years before.
He and his wife w'ere the parents of five children: Childress E., Alalinda,
William H., ChikP and Sarah, of whom William H. is the only survivor.
A\'illiam II. Moorman was reared on the pioneer farm of his parents in
Warren count}-. Iowa, and there grew to manhood. He received an excel-
lent education and all liis life has been a great reader. When the Civil War
broke out he enlisted for ser\'ice in the Thirtv-fourth Regiment, low^a
Volunteer Infantry, and ser\-ed al;out f<mr }'ears, or until the regiment w^as
mustered out at the close of the war, during which time he never lost a day
of service. He was present at the siege of \'icksburg and ])articipated in
numerous of the most important engagements of the war, including Sher-
man's campaign to the sea. On December 8, 1865. he married Sarah C.
Anthony. wIkj was born in llamiltim cnunt}', Indiana, September T2. 1843,
daughter of William and .Matilda (Curry) Anthony, the former of whom
was born in Butler county. Ohio, in 1812, and the latter in h'ranklin county,
Indiana, in 1818. .After his marriage Willirun II. .\b)orman engaged in
farming in Iowa until 1878. when he mo\ed to Kansas, settled in .Stafford
county and in 1N81 came to Reno count \- with his family and has li\-ed
here ever since, an em])loyee ot the car-repair serxice of the Santa be rail-
road until his retirement in 1003. To hini and his wife six children were
l)orn, as follow: Walter, of Reno countx, born on October 2/, 1866;
Mattie. wife of Mr. Harden: Malinda. who died in infancy: Lizzie, at home,
born on July 9, 1873: l-'annie Edna, November 23, 1878, who died on ]\[arch
21, 1903. and Elmer O.. of Oklahoma, born on June 9, 1884.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. l8l
JOHN SCllAkDIJX.
John Schardcin stui ot" IJcrnard and Christine ( Randolijh ) Schardein,
was l)orn sexen miles from Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 24, 1837. Bernard
Schardcin was a weaxer h\- trade, and was horn in iMsace, France, in June,
1808. There he was reared and married. His wife was horn on Decemher
24, 1810. He came to America in 1833 and located near Cincinnati, where
John was born. He went by steamboat to Louisville, Kentucky, in 1835,
and became a grocer. He later moved to Clark county, Indiana, and pur-
chased one hundred and forty acres of land. He was the father of five sons
three of whom were soldiers in the Union army. Philip died of disease at
Sax'annah, Tennessee, and was buried at Shiloh. Adam was wounded while
Hghting- in the Shenandoah valley, and died at W'illiamsport. Maryland.
John, who enlisted August 31, 186 1, served three years, was shot twice by
spent bullets receiving a ball in the foot, which still causes lameness. He
also receixed a wound in the 1>reast. He participated in the battles of Vt.
Henry, Ft. Donelson, Champion's Hill, \'icksburg* Shenandoah Valley, Ft.
Mornoe, and took part in th.e Grand Reviexv at Washington, D. C, at the
close of the xvar. He suffered from ophthalmia in a New Orleans hospital
during his service. Bernard Schardein and his xvife xvere both members
of the Christian church and both died in Clark county. Indiana.
John Schardein was educated in the schools of Ohio and Indiana.
He married his first xxife, Nancy McKinley (distant relative of President
McKinley), on April 20, 1857, in Clark county, Indiana. To this union
was born one child, Luella Miller, now of New Albany, Indiana. Airs.
Nancy Schardein died in 1862, and in 1865 Mr. Schardein married Eliza
Jane Grady, xvho died on Noveml)er 18, 1915. Their children are as fol-
loxv : John. Addie. Charles, Clara (deceased). Edxvard. Ethel (died in
infancy). Hettie and Frederick.
After he returned from the xvar, Mr. Schardein xvent to Macoupin
countv. Illinois, xvhere he lived for thirteen years, renting land xvhich he
farmed. In August. 1878, he chartered a car from Macoupin county, Illi-
nois, to Sterling. Kansas, and drove from there to Reno county, to join a
friend. Fie homesteaded a timber claim of one hundred and sixty acres in
section 20, Salt Creek toxvnship. xvhere he lived until igo8, xvhen he retired
from active farm labor and moved to Nickerson. He always took an active
interest in the development and improvement of his community, and organ-
ized school district No. tot, and gax e the site for the school building as
l82 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
long as used for that purpose. He was a stockholder in the elevator com-
pany, in the telephone company and in tlie State Bank at Xickerson. After
his wife's death, he and his daughter, Addie, kept house. Air. Schardein
died on March 31. 1916. He was a member of the Christian church, and
belonged to the Grand Army of the Republic, in which he took an active
interest.
PETER C. TONES.
Peter C. Jones, a well-known merchant tailor of Hutchinson, this county,
is a native of the gallant little land of Wales, having been born there, in
the town of Adwy Clawy, on Alay 21, 1854, son of Peter and Anne (Alat-
thews) Jones, the former of whom was born at Alold, Wales, and the latter
near that town. In 1870, the subject of this biographical sketch then being
sixteen years of age, the Jones family came to America, locating in Williams-
town. Pennsylvania, where the elder Jones resumed his vocation of tailor,
to which he had been reared in his native home. Some years later Peter
Jones and his wife retired from \\'illiamsport and joined their son, Peter
C. who meanwhile had located at Kankakee, Illinois, later coming thence
with him to Kansas, when he made his home in Emporia, where their last
<lays were spent. They were n.iembers of the Church of England, and were
the parents of five children, namely: John AL, a tailor in Fredonia, Kansas;
Thomas X.. now deceased, who for years was a well-known tailor in
Emporia, this state; Peter C, the immediate subject of this sketch; Alary,
who died in girlhood, and Airs. Alaggie Gelispe, a widow, who, in con-
nection with her son, is operating a tailor shop at Collegeview, Nebraska.
Peter C. Jones practically grew up in his father's tailor shop and from
childhoi.'d had lieen trained to the skillful use of a needle and to all the arts
of the tailor's trade. Upon arriving in this country at the age of sixteen
he became a journeyman tailor and for some lime traveled quite extensively
over the eastern section of the country, finally lociling at Kankakee, Illinois,
where he carried on his trade imtil 1879, in which year he came to Kansas,
locating at Enq^oria, where he worked as a tailor until 188 1.. He then
located in Ilulchirson, where he entered the employ of his elder brother,
J. AI. Jones, who had opened a tailor shop there some time before, and
there he remained until 1892, in which year he returned to Emporia and
opened a shop of his own, which he conducted for six years and then, in
i8r8. rcturrprl tn Hutchinson, where he oncned a shoo and where he has
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 1 83
remained ever since, most of which time his popular establishment has l^een
located at lo Sherman street, east, where he enjoys a fine patronage.
In 1877. ^^ Kankakee, Illinois, Peter C. Jones was united in marriage
to Dora Knocke, a native of Ciermany, who, in 1868, when she was eleven
years of age, came to this country with her ])arents who located at Kanka-
kee, and to this union four children have been born, namely : Allen, who
has charge of the instruction in the tailoring department of the Kansas state
reformatory at Hutchinson; Edwin, cashier of the Guymon-Petro Mercan-
tile Company, of Hutchinson; Walter, a prominent young lawyer and now
city attorney of Hutchinson, a sketch of wdiom is presented elsewhere in this
volume, and Charles, who is buying and selling manager of a mill at Haven,
this county. The Jones family has a very pleasant home at 626 Sherman
street, east. Mr. Jones is a member of the Masonic order, of the Court of
Honor and of the Knights of Pythias, in all of which orders he takes a
warm interest.
NELSON T. BARRETT.
Nelson T. Barrett, the well-known lettuce grower of Hutchinson, this
county, the products of whose extensive green-houses are shipped in car-
load lots to all the chief cities of the Central West and who is one of the
best-known dealers in his particular line in this part of the country, is a
nati\e of the great Empire state, having been born at Middletown, in Orange
county. New- York, April 11. i860, son of George and Elizabeth (Purdy)
Barrett, both of whom were born hi that same county, the former of Eng-
lish descent and the latter of Dutch descent, who later became Kansas
pioneers and well-known residents of Reno county.
George Barrett owned a grocery and dry-goods store at ^liddletown,
but sold the same in i86-3 and moved to Newberg, New York, where he was
engaged in the same line of luisiness until 1874, in which year he came to
Kansas and located in Reno county. Upon arriving here he homesteaded
a tract in Lincoln township, took a timber claim and bought some railroad
land, his holdings altogether aggregating three hundred and tw^enty acres.
He established a home on his place and remained there a couple of summers,
"proving up," and then resumed his calling in the mercantile line, becom-
ing nianager for the Rodney Ferguson store at Hutchinson. In 1877 he
went to Kansas City, where he established a grocery store at 803 ]\rain
street and was there engaged in business until 18S2, in which year he went
184 RENO COUNTY. KANSAS.
t(j Albuquerque, New Alexico, where for two years he engaged in the whole-
sale produce business. Meanwhile he had become seriously crippled by a
severe attack of rheumatism and in 1884 retired from lousiness and returned
to Reno county. He had retained forty acres of his homestead tract and
on that small farm spent the remainder of his days, his death occurring in
1910, he then being seventy-five years of age. His widow is still living.
past eighty years of age. and has a pleasant home at 225 Avenue A. east, in
Hutchinson. To George Barrett and w-ife six children were born, of whom
the subject of this sketch is the eldest, the others being as follow- : Ida M.,
who married Charles Pellette. now deputy county treasurer of Reno county,
living at Hutchinson ; Carrie, who married Homer Meyers, cashier of the
bank at Sylvia, this county ; Grace, who married Henry Zimm, well-known
jeweler at Hutchinson ; [Minnie, who married ]M. J. Hosmer. a well-knowai
traveling salesman, of Hutchinson, and Florence, who married Ernest East-
man, connected with the Carey industries in Hutchinson.
Nelson T. Barrett was fourteen years old when he came to Kansas
with his parents in 1874 and the work of his young manhood was definitely
identified with the pioneer farm in Lincoln township, ^^^hen his parents
moved to town he remained on the farm. Being the eldest child and only
son, he early took charge of affairs on the farm and by the time he was
twenty years old he had brought two hundred and forty acres of the place
under cultivation. Then, in 1880. he left the farm and went to Kansas
City. For one summer he was employed there in a wholesale fancy-grocery
store and then, in 1881, he pushed out to the farther frontier and for a year
was engaged in trapping and hunting in the \\"est. He then took employ-
ment with the United States government and for a year drove a stage coach
in the Black Hills, later s])ending three years in the quartermaster's depart-
ment. Mr. Barrett still recalls, with a very pardonable measure of pride.
that during those wild, rough days on the frontier he was the onh' man
of his acquaintance who was a "teetotaler." Tn the latter part of 1884
Mr. Barrett returned to his father's farm in this count v. later renting the old
Doctor Myers farm in Lincoln township, which he operated until 1890. in
which year he went to Oklahoma and bought a (piarter of a section of land
near Guthrie, where he remained until 1899. He then sold out and returned
to Hutchinson, where, in 1900. he bought a block of ground west of the 600
block, betw-een Ninth and Tenth streets, ancl established his present exten-
sive green-houses, engaging in the culture of lettuce, and has made a great
success of his business. He has sixty thousand feet of glass, covering fifteen
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 185
green-houses, the whole expanse being devoted to lettuce culture and he does
an enormous winter business, ship])ing bis product to Kansas City, Leaven-
worth. Oklalmnia City and other points throughout the Central West. Mr.
Barrett is a meniber of the Tlutchinson Commercial Club and takes an earnest
])art in the general affairs of the city.
In 1888 Nelson T. Barrett was united in marriage to Ada May Burton,
and to this union six children have been born, as follow : Stanley, who is
the proprietor of green-houses on First street in Hutchinson; Mark; who is
associated with his father in business, and Gale, Lawrence. \\'illis and
Dorothy.
EDWARD S. HANDY.
The late Edward S. Handy was for years recognized as one of the
leading dealers in real estate in Hutchinosn. During his long connection
with the realty business there he laid out numerous additions to the city
and in man}- ways was active in the promotion of the city's grow^th. He
was one of the real pioneers of Reno county, and for several years served
as clerk of the district court, during which time he became thoroughly
familiar \\ith realt^• conditions in pioneer days and no man in the county
possessed a more accurate knowledge of realty values in this section of the
state than he. Mr. Handy was an honored veteran of the Civil WcW and
took an active part in the affairs of the local post of the Grand Army of the
Republic. His widow, wdio is still living at Hutchinson, was also one of
the real pioneers of this county and was a witness of the whole of the won-
derful development which has marked this region since the early seventies.
Edward S. Handy was born in Clark county. Illinois, Februar}- 2S.
i8|6, son of Thomas and Jane E. (Scranton) Handy, the former of whom
\\as the first male child born in that county, son of John Hand}' and wife,
who were among the earliest settlers of that part of Illinois. John Handy
was a native of the state of New York. Thomas Handy became one of
the most substantial farmers of his neighborhood and was also the owner
of a saw-mill. He married Jane E. Scranton, member of one of the pioneer
families of that section of the state and to that union six children were
born. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted for service in behalf of
the Union arms in Company E, Se\-enty-ninth Regiment, Illinois \^olunteer
Infantry, and was mustered out with the rank of captain at the close of the
war. At the battle of Chattanooga he was captured by the enemy and after
1 86 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
being kept in various Southern prison pens was sent to Libby prison at
Richmond. He was one of the famous one hundred and eight who tunneled
out of that prison, but was reca])ture(l in sight of the Union Hues and was
kept prisoner until presently exchanged. Two of Captain Handy's sons, the
eldest, Charles, and ilic suliject of this sketch, served in his company -and
Charles Handy gave up liis life to the cause of the Union during the fierce
engagement at Kenesaw ^Mountain, Georgia. Another son, George Grant
Hand}-, was for years engaged in the hardware business at Hutchinson, this
count\". Upon returning home at the close of the war Captain Handy
resumed his place on the farm and was accidentally killed in his saw-mill in
1867.
Edward S. Handy was reared on the home farm and received his ele-
mentary education in the district school in the neighborhood of his home.
On August I, 1862, he then being sixteen years old. Edw-ard S. Handy
enlisted as a recruit in Company F, Seventy-ninth Illinois, his father's com-
])any. and served until the close of the war. At the battle of Stone's river
he was severely wounded and for some time was confined to the hospital
at Murfreesboro, after which he was sent home on a furlough. Upon his
return to his company, he then being able to walk only by the aid of crutches,
he was detailed as commissary of a hospital. Upon the return of his regi-
ment from the Atlanta campaign he was again desirous of re-entering the
active service, but his health would not permit and he was made clerk to
the adjutant-general ^f tlie Tln'rd Brigade, Second Division. Fourth Army
Corps. Subsecjuently he i):irticipated in the 1)attles of Franklin, Nashville
and Sjiring Hill and was mustered out with his regiment at Si)ringfield. Illi-
nois, June 12, 1865. U]:)on the completion of his military service Mr.
Handy entered an academy in the neighl)orhood of his home and after a
course there engaged in mercantile l)usiness in the town of York, in his
natix'e county, and was thus engaged until he came to Kansas in the fall of
1872 and settled in Reno county. He homesteaded a tract of land in Lincoln
township and sent l)ack word for his brothers and sisters to join liim here.
They came in 1873 and all homesteaded farms in the same township, thus
bicoming numbered among the earliest .^^ettlers of Linrc^ln township. Dur-
ing the grasshopper visitation in 1874 they were hard hit, but overcame all
liardships and iircsently began to [prosper.
From tlie very beginning of his residence in Reno county Edward S.
Handy was a forceful and valuable member of the pioneer community. In
1876 he was elected clerk of the district court and was re-elected, S2rving
in that position for eight ycar.-\ Ui^on liis election he made his headquarters
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 1 87
at ! Iiilcliinsiiii. He was married in i<^79 and estal)lishcd his home in
Hutchinson, wliich place e\er afterward was his jilace of residence. He
was an ardent I\e])n1)lican and took a prominent ])art in tlie ])o]itical life of
this section of the state. fref|nentl\- serN'ing- as a delegate to district and state
coiu'cntions. hut with the exception of his ser\ice as clerk of the court never
held public ottlce. Upon the expiration of his term of office in the clerk's
office Mr. Handy engaged in the general real-estate business and Ijecame
very successful, for many years lieing regarded as an authority on all (|ues-
tions relating to realt}' in this district. He \vas notably acti\'e in promoting
the growth and development of the city of Hutchinson and laid out eight or
ten additions to that city, including Handy's Addition, Riverside Addition,
Handy & Shadduck's Central Addition, Handy's Eastside Addition and
others. J-ie also built several of the Hnest business blocks in the city and
was singularly fortunate in his investments. He was one of the incor-
porators and for a time was president of the Peoples State Bank of Hutchin-
son, later merged into the Hutchinson National Bank, and was one of the
directors of the latter institution. He also for several years w'as a director
of the l-'irst National Bank of Hutchinson and for some time was heavily
interested in lead and zinc mining propositions at Galena; also in mining
propositions in Colorado. For some years he served as a member of the
city council and one time was the choice of his party for mayor of the city,
but he declined to accept the honor. Air. Handy w'as one of the organizers
of Joe Hooker Post No. 17, drand .\rmy of the Repu1)lic, and for years
took a very active part in the affairs of that patriotic organization, which
for three terms he ser\ed as adjutant.
On December 25, 1879, Edward S. Handy was united in marriage to
Minnie A. Hale, wdio was born near the town of Waterloo, in Dekalb county,
Indiana, daughter of Marshall and Hannah (Owen) Hale, who came to
Kansas in 1872 and settled at Hutchinson, then a straggling group of thirty
or fort}' houses, with not a tree to relie\e the somber monotony of the sand
plain. Marshall Hale engaged in tlie fuel and general builder"s-su]i])ly busi-
ness and early became one of the city's most substantial and ini^uential
figures. He built a house for his fann'ly residence in 1872 at 40S First
avenue, east, and there spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on Janu-
ary Ti, 1006. His widcnv survived him a little more than eight years, her
death occurring in April, 1914. They were the parents of tw-o daughters,
Mrs. Handy having a sis'xr, Mrs. W. L. Woodnutt, living at Seattle. Wash-
ington.
Edward S. Handy died at his home in Hutchinson on May 19. I9I4-
1 88 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Besides his widow there survive him tliree children, namely: Inez L., who
married Arthur H. Schlaudt. \ice-president and general manager of the
Knoor-Schlaudt \\'holesale Notion Company, of Hutchinson, a biographical
sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume; Jessie, who married
Dr. Connor Gray, of Seattle. Washington, and Cara Jean, who married
J. Lee Dick, superintendent of the Carey Salt Company, of Hutchinson.
DR. JA^IES ^lYERS.
Following the death of the venerable Dr. James ]\Iyers at his home in
Hutchinson, this county, on September 9, 191 5, an old settler paid the
following deserved tribute to the memory of that fine old Christian gentle-
man : "All the old settlers that knew him know of his wonderful faith and
confidence in the country; not only manifested by his talk, but by all the acts
of his life. He -always thought that Reno county was as good as an3avhere
else, and was never looking for '©•reen fields in the distance.' His success
jjroved the accuracy of his judgment. The same characteristics were notice-
able all through his life. He was a man of strong impulses, of well-fixed
principles, 'nothing wavering.' True, first to his own family; true to his
relatives and friends; true to his church, and true to his party; you always
knew where to find him and how he stood when you did find him. Excei>
ti'-nally kind hearted, it always did him good to help a deserving and needy
one."
The late Dr. James Myers was a native of Ohio, having been born at
Trenton, in Harrison county, that state, February 25, 183 1. son of James R.
and Maria ( Romney) Myers, fifth in i irder of birth of the fifteen children
horn to that parentage, thirteen of whom lived to maturity, and fiVQ of whom
still survive, as follow: J. .\. Myers, a retired capitalist of Flutchinson. a
biograj^hical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume; Dr.
J(,nathan Myers, of Troy; Albert Mxers. of r>ellvillc; Mrs. Robert Ander-
son, of Muskogee, Oklahoma, and Mrs. Minnie Moore, of Tolono, Illinois.
Jar.:es Myers received his elementary education in the schools of his home
town in Ohio, supplementing the same by a two-years course in a small
Presbyterian college at New Hagerstown, Ohio, and a two-years course at
another sectarian college of the same denomination at Richfield, same state,
thus received quite a liberal education fur tliat day. At the age of twenty-
one he began to teach school and in 1855 emigrated to Iowa, where, in
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. I 89
Keokuk aiul JelTcrson counties, he was en^-aged for four it fixe years in
teaching", l^^or six inontlis previous to going to Iowa, he had been reading
medical books, with a \ lew to becoming a physician, and upon his arrival in
Iowa resumed this form of stu(l\ , in adthtion to his work in the school room,
and for three \ears sedulously applied himself to reading medicine in the
office of his uncle, Dr. D. W Myers, in Jefferson count}'. In 1H59 he came
to Kansas, locating in the then ])ionecr village of Highland, in Donij^han
county, wliere he o])ened an ofhcc and Ijcgan the ])ractice of medicine, thus
becoming one of the pioneer physicians of Kansas.
When the Civil War broke out Dr. James Myers helped organize Com-
pany A, First Regiment, Kansas Volunteer Infantry, that regiment being for
the most part engaged in fighting the guerillas in Missouri, during which
service Doctor Myers took an active part. A year or two after locating at
Highland, Doctor Myers had bought a farm in that neighborhood and upon
returning from the war resumed his practice there anrl at the same time
gave personal attention to the management of his farm. He had married
in 1 861, and in 1874 came to Reno county on a visit to his father-in-law
and then saw the town of Hutchinson for the first time; at that time becom-
ing so fa\'orablv impressed with the situation hereabout that in 1878 he and
his wife moved to this county and bought three hundred acres of excellent
land in Lincoln township, where they established a new home. Doctor
Myers did not continue his profession in his new home, and thereafter
devoted his undivided attention to the development of his extensive and
growing landed interests and became a very successful farmer and cattle-
man. In 188^ Doctor Mvers retired from the farm and moved into Hutch-
inson, where he bought a house at 523 Avenue A, east, which he remodeled
and there he and his wife li\ed in quiet comfort. The Doctor continued to
look after his landed interests, however, after moving to town and grad-
ually added to the same until at one time he w^as the owner of twelve quarter
sections of choice land in this county.
In j86t, in Doniphan countw this state. Dr. James Myers was united
in marriage to Letitia O'Neal, who was born in Indiana and whose par-
ents were among the very first settlers of the Highland neighborhood, hav-
iuQ- emijrrated from Indiana to Kansas verv soon after the territor\' was
opened for settlement. Mrs. Myers was a typical pioneer wife and mother,
ever readv to cope with any emergency that might arise amid the primitive
conditions in which her homekeeping was begun, and ever able to turn appar-
ent hardships and backsets into eventual successes. She died at her home in
Hutchinson on March 30. 1913. and was widely mourned, for her life had
190 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
been rich in good works. Doctor and Mrs. Myers were active members
of the ^Fethodist T^niscopal church and tor years gave their close personal
attention to all movements designed to advance the common good hereabout.
Doctor Alyers was an ardent Reimldican from the days of the organiza-
tion of that party and for many years took an active part in the political
affairs of Kansas, though never having been included in the office-seeking
class. To the last he took a keen interest in local affairs, always an earnest
advocate of ci\ic righteousness, and his counsels and judgments were highh'
respected throughout the community.
To Dr. James and Letitia (O'Xeal) Myers the following children were
bom, namelv : IMmer, who died in 1880 in his young manhood; Mahlon.
who died in his early }outh ; Homer, a well-known banker of Sylvia ; \Val-
ter. who died in infancy; ^Minnie, who married Charles N. Payne, of Hutch-
inson; Mrs. Olive Epperson, of Hutchinson, and .Mice, who married Edward
Smith and lives in Svlvia.
JUDGE CHARLES M. WILLLVMS.
Judge Charles 3d. Williams, one of the oldest and best-known lawyers
in Hutchinson, the county seat of Reno county, is a native of JMissouri,
having been Ijorn in the town of Harrisonvillc. Cass count\", that state, in
July, 1852, son of James 11. and Hettie (Son) Williams, the former of
whom, born in Tennessee in 1818, died in 1884, at the age of sixty-six. and
the latter, brtrn in Missouri in [825. died in 1864. at the age of thirty-nine.
James II. Williams was reared in his nati\-e state of Tennessee and
when a young man inii\ed to .Missouri, where he became a pioneer merchant
in the town (jf Harrisonville. and where he sjjcnt the remainder of his life.
He married Hettie Son, and to this miion seven children were born, two
daughters and five son-, all oi" whom are deceased except Dr. William W.
Williams, a dentist at Sioux City, Iowa, and Charles M., the immediate sub-
ject of this .sketch. Upon the death i.l ilic ihmiIkt of these children, James
H. Williams married, secondlw .\rmina .^on, a sister k\ his deceased wife,
and to this latter union three .sons were born. Robert, who lives in San Fran-
cisco, California; George, who li\es at Warrensburg, Missouri, and Jesse,
who for years has been an em|)loyee of the Santa l^e Railroad Company.
Upon completing the course in the "public schools in his nati\e town.
Harrisonville. Missouri, Charles ]\I. Williams entererl the Kentuckv State
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. Kji
Uni\trsity, continninj.'; tlu're until his junior year, after which he lauj^^ht
school for a couple oi terms and fur a short time worked in his father's
store at Harrisonville. lie then entered the law office of Terrell & Math-
ews, at Harrisonville, and after a diligent course of reading passed the
rccpiired examinations and was admitted to the har in 1875, after which he
engaged in the practice of law at Harrisonville and Belton, Missouri, until
1886. in which year he came to Reno county and located at Hutchinson, the
county seat, where he entered into a partnership relation with an estab-
lished firm, under the firm style of Mclvinstry, Wisler & Williams. A short
time afterward Mr. Williams formed a new partnership, under the firm
style of Davidson & Williams, which lasted until 1896, when he formed a
partnership with F. F. Prigg, which continued until Judge Prigg ascended
the l)ench of the district court in TQ13, since which time Mr. Williams has
been alone in his practice.
In 1902 Charles M. Williams was appointed by Governor Bailey to fill
the unexpired term of Judge Simpson, of the district, court, who had been
killed, and in the September following his appointment resigned the office,
preferring his private practice to a place on the bench. In 1890 Judge
Williams was elected to the office of county attorney of Reno county and
served until 1892, when he resigned before his term was out. Judge Will-
iams has enjoyed a very good law practice and there are but two attorneys
at the l)ar of the Reno court who ha\e been practicing in Hutchinson longer
than he has.
On Septeniber 4, 1876. at Harrisonville, Missouri, Charles M. ^^'ill-
iams was united in marriage to Nannie Stair, who was born in "Wisconsin,
daughter of Edward and Margaret Stair, the former of wdiom, for many
years a building contractor at Harrisonville, now^ is deceased and the latter
is making her home in the household of Judge Williams. To Judge and
Mrs. W^illiams one child has been born, a son, Roy E., born in August,
1884, who attended Armour Institute at Chicago, being graduated from the
department of mechanical and electrical engineering, and is now an engineer
widi Crane & Company, oi Chicago, is married and has one cliild, a son.
Charles F. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have a pleasant home at 547 Avenue A,
east, in Hutchinson, Mr. AVilliams having erected his residence there in 1887.
the year following his location in Hutchinson.
Judge Williams was a Democrat until 1896. when on account of the
nomination of William Jennings Bryan on a free silver ticket he left the
Democratic party and voted with the Republicans, and has ever since worked
and affiliated with the Republican party and for years has been an influential
192 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
factor in the councils of this part}- in this county, he having been a frequent
delegate to Republican conventions and in other ways manifesting his inter-
est in the affairs of the ]iartv. He takes an active interest in the general
development of the commercial and industrial progress of his city and cotmty
and has been largely influential in securing a number of public and private
institutions in this city.
CAPT. JESSE BRAINARD.
Among the many veterans of the Ci\il AA'ar Avho came to this county
immediately after it was thrown open to settlement and filed soldier's claims
to land here and who braved the first few hard years following their settle-
ment, later to be rewarded b}' plenty, few are better known than Capt. Jesse
Brainarc^. who is noAv living in substantial comfort in the city of Hutchinson,
to which place he retired upon leaving his farm in 1910.
Jesse Brainard was born in Summit county, Ohio, on June 15, 1838,
youngest of the eight children of Timothy and ]\Iary, or "Polly" (Sweet)
Brainard, the former of whom was born near the town of Haddam, Con-
necticut, in 1785, and the latter, near the town of Warren, in New York
state, in 1805.
Timothy Brainard was one of the fourteen children of Jesse and Mary
(Thomas) Brainard, who were married in 1776 and who lived at Haddam,
Connecticut, until 1803, in which }Tar they moved to Leyden, in Lewis
county, Xew York, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Timothy
Brainard was reared as a farmer and when the War of i8i2 broke out
enlisted for service and ser\'ed until the close of that brief but conclusive
struggle, in payment for which service he received a warrant for eighty
acres of land, which he sold. In 1817 he married "Polly'' Sweet and soon
thereafter drove through witli ox-teams to Summit county, Ohio. On his
way he passed through the hamlet which was destined to grow into the
flourishing city of Cleveland, but which at that time contained but three
houses, .\rriving in Summit county, he located in Stowe township, where
he entered a tract of government land and proceeded to clear the same and
establish a home in the then wilderness. He prospered and later added to
that tract by purchase until he became the owner of three hundred and twenty
acres, quite a good farm for that time and place. Tn 1842 he sold that farm
and moved to the town of Cayuga Falls, not so very far from the place
where he had lived so long, and engaged in the paper trade, his practice
(iinrci^<'^x/ucu^o/_^
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. I93
being to drive through the country with loads of manufactured paper and
trade the same for paper rags. He hiter bought a farm near there, <jn
which lie made his home until the de.ith of his wife in 1856, after which he
made his home with a son in Illinois, where his death occurred in August,
1869.
Timothy Brainard was a Whig in his early political affiliations, later an
Abolitionist antl then a Republican. During the trying days preceding the
Civil War he was an active "conductor" on the famous "underground rail-
road," his farm being one of the best-known "stations" thereabout, and many
a harried black he aided in securing freedom by flight across the border. He
and his wife were the parents of eight children, namely: Francis, a veteran
of the Civil War, who died in 1880; INTrs. Mary Atwood, now deceased;
Henry, now deceased, w^ho for years was a pilot on the Ohio river and w^hose
whereabouts for years was unknown to his family; Lucy, who died of
typhoid fever, at the age of eighteen, shortly before the date set for her
marriage; Thomas, who died in 1874, in Illinois; Julia, who married B. D.
Green and settled in Valley township, this county, in October, 1873, and
died at Nickerson, this county, in April, 1914; Ann M.. who married Charles
Green, both of whom now are deceased, and Jesse, the immediate subject of
this sketch, the sole survivor of this large family.
Jesse Brainard was four years of age when his parents moved to Cayuga
Falls and he received his elementary education in the public schools of that
town, supplementing the same by a course in a commercial college in Phila-
delphia in 1856, during which time he made his home with his uncle, the
Rev. Thomas Brainard, a minister of the Presbyterian church in that city.
In 1857 he went to Illinois and was working on a farm in McLean county,
that state, when the Civil War broke out. On August 26, 1861, he enlisted in
Company B, Fourth Illinois Cavalry, with which he served until in February,
1864, at which time he was promoted to the rank of captain of Company I,
Third United States (Colored) Cavalry, wdth which he served until January
26, 1866, on which date he was mustered out. Captain Brainard participated
in the battles of Belmont, Ft. Henry, Ft. Donelson and Shiloh, after which
latter engagement his company for months was stationed as a guard to the
Memphis & Charleston railroad. He then took part in the siege of \^icks-
burg and the next February was promoted to the rank of Captain. For six
months his cavalry company was stationed at Goodrich's Landing, Louisiana,
then at Vicksburg and then was trans f'erred to ^Memphis and was at the latter
point when the war came to an end. Following that the company was kept
(13a)
194 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
busy for months keeping down "jayhawkers," Captain Brainard having been
appointed assistant adjutant-general, under General Dudley, doing scouting
and provost dutv. During the war Captain Brainard was wounded twice,
once in the side and once in the arm, during a cavalry fight in Arkansas.
.\t the close of his military service Captain Brainard returned to McLean
county. Illinois, and on September 26, 1866. was married to i\Iary M. War-
low, who was born on a farm in that county, nine miles west of the town
of Bloomington. on Ai)ril 26. 1843, daughter of Jonathan and Catherine
(Hay) Warlow. the former of \vhom, a native of Massachusetts, had emi-
grated to Illionis with his parents in 1834 and who there married Catherine
Haw who had located there with her parents, wdio had emigrated from Ken-
tuck}-. Jonathan Warlow^ became a quite well-to-do farmer and he and his
wife spent their last days on their home farm in Illinois. After his mar-
riage, Captain Brainard bought two hundred and tw^elve acres in the north
part of McLean count}-, which he sold in 1868 and bought a farm of one
hundred and four acres eight miles west of Bloomington, where he lived
until 1873. in which year he came to Kansas and filed a soldier's claim to a
tract of land in Salt Creek township, this county, and returned home to sell
his farm and close out his affairs preparaton^ to making his home in Kansas.
He did not get back here within the prescribed six months and thus forfeited
his claim, but in February. 1874. he returned to Reno county and bought a
discouraged homesteader's pre-emption right and transferred his soldier's
right to a quarter section in Valley township. His family joined him in
^Tarch of that year and thev proceeded to establish a home on the plains,
their first habitation being a mere shanty, eight by twelve feet. That was
"grasshopper year," and they consequently, in common with all the pioneers
hereabout, lost their first crop, but they stuck it out and after the first few
hard years l)egan to prosper, presentl}- becoming recognized as among the
most substantial families in the county. Captain Brainard after awhile
enlarged his original holdings by the purchase of a quarter section cornering
on his original tract, the southeast c|uartcr of section 30. township 2^^. range
4 west, and now owns one-half section of well-improved and valuable land.
He made big money farming as the years went l)y and in June. 1910, retired
from the acti\e duties of the old home place and he and his wife, ever a
competent and valuable helpmate to him in the days on the farm, moved
into Hutchin.son, buying a home at 306 Sixth avenue, east, wdiere thev are
now living in quiet comfort. They have but one child, a daughter, Jennie
K., born on February 2^^, 1879. who married George P. Lowe, a prosperous
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 1 95
farmer of Valley township, this county, and has six children, Hazel, Norman
J.. Ray B., \Vesley L., Keith and Edwin.
Cai)tain Brainard is an ardent Republican, hut never was a candidate
for public office. He is a member of Joe Hooker Post, Grand Army of the
l\epu1)lic, and is also affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
Mrs. Brainard is a member of the Presbyterian church. Formerly Captain
Brainard was a member of the same church and gave the land at the south-
east C(jrner of his farm on which the Presbyterian church in that section is
situated, at the same time contriljuting- liberally to the fund for the erection
of the church, but has since taken his letter out and withdrawn from the
congregation.
RANDALL P. HERSHBERGER.
Randall P. Hershberger, a well-to-do retired farmer of this county, now
living in the city of Hutchinson, is a native of Ohio, having been born in
Wyandot county, that state, on December 23, 1863, son of J. H. and Sam-
antha (Paul) Hershberger, the former a native of Wyandot county, Ohio,
and the latter of Crawford county, same state.
J. H. Hershberger, who is now living retired at Hutchinson, at the age
of eighty-two. was reared as a farmer in Ohio, where he married and
where he li\"ed until the sjjring of 1874. at which time he came with his
family to this county and bought out the homestead rights to a half section
of land in Reno township, the tract now occupied by the county farm. He
proved up this claim, but after the grasshopper scourge of that fall became
so discouraged over the outlook here that he left the county and returned to
his farm in Ohio. In 1883 he and his family returned to Reno county and
took up their residence on his half section in Reno township. In 1886 he
sold that farm and bought another farm in Clay township,- on which he
lived for a year, at the end of whicli time he sold it and moved to Hutchin-
son and in.vested in real estate, which failed to develop as he had expected
and he lost considerable money when the "boom" collapsed, in 1888. He
then returned to the countr\- and rented a farm south of Hutchinson, living
th.cre until 1900. when he returned to Hutchinson. His wife died in March,
1903, at the age of sevent)-two. and i\Ir. Hershberger is now making his
home with his daughter, Mrs. J -M- Dana, in Hutchinson. Mr. and Wrs.
Hershberger were the parents of four children, the subject of this biographi-
cal sketch having three sisters, Mary, who married J- ^L Dana and lives in
196 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Hutchinson; l-'rankie, who married 'SI. C. Obee, a merchant of South Hutch-
in-un, and Rose, who married llarr}' Dice and Hves in Hutchinson.
Randall 1\ 1 lershherger received his education in the public schools of
the neighliorhood of his l)oyhood in Ohio and in the old Sherman street
school at Hutchinson, this count}-. He remained on the farm in this county,
witli his fatlicr, until he was grown and then he learned the plumbing trade
under Stewart *S: llellowell, in Hutchinson, and worked at that trade in that
city until he was married, in iSoi, after which he rented a farm in Lincoln
township, this count}-, on which he made his home until 1898, in which
year he bought the southeast quarter of section 32, township 24, range 6
west, which he still owns. He made his home on that farm for twelve years
and prospered. His wife also owns a fine farm in that same neighborhood,
the northeast quarter of section 29, township 24, range 6 west, and in 1910
Mr. aufl Mrs. Hershberger retired from the farm and moved into Hutch-
inson, where they bought the old McCandless home, at 218 Sherman street,
east, where they have since made their home, Mr. Hershberger directing the
operations of the two farnis from his home in the city.
On February t8. 189 i, Randall P. Hershberger was united in marriage
to Alice Obee, who was born in the town of Napoleon, Lucas county, Ohio,
daughter of Henry and L.ouisa Obee, further mention of whom is made in
the biographical sketch relating- to L. H. Obee, presented elsewhere in this
volume, and to this union two children have been born, Paul, born on Sep-
tember 22, 1892, who is a graduate of the Hutchinson high school, and
Locke, Se]>tember 28, 1895, '^ niechanic for the Hudson Motor Car Com-
])any, of Detroit. Mr. Hershljerger is a member of the Elks of Hutchinson
and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and takes a warm interest in
the affairs of those popular organizations.
ELI BOWMAN.
The late Eli Bowman, who died at his h(jme in Hutchinson, this county,
on June 21, 1896. was one of the Kansas pioneers who did well his part
during the ftjrmative period of that section oi the state in which he settled,
and his memory, particularly in Barton count}-, long will be cherished by the
people thereabout. He was a man of strong character, and his helpful
services in l)ehalf of many of his pioneer neighbors who were less well
endowed than he have not been forgotten to this day.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. Ky/
I'lH Bowman was horn in Licking county. Ohio, on Decenil)er 13, 1841,
son of !)a\i(l and Mary (Ah)nscr) Uownian. hoth natives of IV'nnsylvania,
in which latter state they were niarriecl, after which they settled in Licking
Kunty, ()hi(), where Daxid liowman operated a hroom factory. In F842
the)' cniiL:raied tn lliin()i>, seltling in (^r.'iwford cor.nty, on the eastern edge
of that state, it ha\ing hecn discoNcred that the soil of that section was
peculiarly adap.tetl to the culture of hroom corn, and there l)a\id Tjowman
IxHight a tract of go\-crnment land, for which he paid one dollar and twenty-
h\e cents the acre and paid for the same out of tlie money he made from
tlie manufacture of blooms. He prospered and gradually added to his hold-
ings in that C( >unt\- until he l)ecame the owner of twelve hundred acres of
laufl. He was among the earliest settlers of that part of the county in
which he located and upon the organization of the township in which he
lived was al)le to secure for it the name of Licking township, in honor of
his old home county, in Ohio. He spent the rest of his life there, dying in
i8c)4, at the age of eighty-one. He had been thrice married and was the
father of a large family. His first wife, wdio w-as Mary Mouser, mother of
the subject of this sketch, died in 1858 and he then married Angeline Bow-
man, who. l';owe\er, was not of the same family of Bowmans as he. and
upon her death married a Bishop.
Eli Bowman was b;ut one year old when his parents settled in Illinois,
and he consequently was reared in that state. He was the eldest son who
Yiyed to maturity and was. therefore, the mainstay of his father in the labor
of developing his growing farm interests. When he was tw'enty-tive years
of age, in 1866, b^li Bowman married and his father then gave him a quarter
of a section of huul and he started farming on his own account, remaining
on that farm until the sj^ring of 1873, wdien he. like so many others about
that period, caught the "Kansas fever," and came to this state, locating in
Barton ccmnty, wdiere he homesteaded eighty acres of land in Paw^nee Rock
township, took a timlier claim of one hundred and sixtv acres and pre-
empted an additional eighty acres. The night he and his familv arrived on
their homestead a buffalo ^vas seen on this ]jlace. The vear following their
arrival there, 187^, the grassho];pers ate up everything they had raised, but
the next year they had good crops and presentlv were in prosperous circum-
stances. The to^vn of P^awmee Rock after awhile w^as located on the section
adjoining their claim, wliich caused the value of the Bowman claim to
advance so rapidly in price that much of it was sold to advantage. In 1883
Mr. Bowman left the farm, built a home at Pawnee Rock, into which h.-
and his familv moved, and he and his brother, \A'. Llenrv Bow^man, built a
198 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
fine floiir-niill in the new settlement, and for years did a flourishing business
under the name of Bowman Brothers. 'Sir. P'owman also operated a general
store in I'awnee Rock for several years and increased his land holdings by
the purchase of a good farm in P.arl)er count}'. In 1894 he traded his store
for sixty-two lots in the eastern part of Hutchinson, this county, and in the
fall of that year mo\ed tn that cit_\". He bought a house at 621 North Main
street and there he spent his last days, his death occurring about two years
later, on June ji, 1896. His widow is still making her home in the same
house.
Eli Bowman was a Rejiublican and during the years of his residence in
Barton county took an active part in political affairs. He was the first jus-
tice of the peace of his home township there and for years also served as a
member of the town council of Pawnee Rock. His wife also served for one
\ear as a member of the city council, she also having been elected as a Repub-
lican. The Bowmans were a very influential and helpful influence among
their pioneer neighl3ors in Barton county. They had brought to that county
tbe first domesticated cow and the first churn ever brought to the county
and presently, as other neighbors acquired cows, their churn was in great
demand, being borrowed for miles around. Mr. Bowman was a man of very
generous sympathies and it is said of him that he helped fully two-thirds of
the settlers in that ])art of the county to get a start, either by lending them
money or by extending liberal credit to them at his mill and store. He
was a member of the Knights of Pythias and both he and his wife were
actix'c in the work of tlie Pythian Sisters. They were members of the
United Brethren churcli, ])ut since livino- in Hutchinson Mrs. Bowman has
been a member of the birst ^Tethodist church.
On October 28, 1866, Eli Bow'man was united in marriage to Hen-
rietta Barrett, who was born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, daughter
of Thomas and Catherine (EHck) Barrett, the former of whom was born
in England and the latter in Cumberland county, Pennsvlvania. Thomas
Barrett was four years of age when he was brought to America by his ])ar-
ents. His father, Thomas Barrett, Sr., was a nieml^er of the aristocracy in
England, a graduate of Oxford College and I)y ])rofcssion a civil engineer,
which profession he followed after comiu"- to this countrv. He was acci-
dentally drowned in the Susfjuehanna river when his son, Thomas, was
seventeen years old, the lad thns early being completelv orphaned, for his
mother had died when he wa^ seven \ears of a^e. The vounjrer Thomas
Barrett grew up in Penns}-l\ania and became a timber man, owner of a large
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. I99
saw-mill, and be"came quite well-to-do. In i<^65 he and his family and his
brother, josc])lr, and the latter's family, emigrated to Illinois and settled in
Crawford county, where the}' became extensive landowners. There Thomas
Barrett die<l on hY-bruary to, 1869. at the age of fifty-three. His widow
later made her home on the farm of her daughter, Mrs. Bowman, at I'aw-
nee Rock, where her death occurred on March 29, 1883, the day she was
fifty-nine years of age.
To FA'i and Henrietta (Barrett) Bowman four children were born, as
follow; Dora, born on February 17, 1870, widow of A. Bert Cook, and
lives at Geneseo, Illinois, where she has one child, a son, A. B. Jr.; Will M.,
November 14, 1880, a printer in the office of the Hutchinson Wholesaler,
who married Dove Gear and has fi\'e children, Henrietta, Wilma, Keith.
Wayne and Hugh; Myron, February 11, 1883, wdio married Jessie Cutshaw
and lives in Los Angeles, California, where he is engaged in the w'holesale
cigar business, and Minofa, September 28, 1886, who married Sherman Mil-
ler, a farmer of V^alley township, this county, and has two children, Sher-
man and Ira.
FRED SCHARDEIN.
Fred Schardein, a farmer of Reno county, was born on December 10,
1883, on his father's homestead farm in Salt Creek township. His parents,
John and Eliza J. (Grady) Schardein, settled in Kansas in 1878. He was
educated in the district schools of his home township, and took up farming
as a vocation after leaving school.
Mr. Schardein has leased his father's farm, which he has been operating
for several years, and is making arrangements for the purchase of this farm
in the near future. His father placed all the early improvements on the
place, but during the last three years Mr. Schardein has erected a dwelling
house, a barn and silo, and otherwise improved the farm.
On May 6, 1908, at Hutchinson, Fred Schardein w^as married to Anna
F. Long, who was born on March 10, 1885, the daughter of Daniel and
Alice A. (Welty) Long, who were among the early pioneer settlers of Reno
county. Mr. and Mrs. Schardein are the parents of three children : Fern,
born on March 25, 1909; Teddy, November 20, 1912, and Frederick, March
I, 191 5. Mr. Schardein is a member of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, and the Sons of Veterans.
200 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
COL. HENRY HARTFORD.
Col. Henry Hartford, a distinguished veteran of the Civil ^^'ar and
proprietor of the noted "Hillsview Stock Farm," in ]\Iedora township, this
county, who for some years has been living comfortably retired at his pleas-
ant home at 410 Fourth avenue, east, in the city of Flutchinson, is a native
of the Emerald Isle, having been born in County Londonderry, Ireland,
February 8, 1837, son of ^^'illiam and ■Martha (Leslie) Hartford, both
natives of that same county, the former of whom died in Ireland at the age
of forty-four and the latter of whom, born in 181 2, died at the home of her
son, the subject of this sketch, in Medora tow^nship, this county, in 1905.
William and Martha Hartford, well-to-do people in Ireland, were the
parents of five children, of W'hom Col. Henry Hartford is the eldest, the
others being William, who resides at Lahunta, Colorado ; John died in young
manhood in Ireland; and Elizabeth and Susan, twins, the former of whom
married George Cooter, now a retired farmer, living in Hutchinson, this
county, and the latter of whom married John Clark and died at their home
at Long Branch, New Jersey.
Henry Hartford received an excellent education in private schools at his
boyhood home in Ireland and when he was eighteen years old determined to
try his fortune in the great and promising New \\'orld across the water.
With this end in view, in 1855, he took passage on one of the first steam-
ships that crossed the Atlantic and in due time landed at the port of New
York. In that city he had little difficulty in finding employment and as his
brother William had preceded him, they both were engaged as clerks in a
grocery store. In the early sixties their widowed mother and one sister
jf)ined them in their new home in New York and the reunited family estab-
lished a very comfortable home there. The other sister had come about
1859. Years afterward when the Flartford brothers became successful
homesteaders in this county, the widow Hartford joined them here and her
last days were spent in this county, at the home of her eldest son.
Upon President Lincoln's first call for volunteers to help in the sup-
pression of the rebellion of the Southern states, Henry Hartford left his
place behind the counter of the grocery store and enlisted in Company K.
First New Jersey Militia, for the three-months service prescribed in the first
call for troops. Upon the expiration of this service the militia was reorgan-
ized as a volunteer regiment and became the Eighth Regiment, New Jersey
\'olunteer Infantr)-, Henry Hartford becoming first sergeant of Company F
of the same, and in this regiment he served until it was mustered out follow-
l„^
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 20I
iiig the Grand Review at the close of the war, performing his soldierly duties
so faithfully that he was mustered out as lieutenant-colonel, in command of
the regiment. Sergeant llartf(jrd rose steadily in the ranks during the early
part of his service and was ranking officer of the regiment when Col. John
Ramsey, commander of the regiment, was raised to the rank of brigadier
general, in charge of his brigade of the Second Army Corps, which left a
vacancy and it was then Mr. Hartford was made colonel of his regiment
and was in command until the close of the war. The Eighth New Jersey
was in the very thick of every important battle fought by the Army of the
Potomac and Colonel Hartford was wounded five times seriously and once
slightly, his most serious wounds having been received at the battle of Peters-
burg, \'irginia, June i(3, 1864; the battle of Gettysburg, July 3, 1863, and at
the battle of Williamsburg, May 5, 1862. He was in the thick of things
during the battle of Fredericksburg and in all the other battles under Gen.
Joe Hooker and some of the battles under General Sickles. Colonel Hart-
ford was in charge of his regiment in the Grand Review in Washington at
the close of the war and after the regiment was mustered out he remained
in the service, assisting in checking uj) regimental stores, until in October.
1865, when he, too, was mustered out. Colonel Hartford had a most inter-
esting military career. He was in the following engagements : Yorktown,
Williamsburg, part of General McClelland's retreat to Malvern Hill, Bristle
Station, Second Bull Run, Mine Run. Gettysburg, Kelley's Ford, ^IcLean
Ford, and many other minor engagements.
Upon the conclusion of his military service. Colonel Hartford returned
to New York City and for a year thereafter was employed in the office of
the city assessor, at the end of which time he was engaged by the old Sprague
& McKillets Mercantile Agency, a concern then corresponding to the now
well-known Dunn and Bradstreet agencies, with which he was connected
until 1867, in which year he and his brother, William, decided to test the
opportunities apparently presented in the then new West. They came to
Kansas, locating at Leavenworth, where they engaged in the commission
business, under the firm style of the Hartford Brothers Commission Com-
pany and thus continued in business there until 1872. In November, 1872,
Colonel Flartford had made a trip over into Reno county and had filed a
claim for a soldier's homestead in Medora township, filing on the northeast
quarter of section t8, township 22, range 4, west, which land he still owns,
and in February, 1873, moved onto his homestead and began to develop the
same. His brother filed on another cjuarter of the same section: his mother
who, meanwhile, also had come West, took up another quarter of the same
202: RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
and his brother-in-law, George \\". Cooter, filed on the remaining quarter,
the family thus being together the owners of all of section i8, in Medora
township, and among the ^•ery earliest settlers of Reno county. The hard-
ships endured liy the early settlers of this county are fittingly described in
the historical section of this work and need not therefore be more than
touched im here. Init it is proper to say that the Hartfords did not escape
their share of privation. They rose equal to all emergencies and superior
to all discouragements, however, and in the end prospered greatly. Follow-
ing the dread grasshopper scourge of 1874, Colonel Hartford, a natural
leader of men, took charge of affairs in behalf of the suffering and famine-
stricken settlers and was the first man to secure aid from the East for Reno
county and acted as distributing agent for supplies apportioned to Medora
township and in other ways rendered invaluable assistance during the dreary
days which tried the souls of all hereabout. From the very beginning.
Colonel Hartford conducted his farming operations on an extensive scale
and presently became known as one of the most progressive ranchers and
cattle men in this section of the state. As he prospered he gradually added
to "Hillsview Stock Farm," until he now owns one thousand acres of choice
land in A Fedora township, where for years Colonel Hartford had a fine grade
of pure-blood Shorthorn cattle of which he made a specialty, but before
retiring sold out his cattle, the great ranch now being under the management
of Colonel Hartford's son, Harry E. Hartford, whose progressive ideas are
producing excellent results. Colonel Hartford has not confined his business
activities wholly to his ranch, however, and is the owner of quite a bit of
valuable property in the city of Hutchinson. Though practically retired from
the more active pursuits of life, he continues to take a warm interest in
aff'airs and personally gives his close attention to some of the details of his
extensive interests. Tn 1906 Colonel and Mrs. Hartford retired from the
ranch and moved into the city of Hutchinson, \\here they have a very pleas-
ant home and where they are now li\ing.
On I'ebruary 28, 1879, Col. Henry Hartford was united in marriage, in
Medora township, this county, to Alice Elizabeth Thomas, who was born in
Jennings county, Indiana, daughter of Joseph V. and Enu'ly Thomas, who
came with their familv to Reno county in 1 ■*^73 and entered a (|uarter of a
section of land adjoining the FTartford section in Medora township, and to
this union five children have been born, namely: Ethel died at the age of
fourteen years : Ella, a teacher in the Hutchinson schools, lives with her par-
ents; Harr\', who is on his father's farm; Daile. who married John Cain and
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 203
lives at Alitchcll, in Rice county, this state; and Martha May, who is at
home with her parents, is also a teacher in the city schools.
Colonel Hartford is an ardent Rcpiil>lican and during the more active
years of his life attended every county and many district and state conven-
tions of his party. He was the second sheriff elected in Reno county, serv-
ing in that office in tlie ye;irs 1874-75, and also served very efficiently as
township clerk and member of the school board. He is a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows in which order he takes much interest,
and is one of the directors of the Eastside Cemetery Association. It was
Colonel Hartford who received general credit among the members of that
post for having given Joe Hooker Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at
Hutchinson, its name, he and Captain F. L. Mintie, who v/ere the only
charter members of that post who had fought under General Hooker, ha\ing
fought so vigorously for this honor in behalf of their old general that the
other comrades of the post hnally gave in and Joe Hooker post it ever has
been. Colonel Hartford ever having been one of the most active members
of the same.
WILLIAM R. CONE, D. D. S.
Dr. William R. Cone, a well-known dentist, of Flutchinson, this county,
is a native of Alissouri, having been born on a farm in the neighborhood
of Albany, in Gentry county, that state, on August 28, i860, son of E. W.
and Flliza AI. (Ogden) Cone, both of whom were born in Fountain county,
Indiana, the former on December 25, 1834, and the latter, August 29, 1835,
both of whom are still living.
E. W. Cone was reared on his father's farm in Fountain county,
Indiana, and was married in that county, shortly after which, in 1858. he
moved to Missouri and bought a farm in Gentry county, in the neighborhood
of Albany. He \\'as a Douglas Democrat and an ardent anti-slavery man,
who never hesitated to n.iake his position on the burning issues of that day
known. Following the election of President Lincoln, in i860, his pro-slavery
neighbors, who e\'en then were organizing guerilla bands thereabout in pre-
paration for eventualities, drove him out of the neighborhood. He was
compelled to sacrifice his farm in Missouri and took his family and moved
to Aluscatine, Iowa, where he remained for a few months, at the end of
which time he leased a farm in Mercer county, Illinois, on which he lived
until the fall of 1872. He then came to Kansas, locating on a homestead
204 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
on Prairie Dog creek, in the northern part of the state. He had been there
Init a short time when a prairie fire devastated that whole section of the
state, he and his family saving their lives only by desperate back-firing and
plowing" under liie sod in a radius of twenty acres surrounding their home.
Discouraged by the outlook there, the Cones moved to the Junction City
ncighhorhood, where they raised a crop the succeeding }'ear and in the spring
of 1874 moved to another farm near Peabody, Kansas. That \vas grass-
hopper year and everything they raised that summer was eaten up by the
cloud of pests that overwhelmed tlie land. In the fall of that year the fam-
ily mo\-ed o^■er into Coffey county and there E. W. Cone bought a farm on
which lie made his home until 1884, '" which year he and his wife retired
from the farm and moved to Tulare county, CaHfornia, where they are
now li\ing. he being psst eighty-one years of age, and she past eighty. They
are members of the Presbyterian church and their eight children, all of
whom are living, were reared in that faith. These children, in the order of
their birth, are as follow : Edgar P., a fruit farmer, who lives near Seattle,
Washington; Dr. William R., the immediate subject of this sketch; Carlton,
who lives at Eresno, California; Oscar, a building contractor, also living at
Eresno ; Samantha, who married S. C. Wilkinson and lives at Laton, Cali-
fornia ; Catherine, who married AW A\\ AA'ilkinson and lives at El Paso,
Texas; Josephine, who married E. .V. .Vtchison and lives at Butte, Montana,
and Cora, who married George X. White and lives at Boise, Idaho.
William R. Cone received his elementary education in the district schools
of Illinois and Kansas. Ele was twelve vears of age when his familv moved
to this state and at the age of seventeen he began teaching school in Coffey
countv and was thus engaged for five vears. at the end of which time, in
1883, he entered the University of Kansas, from which he was graduated in
1888, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the fall of 1888 he was
elected county superintendent of schiiols of Coffey count}-, in which capacity
he served for two years. Tn tlic meantime, he had taken up the study of
dental surgery and in 1801 began the ])ractice of that ]irofession at Elor-
ence and continued thus engaged until i8q4. in which year he entered the
C'oUege of Dental vSurgery at Chicago and uyAm completing his course there
returned to Elorence, where he practiced until in I'Y'bruary. 1899. ^^ which
time he came to Reno county, locating at Hutchinson, where he ever since
has Ijeen engaged in the practice of his profession.
On r^Iarch to, 1895, ^^- AA'ilh'am R. Cone was united in marriage to
Armanellie Stetler, who was born in Burlington. Towa, October 11. 186S,
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 205
(laughter of 1. 11. and Retta Stetler, l)oth of whom arc imw li\ing in Chicago.
Mrs. Cone was graduated from the Woman's Medical College of North-
western Uni\crsity, at Chicago, and from the time of her arrival in Ihitch-
inson until 1906 was actively engaged in the practice of her profession,
making a specialty of diseases of women and children. Doctor and Mrs.
Cone are memhers of the Presbyterian church and Doctor Cone is a IMason.
In 1907 Doctor Cone huilt a pretty suburban home at 900 Seventeenth
street, west, where he owns a fine tract of forty acres. Twenty acres of
this tract is set to orchard fruit, mostly apples and cherries, and in this fine
orchard the Doctor finds his chief diversion from the exacting duties of his
profession, deriving not only considerable profit from his orchard but an
infinite amount of pleasure in the cultivation of the same.
HOUSTON WHITESIDE.
Houston \\ hiteside, dean of the Reno County Bar Association, one of
the best-known lawyers in Kansas, founder of the Hiitcliinson Nci^'s and
probably the oldest continuous resident of the city of Hutchinson, a man
who has witnessed the development of that bustling city from the days it
consisted of a few unsightly shanties stuck up in the dreary sands of the
original tow'usite and who has aided \ery materially in the development of
the city to its ]>resent exalted status, is a native of Tennessee, he having
been born in Shelby ville, that state, in 1847, son of Russell Porter and Mary
Ann (Houston) Whiteside, the former of whom, born in 1824 died in
1854, and the latter, born in 1824, died in 191 2.
Russell Porter Whiteside was born near Shelbyville, Tennessee, mem-
ber of a pioneer family of that section, and was reared on the paternal farm.
His elder brother, Thomas C. Whiteside, was a prominent attorney in Shel-
byville, and upon completing his schooling he entered his brother's office and
began the study of law, presently being admitted to the bar and becoming
a partner of W^illiam H. Wisener in the practice of the law, with offices at
Shelbyville and Lewisburg. quickly taking his place among the leaders of the
bar thereabout, entering upon a most promising career, which was cut short
by death at the early age of twenty-eight. Russell P. Whiteside married
Mary Ann Houston, who was liorn near Concord, in Cabarrus county.
North Carolina, daughter of Dr. William and Sarah (P^'hifer) Houston,
who emigrated to Tennessee with her parents when seven years of age, her
206 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
father having located there at that time on a large tract of land which had
been granted t(j his father by the government in consideration of his dis-
tinguished services in behalf of the armies of the patriots during the Revolu-
tionary War, her father having been the colonel of the Third North. Caro-
lina Regiment, the same in v.hich Doctor Houston's father had served in the
capacit}- of captain. Dr. William Houston became one of the leading planta-
tion owners in the Shelbyville neighborhood, a large slave-holder and an
extensive breeder of cattle. Russell P. Whiteside was a Whig and a mem-
ber of the Presbyterian church, tlie sterling character of the man being
attested by the fact that he had. been an elder in the Presbyterian church for
some time prexious to his death, at the early age of twenty-eight. To him
and his wife two children were born, the subject of this biographical sketch
having had a sister, Annie, who married William E. Hutchinson, partner of
his brother, C. C. Hutchinson, founder of the city of Hutchinson, this county.
Uix)n the death of Russell P. ^\'hiteside his wddow married, secondly, George
T. Hutton, a farmer of Bedford county, Tennessee, who died about 1890,
and to this second union three children were born, Emmette, Samuel and
Leota, the latter of whom married Doctor Conn, and all of whom reside in
Hutchinson.
Houston W'hiteside was reared at Shelbyville. Tennessee, his elementary
education being received in a private school there, the same being supple-
mented b}- a course in Shcll)y\ ille College, which was interrupted 1:)y the
military activities in that section during the Ci\'il War, during which time
the schools were closed. After the war, Mr. Whiteside began teaching
school near Shelbyville and was thus engaged for three years, at the end of
which time he went to Mississippi, where for a year he operated a cotton
l;lantation, after which he entered the law office of his uncle, Thomas C.
W'hiteside, at Shelbyville, where for two year.s he gave his most studious and
intelligent attention to the theory and practice of the law, laying there the
foundation for the notable success he later was destined to achieve in the
practice of that exacting profession, [n the spring of 1872 Mr. Whiteside
canie to Kansas and on May 16, of that }ear. arrived at Hutchinson, which
harl been platted the year before and which at the time of iiis arrival con-
sisted of but a few shanties. Recognizing immediately the need of a proper-
medium of expression for the jiromotion of the interests of the promising
town site, ^Ir. Whiteside, in connection with Perry Brothers, of Miami
countv. this state, founded the Hutchinson Nezvs. he takins: editorial direc-
tion of the same. The next year. 1873. he bought the interests of his part-
ners and operated the paper alone until 1875. '^^ which year he sold the same,
UENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 20/
the gronini^- interests of his ah^eady extensive law i)ractice demanchng his
lUKhvided attention. In Novemlier, of the year of his arrival in IhUchinson,
Air. Whiteside was elected connty attorney for Reno county and was re-
elected in ICS74. h'roin the time he retired from editorial direction of the
I lutcliuison News unLil the time of his ])ractical retirement from practice, in
1907, Air. Whiteside occupied a very high i)lace at the bar of Reno county
and from the hrst was recognized h}* l)oth the l)ench and bar of this section
as a vigorous and useful force in affairs. From the date of its organization,
more than thirty years ago, he has been the president of the Reno County Bar
Association and in every way has labored to maintain the high dignity of the
bar in this county. Though most of the time Mr. Whiteside has conducted
his practice alone, he from time to time has been associated in partnership
with W. H. Gleason, A. C. Malloy, W. E. Hutchinson and James AIcKinsty.
Mr. Whiteside is a Republican and from the time of his arrival in this
county has given close attention to the political affairs of the community
and of the state at large, though never having been a candidate for office,
his large law practice having required all his time. For several terms, how-
CA'er, he served as city attorney, under appointment of the city council, in
\\hich public capacity he performed excellent service, and for twenty-five
years was district attorney for the Santa Fe system. Frequently, Mr. ^^'hite-
side has been a delegate to state and congressional conventions of his party
and has been regarded as a useful factor in Kansas politics. He also has
gi\'en his close attention to business affairs and helped to organize the Hutch-
inson Commercial Club in 1892. He was president of the first flour-mill
company in Hutchinson and for years was president of the Water, Light
and Power Company and at dififerent times has been actively connected with
various real-estate and banking companies, though not now- thus actively
connected. He still owns the (juarter of a section of land which he pre-
empted near Hutchinson, on the west, and is the owner of other valuable
farm lands.
On February 22, 1889, Houston Whiteside was united in marriage to
Julia Clementine Latimer, who was born at Jackson, Tennessee, daughter of
Charles Latimer and wife. Charles Latimer was a A^irginian, who was grad-
uated from the United States Na\al Academy at Annapolis and for many
years was an officer in the United States navy. During the Civil War he
was federal superintendent of railroads, located at Jackson, Tennessee, and
after the war took service in the engineering- department of the Lake Shore
railroad, which company he served for some years as chief engineer, with
208 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
headquarters at Cleveland. Ohio, later going to the Erie Railroad Company,
in the same capacity, and dietl in Cleveland in 1887.
To Houston and Julia C. ( Latimer) Whiteside two children have been
born, a son and a daughter. Houston, jr., born in 1891, graduated from the
United States ^Military Academy at West Point in 1912 and served as an
otiicer in the Twenty-third Regiment, United States Infantry, until his resig-
nation in 1914. since which time he has been giving his attention to his
father's extensive business interests in and about Hutchinson; and Ada, 1893,
who supplemented her schooling in the public schools of Hutchinson by a
course in a finishing school for young women at Greenwich, Connecticut,
and married Wirt ?kIorton, superintendent of the Morton Salt Company, of
J kuchinson. The Whitesides live in a handsome and hospitable home at
504 Sherman street, east, in the city of Hutchinson. Mr. and Mrs. White-
side are members of the Episcopal church, of which Mr. Whiteside was a
vestryman for many years and seniof warden for twenty years. He has been
chancellor of the diocese since its organization and takes a warm interest in
church affairs. He is a member of the Masons, the Knights of Pythias and
the Anti-Horse Thief Association. Mrs. Whiteside is highly accomplished in
music and has done much to promote music in Kansas. She is well known
as the finest vocalist in the state and one of the best amateur singers in the
whole countrv.
JOEL M. ANDERSON.
Joel M. Anderson, son of William D. and Sarah I. (Louder) Anderson,
was born in Guilford county. North Carolina, April 16, 1841. His parents
were natives of North Carolina and were of Scotch ancestry. Llis father
was a pioneer minister of the Wesleyan INIethodist church. Reared in a
state where slavery existed he disapproved strongly of the system and,, with
a view of getting him.self and family from its blighting influences, he removed
to Henry county. Indiana, in 185 1. He remained there until about 1858,
when he removed to Decatur county, Iowa, where he continued to make his
home during the remainder of his life. He died in February, 1890, and
his wife survived him less than a week.
Joel M. Anderson, the subject of this sketch, died at his home in Hutch-
inson. Kansas, December t8, 191 r. He had the following brothers and
sisters: Rhoda, deceased, married \\'. H. Sanford, of Leon, Iowa; Mary
A. married J. P. Dunn, of Abbeyville, Kansas; ^^'illiam S., a farmer, of
JOEL M. ANDERSON.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 209
Ringgold. Iowa; Irene married Peter Deck, of Abl)eyville, Kansas; Solomon,
a nieni1)er of the Third Iowa Cavalry in the Civil War, died in the service
in Louisville, Kentucky; John C, a farmer, at Kennard, Indiana; Isaac B.,
a farmer, at Cadiz, Indiana.
Joel M. Anderson was educated in the district schools of Henry county,
Indiana, and Decatur county, Iowa. He remained at home working on the
farm until he reached his majority. He then rented a farm in Decatur
county, Iowa, and afterward bought a small farm in that county which he
cultivated until the fall of 1873, when he removed to Reno county, Kansas,
where he located a homestead claim on the northwest quarter of section 34,
township 23, range 8, and during the fall and winter of 1873 broke sod
preparatory to spring planting. In the spring he rented some other land
that had been broken the preceding year and planted forty acres in corn, but
he lost his entire crop by the grasshopper scourge that devasted that section
that year. Having nothing left, like many other settlers, he had to leave
his claim and seek some other location to obtain a living for himself and
family. He returned to his former home in Iowa where he spent the winter
working with his team at one dollar per day. In the spring of 1875 he
returned to Kansas to make another effort to raise a crop. He planted only
a small acreage of wheat because he did not have enough money to purchase
seed for a larger acreage. The grasshopper plague had abated and he was
able to realize a fair return for his labor that year. His first house was a
one-story, fourteen ])y sixteen, in which he lived for several years, until he
was able to enlarge and improve it. He was engaged in general farming
and stock raising until September, 1888, when he removed to Hutchinson to
assume the duties of the office of county treasurer, to which he had been
elected.
Mr. Anderson was elected to the office of county commissioner in 1885,
for a term of one year, from the third district. This was to fill a vacancy
in that office. On the expiration of that term he was re-elected for the full
term of three years, but he resigned the office of commissioner to accept the
office of county treasurer, to which he was elected in the fall of 1887. He
served for two terms, of two years each, in the latter office, being re-elected
in the fall of 1889. He was elected police judge of Hutchinson, in 1895.
and served in that capacity for two years. He was also township trustee
for three years, and one of the organizers of school district No. 58, and
served as treasurer of the school board for nine years. In the discharge of
these various official duties he was always prompt, efficient and reliable, and
(14a)
210 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
commanded the approbation and the esteem of the community which he
faithfully served. His official record is without criticism or reproach. His
public honors always came to him unsought, his fellow citizens calling him to
office because they recognized his trustworthiness and ability.
After retiring from office Air. Anderson engaged in the real-estate and
insurance business, and also engaged as administrator of estates and guardian
of minor heirs. In this capacity his superior business judgment, his unques-
tioned integrit}- in handling public and private interests, gave assurance that
business entrusted to him would be carefully handled and honestly accounted
for. His entire life was in harmony with his profession — honorable, straight
and upright — and was crowned with the high degree of success which is ever
accorded sterling worth.
On August 8, 1863, ]\Ir. Anderson enlisted in Company C, Ninth Iowa
Cavalry, under the command of Colonel Drummond, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa,
with whom he served for two years. This regiment served in Missouri and
Arkansas, guarding wagon trains and doing much scouting and escort duty.
On account of disability from hard service and exposure, JMr. Anderson was
discharged at the end of two years.
Joel AI. Anderson was married, July 31, 1862, in Iowa, to Sarah A.
Chambers, a daughter of Daniel K. and Elizabeth ((Brinneman) Chambers.
Mrs. Anderson was born in Pennsylvania, September 8, 1844. Her father
was born in Pennsylvania, June 21, 18 16. He was a farmer, owning one
hundred and sixty acres of culti\"ated land and forty acres of timber land.
near Leon. Iowa, where he settled in 1848. In 1850 Air. Chambers was
attracted by prospects in gold mining in California and went on the long
journey across the plains to seek his fortune in that state. After two years
of indifferent success he returned to his Iowa home and resumed his farm-
ing operations. In 1893 he came with his wife to Hutchinson to live with
his daughter. Airs. Joel AI. Anderson. He died here, September 8, 1905.
He had been blind for abtjut twenty }-ears. Air. Chambers had been a suc-
cessful farmer and took great pride in his farm, and in the raising and care
of fine horses. His wife was born in Pennsylvania, February 25. 1816. and
died in Hutchinson. June 4. 1894. i>oth were prominent members of the
Alethodist church.
The brothers and sisters of Airs. Joel AI. Anderson are: Austin, bom
in Pennsylvania. Alarch 29, 1841, was a .soldier in the Civil War, serving six
months, died in Lyoden, Wa.shington territory, January 17, 1889; Alary
Ellen, born in Pennsylvania, December 2. 1847. married George T. Chandler,
a farmer, living at .\rmour. South Dakota; Emma Jane, born near Leon,
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 211
](j\\a, May 21.), i^^^, died June 16, i860; Anicjs, horn near Lccjn, Iowa,
October 16, 1854, is a farmer and slock raiser at Leon, Iowa.
The children born to Mr. and A'Irs. Anderson arc: William A., a
farmer of l\eno county; bla b. married M. Wihiiot; Cora married John S.
b)anl)er, of \\ hitewater, Kansas; [jertha married Walter Meade, of Hutchin-
son, Kansas.
Mr. Anderson was an active and prominent member of the Methodist
Episco])al church, having sensed as a member of the official board, and in
the work of the Sunday school, in which he was a teacher in the country.
He was a member of Joe Hooker Post, Grand Army of the Republic. He
was also a su]>porter of the Hutchinson Young Men's Christian Association.
Politically, he was identified with the Republican party, having served on the
county central committee, and was frecjuently a delegate to the conventions
of his ])arty. Mrs. Anderson is a member of the Woman's Christian Tem-
perance Union, and the Woman's Relief Corps, auxiliary to the Grand Army
of the Republic. The family residence is one of the handsome homes of
Hutchinson, located at 517 Third avenue, east.
PETER A. NELSON.
Peler A. Nelson, well-known hardware merchant at Hutchinson, this
county, is a native of Sweden, having been born near the village of Elmholt,
in the district of Smaalene, in that kingdom, on January 4, 1864, son of
jolin and Nellie Nelson, both natives of the same district, farmers there,
who, in 1869, emigrated with their two small sons, John W'., now president
of the Nelson Manufacturing Company, of Hutchinson, this county, and
Peter .V., the subject of this sketch, to America, locating for a short time at
Rockford, Illinois, where John Nelson worked at such labor as his hands
could find to do.
fn 1872, the year after tlie organization of Reno county, the Nelsons
came to Kansas, settling in this county, where John Nelson pre-empted eighty
acres of land in Lincoln township, on the present site of the village of Dar-
low. He presently sold that homestead and bought a (piarter of a section in
the same township, two miles west of his original place, where he made his
home for some time. He then l;ought a farm in Castleton township, during
the eighties, later lju}ing a fpiarlcr of a section in Iveno township, south of
the town of South Hutchinson, on which he lived until the time of his retire-
212 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
niciit from the active labors of the farm, after which he moved into Hutch-
inson, where he and his wife spent t!ie remainder of their hves, his death
occurring- in i()09. His widow' survived him three years, her death occur-
ring in 1912. During tlieir residence in Sweden, the Nelsons w^ere mem-
bers of the Lutheran church. ])ut u|)on coming to this county, in the absence
of a Lutheran congregation with which to worship, Mrs. Nelson joined the
Methodist church.
Peter A. Nelson was five years of age wdien he came to America with
his parents and was eight years of age w'hen they came to this count}^ in
1872. Lie, consequently, has l^een a wdtness of the w^onderful development
of this region since those pioneer days and his recollection of the hardships
and privations which the original settlers of this county had to endure in the
days of grasshoppers and droughts is very vivid. He grew up on the farm,
manfully assisting his father in the development of the same and wdien his
father moved from Castleton to Reno township he gave Peter A. the former
quarter-section farm as a reward for his faithfulness and industry. Mr.
Nelson lived on this farm for one year, at- the end of which time, in 1886,
lie went to Linne}- county, wdiere, in the Garden City neighborhood, he
homesteaded and then commuted a tract of land, which he still owns and the
next year returned to his Castleton tow-nship place. In 1889 he joined his
brother, J(jhn \\'., in South Hutchinson, wdiere they engaged in the retail
hardware business, the next year moving their store to Hutchinson, locating
the same in the Rock Island block, where they conducted their business quite
successfully for a time, and finally locating at North Main street, wdiich
three-stor\- building they purchased, rmd where they greatly enlarged the
capacity of their business and at the same time engaged in the manufacture
of galvanized tanks, Iniilding u]) an extensive business in the same. In iqog
this partnership was dissolved, Peter A. Nelson retaining the store and liis
brother, John W'., taking the n;anufacturing end of the Imsiness, wliich he is
still oi)erating. Mr. Nelson's hardware store is one of the liest equipped
stores in Hutchinson, fittings and lixtures being up-io-datc and stock com-
plete.
In 1899 Peter A. Nelson was united in marriage to Hilma .\nderson,
who was bnrn in Sweden, d;uighter of Carl and Mary Anderson, both now
deceased, and who came with iluni Id America when slie was a small girl,
the family .settling in Wiscon>in, later coming to Kansas, and to this union
one child has been born, Celestine, born in igoi. Mr. and Afrs. Nelson
have a Aery jdeasant home at 428 Avenue A, east.
^Ir. Nelson is a Republican in national affairs, luit in local elections is
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 213
more inclined to .^ive his i)reference to the men he thinks best fitted for the
office, regardless of party distinctions. He is a thirty-second-degree Mason,
a member of the lilne lodge at Hulchinson and of the consistory at Wichita.
He also is a member of the Order of the iuistern Star and of the Indepen-
dent rirdcr of Odd I'ellous and in all of these organizalions takes a warm
interest.
FRANK M. McDERMED.
As an example of what energy, pktck, perseverance and thrift, coupled
with an inherent shrewdness of thought and habit, may accomplish in the
life of one man, the following interesting bit of biography, the life history
of one of the most successful business men in Kansas, well deserves a prom-
inent place in these pages. In Reiio county, few men are better known than
iMank M. AIcDermed, merchant anrl capitalist, of Hutchinson, and it is to a
brief review of his successful career since arriving in Hutchinson in 1887,
a poor lioy, but eighteen years of age. that these lines are addressed.
Frank 1\L McDermed was born in Roanoke City, X'irginia, October 4,
1869, son of Oliver and Mary (Barnes) McDermed, the former of whom,
born in that same city in 1830, son of William McDermed, a prosperous
merchant, died in Arkansas, November 11, 1886, and the -latter, born in
Roanoke county, Virginia, in 1835, died in Hutchinson, this county, January
27, 1914. ■ .
Oliver McDermed was reared to the mercantile business and upon
reaching manhood loecame prcjp.rietor of a store at Roanoke City. Some
years before the Civil War period he moved to Richmond, Virginia, and
there engaged in Ijusiness, lieconu'ng the proprietor of a large store. When
the war between the states l^roke out, he enlisted in the cause of the Confed-
erate states and served valiantly during that fratricidal struggle in the army
of his great general, Ivobert E. Lee. .At the close of the war, he found
himself bankrupt, his business in Richmond having been destroyed during
the time of the Federal occupation of that city, and after struggling along
inetYectuallv for a few years in Roanoke City, decided to try his fortunes
anew in the West. Tn 1872 he removed, with his family to Lonoke, Arkan-
sas, where he and his son-in-law, "Bud" Holloway. engaged in cotton plant-
ing \\itli some measure of success, though, after the death of Oliver AIc-
Dermed, in 1886, there was not much left when his estate was settled. Oli-
\er AIcDermed and his wife were the parents of eight children, as follow:
214 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
William E., formerly a merchant at Los Angeles, California, now a com-
mercial traveler there; Laura, who died, unmarried, in 1876; John A., a
well-known farmer of this county; Robert F., engaged in the real-estate busi-
ness in Hutchinson, a biographical sketch of whom .is presented elsewhere in
this volume; Luton, a well-known grocer in Hutchinson; Annie, now de-
ceased, wb.o -married "Bud" Holloway ; Frank ]\I., the immediate subject of
this sketcli. and James I"., merchant, manufacturer, speculator and promoter,
of Ihuchinsnn. this county.
Frank M. ^^IcDermed was three years of age when his family moved
from Virginia to the Arkansas plantation and was seventeen years of age
when his father died. During the Hfe on the plantation conditions necessi-
tated the labor of all hands and he had little time for schooling, he having
had the advantage of attendance at liut three terms of district school during
the time he lived there. When he was eighteen years of age he and his
widowed mother and such of the younger children as had not yet left home
came to this county and settled in Hutchinson, where he received the further
advantage of attendance at three terms of the common school, his vacations
l>eing spent at wurk in a plumbing shop. In 1890, he being then twenty-
one years of age, Frank M. JMcDermed decided to go into business on his
own account and opened a grocery store at 213 South Main street, which he
operated quite successfully, continuing to occupy that same location until
1905. in which year he sold it and a poultry yard he had established in 1898
to his lirothers. Luton and James E., after which he started a new grocery
and hardware store at 519-27 South Main street, where he is still in busi-
ness, in connection with this establishment also conducting a large retail
coal yard.
It is not too much to sa> that b'rank M. McDermed has become quite a
capitalist. When he arrived in Hutchinson, in 1887. he was a poor boy,
with but little education, ])ut possessed of a natural aptitude for business
and has made money at every turn. Mr. McDermed is interested in many
enterprises in and about Hutchinson, in addition to his extensive commercial
establishment. Fie was one of the promoters of the Rorabaugh-Wiley build-
ing, the only eight-story office building in the city of Hutchinson, and was
one of the original owners and promoters of Riverside Park. Fie is largely
interested in farms in Arkansas, Texas and Oregon ruid is a director of the
Reno State Bank, a director of the Fontron Loan rmd Trust Company and
a director of the Haven Milling Company, and from 1896 to T903 was
largely engaged in raising cattle in this county.
In civic affairs also Mr. iSlcDermed has shown his intelligent interest
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 215
and has foniul time from his extensive commercial and financial pursuits to
gi\e considerable attention to the public service. He is a Democrat and
served as a member of the Hutchinson city council from 1903 to 1910, in
which latter vcar the commission form of government for that city was
inaugurated, he being one of the first city commissioners. An interesting
item in connection with Mr. McDermed's large holdings in Hutchinson is
the statement that he is the owner of the oldest building now standing in
Hutchinson, a stone l>uilding located at 15 South Main street, which was
erected in 1872 and was constructed from stone hauled all the way from
Newton, which at that time was the terminus of the Santa Fe railroad, there
being then no railroad in Hutchinson. Mr. McDermed is a m.ember of the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and takes a warm interest in the
affairs of that popular order.
On February 14, 1915, Frank AL McDermed was united in marriage to
Clara Teter. \\ho was born and reared in Hutchinson, a daughter of James
L. Teter, who is now a grocer at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
ALBERT P. DIXON.
The Dixon family has been actively connected with the affairs of Reno
county since the days of the beginning of a social order hereabout, Albert
P. Dixon, a v/ell-known and progressive young fanner of Salt Creek town-
ship, this county, being a grandson of Nathaniel Dixon, a Hoosier, who
came to Reno county in 1872, the year following the first permanent settle-
ment made in the county, and son of the late Cyrus N. Dixon, who for years
was regarded as one of the leading farmers of Enterprise township.
Nathaniel Dixon was born in Indiana and became a well-to-do farmer
of the Aurora neighborhood in that state. He married lantha Hoard and
continued making his home near Aurora until 1872, in which year he and
his family, his wife and five young children, came to Kansas, locating in
Reno county, .where, in Enterprise township, he homesteaded a tract of
land, being among the very earliest of the settlers of this county and the
second or third to settle in Enterprise township. When he erected his
humble home on his homestead there was not another house to be seen in
any direction from that point, nor was there a tree in sight, while vast herds
of buft'alo still were roaming the prairies hereabout, providing ample sup-
plies of meat for the family larder. Nathaniel Dixon speedily proceeded to
2l6 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
make a home on the priiirie and soon liad thing? in habitable shape. He
planted a sig-htly grove on his place and (|uickly began to l>e recognized as
one of the most progressive and energetic of the settlers in that part of the
county. Nathaniel Dixon kept the postoffice in his home about 1874. His
sons were acti\'e aids to him in tlic work of creating a new home and all
grew up sturdy and independent farmers. Nathaniel Dixon and his wife
were members of the Methodist clmrch and early took their place among
those who were continuallv active in good works in their neighborhood.
In the early eighties he sold his home place to his son, Cyrus N. Dixon,
and he and his wife went to Oregon, where their last days were spent.
They were the parents of five children, as follow : Ezra L., wdio w^nt to
Oregon and died in Portland, that state; Luella, who married W. T. Hare
and now lives in the town of Nickerson, this county; Cyrus N., father of
the subject of this sketch, and Samuel and JMichael, both of wdiom have
for vears been making their homes in Oregon, the latter of wdiom formerly
was a minister of the ^Methodist Episcopal church, but is now farming in
Oregon.
Cyrus X. Dixon was twelve years of age when he came to this county
with his parents in 1872, and he grew to manhood on the homestead farm
in Enterprise township. AVhen he came of age he married Annie Warnock,
who w'as born in Iowa in i86i- and who came to this county with her par-
ents when she was a girl, and then he bought the homestead of his father,
the latter at that time moving to Oregon, and spent the rest of his life there.
])ecoming a very successful farmer. He presently bought an adjoining half
section of land and at the time of his death on January 11, 1915, was the
owner of seven hundred and twenty acres of choice land in Enterprise town-
ship. He was a Democrat, ever taking an active part in local political
affairs, and he and his wife were earnest members of the Methodist church.
They were the parents of live children, namely: Albert P., the subject of
this -sketch ; lantha, who married Jesse Huckworth and lives on a farm in
[enterprise township, this county; Lola, married \'irgil T. Slifer, a farmer
of I'Jiterprise; Ray, who is managing the home farm, and Ezra, deceased.
Albert P. Dixon was born on the old Dixon homestead in Enterprise
township, this county, on December 17. 18S5. He grew to manhood there,
receiving his elementary education in tlie district school of that neighbor-
hood, which he supplemented by a course in the Salt City Commercial Col-
lege at Hutchinson. T'ollowing his marriage in 191 1 he bought the old
ClaypfX)! place, the southwest quarter of section 6 in Salt Creek township
and moved onto that farm, on which he still makes his home. He has been
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 217
quite successful iu his fanuiug operations and rents additional land from
his mother, which he is cultivatino- with profit.
(^n Iul\- 29, 191 T, Alhert P. Dixon was united in marriage to Katy
Kittle, who was horn in Rush county, this state, daughter of Stacy Kittle
and wife, who now reside in Nickerson, this county, and to this union two
children have heen horn, sons, Oscar, wdio was born in July, 1912, and
Harold, in Ma>-, t(;i5. Mr. and Mrs. Dixon are members of the Methodist
church and take a ])roper interest in the good works of their community.
WILLIAM E. CARR.
William E. Carr, general manager of the "IMonarch" mills at Hutchin-
son, this county, vice-president of the Monarch Milling Company, promi-
nently connected with the banking and commercial interests of the city and
for x'ears one of the most active promoters of the best interests of "the Salt
City," is a Hoosier, a fact of which he has never ceased to be proud, having
been born in the village of New Corydon, Jay county, Indiana, February 19,
1857, son of D. W. and Charlotta (Daugherty) Carr, both natives of that
same state.
William E. Carr was reared in his native village, receiving" his educa-
tion in the locvA schools, and even as a youth started out to make his own
way in the world. In Alay, 1S77, he came to Kansas, being located for a
time in Hutchinson, then a vdlage of promising proportions, but still l)ear-
ing all the evitlences of its recent origin, and while there worked in various
capacities for the Santa Fe Railroad Company. In 1881 he was sent by
that compan}' to Garden Cit}-, this state, to edit a newspaper, the Irrigator,
which the railroad company had financed for the purpose of "booming" the
sale of lands thereabout. In 1883 Mr. Carr moved to Ellinwood, this .state,
wdiere he was engaged in editing and ])ublishing the EUimvood Express
(now known as the Adrocatc) until 1887, in which year he moved to Great
Bend to take the position of bookkeeper in the office of the Great Bend
mills, owned Iw Hume & Kelly. In 1897 ^^r. Carr and William Kellv. of
the above firm, caiue to this county and erected the "Monarch" mills at
Hutchinson. In 1905 iMr. Kelly sold his interest in the flour-mill to X. B.
Saw^yer, who, with Mr. C^arr, H. A. and E. B. Sawyer and R. E. Carr.
organized the Monarch Milling Company, incorporated, and which is doing
a very flourishing- business. Upon the entrance of the Sawyer interest into
2l8 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
the milling company. X. B. Sa^vyer was elected president of the company,
and Mr. Carr vice-president and general manager, Mr. Carr having had
])r;ictica]]\" entire management of the mill ever since it was erected. It is
universallv ackntnvlcdged that the product of the ''Monarch'' mills is as fine
as there is made in Kansas. The plant has a daily capacity of six hundred
and fifty harrels and the flour is shipped to all parts of the United States,
in addition to which tlie company enjoys a considerable export trade. The
"American Ladv" Ijrand of flour manufactured by this company is its lead-
ing brand and is known in all parts of the country.
Not onlv has ^Ir. Carr given his most thoughtful and intelligent atten-
tion to his milling business, but he has taken an active part in several other
enterprises of a local character and is known as one of Hutchinson's most
representative business men, being a stockholder in the Commercial National
Bank, First National Bank and numerous other concerns.
In 1886 A\'illiam E. Carr was united in marriage to Alice Jacobs, who
was born in Union county, Ohio, and to this union one son has been born,
Ralph E., who is associated \vith his father in the milling business. Mr.
and Mrs. Carr are members of the First Presbyterian church, in the various
beneficences of which they take an active interest, and Mr. Carr is a member
of the ?klodern \\'oodmen and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
He and his son are active members of the Hutchinson Countrv Club, and the
latter is an enthusiastic golfer.
JOSEPH P. FARLEY.
Joseph I*. Farley, superintendent of mails in the postoffice at Hutchin-
son, this county, and one of the l)est-kn()wn citizens of that citv, is a native
of Pennsylvania, having been born in I'amaqua, that state, June 15, i860,
son of Michael and Ann (Colum) Farley, the former a native of Ireland
and the latter of England, both of whom are now deceased.
Michael h'arley was born in County Cavan, Ireland, and came to the
United States with his widovN-ed nrnthcr wlien f(nn- vears of aee. The
widow Farley settled in Tamacpia, in the heart of the Pennsylvania coal
field, and there Michael grew to manhood, early becoming a miner, which
vocation he followed all the active years of his life. He died there on Octo-
ber 30. 1875, and his widow later moved to Philadelphia, where she died in
November, 19 10. She was born in St. Helens. England, and had come to
RENO COUNTY, KAXSAS. 219
this country when a i^irl with her parents. There were ten of these chil-
dren, all of whom are lixinj^' sa\e two. Thomas having died when eighteen
years old and Catherine wdien fonr, those ocsides the snhject of this sketch
(all residents of Philadelphia) heing as follow: James C, a railroad con-
tractor; Mary, widow of Thomas Ahindy ; Daniel. Michael, Sarah, who
married Jacob Borrell, a brick mason; Margaret, who married W'ilham
Blaich. superintendent of circulation in the office of one of the Philadelphia
newspapers, and Connor, inspector of upholstery for the Pennsylvania rail-
road.
Joseph P. Farley was reared at Tamaqna, Pennsylvania, and received
his schooling there. He "grew- u]y' in the coal mines and worked there
until he was seventeen years old. when, in 1877, about two years after his
father's death, he went to Indiana and was engaged in farming in the Terre
Haute neighborhood for ten years, at the end of which time he came to Kan-
sas, arriving at Hutchinson on November 21. 1887. The Crystal Salt Com-
pany of that city had been organized by Terre Haute men and Mr. Farley
was engaged as foreman of that company's plant, a position he held for
four years. He then engaged in the grocery business and tw-o years later
received an appointment as letter carrier in the Hutchinson postoffice. For
fifteen years Mr. Farley faithfully performed the duties of postman and
then W'as advanced to the position of clerk, which he held for five years, or
until his appointment to the position of superintendent of mails in 191 2,
which position he still occupies. Mr. Farley is a Democrat and has ever
given a good citizen's attention to political affairs.
On January i, 1890, at Nevada, Missouri, Joseph P. Farley was united
in marriage to Hannah Rukes, who was born near Brazil, in Clay county,
Indiana, not far from Terre Haute, daughter of James and Elizabeth ( HotT-
man) Rukes, both natives of Clay county. Indiana, the former of whom is
still living, now a resident of Brazil, Indiana, and to this union six children
have been born, namely: Anna E., who married Ralph J. Chesney. a freight
clerk for the Chicago, Burlington and Ouincy railroad, stationed at Kansas
City, Missouri; James N., an attorney-at-law at Hutchinson; Helen, who
married Fred Danielson, baggage master at the Rock Island railroad depot
at Hutchinson; Edna, a graduate of the Hutchinson high school, and i\Iar-
garet and Joseph P., Jr., who are still in school. The Parleys have a plea-
sant home at 516 B avenue, east, and are quite comfortably situated. Mr.
Farley is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, a member of the Modern Woodmen of
America and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and in the affairs
of all these organizations takes a w^arm interest.
220 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
FRED W. THORP.
Fred W". Tliurp, a prosperous lumber and coal dealer in Haven, this
county, a large landowner, first postmaster of the town of Haven, editor of
the first newspaper jmblished in that town, founder of the bank established
in Haven, former mayor of the town and who in other ways has been
actively identiHed with the promotion of the best interests of that flourishing
little cit\-. is a nati\'e of Wisconsin, having been born in Washington county,
that state, April 22, i860, son of the Hon. Frederick O. and Maria (French)
Thorp, the former of whom was born in Massachusetts and the latter in
Connecticut, who emigrated tc Wisconsin with their respective parents, the
former in 183 1 and the latter in 1832, Wisconsin then being unorganized as
a state, existing merely as a part of the great Northwest Territory. Fred-
erick O. Thorp and his wife were members of the Congregational church.
They were the parents of three children, the subject of this sketch having
had two brothers, George FL, a promising lawyer, wdio died at the age of
iwenty-six, and Herman S., who died in early youth.
Fred W. Thorp received his elementary education in the schools of
West Bend and of Fond du Lac, \\'isconsin, supplementing the same by a
course in the University of Wisconsin, from the scientific department of
which excellent inslitulinn he was graduated in 1878. The following year
he came to Kansas, locating in Reno county, wdiere he has e\'er since made
his home. For some time alter coming to this county, and while getting
"the la}- of the land."' Mr. Idior]' worked on farms in Haven township, and
in one capacity and another, until J 886, the year in which the town of
Haven was founded, he Ijegan the ])ublication of a newspaper in that prom-
i;ing \illage, the Haicn Jndcpcndciil. with the ];ur])()se to ''boom" the town,
and was thus engaged fur f<iur (ir five years, at the end of which time he
sold the I mil' fiend cut. ni wliich lie had made a s]:)rightl\- and nourishing pub-
h'cation. In tin: meantime he iiad married and had jjecome the owner of a
fine farm about one and one-lialf miles east of llaven. and upcMi leaving the
ncw.spaper mo\-ed tn the farm, wdiere he made his iionie until 1003. in which
year he moved back to llaxen, where he e\er since lias made his home and
where he and his family are very ])lcasantly and comfortabl\- situated.
Mr. Thorp was the first postmaster of Haven and from the \erv Ijcgin-
ning of that thrix'ing town has taken a w.arm interest in its development.
Upon returning to Haven he c^rganized the Citizens State Bank and was
elected cashier of the same, a iX)sition he held until he sold his interest in the
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 221
Iiaiik, in 191 1. lie then established his present up-to-chite hinilier xard, one
of the best appointed eoncerns ot' the kind in the county, where he also
handles coal, cement and brick and manufactures cement-block. Since mov-
ing I)ack to town, Mr. Thorp has rented his farms, bein<;- now the owner of
several well-tilled tracts of land in this C(junty, and is looked upon as one of
the most substantial citizens of the Haven community. He is a Democrat
and ser\ed as mayor of Haven during the A'ears 1913 and 1914.
Jn 1889 Fred W. Thorp was united in marriage to Hattie Mount, daugh-
ter of ('yrus and Mary Mount, who were among the very earliest settlers of
Reno county, they having located in Haven township in 1871, their daughter,
Hattie, then having been but two years of age, and to this union two chil-
dren have been born, George H., who is assisting his father in his business
office, and Caroline, who is still in school. Mr. Thorp is a Mason, affiliated
with the bdue lodge of that order at Haven; with the commandery of the
Knights Templar at Hutchinson and with Midian Temple, Ancient Arabic
Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Wichita. Pie also is a member
of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and in the affairs of these several
organizations tcikes a ^^■arm interest.
ISAIAH DANFORD.
Isaiah Danford, a well-known and prosperous farmer and dairyman of
Reno township, this county, now living retired in the city of Hutchinson, is
a native of Ohio, having been born on a farm in Noble county, that state,
June 2j, 1841. son of Abraham and Lavina (Bates) Danford, both natives
of that same state, the former Ijorn in Belmont county and the latter in
Noble county.
Abraham Danford w^as reared on a farm and became a successful and
well-to-do farmer in his own right, the owner of two hundred and eighty
acres of land. He was a Whig in his political belief and for many years
served his townshi]) well in the cai)acity of justice of the peace. He and
his .wife were members of the Christian church and their children were
reared in that faith. Abraham Danford li\ed to l)e ninety years of age.
His wife died ten years previous to his death, ddiey were the parents of
eight children, ti\e of whom are still living, those besides the subject of this
biographical sketch being Eli, Elizabeth, who married John Rowe; Nancy,
222 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
will) marn'fd Julius Groves, and Roland Jasper, all of whom still live in their
naii\e county, substanlird, well-to-do people.
Isaiah Danford was reared on the paternal farm in Ohio, receiving his
education in the district school in the neighborhood of his home, and after
his marriage hi> father heli^'d him buy a one-hundred-acre farm four miles
from the old hon".e place, j'resently he sold that farm to advantage and
bought a farm of two hundred and ninety-seven acres in the same county,
becoming an e\tensi\e farmer, and there his ten children w^ere born. In
1887 he sold hi- farm in Ohio and c^une to Kansas wdth his family, locating
in Hutchinson, this ccjunty. where he engaged in the hotel business, operating
the Xoble County Hotel for a year with much success, that being in "boom"
times. He then traded the hotel for a quarter of a section of land in Reno
township and mo\ed ti 1 the latter place, making his home on that farm for
four years, at the end of which time he sold the farm and rented a ranch of
sixteen hundred acres in Cowley county, this state, which he operated for ii\'C
years. He then returned to Reno county and bought a farm of ninety acres
in Reno town-hiii. on which he made his home for two years, at the end of
which time he bought a dairy farm in South Hutchinson and in 1905 started
the South 1 futchinson DairA'. which he still owns, the same now beino-
operated by his son-in-law, Benjamin Myers. In 1907 Air. Danford and
his wife retired fron.i the active labors of the farm and moved into Hutch-
inson, wdiere Mrs. Danford died on Xo\ ember 10, 1909.
in 1862 Isaiah Danford was united in marriage to Eliza Ellen Groves,
who was born in Noble county, Ohio, August 16, 1846, daughter of John
and jMatilda Gro\-es, and to this union ten children were born, all of whom
are still li\-ing, namely: Eincoln, born on Ju!\' 11, 1866, now^ operating a
large ranch in lulwards countv, this state; Annie, lulv 8, 1868, wdio mar-
ried Renjamin .Myer<. who conducts the South Hutchinson Dairy; Eli Frank-
lin, Septemlier <;. 1X69, a large farmer in l\eno township, this count^■ ; A\'iil-
iam Collins, May 25, 1871, an extensive farmei' in Oklahoma; La\ina Delia.
October 19, 1872, who married L. S. Kent, a well-known auctioneer, oi
Hutchin.son ; Louis I'., jamiary (.1, 1874, ;i well-to-do farmer of Reno tmvn-
shij), this county; Alary Alice. January _^ 1 . 1 S7C'). who married A. T. Mou-
];in, proprietor of the "Sunflower'- dairy in South I lutchinscju ; Carrie Alay,
January 27, 1878, who married Robert Carlisle, a merchant of Stafford,
this state; Rosanna, August 17. T8Sn, who married Patrick Hamilton and
lives in .South Hutchinson, and bdla. ()ct'iber ;^o. 1882. who married Rich-
ard Kenned)' and lives at Haven, this county. The Dan fords are all doing
well in their several undertakings and all are held in high regard in their
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 223
respective C()nin]iinities. Mr. Danford is a l\c|)iil)lican and ever has given a
good citizen's attention lo local political all airs, though never an aspirant
for office. He has many friends in I lutchinson and throughout the county
and is held in high regard hy all.
HERBERT E. RAMSEY.
County Attorney Herbert E. Ramsey, an active and popular young
lawyer, of Hutchinson, county seat of this county, is a native of Reno
count}', ha\ing been born on a farm in Reno township, December 26, 1885,
the only son of Enoch M. and Nellie D. (Belfour) Ramsey, both natives of
Illinois, and both of whom are still living in this county.
Enoch M. Ramsey owned a farm in Hancock county, Illinois, when he
was married, but in 1882 he and his wife decided to come farther West
and came to Kansas, locating near Earned, where they bought three quarter
sections, but not being satisfied with that location shortly afterward disposed
of their place aiid came to Reno county, buying three cjuarter sections in
Reno township, which has been their home ever since and where they have
prospered- largely. Mr. Ramsey still gives close attention to the general
management of his place, though practically retired from the active labors
of the same. He and his wife have a pleasant home at 633 Sherman street,
east, in Hutchinson, where Mrs. Ramsey makes her home most of the time
with her son, the subject of this sketch, and Mr. Ramsey alternates his time
between his town house and the farm. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey are active
members of the Presbyterian church, in the various beneficences of which
thev take much interest, and Mr. Ramsey is a Democrat and a member of
the Masonic order.
Herbert E. Ramsey was reared on the home farm in Reno township,
receiving his elementary education in the district school in that neighljor-
hood, after which he entered the high school at Hutchinson, from which he
Vv-as graduated with the class of 1906. He then entered the law office of
Hettinger & Hettinger and after a course of reading- there, entered the law
department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, from which he
was graduated in 1910. Upon receiving his diploma, Mr. Ramsey returned
to Hutchinson, was admitted to the bar and began the practice of his pro-
fession. He was appointed assistant county attorney under E. T. Foote
and for four years was thus engaged, acquitting himself so satisfactorily in
224 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
that ixDsition that in 1914 he was elected county attorney and is now serving
in that im])ortant olhce. his administnitinn of the affairs of which is giving
general satisfaction to the puljHc.
^Ir. Ramsey is an active, energetic young lawyer, pubHc spirited and
enterprising and is very popular in liis large circle of friends throughout the
county generally. He is a member of the Presbyterian church and takes
a warm interest in all p'ood works hereabout.
JOHN A. MYERS.
John A. Myers, a well-known retired farmer and cattleman, is a veteran
of the Civil War and a native of Ohio, having been born in Harrison county,
that state, on July 28, 1840, son of James R. and Maria (Romney) Myers,
both natives of Pennsylvania. James Myers moved from Pennsylvania to
Ohio after he was grown and there was married. For some time he owned
and operated a farm in Harrison county, that state, but in 1852 he sold that
farm and moved to Tuscarawas county, same state, where he bought another
farm on which he made his home until later when he moved to Uhrichsville,
death occurring in 1877. at the age of eighty-one years. His wife had died
some years previously. They were members of the Presbyterian church
during their residence in Harrison county, but after moving to Tuscarawas
county joined the Moravian church. To James Myers and wife fifteen chil-
dren were born, as follow: Hiram, who died in Los Angeles, California;
Mrs. Melissa Welshinicr, who died at her home in Hutchinson, this county,
in 1913. at the age of ninety-one; Harriet; Mary, who died unmarried in
1895, in Hutchinson; Elizabeih. who died in infancy; James, a physician,
who lived in Hutchinson, until his deadi in 1915, in his eighty-fifth year;
Salome, who m;i.rricd a physician at Urbana, Illinois; Mrs. Elvina Smith,
deceased; Albert, aged sevent\ -nine, h\ing in lielvillc, Kansas, retired; Alvin,
who died at the age of twenty-one; John A., the immediate subject of this
biographical rexiew ; Mrs. Marilia Anderson, who lives at Muskogee, Okla-
homa; Jonathan, a dentist, of Troy, Kansas; Minerxa, who lives in Cham-
paign county, Ihiimis. and Gracilla, who died in childhood.
John A. Myers completed his elemenlar\ education in the public schools
of Tuscarawas county, having been but twelve years of age when his family
moved to that county, and supi)lemented the same by a course in Trenton
Acadeni}-. after which he taught one term of school in ihe town of Newport,
pnx) ^j^^^-e^
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 225
in his home county, in July. i(S()i, he enhsted in Company B, Fifty-first
Regiment, Ohio \^olunteer Infantry, for service during the Civil War, and
served until he was mustered out with his regiment in Texas in October,
1865. His regiment was attached to the Army of the Cumberland and he
participated in all the great ba_ttles in which his division of that army was
engagetl, including Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge,
Stone's River and in the Atlanta campaign, aiding in the taking- of that
city, and then at the battles of Franklin and Nashville, and in all this severe
service never received a wound.
At the close of the war, John A. Myers returned home and resumed his
vocation in the school room and for two years taught school in the neighbor-
hood of his home, during his vacations w^orking on the home farm. In 1867
he came to Kansas and for a year was engaged in teaching at White Cloud,
after which he returned to Ohio. He was married in 1871 and went to
Urbana. Champaign county, Illinois, where he opened a brick factory and
also operated a private grain elevator. In 1879 he returned to Kansas and
for a time stopped at Hutchinson, but did not then make that place his
permanent place of abode, instead going on to Doniphan county, where for
three years he conducted a general store in the village of Leona. In 1882
he returned to Hutchinson and there he has resided ever since. Upon his
arrival in Hutchinson, Mr. Myers at once became a prominent factor in the
development of the cattle business hereabout. He engaged extensively in
the buying and selling of cattle and was one of the first men to ship cattle
from this section. In 1884 he bought a farm in Reno township, where he
lived until 1907, in which year he returned to Hutchinson and retired from
the more active pursuits, though still continuing, more or less, his activities
in the real-estate market in which he had been engaged from the time of his
arrival in this county. Mr. Myers has bought and sold a great deal of real
estate in his time and has been a heavy investor, coming to be regarded as
one of the leading capitalists hereabout. He also has given considerable
attention to various other local enterprises and some of these interests he
still retains, being now vice-president of the Haines-Miller Wholesale Paint
Company and a director of the Mutual Building and Loan Association of
Hutchinson.
On May 4, 1871, John A. Myers was united in marriage to Mary L.
Frediebur, who was born in Ohio, and to this union six children have been
born, namely: Rev. Howard Myers, a minister of the Christian church at
Clyde, Kansas; Josephine, who died at the age of thirteen months; lessie.
(15a)
226 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
who married Arthur Dade and lives in Hutchinson; Frank, a farmer, of
Reno township, this county ; Ernest, a civil engineer at Dallas, Texas, and
kriynidnd, of Hutchinson, a well-known tra\eling- salesman. The Myers
family resides at ii.^ Avenue B, west, in Hutchinson, a very pleasant and
hospitable home.
Mr. M_\crs is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and for
years has taken an active interest in the affairs of the local post. He also
has given much of his attention to the political affairs of the coimty and
for seven years served as a member of the board of county commissioners,
first having been elected on the Populist ticket and then on the Democratic
ticket. He was a member of the board which directed the erection of the
present Reno count}' court house and in such a business-like and economical
manner were the details of that transaction managed by the board that it
was unnecessary for the county to float a bond issue to provide for the same,
a most unusual record of efficiency in the management of the public business.
FRANK D. HAMH^TON.
h'rank D. Hamilton, one of the most progressive farmers of the Part-
ridge neighl)orhood in Center township, this county, as well as one of the
most popular and 1)est-informed men in that section, is a Hoosier, having
been born in Washington county, Indiana, February ii, 1874, son of Benja-
min andAMiranda (Bryant) Hamilton, both natives of that same county,
members of pioneer families in southern Indiana, both of whom now are
deceased.
Benjamin Hamilton Wci.s the son of Daxid Hamilton, one of the early
settlers of Washington county, Indiana, his parents having come from Ire-
land and settled there at an early da)- in the settlement of that section of
the IToosier state. Benjamin Hamilton grew u\) on the home farm in the
hills of southern hi(haiia and. niion reaching manhood's estate, married and
bought a farm of his own, on whicli lie and his family li\ed until 1S85, in
which A'car he sold the place, and with his family came to Kansas, home-
steading a farm in Finnev county. Xot long after honiesteading in h^inney
conntv. Mr. Hamilton sold a rehn(|uishnient of his right and came to Reno
countv, buying a quarter section of land in ("enter townshi]i, a mile west and
a mile northof the village of Partridge, where he lived until his wife's death
in June, 1901, at the age of fifty-six years, after which he made his home
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 22/
with liis son, (he sulijcct of this sketch, llie remainder of liis life, his death
occiirrinL;- on .\o\eml)er 9, 1907. r>enjaniin Hamilton was an excellent
car])cnter and durini^- his residence in this county spent most of his time as
a Imildins^' contractor, lea\ing' the cnltixation of the farm to his sons. He
did a i^^reat deal of carpenter work in Hutchinson and among the buildings
erected l)y him in the more immedi.'ite neighborhood of his established home
was the fine school building at Partridge. He was a Democrat and he and
his wife were members of the Congregational chiu'ch, in which faith their
children were reared. b\:)ur children were born to them as follow : John,
who resides on the old home place in Center township; Addie, now deceased,
who married David Brown; Frank D., the subject of this sketch, and Zella,
who married George Coffey and li\'es in Jackson county, Indiana.
Frank D. Hamilton was eleven years of age when he came with his
parents to Reno county and completed the course in the schools at Part-
ridge. Until his marriage in 1896 he made his home on his father's farm,
assisting in the labors of the same, and then for four years rented the Oscar
Wespe farm in Center townshi]). making his home there. In the spring of
1904 he bought the farm he had been renting, erected a new house and barn
and otherwise improved the same and has since made his home there. ha\-
ing one of the best-kept and most effectively cultivated farms in the neigh-
l.orhood, among the many improvements being an excellent orchard. In
1913 Mr. Hamilton bought an "eighty" adjoining his place on the east and
is now recognized as one of the most substantial farmers in that section.
He is a J3emocrat, though somewhat independent in his political views:
regarding local affairs, voting for the candidates he regards as better fitted
for the duties of the office sought, rather than because of their particular
party affiliation, and ever has taken a good citizen's interest in local civic
aft'airs, though not himself an office seeker.
On October 14, 1896, Frank D. Hamilton was united in marriage to
Addie Sims, who was born in Jackson county, Indiana, daughter of John C.
and Sarah Sims, who left Indiana about 1885 and came to Kansas, locating
on a farm in Center township, this county, where ]\Ir. Sims died in 19 10
and where his widow is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton take an earnest
interest in the general affairs of the neighborhood and are held in high
regard hy their many friends thereabout. Mr. Hamilton is a member of the
lodge of the Independent Order of Odd h'ellows at Partridge and takes a
warm interest in the affairs of that popular organization. Mrs. Hamilton
is a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and Ladies Aid
Society.
228 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
JAM1':S WILLIAM SMITH.
James William Smith, better known to his friends throughont this
count}- as "Will" Smith, a well-known and progressive farmer of Sumner
township and proprietor of a fine farm in the Haven neighborhood, is a
native-born Hoosier, Init has lived in Reno county since he w^as eighteen
years old and is very properly regarded as one of the pioneers of this county.
He was born on a farm in Grant county, Indiana, December 31, 1859, only
son of Tchabod and Mary (Simpson) Smith, both natives of that same state,
the latter born in the city of Terre Haute.
Ichabod Smith grew up on an Indiana farm and after his marriage
bought a farm in Grant county and was engaged in farming when the Civil
War l^roke out. He enlisted for service in Company C, Eighty-ninth Regi-
ment. Indiana A^ilunteer Infantry, and served for three years in the Army
of the Alississippi, seeing much hard service, particularly during the Red
River campaign, and was w^ounded tv/ice. Upon the completion of his
military service he returned to his farm and later moved tO' the nearby town
of Jonesboro, where his wife died in 1874, at the age of thirty-three years.
Mr. Smith did not remarry and the next year, in November, 1875, he and
his son. Will, then a sturdy lad of sixteen years, drove through from their
home in Indiana to Kansas, locating for a time in Sedgewick county. In
1877 they came over into Reno county and the elder Smith homesteaded the
northwest (|uarter of section 18 in Sumner township, where he and his son
threw up a sod house, half dug-out, and began to "bach." Both worked
side by side in the labor of developing the homestead and prospered from
the very beginning of their operations. When Will Smith reached his
majority he bought the relin([uishment of a homestead claim to a quarter
of a section adjoining that of his father and the tw^o thus had in that one
tract a full half section. In 1883 they began to engage extensively in the
cattle business, renting additional lands for grazing purposes, and prospered
largely in this line, cuntinning in the cattle business until 1895, in which
year the}' >()ld iheii- farm> to adxantage. Ichabod Smith continued making
his home in Renn count}' until i(.io7, in which year he moved to San Diego,
California, when' he is now lixing in comforta1)lc retirement at the age of
seventy-eight. During his residence in this count}- he was active in local
affairs and was one of the leading pioneers of his part of the count}^ He is
a Republican and took a ])rominent part in the councils of his party in this
countv. For eight years he was trustee of Sumner township and in various
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 2 2(.)
ways gave tlic full strcni;th of his inllncncc and energy to the advancement
of the comninn go,.d. lie is a nifniber of the Methodist church.
-After selling his farm in iS()5 Will Smith rented other lands and cfjn-
tinned his farming oj^erations. lie married in i8q6 and in igoo bought
the northwest quarter of section 3 in Sumner township, which he has greatly
improved and where he ever since has made his home, being regarded as
one of the most substantial farmers in that neighborhood. He has not gone
in much for cattle raising of late, but gives considerable attention to the rais-
ing of Poland China hogs. Mr. Smith takes an earnest interest in neighbor-
hood affairs and is ser\ing very efificiently as vice-president of the Sumner
Telephone Association, an organization of farmers in that part of the count\\
He is a Republican and takes a warm interest in civic aiTairs, but has never
l)een included in the ottice-seeking class.
On February 2y. 1896, Will Smith was united in marriage to Miranda
Eabling, who was born in Mandato, Marshall county, Indiana, in 1871,
daughter of John F. and Catherine Eabling. wdio came to Kansas in 1872,
settling in Harvey county, later coming to Reno county and settling on a
farm in section 6, Sumner township, where ]\Ir. Eabling spent the remainder
of his life and where his widow is now living. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith five
children have been ]x)rn, namely: Harold D., liorn in 1898, now a student
in the county high school at Nickerson ; Ralph E., 1899; Lloyd F., 1901 :
Mary C, 1904, and Opal May, 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members
of the United Brethren church and take an active interest in all neighbor-
hood wood works.
ADELCERT M. NETTLETON.
Adell)ert 'M. X^ettleton, well-known printer at Hutchinson, former
editor and proprietor of the Hiitcliinson Gazette and for years actively
identified with the printing-trades industrv in this state, is a native of Illi-
nois, born near the town of Woodstock, in McHenry county, that state, July
2y, 1859, son of Henrv T. and Jane (Rogers) Nettleton, the former of
whom was born in Middlesex county, Connecticut, and the latter at Chardon,
in Geauga county, Ohio.
Henry T. Nettleton was reared in his native state and learned the trade
of carpenter and cabinet-maker. When a young man he came West and in
the early ilfties located in the neighborhood of Woodstock, the county seat
of McHenry county, in the northern part of Illinois, northwest of Chicago,
230 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
and there rcmaiiK'cl until October of 1S78, when, w itli his family he came to
Kansas and settled in I'lnvnee county, northwest of Larned, where he home-
steaded the sontliwcst (|n.arter of section 12, township 20, range 19, and
there established his home, becoming- one of the most substantial pioneers
of that section.- On that homestead farm Henry T. Nettleton spent some
years, and upon retiring from the active laliors of the farm moved to
Larned, where his deadi occurred on December 26, 1893. His widow, who
still survives, is now making her home at Hutchinson, where she has lived
for some years. She and her husband were the parents of six children.
Adelbert ^^i. Nettleton received his schooling in the schools of Wood-
stock, Illinois, and in the printing office in that town learned the rudiments
of "the art prescr\-ati\'e of all arts," working at the printer's case there
until he canie with liis parents to Kansas in the fall of 1878, he then being
about nineteen vears of age. Shortlv after locating in Pawnee countv he
homesteaded a quarter of a section adjoining his father's homestead and also
entered a claim to a quarter of a section, under the provisions of the timber
act, and there he engaged in general farming and cattle raising. In 1892
he and liis ])rother went to Stafford, where they established the Peoples
Paper, which, in February, 1896, they traded for the Gazette, at Hutchin-
son, rmd moved to the latter city. Upon taking charge of the office of the
Gazette they made numerous improvements in the equipment of the plant,
making it one of the most modern and up-to-date printing plants in central
Kansas. It was the Nettleton brothers who installed in Hutchinson the first
type-setting machine seen in that city. The new building which they erected
for the plant of the Gazette was the first cement-block building constructed
in Hutchinson and is still standing at 121 Sherman avenue, east. In 1907
the Nettleton brothers sold the Gazclte and since that time Adelljcrt M.
Nettleton has continued his active connection with the ]:)rinting trades in
Hutchinson, with the I Intchinson News Company, b^arl G. Nettleton died
on July 1 (. 1907.
During his long connection with die printing business in this state, Air.
Nettleton ha-- C(jme into contact with many of ilic interesting figures of
this section of Kansas. Among these may be mentioned Henry Inman, for
wdiom Mr. Nettleton worked at Larned. Henry Tnnian, who will be remem-
bered as a writer of stories of the Santa Fe trail, was succeeded in his work
l)y Col. Dick Ballinger, v»'hose son. Richard Achilles Ballinger, became
President Taft's secretary of the interior. While living at Dodge City.
Mr. Nettleton became acquainted with "P.at" ?\Iasterson and nis brothers
and with 'Alvsterious" Dave blather and D. M. Frost, the latter of whom
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 23 I
was the proprietor of the first newspaper at that place and afterward was
register of tiie land office at Garden City. Mr. Nettleton was an acquaint-
ance of Mayor Webster, of Dodge C'ity. who became celebrated throughout
this section for the summary manner with which he dealt with the crooks
and ruffians within his jurisdiction. One of the men in whom Mr. Xettle-
ton was much interested in those days was "Jim'' Kelly, an old government
scout and the owner of the first opera house at Dodge City, known in the
early days as "Kelly's Opera House"; also Chalk (Chalkley) Beeson, another
old government scout and for many years leader of the famous Dodge City
Cowboy Band. Perhaps the earliest pioneer of Ft. Dodge was R. M.
Wright, who was a post trader at that point and who operated a big out-
litting store there before the town was established. Capt. W. H. Strick-
ler, more commonlv known by his pen name of "Julian de Llano," a cele-
brated writer of Western poetry and songs, was one of the interesting men
of these early days at Dodge City, whom Mr. Nettleton recalls with pleasure.
On October I'j, 1910, at Kansas City, Missouri, Adelbert M. Nettleton
was united in marriage to Myrtle Dillon, who was born near the city of
Wheeling, West Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Nettleton have a very pleasant
home at ^^7 North Jackson street, where they are very comfortably situ-
ated. They are members of the Christian church and take a proper interest
in the various beneficences of the same. Mr. Nettleton is "independent" in
his political views and has never been a seeker after public office.
ARTHUR L. SIEGRIST.
Arthur L. Siegrist, an energetic and progressive young farmer of Salt
Creek township, this county, and one of the best-known men in that section
of the county, is the third of his generation successfully to engage in agri-
culture in Reno county, his grandfather, the late John Siegrist, who was
accounted one of the best farmers in the county, having become a large
landowner here in 1876, and his father, Jaco1> L. Siegrist, who also has
lived here since pioneer da}'s, is still one of the leading agriculturists of
l^eno township. In a sketch relating to the latter, presented elsewhere in
this volume, there is set out the history of the well-known Siegrist family
in Reno county.
Arthur 1.. Siegrist was born on the farm on which he still makes his
home, July 3, 1880, son of Jacob L. and Al)l)ie A. (Biggs) Siegrist, who
2^2 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
came to this county immediately after their marriage in Tazewell county,
Illinois, in February. 1877. ]\lr. Siegrist was reared on the home farm in
Salt Creek township, receiving his education in the district school in that
neighborhood, which he supplemented by a course in a business college at
Great Bend, this state. He remained at home until his marriage, in the
spring of 1905. after which he rented the paternal acres in Salt Creek town-
ship, a fine tract of two hundred and forty acres, his father meanwhile
having moved to the farm of his venerable grandfather in Reno township,
in order to take over the direction of the latter's extensive affairs, and there
he has lived e\er since, doing \ery well, having been quite successful both
as a general framer and as a stock raiser. One hundred and sixty acres of
his home farm lies in Reno township, the remainder in Salt Creek township,
and it is in the latter portion that he has his residence, a ven- comfortable
and pleasant home, where he and his family live in quiet comfort. In addi-
tion to this tract, which he rents from his father, he is the owner of an
adjoining tract of eighty acres in Salt Creek township, which is also profit-
ably cultivated by him.
On February 22, 1905, Arthur L. Siegrist was united in marriage to
Ora iMollie ^\'ildin, who also was born in this county, daughter of ^^'illiam
and Celia Wildin, Reno county pioneers, now living retired in the city of
Hutchinson, and to this union four children have been born, as follow :
Florence, born in 1906; jNIarie, 1908; Helen, 1910, and Russell, 1912. Mr.
and Mrs. Siegrist are earnest members of the Poplar Methodist Episcopal
church and are interested in all good works thereabout. Mr. Siegrist is a
Republican, as were his father and his grandfather before him, and gives
his thoughtful attention to the political affairs of the county. He is a mem-
ber of the ]\Iodern Woodmen of America and takes a warm personal interest
in the affairs of that popular fraternal organization.
GEORGE BARRETT.
The late George Barrett, one of Reno county's pioneers and an early
merchant of Hutchinson, who died at his pleasant home in that city on
November 18. 1910, was a native of the great Empire state. He was born
at Utica, Xew York. August 20, 1835, son of Joseph and Mercy (Miller)
Barrett, whose last days were spent in Utica. Joseph Barrett was a manu-
facturer of combs. He was twice married. His first wife died when the
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 233
subject of this sketch was a child, leaving two sons, George and Daniel S.,
both now deceased, the latter of whom became a well-known artist at Utica.
By his second union Joseph Barrett was the father of three sons. He and
his wife were members of the Presbyterian church and their children were
reared in that faith.
George Barrett lived with his father until he was twenty-one years old
and then went to New York City, where he entered the employ of the D. S.
.Arnold Wholesale Notion Company and was thus engaged for a couple of
years. He then, in 1859, married and went to Middletown, New York,
where he established a dry-goods store, which he conducted until 1862, in
which _year he went to Newburg, same state, and was there engaged in the
grocery business until he sold out in 1873. The next year, in the summer
of 1874, he and his family came to Kansas and settled in Reno county,
arri\ing here on September 15, of that year. Mr. Barrett homesteaded a
quarter of a section in Lincoln township, his wife's brother, Wilson Purdy,
ha\'ing homesteaded a quarter of a section in the same township a few months
previously. He remained on the farm until he had "proved up" his claim
and then, in 1877, moved to Hutchinson, where he re-entered the mercan-
tile business. He put in a stock of groceries in a building on Main street,
the present site of Zinn's jewelry store, and was engaged in business there
for a couple of years, at the end of which time, in 1879, he moved to Kansas
City, Missouri, and established a grocery store there, at 803 ]\Iain street,
where he continued in business until 1884. in which year he sold out there
and went to Albuquerque, New Mexico. There he engaged in the retail pro-
duce business, but two years later the state of his health compelled his retire-
ment from business and in 1888 he returned to Hutchinson, built a house
at 225 A avenue, east, one of the first houses erected on that street, and there
lived retired until his death in 1910. His widow is still living there, enjoy-
ing many evidences of the high regard in which she is held throughout the
entire community. Mrs. Barrett is a member of the Methodist church and
for years her husband was a deacon in the same.
Mrs. Barrett w^as born Elizabeth J^ie Purdy. She is a native of New
York, having been born in Ulster county, that state, May 10, 1836, daugh-
ter of John S. and Loretta (Rhodes) Purdy, both natives of New York state.
John S. Purd}' was a wagon- and carriage-maker and moved from Ulster
county to Newburg, New York, where he carried on his vocation until his
death in 1863. Elizabeth J. Purdy was given excellent educational advan-
tages and became a teacher in the New York state school for the blind in
New York City, where she was thus engaged for three years, or until her
234 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
marriage, and ckiring which time she was closely associated with the famous
l)liiKl hxnin writer, Fannie Crosby, \\ith ^\h()m she roomed for one year. It
was on April 30, 1859, that she was vmited in marriage to George Barrett
and to this union six children were born, as follow : Nelson T., a well-
known rturist at Hutchinson, a liiographical sketch of whom is presented
elsewhere in this volume; Ida ^I., who married Charles Pellette, of Hutchin-
son, deputy county treasurer of Reno county; Carrie, who married Homer
Myers, former treasurer of Reno county, now a banker at Sylvia, this county;
Grace, who married Henry Zinn. proprietor of a jewelry store at Hutchin-
son; Minnie, who married ]\I. J. Hosmer, a traveling salesman, of Hutchin-
son, and Florence, who married Ernest Eastman, who is connected with the
operations of the Carey Salt Company at Hutchinson.
W'ILLIA:^! JOHNSTON VAN EMAN.
No history of Reno county would be complete without fitting mention
of the part William Johnston Van Enian and wife took in the early settle-
ment of that part of Grove township now comprised in Bell township, which
latter township was named in honor of the late Mrs. Van Eman, whose
name, Isabella, ever was better known among her friends as "Belle." Will-
iam J. Van Eman was one of the pioneers of this county and had begun to
make his impress upon the earl\- life of this section when he fell a victim
to one of the destructixe cyclones which swept this region in the latter
seventies. His widow and her children kept the home place going and Mrs.
\'an Eman continued to reside on the homestead, a most useful and influen-
tial member of that community, until her retirement and removal to Flutchin-
son, where she spent the remainder of her life, a prominent figure in the
good works of that city.
William Jtjhnston \'<m Eman was born in Stark county, Ohio, on July
5, 1825, son of Abraham and ]\lary (Johnston) Van Eman. He was a
business man in early life, a farmer after he came west. Fie married Isa-
l)elle Davis, who was bom in I'ranklin county, Pennsylvania. March 8, 183 1,
daughter of Robert and Hannah (Jameson) Davis. In 1852 he moved- to
Richland county, Ohio, where he lived until 1857. in which year he moved
to Ogle count V. Illinois, where he remained ten years, moving thence, in
1867. to Stephenson county, same state, where he remainder until he came
to Kansas and settled in Reno county in 1874. It was on February 27,
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 235
1874. that Mr. \'an I'^man and family arrived in liutchinson, then but a
stragghng- \illage on the (h"eary plain. Lcaxing his I'aniiK- in the \-illagc,
Mr. V^an Enian started out seeking a location and within the month had
tiled on the southeast (juarter of section () in Grove township, that section
now heing a part of the later organized township of Ikdl. At the same time
he timber-claimed the northeast quarter of section 7, same township, and the
famih' lost little time in establishing a home on the plains, quickly l)ecom-
ing recognized as asuong the most substantial and influential members of
that pioneer community. l\lr. \"an Eman took a prominent part in the
organization of the civic body in that part of the county and was becoming a
very well established farmer when he was killed in the cyclone that swept
over that section of the county on May 17, 1878.
Mrs. Van Eman and her children remained on the homestead farm and
continued the work of developing the same, gradually creating a fine piece
of property. When the rapid settlement of the community seemed to call
for a sulxli vision of the civic organization up to that time known as Grove
township, the new township was named Bell township, in honor of Mrs.
Belle A'an Eman, fitting recognition of her valuable services in the com-
munity and an affectionate expression of the high esteem in w^hich she was
held by her pioneer neighbors. Tn the spring of 1884 Mrs. Van Eman gave
up the active direction of her homestead alTairs and moved to Hutchinson,
where she spent the rest of her life, continuing active in good works, her
death occurring on March i, 1895. She was an earnest member of the
Presbyterian church, as was her husband, who was an elder, and their chil-
dren were reared in that faith. There were nine of these children, as fol-
low : Robert Chalmers, born in Stark county, Ohio, August 11, 1849. ^
retired farmer, now living at Gorham, Illinois; Abram Wiley, born in Stark
countv, Ohio, August i, 185 1, for years a well-known grocer at Hutchin-
son, this county, who died on July 15, 191 3; Hannah Mary, born in Richland
countv, Ohio, January 30, 1854, now living at Denver, Colorado, widow of
W. S. Deisher, a real-estate dealer of that city, who died on December 16.
191 1 ; Rufus Melanchton, liorn in Richland county, Ohio, March 14. 1856,
a prospector, living at Eresno, California; Ettie Belle, born in Ogle county,
Illinois, July 5, i860, who died in childhood; Anna Myrtie, born in Ogle
county, Illinois, August 10, 1862, who is still living in Hutchinson; Charles
Edwin, born in Ogle county, Illinois, May 9, 1865, foreman of the freight
house of the Santa Ee railroad at Hutchinson; William Glenn, born in
Stephenson county. Illinois, September 16. 1868, who died on January 2.
1901, at Butte, Montana, where he was engaged in the newspaper business.
236 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
and James Logan, born in Stephenson conntv. Illinois, December 28. 1870.
night agent at the Santa ¥e freight office in Hntchinson. Since 1905 the
\'an Eman family residence has been maintained at 724 Sixth Avenue, east,
a comfortable dwelling owned I)}' Miss Anna \"an Eman. Aliss \^an Eman
is a member of the Presbyterian church, an earnest worker in the local
Woman's Christian Temperance Union and devoted to all good works in
her home town.
^lARCELLUS AIOORE.
!\Iarcellus ^loore. a well-known, progressive and well-to-do farmer of
Lincoln township, this count}', long recognized as one of the leading citi-
zens of the Darlow neighborhood, is a native of Maine, having been born
on a farm near the citv of Bangor, in that state, April 5, 1845, son of
Joseph and Rachel (Randolph) ^loore, both natives of that same state,
the former born in 1825 and the latter in 1826, whose last days were spent
in Illinois.
Joseph Moore's father was a nati\"e of Ireland, who came to the United
States as a young man and settled in the lumber region of Maine, where he
married, reared his family and spent the rest of his life. Joseph Moore
grew up to the life of the timber woods and in his turn became a lumber-
man. He married Rachel Randolph, daughter of a neighboring farmer.
\Valter Randolph, who had been kidnapped on the river Thames in England
when a boy and brought to this country, where he grew to manhood in i\Iaine
and became a farmer. * Joseph Moore lost a hand in the saw-mill in which
lie was working in Maine and some time afterward moved with his family
to Pennyslvania, in which state he operated a saw-mill for himself for four
years, at the end of which time, in 1855, he moved with his family to Pike
county, Illinois, where he bought an improved farm and there he and his
wife spent die remainder of their lives, he dying in 1890 and she in 1895.
long having been regarded as among the leaders in the life of the com-
munity in which they lived so long. The mother was a member of the Con-
gregational church and they were the parents of three children. Marcellus,
the subject of this sketch ; Josephine, who married Simpson Capps. and
Mrs. Theodosia \\'alker, the latter of whom is now deceased.
Marcellus Moore was six years old when his parents moved from
Maine to Pennsylvania, and in the latter state he attended school for a few
months durino- the winters of his bovhood in the mountains near the lumber
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 237
camp. He was ten years old when the faniil\' moved to IHinois and he there
attended school in a room where ninety children were kept under the super-
vision of one teacher, the school district in which he lived being an unus-
ually crowded one. Being the only son, he early became his father's main-
stay on the farm. He married in 1865 and continued making his home on
the paternal farm, taking the practical management of the same on his own
shoulders, this relieving his father of much of the labor of the place, and so
continued until his father's death, after which he bought .the interests of the
other heirs in the place and continued to make his home there until 1899,
in which }-ear he sold the farm and came to Kansas with his family, locat-
ing in Reno count\'. Upon coming to this county, Mr. Moore bought twc
hundred and forty acres in Haven township and lived there for one year
and ten months, at the end of which time he sold that place and bought the
northwest quarter of section 24, in Lincoln township, where he ever since
has lived, he and his family having a very pleasant and attractive place, the
comfortable farm house and well-kept farm buildings being situated just
one-half mile west of the pleasant village of Darlow.
In addition to his home farm, Mr. Moore is the owner of a quarter of
a section of fine land in Medford township and is principally engaged in
grain farming, though he has taken much interest in maintaining one of the
best herds of pure-bred O. I. C. hogs in that neighborhood. ]\lr. iMoore
has ever taken an active interest in movements designed to advance the wel-
fare of the farmers of that part of the county, and for some years served
as treasurer of the farniers elevator at Darlow and has also for several
years been one of the directors of the Darlow Telephone Companv. He is
a Democrat in principle, though independent in the expression of his pre-
ferences for candidates in local elections, ever reserving his right to vote
for such candidates as he regards best fitted for the performance of the
duties of public office. He has served in the past as school director and is
now director of Lincoln township, giving his most thoughtful and intelli-
gent attention to his public duties.
On September 15, 1865, Marcellus Moore was united in marriage to
Juliett Craig, who was born in Pike county, Illinois, daughter of Mitchell
and Mary Craig, early settlers of that section of Illinois, and to this union
nine children have been born, as follow : JMarcella, who married Charles
Scheff and lives on a farm in Haven township, this county ; Theodore, prin-
cipal of the high school at Griggsville, Illinois, married Sophia ^ladison
and has one child, a daughter, Fannie; Ollie died, aged fourteen years;
Rollin married Grace White and lives at Hutchinson ; Airs. May Kapps,
27.8 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
wife of a prosperous farmer of Tike county. Illinois; Eugene, a well-known
farmer of Lincoln township, this county, who n.iarried Carrie Farthing;
Fannie, who married Henry Dixon and lives in Vuma county, Colorado;
Laura married Or\il Kimj), a farmer of Lincoln township, and Floyd, who
wiih his little daughter, Doratha L.. child of his deceased wife, makes her
home w ith hi> |>arents. Mr. and Mrs. Moore are members of the ^Methodist
church at Elmer and are devoted to all good works in their neighborhood,
being held in high regard thereabout. In September. 191 5. they celebrated
their "golden wedding," an occasion of much felicitation on the part of
their neighbors.
GEORGE ZIMAIERMAN.
George Zimmerman, a well-known farmer of Castleton township, this
county, proprietor of a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres in the
Castleton neighborhood, former townshij) trustee and a stockholder in the
elevator company at Castleton. is a native son of Reno county, having been
born on a pioneer farm in the neighborhood of his present home, August
26, 1874, son of G. Milton and Priscilla (Carroll) Zimmerman, the former
a native of Iowa and the latter of Pennsylvania, who became pioneers of
this county and influential citizens of the Castleton neighborhood.
'' G. Milton Zimmerman was born in the state of Iowa on Alarch 20,
1849, soiV^of George K. and Rachel (Jones) Zimmerman, natives of Penn-
sylvania, who moved to Iowa shortly after their marriage and established
their home on a farm, many years later moving to Missouri and settling on
a farm in the vicinity of Sedalia. where their last days were spent. They
were active members of the Christian church and their children were reared
in that faith. 'J'hey were the parents of nine children. Samuel B., ^Margaret,
.\dclla. Augusta. Helen. G. Million. Harvey. Maud and \\'illiam. Of these
children. Samuel B.. G. ^Milton and Harvey, came to Reno county, and took
an active part in the pioneer life of this county. Judge Sanuiel B. Zim-
merman was the first princi])al of the old Sherman school in Hutchinson,
lujr years he was a prominent attorney of Llutchinson and for two terms
served the countv as probate judge. !lai"\ey Zimmerman was also one of
Reno county's pioneer scliool teachers and was thus engaged here for sev-
eral years, but later moved away.
G. ?iIilton Zimmerman received an excellent education in his native state,
having supplemented his common-school education by a course in the college
RKNO COUI^ITY, KANSAS. 2^9
at Iowa City, and tor several years taui^ht school there hefore niovini( to
Missouri with his ])arents. lie came to Reno county in 1872 with his
brothers and taut^hl one term oi" school here, .\fter looking over the ground
he decided to make his home here and with that end in view returned to
Missouri for a wife. There he married Priscilla Carroll, who was bom in
rennsylvania on January 11. 1850, daughter of George and Elizabeth
(Henderson) Carroll, both natixes of Pennsylvania, the former of whom
was born at WY'st Alexandria in 1824 and the latter in 1826, and who were
the parents of tive children, Priscilla, Anna, John, Emma and Elizabeth.
The mother of these children died in 1859 and George Carroll married,
secondly. Ruth Ray, who was born at P>ethany, Virginia, which second
union was without issue. Georg-e Carroll was the son of William and
Priscilla (Israel) Carroll, the former a native of Ireland, who settled in
Maryland, later mo\ing to West Maryland, Pennsylvania, where he fol-
lowed his trade as a tailor until his death. George Carroll was a soldier
during the Civil \Var and at the close of the war moved to Missouri, set-
tlmg on a farm in Pettis coiinty. where he spent the remainder of his life,
his death occurring on Decehiber 30, 1892, at the age of sixty-eight. G.
Milton Zimmerman was about twenty-five years old when he and his wife
came to Reno county from Missouri. Upon his arrival here he homesteaded
a tract of land east of the present site of Pretty Prairie, but presently sbld
that farm and bought a quarter section in Castleton township, one-half mile
from the village of Castleton, and there established his home. To him and
his wife were born four children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the
eldest, the others being Anna, who married Frank Mohr; INIilton E., of
Sterling, this state, and Ruby, a teacher in the Hutchinson public schools,
with whom her mother is now living in that city, their home being at 311
Sixth street, east.
George Zimmerman was reared on the home farm in Castleton town-
shi]) and received his education in the common schools. After his marriage,
in 1900, he nuned to his present place, being the owner there of a fine farm,
and in addition to his own extensive farming operations manages his father's
farm. He takes an active interest in the general affairs of the community
and is one of the stockholders of the elevator company at Castleton. For
vears he has been a member of the school board and for four years 'ser\'ed
as township trustee.
On November 12, 1900, George Zimmerman was united in marriage
to Laura Button, born on Alay 26. i88t, in Missouri, daughter of A. T.
Button and Nancy Phillips, who came to this county about 1890, and to this
240 REXO COUNTY, KANSAS.
union five children have been born, Rachel, born on June 4, 1902; John,
October 28, 1904; Hazel, November 14, 1906; Ray, July 25, 1910, and
Josephine, June 22, 1913. Mrs. Zimmerman's father was a well-known
farmer of this county, who died in the summer of 1915.
FRANK MAGWIRE.
Frank JMagwire, an honored veteran of the Civil War, a wealthy retired
farmer of tliis county, now living at Hutchinson; one of the real pioneers of
Reno county, a former count}' commissioner and for many years active in
the public affairs of this county, is a native of Vermont, having been born
in the town of Brandon, that state, September 11, 1841, son of Frank G.
and Melissa D. (Avery) JMagwire, the former a native of Connecticut and
the latter of Vermont.
Frank G. ]\Iagwire was trained to the trade of painter and as a young
man went to \^ermont, where he married and established his home at
Brandon. In his old age he retired to Rutland, A'^ermont, where he died in
1884. being then eighty-four years of age. He was twice married, his first
wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch, having died following the birth
of the latter, leaving two other sons, Roderick, a house painter, who died
at Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1910, he having moved to that place in 1865,
and John, a veteran of the Civil War, a member of Company H, Fiftieth
Regiment, \'ermont \'olunteer Infantry, who died from the effects of a
wound received during the battle of Seven Pines. Frank G. Magwire mar-
ried, secondly, Jerusha Stowel, and to that union two children were born,
jMary M. and Emily Augusta, both unmarried, living at Hydeville, Vermont.
The younger Frank Magwire was reared at Brandon, \^ermont, receiv-
ing his education in the schools there, and was trained as a house painter.
At seventeen years of age he left home and started out as a contracting
painter on his own account. In the winter of 1860-61 he went to Michigan,
settling in Shiawassee county, where he started to work at his trade, and in
May, 1861, enlisted in Company G, Third Regiment. Michigan Volunteer
Infantry, for service during the Civil War, and in June was in Washington,
D. C. with that regiment, shortly thereafter being called on to participate
in the battle of Blackburns Ford and in the first battle of Bull Run. The
brigade to which the Third Michigan was attached was commanded by
Colonel Richardson and covered the armv's retreat after the disastrous
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 24 1
engagement rit Hull Run. Tn the following December Frank Magwire
became ((iiite ill and recei\ed his honorable discharge on a physician's cer-
tificate of disability. He spent that winter in Ohio and then returned to
Michigan, where, in June. i8f)J. he enlisted in Company G, i-'ourth Mich-
igan Cavalry, and served in that command until the close of the war, presently
being promoted to the rank of sergeant and later first sergeant, which was
his rank when he was mustered out at the termination of hostilities. The
Fourth Michigan Cavalr}' was attached to the Army of the Cumberland and
was constantly engaged in cavalry and raid duty, its record being written
high on the scroll of fame. Sergeant Magwire thus had many thrilling
experiences. For weeks at a stretch his regiment was engaged in almost
ceaseless skirmishes with Joe \Mieeler and General Forrest. It was his regi-
ment that opened the battle of Chickamauga and held Longstreet back all
day while Rosecrans was coming up. He participated in the siege and
battle of Chattanooga, lying on the left flank for two weeks in the breast-
works at Atlanta. The Fourth Michigan Cavalry then was sent on to take
part in Kilpatrick's raid on Jonesboro, and raided all around the Confederate
army. After the fall of Atlanta they went to Nashville and fought under
Hood, and from there went to Louisville to secure new mounts, being com-
pelled to surround the town before the people would give up the required
number of horses. The cavalrymen then started back to Nashville, but by
that time the battle was over. They then took part in V\'ilson's big raid
through Alabama and burned the town of Selma. It was at the battle of
Selma that Sergeant Magwire became commander of his company, a position
he retained until the regiment was mustered out. Though Selma fell in
thirty-five minutes, one-sixth of the Union force was killed or wounded and
one-fourth of the officers fell. After Selma the regiment pushed on to
Irwin ville to capture Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States
of America, and after having turned their prisoner over to the proper author-
ities returned to Nashville, where they were mustered out.
Upon the completion of his military service. Sergeant Magwire returned
to Selma, Alabama, the town in whose destruction he had particii)ated, and
for two years was engaged there in a carriage-painting sho|). He then
returned to his former home at Jonesville, in Hillsdale county, Michigan,
where he married, proceeding thence to Macomb, Illinois, where he opened
a carriage-painting shop and also engaged in contract house painting, remain-
ing there for three years, at the end of which time, in 1871, he came to
Kansas by "prairie schooner" and settled in Reno county, arri\ing here in
(i6a)
242 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
August of that 3ear, being thus among the very earHest settlers of this
county. Mr. Magwire entered a soldier's claim to the southwest cjuarter of
section 26. in Clay township, and there established his home in a twelve-
by-fourtecn pine shanty, which was his domicile until conditions presently
were fitting for the erection of a more commodious residence. Air. Magwire
early in his pioneer days came to the conclusion that grain crops were
uncertain and began to give his chief attention to cattle raising, in which he
engaged quite successfully for thirty-eight years. He presently enlarged his
land holdings by the purchase of an adjoining quarter section, in addition
to which half section he also owns a quarter section in the sand hills, and
long has been regarded as one of the most substantial farmers of the county.
]\Ir. Alagwire is one of the real pioneers of Reno county. He assisted
in the organization of Clay township and was elected the first township
treasurer, gaining his election on the Democratic ticket, he ever having been
an ardent Democrat. He then was elected township trustee and for seven
years served in that important ofiice. He circulated the petition which
resulted in the establishment of a school district in the neighborhood and
for ten years served as school director. He later served as justice of the
peace in and for Clay township, and in 1885 was elected county commis-
sioner of Reno count}', in which office he made a fine record. He did much
toward the creation of proper social and economic conditions in the forma-
tive period of that now well-established farming community and has been a
witness of the passing of the old order hereabout. Mr. iMagwire,- in 1873,
killed the last buffalo that was ever seen in Clay township. He remained on
his ranch until his retirement in August, 1913, since which time he has
made his home in Hutchinson, where he is very comfortably situated. He
takes a keen interest in current affairs and for the past fifteen years or more
each year has taken a trip to one or another of the distant points of interest
in the United States. An ardent member of the Grand Army of the Repub-
lic, for years an active member of Joe Hooker Post of that patriotic order,
he has attended ten national encampments of the order and has ever taken a
warm interest in the affairs of the same. He formerly was an active Mason
and has always contributed to the support of the Presbyterian church, of
which he is an attendant, though not an actixe member.
Tn March, 1868, l^^rank MagAvire was united in marriage in Alichigan
to Rosella J. T.ockwood, who was born in that state, daughter of Alanson
and Dolly Lockwood, natives of New York, and to that union three children
were born. Fred A., a machinist, who died in Montana on February 27,
iqi6; Ella, who married George Turkic, now deceased, and she is now Wv-
RENO COUNTY, KAXSAS. 243
i'hl;- at Kent, tin's county, wlicrc she nianai^es the tower for the Santa I"'e
raih-oad. and i'loy, who married I'mi. R. L. McCormick, who holds the
chair of mathematics in I\ose rol}teclmic Institute at Terre Haute, Indiana.
Mrs. kosella Magvvire (Hed on Noveniljer 26, 1885, and in 1888 Mr. Mag-
wire married, secondly, Mrs. Bertha M. ( Rehn ) Steinhauser, who was horn
in Canal Dover, Ohio, daughter of a German Methodist minister, and to
this union one s(mi was horn, Frank !>., who married l^lstella Jones, and is
now mana.tring a fanu at F.llenwc^od, Kiuisas. Bv her first marriage, Mrs.
Magwire was the mcjther of one son, Clifford E. vSteinhauser, a railroad man
living at Aberdeen, ^^^'lsh^ngton. Mrs. Bertha M. Magwire died on .\ugust
10, ion.
MERWIN BOLTON BANGS.
The late Alerwin Bolton Bangs, one of the most brilliant and popular
young men in Reno courity, whose death at his pleasant farm home in Lin-
coln township in 1909 was the occasion of much sorrow among hi*s many
friends in Llutchinson and throughout the county generally, w^as a native
of New York City, where he was born on August 29, 1877, son of Dr.
Lemuel B. and Frances (Edwards) Bangs, both natives of that same city,
w^hose respective families had been represented in the social and cultural
activities of the American metropolis for generations, the former of whom
was a hrst cousin of the famous author, John Kendricks Bangs.
Dr. Lemuel Bangs, whose death occurred in October, 1914, he then
being seventy-two years of age, w^as for years one of the best-known sur-
geons in New York City. Fie had followed a thorough course of instruc-
tion in the medical schools of his home city by a course in the famous col-
lege of surgeons in X'ienna and his lectures to medical students and contri-
butions to medical magazines for vears were regarded as among the author-
itative utterances of his profession. To him and his wife, Frances Edw^ards
Bangs, three children were born, the subject of this memorial sketch having
had two sisters, Mary E., unmarried, who makes her home in New York
City, and lielen A., now- deceased, who married Nevin Sayre, whose brother.
Francis B. Sayre is a son-in-law of President Wilson. Upon the death of
the mother of these children, which occurred wdien the only son was about
fifteen years of age. Doctor Bangs married, secondly, Isabelle Hoyt, to
which union one child was born, a son, Nesbitt, wdio is now (1916) a student
244 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
in Williams Colleg-e, who makes his home in Xew York Citv with his
mother and his sister, Mary".
Merwin B. Bangs was reared amid the most refined surroundings in
his home in Xew V(^rk and after finishing the work in the pubhc schools was
sent to the St. Paul pre]jaratory school at Hartford. Connecticut, where he
prepared for entrance to Yale College, from which latter institution he was
graduated in 1899, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Following his
graduation he entered a broker's office in X'ew York and was thus engaged
for a year, at the end of which time he became attracted by the possibilities
of ranch life in the West and came to Kansas. He bought a ranch of
twelve hundred acres near Greensburg, in Kiowa county, stocked the same
and operated it successfully for four years, at the end of which time, in
1904. he sold the ranch to advantage and came to Reno county, where he
bought a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres in Clay township. The
next year he married and made his home in Hutchinson, where, in partner-
ship with J. X. Baile}-, he engaged in the real-estate business, though still
keeping his farm. In the spring of 1909 Mr. Bangs withdrew from the
real-estate business and lx)ught the northeast cjuarter of section 18, Lincoln
township, sinee made a portion of Yoder township, and there established his
home, taking much pleasure in the thought of the many improvements he
had projected for the place. Unhappily, he was not permitted to see the
fruition of these plans, for death came to him before the year was out,
December 25, 1909. he then being but thirty-two years of age.
On Xovember 8, 1905. IMervin B. Bangs was united in marriage to
Minette Alice Dewey, who was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, daughter of
Edward and jNlinette (Sloan) Dewey, the former of wdiom was born in
W'illiamstown. Massachusetts, and the latter in X'ew York state. Edward
Dewey was reared in Massachusetts and as a boy studied medicine, with the
expectation of becoming a physician, and was graduated from Williams
Collesre at the earlv aije of sixteen vears in 1861. He then enlisted for
service in the Union army during the Civil War and served as a member of
one of the Massachusetts regiments until the close of the war. after which,
his intention to become a physician having l)ecome changed during the time
of his military experience, he located in Chicago and after spending two
years there went tn Milwaukee, where he ever since has been engaged in
business, long having been the head of the wholesale grocery firm of Edward
Dewev & Company, one of the most extensive and progressive concerns of
its kind in the Northwest. Not long after locating in Milwaukee, Mr.
Dewev was united in niarriage. at Beaver Dam, same state, to Minette
RKNO COUNTY, KANSAS. 245
Sloan, who. as a child had moved to that i)]acc with her parents, prominent
pioneers of that citv, and to this union four children were horn. hVancis
K., who is in l)usiness with his father in Milwaukee; I'.liza, who married
George T'crnic and li\es on a ranch in Lincoln townshi]). this county; Min-
ette Alice, who married Mr. P.angs, and Sloan, who is engag-ed in business
with his father in Milwaukee.
To Merwin B. ^Minette A. (Dewey) Bangs two children were horn,
sons Ix^th, Merwin Bolton, i)r)rn on October 7, 1906, and Edward Dewey,
March 28. igio. Mrs. Bangs is a member of the Episcopal church at
Hutchinson, oF which her late husband also was an earnest member, and
takes an active interest in all good works hereabout, being held in the high-
est esteem b\ the many friends she has made since coming to this county.
Since her husband's death she has continued to make her home on the
farm, to the operation of v.hich she gives her personal attention.
JOHN MILTON DAMES.
John Milton Davies was born on July 19, 1873, in Guernsey county,
Ohio, the son of Hiram and Sarah (Slack) Davies, both of whom were
natives of that county. Hiram Davies was a coal miner in Ohio, and
moved to Sumner county, Kansas, in 1884, where he lived for one year.
He then moved to Lawrence county. Missouri, and lived on a farm for
."■ome time, after which he removed to Monett, Missouri, and worked as a
machinist in tht' 'Erisco railroad shops. Mr. Davies is still living at Monett.
His wife, Sarah (Slack) Davies, died in 1907, at the age of sixty-six
years. She was an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in
which denomination Hiram Davies still takes an active interest.
Hiram and Sarah (Slack) Davies were the parents of seven children,
as follow: John Milton, the subject of this sketch; Edgar, who was killed
in a railroad accident in North Dakota ; Harry, who is an engineer on the
"Erisco railroad, lives at Monett, Missouri; Charles, who was an engineer,
was killed on a railroad in Texas; Pearl dietl in 1903, at the age of twenty'
vears; May, deceased, was the wife of a Mr. Ulman ; Loyal is attending
college in Morrisville, Missouri.
John M. Davies attended the elementary schools in Ohio for a few
years, and later had several years training in the schools of Kansas and
Missouri. While living in Lawrence county, Missouri, he assisted his father
246 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
with tlic work of the farm. After the family had moved to Monett he
secured employment in the cH\isi()n offices of the 'Frisco lines, and later
worked as a l)rakeman on that railroad. ^Ir. Davies then went to the zinc
mines at Oronogo, Missom'i, and was working there when he met with an
accident through wliich he lost a hand and an eye. Mr. Davies was mar-
ried in 1903, and in 1907 he and his wife came to Reno county, Kansas,
wdiere Mr. Davies w'orked for his father-in-law, Ulysses Hendrickson, wdio
owned a farm of two hundred and forty acres in Salt Creek township. In
1912 AFrs. Davies inherited the farm, and since that time the farm house
has heen remodeled, so that Mr. and Mrs. Davies now have a comfortable,
modern home.
On October 22, 1903, at Oronogo, by Rev. James Sullens, John Milton
Davies was united in marriage to Grace Hendrickson, who was born in
Jasper county, Missouri, the daughter of Ulysses and Mary J. (Cochran)
Hendrickson. To this union have been born two children : Gordon, who
was born on June 19, 1905, and Loyal, wdio w^as born on March 12, 1907.
Ulysses Hendrickson was born on April 24, 1832, in Holmes county,
Ohio, and died on May 19, 1912. He was the son of Samuel and Sarah
( Wetherby) Hendrickson. The Hendrickson family w-as long prominent
in [Maryland and was represented among the pioneers in Holmes county,
Ohio, where Samuel Hendrickson was born. In 1846 he removed to Linn
county, Iowa, and settled on government land. He went to Jasper county,
Missouri, in 1866, and there died at the age of eighty-three years. He was
a Mason.
Sarah \\"eatherby was born in Massachusetts and was reared in Ohio.
She died in Missouri, at the age of seventy years. Her father, John
Weatherby, w^as one of the early settlers of Holmes county, Ohio, and was
of linglish descent. Samuel and Sarah (Weatherby) Hendrickson were
the parents of eight children, as follow: ATarietta, Martha, Ulysses, Lucre-
tia, Tantha, Andrew b, Melvina, who married J. W. Ilawn ; James W.
Ulysses Hendrickson received his early school training in Holmes
county, Ohio. He was fourteen vears old wlien the family mo\cd to Linn
county, Iowa, and there lie attended school in the log school house on Otter
creek. He was an :\\A student and with reading and travel in later life
ac(|uired a 1)road education. lb; endured tin- hardships of pioneer life in a
sod house in Iowa, and lived at lionie until his marriage, in 1855. After
farming for a few years in Fayette county, Iowa, he moved to Jasper
countv. [Missouri, and bought forty acres of land in Mineral township,
three miles west of Oronogo. and tliere erected a cabin sixteen by eighteen
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 247
feet. He subsequently increased his land holdings in Missouri to four
hundred acres. In 1874 Ulysses Hendrickson was elected sheriff of Jasper
county, Missouri, and went to live at Carthage, the county seat. When his
term of office had expired he returned to the farm until 1890, when he was
elected to the Missouri state Senate, from the twenty-eighth district. He
served four years in the Senate, after which he located in the town of
Oronogo, where he bought a fine residence in 1897. He was an ardent
Democrat. Later, Mr. Hendrickson came to Reno county and here he died.
On September 26, 1855, Ulysses Hendrickson was united in marriage
with Mary J. Cochran, who was born on February 28, 1837, in Pickaway
county, Ohio, the daughter of George and Hannah (Ward) Cochran, both
of whom were natives of Ohio. Mrs. Hannah Cochran died when Mary J.
was one year old. Mrs. Mary J. Hendrickson died in Reno county, June 3,
1913. Ulysses and Mary J. (Cochran) Hendrickson were the parents of
six children, as follow : Commodore Perry, retired, of Hutchinson, Kan-
sas; John B., of Hutchinson; lantha, wife of Thomas R. McLaughlin, a
retired farmer of Hutchinson; Minerva, who married Harvey Nance;
Grace, wife of John M. Davies, and Cole C.
John Milton Davies is a Democrat, and has been elected by that party
to a place on the local school board. He is a member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. and Mrs. Davies are interested in every meas-
ure calculated to advance the welfare of Reno county, and have many
friends in their home neighborhood.
J. S. THURMAN.
J. S. Thurman, superintendent of the great Viles plantation in Medora
township, this county, is a native of Illinois, born in Fulton county, that
state, February 8, 1870, son of Stephen and Margaret (Snodgrass) Thur-
man, the former also a native of Illinois and the latter of Ohio.
Stephen Thurman was Ijorn on Feljruary 26, 1830, and is still living,
long having made his home in Butler county, this state. He is an honored
veteran of the Civil War, having served for three years and eight months
as a member of Company A, Forty-seventh Regiment, Illinois Volunteer
Infantry; and during the service was shot three times, still carrying a bullet
in his thigh. The Fortv-seventh Illinois saw much active service, and Mr.
Thurman was right in the thick of the most of it. Upon the completion of
248 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
his military scr\ice lie resumed his life as a farmer in llUnois and remained
there until 1884. in which year he chartered two cars and moved to Kansas,
settling in Bntler county. He bought a quarter of a section of partly
improved land and there established his home. His wife died in 19 13, at
the age of seventy-three years. She was a member of the Dunkard church ;
he had been reared a Quaker. Thex were the parents of five children, of
whom the subject of this sketch v>'as the youngest, the others being as fol-
lo\\- : Levi H., who lives in Oklahoma; Edward, who lives in Cherokee
county, this state ; C. G.. who lives in Fulton, Illinois, and Sarah C, who
married J. C. Cook and lives near Larned, this state.
J. S. Thurman received his early schooling in the schools of his native
count}- in Illinois and vas fourteen years old when he came to Kansas
with his parents in 1884. He grew up on the home farm in Butler county,
assisting in the labors of developing the same, and remained there until
his marriage, in 1888, at the age of nineteen years, after which he bought
a farm of tw^enty-eight acres near the town of Keighley, rented another bit
of land adjoining and was extensively engaged in market gardening for
thirteen years, or until IQOI, in which year he came to Reno county and
settled at Aledora, v.-here for six years he served as foreman of the raihvay
section at Medora, in the employ of the 'Frisco Railroad. In 1907 he was
made joint car inspector for the Rock Island and the 'Frisco at Medora and
served in that capacity for something more than a year, at the end of wdiich
time he engaged in the hotel business in that same town, operating a retail
store in connection with the same. In 1909 he sold his hotel and store and
accepted the position of section foreman for the Rock Island railroad at
Groveland, which position he held until September, 19 10, when he received
the appointment to his present position of su|>erintendent of the eight-hun-
dred-acre plantation of James \'iles, in IMedora township, this county,
where he ever since has lived. This great jjlantation is devoted almost wholly
to the raising of catalpa trees, the first stand of which was set out twelve or
thirteen years ago. In the winter of 1915-16 ]\Ir. Thurman cut out one
hundred thousand trees, the same to be converted into posts, thus thoroughly
demonstrating the value of catalpa culture in this county. Mr. Thurman
is a Republican and takes an active interest in ])olitical affairs, having been
township treasurer for the past four or five years.
On June 30, 1888, J. S. Thurman was united in marriage to Alartha
L. Easton, who was born in Mercer county, Missouri, daughter of Thomas
and Elizabeth Easton, the former of whom was a transfer man, and both
of whom are now deceased, and to this union eleven children have been
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. J .[C)
l)orn, all of whom are H\ino^ save Viola, the second in order of birth, who
died in infancy, the others beini;- as follow: Nola, who married E. Kinley
and li\-es in I"^)rd connty, Kansas; Vina B., who married George Shea and
lives on a farm in AJedora township, this county; Nettie, who married A. G.
Johnson, night telegraph operator at the junction at Medora ; William, who
assists his father on the plantation ; Dewey, also an assistant to his father,
and Virgil, Ixe, Opal, O'Neal and Austin, wdio are still in school. Mr. and
Mrs. Thurman are members of the Brethren church and their children have
been reared in that faith. Mr. Thurman is a member of the Knights of
the Maccabees and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that order.
WILLIAM H. MILLER.
William H. iMiller, one of the real pioneers of Reno county, for years
a prosi)erous and w^ell-known farmer of Troy township, now living com-
fortably retired in a pleasant home in Hutchinson, enjoying the ample re-
wards of a life of well-directed industry, is a native of Iowa, having been
born on a farm in \\'a])ello county, that state, July i6, 1849, son of John
and Sophia (Walworth) Aliller, the former a native of Pennsylvania and
the latter of New York state.
John Miller was reared on a farm and was married in New York
state, later emigrating to Indiana, wdiere he began developing a fine farm,
but presently a cloud was discovered on his title to the same and he was
ousted on a legal technicality, after which he mo\ed farther west and settled
in Illinois, where he remained until 1846. About the time he settled in Illi-
nois the Black Hawk War broke out and he served in that brief but con-
clusive struggle. In the summer of 1846 he and his family drove through
by ox-team to Iowa and settled in >Vapello county. There John Miller
pre-empted a half section of "Congress land,'' on which he lived until 1855,
in which vear he sold out and nio\'ed to Decatur county, wdiere he bought a
quarter of a section of land and there spent the remainder of his life, his
death occurring in the s])ring of 1874, he then being seventy-eight years of
age. His widow survived him for nearly eighteen years, her death occur-
ring in February, 1892, at the age of eighty-six. They were the parents of
nine children, three sons and six daughters, of whom the subject of this
sketch was the youngest that grew to maturity, and of wdiom three are now
living, he having a brother, Henry, who still makes his home in Decatur
250 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
coiintv, Iowa, and a sister. i\Iarv. Avidow of Henry ]\IcVav, living- in \\\ivne
count)', that same state.
\\'illiam H. ]\[iller was about six years old when his parents moved
onto the frontier farm in Decatur county, Iowa, and there he grew to man-
hood. The nearest school, house being about three miles from his home, his
early opportunities for schooling were limited. In the spring- of 1872 he
married a daughter of Zeno Tharp. a prominent farmer of that neighbor-
hood, who, that same spring, came to Kansas and pre-empted a homestead
in Reno county, and in the spring of 1873 Mr. Aliller and his wife accom-
panied the other members of the Tharp family to this county, arriving here
on April 3. William H. ^filler homesteaded the northwest quarter of sec-
tion 20. in Troy township, and was thus one of the three earliest settlers of
that township, there being but one other family besides his and that of Mr.
Thar]) in the township at that time. He built a sod house on his place, but
during the first summer they lived there he and his wife continued to sleep
in their ''prairie schooner," which had brought them down from Iowa.
Their nearest neighbor was five miles distant. The buffaloes were still
ranging the plains, and it was during that summer of 1873 that the great
herd, noted in history as "the big herd," passed their place, the countless
mass requiring fifty-four hours to pass a given point. Cash was scarce and
hard to get throughout this section of Kansas in those days, and Mr. Miller,
in order to obtain a bit of ready money, from time to time, gathered buffalo
bones up off the plains and hauled them to Hutchinson, where he received
about six dollars a ton for the same.
Mr. Miller and his wife remained on their original homestead about
four years, at the end of which time they sold that place and bought the
northeast quarter of section 10, in Troy township, where they established
their permanent home and v.here they lived until their retir:ement and
removal to Hutchinson in 1908. ^Ir. Miller was a progressive and ener-
getic farmer and made a success of his business, gradually enlarging his
land holdings until he became the owner of six hundred and eighty acres in
Troy township and was regarded as one of the most substantial farmers in
that part of the county. Al,>out i88g he became extensively engaged in the
cattle business and so continued until his retirement from the farm, being
also quite successful as a stockman. Mr. r^liller has always 1ieen a stead-
fast Republican and for years was looked upon as one of the leaders in
the partv in Troy township, a constant attendant at party conventions and
otherwise active in the afifairs of his party. For years he served as school
director in his home district and also served for some time as township
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 25 I
treasurer. In U)oi'> lie retire(l from tlie active labors of the farm and moved
to Hutchinson. He bought a house at 225 Sixth avenue, west, and there he
and his wife are very pleasantly situated.
On February 11, 1872, in Decatur count}-, Iowa, William II.
Miller was united in marriage to Catherine Rose Tharp, who was born on a
farm near A\'inchester, Indiana, daughter of Zeno and Christina (Fry)
Tharp, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Germany. Zeno Tharp
was born in Ashland, Ohio, May 20, 1827, and grew to manhood on a farm.
When a }-oung man he went over into Indiana and settled in Jay county,
where he married Christina Fry, who was born in Germany in 1835 and
who was but five years old when her parents came to the United States,
settling in Jay county, Indiana. About 1853 Zeno Tharp and his family
emigrated to Iowa, settling in Decatur county, that state. Wdien the Civil
War broke out Mr. Tharp enlisted in Company K, Fifty-third Regiment,
Iowa Volunteer Infantrv, and served for ten months, at the end of which
time he was dischorged on a physician's certificate of disability, illness
incapacitating him from further service. In 1872 Zeno Tharp came to
Kansas and in November of that year filed on a half section of land in Troy
township, this county. The next spring- he brought his family here and
established his home. He also bought a half section of railroad land and
it was not long until he was accounted one of the most substantial farmers
and stockmen in the county. Mr. Tharp was very active in the general
affairs of the community during pioneer days and it is generally agreed that
no man had more influence in the days of the early development of the
southern part of the county than he. In 1902 he retired from the active
labors of the farm and moved to Hutchinson, where his last days were spent.
He and his wife were the parents of ten children, six of whom are living,
of whom Mrs. Miller is the eldest, the others being Mary, who married
Harry Wright and li\-es in Hutchinson ; John, a farmer, who makes his
home in Hutchinson; D. T., who lives at Nickerson, this county, and Flora,
who lives at Hutchinson, and George, who lives on the old home farm.
To William H. and Catherine Rose (Tharp) Miller three children have
been born, as follow: Walter J., born in 1876, who married Laura Croas
and lives in Troy township, this county; Cora A., 1877, who married A. F.
Hood and also lives in Troy township, and Frank Z., 1880, who married
Gladys Hambrick and also makes his home in Troy township, all substan-
tial farmers and useful citizens of that part of the county. Mr. Miller is a
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and both he and his wife
2^2 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
are members of the Daughters of Rebekah. He also is a member of the
Modern Woodmen and (^f the Fraternal Aid Society and in the affairs of
all these organizations takes a warm interest.
GEORGE ASTLE.
George Astle, one of the lu^st-known farmers of Haven township, this
County, an honored veteran of the Civil War and one of the pioneers of
Reno count}', is a native of England, ha\ ing 1)een l3orn in the town of
Melbourne. Derbyshire. October 21, 1842, son of Richard and Sarah ( Hib-
bert ) Astle, ))oth nati\-es of Derbyshire, the former of whom was born on
February 15, iSi i, and the latter, February 3, 18 10, who came to Kansas
in pioneer days, settled in Ha\en township, this county, and there spent the
rest of their lives, useful and valued citizens of that community.
Richard Astle was reared in Derbyshire, married there and became a
market gardener. To him and his wife ten children were born, all of
whom grew to maturitv. In i8s2, their elder children havins; them erown,
the two eldest having married and settled in their home town, Richard
Astle and his wife and their younger children emigrated to the United
States, locating neai" Ouincy, Illinois, where Mr. Astle engaged in garden-
ing. In t86i the Faniil} mo\ed to Godfrey, near Alton, Illinois, wdiere
they farmed until 186G, in which }ear they mo\'ed to Alhambra, that same
state, and farmed there until 1872. In this latter year, the good word of
the promising conditions i^resented in this section of Kansas haxing ])egun
to attract much attention in the F.ast, Richard Astle and his wife and their
elder children e(juii:)ped a couple of "])rairie schooners" and drove through
to this county. arri\ing in Fia\en townshi]) in the month of .\pril, the
younger children joining them a few months later. Richard Astle and
those of the children who liad reached their majorities each homesteaded a
(|uarter of a section, the fatlier's homestead being in section 20. There he
established his home and there he and liis wife spent the rest of their lives,
his death occurring on June 10, 1883. His widow surxived until January
22, i8gi. Richard Astle was a Re])ublican and took a ])rominent part in
local political affairs in ])ioneer days, long scr\ing as justice of the peace
in and for Haven township. He and his wife were earnest memljers of
the ^lethodist church and were among the leaders in the organization of
a church oi that denomination in their neighljorhood. Their children were
KKNO rOTNTY, KANSAS. 253
as follow: John. l)oni on Novcinher 17, i<S32, \\\u) remained in I'Jis^land
and who died on Sei)teml)er 2, 1806; Elizabeth. March 15. i<S34, who mar-
ried llenrv iJarher, of Melbourne, iuiglaiid, where she died on September
2H, 1899; Richard. b\'brnary 15. 1836, a well-kncnvn retired farmer, living
at Haven, this county; \\'illi;im, November 21. 1840. a veteran of the Civil
War. who was prominent in the establishment of the town of Haven, where
he was successfully engaged in the grain and general mercantile business,
married Louisa Tissius and is now li\ing retired at Haven; George, the sub-
ject of this sketch; Josei>h, April 2y, 1845, '^ well-known hardware mer-
chant in Haven, who died in 1899; Sarah, February 16, 1847, "o^^' deceased,
wdio married Henr}- Challacombe; Mary, February 20, 1849. married J. \V.
VanBuren and died in Haven township on March 22, 1910; Henry. June
21, 185 1, a retired farmer now living at Haven, and Charles W., the only
one of the children born in the United States, born at Ouincy, Illinois,
November 21. 1854, former postmaster of Haven, which town he also served
as mavor, and former manager of the farmers' elevator at that place, where
he is now^ living retired.
George Astle was about ten years old when his family came to America
from England and he §re\v to manhood on the farm in Illinois. In August,
1862, he then being not quite twenty years of age, he enlisted in Company
I. Ninety-se\'enth Regiment. Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for service during
the Civil War. and was at once sent with his regiment to Kentucky, the regi-
ment there forming part of the arm}- under General Buell in the campaign
against General Bragg. After participating in the battle of Perry ville the
regiment was sent on to Memphis, thence to Vicksburg. an attack, under
General Sherman, being made on the latter town, upon the repulse of which
the regiment retired to Arkansas Post, wdiich place was taken in January.
In the spring of 1873 the Ninety-seventh Illinois fought in the battles of
Port Gibson. Champion Hills and Black River, following which it was
engaged in the siege of Vicksburg until that city fell. The regiment then
assisted in the capture of Jackson, Mississippi, after which it took part in
the famous Red River expedition, being ordered thence to New Orleans to
be fitted out as a regiment of mounted infantry. On the way to New-
Orleans the troop train was wrecked, leaving fewer than two hundred men
fit for service, and these were put on jirovost duty while the regiment was
being recruited to its normal strength. The regiment was then sent on the
expedition against Mobile and after the capture of that city was sent to take
Selma. Alabama, upon the destruction of which town the Ninety-seventh
was sent to Galveston, Texas, wdiere it was mustered out in July. 1865.
254 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Upon the conclusic^n of his mihtarv service Mr. Astle stopped for a
coii])le of years in Missotnn and \\ln'le there married Mattie Shuron, a native
©£ .Missouri, who chcd one year and twenty-eight days after her marriage,
withont issue. After that ]\Ir. Astle rejoined his father in IlHnois and
remained on tlie farm there nntil the family came to Reno county in 1872,
since ^\■hich time he has made ids home in this county. Upon arriving in
this count} George Astle homesteaded a cjuarter section in section 28, Haven
township, hut continued to make his home with his parents as long as they
lived. He then hought tlie interests of the other heirs in the home place
and continued to reside there, being now the owner of two hundred and
twent}-hAe acres in this county, all well-improved and profitably cultivated.
He erected a new set of buildings on the home place and set out a good-
sized orchard and is now very well circumstanced.
In the fall of 1887 George Astle married, secondly. Mrs. Huldah
(Michaels) Tucker, who was born in Virginia and came to Kansas with her
three children in 1887. her marriage to Mr. Astle taking place shortly there-
after. She died in the spring of 1913. By her first marriage Mrs. Astle
was the mother of three children, John R. Tucker, who lives in Oklahoma;
Franklin DeWitt Tucker, \\ho lives on his step-father's place, which he is
now farming, and Gertrude, who married Josiah Foreaker and died in 1907,
leaving three children, whom Mr. Astle is rearing. Mr. Astle is a member
of the United Brethren church and of the local post of the Grand Army of
the Republic at Haven, in the affairs of which he takes much interest.
ISAAC SMITH.
Isaac Smith, the well-known grocer of Hutchinson, Kansas, located at
7 South ^lain street, is a lioosier ])\- l)irth, haxing hrst seen the light of
day on Decemi)er 6, 1861. in \\'ashington county, Indiana. He is a son of
Stephen H. and Mary A. (Hoar) Smilli, both ])arents lieing also natives of
Washington countv, Indiana. Stephen l\. Smith was l)orn on April i,
1836, and died on September 15, 1884, his entire lite being spent in that
same count\-, where during all his active years he followed the vocation of
farming. Marv A. Hoar was Ijorn on Septcml)er 15, 1839, and passed from
this life on July 26, 1882. Isaac Smith is one of a family of six children,
the others being Mary F., wife of Thaddeus K. Benson, a farmer of Reno
countv; John E., a former grocer of Hutchinson, who died on January 22,
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 255
1909; Jesse E., a l)anker at Grainfiekl, this state; Martha J., a physician
located at Indianapolis, Indiana, and l^nimett, also engaged in the grocery
business in Hutchinson.
Isaac Smith received his elementary education in the district schools
near his home in Washington county, Indiana, supplemented by special and
more advanced study at the Northern Indiana Normal at Valparaiso, that
state. Later in life, Isaac vSmith took a complete commercial course at the
Camplicll University, Holton. this state. For eleven years after completing
his normal studies he engaged in school teaching, being located at various
times in Washington county. Indiana ; Sangamon county, Illinois, and Gove
countv, Kansas, serving two terms of two years each as superintendent of
the Gove county schools. Mr. Smith homesteaded a claim of one hundred
and sixty acres in Gove county, same being the southeast quarter of section
30, township II, range 28, and after proving same, he disposed of it. On
May 20, 1899, he engaged in the retail grocery business on South Main
street, Hutchinson, to which business he has since given his best efforts and
attention. In addition to his business, Mr. Smith owns his residence, located
at 312 Ninth avenue. West, where he has resided for the past eighteen
years. Mr. Smith has a w^ell established business which he well merits by
virtue of his honest desire to correctly meet the demands of his customers,
and being possessed of a cordial temperament, he easily wins and holds
friends.
On May 19, 1886, Isaac Smith was married in Sangamon county, Illi-
nois, to Jennie Bridges, a daughter of Chester L. and Margaret E. (Abranis)
Bridges, born in that county on August 28, 1862. Chester L. Bridges was
born in Arkansas on April 2, 1834, and died at his home in Hutchinson on
April 10, 1912, while his widow, who is still living in Hutchinson, was born
in Illinois, on April 16, 1841. There were two children in the Bridges
family, the one other than Mrs. Smith being Josephine, who married John
A. Garber, a contractor and builder located at Hutchinson, Kansas. Chester
L. Bridges was for many years a farmer and also a harness maker, follow-
ing the latter occupation during the latter years of his life. Both he and
his wife were for many years active workers in the Baptist church and in
that faith Mrs. Smith was carefully reared. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith have
been born five children, namely: Carroll M., who was born in Sangamon
county, Illinois, on March 6. 1887, and assists his father in the grocery;
Margaret A., born in Gove county, this state, on April 16. 1889, married
W^illiam Tester, musician and composer of Chicago, Illinois; Chester L., the
256 KENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
third child, was born in Gove county, this state, March 6, 1891, and is located
in Kansas City, Missouri, where he is engaged in the practice of the law;
Eldon B. was lx)rn in Gove county, March 20. 1896, and is at present attend-
ing the state university at Lawrence; Melvin C., the youngest of the family,
born in Reno county. May 26, 1900, is still in high school in Hutchinson.
Isaac Sniiili and his family are numbered among the best people of the city
wherein they have made their home for many years and are justly entitled
to the high esteem in which they are universally held.
MARTIN BURRIS.
Alartin Burris, truck farmer and gardener, living at 126 Fourteenth
avenue. West, Hutchinson, Reno county, Kansas, was born in ]\Iorgan
county, Indiana, a son of Caleb and Frances (Brown) Burris, April 6, 1856.
Caleb Burris was a son of James Burris, of English parentage, and was born
on September 29, 18 18, in Ohio, "a day's drive" (as it was then termed)
from the town of Cincinnati, now the thriving city. His death occurred in
1875. Frances Brown was born on August 28, 181 7. in the hill country of
North Carolina, and her death occurred in 1879. Caleb and Frances Burris
were married on August 15, 1841. and to them were born six children.
Those other than ]\Iartin, the immediate subject of this sketch, are William
R., Rebecca L.. who married Charles T. Mendenhall; Fernando, a truck
farmer living near Savannah. ^Missouri; ^lary and Allen J., all of whom
have passed into the life l)C}on(l with the exception of Fernando and Martin.
Martin Burris when a voung bdv attended the common schools near
his home in ?^Iorgan county, Indiana, and after the family moved to Iowa,
he continued his studies in the public schools of Dallas county. He early
engaged in farming and went to Sumner county, Kansas, in 1876 and rented
a farm on whirh he li\ed for some tiiue. during which time he was also
engaged in freighting goods from \\'icliita, this state, to the supply camps
and forts across the line in the Indian rcrritor}-. His load when going in
that direction con.sisted of sup|)lies and provisions for soldiers and Indians
and on the return trip principall\- of hides. In 1877 Marlin Burris moved
to Rush county this state, where hr Iiomesteadcd one hundred and sixty
acres. Securing a patent to his "claim" he sold and moved to the territory
of Washington in 1888. purchasing one acre in the town of Sidney (which
is now known as Fort Orchard) and forty acres in Kitsap county, adjoin-
RENO rOUNTY, KANSAS. 257
ing tlic town of Sidney. In the early nineties, he returned to Kansas, locat-
ing in Hutchinson, where he Ijought city property and has since made his
home, giving his time and attention to truck gardening and hght farming.
Martin Burris was married at West Point, Rush county, this state.
October 30, 18(83, to lunaHne Carohne Carr, daughter of Cyrus and Alary
Jane (Haworth) Carr. both in Harden county, Iowa, April 3, 1865. Cyrus
Carr was a farmer, who owned land in Harden county, Iowa, and also in
Rush county, this state, where he homesteaded a claim of one hundred and
sixty acres and w^here his death occurred on February 11, 1895. ^^ ^^'"^^
born on August 20, 1828, near Clarksburg, in Highland county, Ohio, a son
of Benjamin Carr, born on December 28, 1792 (died in 1885), and Permela
(Evins) Carr (born in 1801, died in 1871). Permela (Evins) Carr was
a daughter of Evin Evins and Permela Bales. Benjamin Carr was a son
of Benjamin Carr, and Patience, his wife. IMary Jane Haworth, wife of
Cyrus Carr and mother of Mrs. Martin Burris, was born on March 25, 1834,
in Vermilion county, Illinois, and died on February i, 1901. She was a
daughter of Rees Haworth (born in 1804 and died in November, 1895).
and Permela, his wife, who died in 1885. Cyrus Carr and Mary Jane
Haworth were married on October 30. 1850, and to them was born a family
of seven children, namely: Emaline (Mrs. Burris), John R., Melvina,
who married Charles Osborn ; Elven, Martha, a minister of the Quaker
church living in Mead county, this state; Rees B., a farmer of the same
county, and Harvey, a farmer in Pawnee county, this state. The Carr
family have been members of the Quaker church for many generations,
active in the work of their various local organizations.
To Martin Burris and wife have been born ten children, as follow:
John W., George R., Harvey M., Mabel E., Alice A.. Grace M., Allen J.,
Willie F., Mary F. and Eavina. John W. was born on August 28, 1884, in
Rush county, this state and is now proprietor of a bakery in Lexington,
Nebraska. George R., was born on January 2, 1886, in Rush county, and
is now a linotype operator wdth the Mid-West Printing Company and secre-
tary of Typographical Union No. 243. He has had conferred on him by
his local organization the honor of being delegate to the international body
and has discharged the responsibilities thus devolving upon him in a manner
highly pleasing to all. George R. Burris is a student of archaeology^ and
has spent three of his summer vacations in research work in the interesting
field which New Mexico otters to such students. He is known in local
labor circles as a leader among his fellow-workmen, and a broad-minded
(17a)
258 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
man of ability and excellent judgment. Harvey M., born on October 10,
18S7. in Ru.sh county, is a printer. ]Ma1:>el E. and Alice A. are twins, born
on April 20, 1892, the former being a teacher in the schools of Reno county,
and the latter the wife of Fred Leeburg. These twins were born in Sum-
ner county, this state. Grace M. was l)orn on August 29, 1S94, in Hutchin-
son, and is also a teacher in the public schools. Allen J- was also born in
Hutchinson. June 9, 1897, and is engaged in clerking. Willie F. was born
in Hutchinson, September 26, 1899. and is attending school, as are also Mary
F.. boni on August 9, 1902, and Lavina, born on February 24, 1905. One
other child was born in this family, Oliver, who died at birth. The Burris
family are numbered among the excellent people of their home city and are
descended from forefathers who have been pioneers in their various times,
movino- with the advance of civilization from Ohio over into what is now
termed the Aliddle \\^est. Martin Burris hailed with delight the coming of
the railroads to this section of the country, and during constructive days
was known as an expert grade finisher. Fie worked with the Southern
Pacific and also with the Northern Pacific in that capacity.
HUTTON & OSWALD.
Hutton (S: Oswald, proprietors of the American Steam Laundry at
Hutchinson, this county, one of the largest and best-equipped laundries in
the state of Kansas, long have been recognized as among the most enter-
prising and progressive forces in the commercial and industrial life of that
city. After ten other firms had unsuccessfully attempted to establish steam
laundries in Hutchinson. Mr. Hutton and 'Wr. Oswald took hold of the situa-
tion, adopted business-like methods, inaugurated a strictly up-to-date system
in the oj^eration of their plant and succeeded from the very start. Starting
in a comparatively small way, they quickly were compelled to enlarge their
plant, owing to the demands of their growing business, and so continued
extending their facilities until they came to be recognized as among the lead-
ers in that forn-; o\ enterprise in Kansas.
The .\merican Steam Laundry, \\hich now occupies more than ten times
the floor space it occupied when its present proprietors took hold on April
20, 1 89 1, not only does a general laundering business, but is engaged as well
in drv-cleaning and employs from seventy-five to one hundred and twenty-
five persons and maintains agencies in more than one hundred and fifty
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 259
towns thi-(jui;h<>ut Kansas and ( )klah()nia. Since i8()5 its i)roprietors, Hut-
ton (K: Oswald, liavc been niemhors of the National Launderers Association
and since Jul)', 1913, nienibers of the National Association of Dry Cleaners,
while they ha\e for years taken a ])rominent part in the affairs of the
Kansas State Launderers Association, of which Mr. Oswald is the present
president. Messrs. llutton cK: Oswald also are extensive landcnvners in
Reno county, the owners of a half section of land in Grant township and a
half section in Medora tow'uship, which they devote to alfalfa and fruit
growino- and cattle raisinj^', and are regarded as among the substantial citizens
of this county.
Kmmett Hutton, senior member of this successful firm, is a native of
Tennessee, born in Bedford county, that state, December 10, 1866, son of
George D. and Mary A. (Houston) Hutton, the latter of whom, before
her marriage to Mr. Hutton, was the widow of Russell Whiteside, a Tennes-
see lawyer, and mother of Houston Whiteside, who became one of Hutchin-
son's most distinguished lawyers. Upon coming to Kansas in 1887 and
locating in Hutchinson, Mr. Hutton for a year was employed in the office of
the St. John & Marsh Lumber Company. Lie then, shortly after the inaugu-
ration of the mail delivery system in Hutchinson, was appointed a letter
carrier and was thus engaged for three years, at the end of which time he
bought an interest in the laundry business of IL L. ^Villis & Brother, which
business, on April 20, 1891, he took over, in partnership with Charley W.
Oswald, estal)lished the American Steam Laundry and has ever since been
successfully engaged in that business. Mr. Hutton is a Democrat and gi\es
a good citizen's attention to local politics, but has never been an aspirant for
public office. He is a member of the Hutchinson Commercial Club, the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias and the
Modern Woodmen of America, in the affairs of all of which organizations
he takes a warm interest.
On October 25, 1899, F.mmett Hutton was united in marriage to Lottie
F. Bay, daughter of C. M. and Maggie J. (Sloan) Bay. well-known resi-
dents of, Roscoe township, this county, and to this union two children have
been born. Hildrcd and Emmett, Jr. The Hutlons have a handsome home
at 320 East Sherman street, where they have resided for years, and where
thev are very pleasantly situated.
Charley W. Oswald, junior member of the firm of Hutton & Oswald,
is a native of Ohio, born in Wayne county, that state, November 3, 1867,
son of Anthony and Maria (Ewing) Oswald, the former of whom was lx)m
in that same countv, son of Williaiu Oswald, a native of Pennsylvania and
j60 RENO COUNTY. KANSAS.
a pioneer of that section of Ohio, who for more than fifty years was engaged
in the manufacture of lx)ots and shoes. In 1877 Anthony Oswald and his
family came to Kansas and settled in Reno county. ?^Ir. Oswald bought
eighty acres of railroad land in Center township and later bought four hun-
dred and eighty acres in Srdt Creek township, where he farmed for four
years, at the end of wliich time, in 1881. he retired from the farm and
moved to Hutchinson, where lie presently became engaged in the real-estate
business. His wife died in ?^farch, 1885, and in i8go he left Hutchinson
and for ten years was engaged in the mining business at Joplin and Galena.
In 1900 he went to Beaumont, Texas, where he ever since has been success-
fully engaged in the real-estate business.
Charley \\\ Oswald was ten years old when he came to Kansas with
his parents in 1877. He continued his schooling in the schools of Salt
Creek township and of Hutchinson and was graduated from the Hutchinson
high school in 1885. after which for two years he was engaged in teaching
school. Upon the inauguration of the mail delivery system in Hutchinson
he was the first letter carrier appointed in that city and entered upon the
duties of that position on October i. 1887, serving the pubHc in that capacity
until September i. 1890. On April 20. 1891. he became associated with
Emmett Hutton in the ownership of the American Steam Laundrv at
thitchinson and has e\er since been thus engaged. Mr. Oswald is a Demo-
crat and from the days of his youth has been an active figure in the political
life of this section of the state. For four years he sensed as a member of
the Hutchinson city council and when that city adopted the commission form
of government he was elected one of the members of the first commission
of three, in April, t()09. and served until ]\lay. 191 1, as commissioner of
public utilities and streets. In 1904 ]\Ir. Oswald was elected a delegate
froni this district to the Democratic national convention and in other ways
has rendered able service in behalf of his party and the public. ^\v. Oswald
is a thirty-second degree Alason and a Knight Templar, a member of the
blue lodge, the chapter, the council and the commandery at Hutchinson and
the consistory. Ancient Acce]>ted Scottish Rite, at Wichita. He also is a
menil)er of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and takes a warm
interest in these several fraternal affiliations. He takes an active interest in
the general business life of the city and is at present vice-president of the
Hutchinson Commercial Club.
On May 24. 1896, in Troy township, this county. Charley W. Oswald
was united in marriage to Myrtle Lewis, daughter of S. C. Lewis and wife.
and to this union two children ha\e been born, Anthonv L.. born on Decem-
Ri:.\() COl'NTY, KANSAS. 261
her (), t8(jS. nnd C". Wallace, April ii. igoo. Ixitli of whom are now students
in the lii^h school. The ( )s\\al(ls ha\c a handsome home at 301 Xinth
avtnue, west, where ihey haw resided for years and where they are very
pleasantly .-itnated.
S^'I.Vl'STER hWRTHTXG.
Syhester h'arthing-, one of the hest-kno^vn and most substantial of the
pioneer farmers of Voder township, this county, is a native of Tennessee,
having been ijorn in Robinson count^•, that state, April 22. 1849, son of
Peter and Elizabeth ( Holland) Farthing, the former a native of Mrginia
and the latter of Tennessee, who later became well-known pioneers of this
county, where their last days were spent.
Peter Farthing was but a small boy when his parents emigrated from
Virginia to Tennessee, settling in Robinson county, and there he grew to
nianhood. He married EHzabeth Holland, daughter of Richard Holland,
a wealth\- plantation owner of that county, a large slaveholder and the owner
of more th.an one thousand acres of land; a deacon in the Missionary Baptist
church for many years. Peter Farthing became the owner of a farm in
Re^binson county, but in the late fifties sold out there and moved to Union
county, where he became the owner of four hundred and fiftv acres, \vhich
he devoted to the raising of corn and tobacco. He owned a few slaves,
but when the division of sentiment on the slavery cpiestion arose in Ken-
tucky he beca.me an ardent Union sympathizer and his former slaves
remained with him for some time after their freedom had lieen declared.
In 1876, attracted by the glowing reports at that time being heard regarding
conditions in this section of Kansas, Peter Farthing" sold his holdings in
Kentucky and came to Kansas with his wife and their two youngest children,
Xorman and Ella. Ihev located in Reno county and Peter Farthing bought
a cpiarter of a section of land in Eincoln townshi]), where he established his
home and where he and his wife snent the rest of their lives, becoming
prominent in the pioneer life of that part of the county. Peter Farthing-
was a good farmer and he exentually became the ow:ner of two hundred and
forty acres surrounding his home. He died there on September 2T,, 1890,
at the age of seventv vears. and his widow survi\-ed him less than two vears,
her death occurring on January tj;, 1892, she then being sixty-nine years of
age. They were the parents of seven children, namely : Marcellus, who
still makes his home in Un.ion county, Kentuck}- ; Sylvester, the subject of
262 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
this biographical sketch; Samantha. who married Pascal Graves and lives
on a farm in Seds^w ick county, this state; Diana, who married John Cole-
man and lives in Union county, Kentucky; Harriet, who married Henry
Turner and lives near Coffeyville, this state; Norman, who also lives near
Coffeyville, and Ella, who married Benjamin Holman and li\es in Oklahoma.
Sylvester Farthing was a small boy when his parents moved from
Tennessee to Kentuck}- and he gre^v up on the home farm in Union county,
in the latter state. Upon the dissolution of the slavery system the work
of the farm fell upon him and his Ijrothers and he began to plow as soon
as he was big enough to hold the plow handles. He assisted his father on
the farm and remained at home until his marriage in 1868, after which he
bought a farm of one hundred acres in the neighborhood of his old home
and began farming on his own account and was thus engaged there until the
spring of 1877, when he sold his place and followed his parents to Kansas,
they having settled in Reno county the year previous. Upon his arrival
here he bought the southeast quarter of section 29 in Lincoln, now^ a part
of Yoder township, and there he established his home in a shack, the lumber
for building which he hauled from Wichita, sixty miles away. When he
settled there there vras not a tree in sight from his humble home on the
plain, but it was not long until lie had set out a large number of trees and
had a thrifty grove growing on his place. He prospered in his farming
operations and for man}' years has 1>een regarded as one of the substantial
residents of the Yoder neighborhood, still making his home on the place he
has occupied for nearl}- forty years. He and his wife are earnest members
of the Harmony Baptist church, as are all the members of their family, and
have for many years been looked upon as among the leaders in good works
thereabout.
It was on January 21, 1868, in Union county, Kentucky, that Sylvester
h'arthing was united in marriage to Cassandra Hobbs, who was born in
Jefferson county, Kentucky, April 3, 1852, daughter of Henson and Sarah
(Smith) Hobbs, the former of wdiom died on August 8, 1854, after wdiich
his widow married George A\'hitecotton and moved to Union county, where
her death occurred on April 3. 1874. To ^Mr. and Mrs. Farthing eight
children have been born, as follow: Sarah Elizabeth, born on January 26,
1869, who married James Green and lives in ^'oder, this county; Leonia
May, May 2-^. 1872, who died on September 9, 1893; Peter Rice, April 30,
[874, a well-known farmer of Salt Creek township, this county, a biograph-
ical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume; Addie Pearl,
April 8, 1876. who married Albert Stewart and died on November 25. 1912;
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 263
Mary l^Ia, July 17. 1878, who is at lionic with her parents; Edna Vesta,
December 17, 1882. widow of Judson Stewart; Carrie Low, May 9, 1885,
who married Eugene Moore and hves on a farm in Lincohi township, and
Ulah LilHan, February i, 1889, who married Floyd H. Moore and died on
JanuaiT 2, 191 5.
JOHN J. BOEHM.
John J. Boehm, the son of William and Caroline (Werle) Boehm, was
born in Sterling, Illinois, December 2^, 1857. The parents having come
from Germany in 1850. The father was a building contractor and a cooper.
To William and Caroline Boehm were born the following children :
Elizabeth, the widow of Charles Walz, who was a contractor at Sterling,
Illinois; Katherine, the wife of George Collins, an assistant in the postoffice
at Aurora. lUinois; Sarah, the wife of Loren Schneider, a farmer at Wad-
dams Grove, Illinois; William, an electrician at Sterhng; Albert, a carpenter
at Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Adolph, a conductor on a railroad out of
Omaha, lives at St. James, Minnesota, and John J., the subject of this
sketch.
John J. Boehm xvas educated in the graded schools of Sterling, Illinois.
After completing his education he followed the trade of a cooper, which
trade he had learned in the shop of his father when a lad. In 1884 he went
to Spencer, Clay county, Iowa, and engaged in the manufacturing of butter'
tubs for creameries. In 1896 he went to Minneapolis, where he remained
until the next year, when he came to Hutchinson, where he purchased the
interests of William A. Myers in the laundry business. Since that time he
has been interested in the modern "Model" steam laundry, located at 27-29
Second avenue, West, and of which he is now the sole owner.
Mr. Boehm is a member of the Hutchinson Commercial Club and takes
an active interest in all things that tend to assist in the growth and improve-
ment of the city. He is independent in politics, but always looks to the
selection of the best men to office. He was for four years the sergeant at
arms of the Laundrymen's National Association of America, and was the
president of the Kansas Laundrymen's Association for one year.
On March 19, 1885, John J. Boehm was married at Ames, Iowa, to
Elizabeth J. Erb, the daughter of Jacob and Caroline (Reid) Erb. Mrs.
Boehm is a native of Ames, while her father was born in Maryland and her
264 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
mother at Crestline, Ohio. Her father was for many years a farmer and
an importer and breeder of pureblood Percheron horses.
To ^[r. and Mrs. J- ilin J. Tloehni have been born one child, Walter,
who was born on October 31, 1889, at Spencer, Iowa. He completed the
work in the grades ad high school at Hutchinson and two years at the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania, after ^^•hich he attended the law department of the
University of Kansas and graduated with the degree of Doctor of Laws.
After being admitted to the bar he entered the laundry business of his father
and n(^w has charge of the office.
Walter Boehm was married, December 4, 1914, at Hutchinson, to Mary
Lee \'ance, a native of Abingdon. \'irginia, and the daughter of J. M.
\'ance, whose wife was a Carpenter. The father of Mrs. Boehm was a
native of \'irginia and the mother of Maine.
Jacob and Caroline Erb were the parents of the following children :
Harland G., a farmer at Ames, Iowa; Eleanor, the wife of Charles Kuken-
rall. a farmer of Anthony, Iowa; Rosabel, the wife of M. IT. Kelso, a den-
tist at Ames; ^linnie ]\'Jay. the wife of L. i\I. Maxwell, a farmer at Lee.
Montana, and Elizabeth J., wife of John J. Boehm.
GEORGE \y. COOTER.
George W. Cooter, former cuunty treasurer and a well-known retired
farmer of Reno county, now li\ing at Hutchinson, where he possesses valu-
able banking and other interests; an honored veteran of the Civil War, one
of the real pioneers of Reno county and a man who for years has been
actively identified with tlie best interests of this section of the state, is a
native of England, but has Ijcen a resident of the United States since he was
a babe in arms. He was born in .Sussex on ]^Iay 3, 1846, son of George W.
and Martha (Boxall) Cooter, both natives of Kent.
The senior George \V. Cooter was born in 1820 and was reared on a
farm, later becoming an expert landscape gardener, doing contract work in
that line. In 1847 he emigrated with his family to America and located at
Saybrook, Connecticut, later moving to Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained
until 1858. in which year he came West and l)ought a farm in Jackson
county. Missouri, where he remained until practically driven out by his pro-
slavery neighbors, whose violeiTt opposition to his well-known anti-slavery
views and ardent support of the Union cause compelled him to seek security
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 265
for himself and fainil\' o\er llic line in Kansas. He located at Leavenworth
in 1802. and in that neighborhood rented a farm, where his deatli occurred
in 1867. he then being forty-seven years of age. His widow survived until
1882, she being sixty-eight years of age at the time of her death.
George W. Cooter. Jr., \\as about one year old when his parents came
to the United States and his early schooling was ol)tained in the pnltlic
schools of Cleveland. He was twelve years old when the family left that
city and mo^•ed to Missouri, and was fifteen years old when the Civil War
broke out. He was a big, vigorous, robust bo}'. In 1862 his father, whose
name was also George \Y., had enrolled his name for enlistment, but when
the call came at Independence, Missouri, the father was sick and was wor-
ried l)ecause he could not respond, so the son said he would go and answer
the call for muster for the father, which he did, and was accepted, and
instead of coming back as he agreed he went on with his company the next
morning, in Company E, Twenty-fifth Regiment Missouri Volunteer Infan-
try, and ser\ed with the Army of the West until September 20, 1865. He
was attached to Company C, First Engineering Corps, with which he served
until the close of the war. being classed as an artificer. During his service
in the Engineering Corps, Mr. Cooter was attached to the Fifteenth Army
Corps, under Gen. John A. Logan, and was wdth Sherman in the march to
the sea, engaged in reconstructing bridges destroyed by the enemy. At the
close of the war Mr. Cooter participated in the Grand Review at Washing-
ton and was not yet twenty 3'ears old when he returned to his home in Leav-
enworth, a veteran of one of the greatest wars in historv.
Upon the completion of his military service. Mr. Cooter served a three-
years apprenticeship to a carriage snfith at Leavenworth and became thor-
oughly jiroficient in that trade, which he later followed for four years, in the
employ of Moore & Jennings at Leavenworth, after which he was given the
position of foreman of the carriage department of the federal prison at
Leavenworth. In the meantime, in 1871, he had married and after retaining
his foremanship for thirteen months, decided to join the homestead move-
ment, then setting in strongl}' toward this section of the state, and in 1873
came with his wife and baby son to Reno county. Upon arriving here Mr.
Cooter homesteaded a tract of land in Little River township, where he estab-
hshed his home, being one of the very earliest settlers of that ]xirt of the
count}-. Presently he also entered a timber claim and as his affairs pros-
pered gradually enlarged his land holdings until he eventuall}' became the
owner of eight hundred acres of land in Little River township and what is
now Aledora township. To his general farming operations he added cattle
266 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
raising and was also quite successful in that line, soon coming to be regarded
as one of Reno county's most substantial citizens. For his own convenience
and that of his neighbors he also set up a smithy on his farm and later
moved the same to ]Medora, where he kept it going for several years.
^Ir. Cooter was early elected treasurer of Medora township and for
years served in that important public capacity. From the very day of the
organization" of the Republican party ]\Ir. Cooter has been a loyal and stead-
fast adherent of that party and took an active part in local political affairs.
In 1892 he attended the Reno county Republican convention, without ever
a thought of being a candidate for any county office, and was very much
astonished to find himself nominated for the office of county treasurer.
There were several avowed candidates for nomination to that place on the
ticket, but Mr. Cooter was not a candidate and no previous mention of his
name had been made in that connection. When the call for nominations
for treasurer was made a farmer delegate in the convention secured the floor
and placed the name of George \\'. Cooter in nomination, and the "dark
horse" was nominated on the first ballot, very much to the surprise of the
nominee. That was the year after the Populists swept Kansas and the
Republicans came back and elected their men to every office in Reno county.
George W. Cooper was one of these and in due time he entered the duties of
the office of county treasurer. He was re-elected in the next campaign, and
thus served two terms in the treasurer's office. During his incumbency in
that office Mr. Cooter made his home in Flutchinson, the county seat, but
upon the expiration of his term of public service returned to his farm in
Medora township, where he lived until his final retirement from the farm,
since which time he has made his home in Hutchinson. In 1905 he built a
iine home at 314 Fourth avenue, east, and there he and his wife are now
living, very pleasantly situated. Mr. Cooter has sold his farm lands and
has made other investments. lie is a director of the State Exchange Bank
and takes an active interest in the general affairs of the business community,
but his greatest pleasure is found in the exercise of his undoubted skill and
intrenuitv as a wood-car\er. whicli. now in the davs of his comfortable
retirement, has become a delightful ■■hi)l)l)v" with Iiini and those who have
seen the results of his work with a jack-knife and a piece of wood declare
that he accomplishes wonders along that line. Mr. Cooter is past com-
mander of Joe Hooker Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and continues
to take a warm interest in the affairs of that patriotic organization.
In 1871. at Leavenworth, this state. George W. Cooter was united in
marriage to Elizabeth Hartford, who was born in Coleraine, Countv Lon-
UENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 26/
<l()ii(lcTry, Ireland, in 1846, daughter of William and Martha Hartford, the
former of whom died in I'Lngland at the age of thirty-six, his daughter,
Elizabeth, then I)eing hut live years old. In 1861 tlie latter and her mother
came to this country to visit her brothers in New York and six years later
came to Kansas, locating at Leavenworth, where she married Mr. Cooter.
To this union four children have been born, as follow: Fred W., now presi-
dent of the .State Exchange Bank of Hutchinson, a biographical sketch of
whom is presented elsewhere in this volume; Elizabeth, who married Clifton
J. Ryker and now lives at (julfport, Mississippi; Clara, who married D.
Winters and lives at St. Joseph, Missouri, and George, a prosperous farmer,
living near Lamar, Colorado.
FRANKLIN EDWARD DILLON.
Franklin Edward Dillon, one of the most successful farmers residing
in the vicinity of Hutchinson, Kansas, is a native of Macoupin county, Illi-
nois, where he was born on December 20, 1877. He is the son of J. W. and
Ellen (Preble) Dillon, the former of whom, a retired farmer, makes his
home in Alton, Madison county, Illinois. He is a veteran of the Civil War,
having given active service in saving the Union for three years during the
conflict. Mr. Dillon has always been an ardent advocate of the principles
of the Republican part}- and in religious views gives support to the Meth-
odist church. His wife, wiio is deceased, was also a prominent member
of the same church. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. J. \\\ Dillon are:
Oscar, Ollie, Jasper, Roy, and Franklin Edward.
In the public schools of Jersey, Illinois, Franklin E. Dillon received his
elementary education. Upon completing the common school course he began
to work as a farmer on his father's farm. He remained on the home place
assisting his father until he Avas twenty-three years of age and at the end of
that time came to Reno country, Kansas, where he obtained employment on
the farm owned at that time by Frank Dan fords. He remained on this
farm, which was in Reno township, for two years when he went to work
on the Fernie ranch in Lincoln township. After a year spent in this town-
shi]). he rented a farm with whicli he was occupied for a few years,
until he bought a farm of two hundred and forty acres in Reno township,
just west of Hutchinson. For the last few years, the subject of this sketch
has rented a tract of one hundred and twenty-five acres of land, belonging
268 RENO COUNTY. KANSAS.
to his wife's nicther, aiul ;ulj' lining her home place. ^Fr. Dillon divides his
time as a farmer between his own farm and the rented land, occupying the
latter as a residence.
In (he fraternal affairs o\ the cc^nntv in \\hich he resides the subject of
this sketch takes an active interest. He holds membership in the Modern
Woodmen of America and ijlays a part in local commercial life. He is a
member oi the ^lethodist Episcopal church of Reno township and in his
political N-iews is in favor oi the Republican cause, althougli in local politics
he \-otes independently.
On .\];ril 3. 1907, Franklin Kdward Dillon was married to Susie V.
W'ildin. a nati\e of Reno count}', Kansas, and the daughter of John and
Electa (Hoskins) W'ildin. To this union the following children have been
born: l-'loyd, ^^ ho was l)orn in January, 1908; Kermit, Esther and AA'ilma.
John F. W'ildin, deceased, father of Mrs. Dillon, w^as one of the most
popular men of the communit}- in which he resided. He was born in York-
county. Pennsylvania, on Xovember 13, 185 1, the son of George and Caro-
line (Keener) AA'ildin, both of whom w^ere natives of Pennsylvania, and
descendants of an old German famil3^ wdio w'ere termed in the early days
of colonial life, the "Pennsylvania-Dutch." The family gave support to the
Lutheran church. George ^^'ildin. who was a plasterer by trade, moved
with his family to Pike county. Tllinois, in 1858, where he bought a farm
and turned over his pla.stering trade to his sons. In 1882 he moved to Rush
county, Kansas, wdiere he remained a few years before moving to Plutchin-
.•■(.n, v.heic he lived unlil his death, which occurred in 1912. His wife passed
away on September i, I'Sgc). The couple reared a family of iouv children
as follow: W'illirun J., who ]i\es in n()rtli Reno tow'nship; Cahin, who
resides in Pueblo, Colorado, where lie is engaged in the real-estate business;
Susan, who became the wife of Jacol) ?\lusser, and who died in 1897, ^'^'^
John 1'.
John I-". W'ildin was the eldest in the famib- and at the age of seven
years mo\ed with his parents from Pennsybania to Pike county, Tllinois,
where he attended the public scIkjoIs. He was trained fi-om youth to assume
the duties of farm life, and remained as an assistant to his father on the
farm until he reached the age of- manli'Hid. After his marriage he rented
land from hi'^ father for three years, and in 1880 was able to buv a farm
of his own. He i)nrchased four hundred and eiglit\- acres of land in Rush
county. Kansas, where he continued to reside for nine years, leaving the
place in 1889. He located in the Park addition of Hutchinson, where he
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 269
lived for two years, before Ijiiyin;"- a farm in l^nterprise township. In 1892
lie houi^lit t\\() hundred and sixty acres in Kerio townshi]) and hved on what
was known as the lietock place, until his death. I'hv farm residence was
built by Mr. Wildin in 1S94. lie also assisted in building the Methodist
church as a member of the building committee. His wife also held mem-
bership in the Methodist church of Reno township. Mr. Wildin for a num-
ber of vears served as steward of the church and also as trustee and during
that time was faithful in his attendance at the services.
On March 11, 1877. John F. Wildin was united in marriage to Electa
Hoskin, a native of Pike county, Illinois, and the daughter of Isaac and
Mary Jane (Mosier) Hoskin, the former of whom was a native of Pike
countv, Illinois. Mary (Mosier) Hoskin was born in Monroe county, Indi-
ana, and died in Illinois. She was a prominent member of the Methodist
church of the district in which she resided. The children born to Mr. and
Mrs. John Wildin are as follow: Mary, who became the wife of W. S.
William and who reside in Lincoln township; Carrie, who married John
Miller, a farmer of Rush county, Kansas; Susie, who became the wife of
Franklin E. Dillon ; Janie, wdio lives with her mother in Reno township ;
Electa and Frederick, who are also residing on the home place.
WILLIA^i ELBERT LONG.
William Elbert Long is a native of Tennessee. He was born in Athens.
McMinn county, in that state, March 28, 1862, the son of Erastus R. and
Etharilla A. ( Cassada ) Long. The father was born in South Carolina,
February 7, 1S36, but the greater part of his life was spent at Athens,
Tennessee, where he followed the occupation of a farmer. He also learned
the trade of wagon-maker while livin.g in his Tennessee home. The elder
Long, with his family, left Athens, Tennessee, October 12, 1877, and ar-
rived at Hutchinson, Kansas, October 14, 1877. He entered one hundred
and sixty acres of trust land located in the southern part of Reno county.
There he built a home and engaged in farming until his death, which
occurred in November, 1885. He was a Mason, a Republican and a Aleth-
odist. Etharilla A (Cassada) Long was born in Tennessee, November 28,
1839. and is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Erastus Long were married in
McMinn county. Tennessee, April 17, 1859, and were the parents of the fol-
lowing children: lacob W., born in Athens, Tennessee, March 7, i860.
2/0 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
died on November 19, k)!^: A\'illiani Rll)CM-t. the subject of this sketch;
Cordeha AL, born in Athens, 'i'ennessee, November 24, 1866, died on Aug-
ust II. 1S67; Ida, born in Athens. Tennessee, September 24, 1868, married
John A. Cole, a rancher in Meade county, Kansas; IMittie, born in Athens,
Tennessee, Juiy 9, 1871. married Wilham Cannan. a farmer near Cherokee,
Oklahoma; Frank, born in Athens, Tennessee, November 28, 1873; Bertha,
born in Reno county, Kansas, December 20, 1878.
A\'illiam Elbert Long was educated in the public schools of Atliens and
Wesleyan Uni\-crsity, of same place, and assisted his father in farming until
the death of the father, in 1882. Tn 1878, while but a youth of sixteen
years, William E. Long "located" one hundred and sixty acres of govern-
ment land adjoining his father's land, and later entered and proved up tlie
same, obtaining a clear title in 1884, which he still owns. He remained on
the farm until 1898, when he was elected sheriff of Reno county and re-
moved to Hutchinson. He held the office of sheritT of the county for five
years, or two and a half terms, although the state law only permitted two
terms in succession for that office ; the half term was on account of change
to biennial elections.
?ilr. Long was engaged in the plumbing and heating business from
1904 to 1909; since then retired. He was a member of the Hutchinson city
council two terms, from 1904 to 1908, as a representative from the third
ward. He supported the administration of Mayor J. P. Llarsha, in the mat-
ter of building the drainage canal from Cow creek to the Arkansas river,
as a measure for protection from floods. Politically, Mr. Long has always
affiliated with the Republican party. Fraternally, he is a thirt}'-second de-
gree Mason, a Knight l^mplar, a Al}stic Shriner, a member of the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the iVncient Order of United Workmen,
Modern Woodmen of America, and the Iknevolent and Protective Order
of Elks.
On April 27. 1897. \\'il]iam F. Long was married to Sarah C. Baker,
in I'awnee county. Nebraska. She was the daugliter of Frederick W. Baker
and Sarah Elizabeth (Long) Baker, whn wcw married on October 5. 1862.
Mr'- Long's father was born in Kentuckv, March 8. ]8^:;, and died in
Arlington. Reno county, Kansas, April 18, 1913. His occupation was that
of a farmer. During the Ci\il Wiw, Mr. l)aker was commissioned bv Ciov-
ernor Johnson, of Tennessee, as recruiting ofiiccr. and was afterward cap-
tain in a Tennessee regiment. He was a member of the Grand Army of the
Republic post at .\rlington. Kansas, and a member of the ]\Iethodist Episco-
pal church. In politics he v.as a Republican. ^^Irs. Long's mother was born
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 2/1
in Bradley county, Tennessee, November 17, 1842, and is now living at
Arlington. Iveno comity, Kansas.
Mrs. Sarah (Baker) Long was born in Benton, Polk cnuntv, Tennes-
see, July 21, 1871. and died in I Tutchinson, Kansas, August 18, 1913. The
children born to Mr. and Mrs. Long are: Cella E., born on July 12, 1898;
Charles K., b\bruary 14. 1903; Chester E., January 5. 1906; all born in
Hutchinson, Reno county, Kansas.
ELMER L. BREWER.
Elmer L. Brewer, superintendent of the printing department of the
Hutchinson News was born in McLean county, Blinois, December 4, 1863,
one of the family of five children of James and Susan (Westfall) Brewer.
Belle, a sister, is the widow of Charles N. Davis, for many years a news-
paper man at Port Arthur, Texas. His death occurred on April 4, 191 1.
Charles, a brother, is a farmer in McLean county, Blinois, where Walter,
the youngest of the family, also lives, engaged in the same occupation.
Nellie, is the wife of. Charles C. Russell, a dealer in wall paper and paint,
located at Coffeyville. this state. James Brewer was a native of Kentucky,
born in Franklin county, near the city of Frankfort, October 20, 1837.
He was a farmer and nurseryman all his life and died at Coffeyville, this
state, March 10, 1914. Susan (W^estfall) Brewer was born in Leroy, Bli-
nois, July 6, 1841, and died on November 3, 1909, while the family was
residing in McLean county, Illinois.
l^dmer- L. Brewer received his earlier education in the grade schools
of Lerov, Blinois, and after completing his studies was apprenticed to a
printer in that town where he learned the trade to which he has given him-
self since that time. He came to Hutchinson in April, of 1886, to accept a
position with the Hiitch'uison News and has been on the staff of that publi-
cation since that time. For eight years he was assistant foreman in the
printing room and has been superintendent of that department for the past
eighteen years. Mr. Brewer has also become a stockholder of the company
and is an active member of Typographical Union No. 243, also of the Inde-
pendent Order of Red Men. He is independent in politics and holds his
religious membership with the Methodist Episcopal church, to the support
of which he gives liberally of time and means.
On januarv i. 1808, Elmer L. Brewer was married in Hutchinson to
272 .RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Delia yi. Sloan, dauo-hter of Samuel and Elizabeth f Sheridan) Sloan, born
at Ashland, (^hio, December 15. 186 r. Tier father was a native of Penn-
sylvania, born m Xew Derry. Westmoreland county, December 15, 1835,
and was a farmer all the active years of his life. Her mother, who is also
dead, was born in Ashland. Ohio, March 10. 1840. Mrs. Brewer has two
brothers, namely: William J- Sloan, cashier of the Halstead Bank, Hal-
stead, this state, and Alva L. Sloan, in the abstract and title business at San
Bernardino, California. The Brewer home is a handsome residence located
at ('^2^ Fourth avenue. East. Plutchinson, where ]\Ir. Brewer took his bride
shortly after their marriage.
ALPHEUS EWER ELLIOTT.
The late Alpheus Ewer Elliott, who for years was one of the best-known
and most progressive merchants in Hutchinson, this county, was a native of
Maine, having- been Ijorn in the town of \^asselboro, that state, on Novem-
l)er 24. 1843, ^on of Francis and ]Mary (Robinson) Elliott, both natives of
Maine. The Elliotts are of English descent, the family in this country
having descended from an Elliott who was among the very early settlers in
Xew England. Francis Elliott, who was a ship builder and an earnest
Quaker, was the son of a soldier in the patriot army during the Revolution-
ary War. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, who grew to
maturity.
Alpheus Ewer Elliott received his education in the public schools of
his home town and was seventeen vears of age wdien the Civil War broke
out. His youthful heart was tired with patriotic fervor and he at once
attempted to enlist for ser\ice in the regiment that was being formed in his
part of the state, but was rejected on account of his age. Nothing daunted,
however, and >till determined to fight for the cause of the union of the
states, he ran away from home and went to ^Fassachusetts, boldly declared
himself to be twenty-one years of age and enlisted in tlic l^venty-second
Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, witli which he served until the close of tlie
war. During this full term of serxice he never was wounded, tliough hav-
ing participated in many important and severe engagements, and never was
on the hospital roll Init once, that temporary di.sability having been caused by
long exposure in killing weather.
At the close of the war Alpheus E. Elliott, then a veteran, though still
**="•"»«««««.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 273
little more tliaii ;i boy in years, returned to Massachusetts with his returninj^
regiment and stopped at l""all River, which he made ins home for more than
ten years. He married there in 1871 and then engaged in the grocery lousi-
ness, which lie continued (juite successfully for some years. In 1878, warned
by the failing state of his health, and at the advice of his physician and
friends, he decided to come West, believing that a change of climate would
prove beneficial. With his family he came to Kansas, locating in the town
of Ottawa, where he engaged in the loan business. After about ten years of
residence in Ottawa, Mr. Elliott determined to push on further West, the
state of his health again beginning to trouble him, and decided to locate at
Cheyenne, Wyoming. En route, he stopped off at Hutchinson, this county,
and so favorably was he impressed with general conditions and the salub-
rity of the climate hereabout that he decided to remain. That was in 1889
and the remainder of his life was spent in Hutchinson. Upon locating in
Hutchinson, Mr. Elliott engaged in the retail furniture business, his place of
business having been in the 300 block in North Main street, and there and
thus he continued in business until 1895, in which year the gradually failing
condition of his health compelled his retirement from business and he lived
as an invalid for eleven years, his death occurring on February 13, 1906,
his widow and one child sur\iving- him. His widow passed away on Novem-
ber 27, 1915.
On October 12, 1871, at Fall River, Massachusetts, Alpheus E. Elliott
was united in marriage to Myra Martha Bowers, wdio w^as born in Medford,
Massachusetts, daughter of Capt. John and Elizabeth (Jones) Bowers, mem-
bers of old families thereabout, the two families having been represented in
and aloout Medford for generations. John Bowers was a sea captain, mas-
ter of his own vessel, engaged in the coastwise trade, who died of yellow
fever at New Orleans when his only daughter, Myra, was a baby. His
widow survived him but three years and the orphaned little girl, the only
child, was reared by her un.cle, James Dudley, at W^altham, Alassachusetts.
To Alpheus E. and Myra M. (Bowers) Elliott two children were born,
Charles, who died at the age of two years, and Myra Gertrude, born in
1877, who married Jonas Geyer, manual training instructor in the Hutchinson
high school, and has two children, both sons, Alpheus Edward and Sheft'ey
Elliott. Mr. and Mrs. Geyer live at the mother's old home, at 21 Sixth
a^•enue, east, in Hutchinson, which has Ijeen the Elliott residence for the
past quarter of a century.
(r8a)
2/4 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
TOSIAH WATSON ABEL.
Josiah ^^'atson Abel, the son of William Theodore and Nancy (Watson)
Abel, was born at Shoals, iMartin county, Indiana, the early home and the
birthplace of both of his parents. His grandparents, on both sides, were
pioneer settlers in the county. His maternal grandfather lost his life fight-
ing the Indians.
William Theodore Abel has devoted his life to farming. At the age
of sixteen, he enlisted in an Indiana company, in 1864. and served in the
ranks until the close of the Civil War, having taken part in the sieges of
Nashville and Atlanta. He and his wife now live at Belle, Missouri.
To William T. and Nancy Abel have been born the following children :
Christopher, a contractor at Festus, Missouri; George N., a farmer at
Byron. Missouri; Henry W., in the produce business at Belle; Isola May, at
home with the parents; Ida, the wife of John Kite, a farmer at South
DeSoto, Missouri; Claudia, the wife of Henry Kausler, a dairyman at Fes-
tus, Missouri; Emma, the w-ife of Amos Nicholson, a merchant at Moun-
tain \'iew, Missouri, and Josiah Watson.
Josiah ^^^atson Abel received his education in the district schools of
Martin county, and was graduated from the high school at Shoals. He
then took two and one-half years work at the Normal school at Shoals, and
taught in the grades of his home town, until he entered McKendree College
at Lebanon, Illinois. After completing his college W'Ork he was ordained
a deacon by Bishop Andrews, now deceased, and at Alton, Illinois, he was
ordained an elder by Bishop Fitzgerald, also deceased.
The first charge of Reverend -Vbel was at Decker Station, Indiana, where
he remained for some time, after which he engaged in e\angelistic work in
the Indiana Methodist conference. He was later transferred to the South-
ern Illinois conference and for four years was pastor of the Methodist
church at Alton, Illinois. From Alton he was transferred to Granite City,
where he built Xiedringhaus Memorial Methodist Episcopal church. He
then entered the Des Moines conference and served in succession at Council
Bluffs, Carroll, Clarinda and Des Moines. In the latter city he was pastor
of the Wesley Methodist Episcopal church. In 1912 he entered the south-
western Kansas conference and on September 19, 191 2, he was assigned to
the First church at Hutchinson, where lir preached his first sermon on Sep-
tember 20, 19 1 2. In three years he has received into the church one thousand
members, the n.iemhership now numbering about eighteen hundred. The
liEKU COLXTV, KANSAS. 2
/ D
Suiulax' school lias had a ^•ra(hial growth and last year the average attend-
ance was seven hundred and forty-six, the total enrcillment hein,i>' fourteen
hundred. The prayer meetings are well attended, the Epworth League and
the \'oung IVople's League haAe an attendance of two hundred. On August
lo, 1915, the h'irst church, as a foster parent, took over the Stewart hospital
for the Methodist Episco]x-d church. The church contrihutes twenty-two
hundred dollars to home and foreign missions, besides maintaining a repre-
sentative in Lidia, who is the superintendent of the Hingwah district. Three
thousand two hundred dollars are given annually for benevolences. The
Ladies' Aid Society is an important factor in the life of the church, the
pastor's wife taking an active part in the work, as well as in all the other
church .^oc'eties. The church is located at the southeast corner of Mrst
avenue, East, and Walnut street. The society also owns a large and hand-
some parsonage at ^^22 First avenue. East.
Reveiend Abel is a meml)er of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United Work-
meii. He is ]M'ominent in the activities of the various orders. He has done
much Ivceum work with the JefTries-Wicks Chautauqua System of Des
Moines.
On December 2'/, 1900, Josiah Watson Abel was united in marriage at
St. Joseph, Missouri, to Lillian May, the daughter of Frederick and Kath-
erine (Dersch) ALiy. She is a native of Brunswick, Missouri. To ^Tr. and
]\Irs. Aliel have been l)(M-n tw o children : Katherine ^lay, born at Carrol,
Liwa, and ^fargaret Emma, born at Des Moines.
FRED H. CARPENTER.
Fred H. Carpenter, son of George W. and Diana (Howard) Carpen-
ter, was born in A\'est Stephenson, Xew York, September 20, 1857. His
father came to Reno county in 1871 and homesteaded one hundred and
sixtv acres, and afterward bought a railroad quarter. This land he culti-
vated until 1880, wdien he removed to Hutchinson and went into the livery
business, the livery barn being located wdiere the postoffice is now. He
continued in that jjusmess until his death, which occurred on June 2S, 1903.
George \V. Carpenter was born in West Stephentown, Xew York, August 23,
1834. He was one of the first trustees of Cla}^ township, in Reno county,
where he first settled; was a charter members of the Baptist church: a char-
276 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
ter member of the Ancient Order of United ^Vorkmen; a Mason and a
Knight Templar. His poHtical afifihations were with the Repnbhcan party.
Diana (Howard) Carpenter was born in Rensselaer county, New York,
November 7. 1838, and died Noveniber 17. 1868. In 1877 George W. Car-
penter was married, secondly, to Amanda M. Bly, at A\'aterloo, Iowa. She
is still living in Hutchinson. Fred H. Carpenter had two sisters : Minnie,
widow of Benjamin F. Montgomery, a lawyer of Denver, Colorado; Flor-
ence, born in Reno count}-, in 1878, died in Hutchinson in 1894.
Fred H. Carpenter was educated in the district schools of Reno county
and at the State Normal at Emporia, Kansas, and then took a course in civil
engineering in die state university, at LawTence, Kansas, completing the
course in three years. In 1880 he entered the service of the Sante Fe rail-
road, in the ci^■il engineering department, in the town of McPherson, on the
line between Florence and Ellinwood. Later he was transferred to old
Mexico and then to Arizona. These positions he held until 1884, when he
was elected county surveyor of Reno county. He held this position for ten
years. In Noveml^er, 1884, he was appointed city engineer of Hutchinson,
which position he held for seventeen years. Fie was the first engineer of
Hutchinson and established all the street grades, laid out the se\ver svstem
and Iniilt the bridges. Fie was also the surveyor for the Arkansas Valley
Town and Land Company — the towmsite department of the Sante Fe rail-
road — from 1890 to 1898. He has been roadmaster for the Sante Fe rail-
road for twenty years, and now has headquarters in Hutchinson. He is a
blue lodge, chapter and commandery Mason, and a member of the Ancient
Order of United Workmen. His political affiliation is with the Republican
jjarty; his church relationship is with the Presbyterian denomination.
Mr. Carpenter was married, October 13, 1886, in Seward county,
Kansas, to Amanda M. Saunders, who was born in Waterloo, Iowa, Octo-
ber 10, 1865. She is the daughter of Hosea A. and Sarah J. (Bly) Saun-
ders, who were bom near West Stephentown, New ^'ork ; the former July 7,
1826. and the latter, March 7. 1831. Mr. Saunders w^as a blacksinith by
trade, and was su])erintendent of the shops of the Illinois Central Railroad
Company at Waterloo. Iowa, for a number of years, about 1870. He died
in iSfK'. His wife died at the home of her daughter in Hutchinson. Febru-
ary 17, 1 91 6.
Mrs. Car])enter's brothers and sisters are: William B.. a farmer near
Rolfe, Iowa, died in 190T ; Herbert D., a piano tuner, Portland, Oregon;
Allen H., a farmer. Princeton. Oregon; Frank, a photographer. Woodward,
Oklahoma; Kate B., who married Stuart V. Bradv. a lawver of Caruthers-
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. ' l-^n
\ille, Missouri, was superintendent of schools in Seward county, Kansas,
from i(S95 to i()oi. A hrothcr of Airs. Carpenter, James T., died at the age
of three years, in Waterloo, Iowa.
Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter have no children of their own, Init Lelia M.
Saunders, a daughter of Herbert D. Saunders, came to live with them.
March 9, 1895, ^^s their daughter, and has lived with them ever since. Her
mother died on December ly, 1894. She graduated at Hutchinson high
scliool, and at T'orest Parle University, St. Louis, Alissouri. Mr. Saunders
has a handsome residence at 329 Fourth avenue, East.
GEORGE LUTHER CROW.
Among the prominent agriculturists of Reno count}', Kansas, is George
Luther Crow, who has been a resident of this section of the state for twenty-
seven years. He was born in Noble county, Ohio, on j\L'irch 25, 1874, and
came to this county with his parents, Isaac and Mary (Calvert) Crow, at
the age of fifteen years. The family traces its origin in this country to
Frederick Crow, the great grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who
was a native of Pennsylvania and a son of German parents. He married
Rachel Enochs, of English descent, who accompanied him on his journey
to the Middle West, in a covered wagon. The couple settled in Monroe
countv, Ohio, ^vhere Mr. Crow built a large log cabin in the center of a
forest tract he had obtained through a grant from the government. The
cabin is still standing today and is a monument to the early struggles of the
pioneers of that section of Ohio in which it was erected. The surrounding
land is owned at the present time by (teorge Reed, a descendant of Frederick
Crow. Before his death, iM-ederick Crow had become an extensive land-
owner and was known throug-hout the community as a prominent Democrat
of that locality.
jacol) Crow, grandfather of the suliject of this sketch, was born in
Pennsylvania in 1790, and as a boy traveled with his parents in the most
primitive manner from the ]^>ast to Monroe county, Ohio. He was reared
to the discipline of farm life and at the age of twenty-seven, after he had
]>ecome successful as a farmer, married Mary Laisure, a native of Monroe
county, Ohio, and the daughter of Jeremiah Laisure. a pioneer settler of
Ohio. Soon after his marriage, Jacob Crow moved to what is now called
Noble countv, where he entered a government claim on one hundred and
2/8 RENO COUNTY. KANSAS
sixty acres of land, located on the east branch of Duck creek, between the
towns of Stafford and Harrietsville. Before his death, JMr. Crow added
one hundred and sixty acres to his farm, which gave him profitable returns.
At the ag'e of fifty-six years, in 1846. Air. Crow passed away. He was an
active member of the Alethodist Episcopal church and also held a high place
in Democratic politics.
The children born to Air. and Airs. Jacob Crow are as follow : Eliza-
beth, who died in Xoble county. Ohio; George, who passed away in 1889
in Reno county. Kansas; Anne, who died in Washington county, Ohio;
Xancy, who passed awa}- in 1809 ii"" A\'yandott county. Ohio; Isaac, who
became the father of the subject of this sketch; Jacob, who was killed in the
Ci\"il War while serving in the Union army; Alary, who passed away while
still a child; Rhoda and Cynthia, both of whom died in Noble county; Alar-
tin, who died in Hutchinson, Kansas; Robert, who died in Ohio, and Dianthe,
who makes her home in \\Vandot county, Ohio.
In the district schools of Xoble county, Ohio. Isaac Crow received the
rudimentary branches of education. At the age of fourteen his father died
and the boy was thrown upon his own resources with little or no chance of
going to school. He followed the simple lines of farming until he reached
the age of manhood, when he began to assume management of the farm of
his father, and after a short time was able to buy out his mother's share in
the estate. From year to vear he added to his possessions by buying out the
shares of each heir until he Ijecame, through firm purpose of achievement
and untiring energy, sole owner of the original homestead. He erected a
beautiful residence and built one of the finest ])arns in that section of the
county, a structure large enough to shelter tlu'ce hundred head of cattle.
Through constant care and ai)plied labor his farm Ijecame one of the most
cultivated in the state. In 1889 he sold the farm for the sum of fifteen
thou.sand dollars, and moved In Reno county. Kansas, where he bought the
west h.alf >>i section 17. in Rcnn tnwusln']). to which ho later added seventy
acres to the southern boundary. In 1895 he moxed U) ilntchinson. where
he resided for two years. At the end nf thai lime he decided to return once
more to farm life, which had al\\a\s a])pealc-(l to him, and iHinglu a home
in section i'>. nt Reno town^lii]). wherr lie lixed until h\< death, which
occurred on Alareh t,. 1903. His wife, who is a nati\e of Alonroe count},
Ohio, still desides on the farm, at the age of eight)- }ears. .\t one time Air.
Crow was owner of eight hundred and ten acres of land, most of which he
divided among his children before his death. He was elected county com-
missioner in 1886 and filled the duties of liis office in a manner deserving
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 279
of the hi<^liest praise. During his three years of service he made a brilHant
record and made more improvements in Noble county, Ohio, than that sec-
tion of the state had experienced in twenty-live years. Among the institu-
tions established by him at this time were the county infirmary and the chil-
dren s' home.
'The marriage of Isaac Crow to IMary A. Calvert took place on August
I, 1859. Mrs. Crow is a native of Belmont county, Ohio, spent most of her
girlhood in Monroe county, of the same state. She is the daughter of Jacob
and Mary (Powell) Calvert, the former of whom was a Virginian, of
Scotch-Irish descent, and the latter a native of Pennsylvania, where she was
born of Welsh parents. Mr. Calvert enlisted in the War of 1812, but never
entered active service. To the union of Isaac and Mary Calvert Crow the
following children were born: Adalaska, who died in infancy; Leola Dell,
an artist, who resides in Hutchinson, Kansas ; Edward Gordon, w-ho follows
the occupation of a farmer in Salt Creek township, Reno county; Charles
R., who died in infancy; Cornelia, who is also dead; Elizabeth, who became
the wife of Frank Danford and who resides in Reno county. Kansas; W. R.,
a resident of Plutchinson ; George, the subject of this sketch; Roswell Hol-
land, who died in infancy, and Otis, a farmer of Colorado.
George Luther Crow attended the public schools of Noble county. Ohio,
and came West with his parents, wdio settled in Reno county. Kansas, about
1889. On his father's farm the subject of this sketch learned some of his
mo.st valuable lessons regarding agricultural life. After reaching the age of
manhood he assumed management of his father's farm and continued at this
occupation until he was able to buy a farm of his own. He bought a quarter
of a section of land in Reno township, of this county, where he lives at the
present time. The farm is located in section 19, township 23, raaige 6 west.
From time to time he has continued to buy small tracts of land until he is
now considered an extensive landowner. He owns eighty acres in section
18, and half a section of pasture land near the vicinity of Hutchinson, the
exact location of which is in the north half of section 13, township 2t„
range 6 west. Mr. Crow makes a specialty of raising fine cattle and mules
and has one hundred and fifty young mules on hand annually. He gives
much time to the breeding of cattle and keeps a herd of two hundred and
fifty head of full-bred Galloway cattle. He has kept the farm in the best
state of improvement and has built, aside from other 1)uildings. a large
cement barn.
Mr. Crow has a personality w^hich has gained for him a wide popu-
larity in the community in which he lives. As a member of the Republican
280 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
part}- he has been elected to serve on the township school board. He takes
an acti\-e interest in educational affairs and talks as an authority on school
questions of tlie township. Fraternally. ]\lr. Crow is a member of the Mod-
ern Woodmen of America and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Since the building of the first Alethodist church in Reno township, when he
acted as a member of the building; committee, the subject of this sketch has
taken an active interest in church welfare.
The marriage of George L. Crow and Katie Jackson took place on
January 23, 1895. Mrs. Crow, who is the daughter of James Jackson, is a
native of Saline county, Missouri. Her father, who was a fanner and a
stockman, lived with his daughter during the four years preceding his death,
\\hich occurred after he had reached the age of seventy-four years.
Mr. and ^Nlrs. Crow have one daughter, Oberia, who was born on
December 2/, 1897, and an adopted son, Gilbert, who, though not legally
adopted, has made his home with the Crow family since he was three years
old, or since 1905. They also raised Golden Hall from early childhood
until her marriage to Ira Baldwin, a traveling man of ?^Iedford, Oklahoma.
T. R. AIcLAUGHLIN.
T. R. ]\IcLaughlin, a retired farmer of Hutchinson, Reno county, Kan-
sas, was born in Henry county, Illinois, January 26, 1855, the son of Dr.
Josiah B. and Harriett (McMillan) McLaughlin, both of whom were born
in Butler county, Pennsylvania, and are now deceased. Dr. Josiah B. Mc-
Laughlin was a doctor of medicine and practiced for many years in Illinois.
He was a stanch Republican in politics and was always more or less active
in j)olitical affairs. Both he and his wife were devout members of the
Methodist church and brrnight their family up in that faith. They were the
parents of ten children, all of whom are living except one. The children
are as follow: T. R., the subject of this .'sketch; Catherine, who married
C. J. Myers, a grocer of Davenport, Iowa; Henry, a fruit farmer near
Seattle, Washington; Frank, a barber of Geddes, South Dakota; Lizzie,
who married Richard Stults. a merchant of Oronogo. Missouri; Harriett,
who married a Mr. Yergin and died in I'elimary, 191 3. at Sterling, Illinois,
where she was a doctor known as H. A. Yergin, M. D. ; Minnie, who mar-
ried Harrv Beaumont, of Chicago, Illinois, and is a teacher of vocal music
at Drake's University; Anna, who is the wife of Thomas Morton, a real-
RKNO COUNTY, KANSAS. 2rSl
estate dealer of Mitehell, South Dakota; James, a l)arber of Webb City, Mis-
souri; ami drace, wlin is the wife of Ves I'arker, a contractor and builder
of Portland, Oregon.
T. 1\. AicLaughlin received his education in the district schools of his
home neighborhood, in Henry county. Illinois, and later attended the graded
schools of Woodhull, llenry county. He followed farming during all of
his acti\'e life, beginning this occupation in Henry county, from which he
moved to Marshall county, Illinois, where he remained for eight years, and
then went to Finney county, Kansas. On January 20, 1884, Mr. McLaugh-
lin came to Reno county, settling first in Reno township, later in Grant town-
ship and finally in Salt Creek township, where he owns three hundred and
twenty acres of land, part of which is situated in section 26 and part in
section 27. Besides this land, he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres
in Hodgeman county, Kansas, which he sold. He resided in Partridge,
Reno county, for four years or until August 30, 191 5, when he moved to
Hutchinson, where he owns a beautiful residence at 404 Twelfth avenue,
East, and other property.
Mr. McLaughlin was married on December 31, 1889. in Oronogo,
Missouri, to lantha Plendrickson. who was born on March 27. 1863, in Fay-
ette county, Iowa, and is the daughter of Ulysses and Mary J. (Cochran)
Hendrickson, both natives of Holmes county, Ohio, the former born on
April 24, 1832, and the latter on February 28, 1837. Ulysses Hendrickson
was a farmer by occupation and moved to Jasper county, Missouri, in 1866,
where he later engaged in lead and zinc mining. In 1874 he was elected
sheriff of Jasper county, serving in this office for two years, and in 1888
was elected to the state Senate, where he served for four years. In 1908
he came to Reno county, settling in Center township, where he lived until
his death, \vhich occurred while he was on a trip to Jasper county. May 19,
1912. He was a prominent members of the Masonic fraternity in this
county. l\Ir. and Mrs. Hendrickson were the parents of six children, \vhose
names, besides Mrs. McLaughlin, are as follow : C. Perry, a retired farmer
of Hutchinson; John P., a retired farmer of Hutchinson; Minerva, the
widow of Harvey Davies. a farmer of Reno county, and Cole, a commercial
traveler of Hutchinson. I'o Mr. and Mrs. T. R. McLaughlin have been
born two daughters, Frerla and Katherine. Freda, who was born in Reno
county, August 9, 1893. i'^ ^ graduate of the Partridge high school, attended
Mt. Carmel Academy at Wichita for one year, and is now' attending business
college at Hutchinson. Katherine. who is generally known as Cassie, was
282 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
lx)rn on April 7, 1907, and i? now attending the north side grade school at
Hutchinson.
Politically. Air. ^TcLanghlin is a Democrat and has always taken a very
active interest in ])olitics, having filled several offices in this county. While
a resident t^t Grant townshi]:) he served as clerk for two years and had been
elected to the office of trustee. Ixit did not get to fill this office on account
of his removal to Salt Creek towaiship. He also served as a member and
clerk of the school board of Salt Creek township for twelve years, and as a
member and treasurer of the school board of Partridge for four years.
THURMAN J. BIXLER.
Thurman J. Bixler, son of James ^V. and Josephine E. (Frone) Bixler,
was born in Americus, Kansas, March 21, 1888. His father was born on
October 21, 1858, and is now a retired groceryman, hving in Hutchinson,
Kansas; he is a member of the Baptist church. His mother was born in
New York, October 28, 1862, and died in Plutchinson, March 20, 19 14.
She was a member of the Episcopal church. The brothers and sisters of
Thurman J. Bixler are: Carrie E., who married Albert Harmon, a creamery
man in Hutchinson; Sarah A., married George Schultz, a grocer in Hutchin-
son; Earl F.. a clerk in the employ of the D. J. Farr Lumber Company, in
Hutchinson; John A., a grocer in Hutchinson; Xellie C).. bookkeeper at San
Diego, California, in the employ of the Home Telephone Company; Gould
F., chemist with Swift Company, died on July 21. 1914; Helen G., steno-
grapher with Guymon-Peters Mercantile Company, in Hutchinson.
Thurman J. Bixler was educated at the Afaple street school, in Hutchin-
son, passing through the eighth grade. On October 8, 1906, he went into the
coal business, which he continued for three years. Tn 1909 he engaged in
tiie elevator business, at 91T-913-915 Scjuth Alain street; this, in connection
with a feed business, he conducted for about two years. In 191 1 he embarked
in the bottling business, manufacturing a l^everage known as "Bixler's Fa-
mous Soda Water." and he is engaged in that line of business, as sole pro-
prietor an<l (iwncr at the present time. He manufactures all flavors of soda
water and fruit drinks. He is also tlic in\ cntor of the T. J. Bixler Automa-
tic Bottle Feed, which is a great time and labor-saving machine in a bottling
plant
Mr. Bixler v.as married, April 3, 1907, in Hutchinson, Kansas, to
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 283
Orlena Rabner, daughter of Edward T.. and Rachel (Hurn) Rabner; she
was born in Hutchinson, September 4, 1893. Her father was Ijorn in Rus-
sell county, Kansas, b»)rnary jo, 1S68; he is a steani-fitter in Chicago,
Illinois. Her mother was born in rennsylvania. March 29, 1868; both are
members of the Presbyterian church.
John A. Bixley, besides being- a successful Imsiness man, is also an
aviator of some note. He studied aviation with the I)enoist Aircraft Com-
pany, of St. Louis. Missouri, and with the Wright Brothers, of Dayton,
Ohio, and was graduated at l)oth places. He has made successful flights at
St. Louis, Dayton and Hutchinson, at exhibitions. He holds international
license No. 246, received from the Aero Club of America. He was born in
Americus, Kansas, October 2, 1885; married Mattie C. Sames, daughter of
William J. and Isabel Sames, in Hutchinson, P^ebruary 14, 1906; the daugh-
ter was born in Hutchinson, October 10, 1887. They have four children:
Dorothy Marie, born on December 17, 1906; John Albert, February 22,
1908; Dallas D.. February 17, 1910: Flelen M., May 7, 1912.
For two years John A. Bixler was in the poultry and egg business with
his brother, Earl F., and has since been engaged in the grocery business by
himself, at 909 South Main street, in Hutchinson. William J. Sames died
in Hutchinson, July 25, 1908; his wife is still living in Hutchinson.
The Bixlers have taken much interest in navigation. They were the
only persons in Hutchinson who had a boat during the flood of 1903 and
1904, a\ailable for rescue purposes. They made good use of their boat in
saving persons and property threatened with the raging flood, and made no
charge for their services. James W., Earl F. and Gould F. Bixler made a
trip from Hutchinson. Kansas, to Ft. Smith, Arkansas, on the Arkansas
river.
JOHN H. CAMPBELL.
John H. Campbell, son of James M. and Sarah A. (McDonald) Camp-
bell, was born in Flampshire county, Virginia, April 5, 1855. His father
was born in I'ayette county, Virginia (now West Virginia), February 13,
1829. When a youth the father lived at Harper's Ferry, and began rail-
roading as a brakeman in 1850 on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad between
Wheeling and W'ashington, D. C. He was fireman on the locomotive that
pulled the first train over the mountains in 1832; a few months later he was
made an engineer. Railroading was verv dilhcult in those davs, the moun-
284 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
tains were crossed by a system of switchbacks, a slow and tedious manner
01 travel compared to the hnely-equipped trains ])ullc(l liv the massive engines
of the present day.
The growing; bitterness on account of the agitation of the slavery ques-
tion I^etween the North and tlie South was intensified by the John Brown
affair at Harper's Ferry in 1S50. Even at that time there was talk of
secession and disunion l)y the radical southern leaders, and those \\ho were
not in sympath)- with this radical sentiment found their environment any-
thing but pleasant. James M. Campbell was a strong Union man, and, with
a desire to find a location in a community more in harmony with his senti-
ments, moved to Illinois in the later fifties. In 1878 he came to Reno county,
Kansas, and homesteaded eighty acres of land in Salt Creek township,
and bought one hundred and sixty acres adjoining, which he farmed until he
retired, in 1875. He then removed to Hutchinson, where he lived at 426
Tenth avenue, until his death, on February 2, 1916. He was a member of
the United Brethren church and is independent in politics.
The paternal grandfather of John H. Campbell was John Campbell,
who was a pioneer settler in Greenbrier county, Virginia, and built one of
the first houses erected in that county. He was a farmer and stock raiser.
He married Elizabeth Kesler, a daughter of Jacob Kesler, whose mother
was of German descent. The paternal great-grandfather was also a native
of Virginia. He was captured by the Indians and used as a pack carrier for
two years before he made his escape from his captors. Sarah A. ( McDon-
ald) Campbell was born in A^'irginia in 1832. She was the daughter of
John McDonald. John H. Campbell's brothers and sisters are: Joseph W.,
a farmer in Reno county, born in Tlampshire connty, A'irginia, June 5, 1853;
James C, a farmer in Reno county, born in Lee county, Illinois, in 1859,
was formerly a building contractor in Hutchinson, Kansas, and Aurora, Illi-
nois; P. E.. born in Lee countv. Illinois, in t86i, is a grocery merchant in
Hutchinson; Jacob L., born in Lee count}-, llliudis, died in infancy; Lacey
.\nn. born in Lee countv. Illinois, in 1870, died in Reno county, at the age
of fourteen years.
John H. Campbell was educated in the district schools of Lee county.
Illinois, and was kept at work on his father's farm when not in school. In
1877, .'^oon after attaining his majority, he came to Kansas and homesteaded
one hundred and sixty acres of land, in section 21, township 2^. range 12,
in Rose valley. Stafford county; it is now a ])art of Union township. Staf-
ford county. He arrived in Hutchinson on an enn'grant train June 11, 1877.
The water through which the train had to pass at that time was up to the
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 285
axles of the cars and the streets of Hutchinson were flooded, so tlial it was
necessary for him to take a hoat to reach the l\eno Mouse, where he put u|)
for the nig;ht. Next nioruinj^- he crossed Cow creek hridge, which was
anchored with chains, and found enoui^h ij^rass on the other side to ])ro\-i(le
his three horses with their morning feed. Finally, after these and many
other discouraging experiences, he reached his intended location and estah-
lished a temporary home. He Iiegan the improvement of his land, and some
time later added to his cares liy the purchase of the southwest c^uarter of
section 21, township 25, range 12, in Stafford county. In the first township
election held in the township in which Mr. Campl)ell located, his house was
used as the voting place. Tn lieu of a regulation receptacle for the deposit
of votes an old copper kettle was used as a hallot box. Several years later
this kettle was taken to St. Johns, the county seat of Stafford county, and
kept as an interesting historic relic.
Mr. Campbell engaged in farming quite extensively, adding to the
improvement and value of his lands from year to year. In 1886 he engaged
in the grain business in Stafford county and devoted his attention to this
line of business largely until 1892. In the early part of 1893 he went to
Kansas City, Missouri, to engage in business with the Jones Dry Goods
Company, in which he was a stockholder. In this business he had charge
of the furniture, carpets and draperies department for about ten years. In
1902 he retired from the firm on account of his health. During the time he
was connected with this firm the business increased rapidly from year to
vear, as indicated by the fact that the number of employees- of the house had
increased from thirty-two to one thousand and thirty-six in that ten-year
period.
For four years Mr. Campbell was in the wholesale carpet business at
i8r North Main street, Hutchinson, as a member of the firm of Fontron,
Leigengood & Campbell, who 1)Ought the business and were the successors
of Wall & Wall. Then, after traveling for one year, he engaged in the
grocerv business with his Ijrother, 1*. L. Campbell, for fonr years. He was
then engaged in the lumber business for two years, to 1913, when he retired.
During these years, in which he had 1)een engaged in various business enter-
prises, he had been uniformlv successful and made large investments of his
accumulaterl profits in lands. His holdings in real estate at the present time
are: Three hundred and twenty acres in Lane county, one hundred and
sixty acres in Coffev county, four hundred and eighty acres in Staft"ord
county, one thousand six hundred acres in Hamilton county — a total of two
thousand and eighty acres of Kansas lands. In addition to this he is the
286 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
owner of Vciluable real estate in Hutchinson, incliidino- his fine residence at
28 Sixth avenue. West. He was a member of the school board, of Stafford,
Kansas, and is a member of the I'irst Christian church, of Hutchinson. His
political afhliation is witli the Republican party.
John H. Campbell \\as married on December 24. 1882. in Reno county,
Kansas, to Mary AF. Warnock, daui^hter of Lewis W. Wamock. Airs. Camp-
bell was born in Missouri, February 9, 1862, and died in Hutchinson, Kan-
sas, Alay 22, iQii. Her father v;as a farmer and died in Reno county,
Kansas, in 1895. ^^ ^^"^^^ ^ member of the United Brethren church, and a
Republican. Air. and AFrs. Campbell was the parents of the following chil-
dren : Leona A. married Paul R. Hunter, a printer in Hutchinson ; Irving
Al., in the furniture business in Silvia, Reno county; Aland AL. married
Alike T. Rell. a farmer in Coft"ey county; Jennie AI., married Joseph Ray. a
sheet metal worker and plumber, in Stafford, Kansas; Sarah, "Sadie'' A.,
married Joseph Thomas, salesman in the Hutchinson supply store; "W^illiam
C, a farmer in Stafford county. Kansas; Andrew, attending school in
Hutchinson.
Air. Campbell is one of the live, progressive citizens of Hutchinson, a
man of upright character and strict integrity, a capable business man and
socially agreeable; he commands the confidence and respect of the com-
munitv of which he is an honored citizen.
RE\\ WILLIAAI AI. FARRELL.
Rev. William AI. I-'arrell, son of William !•". and Alargaret (Cunning-
ham) Farrell, was born in Kentland, huliana. Alay 12, 1876. His father
was born in Urbana, Ohio, in 1840, and died in Independence. Kansas, in
1881. He was freight agent of the railroad which passed through Kentland.
Airs. Alargaret I'"arrell was born in Lafayette. Indiana, in 1855, and is now
living with her .son in Hutchinson. The only daughter, I^1izal)eth Alay. was
born in Kentland. Indiana. June 12, 1878; she married Harry I-". Sinclair,
engaged in the oil business at Tulsa, Oklahoma.
William AI. Farrell received his education in the parochial schools of
Independence, Kansas, which he attended for two years, receiving instruc-
tion in that institution under the management of the Jesuits during the
years 1887 and 1888. For six years after leaving that institution, 1889 to
1895, he was employed as a clerk in AF. J. Paul's wholesale grocery com-
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 287
pany, of Independence, Kansas. Tlis early anihition was to adopt the cleri-
cal profession as his life work and his i)lan> were ail furmed with that pnr-
pose in view. Having to depend largely npon his own effort to secure
means to ohtain the necessary education to lit him for his chosen profession,
he engaged in such einploxment as he could tind. In his six-years' service
with the wholesale grocery company he demonstrated the fact that he was
possessed of excellent Iju^iness (|uahties, and gave promise of great success
in husiness lines, hut his amhition was in a different direction. He left his
business employment and entered the St. Benedict College, at Atchison, Kan-
sas, and after four years in that institution graduated with a diploma in the
classical course. He then entered Kenrick Seminary, in St. Louis, Missouri,
graduating after two years in philosophy. He then went to Rome, Italy,
anil si)ent four years as a student in the North American College of that
city, studying theology, at the propaganda school of theology. He graduated
in theology with two degrees. Bachelor of Arts and Professor of Theology,
in 1905, and was ordained, December 16, 1905. at the Capranica College, by
Cardinal Respighi, Vicar General of Rome. After a tour of Europe he
returned to America and liegan his clerical work. January 15, 1906. in the
diocese of the cathedral of \^^ichita. Kansas, where he remained for two
years and six months. While there, in addition to his pastoral duties, he
was the editor and publisher of the Catholic Advance, which was the official
organ of Wichita, Concordia and Leavenworth. Kansas, and of Oklahoma
City. Oklahoma.
Reverend Farrell came to Hutchinson, July. 1908. and continued the
publication of the Advance for a year at this place. He then became pastor
of St. Teresa's CathoHc church, at 205 Fifth avenue. East, which was at that
time a small frame building, with a seating capacity of about one hundred
and fifty. The energy and earnest devotion which he applied to his work,
and the faithfulness with \vhich he discharged his pastoral duties, brought
new life and spirit to his charge and the congregation increased in numbers
to such an extent that the little frame church was of insufficient capacity to
accommodate the w^orshipers. A larger and more commodious building was
a necessitv. and steps were taken to secure it. In this project the pastor, by
his business experience and good judgment, was well fitted to take the lead.
A collection to secure the necessary funds was started, September i, 1909,
and the cornerstone of the new building was laid with due ceremony in
May, 1910. The building was completed and dedicated May 18. 191 1. an
occasion of happiness and rejoicing for this congregation, when they could
look upon the completion of a work for which they had unitedly and gen-
288 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
erously contrilmted. The completed building is an imposing structure of
brick and stone, of artistic architectural design, with all modern appoint-
ments and conveniences. The interior finish is modest .and tasteful, in har-
mony with the general design and character of the l)uilding-. The auditorium
has a seating capacity of about six hundred.
There are two missions connected with the parish of St. Teresa's Catho-
lic church, one at Xickerson, the other at Castleton, both in Reno county.
The latter has about one hundred communicants.
In addition to his labors in the pastoral charge of this church and its
allied missions, Re\'erend Farrell is assistant chaplain of the state reforma-
tory at Hutchinson. He is also actively identified with every civic move-
ment that has for its object the uplift of humanity and the benefit of the
community of which he is an honored citizen. He is a member of the Hutch-
inson Commercial Club, and contributes of his influence and energ}^ in the
promotion of even- enterprise that tends to the increase and development
of Hutchinson, a city in whose continued growth and prosperity he has
unlx)un(led confidence. His fraternal association is with the Knights of
Columbus, of which he has long been a prominent member. He is inde-
pendent in politics, giving his support to the candidate whom he considers
best fitted for the office to which he aspires, regardless of the political faith
to v.-hich the candidate subscribes.
SAMUEL S. GRAYBHT..
One night at a banquet in Topeka. Samuel S. Graybill. present popular
postmaster at Hutchinson, this county, was introduced as toastmaster of the
occasion as "'the man \\\v) knows more men in Kansas than any other man in
the state;"' and this prandial compliment was well deserved and probably
within the exact limits of the truth, for there are mighty few persons of
consequence in Kansas with whom .Mr. Graybill is not. at least, on speaking
terms, and with most of whom he enjoys an intimate acquaintance. This
unusually wide acquaintance is based upon his many years as a stockman,
during which time he traveled widely and constantly over the state buying
cattle, and upon his long connection with state political circles, during which
time he has missed very few occasions for mingling with his fellows at such
times as politicians are wont to foregather. His jovial, whole-souled man-
ner of greeting his fellow men has made Mr. Graybill not only one of the
t^
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 289
best-known men in the state, Intt one of the most popular, and it is but fitting
and proper that some extended mention be made of him here in this history
of the county in which he has so long resided and in the affairs of which
he takes so deep an interest.
Samuel S. Graybill was born in Juanita county, Pennsylvania, Novem-
ber 29, i860, son of Amos and Mary (Shelley) Graybill, both natives of
that same county, the former of wdiom, born in 1828, died in 1900, and the
latter, born in 1835, died in 1912, both having spent their last days in Kansas.
Amos Graybill was reared on a farm in Juanita county, Pennsylvania,
his parents devout Mennonites and earnest-minded people, one of whose sons,
William, was a bishop in the ]\Iennonite church. In his native county Amos
Graybill married an earnest Mennonite maiden, Mary Shelley, and settled
down on a farm nearby his father's home, where to him and his wife ten
children were born. In 1874, attracted by the many flattering reports
emanating at that time from Kansas, Mr. Graybill sold his place in Pennsyl-
vania and with his family emigrated to this state. He bought the relinquish-
ment of a homestead right in Harvey county and there made his new home,
farming the place quite successfully until 1884, in which year he and his
wife retired from the farm and moved to the town of Newton, where they
spent the rest of their Hves in pleasant comfort. The sons of the family
were not particularly attracted to life on the farm and all engaged in busi-
ness in Newton.
Samuel S. Graybill received his early education in the public schools of
his home neighborhood in Pennsylvania and at the academy at Port Royal,
that state, and was preparing to enter the Pennsylvania State Normal when
his plans were interrupted by the removal of the family to this state in 1874.
The year following his arrival in Kansas, 1875, memorable as "grasshopper
year," he worked on the railroad section, afterward assisting in the develop-
ment of the homestead place until 1879, in which year he went to New^ton
and for a year clerked in a grocery store. He then transferred his services
to a Newton druggist and for thirteen years w^as engaged as a drug clerk,
acquiring in that time a thorough acquaintance with the drug trade. In
June, 1893, ^^^*- Graybill left Newton and came to this county, locating at
Hutchinson, where he has ever since made his home. For the first year
after arriving in Hutchinson. Mr. Graybill clerked in the drug store of
Charles Winslow, after which he engaged in business for himself, opening a
drug store at the corner of Alain and Sherman streets, which he conducted
wMth much success until 1897, in which year a severe attack of pleurisy left
(19a)
jgO RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
liis health so unsettled that he decided to get out of the store and into the
open and to this end went into the live-stock business. l)uying and selling
cattle, in which business his son presently became associated with him and
they bought cattle from all parts of southwestern Kansas, shipping the same
tn Kansas City and Wichita, building up an extensive business in that line.
In the spring of 191 3 Air. Graybill was appointed by Governor Hodges as a
member of the Kansas state live stock commission and served in that capac-
itv until the time of his resignation, in September, 1914, to accept the
appointment as postmaster of Hutchinson, in which important public capac-
itv he is now serving.
I-'or years 'Sir. Grayljill has been active in the ranks of the workers
in the Democratic party, not only throughout this section, but in the state at
large, and is one of the best-known politicians in the state. He has attended
every state convention of his party since the year 1890 and is consequently
one of the most familiar figures present at those biennial functions. For nine-
teen consecutive years he Avas precinct committeeman in his home precinct
and was secretary of the Reno county Democratic central committee for six
years; a member of the Democratic state committee for eight years and
attached to the executive committee of the same for six years. He was a
delegate to the Democratic national convention at DeuAer in 1908. He
has attended every Democratic congressional convention ever held in the
.«;eventh Kansas district and for six years was chairman of the congressional
district committee of his party. \Mien the commission form of government
was adopted in the city of Hutchinson. [Mr. Graybill was made commissioner
of health and public buildings and it was during his incumbenc}- in that
ofticc, and under his direction, that the great convention hall in that city
was erected.
( )n .\i)ril 7, 1886. Samuel S. Graybill was united in marriage to ]\Iinnie
Kirlin, who was born in Anderson, Indiana, daughter of Cyrus Kirlin and
wife, who moved from their Indiana home to Newton. Kansas, when their
(laughter. Minnie, was five years of age. the former spending the last ten
years of his life in Mr. Graybill's home in Hutchinson, where he died at the
age of ninety years and four months. Tn Mr. and Mrs. Graybill two chil-
dren have been born. Preston B., born in 1890, who, after a course in the
Kansas State.Agricultural College, married Bertha Templin. in November.
ic>i4. and is now engaged in the dairy business on one of his father's farms
near Hutchinson, and Marguerite, born in 1892, who. after being graduated
from the Hutchinson high school, took a course in the University of Kansas.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 2(Jl
'I he (lray!)ills have a very ])lcasant lioiiic at 334 Sheniian street, east, built
111 1007.
Air. (iraxliill is a thirl y-seeond degree Mason, a iTieml)er of the con-
sistory (^f the Scottish Rite at W^ichita. He has been thrice past eminent
counsellor and has been honored in haxinj^" held every chair in every de.s^ree
ol his lionie lodge, a di^tin^•tion held perhaps b}' but one other Mason in
Hutchinson.
MORRISON H. BROWN.
Morrison M. Brown, son of Dr. I'elix G. and Elizabeth A. (Wake-
field) Brown, was born in Washington county, Kentucky, July 24, 1871.
His father was born in Indiana, January 6. 1843, ^"*^1 ^'^''^^ reared and edu-
cated in Taylorsville, Kentucky, by his maternal uncle, John Wakefield. He
attended medical lectures in St. Louis, Missouri, and graduated there in
1868. He began his practice as a physician in Washington county, Ken-
tucky, remaining there until 1885, when he removed to Hutchinson, where
he continued to practice his jirofession until his death, wdiich occurred on
April 29, 1901. Before he went to St. Louis to attend medical college, Felix
G. Brown was engaged for some time in teaching school in Kentuckv. He
was a member of the Knights of Pythias, and of the Modern Woodmen of
America ; also a member of the Hutchinson Commercial Club. His church
relationship was with the Southern Methodist church ; his political affiliation,
was with the Democratic party. In the early part of the Ci\'il War, Doctor
Brown enlisted as a soldier in the Union arni)- and served ninety ckus.
Elizabeth A. ( Wakefield ) Brown was born in Washington conntv.
Kentucky, Octol^er 8, 1851, and is still living in Hutchinson. She was the
daughter of John H. and Roxy ( WVathers ) Wakefield. Lfer father was
born in Nelson county, Kentucky, about 1829, and died in Washin.gton
county, Kentucky, in 1891. Lie was a farmer, a Methodist and a Democrat.
Her mother was born in the same county of which her father was a native.
Novem1)er, 1837, and died in Washington county, Kentucky, Alarch. 1904,
Her only other son, William Ernest, was born in Washington conntv, Ken-
tucky, Octofier 21, 1876. He is a traveling salesman for the Wheeler tS:
Motter Mercantile Company, of St. Joseph, Missouri, and has offices in
A'[uskogee, Oklahoma.
xMorrison H. Brown was educated in the grade and high schools of
Hutchinson, and then took a po'^ition as salesman in st(n-es in Hutchinson,
292 RENO COUNTY. KANSAS.
He was eniiilovcd for some time in the store of P. Aiartin Dry Goods Com-
pany, and afterward was with the Rosahani^h-AA'iley Dry Goods Company.
In 190Q he accepted a position with the Ely «S: Walker Dry Goods Company,
of St. Louis. j\lissouri. as travelini^- salesman, in which capacity he is still
employed, with offices in th.e Rosahangh-A\^iley Imilding. Hutchinson. Kan-
sas. Mr. IJrown is a memher of the Elks, and of the Elutchinson Commer-
cial Clul). His political afliliation is with the Democratic party. He has
resided at 551 Avenue. Jiast. for many years, and is building a new home
there at the present time.
]\Ir. Brown was married at Great Bend, Kansas, May 23, 1900, to
Julia H. ^^'esley, daughter of Paul V. and Susannah (Godby) Wesley. Mrs.
Brown was born in Paintsville, Kentucky, March 16, 1878. Her father w^as
born in Pulaski county, Kentucky, March 31, 1849, and died at Great Bend,
Kansas, where he \vas pastor of the First Methodist church, in September,
1884. Her mother was born in Casey county, Kentucky, March 28, 1846.
and is still living in Great Bend, Kansas.
Two children have been born to ]\lr. and Mrs. Brown. They are Eula
Elizabeth, born in Hutchinson, February 7, 1902, and Wesley Ernest, born
in Hutchinson. June 22, 1907.
PARKE SMITH.
Parke Smith, son of Albert G. and Anna (Parke) Smith, was born in
Putnam county, Indiana, July 25. 1875. His father was born in Ohio, May
9, 1847, ^"<^ was a principal of the high school in Greencastle, Indiana, for
several years. In 1878 he mo\cd to Medicine Lodge, Barber county, Kan-
sas, where he engaged in the business of farming and stock raising. In
1884 he removed to .Arizona, where he continued in the same line of busi-
ness. He died in Pratt county. Kansas, jaiuiary 25. 1886. He was a mas-
ter Mason, and an active member of the .Methodist church, being county
superintendent of I'utman county Sunday schools. [^oliticall\", he was an
advocate of the i)rinciples of the Republican ])art\- and gave his support to
candidates of that ])arty, being elected superintendent of Putman county
schools.
Anna (Parke) .Smith was born in Putnam county, Indiana, June 15,
1855. She was the daughter of James and Mary J. Parke. Her father
owned two hundred and eighty acres of land in f'utnam county, Indiana, and
RKNO COUNTY, KAXSAS. 20^
was liy uccupaliiiii a lanner. lie (lied about l8<Sj. Ilcr iiiutlicr wa^ burn
abniit i82g. and is still lixiiiiL;- in I Intcliinson. She is one of the oldest mem-
bers of the AieLhodisL church, in which she has lonj;' Ijeen a faithful wor-
shiper.
ddie brothirs and sisters of I'arke Smith are: doldwin, born in rutnam
count}-, In.diana, October j6, 1878, died on July 25, 1896, from the effects
of becoming overheated in riding a bic\'cle; Alary Alvesta, b(jrn in Medicine
Lodge, Kansas. September 6, 1880, died on October 12, i88t ; Roy, born in
Medicine Lodge, Kansas, October 14, 1882, is in business with the subject
of this sketch, in the "Brunswick Smoker," 211 North Main street, Hutch-
inson; Junita, born in Tombstone. Arizona, November 23, 1884, married
George Lynch, who is engaged in the general mercantile business in Gales-
burg, Illinois.
Parke Smith- was educated in the public schools of Hutchinson and
attended the high school for two years. He then held a position in the store
of J. H. F. Llate, grocer and baker, for three years; afterward in the
grocerv business with Kanage & Smith Brothers, for two years. In 1898
and 1899 he was in Arizona, as secretary of the Erie Cattle Company.
Returning to Kansas, he was engaged in the restaurant business for nearly
two years in St. Johns, Kansas, and afterward in the same line of business
in Hutchinson for four years. In 1907 he engaged in the tobacco and cigar
business, opening a store at 211 North Main street, known as the "Bruns-
wick Smoker," which he has continued to the present time. Before coming
to Hutchinson, Mr. Smith moved with his father from Putnam county,
Indiana, to Medicine Lodge, Kansas, in 1878, and to Tombstone, Arizona,
in 1884. He is a member of the Hutchinson Commercial Club, and also a
member of the Elks lodge in ITutchinson. Political!}', he affiliates with the
Republican party, and, wdthal, he is a very pleasant and capable business
man. with a wdllingness at all times to aid and encourage every enterprise
that tends to the development of the industrial interests of the community
of wdiich he is a citizen.
Parke Smith was married on November 6, 1899, to Anna L. W'imple-
berg. daughter of William and Sarah Wimpleberg. Mrs. Smith was born
in Indiana. March 25, 1875. Her father w^as a retail flour merchant; both
he and his wife died in Hutchinson in 1913. He was a Republican, a veteran
of the Civil War, and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Albert.
born in St. John. Kansas, September 12, 1900, is the only child of Air. and
Airs. .Smith.
294 REXO COUNTY, KANSAS.
E. E. SCHMITT.
E. R. Sclimitt, a well-known resident of Pretty Prairie, this county,
who has been actively connected with the work of the Rock Milling and
Elevator Company of that place since 1909. is a nati\e son of the Sunflower
state, having been born at Halstead, Kansas, September 4, 1880, son of D.
W. and Anna ( Graber) Schmitt, the former a native of Germany and the
latter of Poland, v.ho later came to Reno county and located at Pretty Prairie,
where both spent the remainder of their lives.
D. W. Schmitt. who was born on June 6. 1852, was but two years old
when his parents, Johannas Schmitt and wife, came to the United States
from Germany in 1854 and located near Summerfield, Illinois, where they
spent the rest of their lives, active members of the Alennonite community in
that section of the state. When a young man D. W. Schmitt. who had
become an excellent carpenter, came to Kansas and located at Halstead.
There he met and married Anna Graber, who was born on September 30,
1861, daughter of John C. and Fannie (Stuckey) Graber, and who was about
ten vears old when her narents came to the United States from Russian
1
Poland in 1871. settling at Plalstead, this state, where they lived for about
four years, at the end of which time they moved north of Mound Ridge,
whence, in 1888, they came to Reno county, where John C. Graber died in
February, 1907, and where his widow is still living, being now nearly eighty
years of age. j
In the fall of 1889 D. W. Schmitt and family came to Reno county and
located at Pretty Prairie, where Mr. Schmitt engaged in contract and car-
pentering and made wise investments in land, l)eing the owner of two hun-
dred and forty acres of land in that vicinity at the time of his death on June
10, 1905. He and his wife were active and prominent in the work of the
New Jerusalem church and their cliildren were reared in that faith. There
were ten of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest,
the others being Ida. Gussie, John, Harry, Reuben, Daniel, Albert, Susan
and Stella.
K. R. .Schmitt was about nine years old when his parents came to Reno
county and settled at Pretty Prairie and he completed his schooling in that
village. On Octol^er 29, 1905, he was united in marriage to Mary Laun-
hardt. who was burn in fiermany, April _>i, 1884, daughter of Phili]; and
Mary Launharilt, who came tf) this country and settled about 1895 ^'"^
JTodgeman county, this state, where FMiilip Launhardt v.as killed by lightning
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 295
the next vear. To .Mr. and Mrs. Schmitt three children have been horn,
ir\in. horn on X()\cnil)cr _'6, 1906; h21wia, Octoher 20, 1909, and Harold,
Jannarv 20, 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Schmitt are active members of the New
Jerusalem church and take a proper interest in the general affairs of their
home community. Since December, 1909, Mr. Schmitt has l>een prominently
identified with the Rock Milling and Elevator Company's industry at Pretty
Prairie, being now manager of the same, owns property in that town and is
regarded as a substantial and useful citizen. Mrs. Schmitt is a trained nurse
and a graduate of the Welch hospital at Hutchinson.
JAMES E. EERGUSON.
James E. Eerguson, the son of William and Nancy J. (Mills) Eergu-
son, was born near Bedford, Lawrence county, Indiana, on July 13. 1873.
William Eerguson was born in Lawrence county, Indiana, in Eebruary,
1849. After completing his education in the common schools, Mr. Eerguson
devoted his life to farming, first in Lawrence county, Indiana, then for
twelve years in Texas, after which he removed to Kansas, near Sedan,
where he died in 1901. Nancy (Mills) Eerguson was born in Lawrence
county, October 13, 1854, and died at her home in Chautauqua county,
Kansas, on October 13, 1900. Both Mr. and ^Irs. Eerguson were members
of the Christian church.
James 1^.. Eerguson has four brothers, as follow : Dillon, a farmer in
Chautauqua county, Kansas; George M., a former farmer and stock man.
is now in Earned, Kansas, where he is the representative of Eerguson-Shir-
cliff Grain Company; Lee A., a stock raiser and farmer in Chautauqua
county, Kansas, and Lawrence, engaged in the elevator and milling business
at Independence, Kansas.
James E. Eerguson received his education in the common schools of
Montague county, Texas, and in CHiautauqua county, Kansas. After com-
pleting his education he was engaged for five years in the buying and selling
of stock in his home county in Kansas. He then removed to Blackwell,
Oklahoma, where he was engaged in the grain business, from 1897 to 1905,
after which he continued the business at Winfield. Kansas, until 1908. when
he located at Hutchinson, where he now has offices at 508 and 509, Eirst
National Bank building, The firm name is Eerguson-Shirclifif Grain Com-
pany.
On October 28, 1903, James E. Ferguson was united in marriage, at
296 RENO COUNTY. KANSAS.
Sedan, to Mary Kudora Shircliff. who was born on June 3, 1875, at Hay-
densville. Ohio. Mrs. Ferguson is the daughter of Bernard C. and Sarah
(Turner) ShirchtT, both of whom arc natives of Ohio.
Mr. and ]\Irs. Ferguson have a l^eautiful house at 903 North Main
street, where they Hve witli their only child, Azel Eudora, who w^as born in
Winfield, November 2, 1907. The family belong to the Methodist Epis-
copal church and are active in all church work.
CAPT. WTLUAM R. BENNETT.
Capt. William R. Bennett, head of the Bennett Mineral and Distilled
Water Company, of Hutchinson, this county, of the plant and product of
which he and his son are the owners, is a native of the Empire state, having
been born in the town of A\ urtsboro, Sullivan county. New York, on Octo-
ber 5, 1837, son of Captain Eli and Elizabeth (Cranse) Bennett, the former
of whom, born in Connecticut in 1801. died in January, 1878, and the latter
of whom, also a native of Copnecticut, born in iSii, lived to the great age
of ninety-three years and nine months.
Capt. Eli Bennett was the son of Amos Bennett and wife, who came
to this country from England and established a new home in Connecticut,
becoming influential farming people in the neighborhood in which they set-
tled. Amos Bennett participated in the struggle of the Americans against
England in the W^ar of 1812, a memljer of a Connecticut regiment, and was
in all ways a good citizen of his adopted country. He and his w'ife reared
a family of eleven children. Their son. Eli, grew^ to manhood on the Con-
necticut home farm and early began teaching school, in which profession
he was engaged for some years, during which period he moved to \\'urts-
lx)ro, Sullivan county, New York, where for some time he was engaged as a
teacher and where he established his permanent home, becoming one of the
most prominent residents of that section of the state. Shortly after locating
there he took a contract for the construction of a portion of the Delaware
division of the I'.rie railroad and upon the completion of that contract
embarked in the mercantile business at Wurtsboro and was thus occupied
during the remainder of his active life. He was captain of the local com-
pany of the New York state guards and during the period of his activity
in that connection l)ecame one of the best-know-n officers of the New York
state militia. He was a A\'hig in his political belief until the formation of
?r^^ifd^c^
RENO COITNTY. KANSAS. 297
the Republican party, when he identilie<l himself fur life with the latter
party and e\ er after anient 1\- supported its men and its measures. Capt.
l^li Bennett was called upon to serve the public in various official capacities,
having ser\ed in nearly every local office, though always stoutly dechning to
accept any office that w'ould require his removal from his estabhshed home
in Wurtsboro. He and his wife were the parents of four sons and two
daughters, whom they reared in the faith of the Presbyterian church, of
which they were active and earnest members. Of these six children, the
subject of this sketch was the only one to make his home in Kansas.
William R. Bennett received his earl)^ education in the local schools of
his native home and assisted his father in the latter's store until twenty-one
years of age, at w^hich time he embarked in business for himself, first engag-
ing in the flour-milling business, which he continued for a year, at the end
of which time he went to New York City, where, at 631 Hudson street,
he opened a grocery store w'hich he conducted until the breaking out
of the Civil War. In April, 1862, he enlisted in behalf of the cause
of the Union and for some months served in the engineering corps of the
Army of the Potomac, engaged in the construction of bridges, after which
he returned to his home county, where he and Ira Dorrance recruited Com-
pany E, One Hundred and Forty-third Regiment, New^ York Volunteer
Infantry, Ira Dorrance, captain, and William R. Bennett, first lieutenant,
the enlistment dating from October, 1862. In March, 1863, Lieutenant
Bennett was promoted to the position of captain of Company C and in that
rank served until the close of the war, his company having the honor of being
color company of his regiment. Captain Bennett saw much active service
in the army and was a participant in some of the most important engage-
ments of the great war. His regiment was at first attached to the Army of
the Potomac, but in 1863 was joined to Sherman's army, with which it
served until the close of the w-ar and with which it proudly marched in the
Grand Review at Washington, D. C. Captain Bennett's regiment fought at
White House Landing in 1863 and w^as then marched double quick to
Gettysburg, arriving there at the close of the great battle. In the winter of
1863-64, the division with which Captain Bennett's regiment -was doing
service opened up the "cracker" road from Bridgeport, Alabama, to Chatta-
nooga and helped raise the siege there. Continuing in the Tennessee cam-
paign, he then fought at Lookout Mountain and at Knoxville and all the
other battles down to Atlanta and thence to the sea. The regiment rested at
Savannah until the spring of 1865, when it was started north through the
Carolinas ; meeting General Johnston at Averasboro and taking part in the
298 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
heavy fighting at Benton\ille. this being the last important engagement pre-
ceding Lee's surrender. Following the Grand Review, the regiment pro-
ceeded to Xew York City, where it was mustered out on July 20, 1865.
At the close of the war. Captain Bennett returned to Wurtsboro and
was there engaged in carpentering for about a year, at the end of which
time he went to Towanda, Pennsylvania, where he opened a bottling works
and engaged in the manufacture of soda waters. Four years later he sold
that plant and moved to Aleadville, Pennsylvania, where he opened a new
establishment of the same character and was there thus engaged in business
for sixteen years. In 18S7 he sold out and came to Kansas, locating in
Hutchinson, where the next vear he resumed the manufacture of soda
waters and the like and has been thus engaged ever since, having been very
successful, the products of his establishment having a wide sale throughout
the Southwest. The plant which Captain Bennett erected in 1888, in A avenue,
west, was greatly enlarged in 1908 and is now regarded as one of the most
complete and thoroughl}' equipped plants of its kind in the state. His grow-
ing business caused Captain Bennett to erect, in 1906, a branch plant at
]\IcPherson, this state, which is also widely patronized.
On October 5, 1865, 'Capt. W'iUiam R. Bennett was united in marriage
to Mary Elizabeth Brown, who was born at ]\Ionticello, Sullivan county,
New York, daughter of James and Mary Brown, and to this union fi\e chil-
dren have been born, namely: Adelaide, born in 1866, widow of Crawford
R. Thol^ert, son of Bishop Thobert, of Meadville, Pennsylvania; Charles G.,
May 7, 1870, associated with his father in business, who married, in Illinois,
Frances L. North, daughter of Jacob L. and Amanda (Lemon) North, resi-
dents of Chase county, this state; Elizabeth, 1872. at home; Helen Jane,
who married Scott E. Lieber, of Chicago, and Josephine, who married
Charles Squires, a well-known scenic artist of Washington. D. C. Captain
and Mrs. Bennett have a very pleasant home at 915 North Main street,
Hutchinson, Ixjught in 1903. They are altcndauts at tlie Presbyterian
church and for years have taken an actixe interest in good works, hereabout.
Captain Bennett is a Republican and is warmly interested in local gov-
ernmental affairs, for some years having been a member of the city council.
He is a member of Bynm Lodge No. 197, Knights of Pythias, and is a
charter member of LaRue Division No. 4, Uniformed Rank, of that order,
of which he was the hrst captain, and for four years served as colonel of
the regiment to whicii No. 4 is attached. The Captain is a devoted member
of the Grand Army of the Republic and during his residence in Meadville
was for three years commander of the Meadville post of tliat patriotic
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 299
society. He is a nieniljer of Joe Hooker Post Xo. 4, at 1 Iiitehinsc^n, in tht:
affairs of which he for years has taken an earnest interest and which he has
served in the capacity of adjntanl. C"ai)tain Bennett is also a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of
h~lks and of the \\\^odmen of the World.
ROSS E. PIALL.
Ross E. Plall, son of .Vmbrose S. and Alary L. A. (Poston) Hall, was
born in Sedgwick county, Kansas, January 5. 1890. His father was born
in Missouri, in October. 1854, and came to Kansas in 1871 or 1872, w^here he
has since been engaged in farming and stock raisinc^. He is a thirty-second
degree Mason, a steward in the Methodist Episcopal church, and his political
aftiiliations are with the Democratic party. He resides in Castleton, Reno
county, Kansas. Mary L. A. (Poston) Hall was born in Indiana, May 12,
1859. and is still living-. The other members of the family are: Reese A.,
born in Sedgwick count}-, Kansas, May 20. 1895. was a student in the uni-
versity of Kansas: Homer G., born in SjMvey, Kingman county, Kansas,
Jamiary 13, 1899, now a student at Lawrence, Kansas.
Ross E. Hall attended Lewis academy, at Wichita, Kansas ( kinder-
garten ) for six months; Center Pole township, Kingman county, school for
four and one-half months; Spivey, Kansas, town school one and one-half
terms; Mount Hope. Kansas, city school one-half term; Castleton, Kansas,
citv school one and one-half term; Hutchinson, Kansas, city school four
terms, where he graduated at the age of seventeen years. He then attended
the Uni\ersitv of Kansas and graduated in the civil engineering course at the
age of twenty-one years, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He then
took a ])ost-graduate course in economics and sociology for one year ; then a
post-graduate course in economics and banking at Harv^ard University for
half a vear. He graduated from the University of Kansas in the spring of
1914 with the degree of Master of Arts; afterwanl completed a course in
the Lawrence Business College, receiving the degree of Master of Accounts,
being one of onlv three who e\er received that degree. Received diplomas
from Hutchinson high school and from the University of Kansas in Bachelor
of Science and Master of Arts degrees.
Since Mav, 19 14, Air Hall has been engaged in the lumber and building
material business. He is president of The R. E. Hall Lumber Company,
300 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
incori)orate(l. located ai Ihilchinsun. 730 First a\eiiue. East, a concern well
established and doing a profitable business. He is a member of the American
Economics Association, the National Masonic Research Society, and the
Rotary Club, oi Hutchinson. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Meth-
odist and a Democrat.
On May 12, 18 15, Ross E. Hall was married to Chlora V. White, the
daughter of Lehman J. and Alice \Miite. Mrs. Hall was born in Liberal,
Kansas, April 20, 1892. Her father is a thirty-second degree Mason, a
former mayor of Eucklin, Kansas — elected without opposition, is a Repub-
lican in politics, and a member of the Christian church. Mrs. Hall is also a
member of that church.
JAMES R. LOVELACE.
James R. Lovelace, son of James C. and Frances (Cole) Lovelace, was
born in Allen county, near Scotsville, Kentucky, July 20, 1845. His father
was a native of North Carolina, born in that state in 1818, a son of Samuel
Lovelace, who moved to Allen county, Kentucky, about 1832. In 1833 the
elder Lovelace bought more than two hundred acres of land at three dollars
per acre in Allen county, and enaged in farming. His wife was Sarah Cross;
she died in the Allen county home in 1863 or 1864.
James C. Lovelace was a farmer. Fie bought two hundred and sixty
acres of land in Allen coimty, Kentucky, about 1852, where he established a
home and continued to live until his death, A\hich occurred in 1907. He was
also a cabinet-maker and followed that trade to some extent in connection
with his farming business. His church relation was with the Baptist
denomination, and his political affiliation w^as with the Democratic party.
Frances (Cole) Lovelace was born in North Carolina in 1820, and died in
1901.
James K. Lovelace had eight l)n)ilK'rs and sisters. I'"li7.al)cth. Ixirn in
.\llen county. Kentucky, in 1838, died in the county of her birth in 1864.
She married Martin \'. Wilson, a farmer and a lay preacher in the Meth-
odist church, who died at his home in Allen county, Kentucky, in 1907.
Benjamin, born in Allen county. Kentucky, in 1840, died at his home in that
county in 1862. William B., born in Allen county. Kentucky, in 1842, died
in 1866. Samuel H., born in Allen county. Kentucky, in 1843, is a prom-
inent Methodist minister and is pastor of a Methodist church in Louisville.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 30I
He hej^an his iiiinislrv in 1865. He is a thirty-second degree Mason rind his
political alllliations arc with the Democratic party. Joseph, born in Alien
county, Kentucky, in i(S47, died at his home in that county in 1867 or
1868. He was a farmer, a A'lethodist and a Democrat. Sidney J., ]x;rn in
Allen county, Kentuck} , in 1849, 'li^^^ '^t his home in that countv in igio.
He was a teacher, and aftervvard county judg-e, and clerk of the county
court for many years, having been elected to office by the Democratic party,
with which he affiliated. He was prominent in the Masonic order, and also
a leading- member of the Methodist church. John W., born in Allen countv.
Kentucky, in 1857, is a farmer and merchant and is now living in Xash-
ville, Tennessee. He affiliates with the Democratic partv in politics and is a
memljer of the Methodist church. Mary A., born in Allen county, Ken-
tucky, in 1859, married Phineas Oliver, a farmer and a Methodist. They
are both living in Sumner county, Kansas.
James R. Lo\'elace was educated in the schools of Allen and Warren
counties, Kentucky, and spent his early years working on his father's farm.
On December 10, 1861, at Columbia, Kentucky, he enlisted in Company
F, Ninth Regiment, Kentucky \^olunteer Infantry, Col. B. F. Grider and
Lieut. -Col. C. D. Bailey commanding. This regiment was a part of Gen-
eral Crittenden's corps of Gen. D. C. Buell's army operating in Kentucky
and Tennessee in i86j; afterward the army was commanded by Rose-
crans. Mr. Lovelace participated with his regiment in all the campaigns
and battles in which it engaged, including Shiloh, Stone's River, Chicka-
mauga and the several battles of the Atlanta campaign under Sherman.
He was severely wotmded in the l)attle of Chickamauga. He was mus-
tered out as a corporal on January 8, 1865. at Hunts ville. Alabama. After
his return from the army he was deputy sheriff of Allen county for several
years, and afterward engaged in farming. Li 1874 he moved to Lidiana,
where he farmed until 1881, wdien he removed to Severance, Kansas. There
he engaged in the farming implement business for tw^o years, and in the pro-
duce business for three years. In October, 1886, he came to Hutchinson and
for twelve vears was engaged in the fruit business, on North Main street,
the present site of the Kress building. Since 1898 he has been salesman
for the Hutchinson Produce Company.
Mr. Lo\'elace has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows for more than thirty years. Lie is a member of the Hutchinson Com-
mercial Club, a charter member of the Young Men's Christian Association,
a prominent memljer of the Baptist church and a stanch Republican in
politics.
302 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
On No\'ember 12. 1879, James R. Lovelace was married to Lanie Shaw,
of Laporte. Indiana, daughter of Daniel and Julia (Reynolds) Shaw, born
in Kingsbur\-. Indiana. April 10, 1848, and a descendant of the ''Mayflower"
]Mlgrims. She tauglit in the Laporte, Lidiana, schools for about ten years
before her luarriage. She has ])een a memlier of the Woman's Relief Corps,
an auxiliary b> the Grand Army of the ]\epublic, for more than thirtv' years;
she is a member of the \\'oman's Club, of Hutchinson, and is a member of
die Churcli of God, Adventist.
The father of ]\Irs. Lovelace was born in Washington county, New
York, August 14. 1814. One of his early recollections was seeing Fulton's
first steamboat on the Hudson river. Mr. Shaw was a carpenter and builder
Ijy trade, and he also engaged in teaching school. About 1832 he removed
to Kingsbury. Indiana, where he served for awhile as postmaster. After-
ward he bought one hundred and sixty acres of government land, at one dol-
lar and twenty-five cents per acre, in Laporte county, and engaged in fann-
ing. He was a member of the Church of God, Ad\"entist, and afifiliated with
the Democratic party. ]\Irs. Lovelace's mother was born in Erie county.
New York, August 2, 1823, and was the daughter of Abram and Mary
( W'illington ) Reynolds. Abram Reynolds was a veteran of the War of
1812.
The brothers and sisters of Mrs. Lovelace are: Thomas J. Shaw, born
in Kingsbury. Indiana. Jul}' 20, 1841. He was a prominent Chicago physi-
cian, and his son, Don. Lee Shaw, was a noted surgeon. Both died in 1910.
Alartha J. Shaw was born in Kingsbury, Indiana, January 28, 1843, married
Hiram Wineholt, a farmer; both li\ing in Laporte count\', Indiana. Flora
M. Shaw, born in Kingsbury, Indiana, October 2-j. 1856, married D. P.
Grover, assessor of Laporte county. l-'Vank B. Shaw, born in Kingsbury,
Indiana, Noveml^er, 1S58, is a steel worker: with South Chicago steel mills
for thirty-three years. Jennie L. .Shaw. Imrn in Kingsbury, Indiana, Novem-
ber 10, i860, married Robert White, farmer and railroad man. .\llen G.
Shaw, born in King.sliury. hub'.ina. in \>^()},. lie is a pharmacist, and is now
rniesr.'.an f(jr the Colgate Company, of Chicago. Dan Shaw, born in Kings-
bury, June 20, 1866, painter and decorator in Kingsbury, Indiana.
Mr. and Mrs. Lovelace have one son, I runes Sydney, w lio was born in
Kingsbury. Indiana. June 12. i88t. He was educated in the city .schools
of Hutchinson, and graduated from the high sclv-ol. He afterward entered
the First National Bank, of Hutchinson, as a clerk, and is now one of the
two tellers of the bank. He is a member of the LIntchinsou Commercial
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 3O3
Cliil). TTiitcliinson Country Clnb. "S'dun.^- Men's Christian Association (a
charter nienilior). financial secretary of the T5a])tist church, and a member of
the Cliurch of Ciod. I Fe is a ])r()g-ressive RepubHcan in pohtics. As a tennis
player lie has the honor of beiri^- the champion in Hutchinson.
WILLI Ax^.l ALLLX P.ROWN
U'illiam Allen Brown, a worthy citizen and retired a.^-riculturist of
Hutchinson. Reno county, Kansas, was born on Xoveml)er 15. 1848, in
Shi])penl)urg-, Penns^lx-ania. and is the son of Allen and ^.lary (Cumerer)
Brown. Allen Brown was born in Lititz. Lancaster county, Pennsylvania,
and tlie birth of his wife occurred in the Cumberland valley, of the same
state. Mary (Cumerer) Brown was the daughter of George Cumerer, a
carpenter and nati\e of Pennsylvania. She died in 1890. at the age of
seventv-four vears and her husband died three vears later at the age of
eighty-four, .\llen Brown was the son of pTederick Brown, who was of
Holland descent but whose birth occurred in Pennsylvania where he later
engaged in the bre\^^ery business. His son, Allen Brown, spent his entire
life in his nati\e state as a farn.ier near Cumberland. He was an active
member of the Lutheran church and was considered one of its strongest com-
municants in the county. Politically, he was a Democrat and active in the
cause of temperance. He was the father of three children whose names
follow: Israel, now living in Shippenburg, Pennsylvania; George W., who
resides in Hutchinson, Kansas, and William Allen, also of Hutchinson,
Kansas.
William ,\llen Brown was reared and educated in his nati\'e state and
removed to Illinois in 1875. going from there to Kansas in 1876. He
located in Reno county on February 15 of that }"ear and has since been a
resident of this locality. The first one hundred and sixty acre purchase of
school land which he accpiired was sold in 1901, and he then removed from
Arlington townshi]) to Grant township the following year. He again
invested in one hundred and sixty acres of land, on which he now resides.
On February 22, 1886, William Allen Brown was united in marriage
to Katherine E. Rayl, daughter of Thomas and Julia Ann Rayl, who located
in Kansas in 1871. Katherine E. Rayl was born in Kokomo, Indiana, and
died in Kansas on September 15. 1909. Her husband then retired to Hutch-
304 RENO COUNTY. KANSAS.
inson. Kansas, where he took up his residence with his brother, George W.
Brown, who married Jennie Harris, and is the father of one child, Frank
A. Brown, who operates the propert)- of his uncle, William Allen Brown.
ALFRED L. SPONSLER.
In the Sponsler family there is a tradition that the American progenitor
of that now widely scattered family, of which Alfred L. Sponsler, of Hutch-
inson, this county, secretary of the Kansas State Fair, is a distinguished
member, was a captain in the French army, who came to America during
the French and Indian wars, and after the war settled in Philadelphia, which
thus became the point of origin of the family in this country, Alfred L.
Sponsler's paternal grandfather, Lewis Sponsler, was a resident of Perry
county, Pennsylvania, where he died at middle age. His son, Lewis Spon-
sler, father of Alfred L. Sponsler, was born in Perry county, Pennsylvania,
on October 3, 1825, and in his youth learned the trade of wagon-making, at
wliich occupation he worked for many years. Tn 1849, in Cumberland
county, Pennsylvania, he married Maria Wolfe, who was born in Lancas-
ter county, Pennsylvania, September 22, 1827, a daughter of Christian and
Sarah (Stoner) Wolfe, Ijoth of German descent. Christian Wolfe was a
.son of Henrv \\'()lfe, who was a soldier in the ]iatriot army during the
Revolutionary War.
Tn 1856 Lewis Sponsler emigrated with his family from Pennsylvania
to Keithsburg, Mercer county, Illinois, w^here he worked as a carpenter for
four years, at the end of which time he bought a farm seven miles east of
that city, which he improved and there made his home until 188 1, when he
retired from active farm life and mo\"ed to Aledo, in the same county, and
there he and his w'ife spent their last days, his death occurring on April 4,
1893, his widow surviving until August 7, 191 3. Lewis Sponsler and wife
were members of the Presbyterian church, in the various beneficences of
which they for years were leaders in tlicir community. Their children were
as follow: William ]., who married Alary Hodgson, came to Reno countv,
Kansas, in 1874, and became one of the leading farmers of Reno township.
where lie lived until 191 5. in which year he retired from the farm antl moved
to Hutchinson, where he is now living; Sarah, the wife of W. D. Reynolds,
a stock raiser of Villisca, Iowa; George W., a farmer and stock raiser, of
Mercer county. Illinois; Alice M., unmarried, who lives at Aledo, Illinois;
^
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 3O5
Alfred L., the ininiediate subject of this review; Anna, who is the wife of
Laon McWhorter, one of the most noted Ijreeders of Angus cattle in the
United States, now Hving retired at Aledo, lUinois, and John L., now a
prominent attorney at Muskogee, Oklahoma, who was formerly connected
with his brother, Alfred L., in the newspaper business at Hutchinson.
Alfred Lincoln Sponsler, third son and lifth child of Lewis and Maria
(Wolfe) Sponsler, was born in Mercer county, Illinois, on April 30, i860,
and was reared on the paternal farm in that county, receiving his elementary
education in the district schools of his home neighborhood, after which he
completed the course in Knox Academy at Galesburg and entered Knox Col-
lege, same city, which institution he left at the age of twenty-three to study
law in the office of John C. Pepper at Aledo. In May, 1885, after formal
examination, he was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of the state
of Illinois, and then entered into partnership with Mr. Pepper, under the
firm name of Pepper & Sponsler, and practiced law at Aledo for a year and
a half, when he came to this county, locating at Arlington, with the expec-
tation of engaging in the practical law at that place, but instead, engaged in
the real-estate business, being attracted thereto by the "boom" that was then
under way in Kansas, and so continued in business there until November,
1889, when he moved to Hutchinson, where he has ever since made his home.
It was during the time of ]\Ir. Sponsler's residence in Arlington, in
1888, that he made one of the most remarkable political races ever recorded
in this state. Lie was a candidate in that year for the nomination for state
senator from this district on the Republican ticket. The senatorial conven-
tion, which met at Pratt, was in deadlock from the very first ballot and after
balloting for three days adjourned to meet at Turon. At the latter place
three more days were consumed in ineffectual balloting, after which the con-
vention adjourned sine die. Upon the next call of the district committee,
the convention was held again at Turon, and after several hundred ballots,
without a nomination, Mr. Sponsler, who several times had come within one
vote of the required number to make a choice, and on one ballot within one-
dalf vote of the nomination, withdrew his name from further consideration
on the part of his faithful delegates and the nomination went to Hon.
F. E. Gillette.
Upon locating in LIutchinson in 1889, Alfred L. Sponsler, in connec-
tion with his brother, John L. Sponsler, founded the Hutchinson Times,
and in the next year bought the Republican, which they consolidated with
the Times, presently picking up four other small papers, merging the same
(20a)
306 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
willi the Times, which they conducted under that name until 1891, in which
year the}- purchased the Flutchiiisoji Paily Xczi'S, inchiding the job shop and
bookbindery connected with the plant of that paper, and merged the Times
Avith th.e latter paper, continuing the publication of the News until the
autumn of 1895. in which year the paper was bought 1)y William Y. Morgan,
now lieutenant-governor of Kansas and the present owner of the paper.
Upon retiring from the new-spaper business, Mr. Sponsler and his brother
in\-ested all their mone}- in ear corn, which they cribbed at various points in
Reno, Harper, Barber and Rice counties, and held until 1898, w'hen they
sold it at a nice profit. The next ventare undertaken by Mr. Sponsler was
the feeding of large bunches of live stock for the market. In this also he
was quite successful and he then bought four hundred and fifty acres of
grazing land in Salt Creek townhsip, this county, and engaged in the breed-
ing of registered Shorthorn cattle, continuing in that business until the
fall of 19 1 3. at which time he sold his herd and since then has confined his
ranch c:].-erations wholly to grain farming Coincident with his ranch
operations, in 1906, in connection with Thomas G. Armour, j\Ir. Sponsler
established a printing and publishing house at Hutchinson, the partners later
organizing a Iniilding company, the Times Building Company, erecting a
large office building on South Main street for their publications and put out
a new newspaper, the Times. The next year they started the JJ'holesaler.
presently merging the Times with the latter publication, and are still issuing
the JVIwlesalcr, in connection with which they also continue to operate
their large printing plant, Air. Armour Ijeing the active manager of the same.
Mr. Sponsler ever since coming to Reno county has been prominently
connected with all movements designed to advance the common good of
this community, and his \arious newspapers have ever been outspoken in
behalf of im])rovements and good government. It was through his efforts
in 1892 that the Repuljlican state convention was held in that year in Hutch-
inson, the first time the convention had ever been held this far west, and
during the winter of 1891-92 his efforts brought about a reorganization of
tP.e Commercial Clul) aiong lines whicii have pr(»\c(l wdupJile to the welfare
of the city. Mr. Sponsler for years has taken an active part in politics and
has been a delegate to many state conventions of his party. He was chair-
man of the Reno county delegation to the convention which nominated Gov-
ernor Morrill in 1894. Since 1889 he has attended every session of the
General Assembly in behalf of the interests of good government and it is
undeniable that he has personally exerted a wholesome influence upon legis-
lation. He helped organize the ''Kansas Day" Club, of Kansas, and was
RENO CurXTY. KANSAS. 307
delegate to ihc Trans-Alississi])])! congress in i<^tj4. In the spring of 1901
Air. S])<M!>ler organized llie (enlral Kansas l^air Association and was its
first president. He later became secretary of this association and npon the
merger of the Central Kansas h'air with the Kansas State h'air ( which was
created hy i1k Kansas Legislature, session (^f 1913), became secretary of
the latter and has so continued since that time, his admirable service in that
connection now having covered a ])erio(l of tliirteen _\ears. lie was for
seven }ears a member of the state l)oard of agriculture and ])resicient of that
organization during 1907 and 1908. He was also a member of the Ijoard
of regents of the Kansas State Agricultural College three years and largely
instrumental in electing Dr. Henry J. Waters president of that institution.
Mr. Sponsler is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of tlie blue
lodge at Hutchinson, and of the consistory at Wichita, and is warml)- inter-
ested in the philosophy of Masonry. He also is a life member of Hutchin-
son Lodge No. 453, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On September 2"], 1887, Alfred L. Sponsler was married to Minnie
Bentley, who was born in Mercer county, Illinois, on September 5, 1862. the
daughter of James L. and Nancy (Smith) Bentley, \\\\o was educated in the
common schools, the Aledo Academy and the Illinois State Normal. To
this union two children were born, Cora, a graduate of the Hutchinson high
school, who attended Kansas State Agricultural College one vear, took a
course for voice culture in the Knox Conservatory of Music, Galesburg, Illi-
nois, and also in Chicago for a year and a half under private tutorship; and
Lewis, who, after taking a two-year course in the Kansas State Agricultural
College at Manhattan, and studying voice culture at Chicago, is now a stu-
dent in Chicago A'oice and Dramatic Art Schools.
Mrs. Sponsler died at her home at the corner of Twelfth and Washing-
ton streets on June 10, 1915, and was widely mourned throughout the citv
and county, for, ever since she had been a resident of Hutchinson she had
been one of its leading citizens, in every held where women were needed
she c\'er ha\ ing been foremost. She liad ser\ ed as president of tlie Women's
Club, the pioneer of women's clubs in Hutchinson; had also served as presi-
dent of the city Federation of Women's Clubs, and in memory of her the
women's clubs of Hutchinson have named their state endowment fund for
her. She was a state officer in the "P. O. h^.," ha\ing been one of the
leaders in bringing the national convention of that sisterhood to Hutchin-
son several \ears ago. She was intensely interested in music and was an
active member of the Apollo Club. She also took a live interest in public
affairs and was one of the supporters in the ecpial suffrage movement in
308 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Reno county, at the same time havino done consideraljle work, in a cjuiet
way. in behalf of the prohibition cause in the county and state. But with
all her public activities, Mrs. Sponsler's most dominant trait was her love
of home life, and it was at her- fireside that she enjoyed herself most. She
was a woman who put her family first over all and alwa^■? remained a
niodest home-lovci, a womanlv woman.
ROSCOE C. LAYMAN.
Roscoe C. Layman, son of Preston and Harriet (McNabb) Layman,
was horn in Xewport. Tennessee, November 21, 1875. His father was
born in the same place, September 13. 1833, and although born and reared
in the South and surrounded by an influence favorable to secession in i860,
he remained steadfastly loyal to the Union. When the Civil War came, as
a result of the secession, and when his native state joined in the secession
movement and took up arms against the old flag, and the Union of which
it was the emblem, Preston Layman refused to follow the example of his
native state. He was an a\owed Union man, and in consequence of his
known principles, his surroundings became exceedingly unpleasant, not to
say hazardous. He found it necessary to leave his home and he eventually
gave evidence of his sincere patriotism by enlisting in the Union army in
defense of the flag. At Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 1862. he enlisted in
Company E, Second Tennessee Cavalry, and served in this command until
the close of the war. Lender the command of Rosecrans, Thomas and Sher-
man, this regiment participated in the campaigns through Kentucky, Tennes-
see, Alabama. Georgia and Mississip])i. It was in the battle of Stone's river.
Chickamauga. Chattanooga, the several engagements in the Atlanta cam-
paign, at Knoxville, I'ranklin and Nashville, and was finally mustered out
of the .service at Knoxville. at the close of the war.
In all these engagements Preston Laymen bore a soldier's part, and,
after his di.scharge returned to his old home in Tennessee. In February,
1882, he removed I" Kansas, settling in .\rlington township. Reno county,
where he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land from George Alex-
ander. Tie added to his acres, from time to time, until at his death he was
the owner of eleven hundred and twenty acres of as fine a body of land as is
to be found in the county. He gave his attention to farming and cattle rais-
ing and was one of the most successful in that line of industry in the county.
RENO COUNTY, KAXSAS. 309
His death occurred on Noveml^er 27, 1Q09. He was a member of Cabal
Lod.s^e No. 299. Ancient b'ree and Accepted Masons, at Arlington, Reno
county: was a member of the Methodist church, and his pohtical affihations
were with the Ivepublican party. He served as justice of the peace of his
township for six or eight years, was a meml^er of the school IxDard six years
and was a trustee and an iuHuential member of his church.
Harriet (McNabb) Layman was born in Newport, Tennessee, May
4, 1843, the daughter of John, and Elizabeth (Dugan) McNabb. She was
a member of the Methodist church and died on March 29, 1916, at Hutchin-
son, Kansas. Jrfer father. John AicNabb, who owned twelve hundred acres
of land in Tennessee and had five or six family servants, was born in a
fort which had been erected for protection against the Indians in the early
days. He was a strong Union man in the days of the Civil War, and was
an active worker in the Republican party after the war. He was a magis-
trate and a trustee and deacon in the Baptist church.
The brothers and sisters of Roscoe C. Layman are : William C. ;
Orrin \V., born in Newport, Tennessee; Delia, born in Newport, Tennessee,
and .\rthur. born in Newport, Tennessee.
Roscoe C. Layman was educated in the district schools of Reno county,
and in the State Normal School at Emporia. Kansas, which he attended two
terms. He then taught school for two years, and was principal of the
school in Langdon township, Reno county, for two years. He then turned
his attention to farming in Arlington township until 1909. when he removed
to LIutchinson and engaged in the transfer business for about nine months.
Following this he was engaged in the real estate and insurance business for
about two years. In the last few years he has devoted his time and atten-
tion to hi? personal business and his farming interests, which are extensive.
He is a member of the Hutchinson Commercial Club and an active member
of the Christian churcli. Politically, he is a Democrat, and was the candi-
date of his party for the state Legislature in November, 191-4.
Roscoe C. Layman was married. May 3, 1899, to Emma E. Euller.
daughter of Daniel E. and Amy (I>ynch) Fuller, of Arlington, Reno county.
Mrs. Layman was Ijorn in Mahaska ocunty. Iowa. She is a member of the
Woman's Club, a member and treasurer of the Mother's Club, and a mem-
ber of the State Suffrage Association, an organization that succeeded in
getting the right of franchise for women in Kansas two years ago Airs.
layman is also a member of the local Woman's Christian Temperance
Union, and was its ])rcsi(lent for two years. She is a loyal Democrat and
a o-reat admirer of Mr. lefferson and Mr. \\'ilson, the latter of whom she
3IO RENO COUNTY. KANSAS.
anknlK- sii])ported in tlie electicMi of 1912, not only by her vote 1)ut also
l)\ canipai.un sp-eeches ; her al)!lily as a speaker is of state-wide reputation.
Mrs. J.a^•man's father was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, in
1844, and died on September 17, 189J. He was a farmer, and a member
of the Methodist church, and voted the Democratic ticket. Her mother was
born in Greene county. Pennsxhania, Mux 24, 1847, ^^'^^^ died on April 26,
1916.
Mr. and Airs. Pavman ha\"e two children: Zora Mabel. Iiorn in Pang-
don. Reno courit}-. and \'elma Gwendolyn, born in Hutchinson. Phe familv
home is a beautiful new iKui^-e at T^oy Pwelfth avenue. East.
\\IPPP\AI W. REXROAD.
William W. Rexroad, a progressive and prosperous farmer of Pincoln
township, ihis county, one of the Ijest-known and most energetic residents
of the Darlow neighborhood,, is a Virginian, having been born in \\'oods
county, Virginia, now a part of \\'cst \'irginia, on November 4, 1854, son
of John and Sarah (Campbell) Rexroad, both natives of Mrginia, the for-
mer of whom was born in Pendleton coun.ty and the latter in Amherst
county, both the Rexroads and the Campbells having l^een residents of Vir-
ginia for several generations, the former family being of German descent.
John Rexford was oen of a large family of children and grew up on a
farm. He received an excellent education and upon reaching manhood's
estate married and started farming for himself. Pi the spring of 1873.
attracted by the fine reports at that time emanating from this section of
Kansas, he decided to ]jiu in his lot with the homesteaders in that section
and he and his family came out here, arriving in Hutchin.'^on on March 31,
of that year. John Rexroad limuesteaded the west half of the northeast
quarter of section 20, in Pincoln township, and bought an adjoining
"eighty," and there established his home, the family for some time living in
a little two-room frame "shack." Phe next year the nicniorable grass-
hopper visitation of 1874 made the outlook for the homesteaders rather
uncertain for a time, bni Mr. Rexroad was persevering and energetic and
he i)resentlv began to prosper. After awhile he bought another adjoining
"eightv." thus becoming the owner of a full half section of fine land, and it
was not long until he was looked upon as one of the substantial farmers
of that neighborhood. John Rexroad and his wife were members of the
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 3II
Baptist church. Afr. Rexroad formerly havinj^ been a deacon in that church,
and were hcl])riil in all i^ood ways in the early days of their community.
John Rexroad died at the old homestead in 1895, '^^ then being seventy
years of age, .and his widow survived him for ten years, her death occurring
in 1905. at the age of seventy-live. They were the parents of eight sons,
all of whom are still li\'ing. namely: William \V.. the immediate subject
of this biographical sketch; John A., familiarly known among his friends
as "J''^^'^'-" ^ prosperous building contractor at Ft. Worth, Texas; George
W., who lives at Long Beach, California; Benjamin S., a well-known build-
ing contractor of Hutchinson, this county; James M., a well-known farmer
of Center township, this county; Joseph S., a farmer, living in the neighbor-
hood of Gage, Oklahoma; Henry J., of Lincoln township, this county, and
Marion, a farmer at Goodwill, Oklahoma.
Being the eldest son, William W. Rexroad was his father's "right-hand
man" during his boyhood, beginning at an early age to help out in the w^ork
of the farm, and his schooling back in his (^Id Virginia home consequently
was much neglected. He was eighteen years of age when the family came
to Reno county in 1873 and he at once became an active participant in the
labor of preparing the homestead tract for habitation, remaining at home
until 1880, in which year he bought a quarter of a section of unimproved
land in Center township, wdiere Charles D. Evans now lives, and proceeded
to improve the same. Early in the year 1886 he married and established
his home on that farm, making the same his home until 1890, in which year
he sold the place to advantage and for a time thereafter lived on the fami
of his brother, George.
In 1900 Mr. Rexroad bought the unimproved southwest quarter of sec-
tion 34, in Lincoln township, and has ever since made his home there. He
has done ver}- well in his farming operations and in 1907 erected his present
fine farm house, one of the best in the neighborhood, and the year following
built the large barn which is the center of quite a cluster of well-kept farm
buildings, the home plot being situated on the crest of a gentle knoll, com-
manding a fine view of the whole of the Ninnescah \'allev to the south. In
addition to successfully farming his own quarter section, Mr. Rexroad is
the lessee of the (piarter section adjoining on the south, which latter tract he
devotes wholly to grain farming. Mr. Rexroad is public-spirited in his
general relations to the community, progressive and up-to-date in his methods
as a farmer and is recognized as one of the most substantial citizens of that
part of the county.
312 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
On I''el)niary 26, 18S6, William \\\ Rexroad was united in marriage
to Minnie j. Bailey, who was Ixini in Iowa, and to this nnion six children
have been born, as follow: Lottie, born on April 13, 1S87, who married
C'harles Terry and lives in Hutchinson; Raymond, January 17, 1889, who
married Ida Montgomery and is now farming in Missouri; Carl N., Septem-
ber 3, 1896, now (1915) a student in the college at McPherson; John
Edward, May 31, 1S98, also a student at McPherson College; Ruth, Janu-
ary 12, 1902, and Hazel. July 16, 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Rexroad are mem-
bers of the Church of the Brethren, commonly called Dunkards, Mr. Rex-
road being a deac6n in llie church, and are among tlie leaders in all local
good works, being held in high regard throughout that community. Mr.
Rexroad was a Republican until the campaign of 19 12, since which time he
has I~een an "independent," A\ith Democratic leanings. He takes a Avann
interest in civic affairs and supports such candidates for office as in his esti-
mation are best fitted for the proper performance of the duties of the public
life.
HON. F. C. FIELD.
Hon. F. C. Field, former state senator from this district, a well-known
real-estate dealer at Pretty Prairie, this county, and for many years a mer-
chant of that thriving little city, is a native of Michigan, having been born
in \'an Buren county, that state, on July 16, i860, son of O. H. and Rhoda
( Patterson) Field, the former a native of Michigan and the latter of Canada,
who came to Kansas in the earh' sex'cntics and became pioneers of Reno
county.
O. H. Field, an honored veteran of the Ci^•il War, who died at his home
in this county in 1878, was the sun of Cabin and Samantha (Stricklin)
k'ield. the former of whom was brirn at liataxia. New York, and the latter
at Salem, Massachusetts. In 1837, the year following their marriage, Calvin
I-'ield and his wife emigrated to J^Iichigan and established their home in Van
Buren county, that state, where they lj€came owners of considerable land.
In 1874 lie and his family moved from Michigan to Kansas and .settled in
Reno county, thus having been runong thr i)ioneers of this county, and here
Calvin b'ield and his wife spent tlu'ir ]a>t days. They were tlic i)arents of
nine children, those liesidcs Senator l'"icld"s father being Warren .\., Herbert
\\\. Florence E.. Estelle, Oscar, Allene and two died in infancy.
O. H. Field was reared on his parents" homestead farm in Michigan,
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 3I?
recei\in<4- his education in the schools of that neii^hborhood and became a
great reader and close student of affairs. He married Rhoda Patterson,
daughter of I^phraini Patterson and wife, natives of Ireland, who immigrated
to Canada and later moved o\er the border into Michigan, becoming pioneers
of the Ann Arl)or neighborhood. Upon the organization of the Republican
party (). PI. Field affiliated with that party and was an ardent supporter of
its principles until after the close of the war, when he became a Democrat.
When the Civil War l)roke out he enlisted for service in Company K, Twelfth
Regiment, iMichigan Volunteer Infantry, and served for nearly five years,
afterward being prominently connected with the Freedmen's Bureau. Dur-
ing his militar}'- service Mr. Field was taken prisoner by the enemy and for
a time was confined in Andersonville prison, later being transferred to Libby
prison, whence he v^-as exchanged. In 1876 he and his wife and their one
child, the subject of this biographical sketch, came to Kansas and located
in Reno county. Mr. Field took a timber claim in the Pretty Prairie section
and there he died in the following summer, April 19, 1878. His wndow
married, secondly, Frank Nelson, of Rush county, this state, and made her
home in the latter county the rest of her life, her death occurring on January
9, 1890.
F. C. Field was fifteen years old when he came to Reno county with
his parents. He had received an excellent common-school education, which
he supplemented by a course in Kilgore Business College. He spent two
years in Colorado, prospecting in the gold fields, and then returned to Reno
county, where he has made his home ever since. He became a farmer and
was thus engaged until his removal to Pretty Prairie in 1893, where he
engaged in the hardware business, in which he was actively engaged for
twenty years. In 19 13 he became interested in the real-estate business and
has since then ])een devoting his attention chiefly to that line. He has a very
pleasant home in Pretty Prairie and is besides the owner of a fine farm of
two hundred and sixty acres.
For years Senator Field has given close attention to the political affairs
of both county and state. He is a Democrat and in 1896 was elected senator
from the thirty-sixth senatorial district, comprising Reno, Pratt and King-
man counties. He was elected in 19 10 to the lower house of the assembl_v
and served one term.
On April 29, 1879, F. C. Field was united in marriage to Sarah A.
Hartman. who was born in Illinois on December 15, 1859, -daughter of
Amos Hartman and wife, who came to Kansas in the sixties and later came
to Reno county, and to this union seven children have been bom, namely :
314 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Jessie, who married M. Winfrey and lives at Big- Cabin, Oklahoma; Mabel
S.. who married J- J- Winfrey, a Ijrother of the above, and lives at King-
man, this slate: Clarence A., of this connty, who married Alberta Smith;
L'hcstcr v., of Pretty Prairie, ^\ ho married Alartha Soft; Edith, who mar-
ried A\'. \'. Criltilh ; Ralph \\'.. who married ]\[and Smith, a sister of the
wife of his brother, Claren.ce. and Oscar, who died in infancy. Senator
and Mrs. 1-^ield ha\"e twentv P'randchildren.
HERBERT C. HODGSON.
In the field of agricnltnre, Herbert C. Hodgson has attained a place of
honor in the communit}' in which he lives. He is a native of Reno county,
Kansas, having been Ijorn there September i, 1876, on the homestead granted
to hi> uncle, Thomas Hodgson, in 1872. Herbert C. Plodgson is the son
of \\'illiam and Ellen (Ware) Hodgson, the former of whom is a native of
Cumberland county, England, and the latter of Watertown, New York.
It is worthy of note that the house in which the subject of this sketch was
born was that in \\hich the famous English soldier, Captain Hodgson, known
for his services during the Indian Mutiny, was ushered into the world. The
grandmother of Herbert Plodgson was Rebecca (Smithson) Hodgson, a
cousin of the founder of the Smithsonian Institute of Washington, D. C.
The father of the subject of this sketch, wdio follo\vs the occupation of a
farmer, was prominent in the Civil War, where he had an active part in
twenty-three battles and fought under the most noted generals of that time.
'J'he common schools of his nati\'e state afforded Herbert C. Hodgson
his early educational advantages, and as a youth he Ijecame acquainted with
the simple duties of farm life. He assisted his father for a number of
years, after wiiich he rented a (juarter of a section of the home farm, which
he uses for independent farming. In 1903 he erected on the farm a modern
home, which forms the residence occupied by the suliject of this sketch and
his family at the present time.
The marriage of Herbert C. Hodgson to Maiy Pedgerwood. a native of
Green county, Indiana, wlicvv she was born in 1880, was solemnized on May
6. 1003. Mrs. IpKJgson is the daughter of Andrew and Emily Ledgerwood,
who came to Kingman county, Kansas, from Indiana, in 1884. Both par-
ents are deceased. Mrs. Plodgson has been reared to the duties of farm
life, and as a conseqtience adapts herself readily to all l)ranches of rural
RENO COTNTY, KANSAS. 3F5
and home economics. She hns dcxoted a great part of her time to the inter-
ests of pouUrw and has a ^inall section of the farm devoted exclusively to
the raising of I'iynionth Rock chickens. Two children horn to Mr. and
Mrs. Hfxlgson are Grace and I^'orest. In ])olitical affairs Mr. Hodgson sup-
ports the principles of the T\ei)ul)]ican i)art\', and takes a li\-e interest in local
elections.
CHARLES A. LAMBERT.
Charles A. Lambert, a well-known and progressive farmer of Roscoe
township, this county, clerk of that township and proprietor of a w-ell-kept
farm of two hundred acres in the Pretty Prairie neighborhood, is a native
of Iowa, having been 1>orn on a farm in Lee county, that state, April ii.
1871, son of J. A. and Alice (Schooley) Lambert, the former a native of
Kentucky and the latter of Iowa, pioneers of Reno county, who are still
living in this county on their fine farm of two hundred and eighty acres in
Roscoe towmship, the highway separating their home from that of their
eldest son. the subject of this biographical sketch.
J. A. Lambert born in Murphy county, Kentucky, August 14. 1847, ^^^
of Robert and Anna (Scott) Lambert, the former of wdiom also was born
in that state and the latter in Tennessee. Robert Lambert was the son of
Charles and Phoebe ( Westerfield) Lambert, who left their home in Muqjhy
county. Kentucky, in 1854, and moved to low^a, thence to Missouri, tlieir
last days being spent in Clark county, that state. Robert Lambert continued
farming in Kentucky for some years after his marriage to Anna Scott, who
was the daughter of C. C. Scott, a wealthy slave owner, wdio had plantations
both in Tennessee and Mis.souri and later moved to Lee county, Iowa, where
he and his wife spent their last da}-s. They were members of the Christian
church and their children were reared in that faith. There were seven of
these children, of whom J. A. Lambert is the eldest, the others having l)een
C. W., James, C. D., Sarah, Margaret and Lydia. Robert Lambert died
on Januarv 18, 1879, and his widow survived him many years, her death
occurring on March i, 1905.
J. A. Lambert w^as reared in Lee county, Iowa, and received his educa-
tion in the district school in the neighborhood of his home there. His par-
ents were struggling to make their Iowa homestead profitable and at the
early age of ten he began to contribute to the family support. Being the
eldest child he was of large assistance to his father in the work of the farm
3l6 REXO COUNTY, KANSAS.
and was early inured to a life of toil. On October i8, 1853. he married
Alice Schooley, ^\■llo was born in Ohio, daughter of John and Edith (O'Neil)
Schoolev, natives of Maryland, who later moved to Indiana, settling- in the
neigh Ix)rhood of Indianapolis, where they fanned for some years, later
mii\ing to Iowa, where they pre-empted eighty acres in Lee county, low^a.
In 1884 J. A. Lambert and family moved from Iowa to Kansas, settling in
this county on a farm in Roscoe towmship, where Mr. Lambert and his wife
still make their home, though now living alone, all their children having
married and made homes of their own.
For some time after coming here J. A. Lambert left the direction of
the farm to his eldest son. Charles, w^ho, with his brothers, farmed the place
while their lather was working on the railroad and in the brickvard at Kinp--
man, his wages from that source supporting the family until the farm w^as
brought under profitable cultivation. Mr. Lambert presently engaged
somewhat extensively in cattle raising and prospered, he now being the
nwner of a nne fann of two hundred and eighty acres, on wdiich he lives
practically retired from the active duties of the farm. To J. A. Lambert
and wife eight children have been born, of whom the subject of this sketch
is the eldest, the others being Robert, who died in infancy; Alma, wdio died
when nine years old; Oscar ]\I.. Edith. Erank, Elizabeth and Andy.
Charles A. Lambert was about tw^elve years old wdien he came to this
county with his parents and his schooling was completed here. He w^as his
father's mainstay in the work of developing the farm and in due time shared
in the prosperity that marked the operations on the home fami, becoming
the owner of his present fine farm of tW'O hundred acres adjoining that of
his father in Rcjscoe tow^nship, upon which he established his home at the
time of his marriage in 1900. He erected a fine new house in 1907 and he
extensively engaged in raising Shorthorn cattle and is regarded as one of thi;
sulistantial farmers of his community.
On March 7, 1900, Charles A. Lambert was united in marriage to Alice
Hem])hi]l, who was born in b'ord cnuiity, Illinois, on March 5, 1871. daugh-
ter of John and Sarah (Hutchison) lleni]jhill. the former of whom was
Ixjrn in Ohio and the latter in Pennsylvania, daughter of James and Xancy
(I'Yazer) Hutchison. John Hein])hill was married in Ohio, later moving to
LaSalle, Illinois, thence to Paxton, same state, where he and his family lived
for fifteen years, at the end of which time, in 1870, he moved to Kansas,
pre-empting a tract of land in this county, where he and his wife spent the
remainder of their lives, his death occurring on April 4, 1889, and hers.
April 20. 1903. To John Llemphill and wife eight children were born:
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. '317
Fannie, Frank. Josiah, I<^llen, Ilowanl, Watson. Alice and Anna, all of
whom are li\ing- save the first-i)()rn.
To Charles A. and Alice (Hemphill) Lamhert one child has heen horn,
a daughter, Lola V., horn on November 21, 191 t. They are nieml^ers of
the United Presbyterian chnrch. in which he has been elder for ten years,
and in the \arious beneficences of which they take a warm interest, and are
likewise properly interested in the various social activities of their neighbor-
hood. Mr. Lambert ever has taken a proper interest in the civic affairs of
his community and has served the public in the capacity of township clerk.
He is a Democrat and a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.
JAMES MILLS.
The subject of this sketch came to Reno county in 1873. Settling on
a homestead in Little River township he endured the hardships incident to
pioneer days, passed with fortitude through the lean years which afflicted
the early settlers, acquired a large estate, and is now comfortably situated
in his pleasant home in Yoder township.
James Mills was born on October 6, 1850. at North Kingston, Rhode
Island, the son of George and Ruth (Northrup) Mills, both of whom were
born in Rhode Island, the former of English and the latter of Scotch
descent. The father of George Mills was a soldier during the War of 181 2.
He lost his life when a United States war vessel was sunk in 181 3. George
Mills was bom in 1S14, a few months after his father's death. Grand-
mother Mills was married a second time and went to Ohio where she secured
a land grant for her husband's war services. George Mills had an elder
brother, Varnum. who lived and died in New York City.
George Mills was born in Newport. Rhode Island, but grew up in the
citv of Brooklyn. New "^"ork. Lie had to shift for himself from the time he
was a small boy. Lie worked in a drug store and became a pharmacist, and
later was employed on the police force at Newport. Rhode Island. George
Mills was a member of the Baptist church and his wdfe was a Methodist.
He died in i8q6. at the age of eighty-two years, and his wife died in 1899.
at the age of seventy-eight. To George and Ruth (Northrup) ]\Iills were
born eight children, three of whom came to Kansas, namely: George, who
lives in McPherson county, entered a homestead there in 1875; Charles.
3l8 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
deceased, once liw'.l in this state but went l)ack East; James, the subject of
this sketch, was the fcnrtli cliild l;(irn tn bis parents.
James Mills secured a good elementary education in the common schools
in Xorth Kingston, Rhode Island, after which he worked as a farm hand
near his home tnwn. Tn 1873 lie came to Reno county, this state, and set-
tled on a (|uarter secti'^n liomestcad in Little River township, in section 2,
township 22. range 4 west. His l)rother, Charles, came to the county soon
afterward and took a pM-e-emption nearby. James ^^lills built a small house,
twelve 13}- fourteen feet, and lived on the homestead until 1890. He was
married in 187S, and prospered during the earlv years of his residence in
this county, presently being the owner of six hundred and eighty acres of
land.
In i8()o James Alills moved to Lincoln township and bought eighty
acres in section 7. where he li\-efl until 1905. He then bought one hundred
and twenty acres adjoining, to which farm he moved and where he still
makes his home. ]\lr. iNIills also bought four hundred and eighty acres in
section i, in Lincoln township, and now owns six hundred and eighty acres
in all. He feeds a small herd of cattle each year, but devotes his attention
chietiy to grain farming.
On October i, 1878, James iNIills was married to Julia E. Hobson, who
was born in Campbell county, Kentucky, the daughter of Benjames James
and Mary h^lizabeth (Watson) Hobson, native of A'irginia and Maryland,
respectively, who were married in Washington. D. C.
Benjames J. Llobson was a machinist by trade and located on Licking
river, in Campbell county, Kentuck}-, \\here he operated a saw-mill. Erom
there he went to Covington, Kentuck\-. and conducted a large distillery for
a few years. In 1872 lie brought his family to Reno county, and took up
a timber claim in section 2. in Little River townshi]). Mr. Hobson made
an unsuccessful attempt at rai.sing peppermint, but found the climate unsuited
to that crop. Leaving his family in Kansas he went back to Kentucky to
secure employment, but soon returned to this state. Later he had charge
of a distillery at Peoria. Illinois, for a number of years. Benjames J. Hob-
son was born on Xovember 3, 1828. He now makes his home with his son-
in-law, Mr. Mills. Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Hobson died in 1.902, at the age
of sixty-eight years.
James and Julia E. (Hobson) Mills were the parents of eight children,
as follow: Edith, who was born in August, 1880, was assistant of an
Indian school in Xew ^lexico, and is now li\-ing at home; Louie, who was
bom in 1882. married Walter Duncan and lives on part of her father's farm
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. JIQ
in >'oflcr townslii]); flcnj.'uncs ]., wlio was lioni in AujT;ust, 1884, is a farmer
in Oklahoma; (icorge, wlio was horn in October, 1886, is a macliinist; PVed,
who was Iiorn in Alarch. 1880, married Lois Wilson and lives on the home
farm in Lincoln township ; David, horn in l*\'I)rnar\-, 1895; '\"l'(-"i't, horn in
L"cl)rnary. i8()7, and Ueha. l)orn in December, 1904, are at home.
Mr. Mills usually suj^ports the Republican ])arty in national issues, but
is an inde]>endent in local atTairs. preferring the man l)est suited for the
office regardless of party. He is always found ready to support anv measure
calculated to promote the ^^■clfare of the county, and has served as a member
of the school board. He is a member of the Ancient Order of United
Workmen. Mrs. Julia Mills is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Tames Mills has had no small i^sart in introducino- modern farmiu": methods
into this section, and his success has jjeen a valuable example in the com-
munity. Mr. and Mrs. Mills have many friends among whom thev are held
in high esteem.
BARCLAY L. JESSUP.
Barclay L. Jessup, cashier of the .State Bank of Abbyville, this county,
and one of the leaders in the financial and commercial life of that part of
the county, is a native Hoosier, but has been a resident of this county ever
since he was nine years old and mav therefore be looked upon as an "old-
timer" hereabout. He was born near the city of Greenfield, in Hancock
county, Indiana, October t, 1877, son of J. B. and Elmira (Ferrin) Jessup,
the former of whom was born in that same county and the latter in the
city of Indianapolis, Indiana, who for years have made their home in the
western part of this county.
J. B. Jessup w^as engaged in the lumber business in Indiana, which he
sold and moved to Kansas in the fall of t886 and settled at Peace Creek in
Iveno county, whence, after a short time he moved on to Colorado, but in
1888 returned to Reno county and bought a farm near Sylvia, in the w-estern
part of the county, where he has ever since made his home, being engaged
in general farming and stock raising. Lie is a member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows and he and his wife are active members of the United
Brethren church. They are the parents of three children, of w^hom the
subject of this sketch is the eldest, the others being Marion and \^ictor.
Barclay L. Jessup was about nine years old when he came with his
parents from Indiana to Reno county and his schooling was continued in
320 . RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
the Syhia schools, upon completing the course at which he began teacliing
school, later attending the normal school at Salina, after which he taught
another term of school and then took a course in the business college at
Kansas City. The following fall he put out a crop of wheat and then
entered the employ of a merchant at Hutchinson, for whom he clerked until
the first of January, 1900, when he entered the State Bank of Sylvia as a
bookkeeper and was thus engaged for two years and nine months, at the
end of which time he went to Denver, Colorado, wdiere for a time he was
engaged as reporter for the International Mercantile Agency. He then was
given charge of a supply store in the Clear Creek, gold-mining district of
Colorado, and remained there eight months, at the end of which time he was
called back to Reno county as cashier of the State Bank of Abbyville, which
position he has held e\er since. Mr. Jessup entered upon his duties as
cashier of the bank on September i, 1903, and since then has come to be
regarded as one of the leading bankers and business men of that part of the
countv. He also has extensive farming interests in this county and is secre-
tary and one of the directors of a telephone company.
In 1909 Barclay L. Jessup was united in marriage to Alma Curnutt,
and to this union two children have been born, Ruth and Frieda. Mr.
Jessup is a Republican and is a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellow
fraternities, in the affairs of which organizations he takes a warm interest.
\\1LLIAM R. CROW.
William I\. Crow, the son of Isaac and Mary A. (Calvert) Crow, was
born in Harriettsville, Noble county, Ohio, on Alay 24, 1870. Isaac Crow
was a farmer and stock raiser and came to Reno townsliip in 1889 where he
accumulated eight hundred and ten acres of land in sections 17 and 19. In
1900 he retired from active life and moved to Hutchinson where he died at
his home, 1217 Eleventh avenue west, in TO04. Isaac Crow was a native
of Harriettsville, Ohio. Mary A. (Calvert) Crow was born in r.elmont
County, Ohio, and is still living at 106 Ninth avenue east, Hutchinson. Mr.
Crow was a member of the Ancient Free and -\ccepted Masons and he and
his wife were active members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
To Isaac Crow and wife were born the following children : William R.,
Lcola Dell, Edwin G.. Elizabeth, the wife of E. F. Danford; George L. and
Otis H.
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RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 321
William R. Crow was educated in the district school of X(jble county,
Ohio, and in Reno county, Kansas. Jtle came to Reno county in i.SS(j with
his father and engaged in farming and stock raising. In 1892 he Ixjught the
southeast quarter of section 24, township 23 south, range 7 west, which liad
been homesteaded by J. D. Langlois. Mr. Crow sold the place, when he
removed to ?Iutchinson, in 1896, to engage in the cattle and hog business.
He now lives at 1300 South ]\)plar street, \\here he owns a fine home rmd
seventeen acres of land.
Mr. Crow and his sons are engaged in the cattle and the hog business
under the lirm name of William R. Crow & Sons. They make a specialty
of breeding the very best Duroc-Jersey hogs and their success has been most
satisfactory. The two sons, Philip Ladd and Francis Luther ha\e added
greatly to the success of the business. The industry was started ])ut fourteen
years ago on a very small scale. While Mr. Crow was working in a creamerv
he purchased a few hogs and developed them mostly on buttermilk. Under
the careful care of Mrs. Crow the hogs thrived and in time some of them
were exhibited at the county fair, but no ribbons were won. The showing
made at this time encouraged both Mr. and Mrs. Crow and they determined
to purchase some of the very best hogs that it was possible for them to get.
Having made the decision, Mrs. Crow went to Wichita and purchased a pair of
Durocs from J. U. Howe for one hundred dollars, which was as much as
they could afford to invest at that time. The next fall they won one hun-
dred and twenty dollars in premiums. In 19 13 their hogs won a silver
trophy at Hutchinson, at the state fair, being the best young herd of Durocs.
\n 19x4 thev won a solid sih-er pitcher for best young herd; in i(}i5 they
won sih'er medals at Topeka and at Hutchinson. The prizes were all valued
at from seventy-iive to one hundred dollars each and were gi\en I)}' the
National Duroc-Jersey Record Association. In T915 the state of Kansas had
selected the herd l^elonging to Mr. Crow for exhibition at the San Francisco
exposition, but owing to the outbreak of the "foot and mouth" disease that
year they were not allowed to transport them.
On May 4. 1892, William R. Crow was united in marriage to Minnie
Eisiminger, the daughter of Harvey Eisiminger and wife. Mrs. Crow was
a native of Broadwell, Illinois, where she was born on October 5, 1870. To
this union one son was born, Harvey, who was born on !\Iarch 18, 1893. He
is a graduate of the business college at Hutchinson and at present is a book-
keeper for the Arlington Hardware Com];any, at Arlington.
On November 25, 1897, William R. Crow was united in marriage at
(21a)
322 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Hutchinson, to Gertrude Phillips, the daughter of WilHam and Helen A.
(Root) Phillips. Mrs. Crow was a native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, where
she was born on February 24, 1871.
William Phillips was born in Leroy, New York, and came to Kansas
in 1875 and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres in Lincoln township.
He later sold this place and removed to Kalamazoo county, Michigan, where
he engaged in farming until his death in 1885. Mr. Phillips was a veteran
of the C'wW War. having hrst enlisted in Xew York and served two years,
after which he enlisted at Kalamazoo and served until the close of the war.
Helen A. (Root) Phillips was a native of ^Michigan, where she lived for
many years. In 1886 after the death of her husband, William Phillips, she
came to Kansas, where she homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land
and where she lived for three years. She later sold the place and moved to
Plutchinson. In 1898 she was united in marriage to B. H. Pickett, a farmer
of Clay township and they resided at their home in this township until her
death on March 2, 191 6.
The brothers and sisters of Gertrude Crow are as follow : Nellie, the
wife of George E. Reed; Christa, the wife of James McMullin ; Margaret,
who died at the age of four; Lotta, the wife of George Chesbro ; Louie, the
wife of Aaron Phelps, and Blanche, the wife of C. V. Wilson.
Tn William and Gertrude Crow ha\e been born the following children:
Philip Ladd. born on January 11, 1899; Francis Luther, August 4, 1900;
Mary, February 5, 1905; Fdward Rol^ert, June 7, 1909; Catherine Alberta,
.April 7. 191 1, and Josephine Elizabeth, ]\Iarch 15, 1915.
REV. DUDLEY DENTON AKIN, D. D.
The Rev. Dudley Denton Akin. D. D., superintendent of the Hutchin-
son district of the Methodist Episcopal churcli and for many years one of
the best-known and most influential ministers of the gospel in the state of
Kansas, is a native of Kentucky, having been born in the town of Lancaster,
that state. Fel)ruary if). 1844, son of Jo.seph and Josephine (Woodrufif)
Akin, both natives of that same .state, the former born in 1814 and the latter
in 1822.
Joseph Akin was a merchant tailor at Lancaster and spent In's last days
there, his death occurring in April. 1846. Flis widow .survived Inni many
years, her death occurring at the home of her son, the subject of this sketch.
RliNO CUUNTY, KANSAS. 323
at Lyons, Kansas, on March jo, 1894. Joseph Akin was a Methodist and
his wife was a Presbyterian. They were the parents of four children, of
whom Doctor .\kin is now tlie only survivor, the others having been as fol-
low : Elizabeth, who married bVank Hopkins, a hotel keeper at Halifax,
Nova Scotia, now deceased; Joseph, who was a printer at Port Gibson, Missis-
sippi, and Josephine, who married John Davis, a farmer, of Sulphur Well,
Jessamine county, Kentucky, now deceased.
Dudley D. Akin was reared at Lancaster, Kentucky, receiving his ele-
mentary education in the "pay" schools of that place, supplementing the
same by a course in Professor Babcock's seminary there. Lie then began
clerking in the general store of Rochester & McNeil at Lancaster and was
thus engaged until he entered the service of the Union army at eighteen
vears of age. He enlisted on Augu.st 21, 1862, in Company A, Eleventh
Regiment. Kentucky Cavalry, under Colonel Riley, and served to the close
01" the war, a part of which service was performed under Colonel Holman
and jiart under Colonel Graham. He was mustered in at the old fair
grounds at Louisville, Kentucky, as a first serg'eant and served with that
rank throughout the war. l>eing mustered out at Camp Chase, near Colum-
bus, Ohio, on May 21, 1865. During this service Sergeant Akin partici-
pated in the battles at Creelsburg, Kentucky; Athens, Philadelphia, ]\Iays-
ville. Moss Creek and Knoxville, Tennessee, and helped pursue General
Morgan, the famous Confederate cavalry raider, through Kentucky, Lidiana
and Ohio and was one of the force of tw'enty which led the advance of two
hundred and forty under Major George W. Rue. when Morgan w-as cap-
tured near New Lisbon, Ohio. As amanuensis he wrote the draft of the
official report on the capture of Morgan, dictated by Majors Rue and Gra-
ham and Captain Pond. On May 12, 1864, wdiile attached to Sherman's
army, Sergeant Akin was captured by tlie enemy and for seven months w^as
held prisoner; four months in Andersonville prison and three months in the
l^rison ]3en at Florence. Alabama, l)eing one of the four members of the
s((uad of twentv-oiie captured with him wdio survived the terrible ordeal.
Sergeant Akin was not wounded during his period of service.
Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Akin returned to his
home in Kentucky and in the fall of 1865 w'as married. For six years
thereafter he w\as engaged in farming and then, feeling strong wdthin him
the call to the gospel ministry, entered Ayers Academy in Madison county,
Kentucky, and ])repared for the ministry. Following his ordination to
ser\ice in the Methodist Episcopal church he entered the itinerant ministry
3^4 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
in Fel)rnary 26, 187.2, and has e\er since 1)een acti\ely engaged in the service
of the chnrch. Doctor Akin recalls that for his first year's service he
received one hundred and seventy-five dollars, mainly in supplies of one
kind and an.othcr. He remained in the Kentucky conference, pastor of
churches at \''ancel)urg and at Covington, until the fall of 1880, when he
was transferred to the Kansas conference and ever since has labored in
behalf df Methodism in this state, a period of more than thirty-five years,
his whole period of consecutive and effective service on behalf of the church
being now more than fort}-f(nn- years, during which time his yearly salary
has averaged one thousand twd hundred and ninety-four dollars. During
his period of service in this state Doctor Akin has been pastor of churches
at Mcl'herson, Eldorado, tlutchinson (First church), Wichita (Emporia
avenue), Arkansas Cit\-, Lyons, Peabody, Marion and Sterling. In 1905
he received the appointment as district superintendent of the McPherson
district of the Southwest Kansas conference, in which position he served for
four years, at the end of which time he was appointed superintendent of the
Hutchinson district, which position he holds at this date. During this period
of superintendency Doctor Akin has raised in behalf of foreign missions the
sum of more than two hundred thousand dollars, exclusive of the amounts
raised b\" various local women's hom.e and foreign mission societies. He
h^s fifty churches under his sujiervision, to each one of which he makes
quarterly visits, besides such incidental calls as become necessary from,
time to time.
Doctor Akin's honorary tiile of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon
him I)\- the American University, Harriman, Tennessee, May 21, 1902. He
is a Freemason and a K'niglit Templar and a member of the Peabody post
of the Grand Army of the Rei)ul)lic and at one time served as chaplain of
the Dei)artment of Kansas of that patriotic organization. He is a Repub-
lican and has ever given a good citizen's attention to political affairs. II l-
owns a handsome home at 771 i Avenue A, East, in Hutchinson, besides
other valuable residence property in that city; a quarter of a section of land
in McPherson county, this state; real estate in Lewis, Kansas, and Manitou,
Colorado, and some land and town lots in Ze])hyr Hills and St. Cloud.
Florida.
On October 24. 1865. Dudley 1). Akin was united in marriage, in
Jessamine county, Kentucky, to Sarah E. Sagenser. who was l)orn in that
county in 1845. daughter of Flenry Sagerser and wife, and to this union
seven children were born, namely: J<)scphine, who married the Rev. E. J
RF.NO rOUXTY, KAXSAS. 325
IJari)er, an l'^pisc(i]!al minister at St Catherines, Canada; janics, a l;ook-
keei)er at Arkansas City, this state; Dndlev II., a ])Iumber and electrician at
Sacaton, Ariz(Mia; Merrill, a hnilding- contraetcM" at Shawnee, Oklahoma;
Elizabeth, whci married Ross Day and lives at Claremont, Calif(;rnia; Amos
S., a teacher of ijenmanship at San Dieg'O, California, and John T., a student.
The mother of these children died at Peabody. Kansas, I'^ebrnary 6, 1900,
'dv.d on l'cl)rnar}- 16, igoi, I )octor Akin married, secondly, Mrs. Belle
(Sanders) l\;indall, widow of the Rev. Mr. Randall, a Methodist minister,
which union was without issue. Mrs. IJelle Akin, who was I'orn at Martins-
burg, Ohio, lanuarv 22, 1853, died at Hutchinson, this county, September
26 iqt;. At th: aiMmal conference held in Wichita, March 8, 1916, Doctor
Akin was granted the retired relation at his own request.
WILLIAM MUELLER,, JR.
William Mueller, Jr., one of the most extensive landowners and wealthy
farmers in this county, being the owner of more than thirteen hundred acres,
and who also acts as manager for the large estate of his father, the latter of
whom is the owner of tweh e hundred acres of choice land in this county,
is a native of Illinois, having been born on a farm in Will county, that state,
January ij, 1874, son of William and Christina (Besta) Mueller, both
natives of Germany, the former born in Brunswick and the latter in Wal-
deck, who later became pioneers of this county and are still living on their
line estate in Haven township.
William Mueller was born in 1841 and grew up on a small farm in
Germany. When he was twenty-five years old he and his brother, Chris-
tian, emigrated to the United States and settled in Will county. Illinois,
where they found employment as farm hands. About that time there
arrived in that neighborhood a ]>arty of German girls who had come to this
country under the auspices of an immigration society, among whom was
Christian Besta, wlio secured domestic employment in a farm house nearby
the farm where \\'illiam Mueller was working. Not long thereafter Will-
iam Alueller and Christian Besta w-ere married and two or three years later,
in 1875, they and their baby son William, and Mr. Mueller's brother. Chris-
tian, came to Kansas, locating in Reno county. William Mueller, Sr.,
bought the northwest quarter of section 30, in Elaven township, and his
brother bought an eighty, but the latter presently sold his "eighty" to his
326 RENO COUXTY, KANSAS.
brother and rcturneil to Will county. Illinois, where he is still living, a
quite well-to-do fanner.
It was on that homestead tract, in Haven township, that William
jMueller, Sr.. and his wife laid the foundation for their present very sub-
stantial fortune. Both were industrious, frugal and willing, working toge-
ther to a common end and from the very start of their operations in this
county prospered. \\'illiam Mueller early went in somewhat extensively
for cattle raising and his operations in that line also prospered, he soon
becoming regarded as one of the most substantial figures in that part of the
county. As he prospered he added to his land holdings until he now is the
owner of twelve hundred acres of fine land in this county, besides eighty
acres of very fine irrigated land in Los Animas county, Colorado. He has
erected excellent buildings on his homestead farm in Haven township and
there he and his competent helpmate are now living, very comfortably sit-
city should be put on a cash basis and a sound financial footing, city orders
uated and practically retired from the active duties of the farm, twenty
vears ago having turned the management of the same o^"er to their only
son. William, the immediate subject of this biographical sketch, who, in the
meantime had been making as pronomiced a success of his farming opera-
tions as had his father. \\'illiam JMueller, Sr., is a Democrat and ever has
taken an earnest interest in local political affairs, but has not been included
in the office-seeking class. He and his wife are among the leading mem-
bers of the St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran church near Haven and he is
a stockholder in the Farmers Grain Company at Llaven. To him and his
wife one other child was born, daughter, Minnie, who married the Rev.
Ludwig Brauer, a Lutheran minister living near Herrington. this state.
The junior W^illiam Mueller was a babe in arms, about one year old,
when his parents came to this county, in 1875, ^^^<^1 ^^^ "''^y "^'^^y properly
thus be regarded as one of the pioneers of Reno county, though still a
comparatively young man. Tn his boyhood he was inured to hard labor, for
his parents were poor then and his assistance was needed in the difficult
labors of develo])ing the homestead farm. He attended the 'Sit. Liberty
school, district Xo. 109, in Llaven townshi]^, during the winters of his
youth and later, when his father began to grow i)rosi)erous. was given the
advantasre of a course in Waller College (Lutheran) at St. Louis, Mis-
souri, v.-hich he supplemented l)y a course in the Southwestern Business
College at Wichita, this «;tate. To this he continually added a study of the
latest and most approved methods of scientific agriculture and early equipped
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 327
himself for the duties of managing his father's large estate. After his mar-
riage, in 1896. the management of the farm was turned over to him and
he ever since has had charge of his father's farms, making his home in a
very comfortable house not far from the parental home on the old home-
stead. In his own affairs he has prospered largely, having gradually added
to his personal land holdings until he now is the owner of thirteen hundred
and thirty acres of land, including a farm of five hundred and twenty acres
in Ford county, this state; a farm of three hundred and twenty acres in
Gove county, this state; one hundred and seventy acres near Anness, in
Sedgwick county; a quarter section in Clay township, this county, and a
quarter section in Haven township. In addition to his general farming he
has gone in somewhat extensively for hog raising and does a big business
in that line. He owns a couple of fine automobiles and rides around among
his farms directing the operation of the same, doing everything on a large
scale. Mr. Mueller is backed by sufficient personal capital to enable him to
buv large quantities of grain and hold the same for a rise in the market,
having realized considerable profit from time to time by such procedure,
long haxing been regarded as one of the most enterprising and energetic
farmers and ranchmen in the county.
On July 30, 1896, William IMueller, Jr., was united in marriage to
Johanna Meissner, who was born in the province of Holstein, Germany,
daughter of Louis and Mary Meissner, who came to the United States
when their daughter, Johanna, was eight years old and located in Haven
township, this county, where Louis Meissner died in 1893 S-'^d where his
widow is still living. To Mr. and Mrs. Mueller three children have been
born, Meta, born in 1897; Walter, 1899, and Arnold, 191 1. They are
members of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran church and are liberal sup-
porters of all worthy causes looking to the advancement of the common
welfare hereabout.
C. W. CLAYBAUGH.
C. W. Claybaugh, editor of the Pretty Prairie Times, was born in
Trenton, Missouri. March 13, 1876. He is the son of C. M. and Lavina
(Turk) Claybaugh, natives of Indiana.
C. M. Cla^'baugh was for many years a traxeling salesman for a nur-
sery companv and made his home at Trenton, Missouri, until three years
before his death, when he removed to Nickerson, Kansas, where he died
^^28 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
ill December. 1913. Mrs.. Clayban^h died in Ji^ily. tqti. They were the
parents of the following children: Gertie, now deceased, was the wife of
C. A. Beck, an artist of New York City; Grace is the wife of J- H. Drake,
of Xickerson; JNIae married \\'. H. Wiseman, of Des Moines, Iowa; C. W.
is the subject of this skctcli ; Winnie, deceased, and Bessie, who died at the
age of nineteen }-ears. At the age of seventeen, C. AI. Claybaugh enhsted
in the Union arniv and served for three months during the Civil War. At
his death he was gi\en a military burial at Nickerson.
C. W. Claybaugh received his education in the common and high school
of Trenton, Missouri, and soon after completing- his education he began
working for himself. On June 18, 1899, ^e was married in New York City
to Lenore Travis, a native of Missouri and the daughter of Dr. K. W.
Travis, who still resides at Spickards, Missouri.
To Mr. and Mrs. Claybaugh have been born two children : Kelly W.,
born on July 12. 1901, and Charles W., December 2, 1903. For seven
years the family were residents of New York City, where Mr. Claybaugh
was engaged in the portrait enlarging business. In 1908 the family re-
moved to Missouri, where they remained until 19 10, when they again
Ijecame residents of New York City, where Mr. Claybaugh had a position
as operator of a mo\'ing picture show and foreman in a printing office on
Long Island. After remaining there two years the family 1:)ecame residents of
.\tlantic, Iowa, where Mr. Cla}'baugh was foreman in the office of the Dailv
Telegraph. On July 15, 1913, the family became residents of Pretty Prairie,
where Mr. Claybaugh had purchased the Times, \vhich paper had been estab-
lisherl 1)y Percy Torrey on August 15, 1910.
JACOB L. SIEGRIST.
Jacob L. Siegrist, one of Reno county's most progressive and substantial
farmers, who has l^een a resident of this county since the spring of 1876, thus
being accounted among the pioneers of the county, is a native of Illinois,
having been lx)rn on a farm near the town of Trcniont, in Tazewell county,
that state, on August i, 1850. son of John and b^lizabeth (Yontz) Siegrist,
both lx)rn in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, of Pennsylvania-Dutch stock,
their respective families having been represented in iliat ci immunity for more
than two hundred years.
John Siegrist was born on January 18. 1823, son of Christian and Hettie
^^"■^^^^ ^/.-c^^yi^U^ \^ /7-^/^
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 329
Siegrist, members of the Mennonite church and well-to-do farming people of
Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, both meml^ers of old I'ennsylvania-Dutch
families that had long been resident thereabout. lie grew up on the paternal
farm and on April 24, 1848, married Elizabeth Yontz, then eighteen years
of age, who was liorn in that same county on February 12, 1831, daughter
<if Jacol; and b^annic Yontz, both of Swiss descent, l)ut whose families had
been so long represented in the Lancaster county settlement that they were
firmly merged in the common Pennsylvania-Dutch stock there and who were
Lutherans in their religious persuasion. Immediately after their marriage
John Siegrist and his bride started for the prairies of Illinois, determined
to make, for themselves a home in that then remote country. They pro-
ceeded by boat from Pittsburgh to St. Louis and thence up the Illinois river
to Tazewell countv, where John Siegrist bought a quarter section of "Con-
gress la'nd" at one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre, and there, in the
Tremont neighborhood, almost the exact center of the county, they proceeded
to make their home. At that time their nearest neighbor was two miles
distant and the dread fever and ague which then were so prevalent throughout
all that new country for a time made their lives miserable, but they were
stout-hearted and gradually overcame the difficulties which confronted them
during the pioneer stage of their life there and eventually prospered and had
a fine farm, rearing their children amid plenty and comfort ; but it was nine-
teen years before Mrs. Siegrist was able to make a visit back to her old home
in Pennsylvania.
In 1876 John Siegrist's attention began to be attracted to the glowing
reports at that time emanating from this favored section of Kansas and he
and his eldest son, Jacob L., the subject of this sketch, came to Reno county
to look the land over. Mr. Siegrist contracted for four sections of land
here, with the expectation of engaging largely in the l)usiness of cattle rais-
ing, and, leaving his son here, returned to Illinois, where he closed -up his
affairs, selling his Tazewell county farm for forty dollars an acre, and he
and the other members of his family came to Reno county to establish a new
home. Upon arriving here Mr. Siegrist had fifteen thousand dollars a\-ail-
able for investment. He changed his mind about buying a great cattle range
and, instead, decided to go in for wheat raising. He bought the southwest
quarter of section 22, township 23, range 6 west, in Reno township, and a
full section of school land in Salt Creek township. In 1877 he built a fine
frame house on his Reno township cpiarter and later bought another quarter
section adjoining. His house then was one of the best in this county and is
still a fine country home. During the first four years of his residence here
330 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Mr. Sie^rist lost practically all liis crops due to the droughts of those years,
but presently began to prosper and became one of the most substantial farm-
ers in the county. He paid much attention to the raising of hogs and is said
to have shipped four of the best carloads of hogs ever sent out of this county.
j^.Ir. Siegrist Avas a strong, robust man and retained his vigor and interest in
affairs right up to the closing days of his life, his death occurring on August
15. 1907, at the age of eighty-five years. His widow is still living on the
old home place, the farm now being under the management of their eldest
son, Jacob L., the subject of this sketch.
To John and Elizabeth (Yontz) Siegrist seven children were born,
namely: Jacob L., of whom further mention will be made later; Mary, who
married George Spangenberger and lives on a farm in Reno township ; Abra-
ham, a former well-known Reno township farmer, who died in 1913; George
\\"., a prosperous grain merchant at ^^'hiteside, this county; Hettie, who
married William Hodson and lives at Herington, this state ; John Henry, who
died at the age of six months and two days, and Annie, who married Claud
Epperson and lives in Lincoln township, this county.
Jacob Siegrist received his education in the district school in the neigh-
borhood of his pioneer home in Tazewell countv, Illinois, and being the
eldest son was his father's mainstay on the farm. On April 14. 1876, he
then being twenty-six years old, he came to this county with his father seek-
ing a location. While his father returned home, preparatory to removing
to this county, Jacob L. Siegrist remained here, looking over the country, for
about a year, at the end of which time he. too, returned to his Illinois home
and there, on February 6, 1877, was united in marriage to Libbie A. Biggs,
who was l3orn in Hamilton county, Ohio, on February 22, 1853. daughter of
John and Serena Biggs, and then returned to this county with liis parents and
the others of the family when they came here in the early spring of that
same year. Upon locating permanentl}- in this county. Mr. Siegrist bought
one-fourth of the section of school land which his father had bought in Salt
Creek township and there made his home until 1902, in wliich year he
moved to his father's place in Reno townshij) to take the acti\e management
of the same, and there he ever since has made his home. During his resi-
dence in Salt Creek township he had added to his holdings there by the pur-
chase of an eighty-acre tract adjoining and ui)on moving to Reno township
bought a farm of one hundred and twenty acres adjoining that place and is
therefore quite a well circumstanced landowner. Mr. Siegrist is known as
an excellent farmer. He claims to have raised the first acre of alfalfa ever
produced on Reno county soil, now one of the county's chief crops, and also
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 33 I
brought to this cuunt}' the lirst large ICnghsh I'.erkshire hogs ever brought
here. For fourteen years he gave much attention to the ])reeding oi full-
bloocl Berkshires and did very mucii toward elexating the standard of liog
raising hereabout.
To Jacob L. and Libl}ie A. (Biggs) Siegrist hve children were 1)orn,
as follow: John H., born on November 14, 1877, a valuable assistant to his
father on the home farm; Myrtle, November 12, 1879, who married Byron
A. Eastman, a \vell-known farmer of Reno township, a biographical sketch of
whom is presented elsewhere in this volume; Arthur, July 3, 1881, who lives
on his father's farm in Salt Creek township; Alpha, June 9, 1887, a Reno
township farmer, and Wesley, May 16, 1894, who lives on a farm in Grant
township, this county. The mother of these children died on March 22,
Mr. Siegrist was a Republican but for the past twenty years has been
independent, and ever has given a good citizen's attention to political affairs,
but never has been a candidate for public office. Since he was twenty-one
years old he has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows
and ever has taken a warm interest in the affairs of that popular fraternal
organization.
HON. FRANK L. MARTIN.
The Hon. Frank L. Martin, for years a leader of the bar at Hutchinson,
former judge of the district court, tw-ice mayor of the city of Hutchinson
and member of the lower house of the Kansas General Assembly, generally
regarded hereabout as one of the best infomied and most learned lawyers
in this part of Kansas, is a native of Illinois, having been boni on a farm
in Hancock county, that state. March 15, i860, son of Gilbert and Eliza-
beth (Lee) Martin, both natives of Washington county, Indiana, the former
of wdiom died in 1869 and the latter of whom is still living, being now past
eighty years of age.
Gilbert Martin, member of one of the pioneer families of southern
Indiana, grew up on a farm in ^\^ashington county, that state, and was mar-
ried there, shortly after which he moved to Illinois and bought a farm in
Hancock county, where he spent the remainder of his life, being engaged
in the nursery and live-stock business. In 1863 he volunteered his services
as a soldier in the Civil War, enlisting in an Illinois regiment, but was taken
ill and three weeks later was honorably discharged on a physician's cer-
J,\J RKXO COUNTY. KANSAS.
tilicate <.)f disability. ITe was a Whig and later a Republican and he and his
wife were members ot" the ^lethodist Episcopal church, in which faith their
children were reared. Gilbert [Martin died in Deccniljer, 1869, ^^ the age
of thirty-six years, and his widow ne\'er remarried. In 1912 she sold her
farm in Hancock count\". Illinois, and mo\'ed to the city of Quincy, same
state, where she is now li\ing in a ripe old age. The Widow Martin was
born in Washington county. Indiana, in 1835, daughter of Richard Henry
Lee and wife, \'irginians, and early settlers in southern Indiana, the fonner
of whom was a member of the famous Lee family of Virginia. Gilbert
Martin and wife were the parents of seven children, namely: IMrs. Emma
Crawford, who lives at \\'est Point, Illinois; Frank L., the immediate sub-
ject of this biographical sketch ; Gilbert L. and Granderson, twins, the
former of whom is deceased and the latter a resident of West Point. Illi-
nois; James L., a well-known farmer of Reno township, this county; D.
LTerl)ert. manager of the bond department of the Fidelity Trust Company at
Kansas City. Missouri, and Mrs. Elizabeth Randall, who died in Thomas
county, this state.
Frank L. }.lartin grew up on the paternal farm in Hancock county,
lliin(;is. attending the district school in the neighborhood of his home dur-
ing the winters, the term in the same consisting of from sixty days to three
months. At eighteen years of age, when he entered the high school at
Bowen, the neighboring village, he realized that he had spent far more time
playing and having a good time at school than he had devoted to his books,
for he found himself in a class ^\•ith youngsters of from twelve to thirteen
years of age. who were far more advanced in their studies than he. Recog-
nizing the need of diligence in his studies, he buckled down to the task and
presently passed the examination for teachers and was licensed as a teacher
in the public schools. For five years thereafter he taught school, the last
year of this form of service, 18S4-85, having been engaged as principal of
the schools at Dallas City, Illinois. In the meantime, during the evenings
while engaged as a teacher and during the summer vacations. Mr. Martin
had been diligently aii])h-ing himself to the reading of law in the office of
Sharp &• Berry Brothers at tarthage, Illinois, and was admitted to the bar
on May 22. 1885, immediately following the close of his last term of .'school.
Thus e(|uiiiped for the practice of the profession to which he had devoted
liis life, Mr. Martin straightway came to Kansas, arriving in Hutchinson
on June i. 1885, and has since then made his home in that city, long having
been recognized as one of the leaders of the bar. not only there, but through-
out this entire section of the state.
KKNU COUNTY, KANSAS. 333
]'nv the lirst (lirc'c nioiitlis after locating at Mutchinson, Mr. Martin
occu]Me(l a de^k in the office of Ivicksecker & Chrisnian. lawyers, and then
he !)ecaine the junior ineniher of the lirni of Schehle, Vandeveer & Martin.
Three months later Mr. Scheble died and the firm continued as Vandeveer
& Martin. In 1887 Mr. Alartin married his partner's sister, the nuUnally
agreeable partnership between the two men thns becoming more firmly
cemented, N'andeveer & Martin continning in ])ractice together very siic-
cef-sfnlly nntil 1891, in which year judge Vandeveer moved to Kansas City,
after which Mr. Martin formed a new connection and was a member of
the firm of vSwigart, Martin & Crawford until he resigned from the firm
on January i, 1892. to enter upon the duties of judge of the district court
for the ninth Kansas judicial district, to which office he had been elected at
the preceding general election. For four years Judge Martin occupied the
bench of the district court and was re-elected, but after serving one year of
his second tenu resigned in order to re-enter the practice of the law, the
latter form of service offering a far more lucrative field than the bench.
Judge Martin then f(jrmed a partnership with John W. Roberts, under the
iirm name of Martin & Roberts, which was continued until in May, 1900,
when Mr. Roberts moved to Seattle, Washington. About that time George
A. Vandeveer returned to Hutchinson from New York City, where he had
l)een serving as chief counsel for the National Surety Company, having gone
from Kansas City to New York, and the old and profitable alliance of
Vandeveer & Martin was renewed and continued until Judge Vandeveer" s
tleath on August 3. 1907. Judge Martin then continued his practice alone
until in Julv, 1912. at which time he associated with himself in the practice
of the law his son, \^an Martin, then just home from law school with a well-
earned diploma, and since then the firm has been Martin & Martin. In
19 1 4 judge Martin was admitted to practice in the United States supreme
court. He has been engaged in some of the most noted lawsuits tried in the
courts of this part of Kansas and has a wide reputation as a practitioner
throughout the state.
During his many years of practice at Hutchinson, Judge ]\Iartin has
been one of the most active participants in the political affairs of the county
of anv man hereabout. An ardent Republican, he ever has been a leader
in the councils of that party in this county and in 1891 was chairman of the
convention that met to nominate a candidate of the Republican party for
the office of district judge. I-^or two days and two nights the convention
was in deadlock. It then becoming apparent that the deadlock could not be
broken, the several aspirants for the nomination agreed to the selection of
334 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
three men, one of whom sliould be made the nominee of the convention.
Under this arrangement, F. F. Prigg, of Hutchinson, received the nomina-
tion, but he dechned to accept and the convention was thereupon adjourned
to meet at Burton on September 31, following, the nomination going to ]\Ir.
^lartin in this latter convention. Never was a more strenuous or effective
campaign made in this district than that which followed his nomination and,
despite the fact that the Populists carried the state and local ticket that year,
Mr. Martin was elected by a plurality of three hundred and ninety-six votes
and was re-elected in the election of 1895. In 1901 Judge Martin was
elected mayor of the city of Flutchinson on a platform promising that the
at that time having been for some time heavily discounted in the banks.
This platform was so rigidly adhered to during the administration of Mayor
Martin that city orders were restored to par, and the city restored to its
former .sound tinancial rating. Such a course not unnaturally aroused much
opposition in certain quarters and Mayor ^Martin was defeated for the
nomination in 1903. but in 1909 he was again nominated and elected. The
city in the meanwhile had voted to adopt a commission form of government
and it fell to Mayor Martin's lot to organize the functions of local govern-
ment along these new lines. In the interim between his terms of office the
cit\- again had reverted to the old slipshod methods of government and city
orders again were away belo\v par. Mayor Martin's personal influence,
backed by his known financial stability, proved sufficient guaranty with the
banks of the city and funds were advanced with which to run the city
government for a period of nine months, by which time the mayor again
had restored the city's credit. I'nder the commission form of government
the term of mayor was fixed at three years, and after Mayor Martin had
Served one year of that term the city, by reason of growth of population,
had passed from the status of a city of the third class to a city of the second
class and it became necessary to hold a new election and Mayor Martin
declined to stand for re-election. In 1914 Judge Martin was elected repre-
sentative in the Legislature from the sevenl\ -fifth legislative district and his
services in the lower house of the General Assembly proved valuable to his
district and t'» the state at large.
In addition to his extensive practice and the performance of his official
duties, as the latter would arise. Judge Martin is a farmer of no mean
al)ility. being particularly well known hereabout as an apple grower, his fine
orchards on his model "Riversbanks Plantation" northeast of Hutchin.son,
in Clay township, being his particular pride and joy. This fine plantation
takes it? name from its original ov/ner. Rivers Banks, a Kentuckian, who
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 335
liomeste.'uled iliat tract in pioneer days. Judge Martin has owned the place
since 1902 and has given Iiis orchards. a great deal of thoughtful attention,
his [)r()lit on his ajiples alone last year having been more than his original
investment in the place. He has added to his original tract until he now
owns four luinch'cd acres in Clay and Medora townships, of which one hun-
dred and ten acres are planted in orchards, in addition to which he is the
owner of a tifteen-lumdred-acre ranch in Hayes township, stocked with fine
cattle.
On June 29, 1887, Frank L. Martin was united in marriage to Nellie
V'andeveer, of Hutchinson, who was born in the town of Pana, in Christian
county, Illinois, daughter of Aaron and Sarah (McWilliams) Vandeveer,
both natives of Illinois. .Aaron Vandeveer was a farmer and stockman, the
owner of about five hundred acres of land, who moved to Pana in order to
secure to his younger children the advantage of the schools and there he
and his wife spent their last days, his death occurring when he was fifty-
six years old and hers in 1903, she then being seventy years of age. They
were the parents of ten children, four of whom grew to maturity, as follow ;
George A., for years a prominent attorney at PTutchinson, former law part-
ner of Judge Martin, who (bed in 1907; Amanda, who married E. N. Mex-
field, a hotel proprietor at Great Bend, this state : Nellie, who married Judge
Martin, and Calvin B., who lives at Ashland, this state.
To Frank L. and Nellie (Vandeveer) Martin five children have been
born, namely: Van M., born on September i, 1888, who after his gradua-
tion from the Flutchinson high school attended the Salt City Business Col-
lege and then entered the Kansas State University, from the law depart-
ment of which he was graduated in 1912, since which time he has been
practicing law as a partner of his father, under the firm name of ]\Iartin &
Martin; Elizabeth, October 15, 1893, '^^'^^o married James Farley and lives
in Hutchinson; John Morrill, September 16, 1894, who after three years
at the State University of Kansas is now (191 5) a senior in the Washing-
ton State University; Clara, October 16, 1807, ^'^"^^^ Franklin L., March 12,
1903. Judge and Mrs. Martin are mejnbers of the First Presbyterian church
and are among the leaders in all good works hereabout, they and their
family being held in the highest esteem. Judge Martin is a member of the
Kansas State Bar Association and of the American Bar Association, in the
deliberations of which he takes an active interest and occupies a high place
in the regard of his associates at the bar. He is a member of the Ancient
Order of United V/orkmen and takes a warm interest in the afifairs of that
organization.
^^6 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
WILLIAAI HODGSOxX.
William Hodgson is a native of Cumberland comity, England, where
he was born on December 25, 1842. He is the son of Hetherington and
Rebecca (Smithson) Hodgson, both of whom were also natives of Cumber-
land county, England. It may be stated in connection with the name Smith-
son, that the first cousin of Mrs. Hodgson was the founder of the Smithsonian
Institute, of Washington, D. C.
Hetherington Hodgson was known in the county in which he was born,
as a master moulder in the "iron county" of England. He worked at his
chosen trade until 1837, when with his family he came to this country and
settled in Taunton, Bristol county, Alassachusetts, where he continued to work
along the lines of his trade until 1857, when he moved to Steele county,
Minnesota, where on a homestead in Deerfield township, he engaged in the
occupation of farming. This pursuit proved to be unprofitable, owing to
the conditions of that locality and period, and ]\Ir. Hodgson anticipating a
probable financial crisis, decided to turn his attention to another field of
activity and spent two years traveling through the A\>st and the Northwest.
During that time he established a number of foundries, the one at St. Paul
being the first foundry established north of Dubuque. Along the Mississippi
river as far as St. Paul he put up a number of moulding shops, from which
he received good wages. ^Ir. Hodgson passed away in 1877 ^^ the age of
seventy-four years. His wife died in 1861 at the age of sixty-three. The
couple attended the Universalist church, but were "free thinkers." Mrs.
Hodgson was a woman of broad education and for eleven years preceding
her marriage taught in the public schools of England. Mr. Hodgson was a
descendant of one of the most patriotic as well as notable families of Eng-
land. His uncle, Captain Plodgson, was prominent in the Indian Mutiny,
and durino- an uprising in India, he shot the Raiah of P)engal and also his
heir, and thus owing to the fatalistic belief of Hinduism, put an end to the
mutiny.
Mr. and Mrs. Hetherington Hodgson were the parents of the following
children: Richard, who became a prominent physician of Stoneham, Massa-
chusetts, died at the age of seventy-four years; Elizabeth, who became the
wife of Ezra Crandall, lived for a number of years in Steele county. Minne-
j^otp. where her death took place; William, the subiect of this sketch; lennie.
who was the first school teacher in Reno county, Kansas, died in TQ03 ; Heth-
erington. known as Harry, who was clerk of the first court of Reno county
MRS. WILLIAM HODGSON
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 33/
by appointment and later elected to the same office, was identified with stock
raising until the time of his death which he met in a train wreck near liillings,
Montana; Thomas, who resides in Middleboro, Massachusetts, is a well-
known physician, and formerly lived in Reno county, Kansas, where he
homesteaded a tract of land for his medical college funds and which he
later sold to his brother William; Mary became the wife of \V. J. Sponsler.
of Hutchinson, .and Sarah, the youngest of the family, died at the age of
twenty-two, on the farm in Reno county.
When William Hodgson was two or three years old his parents moved
from England to Massachusetts and later to Minnesota, where after olitain-
ing a meager education. William Hodgson went to work with his father on
the homestead. His brothers each received the advantages of a liberal edu-
cation but William was content to gain his experiences through contact with
the problems of farm life.
On October i, 1861, William Hodgson enlisted in Company E, Fourth
Regiment, Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, at Vt. Snelling, Minnesota, and
became color sergeant of the regiment. He fought under General Grant at
the battle of Shiloh, and had numerous thrilling experiences. The first
important battle in which the sul)ject of this sketch took part was at luka,
Mississippi, Septeml^er 19, 1862, this was followed by an overland expedi-
tion which had for its object the capture of Vicksburg. On March i, 1863,
Mr. Hodgson's regiment left Memphis with the Ross and Buford l)rigades
on the historic expedition to Yazoo Pass. A squad of cavalry with the
assistance of two gunboats and the ram "Tndianola" cut the levee on the
Mississippi side, just below Helena, Arkansas, from which point the expe-
dition was sent later, to form part of the army which captured A^cksburg.
During the campaign the regiment took part in the battles of Port Gibson.
Forty Springs, Jackson and Champion's Hill. In a charge at Mcksburg,
Company E was seriously crippled. Mr. Hodgson and one comrade being
the only members who were able to reach an advanced point in the forward
movement. At Vicksburg the Fourth Minnesota was held in reserve, but
seizing a chance to take his musket, the subject of this sketch joined the
attacking force, and had scarcely pulled down the heavy visor of his cap
when he received a wound in the forehead which rendered him unconscious
for two hours. His skull was slightly fractured, but after he regained con-
sciousness he again took part in the battle and after the middle of night he
was taken from the field, having first been passed by the relief assistants as
dead. After his recdvrry from the effects of the wound, Mr. Hodgson left
(22a)
338 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
with the members of his regiment for a four-hundred-mile march from i\Iem-
phis across the mountains to rehex'e General Thomas, who was shut up in
Chattanooga, besieged by the Confederate General Pemberton. On this
march the arm}- suffered some of its greatest losses, but was rewarded in the
end by the capture of one hundred and sixty-nine prisoners.
(^n March 20, iS(^. Mr. Hodgson was granted a veteran furlough of
thirty days and upon his return to the ser\"ice fought under General Sherman
on the march to the sea until the fall of Savannah. He also had part in the
hnal movement which resulted in Johnston's surrender, and took part in the
Grand Review w hich was held in Washington. At the fall of Savannah the
Fourth Minnesota was the first in line in Sherman's army to enter the city,
and was led liy the sul)ject of this sketch as color bearer of his regiment. Mr.
Hodgson was mustered out of service on July 19, 1865. He participated in
twenty-three battles, of which the one at Alatoona Heights, Georgia, seemed
to him the most severe.
At the close of the war the subject of this sketch returned to his home
in Minnesota, where, on the 8th of November, 1865, he was united in mar-
riage to Ellen Ware, a native of Xew York, and the daughter of Rev.
Thomas Ware, a Methodist minister, and Sophia (Mixer) Ware, both of
whom were pioneers of Steele county, ^Minnesota. Mr. Ware died in 1884,
and his wife, who was born in 1S19, passed away in 1896.
In 1866, Mr. Hodgson bought the farm owned by his father-in-law and
followed the occupation of farming for a year, when he decided to sell out
owing to the severe winters experienced in that locality. He bought forty
acres of land in Jasper county, Missouri, where he farmed until 1873, when
on the 14th (jf April he made his initial appearance in Hutchinson, Reno
county, Kansas. In Reno county his two l)rothers, Harry and Thomas, and
two sisters, Jennie and Mary, had built a house on the corner of four quarter
sections of land, where they had taken up a homestead claim on a full sec-
tion, or one square mile, in section 20, township 2t,, range 6 west. The
subject of this sketch bought out the interests of his two brothers in Reno
county, and still lives on the land purchased at that time, where he is known
as the oldest living settler in that part of the county.
In political affairs the subject of this sketch has always taken an active
part in Republican activities, and for one year was township trustee, and for
thirty years a member of the .school board, hi liis religious belief he is a
Spiritualist. Mrs. Hodgson died on May 5, kjo'i, at the age of sixty-three
years, after rearing a family of the following children : Minnie Rebecca, the
wife of Charles Theiss and a resident of Clay township. Reno county; Alice
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 339
and l^lla, who died when cliikh'cn ; l"".d\\ar(l, a ])hysician at Stnneham, Massa-
chusetts; llerhert ( "hirence, of whom an acc(junt is gi\cn on another j)age of
this \-ohinie. and W'ilHain T... a farmer of Reno townshi]). also mentioned
elsewhere in this work.
Mr. Hodgson has kept u[) a lively interest in the affairs of the Grand
Army of the Republic. He joined the organization at the time when the
;nembers were authorized to watch the movements ui the Klu Ivlux Klan, and
is a charter member of the Joe Hooker Post, at Hutchinson, Kansas.
ARTHUR F. PETERSON.
Arthur F. Peterson is a descendant of two families of Sweden. He
was born on January 2j^, 1879., in Clay township, Reno county, Kansas.
His father was Allman Peterson, wdio w^as a native of Elmhult, in the
central autl most fertile region of Sweden. He was born there on Febru-
ar\- 8, 184Q. When he reached the age of twenty-two years he took pas-
sage on a ship bound for America, determined to carve out his fortune in
the New World. On the same vessel w^as Swan Eskelson and his wife
with part of their family, one of whom, their daughter, Christine, w-as the
future wife of the young emigrant. She was born on January 9, 185 1.
They all arrived in Topeka. Kansas, and in the same year, 1871, Allman
I'eterson went on to Newton, where the Santa Fe railroad terminus was at
that time. He \vas for five years a foreman at the round-house there, but
at the end of that period he purchased eighty acres of railroad land in Clay
township. Reno county, it being the west half of the southeast quarter of
section 15. township 2;^, range 5 west. He later bought forty acres more
and on his property built a small shack, which, on being burned, was re-
placed l>y another more pretentious. In 19 13 he and his famih- left the
farm fcsr a residence in Hutchinson and there, on Julv 4, 191 5, Allman Pet-
erson was found dead in l)ed of heart trouble. His wife had preceded him,
December 2, 1909. The}- were both Lutherans and he was, in politics, a
Den:ocrat. He was noted for his success in stock raisino-. Their familv
consisted of Agnetta, the wife of J. F. Dodge, stock raiser of Earned, Kan-
sas; Oscar A., Iiorn on Ncn-ember 7, 1876, who married Mary Elizabeth
Penney, and resides on a farm in Clay tow nship ; Arthur F. ; Anton, who
is unmarried and a ])roken of Hutchinson; Hilma. the wife of R. D. Scher-
merhorn. of Hutchinson.
340 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Anliiir I', i^eterson received his education in the Okee district school
of Clay township, and in the Kansas State Normal. After working on the
farm for his father until T906 he was hrst cashier and later claim agent of
the \\"ells- Fargo Express Company at Hutchinson. In 1907 he and Fred
Forsha formed a partnership in the brokerage business. Two years later,
Mr. Forsha retired and the Peterson Brokerage Company was formed, with
Arthur P. and Anton as partners. Besides handling flour and all kinds of
merchandise they were agents for Annour & Company. In Jmie, 1914,
Anton Peterson took entire charge of the business and Arthur F. moved to
his father's farm. He is at present renting the farm of the heirs and car-
ries on general farming there. In 1913 he sold his interest in the two hun-
dred and forty acres in section 13. Clay township, which they had jointly
purchased in 1902. to his brother, Oscar A.
Perhaps his greatest interest lies in raising and training race horses.
He lias ow'-ned the horse. ''Liberty Bird," by "Jail Bird," eight of whose
colts have been noted for speed. Mr. Peterson has raised some very fine
horses, not the lea.st noted of which is "Silver Key," a pacer, with a 2:13^
record. He has been driven and raced by Air. Peterson's brother in Kansas,
Oklahoma and Missouri. On the Peterson farm at present are some splen-
did colts with speed prospects.
On October 30. 19 12, the marriage of Mr. Peterson to Lena Tellin
took place in Plutchinson. Kansas. Her parents are Peter and Emma Tellin.
of Plutchinson. Mr. Tellin has a long and useful record w'ith the Santa
Fc railroad, having served that company for forty years, beginning when
its western terminus was Topeka. He is retired from active service on a
pension. He has a ranch at Greenwood. To Mr. and Mrs. Peterson lias
l)een born one child. Jean, bom on December ii. 1913.
Mr. Peterson is a member of the Masonic lodge, the Benevolent and
Prr.tectixe Order of Elks and the Ignited Commercial Travelers.
CHARLES PETERSON.
Charles Peterson, son of Carl and Catherine ( I^ilerson) Peterson, w-as
horn in Smolen. Sweden. June 12. t868. His father is a native of that
same place, the date of his l)irth being April to. 1836. He came to York-
town. Indiana, in 1870. and later lived in Tippecanoe and Clinton coun-
ties, Indiana, where he engaged in farming and stock raising until March
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 34 I
I. i'*^,75, wlieii he removed to McPherson county, Kansas, and homesteaded
eii^hty acres of land. In 1892 or 1893 he moved to Marquette, Kansas,
and (lied there in Octoher, jqgq. He served for some time as a soldier in
the ;n-n]y of Sweden before coming- to America. He followed the occu-
pation of a farmer in his nati\e countr;,-. .\t the time of his death he was
an acti\e member of the Meth<Klist church.
ATr. Peterson's mother was also a nati\'e of Sniolen, Sweden. .She
was born on May 9, 1834, and came with her children to join her husband,
who had preceded her, to Yorktown. Indiana, in July, 1871. She is still
living at Mar(|uette, Kansas, where she is an active member of the Meth-
odist church.
The brothers and sisters of Charles Peterson are : Martha, born in
Sweden, June 13, 1857, married James K. Stinson, who is at present the
postmaster at Marrjuette, Kansas; J. Gust, born in Sweden, September,
1S63, is a farmer and stock raiser in McPherson county, Kansas; Pmma C.
born in Sweden. May 1, 1865, married I^rank Elmcjuist, a farmer and stock
raiser in McPherson county; Josephine, born in Sweden, March 12, 1867,
married Adolph Plawkinson, a farmer and stock raiser in McPherson
county; Ernest W., born in Yorktown, Indiana, July 6, 1871. is a dentist
and has been in the practice of his profession at Kansas Citv, Missouri, for
twenty years; Frank, born in Yorktown. February 8, 1873, is a farmer
and stock raiser in McPherson county, and is the organizer of the Fanners
Union in that county; Jennie F.. born in ^'orktown, Septemljer 12, 1874,
married \\'illiam ^Vestling. who has a general store at Marquette, Kansas ;
George H., liorn in McPherson county, Kansas, September 6. 1877, is a
farmer and stock raiser in Ellsworth county, Kansas.
Charles Peterson was educated in the district schools of IMcPherson
county, Kansas, and attended one term of normal school at Salina. Kansas.
After leaving school he engaged in farming in McPherson county until
1901, when he took a position as clerk in the hardware store of T. J. Col-
lier, at Marquette. Kansas, where he remained for two years. lie then
turned his attention to the real estate and insurance ])usiness in that town
until 1007, when he removed to Hutchinson, where he has continued in the
same line of business to the present time, with oiThces at i6'/j Xorth Main
street. His fraternal association is with the Modern Woodmen of America,
and he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Hutchinson. He
is not allied with any political party, using his own judgment as to the
titness of candidates for whom he casts his vote.
On September 16. i8c)4. Charles Peterson was united in marriage to
34- RENO COUNTY. KANSAS.
Margaret E. Young, who was born at Delhi. Delaware county. Xew York,
daughter of Stewart 'M. and Elizabeth (Dodds) Young, the former of
whom was born on Eebruar\- i6. 1836. in Scotland, and the latter on
December 2^^, 1^37. i" Treland. Mr. and ~SIys. Young are still living in
Topeka. Kansas. They are the parents of the following children: Sheldon
T., bom on September 20, 1866. died on September iG, 1871 ; ^^'illiam D..
April 17, 1868. a miner, married Alice Turney, of Cripple Creek, Colorado;
Margaret Elizabeth. January 26. 1870. wife of the subject of this sketch;
Robert S.. Eebruar}- 11. 1872. married May G. Miner, of Salina, Kansas,
December 25, 1898. died on Jul}- 7. 1909, leaving his wife and two daugh-
ters, Faye and Vera Roberta; Harriet D.. February 20, 1874, married W.
H. Carj:)enter. of Salina. Kansas. November 9. 1898. and yir. Carpenter is
now proprietor of the \'allejo hotel. Denver, Colorado; Emma J., j\Iav 10.
1876, a milliner for fifteen years, died in Denver. Colorado, September 11,
191 1 ; Stewart M., Jr.. April 24, 187S, married Blanche Garrell, of Dodge
City, Kansas, is general manager of the Equitable Life Insurance Companv
at ^^'ichita. Kansas; James ^I.. October 6. 1881, salesman for Armour &
Company, at Denver. Colorado; George A., August i, 1885, died on Sep-
tember 9, 1890.
TOHX D. KAUTZER.
John D. Kautzer, son of Thomas and Josephine Kautzer, was born in
Milwaukee. Wisconsin, December 17, 1870. His paternal grandfather.
Henry Kautzer. and wife, Helen, were both natives of Germany, who emi-
grated to America in an early day, bringing with them their sons, Joseph,
John and Matthew. Thomas and Anton, two other sons, arrived later.
The family settled in Manitowoc county, Wisconsin, where the father home-
steaded timber land and built a rude log cabin, and there the family lived in
true pioneer style. Henry Kautzer died there in 1886. at the age of sixty-
seven years. His two sons, Matthew and Thomas, died at about the same
time.
Thomas Kautzer came to America in 1865. He was a soldier in his
native country, and a saddleman by trade. While serving in the German
army he lost the little finger of his left hand by a gun shot. After coming
to America he located first in Milwaukee, but later lived in ^Manitowoc and
in Eaton in the same countv. He was a Catholic in religious faith, and
RENO CUUNTY, KANSAS. 343
his children are as follow : Lrank, Edward. John, Henry, Phena, Anna,
Joseph, Mar\' and Elizabeth.
John I). Kautzer recei\ed his education in the schools of Manitowoc
county and after attaining mature years lived in Oshkosh three years, where
he was employed by a street car companw In igo2 he joined his wife's
relatives in Reno county. Kansas. He rented a farm nine years from his
father-in-law : (luring- these years he bought one hundred and sixty acres in
Albion township, the old Copper farm, which he sold two years later. Four
years ago he purchased his present farm, on which he does general farming
and stock raising, making a specialty of Hereford cattle and Duroc-Jersey
hogs. He has placed many improvements on his farm, and in 19 15 erected
a large and commodious barn, forty by fifty-two feet in dimensions, also
bought a Reo car and built a garage. In 19 16 he built a fine modern home
w^ith all conveniences.
On January 27, 1896, John D. Kautzer was married to Rose Pargeter,
who was born on August 15, 1869, at Stoughton, Wisconsin. Mrs. Kaut-
zer 's father. Thomas Pargeter, was born on February 4. 1827, at Hook
Norton, Oxfordshire, England. He married Ellen Durnford, who was born
at Birmingham, England, January 31, 183 1, and died on January 12, 1907.
Thomas Pargeter was a son of John Pargeter, a native of England. His
wife was Hannah Lyzard. John Pargeter was a day laborer in England,
his parents having died when he was quite young. ■ The family were
adherents of the Church of England. Thomas Pargeter came to America in
1869 and located at Stoughton, Wisconsin, where he had friends. In 1884
he moved from Wisconsin to Reno county. Kansas, where he purchased a
half section of railway land, paying four dollars an acre for same. While
actively farming he had two sections of land under his control, rent free.
His children are as follow : William George, Ethel, Fred and Harry, all
born in Endand; Rose Ellen, Louise, Lillie Mav and lohn. born in this
country. Lillie I\Iay is deceased; Jane died in England, and Thomas died
in Wisconsin., at Stoughton.
I. D. Kautzer and wife are the parents of five children: Lillian, born
on May 12, 1898; L:)wight T., March 16. 1903; Lester, October 20, 1904;
Kenneth D., September 13, 1908; Harry P., April 28. 1913. all of whom are
living at home with their parents. jNIildred L., born on October 14, 1901,
died on March 19, 1910. The family are members of the ^Methodist Epis-
copal church at Pretty Prairie, where Mr. Kautzer's daughter. Lillian, is
pianist in the Sunday school.
Mr. Kautzer is a Republican in politics, and takes an active interest in
344 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
all matters pertaining to the welfare and betterment of his home commun-
ity. He is now serving- as treasurer of Roscoe township. He is a member
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while his wife belongs to the
Daughters of Rebekah.
WALTER C. PEIRCE.
Walter C. Peirce, fa'rmer and stockman, of Lincoln township, this,
county, who has been a resident here since he was sixteen vears old, is a
native of Ohio, having been born in the city of Chillicothe, that state, on
March I, 1865. son of I-'.. B. and Ellen (W^allace) Peirce, both natives of
Pennsylvania, the former born in Chester county, that state, and the latter,
at Carlisle. Pennsvlvania. E. B. Peirce was a Ouaker in his relie^ious l^elief.
This Peirce family in America was founded by Caleb Peirce, an Eng-
lish Ouaker, who joined \\'illiam Penn's colon}^ in 1686, settling in Chester
county, province of Pennsylvania, and there established his family. E. B.
Peirce, a direct descendant of Caleb Peirce, was a son of Isaac Peirce, a
gentleman of scholarly attainments, the author of the first encyclopedia ever
printed in the United States, which he published in Philadelphia in 1816,
under the name of *"'A Dictionary of Arts and Sciences." The publication,
however, did not prove a financial success and the scholar turned his atten-
tion to something more material, during the twenties operating a saw-mill
in Xew York City. He was an ardent Abolitionist, and his home in New
York City was a common meeting place for the leaders in that cause, John
Greenleaf Whittier, the poet, being among those who were wont to gather
at the Peirce home. In j8;^2 Isaac Peirce moved to Ohio, where he bought
a farm in Stark countv, and \vas engaged in farming there the rest of his
life. During the tr\ing times preceding the Civil War his home was one
of the most prominent "stations" of the "underground railroad" for the
transportation of fugitive slaves to the Canadian border, and he was one
of the inost active "conductors" in that service.
E. P.. Peirce was eight years old when his parents moved from New
York City to Ohio and he grew up on the home farm in Stark county. As
a boy he had the i)rivilege of riding on the first railroad train ever operated
in the United States. During his youth he attended the original Spencerian
College, conducted by Spencer, the originator of the system of writing bear-
ing his name, and for nine years was a teacher in the common schools of
WALTER C. PEIRCE AND FAMILY.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 345
Ohio and Illinois. Tn iS()5 he conducted a l^ook store at Chillicothe, Ohio.
He married l-dlen Wallace, dauohter of John Wallace, lit Martin's Ferry,
Ohio. John Wallace was horn in Philadelphia, member of an old family
of that city. His mother, whose maiden name was Margaret Painter, was
living in Philadelphia when the P>ritish took that city during the Revolu-
tionary War, and the in\'ading soldiers raided her home while she was
l)aking ])rcad, stealing the hot loaves from the oven, an act which aroused
her indignation. John W'allace's father, William Wallace, was a ship car-
penter and helped to build Commodore Perry's fleet. He was a soldier in
the Revolutionary War, enlisted on September 14, 1776 (Pennsylvania
archives, volume i-j. page 69) ; commissioned ensign on September 6, 1777
(Pennsylvania archives, volume 14, page 91); commissioned lieutenant in
Captain Gibbs' company (Pennsylvania archives, volume 14, page 104).
William \A'al lace's father. Robert W^allace, was a patriot soldier during the
Revolutionarv War and was with General Washington's army at Valley
Forge and at the battle of Trenton. Samuel Culbertson, another ancestor
on the mother's side, was the colonel of a Pennsylvania regiment during the
War of the Revolution, and was with Washington at the battle of Brandy-
wine. He was commissioned colonel July 31, 1777 (Pennsylvania archives,
volume 14, page 391.)
John W^allace ran away from home when a boy and w^ent to sea. join-
ing the crew of a vessel bound for the W^est Indies, but it was not long
before he found that the life of a sea-faring lad was not just what he had
pictured it would be. The vessel had not proceeded far when the brutal
captain whaled voung John with a rope's end, which et^ectually dampened
the youth's ardor as a sailor and the lad slipped over the side of the vessel
and swam several miles to the Virginia shore, where he presently landed,
nearly dead, but thoroughly cured of his desire for a sailor's life. For
some time thereafter John Wallace made his home in Carlisle, Pennsylvania,
where he married Agnes Culbertson in 1825, later going to Martin's Ferrw
Ohio, and again later to Harrisburg, Avhere he spent the remainder of his
life. He and his wife were Methodists, and active participants in the work
of the "underground railroad" thereabout during the days before the Civil
War. They were the parents of three children, namely : W'illiam, who was
a college classmate of James G. Blaine, was colonel of an Ohio regiment
during the Civil War and was brevetted brigadier-general; Ellen, who be-
came the wife of Mr. Peirce, and Mrs. Rebecca Geiger, who settled at
Topeka. this state, at an early date in the settlement of the capital city.
Some time after the close of the Civil War, E. B. Peirce moved with
34^ • RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
his family from Cliillicothe, Ohio, to Fayette comity, Illinois, where he
remained until 1881. in which year he came to Kansas, locating at Hutchin-
son, this county. He traded for a piece of property in that city and engaged
in the real-estate business here, being thus engaged until March i, 1886, at
which time he lurchased the northwest quarter of section 30, in Lincoln
township, this county, and there established a new home, the farm at that
time having been known as the old Captain Lacy place. Mr. Peirce lived
only two years after entering into possession of the farm, his death occur-
ring in 1888. at the age of sixty-four years. His widow survived him ten
years, her death occurring in 1898. she then being sixty-six years of age.
There were ten children born to E. B. Peirce and wife, of whom but five
are now living, those besides the subject being as follow: Eugene, a den-
tist at Denver, Colorado; Rebecca, who is a nurse; Ruth, a teacher, and
Jennie, the wife of Charles L Glass, of Kansas City, Missouri.
Walter C. Peirce was but a child when his parents moved from Ohio
to Illinois and was sixteen years of age when he came to this county with
them. Upon locating in Hutchinson he entered the old Sherman street
school, and upon completing the course there, taught school one term. In
1886, he then being twenty-one years old, he moved with his parents to the
Lincoln township farm and has lived there since, ^^'hen his father died,
two years after taking up his residence on the farm, Walter, then the eldest
child of the family who was at home, assumed general charge of the fami
in his mother's behalf and uj^on her death, ten years later, bought the inter-
ests of the other heirs and has since been the sole owner. He purchased a
quarter section of land adjoining the home farm and now has a well-culti-
vated and well-improved place of three hundred and twentv acres. In
1905 he built a line, modern country house on his place, the first house in
that part of the county to be equipped \vith a hot-water heating system.
On September 14. 1898, Walter C. Peirce was married to Mary Bart-
hol<l. who was born in Xapoleon, Ohio, a daughter of John Barthold and
wife, who. in 1886, came from Oln'o in this county, settling on a farm in
Center townshi|i, where l)Oth are still li\ing, and U> this union four children
have been bnrn : Harry, liorn in 1899, who is now a student in the Kansas
State Agricultural College at Manhattan, Kansas; Charles, a twin brother
of Harry, died in infancy; h^rederick, born in 1901, died at the age of seven
years, and \\'alter, born in 1908. .Mr. I'eirce has been prominent in Pro-
gressive politics in his community, and to educational matters he has given
his particular attention and for ele^■en years has been a director of the
local school district.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 347
JACOD iX)\\KK UI'DKGROVE.
Jacol) Bower Uixlei^rove. a wcll-knuwn and \vcll-to-(l(j farmer of Wal-
nut township, this county, proprietor of a hne farm of four hundred acres
surroun(hng his home, hesides which he owns a rancli of seven hundred and
twenty acres west of Dodge City, is a native of Pennsylvania, born (jn a
farm in Berks county, that state, son of William S. and Elizabeth ( Bower j
Updegrove, both natives of that same state, of Pennsylvania-Dutch parent-
age, who spent all their lives in eastern Pennsylvania.
William S. Updegrove was the son of Jacob Updegrove and wife, the
latter of whom was a Schaeffer, earnest members of the German Lutheran
church, who spent all their lives in Berks county, the former of whom died
in i87_i, at the age of seventy-eight years. His wddow lived to be eighty-
nine years old. ^Villiam S. U]:)degrove was taught in the local German
sectarian schools and did not learn to read English until he was past fifty
years of age, having had to rely upon German newspapers for his informa-
tion regarding current events previous to that time. He was trained as a
shoemaker and worked at that trade most all his life. His wife was a
daughter of Jacob Bowser, a small farmer in Berks county, Pennsylvania,
wdio spent all his life in that county and who reared his family in the faith
of the German Lutheran church. When well past middle age A\'illiam S.
Updegrove moved into the neighboring county of Montgomerv, in Penn-
sylvania, where he bought a farm of one hundred and thirty-one acres and
there he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1899, at the age of
seventy-six years. His widow survived until May 20, 1912, and she w'as
ninety years of age at the time of her death. They were the parents of
nine children, Mary Ellen, Francis B., Harris B., William, Jacob E., Susan,
T. F., Sarah A. and U. G., all of whom are still living.
Jacob B. Updegrove early determined that there were better oppor-
tunities for a young man in the then new West than in his home countrv
and when twenty-three years old. in the spring of 1878, he came to Kansas
and began working as a farm hand in Iveno county. He improved his oppor-
tunities, awaited the proper time and on June 4, 1884, he then l^eing tw'enty-
nine years of age, bought the farm on wdiich he is now living, in section 21,
Walnut township, and set aljout developing and improving the same. Four
years later he married and established his home on that place and there has
li\ed ever since, continually improving and bettering his material condition
until now he is the owner of a tine farm of four hundred acres surrounding
34S RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
him home, hesides which he is the owner of seven hundred and twenty acres
west o\ Dodo-e Cil\. In kjcio Mr. Updegrove built a fine new house on his
place and the other improvements of the farm are in keeping- with the same.
In addition to his general farming he has gone in somewhat extensively for
stock-raising and has done ver\- well. I'nig having been regarded as one of
the most substantial farmers in his neighborhood. Mr. Updegrove has taken
an active part in local civic affairs; for five years w^as treasurer of the town-
ship and is now a member of the township school board.
It was on March i, 1888, that Jacob B. Updegrove was united in mar-
riage to Barbara Schindler. who was born in Adams county, Indiana, Aug-
ust 19. 1855, daughter of Daniel and Catherine (Schlatter) Schindler,
natives of Germany, who came to this country in 1852, landing in New
York C"it\'. whence they proceeded to Indiana, joining a Ijrother and sister
who h;id preceded them as members of the Mennonite colony in Adams
count}-, diat state, both the Schlatters and the Schindlers having been mem-
bers of that body of earnest religionists, and there both Daniel Schindler
and his wife spent the rest of their lives, the latter dying in 1885, at the age
of sixty-four years, and the fomier in 1896. To ]\Ir. and Mrs. Updegrove
three children have been born. Eugene A., born on December 14, 1888;
Katie Klizabeth. August 30. 1890. who married J. L. Bennett, and Edna
May, July 6, 1894. who married Karl Seybert.
GEORGE W. HOSKIXSOX.
George W. lioskinson, a well-known and well-to-do farmer and cattle-
man of X'alley township, this county, an honored veteran of the Civil War,
and for years active in Keno county aft'airs, is a native of Ohio, having
been I'.orn on a farm in Washington count}', that state, .\ugust 26. 1847,
son of George I"-, arid Lucy ( Boswortli ) lioskinson. the former of w-hom
was born in Pittsburgh. Pennsyh ania, and the latter in the state of Ohio.
As a young man. George W. Hoskinson settled in Washington county,
■Ohio, where he married .and for awhile made his home on a rented farm.
In 1834 he moved with his familv to Clark county. Missouri, where his
wife died in 1856. lea\ing six childrui, namely: Sarah, who married
Alexander Perdue ar.d lives in San Bernardine county, California: Eunice,
who married Edward Rockefeller and died at Keokuk, Iowa, in 1885;
Ophelia, who married George Mackey and lives in \''an Buren county, Iowa;
George \\'.. the subject of this biographical sketch, and Joseph, a well-knowm
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 349
resident of Ilar\ev county, this state, in w liicli county he settled in 1877,
and in whose home his father (h'cd in 1899, at the age of seventy-two years.
George W. Hoskinson spent his youth on the farm and was a hard
worker trum the days of his hoyhood. When the Civil War broke out he
was li\ing with his father on a farm in Lee county, Iowa, and though but
sixteen years of age at the time, he enlisted, on February 12, 1863, in Com-
l)any I.. First Iowa Cavalry, with which he served until the end of the
war, seeing- service in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and Tennessee. At the
conclusion of his military ser\ice he returned to Lee county, Iowa, where
he married in the spring of 1866 and rented a farm, on which he lived until
1876, in which year he and his family came to this state, settling in Harvey
county. Mr. Hoskinson filed on an eighty-acre homestead in Lake town-
ship, that county, l)ut the next year he relinquished his claim to his brother,
Joseph, and went to California, where he went into the business of driving
artesian wells, remaining there nearly two years, during which time he put
down fort}'-three such wells, making consideraJ)le money by his operations.
Li 1878 Air. Hoskinson returned to Kansas antl homesteaded a quarter
section in Sumner county, where he lived for three years, at the end of
which time he sold that place and came to Reno county and bought eighty
acres in Valley township, establishing his home there. Li 1881 he bought
an "eighty" adjoining on the east and extended his operations in the cattle
line, gradually adding to his farm until he became the owner of eight hun-
dred acres of land and was regarded as one of the most extensive cattlemen
in the county. In 1888 things began to "go bad" and Mr. Hoskinson lost
thirteen thousand dollars in his cattle business. His creditors were lenient,
however, and ^\hen his affairs were presently adjusted he had saved three
hundred ;md twenty acres in section ti, where he now lives. In 1892 Mr.
Hoskinson erected the present comfortable farm house. On March i, 19 16,
he moved to Burrton, where he is living retired.
In the spring of 1866 George W. Hoskinson was united in marriage to
Eleanor Hardy, who was born in Lee county, Iowa, daughter of John and
Elizabeth. Hardy, and to this union eight children were born, namely:
George, a well-known farmer of Cla}' township, this county: Ella, who mar-
ried Charles McFlwain and lives on a farm adjoining that of her father:
Charles, a Vallev township farmer ; Frank, salesman for the Maxwell Auto
Companv at Hutcliinson, this count}-; Edward, unmarried, who continues
to live at home and is managing his father's farm ; Zula, who married
William Collins: and May and Mabel, the former of whom married Henry
Adams and lives at Burrton, and the latter of whom married Dennis Mevers
350 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
and lives in \"alley township. The mother of these children died on Janu-
ar)- 22, 1910. and Mr. Iloskinson married, secondly, December 7, 1912,
Mrs. Minnie ( McDonald ) Wineman. who was born in Tennessee and who
was living in Hutchinson at the time of her marriage to Mr. Hoskinson.
SA.AiUEL ?^[cCOWAN.
Samuel AlcLDwan, one of the prominent and successful men of Reno
county, born in Ireland on July 12, 1837, the son of Robert and Elizabeth
( Palmer) McCowan. Robert A.IcCowan was of Scotch descent, and Mrs.
AlcCowan was English. Robert r\IcCowan died when the son, Samuel, was
but sixteen years of age. the mother having died some years before. The
McCowans were farmers in their native country. They were members of
the Presbyterian church and took much interest in all church work.
To Robert and Elizabeth ]McCov.-an were born the following children:
Robert, deceased ; Samuel. William and Elizabeth, all of whom came to
.America. Elizabeth resides in Caledonia. New York ; Robert, William and
Samuel came to Kansas.
Samuel McCowan came to America in 1854 and located in the state
of Xew York, where he engaged in farming for one year, after which he
was for five years in Canada, on a farm. He later removed to Warren
county, Illinois, where he conducted a farm for twenty years before he
came to Reno county.
On January i, 1868, Samuel McCowan was united in marriage to
Xancy A. McClellan, and to this union the following children were born:
Lizzie A., deceased, married Will Bramwell and had three children, Ethel,
Cora and Lizzie; Virey married a Mr. \'an Osdol and had one child. Alar-
vin. and married, secondly, Roy Terrence ; Jesse married Maud Shockley
and has five children, Maria. Alma. Ruby, Arthur and Morgan S. ; Wiley
married Xellie Barton, who is now deceased, and they had four children,
Ralph, Alvida, h'ay and Xannie. All the children live in Reno county
and vicinity. After the death of his tir^t wife, Mr. McCowan was married,
secondly, in 1885. t*i Sarah Llaney, the daughter of Thomas Haney, a native
of Ireland.
Samuel McCowan has been engaged in farming the greater part of his
life and now owns several lots and four and one-half acres of land in Pretty
Prairie and one hundred and sixty acres of land in Roscoe township. He
KKXO COUNTY, KANSAS. 35 I
was for five years and two months a member of the Seventeenth Regiment,
Illinois X'ohmteer Infantry, and ser\'cd (hiring the Civil War. He was in
many battles.
EDWARD T. AIARTIN.
Edward T. Martin, a well-known and progressive farmer and large
landowner of Miami township, this connty, is a native of Missouri, having
been born in the town of IMexico, that state, May 8, 1875, son of Hugh and
Ann (Bohen) Martin, both natives of County Galway, Ireland, who settled
in Reno county during the first half of the eighth decade of the last century
and became prominent and intluential residents of Miami township.
Hugh Martin, who was born in 1843, left his native home in Ireland
and came to the United States in July, 1861. For a time he worked in the
factories at Manchester, New Hampshire, and then went to Cincinnati,
where he enlisted for service in behalf of the Union cause during the Civil
War and served for ten months and four days on river gunboats, being-
mustered out at Cairo, Illinois. Upon the conchision of his military exper-
ience Mr. Martin made his home for a time in Illinois and then moved over
into Missouri, where he lived until he came with his family to Reno county,
in May, 1884. Upon settling here he pre-empted the northeast quarter of
section 34, in Grove (now Miami) township, and established his home
there. As he prospered in his farming operations he added to his land
holdings by the purchase of an additional tract of three hundred and twentv
acres and soon became regarded as one of the most substantial farmers of
that neighborhood. Mr. ^Martin is a Democrat and ever since coming to
this county has given a good citizen's attention to local politics. Eor more
than a quarter of a century he has been treasurer of school district No.
142 and in other ways has given of his service to the pul)lic. He is an
earnest meml)er of the Catholic church and has taken an active part in par-
ish affairs. His wife died on Decmeber 2, 1899. They were the parents
of six children, those besides the subject of this sketch being John, a prom-
inent lawyer, of Pueblo. Colorado, who has served his district for two
terms as a representative in the lower house of Congress; James, a locomo-
tive engineer, of Moberly, Missouri; Hugh, a well-to-do farmer of Woods
county, Oklahoma; Thomas, a locomotive engineer, of Pueblo, and Annie,
who married Corb Carlisle, of Miami township, this county.
Edward T. Martin was about nine years old when he came to Reno
35- RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
county Avith his parents and his schooHng was completed in the schools of
Miami township. He was reared on the farm and has been engaged in
farming all his life and has done well, being now the owner of four hundred
acres in sections 22 and 33, in "Miami township, where he makes his home,
and where he and his family are very comfortably and pleasantly situated.
Mr. Alartin is a Democrat and has served the public as a member of his
local school board.
On February 19, 1899, Edward T. [Martin was united in marriage to
Hattie Gra\-, who was born in Cocke county, Tennessee, January 29, 1880,
daughter of Lewis H. and Louvina (Click) Gray, who came to Kansas in
1884 and settled in ]\liami township, this county, where the rest of their
lives was s^jent. Upon coming to Reno county, i\Ir. Gray pre-empted a
fanii of one hundred and sixty acres and established a very comfortable
home. He was a veteran of the Civil War, having served in the Union
amiy as a member of Companv D, Tenth Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry,
and for a time suffered imprisonment in Libby prison, the Confederate
stronghold at Richmond. Mr. Gray died on August 8, 1899, and his widow
survived for more than fifteen years, her death occurring on July 14, 191 5.
To Edward T. and Hattie (Gray) Martin two children have been
lx)rn, James L., born on May 22, 1900. and Ethel, April 25, 1902. Wx.
Martin is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the consistory at
Wichita, and is also a member of the ^Modern ^^'oodmen of America, in the
affairs of both of which organizations he takes a warm interest.
CHARLES W. PECKHAM.
Charles W. i'eckman, president of the Farmers Grain Company of
Haven, this county, one of the founders of that now thriving little city; for-
mer vice-president of the Citizens Bank of Haven, lirst secretary of the
Haven Commercial Club, one of the organizers of the Haven jNIill Company,
first trustee of Haven township, proprietor of "Gem Stock h'arm" and one
of the real pioneers of Reno county, he having built the first sod shanty on
the plain in what is now Haven township, his humble abode at that time
having been the extreme western frontier of Reno county south of the
Arkansas river, is a native of Ohio, having Ijeen lx)rn in the city of Maumee,
Lucas county, that state, March 26. 1849, son of John D. and Alzina (Brush)
Peckham, both natives of the state of New'York.
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RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 353
John O. Peckliam was l)<)rn in Madison county, New York, in 1808,
and was reared in that county, becoming a merchant tailor, and at Aladison
on May i6, 1833, married Alzina Brush, who was born in Spencertown.
New York, September 12, 1809. The following year he and his wife moved
to Maumee, Ohio, where he opened a merchant-tailoring establishment and
established his home. He and his wife were the parents of five children,
namely : Frances, wdio married George Secor and is now living at Toledo,
Ohio, past the age of eighty-two years ; Lucinda, who died at the age of five
years; George, who died in infancy; Cora, who married Charles Doesher
and lives at Petaluma, California, and Charles W., the subject of this bio-
graphical sketch. The mother of these children died at Springfield, Ohio, in
1854, a victim of the cholera scourge w^hich swept over that part of the coun-
try in that year, and some time later John D. Peckham moved to Jackson,
Michigan, where he engaged in the merchant-tailoring business and there he
resided until his retirement from business in 1872, after w^hich he made his
home with his son, Charles W., in this county, his death occurring in 1884.
He w^as a member of the Methodist church, to which his wife also had been
attached, and for years was a singer in the choir. Originally a Whig, he
became a Republican during the Ci\-il War period, but later became affiliated
with the Democratic party.
Charles W. Peckham was five years old when his mother died and he
was cared for in childhood by Mrs. Elizabeth Spencer, a widow who
lived near Adrian. Michigan. Later he rejoined his father at Jackson.
Michigan, and was educated in the schools- of that city, completing the
course in the high school. In 1867 Mrs. Spencer married and moved
to Lockport, New York. Later, Mr. Peckham was called to Lockport
to teach a refractorv countrv school. He "made good" and afterward
attended Lockport high school. In 1869, following a resolution he had
made in his boyhood, he came W^est and settled in Colorado county.
Texas, where he conducted a subscription school for one year, after which
he went onto a ranch and became an expert cowboy and very competent
cattleman. In 1871 he came through to Kansas with a herd of cattle des-
tined for Abilene, and was so much pleased with the appearance of things
in the Arkansas valley that he determined to locate here. In August of that
year he homesteaded the southwest quarter of section 2, township 25. range
4 west, in what is now Haven township, this county, two miles east of the
present flourishing little city of Haven, and there built a sod shanty and
entered upon the task of developing his claim. This shanty was twelve by
(23a)
354 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
fourteen feet, inside measurement, witli two windows and one door; was
covered with boards hauled from X'ewtun and was plastered on the inside
with the clav from the well which he dus" nearbv. That w^as the first dwell-
ing erected in what is now^ Haven township and marked the farthest western
habitation in Reno county south of the ri\'er. Soon after the sod shanty
w^as completed a party of Texas cattlemen came along with three thousand
head of cattle and that fall and wdnter Mr. Peckham herded cattle for them.
In 1872 he and Doctor Durand went over on the Ninnescah, where he lassoed
twelve buft'alo and captured them alive, two of the creatures being sent East
to a circus in which a brother of Doctor Durand was associated. When a
school was organized in district 39, Haven towaiship, not long after he settled
there, Mr. Peckham became the first school teacher and for four years was
thus engaged. In 1873, when the Grange became organized in that section of
the county, Mr. Peckham was elected first master of the same and in that
capacity did much for the advancem.ent of the interests of the early agricultur-
ists and cattlemen thereabout.
Charles W. Peckham is the pioneer among the cattlemen of Reno county,
having ben the first man to feed cattle in any considerable c[uantity. Hutch-
inson, the nearest grain market, was twenty miles aw'ay and Mr. Peckham
early came to the conclusion that it would be far more profitable to feed the
corn he raised on the ranch instead of hauling it to market. He now is the
owner of three liundred and twenty acres of choice land, comprising "Gem
Stock Farm." long regarded as a model place. The latest farm house on the
j)]ace was erected in 1900, a large, modern frame house with a cupola and
generous verandas. One of the features of the ranch is a reinforced con-
crete silo, sixteen feet in diameter and fifty feet high, with a capacit}- oi two
hundred and twenty-five tons. Air. Peckham made his home at "Gem Stock
Farm" until 1909, in which year he moved to Haven, \\ here he built a steel-
framed, hollow- walled cement house, modern in every respect, generally
regarded as the finest house in Haven, and tliere he since has made his home.
Air. Peckham has patented the process l)y which his house was constructed
and the system of construction ]ininiisc> to liecome general and popular.
The hou.se has metal studding and lath. Tt is, of course, tire proof ami the
hollow walls are designed to render the house warm in winter and cool in
summer.
Charles W. Peckham is a Democrat and ever since locating in this county
has taken an earnest interest in local politics. He was the first trustee of Haven
town.'^hip and in that official capacity was enabled to render valuable public
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 355
service. In 1886 he was one of a committee of two apijointcd to go East to
bring- l)efore capitalists the expechency of running the projected Wichita,
Colorado & Western railroad, now a part of the Missouri Pacilic system,
through the town of Haven, he also having been a member of the original
Ha\en Town Company, organized for the purpose of creating a town on the
site selected, and the efforts of himself and his fellow committeemen prcn-ed
effectual, the railroad presently connecting Haven with the outside world.
Mr. Peckham was one of the prime promoters of the Citizens LJank cjf Haven,
the fu'st bank established in that town, and was elected vice-president of the
same at the time of its organization. L. O. Smith, F. W. Ash and Mr. reek-
ham organized the Haven Milling Company in 1887 and erected the tl(jur-
mill at the new town, Mr. Peckham for three years being the actiN-e managc^r
of the same. He was one of the organizers of the popular Farmers Grain
Company of Haven, a concern which has done much to establish better prices
for farm products in that neighborhood, and is now the president of the same.
When the Haven Commercial Club was organized in 191 1 Mr. Peckham was
elected secretary of the same and for three years served in that capacity,
doing much in the way of giving the club a proper start. In other ways he
has demonstrated his fine public spirit and occupies a very high place in finan-
cial and commercial circles throughout this part of the state.
On February 19, 1874, Charles W. Peckham was united in marriage to
Sarah C. Hess, who was born in Hartford City, Indiana, daughter of Abram
and Elizabeth (Gadberry) Hess, both of whom died in Indiana, and to this
union ten children have been born, as follow: John, who lives in \\'ichita,
this state; Minnie, who married Everett Bishop, a farmer of Wauketa, Okla-
homa; Bertha, who married Ralph Williams and is now mistress of the big
house at "Gem Stock Farm ;" Arthur Leroy, wdio lives at Wichita ; Cora,
who married Guy Van Buren and lives on a farm two miles north of Haven;
Edward, a farmer, of Caldwell, this state; Ira, who lives near Burton, thi ;
state; Laura, who married Guy Astle. a well-knov.-n merchant of Haven:
Flora, who died on November 15, 1885, and Ella, who died on February 14,
1900. Mr. and Mrs. Peckham are members of the Universalist church and
Mr. Peckham is a member of the lodge of Ancient Order of United Work-
men at Haven, in the affairs of which he takes a w-arm interest.
In 1905, the national organizer of the American Society of Equity came
to Kansas to instruct western farmers in an improved system for the market-
ing of farm products. He soon came in contact with ]\Ir. Peckham, who
became impressed with the importance and feasibility of the plan. Together,
they laid the plan of this great organization before the farmers and Kansas
356 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
soon took a front rank in the new organization. After the required number
of local unions was formed, a state union was oroanized, and C. \\\ Peckham
was elected state secretary. ."Senator L. P. King, of W'infield. was elected
state president. .Mr. Peckh;im gave nuich of his lime for two years to the
growth of the organization and attended its national conventions, and was
tendered the presidency of the national organization, but declined to serve.
]\Iuch good was accomplished, Ijut the required cohesiveness among farmers
was lacking, and the effort languishes. In June, 1907, the organization held
a three days' session called the National Grain Growers Convention, at
Omaha, X^ebraska. .Mr. J. .\. lueritt, president and founder of the move-
ment, was elected president of the convention. Upon taking the chair and
making the opening address, he cra^'ed the pri\-ilege of nominating as secre-
tarv of the con\-ention. one whom he assured them had, out of the twenty-
three states represented, made the l^est record for his state. ^Ir. Peckham
was elected secretary of the convention.
Charles \A'. Peckham has one accomplishment regarding which he is
accustomed to speak somewhat self-deprecatingly, but regarding which is
friends are in no doubt whatever, and that is his ability as a poet. \Mien
the members of the Reno County Old Settlers Association asked !Mr. Peckham
to prepare a poem relating to pioneer days, the same to be read at the next
annual meeting of the association. ]\Ir. Peckham rose to the occasion an.d
the following production of his pen was warmly applauded :
THE riONEEK
oil. how well do I remeiiiher
When our iireseiit work begiui.
And we settled here in Kans:is —
Pioneers of seventy-one.
Willi niir lialiil.'il imi liiiislicil.
We lirirau In till till' sml :
Wlial I he fntiiri' liclil lii'fnre us,
No one knew exceiit our God.
Iltiw our house loomed up in niirape,
.\i the risinj,' nf the sun 1
Hiiw ii spurred our every cirnrt —
riniiccrs of seventy-one!
\]i>\\ we hroke the bucking broncho;
How we tinned the Texas steers,
fViuld not ]iMss beyond our memory
If we lived a thousand vears.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 35/
Our iiicnger stock of fixid stuff,
Like Ike widow's ciusc of nil.
Would Jusl sustaiu oui' bodies.
In our <-ousl;iul round of loll.
Oil. till' t;iX('s were ]irodi,;:ious I
It would i^'iw your nerves ;i shock —
We liiid no reilty at that time;
It was levi(>d on imr stoclv.
The siieriff once made a visit,
And I (h)uht his good intents;
His milerge was sixteen dolhirs
For a tax of tifty cents.
I hadn't any money.
And was .also shy of brass;
So, to s:ive my scanty bacon,
I hunted taller grass.
One lesson was enongh for me —
I'd end the unequal strife —
I'd profit by the exemption,
And go hunting for a wife,
The plan worked to perfection.
I had often heard it said.
That. "If man would bring the water.
The wife would make the bread. "
At first we had to hustle
To get our bread and meat;
But now it's no use to rustle —
We live on "'Easy street."
Then, there were those horrid "hoiipers;
They would come and eat our crops —
They would get as thick as coppers
In a contribution box.
They'd upset our calculations.
They would eat up all we had;
And we'd come out in the springtime
Just as poor as any shad.
But is was not all starvation,
For, sometimes, we'd have a feast;
This was when we'd get a great big box
From our friends, who lived down East.
But at last things went to turning.
And our lilues were changed to mirth ;
And now the things we can produce.
Are not eipialled on this earth.
358 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Se;ircli ihc Wdrld fur izruwiiiL' nature I
Get earth's products where you can!
Kansas leads, in every feature!
I can prove it. to a man I
I've read how knights and cavaliers
Sought for the golden fleece ;
Had they Iml come to Kansas,
Tliey'd have settled down in peace.
Those ancient, learned doctors.
AVho were hunting fount of youth,
Might have found it. here in Kansas,
And that's the naked truth.
No matter what you're hunting.
Or of what you may be fond ;
You can find it here in Kansas;
There's no use to go beyond.
There was Mr. C. Columbus —
He claimed to have found us;
But that would not go in Kansas —
Not without a dreadful fuss.
No, we never stoop, or folleiw :
And we do not lose a race;
We are sure a hot tamale,
And we always set the pace.
You have read of Spanish conquests —
How Balboa found the sea ;
But he never did a thing in life.
Compared to you and me.
Instead of courting glury,
With a cruel, loaded gun —
He might have had some standing
Willi ])ioneers of seventy-one.
We came out here to Kansas;
We opened wide the door!
We made two i)lades of grass to grow,
Where one blade grew before!
We've plowed U]i I lie desert,
We'vi" (••tnquered its foes;
Wliere the cactus once grew,
.Viiw blossoms the rose.
We've brought the hor.seless carriage.
We've reared the telephone;
AVe've schooled our sous and daughters,
Till they can go alone.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. • 359
We've (lri\cii back I lie luiffalo.
We've fraiiu'il a iKildc jilan;
Which uives a h(iy protection
Till he becomes a ma 11.
The bonds of our creation
Always briuij; the highest rates;
We're the .irraiuh'st constellation
In this galaxy of states.
We've had the sockless Jerrj-,
And we've had our Mary Lease;
Carrie Nation swings her hatchet
And declares that rum shall cease.
We have captured Aguinaldo,
And we've scaled old Pekin's wall;
When it comes to nerve and daring —
Then's when Kansas leads them all.
For climate and for scenery,
Like you read of on the Rhine;
Come out here to sunny Kansas^
This is where we always shine.
With hearts full of gladness.
No one need repent,
That early toward Kansas
His footsteps were bent.
And now, my friends, we're coming
To the parting of the ways:
There'll be a time when you and I
Will end these happy days.
I'ui sure I've no misgivings —
No. I haven't a single fear;
I know no evil can betide
The honest pioneer.
Another pronounced "hit" made by Mr. Peckham in the poetic way was
his famous onslaught on the "trusts," first pubhshed in the Kansas Fanner,
entitled :
THE OCTOPrS
I've often read how Captain Kidd
So gracefully his honors did.
How merchant's gains and banker's wealth
Were forced to help adorn his shelf.
Ah, well for him he died in time.
For now his fame would soon decline.
360 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
I've also read bow Robin Ilood,
ITelil court in En.^liUuVs I'nnious -wood.
I1l'"iI rob the rich to hell) the poor,
No hungry niau e'er left his door.
He finally caiue to disgrace,
His checks nntnkcn at their face.
Who has not read how privateers.
Kept seamen filled with constant fears?
Their flag was black, their hearts as well,
They'd dare not do such deeds in hell.
Will) ever thought, in (Uir fair land.
8url) deeds as theirs would ever stand?
But now. we're seeing face to face,
A game that throws them from the race.
The grain comliine, the packers' trust,
Are forcing honest men to bust.
Small merchant now must close his door.
Because of the department store.
The merchant now who deals in coal,
Had better pack his grip and roll,
Unless he's in the great combine,
As merchant prince, he cannot shine.
Alone he gains by little nips,
Cduiliiiied it comes in larger chips.
You turn whichever way you will,
Trusts there are large, and larger still.
They're forcing man to come their way.
To drop upon his knees and pay,
A Moloch, of remorseless greed.
How break their ranks, how slack their speed?
But of all combines, grafts, or fakes,
The railroad combine takes the cakes.
For all the lands that gave them start,
Tlie}''ve nevei' puid unc liilllinii'ili pnrt.
They sliift tiieir Imrdeus, shun tlu'ir taxes,
Their gri|i, nii lucre ne'er relaxes.
Since man l)egan to let you live.
You've made the map look like a sieve.
Yfin've run your lines in. out and down.
With sidetracks brond in every town.
'rr;iins dash intu niir midsl. iicll-nicll.
With snorting whistle, claiiLrini: bell.
^
RENO CUUiXTV, KANSAS. 36 1
Tlii'ou.irli farmers' lands tlu-y Iniiltl tlu'ii; tracks,
Tliey scare his cattle, burn liis stacks.
lie liad one farm, lie's now ^'ot two,
Tills credit all Iieloii,t,'S to you
Of straight lines you were ever shy,
His fields look like a iiie<:'e of pie.
You've peeled his bacon to the bone!
He has to walk or stay at home.
When he goes to town to pay his tax.
He cannot ride, so walks your tracks.
Not having eyes both sides his head.
He's often now picked up (juite dead.
If he. perchance, must ship some stock.
You straightway lay him on your block.
You filch his sirloin, pound his steak.
Now ou your gridiron he must bake.
Xo thanks to him that he puts in.
The largest part of all your "tin."
Y'ou raise your rates, withdraw your passes,
(Except to legislative asses)
You lose much sleep to make your ends,
Y"ou do not recognize your friends.
Y'ou've kicked the tramp, and fired the bum,
Uutil you think you're somewhat some.
You play your game with loaded dice,
You carry preachers at half the price.
When gamblers fleece a nice fat duck.
They hand him back a dime for luck.
But you would throw him to the floor.
And throttle him, and yell for more.
If I was hunting for a jay.
Who'd sell his soul for meager pay,
I'd find in you a willing tool.
With conscience that befits a ghoul
You bring bad liiiuor to our state.
Your ticket reads "To Brimstone Lake."
CHARLES O. HITCHCOCK.
Charles O. Hitchcock, a well-known and progressive merchant of Hutch
inson, this cotmty, president of the Hutchinson Commercial Club and lon<
recognized as one of the "live wires" in the commercial life of this com
362 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
miinii}-, i> a native of Missouri, l)iit has been a resident of Kansas ever since
1888. He was horn in St. Louis. April 6, 1871, son of Charles O. and Anna
Virginia ( Xewcomer) Hitchcock, the former a nati\e of .Alabama and the
latter of Maryland.
The senior Charles O. Hitchcock was born in the city of Mobile in
1842 and when a young man went to St. Louis, where he presently married
Anna Mrginia Newcomer, who Vv-as born in Hagerstown, Maryland, in
1848 and who located in St. Louis with her parents when a girl. Charles O.
Hitchcock became a commission merchant in St. Louis and was engaged in
that business at the time of his death, in 1880, he then being thirty-eight
years of age. His widow continues to make her home in St. Louis. She is
the mother of two sons, the subject of this biographical sketch ha\ing a
brother, Z. A. Hitchcock, who is assistant cashier of the Bank of Commerce
at St. Louis.
The junior Charles O. Hitchcock was about eight years of age when his
father died. He received his education in the public schools of his native
city and was graduated from the St. Louis high school in 1888, after which
he went to \A'ichita. this state, in the neighborhood of w^hich he began farm-
ing. Starting in as a farmer on a rented farm, he presently bought a place
of his own and was there engaged in farming for six years, at the end of
which time he sold his place and entered the employ of an agricultural-im-
plement firm at \\'ichita. That was in 1898 and he remained with that firm
for ten years, during which time he became thoroughly familiar with the
details of the implement business. Li 1908 he transferred his seiwices to the
Hutchinson Implement Company, at Hutchinson, and became so deeplv im-
pressed with the possibiHties of the business in this county that he opened up
his business at his present site, 17-19 East Sherman street, which is a two-
story building, fifty by one hundred and fifty feet, and carries all lines of
farming implements, farm machinery, automobiles and fencing, his ])lace
being the large.st of its kind in Hutchinson. Wr. Hitchcock takes an active
part in the general commercial activities of liis liomc town and is now the
president of the Hutchin.son Commercial C hil), tin's being the fourth term he
has servcfl as head of that enterprising body, thougli nut consecutive terms.
On Xovember 21, 1896, Charles O. LTitchcock was united in marriage
to Elizabeth D. Krack, who was born in lllincjis, daughter of W. T^. and E. D.
Krack. who came to Kan.'^as when tiicir daughter, Elizal)eth, was three
vears old. and who nr)w live at Wichita. Mr. Krack beino- a well-to-do re-
tired farmer. To Mr. and ]\lrs. Hitchcock two children have been 1x)rn,
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 363
Hazel, boni in 1897, and Marion, 1899. Air. Hitchcock is a thirty-second
degree Mason, a meml)er of the consistor)^ Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite,
Valley of Wichita, and is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Wood-
men and of the Hutchinson Country Club, in the alfairs of all of which
orranizations he takes a warm interest.
GEORGE T. GRAY.
George T. Gray, an enterprising and progressive young merchant of
Turon, this county, proprietor of an up-to-date furniture store at that place,
is a Missourian by birth, but his home has been in Reno county since he
was seven years old and he is a thorough-going Kansan. He was born in
Grundy county, Missouri, August 8, 1884, son of James and Emily J.
(Allen) Gray, the former a native of that same county and the latter of
Kentucky, she having been born in Jefferson county, near the city of Louis-
ville.
James Gray left his farm in Missouri in February, 1891, and with his
family came to Kansas. He bought a farm of two hundred and twenty
acres in Miami township, this county, and made his home there until in
October, 191 5, when he returned to Missouri and he and his wafe are now-
making their home in Trenton, that state. James Gray, is a veteran of the
Civil War, having done valiant service in behalf of the Union cause during
the struggle between the states. During his residence in this countv he
ser\'ed for some time as trustee of Miami township and also served on the
school board. He is an ardent Republican, an Odd Fellow and a member
of the Baptist church. I'o him and his wife seven children have been
born, those besides the subject of this sketch being as follow: Enos T., a
farmer of Grundy coimty, Missouri ; Edward S., a barber, of Turon, this
county; Myrtle, deceased; Eaura B., \vho married D. D. Downing, general
storekeeper for the Chicago <& Alton railroad at Chicago; Henry W.. a
farmer, of Grundy county, Missouri, and Lora, wdio married B. Allison, a
retired liveryman, of Hutchinson.
George T. Gray was about seven years old when he came to this coimty
with his parents and he was educated in the grade schools at Turon and
the high school at Hutchinson. In 1901, he then I)eing seventeen years of
364 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
age, he enlisted, at Wichita, for service in the United States army and for
three rears served as a iion-romniissioned ofticer in the First United States
Cavah-\-. ckiring twenty-one months of which time he was stationed in the
rhihp])ines. He was mustered out at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, in 1904,
after which he went to Kansas City, where for four years he was engaged
in the service of the Adams Express Company. He then returned to this
county and for five years was engaged as a clerk in the store of the Ander-
son Furniture Company at Hutchinson, after which, in 1913. he opened a
furniture store of his own at Turon and has ever since been very success-
fullv engaged in l)usiness in that thri\ing little city.
On January 5, 1909. at Burrton, this state, George T. Gray was united
in marriage to Edith ^l. Gardinier, Avho was born in Harvey county, this
state. March 16, 1885, daughter of Henry F. Gardinier and wife, the for-
mer a native of Indiana and the latter of Pennsylvania. Henry F. Gardin-
ier is a veteran of the Civil War and to him and his wife five children were
l)orn, tho.se besides Airs. Gray being as follow : William, a barber, of
Pratt. Kansas; Ella, wife of FF F. Osborn, a hotel keepei- of Burrton;
Ethel, widow of H. F. Dykeman, a one-time telegraph operator at Hutchin-
son, and Ray, a barber of Greensburg, Kansas.
To George T. and Edith AF (Gardinier) Gray two children have been
Ixjrn. George, born on November 16, 191 1, and Darius, J\Iarch 5, 1913.
?^lr. Gray is a member of the Hutchinson encampment of the Spanish-
American War Veterans" Association and takes a warm interest in the
affairs of the same.
GEORGE ^[ADISOX KOONTZ.
The late George Madison Koontz. who was one of the best-known and
most sub.stantial farmers of Sumner township, prominent in civic affairs
thereabout, a leader in church work and a good citizen, was a native of
Illinois, born in Jasper county, that .state, July 28, i860, son of Andrew
Jack.con and Julia .\nn Koontz, natives of Penns^dvania, both of whom are
still living on their old home farm in Illinois, the former at the age of
eightv-seven and the latter at the age of eightv-six. Nine children were
born to them, of whom only one is a resident of Reno county. David
Koontz, a well-known carjienter at Hutchinson.
George M. Koontz was reared on the home farm in Illinois, obtaining
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 365
his schoolini; in llic district school in the neii.diljorhixjfl of his home, and
early learned the carpenter's trade, heconiing a prolicient craftsman in that
line. Upon reaching- manhood he came to Kansas and settled in Greeley
connt}', where he hcjmesteaded a farm, which he proceeded to develop, at
the same time continuing- his work as a car|)enter. 1 ie als(_) sjjcnt a year in
Colorado, working at his trade in Denver. In the fall of 1891 he married a
daughter of Tohias Moore, a prominent farmer of Snrnner township, this
county, and located for a time on his father-in-law's place in that township,
later huying the southeast c[uarter of section 3, in the same township. Upon
taking possession of that farm, Mr. Koontz began the development of the
same and greatly improved it and brought it to a high state of cultivation.
In 1906 he erected the present comfortable farm house which marks the
place. He had come to a position in life where he could begin to relax
some of the more active duties of his calling, when death stopped his earthly
labors, on September 11, 19 12.
George M. Koontz was a good citizen and was ever mindful of the
common good. He was a Democrat and served the public of Sumner town-
ship both as a school director and as a constable and in other ways did his
part in civic affairs. He helped organize the Farmers Telephone Company
in that part of the county and took an active part in the affairs of the same.
Mr. Koontz w-as a class leader, one of the trustees and superintendent of
the Sundav school of the United Brethren ciiurch and for years was devoted
to church work, both he and his wife being regarded as among the leaders
in s^ood works throughout their neighborhood. Since his death, Mr. Koontz's
widow and her sons are continuing the management of the farm, and the
family is very well situated.
It was on September 13, 1S91, that George M. Koontz w'as united in
marriage to Nannie J. Moore, who was born in Holmes county, Ohio,
daughter of I'obias and Hannah (Walton) Moore, both natives of that
same state and both of whom are still living. Tobias Moore was a tanner
and saddler, the owner of a tannery near the town of Millersburg, in Holmes
county, Ohio, where he was in business until 1882. in which year he sold
his establishment and came with his family to Kansas, settling in Sumner
townshi]^, this county. ]\Ir. Moore bought one-half of section 3, in that
township, and there established his home. The land was unimproved, but
with characteristic energy he lost no time in improving the same, getting
it under cultivation, soon becoming recognized as one of the most substan-
tial farmers in his neighborhood. He is a Republican and took an earnest
part in local political affairs, wdiile both he and his wife were prominent in
366 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
the work- of the Methodist Episcopal church. ]\Ir. ]\Ioore was born in
August, 1828, aiui his wife was born in 1847. They are now Hving at
Tokania. Nebraska, to which place they moved upon retiring from the farm
in 19 1 -I- To them nine children were horn, of whom Mrs. Koontz was the
fifth in order of birth, and six of whom are still living.
To George M. and Xannie J. (Moore) Koontz six children were born,
namely: Clinton Sylvester, born on May 13, 1892, who married Carrie
Murphy; Orla Howard. Inly 17, 1893, who married Mary Nicklaus ; lona
I'.dith. May 17. i8c;6. who married llerschel Prough, a farmer, of Sumner
township; Lloyd, who died in January, iqot. aged three years; Charles Kent,
April 2S. 1901 ; Olen Asa, April 4. 1905. Mrs. Koontz's elder sons are
energetic young farmers of Sumner township and are al:)l}' performing their
part in the common life of that community.
ABRAHAM B. CRABBS.
Abraham B. Crabbs, heatl of the firm of A. B. Crabbs & Company, real
estate and loans, at Arlington, this county, one of the largest landowners
in Reno county, a pioneer merchant at Arlington, president of the first bank
organized in that town and for many years one of the most active figures in
the development of that part of the C(5unty, is a native of Ohio, born in
Richland county, that state. April 9, 1851, son of Jacob jM. and Catherine
(Boliman) Crabbs, whose last days were spent at Arlington, this county.
Ja:ob M. Crabbs was a merchant in his home state, Init upon the loca-
tion of his s(jn. the subject of this sketch, at Arlington, in 1884, he retired
from business and the next 'vear also came to Reno county, locating at
,\rlinglon, where he died in 1894. at the age of sixty-four. His widow
jnirvivcd him eleven years, her death occuring in 1905, she then being nearly
seventy-five years of age. They were the parents of five children, of whom
the subject of this sketch is the eldest, the others being John T,.. Albert E.,
Jennie and Maud, the latter of whom died in infancy. b>hn L. Crabbs is
associated with his brother, A. V>. Crabl). in Arlington, and has two sons,
Lee M.. a farmer, living near .\rlington. and frank L.. a merchant of that
place. .Albert E. Oabbs, for years a well-known merchant at .Arlington,
who died in 1908, left three sons, .Arthur ].. a farmer, living in western
Kansas; Harry j., a merchant in Canada, and Dr. Ralph E. Crabbs, a well-
known deuti>^t at Arlin^-ton.
RENO COUNTY^ KANSAS. 367
Abraham B. Crablis spent his childhood in Adams county, Indiana,
w here lie received his early schooling, and al the aj;e of fourteen went back
tcj the i)lace of his ])irth in Ohio, where he l)egan working in his father's
store, and was there engaged until 1875, in which year he went to Toledo,
Ohio, where he engaged in the grain commission 1)usiness and was thus
employed until he came to Kansas in i8(S4 seeking a location. He stopped
at Hutchinson and after looking the situation over a bit decided to enter
the mercantile business at the then new and promising village of Arlington,
the center of the rich region in the west central section of the county. His
store building, one of the first erected in the new town, w^as ready for
occupanc}' in August, 1885, and he opened up with a general store of mer-
chandise worth about six thousand dollars. From the very start the busi-
ness prospered and it was not long until Mr. Crabbs was operating with a
stock double in value his initial stock, at once taking his place as a leader
in the commercial life of the new and thriving town, continuing as a mer-
chant there for twenty-three years. Two years after locating in Arlington
Mr. Crabbs organized, in 1887, the town's first bank, the Arlington State
Bank, and was elected president of the same, which he operated for tw^o
years, or until he sold out to the Citizens State Bank in 1889, retaining,
however, his financial interest in the bank. In 1889 Mr. Crabbs and brother,
John L., erected a grain elevator at Arlington and continued operating the
same until he sold out to the Hoffman Grain Company, of Enterprise, in
190-I.. In 190J he became associated with J. S. Trembley in the hardw^are
business and was thus connected until the lirm sold out in 191 5. In the
meantime Mr. Crabbs also had been actively interested in the real-estate and
loan business in and around Arlington and since disposing of his other inter-
ests has devoted his whole time to that branch of bAisiness, under the lirm
name of A. B. Crabbs & Com[)any. and is doing very well. Mr. Crabbs is
the owner of aliout four thousand acres of land, mostly in Reno county, and
the most of which is under profitable cultivation, the various farms being
managed l)y responsible tenants.
For years Mr. Crabbs has been generally handicapped by failing sight
and for several years past has been all but blind, but despite this unhappy
afllicti(Mi retains a hrm grasp on his extensive business interests and has lost
none of his aforetime energy. Mr. Crabbs exerted a strong influence upon
the progress of affairs in the western part of the county during the early
development of that section and was one of the chief factors in securing to
Arlington the advantages of a railroad Avhen the Rock Island line was being
surveved through that part of the country. Politically, he is a Republican
368 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
and ever since coming to this county has been one of the leaders of the party
in the western );art of the count}', l)Ut has never been included in the office-
seeking class. In Ills fraternal relations he is affiliated with the Masons, the
Modern Woodmen and the Ancient Order of United Workmen and takes a
warm interest in the affairs of these several organizations. Mr. Crabbs has
never married and makes his home with his brother, John L. Crabbs, at
Arlington.
CORNELIUS O. CHAPIN.
Cornelius O. Chapin, a well-known and well-to-do retired farmer of this
county, one of the real pioneers of Reno county, an honored veteran of the
Civil War, one of the oldest Odd Fellows in the state and for years actively
interested in the general civic affairs of this section of the state, has been
living in Hutchinson since his retirement from the farm in 1905 and is very
comfortably situated. ]\Ir. Chapin is a native of Massachusetts, a member of
one of the old Colonial families, which is represented in widely separated
parts of the country. The Chapin family maintains a regularly organized
association of kinship, with headquarters in the East, and holds annual
meetings which are very largely attended. The house in which ^Ir. Chapin
was born at Chicopee, Massachusetts, September 18, 1841, was built in 1730
and in that same house his father, Ouartus Chapin, was born on October 14,
1793-
(Juartus Chapin was reared a farmer and married Ruin- Sexton, who
was born in Somers, Connecticut, remaining in the East until 1853. in which
year he moved to Illinois. He bought two hundred and forty acres in Alorgan
county, that state, and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurr-
ing on March 7, 1858. He was a soldier of the War of 1812, his father
was a soldier in the Revolution and three of Quartus Chapin's sons were
soldiers in the Civil War. His widow returned East and her death occurred
in Waltham, Massachusetts. They were meml)ers of the Congregational
church and their children were reared in that faith. There were six of these
children, those besides the subject of tliis sketch 1)cing: Lyman, Horace and
Cornelia L., now deceased; Lucy A., wim married llenrv E. Steele, a watch-
maker of Waltham, Massachusetts, since whose death she has been living at
North Adams, in that state, and Ouartus H., in the United States railway
service, with headquarters at Chicago.
Cornelius O. Chapin was about twelve years old when he mo\ed with
^/yu^xztia^ 0yu><n/^i^^^yi^
RENO COLNTY, KANSAS. 369
liis parents to Morgan county, Illinois. His higlicr education was obtained
at Ft. Edward, New York, and in two years attendance at Illinois College,
Jacksonvillle, Illinois. Though not twenty years old when the Civil War
broke out he enlisted for three months serx'ice at the first call for volunteers
and went to the front as a member of Company B, Tenth Regiment, Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered out at Cairo, Illinois, at the expiration
of that term of service. Upon the completion of his military service he
returned to the farm and in the fall of 1863 was married. Ten years later
he came to Kansas and has been a resident of this county ever since. He
arrived at Hutchinson on November 9, 1873, and presently homesteaded the
southeast quarter of section 8, in Valley township, this county, upon which
he and his wife established their home on February 12, 1874, and there they
remained until their retirement from the farm and remoxal to Hutchinson
in 1905. Mr. Chapin was a successful farmer and cattle raiser and for years
was regarded as one of the most substantial and influential citizens of \'alley
township. Upon retiring from the farm he in\ested his capital in real estate
and is very comfortably situated. He and his wife have a very pleasant home
at 620 Sherman street, east, and take an active interest in the social and
cultural movements of their home town.
It was on September 30. 1863, at Concord, Illinois, that Cornelius O.
Chapin was united in marriage to Mary V. Detrick, who was born at Naples,
Illinois, March 10, 1848, daughter of Dr. Jacob H. and Hannah (jMorrison)
Detrick, the former a nati\e of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio, both
of whom spent their last days in Hutchinson, this county. Doctor Detrick
dying on September 28, 1902, and his widow on April 5, 19 13. Doctor and
Mrs. Detrick were IMethodists and active workers in the church. The Doctor
was a Democrat and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. To
him and his wife two daughters were born, Mrs. Chapin having a sister,
Catherine E., who married Clarence Willey, a prominent lumberman of
Chicago, and was among those who lost their lives in the sinking of the
"Lusitania." Her only child, a daughter, Catherine, is the wife of Robert
Thorne, vice-president of the great Montgomery Ward Company at Chicago.
To Mr. and Mrs. Chapin one child was born, a son, Charles F., who was
born at Concord, Illinois, June 4, 1864, and who was killed by the accidental
discharge of a gun in the hands of another person, in A'alley township, this
county, Januarv 21, 1887. Charles F. Chapin had married Fannie Demorett,
of this county, and their only child. Lyman H.. born in \"alley township on
(24a)
370 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
December ^o. 1886. was killed ])v jjeins: run over bv a loaded was^on in that
township on Xo\ember 2. 1897.
Mr. Chapin has been a meml;er of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows since the year 1864 and a member of the Daughters of Rebekah,
which latter order both he and his wife joined at the same time, since 1870.
Upon the fiftieth anniversary of his service as an Odd Fellow, Mr Chapin
was presented by the grand lodge of Kansas Odd Fellows with a handsome
gold badge, suitably inscribed, the number of his years of service, "50 " being
outlined in diamonds. Mr. Chapin also is a member of Joe Hooker Post,
Grand Army of the Republic, at Hutchinson, and for years has taken a warm
interest in the affairs of that patriotic order. ]Mr. Chapin is a prominent
member of the Woman's Relief Corps and has been senior vice-president of
that organization for the department of Kansas. ]\Ir. Chapin is a Republican
and ever has taken an active interest in local political affairs, but has never
been included in the office-seeking class.
CHARLES GIBSON.
Charles Gibson, a well-known and progressive young farmer of Valley
township, this county, is a native son of Reno county, having been born on
the homestead farm where he now li^'es, jMay 23. 1885, son of Harrison
and Mary A. (Black) Gibson, both natives of Tuscarawas county, Ohio,
the former born on October 1, 1840, and the latter, November 30, 1846,
who were pioneers of this county and prominent in the development of the
community in which they settled in A'alley township in 1878.
Harrison Gibson was reared in Ohio and served three years as a mem-
l)€r of an Ohio regiment during the Civil U'ar. Upon the conclusion of his
military service he married and bought a farm in Ohio, where he lived until
the spring of 1878. at which time he sold his farm and came to Kansas with
his family, settling in Reno county. Fie bought a quarter of a section of
land in N'alley township and there constructed a two-room sod house, in
which the family found shelter until the present commodious farm house
was erected in 18S2. Mr. Gibson was a good farmer and his operations
prospered, he being the owner of five hundred and sixty acres of land in
\"alley and (,^lay townshii)s at the time of his death, on August 6, 1912.
He was a Republican and he and his wife were earnest members of the
Methodist church, aiding in the organization of the Clay \^alley Methodist
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 37 1
l''.l)isctii.al cliurrli, n\ wliicli lie was a steward lo the time of his dcatli. His
widow, will) -^till siir\i\es him, is \ery pleasantly situated in a cottage on the
old homestead, ntit far from the house in which her youngest son, the sub-
ject of this sketch, and his family reside. There were seven other children
in the family: Alice, who married 11. I', d'idrick and lives at Emporia,
this state; AIiner\a, who married .Vllen O. Sprowl and lives on a farm in
Yoder township, this county; Margaret, who died at the age of eighteen;
Gertrude, who married ¥i . T. Eales and lives on a farm in Yoder township;
Harriet, who married h>ed Sloo]) and lives on a farm in Clay township;
John Walter, who married Anna Afar}- White and lives on a farm in Y^'oder
township, and W illiam Harrison, \vho lives on a farm in Valley township.
Charles Gibson was reared on the farm on which he was born and on
which he still li^"es, and received his schooling in the Dodge school at the
cross-roads near his home. When his father died he inherited half of the
(juarter section comprising the home farm, his mother retaining the other
half. Air. Gibson is a progressive and energetic young farmer and is doing
well. He is much interested in the cultivation of a better strain of horse
tlesh in his neighborhood and is the owner of a prize-winning French draft
sire. "Buster," which took the sweepstakes at the Kansas State Fair in 191 3.
On^March 19, 1913. Charles Gibson was united in marriage to Arlena
D. Alacklin, who was born in Valley township, this county, November 19,
1894, daughter of H. O. and Ruth (Averrill) Macklin, the former of whom
was also reared in Valley township, his father, F>. F. Macklin, now living in
Hutchinson, having been one of Reno county's earliest settlers, and to this
union two children have been born, Charles Kenneth, born on Alay 17, 1914-,
and Arthur Harold, August 19, 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Gibson are members
of the Clay Valley Methodist church and take an active interest in the various
social and cultural activities of their communitv.
JOSEPH CATTE.
Joseph Catte. a well-known and substantial farmer of Langdon town-
ship, this county, owner of two hundred and forty acres in section 17, of
that township, has been a resident of Reno county since he was ten years
old and has therefore been a witness of all the wonderful development that
has marked this region within the past generation. He was born in the
city of Brooklyn, New A'ork, October 29, 1868, son of Eugene and Gene-
3/2 RENO COUNTY. KANSAS.
ranse (Abryj Catlc. nalixes of [-"ranee, both l)orn in Alsace, the former on
May 10, 1828, and the latter, May 16, 1828, for years well-known residents
of Reno county.
Eugene Catte came to the United States in 185S and was engaged in
the business of gold retining at Brooklyn until the spring of 1878, when he
came to Kansas, arriving in Reno county on j\Iarch 17, of that year. He
bought the northeast quarter of section 20, in Langdon township, and
entered a timber claim on the south half of the south half of section 17, in
the same township, and on the former tract established his home. While
developing his farm he acted for some time, in pioneer days, as a freighter
on the old Sunset trail, hauling grain from Hutchinson to Sun Citv and
Lake City, on ?iledicine RiA'er, and bringing back firewood, for which serv-
ice he was paid one dollar and fifty cents a load, boarding himself. As his
farming operations progressed, however, he prospered and became a sub-
stantial farmer. He spent the rest of his life on the Langdon township
farm, his death occurring on October lo. 1898. Some time after his death
his widow returned to her former home in Brooklyn and there she died on
May 29. 1905. She was a Catholic and her children were reared in that
faith. There were five of these children, those besides the subject of this
sketch being as follow : Louisa, who married T. J. Brady, a patrolman in
New York City ; Jules, now deceased, who was a tinner and galvanizer at
Philadelphia; Louis, a farmer of Langdon township, this county, and Eugene,
also a resident of Langdon township.
Joseph Catte was ten years old when he came to Reno county with his
parents in 1878 and his schooling, which had been begun in Brooklyn, was
resumed in the district schools of Langdon township. Lie grew up on the
home farm ruid became an excellent farmer, in due time buying a farm of
his own in the neighborhood of the home place, the same being the timber
claim which his father had entered \ears before. He also inherited from
S. i). W'yman the ^outh halt" of the west half of the northwest quarter of
that same section antl now (nvns a \\ell-kci)t farm of two hundred and forty
acres there, being very comfortably circumstanced. Air. Catte is a Repub-
lican and has taken an acii\c inlevest in local civic aft'airs, having seiwed as
clerk of the school board oi his home township since 1906.
On December 25, 1894, Joseph Catte was united in marriage in Lang-
don township to Melissa Applegate, who was born in Nodaway county,
Missouri, October 22, 1876. daughter of Jackson and Elizabeth (Fee) Apple-
gate, both natives of Indiana, the former born in Hamilton county, that
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 373
State. Xo\einl)cr 20, 1831, and tlic latter, in Clinton county, September 3,
1844. Jackson A[)i)legatc came to Kansas from Missouri in December,
1886, and settled in I.an^don low iislii]). this county. He bought a quarter
of a section of land there and established his home, spending' the rest of his
life on that farm, his death occurring on January 9, ic)to. His widow is
now living in the town of Langdon. They were the parents of six children,
those besides Airs. Catte being as foll(nv : Randolph, a retired farmer,
now living in Hutchinson ; Samuel, a farmer, of Plevna township, tliis
county; John, a farmer, of Langdon township; Rdward, of Texas, and
^^'illiam, a railroad man, of Hutchinson.
To Joseph and Melissa (Applegate) Catte three children have been born,
namely: Joseph Perry, born on October 2, 1895, who, on June 15, 1915,
was appointed a cadet to the West Point Military Academy, on recommenda-
tion of Congressman George Neely; Hazel, February 16, 1897, and Velma,
Ai)ril 4, 1899.
PETER DECK.
Peter Deck, member of the board of commissioners of Reno county,
former trustee of Westniinster township, a jjrominent pioneer of that town-
ship and one of the best-knijwn and most substantial retired farmers of this
county, now li\-ing in a fine house in Abliey\ille, is a native Hoosier, but has
been a resident of this county since 1874 and has thus been a witness to and
a particii>ant in the \vonderful j^rogress which has been made in this region
since early pioneer days. He was born on a farm near the town of Albion,
in Noble county, Indiana, August 6, 1850. son of Isaac and Julia (Johnson)
Deck, both natives of Pennsylvania, who later became pioneers of Reno
county and the latter of whom is still living here, being now in the ninety-
first year of her age.
Isaac Deck was born near the town of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania,
March 4, 1820, and was reared as a farmer. About 1838 he went over into
Ohio and settled in the timber, near the town of Bryan, in \\^illianis county,
where he made his home until 1844, "i which year he moved to Indiana and
settled near the town of Albion, in Noble county, where he lived until 1858,
when he came west and settled in northern Alissouri, where he lived until
the sentiment against all an.ti-sla\ery sympathizers in that section became so
pronounced that he moved his family to southern Iowa in 1861 and estab-
lished a new home for them. He then returned to Missouri and in 1862
374 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
enlisted fur service in belialf of the Union arms in Company G, Seventh
j\Iissonri Cavalrv. with which lic served for more than two vears, dnrin?
which time he was engaged in several hot skirmishes, including the battle
of Springfield, ^^lissouri. Upon the conclusion of his military service, Mr.
Deck rejoined his family in Iowa and remained there until the spring of
1876, w hen he came to Kansas and established his home on a cjuarter of a
section of land in \\'e<tniinister township, this county, where he spent the
remainder of his life, his death occurring in October, 1898. His widow is
still living at her home in that township, in her ninety-first year, one of the
best-known pioneers of the west central part of the county. Isaac Deck
took a prominent part in pioneer afTairs and was a good citizen. He was
a Republican and an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic and
he and his wife were earnest members of the Dunkard church, in which
faith their children were reared. There were eight of these children, of
whom the subject of this sketch was the fourth in order of birth, the others
being Hannah, Lucinda, William. Gideon, Laura, Lincoln and Flora.
Peter Deck was about eight years old when his parents moved from
Indiana to Missouri and was about eleven when the family sought refuge in
Iowa. In the latter state he completed his schooling and became a farmer
and there he was married in 1870. In March, 1874, he came to Kansas
and homesteaded a quarter of a section in Westminster tow-nship, this county,
which he straightway proceeded to improve and bring under cultivation,
soon becoming knou-n as one of the most substantial farmers in that part
of the county. As he prospered in his farming and stock-raising opera-
tions, Mr. Deck gradually added to his land holdings, until he became the
owner of a fine farm of four hundred and ninety acres and there he lived
until 1 91 2. in which year he retired from the farm .-uid moved to Abbey-
ville. where he built a fine house and where he is now living, he and his
familx- being very comfortably situated. Air. Deck is a Republican and ever
since coming to this county has taken an earnest interest in civic affairs.
He sen'ed for some time as treasurer of W^estminster township and later
served as trustee of the srmie township. In 191 2 he was elected commis-
sioner of Reno county from his district and entered upon the duties of that
important office in January, 19 13.
It was in 1870, while living in Iowa, that Peter Deck was united in
marriage to Sarah .\nderson, daughter of W. 1). and Sarah (Louder)
Anderson, and to this union five chilih-en have been bovn, Lawrence. Roy.
Ethel, Nettie and Chester. Mr. and. Mrs. Deck are acti\e members of the
Methodist church and Air. iJeck has ser\ed as an office bearer in that church.
RENO COUNTY^ KANSAS. 375
lie is a Ala^-on and a nicnilier of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows
and ot iho Woodmen, in the affairs of which organizations he takes a warm
interest.
TAMES W. I'ARISH.
James W. Parish, a well-know'n and progressive merchant of Langdon,
this county, has been a resident of Kansas since he was fonrteen years old.
He was born in Springfield, Illinois, March 25, 1868, son of James and
Amanda ( Davis j Parish, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter
of Indiana. James Parish moved from Pennsylvania to Indiana with his
parents in his youth and at Franklin, in the latter state, married i\manda
Davis, later moving to .Springfield, Illinois, where he made his home until
1882, in which year he came to Kansas wuth his family, settling at Ft. Scott,
where he lived for about ten years. He died at Clifton, Ohio, in 1909, and
his widow is now living at Kansas City, Missouri. They were the parents
of six children, those besides the subject of this biographical sketch being
as follow: C. W., a capitalist at Spokane, Washington; Eva, who married
Isaac Bingham, a farmer, of Baxter Springs, this state; Alice, wddow of
Lew Antrim, a one-time locomotive engineer, of Kansas City; j\Irs. Lucy
Butcher, of Kansas City, and Fred, a farmer, of Baxter Springs.
James W. Parish was about fourteen years old when he came to Kan-
sas wnth his parents in 1882 and his schooling was completed in the schools
of Ft. Scott. He then secured employment on one of the railroads running
out of that city and for nine years was engaged as a railroad man. He then
came to Reno county and located at Langdon, where he opened a store for
the sale of general merchandise and has ever since been very successfully
engaged in that business at that place, having built up a fine trade through-
out that section of the county. His store is admirabl}- stocked and his busi-
ness is conducted along progressi\'e lines.
At Catskill, New Mexico, June 4, 1894. James W. Parish was united in
marriage to Junia Ramey, who was ])orn in Cowley county, Kansas. Sep-
tember 2T,, 1877. daughter of William H. and Sarah (Davis) Ramey, the
former of whom ^^•as l>orn in Pittsljurgh, Pennsylvania, and the latter in
Springfield, Illinois. A\"illiam H. Ramey died in Trinidad. Colorado, in
October, 1906. and his widow is now living at Ludlow, in that state. They
were the parents of se\en children, Mrs. Parish's brothers and sisters l^eing
as follow: Roljert, deceased; ^^lontie, a painter, of Langdon. this county;
3/6 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Gertrude, who married ^\'illiam Sherman, a miner, of Ludlow, Colorado;
Wismie, who married Alex Lowe, also a Ludlow miner; Elsie, wife of
Frank l^un^on, another Ludlow miner, and Odessa, wife of Jack Sharp,
also a Ludlow miner. To Air. and Mrs. Parish two children have been
born. Bessie, born, at Trinidad. Colorado, October 19, 1896, who married
K. L. Plush, a farmer, of Langxlon township, this county, and Roy, born at
Langdon, January 1. 1899. Mr. Parish is a Republican and gives close
attention to local political affairs. l)ut has never been an aspirant for political
honors, preferring rather to give liis undivided attention to his growing
business interests.
THOMAS J. RICE.
Thomas J. Rice, proprietor of Rice's popular cafeterias at Hutchinson,
this county, is a native of Ohio, having been born in Scioto county, that state,
April II, 1872, son of Charles and Sarah (Kirkpatrick) Rice, both natives
of that same state, the latter of whom is still living, making her home with
her son, the subject of this sketch, at Hutchinson.
Charles Rice was reared on a farm in Ohio and when the Ci\il A\'ar
l^roke out enlisted in Company G, Ninety-first Regiment, Ohio Volunteer
Infantry, and served three years in the Army of the East, under General
Sheridan. He married in Ohio and remained there until 1876. in which
year he came West with his family, settling in Holt county. Missouri, where
he bought eighty acres of land and farmed for two years, at the end of which
time he mo\ed to Atchison county, same state, where he bought eighty
acres and remained seven years. He then moved to Pawaiee county, Nebraska,
where he bought a farm of twn hundred and forty acres and remained for
ten years, at the end of which time he sold his place to advantage and moved
to Prairie county. Arkansas, where he bought four hundred and eight}- acres
and after seven years residence there moxed to the Creek Nation (now
Rogers county. Oklahoma). Indian Territory, and had become well estab-
lished there when he died, his death occuring in September, 1894. wlnlc
making a visit to the Chickasaw Nation. He ne\er had a law suit in Ins
life. To Charles Rice and wife four children were born, these besides the
subject of this sketch being, John \\'.. a farmer, of Rogers county, Oklahoma;
Charles J., a farmer, of Pawnee county. Nebraska, and David A.. wIt) died
on his farm in Prairie county, Arkansas.
Thomas J. Rice was l)ut four years old when his parents came West
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. };]']
aiul he grew to manhood on liis father's farms in Missouri and Nebraska,
finishing his school days in high school in the latter state. He married in
the fall of i8g4 and continued farming with his father until 1902, in which
year he engaged in the general mercantile Ijusiness in the Indian Territory
and was thus engaged for seven years, after which he bought a farm in
Nowata county, Oklahoma, where he made his h(jme for three years. He
then moved to Ford county, same state, where he remained, farming, until
he moved to Hutchinson, where, on September 12, 1914, he and his wife
opened, at 12 Second avenue, east, the first cafeteria established in that city.
So successful did this venture prove that on November 9, 1915, Mr. and Mrs.
Rice opened cafeteria No. 2, at 21 South IMain street and have since been very
successfully operating both places. Mr. Rice has taken an acti\e interest in the
general welfare of the city since moving to Hutchinson and is a memi^er of
the Commercial Clul). He is a Republican and takes an earnest interest in
local politics, but is not an office-seeker. He is a member of the Hutchinson
post of the Sons of Veterans, of the Knights of Pythias and of the Odd
Fellows.
It was in the fall of 1894, in Pawnee county, Nebraska, that Thomas J.
Rice was united in marriage to Nellie Sovereign, who was born in Caldwell
county, Missouri, November 26, 1876, daughter of A1)ram and Eunice
(Tabor) Sovereign, the former a native of Canada and the latter of Indiana.
Abram Sovereign was but a boy when his parents emigrated from Canada
to Indiana and settled in Porter county, that state, in the neighborhood of
Valparaiso, where he grew to manhood and where he married Eunice Tabor,
who was ]>orn near Valparaiso. In the latter sixties Abram Sovereign came
West, settling in Caldwell C(Uinty, Missouri, where he remained until 1896,
in which year he moved to Pawnee County, Nebraska, where he remained
nine years, at the end of which time he returned to ^Missouri and settled in
Vernon county, that state, where he spent the rest of his life, his death
occurring in June, 1899. His widow, who still survives, is now making her
home in Hutchinson, this county. Seven children were born to .\l)ram
Sovereign and wife, as follow: Chester E., deceased; Schuyler C, of
Hutchinson; Grant, who is associated with Mr. Rice in the operation of the
Rice cafeterias in Hutchinson; Nettie, who married William Scott, a farmer,
and died in Pawnee county. Nebraska; Leonard, a farmer, of Galesburg,
Illinois; Myrtle, who married George W. Hofsess. who is associated with
]\Ir. Rice in the operation of the latter's cafeterias in Hutchinson, and Fred,
raihvay station agent and telegraph operator at Satanta. this state.
To Mr. and Airs. Rice three children have l^een born. Alvin. born in
^jS REXO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Prairie county. Arkansas, July 6, 1895; Fay L., born in that same county,
Alay 1 1. 1897, and Alta Eunice, born in Nowata county, Oklahoma, June 16,
1909, all of whom are a home. The Rice's have a handsome home at 19
sixteenth avenue, east, built in 1915, and are very pleasantlv situated.
JOHX WILLARD CAMPBELL.
John W'illard Campbell, former trustee of Plevna township, this county,
one of the \ery earliest settlers of this township, a well-known and prosper-
ous pioneer farmer of Reno county and a director and vice-president of the
Farmers Elevator Company of Plevna, is a native of Michigan, but has been
a resident of Reno county since 1873 ^^^^^ ^'^^^ ^^''^''^ been a witness to and
an active promoter of the development of this section of the state since
pioneer days. He was born at Bay City, ]\lichigan. May 4, 1852, son of
Noah R. and Elmira (Dixon) Campbell, both natives of the state of New
York, who later became pioneers of Reno county and spent their last days
here.
Noah R. Campbell was born at Brant, near the city of Buffalo, New
Yorl:. Tanuar}- 2=^. 1820, and grew up and was married in Pennsylvania,
where he was engaged in farming until 185 1, in which year, shortly after
his marriage, he moved to J\Iichigan and settled in Bay City, where he
engaged in teaming and was thus engaged until 1871, when he moved to
Royal Oak, in the same state, where he li^■cd until he came with his family
to Kansas, entering a quarter of a section of land in Plevna township, this
county, on October 6, i^Sj^,, and entered a quarter section in February, 1874,
as a timber claim; his eldest son, the subject of this sketch entering an
adjoining quarter section at the same time, these being the first homesteads
entered in that to\vn,-hi]). There Noali R. Campbell threw up a sod shanty
with a roof of hay and in that humble abode he and his family spent the
winter: in the following spring erecting a small frame house, which later,
from time to time, received additions, and this second house served as a
home until it finally was flestroyed by fire on July 2. 1897. lifter which a
better and more commodious home was erected. In the spring of 1874
Noah R. Cam])1)ell and his sons broke forty acres of land and planted the
same to corn, but the grasshopper plague of that year rendered futile their
first season's efforts. The next year a small crop was raised and after
awhile the Campbells began to prosper and earl)- became recognized as lead-
RENO COLXTY, KANSAS. 379
ers in the piDiieer life of that virinily. Noah K. Campbell spent the rest of
his life on that pioneer farm. l;r,t lived retired in his later years, and was
almost wholly paralyzed f(jr ationt two and one-half years before his death
on January 2^, i8q2. Mis widow surxived him for more than twenty years,
her death occurring in Montana on July 27, 19 15. They were the parents
of six children, of whom the suldect of this sketch was the eldest, the others
being as follow : Ida, who married H. A. Abbott and is now living on a
farm in Montana; J. J., a retired farmer, most of whose time is spent in
Den\-er, Colorado, and who has four children, N. Alonzo, Mrs. Nellie Smith,
J. T. and xMrs. Cora Cox; Dean, who married John W. Hanan, a farmer of
Plevna township, this countv; Mrs. Julia A. Dunham, deceased, and Mrs.
L. G. Mitchell, of Plevna, this countv.
John W. Campbell was reared in his native town. Bay City, Michigan,
where he obtained his schooling and where for some time he was engaged
as a clerk in a store. He v.as twenty-one years old when he came with his
parents to Reno county in the fall of 1873 '^'^'^'^ 1^^ homesteaded a quarter
of a section lying alongside his father's homestead in Plevna township, which
he proceeded to develop, at the same time assisting his father in the develop-
ment of his place and after the death of his father accpiired the latter's home-
stead farm, being now the owner of the full half section of land, a farm of
three hundred and twenty acres, well improved and profitably cultivated.
In recent years he has erected a fine residence on his place and his modern
barn and other farm l)uildings are in keeping with the same, Air. Campbell
conducting his farming operations along the latest and best-appro\ed lines.
He has for years taken an active part in civic affairs in that part of the
county and for some time served as clerk of the township, later serving for
several years as township trustee. . He also has been active in the affairs
of the Farmers Elevator Company at Plevna and is the vice-president and
one of the directors of that enterprising and progressive concern. Mr.
Campbell is an active and earnest member of the Kansas State Historical
Society and has been able to contribute much valuable information regard-
ing pioneer days in this county to the reports of that body. The first post-
office in the Plevna section of Reno county was established in the old Camp-
bell home and was given the name of "Dean." serving the people of that
neighborhood until the office was moxed to Plevna, upon the establishment
of that village.
On June _', 1888, John ^^^ Campbell was united in marriage to Julia
M. Dennis and to this union two sons have been l)orn. fason Edward and
380 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Jesse Roberts, ihc latter of \\ honi married ATarx- K. Nusser and continues
to make his home on the old homestead place. Both sons are active and
valuable aids to their father in the operation of the farm and are recognized
in their neii^hborhood as energetic and up-to-date young agriculturists. Mr.
Campbell is a member of the ]\Iodern Woodmen and of the Royal Neigh-
bors and takes a warm interest in the affairs of these two organizations.
\MLLIA:\I L. HUDSON.
William L. Hudson, a well-known and successful farmer and horse
dealer, of Syhia township, this count}', is a native of Maryland, having
been born on a farm in the neighborhood of the town of Berlin, in that
state, on October 5, 1861, son of William S. and Julia A. (Powell) Hud-
son, both natives of that same state, who were reared and married there
and who made their home there until 1866, in which year, following the
readjustments being made thereabout as a consequence of the changed con-
ditions incident to the conclusion of the Civil War period, they moved West
with their family and settled in Pike county, Illinois, where they lived on a
rented farm until 1882, in which year they moved to Shelby county, same
state, where William S. Hudson and his wife spent their last days, the
former dying at the age of seventy-eight and the latter at the age of ninety-
two. William S. Hudson and wife were the parents of seven children, two
sons and five daughters, of whom the su1)iect of this biographical sketch was
the youngest and the only one to come to Kansas.
William L. Hudson 'A'as live years old when his parents moved to Illi-
nois and he received his education in the district school in the neighborhood
of his early home in Pike county, meantime helping his father in the labors
of the farm, and was twent\-one years old when the family nioxcd to Shelby
C(junty in 1882. There Mr. Hud.son met his future wife and in 1884 was
married, after which he began farming- on his own account, renting- a farm
in h'fhnghani county, Illinois, where he made his home for four years, at the
end of which time he returned to Shelby county and there made his home
until 1892. the year of his removal to this state. It was earlv in the spring
of i8r)2 that Mr. Hudson and his family came to Reno county, rurixing here
in March of that year, an<l n few months later he bought a quarter of a sec-
tion of unimproved land in Sylvia township, just one-half mile north of the
town of Sylvia. Later he added to this tract by the purchase of a quarter
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 38 1
of a section adjoining- and n(j\v has a well-kept and highly improved place
of three hundred and twenty acres, on which he still makes his home and
where he and his family are very comfortably situated.
Wdien Air. Hudson settled on his Sylvia township place there was not
even a fence-post on the place in the way of improvement, the whole a
sandy plain without a tree or a building- of any sort, in 1893 ^^'^ ^^'•"^t a
small house, but later rcliuilt and enlarged the house, remodeling the same
into his present pretty dwelling, which, with the large and modern barn
rnd ample orchard adjoining, situated on a gentle knoll, presents a very
pleasing and attractive appearance to the eye of the traveler passing that
way. In the fall of 191 5 Air. Hudson built a new house a few rods west
of the farm dwelling, for the occupancy of his son, Carl H. and wife, the
former of whom is now relie\'ing his father of the greater part of the details
of management of the home place. For some time after locating in this
county, Air. Hudson confined his operations to grain farming, but later
went into the business of breeding full-blood Percheron horse stock and in
that line has been very successful, there being a large and constant demand
for th2 horses raised on the Hudson farm. Air. Hudson has three full-
blood Percheron sires and a number of full-blood mares of the same breed
and his colts are eagerly sought by those who are desirous of improving the
strain of their horse stock. Air. Hudson is not only a good farmer and
horse breeder, but is recognized as an excellent business man and is wddely
known throughout the county. He is a Democrat and a member of the
lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Sylvia, in the affairs of
wdiich order he takes a warm interest.
On July 27, 1884, in Illinois, William L. Hudson was united in mar-
riage to Josephine A. Brown, who was born in Alacon country, that state,
daughter of John W. W. and Alary C. Browai, the former of wdiom is now
deceased, but the latter of wdiom is still living, making her home at Svlvia,
this county, to which place she and her husband had moved when well pasf
middle age. To William L. and Josephine A. (Brown) Hudson, four chil-
dren have Ijeen born, as follow: Harry L., who died when eighteen years
of age; George W., who is married and lives on a farm in Sylvia town-
ship, this county; Carl H., also married, who lives in a house neighboring
that of the parental home, and wdio is now^ relieving his father of much of
the detail work of managing the farm, and Lura A., who is at home with
her parents. The Hudsons are well known throughout the Sylvia neighbor-
hood and the family is held in high regard thereabout.
382 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
ELBERT O. ALLMON.
Elbert O. Allmon. fornier mayor and a well-known and enterprising
merchant of Turon. this county, who is associated in business in that flourish-
in^' little city with his father-in-law, E. O. Barker, is a native son of the
Sunflower state, having been liorn in Barber county, Kansas, October 16,
1878, son of the Hon. Sanuiel J. and Zelmar (Sandifer) Allmon, both
natives of Bollinger countv, Alissouri, who became residents of Kansas in
1877:
Samuel J. Allmon was lD(irn on October 20, 1850, and was reared on
a farm in Bollinger county, Missouri. There he married Zelmar Sandifer,
a neighbor girl, who was liorn in 1853, and they made their home on a farm
in that county until the spring of 1877, at which time they came to Kansas
and settled near Elm Mills, in Barber county, where they remained about a
year, at the end of which time they nioved to Pratt county, W'here Mr. All-
mon homesteaded a quarter of a section of land near Preston, which he
afterward sold and l^ought another quarter section three and one-half miles
west of Preston and a c|uarter section eight miles southeast of Pratt, both
tracts in Pratt county, which he still owns, though he has made his home
in FVeston for years. Mr. Allman has given earnest attention to civil
affairs in his home county and at the last election was elected as representa-
tive from his district to the lower house of the Kansas state Legislature.
For nearly twenty years he has been a member of his local school board and
most of that time has also served as treasurer and clerk of the board. For
eight years he serverl the people of Pratt county in the capacity of county
clerk and has also served several terms as township trustee and as justice
of the peace. His wife died at l^restcjn in 1881. Thev were the parents
of three children, the subject of this sketch liaving two sisters, I^Iay, wdio
married J. C. Sillin. a miller, of Iliid><in, ibis state, and Belle, who is at
home with her father.
Elbert (). Allmon received his education in the district schools of Pratt
county and the grade schools of Prestim and earlv entered upon his suc-
cessful mercantile career. His first venture as a i)roprietor was in associa-
tion with IC. M. Rowell. in the general merchandise 1)usiness at Turon. this
county, which partnership was maintained for two vears. at the end of which
time Mr. Allmon became connected with his father-in-law, K. O. Barker, in
business in the same thriving little citv and has ever since been thus enerased,
the firm having a fine store on Burns street, the chief street of the city.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. _ 383
Ever since l(>c;itini;- at l^iron Mr. Allnioii has taken an active part in public
affairs and was elected a nieniher of the lirst council after the incorporation
of the city. So acce[)tahle was his ser\ice in that connection that he was
elected second mayor of the city and made an excellent record in that
important executive capacity. He is a ])roniinent member of the Turon
Boosters Club and neglects no opportunity to "Ijoost" his home town in all
proper ways. He is a Deiuocrat and is well known in tlie crjuncils of that
party in Reno county.
At Preston, Kansas, October 3, 1900, Elbert O. Allmon was united in
marriage to Ila E. Barker, who was born in Em])oria, this state, daughter
of E. O. and Caroline TShull) Barker, both of whom were born in Dekalb
countv, Indiana, not far from the city of Ft. Wayne, and who came to
Kansas years ago. To this union four children have been born, as follow :
Ralph, born on July 16, 1903; Merle, July 2, 1905; Olive, May 15, 1907.
and Vada Joy, April 6. 1909. Mr. and Mrs. Allmon are earnest members
of the Methodist church and take an active part in the various social and
cultural actix'ities of their liome town. Mr. Allmon is a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Modern Woodmen of
America and takes a warm interest in the affairs of those organizations.
BUCKNER W. DUNSWORTH.
Buckner W. Dunsworth, one of the successful and progressive farmers
of Reno county, was born at McComb, Illinois, June 22, 1850, and was the
son of Nathaniel and ]Mildred (Waymac) Dunsworth, the later of whom
was the daughter of Buckner Waymac. Air. Waymac was a native of
Tennessee, who in early life settled in Indiana and later at ■\IcComb, Illi-
nois, where he engaged in farming until his death. The grandfather,
Thomas Dunsworth, was a native of Ireland and later made his home in
Illinois, where he died.
Nathaniel and Mildred Dunsworth were the parents of the following
children : A. J. ; Thomas ; Tillman and Buckner W. The parents were
active and influential members of the Baptist church and took much interest
in all church work.
Buckner W. Dunsworth was educated in the common schools of Illi-
nois and later engaged in farming. He has been married four times. He
was first married to Sarah J. Jackson, to whom the following children were
384 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
born: William H., James E. and Ira. After the death of his wife he
was married to Caroline Fowler to whom six children were born: Alice,
Frank, Carrie, Ellen. Lewis and Abbie. Mr. Dunsworth later married
Carrie Davis to whom one child. Grace, was born. Later in life he mar-
ried Alice Spiva.
^[r. Dunsworth came to his present farm of two hundred and forty
acres in 1887 and here he has made a success of general farming and stock
raising. Fie has devoted much of his time to the raising of Percheron and
French draft horses and has taken many prizes at the fairs.
Mr. Dunsworth is a member of the Baptist church and takes much
interest in church work. lie is a member of the Masonic order, having
attained the Scottish rite degree at ^\■ichita and the York rite at Hutchin-
son. He is also a member of the Modern \\^oodmen of America. He has
si.xteen grandchildren.
JOHN W. CO:\IES.
John W. Comes, one of the most energetic and progressive farmers of
Reno county, proprietor of a fine farm of three hundred and twenty acres
in \'alley township, on which he has erected the most attractive farm house
on the "Santa Fe Trail" within twenty-five miles; a man who not only has
been diligent in his own business, but who has e\'er given his thoughtful and
intelligent attention to public affairs, is a native of Illinois, having been born
on a farm in McDonough county, that state, July 21, 1857, son of Nicholas
and Mary (Kohule) Comes, both natives of Germany, the former born in
Coblenz, Prussia, and the latter in W'ittenburg, who became pioneers of
Reno county and substantial and influential residents of \^alley township.
Nicholas Comes, who was Ijorn in 1829, left his native land in 1854,
in order to escape the hated military system of that country, and landed in
New York with just three marks (seventy-five cents) in his pocket. For a
year thereafter he worked in the woods in the Schenectady district, at a wage
of nine dollars the month, and then began working in a glove factory at
Gloversville, where he met Mary Knhule. who also had come from Ger-
many in 1854. and who was working in the same factory. They were mar-
ried in the early spring of 1856 and straightway came West, settling in
McDonough count)-. Illinois, where they liought a farm of one hundred
acres in 1862 and there made their home until 1876. in which year Mr. Comes
JOHN W. CO.MES
MRS. J. W. COMES
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 385
disposed of his interests there, chartered a couple of cars for the transpor-
tation of his iiousehold goods, necessary hve stock and sufficient lumber from
which to construct a small house and he and his family came to Kansas. Mr.
Comes bought a half section of land in Valley township and there established
his home. With the lumber he had brought from Illinois he erected the
best house at that time in the township and it was not long until he and his
family were very comfortably situated on their pioneer farm. He and his
sons quickly developed their farm, in addition cultivating quite a tract of
adjoining land, "breaking out" hve hundred acres of \'irgin prairie with
oxen, and it was not long until the Comes family was regarded as one of
the most substantial families in the county.
Nicholas Comes was an ardent Republican and took an active part in
local political affairs during pioneer days, but was not an office seeker. He
and his wife were reared as Catholics, but when the priest told Mr. Comes
to vote for Douglas during the campaign of i860 or incur the penalty of
excommunication he resented this form of interference with his civil rights,
voted for Lincoln and discontinued his connection with the mother church.
he and his wife transferring their connection to the United Brethren, later
the Presbyterian church. Upon locating in this county they lost little time
in encouraging the organization of a church of that denomination and in
the spring of 1877 had the satisfaction of participating in the establishment
of the Valley Presbyterian church, which ever since has been a power for
good in that community. The subject of this sketch has a German Bible
which has been in the family for nearly one hundred and fiftv years. His
mother, who is still living, now making her home at Burrton, in the neigh-
boring county of Harvey, past the age of eighty-two. for many years has been
active in church work and was a ver}- helpful factor in the work of bringing
about proper social conditions in the communitv in pioneer da^■s. Nicholas
Comes died in 1893. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, of
whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest, the others being as follow :
Joseph, unmarried, proprietor of a meat market in Burrton, over the line in
Harvey county; Edward, who died in 1895; Mollie, widow of Gus Ouer-
feld. who makes her home in Lawrence, this state ; Charles, traffic manager
for the Kansas Milling Company, at Anthony, this state ; Oscar, a railway
conductor, living in Denver, Colorado; Alma, who married John New and
is now deceased, and Clyde, who is engaged in the retail meat business with
his brother. Joseph, at Burrton.
John W. Comes was reared on the farm in Illinois and received his ele-
(25a) -n
386 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
mentary education in the public schools of that neighborhood, supplementing
the same by a course in the AlcDonough County Normal School, which he
attended until the spring of 1876. lliat was the spring in which the family
came to this county and upon his arrival here he secured a position as a
teacher in the county schools at thirty dollars the month, for two terms con-
ducting the school in the Lawson district, in the neighborhood of the Comes
home. He remained at home, assisting in the development of the home
farm, until he was twenty-live 3-ears of age. He married on December 24,
1 88 1, and in 1882 moved to Burrton, where, with his brother, Joseph, he
was engaged in the general merchandise business until 1887, in which year he
sold his interest in the store and became a locomotive fireman in the employ
of the Santa I'e Railroad Company, his run being l^etween Newton and
Dodge City, and was thus employed for seven years, or until the big strike
of the American Railway Union in June, 1893. In the spring of 1894 he
returned to the farm and, his father having died the year before, he bought
half of the original homestead, one hundred and sixty acres, from the other
heirs and there established his home. He later bought a quarter section
adjoining on the south and now owns the east half of section t,t,, X^alley
township, one of the best-kept and most profitably cultivated farms in that
neighborhood. Upon returning to the farm ^Ir. Comes went in rather exten-
sively for pure-bred Shorthorn cattle and his stock for years was in wide
demand for breeding purposes. He is a Democrat and for years has loeen
actix'e in local politics, having served as township clerk and as township
treasurer. He was one of the organizers and a director of the Clay-Valley
'I'elephone Company, an independent organization for the benefit of the farmers
of the community which it serves, and in other ways has done well his part
in the general activities of the communit\". In 1912 Mr. Comes erected a
fine modern dwelling on his farm and all the other ituprcn-ements' on the
place are in keeping. The "Santa l-e Trail," the main highway through
Reno county, passes the Conies house, wliich is regarded as being the most
attractive residence to be seen on tiie trail for twenty-five miles. The house
is up-to-date in every particular — sleeping porciies, wide enclosed \erandas,
artistic architectural design, hot and cold water through the house — and is
designed at every point to insure the comfort of its occupants, the family
being thus very pleasantly situated.
On December 24. i88t, John \\'. C^jmes was united in marriage to
Mary 1".. Hess, who wa> born on March t2. t86i. in Wisconsin, daughter
of Zachariah and Harriet ( Dodge) Hess, l;oth natives of New York state.
Zachariah Hess was born in Herkimer cr)unty. New York, December 25, 1829,
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 387
and (lied on March _'_', H)\C). ]\v orew up in Xcw ^■<)^k state, married
there and hecame a dairyman, heins^- thus ent^ai^ed until iS'o, in which
year he moved to Wisconsin, Ijouglit a farm near Janesville. in Rock county,
that state, and there made his home until 1868. He then mo\ed to Minnesota,
intending to Imy land in that state, hut did not like the cold winters there
and moved down into Iowa, \vliere he spent a couple of winters, after
which he came to Kansas, settling in this county in October, 18/-', and
entered a homestead in section 18, in Valley township, where he established
his family, which was thus one of the pioneer families of Reno county.
To John W. and Mary hL. (Hess) Comes eight children have been
born, namely: Harriet, a trained nurse, who is the widow of [. F. Mats;
Helen, who married Harry W. Gibson and lives on a farm on the "Santa Fe
Trail" in Valley township, this county; Verda, married Kemper Hinds and
lives on a farm near Hobart, Oklahoma, and they have two children,
Kemper, Jr.. and Mary I-'".. ; Alma, a trained nurse in the Cook county
hospital at Cdiicago, and Madge, Edward, Kittie and John, who are still
at home. Airs. Helen Gibson is a member of the Methodist church. Mr.
and Mrs. Comes and the other children are members of the Presbyterian
church, of wdiich Mr. Comes is a deacon. He has been a Mason since 1883.
a member of the blue lodge at Burrton ; a member of the commanderv at
Hutchinson and of the consistory, Scottish Masons, and Midian Temple.
Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine at Wichita. He
also is a member of the Modern W^oodmen of America, and in his lodge
nf^liations takes much interest.
WU-IJAM H. BURGESS.
William H. Burgess, a well-known and well-to-do farmer of \A'alnut
to\\nship. this county, proprietor of a tine farm of one hundred and sixty
acres three miles west and three miles south of Sterling, and one of the most
inHuciitial men, politically, in th;it part of the county, is a nati^•e of Ken-
tucky, born in the city of Henderson, that state, July 26, 1861, son of the
Rev. J. G. and R. J. (Goyer) Burgess, the former a native of Kentucky
and the latter of South Carolina, who are now H\ing at C\)luml)ia, Missouri.
The Re^'. J. G. Burgess has been actively engaged in the Baptist min-
istr\- since he was twenty-one years of age. He was bc^rn in Franklin
county, Kentucky, his father. James G. Burgess, also a native of that
388 RENO COUNTY. KANSAS.
county. ha\inj4 been a faniicr tlicre ;ill his life. Grandfather Burgess Hved
to he ninety-eight years old. He was an earnest Baptist and his son was
early devoted t^ the ministry of that church, being given a li])eral education
at Bowling Green. Durinu' the Civil War the Rev. J. G. Burgess served as
a chaplain in the Confederate army, in Cen Joseph E. Johnston's command.
For some years he was stationed at Henderson, Kentucky, pastor of a church
at that place, l/Ut not long after the close of the war accepted a call to
Missouri, where he has H\e(l e\er since, his present home being at Columbia,
that state. His wife was l)orn near Charleston, South Carolina, daughter
of Daniel Go}'er. a native of Pennsylvania, who became a well-to-do farmer
in tlie Charleston neighl)orhood, later moving to luka Springs, in that same
state, where his last days were spent. To the Rev. J. G. Burgess and wife
six children were born, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest and
all of whom are li\ing, the others being as follow: Benjamin, J. D., Joseph
D., Sallie A. and Julia W.
WilHani H. Burgess was but a child when his parents moved to [Mis-
souri and his schooling chiefly was obtained at Saline, that state. He became
a farmer and in 1883 came to Reno county. The next spring he married
the daughter of one of Reno county's pioneers and began farming on his
own account, but did ncjt locate on his present farm in section 12 of \A'alnut
townshi]) until 1898. There he has made his home ever since and has done
very well in his farming operations, long having been regarded as one of
the substantia] citizens of that part of the county. In addition to his gen-
eral farming, Mr. Burgess has given considerable attention to raising live
stock, making a specialty of Durham cattle and Poland China hogs. Of
late he has gone in somewhat extensively for Cottswold sheep and sees
proini.se of profit in that direction. Mr. Burgess is an ardent Democrat and
ever since coming to this county has taken an active interest in local political
affairs. Since 1903 he has l)een the Democratic committeeman in his pre-
cinct and has given hi> mo^t tlionghtful attention to the duties of that posi-
tion, with the result that his precinct is the banner Democratic i)recinet in
Walnut townshi]) and Mr. I'urgess has come to l)e recognized as a fore-
.Hghtcd and astute [xjlitical leader in his comninnit}. He has taken an
earnest interest in local enterprises generall\ and i^ a stockholder in the
Farmers h^levator Company at Sterling. .Mr. lUugess has im])ro\e(i liis
farm in admirable sha]ie and carries on Ins operations according to modern
methods. In 1905 he erected a comfortable, up-to-date house on his place,
replacing his former residence, and iti tlie following year 1)uilt his present
well-equipped barn.
RKNO COL'NTY, KANSAS. 389
It w.'is on March j, iScSj, tlial W'iliiam 11. IUir<;css was uiiitccl in mar-
riage to Martha A. |aoo1)s, who was horn on Jnly _m , 1864, daughter of
Samuel |acol)s and wife, who came to Reno county in 1S73, and to this
union one child has hccn hi rn. a son, D. L. P>ur,q"e?s, ];orn on March 2, iS(S,S,
who is a \alnaljle assistant to his lather in the o])eration of the home farm.
Air. r)nr,i»"ess is a Mason and a mem1)er of the lirotherhood of American
Yeomen and in the affairs of hoth of these organizations takes a warm
interest.
MONROE COLEMAN.
Monroe Coleman, a well-kiiown and prosperous farmer and stockman
of .S}-l\ia t< wn-hip, this county, is a native-born Hoosier, having been born
on a farm in I 'ike county. Indiana, September 19, 1863, son of Francis
Henry and kdizabeth (Parker) Coleman, both natives of that same county,
memhers of pr. >minent pioneer families in that section of the Hoosier state.
f>ancis H. Coleman was a son of Conrad Coleman, one of the earliest
settlers in southern Indiana, he luning settled in Pike county in 1806, ten
years before Indiana was admitted to statehood, emigrating from Kentucky.
He was a school teacher and became a man of large influence in the pioneer
community in which he settled. He had the foresight to l;uy up a con-
siderable tract of "Congress land" while it was selling at one dollar and
tvventy-hve cents the acre and thus was able to give each of his large family
of children a farm when they grew up. Francis H. Coleman w'as a good
farmer and added to his hirthright tract tw-o other adjoining tracts. He
married Flizaheth Parker, a neighhor girl, daughter of Lorenzo D. and
Elizaheth Parker, early settlers of that same county, eiuigrants from \'ir-
ginia. Lorenzo D. Parker's mother lived to be one hundred and four years
of age. During the Civil War Francis H. Coleman offered his services to
the Lhiion, enlisting twice, Imt hoth times he was rejected on account of
physical weakness. He was an ardent Republican and took an active part
in local ])olitical affairs, ha\ ing served as deputy county treasurer of Pike
county for some vears. He and his wife were members of the Baptist
church and were leaders in good works in their community. Mrs. Coleman
died in 1880, at the age of forty-seven, and Mr. Coleman survived until
1899, he being sixty-two years of age at the time of his d-eath. They were
the parents of six children, namely: Lewis, a well-known resident of Sylvia,
this countv ; Catherine, who married Rol)ert Alontgomery and lives in
390 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Alfalfa county. C)klahonia ; Monroe, the immediate subject of this biograph-
ical sketch; juhn. a progressive orchardist, living in Oklahoma; Granville,
an engineer, of Owensboro, Kentuck}-, and Lawrence, who has been teach-
ing school in the Philip] linc Islands for years and is now superintendent of
a district comprising ten schools.
Monroe Coleman was reared on the paternal farm in southern Indiana,
receiving his schooling in the district school in the neighborhood of his home
and assisted his father in the work of the farm until he was twenty vears
old. at which time, in 1883, he came to Kansas, settling in Chautauqua
county. In the fall of the next year he married and thereafter was engaged
as a farm hand (jn various farms in Greeley, Stafiford and Reno counties
until 190T, in \\hich }-ear he bought a (juarter of a section of unimproved
land in Syhia tu\\nshi]i, this county, and proceeded to improve the same
and get it under culti\ation. Mr. Coleman is an energetic and progressive
farmer and it was not long until he had created a model place and was
prospering. In addition to his general farming he early began to give
special attention to the raising of pure-bred Jersey cattle and his registered
stock long has been in active demand throughout this part of the state. He
was the first man in his neighborhood to erect a silo on his place and the
advantage of this form of feeding was so ably demonstrated in his case that
it was not long before others were following his example. Of late yiv.
Coleman has been giving his undi\'ided attention to his registered stock, his
eldest son, John, taking over the active management of the farm, and the
two form a most effecti\-e combination. The dairy feature of the Coleman
farm is made much of and the Coleman Jersey cream commands the top
of the market in Kansas City. In addition to his activities on the farm,
Mr. Coleman e\er has found time to give a good citizen's attention to public
affairs. He is a Republican and during his residence in Greeley county
served very efficiently for two terms as county commissioner in that county.
Since coming tf) this connty he has done well his part in his home township
and served for one term as town.ship trustee.
On September _'5, 1884. Monroe Coleman was united in marriage to
Marv Sanduskv. who was born in Tike countv, Indiana, daughter of George
W. and Jane Sandusky, both of whom spent their last days in Greeley
county, this state, they ha\ ing settled tiiere in 1889, and to this union five
children have been born, as follow: John. Ijorn on Septemijcr 13. 1885;
who is now operating his father's farm; Carl and Pearl, twins. July i, 1889,
the former of whom is a farmer in Hayes township, this county, and the
latter of whom married Harrv Hall and lives at Downers Grove, Illinois;
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 39 I
Nellie, July 31, 1895, •'"<' Inez, March 1. 1901, Ijoth at home. Mr. and Mrs.
Coleman arc members of llic Alclliddist church and ihey and their family
are heUI in high esteem in Iheir neighl)orhoo(l. ]\lr. Coleman is a member
of the Masonic lodge at Sylvia, in the affairs of which he takes a warm
interest.
FRED WEESNER.
Fred Weesner, a well-known and enterprising young druggist of
Hutchinson, this county, is a native Kansan, having been born on a farm
in the neighborhood of Plymouth, Lyons county, this state, on November 4,
1877, son of Cyrenius and Rebecca (Allen) Weesner, both of whom are
now living at Emporia, this state, who came to Kansas in 1868, settling in
Lyons county, being among the very earliest settlers of that section of the
state, Indians still being numerous thereabout at that time. In 1888 Cyren-
ius Weesner and his wife moved from Syracuse, Kansas, to Emporia, where
they still reside. Despite his eighty-two years of age, Mr. Weesner is a
rugged and robust man and for the past five years has been in the employ
of the Santa Fe Railroad Company at that point. He and his wife are the
parents of nine children living, five of wdiom live in Emporia, and four of
their children are deceased.
Fred Weesner grew up on the paternal farm in Lyons county, receiving
his elementary education in the local schools of his home neighborhood,
which he supplemented by a course in the Kansas State Normal at Emporia,
during wdiich he ])aid particular attention to the study of chemistry, fol-
lowing which he entered the Ryder drug store at Emporia, one of the pio-
neer commercial concerns of that place, and for seven years was there
engaged as a clerk, acquiring a thorough accjuaintance with the drug busi-
ness. In 1 90 1 Mr. Wessner came to this county, locating at Hutchins,
where he entered the "A. & A." drug store and in a few years became a
stockholder in that concern, remaining w-ith the same for a period of thir-
teen years, at the end of which time he sold his interests in the store and on
Julv 16, 1914, opened a new drug store under the name of Fred \Veesner
& Company at 126 North Main street, where he ever since has been engaged
in business and where they carry a full and complete line of drugs and
druggists' sundries, maintaining a very neat and up-to-date store.
On October 14, 1903, Fred Weesner was united in marriage to Jessie
C. Grotv, who was born in South Carolina, but who came to Kansas w-hen
392 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
a child with hor iiarcnts. who settled in Lyons county, W'here she grew to
womanhood, and to this union four chilch'en have been born, Frederick,
born in 1904; Kenneth G., Kathryn and Christine. The Weesners have a
very pleasant and comfortable home at 807 Xorth Washington street. Mr.
and ^frs. ^^'cesner are members of the Christian church and take a warm
interest in tlie jjromotion of all good works hereabout.
'Slv. Weesner is a Republican and gives a good citizen's attention to the
political affairs of the city and count)-. He is a ]Mason, a member of the
bdue lodge and the chapter of that order at Hutchinson, and has taken part
of the work of the consistory at Wichita, on the way to his elevation to the
thirty-second degree of ^Masonry. He also is a member of the AVoodmen
and of the Fraternal Aid Association. ]\lr. Weesner is one of the progres-
sive young business men of Flutchins and is an active and earnest partici-
pant in all movements haxing to do with the promotion of the best interests
of the communitv.
ALEXANDER ^lORRIS SWITZER
-V.
Alexander ^L Switzer, a former county commissioner, well-known and
prosperous retired farmer, who enjoys the distinction of ha\ing been the
first settler of Lincoln township, this county, founder of the town of Yoder,
where he has been engaged in the merchandise business since 1905 and
whose wife has been postmistress of that ^■illage since that year, is a native
of Ohio, having been born nn a farm in Tuscarawas county, that state, on
March 7, 1849. son of John and PLlizabeth (Anderson) Switzer, the former
a native of Switzerland and the latter of Ireland, lioth of win mi came to
the United States wdth their respective parents in childhood.
John Switzer was a member of one of the most prominent families in
Switzerland. He w-as born in Berne and his father, who was (|uite well-to-do,
was a brother of President Switzer, one of the most noted nf the chief
executives of the repul)lic of Switzerland. Uj^on coming to this country,
the elder Switzer located in Ohio and became a substantial farmer of
Tuscarawas county, where he and his wife spent their last da}s. John
Switzer was reared on the farm there .and learned the trade of shoemaking
and harness making. Tn 1866 he moved to Coshocton count)-, same state,
where he bought a two-hundred acre farm, on which lie established his
home, working his farm during the summers and working at his bench
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 393
during the winters. His first wife, Elizabeth ( An(lcrs(jn ) Switzer, died
in i860, at the age of thirty-three, leaving seven children, and John Switzer
married, secondly, Anna Cotterley, to which union eight children were
born. Of Alexander M. Sw^itzer's full brothers and sisters, three are now
living, Robert, the eldest, wdio lives in Stark county, Ohio ; Mrs. Elizabeth
Hardstein, of Coshocton county, Ohio, and Gliomas, who lives on the old
home place in that same county. John Switzer died in 1876, al the age of
hfty-one. He was a member of the Lutheran church and reared his famih-
in the faith of that communion.
Alexander ^1. Switzer was reared on the home farm in Tuscarawas
county, Ohio, receiving an excellent education in the district school in the
neighborhood of his home. When the Civil War l^roke out his father
enlisted with the "hundred-day" men, Imt was unable to get away with
his company and Alexander, though then barely fifteen years of age went
as his substitute, enlisting in Company D, One Hundred and Sixty-first
Regiment, Ohio \^olunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close
of the hundred-days service, at the end of which time he re-enlisted in
Company A, One Hundred and Eighty-fifth Regiment, Ohio X'^olunteer
Infantrv, with which he served until the close of the war. During his
service with the first-named regiment he was attached to the Army of the
Shenandoah and during his latter period of service was attached to the
Army of the Tennessee, being mainly engaged in keeping down the gueril-
las. During the Shenandoah campaign the raw regiment was sent into the
Allegheny mountains and as the commissary department of the army had
not at that time attained a very high state of efficiency, the boys nearly
starved, for days at a time being compelled to subsist wholly on mountain
corn.
At the close of his military service, Alexander M. Sw'itzer returned
to Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and on ]^ larch 21, 1866, was united in marriage
to Jennie Nee, who was born and reared in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and
in that same rear he moved to Champaign county, Illinois, where he rented
a farm, makino- his home in the little town of Tolono, where he bought a
piece of property, and there lived until the spring of 1872. at which time
he and his little family and Eugene Deburn and wife, drove through to
Kansas, settlino- in Reno count v, where Alexander Al. Switzer homesteaded
a quarter of a section of land in Lincoln township, the same being the
southeast quarter of section 2, locating there on April 17, 1872, the very
first settler in that township and one of the very earliest in the county, for
the county had only been opened to settlement the }-ear before. Mr. Switzer
394 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
constructed a sod shanty on the plain and there he and his wife and their
small children made their home. In June following a heavy rain washed
away their S(.)d shant}- and Air. Switzer then drove to Newton, thirty-live
miles away, and procured a load of lumber which he hauled back, ferrying
the boards across the Arkansas river, and constructed a ten by twelve frame
shack, in which he and his family lived until conditions became more
favorable for the erection of a suitable residence. W'hen C. C. Hutchinson
laid out a string of town plats directly south of Hutchinson in 1872, includ-
ing Castleton, Kingman and others, ]\Ir. Switzer marked the line by plowing
a furrow twelve miles long straight south to the point which later became
Castleton, thus establishing the trail. A company of United States cavalry
came along soon afterward and followed the furrow, thus making a good
trail. As the troop approached Mr. Switzer's house he discerned them
coming afar off over the plain and, mistaking" the soldiers for a band of
Indians on the war path, shivered- at the thought of the possible fate of his
helpless family. To this day Mr. Switzer declares that his hair literally
stood on end when he first discerned the troop and before he disco\-ered
that the horsemen were not redskins.
-Mr. Switzer prospered in his farming operations, becoming one of the
most substantial and useful men in his community, and his home was well
established when, in 1884, his wife died. To their union five children were
born, of whom but one is now living, Percy E., born in 1871, now superin-
tendent of the Savage Tire Manufacturing Compan}- at San Diego,
California, who married Carrie Osborn and has three children. Earl, Ettatha
and Mary. Lawrence P. Switzer, born in 1868, died in June, 191 1, at Seattle,
Washington, where he had l)een for some time engaged as superintendent
of the construction force of a large ])ridge erecting compan}-. The other
three children died in infancy. Charlotte at the age of eighteen months. Clar-
ence at the age of eight months and ]\Iorris at the age of six weeks.
Dn January 18, 1885. .\lexander M. Switzer married, secondly, Anna
Ingham, who was born in the town of Beckett, in Massachusetts, daughter
of William M. and .Sarah (Hopkins) Ingham, wlio emigrated from the
East to Kansas during territorial days out here, settling at Tecumseh. Tn
the fall of 1871 W'ilbam M. Ingham and faniil\- ni(i\cd from Tecumseh to
Hutchin.son and in the latter city .Mr. Ingham limit a store building on the
west side of the main street, just four doors mirlli of where the h'irst
National Bank now stands, and opened a grocery store as a partnership
concern, under the firm name of Norman & Ingham. Tn those days the chief
"natural product of the s<iil" hereabout was buffalo hides and bones and of the
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 395
former product IMr. Ingham iKiught carload after carload during the early
days. Air. Ingham continued in business at Hutchinson until 1894, in
which }-ear he and his wife moxed to Shawnee, Oklahoma, where they are
now living retired, the former at the age of eighty- four and the latter,
seventy- four.
Alexander M. Switzer was a progressive farmer and early became a
leader in his neighborhood. He set out seventy acres of fruit orchard and
made a success of his fruit culture in addition to carrying on the general
work of the farm with nuich success, and raised the hrst strawberries
grown in Reno county. From the very first he took an active part m the
county's civic affairs and in the fall of 1878 was elected county commiss-
ioneer from his district, ser\'ing in that important capacity for a period of
six years, during which time the iron bridge was erected across the Arkansas
river. At the end of his second term in 1885 Mr. Switzer was presented
by the citizens of the county with a handsome gold watch valued at one
hundred and twenty-five dollars, as a mark of their appreciation of his valu-
able public services. In 1896 he was the candidate of the Republican party for
the office of state senator from this senatorial district, but went down with the
rest of the ticket in the populistic "tidal wave" which swept over Kansas
in that memorable year. For many years he served his party as precinct
committeeman and further served the public as township treasurer and as
justice of the peace, in which latter capacity he ser\'ed for twelve years.
In 1905 Mr. Switzer sold his farm to advantage and, not being content
to retire, bought a store which had been opened at a point on the railroad
now known as Yoder, the "town" then consisting of the said store and one
dwelling house. In that same year Mrs. Switzer was made postmistress
of Yoder, a position which she still holds, and both proceeded to "Iwom"
the place. The next year, 1906, Mr. Switzer platted the village and a
considerable sale of lots followed, the village now ha\ing a population of
about seventy-five, with a most promising future, Mr. Switzer being the
chief merchant of the town, which, as a result of his persistent representa-
tions to he railroad company now has a railroad station and is quite distinctly
"on the map." In the fall of 1914 when Lincoln township was divided,
Mr. Switzer led in the fight to ha\-e the new township named Yoder town-
ship and he won his contention, his own town of \'oder now being situated
in the township of the same name. It was also through Mr. Switzer's
efforts that the Farmers State Bank of Yoder was organized antl he is the
vice-president and a director of that concern.
To Alexander M. and Anna ( Ingham) Switzer two children have been
396 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
born, daughters both, Gladys, born on Xoxember 29, 1890, who marritd
Roland F. Brock and lives in Hutchinson, and Ethel, August 18, 1896, a
teacher in the Reno county public schools. ^Ir. and Airs. Switzer are mem-
bers of the Harmony Baptist church and take a warm interest in the affairs
of that organization, as well as in all good works in their community, and are
held in hio-h esteem throughout that section oi the count\-, where thev are so
well known. In the earlier days of his residence in this countv. Mr. Switzer
was a Methodist and he hauled the .sand for the construction of the first
Methodist church erected in Hutchinson. For sixteen years he was super-
intendent of the Sunday school held in the Fairview school house in Lincoln
township and was one of the county's most active Sunday school workers.
Mr. Switzer is a member of Joe Hooker Post, Grand Army of the Republic,
at Hutchinson and is a thirty-second-degree Mason, a member of the blue
lodge of that order at Hutchinson, of the commandery at the same place
and of the consistory of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite ]Masons at
Wichita, as well as a member of jMidlan Temple, Ancient Arabic Order,
Xobles of the Alystic Shrine, in the latter city, in the affairs of all of which
divisions of Masonry he takes a warm interest.
LIEUT. MARTI?\ HOAGLAXD.
Lieut. Alartin Hoagland, an. honored veteran of the l'i\il War. one of
the earliest pioneers of Reno county, a homesteader of 1871 ; former street
commissioner of Hutchinson, who for \-cars past has lived comfortably and
pleasantly retired in Hutchinson, e\cr tlioughtfully concerned in the advance-
ment of the affairs of the comnuinit\ at iarge. is a native of Illinois, l)Ut
has been a resiflent of Kansas since 1871, in which year he came to this
county and became one of the organizers of \^allcy township, being elected
first townshi]) trustee. He drove through from his old home in Illinois,
bringing with him, l)esides his household good's and some essential farming
implements, some fine chickens and tlu'ce i)m-e-bred Berkshire hogs. Lieu-
tenant Hoagland has always maintained thai he never suffered any pioneer
hardships, but tliat is believed to be merely an exjiression of ])ioneer modesty,
for it is doubtful if any of the real "old-timers" hereabout escaped the hard-
ships common to the days of the grasshopper scourge and the burning winds
and the withering droughts. Before coming here he had saved some money
and was thus able, however, to tide over the period of losses of crops and
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 39/
all save hope in the early seventies. It is eertain that many there were who
were i^ratefnl to liini in those tryinj^- (la\-s for material assistance which
enahled them t(j "])nll throuijh" and preserve their homestead claims in the
face of adversities which wonid have daunted any hut the true ])ioneer
hreed of men. lM)r xears Lieutenant Hoagland was master of the local
(iraui^'e and one of the most inHuential agriculturists in this region. Upon
nioxing to town he contiiuied taking a prominent part in affairs and for
some time ser\ed as commissioner of the city's streets and also f(jr two
terms as city police judge. In 1888 he erected three houses in the hlock in
which he ]i\es in Hutchinson and in one of these, 216 Fifth avenue, West,
has since made his home.
Martin Hoagland was horn on a farm adjoining the corporation line,
of the town of Bardolph, in JNIcDonough county, Illinois, December r8,
1843, son of Oakey and Emily (Collins) Hoagland, the former of whom
w^as born in Kentucky, son. of Oakey M. and Ellen (Batterton) Eloagland.
Oakey M. Hoagland, a native of Scotland, came to this country in his
youth and was married in Kentucky. To him and his wife live children
were born, those besid.es the father of the subject of this sketch ha\ing
been Belle B.. who married T. J. Creel, a merchant, of Bardolph, Illinois,
for many years postmaster of that place; Kate, who married George
McCabe, of Gibson City, Illinois; Michael H., wdio went to the Pacific coast
in 1849, enlisted in the United States army in 1861 in Oregon, saw much
arduous service and met his death in a terrible storm while acting as an
escort to the United States mail, and Prof. B. S. Hoagland. who for years
was manager of the Kansas Musical Jubilee at Hutchinson.
Oakley Hoagland was liorn at Erankfort. Kentucky, April i, 1803,
About 1836 he moved to Beardstow^n, Illinois, wdiere for three years he was
prc;prietor of a general store. He then moved to Bardolph, same state,
where for eight hundred dollars he bought a hc'ilf section of land adjoining
the corporation line and there established his home. He was one of the
organizers of the Presbyterian church at Bardolph and for years served as
an elder of the same. He died on July 15, 1875. To him and his second
wife, who was Emily Collins, a native of Connecticut, three children were,
born, of wdiom the subject of this sketch was the youngest, the others being
Oakev ]\I., a veteran of the Civil War, member of Company I, Eifty-seventh
Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and \\'illie, who died at the age of
twelve years.
Martin Hoagland was reared on the home farm in Illinois and supple-
mented the schooHng- he obtained in the local schools ]\v a two-years' course
398 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
in Branch's Academy at Alacumh and two years at the i'rairie City
Academy. On December 5, 1861, he then 1)eing not quite eighteen years
old. he enlisted in Company I, Fittv-seventh Regiment, Illinois V'^okmteer
infantry, with which he served until the close of the Civil War. Going out
as a CLirporal lie was gradually promoted until he was commissioned first
lieutenant of his company and at the Grand Review at Washington at the
close of the war was in command of a company. The Fifty-seventh Illi-
nois saw much acti\ity and Lieutenant Hoagland was in the thick of it all,
several times having ver}- narrow escapes from death, but he came through
Avithout serious ^vounds. Once he was thrown to the ground by the con-
cussion of a large shell bursting near his head, his left ear being rendered
useless bv the force of the shock. Another time a musket ball carried aw^ay
one of his knuckles ; his watch in his waistcoat pocket once saved him from
being pierced b\- a bullet and another time he was saved by the stock of his
srun, which he was carrvino- front and which w'as struck bv a bullet.
Upon the completion of his military service Lieutenant Hoagland
returned to his home in Illinois and began farming, presently buying an
eighty-acre farm west of Bardolph. On No\ember 26, 1867, he was united
in marriage to Emma Evans, a school teacher, who was born in Ohio and
who was teaching school in the Bardolph neighborhood. Early in 1871
Lieutenant Hoagland disposed of his interests in Illinois and came to Kansas,
locating in Reno county. He entered a homestead claim in section 30,
Valley township, and there erected a frame building a story and a half
high, sixteen l)y twenty-four feet, which, with twenty-lA'c dollars in money,
six months' provisions and the household goods, was whisked out of sight
by a cyclone on May 15, 1873. In the house erected to take the place of
the missing domicile the Hoaglands li\cd for three years and then Lieuten-
ant HfAigland erected a substantial ])rick-lincd dwelling, which served as a
residence for him and his family until his retireiucnt from the farm. Lieu-
tenant Hoagland was an excellent farmer and it was not long until he was
looked upon as one of the nio^t substantial and imlucnliai roidcnts of that
part of the county. Upon tiie organization mi' \ 'alk'\- townshi]) he was elected
township trustee and in that capacit\ <lid nuich for the adxanccmcnt of the
common interest thereabout. When the Grange was organized he took a
prominent part in the affairs of that organization and for years was master
of the .same. In the fall of 187J he brought to this county a carload of
voung trees from Illinois, thus l)eing the first man to introduce nursery
.stock into Reno county, and his exam])le in that direction, quickly followed
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 399
by others, was of incalculable henerit to the comninnity. He set out a ten-
acre orchard autl demonstrated the adaptahilit}- of the soil hereabout to fruit
culture; in icSjy beini;- awarded seventeen premiums on his fruit at the Reno
count)- fair. lie also engaged e\tensi\ely in the breeding of pure-bred
Berkshire hogs and did much toward getting a good strain of swine intrij-
duced among the ])ioneers of this county. For eighteen years he was a
member of tiie school board.
In 1883 Lieutenant Hoagland began buying grain for C. B. Myton at
Windom and continued thus engaged until the death of Ml*. Myton, after
which he moved to Hutchinson and bought the Central restaurant, which
then stood at the present site of the A. & A. drug store. A year later he
bought the old Ohio House, then a popular hotel, and a year later bought
an interest, v;ith \V. R. Morrison, in the Queen City meat market. Three
years later he went with the Hutchinson Meat Packing Company as superin-
tendent of the delivery department of that concern. In 1898 Martin Hoag-
land was elected a member of the Plu.tchinson city council and served two
terms in that capacity. Jn k)oo he was appointed to the office of street
commissioner and in that capacity rendered excellent service. He later
served two terms as city police judge and in other ways has done his part
in the public service. Lieutenant Hoagland is a life-long Republican and
for vears has been regarded as one of the leaders of that party in the county.
1m )r twenty-six years Lieutenant Hoagland served as the local corre-
spondent for the agricultural department at W^ashington and for eighteen
years was correspondent to the Orange Judd Farmer from this section. He
is past commander of Joe Llooker Post No. 17, Grand Army of the Repub-
lic, and has filled every office in that patriotic organization, for years serving
as quartermaster. He is a charter member of Reno Lodge No. 140, Ancient
Free and -Vccepted Masons, and of the local lodge of the Ancient Order of
United Workmen and for eight years was treasurer of the local organi/:a-
tinn of the Knights and Ladies of Security.
To Lieutenant and Mrs. Hoagland eight children have been born, as
follow: AValter B., one of the proprietors of the b^orsythe-Hoagland cioth-
iny- store at Hutchinson; Arthur C, manager of that store; \V. Louis, who
'e-i
was p-raduated from the Medical Universitv of Kansas Citv in i8t)g and is
now physician for the Central Coal and Coke Company at Carsons, Louisi-
ana; David R., an employee of the Adams Express Company at St. Louis;
Olive C., a graduate of the Chicago Conservatory of Alusic. who married
H. A. Lloyd, proprietor of an amusement park at Law^ton, Oklahoma;
Nellie, a graduate of the high school at Hutchinson, now a teacher in the
400 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
public schools of that city: Rose, who died in her graduating year, in
1899, and Floy, who received an excellent musical education and is now a
teacher of music at Hutchinson, making her home with her parents.
AIRS. ELIZABETH SKEEX.
Mrs. Elizabeth Skeen, widow of the late William Aloore Skeen, and the
proprietor of a well-kept and profitably cultivated farm on the edge of
Brandy lake in \'alley township, this county, has been a resident of Reno
county since 1S85 and is one of the best-known women in that part of the
county in which she has long resided.
Elizabeth W'arlow was born on a pioneer farm near the town of Dan vers,
in McLean county. Illinois, daughter of Jonathan and Catherine (Hay)
W'arlow. the former of whom was born in Alassachusetts in 1814 and the
latter in Kentucky, January 3, 18 12. Jonathan Warlow when a lad moved
with his parents from Massachusetts to Ohio, where his youth was spent..
In 1834. he then being twenty years of age. he pushed on West and becjame
one of the earliest settlers of AIcLean county, Illinois, at that time entering
a tract of "Congress land" there which is still in the family name. In 1835
the family of Catherine Hay moved from the Hopkinsville ( Kentucky)
neighborhood and settled in AIcLean county. Catherine Hay then being a
young wom.an. She and Jonathan \\'arlow were presently married and
early became regarded as among the most substantial and influential residents
of that community. Jonathan W'arlow prospered in his farming operations
and became quite wealthy, adding to his land holdings in AlcLean county
until he was the owner of five hundred acres of land there, besides a farm
of two hundred and forty acres in this county, which he ])ought in the early
eighties. He was a Democrat and was influential in the political life of his
communitv. He and his wife were earnest members of the Christian church.
which he served as an elder for many years and he als(^ was superintendent
of the Sunday school for sixteen years. Jonathan W'arluw died in 1900.
His wife had predeceased him alxmt fifteen years, her death having occurred
in 1885. They were the parents of six children, namely: George L., a
prominent lawyer of Fresno, California, which city has been his place
of residence since 1888: Elizabeth, the immediate subject of this biographical
sketch ; Mary, who married Jesse Brainard, now living retired at Hutchinson,
this county, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this
s:
X
X
O
O
V.
y.
v.
y.
KKXO COrNTV, KANSAS. 401
\n)liiinc; C'clia, who married George L. Juhnsoii and died at i'resno, Calil(jr-
nia, in 1913; ]Mrs. Delia Rowell, a widow, now living at l'>esno, California,
and Ida, who married Harvey Abbotts (now deeeased ) and c<jntinues to
make her home on the old Warlow home place in McLean county, Illinois.
b^lizabeth Warlow was reared on the home farm near Danvers, Illinois,
receiving her elementary education in the local schools, which she supple-
mented by a course in Eureka College, from which she Avas graduated, after
which she began teaching school in her home county, continuing, however,
to make her home with her parents, and was thus engaged to the time of
her marriage on December 25, 1879, to William Moore Skeen, of Blooming-
ton, Illinois. It was a double wedding at the old Warlow home that Christmas
Day, Elizabeth Warlow's sister, Ida, and Harvey Abbots being united in
marriage at the same time. William M. Skeen was born in Downingtown,
Pennsylvania, and when he was sixteen years old accompanied his parents
to Bloomington, Illinois, where he grew to manhood. Following their
marriage Mr. and Mrs. Skeen hade their home on the latter' s parents farm for
about five years, at the end of which time, in 1885, they came to Reno county
and took charge of Mr. Warlow's two hundred and forty acre farm in
Valley township, arriving there on April 2 of that year, and there William 'M.
Skeen spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on February 7, 1906, he
then being sixty-seven years of age, having been born on March 2y, 1839.
His widow continues to reside there, she ha\'ing inherited eighty acres of
the original tract at the time of her father's death, and is very pleasantly
situated. Brandy lake washes her farm on the east and in early days the fine
grove on her place was a popular picnic-ground.
Mr. and Mrs. Skeen had no children, but they reared from childhood
William W. McCandless, who, with his family, makes his home with 'Sirs.
Skeen and operates her farm, besides renting a considerable tract of adjoin-
ing land, which he cultivates quite profitably. William W. INIcCandless was
born in Kentucky, May 4, 1876, son of James McCandless and wife, the latter
of whom was a Mitchell, and was a babe in arms when his parents came to
Kansas in 1877. The family settled near the town of Raymond, where
James McCandless was engaged as foreman of the local section of the Santa
Fe railroad. In 1884 Mrs. McCandless died and her bereaved husband sent
his children back to Kentucky, where they remained with kinsfolk until his
marriage two years later, after which they were returned to Kansas. These
children were as follow: Claud, a farmer of this county: Gaither, section
foreman for the Santa Fe Railroad Company at Raymond, in the neighbor-
(26a)
402 REXO COLXTY. KANSAS.
ing county of Rice; Minnie, who married O. W. Bottorf and lives at Fresno,
California, and William \\'., who. in 1891. he then being fifteen years of
age, was taken into the Skeen home, which he ever since has regarded as
home, although he has been away for considerable periods at \arions times.
In April. 1899, he enlisted in the Fifth Cavalry, United States Army, for
service in Porto Rico, and served for three years with the army. In 1902
he re-enlisted, this time in the Twelfth Lnited States Infantry, and served
for three years with the army in the Philippines, being mustered out in
June, 1905. Since the death of Air. Skeen in 1906 he has been operating
the Skeen farm and is doing very well. Air. McCandless, when sixteen
years of age, saved a man from drowning in Brandy lake, while many people
were boating. The man had gone under twice, and Air. AlcCandless, having
presence of mind, went out to him in a boat and rescued him as he went down
the third time. -Vll the newspapers lauded him on his brave act.
On July 24, 191 1, William W. McCandless was united in marriage to
Cora Mae Reed, who was born in Camden count}-, Alissouri, February 20,
r886, daughter of George and Sarah (Seaton) Reed, the former a native of
Illinois and the latter of low-a, who now live on a farm in Clay township, this
county, where they ha\e made their home since 1909, and to this union one
child has been born, a son, James Earl, born on April 5, 1912.
FRANK A. AIARTIN.
Frank .\. Martin, one of the best-known, most progressive and most
substantial ranchmen of Syhia township, this county, former mayor of the
town of Sylvia, who has witnessed the development of Reno county and
the region hereabout since ])ioneer days, and who in the summer of 191 5
movefl into a splendid country house on his great ranch, a striking contrast
to the sod shanty on the plain, in which he established his home upon set-
ting up for himself in Sylvia township, is a native of Illinois, having been
born on a farm in Piatt county, that state, January 15. 1861, son of Daniel
Louis and Jane ( Snyder) Martin, the former a nati\e of Xew \ ork state
and the latter of Ohio.
Daniel L. Alartin moved, as a boy, with his parents from New York
lo Ohio and in the latter state he grew to manhood and married. In 1850
he and his bride emigrated to Illinois, locating in Piatt county, where Air.
Alartin homesteaded a quarter of a section of land and established his home.
RKNO CorXTY, KANSAS. 403
In iShi Ik' c;ili>lcrl a> a private in Company M, ( )ik' llundrcd and Seventh
Reginiuil, Illinois XOlnnlcer Infantry, with which he served valorously
during- th.c C"i\il War nntil he met a soldier's fate at the haltle of iM-anklin,
Tennessee, liein^- killed cjnrinj;- that engagement on Xovemher 30, 1864,
his widow antl children heing thns hereft of a kind hnshand and indulgent
father. There were six of these children, namely: William Andrew, who
lives at W'aldron, this state; Daniel, who died at his home in Stafford
comity, this state, on Ahirch 28, 1908; Elizabeth jane, who married Andrew'
J. Dair and died at her home in this county in 1882; xAbigail. widow of
Martin Sims, of Stafford county; Frank A., the immediate subject of this
biographical sketch, and Mary Alice, who married Sam B. Hammond, of
Reno Hill, in Reno county, lioth of whom are now deceased.
After the death of her soldier husband in 1864 Mrs. Martin disposed
of her interests in Piatt county, Illinois, and with her six small children
returned to the h.omc of her father. Mary Snyder, in Scioto countv. Ohio,
where, in 1873. she married, secondly, W. P. Stockham, who came to
Kansas with his family in 1876, arriving in the neighboring county of
Stafford on h>bruary 22, of that year. Mr. Stockham homesteaded a tract
of land on the Reno county line in section 2, of Fairview township, Staft'ord
county, and there established his home on the plains, he and his family thus
becoming- counted among the earliest settlers of that section. Mrs. Stock-
ham died there on March 2, 1893, at the age of sixty-four, and Mr. Stock-
ham then went to Nebraska, where his death occurred a few vears later.
Frank A. Alartin was about three years old when his father was
killed in battle and he s])ent his boyhood on the farm of his grandfather
in Ohio. recei\ing his education in the neighboring district school. He
was fifteen years old when the family came to this state and he grew to
manhood on the homestead place on the Reno county line, over in Stafford
county, li\ing in one of the few frame houses in that section at that time.
When he arrixed there there was not another house within sight of their
homestead in any direction and no school anywhere near, the hrst school
in that district being a subscription school organized by the neighbors who
later came in. the pupils receiving their instructions seated on rude benches
placed in the Stockham granary. During the days of Frank A. Martin's
young- manhood there still were numerous Indians hereabout, though no
hostile bands. For the first few years one of the "chief products of the
soil" was Imffalo bones, and as ''ready money"' was might}- scarce here-
about then Afr. Martin was glad to gather up the bones oft' the ])lains and
IkuiI them bv ox-team to Hutchinson, thirtv-five miles awa\-. where he
404 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
received six dollars a ton for the same. While thtis engaged, he cleared
the site of the present flourishing city of Piatt of the bones lying there-
about. The nearest market fur the family then was Sterling, thirty-three
miles away.
^Ir. ]^lartin remained at home until his marriage in 1882, after which he
homesteaded the northeast quarter of section 6 in Sylvia township, this
county, constructed a sod shant\' on the plain and there established his
bride, lie was successftil in his farming operations, in addition to his grain
farming going in rather extensively for cattle raising, keeping his herds on
the open range, and after having improved his place sold out to advantage
in 1888 and for a short time made his home in Stafford county. He then
returned to Sylvia township and bought section 17 in that township, later
buying the east half of section 19, and is now established there, the owner
of nine hundred and sixty acres of as good land as lies in Reno county.
During all his farming career Mr. Martin has been heavily engaged in cattle
raising and has prospered as a cattleman. He also puts out about five
hundred acres of wheat each year and is regarded as one of the most sub-
stantial ranchmen in his section of the county. In 1900 Mr. Martin retired
from the farm for a season and removed to Sylvia, where he built a hotel,
which he operated for a couple of years and then sold. He then organized
the Farmers' Telephone Company at Sylvia and for fi\e years was manager
of that concern. He also is a stockholder of the Citizens' State Bank of
Sylvia and is the custodian of all the valuable papers belonging to that
institution. I le also is one of the directors of the Farmers' Elevator Com-
pany at Sylvia and in other ways has shov n his interest in the general
enterprises of his local commnnit\-. Shortly after moxing to Syl\-ia Mr.
Martin was elected mayor 01' the town, in which capacity he served for
one term. He also rendered pubHo ser\ice as a member of the city council
for four vears, being elected on llie Democrat ticket. In 191 5 ^Ir. Martin
built a line new modern county house < m liis farm two and one-half miles
west of S>'lvia and in April m" that year moved into the same, now l)eing as
comfortably situated as an \ one thereabout.
On June 1 _\ 18S2, I'rank A. .Martin was united in marriage to Dena
Kreie, who was born in .\liss<iuri, daughter of Conrad iind Henrietta Kreie,
natives of Germany, who was settled in ^Missouri, later coming to this
countv, and t" this union six children ha\"e l)een burn, as follow : Mabel
Blanche, who married Ora E. Eichelberger and lives at Sylvia; Grover
Cleveland, who is managing a part of his father's farm; Guy E., who also
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 405
ni:ina,q"es aiioihcr pai'l of his frithcr's farm; Jessie Jane, who married Oscar
l\. White and H\es in Woodward connty, Oklahoma; 1!. Alhert, a student
in. the county hii^h scliool at Nickerson, and Daniel C,"., also iu school. The
Martins e\-er luu'e taken a warm interest in the social affairs of their com-
munit\- and the family is held in the hi_q;hest esteem by all. Mr. Martin
is a memher of tlie .Masonic fraternity, in the affairs of which he takes an
active interest.
CHARLES H. BUSH.
Charles H. Bush, traveling salesman for the Grovier Produce Com-
pany, of Hutchinson, Kansas, and a member of that firm, was born in
Salem. Ohio, May 29, 1866, being a son of David W. and Margaret J.
(Halliday) Bush. David W. Bush was born in Ohio, September 16, 1844,
and was a farmer. In 1870 he left Ohio and w^ent to Iowa, locating in
Taylor county, where he homesteaded a claim of one hundred and sixty
acres and lived for a number of years. His death occurred in Denver,
Colorado, in October, 1906. Margaret J. (Halliday) Bush was a native of
Pennsylvania, born on March 14, 1842, and is still living on the old home-
stead in Taylor county, Iowa. The father was born in Pennsylvania, Sep-
tember 15, 1817, and died on December 28. 1875. Her mother was born
in Pennsylvania, March 14. 1818. and died on September 5. 1909.
Charles H. Bush is one of a family of six children, the others being
as follow: Minnie, who w^as born in Ohio, April 3, 1868, died in Ohio in
1869; Franklin V., born in Ohio, January 29, 1870, married Alma Stroud,
Deceml)er 7. 1904, is now a farmer on the original homestead with his
mother in Taylor county, Iowa; Vesta Lydia, born in Iowa. May 26. 1873,
is a teacher in the pul)lic schools of the state of Washington; Lawrence A.,
born in Lnva, C)ctober 10. 1877, married Elnora Huss, Octolj^sr 12, 1904.
is also a farmer in Taylor county, Iowa; Mary B., who married Ernest M.
Posten, November 20, 1902, lives in Taylor county, Iowa, wdiere her bus-
hand is engaged in farming.
Charles H. Bush received his elementary education in the common
schools located near his home in Iowa and later attended the Western
Normal Colles-e at Shenandoah, Lnva. He studied there during the years
of 1884-5-6, bemg graduated in the latter year after having com-
pleted his studies in shorthand, typewriting and book-keeping. He came to
Hutchinson, Kansas, h^ebruary 8, 1887, and accei)ted a clerkship in the law
406 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
offices of George A. \'an(le\er and F. L. Martin, remaining with those
gentlemen for two years. He next was in the office of E. E. Barton,
president of the luirton SaU Company, remaining there about two and one-
half years. He ne.xt entered tiie office of the Hutchinson Packing Company,
wiih will 'in he remained eight years and he then became associated with
the Sentney Wholesale Grocery Company, remaining in that connection for
twelve and one-half years. Through some of his lousiness connections, Mr.
Bush had become acquainted with the Grovier Produce Company, of Great
Bend, this state, and at his suggestion that company established a branch
office in Hutchinson on Jnne 2, 1913, Mr. Bush being made manager of
this branch, in latter years he resigned as manager to become a traveling
salesman in their employ. The business has grown to such proportions
throughout this section that the Hutchinson office is now the home office
and the original office but a branch. Mr. Bush has become a member of
the firm and largely through his efforts the business has grown to its present
proportions. They deal in general country produce and the firm has fur-
nished an outlet for much of the produce of this section, which would not
be handled otherwise.
In the latter ])art of the year 1893, ^vhen land values were low, Charles
H. Bush, with the assistance of B. A\'. Underwood, manager of the Hutchin-
son Packing Compan}', purchased a hotise and six lots on Sixth a\enue,
East, in the city of Hutchinson. There he lived with his family until April,
I, 1909, when, desiring to sectn-c the pleasure of cotmtry life for his bovs
and girls, Mr. Bush traded his city property for a farm in Reno county,
securing from Colonel Chapman, of Great Bend, the Jones farm located
in Reno townshi]). consisting of one hundred and sixty-six acres, where he
has since made his home. Ibis farm is located about fotir and one-half
miles west of Hutchinson, being the northwest quarter of section 8, town-
ship 23, range 6. Mr. Bush was married at Hutchinson on October 2, 1887,
to Flora .\. Cline, born in Wirt county. West X^irginia. March 25, 1869.
Mrs. Bush is a daughter of Edward G. and Sarah Jane (Gough") Cline,
being one of tbeir family of eight children. Her sister, Clara Theresa,
born on December 12, 1871, in Wirt county, \Vest Virginia, is the wife of
Oscar W'. Hartman. of Hutchin.son; Xora Ethel was born on January 18,
1874; Flenry Thomas, September 26, 1876, and Edward Marshall, Febru-
arv 28. 1878, all these first having seen the light of day in Wirt county,
West \'irginia. Hattie Elizabeth and Grace were both born in Rus.sel
countv, this state, the former ]\lay 26, 1880, and the latter February 13,
RENO tOlNTY, KANSAS. 407
1882, while Myrtle Delle, the youngest of the family, was lx)rn in Harvey
county, tliis state. May 16, i<S,S5, and died on Sejitember 2C), 1898, at IMeas-
ant Vale, Coshocton count}\ Ohio, lulward G. Cline, father of this family,
was born in Ohio county, West Viroinia. on February 2, 183 1, and died
in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, October 10. 1914. The mother was also a native of
West Virginia, born in (lilmore count}-, b^bruary 27, 1846, and died in
Cambridge, Ohio, September 30, 1896.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Bush have a family of seven children, as fol-
low : Rena Gladys, born on December 8, 1888, the wife of Rov Dillcn, a
farmer of Carrollton, Illinois; Victor Harvey, April 30, 1891, a mechanic
residing in Hutchinson; Alta Bell. July 15, 1893; Arthur Charles, August 9,
1896; Roy Orville, June 11, 1898, a farmer in Reno county; Clara Mar-
garet, February 10, 1901, and Flora Alice, June 12, 1903; all the children
being born in the city of Hutchinson. In politics, Mr. Bush votes inde-
pendently, choosing the man rather than supporting any party ticket. He
holds fraternal affiliation with the Modern Woodmen of America and takes
a commendable interest in the work of the order. He is a man of ability
and high standing, well worthy of the high esteem in which he is held.
JOHN RAY SANDERS.
John Ray Sanders, a prominent and prosperous farmer of Yoder town-
ship, is the offspring of an ancestry that originated in Scotland, France and
Virginia, merged in Kentucky, and traveling westward, sojourned for years
in Indiana and Illinois, to finally bring- up in Reno county, Kansas, in the
person of Mr. Sanders, who was born in Clark count}', Illinois, November
17, 1854, and is the son of Frank and Jane (Berkeley) Sanders.
Frank Sanders was born at Dry Ridge, Kentucky, and died in 1881, at
the age of fifty-four. FJis father was a A^irginian, but in early pioneer
days, perhaps about 18 15. he crossed the mountains to Kentucky. He mar-
ried there, and several of his children were born there preceding his removal
to Marion county, Indiana, which occurred in the early thirties. He settled
on a farm eight miles south of Indianapolis, Indiana, where his death
occurred at the advanced age of one hundred and three years.
Jane (Berkeley) Sanders was born in Martin county. Indiana, and died
in May, 191 1, at the age of ninety years, in Marion county. Indiana. Her
father, G:crge Berkelev, a native of Scotland, after his arri\al in the United
408 RENO COUNTY. KANSAS.
States, married a l'"rench girl, and settled on a farm in Martin county,
Indiana.
Frank Saunders grew up on his father's farm in Alarion county, Indi-
ana, hut in 185,^ he moved to Clark county, Illinois, where he owned and
lived on a farm fur live years. In 1858 he sold his farm in Illinois, and
returned to Marion county. Indiana, where he purchased his father's farm
of two hundred and forty acres, and there he lived and cared for his parents
the remainder of their lives, and there he and his wife resided the rest of
their days. Both were faithful and earnest members of the Methodist Epis-
copal church.
John Ra}- Sanders was the only son of his parents, but he had six sisters.
He was onl}- four years old when his parents moved back to Indiana from
Illinois. He attended the public schools, but being the only son, spent most
of his youth helping his father on the farm. Through his own efforts,
however, he has a good general education. When he attained his majority,
he went to Jasper county, Illinois, where he worked at farm labor for
six months. He then returned to Indiana and remained until 1880. He
did construction work on the Monon railroad, between Indianapolis and Chi-
cago all the time that road was being built. He spent another season in
Illinois, and joined his sister, Mrs. John Wittorft", of Reno county, Kansas,
in 1883. John Wittorff came to Kansas in 1872, and was the first Granger
to deposit money in the First National Bank at Hutchinson. Mr. Sanders
worked for John \\'ittorff and other farmers until 1888, when, on June 13,
he was married to Ella jMae House, a native of AVest Mrginia, and the
daughter of Aljraham House and ^^•ife, of Lincoln township, now both
deceased. For twelve vears after his marriage ]Mr. Sanders rented a farm
south of Hutchinson, and (hu-ing seven years of that time operated a thresh-
ing machine each season in Jveno countw In iqoo he purchased one hundred
and sixty acres of land in Clay township, wl:^ere had been located the first
postoflice in Reno county. The postmaster was Mr. Carwell, an early set-
tler.
In 1914. wiien Voder township \\as formed, the farm was included
in it. Mr. Sanders has since ])urchased eight}- additional acres. He paid
twenty-six hundred dollars for his farm, and now, fifteen years later, has
refused sixteen thousand dollars for it. .\fter releasing llie mortgage on
his farm, he erected a comfortable and commodious house and resides there,
carrying on general farming. He and his fanii]\- belong to the Clay Valley
IMethodist Episcopal church. Mr. Sanders is a Democrat in politics, while
fraternallv. he is a member of the r^Iodern Woodmen of America.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. ^oij
Mr. and iMrs. Sanders are the parents of two children, AHce and How-
ard. .\Hce is the wife of C\ B. I^ales. They Hve in Montana, and have
one son. John. Howard Sanders married Opal Woodruff, and lives on
the home farm with his father, assisting- in the manag-ement of the place.
ED. G. HOWELL.
Ed. G. Ih'well, the son of William E. and Rebecca J. (Culley) Howell,
was born in Kinmundy, Illinois, on May 13. 1874. William H. Howell, a
native of Kinmundy, came to Kansas in August, 1882, and settled in Reno
county, seven miles from Nickerson. He farmed on rented, land, until
1899. at which time he purchased two hundred acres, which he later sold
to his son, Thomas. Rebecca J. (Culley) Ho\vell was born in Mt. V'ernon,
Indiana, where she grew to womanhood. She and Mrs. Howell are
Dunkards and take much interest in all the work of the church.
To William H. Howell and wife have been born the following chil-
dren: Ered, a retired farmer at Nickerson; Thomas,, a farmer in Reno
county; Mattie, at home in Reno; Albert, in the transfer business at Kansas
City, Missouri ; Bessie, who died at the age of one 3'ear, and Mary, the
wife of R. L. Dilley, a farmer at Partridge.
Ed. G. Howell received his education in the schools of Nickerson and
McPherson, Kansas. Since lea\ing school he has always been engaged in
farming. He hrst purchased two hundred acres of land in Sylvia town-
ship, \\hich he still owns. For the past few years he has devoted much of
his time to the real-estate Ijusiness, with his office in the Sun building
at Svh'ia. He is progressi\'e and takes much interest in the social, business
and religious life of the town, being a member of the Commercial Club, the
Independent Order of Odd hYdlows and the Alethodist Episcopal church.
On June 20, 1906, Ed. G. Howell was united in marriage, in Kansas.
to Jessie M. Carter, the daughter of John L. and Eva (Grimes) Carter.
Mrs. Howell is a native of Stafford. Kansas, where she was born on Novem-
ber 15, 1884. John L. Carter is a native of Illinois and came to Kansas
as a young man. He now lives at Dodge City, where he is engaged in the
grain business. Mrs. Carter was born in the state of New York and died
at ?\Tackville, Kansas on January 31, 1909. To John L. Carter cUid wife
were born the following children: Bernice, the w'ife of Charles M. Hillary,
the superintendent of schools of Elumboldt; Inez, at home in Dodge City;
410 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Lonis. farmer and grain dealer at Dodge City; Earl and Ronald, at home
in Dodge City.
Ed. G. Howell and wife, the parents of three children, all born in
Sylvia townshi]) : l-".ldon Carter, horn on January lo, 1909, Kenneth Ed.,
June 30, 1911. and \'era ^Madeline, January 9, 1915.
HARRISON AUGUSTUS HILL.
Harrison Augustus Hill, one of the best-known and most substantial
farmers of Huntsville township, this county, an honored veteran of the Civil
^^ ar and one of the real pioneers of Reno county, having been a resident
here since 1873, is a native of of the great Empire state, having been born
in Jefferson county. X'ew York. December 11. 1846, son of George Wash-
ington and ]\lary ( Royse ) Hill, the former a native of that same state and
the latter of England, whose last days were spent on their farm in New A^ork.
George A\'ashington Elill was the son of Daniel and Peggie (Short)
Hill, b' th nati\-es of Ne\\' York state, the former of whom was trained as a
shoemaker, but later became a farmer. Daniel Hill and wife v.'ere members
of the Baptist church and their children were reared in that faith. There
were six of these children, Walter, George W., Leonard. Jefferson, Elarrison
and I\Iargaret. Though his boyhood schooling was of the meagerest sort.
George ^^'. Hill was a great reader and became a very well-informed man.
Reared on a farm, he Ix'came a farmer on his own account, the owner of one
hundred and twehe acres in Jefferson countv. New York, where he spent
his last davs. He was twice married, his first wife having been Elizabeth
Rovse, a native of England, to which uniou one child wa^ IxM-n. a daughter,
Jane. Upon the death (;f his lirst wife, (jeorge W. Mill married her sister,
^farv Rovse, who was five years old when she came to \iucrica from Eng-
land with her parents, and t'l this uniiMi wen,' born I en children, ni whom the
subject of this .sketch was the elde>t. the others being George Washington,
Abbie (deceased), Erancc^. John ( deceased 1, hdwin, Adelia. Cora. A>rna
and Alice, and of whom Cora v.-as the only one besides the subject of this
sketch who came to Kansas. The father of thc^e children died in 1902, at
the age of eighty-seven, and his widow sur\i\e(l until 1914. she being eighty-
six vears of age at the time of her death. Tlie} were members of the ^leth-
odist church and their children were reared in that faith.
Harrison A. Hill was reared on the home farm in Jefferson county.
RENO COLNTV. KANSAS. 4II
New \'iirk. and icceivcd liis clenicnlary education in tlic district schon] in tlic
neighborhood of In's hdnie. When jnst past se\'enteen \'ears old. one (la\- in
December, 1863, he left his dinner pail at the door of the school house and
instead of |,ursuing his studies slii)i).'d off to a recruiting station and enlisted
for ser\-ice in tlie Tnion army during the continuance of the Ci\-il War. He
was acce];ted, despite his youth, by the Fourteenth New \'ork Heavv Artil-
lery and served in that conmiand until the close of the war, being mustered
out as a sergeant. In the llrst liattle of Peterslmrg has was severely wounded
in one of his legs and in the second battle of Petersburg his right shoulder
was so severely bruised by the recoil of his gun which he kept firing almost
incessantl}' throughout that engagement, that for vears his shoulder gave him
troul le a.nd t\"en after he had settled down in this county he was compelled
to leave his wife and two small children and return to New York, where he
was under treatment for his shoulder trouble for eighteen months.
Upon the completion of his military service, Harrison A. Hill took a
course in the high school at Clayton. New York, and in 1866 moved to Illi-
nois. In 1873 he came to Kansas and located in Reno county. In November
of that year he h.omesteaded a cjuarter of a section in Huntsville township
and pre-empted an adjoining quarter section, both of which he still owns
and where he ever since has made his home. When \lr. Hill located his
homestead there was not another settler within a radius of ten miles of his
place and the buffaloes were still ranging about the plains, providing an easv
and ample supply of meat and robes for the pioneer. Cornstalks and l)uf-
falo "cin'])s" served him for fuel and he not infrecjuently added to his none
too liberal supjily of cash by gathering a load of buffalo bones oft' the plains
and hauling the same to Hutchinson, where those "natural products of the
soil" had a well-established market value. In 1876 he married and there-
after had a real home instead of the lonely bachelor (juarters he had set up
on the plain. As his farming and stock-raising operations prospered ]Mr.
Hill gradually added to his land holdings until he became the owner of a hue
farm of four hundred and eighty acres, which he still owns and which he
has brought up to a high state of cultivation. Mr. Hill is a Repul:)lican and
from the \erv beginning of his residence in this countv has taken an active
part in local civic affairs. He has held all the township offices at one time
and another. heli)cd lay out the highways in his part of the county and was
one of the chief factors in the organization of the school system in his home
township. He helped organize the first voting ])recinct in Huntsville town-
ship in 1876 and for vears has been regarded as one of the leaders in his
party thereal:)out. Mr. Hill was one of the organizers of the Flcxna-Hunts-
412 RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
ville Telephone Company, is a stockholder in the bank at Plevna and owns
real estate in the city of Huntsville. He was one of the leaders in the move-
ment which resulted in the construction of a bridsfe across the river south of
Sterlins;^. and in other ways has taken an active part in all* worthy local
enterprises.
It \\-as on February 29, 1876, that Harrison A. Hill was united in mar-
riage to Martha Elizabeth Freeman, who died in December, 1890. leaving
five children, Mark F.. Harry A., F. Roy, Ivan and Florence. On February
8. 1894. Mr. Hill married, secondly, Anna Elizabeth Tucker, who was born
on a farm in the neighliorhood of Springfield, Illinois, August 10, 1859,
daughter of Robert and Sarah Tucker, and to this union one child has been
IxDrn. a son. Lloyd Glenn. Air. Hill is a member of the [Masonic order and
takes a warm interest in the affairs of that organization.
In the year 1874 Air. Hill was the innocent cause of an Indian scare
reaching from Sun City to in and around Air. Hill's neighborhood. He had
occasion to go to Wichita by wagon. Several of his bachelor neighbors
wanted to go with him and as there was but one woman and child in the
neighborhood they took her along and someone started the alarm that they
were fleeing from the Indians, but Air. Hill and his associates knew nothing
about it until they got back and found the whole county in arms. Mr. Hill
was criticised because he took so many with him that it gave the impression
they were fleeing.
S.VAIUFL H ASTON.
Samuel Haston. a well-known and well-to-do farmer and stockman of
Walnut township, this county, owner of a fine farm in that township, ^vhere
he makes his home, and another fine farm in Hayes township, is a native of
\'irginia, having been born on a farm in Botetourt county, that state, Janu-
ary 25, 1866, son iif J'lhn and Frances ( Lyle ) Haston, both natives of that
.state, and the parents of nine children, of whom the subject of this sketch
was the seventh in order of l)irth. the others being Bettic, James. John. Mar-
garet. Susan. Pearl, Jessie and Oden. John Haston died on July j8. 187 i,
and hi^ widow married the Rev. James Xeal, of Faton. Ohio, whicli second
marriage. was without issue.
Samuel Flaston was reared on the home farm in X'irginia, rccei\ing his
schooling in the neighborhood schools and remained at home until he was
twcntv-one vears old, when, in 1887. he came to Kansas and located in Reno
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 413
comity, joiniiii^- his cider hrothers, jaiiics and jnhn, wlio had come here the
prcxioiis year, in a hioo-raphical sketch relating- to the elder of the Haston
brothers, i/rtsented elsewhere in this \(ilume. there is set out in detail sonie-
thinj;' of the genealogy and history of this family, to which the attention of
the reader is respectfully invited for additional information in this connec-
tion. Samuel Haston engaged in farming upon coming to this county and
prospered in his operations, finally buying, in 1895, the farm of four hun-
dred acres on which he now makes his home in W-'alnut townhsip, besides
which lie also is the owner of a farm of two himdred and forty acres in
Haves township, this county. Mr. Haston, in addition to his general farm-
ing, has given considerable attention to stock raising and for years has dealt
largely in Hereford cattle, Duroc hogs and mules. During the early stages
of the European VA'ar of IQ14 many of Mr. Haston's mules helped supply
the market created by that war.
On Februarv 14, 1889, vSamuel Haston was united in marriage to Emma
J. Conley, who died on April 20, 1879, leaving three children, A. C, Maud
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