Chapter XXV. Biographical History (part 4)

Dr. George W. Redmond was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, October 19, 1849, a son of Oscar Redmond and Susan (Orr) Redmond, the former a native of Bourbon county, and the latter a native of Nicholas county, Kentucky. Both were born in the same year, 1820, and the mother of Dr. Redmond was a daughter of William Orr, a captain in the American army in the War of 1812. William migrated to Kentucky from Pennsylvania shortly after peace was declared between England and the United States, and was one of the pioneers of that State. Oscar F. Redmond, father of George W., was a son of William Redmond, was also one of the pioneers in the settlement of old Kentucky. Both the Orr and Redmond families were of that sturdy Scotch Presbyterian stock, who were prominent in the early history of Kentucky, and were noted as true pioneers in several of the middle Western States. Oscar F. Redmond was a farmer in Kentucky, and reared a family of twelve children, of whom George W. was the fourth child. In 1856 the Redmond family removed to Cooper county, Missouri, where they remained until 1858, and then settled in Platte county, Missouri, where the father made a permanent home for many years, afterwards ending his days in Muscotah, Atchison county, Kansas. The mother of Dr. Redmond died in Kansas City in 1892.

When the Redmond family left Kentucky, George W. was five years of age. He received his primary education in the district schools of Platte county, Missouri, and graduated from the Gaylord Institute, after which he began the study of medicine with his uncle, Dr. H. B. Redmond, in Saline county, Missouri, with whom he studied one year. He then entered the St. Louis Medical College, of St. Louis, Mo., completed the prescribed two years course, and graduated therefrom in 1869. While trying to decide upon a location, and almost having his mind set upon a city location, he received a letter from his sister, Mrs. Samuel E. King, in Atchison county, informing him that Dr. John Parsons, of Mt. Pleasant, was in need of a young assistant and partner, and he could have the place if he came to Kansas. This letter decided his course, and he came at once to Atchison county and began his practice with Dr. Parsons. At this period Mt. Pleasant was an important inland town, but it has long since passed into the realm of “disappeared cities.” Dr. Redmond remained in Mt. Pleasant a little over two years, and then located in Oak Mills, where he owned a farm, and built up an enormous medical practice in the village and surrounding countryside. He practiced in Oak Mills for thirty years, although prevailed upon by his many admirers in Atchison to remove to the larger city and open an office. During the winter of 1903 and 1904 he pursued a post-graduate course in the post-graduate school of Chicago, and upon his return to Kansas, in the spring of 1904, he located in Potter, Atchison county. Of late years Dr. Redmond has become a specialist in the diseases of women, and it is in this branch of practice that he is achieving his greatest successes. Obstetrics has long been his specialty, and he undoubtedly holds the record in Kansas for the number of successful confinement cases at which he has officiated, and it can be said of him, that in all of his many years of practice he has never lost a confinement case, although there have been times in his career when he has had three and four cases of this character in one day.

Dr. Redmond has been twice married, his first marriage occurring in 1874 with Anna Douglass, a daughter of J. M. and Sarah Douglass, who were among the earliest of the Atchison county pioneers. Four children blessed this union: Ethel, of Leavenworth, Kan.; Edith, wife of Charles Munger, of Atchison county, Kansas; Virginia, living in Leavenworth, Kan.; Georgia Redmond, also residing in Leavenworth. Dr. Redmond’s second marriage took place in 1906 with Carrie A. Sprong, a daughter of D. H. Sprong, an early pioneer settler of Kansas, a sketch of whom appears in this volume.

While Dr. Redmond is a Democrat in politics, he has never found the time to take an active part in political affairs. For the past thirty-five years he has been a contributor to various medical journals, among them being the Medical World, of Philadelphia, one of the oldest and most widely read medical publications in the United States. He is a member of the Atchison County Medical Society, the Kansas State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association, and was one of the organizers of the county society in 1869, and is the only surviving original member of the society. He is a member of Kickapoo Lodge, No. 4, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

Frederick W. Lincoln.

From small beginnings larger things very often naturally grow. The candy and soft drink manufactory of Frederick W. Lincoln on South Fifth street, Atchison, had its inception in a very modest beginning. In fact, Mr. Lincoln first began manufacturing his fine candies at his residence, corner of Seventh and S streets, but the constant growth of the concern soon required larger quarters, and his present factory, erected in 1893, is the result of his enterprise, a building 20×60 feet in extent, with the basement in use. He employs ten people the year round, and is his own traveling salesman, his son, Edward, having charge of the business during his father’s absence on the road. The products of the Lincoln factory are in demand, and are noted for their excellency. In 1912 the manufacture of soda and soft drinks was added to supply a demand in Atchison and the surrounding territory. The manufactured goods of the Lincoln factory are distributed to all points in Kansas and western Missouri.

Frederick W. Lincoln was born in England January 29, 1852, a son of Edmund B. and Jane (Barrell) Lincoln, the father being born in Norfolk, Intwood county, England, and the mother being a native of County Clingford, England. They were the parents of four children: Edward, a veteran of the Civil war, and inmate of the National Soldiers’ Home at Sandusky, Ohio; Mrs. Mary King, of Michigan; Mrs. Emily S. Moffit, deceased; Frederick W., with whom this review is directly concerned, and who was reared by an uncle, Mr. Barrell, who taught him the baker’s trade. The Lincoln family immigrated to America in 1853, and settled in Ohio, where Frederick was reared to manhood in the home of his uncle. He worked at his trade of baker until 1875, when he came to Atchison, and was employed in the hardware store of W. W. Marlborough for a few years, after which he worked in a candy shop for W. B. Howe, who taught him the candy maker’s trade. About 1880 he embarked in the manufacture of candies with T. L. White, with whom he was associated for a short time, and eventually engaged in business for himself, starting in his home, making a very modest beginning. His first shop was near his residence, but the business soon outgrew the demands made upon the little shop, and larger quarters soon became necessary. The business is the direct outcome of the persistence, integrity and industry of the proprietor, and the future of this flourishing concern is bright with promise, as the years see it extend its natural field, and it achieves a natural and deserving growth.

Mr. Lincoln was married January 26, 1879, to Laura Averill, born July 20, at Cooper, Maine, a daughter of Joseph and Julia A. (Whitney) Averill, natives of England and Scotland respectively. Mrs. Lincoln came to Atchison with her mother and resided with her stepfather and mother until her marriage with Mr. Lincoln. To Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln have been born the following children: Mrs. Leona Andrews, of Atchison; Edward E., born May 11, 1883, educated in the public and high schools of Atchison and brought up with his father in the business, married in 1903 to Freda Spatz, who was born November 9, 1896, in Atchison, a daughter of Jacob and Josephine (Latenser) Spatz, natives of Germany and St. Joseph, Mo., respectively; the third child being Frank, a machinist, employed at Horton, Kan.

Mr. Lincoln is a Republican, and is fraternally allied with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the United Commercial Travelers, and the Modern Woodmen of America. He and the members of his family belong to the Christian church. Mr. Lincoln’s career is an exemplification of the adage, “Success never comes to him who waits,” and his standing in the commercial life of Atchison today is due to the fact that he made his opportunity and is justly entitled to proper recognition as one of the city’s leading factors.

John C. Valentine.

John C. Valentine, owner and proprietor of the Northern Kansas Telephone Company of Effingham, for more than forty years has been a resident of Atchison county. The Northern Kansas Telephone Company, of which he is the head, was organized in 1903 as a coöperative concern, but is now owned and operated by Mr. Valentine and his son, A. G. Valentine. The lines of the company cover a section of country within a radius of six to ten miles of Effingham. Twenty-six lines are supplied with good service, and the company has over 435 subscribers at the present time. The plant is well equipped and is noted for the excellent service given the patrons.

John C. Valentine is a native of Dearborn county, Indiana, and was born in the Hoosier State July 28, 1845, a son of George and Sarah (Cornforth) Valentine. His father was born in New Jersey, and accompanied his parents to the Middle West, locating in Cincinnati when George was a child. He was reared in Cincinnati, and later settled in Indiana. His mother was the daughter of pioneer stock of English descent, and was connected with the Eubanks family, which figured in the early history of Indiana. Sarah Valentine died in 1863, and George married again, after which he settled in Illinois, and died near Xenia, that State. He was a soldier in the Civil war, and served in an Ohio cavalry regiment throughout the conflict. John C. Valentine enlisted in the 134th regiment, Indiana infantry, in the spring of 1864, and served until his honorable discharge in the fall of the same year. His health became poor while serving in Tennessee, and he was transferred to Louisville, Ky., and sent home from that city. He was kept on the reserve force while serving in Alabama, and was in the breastworks at Decatur, Ala. At this place he was exposed to a hot fire, and recalls that it was a very uncomfortable place in which to be. During the winter of 1866 he taught school in Decatur county, Indiana. He remained at home with an uncle, William Sawdon, at Aurora, Ind., after returning from the war, until September, 1867, at which time he went to Ft. Madison, Iowa, and there met some friends. He worked on farms in the neighborhood until Christmas of that year, and then left for Kansas, arriving at Leavenworth January 1, 1868.

During his first year in Kansas he broke prairie land for a living; the next year he sold sewing machines, and made good at that avocation; the second year, winter of 1868–69, he taught school in Leavenworth county, and two years after coming to this State he was married. He and his brother, Charles, broke prairie with their two teams in Jefferson county, and for four years after his marriage, Mr. Valentine had great success in farming in that county, raising immense crops of wheat. In the year 1874 he came to Atchison county and settled on a farm four miles northwest of Effingham on the south side of the Parallel road. He at first bought a tract of eighty acres and erected a small house on his land, erecting other buildings as he was able. Mr. Valentine has prospered in the years following his first purchase of land in this county, and he and his son now own a total of 200 acres of well improved land. He resided on the farm until January of 1896, then turned over the farm to the management of his son, and came to Effingham. For ten years following he traveled as salesman, and in 1905 engaged in the telephone business by the purchase of the coöperative company which formerly owned the lines he is now operating.

Mr. Valentine was married April 7, 1870, to Miss Lena Smith, of Johnson county, Kansas, who was born in 1855. The children born to this union are: Albert G., on the home farm, married Alice Frame, and is the father of one son and five daughters; Mrs. Mattie Stevenson, of near Beloit, Kan.; Edward died at the age of twenty-two years, and Robert died at the age of thirteen years.

Mr. Valentine is a Republican in politics, and has always remained loyal and steadfast to the party of Abraham Lincoln. He has served as city councilman and mayor of Effingham. He is an Odd Fellow, and a member of the Grand Army Post, No. 176, Effingham.

Gustave Stutz.

Gustave Stutz, farmer and stockman, of Atchison county, Kan., was born April 20, 1867, in Lancaster township, this county, and is the son of Christian and Katherine (Schweitzer) Stutz. Seven children were born to them, as follows: Caroline (Demel), of Central City, Neb.; Katherine (Wilkins), Atchison, Kan.; Frederick, policeman, Atchison, Kan.; Christopher W., Center township, Atchison county; Gustave, subject of this sketch; John, Center township; and one child died in infancy. The father of Gustave Stutz was born March 25, 1825, in Germany. He left there in 1855, and settled in Jackson county, Missouri, and in 1859 came to Atchison county, where he bought eighty acres of land in Lancaster township. The land was timber and prairie country, and he employed a man to break it up with oxen. Mr. Stutz made extensive improvements on his farm, and added more land from time to time. When he died, December 28, 1898, he owned 380 acres of land. The mother of the subject of this sketch was born in Germany, in February, 1829. She died in Lancaster township in December, 1888. She is buried in Maple Grove cemetery.

Gustave Stutz was reared on his father’s farm and attended the public schools of Lancaster. In 1893 he rented a farm from his father for a year, and then bought 160 acres in Center township. Five years later he sold that and bought eighty acres near the Madison school house. Having made a number of improvements, he sold this farm and bought the present one of 160 acres. When he took this land there were only a few ramshackle buildings on it, but he has made it one of the most modern farms in the State. He built a large seven-room house at a cost of $4,500, which is fitted with all modern conveniences, including hot and cold water, electric lights, bath, and a basement fitted up as a laundry. The house is lighted by electricity, which is generated from a private plant located on the farm. Mr. Stutz was the first to install one in Atchison county. In 1912 he built a barn, 52×46 feet, for general purposes. Mr. Stutz is a breeder of Shorthorn cattle and takes great pride in his herd. He has a herd of thirty fine Shorthorn cattle, including four pure breds, and has been gradually improving his herd for the purpose of embarking in the business of breeding Shorthorns for the trade. He is a stockholder in the Independent Harvester Company, of Plano, Ill. He is a Democrat in politics, and was for a time road supervisor of Lancaster township.

Mr. Stutz was married October 10, 1893, to Margaret Waltz, who was born April 30, 1875, in Shannon township, Atchison county. She is a daughter of Charles and Margaret (Diesback) Walz, both natives of Germany. The father died February 4, 1890, at the age of sixty-two. He immigrated from Germany in 1847. The mother is living in Atchison county. Mr. and Mrs. Stutz are the parents of three children: Albert, born June 2, 1895; Edward, born January 3, 1898, and Pearl, born June 24, 1899, all living at home. Mr. Stutz attends the Presbyterian church, and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Thomas O. Plummer.

There is some distinction in being a pioneer in the State of Kansas, and there is certainly considerable distinction coming to the man who can justly lay claim to being the first white child born of pioneer parents in a component part of a great county like Atchison. Thomas O. Plummer, prosperous farmer and stockman of Grasshopper township, Atchison county, is the first white child born within the borders of his township, and has lived all of his fifty-nine years within the borders of the township.

T. O. Plummer was born December 6, 1857, a son of Leven Vincent and Matilda (Norman) Plummer, both of whom were born in Kentucky. Leven Vincent was a son of Lewis Plummer, a native of Germany, who immigrated to America when quite young and married a Miss Vincent in Kentucky. She (his wife) was a daughter of English parents and was a large woman. The fact that her descendants are all men of large physique is explanatory of the inheritance of strength and size which predominates in the men of the Plummer family. The mother of Thomas O. was a daughter of Lewis Norman, a Kentucky pioneer and expert blacksmith, who was of French-English descent. He (Lewis) was a maker of plows and farming implements which he would manufacture in his shop, load on a river boat and sell in the towns and villages on the banks of the Ohio river. On one of his trading expeditions he was shot by the crew of a rival trading boat.

Leven Vincent Plummer was the father of eight children, as follows: Mary Elizabeth Baker, Oklahoma; Dempsey died at the age of sixteen years; Charles died in 1907; Thomas O. and Benjamin F., (twins), Arrington, Kan.; Leonidas, Atchison; Commodore, Oklahoma; Harriet Ratley, Cowley county, Kansas; Lucullus, on old home place.

In the year 1854 he left Kentucky and migrated to Platte county, Missouri, where he resided until 1855 and then made a settlement in Grasshopper township, Atchison county. He was the first white settler on Brush creek in the Kickapoo Indian reservation lands. He did his trading at old Kennekuk. It is recalled that the old Mormon trail passed by his home and Mr. Plummer remembers the story of a large party of Mormon immigrants being stricken with the cholera and over 100 of them died as a result of the terrible attack of the dread disease. The dead bodies of the victims were hurriedly buried in shallow graves, but, unfortunately were rooted up by hogs owned by the Indians. Inasmuch as the white settlers were afraid to bury the bodies again the hogs were permitted to eat the bodies. Leven Plummer was on extremely good terms with the Indians of the neighborhood and several of them worked for him at different times. When the Indians disposed of their land holdings to the Government and moved to a new reservation, he purchased of them 100 of their “razorback” hogs and 10,000 fence rails at a cost of ten cents a hundred rails. He hauled the rails to his place in immense wagon loads, hauled by two yoke of oxen and a team of horses. He became fairly well to do and was a large feeder of live stock, frequently feeding as high as 100 head of cattle, four-year-old steers and 400 head of hogs. He died in 1867, at the age of forty-seven years, leaving eight children to the care of his widow. Leven Plummer was noted as one of the strongest men of his day and was a man of large stature who could perform feats of strength which would appall the average man.

Thomas O. Plummer attended the district school of his neighborhood and when twenty-one years of age began for himself. His first employment away from home was for six months with Martin W. Ham. He then worked for a bachelor neighbor at ten dollars per month. In 1879 he began renting land on his own account. From boyhood he has always had to hustle for himself and has made good. He made his first purchase of land in 1893 and has accumulated a total of 241 acres of well improved farm lands in Grasshopper township.

In 1884 Mr. Plummer was united in marriage with Mary Ratley, and the union was blessed with one son, James Oliver Plummer, who is now the efficient superintendent of highways in the township. Mary (Ratley) Plummer was the daughter of John and Hannah Ratley, and departed this life in September 15, 1887. In September of 1893, Mr. Plummer was again married to Miss Mary E. Clark, who has borne him one child, Thomas McKinley Plummer, who as a youth attended the agricultural college at Manhattan, Kan., and is much interested in scientific farming. Mrs. Mary (Clark) Plummer died March 13, 1908. She was a daughter of P. J. Clark, a very early settler of Atchison county, and formerly a member of the Atchison city police force. The third marriage of Thomas O. Plummer occurred March 2, 1909, with Mrs. Bessie May De Bord (Floyd), widow of James Floyd, a native of Kentucky, and to this union have been born two children: Theodore Ole, and Calvin Vincent Plummer. By her first marriage, Mrs. Plummer has one child, Ruby Jewell Floyd, born September 30, 1905.

Mr. Plummer is one of Atchison county’s best known and successful self-made men and everything he owns has been earned by hard labor and diligence, combined with good management. Besides his farming interests he is a stockholder in the Farmers Grain Elevator and the Mutual Telephone Company, at Muscotah. He is a Republican in politics, and is a member of the Mystic Workers and the Modern Woodmen of America.

Howard E. North.

Howard E. North, farmer, of Lancaster township, Atchison county, was born January 25, 1867, in Walnut township, this county, and is a son of Edwin T. and Elizabeth (McCully) North, natives of New Jersey. Of the eight children born to them six are living, as follows: Walter M., Atchison, Kan.; Joseph H., of Kansas City, Mo.; Percy, of Ottawa, Kan.; Claude, Lancaster, Kan., and Mrs. Sadie Dunkle, of Los Angeles, Cal., besides Howard E. North, subject of this sketch. The father was born April 23, 1830, in Burlington county, New Jersey, of English descent. Leaving there about 1865, he came west and settled in Atchison county, Kansas, living one year in Walnut township, and then bought a farm in Lancaster township. He made improvements, and later sold the farm to his son, Howard E., and retired in 1896. In December, 1912, he died, after having lived a long and useful life. The mother was born in New Jersey, as was her husband, and was born in the same year, 1830, of Scotch descent, and died in March, 1902.

Howard E. North was reared on his father’s farm, and attended the public school at Lancaster, and also the Bell district school, No. 59. He was born on the place which he now owns, and it has been his home since boyhood. It consists of 180 acres, and is exceptionally well improved. Extra attention has been given to stock raising facilities. Mr. North takes a great deal of interest in fine cattle, hogs and horses, and has some excellent Shorthorns and some valuable Poland China hogs. Mr. North has a graded stock of horses, some of which are the best in this part of the country. He is a stockholder in the German-American Bank at Atchison, Kan. Politically, he is a Republican, and has always been a loyal citizen, taking keen interest in the welfare of his community and his county. He is a member of the school board of Bell district.

In 1896 Mr. North was married to Alice Guyer, who was born October 1, 1866, in Union county, Pennsylvania. Mrs. North was a daughter of Israel and Catharine (Brown) Guyer, natives of Pennsylvania, and who lived and died in the land of their nativity. Mrs. Alice North came to Kansas in August of 1893, and joined her sister, Mrs. Annie Gemberling, who now resides in a home on the Parallel road, near Lancaster, Kan. One child, Emlin E., has been born to Mr. and Mrs. North. Mr. North is a member of the Methodist church, and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Modern Woodmen of America.

Nicholas Boos.

Nicholas Boos, proprietor of one of the best improved farms in Shannon township, has resided on the land which he now owns for over fifty years, and is widely known as a progressive farmer who has applied his accurate knowledge of the best farming methods to such good account that he is now the owner of 250 acres of good land, upon which he erected in 1912 a handsome brick residence, modern throughout, at a cost of $4,500. Mr. Boos installed his own light and water plant, and in the rear of his handsome home he has built a large and commodious bank barn. His residence faces the main highway running northward from Atchison, and presents a substantial evidence of the enterprise of its owner.

Mr. Boos was born November 11, 1862, in Germany, a son of Nicholas and Catharine Boos, who left their native land with their two children and came to Atchison county, Kansas, in July of 1865. After one month’s stay in the city they removed to a point in Shannon township, about three miles north of Atchison, and settled upon eighty acres of land which the elder Boos purchased. Nicholas Boos and his wife reared their children here, and lived on the farm until death called them away. Nicholas Boos, Sr., was born in 1833, and died in October of 1899. Catharine, his wife, was born in 1833, and died in November of 1898. Their two children are: Nicholas, with whom this narrative is directly concerned, and Catharine, now known as Sister Hilda of the Order of St. Benedict’s, Mt. St. Scholastica Academy, Atchison.

Upon the death of their parents, Nicholas Boos and his sister inherited the eighty acre farm upon which they had been reared. Nicholas bought his sister’s share of the estate, and by dint of hard, unremitting labor, and the exercise of frugality and good financial judgment, has added 170 acres to the original tract. There are 205 acres in the home farm on the east side of the highway and forty-five acres on the west side, some distance from his home.

Mr. Boos was married May 1, 1889, to Mary Wolters, born in Atchison county, and daughter of Matthew and Catharine Wolters, both of whom were natives of Germany, Matthew being now deceased and his widow residing in Mr. Boos’ home. Ten children have been born to this estimable couple, namely: William, aged twenty-five years; Albert, aged twenty-three, employed by Dolan Mercantile Company; Nicholas, aged seventeen years; Edward, twelve years of age; Harold, aged eight years; Hilda, twenty-three years of age, and a dressmaker; Marie, aged twenty-one, second bookkeeper for John J. Intfen, grocer; Frances, aged eighteen, bookkeeper for Byrnes’ drug store; Bertha, aged fourteen, and Rosa, aged ten years: William, an employee of the Symns Grocer Company, married Marie McGraff. Mr. and Mrs. Boos have endeavored to give all of their children good school and college educations, and have succeeded in rearing a fine and worthy family, of which they have a good and just right to be proud.

Mr. Boos is a member of St. Benedict’s Catholic Church and is a liberal supporter of Catholic institutions. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen lodge. While a Democrat in politics, he endeavors to exercise the right of suffrage in a manner befitting his own ideas, and supports such candidates for office as come the nearest to his ideal of a good man and official regardless of political protestations.

June E. Moore.

June E. Moore, president of the Symns Grocer Company, of Atchison, Kan., is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and a son of Thomas H. and Lydia Ann (Gordon) Moore, the former a native of Virginia, and the latter of New Jersey. The Moore family came to Kansas in 1865, and the father engaged in the mercantile business at Iowa Point, Doniphan county. He was engaged in business there about ten years, or until 1876, when he sold his business and removed to Kansas City, where he remained until his death, in 1889. His wife died in 1886. June Moore, the subject of this sketch, received a good common school education, and remained at home, at Iowa Point, until 1873, when he came to Atchison and accepted a position as bookkeeper in the grocery house of A. B. Symns. About three months later he went on the road as traveling salesman for Mr. Symns, and was the first man to represent Mr. Symns in that capacity. After remaining in Mr. Symns’ employ for about three years, he went to Falls City, Neb., and engaged in the mercantile business for himself, and conducted a business there for seven years. He then returned to Atchison, and in 1879 engaged in the grocery business for himself. Mr. Moore continued in the grocery business in Atchison from 1879 to 1887, when he again became connected with the Symns Grocer Company, which had been reorganized in the meantime. Since that time Mr. Moore has been connected with the Symns Grocer Company, which is one of the leading institutions of the kind in the State. From 1889 until 1907 Mr. Moore had charge of their Topeka branch. During the year of 1907, M. S. Peterson, who had been the buyer of the company for a number of years, died, and Mr. Moore was obliged to return to Atchison to assume the responsibilities in connection with the purchasing department. He looked after the purchasing department of the company for one year, when he became president of the company, and has since capably filled that responsible position. Mr. Moore is a stockholder in the company, and is one of the men who have contributed many of the best days of their lives to the upbuilding and development of this great commercial institution, of which the people of Atchison are justly proud.

Mr. Moore was united in marriage July 27, 1871, to Miss Rebecca Armstrong, a native of North Carolina. Mrs. Moore was a daughter of Francis K. Armstrong, of Virginia, who moved to North Carolina, and there married Jerusha Eliza Belt, and returned to Virginia, and in 1859 migrated to Missouri, remaining in St. Joseph until the fall of 1860, and then settled on a farm in Doniphan county, Kansas, where he died in November, 1861. Mr. Moore is a member of the Masonic lodge, and one of the substantial business men of Atchison.

W. Perry Ham.

The powers of leadership are inherent in some individuals, and there are in every community such men who seem naturally gifted to lead their fellows in political affairs. In reviewing the life career of W. Perry Ham, the official head of the Republican party in Atchison county, the fact is brought out that his natural gifts have tended to lead him to activity in political affairs, and that he is gifted with ability of a high order, which is universally recognized by the men of his party who look to him for leadership. Mr. Ham is a thorough American, whose ancestry goes back to the earliest days of the foundation of the Republic.

W. Perry Ham was born October 11, 1861, at Flemingsburg, Fleming county, Kentucky, a son of James P. and Eliza (Jones) Ham, both of whom were born and reared in Kentucky, and were children of pioneer parents. James P. was the son of William and Mary E. Ham, and the great-grandfather of W. Perry was John Ham, better known as “Jackie,” a native of Greenbrier county, Virginia, who married a Miss Woods, and migrated to Kentucky in the days of the illustrious Daniel Boone, the famous hunter. These were troublous times in Kentucky, and the Indians fiercely disputed the advent of the white settlers into their favorite hunting grounds. The mother and two sisters of “Jackie” Ham were captured by the Indians, killed and scalped, and their bodies burned in the cabin fireplace by blood-thirsty Indians. The Ham family is of Welsh extraction. James P. Ham, although a southerner by birth and breeding, was a strong Union man, who was opposed to the institution of slavery. While still residing in Kentucky, in the year 1865, he received a telegram from his brother. Joseph, calling him to Buchanan county, Missouri, where his life was in danger from Union men. Joseph kept a general store at DeKalb, and was forced to go in hiding to preserve his life, he being a southern sympathizer. It was his desire that James P. come to Missouri and take charge of his store until times were better, and it was safe for him to appear. James made all haste to comply with his brother’s request, and with his wife and family made a hasty trip to Buchanan county, only to find on his arrival that his brother’s store at DeKalb had been burned to the ground. The wife of James P. was overcome by the excitement, and her strength overtaxed by the trials of the family, and she died in 1865. This left the father with three children to care for, and he removed to Atchison in 1866. Here he engaged in market gardening, and took more or less interest in political affairs until his demise, November 2, 1894, at the age of sixty-six years, in Rural township, Jefferson county, Kansas, where he removed a few years after coming to Atchison.

W. Perry Ham was reared in Kansas, and attended the common and high schools of Atchison county. From the time he was six years of age he found it necessary to shift for himself, and secured his education mainly through his own efforts. He did chores and worked for farmers in return for his board and schooling, and generally had a hard time of it trying to make his own way in the world. During the famous “grasshopper” years the family lived in Jefferson county, and privation and suffering were predominant among the settlers. Perry was sent twice each week a distance of seven miles, astride his pony, to the nearest relief station for food and clothing. His first position was in the old Grant bakery, operated by Gerber & Hagen, and he was employed there for two years. He afterwards bought the grocery business at Tenth and Laramie streets, and was engaged in business for another period of years until he bought a farm near Atchison and moved upon it. He farmed this land for two years, and in 1895 returned to Atchison, and again entered the grocery business, at Ninth and Parallel streets. In 1898 he disposed of his business and accepted a traveling position in the interest of the Select Knights of the Ancient Order of United Workmen as State manager and organizer. He continued in this position until 1901, and then opened a feed and poultry business, in which undertaking he was engaged until 1909, when he sold out. He served as chief of police of Atchison during 1908 and 1909 under Mayor S. S. King, and has been a member of the city council for three terms during his residence in Atchison. Since 1909 Mr. Ham has been general organizer of the Fraternal Aid Union, and has made a great success of his work, which requires that he oversee the work of organizing in the States of Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska. His reputation as an organizer in the interest of the Fraternal Aid Union is unsurpassed, and it is in this capacity that his remarkable gifts have received full play.

Mr. Ham was married in 1883 to Rosa Frommer, who has borne him children as follows: Lloyd Perry, clerk in the Atchison postoffice; Mable Rose, wife of Roy Castle, of Falls City, Neb.; James Harwi Ham, of Atchison; Walter, of Atchison; Herbert, a jeweler, of Atchison; Myrtle, at home with her parents; and Luther, in the city high school. The mother of these children was born and reared in Germany, near the city of Stuttgart, and was a daughter of John Frommer, who was a stone-cutter by occupation. Mrs. Ham came to this country in 1879.

Mr. Ham is a member of the Odd Fellows, the M. B. A., the Knights and Ladies of Security, the Mystic Workers, the Central Protective Association, and the Fraternal Aid Union. In political matters, Mr. Ham has been for years a prominent figure in Atchison county and Kansas, and enjoys a wide and favorable acquaintance among the political leaders of the Republican party in Kansas. He has been a member of the central executive committee of his party for several years, and is at present the county chairman and virtual leader of his party in Atchison county.

Frank Beard.

Frank Beard, furniture dealer, of Potter, Kan., was born on a farm near Abingdon, Knox county, Illinois, a son of William M. and Sarah (Hawthorne) Beard, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Maryland, both of Scotch Presbyterian ancestry. William M., the father, was born in Wilson county, Tennessee, on a farm not far from Nashville. The grandfather of Frank Beard was Rev. John Beard, born of Virginia parents, who were among the earliest settlers of Tennessee. The Beards are a family of pioneers, the pioneering of the family having begun over 100 years ago when the parents of Rev. John Beard crossed the mountains and made a settlement in western Tennessee, where John Beard was born December 25, 1800. The home of the family was not far from the birthplace of Andrew Jackson, with whom John was personally acquainted. The family later became pioneers in Illinois, and ever moved westward until they came to Kansas, and were among the first of the sturdy characters to build homes in the new State.

Rev. John Beard was a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination. He left Tennessee in 1848 and settled in Knox county, Illinois, and in 1856 came to Kansas, and was one of the first men to preach the Gospel in Atchison county. He was an ardent Free State man who was emphatically opposed to the institution of slavery and fearlessly attacked the pro-slavery party and its principles from the pulpit. On one occasion he preached a sermon in Mt. Pleasant and laid a huge revolver on the pulpit beside his Bible with the remark, “I hope there will be peace during the services,” and there was peace. This action was in keeping with the fearless character of the man himself. Rev. John Beard died at the age of sixty-six years. No pictorial likeness of this famous pioneer is available or his grandson, Frank, would have it inserted in the history. His last sermon was preached at Pleasant Grove church in South Atchison. During his career he served the Round Prairie and High Prairie churches in Leavenworth county, the Wolf Creek congregation in Brown county, and the Pleasant Grove church in Atchison county. He was traveling at all times, to and fro, in northeast Kansas while engaged in the Lord’s work. His son, William M., left Illinois in 1862 and settled in Brown county, Kansas, and in 1865 came to Atchison county. Border ruffians at one time raided the home of William Beard in Brown county. Mattie Beard, a three months’ old babe, was awakened by the noise made by the raiders and screamed loudly. One of the ruffians walked to the cradle, drew his revolver and said: “I’ll stop her noise.” The mother made frantic by this threat picked up a chair, and with all her strength, augmented by her fright, rushed at the raider and knocked him down. After this occurrence the Beards left Kansas and returned to Illinois, where people were more of one mind on the subject of slavery and life was much safer. They remained in Illinois until the close of the war and then came again to Atchison county, settling on a farm in Walnut township. This farm has been owned by the Beard family for fifty years and is now in possession of John Beard, a son of William. Rev. John Beard died in Atchison county in August, 1866. William M. died in 1905, and his faithful wife followed him to the great beyond two years later, in 1907. The father of Sarah Hawthorne Beard was also a pioneer settler of Knox county, Illinois, and planted the first apple orchard in that section of the State, and was the first and only apple exhibitor at the first county fair ever held in Knox county, Illinois.

Frank Beard was a boy of seven when his parents removed to Atchison county and was reared on the farm in Walnut township, receiving his schooling in district No. 60. He followed farming until 1909, when he came to Potter and engaged in the general merchandise business in partnership with Mr. Hodges. This partnership continued until 1911, when he sold out his interest in the general store, and in July of that year purchased the furniture and undertaking business which he is now conducting successfully.

Mr. Beard was married in 1898 to Miss Bee Henson, a daughter of A. T. and Amanda (Cox) Henson, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter having been born in Missouri. The Hensons migrated to Kansas in 1854 before the organization of the State and settled in Jefferson county. They were Free State advocates and took part in the struggle which made Kansas a Free State. Mr. and Mrs. Beard have one child, Leona Beard, born in 1903.

The Democratic party has always claimed the allegiance of Mr. Beard in National affairs, but he is inclined to independence of voting in local, county and State affairs. He is a member of Kickapoo Lodge, No. 4, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Modern Brotherhood, and the Knights and Ladies of Security. Mr. Beard is one of Potter’s best and well respected citizens, a successful and prosperous business man who is ever willing to put his shoulder to the wheel to advance the interests of his home community.

Thomas Highfill.

The late Thomas Highfill, of Easton township, Leavenworth county, Kansas, was born April 9, 1844, on a farm near the city of Madison, in southeastern Indiana. He was a son of William Highfill, who was born in South Carolina of German parents, and was there reared to young manhood, went to Kentucky from South Carolina, and there met and married Elizabeth Bonnell, born in Kentucky of German ancestry. Shortly after their marriage William Highfill and his wife crossed the Ohio river and settled near Madison on the Flat Rock river. He had charge of the toll-gate entrance of the bridge crossing the Flat Rock at that time. When Thomas was four years of age, or in 1849, the father and his family loaded their movable effects on wagons and started across the plains, en route to California, consuming six months on the long trip, their wagons being hauled by slow-moving oxen. The family remained in California for four years, and William spent the time profitably in placer mining for the yellow metal, after which they returned to the middle West, this time making the return trip with horses instead of oxen. They settled in Platte county, Missouri, and resided there until 1862, when William Highfill made a final settlement in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county. He died the same year in Atchison county. George Highfill, son of Thomas, is now the owner of the original home place of the Highfill family in Atchison county.

Thomas Highfill was eighteen years of age when his father came to Atchison county. He assisted in the operation of the home farm until his marriage, November 24, 1864, to Elvira Porter, who was born in Casey county, Kentucky, February 7, 1847, a daughter of George and Sarah Ann (Foster) Porter, both of whom were born in Kentucky, and resided in their native State until November, 1850, when they removed to Buchanan county, Missouri, and there farmed for two years on the McDonald farm, near Wallace. The Porters came to Atchison county, Kansas, among the earliest of the pioneers in the spring of 1855 and settled on a tract of land just one-half mile west of the present town of Potter. George Porter filed on 160 acres of land in the fall of 1854 which has never changed ownership but once and has never been out of the family, being now owned by George Highfill, the eldest grandson of George Porter. The elder Porter, although born and bred in a slave State, abhorred the institution of slavery, despite the fact that his father, Isaac Porter, was a slave owner. He saw the evils of slavery when a youth and determined never to support it, because it was utterly wrong. He came to Kansas imbued with the determination to do his part in making the State free. He suffered considerably from the forays of the border ruffians and his homestead on the banks of the Big Stranger was raided frequently by the pro-slavery element. At one time Mr. Porter had a fine saddle horse stolen from him by border ruffians. As soon as he learned of the theft he set out after the thieves armed only with a bowie knife stuck in his boot top. He followed them to Atchison and lay hid in a clump of jimson weeds, near the camp of the ruffians on the spot where the Santa Fe railroad yards are now located. The marauders were drinking and carousing in seeming safety and had no idea that they would be followed. As a consequence of their neglect in not placing a sentry Mr. Porter was enabled to secure his horse and return home in safety at 4 o’clock in the morning. At the outbreak of the Civil war Mr. Porter enlisted in the Thirteenth Kansas regiment and served throughout the war. While absent in defense of the Union his wife and five children were left to shift for themselves as best they could. George Porter was a stanch Republican in his political affiliations and was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He died February 19, 1887, the age of sixty-five years, having been born January 21, 1822. His wife, Sarah Ann, died June 23, 1897. They were the parents of eight children, of whom Mrs. Thomas Highfill was the eldest. Mrs. Highfill was ten years old when the Porter family located in Kansas, and during the days of the Civil war, when the breadwinner of the family was absent fighting for the Union, this brave woman ploughed with an ox team and did the hardest kind of farm labor.

To Thomas Highfill and wife were born the following children: George, born September 8, 1865, and is the owner of the farm preëmpted by his grandfather Porter; John, born December 12, 1866; Sarah Elizabeth, wife of P. H. Fleer, of Potter, Kan., was born June 23, 1868, and died May 11, 1909; Thomas J., born April 8, 1870, residing in Potter; Mrs. Rose, wife of Clarence Binkley, of Atchison, born December 23, 1878; Abigail, wife of Ashton Hundley, of Atchison county, born October 19, 1879; Martina, wife of Louis Linville, of Spring Lake, Texas, born November 14, 1880; and Benjamin F., born June 10, 1884. The mother of these children resides on the Highfill place, west of Potter. Her son, George, is a prosperous farmer and good business man, who is connected with the Farmers State Bank of Potter.

Thomas Highfill departed this life March 7, 1899. He was a well respected and industrious citizen who did well his part in the development of Atchison county.

John H. Bean.

John H. Bean, having been a resident of Atchison county for a period of nearly sixty years, is naturally considered as one of the pioneers of the county. He has lived in the county since the year 1857, when his father, Michael Bean, filed on a Government homestead in Mt. Pleasant township, seven miles southwest of Atchison. John was born on a farm in Illinois October 22, 1850. His parents were Michael, born in Winchester, Ky., and son of William Bean, a native of Virginia, and Rebecca Northcutt, wife of Michael, who was born and reared near Winchester, Ill. Michael Bean came to Atchison February 5, 1853, filed on a claim, as stated above, and developed it into a splendid farm. On account of border troubles he returned to Independence, Mo., and remained for four years, and then returned to his claim. Michael died December 9, 1893, when a little over sixty-five years of age. He was a soldier in the Union army, having enlisted in Company F of the Thirteenth Kansas regiment in 1862 and served until the close of the war. He was mustered out at Ft. Leavenworth, after taking an active part in military operations in southeast Missouri, Ft. Smith and Little Rock, Ark. To Michael and Rebecca Bean were born seven children, namely: John H.; Mrs. Mary Barber, deceased; William, in Colorado; Paul, deceased; Mrs. Minnie Ledger, of Kansas City; Mrs. Ida Mayfield, living on the old homestead in Mt. Pleasant township; Alvin, farmer, living in Shannon township; Barbara died in infancy; Mrs. Barbara Helen Hayes, of Lincoln, Neb. The mother of these children died in 1903, at the age of seventy-five years.

When John H. Bean was twenty-three years of age he left home and went to Colorado, where he spent the intervening years until 1893 in the gold and silver mines of the State with intermittent fortunes attending his efforts. After two years’ residence in St. Joseph, Mo., he spent four years engaged in lumbering in the woods of northern Michigan. He then returned to Atchison, and after two years on the Atchison police force, and for four years, from 1909 to 1913, inclusive, he was cell-keeper in the State reformatory at Hutchinson, Kan. He returned to Atchison and was attached to the Atchison police department as one of its most efficient and faithful members until October 1, 1915, when he became gate-tender for the Atchison Bridge Company. He has been twice married, his first wife being Florence Bridges, who bore him one child, Mrs. Armina Bolen, of Leon, Kan. His second wife was Ella Mitchell, who died in Michigan in 1898.

Mr. Bean has always been a Republican in politics, but has never been a candidate for any political office. In this respect he follows in the footsteps of his father, Michael, who was an active politician in his day, although he never sought official preferment. Michael Bean was considered as one of the really influential men of Atchison county in political affairs and was a great and stanch friend of Senator John J. Ingalls, besides having a wide and favorable acquaintance with the people of the county. He counted among his friends many of the famous men of Atchison and the State. For thirteen years he was in charge of the county poor farm, and during that time he made a record since unsurpassed for management of the farm. Michael was a large man, physically, of the true pioneer type—one of those outspoken, honest fellows, who said outright what he thought, and was a friend to all who knew him and trusted him. It is said that no needy settler went to Michael Bean for assistance when in dire need and came away empty-handed. If a settler needed money to buy a cow or horse, it was forthcoming without the usual security or note which accompanies latter-day transactions of this character. Liberal in his views, he was liberal with his means and was always ready and willing to help an acquaintance.

Andrew Speer.

Andrew Speer, county commissioner for the second district of Atchison county, Kansas, was born in this county, February 20, 1863. He was a son of Joseph and Mary (Fountain) Speer, both of whom were natives of Lawrence county, Indiana. In 1859 Joseph and his wife left the old home in Indiana, en route to Kansas, and stopped during the winter in Iowa, where the oldest child of the family was born. Joseph came on to Kansas, leaving his wife in Iowa among friends, and preëmpted a quarter section of land in Grasshopper township, three miles northeast of Muscotah, now owned by William Speer. In the spring of 1860, the year of the great drought, the father of the family returned to Iowa and brought his wife and son, William, to the new home which he had prepared for them on the Kansas plains. While the drought of their first year in Kansas worked considerable hardship upon the settlers, Joseph was better prepared to withstand this hardship, because of the fact that he had brought considerable means with him, which enabled him to successfully weather the crop failure of that year. Joseph Speer was a man of more than ordinary education and had been a school teacher in Indiana in his younger days. All of his life, he was a student and was a fine mathematician. While teaching in Indiana he had read law to some extent, and became a justice of the peace in Grasshopper township, a position which he held for many years. He also served several years as township trustee. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Speer, of whom Andrew is the third in order of birth. (See biography of D. Anna Speer, county superintendent of schools, for further details regarding the Speer family.)

Andrew Speer, with whom this review is directly concerned, was educated in the district school of his neighborhood, and brought up on his father’s farm. His marriage occurred after a trip to the western part of Kansas in 1888, and he then rented a farm. He has continually been engaged in farming and is now cultivating the Moore farm of 320 acres in Grasshopper township. When the Cherokee strip was thrown open to settlement in the Indian Territory by the Government in 1892 Mr. Speer, with eleven other Kansans from his neighborhood, made the run for homesteads on the opening day. Six thousand or more men were lined up ready for the great race and all rushed forward when the cannon boomed for the start. Andrew drove a wagon and was unfortunate in staking out his claim which proved to be a quarter section of school land. Each of the other eleven men who accompanied him secured a good claim.

Mr. Speer was married May 1, 1889, to Miss Alida Gilliland, who has borne him five children, namely: Myrtle, wife of Fred Draper, a farmer of Atchison county; Albert, at home; Joseph, a teacher at Prospect Hill, Atchison county, and the first school teacher ever graduated from the Muscotah schools and directly became a teacher; Stephen, a pupil of the eighth grade of the Muscotah schools, and Nicholas, deceased. The mother of these children was born in Illinois, October 22, 1863, a daughter of Josiah and Delitha (Maxwell) Gilliland, who died when she was but a child four years of age. She then went to the home of an aunt, Mrs. Kline, living in Jackson county, Kansas, who reared her to young womanhood. Josiah Gilliland lives in Nebraska, aged eighty-three years. He was a veteran of the Civil war from Illinois, and served in the Union army, and moved to Missouri directly after the war ended.

The Democratic party has always had the unswerving allegiance and support of Mr. Speer, and he stands high in the councils of his party in Atchison county. He was first elected to the office of township trustee and served for four years. Two years after his term of office as trustee expired he was elected to the office of county commissioner of the second district. Mr. Speer has performed the duties of his official position with great credit to himself and for the benefit of his constituents. He is an honest and capable county official who has the best interests of the entire county at heart. He is a member of the Masonic lodge of Muscotah, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Central Protective Association. Mrs. Speer is a member of the Methodist church, the Eastern Star lodge, the Royal Neighbors and the Mystic Workers.

Samuel Edward Fiechter.

Samuel Edward Fiechter, now living retired on his beautiful suburban place near Atchison, which is located on the west side of Forest Park, is a native of Missouri. He was born in Andrew county August 25, 1856, and is a son of John George and Anna (Bright) Fiechter. The father was born in Baden, Germany, January 27, 1815, and died in Brown county, Kansas, December 20, 1893. Anna Bright, his wife, was born in Berne, Switzerland, October 26, 1822, and died in Brown county, Kansas, August 8, 1900. George Fiechter immigrated to America with his parents about 1835. They located in Missouri, and George engaged in farming in Andrew county, that State. In 1860 he traded his Missouri farm for a farm in Brown county, Kansas, where he was successfully engaged in farming until he retired. He accumulated considerable property, and at the time of his death owned something over 400 acres. To John George and Anna (Bright) Fiechter were born the following children: John resides in Brown county; Fred, deceased; Louise, deceased; George, deceased; Susan married S. E. Rush, and resides in South Dakota; Samuel E., the subject of this sketch; Jacob, deceased; Tina married Oscar Dean, and resides in Chase county, Kansas.

Samuel Edward Fiechter was reared on the farm, and received a good common school education. At the age of twenty-one he engaged in farming for himself, and later rented his father’s farm, and cared for his parents during their lives. He followed farming in Brown county until 1902, when he removed to Atchison, and after residing in the city for eight months purchased his present place. His farm is one of the best improved places in Brown county, consisting of 360 acres of land, under a high state of cultivation.

Mr. Fiechter was married November 20, 1884, to Miss Sarah Parker. She was born in Andrew county, Missouri, July 17, 1863, and is a daughter of William and Rachel (Esslinger) Parker, the former a native of Indiana, born March 12, 1835, and the latter was born in Andrew county, Missouri, September 20, 1842. William Parker came to Missouri with his parents, Daniel and Sarah (Davis) Parker, when he was a child. The parents were natives of Kentucky, and after coming to Missouri, spent the remainder of their lives in that State. Mrs. Fiechter was the oldest of a family of six children; the others in order of birth are as follows: Frank resides in Colorado Springs, Colo.; Jennie resides with her parents; Daniel, Boise, Idaho; Mrs. Mae Zimmerman, Boise, Idaho; and Stella Allen died September 16, 1915, at Cosby, Mo. To Mr. and Mrs. Fiechter has been born one child, Edna, who married Ray McGaughey, and resides on a farm in Brown county. Mr. Fiechter is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and is a Republican. The family are members of the Lutheran church.

Mrs. Jennie Cirtwill.

Mrs. Jennie Cirtwill, of Lancaster, Kan., is the widow of Richard N. Cirtwill, one of the well known and substantial farmers of Atchison county, who was among the early settlers of this county. Richard N. Cirtwill was born in Jefferson county, New York, September 20, 1828. He was reared to young manhood in New York, and at the outbreak of the Civil war offered his services in defense of the Union. Mr. Cirtwill enlisted August 24, 1864, in Company I, One Hundred and Eighty-sixth regiment of New York infantry, and served until his honorable discharge, June 2, 1865. He was color bearer of his regiment, and fought at the battle of Petersburg and at the siege and capture of Richmond. Mr. Cirtwill carried the regimental colors at Petersburg and during this fierce engagement his clothing and flag were riddled with bullets, and he received a slight wound in his side. His son, Albert D., was also a member of the same company and regiment, as his father and was wounded at the battle of Petersburg. Mr. Cirtwill was first married in New York State to Susan Burns, who departed this life in 1885.

Mr. Cirtwill came to Kansas in 1871 and developed a fine farm and became well-to-do.

In January, 1889, Mr. Cirtwill married Mrs. Jennie (McClain) Cameron, whose first husband was James Cameron, a native of Carrickfergus, Ireland, born in 1848. When a young man, James Cameron became a sailor, and was first mate on a vessel sailing the Atlantic ocean. At the outbreak of the Civil war, Mr. Cameron enlisted in the Union army at Bangor, Me., and served until the close of the war. In 1869 he came to Muscotah, Kan., and worked as a contractor and brick mason. Six children were born of this marriage: Frank, deceased; William, a traveling salesman, Kansas City, Mo.; John R., a railway operator, of Mountain Home, Idaho; Rose died in infancy; Frank J., a railroad conductor, St. Joseph, Mo., and Walter H., a traveling salesman, Kansas City, Mo. The father of these children died in 1903.

Mrs. Jennie Cirtwill was born at the Bank Cottages, Scotland, May 1, 1849, a daughter of William and Rosanna (Saul) McClain, who emigrated from their native heath in 1855, and first settled in Illinois, where the father became a contractor and builder in the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad Company. He, too, became a soldier, thus making a remarkable coincident, wherein Mrs. Cirtwill was the daughter of a soldier, and both of her former husbands were Union veterans. Mr. McClain served with bravery in an Illinois regiment of volunteers. In 1870 he came to Atchison county and engaged in the lumber and building business at Muscotah, Kan. He became the owner of several farms and was well-to-do at the time of his death, February 13, 1907. The mother of Mrs. Cirtwill died in 1915, at the ripe old age of ninety-three years. Both parents are buried at Lancaster, Kan. A bright spot in the memories of Mrs. Cirtwill is the fact that she was permitted to care for her aged parents in their declining years and made a home and furnished every comfort for them.

When residing in Muscotah, Mrs. Cirtwill, nee Cameron, was left almost destitute with the care of her five children on her hands. She was forced to do the hardest kind of work to keep them in comfort and send them to school. She worked as a tailor and seamstress in order to do this, and long and exacting hours of toil were necessary to hold the little family together, but later, better days came and she has had the extreme satisfaction of seeing her children, for whom she made sacrifices in those earlier days, become substantial and well-to-do citizens of their respective localities.

A brother of Mrs. Cirtwill, John McClain, was killed by a horse when four years of age. William, the only brother reared to manhood, was a banker at Huron, Kan., but sold his interests there and removed to Peru, Kan., where he started a bank of his own. Three years later he went to Coffeyville, Kan., and lived there for a short time. Very early he began to see the future value of oil lands in Oklahoma, and invested heavily in Oklahoma land which proved to be a very profitable investment. Besides being a capitalist and builder he was a speaker and public man, well known in Atchison county and Kansas. He died in Coffeyville, Kan., January 5, 1911, at the age of fifty years. He left a widow and one daughter.

The mother of Mrs. Cirtwill, who was Mrs. Rosanna (Saul) McClain, was a skilled seamstress, and had the honor of attending the coronation ceremonies of Queen Victoria in England. Her father was Thomas Saul, a poet of unusual ability, endowed with a wonderful memory and an ability to quote poetry and the classics which his daughter inherited to a great extent. Through her great-grandmother, Rosanna Saul McClain was of royal lineage, having been born in a royal golden bed of honor, only vouchsafed to those of kingly lineage. This great-grandmother became very wealthy and left a large estate to her two daughters. Rosanna and her sister were highly skilled in tailoring and needle work and embroidery, and were highly rewarded by Queen Victoria for making and embroidering a beautiful dress for the queen to wear on state occasions.

Mrs. Cirtwill is the owner of considerable property in Atchison county, including 260 acres of fine land, a store building and a home in Lancaster, Kan. She has two grandchildren: Cecil Mae, and Jeanette Rose Cameron, children of Frank J. Cameron. Besides her Atchison county property this well-to-do Atchison county woman has several vacant lots and residence properties in St. Joseph, Mo., and is considered to be an able business woman. She is a member of the Rebekah lodge, of Lancaster, and is a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. For many years she has taught a Sunday school class, of which she is very fond. Mrs. Cirtwill usually spends the summer seasons in traveling and during the summer and fall of 1915, she spent several weeks in the West, principally in Denver and vicinity.

Asa Barnes.

The name of Barnes figures prominently in the early history of Kansas and Atchison county, and the history of the family in Kansas dates from the spring of 1858 when Capt. Asa Barnes came from the ancestral home of the Barnes family in New Jersey, and settled in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county, and immediately identified himself with the Free State party.

Asa Barnes, the present representative of the family living on the old Barnes homestead in Mt. Pleasant township, five miles northwest of Potter, was born in January, 1854, in New Brunswick, N. J., a son of Asa and Harriet (Cook) Barnes, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of New Jersey of English descent. Asa Barnes, the father of the subject, was born in 1821, and became a papermaker in New Brunswick, where several of his children were born. In 1858 he disposed of his belongings and property in New Jersey and migrated to Kansas, settling in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county. His wife and children followed him in April, 1859. When he first came to Kansas he was a Democrat in politics, but changed his political belief soon afterward and espoused the cause of the Free State party. He took a prominent and active part in political affairs and became well known throughout the State as an able and influential champion of freedom. On two different occasions he was elected to represent Atchison county in the State legislature and served the people with distinction and ability. When the Civil war broke out between the States he organized Company A of the Twelfth Kansas cavalry and served as captain of the company; he also helped to organize a company for the Thirteenth Kansas infantry. He was further distinguished by his war service in a manner which reflected credit upon himself and his home county. Captain Barnes died January 12, 1889. Asa Barnes was the father of ten sons and one daughter, as follows: R. A., deceased; M. N., deceased; Enoch, deceased; Asa, Jr., Fillmore died in New Jersey; Frank, living in California; Laura (Willis), Corning, Kan.; Louis, living at Binger, Okla.; Harry, Bisbee, Ariz.; Orrin, of Nevada; Reuben C., deceased. The mother of these children died February 12, 1909, at the age of eighty-two years.

Asa Barnes, the younger, was one of three sons of Capt. Asa Barnes, and grew to manhood on his father’s farm in Atchison county. He remained at home and assisted his father in the management of the home farm until he attained his majority. After his marriage in 1874 he rented land on his own account for six years and then bought the home farm of 207 acres from his father and the heirs, part of which is now owned by his sons. He has followed a plan of general farming and has prospered to a considerable extent. Mr. Barnes was married November 5, 1874, to Miss Kate Thompson, of Atchison county. This marriage has been blessed with five children, as follows: Fannie, deceased; Herbert, at home with his parents; Bertha, wife of A. J. Pease, of Atchison; Leola, wife of A. J. Saggs, of Falls City, Nebraska; Ernest L., at home; Dora, wife of Ed Lee, of Atchison county; Cora, deceased. The mother of these children was born October 2, 1854, and is a daughter of Hon. George W. Thompson, now living in Atchison, and who is probably the oldest living pioneer settler of Atchison county, and concerning whose career an extended review is given in this volume.

In political affairs Mr. Barnes, while favoring the Progressive party principles, is inclined to be independent in his voting. He is a member of the Christian church, and is well and favorably known throughout this section of Atchison county, being rated as a substantial well-to-do farmer, who is deserving of considerable credit for what he has accomplished.

Charles Arthur Chandler.

Charles Arthur Chandler is one of the self-made men of Atchison. Some men are successful because of a fortunate chain of circumstances attending their efforts which we commonly refer to as “good luck”; others by dint of steady employment, saving their surplus funds and investing them wisely, are enabled to secure the necessary wherewithal to embark in business and attain a substantial modicum of wealth. It is to the latter class that Mr. Chandler properly belongs. While good fortune has generally attended his industry and plans, his success is due to the husbanding of his resources, and planning ahead with the coöperation of a faithful wife, so that he could eventually be his own employer and engage in mercantile pursuits for himself. Since January 1, 1910, he has been engaged in the lumber business in connection with the Shulz-Fisk Lumber Company, one of the oldest concerns in the city. Four men are employed to take care of the extensive business which comes to the yards. Lumber, lime, cement, plaster and building material of all kinds are sold in large quantities. The extensive yards, 100×250 feet, are rated as among the best equipped and most modern in northeastern Kansas, and the management is constantly improving the appearance and facilities of the buildings.

Mr. Chandler was born November 22, 1860, in Fond du Lac, Wis., a son of Charles and Maria (Moore) Chandler, natives of Munson, Mass., and Montreal, Canada, respectively. The Chandler family is a very old one in America, and an extensive genealogy of the family has been compiled. William Chandler, progenitor of the family in this country, emigrated from the ancestral home in England to Roxbury, Mass., in 1637, dying there November 26, 1641. He had a son named John, born 1635, who married Elizabeth Douglas, of Roxbury, Mass. Succeeding generations are as follows, in a direct line to C. A. Chandler: Captain Joseph Chandler, born June 4, 1683, wife, Susannah Perrin, of Roxbury, Mass.; David Chandler, born May 28, 1712, wife, Mary Allen, of Pomfret, Conn.; Elijah Chandler, born May 3, 1737, wife, Sarah Frizzel, of Woodstock, Conn.; Charles Chandler, born June 23, 1779, wife, Margaret Edgerton, of Munson, Mass.; Charles Chandler, born February 21, 1822, wife, Maria Moore Shepard; C. A. Chandler, born November 22, 1860, wife, Effie Rook, of Atchison, Kan.; Elijah Chandler was a soldier in the French and Indian war. Charles Chandler, father of the subject of this review, was a “Forty-Niner,” who made the long trip to California across the plains in 1849. He mined gold in the placer fields of the Golden State for some time, and then returned to the East, via the Nicaragua route, settling down in Fond du Lac, Wis., where he engaged in the grain business with fair success. He died at his home in Fond du Lac in 1896, at the age of seventy-five years. He was the father of three children: Mrs. Charles E. Rogers, Fond du Lac; Fred Shepard, also of Fond du Lac, and Charles A., with whom this review is directly concerned. The mother of these children, Maria Moore Shepard, was born in 1826, and is a direct descendant of Governor William Bradford, of Massachusetts. The genealogical tree in a direct line from the colonial governor is as follows: Gov. William Bradford; his son, Maj. William Bradford; Alice Bradford married Maj. James Fitch, 1649–1727; Daniel Fitch, 1693–1752, wife, Anna Cook; William Fitch, 1720—, wife, Mary Paine; Abigail Fitch, 1745–1785, married Joseph Moore, 1745–1823; Anna Moore, 1770–1854, married Timothy Shepard, 1764–1817; Maria Moore Shepard, 1826, etc.

C. A. Chandler was educated in the public schools of his native city and fitted himself for the profession of civil engineer by a considerable amount of home study and practical experience. After getting launched in his chosen profession, he entered the employ of the Missouri Pacific railroad and remained in the employ of this railroad for a period of twenty-five years. He first came to Atchison in May, 1885, and has since been a resident here.

Mr. Chandler is the owner of the Graham farm of 310 acres near Cummings, Atchison county, Kansas. Every dollar’s worth of property which he owns has been accumulated by his own endeavors; not one dollar was ever received by him through inheritance or gift, and he and his wife have the great satisfaction of knowing that what they have and own is theirs by right of industry and thrift. Mr. Chandler is a Republican, a member of the Episcopal church, and is fraternally associated with the Masonic order, a member of Active Lodge, No. 158, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He was married February 4, 1891, to Effie Rook, of Atchison. To this union have been born: Horace F., born September 19, 1896, a graduate of the Atchison High School, class of 1913, and now a sophomore in Kansas University, Lawrence; Esther, born March 5, 1898, senior student in the Atchison High School, class of 1916. The mother of these children is a daughter of Judge Horace M. Jackson, a biography of whom is published in this volume.

Grace Crosby Power.

The city of Atchison is fortunate in having as the present superintendent of the city hospital a lady of talent and ability, which, combined with great personal charm, constitute a splendid equipment for the important position which Miss Power holds. She is eminently qualified by training and executive capacity to perform the exacting duties required of a hospital superintendent, and she is fast becoming deservedly popular among the people of Atchison, who support this justly famous institution.

Grace Crosby Power is a native of Indiana, born October 23, 1880, in the town of Milroy, Rush county, and is a daughter of William Strange and Mary E. (Crosby) Power. Her father was also a native of Rush county, Indiana, born in 1837, a son of an Indiana pioneer family. His parents were John A. and Mary A. (Smisor) Power, both of whom were natives of Germany and Scotland, respectively. They immigrated to America from Germany in an early day, and cleared a farm from the dense wilderness of Rush county by dint of hard labor and the exercise of fortitude. This German-American couple had the satisfaction of gaining a substantial competence from the soil and of bequeathing a good family of sons and daughters to their adopted land. William Power was one of the first fine live stock breeders of Rush county, and his farm became famous for the Hambletonian horses which it produced. He died in 1906 in his home town, Milroy. His wife, Mary, was born in Milroy, Ind., in 1837, a daughter of Michael and Lucinda Crosby, natives of Ireland, and also early settlers of Rush county, Indiana. The Powers were all members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and have been prominent in the affairs of Rush county for many years. William Power was one of the well-to-do men of the county. To Mr. and Mrs. William Power were born four children: Cora Estelle, wife of Prof. E. F. Engel, of Lawrence, Kan.; Kathrine, wife of Rev. W. F. Smith, of the Methodist church, at Huntington, Ind.; Frank A., Wichita, Kan., a director of the Power-Myers music house; Miss Grace Crosby Power, with whom this review is directly concerned.

Miss Power received her elementary education in the public schools of Milroy, Ind., and afterwards entered DePauw University, at Greencastle, Ind., where she pursued a music course for two years. She then came to Kansas and studied in the liberal arts department of Kansas University, at Lawrence. While her original intention had been to perfect herself in art and music, she became imbued with the idea of becoming a nurse, feeling that a wider field was offered in the art of caring for the sick, and that she could be of greater service to humanity. Accordingly, Miss Power entered the University Medical Hospital of Kansas City, Mo., in 1905, and began the studies which were to prepare her for her life work as a hospital nurse. She applied herself diligently to her medical studies and was graduated from the Kansas City institution in 1908. She was then offered the position of superintendent of the Galesburg, Ill., hospital, and accepted, remaining there until 1911. She was not yet satisfied with her professional preparation, and resigning her position, she spent one year in Europe, traveling and studying the methods in vogue in the hospitals of the old world. Returning to Kansas City in 1912, she was employed by Drs. Jabez and Jackson, of that city, in a professional capacity, until she was called to her present post, September 29, 1915. Since taking charge of the Atchison City Hospital, she has given every evidence of being eminently fitted for the duties of her position and calling. Miss Power is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is affiliated with the A. X. U. sorority, of DePauw University.

William H. Thompson.

The late William H. Thompson, of Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county, was born on a Kentucky farm, near the city of Louisville, in 1838. His parents were Benjamin and Nancy (Baxter) Thompson, and both were born and reared in Kentucky, their old home being located on a small stream called Dry Beauty. Nancy Baxter Thompson was the belle of the neighborhood and was a famous beauty in her day. In 1848 the Thompsons migrated from Kentucky to Platte county, Missouri, where they resided until the spring of 1860, and then came to Atchison county and purchased the farm where William H. lived until his death, in 1884. Benjamin, the father, was born in Kentucky in 1799, and died on his Kansas farm in 1861, just after locating in this county. He was a man of fair education, who was self-taught. He taught school in his native State, and his father was a famous hunter in the early days of Kentucky history. He disappeared while absent from home on a hunting expedition, and it is supposed that he was killed or captured by Indians, leaving a wife and three children. Times were hard and educational advantages were either very poor or absent altogether. Benjamin educated himself by night study and home reading, and became well versed in books and knowledge.

William H. Thompson was ten years of age when the family removed to Missouri, and he was reared to young manhood on the pioneer farm in Platte county. After his marriage in 1862, he and his wife lived with his widowed mother after the death of his father, October 26, 1861. He came into possession of the home place and cultivated the land until his demise in 1884. He was married July 6, 1862, to Matilda Thompson, and eight children were born to this marriage: Annie, wife of Frank Williamson, of California; Ada, wife of Henry Knobloch, of Atchison county; Robert Lee, at home with his mother; William H., a mining expert, in Colorado; Gertrude, wife of Ed. Myer, of Atchison; Sirena Ella, deceased wife of Patrick Burns; Benjamin Isaac, at home; Gladis, deceased wife of Eugene Thornburg. The mother of these children was born in 1842 in Buchanan county, Missouri, a daughter of Isaac Thompson, born in New York State, on a farm near New York City, in 1804. The grandfather and a great-uncle of Isaac came to America from England some time before the American revolution, and became separated and never saw each other again. They were of Scotch origin. The paternal grandmother of Mrs. Thompson was a Miss Fiske of the New York family of Fiskes. Isaac Thompson married Elizabeth Fiscus in Indiana. In the year 1808, the parents of Isaac Thompson removed from New York to Ohio and twelve years later migrated westward to Shelby county, Indiana, where the parents died. After his marriage Isaac migrated to Buchanan county, Missouri, in about 1839, and developed a fine farm in that county. In about 1847 he sold his farm in Missouri and set out on the long overland journey to Oregon. A large party were en route to this new country and the outfit comprised twenty-one wagons and teams. An incident of this journey is here worth recording. While the emigrants were encamped for the night at a point hundreds of miles from any human habitation, an Indian came to the camp and informed them that a band of hostile red men intended to attack them and destroy the outfit. A band of emigrant Mormons drove up and joined them and they at once formed a corral with their wagons and prepared to defend themselves against the threatened attack, but the attack did not take place because of the preparations made. The Thompson family remained in Oregon for five years. Isaac went to California in 1848 and engaged in gold mining. Mr. Thompson was fortunate in his prospecting and accumulated a small fortune. During the winter of ’49 he was shipwrecked while making a voyage from California to his Oregon home, the vessel being driven far and out of its course by terrific storms and he was forced to spend the winter on the Sandwich Islands. After arriving home safely, he again went to California and continued his gold mining. In 1851 the family returned to the Middle West. They boarded a ship at Portland, Ore., journeyed to San Francisco, where they took a ship for New Orleans. On the way down the coast the party was landed on the west coast of the Isthmus of Panama and the emigrants were packed across the Isthmus to the east side, where they boarded a vessel which carried them to New York City, arriving there on Christmas day of 1851. From New York they went to Philadelphia where Mr. Thompson had his gold minted at the Government mint. From Philadelphia they traveled to Pittsburgh, and here the children all contracted measles and two of them died. From Pittsburgh they went down the Ohio river by steamer and up the Mississippi to St. Louis where they boarded a Missouri river steamer which took them to Camden, Mo. Here the wife and mother died. At Camden Mr. Thompson purchased oxen and wagons and took the family to Buchanan county, Missouri, arriving there in the summer of 1852. They lived in Missouri until 1856 and then made a permanent settlement in Kansas preëmpting land and locating on Walnut creek in Mt. Pleasant township, about four miles southwest of the city of Atchison, which is now the Herzog farm. After eight years’ residence here they again moved, this time to Illinois, where they lived for three years and came again to Kansas, this time settling in Nemaha county. Isaac died in Nemaha county in 1871. His was certainly a rich and varied experience and his life was filled with adventure and continual changes.

Mrs. Matilda Thompson, widow of William H., although having attained the age of three score and thirteen years, is active, spry and in full possession of her mental faculties. She is a wonderful woman for her age and is fond of relating reminiscences of the old days when the family crossed the plains and traveled half way around the world in quest of riches and adventure.

John Henry Nass.

When the soul of the late John Henry Nass departed from its earthly habitation to go to his Maker, the city of Atchison lost one of its excellent citizens and merchants who had lived all of his life in the city of his birth. The late J. H. Nass was born in Atchison, February 15, 1865, a son of Jacob and Johanna Nass, both of whom were born and reared in Germany and emigrated from the Fatherland in 1856, to America. They first settled at Weston, Mo., but a short time later came to Atchison, Kan., where Jacob Nass became the first brick manufacturer of the city. He erected the first brick plant and made brick for many of the large brick buildings still standing in the city. Jacob Nass continued actively in the brick business until 1875, when he retired and the business was carried on by his four sons. During the course of his business career he established the hardware store which was later owned by his son, the subject of this review. He left at his demise, in 1899, a considerable estate consisting of the brick plant, a hardware store, and real estate. Jacob and Johanna Nass were the parents of six children, namely: Werner, J. H., Theodore, Herman, all living in Atchison; Gertrude, and Mary Nass, who is caring for her aged mother.

J. H., or Henry Nass, as he was better known by his friends and associates, was reared in Atchison and attended the parochial schools and St. Benedict’s College. At the age of sixteen years he entered his father’s hardware store, and took complete charge of the business when he attained the age of eighteen years. In 1886, with a partner named Frank Hess, of Weston, Mo., he purchased the hardware store of his father. Six years later he bought out his partner and became the sole owner of the store, which he conducted until his demise, in 1903. He was married September 27, 1893, to Bertha Fleming, who bore him children as follows: Charles, born September 16, 1895, educated in St. Benedict’s College, and is now in the employ of the Dolan Mercantile Company of Atchison; Raymond, born July 31, 1898, a graduate of St. Benedict’s College, and is now with the Harwi Hardware Company of Atchison; Rose, born October 31, 1899, at home with her mother; Margarette, born June 2, 1901, student in St. Louis parochial school; William, born November 19, 1902, a student in a St. Louis school; Henry John, born December 7, 1903, and died at the age of eighteen months. Mrs. Nass is justly proud of her children and has endeavored to rear them so that they will lead upright lives and be a credit to her and the public. The Nass home is located near St. Benedict’s College, and it is a happy one at all times. When Mr. and Mrs. Nass were married in 1893 their honeymoon trip included the World’s Fair at Chicago. She was born in Holland, a daughter of Lambert and Rosa (Johnson) Fleming, both of whom were born and reared in Holland and married there, after which they immigrated to America with their family and settled in Atchison where Lambert made wooden shoes for a time and later moved to a farm where he died June 15, 1880. Mrs. Fleming died in 1903.

J. H. Nass was moderately successful in his business pursuits, and left his family comfortably provided for. He was a Democrat but did not take a very active interest in political matters. He was a member of St. Benedict’s Catholic Church. His life was a good and useful one and his main interest was in the well being of his family, of whom he was very thoughtful and treated kindly and justly.

Frank M. Woodford.

Frank M. Woodford, the well known cashier of the Atchison Savings Bank, was born at Niles, Mich., November 29, 1874. He is a son of James H. and Emma (Bickell) Woodford, both natives of Niles, Mich., the former born in 1851 and the latter in 1855. James H. Woodford is a son of Benjamin Woodford, who was a native of New York, and an early settler in Michigan. His wife, Emma Bickell, is a daughter of Thomas J. Bickell, a Virginian. James H. Woodford came to Kansas with his family in 1887, and located in Atchison, and was an employee of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company for a number of years, and later purchased a farm in Atchison county, where he now resides. Frank M. Woodford is the only son born to James H. and Emma (Bickell) Woodford. He attended the public schools and graduated from the Atchison High School in the class of 1894. In 1896 he entered the employ of the Exchange National Bank of Atchison, and worked in the collection department of that institution for two and one-half years. He then entered the employ of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company as yard clerk and later served in the capacity of inspector and bookkeeper. August 1, 1900, he became bookkeeper of the Atchison Savings Bank, and in 1910 succeeded to the cashier-ship of that bank, and has capably filled that position to the present time. Mr. Woodford possesses the safe and conservative judgment of the successful bank cashier and is recognized for his efficiency in that important branch of the commercial world. Mr. Woodford was united in marriage December 21, 1898, with Miss Mabel Santchfield, of Macon, Mo., and two children have been born to this union: Millard, aged eleven, and Maurice, aged eight. Mr. Woodford is a Royal Arch Mason, a member of the Knights of Pythias, Fraternal Order of Eagles, Knights of the Maccabees, Modern Woodmen of America, and Knights and Ladies of Security. He is a Democrat and a member of the Baptist church.

Holmes Dysinger, D. D.

Holmes Dysinger, D. D., dean of the Western Theological Seminary of Atchison, Kan., was born March 26, 1853, in the town of Mifflin, Juniata county, Pennsylvania, and is a son of Joseph and Mary Amelia (Patterson) Dysinger, both natives of Pennsylvania. The genealogical record of the Dysinger family traces its beginning in America to the seventeenth century, the ancestry on the paternal side being South German and on the maternal side, of English origin. The members of the family for succeeding generations were farmers and carpenters, Joseph Dysinger being a carpenter and contracting builder in his younger days, and later became a farmer. He died on his farm in Pennsylvania, near his birthplace. There were six sons and a daughter in the family which Joseph Dysinger reared, as follows: Holmes, with whom this review is directly concerned; George Washington Dysinger, a practicing dentist at Minneapolis, Minn.; Rev. William Stewart Dysinger, a minister of the Lutheran church in Los Angeles, Cal.; Prof. James H. Dysinger, a teacher at Los Angeles, Cal., and a daughter died at the age of six months.

Holmes Dysinger was reared on his father’s farm and received his elementary education in the district school of his neighborhood. The initial part of his higher education was obtained in the Airyview Academy at Port Royal, Penn. The means at the disposal of the Dysinger family did not permit of Holmes continuing his studies uninterrupted, and he found it necessary to make his own way through the higher realms of learning. Consequently, in order to make his way through college and the university, he began teaching at the early age of seventeen years, and has taught continuously since that time, with the exception of three years in college and a few years in a pastorate. In 1878 he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg, Pa., and taught in the academic department of that college for a period of four years, while studying theology in the seminary at that place. His next position was as professor of Latin and Greek in the North Carolina College, Mt. Pleasant, N. C., from 1882 to 1883. From 1883 to 1888, inclusive, he was professor of Latin and Greek at Newberry College, in South Carolina, and from 1888 to 1895 he filled the position of president of Carthage College, Carthage, Ill. From 1895 to 1900 he filled the pastorate of the Lutheran church at Polo, Ill.; he was pastor of the First Lutheran Church of Kansas City, Mo., from 1900 to 1902, and had charge of the Lutheran church at Vandergrift, Pa., from 1902 to 1905. He became dean of the Western Theological Seminary at Atchison, Kan., in November of 1905. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Wittenberg College, at Springfield, Ohio, in 1889.

Dr. Dysinger was united in marriage with Ada Frances Ray, of Blairsville, Pa., September 22, 1886, and to this union have been born five children: Mary Ray Dysinger, librarian of Midland College, Atchison; Cornelia, Helen Frances and Dorothy Homes, at home with their parents, and Mrs. Dr. C. F. Malmberg, of Greenville, Pa.

Charles Lange.

Charles Lange, farmer, Center township, Atchison county, was born in Germany, January 11, 1865. He is a son of Karl and Marie (Poos) Lange, who were the parents of three children, as follows: Charles, subject of this sketch; Mrs. Mary Rathert, Center township, Atchison county, and Minnie, married C. Kloepper, living in Jefferson county. Karl Lange, the father, was born March 13, 1838, in Germany, and left his native land in the fall of 1874, coming to Atchison county, where he rented for a short time. He then bought the place where his son now lives, which contained 140 acres. The place was fenced with rails and a log cabin had been built, and the barn was of straw. Taking this primitive farm in 1874, Mr. Lange began improving it, and in 1883 he built a fine six-room house and made a number of other improvements. In 1902 he retired and moved to Nortonville, Kan., where he died in 1910. The mother of Charles Lange was born in Germany, July 31, 1841. She is now living in Nortonville, Kan.

Charles Lange attended school in Germany four years and also went to the district school in Center township, Atchison county. He has always lived on his present farm, and looked after his father’s affairs until the latter’s death. He now owns the old home place, which includes 375 acres, sixty acres of which is in corn. He is a thorough farmer and keeps high grade stock. In 1901 Mr. Lange was married to Martha Straub, who was born January 17, 1881, in Baden, Germany. At the age of five years she left Germany with her parents, Joseph and Salme (Hilderbrandt) Straub, who came to America. In 1904 they settled in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county, where the father followed farming. Mr. and Mrs. Lange have six children, all of whom are living at home. They are: Erna, Charles, Jr., Henry, Emma, Julius, and Ella. Mr. Lange is a Republican, and attends the Lutheran church.

Charles L. Alkire.

Charles L. Alkire, proprietor and manager of the Troy laundry of Atchison, was born December 1, 1876, in Saline county, Missouri, a son of George A. and Ellen H. (Dickson) Alkire, who were the parents of two children, as follows: George D., a farmer of Bronaugh, Mo., and Charles L. George A. Alkire was born August 28, 1846, in Illinois, and was a son of George Alkire, who had the distinction of founding the Texas town which bears his name. In early life he was a merchant, and came to Missouri when a young man, and established a general merchandise store in Saline county. Later he engaged in banking and was cashier of the bank at Blackburn, Mo. For six years he served as county collector of Vernon county, Missouri. He is now living a retired life in Dallas, Tex. His father, George Alkire, was an extensive fruit grower, after whom the town of Alkire, Texas, was named and who died there. Ellen H. (Dickson) Alkire, mother of Charles L., was born on a farm near Booneville, Tipton county, Missouri, September 3, 1839, and is living in the family home at Dallas, Texas.

Charles L. Alkire received his education in the schools of his native county, and attended the State school at Nevada, Mo., graduating from business college in Nevada. He served as deputy collector in Vernon county under his father, and then went to Norman, Okla., where he embarked in the newspaper business, running the Troy laundry in connection with his publishing duties, from 1899 to 1902. He then disposed of his holdings in Norman and located in Kansas City, Mo., where he had charge of the shoe department in G. B. Peck’s drygoods store, until his removal to Atchison, Kan. He was first employed in the freight department of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, and was then engaged in the inspection bureau of the Western Weighing Association of Railroads. He served as traveling salesman for the A. J. Harwi Hardware Company until he purchased the Troy laundry, in October of 1915. He was a successful traveling salesman, and is making a marked success in his latest business venture.

Mr. Alkire was married in 1899 to Elizabeth H. Clapham, and to this union one child, Elizabeth, has been born. Mrs. Alkire was born March 12, 1878, in Fremont, Neb., and is a daughter of Edward and Anna (Bradley) Clapham, natives of England, who came to Iowa from their native land with their parents when both were infants. Mr. and Mrs. Clapham have been dead for a number of years. Mrs. Alkire was educated in the University of Oklahoma and graduated from that institution. Mr. Alkire is an independent voter and is not allied with any particular political party, being self-reliant in such matters as he has always been in his business affairs. He is a member of the Baptist church and his wife is a member of the Methodist church.

W. D. Chalfant.

W. D. Chalfant, a prominent farmer of Shannon township, Atchison county, is a native of Pennsylvania. He was born at Brownsville, Fayette county, August 2, 1862, a son of Benjamin M. and Mary Amanda (Lynn) Chalfant, both natives of Pennsylvania, the former born in 1838, and the latter in 1836. The Chalfant family is of English origin, and was founded in America prior to the Revolutionary war. Benjamin M. Chalfant was a son of James Chalfant, of Fayette county, Pennsylvania. Benjamin M. owned the old Chalfant homestead in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, and in 1882 he sold his Pennsylvania property and came to Kansas, locating in Shannon township, Atchison county, where he purchased 320 acres of land, and was successfully engaged in farming until his death, which occurred June 3, 1914. He was accidentally killed at the railroad crossing at Fourth street, Atchison, while walking across the track. In an effort to avoid an approaching car, he did not notice an approaching Missouri Pacific train, which struck him. His wife died January 18, 1905. They were the parents of the following children: James M. resides in Graham county, Kansas; Elsworth died in infancy: William D., the subject of this sketch; Mary B. Bean lives in Kingman county, Kansas: Henry died at the age of ten, Alice died at the age of ten, and Elvira P. resides in Atchison.

William D. Chalfant was twenty years of age when he came to Atchison county, and has resided in this county since 1882, with the exception of two years, one of which he spent in California and the other in Nemaha county, Kansas. He bought the home place in 1914, shortly after his father’s death. He was united in marriage in 1891 to Miss Mary Mann, a native of Monroe county, West Virginia, and a daughter of Austin and Susan Mann. The father is deceased, and the mother resides in Arkansas. To Mr. and Mrs. Chalfant have been born eight children, as follows: Bonnie Miller resides in West Virginia, and has two children, Raymond and George; Benjamin M. resides at home; Delilah, Jenette, Helen, Henry, Marie, and Mildred. Jenette and Henry died in infancy. Mr. Chalfant is a Republican, and his fraternal affiliations are with the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Central Protective Association.

Jacob Buttron.

He of whom this review is written is one of the enterprising and successful farmers of Lancaster township, Atchison county, and is a son of Henry Buttron, a pioneer settler of the county, and who at the time of his death was one of the wealthiest and best known citizens of Lancaster township. A biography of Henry Buttron appears in this history.

Jacob Buttron was born in Lancaster township, April 16, 1872, and has always lived in the vicinity of his early home. He was reared on his father’s farm and attended the school in the Bell district, No. 59. He remained on the farm and gave his best endeavors to assisting his father in building up the family estate until 1904, at which time he started out for himself on a rented farm. He first rented 160 acres of land from his father. Later he bought an equal amount of the north quarter of the Cloyes farm. He has through his father, at the present time, one of the best improved and productive farms of Lancaster township and is on the high road to prosperity. Mr. Buttron has his farm stocked with only the best grades of live stock and has made an excellent record as a stockman.

He was married December 14, 1904, to Miss Emma Flattre, and four children have blessed this union, namely: Bertha, Emma, Alice and John. Mrs. Buttron is a daughter of Thomas and Emma (Manson) Flattre. Mr. Buttron is a Republican in politics, but has never sought political preferment of any kind, and contents himself in doing his duty at the polls at election time. While he professes no religious creed, he is a church goer and is considered to be an upright and exemplary citizen who has many friends in his neighborhood, who esteem him highly for his industrious habits and honest demeanor.

George Schrader.

George Schrader, farmer and stockman, of Center township, Atchison county, was born in Lancaster township, January 25, 1868, and is a son of Nicholas and Kathrine Schrader. He was one of six children. The parents were born in Germany, but each came to America when young. They were married in the United States about 1856, and came directly to Kansas, settling in Lancaster township, Atchison county. Later they removed to Mount Pleasant township, and followed farming until the father retired. The mother died in 1907, aged seventy-three years, and the father lived with his children until his death, in 1914, at the age of eighty-six. George Schrader grew to manhood on the home farm in Atchison county, and at the age of nineteen began to work as a farm hand. A year later he went to California and worked on a ranch. In 1890 he returned to Atchison county and rented his father’s farm for a year, when he bought 180 acres, located on the Topeka State road, two and one-half miles north, and one-half mile west of Cummings, Kan. The farm had only scanty improvements, with a house in bad condition and a small barn. He built a good two-story, modern, nine-room house, which is situated in one of the finest building places in the county, commanding an excellent view. He then erected a large barn, 36×50 feet, with a cement basement. It is well equipped and built especially for a stock barn. Mr. Schrader takes great pride in his stock, which includes fine Hampshire hogs, Percheron and Coach horses. His farm consists of 200 acres, forty acres of which is timber land.

When a young man Mr. Schrader operated a threshing outfit, and continued in that business for many years as a sideline. He is also a carpenter, and built most of the buildings on his farm. In 1894 he married Carrie Kuhn, who was born in Atchison county in 1874. She is a daughter of Fred and Anna (Gruner) Kuhn. The father was a native of Germany, and the mother of Illinois. Both parents are living. Mr. and Mrs. Schrader have three children: Herbert, Lester, and Ida, all living at home. Mr. Schrader is a Republican, and is treasurer of Center township. He is a member of the German Evangelical church. He is a stockholder in the Cummings State Bank. Mr. Schrader is a citizen active in the interest of his community, and takes pride in his farm and in his community, and is always in favor of any movement which will be for the good of the community.

William T. Hutson.

William T. Hutson, an Atchison business man, who has extensive industrial and commercial interests, and is a large land owner, is a native of Missouri. He was born in Platte county August 1, 1874, and is a son of E. P. and Johanna (Kelley) Hutson, the former a native of Clay county, Missouri, and the latter of Dublin, Ireland. E. P. Hutson, the father, had a very successful career, and at the time of his death, which occurred in Platte county, Missouri, in 1892, he owned over 2,000 acres of valuable land. He and his brother, Isaac, went to California in 1850, shortly after the discovery of gold. They were interested in the live stock business on the coast at that early day, buying cattle and driving them to the mining camps, where they found a ready market at very good prices. They were engaged in this business for twelve or thirteen years, and were very successful in a financial way. Isaac’s health failed while on the coast, and he returned to his Platte county home, where he died in 1864. After returning to Missouri, E. P. Hutson followed farming, and looked after his extensive interests until about the time of his death.

William T. Hutson, whose name introduces this sketch, is one of a family of six children, as follows: William T., the subject of this sketch; G. E., farmer, Platte county, Missouri; Capitola married W. P. Page, Platte county, Missouri; Pluma married Dr. Kirkfast, Austin, Neb.; Goldie married Barney Nolan, Sioux City, Iowa, and Galena married Edward Back, Atchison, Kan. William T. Hutson was reared on the home farm in Platte county, Missouri, and received his education in the public schools, and has made farming the chief occupation of his life. He and his brother, G. E., now own and operate 1,000 acres of land in Platte county, Missouri, where they are extensive growers of wheat and other grains. They are also extensive hog raisers and are among the most extensive farmers of Platte county.

Mr. Hutson came to Atchison in December, 1909, and since that time has been closely identified with industrial Atchison. He is president of the Atchison Paving Brick Company, and is a director in the First National Bank of Atchison. He was united in marriage in June, 1909, to Miss Esther Jackson, of Bigelow, Mo. She is a daughter of Richard and Varney Jackson, members of old and highly respected Platte county families. Mr. and Mrs. Hutson have one child, Virginia Lee, born June 23, 1912. Mr. Hutson is a Democrat.

John Beyer.

John Beyer, banker and stock buyer of Arrington, Atchison county, Kansas, was born in Kapioma township, on October 9, 1871. His parents, Asa and Susan Beyer, were both natives of Pennsylvania, the father having been born there in 1835. They came to Kansas in 1868, and settled in Kapioma township, Atchison county, where the father died in 1898, and the mother is still living. John Beyer is one of eleven children, as follows: Mrs. Mary Lewton, Benton township; Samuel, Kapioma township; Mrs. Christen High, Texas; David, farmer, Kapioma township; Jane, living on the home place; Clarissa, deceased; Martha Schiffbauer, Sumner county, Kansas; John, the subject of this sketch; Albert, Caldwell, Kansas, and Luctria Dodson, Kapioma township.

John Beyer attended the Cole Creek district school and at the age of twenty-one started out in life for himself. He bought an eighty-acre farm from his father, and worked this place five years and made a success of it. In 1900 he moved to Arrington, Kapioma township, and engaged in the livery business. He ran this until the following year when he sold out and bought the elevator on the Union Pacific railroad at Arrington. He bought and sold grain for six years, but owned the elevator until 1912. The year previous he began to deal in live stock and has continued in that business since. In 1904 the need of a bank was felt, and John Beyer, together with other leading citizens of Arrington, organized the present bank. For the past eight years he has been assistant cashier of the institution. Mr. Beyer owns farm land in Kapioma township.

In 1897 Mr. Beyer married Maud A. Coots, who was born in Holt county, Missouri, January 13, 1875. She is a daughter of Presley W. and Sarah (Campbell) Coots, both Missourians, whose parents were from Kentucky. The father is now living in Muscotah, Kan. Mr. and Mrs. Beyer have one child, Flossie A., who is living at home. Mr. Beyer is a Republican and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Joseph H. Watowa.

Joseph H. Watowa, a prosperous Atchison county farmer, is a native of Missouri. He was born in Buchanan county, January 24, 1864, and is a son of Joseph and Catharine (Fischer) Watowa, both natives of Austria. They were married in their native land, and immigrated to America in 1855, first settling in Wisconsin. Later, they located in Buchanan county, Missouri, and in 1879 came to Kansas, locating in Shannon township, Atchison county, on the place where Joseph H., the subject of this sketch, now resides. They were the parents of six children, as follows: Frank resides in Atchison county; Mary, deceased; Henry resides in Atchison county; Amelia; Joseph H., the subject of this sketch; and Paulina.

Joseph H. Watowa is one of the successful farmers of Atchison county, and has one of the fine farms of that section in the State, consisting of 160 acres of well improved land under a high state of cultivation. His land is located in an ideal spot, and a fine tract of timber is located on the place. He is an extensive alfalfa grower and an all around practical modern farmer.

Mr. Watowa was married in 1892 to Miss Theresa, daughter of Joseph and Johanna Zeit, natives of Austria and early settlers in Atchison county, where they still reside. To Mr. and Mrs. Watowa have been born the following children: Mary, age nineteen; Johanna, age eighteen; Elizabeth, age seventeen; Helena, age sixteen; Joseph, age thirteen; Bertha, age twelve, and Catherine, age four. Mr. Watowa has lived on his present place for thirty-six years, and, although still a young man, he counts himself among the old landmarks of Atchison county. He is a Democrat, and has always supported the policies and principles of that party. He has taken a commendable part in local politics, and has served as town clerk for six years. He and his family are members of the St. Benedict Catholic Church at Atchison.

Nathan T. Veatch.

Nathan T. Veatch, superintendent of the Atchison city schools, is a native of Illinois. He was born near Astoria, Fulton county, and reared on a farm. After receiving a common school education, he began his career as a teacher in the district schools of Schuyler county, Illinois. Later he attended the State Normal school of Illinois, and was graduated from that institution with the class of 1881. He was principal of the graded school at Butler, Ill., for two years, and later was principal of an eighth grade ward school in Little Rock, Ark., for four years. He served as superintendent and principal of the Rushville city schools at Rushville, Ill., for fourteen years, and in 1901 was elected superintendent of the Atchison city schools, and has held that position to the present time.

Mr. Veatch was married in 1883 to Miss Lizzie Montgomery, of Rushville, Ill. She was a successful teacher prior to her marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. Veatch have been born two children, as follows: Nathan T., Jr., born at Rushville, Ill., and is now a civil engineer, and a member of the firm of Black & Veatch, consulting engineers, Kansas City, Mo., and Francis M., born at Rushville, Ill., a sanitary engineer, in the employ of Kansas University.

James L. Armstrong.

James L. Armstrong, farmer and breeder of prize winning Percheron horses, was born in Winnebago county, Illinois, July 11, 1867. He comes of sturdy Irish stock, his parents having been born on the Emerald Isle. The father, James Armstrong, was born October 22, 1836, in County Sligo, Ireland. He was a farmer there, and at the age of twenty-four sailed for America and found his first job in Philadelphia. In a short time he came west and followed farming in Illinois. Several years later, in 1867, to be exact, he came to Atchison county, Kansas, and bought eighty acres of land near Huron, Kan., in Lancaster township. He farmed this place until his death in 1886. In addition to his farming he was an extensive breeder and feeder of cattle. His wife was also born in Ireland, the date of her birth being December 25, 1830. She died in 1902. They were married in Ireland and three children were born to them there. After coming to America five other children were born. Both parents were members of the Methodist church.

James L., Jr., the subject of this sketch, grew up in Lancaster township, and attended school in district No. 44. He remained at home with his parents until they died. He then bought 320 acres in Kapioma township and built an unusually fine residence at a cost of about $4,000. The interior is finished in white oak, and a cement basement underlies the house, and all modern conveniences have been installed, including hot and cold running water. He keeps all of his buildings painted and in repair so that everything around the place presents a fresh and orderly appearance. Horses are Mr. Armstrong’s hobby, and several times he has won prizes at the Effingham fair with his Percherons, and now has four thoroughbred Percherons registered. He is a shareholder in the Muscotah elevator. He is unmarried and has a man and his wife, who care for the household. Mr. Armstrong is a member of the Christian church and has affiliated himself with the Republican party. He is a member of the Percheron Society of America. He has received as high as $600 for Percheron horses bred on his place.

John Ferris.

A man’s usefulness in his community need not necessarily be confined to working entirely for his own individual aggrandizement, and there are frequently found conspicuous examples of good citizenship who are broad-minded and enterprising enough to extend their activities outward, so as to embrace the well-being of their fellowmen. John Ferris, banker and prosperous farmer, of Center township, Atchison county, is a shining example of broad and upright citizenship, with whom family, church and social ties have been preëminent during his long residence in the county. Successful as a farmer and stockman, his ambitions have led him into banking pursuits with considerable success to his credit. His deeply religious nature having endowed him with a love for church work, many fruitful years of his life have been devoted to Sunday school and church work, which have won him high esteem and infinite respect among the people of his neighborhood.

The twenty-eight years of Mr. Ferris’ residence in Center township have been productive of much material good on his part, and he is rated as one of the really successful men of the county. This period marks his rise from comparative poverty to a position of affluence and prestige, attained by few citizens. Mr. Ferris saw opportunity and embraced it, and has made good in more ways than one.

John Ferris is a man whose pluck and industry have brought him out of a long struggle with high honors. Starting out in life as a poor boy, he worked long and hard, until now he lives in comfort and security. Mr. Ferris was born at Sharonville, Ohio, November 25, 1860, and is a son of Peter and Hettie (Phares) Ferris, who were the parents of seven children, as follows: John, the subject of this sketch; Joseph, Winchester, Kan.; Alice, wife of W. T. Birt, Topeka, Kan.; Louvinca, wife of F. L. Stephens, Topeka, Kan.; Thomas, Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county; Peter, farmer, on old Eastman place, Center township, Atchison county, and Mrs. Della Coppinger, deceased. The father was born August 8, 1839, in Sharonville, Hamilton county, Ohio. He was a son of John and Rebecca (Myers) Ferris, natives of Pennsylvania, who came to Ohio as early settlers, in 1804. The father of John Ferris, subject of this sketch, was reared on the farm in Ohio. He came to Kansas in 1878, and settled in Osborne county. Two years later, after being starved out by the ravages of the grasshoppers and the hot winds, which burned up his crops, he went to Rawlins county, Kansas, where he preëmpted 640 acres of land. He did not live there, but came to Nortonville, Kan., and began work as a laborer and farmer.

In 1887 he came to Center township, where he rented for five years. He then rented 640 acres south of Nortonville. In 1892 he and his son, John, the subject of this sketch, bought 160 acres in Jefferson county. Then, for a number of years, they bought and sold farms in Atchison and Jefferson counties, until 1903, when they bought the farm of 215 acres, which John and his father are working. This land is located in Center township and includes the northwest quarter of section 3 and the southwest quarter of section 34, and includes ten acres of natural timber. He has thirty acres of alfalfa and fifty acres in corn each year. Mr. Ferris also devotes considerable attention to his stock. He keeps only graded animals on his farm, and makes a specialty of feeding hogs and cattle for the market. He started out with little capital, and had to begin as a laborer at day wages, but he saved his earnings and invested them wisely, and, now, besides being a substantial farmer, he is a shareholder and president of the State Bank of Cummings. Mr. Ferris is unmarried. His mother was born in Little Rock, Ark., in 1840. She is a daughter of Joseph and Matilda (Todd) Phares. The father came from New Jersey, and the mother from Tennessee. In politics, Mr. Ferris has identified himself with the Republican party. He is a member of the Pardee Methodist Episcopal Church and takes an active part in its organization. He is a steward, and for many years has been superintendent of the Sunday school. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellow lodges of Cummings. Mr. Ferris is a conspicuous example of the self-made man. His career proves the possibilities of a man, who, though handicapped by lack of capital, is willing to work consistently and save judiciously.

Marcus J. Laird.

The history of the Laird family in Kansas begins three score years ago, in the old days when the first sturdy pioneers were coming from the older states to find new homes in the unpeopled waste of Kansas, and to break the way for others who have since followed in increasing numbers. It is a long reach which witnesses the transformation of a wilderness of prairie and woods to a beautiful, productive landscape of peace and plenty, but Marcus J. Laird and his wife have been fortunate in growing to maturity with Atchison county. Few families in this county can claim an older lineage than the Lairds or Cummings families, and no family is more respected than that of Marcus J. Laird. His father, J. B. Laird, was one of the earliest pioneers of Atchison county, and on the other hand the father of Mrs. Laird was another pioneer. William Cummings, who founded the town of Cummings, thus leaving a monument which will perpetuate his name for all time to come. Through the medium of these historical annals of Atchison county these pioneers will be duly honored and this volume is dedicated to their everlasting memory in order that the story of Atchison county might be transmitted truthfully and accurately to posterity.

Marcus J. Laird has been successively, farmer, merchant and postmaster, and is proud of the fact that he is a native born citizen of Kansas, and a son of one of the earliest pioneers of the State. Like a good many men who have been reared to farm life, after a successful career as merchant and public official, he has returned to the farm where living is sure and certain and a competence is the inevitable reward of years of labor.

Marcus J. Laird was born August 26, 1860, in Center township, Atchison county, and is a son of James B. and Marinda (Martin) Laird, who were the parents of fourteen children as follows: Mary died in infancy; Thomas died in infancy; James W., Jackson county, Kansas; Marcus, the subject of this sketch; Abraham, Jefferson county, Kansas; Mrs. Emma Leland, Atchison, Kan.; John, deceased; Ulysses, deceased; Rose, wife of C. Barnes, Chase county, Kansas; Robert, Jackson county, Kansas; Paul, a teacher, Durant, Okla.; Mrs. Amanda Hanson, Nortonville, Kan.; Mrs. Mabel McDonald, Muscotah, Kan., and Frank, Seattle, Wash. James B. Laird, the father, was born in Zanesville, Ohio, June 13, 1834, and was a son of Thomas and Elton (Saffle) Laird, both natives of Pennsylvania. The Lairds are of Scotch descent. James was brought up on his father’s farm, and when he was thirteen years of age his parents removed to Livingston, Mo., where he grew to manhood. He then went to Buchanan county, Missouri, where he was married to Marinda Martin, the wedding taking place at DeKalb, Mo., in 1854. Marinda (Martin) Laird was born August 1, 1836, in Morgan county, Indiana. She is a daughter of Hanson and Mary (Holman) Martin. Her father was a farmer in Kentucky before coming to Atchison county, Kansas, in 1856, where he died in 1878, and the mother died in 1840, at the age of thirty years.

James B. Laird and his bride came to Kansas in the fall of 1854 and settled in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county, where they homesteaded 160 acres of prairie and timber land. They drove from Missouri in a covered wagon pulled by oxen. Atchison, Kan., had but one house at that time; it had been moved there from Missouri. James Laird built a sawmill on his farm the first year he was there and sawed 1,000 feet of lumber, but a flood swept it all down into Crooked creek. They built a log cabin on the place, and the first child, Mary, was born there. The fact that Mt. Pleasant, which was only three miles away, provided a nearby market, helped the Lairds out considerably. They farmed the homestead until 1860, when they sold it for $900 and moved farther west and bought 276 acres in Center township. This property became the old home place and the Lairds owned it for many years.

James B. Laird moved to Cummings and conducted a general merchandise store for a few years preceding his death, in 1892. The widow returned to the farm with the children, where she brought them up and educated them. In 1909 she left the home place and has since lived with her children, and at present she lives with Marcus, the subject of this sketch. Marcus J. Laird grew up on the home place and attended school in district No. 36, Center township, and at the age of sixteen he left home and worked as a farm hand for about a year, and later rented land from his father. In 1883, at the age of twenty, he bought sixty acres in Center township and farmed it a year when he traded it for a stock of merchandise at Cummings and was in partnership with Nelson Cox there for five years. Selling his interest in the business he rented land and farmed for a while. In 1892 he bought the place which he now owns and has increased the original eighty acres to 104. He has always kept good stock on his place and takes pride in keeping his animals up to standard. In 1884 Mr. Laird married Britamore Cummings, who was born August 20, 1866, in Center township, Atchison county. She is a daughter of William and Sarah (Quiet) Cummings. Her father was a founder of Cummings, Kan., and was a native of Pennsylvania. He came to Kansas in 1855 and engaged in farming. He died July 27, 1900, at the age of eighty-six. The mother, Sarah, was born in Illinois and is now living in Kansas City, Kan. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Laird, as follows: James W., Kansas City, Mo.; Meda B., wife of L. Reynolds, Center township, Atchison county, Kansas; Anna McKanna, living at home; Edith Hammer, Effingham, Kan.; Blanche, a teacher, living at home. Mr. Laird is a Republican. He was postmaster of Cummings for thirteen years. He is a member of the Baptist church and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Ancient Order of United Workmen.

Allen T. Bilderback.

The history of the Bilderback and Johnson families in Kansas goes back to the old freighting and pioneer days when the hardships of the first settlers were many and conveniences were few. The father of Allen T. Bilderback, whose name heads this review, was one of the early stage coach drivers whose route took him on many journeys from Kansas to Denver, and other Colorado points. Aaron Bilderback drove a stage coach from Atchison to Denver and Central City, Colo., beginning in 1864, for several years, until he finally settled on a farm in Center township, Atchison county. Jesse R. Johnson, grandfather of Mrs. Bilderback, had the honor of assisting in establishing the first Methodist church in Kansas, and Methodism is said to have had its origin in the State from a Sunday school which was started in his home at Oak Mills, nearly sixty years ago. From this small beginning a great religious denomination had its inception in the new State of Kansas.

Allen T. Bilderback, with whom this review is directly concerned, is a native born Kansan, a man of good education, who has been useful as an educator and farmer during his residence in his native county. He was born in Center township July 21, 1878, and is a son of Aaron and Sarah (Jones) Bilderback, who were the parents of two children: Allen, the subject of this sketch, and Leslie, who lives in Atchison. The father was born in Indiana September 17, 1843. When a young man he came to Kansas in 1855, and freighted across the plains to Denver. The trail extended from Atchison to Denver, and Aaron Bilderback drove a stage coach and a prairie schooner. He later bought forty acres of land just south of Cummings, Atchison county, where he remained a few years. In August, 1881, he bought the farm which his son now owns. He improved it and lived there until his death, January 4, 1890. Allen Bilderback’s mother was born in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county, in 1855. She was a daughter of Vincent Jones, an early settler in Kansas. She died in 1885, at the age of thirty years. Both parents died when Allen was very young, and he was brought up by his uncle, Gabriel T. Bilderback. He attended school in District No. 36, Center township, and later attended the Atchison county high school at Effingham. At the age of twenty-one he began teaching in District No. 19, Mt. Pleasant township. In 1902 he went to Granada, Colo., where he started a livery business. Three years later he returned to Atchison county and taught school again. After a term of teaching, he took charge of the old home place and engaged in farming. He now owns 149 acres and has graded stock.

On March 28, 1906, Mr. Bilderback married Edith K. Jones, who was born November 15, 1884, near Mayetta, Jackson county, Kansas. She also was a teacher before her marriage, having taught for a number of years in Jackson county, Kansas. She is a daughter of Samuel R. and Sarah J. (Johnson) Jones. The father was born in Miami county, Ohio, and came to Atchison county in 1856, settling near Oak Mills. For a time he farmed there, at first using oxen, and lived in a log cabin. A number of years later he moved to Jackson county, Kansas, where he died January 23, 1916. His wife was born in Virginia, a daughter of Jesse and Nancy (Davis) Johnson. Her father was born in New York April 11, 1819, and came to Kansas in 1834, settling near Oak Mills, and helped organize the first Methodist church in Kansas. For some time a Bible class met at his house, and when it grew to a membership of forty, a Methodist church was organized by Rev. Bowen. That was the origin of Methodism in Kansas. Jesse Johnson died in 1904. and his wife died in 1907, at the age of eighty-three. Mr. and Mrs. Bilderback have three children, all living at home, as follows: Allen, Jr., born March 18, 1907; Sarah Naomi, born July 27, 1909, and Lucile Elizabeth, born June 8, 1913. Mr. Bilderback is a member of the Methodist church, and now holds the office of trustee. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, and is president of the farmers’ institute at Cummings.

William M. Nitz.

America is proud of her citizens of German birth, and glories in their accomplishments, their successes, and affluence, wherever they are located. It is an undisputable fact that the farmers of German birth or ancestry in Kansas today are rated as among the most prosperous of this great commonwealth. Atchison county has its quota of successful German agriculturists, and William M. Nitz, of Center township, is one who is deserving of special mention. It is a noteworthy rise from a poor German immigrant boy to become one of the large landed proprietors of the county, but Mr. Nitz has accomplished all this. His 400 acres or more of land in Center township were all obtained by hard labor, economy, intelligence and good financial judgment. The rearing of his large family of nine children, and their gift to the county and country as sturdy and upright citizens, is alone a matter for praiseworthy mention.

William M. Nitz was born in Germany, March 26, 1864, and is a son of Ludwig and Johanna Louisa (Linstad) Nitz, who were the parents of eleven children, eight of whom are living. The father was born in Germany, in August, 1836, and left his native land in 1883 with his wife and one child, coming to America. He came west and worked a year as a laborer, and then bought eighty acres of land in Doniphan county, Kansas, where he farmed until 1911. He then removed to Kansas City, Mo., where he and his wife now live. His wife, the mother of William Nitz, was also born in Germany, in 1845. William N. Nitz immigrated to America when he was fifteen years of age. He worked in Pennsylvania as a farm hand for a year, then he came to Doniphan county, Kansas, where he also worked as a farm hand. He then rented land in Lancaster township, Atchison county, for two years, when he returned to Doniphan county, where he bought eighty acres of land. In 1902 he sold out and bought 307 acres in Center township. This farm was poorly improved, the house and barn being old and dilapidated. Mr. Nitz proceeded to rebuild and improve the buildings. He is now located in section 11, and owns 427 acres of land. He is a fancier of good mules and keeps graded stock on his farm. Mr. Nitz, together with several other farmers in his neighborhood, hold stock in a thresher outfit which they operate jointly.

In 1890 Mr. Nitz married Miss Lena Lawson, a native of Kansas, born February 27, 1873. Mr. and Mrs. Nitz are the parents of eleven children: George, born January 12, 1893, farmer, Center township; Charles, born November 11, 1891, on his father’s farm of 120 acres; Otto, born August 28, 1894, living at home; Johanna and Nava, deceased; Edward, born June 26, 1898, living at home; Oscar, born January 28, 1903; Irvin, born October 22, 1906, and Ida, born March 5, 1913, living at home, and two children died in infancy. Mr. Nitz is an independent in politics and he and his wife are members of the Lutheran church, as are Charles and George. Though Mr. Nitz could not read or write the English language very well when a young man, he has always been a student of new conditions, and was quick to learn the customs and language of his adopted country and has proved himself to be a useful member of his community. Of late years he has become very proficient in reading English and keeps abreast of the times by reading the daily newspapers.

Henry Glattfelder.

Henry Glattfelder, farmer, Center township, Atchison county, Kansas, was born in the township where he now lives, September 16, 1871, and is a son of Henry and Margaret (Kuntz) Glattfelder. They were the parents of seven children: Elizabeth married J. Meyers, died in Atchison. Kan.; Maggie married widower of her deceased sister, and he is a baker and merchant, Atchison; Anna, wife of J. Kuhn, Atchison, Kan.; Fannie married H. H. Severs, Manning, Iowa; Mary married M. L. Dilgert, Atchison; Bertha married W. A. Dilgert, Mt. Pleasant township, and Henry, the subject of this sketch. The father was born in Switzerland, January, 1827. He came to America and settled in Atchison county, on a rented farm in Mt. Pleasant township. He worked this from 1863 until his death in 1871. The mother was also born in Switzerland, December 18, 1832, and died in Atchison, Kan., in 1904.

Henry Glattfelder, the subject of this sketch, attended the district schools of Center township, and grew up on his mother’s farm and began farming for himself when he was twenty-two years old. He bought 125 acres of land in Center township, and now owns 130 acres. He has made many improvements on his place since taking possession of it, and keeps graded stock. In 1894, the year in which he started out for himself, he was united in marriage with Miss Anna Cline, a daughter of Peter J. and Bersheba Cline. Mrs. Glattfelder was born March 21, 1877, in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county, Kansas. Her father was a native of Iowa, and her mother of Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. Glattfelder have been born six children: Leona, Ellsworth, Harold, Kennith, Lucile, all living at home. One child, Henry, is deceased. Mr. Glattfelder is an independent voter. He attends church but does not profess any creed. He is a practical farmer and is a liberal giver to all movements for the benefit of the community. Never has Mr. Glattfelder allowed his selfish interests to stand in the way of the community’s progress and he has proven himself a patriotic citizen of the commonwealth.

Thomas W. Tucker.

Thomas W. Tucker, live stock dealer, Effingham, Kan., is a native of Atchison county, and has lived all of his life in Benton township. He was born on a farm three and one-half miles northeast of Effingham, November 27, 1872. His parents were J. Martin and Polly (Cummings) Tucker, both of whom were born in Crawford county, Indiana. J. M. Tucker was the son of Sloan Tucker, also a native of Indiana, who emigrated to Kansas in 1860. When he attained young manhood the father of Thomas W. rented land for a few years in Doniphan county, and then bought a farm in Atchison county. He prospered and became the owner of two farms in Benton township, aggregating 280 acres. When old age came he and Mrs. Tucker retired to a home in Effingham, where they spent the remainder of their days in peace and comfort. J. M. Tucker was born in 1831 and died in 1896, and his wife was born in 1838 and died in October, 1910. Mr. Tucker served in the Kansas State militia during the Civil war. The following children survive J. Martin and Polly Tucker: John R., a farmer living west of Effingham; Mrs. C. C. Anderson, of Atchison, Kan.; Thomas W.; Albert, a resident of Atchison.

Thomas W. Tucker attended the Maple Grove school when a boy and lived on the home farm, assisting in its operation, until he attained the age of twenty-two years. In 1894 he engaged in the livery business in Effingham and continued operating the same until 1898, when he sold out and spent one year cultivating the home farm. After his marriage in 1898, he removed to the Noffsinger farm, east of Effingham, and managed it for six years, returning to Effingham in 1905. While on the farm he became interested in the buying and selling of live stock, and since taking up a permanent residence in Effingham, he has devoted his entire time and attention to this business with signal success. His live stock dealings embrace the purchase and shipment of over seventy-five carloads of stock yearly, which is no inconsiderable item and involves transactions requiring capital of several thousands of dollars. He is also interested in real estate and farm lands and has made several profitable deals in this line. Mr. Tucker owns one of the best residences in Effingham and is the owner of some town lots.

He was married in 1898 to Miss Maude Noffsinger, who was born and reared on a farm, four miles southeast of Effingham, a daughter of Peter and Margaret Noffsinger, residing on their home place, east of Effingham. Both Peter and Margaret Noffsinger are deceased, Mrs. Noffsinger dying in September, 1915. Mr. and Mrs. T. W. Tucker are the parents of two children: Ramona, aged fifteen years, and Maurice, aged eleven.

Mr. Tucker is a Republican in politics and is prominent in the affairs of his party, at present being the central committeeman of the Effingham precinct, being a part of the county organization. He and his family are members of the Christian church. He is fraternally affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Modern Woodmen, and the Knights and Ladies of Security.

J. F. Flynn.

J. F. Flynn, farmer, resides on the old Flynn homestead in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county, of which he is the owner and upon which his father settled in March. 1855. Mr. Flynn was born on this farm, October 8, 1855, and has lived all of his sixty years of life on the place. During this time he has simply grown up with Atchison county, and his earliest recollections were of the vast stretches of prairie in Atchison county, which were awaiting the homesteaders and settlers who have since transformed the unpeopled wilderness into a land of homes and plenty. His father was Jeremiah Flynn, who was born in County Cork, Ireland, and left his native land when a young man and immigrated to America, locating after a time in Kentucky, where he met Julia Sullivan, who was born in his own native county in Ireland. The acquaintance ripened into love and culminated in their marriage at Frankfort, Ky., September 24, 1854. In March, 1855, they came to Kansas and settled on a tract of part prairie and part timber in Mt. Pleasant township where both lived and died.

J. F. Flynn was the first born of ten children of Jeremiah and Julia Flynn. He received a common school education, supplemented with a course in bookkeeping at St. Patrick’s common school, district No. 14, after which he settled down to farming the home place, coming into possession of the homestead by inheritance and purchase after his father’s demise. For several years he was a successful fruit grower, but of late has devoted all of his time and activities to general farming.

Mr. Flynn was married March 31, 1880, to Mary Desmond, of Missouri, and to this union have been born five children: Kathrine, wife of John Begley, of Kansas City, Kan.; John E., at home, assisting his father in the farm work; Joseph J., in Kansas City, Mo.; Julia and Mary, at home with their parents.

Mr. Flynn is a Democrat in national politics, but is inclined to be an independent voter who votes for the best man who seems qualified for the office regardless of his political affiliations. He and all of his family are members of the Catholic church, which was the faith of his parents.

Ernest C. Hazel.

Industry and effort are generally rewarded. The successful man is usually found filling the niche for which he was designed. It affords some satisfaction to chronicle the facts in the life of a self-made man who has won an enviable place in the commercial and manufacturing life in his home city. Ernest C. Hazel, vice-president and general manager of the Lockwood-Hazel Printing and Stationery Company, of Atchison, has achieved his position by industrious application of talents which have enabled him to rise above the mediocre and general station of the average man. Considerable credit is due him for having been a potent factor in building up the extensive business which his firm enjoys.

The Lockwood-Hazel Printing and Stationery Company was established in 1912. It originated as the Trade Printing Company in 1903. This was a small concern but grew constantly until the business reached its present proportions. The business is housed in the handsome new Masonic Temple on Fifth and Kansas avenues, and occupies the first floor and basement of the building. The arrangements and equipment are the most modern which can be obtained and are especially adapted for a high grade quality of printing which this firm turns out. The greatest progress of the firm has been made since its organization as the Lockwood-Hazel Co., in 1912. The firm is composed of C. A. Lockwood, president and treasurer, and E. C. Hazel, secretary and general manager. The firm manufactures blank books and does general printing of the highest grade. The line of printing includes county and bank supplies, loose leaf systems, and embossed stationery. They supply leading banks with their outfits and deal extensively in wood and steel office furniture and equipments, and also vault accessories. C. A. Rowe is manager of the sales department which employs three traveling salesmen and the firm conducts a large mail order business in eight states. So excellent is the product turned out and so fair is the treatment accorded a patron that a first order supplied by this enterprising establishment leads to constant repetitions from the purchaser when in need of supplies of the character furnished.

Ernest C. Hazel was born March 30, 1875 in Newman, Ill. His parents were Thomas and Lydia (Kinney) Hazel, natives of Virginia and Ohio, respectively. Thomas Hazel was born in Page county, Virginia, a son of Richard and Elizabeth Hazel. He was a veteran of the Union army, and served his country faithfully during the Civil war in Company E, of the Twelfth regiment, Illinois infantry. He served for two years under General Grant and was under General Sherman’s command for two years and six months. His first engagements were at Ft. Henry and Ft. Donelson. He fought in the battles of the Wilderness, Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge, Siege of Vicksburg, and was with Sherman on his victorious march from Atlanta to the sea. He enlisted at Springfield, Ill., at the first call for volunteers and served until the end of the war. To the end of his days he was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. A brother, John, also fought in the Union army and like many other southern families it was a house divided against itself and three brothers, Richard, Benjamin and William, fought on the side of the confederacy. Lydia Hazel was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, and was the daughter of Thomas C. and Levina Kinney.

In 1876 the family emigrated from Newman, Ill., and settled on a farm near Pawnee Rock, Kan., which the father had homesteaded. After spending some years in developing the farm Thomas Hazel removed to Missouri, from where he came to Atchison in the year 1888. Here he lived a retired life, dying November 19, 1904, at the age of sixty-seven years. Mrs. Lydia Hazel resides with her daughter in Leavenworth, Kan. The Hazels are descendants from a fine old Virginian family and their ancestry traces back to the colonial days.

To Lydia and Thomas Hazel were born six children, as follows: Mrs. Elnora Allen, of Atchison; Mrs. Ida Stucker, of Leavenworth; Marion Hazel, of Leavenworth; Ernest C. Hazel, of Atchison. Two children died in infancy.

Ernest C. Hazel was educated in the public schools of Atchison and learned the trade of bookbinding with Mr. Caldwell, beginning at the age of fourteen years. After serving an apprenticeship of three years, he was employed by the Haskell Show Printing Company. This concern was succeeded by the Home Printing Company, and he was employed by them until 1901. For a period of two years he was a traveling salesman for the Western Paper Company. In 1903 he entered the employ of the Trade Printing Company, which was succeeded by the present firm in 1912. He purchased an interest in the firm in 1908.

The married life of Mr. Hazel has been a happy one, and has been in keeping with his success in the business world. He was married March 30, 1897, to Mary Elizabeth Semple, of Atchison, a daughter of Andrew and Jennie Semple, both of whom were natives of Glasgow, Scotland. Andrew Semple was one of the pioneer contractors of Atchison. His last contract was the Atchison county court house. Mr. Semple is deceased and his widow still resides in Atchison.

To Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hazel have been born five children, namely: Ernest C., Jr., seventeen years of age, and a student of Midland College; Robert R., fourteen years of age, and also a student at Midland College; Constance Marie, who died in infancy; Kenneth C., nine years of age, a pupil in the public schools, and Neola Christine, aged five years.

Mr. Hazel finds time in the midst of his busy life to give considerable attention to civil and social affairs and is an active member of the Christian church of Atchison, in which thriving religious institution he and his wife are warmly appreciated for their good qualities. He is a Republican in politics, and is fraternally affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Fraternal Aid Union, and also the United Commercial Travelers. Pronounced ability, combined with an engaging personality, have won him this high place in his home city.

Alexander H. Calvert.

Alexander H. Calvert, lumber and grain dealer, Muscotah, Kan., was born on his father’s farm in Platte county, Missouri. He is a son of Warren Calvert, a native of Kentucky, whose ancestors were among the earliest settlers in America. It is a matter of tradition that he was a descendant of the original Lord Baltimore, or Cecil Calvert, who founded the State of Maryland, in the seventeenth century. The father of Warren Calvert was a pioneer settler in Kentucky and was the owner of a large plantation. Warren Calvert was born in 1815 and died in 1875. With his wife, Lucy Calvert, he migrated from Kentucky, accompanied by his retinue of slaves, to form a part of the Kentucky colony which settled Platte county, Missouri, in 1835. He was one of the original settlers in Platte county, and operated a large tract of land. He and his wife, Lucy, reared a family of nine children, namely: Presley Hawkins, a retired farmer of Muscotah; James Harvey, deceased banker of Muscotah, who was a soldier in the Confederate army; Mrs. Anne May Buford, deceased; John Hawkins, who died on his farm near Arrington in 1910; Ambrose Owens, living in California, near Los Angeles; Mrs. Ella (Burt) Jackson, died in 1903.

A. H. Calvert came to Kansas in the spring of 1878 and settled on a farm south of Muscotah in Atchison county. Three brothers came at this time, Presley H., James H. and himself. For a number of years Mr. Calvert rented land in Kapioma township and then purchased the farm of 220 acres, which he owns. He rented land for over fifteen years and then began to buy land. His first farm of 135 acres was purchased in 1903, and he has continued to invest heavily in farm lands in the vicinity of Muscotah until he is now the owner of 700 acres, besides a small tract in Leavenworth county, Kansas.

Mr. Calvert resided on his farm until 1897 and then removed to Muscotah where he engaged in the lumber business under the firm name of Calvert & Sharp. This partnership continued until 1902 when he purchased his partner’s interest in the business, which he has since operated. In November of 1905 he formed a partnership with M. E. Bevin, of Muscotah, and they purchased the grain elevator and engaged in the buying and shipping of grain. This firm also does an extensive live stock business, buying and shipping several carloads of live stock during each year. In addition to his extensive business affairs, Mr. Calvert is a stockholder in the Muscotah State Bank.

His first marriage was with Miss Nora Rice in 1881. Two children (twins) were born of this union, namely: Ella, wife of Will Warren, of Muscotah, who served for seventeen years as assistant cashier of the Muscotah State Bank; Alma, a highly educated lady who studied in the Camden Point Young Ladies’ Seminary, the Emporia Normal College, and received her degree of Bachelor of Arts from Washburn College, at Topeka, now a teacher of mathematics in the Atchison city high school. The mother of these children was a daughter of D. Rice, a native of Illinois, and a pioneer settler of Atchison county. She died in 1883, at the age of twenty-six years. In 1889 Mr. Calvert was united in marriage with Miss Hattie Burt, of Platte county, Missouri, a daughter of John Burt, who came from Indiana to Platte county. Three children have been born to this marriage: George, conducting a garage at Effingham, Kan.; Marguerite, aged twenty-one years, a teacher, at present studying in Washburn College; Charles Cecil, aged fifteen years, a student in the Atchison County High School.

Mr. Calvert is an old-line Democrat and takes considerable interest in local and county political matters. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen and the Knights and Ladies of Security. A man of good education and attainments, he has succeeded in making his own way in the world and has risen from comparative poverty to become one of the substantial and best known citizens of the county.

John Stoddard.

John Stoddard, a late resident of Muscotah, was born in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, in 1833, and departed this life February 18, 1901. He was the son of Robert and Margaret (Jordan) Stoddard. On the Stoddard side of the family the lineage is Scotch-Irish. John Stoddard grew to young manhood on the Pennsylvania farm, and received a good common school education in his youth. When twenty years of age, fired by the stories of the riches being obtained in the gold fields of California, he boarded a vessel in New York harbor. It carried him to Aspenwall, on the east coast of the Isthmus, which he crossed on mule back. He then boarded the vessel, “Golden Rule,” which carried him to San Francisco, Cal., from which city he journeyed to Sacramento, where he equipped himself with a prospecting outfit, and for ten years followed the trail of the elusive metal. He spent this time in various mining campaigns and prospecting for gold. He returned home by re-tracing the same route which he had traveled on his way to California, and arrived in Pennsylvania, not rich, but with considerable gold in his possession, and the remembrances of a wonderful experience.

Soon after his return to his Pennsylvania home he removed to Iowa and purchased a farm, and was married there in 1869, after which he lived five years on his first farm in Iowa, and then moved to another farm, on which he resided for seven years. In 1881 he came to Muscotah, Kan., and invested in 320 acres of land near that city. Mr. Stoddard looked after his farming interests and lived a retired life while in Muscotah, and died there in 1901. Mr. Stoddard was married October 20, 1869, to Miss Martha Piggott, a native of Harrison county, Ohio, and a daughter of Israel and Liddie (Goodwin) Piggott, the former a native of Belmont county, Ohio, and the latter a native of Westchester, Pa. The Piggott family originally came from Virginia, where the founder of the family in America settled in early colonial days. Israel P. was an early settler in Iowa. To Mr. and Mrs. Stoddard were born four children: Grace, the wife of Dr. J. O. Ward, Horton, Kan,; Guy, a railway mail clerk, Los Angeles, Cal.; Alice V., the wife of J. C. Thurman, Los Angeles, Cal.; Eva, wife of Carl Young, of Kansas City. Guy Stoddard, the son, who is located at Los Angeles, Cal., is a bright young man of more than ordinary ability. After completing the course of study in the public schools of Muscotah, he graduated from the Atchison County High School at Effingham. Later, he attended college for a while. After completing his education he became the owner and editor of the Muscotah Record. The newspaper gained a wide prestige and was prosperous. After his marriage to Miss Pearl Knox, of Muscotah, he and his wife removed to Los Angeles, where he became a member of the reportorial staff of the Los Angeles Times. He later entered the United States railway mail service at Los Angeles. John Stoddard, the subject of this review, was a Democrat during the latter years of his life, and served two terms as mayor of Muscotah. Mrs. Stoddard is a member of the Congregational church of Muscotah, and spends a portion of her time each year in California.

Aaron B. Evans.

Aaron B. Evans, pioneer auctioneer and livery proprietor, of Muscotah, Atchison county, was born April 16, 1857, in Union county, Tennessee, He was a son of George W. and Orlena (Wolfenbarger) Evans. His mother was a native of Granger county, Tennessee, and was of German extraction. George W. Evans, the father, was the owner of a large farm on the south side of Clinch river, in Union county, Tennessee, just opposite the old home of the Vansell family. A. B. Evans and M. C. Vansell, of Grasshopper township, were boys and play-mates together in Tennessee, and are first cousins. Like most boys living in the South, during that period, and in the time of the Civil war, their early education was sadly neglected. In fact, during the war the school system of Tennessee was entirely destroyed. When Aaron B. Evans was twenty years of age he left home and came direct to Kansas. He had no means wherewith to pay his transportation, and borrowed sufficient money from a neighbor to pay his railroad fare to Atchison. When he arrived at Atchison he had no money with which to pay for a meal or hotel accommodation. He and M. C. Vansell, who accompanied him on the trip, walked from Atchison to Kennekuk, where they stopped at the home of their uncle, M. C. Willis, for a few days.

Mr. Evans’ first employment in Kansas was on the farm of Dave Moore, located three and one-half miles northeast of Kennekuk, in Atchison county. He worked for various farmers in the county until he saved sufficient money to buy his first farm. For two years previous to his marriage, in 1881, he was in the employ of George Storch, who at that time was engaged in the general mercantile business at Muscotah, Kan. In 1881 Mr. Evans moved to a farm three miles northeast of Kennekuk, where he resided for three years, and was very successful in his farming operations. He then bought ninety-six acres of land near Kennekuk, which he cultivated for two years, when he sold it at a good profit. After selling his first farm he moved to a rented farm west of Muscotah, which he operated for one year, and invested in partnership with M. C. Vansell, and divided the land in a quarter section of raw prairie land, three miles northwest of Muscotah. He erected improvements on this farm and resided upon it for eighteen years. He sold his farm in 1901, and in May of the same year invested in a livery barn, and also entered upon his career of auctioneer, which he has followed since that time with considerable success. Mr. Evans also maintains a breeding stable, for the equipment of which he went to Lexington, Ky., in 1906 and purchased the best jack to be had in the Lexington market, and shipped him to Muscotah. This animal is the first high class jack ever brought to this section of Kansas. During this same year Mr. Evans also bought a pure bred black Percheron stallion, which he lost during the first year of his ownership. At the present time the Evans barn stands two high class jacks and one pure bred grey Percheron stallion.

On January 27, 1881, Mr. Evans was united in marriage with Recy Tannyhill, who was born in Marion county, Ohio, a daughter of William and Nancy Tannyhill, both of whom were natives of the Buckeye State, and emigrated to Kansas when Mrs. Evans was but eight years of age, and settled on a farm in Grasshopper township, Atchison county. Mr. and Mrs. Evans are the parents of seven children: Elizabeth, the wife of J. L. Morgan, St. Joseph, Mo.; William George, a farmer, Grasshopper township; Fred, who is associated with his father in the livery business; Orlena, the wife of Bert Annis, Chicago, Ill.; Nannie, living in Des Moines, Iowa; Nora, St. Joseph, Mo., and Frank, at home.

Mr. and Mrs. Evans are members of the Christian Advent church of Muscotah. He is a stanch and true Republican of the uncompromising variety, and has been one of the political leaders of his section of Atchison county for many years, serving as delegate several times to the Republican county conventions. He has always been an advocate of educational advancement, and has offered his children every opportunity to acquire a good common school education. He was one of the pioneers in the auctioneering profession in Atchison county, and was the second man to enter the business of crying sales.

Ralph A. Allison.

Ralph A. Allison, the capable, efficient and obliging cashier of the Muscotah State Bank, was born and reared in the town where he resides. He was born July 1, 1889, at Muscotah, Kan., a son of Webster C. and Irene (Alexander) Allison, the former a native of Illinois, and the latter of Wisconsin. Webster C. Allison was born in 1861 on his father’s farm in Illinois, and was the son of John Allison, who was born and reared in Pennsylvania, and immigrated to Illinois in the pioneer days of that State. Webster C. Allison attended the district schools of his native State, and assisted his father on the home farm until he was eighteen years of age. He then came to Kansas, where his first employment was on a farm west of Muscotah, owned and operated by A. B. Harvey. He worked for Mr. Harvey for one year, and then went to Jackson county, Kan., where he broke up and developed a tract of prairie land which he purchased. He improved his farm and cultivated it with profit until 1888, when he came to Muscotah and established a hardware store which he conducted successfully for twenty-five years. In 1913 Mr. Allison disposed of his interests in Muscotah, and removed to Horton, Kan., where he is now conducting a hardware and implement business.

To Webster C. and Irene Allison were born the following children: Lola, wife of Luther Cortelyou, assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Parsons, Kan.; Minnie, wife of Charles Hail, an oil operator, LeRoy, Kan.; Jennie, wife of William McClennon, Owasa, Iowa; Ralph A., with whom this review is directly concerned. Ralph A. received his primary education in the public schools of Muscotah, after which he completed a course in the Atchison County High School at Effingham, from which institution he graduated in 1907. For one year following his graduation he served as stenographer for a wholesale fruit company, and then entered his father’s hardware store in Muscotah, where he remained until the stock was sold in 1913. In 1914 be became manager of the Farmers Elevator Company of Muscotah. He became cashier of the Muscotah State Bank July 1, 1914, and is filling this responsible position to the satisfaction of the bank patrons, and in a manner which reflects credit upon himself and the bank’s officials and stockholders. Mr. Allison was married in April, 1912, to Miss Ella Ellson, who was born in Muscotah, a daughter of Charles Ellson, proprietor of the local meat market. Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Allison are the parents of one daughter, Priscilla, born April 17, 1913.

Mr. Allison is a Republican in politics, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Modern Woodmen of America.

Fred Sutter.

Fred Sutter, president of the Farmers and Merchants State Bank of Effingham, is a native son of Atchison county and prominently identified with the affairs of his county. Mr. Sutter is rightly considered as one of the real leaders of the county, and it can be said of him that he has met with unusual success in anything which he has undertaken. To him and his influence, more than any other individual, the farmers of the county are indebted for the inauguration of a skilled county farm expert. Kindred things of this character in behalf of the welfare of the county have been Mr. Sutter’s hobby for several years past.

Fred Sutter was born July 20, 1869, on a pioneer farm in Walnut township, and is a son of Fred Sutter, who was born in Bath, Germany, in 1827, and immigrated to America about 1844, and died in Atchison county in September of 1887. Fred Sutter, Sr., landed at New York City and made his way from there to St. Louis, Mo., where he married Fredericka Miller, who was born at Bath, Germany, September 23, 1837. She died in Atchison county September 10, 1914. The elder Sutter had learned the trade of carpenter in his youth and he plied his trade in St. Louis until 1857, when he came up the Missouri river by steamer to old Sumner, then in the heyday of its brief glory and prosperity. He found plenty to occupy his talents at Sumner and helped to build a great many of the first houses there. It might be well to add here, however, that the first home of the family in Kansas was at old Port William, where one or two of the children were born. From Port William the family removed to Sumner, and in the course of time Fred Sutter, Sr., made his home on a farm in the northwestern part of Walnut township, near the Mt. Pleasant and Walnut line. The family lived there until the spring of 1880, during which time he worked at his trade. In 1880 he moved to Benton township, and for the first seven years of his residence there he rented the A. G. Otis farm, about two miles west of Effingham and then purchased the farm. The next investment was made by his sons in the Osborn tract of 480 acres of school land. Two years after buying this an additional quarter section was added, making 640 acres in all, which was owned by this enterprising family. During all these years in which he was accumulating valuable farm lands, the elder Sutter had the assistance of his sons, and the greater part of the estate is still tilled and owned by the children of this pioneer. Fred Sutter, Sr., came to this country a poor man and worked in a planing mill and furniture factory at St. Louis until he heard of the opening of the Kansas territory, when he determined to be one of the first to settle in the new State. He was farseeing, and by the practice of rigid economy and the better plan of holding his family together, was able to leave a considerable estate at his demise. He was an honored and respected member of the community and was well known throughout the county. The children born to Frederick and Fredericka Sutter were as follows: Kate, deceased wife of H. W. Barkow, of the Kessler-Barkow Saddlery Company, of Atchison; Mrs. Augusta McAdam, of Effingham; Fannie, housekeeper for her brother, William, who resides on the old home place; Mrs. Anna Shannon, of Effingham; Carl F., of Kipp, Kan.; William and Fred, and Frank, on a farm one-half mile west of Effingham.

Fred Sutter, with whom this review is directly concerned, received his education in the district schools, and for three years after his father’s death lived on the home place, or until 1890. He settled on part of the family estate, consisting of 640 acres held jointly by the Sutter sons, improving the property until his removal to Effingham, where he resided for three years, and then purchased his present farm, which is just at the edge of Effingham. He has 160 acres of fine land within sight of the town upon which he has erected (in 1909) one of the handsomest, modern ten-room farm houses in the county. He also built a new barn, 40×40 feet, which is in keeping with the rest of his farm property.

Mr. Sutter was married May 20, 1908, to Sarah, daughter of Robert McPhilimy, and to this union have been born the following children: Mabel, aged five years, and Geneva, aged three years. He has been connected with the Farmers and Merchants State Bank since 1905 and was elected president of this thriving financial institution in 1906. Mr. Sutter is a Republican and is one of the wheel horses of the party in Atchison county. He was appointed a member of the Atchison County High School board in September of 1913, reëlected to the office in the fall of 1914 and is now serving as treasurer of this board. He is a member and trustee of the Presbyterian church of Effingham and is a liberal contributor to the support of this religious denomination. He is affiliated fraternally with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Benevolent and Protected Order of Elks of Atchison, and the Central Protective Association, being one of the original members of Effingham Lodge, No. 158, Central Protective Association, and has been its treasurer for the past four years.

While Mr. Sutter is connected with the Presbyterian church of Effingham, his ideal of a church for a small town is the community church which can be used by the entire population of the town for public and social purposes. To this end he was the prime mover in the erection of the handsome Presbyterian church building in Effingham, at a cost of $14,000, which was dedicated in June, 1913. This church building is used for many public purposes and has been a decided benefit to Effingham in many ways. Mr. Sutter started the movement for the building of this church and headed the subscription list, never desisting in his work until the church was erected and dedicated. Another monument to his enterprise is the farmers’ institute, with which he was connected for five years and assisted materially in organizing. His energy and influence kept the institute going in fine shape for the five years with which he was connected with the movement. Mr. Sutter has a likable personality and is one of the forceful and influential men of Atchison county.

Edmond W. Allen.

Edmond W. Allen, merchant, of Muscotah, Kan., is a leading and successful retailer of his city, and one of the hustling citizens of Muscotah. The grocery and meat market of which Mr. Allen is proprietor was first established by Jacob P. Sprang, with whom Mr. Allen became a partner in 1902. He became the sole owner of the business in 1910. Allen’s store is nicely located in one of the large business rooms, 80×25 feet in extent, on the main street of Muscotah, supplemented with an ice house and a ware house for feed and flour. In addition to conducting the grocery and meat market, Mr. Allen is a retailer of ice and conducts a produce exchange, which enabled him to ship eggs and poultry in considerable quantity to distant markets.

Edmond W. Allen was born January 29, 1868, on a farm adjoining the present county farm on the northwest corner, consisting of eighty acres, in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county. He was the son of M. L. Dunlap and Amanda (Walker) Allen, natives of Kentucky. Amanda (Walker) Allen was the daughter of Philip Walker, who immigrated to Kansas from Kentucky, settled on the prairies of Atchison county, but later moved to Missouri. M. L. Dunlap Allen moved from Kentucky to Missouri, and came from that State to Atchison county, Kansas, in 1863. He purchased the farm of 130 acres on which he erected a small house, built out of native sawed lumber. In this house of two rooms several of his children were born, and as the family increased in size, he added four rooms to the residence. He was born in 1830, and died in March, 1886. He was the father of eight children, as follows: Mrs. Francis J. Bucknum, of Oklahoma City; Emily, deceased; William H., living at Saugatuck, Mich.; Robert M., former traveling salesman, who died at Holdredge, Neb., in 1913; Edmond W., the subject of this review; Mrs. Etta M. Hubbard, living in Michigan; Mrs. Addie Myrtle Latta, of Oklahoma City, and Dudley M., deceased. The mother of these children died in 1881. The senior Allen was again married in 1883 to Ruth Robinson, who now resides in Wyandotte county, near the town of Piper. One child, Ethel, was born of this marriage.

Edmond W. Allen was reared on the pioneer farm of his father’s, near Atchison, Kan., and received his primary education in the district schools of his neighborhood, and completed his schooling at Beloit, Kan. When his father died, in 1886, William H. Allen, the oldest son, was appointed administrator of the estate, and guardian of the minor children. He removed all of them to his home at Beloit, where he was engaged in the implement business. This was done in order that William might properly care for the younger children and look after their education. Edmond W., after finishing his schooling, was employed for two years in his brother’s store at Beloit, following which he worked for one year in a grocery store and meat market in Kansas City, Kan., owned by Robert Robinson. His brother, William H., in the meantime, sold out his stock in Beloit and removed to Hoxie, Kan., and was employed in a bank for a year and one-half. Financial disaster overtook the bank, and he then spent one year in Kansas City, Kan., after which, in 1891, he went to western Nebraska and entered the employ of Harris Bros., a firm of grain dealers with headquarters in Lincoln, Neb. Mr. Allen was located in the town of Stamford, Lebanon, and Republican City, Neb., in the employ of Harris Bros. and was then transferred to the main office of the firm of Lincoln, Neb., where he remained until 1893. From 1893 to 1895, he was in the employ of Hathaway & Williams, fire insurance agents, of Lincoln, and when this firm sold out he traveled for a period of six months in the interests of an Omaha fire insurance company. After his marriage, in 1895, he resided in Michigan for one year, and in 1896 he again entered the employ of the Harris Bros. Grain Company, which firm was later incorporated as the Central Granaries, a very rich corporation. He remained with this concern until 1898, when he entered the employ of the McCormick Harvester Company as bookkeeper, with headquarters at Lincoln, Neb. He was in the employ of the McCormick people until 1903. In the meantime he had formed a partnership with his father-in-law, Jacob P. Sprang, in the grocery and meat market business in Muscotah, where Mr. Allen has resided permanently since 1903.

Edmond W. Allen was married in 1895 to Miss Lucie Sprang, and their children are as follows: Una L., born in 1896, and is a senior in the fine arts and music department of Kansas University. Miss Una is a teacher of piano and violin, and has a large class of pupils. Mrs. Allen was born on a farm in Benton township, Atchison county, five miles south of Effingham, and is a daughter of Jacob P. Sprang, who built up a fine farm in Atchison county, and established the business which is now owned by Mr. Allen. While Mr. Allen is a Republican, he votes independently on local and county matters. He was formerly a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, but since coming to Muscotah has united with the Congregational church of this place. He is a member of the Knights and Ladies of Security.

Luther Cortelyou.

For a citizen of a small Kansas city to achieve State-wide prominence, and to become the official head of the body of mercantile men with whom he became affiliated during a long and successful career, is somewhat out of the ordinary, and is decided evidence that the recipient of such honors has received them solely because of pronounced ability of a high order. For several years, Luther Cortelyou, farmer, grain merchant, and banker, of Muscotah, Kan., was the recognized leader among the grain men of Kansas, attaining to his position by virtue of executive ability and powers of leadership. He is one of the first and best known citizens of Muscotah and Atchison county, who for more than twenty-seven years has been active in civic affairs in the county.

Luther Cortelyou was born December 23, 1851, in Somerset county, New Jersey, and is a son of James G. and Cornelia (Polhemus) Cortelyou. James Garretson Cortelyou, the father, was the son of Abraham Cortelyou, who was descended from French Hugenot colonists, who first settled on Long Island in 1624. The original ancestor of the family fled from France to a safe refuge in Holland during the persecution of the Huguenots in France. Jaques Cortelyou was the founder of the family in America and was prominent in the affairs of the colony on Long Island. His son, Peter, was a governor of the borough in which is now located Brooklyn. The descendants of Jaques Cortelyou figured in Revolutionary history.

James G. was reared in New Jersey, and there married Cornelia, a daughter of C. Polhemus, also of an old Holland family. He was the father of three children: John Gardner, deceased; Luther, of this review; and Peter J., now deceased, formerly a resident of Corning, Nemaha county, Kansas. The father died in Middlesex county, New Jersey.

Luther Cortelyou was reared to young manhood on his father’s farm, and received his primary education in the public schools of Somerset county, New Jersey. He received his academic education in Rutgers College, a Dutch Reformed college, at New Brunswick, N. J., and then attended Eastman’s Business College, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. After his marriage he removed to Maryland, where he lived on a farm which he purchased and cultivated for twelve years. In 1889 Mr. Cortelyou sold his Maryland property and came to Kansas and located in Muscotah, Atchison county. He invested his capital in the M. J. Walsh grain elevator, and for eighteen years was engaged in the buying and shipping of grain. He extended his operations, and owned an elevator at Corning, Kan., which he sold in 1909. Mr. Cortelyou amassed a considerable competence during the many years in which he was engaged in the grain business, and became prominent in mercantile circles in the State of Kansas. For seven years he served as president of the Kansas Grain Dealers’ Association, and gained a wide acquaintance among grain dealers throughout the State and Nation. He served for one year as second vice-president of the National Grain Dealers’ Association, and also filled the post of first vice-president of the national body for one year. He disposed of his elevator in Muscotah in 1907, and has since retired from active business pursuits other than his farming and banking interests. Mr. Cortelyou is the owner of a fine farm of 250 acres in Grasshopper township, and was one of the organizers of the Farmers State Bank of Muscotah, of which thriving institution he is the president.

Mr. Cortelyou was first married in New Jersey in 1876 to Miss Gertrude Stelle, of Middlesex county, New Jersey, and this union was blessed with four children, namely: Luther, Jr., assistant cashier of the First National Bank at Parsons, Kan., married Miss Lola Allison, a daughter of Webb Allison, of Nortonville, Kan.; Stelle, formerly an engineer in the United States Government service, died in Panama of yellow fever, in 1905, at the age of twenty-two, having been the last victim to die from yellow fever on the Isthmus; Peter J., postmaster of Muscotah; Frank Morgan, born in 1886, a talented engineer, who was graduated from Kansas University engineering department, and is connected with the engineering firm of Waddell & Harrington, of Kansas City, Mo., and is now located in Vancouver, Wash., in charge of the construction of an immense bridge across the Columbia river, costing $1,750,000; this bridge connects Vancouver, Wash., and Portland, Ore., and is a link in the Pacific highway. It has twenty-nine steel-spans, and is over 17,200 feet in length. The largest dredges and pile-driving machinery in the world are required in its construction. The permanent roadway of this great structure is thirty-five feet wide with sidewalks five feet in width. Frank M. married Miss Marney Burney, of Green Forest, Ark. The mother of these children was born March 19, 1856, in New Jersey, a daughter of Peter and Sarah J. Stelle, and she departed this life February 5, 1905. Mr. Cortelyou was again married to Mrs. Alice T. Calvert, widow of J. H. Calvert, deceased merchant and banker of Muscotah, February 19, 1907.

The Democratic party has always had the allegiance of Mr. Cortelyou, and he has been prominently identified with the affairs of his party in Atchison county, and was the candidate of his party for county treasurer in 1896. He is a warm admirer of President Wilson and a supporter of the President’s policies. He was elected mayor of Muscotah in April, 1900, and served one term, and also has served as a member of the school board of Muscotah. Mr. Cortelyou is a member of the Congregational church of Muscotah, to which denomination he has been a liberal contributor: he assisted in the building of the church edifice, and has served as trustee of the church for several years. For the past thirty years or more he has been a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and he also is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen.

William S. Hubbard.

Living in comfortable retirement in Muscotah is one of the pioneer settlers of Atchison county, who fought the good fight with grasshoppers and hot winds in the old days of hardships on the prairies over forty years ago. William S. Hubbard is one of the fine old gentlemen of Muscotah who came to Kansas a poor man, has reared a fine family of prosperous sons and daughters, and achieved a competence sufficient to support him in comfort during his declining years.

W. S. Hubbard was born March 10, 1839, on a farm near Cloverdale, Putnam county, Indiana, a son of Asa and Melinda (Holland) Hubbard, natives of Kentucky, who founded a pioneer home in the forests of Putnam county, Indiana. Asa Hubbard, the father, died when William S. was a child, and his mother married W. Davis. In 1844 the family moved to Illinois, where the mother and stepfather died in later years. The Davis farm was located in Henry county, Illinois. Here W. S. was reared to young manhood, and knew very few luxuries in those early days of privation and struggle. After a two years’ residence on a farm near Burlington, Iowa, he decided to come farther west to find a home and fortune where lands were cheap and opportunities seemed to be much better than in Illinois. In 1874 he set out with his wife and five children to find a home in Atchison county, Kansas. All of his worldly possessions consisted of a team of horses, a cow, and twelve dollars in cash. His first year on a rented farm in Grasshopper township was a disastrous one, and the “hoppers” got his crops, even to a fine crop of cabbage, which he harvested and tried to cover up by piling hay upon the cabbages to keep the greedy “hoppers” from eating them. Sad to relate, the grasshoppers burrowed down through the hay and ate the cabbage. The following year was much better, Mr. Hubbard raising a fine crop of corn. During his first year he raised a good flax crop which he sold for one dollar and forty cents per bushel. He was eventually able to invest in 220 acres of rich bottom land, bordering the Delaware river, at a cost of fifteen dollars an acre. Mr. Hubbard had saved $800 to make the initial payment on this tract, and in nine years succeeded in lifting the debt. During the period in which he was paying off the indebtedness on his land he was also paying interest on the money at the rate of ten per cent, annually. He sold his first farm some years after this and invested in the fine tract of seventy-two acres which he now owns. On June 12, 1913, he and Mrs. Hubbard decided that they had worked long enough, and left the farm for a home in Muscotah.

Mr. Hubbard was married January 29, 1861, to Miss Mary Ann Pence, a native of Lycoming county, Pennsylvania. Six children have been born to this worthy couple, namely: William Elsworth, a farmer, of Kapioma township, Atchison county, and the owner of 160 acres of well improved farm land; he married Mattie Roth, and they have six children: Lewis Henry Hubbard, a farmer of this county, owner of 160 acres of land: he married Ann Hinxton, and they have two children: Lillie Jane, wife of Malcolm Connor, residing on a homestead in South Dakota, and they have three children: Cora May, wife of Simeon Routh, Atchison county; they have six children. The other children are deceased. All of Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard’s children are prosperous and highly respected citizens of their respective communities, and are a credit and comfort to their aged parents, who are proud of the family. Mrs. Hubbard was born December 27, 1839.

Few people in Atchison county can point to a better record than Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard, or can look back with greater satisfaction over long years well spent in achieving a livelihood and rearing a fine family to maturity. They came to Atchison county at a time when Indians still roamed the prairies, and very little of the prairie land was improved.

Mr. Hubbard is an old-line Democrat, and, while he has taken an active interest in political affairs in his township and county, he has never been an aspirant for office, preferring to play the game for the pure love and fun of it rather than to become an aspirant for political honors. He and Mrs. Hubbard are members of the Second-Day Adventist church of Muscotah.

O. O. Barker, M. D.

O. O. Barker, M. D., is one of the younger members of the medical profession in Atchison county, located at Muscotah, Kan. During the nine years which he has been located in Muscotah, he has built up an excellent practice in his profession, and has demonstrated that he has an accurate knowledge of the art and science of medicine. Dr. Barker was born March 30, 1885, in the town of True, Sumner county, West Virginia. He is a son of J. Lee and Anna (Milburn) Barker, the former having been born in 1860, and the latter in 1862, in Virginia. Both parents still reside at True, W. Va. J. Lee Barker was a son of M. Calloway Barker, also a native of Virginia, and a descendant of an old Virginia family. The history of the Barker family dates back to the birth of Chaplain Barker, of Liverpool, England, who was born in 1750, and immigrated to Virginia in 1785. David Barker, a son of Chaplain Barker, distiller, in Richmond, Va. William Barker, the son of David, was a tanner by trade, and had three sons: William A., Joseph, and Isaac. Of these sons, Joseph was killed by Indians; Isaac lives at Liberty, Va., and reared the following children: James M. Calloway, Mary E., A. L., Thomas J., Francis, and Joseph G. Thomas J. Barker immigrated to Kansas and became a wealthy citizen of Kansas City, where he died. M. Calloway Barker lived at True, W. Va., and reared a family of twelve children: William A., who died in the Confederate service during the Civil war; Mary E., deceased; R. J., residing in Kansas City, Kan.; J. W., deceased; Thomas B., living near Hinton, W. Va.; James L., deceased; Dr. Joseph L.; J. Lee, father of Dr. Barker; David M., of Parsons, Kan.: Francis I.; Ollie, living at True, W. Va., and Maria, deceased. J. Lee Barker has always been a farmer, and has made a success of his life’s vocation. He is one of the prominent and well known citizens of his section of West Virginia, and for several years has served as president of the school board of True, W. Va. He has reared three children: Orus O., with whom this review is directly concerned; Mrs. Grace M. Skaggs, Topeka, Kan., and Mrs. Nellie B. Deeds, of Hinton, W. Va.

Dr. Barker received his primary education in the public schools of his native town in West Virginia, and then decided to take up the study of medicine. He studied for two years in the medical department in the University of Maryland, and completed his medical education in the University of Louisville, Ky., from which institution he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1906. After his graduation he came to Kansas, visited for a few months with an uncle in Kansas City, Kan., and after passing an examination given by the state board of medical examiners of Topeka, he opened an office at Muscotah, Kan., October 1, 1906. Dr. Barker is a member of the Northeast Kansas Medical Society, the Kansas State Medical Association, and the Country Doctors’ Business and Social Club. He endeavors at all times to keep abreast of the latest advancement in medical science, and has built up an excellent practice in Muscotah and the surrounding country. He was married June 2, 1906, to Miss Ethel M. Morton, a daughter of G. W. Morton, of Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Barker is a fraternal member of the Knights and Ladies of Security, Modern Woodmen of America, and Mystic Workers of the World.

Dr. Charles M. Lukens.

Charles M. Lukens, dentist, Muscotah, Kan., is a fine type of professional man who is self-made, and has achieved success in his profession, which is gratifying and worthy of mention in a favorable manner. Dr. Lukens was born June 28, 1872, in Harrison county, Ohio, and is a son of William Ellis and Margaret (McLaughlin) Lukens, both of whom were born and reared in Ohio. William Ellis Lukens was born in 1849, and was a son of Moses Lukens, born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, in 1812, and was an uncompromising abolitionist. He was an early settler of Harrison county, Ohio, where he conducted a station on the famous “Underground Railway.” He lived to a great age, and it is a fact that longevity is a characteristic of both the Lukens and the McLaughlin families. The Lukens family was of Quaker origin, and the founder of the family in America was one of the original followers of William Penn. Another characteristic of the Lukens family is the fact that a brother of William Ellis Lukens was a dentist, and Dr. Lukens has five cousins who are practicing dentistry.

William Ellis Lukens migrated to Holt county, Missouri, in 1882, where he resided for four years, and in 1886 he settled in Nemaha county. He was one of the early pioneers in Nemaha county, and first engaged in the live stock business at Corning, Kan., where he conducted a grain elevator, and bought and shipped live stock. He has become well-to-do, and is the owner of two large farms in Nemaha and Jackson counties. Mr. and Mrs. Lukens now make their home on a farm in Jackson county, Kansas, south of Netawaka. Their children are: Dr. C. M. Lukens, of Muscotah; Chester W., a farmer, living south of Netawaka, and Kinney E., a farmer, living in the northwest corner of Jackson county, Kansas. The mother of these children was born in 1850.

Charles M. Lukens received his primary education in the public schools of Corning, Kan., and then decided to work his way through college. His ambition was to become a dentist, and for a period of five years he did all kinds of honest labor in order to pay for his tuition and expenses while attaining his collegiate education. He not only earned his way through college, but saved money in the meantime. He followed farming and railroad bridge work during this time, and eventually graduated from the Western Dental College of Kansas City, Mo., on May 6, 1905. He located in Muscotah, June 29, 1905, and has made a signal success in the practice of his profession. Dr. Lukens also maintains an office at Whiting, Kan., and divides his time between the two towns, Whiting and Muscotah.

Dr. Lukens was married April 10, 1901, at Corning, Kan., to Miss Hallie A. Graham, a daughter of Dr. J. W. Graham, of Wetmore, Kan. They have one child, Graham St. Clair Lukens, born June 21, 1902. The Republican party claims the allegiance of Dr. Lukens, and he has always been active in political affairs in Atchison county, being one of the leaders and “wheel-horses” of the party in the county. He is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Muscotah, and the Fraternal Order of Eagles of Horton, Kan., and is a member of the Modern Woodmen. Dr. Lukens is possessed of a likable and generous personality, which enables him to make friends easily, and to retain them for all time. He is a good provider for his family, and is fast accumulating a comfortable competence. He is a member in good standing of the Northeast Kansas Dental Association.

James M. Trimble.

J. M. Trimble, deceased, was born September 10, 1843, in Buchanan county, Missouri, a son of Benjamin F. Trimble, a native of Kentucky and early pioneer settler of De Kalb, Mo., where he conducted a blacksmith and wagon shop for a number of years, until his removal to Texas. After living in Texas for some years, he finally located in Atchison county, Kansas. James M. Trimble purchased a farm in this county and cultivated it until 1905 and then removed to Atchison and engaged in the livery business, continuing the same until his demise in January of 1910. The first wife of James M. Trimble was Margaret McCreary, a daughter of Solomon McCreary, a pioneer settler of Atchison county. To this first marriage were born the following children: J. P. Trimble; A. F. Trimble; K. S. Trimble; Ed. Henry; Roy C., sheriff of Atchison county, and T. O. Trimble.

Mr. Trimble was married the second time, to Mrs. Emma A. (Hayden) Gallup, widow of Frank Gallup, January 21, 1892. She is a daughter of Levi and Martha Hayden, natives of Kentucky, and pioneer settlers of Coffey county, Kansas. The Hayden family were settlers in Coffey county, Kansas, at a time when the county was largely populated by Indians. At one time, while a resident of this county, Levi Hayden and a number of other settlers were hunting buffalo and were surrounded by hostile red-men, who robbed the hunting party of their provisions and horses and left the hunters on the plains destitute. A terrible snow storm came up, and several of the party perished from cold and starvation, Mr. Hayden being among the number lost. After his death his widow reared the family of seven children with the exception of two sons and a daughter, Emma, who went to reside with an uncle, John Hayden, in Iowa. This uncle was a very prominent resident of Taylor county, Iowa, and served as county clerk and county surveyor. He ran a survey line from his farm in Taylor county, Iowa, to a place later named Hayden Junction, near Council Bluffs. He was a school teacher and a man of more than ordinary ability and reared his adopted children to become good citizens. Emma lived at her uncle’s home until January 1, 1874, and while attending high school at Bedford, Iowa, she met Frank Gallup, whom she married. Mr. Gallup died August 11, 1888. To this union were born children as follows: Nellie M., wife of Gale Trimble, of Atchison county; Jennie B. married Edwin E. Buchanan, now deceased, and she lives in Atchison; Clara Maude, wife of Ed. Trimble, residing near Seattle, Wash.; Samuel D., of Atchison; Agnes Gertrude, wife of Blake Balaock, of Memphis, Tenn.

At the time of the marriage of Mr. Trimble and Mrs. Gallup, Mr. Trimble was serving as superintendent of the Atchison county poor farm. They had charge of this institution for over six years and then moved to Mr. Trimble’s farm, which is now owned by John M. Price, in Mt. Pleasant township. They resided on the farm until their removal to Atchison in 1905. After another short period of residence on the farm they finally purchased the property which is the family home at 1206 South Seventh street, Atchison. Mr. Trimble conducted a livery and horse trading business in Atchison until his demise. He dealt extensively in horses and cattle, and frequently conducted farm and real estate deals to advantage.

James M. Trimble was a life-long Republican and took an active and influential part in the affairs of his party. He was well and favorably known throughout Atchison county. He and Mrs. Trimble were affiliated with the Presbyterian church, and Mr. Trimble belonged to the Grand Army of the Republic by virtue of having enlisted for service in a Kansas regiment during the Civil war, at the time of the Price invasion. It can be said of him that he was an honest, upright citizen, who cared well for those who depended upon him and he was, according to those who knew him best, a good man.

John Edward Sullivan.

For fifty-five years John Edward Sullivan has resided in Atchison county, Kansas, and can be readily classed with the old-timers of the county. His parents came from Iowa to Kansas when he was but one year old, and his father, with the assistance of his sons, Roger P. and John Edward, was enabled to rise from poverty to become the owner of half a section of land in Grasshopper township. The account of this family is similar to that of several other prosperous Irish families in Atchison county.

John E. Sullivan was born May 15, 1859, in Keokuk, Iowa, a son of Michael and Bridget (Tobin) Sullivan, both of whom were born in Ireland. Michael Sullivan was born in 1826 in Ireland, and lived in his native land until he was twelve years of age, and then made his way, alone and unaided, to America. His travels for seeking fortune in the new country took him ever onward, and he was married in Keokuk, Iowa, to Bridget Tobin, who was his faithful helpmeet when he was rising from poverty to affluence. Mr. Sullivan came to Atchison, Kan., in 1860, and for some time was engaged in the railroad contract work, and assisted in the grading of the Central Branch railroad. With the money saved in his railroad contract work he became the owner of a home in Atchison, which he exchanged for eighty acres of land in Grasshopper township, upon which he settled and soon developed into a fine farm. Mr. Sullivan, in the course of a few years, was enabled to buy an additional quarter section, and with the help of his sturdy sons, he increased his holdings to 320 acres of well improved farm land. When old age crept upon Michael Sullivan and his wife they turned the farm over to their two sons, who cared for them in their declining years, which were spent in peace and comfort. Mr. Sullivan died at the home of his son, John Edward, December 24, 1904. He was the father of three children: John Edward, the subject of this review; Roger Patrick, a prosperous farmer of Benton township, Atchison county, and Mary, deceased.

John Edward Sullivan attended the public schools of Atchison until he was fourteen years of age, and after his parents removed to the farm in Grasshopper township he remained at home and assisted his father on the home farm until he was thirty years old. He then purchased his present farm of 160 acres, made improvements upon it, and has brought the land up to a high state of cultivation. Mr. Sullivan has his farm stocked with well graded horses and cattle, and has frequently exhibited his fine draft colts and mules at the county fairs, held at Effingham, Kan.

Mr. Sullivan was married in 1890 to Anna Small, and to this union were born eight children, namely: Mary E., deceased: Anna, John, Lauretta, Leo, and Lucy, all at home with their parents; Grace, deceased; one child died in infancy. Mrs. Sullivan was born October 29, 1864, in Ireland, a daughter of Patrick and Elizabeth (McVay) Small, who immigrated to America, settling in Pennsylvania, and came to Atchison, Kan., in 1879; they were engaged in farming for some years, and are now living at Effingham, Kan. Mrs. Sullivan died November 23, 1906. She was a well educated woman, being an accomplished musician and a teacher of music. Mr. Sullivan is a stockholder and director of the Farmers State Bank of Muscotah. He is not allied with any political parties, and casts his vote independently at election time for the candidates of his choice, who seem best fitted to perform the duties of the office sought. He is a member of the Catholic church, and is fraternally allied with the Knights of Columbus of Atchison.

Rienzi M. Dunlap.

Rienzi M. Dunlap, editor and publisher of the Muscotah Record, Muscotah, Kan., was born in Illinois, February 25, 1850. He is the son of John M. and Nancy (Fletcher) Dunlap, the former a native of Maine, and the latter a native of Illinois. John M. Dunlap was a descendant from Scotch-Irish ancestry, who immigrated from North of Ireland to America. His wife was of English descent, and a daughter of Kentucky parents, who emigrated from Kentucky to Illinois in the early days. John M. received his education in his native State, and was engaged in teaching school, a profession which he followed for twenty-five years. He taught school in Illinois, southern Wisconsin, and also in the State of Iowa. He finally located on a farm in northern Iowa, near Nashua, which he developed into a fine productive plant. He became well known as a skilled horticulturist, and originated several different kinds of fruits. He died at his home near Nashua, Iowa, in 1909. His widow still lives on the home place.

Rienzi M. Dunlap was educated in the schools of northeastern Iowa, and entered college with the intention of completing a college course, but his eyesight failing him, he was unable to complete his classical studies. Later, he prepared himself for the teaching profession by self-study, and received a teacher’s certificate. He taught school for fifteen years at various places in Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota. The last five years of his teaching was of a professional character, with the backing of a professional certificate. During all this time he had been preparing himself by hard study to enter the ministry, and on September 1, 1893, went to Wisconsin and began preaching in an Advent Christian church. He preached for four years in Wisconsin in the interest of the Advent Christian denomination, and later engaged in the market gardening business for the benefit of his health at Baraboo, Wis., where he resided until 1909, in the meantime preaching in the churches of the nearby towns. From 1909 until 1910 he had charge of a church at Linn, Kan. Mr. Dunlap, while engaged in teaching, managed to obtain considerable journalistic experience by working in various newspaper offices, among them being that of his uncle. Consequently, it is not surprising that in 1910 he came to Muscotah, Kan., and purchased the Muscotah Record. He is operating an excellent newspaper, which is noted for its clean, moral and fearless stand on all public questions.

Mr. Dunlap was married at Mendota, Ill., August 23, 1893, to Miss Retta Morris, of Ohio, who was also a public school teacher, who taught school fifteen terms previous to her marriage, several years of which were in Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap are the parents of three children: Morris O., a student of journalism in the Advent Christian College, Aurora, Ill., which course is to be followed by two years in the university; Ella M., a pupil in the eighth grade in the Muscotah school; Mary, a pupil in the sixth grade in the public school. Mr. Dunlap is an independent in politics, who has not allied himself in any form of politics, and believes that the best government results from the independent voting of its citizens. His newspaper is also noted for its independence.

Lewis P. Du Bois.

Lewis P. Du Bois has the distinction of being the oldest living pioneer settler of Atchison county residing in Shannon township. The story of his life since coming to the great West in search of health reads like a romance and is well worth recounting in the pages of this history of the county which he has helped to create during the past fifty-seven years or more. The last days of his eventful life are being peacefully spent in the beautiful country home which he erected several years ago, which sets far back in a park created by his own hands and shaded by great trees planted in years gone by on the barren prairie which he broke and brought to a high state of cultivation. Mr. Du Bois can look out over the broad acres which he and his good and faithful wife have accumulated, and be well content that providence has been kind to them and theirs.

Lewis P. Du Bois is a descendant of an old American family. He was born March 23, 1834, in Salem county, New Jersey, a son of Samuel and Mary (Johnson) Du Bois, both of whom were natives of New Jersey. Louis Du Bois, a Frenchman, who came to America in about 1660, and established the French settlement of New Palz, was the original founder of the family in this country. His children were as follows: Jacob, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, David, Solomon, Rebecca, Rachel and Matthew. Samuel Du Bois was the son of Matthew, a great-grandson of the first Louis Du Bois. Lewis Du Bois, direct ancestor of Lewis, and son of Mathias, was a soldier in the Revolution and served for seven years under General Washington, and was engaged in all of the battles in which Washington’s army participated. Matthias’ children were: Sarah, Lewis, Anna, Rachel, Cornelius, Matthew and Benjamin. Lewis Du Bois, the Revolutionary patriot, married Rebekah Craig and was the father of the following children: John, Matthew, Polly, Lewis, Rebekah, Benjamin, Elizabeth, and Samuel, father of the subject of this review. Samuel Du Bois was born September 26, 1800, and died in May, 1873. He married Mary Johnson, who was born January 17, 1824, and died January 28, 1879.

To Samuel and Mary Du Bois were born children as follows: Rebecca, who became the wife of Clarence Struper, and is now-deceased; Adaline, wife of Jacob Kaeley, deceased; Mary Jane, wife of John Du Bois, of Fairfield, Iowa; Lewis, with whom this review is directly concerned; Emeline, wife of Daniel Hitchner, Nemaha county, Kansas; Eliza, wife of A. Hitchner, deceased; Samuel Johnson, Salem county, New Jersey. Mr. Du Bois has an old Bible over 150 years old and also has in his possession genealogical works concerning the Du Bois, Patterson and the Ewing families which can be consulted for further genealogical data if need be. Samuel Du Bois was a farmer and his father, Lewis, was a paymaster in the American army of defense during the War of 1812. Both lived and died on the old ancestral farm which has been in the family for many generations. Lewis donated one farm of 160 acres to the Daretown Presbyterian church and practically endowed it. Samuel was a very prominent citizen in his neighborhood and held several important offices and was one of the twelve free holders of Salem county, New Jersey.

Lewis P. Du Bois was educated in the common schools of his native county and when twenty years of age was employed as clerk in a store at Bridgeton, Cumberland county, New Jersey, for three years, after which he spent one year assisting his father farm the old homestead. His health failing, he was told by the family doctor that he must go west or he could live but a short time. Leaving the old home, his sweetheart and all associations behind him, he set out and arrived in Atchison in April, 1858, with only $50 in cash in his pockets. For the first year he made his home with Dr. Challiss, on the doctor’s farm. Dr. Challiss advised him to spend one year near the river and then go to the mountains for an indefinite stay until he was cured. At the end of his first year’s residence in the West he set out for the mountain country as assistant to Eli Mason, the first sheriff of Atchison county, in the conduct of a wagon train en route to Ft. Kearney. His first trip to the West and the outdoor life proved beneficial and upon his return he clerked in the store of P. R. King until November of 1859, and again crossed the plains with Henry Macey, of Weston, Mo. This was a very hard and long trip, taken in the winter time, but he gained rapidly in strength and general health and accumulated weight until he tipped the scales at 158 pounds. Upon his arrival in Denver, Colo., the mining excitement was at its height and he was seized with the gold fever. He took up a mining claim in the mountains, but left it and went further into the mountainous country. He spent all of his money on developing another claim, building a sluice and dam and turning the course of a stream in order to get a sufficient flow of water for placer mining. All of his efforts came to naught and his mining fixtures were washed away by a disastrous flood and he was left in debt over $1,000. He and his associates then went to Georgia gulch and bought another claim which yielded sufficiently to enable him to pay off his debts and then the gold gave out entirely. News came to the camp during his first winter in the mountains that a number of men were snow bound over the divide and were starving for food. The snow was from seven to ten feet deep on the level and twenty feet deep on the ranges. Mr. Du Bois and another man were the only men brave enough to volunteer to carry succor to the destitute prospectors and had the distinction of being the first men to cross the Rockies in the dead of winter. From Colorado he went to Wyoming and then returned to Atchison in 1861, meeting the fast pony express on his way and learning of Abraham Lincoln’s election to the Presidency.

From Atchison he returned to the old home in New Jersey and there married the sweetheart who had been waiting for him to come back, restored to vigorous health and strength. He followed farming in New Jersey for three years, suffering in the meantime from rheumatism and sickness, brought on from too much exposure to the elements. In 1865 he and his wife again returned to Atchison with a cash capital of $500 and he took charge of a farm owned by his friend, Dr. Challiss, on the share plan for a period of three years. His farming experience for those three years was not at all profitable, and he was left at the end of the time with practically no funds. Jayhawkers took practically all that he made, and one time, after he had fattened a lot of hogs on corn which cost him $1.10 per bushel, thieves stole the porkers and he was left without a dollar. He then ventured to sell fruit trees to the settlers in Colorado on the route to Denver and was very successful in taking many orders. The delivery of this consignment consisting of two wagon loads cost over $1,850 by overland freight train in the fall of the year. The Indians were troublesome at the time and during one eventful night which demonstrated that the biggest braggarts with the train were the greatest cowards, the Indians tried to run off their mules but were finally driven off. This venture resulted in replenishing his store of funds and he bought his first farm with the proceeds, paying cash for it. Like many others during those early days, Mr. Du Bois herded cattle on the great free ranges but was unfortunate in having fifty head die of Texas fever contracted from an infected herd of Texas cattle which were being pastured over the range on the way to market. Many, indeed, were the discouragements which beset his attempts to secure a livelihood, at one time having purchased a horse from a Mr. Galbreath, it developed that the beast was afflicted with glanders in a contagious form. This necessitated the killing of all of his horses and the consequent restocking of his farm. Prosperity eventually smiled upon him and his, however, and better times came and he became the owner of 320 acres of exceedingly fine land in Shannon township. He is a director of the Bank of Vliets, Kan.

Mr. Du Bois was married November 3, 1863, to Sarah Jane Jones and to this union have been born children as follows: Mrs. Carrie C. Buck, born in 1865, and residing at Vliets, Kan.; Lewis P. died in infancy; Samuel T., born July 7, 1876, operates the home farm, married Anna Katharine Kistler, daughter of William D. Kistler, and has two children, Lewis P., Jr., and Kathryn Ellen. The mother of these children was born April 5, 1835, in Salem county, New Jersey, daughter of Joseph and Mary Ann (Van Meter) Jones. The Jones family of which she is a descendant is a very old one in America, and a history of the family is being now published. The Van Meter family had its origin in this country as far back as 1660 and they were members of the new Palz settlement in New Jersey. Her grandfather, Samuel Van Meter, married Lady Anna Bishop, a titled English lady who was a member of a noble English family. Several of her ancestors served in the war of independence.

On November 3, 1913, there was celebrated at the hospitable and beautiful Du Bois home, the fiftieth or golden wedding anniversary of this widely known and well loved pioneer couple. Guests to the number of 500 came to congratulate them from far and near, among them being the notable men and women of Atchison county, who are proud of the friendship of Mr. and Mrs. Du Bois. The tables groaned with good things to eat and the day was spent happily in merrymaking, the wedding ceremony of Lewis and Sarah being again duplicated for the edification of the interested guests. No invitations were issued for the occasion, but a general country-wide notice printed in the Atchison newspapers caused a perfect hegira to the Du Bois home of old and new friends of this worthy couple, who wished to be in line to grasp their hands and wish them many more happy years of wedded life which have been unmarred by a single serious discord. The fifty-three years of wedded life have been replete with happiness and blessings for Mr. and Mrs. Du Bois, in the main, while tinged with sorrows which are the inevitable lot of all mankind.

Mr. Du Bois and the members of his family are affiliated with the Presbyterian church. He is a member of the Masonic lodge, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Central Protective Association, having been one of the founders of the Good Intent lodge of the Central Protective Association. He has been a life-long Democrat, and, while never having sought political preferment and not having filled any office but that of trustee of Shannon township, he has always taken in other years a very active part in county, State and National politics. He was a great personal friend of Governor Glick.

Edwin S. Woodworth.

The name Woodworth is a noted one, not only in Kansas, but in American history. A long line of distinguished men have descended from the original founders of the family in America, and the men of each successive generation have added additional luster to the family name by deeds of valor and statesmanship which stand out prominently in the annals of their respective abiding places. Edwin S. Woodworth, farmer and live stock breeder, of Kapioma township, is a well and favorably known member of the civic body of Atchison county, and a son of Maj. Caleb A. Woodworth, who was one of the famous figures in the early period of the making Kansas into a great State. His grandfather, Caleb A. Woodworth, Sr., was one of the earliest of the Kansas pioneers.

Major Caleb A. Woodworth was born in Wilkesbarre, Pa., April 14, 1838, and was a son of Caleb Woodworth, a native of Tyre, N. Y., whose father, also named Caleb, was a captain of artillery under General Scott in the War of 1812. Gresham Woodworth, the great-grandfather of Major Woodworth, was a colonel in the Continental army during the American Revolution, and fought at the battle of Saratoga. The Woodworth family is of English origin, the progenitors of the family having emigrated from the Isle of Man early in the seventeenth century. The father of Major Woodworth was a farmer by occupation, and married Miss Ellen Gordon, of Goshen, N. Y., a cousin of Gen. Gordon, of Goshen, and a daughter of Cornelius Gordon, who was born in Ireland, of Scotch-Irish parents, and settled in Virginia. The elder Woodworth died at the age of seventy-four years, and the wife and mother died in December, 1898, at the age of eighty-six years. Caleb, Sr., immigrated to Kansas in 1857, and settled at Muscotah, Atchison county. Both Caleb Woodworth and his wife were members of the Congregational church, and Caleb was an Odd Fellow. He was well educated, and in his younger days was a school teacher, becoming a farmer in later life. The line of Woodworths in America tells of many men of letters and distinction, and many soldiers who have shed luster on the family name in the successive generations.

There were five children born to Caleb, Sr., and wife, namely: Caleb A., father of Edwin S.; Gilbert M., who came to Kansas at an early day, and served three years in a Kansas regiment during the Civil war, first as corporal, then as sergeant, and later was captain of a company of the Fourth Arkansas infantry, and was made lieutenant-colonel of the Twelfth Kansas militia in 1864. He became prominent in political life, and served as State senator in Colorado, and died while marching in the G. A. R. reunion parade in Philadelphia, September 8, 1899; eighty veterans succumbed to the heat. He left one son, Charles G., of Onanga, Okla.; Ben F., a resident of Downs, Okla., served three years in the Union army, part of the time as bugler of Company A, Fifth regiment, Kansas infantry, and later as captain in the Fourth Kansas regiment; David G., a graduate of Monroe Institute, a teacher, and a Kansas militiaman. David Woodworth assisted in the survey of Oklahoma, moved to the new State in 1889, and settled at Downs. He was a successful farmer, but is now postmaster at Kingfisher, Okla. The mother accompanied him to Oklahoma, and died there; Sarah Elizabeth, deceased, was the wife of B. A. Colville, and left one son, Dr. Frank Colville, who died in St. Joseph, Mo.

Major Caleb A. Woodworth came to Kansas in 1857, from Virginia, and engaged in farming near Muscotah until 1859, when he entered the University of Chicago, and pursued his collegiate education until the outbreak of the Civil war. He then returned to Kansas and offered his services in defense of the Union. His first enlistment was for a period of nine months in Company B, Fourth regiment, Kansas infantry. He then assisted in organizing the Thirteenth Kansas regiment, and was a member of Company F of that regiment, which he joined September 20, 1862. He rose rapidly in rank, was commissioned major of his regiment, and served for three years, or until the close of the war. He served directly under Colonel Bowen, and under Generals Blount, Schofield, Steele, and Reynolds. He participated in the battles around Springfield, Mo., and in Arkansas. At the battle of Prairie Grove, in 1862, his horse was shot from under him. Three times his mount was killed in battle, but he seemed to bear a charmed life, and was never wounded. After the close of the war he returned to Atchison, Kan., and engaged in freighting across the plains, making three trips in all with a freighting outfit. He was the first man to telegraph money from Denver, Colo., to Atchison. He operated a livery barn where the union depot now stands in Atchison. About 1868 he again turned his attention to farming, and settled in Kapioma township, where his father had preëmpted half a section of land. Major Woodworth farmed the home tract, and erected the house where Edwin S. now lives. He became an extensive cattle feeder, and was very successful in his farming operations.

Major Woodworth was married in June, 1867, to Miss Margaret Shaw, of Valley Falls, Kan. Three children were born of this union, namely: Nora, wife of E. M. Wilcox, Kamaloops, British Columbia; Edwin S.; Jennie, living in Wood, S. D. The mother of these children was born in Akron, Ohio, January 21, 1850, a daughter of William and Louise (Fletcher) Shaw, natives of Ohio. She is now residing with her daughter at Wood, S. D.

The civic and political career of Major Woodworth was a distinguished one. He was elected State senator from Atchison county on the Republican ticket in 1876, and served for four years. During his term as senator he wrote the bill and presented the same to the State legislature, organizing the Kansas State Historical Society. In 1892 he was chosen to represent the third district in the lower house of the legislature, this time being elected on the Democratic ticket. In 1895 he removed to Effingham, Kan., and resided in that city until 1897, when he removed to Atchison to take up his duties as superintendent of the State Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home. He filled the duties of this position until 1900, when he resigned and retired to a home in Muscotah, Kan. Major Woodworth died October 24, 1908. His demise marked the passing of one of the most noted of the Kansas pioneers, a distinguished soldier and statesman. He left a heritage of honorable and upright service to the people of the State, of which his descendants can well be proud.

Edwin S. Woodworth was born April 20, 1874, on the farm where he now resides. He was educated in the common schools of his native county, and studied in Bolton University, after completing a course in the high school at Effingham, Kan. After his marriage, in 1895, he began farming the home place of the Woodworth family. He is the owner of 163 acres of rich farm land, which is well improved. Mr. Woodworth is a well known breeder of registered Shorthorn cattle, and ships the product of his farm in this respect to all parts of the country. He is a member of the American Shorthorn Breeders’ Association. During 1915 he had a herd of fifty thoroughbred Shorthorns, but has sold to buyers at excellent prices until he has depleted his herd.

Mr. Woodworth was married May 29, 1895, to Miss Sadie E. Speer, born June 11, 1875, and reared on a farm three miles east of Muscotah. (See biography of D. Anna Speer for details concerning the Speer family.) Four children have been born to Edwin S. and Sadie E. Woodworth, namely: Mrs. Marguerite Mulligan, of Benton township; Mabel, a student in the county high school at Effingham; Isabelle and Mildred, at home.

Politically, Mr. Woodworth is allied with the Democratic party. He attends the Methodist Episcopal church, and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Central Protective Association. There is no doubt in the minds of those who know Mr. Woodworth and esteem him for his many excellent qualities, that he will keep alive the traditions of the Woodworth family and endeavor to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious ancestors as regards right living and doing his duty to his county and State.

Hal C. Low.

Hal C. Low, of the firm of Johnson-Low Clothing Company, of Atchison, was born in 1879 in Doniphan county, Kansas. His parents were J. W. and Mary (Collins) Low, natives of the Buckeye State, the father’s home having been at West Milton, Ohio. The grandfather of Hal C. was Ansel Low, who was one of the earliest pioneer settlers of Kansas, first coming to Atchison in 1852, following which he located in Doniphan, where he kept the first hotel, or tavern, and also operated a general store. To the home of this pioneer came in the fall of 1860, Abraham Lincoln, who was then touring the country in his first campaign for the presidency. Lincoln’s visit and stay at the Low hostelry was an event which awakened a great deal of pride with J. W. Low and he was fond of relating the circumstance and describing in detail how Mrs. Low served the simple wants of the greatest of all Americans. He was always a stanch supporter of the martyred President and gave direct evidence of his loyalty to the Union by his enlistment in Company I, Seventh regiment, Kansas cavalry, serving under Generals Rosecrans and Grant successively, and was in active service throughout the entire war.

Hal C. Low was educated in the common and high schools of Atchison, and then entered his father’s dry goods store, where he spent several years profitably, absorbing the details of the business and in becoming a proficient salesman and buyer. This experience stood him in good stead, and in 1905 he organized the Johnson-Low Clothing Company and has made an unqualified success of the venture. The store is one of the most complete in this section of the State, and carries high grade goods of the best workmanship and design. The ever increasing trade, which flows to this establishment, is the best evidence of its continued success.

Mr. Low was married in 1905 to Miss Jane Pollock, daughter of S. M. Pollock, an early pioneer settler of Iowa, later a resident of Kansas, and now residing in Atchison. Mr. Low is a Republican.

D. Anna Speer.

The public owes much to the teachers who have made a life work of their chosen profession. While the teaching profession is used to some extent as a stepping-stone to something supposedly higher and better, or as an opportunity on the part of young people to earn some money in preparation for embarking in some other vocation, there are in the ranks of the profession a considerable number of efficient and painstaking educators who through a deep and abiding love of the work of teaching the youth of the land and a desire to advance themselves high in their profession, have made themselves indispensable members of the community, and have shown by application and actual practice that they are fitted above the rank and file to hold executive positions. D. Anna Speer, county superintendent of schools for Atchison county, is a capable and successful educator whose marked ability has received due recognition from the people of the community in which she was reared.

She was born in Atchison county, a daughter of Joseph and Mary (Fountain) Speer. Her father, Joseph Speer, was born March 4, 1834, in Leesville, Ind., and was the son of Andrew and Dicie (Kirby) Speer, both natives of Kentucky. Miss Speer’s mother was a daughter of Stephen Fountain and Mary (Clark) Fountain, natives of North Carolina. The ancestors on the side of each parent were pre-Revolutionary colonists of Virginia and the Carolinas. The Speers were among the earliest settlers of Kentucky and the great-great-grandfather of Miss Speer on the maternal side was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Joseph and Mary Speer were married in Indiana and came west in 1859, settling on a farm near Muscotah in the spring of 1860. Mr. Speer invested in a partly improved farm of 160 acres on which they lived until old age required that they leave the farm for a town home in Muscotah. During the Civil war Mr. Speer served in the Kansas State militia and took part in the expedition against the Price invasion. Joseph Speer died March 5, 1900. His wife was born in September, 1833, and departed this life June 19, 1909. To them were born six sons and three daughters: William F., who resides on the home farm; Mrs. Mary J. Long, of Fowler, Kan.; Andrew, present county commissioner and farmer residing near Muscotah; James R., one of the pioneer settlers of Guthrie, Okla.; John W., a farmer of Morrison, Okla.; George T., a resident of Guthrie, Okla., and auditor of the Arkansas Lumber Company; D. Anna; Jesse A., engaged in the livery business at Medford, Okla.; Sadie E., wife of E. S. Woodworth, of Muscotah, a son of Major Woodworth. The Speers are a family of pioneers and are found to be leading citizens of their respective communities. Joseph and Mary Speer reared their large family of children to become useful and influential members of society and God-fearing men and women. Before death called them to the eternal rest they had the satisfaction of seeing the county where their earliest and most arduous labors had been accomplished grow to become a prosperous and populous community.

D. Anna Speer was educated in the rural school of her home neighborhood and the Muscotah public school. She completed a teachers’ course in Campbell College and was graduated, receiving a life diploma from the State Normal College at Emporia, Kan., in 1893. She then taught school for a number of years. During the summer vacations she did post-graduate work in the University of Chicago, Kansas University and Colorado College, at Colorado Springs, Colo., and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1911.

She entered the University of California at Berkeley and received the degree of Master of Arts in 1913. Miss Speer is self-educated, having worked her way through college and university while teaching school to earn money for tuition and expenses. She began her teaching career with a few years’ service in the rural schools and in 1893 became a teacher in the Effingham County High School, where she taught continuously for seventeen years. She was then an instructor for two years in the State Normal School at Emporia, Kan., after which she spent one year as a student in the University of California. After receiving her degree from the University of California she served as instructor in Grass Valley, Cal., High School. This was a delightful experience in one of the most beautiful spots on the globe, but she returned home, and on July 1, 1915, entered upon her new duties as county superintendent of public instruction of her home county. That she will make a success of her work is assured.

Miss Speer is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church, the Eastern Star lodge and is a member of the County and State Teachers’ associations, and is a member of the National Educational Association. She is a deep and capable student: a thorough and progressive educator, who is familiar with the most advanced methods of teaching and is destined to achieve marked success in her present important position.

Joseph C. Greenawalt.

Joseph C. Greenawalt, retired lawyer, Muscotah, Kan., was born April 17, 1840, on a farm in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. He comes of old Holland Dutch stock and the progenitors of the Greenawalt family emigrated from Holland to America in 1665. He is a son of George and Sarah (Conner) Greenawalt, natives of Pennsylvania. George Greenawalt was a son of John, and his wife’s father was John Conner, a native of England. Joseph C. was eighteen months old when his father died, leaving a widow with six children to rear, namely: Mary Amanda, Sarah Ann and Margaret, now deceased; Samuel C., deceased, who served as captain in a company in the Seventy-third regiment, New York infantry, in the Union army, and was a wanderer from choice, having gone to sea for several years, his first service in the Union army being as a scout; Elmina C., deceased, and Joseph C., with whom this review is directly concerned, and who was reared in eastern Ohio at the home of his aunt. He lived at his aunt’s home until he attained the age of sixteen years, attended school and learned the trade of carpenter and cabinet maker in a shop operated by his uncle.

As a boy Joseph C. Greenawalt had been ambitious to acquire an education and was not content with the idea of spending his days at the carpenter’s bench. Accordingly, at the age of sixteen, we find that he started out to make his own way in the world and to educate himself by partly working his way through college. He entered Mt. Union College, at Alliance, Ohio, and was one of the first students enrolled in this college when it was advanced from a seminary to a regular college. He worked during the summer seasons and was thus enabled to pay his way through the college course. When he was eighteen years of age, he also taught one term of school. He studied languages for one year in the Hayesville Institute at Ashland, Ohio. After studying for three years at Mt. Union, he matriculated at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., entering the junior class of this university in 1860. In 1862 he received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, but did not acquire his master’s degree until five years later, in 1867. In May of 1862 Mr. Greenawalt enlisted in Company I, Eighty-sixth regiment, Ohio infantry, and served for four months, when he was commissioned a lieutenant of the Ohio Sharpshooters, but resigned his commission and took charge of the Canton, Ohio, Union School for the ensuing six months. He then served as deputy clerk of the circuit court, studied law in the meantime and was admitted to the bar at Ravenna, Ohio. In the spring of 1864 Mr. Greenawalt went to Colorado and engaged in mining engineering in the mountains, forty miles west of Denver. After a stay in the West he settled in Platte City, Mo., and practiced law there until 1871, and after a trip to the Pacific coast, he located permanently in the city of Atchison in August of 1871. He practiced law successfully for twenty-five years in Atchison, and held the office of city attorney in 1875.

Mr. Greenawalt has always been a great lover of horses, and more to gratify his love of horse flesh than anything else he established in 1882, the famous Greenview Stock Farm, near Atchison, now owned by B. P. Waggener. He erected the residence and several of the buildings now on the farm and engaged in the breeding of fast trotting horses. For some years he made his home on the farm and practiced his profession in the city, going to and fro from his law office and giving the farm work his personal supervision. The Greenview Stock Farm became famous for the many fast horses bred there, one of the most noted of which was Samuel G., record 2:29, and who made a trial record of 2:18¼ when a four-year-old. He made a practice of breeding two-year-olds for speed and succeeded, shipping horses to buyers in eastern and southern points where racers were desired for the tracks. In 1900 Mr. Greenawalt removed to Muscotah and continued his horse breeding until 1912, when he practically retired from the pursuit of his favorite hobby. He is the owner of a fine farm of 160 acres adjoining Muscotah on the east.

Mr. Greenawalt has been twice married, his first wife being Sophia E. Bowers, of Cleveland, Ohio, and who died May 26, 1870, at the age of twenty-seven years, leaving an infant daughter, Maude Mary, born February 11, 1870, and died August 2, 1870. He married Mary C. Bowers, of Stark county, Ohio, in September of 1882. This marriage was blessed with one son, Samuel O., born November 6, 1885, and died March 1, 1902. Mrs. Greenawalt was born December 15, 1845, in Stark county, Ohio, a daughter of Elijah and Mary Bowers, natives of Pennsylvania. In politics, Mr. Greenawalt is an independent. Mrs. Greenawalt is a member of the Congregational church of Muscotah. For many years Mr. Greenawalt has been a Mason and served as eminent commander of Washington Commandery, No. 1, at Atchison for two years, and also served as worshipful master of Active lodge of Masons, and is a member of the Knights of Pythias.

Henry Niemann.

Wherever members of the German race have settled in the agricultural sections of the Middle West, we find that they have been uniformly successful, and it is only natural to find that certain individuals achieve greater success than others. Henry Niemann, of Center township, Atchison county, is an American citizen of German birth, who came to this country a poor emigrant lad, and has made a wonderful success since he purchased his first eighty acre tract in this county, nearly forty years ago. He is now one of the largest landed proprietors of the county, and one of the best known stockmen of northeast Kansas.

Henry Niemann was born February 14, 1853, in Minden, Germany, a son of Christian and Mary (Krouse) Niemann, who lived and died in the Fatherland. They were the parents of seven children as follows: Crist, deceased; Henry, whom this review directly concerns; Fred, a farmer of Center township; Mrs. Christena Krouse, deceased; Charles, a farmer of Atchison county; William, living in Germany, and Augustav, deceased. Henry was educated in the schools of his native land and at the age of eighteen years left the Fatherland and immigrated to America in search of his fortune, which he was eventually to find in Kansas. He first settled in Madison county, Illinois, and worked there as a farm hand for five years. He saved his money carefully while working on the farms of Illinois, and in 1876 came to Kansas and invested in a tract of eighty acres of land in Center township. He erected a small two-room cabin on his land and a barn to house his team of horses. He broke his land gradually and at first was able to farm only a small portion of it. The neighbors tried to discourage him by telling him that the strong winds might wreck his home at any time and advised him to find a better and safer location. He failed to find a place which suited him as well as his first choice, and although he has lived for forty years on the farm his buildings have never yet been blown away by the Kansas zephyrs. Mr. Niemann has prospered as he deserved and by the exercise of economy, hard work and good financial judgment, has become the owner of 615 acres of land in several farms, all of which are well improved and highly productive. Mr. Niemann is an extensive feeder of hogs and raises large numbers annually for the market. He believes in feeding the grain products of his farm to live stock on the place and thus reaps greater benefits than the ordinary methods of farming would yield. He is a stockholder in a prosperous mercantile concern at Nortonville, Kan.

Mr. Niemann was married in 1897 to Louise Frommer, and to this marriage have been born ten children, namely: Mrs. Mary Dietrich, a widow, who lives with her parents; Rosa, widow of George Moeck, also living with her parents; Christena, deceased; Dena, deceased; William, a farmer living in Center township; Mrs. Dora Dietrich, deceased; Harry, Henry and Julius, living at home, and Mrs. Lillie Poos, Nortonville, Kan. The mother of these children was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1858, a daughter of John and Kathrine (Markley) Frommer, natives of Germany, who were early settlers of Atchison county.

Mr. Niemann is an independent Republican voter, who refuses to wear the collar of any one set of political bosses, and votes as his judgment indicates. He and his family are members of the German Lutheran church. Henry Niemann is a fine type of successful German-American farmer and is a tiller of the soil first and last; he lays claim to no ambition beyond tilling his broad acres and making his land yield the maximum of sustenance for man and beast; his great success lays in the fact that he has confined his energies to the soil and its cultivation and he has managed to get a good slice of the best land obtainable.

Fred W. Kaufman.

Fred W. Kaufman, merchant, Cummings, Kan., was born in Nortonville, Kan., February 18, 1879. He is a son of Frank and Louise (Baker) Kaufman, who were the parents of thirteen children. Frank Kaufman was born in Servia, Germany, in 1833. When a youth, in his native land he learned the shoemaker’s trade which he followed there until eighteen years of age, and he then emigrated from Germany to America in 1851. He came to Atchison, Kan., and worked as a cobbler. When the town of Pardee, Kan., was founded, Mr. Kaufman opened a shoe shop in that town and conducted it for about four years, after which he located in Nortonville and worked at his trade until his demise in 1911. The children of Frank and Louise Kaufman were as follows: Charles, deceased, merchant of Nortonville, born 1866, died 1908; Edward, a merchant, Nortonville; Fred, a merchant of Cummings, Kan., the subject of this review; Mrs. Anna Coon, of Rock Creek, Kan.; Mrs. Flora Hilderbrand, Independence, Kan.; Walter, a farmer, living near Cleveland, Okla.; Grace, residing at Nortonville. The mother of these children was born near the city of Atchison, and is now living in Nortonville.

Fred Kaufman was reared in Nortonville and attended the public schools of his native city after which he studied in the Atchison Business College. At the age of fifteen years he was employed as clerk in a general merchandise store in his home city. In 1900 he went to St. Joseph, Mo., where he was employed in the wholesale department of the Wheeler & Motter Mercantile Company for a period of nine years, and served in the capacity of mail order clerk in this establishment. He was then given a traveling position as salesman with his firm and for three years sold goods in the surrounding territory with considerable success. His ambitions led him to undertake things in his own behalf, however, and in 1912 Mr. Kaufman located in Colorado, where he was engaged in ranching for three years. Three years’ hard work enabled him to develop his Colorado farm into a good piece of salable property and he then disposed of his holdings and came to Cummings where he invested his cash capital in a general merchandise store which he is conducting with considerable success. His previous commercial experience has proven to be invaluable to him since entering the mercantile field in his own behalf, and he has developed a splendid business in Cummings. Besides his large store in Cummings, Mr. Kaufman has invested in 210 acres of land in Colorado and Oklahoma.

Mr. Kaufman was married September 6, 1905, to Carrie E. Hackney, and this marriage has been blessed with two children: Fred, Jr., and Maxine C., both of whom are at home with their parents. Mrs. Kaufman was born October 27, 1884, at Agency, Buchanan county, Missouri, and is a daughter of Alfred and Pauline (Slover) Hackney, natives of Wisconsin and Missouri, respectively. Alfred Hackney was a son of Thomas and Mary (Saxton) Hackney, the former a native of England. Thomas was an early pioneer settler in Doniphan county, Kansas, coming there about 1852, and also operated a drug store at Wathena, Doniphan county. Mrs. Thomas Hackney is still living at the age of eighty-eight years, born August, 1827. Alfred is now living in retirement at St. Joseph, Mo., and has attained the age of sixty-five years. Mrs. Kaufman’s mother died in 1904, at the age of forty years.

Mr. Kaufman is a Republican in politics and is affiliated with the United Commercial Travelers’ lodge at Hastings, Neb. He and Mrs. Kaufman attend religious worship at the Baptist church, of which Mrs. Kaufman is a member. Mr. Kaufman is a splendid type of self-made man whose success in the mercantile field is certain to continue in the years to come. His business methods are such as to commend him favorably to the many patrons of his store; he is likewise a good citizen who has the best interest of his town and county at heart.

Arnold Lange.

Lancaster township, Atchison county, is rightly considered as one of the genuine garden spots of the State of Kansas, because of the fertility of the soil, the well kept appearance of the fields, and the excellent improvements on the farms, the owners of which seem to vie with each other as to who can have the nicest looking and most productive farm. This township has a large German population, or rather, American citizen farmers, of German birth or descent, and it is a proverb in this land that, wherever you see a community of thrifty farmers of German descent, there you will find enterprise, thrift and progress. Arnold Lange, of this township, is a successful farmer and breeder, of German birth who has made good in his adopted country and holds a high place in the citizenship of the county.

Arnold Lange was born in Westphalia, Prussia, German Empire, December 23, 1853, and is a son of Herman and Charlotte (Mittendorf) Lange, who were born and reared in the Fatherland. Herman Lange was a farmer and coal dealer, and also conducted a grocery store for a time. He was born in 1824, lived all of his life in his native land and died in 1907. His wife, Charlotte, died in 1899, at the age of seventy-six years. They were the parents of twelve children, six of whom are living.

Arnold Lange received his schooling in Germany and worked as farmer and teamster until his emigration from Germany to America in 1882. He settled in Atchison county and invested his capital in eighty acres of land north of Huron, which he cultivated for nine years with fair success. He then sold the farm at an increase over the purchase price and bought the farm which now constitutes his home place and which contains 240 acres of good land. The improvements on the land when Mr. Lange purchased the tract were indifferent and included a small house. Naturally one of his thrift and pride could not remain long content with poor accommodations and he has built a commodious farm residence and a very fine barn and improved the looks of his place with shrubbery and trees until it presents a handsome appearance. He has also set out an orchard of six acres. Mr. Lange has specialized in his live stock raising with considerable success and his efforts in breeding thoroughbred Percheron horses have met with reward commensurate with his efforts. He has bred and raised some very fine animals of this class and in 1906 was awarded first prize on Percheron draft animals at the county fair held in Effingham. His interest is given to breeding fine cattle and his herd of shorthorns are as good as can be found in the county.

Mr. Lange was married in 1883 to Miss Minnie Kloepper, who has borne him three children: Herman, of Huron, Kan.; William, a farmer, of Grasshopper township, and Arnold, a graduate of the Huron schools and at home assisting his father in the farm work. The mother of these children was born December 14, 1865, in Illinois, and is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Christian Kloepper deceased. Mr. Lange is a Democrat, and is a member of the German Lutheran church. He is fraternally connected with the Modern Woodmen lodge.

William H. Graner.

“The Graner Farm.”

According to competent authority there are in Atchison county a number of pure bred live stock breeders, who, if they received the recognition to which they are rightly entitled, would take high rank among the leading live stock men of the country. Among these specialists are William H. and Henry C. Graner, sons of one of the pioneer pure bred live stock breeders of the county who are following in their father’s footsteps and have made a name and fame for themselves which extend far beyond the borders of this county and beyond the borders of the State of Kansas. William H. Graner, proprietor of the “Graner Farm,” which is the old homestead of the Graner family, is one of the most successful agriculturists of the county and is deserving of special credit for his progressiveness and decided ability as a breeder of fine live stock. The “Graner Farm” is one of the best stocked and best equipped ranches in the West and is noted for its fine Shorthorn cattle and standard bred Percheron horses. Mr. Graner learned the breeding business from his father and has made a success of the undertaking. His farm consists of 160 acres, which was formerly owned and developed by his father, Gottlieb Graner. On this farm are some very fine animals of the pure bred Shorthorn type which will compare most favorably in breeding and appearance with anything of the kind in the country. His herd of Percherons include twenty registered mares which have won many prizes at county fairs and live stock exhibits in Kansas. Mr. Graner has owned and used two grandsons of “Brilliant,” the sons of “Old Brilliant,” and sire of these animals, the “Colored Gentleman,” was awarded first and championship over all draft horses at the world’s exhibit of live stock at the Chicago international exhibition in 1893. All of his mares’ ancestry is traced back to “Old Brilliant” and this strain predominates in his drove of fine Percherons.

In the breeding of Shorthorn cattle he has used such sires as a son of the imported cow, “Ballechin,” “Charming Maid,” V67–616, “Sire Ceremonious Archer,” 171479. A number of the cows in Mr. Graner’s herd are sired by “Victor Archer,” 223102, a pure Victoria, and one of the finest strains of Shorthorn cattle known. Mr. Graner has not shown any of his fine stock cattle outside of Atchison county. He has six large cattle barns for the housing of his live stock and ships the product of his farm to buyers and fanciers in all parts of the United States.

Gottlieb Graner, founder of the “Graner Farm,” and father of William H. and Henry C. Graner, of Lancaster township, was born in Germany in 1835, and immigrated from the Fatherland to America at the age of sixteen years. He first settled in Illinois where he worked as a farm hand, and a few years later came west to Kansas City, Mo. In this city he invested his savings in a city lot which is now in the heart of the most valuable business district of the southwest metropolis, but he eventually let the lot go for taxes. From Kansas City he made his way to the city of Atchison where he found employment in a brewery at a salary of $100 per month. He saved his money and in 1868 purchased 160 acres of raw prairie land in Lancaster township, for which he paid five dollars an acre. He became a breeder of Shorthorn cattle and Percheron horses and succeeded in this undertaking, being one of the pioneer breeders of the western country. At the time of his demise, in 1894, he was the owner of 560 acres of well improved farm lands.

Gottlieb Graner married Martha Hauck, also a native of Germany, and who died in 1905. To this well and favorably known pioneer couple were born the following children: Mrs. Matilda Stansburger, a widow, residing in California; William H., with whose career this review is directly concerned; Henry C., a farmer and stockman, living near William H.; Ferdinand, living in New York, and Adolph, residing in California. Mr. and Mrs. Gottlieb Graner were Lutherans, and honest, industrious, God-fearing people.

William H. Graner was born June 13, 1869, on the farm which he now owns in Lancaster township. He was reared on his father’s farm and attended the Bell district school and also studied in the Monroe Institute at Atchison, after which he pursued a course in the Atchison business college. His commercial course occupied a period of four years and has proven to be invaluable to him in the management of his extensive farming interests. After completing his commercial course Mr. Graner went to work on the home farm with his father. After his father’s demise in 1894 he took charge of the farm and managed it until all the children became of age. The estate left by his father was then divided, and William bought the interests of the other heirs in the home farm and came into possession of the homestead place of 160 acres which he has improved with several barns and modern farm buildings. He has prospered and is now the owner of 560 acres of land, two farms, each of which is well equipped with good buildings. One of these farms is tilled by a tenant, and Mr. Graner had planted in 1915 140 acres of corn.

Mr. Graner was married in 1898 to Miss Clara Matthias, and to this union have been born four children, namely: Martha, deceased; Louis, Marguerite and Esther, at home with their parents. Mrs. Graner was born February 6, 1871, in Lancaster township, a daughter of Fred and Agnes (Bodendoerfer) Matthias, both of whom were natives of Germany and immigrated from the Fatherland to America and became early pioneer settlers in Atchison county. Mrs. Graner attended the Rock district school in her youth and is an excellent helpmeet to her husband and a kind mother to her children.

Mr. Graner is an independent in politics and prefers to vote for the man, regardless of party affiliations. He is a member of the Lutheran church, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Modern Woodmen of America. He is a well educated and versatile citizen and a capable and successful business man, as well as farmer and breeder. He has achieved a considerable measure of prominence in the county and State because of his decided ability. Besides his farming interests he is a stockholder of the Independent Harvester Company of Plano, Ill., of which concern he is the county agent, a large warehouse having keen erected on the “Graner Farm” for the purpose of housing the implement stock sold to farmers in the neighborhood. Mr. Graner is a member and stockholder of the Percheron Society of America, the Importers and Breeders, and the American Percheron Registry Association, and is a member of the American Shorthorn Breeders’ Association. He is a director in the Brown County Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of which prosperous concern he has been a director for fifteen years.

Henry C. Graner.

“Pleasant Hill Stock Farm.”

Situated on a hillside within sight of the old Graner homestead in Lancaster township, Atchison county, is the “Pleasant Hill Stock Farm,” owned and managed by Henry C. Graner, one of the most successful and best known farmers and breeders of northeast Kansas. Mr. Graner is a son of Gottlieb Graner, a pioneer in the pure bred live stock industry of Atchison county, whose biography appears in the review of the life of William H. Graner on the preceding pages of this history of their home county. The “Pleasant Hill Stock Farm” is unquestionably one of the best equipped modern breeding plants in the State of Kansas and is famed over the West for the product of its fields and barns. This farm consists of 240 acres of well tilled and well improved land, situated two miles north of the town of Lancaster and only a quarter of a mile from the birthplace of Henry C. Graner. In addition to his home place, Mr. Graner is the owner of 160 acres of land which he uses for pasturing his live stock. The home farm is well equipped with two farm dwellings and five well built barns and granaries with other conveniences to facilitate the handling of live stock. The owner has given special attention to equipping his farm for the breeding of fine cattle and hogs. He pays a great deal of attention to his Poland China hogs and is a breeder of the Big Type Poland China swine, which are among the best in the United States. Mr. Graner ships the product of his breeding pens to all parts of the country and has annual sales of thoroughbred hogs which are a feature of the countryside. To show the prices obtained from his sales in 1914, one small sow sold for $500. He handles the Big Type Poland China breed exclusively and is a regular exhibitor at county fairs and has frequently taken first prizes and many blue ribbons. His drove of fine hogs exceeded 300 in 1915, all pure bred stock.

Mr. Graner’s herd of Shorthorn cattle is of the Scotch pure bred strain and bred to “Choice Goods,” a famous strain known the world over for quality. He has also shown his fine cattle at the county fairs and live stock exhibits and carried off many first prizes. His herd of pure bred Shorthorns numbers fifty head at the present time, all registered stock. In addition to being a breeder of hogs and cattle Mr. Graner breeds standard Percheron horses of the imported strain sired by “Brilliant,” of which he has usually from twenty-five to thirty head of fine stock on the place.

Henry C. Graner was born April 19, 1871, on the old Graner homestead in Lancaster township, on which he was reared to young manhood. When a small boy he attended school in the village of Lancaster, and after the school house was erected in the neighborhood he went to the district school. He was one of the first students to enter Midland College in Atchison and there completed his education. He remained on the home farm until 1901 and then bought the farm which he now owns, first consisting of 160 acres, to which lie afterwards added an eighty. He later invested in another quarter section which he uses for pasture.

He was married June 6, 1901, to Miss Mary K. Meck, who has borne him five children, as follows: Lillian, born October 11, 1902; Matilda, born April 21, 1904; Louise, born June 1, 1907; Henrietta, born March 11, 1910; and Frederick, born April 8, 1913. The mother of these children was born in Center township August 31, 1874, a daughter of Fred Meck, now living on a farm in Center township, Atchison county. Mrs. Graner is a capable woman, a devoted wife and mother, and the Graner home is a very happy one at all times.

Mr. Graner is a Democrat in politics, but has little time to devote to the political game other than to vote for his favorite candidates at election time. He and Mrs. Graner are members of the Lancaster Presbyterian church, of which institution Mr. Graner is a trustee. He is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is also a member of the Standard Bred Poland China Record Association, and the Percheron Society of America. Mr. Graner’s success has been mainly due to hard work, close application to his affairs and keen financial judgment.

Richard E. King.

Richard E. King, farmer of Oak Mills, Walnut township, Atchison county, was born in this county, January 11, 1876. He was a son of Richard M. King, pioneer, farmer, merchant and early-day freighter, who was born in Smith county, Tennessee, January 23, 1837. Richard M. was a son of Abraham and Mahaley (James) King, natives of Virginia, who came to Tennessee in 1833. They migrated from Tennessee to Buchanan county, Missouri, in 1851, and one year later moved to a farm in Platte county, Missouri, where Abraham King and his wife eventually died. Richard M. King crossed the plains with a freighting outfit which started from Ft. Leavenworth en route Ft. Laramie in Wyoming, and met with considerable adventure on the long trip, which consumed ninety days going and returning. The Indians molested them frequently, and one time a mischievous band stole all the tongue pins from their wagons. Another time, when they were in camp, a band of hundreds of Pawnees swarmed around the train and tried to intimidate the men. One big Pawnee buck, uttering a loud “woof,” stuck a spear in Mr. King’s stomach. On account of the Indian force being of superior number to the whites, they did not dare take offense at anything they did, or seem offended at any of their pranks for fear of massacre. Richard M. King followed freighting four years and made his last trip to the far West in 1862, from Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., to Ft. Union, N. M. He came back from this trip, and with his savings bought a tract of land on the Missouri river in Walnut township. Unhappily, this land was eventually cut off from the mainland by the freakish Missouri, when it once more changed its course, and, although the deed to the land is still held by Richard M. King the muddy waters of the Missouri flow over it. In 1866 he bought forty acres of land in the hills, back from the river. He was married November 22, 1863, to Mary Frances Hottle, a daughter of David and Frances (Creal) Hottle, both of whom were natives of Brook county, Virginia. They too, came to Kansas in the early days, and settled in Leavenworth county, in 1855. David Hottle was a butcher by trade and bought and killed the first beef ever slaughtered in the historic town of Kickapoo, Leavenworth county. Kickapoo was a hotbed of the pro-slavery element in those days and woe betide the man who opposed their wishes. Two children were born to Richard M. King and wife: Lucy Ann, born August 27, 1864, deceased wife of Thomas Reagan, a passenger conductor on the Missouri Pacific railway. To Mr. and Mrs. Reagan were born two children, Thomas D., born March 8, 1889, and John M., born August 7, 1905; Richard E., the subject of this review.

Richard E. King grew to manhood on the home farm and was educated in the common schools of his native county and the high school at Kansas City, Kan. He was married in 1895 to Mary Sacks, a daughter of Henry Sacks, of Atchison county. She died in 1898, and after her death, Mr. King went to Kansas City, Kan., to reside and was there engaged in various pursuits. He married Miss Sue Allen in Kansas City, Kan., January 16, 1900. Mrs. King is a daughter of James T. and Jane (McCampbell) Allen, both natives of Woodford county, Kentucky, whose people removed from the ancestral home of the family in Virginia to Kentucky. The old Allen homestead, built of natural stone is still standing in the latter State, a picturesque and beautiful reminder of ante-bellum days. In 1885 James T. Allen and family left Kentucky and went to Cass county, Missouri, where they resided on a farm until 1903, and then removed to Harrisonville, Mo., where they now live. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Richard E. King, Richard Allen King, born July 12, 1903, a bright and intelligent boy and is an excellent student in school.

The King home, situated on a bluff overlooking the reaches of the old Missouri river, is noted for its hospitality and good cheer. Their home has been named “Che-me-o-kah,” a Kaw Indian term, meaning “Lodge of the Rising Sun,” or “Sunrise Cottage.” The Kaw Indians had a village on this farm in ancient times. Mr. and Mrs. King are a fine young couple who are highly esteemed by all who know them. Mrs. Richard M. King has one of the most remarkable collections of family heirlooms in Kansas.

John Moeck.

John Moeck, farmer, of Center township, Atchison county, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, March 17, 1869. He is a son of Henry and Eva (Heinz) Moeck, who were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Kathrine Younger, living near Potter, Kan.; Anna, deceased; Henry, farmer, Germany; John, subject of this sketch; Karl, Osborne county, Kansas; Regina, Atchison, Kan.; and George, deceased. The father was born April 3, 1839, in Germany, where he spent his life. He was a son of Henry Moeck, also a native of Germany. His wife, Eva, was born December 1, 1841. She is a native of Germany, and is now living on a farm in that country. John Moeck, the subject of this sketch, attended the schools in Germany, and in 1883 immigrated to the United States, settling in Atchison county, Kansas, where he worked on a farm for his board and clothing. He attended the district schools of Center township until he was twenty-one years old. During this time he was living with his uncle, Fred Moeck, and the following five years he worked as a farm hand. He was then married, and settled down on the farm which he now owns. He rented it for a time, until he was able to accumulate enough to buy it. He bought the place in 1898, and has owned it since that time. The farm consists of 145 acres of fine land, which the owner has improved extensively. Two acres of the place is planted with fine fruit-bearing trees. Mr. Moeck keeps high grade stock on his farm.

The career of Mr. Moeck shows what one can do by hard work. When he arrived in Atchison county he had only four dollars, and every cent that he now owns has been earned by hard work since he came to Atchison county. Mr. Moeck is a self-made man, who has won a desirable place for himself in his community. That his fellow citizens hold him in high regard, is shown by the fact that they elected him to the office of township treasurer for two terms. He has been road overseer, and is now a member of the school board.

In 1895 Mr. Moeck married Kathrine Ziegler, who was born April 5, 1875. She is a native of Germany, and the daughter of George and Agnes (Frommer) Ziegler. When a child five years old Mrs. Moeck came to America with her parents, who settled in Center township, Atchison county. Mr. and Mrs. Moeck have four children: Eva, Louise, Frieda, and Walter, living at home. Mr. Moeck is a Republican. He is an elder in the German Lutheran church. In reviewing his life, it is only fair to say that he is one of those self-made citizens who form the solid foundation of our democracy. By his own efforts he has climbed to the top, and has shown by his life what the man who will try can accomplish.

John O. A. Miller.

John O. A. Miller, farmer and stockman, of Kapioma township, Atchison county, was born January 1, 1872, in Kapioma township. He is a son of James and Eliza (Russell) Miller, who were the parents of eight children, one of whom is dead. The father, James Miller, was born in Clay county, Missouri, August 3, 1831, and was a son of Moses Miller, a native of Kentucky. James Miller grew up on his father’s farm and at the age of eighteen crossed the wild western plains to New Mexico, working for the Government. He found a few years of the strenuous life enough and settled down to farming in Atchison county in 1854. He bought 160 acres of land from a land company. The farm was composed of good bottom land and he made extensive improvements on the profitable returns which his large crops brought. He was a large breeder of cattle, especially Shorthorns, and his judgment on cattle was regarded as authoritative. He was known throughout that part of the country as the “cattle king.” He farmed 700 acres until his death. During his life time he held a number of township offices. His successful career ended September 12, 1913, with his death at Muscotah, Kan. His wife, who was a native of Iowa, died in 1879.

John Miller grew up on his father’s farm. He attended the Atchison County High School at Effingham, Kan., and after working a short time he went to the State Normal School at Emporia, Kan. To earn his way through college he worked as a farm hand until he had saved enough money to carry him through school. After leaving the State Normal School he rented the farm which he now owns, and in 1912 bought it. The place consists of 160 acres. In 1914 he built a fine barn, which is one of the best in the State for its size. It is 40×52 feet and has a smaller wing, 26×14 feet, with a capacity of seventy-five tons of hay. It is strongly constructed and is a model barn. Mr. Miller maintains that stock as fine as his ought to have a good barn in which to live. He makes a specialty of Percheron horses and Chester White hogs. He is also a breeder of Shorthorn cattle and has maintained the same strain which his father kept. In addition to his activities in the rural life of his neighborhood Mr. Miller is active in the business affairs of Muscotah. He is a director and stockholder in the State Bank at Muscotah, Kan., and has an interest in the Farmers’ Grain and Elevator Supply Company and the Mutual Telephone Company.

In 1903 he married Jane Ernst, who was born November 6, 1871, in Kapioma township, Atchison county. She is a daughter of John and Eliza (Lewis) Ernst. The father is a native of Germany and the mother of Norway, and both came to Atchison county, Kansas, in the early days. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have two children: Alice E. and Mary E., twins, who are living at home. Mr. Miller is a Democrat and has been treasurer of Kapioma township. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

Charles Carlton Hart.

For a Kansas citizen and pioneer settler to spend the better part of a lifetime in building up a fine and highly productive farm, and then to enter the banking business at a time when most men are ready to retire and live a life of ease, is rather out of the ordinary, but such has been the experience of C. C. Hart, banker, of Muscotah, Kan. Mr. Hart has lived in Kansas for forty-seven years and has been successively farmer and banker during that time. He is a descendant of one of the old families in America and comes of a family of ministers and teachers.

C. C. Hart was born December 6, 1842, in Sandusky, Ohio, and was a son of Rev. Ichabod and Harriet (Whitcomb) Hart, the former a native of New York, and the latter was born in Templeton, Mass., April 22, 1819, and died in Chicago, Ill., April 30, 1889. The Hart family is a very old one in America and is descended from two English immigrants who settled in Connecticut in the colonial period of our Nation’s history, and from whom the city of Hartford took its name in the seventeenth century. Several descendants of these early pioneers fought for the cause of American independence in the American Revolution and also in the War of 1812. Two brothers of C. C. Hart served in the Union army in the late Civil war. The father of C. C. Hart was educated for the Presbyterian ministry and later became a Congregational minister. He received his college training in Princeton University and migrated to Ohio in 1840; resided at Sandusky until 1843, and then took charge of a church at Medina, Ohio, until 1844, when he removed to Kenosha, Wis. After several years’ ministerial work in Wisconsin he located in Illinois, and died at Wheaton, that State, in 1870, at the ripe old age of eighty-four years. Rev. Hart was the father of eight children: Edwin R. received a college education and served in the Union army; Rev. Walter O. Hart, a Union veteran, now located in North Carolina; Eliza born in Kenosha, Wis., January 23, 1847, married George W. Phillips, and died September 15, 1875, at Llano, Texas, one and one-half years after her marriage. While carrying on his ministerial work the Rev. Ichabod Hart also conducted a farm in the neighborhood of his work. Edwin R. Hart was educated in Oberlin College, Ohio, and Walter O. received a college and theological institute education and is now living in retirement with his son who also is a minister.

C. C. Hart, with whom this review is directly concerned, was reared to young manhood on his father’s farm and attended the schools of Genoa, Wis. During the Civil war lie remained at home and assisted his father in the farm work. In 1868 he decided to strike out for himself and try his fortunes in the West. He came to Kansas and located in Jackson county, on the western border of Atchison county, where he purchased 160 acres of railroad owned land, at a cost of five dollars and forty cents per acre. He at once began improving this tract which was raw prairie at the time of purchase and in the course of time developed it into a fine and highly productive farm. The Hart farm is one of the most productive and best improved in the State of Kansas and is widely known for the excellent shape in which the grounds and improvements are kept. Mr. Hart added eighty acres adjoining in Atchison county to the original quarter section and now has 240 acres in all. He remained on the farm until 1905, in the meantime having become interested in the Muscotah State Bank as a stockholder and director. In that year he removed to the town of Muscotah, where he has since made his residence in an attractive home. Mr. Hart was elected cashier of the bank January 1, 1910, and served in this capacity until August 1, 1915. While cashier he also served as vice-president of the institution and is now connected with the bank in that capacity.

Mr. Hart was married in 1867 to Miss Emma A. Olden, who has borne him the following children: Arthur C., born in 1873, married Bertie Stockton, and has one child, Dorothy, residing in Bakersfield, Cal.; Dwight Hart died in youth. Mrs. Emma A. (Olden) Hart, the mother, was born in Wisconsin in 1846, and is a daughter of Enos Olden, a native of New York State, and a descendant of an old eastern family.

The Republican party has always claimed the allegiance of Mr. Hart, and he has taken an active part in political affairs during his long residence in Grasshopper township and Muscotah. While living on the farm he held various township offices, and was always found in the forefront of civic movements which had for their intention the ultimate good of all the people. He filled the post of mayor of Muscotah for four years and was a good official. In church work he has been very active and is at present the treasurer of the Congregational church. His work in the interest of the young people of Muscotah has endeared him to all of the residents and for twenty-five years he has served as the superintendent of the Sunday school of his church. Mr. Hart was secretary of the Atchison County Sunday School Association for ten years. Although this grand old pioneer has passed the allotted three score and ten years of age. He is still active, mentally and physically, and rarely a day passes which does not find him at his desk attending to his duties in the bank or working about the grounds of his attractive, well kept home. Mr. Hart is a courteous and kindly gentleman of the old school whom one can not help but admire for his many sterling qualities.

William Young.

A native born Kansan, who became a successful agriculturist and banker, and left an indelible imprint upon the business and social life of Atchison county, was the late William Young, of Arrington, Kan. The Young family was one of the real pioneer families of the county, and the late Mr. Young was born on a pioneer farm in Mt. Pleasant township May 20, 1858. He was a son of William Johnson Young, whose wife was Mrs. Martha (Wamach) Snowden, widow, born in Virginia, a daughter of Abraham Wamach, an early pioneer settler of Atchison county, who came to this county in 1854 and settled on adjoining homesteads with W. J. Young. W. J. Young, the father of William, was born in Tennessee in 1815, and was the first judge of Atchison county. He settled on a farm in Walnut township, two and one-half miles northeast of Potter, Kan., which farm is now owned by Peter C. Griner. The elder Young was a natural born leader of men, and took an active and influential part in the political affairs of the county in the early days. He was a religious man, whose home was a meeting place for the politicians and ministers of the Gospel, and he was very hospitable. His father was the Rev. Duke Young, a native of Tennessee, who came to Kansas in 1854, and preached the first sermon in the county, on the doctrine of the Christian denomination. The Rev. Mr. Young was about sixty years of age when he came to Atchison county, and he had been preaching the Gospel for many years in Tennessee. J. W. Young became a member of the Christian church when sixteen years of age. The Young family was of Scotch-Irish ancestry.

William Young, with whom this review is directly concerned, was one of a family of fourteen children reared by his parents. He grew to manhood on his father’s farm, and after his marriage, in 1880, he and his wife located on a farm in Mt. Pleasant township, near the town of Potter, and developed it into a fine and productive tract. He continued in agricultural pursuits until 1908, when he went to Arrington, Kan., and purchased the Arrington State Bank, which he operated until his demise, January 12, 1910. After Mr. Young’s death, his widow disposed of the bank and the Arrington property, and removed to Atchison, where she has since made her home at 419 Kearney street.

William Young was married February 5, 1880, to Miss Angie Cooley, and to this union were born the following children: Maude, wife of Earl Stapler, Atchison; Duff D. Young, born April 8, 1901. The mother of these children was born November 9, 1861, a daughter of James and Cassendania (Waddle) Cooley, both of whom were born and reared in Kentucky. James Cooley, her father, migrated to Kansas in 1854 and settled on a homestead south of Potter, in Leavenworth county. His wife, Cassendania, came to Kansas to reside with her sister, Mrs. Masterson, who lived in Mt. Pleasant township, and she was married in 1860 to James Cooley. Eight children were born to them, of whom Mrs. Young was the fifth in order of birth. James Cooley took an active and prominent part in political affairs in Kansas in the early days, and served as the representative to the State legislature from Leavenworth county for two terms, from 1868 to 1872, inclusive. He died in 1876.

William Young was a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Odd Fellows, and the Fraternal Aid Union. He was a man who lived his life according to Christian precepts, and was a regular attendant at church and Sunday school of the Christian denomination. His start in life was at the foot of the ladder, and he was successful in his undertakings, building for himself and his family, and leaving behind him on this earth the memory of a life well spent, and to his family a heritage of industry, honesty, straightforwardness and right living which will long be remembered by those who knew him best.

James E. Behen.

In the compilation of the biographical department of this history of Atchison county, Kansas, the fact is frequently brought to the mind of the reviewer that the really successful men of this county are essentially self-made, and began at the foot of the ladder of success, working their way upward by various means, all of which were honest and based upon hard and painstaking labor at the outset of their careers. Very few were well educated, or had been blessed with opportunities in their youth such as are the heritage of the youth of the present day. James Edward Behen, successful farmer, of Center township, Atchison county, is one of those citizens who are deserving of credit for what they have accomplished. Starting out as a boy of twelve, he has made his own way in the world, and after he attained manhood, with the assistance of a good and faithful helpmeet, he has accomplished results which are really creditable. Starting with a tract of eighty acres of land in 1900, which he found necessary to improve, he soon added another eighty, then another eighty, and now has a fine farm of 240 acres, which is one of the most fertile tracts of land in the county, practically all of which is in cultivation. Mr. Behen has the right idea of farming, inasmuch as he sells the product of his farm “on the hoof,” and has become an extensive feeder of cattle and hogs. This plan insures the fertility of the soil, and his farm is steadily improving as the result of a wise method of cultivation.

Mr. Behen is a native son of Kansas, who was born and brought up on Kansas soil, and will not admit that there is any better place under the sun for a man to acquire a fortune than right here in Atchison county, and, judging by what he has done in Kansas, the writer is prone to agree with him. James E. Behen was born March 28, 1864, at Leavenworth, and is a son of Michael and Mary Behen, who had six children. The father was of Irish descent. He followed bridge building. James, the subject of this sketch, started out to make his own way at the age of twelve years, and went to work on the farm of Edward Whalen, in Doniphan county, Kansas, and stayed there eight years. Meanwhile, he attended the district school, receiving a rudimentary education. He then worked as a farm hand until he was twenty-two years old. For several years following he rented land in Atchison and Doniphan counties. In 1900 he bought eighty acres in Center township, and five years later bought the eighty acres adjoining his farm on the west. Now he owns 240 acres, which he has improved considerably. He built a modern barn, 32×35 feet in size, and also built a fine cattle barn, forty feet square. He does a large feeding business, handling a carload of cattle each year. He keeps graded stock of all kinds on his farm.

In 1888 he was married to Lizzie Pauly, who was born March 30, 1862, in Doniphan county, Kansas. She is the daughter of John and Anna (Hartzinger) Pauly, natives of Germany. The parents were early settlers in Illinois, and moved to Doniphan county, Kansas, in 1857. Mr. and Mrs. Behen have eight children: Mrs. Agnes McCibben, Atchison, Kan.; Alice, deceased; Mary, graduate of Atchison High School, living at home; Thomas, living at home; Joseph, at home; John, whereabouts unknown; Roy and Fred, living at home. Mr. Behen is a Democrat. He is a member of the Roman Catholic church.

Fred Hartman.

It is meet that considerable space be devoted to the valiant old pioneers of Kansas who assisted in the settlement of the country, and had much to do with its development. Not all of them figured prominently, and it was given to a very few to be honored above their fellows. In the latter class the reviewer must of necessity and choice place the late Fred Hartman, pioneer, successful farmer, Union veteran and well known public official, who for more than two decades was a well known and highly esteemed citizen of Atchison county.

Fred Hartman was born in Franklin county, Indiana, December 7, 1844, a son of Jonathan and Christina (Wolking) Hartman. His paternal grandfather was Henry Hartman, a native of Pennsylvania, of German extraction, and his wife, Alice Case, whom he married in Pennsylvania, migrated to Indiana in the early days of the settlement of the Hoosier State. Jonathan Hartman, father of the subject, was born in Franklin county, Indiana, January 22, 1822, and was reared to young manhood among the rugged hills of his native county, learning the carpenter’s trade, and then moving to Platte county, Missouri, with his family in 1846. Nine years after settling in Platte county, he removed to Port William, at that time a thriving settlement on the banks of the Missouri river in Atchison county. Here he erected one of the first sawmills in Atchison county and the State of Kansas, and furnished all the sawed lumber for the settlers for many miles around. The year 1856 saw the beginning of the struggle between the Free State and pro-slavery men for possession of Kansas, and the summer of that year witnessed some lively times. History records the fact that a man named Bob Gibson, leader of the Kickapoo Rangers, came from the headquarters of the gang with a squad of men for the purpose of mobbing Jonathan Hartman on account of his opposition to slavery. Mr. Hartman was a man of high courage and assumed a defiant attitude toward the Rangers who finally left without doing the damage which they had boasted was their intent. About this time the noted Pardee Butler was set afloat on a raft down the Missouri river by the pro-slavery men of Atchison, and Butler appealed to Hartman for aid after landing, near Port William. Mr. Hartman gave Butler every assistance possible, in getting him to his home. In 1857 Jonathan Hartman sold his sawmill and settled on a farm in Mt. Pleasant township, near the old military road which ran from Ft. Leavenworth to Denver, and the Far Western points. Great trains of thirty or more heavily laden wagons drawn by six and twelve yoke of oxen were constantly passing the home of the Hartmans. Mrs. Hartman recalls the great drought of 1860 and the great snows of the following winter. During the year of the great drought the settlers did not raise any crops and were forced to journey to Atchison for provisions, on the return trip stopping at the Andrew Parnell farm for assistance in their dire need. Two of the drivers on a wagon train that terrible winter had their feet frozen, one of the men afterwards losing both feet as a result of the hardships undergone. The Parnell home was a welcome and hospitable place of refuge for the starving and suffering settlers, during that winter. Mrs. Hartman also recalls the beautiful and inspiring sights made by the troops of United States cavalry which were frequently seen from her home in those days.

Fred Hartman hearkened to the call of the Union in the second year of the great civil conflict and enlisted in Company F, of the famous Thirteenth Kansas volunteer regiment, under Captain Hayes, Major Woodworth and Colonels Bowen and Speck. He was engaged chiefly in scout duty, and was stationed at Ft. Smith and other points in the Southwest during his term of service, which lasted for three years, and was finally mustered out at Ft. Leavenworth in 1865. He then came home and resumed the farm work on his father’s farm. He was married January 21, 1866, to Cynthia Parnell. To this union were born the following children: Henrietta, wife of R. H. Ripple, died in 1896; Hannah Ann, wife of James Iddings, both of whom are deceased, and who left one child, Geneva Iddings, of Topeka, Kan.; Dora, wife of Joseph Speck, died in 1896, leaving one daughter, Dora, who lives with her grandmother; Jonathan, a salesman of Kansas City; Josephine, wife of John Putman, of Atchison; May Florence, wife of Roy Trimble, sheriff of Atchison county, has four children; Birdie, wife of Henry Barr, died in 1906; Frederick, died in 1911, was married to Blanche Baker, daughter of Captain Baker. The mother of these children was born January 14, 1849, in Buchanan county, Missouri, a daughter of Andrew and Mirah (Wilson) Parnell natives of Kentucky and Indiana, respectively. Andrew and Mirah Parnell began their wedded life in Franklin county, Indiana, where they were reared and then migrated to Arkansas, and from there to Missouri in the early forties. In 1859 the family left Buchanan county and settled in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county, where they figured prominently in the early history of the county. The little Parnell was named after Andrew Parnell and the old town of the same name took its appellation from the family which settled in the neighborhood. Mr. Parnell spent his last days in Jefferson county, Kansas, where he died in 1872. He became very well-to-do and prospered. He was one of the original Free State men and suffered considerable loss at the hands of the Jayhawkers and border ruffians. Andrew Parnell was the father of eleven children, six sons and five daughters, and sent three of his sons to serve their country in the Thirteenth Kansas regiment, one son being killed. Mrs. Hartman is the youngest child of this large family.

When Mr. and Mrs. Fred Hartman were married they settled on a farm near Parnell, which Mrs. Hartman still owns. They developed this farm and cultivated it successfully until 1896, when they removed to Atchison, where Mr. Hartman died October 25, 1909. Mr. Hartman was a life-long Republican and began taking an active part in political and civic affairs when he had attained his majority. He was elected sheriff of the county in the fall of 1895, and served four years in all, in this important office. Previous to his removal to Atchison, he had capably filled the office of trustee of Mt. Pleasant township. He became identified with the civic life of Atchison and served as a member of the city council and was held in high esteem for his ability and capabilities as a citizen. Mr. Hartman was prominent in Odd Fellow and Masonic circles during his long life in the county.

Fred Hartman was one of those pioneer citizens of Atchison county which are distinguished for their qualities of leadership, and his descendants are proud of his record as a citizen and public official. He was, during his whole life, a reader and student who believed in keeping abreast of the times and made a hobby of gathering historical data, being much interested in the history of his adopted State. His mind remained keen to the end of his days and he will always be fondly remembered by those who knew him. To him and his comrades who laid the foundation of the prosperous and happy community of Atchison, this volume is respectfully dedicated.

Oscar A. Simmons.

Successful banking calls for qualifications somewhat different from those required in other pursuits or professions. It calls for a keen mind, decisive action, ability to pass judgment upon a proposition and its merits, and the power to judge and gauge human nature, and determine upon the honesty or sincerity of those with whom the banker is constantly doing business. Oscar A. Simmons, active vice-president and manager of the First National Bank of Atchison, possesses the qualifications of a successful banker to a considerable degree. He is unquestionably one of the rising financiers of Kansas with an ever increasing prestige in financial circles. He is one of those broad-minded men who keep abreast of progress and have the faculty of adapting their capabilities to the advanced needs of the times. Although a comparatively young man, as years measure a man’s age, his experience in banking has been such as to eminently fit him for the important position which he holds.

O. A. Simmons is a native of Kansas, and was born in Jefferson county February 11, 1874. His father was Joshua Simmons, a native of Indiana, and his mother was Susan Pitcher Simmons, born and partly reared in Missouri. The parents of both Joshua and Susan Simmons were among the pioneer settlers in Jefferson county, and it is probable that they located there in about 1855. Both the Simmons and Pitcher families were prominent in the affairs of Jefferson county in the early days of the county’s growth, and were highly respected. Joshua Simmons and Susan Pitcher were married in Jefferson county. At the outbreak of the Civil war, Joshua Simmons offered his services in behalf of the Union, and enlisted in Company A, Eleventh regiment, Kansas infantry, at the age of seventeen years, and was under the command of Colonels Moonlight and Plumb. Mr. Simmons took part in some hard campaigns during his enlistment, the Eleventh regiment being a part of the division which fought General Price’s army of invasion throughout Missouri and Arkansas. On a number of occasions he showed his personal bravery in volunteering for scout duty in the Southwest. He was mustered out at the close of the war, returned home, and was married shortly afterward. After a long and successful career as a farmer and merchant, he is now living a retired life at Brondon, Colo., at the ripe age of seventy-one years. Eight children were born to Joshua and Susan Simmons, five of whom are living, as follows: Mrs. J. W. Faubion, of Anthony, Kan.; Oscar A.; Mrs. P. H. Scales, of Birmingham, Ala.; W. C. and C. T. Simmons, of Los Angeles, Cal. The mother of these children departed this life in 1886. She was a good wife and a kind and loving mother.

O. A. Simmons attended the common and high schools of his native county and town, after which he was employed in a general store at Winchester, Jefferson county, until 1899. He was then employed in charge of the gents’ furnishing department of a large department store at Leavenworth for one year. His ambitions had always been headed toward entering the field of banking, inasmuch as he believed that he could make a success as a banker. Opportunity naturally beckoned; he saw the need of a bank in the town of Potter, Atchison county. Taking what funds he could muster he went to Potter and organized the Potter State Bank, serving as the cashier of this institution for two years. He then sold his holdings in the Potter bank and organized the Exchange State Bank at Nortonville. For a period of five years he was in charge of this flourishing bank, and here had the opportunity of demonstrating his inherent ability as a financier. A wider and larger field beckoned to him and he came to Atchison in 1906. Here his genius as an organizer has had full opportunity for exercise and he organized the Commercial State Bank, which later bought control of, and was consolidated with, the First National of Atchison. Mr. Simmons was elected vice-president of the bank at the time of the reorganization and was installed as the bank manager. He has since taken an active part in the organization of other banking concerns, having organized the Farmers State Bank of Anthony, Kan., in 1910, of which his brother-in-law, J. W. Faubion, is the cashier. In 1901 he organized the Jarbalo State Bank at Jarbalo, Kan., of which T. J. Mains is cashier. Mr. Simmons disposed of his interests in the Jarbalo bank in 1911, and bought the Farmers State Bank at Effingham, selling control of this bank in 1912. His next venture was the purchase of the controlling interest in the State Savings Bank at Leavenworth, of which Mr. Mains is now the vice-president. He reorganized the Arrington State Bank at Arrington, Kan., in 1903, and is still interested in its affairs. He organized the Citizens State Bank at Elmo, Mo., in 1913, and is the principal owner of this bank, and a stockholder in the Union State Bank at McLouth, Kan. It is a noteworthy fact that every financial institution with which Mr. Simmons has been connected has prospered, and is in sound condition. In every bank in which he has been interested he has displayed ability of a high order as a financier and manager.

Mr. Simmons has been twice married, his first wife being Margaret Mains, whom he espoused in 1902, being a daughter of James Mains, of Oskaloosa, Kan. She died in 1907. His second marriage, in 1910, was with Mary Frances, daughter of J. H. Barry, a substantial and well known citizen of Atchison (see biography of J. H. Barry). Two children have blessed this union: John Barry, born December 17, 1911, and O. A. Simmons, junior, born March 9, 1913.

From farmer boy to banker and capitalist in the short period of a little over forty years, with no initial capital to begin with, but a keen mind and strong body, is the gist of the career of him of whom this review is written. When a boy he worked for fifty cents per day in Jefferson county. Coming from the soil, and being reared on the farm, he has never entirely lost a love for the land itself, and is heavily interested in various tracts of good farm land, and owns 400 acres of Atchison county farm land, and 700 acres in eastern Colorado, which, together with holdings in Missouri and Texas, will aggregate over 1,500 acres. His financial interests are varied, and in Atchison are of such nature as to be of distinct benefit to the welfare of the city. He holds stock in several of the city’s leading mercantile concerns. His first work was as a farm laborer at $10 per month. His commercial career practically began in a general store at Winchester, Kan., at a salary of $17 per month, and during the twenty-three years following, he has amassed a fortune of over $100,000. Yet, there are those who say that opportunity for attaining wealth and position are gone, and that a young man has no chance to succeed because of the great competition of the financial trusts of the country. The life story of O. A. Simmons is a direct contradiction to the wail of the pessimist, and furnishes a decided inspiration to any young fellow blessed with mentality and strength to go and do likewise in his favorite line of endeavor. While Mr. Simmons is a stanch Republican, he does not take an active part in political affairs, and has declined political preferment.

H. B. Walter.

H. B. Walter, of Benton township, Atchison county, Kansas, is one of the most widely known and successful live stock breeders in Kansas, and has made a signal success as a breeder of Poland China hogs during the past ten years. He first began the breeding of fine live stock in Republic county, Kansas, and while he has been a resident of Atchison county only since 1909, he has become known the length and breadth of the county for his fine live stock production. Mr. Walter did not venture in the breeding department of specialized agriculture for the purpose of producing show animals, but began his work purely as a commercial venture, and has succeeded even beyond his most sanguine expectations. He is the owner of 160 acres of fine farm land, located three and one-half miles northwest of Effingham, on which are excellent improvements. His farm is headquarters for supplying breeders with registered stock in all parts of the country, and he has the distinction of having developed the world beater of big type litters, and has produced and sold a world’s record type of Poland China swine of the big variety. For the past four years he has made the sales record for the State of Kansas in the numbers produced and the prices obtained. His farm produces 200 head of registered Big Type Poland China swine annually, and he holds two sales each year, in the months of October and February. In February of 1915, Mr. Walter sold fifty head of hogs, at an average price of sixty dollars per head, to buyers who attended the sale from all parts of the West. In February of the preceding year he sold at his regular sale fifty head, which brought an average price of seventy dollars each. The output of his breeding pens is shipped to points as far west as Oregon, and to places ranging from Minnesota to the Gulf States. In July of 1915 he filled an order for three high priced hogs sent in from Connecticut. He has done no exhibiting except at the local stock shows.

H. B. Walter was born on a farm in Jay county, Indiana, July 31, 1871, a son of Thomas S. and Sarah (Sherman), the former a native of Indiana, and the latter a native of Ohio. The family migrated from Indiana to Republic county, Kansas, in 1892, and settled on a farm in that county, where Thomas S. still resides. H. B. received his education in the public schools of his native county and State, and studied at Ridgeville College, Indiana. He prepared himself for the teaching profession, and taught school in Indiana for one year, and taught for nine years in Republic county, after moving to Kansas. He held the highest average grade possible to obtain in his teacher’s certificate, and met with considerable success in his profession, but abandoned teaching to engage in farming, in which avocation he began with the same determination to succeed as he had been imbued with when he began to teach. He purchased a farm in Republic county, which he cultivated, later buying a place in Brown county, Kansas, which he sold in 1909, and made the purchase of his present farm.

He was married in 1895 to Fanny Kunkel, a daughter of Noah and Caroline Kunkel, who were residents of Republic county, Kansas, from 1867 until their death. Mrs. Walter was also a teacher for eight years, and lived in Republic county over forty years. Mr. and Mrs. Walter have two living children: Frank, born in 1898, and Ruth, born in October, 1902.

Mr. and Mrs. Walter are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Politically, Mr. Walter is an independent voter, who is not tied to the principles of any political party or leader. He is a member of the Central Protective Association.

Hekelnkaemper Brothers.

This firm has the distinction of operating the oldest soda and vinegar manufactory in Kansas, which was founded by William H. Hekelnkaemper, father of the present proprietors, in 1863. The first factory was located in a little shed, 14×14 feet, one door east of the A. J. Harwi hardware store on Commercial street, Atchison, Kan. Mr. Hekelnkaemper operated the business for ten years, and gradually enlarged his quarters as much as his limited means would allow, and about 1873 removed the plant to the present location on the corner of Ninth and Laramie streets. He erected a brick structure, 22×50 feet, and also built an ice house. His business prospered from the start when he moved to his new location, and was confined to the trade in Atchison with the exception of supplying the towns within a radius of fifty miles in northeast Kansas, and western Missouri. In the old days patrons drove in wagons for a distance of fifty miles and more to purchase the products of the factory, and many of the former patrons are still buying from the sons. After the founder’s death in 1881, the business was allowed to languish to some extent owing to the enforcement of the State prohibition law, for the reason that the products of the factory, while not intoxicating, were largely purchased by saloons. Trade naturally fell off for a time until conditions were adjusted to the new regime, and new demands were created in other retail circles than the saloon business. The plant was closed for about a year and the widow then leased the buildings for ten years to M. L. Greenhut, who later retired. The sons then took charge in 1900, and it has since been operated by F. W. and G. A. Hekelnkaemper. The boys had no capital to begin with, but had a wonderful amount of determination and perseverance which stood them in good stead and enabled them to make good. The business had to be built over again, but fortunately paid a small profit during the first years. In time other additions were made to the plant and the capacity has been increased to over 15,000 bottle of soda water per day. This is the main product of the factory which also produces fruit syrups and flavoring extracts of a superior grade and quality, in addition to fifty thousand gallons of high grade vinegar each year. During the busy season fourteen men are employed and Hekelnkaemper Brothers has grown to become one of the important manufacturing concerns of Atchison. During the past eight years the business has practically doubled itself over that of each preceding year.

William H. Hekelnkaemper, Sr., was born in April of 1837, in Westphalia, Germany, and emigrated from his native land when a young man. He landed at New Orleans from a sailing vessel and then came by river boat to St. Louis where he lived for a number of years and engaged in the grocery business. His store was burned and he left St. Louis and came to the town of Rollin, Mo., where he again established a grocery store about 1861. In the spring of 1863, he came to Atchison, Kan., and opened and operated the first pool and billiard room in the city. One year later he disposed of part of his equipment and moved a part to Seneca, Kan., where after operating a pool room for a time, he sold out and returned to Atchison. In about 1863 he embarked in the soda manufactory as stated in the preceding paragraph. While a resident of St. Louis, Mr. Hekelnkaemper was married to Theresa Houk, who was born in St. Louis, Mo., of German parents, who both died during the great cholera epidemic when Theresa was about three years of age. The children born to this union are as follows: Gustave A., Frederick W.; William G., Frank V., Laura, Edith, Emma and Anna.

F. W. Hekelnkaemper was married September 17, 1901, to Pauline Ostertag, a daughter of George Ostertag, one of the pioneer wagon makers of Atchison, and to this union have been born two children: Irene and Lucille. He is a Democrat and is a member of the Elks, Eagles and the Moose.

G. A. Hekelnkaemper is associated with F. W. in the business as above mentioned. He was married in August, 1901, to Lydia Weik, a daughter of Christian Weik, an Atchison county pioneer, and to this union have been born two children: Marie and Louise. G. A. is a Democrat in politics.

William H. Hekelnkaemper died August 20, 1881. He was politically allied with the Republican party during his life, and was a member of the Atchison city council for a number of years, having been a particular and close friend and admirer of the late Senator John J. Ingalls. He was one of the founders of the famous Turner Society, and was its first president. He was prominently identified with the affairs of the society and the civic affairs of Atchison until his demise. He was a man of great resourcefulness which aided him in making a new start on occasions when everything looked darkest for his future. He had many warm friends in Atchison and was universally respected by all who knew him.

Clem P. Higley.