William McAdam was twenty-one years of age when the family came to

Atchison county and for three years after his arrival here he assisted

his parents in the operation of the home farm. He then worked out for

one year and began renting land on his own account, renting twelve years

in all, five of which were in Jackson county, Kansas. His first purchase

of land was a tract of ninety-six acres in Jackson county, which he

improved and resided upon until 1907, when he moved to Effingham, where

he and his family reside in one of the most attractive homes in the

city, located on a tract of ten acres. Mr. McAdam is now the owner of

160 acres of good land south of Effingham, over which he has

supervision.

He was married in 1888 to Miss Augusta Sutter, a daughter of Frederick

Sutter, now deceased, who was one of the earliest settlers in Atchison

county, and who became one of the wealthy land owners of the county.

(See sketch of Fred Sutter.) Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.

McAdam, Fannie and Mabel, both of whom are at home with their parents.

The mother of these children was born in Atchison county in 1861.

Mr. McAdam is an independent Democrat, who votes as his conscience

dictates, and prefers to support the man rather than any one political

party or creed, believing in this manner that better government will

result. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and is fraternally

connected with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

CLAUDIUS DEMONT WALKER.

The citizen who loves his city to the extent that he is willing to

devote his energies toward making it a better abiding place for his

fellow men, and does his duty in a public capacity, regardless of

criticism or adverse comments, is a man worth while. He whose name heads

this review is such an individual. As mayor of Atchison, C. D. Walker

made a record which will outlive the present generation; as an attorney

he has achieved a signal success and ranks high in the legal fraternity

of the State of Kansas; as a religious worker he has accomplished much

good of a lasting and enduring quality for the community in which he

lives. Born of Kansas pioneer parents, his training and education were

such as to prepare him for the career which has made him distinguished

among his fellow men; and he has proven that a wholesome example set by

noble parents is the best incentive that a man can have to guide him

through life.

[Illustration:

_Eng. by E. G. Williams & Bro. N. Y._

_C. D. Walker_

]

C. D. Walker was born March 29, 1851, at Greenville, Pa., a son of

Harvey and Anna M. Walker, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the

latter a native of Ireland. Harvey Walker, the father, was born in 1820

and was a son of Harvey Walker, a native of the Keystone State, who

married at Pittsburgh, Pa., Miss Mary Ann Carr, who was born at Mile

End, England. The grandfather of C. D. Walker was a wagon and carriage

maker by trade and operated a shop in Greenville for many years. The

history of the Walkers in America begins with three brothers who

emigrated from the north of Ireland in colonial days. One of whom,

Samuel Walker, located near Rochester, N.Y., one, Andrew Walker, settled

in Virginia, and one, the great-grandfather of C. D. Walker, settled in

Pennsylvania. Being north Ireland people it is practically certain that

the Walker family is of Scotch descent, their ancestors having emigrated

from the ancestral home of the family to the north of Ireland a few

centuries ago when the migration of the protestant people from the Isle

of Britain to escape religious persecution occurred. Harvey Walker

learned his father’s trade of wagon and carriage making, but worked but

little at the business. Imbued with the desire to better his fortunes in

the great West, he left the old home of the family in about 1854 and

migrated to Oneida, Ill., near which town he purchased a homestead.

After farming for a few years he sold out and started overland to the

new State of Kansas, which at that time was attracting adventurers from

all parts of the country. The family possessions were loaded upon wagons

drawn by horses, and in due time the Walkers arrived at Ft. Scott in

Bourbon county, Kansas, their destination. During the years ’57–’58–’59,

the senior Walker traded with the Indians, and eventually located on a

homestead, twelve miles northwest of Ft. Scott. Harvey Walker was a

stanch Methodist of the uncompromising type and was unalterably opposed

to the institution of slavery. He fearlessly and freely voiced his

convictions at every opportunity, and his outspoken tendencies

frequently brought trouble upon him from the slavery advocates, who had

settled in the neighborhood in considerable numbers. He was always

introducing new innovations in farming methods and machinery. It is a

matter of history that he owned and used the first rake harvester

brought to that part of the country. The slavery advocates and border

ruffians annoyed him considerably. They stole his horses, broke up his

wagons and farming implements and so pronounced were the threats of the

slavery men that Mr. Walker was forced to spend most of his time in Ft.

Scott away from his family. He was greatly interested in the success of

the anti-slavery propagandists and used great influence in determining

the ultimate destiny in Kansas becoming a free State. When the war broke

out he decided to move north. In the spring of 1861 he arrived in the

city of Atchison, which at that time was a small village, and was

induced by Capt. Asa Barnes to locate in Atchison county, where he

remained about a year. He afterwards purchased and settled on a tract of

land adjoining the town of Winchester, Jefferson county, Kansas. Here he

located his permanent Kansas home, and developed a fine farm. Here he

raised a large family, and gave his children the best education the

school facilities at that time afforded. Harvey Walker was married

December 24, 1848, to Anna Mariah Nelson, who bore him the following

children, namely: Crandall C., an importer of thoroughbred horses, Sioux

City, Iowa; Claudius D., with whose career this review is directly

concerned; Marion D., a farmer and fruit grower, living near Midland

College, Atchison county; Marvin L., a banker of Oklahoma City, Okla.;

Ellis Lytle, living in Washington State; Schuyler R., a farmer of

Stillwater Okla.; Harvey Mitchell, an importer of thoroughbred horses of

Oklahoma City; William Nelson, a farmer of Stillwater, Okla.; Roland

Ferris, who died in infancy; Orlina L., widow of William McKenney,

deceased, a hardware merchant of Winchester, Kan., and Anna M., wife of

William B. Stevenson, a Methodist minister. The mother of the foregoing

children was born in north Ireland, September 24, 1824, a daughter of

James and Elizabeth (Farris) Nelson. James Nelson was agent for an

English estate in Ireland, and was the son of William Nelson and

Catherine (Stewart) Nelson. His wife, Elizabeth Farris, was the daughter

of Robert and Jane Farris, all of English descent. Anna Mariah Nelson

came to America when eight years old with a brother, and went to live

with an aunt in Greenville, Pa., while her family settled in Bayfield,

Canada. She was educated in the schools at Greenville and afterwards

became a teacher in the public school where she was wooed and married by

Harvey Walker. Harvey Walker and his noble wife were sturdy God-fearing

Christians, and the family prayers were a part of the regular regime of

the religious creed followed by them through life. They were ardent

Methodists who believed in living faithfully according to the precepts

of their religion, and the examples set by their upright and consistent

conduct throughout their long lives left an indelible imprint upon the

lives of their children, who have endeavored to follow in the footsteps

of their parents. Claudius DeMont attended the district school at

Winchester, and when eighteen years of age left home to enter Baker

University at Baldwin, Kan. After two years of hard work in Baker

University he entered the agricultural college at Manhattan, which at

that time was a college controlled by the Methodists and had the best

facilities of any college of the State of Kansas. Here he spent four

years and should have graduated in the class of 1873, but on account of

ill health was compelled to leave school before the end of the term. In

the fall of 1876 Mr. Walker matriculated in the law department of the

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. During the year previous to this,

he had studied law in the office of Boyce & Boyd in Cincinnati, Ohio,

and upon his matriculation at Ann Arbor entered the junior class of the

university. He graduated from the law department at Ann Arbor in the

class of 1878, and immediately located in Atchison, where he began the

practice of his profession. From the very beginning his professional

career was a success. In February, 1882, he formed a partnership with

Judge Gilbert, which continued until Gilbert’s election to the district

bench in the fall of 1887. Since that time Mr. Walker has practiced his

profession alone for thirty-four consecutive years, which has been

filled with gratifying success. The district records of Atchison county

show that for many years Mr. Walker was interested in virtually all of

the important cases pending. For many years he was attorney for the

First National Bank of Atchison, Kan., together with many other large

institutions of the city.

During his long successful legal career, Mr. Walker has not neglected

the material side of his affairs and early invested his money in loans

and real estate. His investments were so judiciously made that he has

become one of the largest land owners of Kansas, and is rated as one of

Atchison’s wealthiest citizens. His total holdings in Atchison county

will exceed 1,700 acres of farm lands, and he also owns other lands in

Texas and western Kansas.

The political and civic career of Mr. Walker has been a noteworthy one

and portrays the rugged honesty and public spirited feeling which have

actuated him during his whole life. He was first appointed to the office

of county auditor by Judge Gilbert in 1888, and served for two years;

and was elected to the office of county attorney in 1891, and served in

this capacity until 1894. His service as county attorney included the

most strenuous years of his life, inasmuch as the court docket was

continually crowded during his entire incumbency. This was the time that

Coxey’s army of unemployed was making its journey from this part of the

country toward Washington and on its way committed all kinds of small

crimes, and many arrests were made daily. It was Mr. Walker’s duty to

prosecute these numberless cases as they came up for trial which

overwhelmed him. He has served as a member of the city council of

Atchison several terms, and was mayor for two years, 1911 to 1913. Mr.

Walker’s administration of the city’s affairs during his incumbency as

the chief executive is considered to have been the best that Atchison

ever had in a constructive and law-abiding sense. Several miles of

street paving was accomplished and many bad streets were repaved

thoroughly and well. The first concrete paving in the city was laid on

Division street and done in the best manner possible. The city purchased

the finest fire apparatus ever brought to a northeast Kansas city. The

West Atchison fire station was built. Three large sewer districts were

created and the sewers installed. One of these was the intercepting

sewer in White Clay creek. For many years the city of Atchison suffered

from the filth and stench of White Clay creek until the same became

intolerable. The remedy had been thought impossible, but on Mr. Walker’s

election he conceived the plan of installing an intercepting sewer which

has proved a great success, and a benefit to the city.

The electric light rate was reduced from 15 to 10 cents per kilowatt,

thus saving to the consumer thousands of dollars annually. The street

lighting was changed from the half night to the all night moon light

schedule, with many new lights added and without a dollar’s increase in

expenses. The city was freed from joints and gambling places and houses

of ill repute within the first few months after Mr. Walker went into

office and remained so during his entire term. As mayor he first raised

the question of requiring the mills and other large institutions located

along railroads, and the railroads entering the city to light their own

premises and yards.

Mr. Walker was the promoter and organizer of the first independent

telephone company in the city, which company succeeded in putting the

Bell Telephone Company out of business for the time being, and until the

Home company was sold to the Bell company in 1911, and a consolidation

effected.

Mr. Walker is a Republican and has always taken a more or less active

part in his party’s affairs. He was at one time a candidate for Congress

from the First Congressional district of the State of Kansas, at the

time the three-cornered fight for the nomination between Ex-Governor

Bailey, Charles Curtis and C. D. Walker was waged, and a deadlock ensued

which lasted for more than one week.

His family life has been an ideal one, and in keeping with the career of

the man himself. The marriage of Mr. Walker and Miss Lizzie E. Auld took

place June 7, 1881, at Atchison, Kan. One daughter has blessed this

union, Isabelle, wife of Louis D. Brockett, a son of B. L. Brockett, a

leading lumber merchant of Atchison. Mr. Brockett has charge of the loan

business established by Mr. Walker. Mrs. Lizzie Auld Walker was born in

Brownsville, Pa., a daughter of William W. and Isabelle Mullen Auld,

natives of Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. The Auld family is

one of the oldest of American families. Its members are related closely

with the Carrolls of Carrollton, Va., whose ancestors came from north of

Ireland and were originally of Scotch ancestry. William W. Auld migrated

from Pennsylvania to Atchison, Kan., in, 1872, and was a member of the

milling firm of Blair & Auld, from that time until his death in 1895.

Mr. Walker has been a member of the Masonic fraternity for over thirty

years, and has taken a regular course of Masonry, being a Knight

Templar. He is fraternally affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective

Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen, Knights and

Ladies of Security, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Royal

Arcanum. It is only natural that a man reared in a religious atmosphere,

as he has been, should take an active and influential part in church and

religious work. Mr. Walker has been a member of the official board of

the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Atchison, since 1880, and has

been a liberal and cheerful supporter of this denomination. At present

he is chairman of the building committee which has charge of the

erection of the new building planned by the church for the ensuing year.

Since 1889 he has served as a member of the board of trustees of Baker

University, of Baldwin, Kan. In 1908 he was a delegate to the National

conference of the Methodist denomination at Baltimore. Successful as a

lawyer, having achieved substantial competence in his behalf, made

history as a public official, followed the teachings of his Christian

parents as regards an upright life and doing his duty in a religious

sense, sums up the life career of this useful Atchison citizen.

ALVA CURTIS TRUEBLOOD.

Alva Curtis Trueblood, a former Atchison merchant and city official and

Union veteran, now deceased, was born in Salem, Washington county,

Indiana, in 1838, a son of Dr. Joshua and Zelpha (Arnold) Trueblood,

natives of South Carolina, who emigrated from their native State to

Indiana in the early pioneer days when the Indians were still camping on

the streams and roaming the forests of the Hoosier State. The parents of

A. C. Trueblood settled in Salem and he was there reared to manhood,

receiving his education in the district schools and the Seminary at

Battle Creek, Mich., where he was graduated. After his graduation in the

classical course at Battle Creek, he returned to his home town of Salem

and embarked in the newspaper business, purchasing the _Salem Times_,

which he edited until the outbreak of the Civil war. He enlisted at the

first call for troops issued by President Lincoln and was mustered in as

a member of Company H, Thirteen regiment, Indiana infantry, under

Captain Sales, who was later promoted to the rank of colonel, private

Trueblood being successively promoted to a second lieutenancy and then

to first lieutenant of his company. Later, he was commissioned a captain

and remained Captain Trueblood until the close of the war. He saw much

active service during the great rebellion and was under fire with his

regiment at the very first battle in which it was engaged, at Green

Brier Mountain, W. Va. Captain Trueblood fought in thirty-six terrific

battles during his term of service, and was engaged in the nine days’

battle at Cold Harbor under General Grant. Captain Trueblood often gave

a vivid and heart-rending description of the terrific slaughter of human

lives which took place at this great battle, and told of how a person

could walk for miles on the dead bodies with which the field was strewn.

His time of enlistment expired while the battle of Cold Harbor was in

progress, and he then returned to his home, where he was married

December 29, 1864, to Hattie Allen.

Mr. and Mrs. Trueblood resided in Salem, Ind., until after the close of

the war when he entered the mercantile business in Salem and was very

successful. His health failing him it was deemed advisable that they

seek a new home in the West. During his business career he had invested

in Atchison county land, and they came to this county in 1880, settling

on their farm in the spring of that year. They remained on the farm but

a short time, however, until Mr. Trueblood regained his health, in a

measure, and then removed to Atchison, where he embarked in the

queensware business, which he conducted for about three years. He was

then elected city clerk and held this office for about ten years.

Captain Trueblood died April 16, 1904. Mr. and Mr. Trueblood have reared

the following children: Albert, now engaged in the newspaper business at

Sacramento, Cal.; Victor T., manager of the Van Nuys News Company, of

Kansas City, Mo.; Paul T., a traveling salesman, residing in Grand

Island, Neb.; Owen T., of Kansas City, an express messenger of the

Missouri Pacific railroad; Nellie, a graduate of Midland College, and a

teacher in the Ingalls school; Norvel died in 1867, at the age of four

years. The mother of these children was born in March, 1840, a daughter

of Thomas and Annis (Brinkley) Allen, both natives of West Virginia, and

pioneer settlers of Washington county, Indiana. She was educated in the

common schools of her native county and attended the Salem Female

College. Thomas Allen, father of Mrs. Trueblood, was proprietor of a

cotton and woolen manufactory at Salem, and was forced to pay Gen. John

Morgan and his raiders the sum of $1,000 to prevent the burning of his

mill, when Morgan and his troops made their memorable raid and burned

the depot at Salem and raided the stores. Thomas Allen and wife were the

parents of eight children, six sons and two daughters. Three of the sons

were Union soldiers, William Allen, the twin brother of Mrs. Trueblood,

serving in the same regiment with Captain Trueblood.

Mr. Trueblood was an efficient and capable city official during his many

years of service in the city clerk’s office and had many warm friends in

Atchison. He was allied with the Republican party and was prominent in

the affairs of his party. He was well known in Masonic circles and was

high in the councils of the Masonic lodge, being master of Washington

Lodge, No. 5., of Atchison, Kan., for several years, and was a leading

member of the Grand Army of the Republic, both of which bodies

officiated at the ceremonies held when his body was laid away for the

long rest.

WILLIAM J. CLEM.

William J. Clem, deceased farmer and horticulturist, of Shannon

township, was born June 9, 1851, in Randolph county, Virginia, a son of

Aaron Clem, who immigrated to Kansas in 1863 and settled on Independence

creek, near the Doniphan-Atchison county line. On the farm, which his

father owned in this pioneer settlement of Kansas, William was reared to

young manhood, and married, after which he lived on a farm in the

southern part of Doniphan county for four years, then moved to the Myers

farm, which he and his wife purchased some years later and cultivated

until March of 1898. In this year he purchased the fine farm which is

now owned by his widow and immediately began improving it. This farm

consists of sixty acres and lays within a few miles of Atchison in a

northwesterly direction. Its acreage is divided as follows: Twenty acres

of apples and small fruits, and forty acres of farm land and pasture.

Realizing that it was necessary to follow intensive farming on a sixty-

acre farm, Mr. Clem set out an orchard of 350 trees, which have been

bearing prolifically for several years. An attractive farm residence,

set in a fine lawn in which shrubbery and flower beds please the eye,

together with a good barn and silo, greets the eye as they stand out on

a rise of land. Mr. Clem was a very industrious farmer, a good citizen,

and a kind father and husband, and will long be remembered by those who

knew him best and were aware of his many excellent qualities. He

departed this life on May 26, 1906. He was a member of the Baptist

church and a Democrat in politics.

W. J. Clem, and Laura E. Myers, his widow, were married June 16, 1879,

and to this union were born children, as follows: Mrs. Effie Randolph,

of Atchison, who is the mother of two children, Elizabeth and Bernice;

Mrs. Clara Waltz, of Shannon township, and mother of one child, Virginia

Frances; Mrs. Addie Underwood, residing on a farm in Shannon township,

who has one child, Spencer Eugene; Mrs. Laura Demmel, living near

Rushville, Mo., and mother of one son, Raymond; Albert, married Ella

Turner, and Edgar, at home; Mrs. Lissa Marie Altauf, of south Tenth

street, Atchison; Frances and Jessie, at home. Mrs. Laura E. (Myers)

Clem was born June 9, 1859, in Buchanan county, Missouri, a daughter of

Augustus and Hulda (Snyder) Myers, natives of Germany and Indiana,

respectively. Augustus Myers was born in 1825 and died October 6, 1909.

His parents with their family immigrated to this country from Germany in

1831. Augustus was reared on a farm, south of St. Joseph, and was there

married. His wife, Hulda, was born in 1831 and died October 8, 1907. She

came with her parents to Buchanan county, Missouri, in 1841. There were

nine children in the Myers family, namely: Hiram K., deceased; Edward

S., deceased; William H., living in Doniphan county; Mrs. Laura E. Clem,

with whom this review is directly concerned; Winslow, of Gower, Mo.;

Charles W. of Lancaster township, this county; Mrs. Dora Augusta Saeger,

of Quincy, Ill.; Mrs. Malinda Frances Underwood, of Shannon township;

and Ray Evans, of Seattle, Wash. The Myers family came to Atchison

county in August of 1875, living in Atchison until February, 1876, and

settled on a farm in Shannon township, which he purchased from Andrew

Evans, living on their place near Good Intent, until March of 1891, when

the old couple sold their farm to Mr. and Mrs. Clem, and retired to a

home in Atchison, where they died. Augustus Myers was a soldier in the

Union army and served for a few months under Captain Snyder, an uncle of

Mrs. Clem.

Mrs. Clem and her children are all members of the Christian church and

take an active part in the social and religious affairs carried on by

the large membership of this flourishing denomination. She and her

sturdy sons carry on the farming operations in a creditable and

profitable manner and are happy and contented. The boys are greatly

interested in athletics and were an important part of the winning church

baseball team during the season of 1915. A happier nor more contented

family can not be found in Atchison county. Mrs. Clem is a capable and

intelligent woman who did not hesitate to take over the management of

the farm upon her husband’s demise and has made a success of the

undertaking.

JARED COPELAND FOX.

The late Jared Copeland Fox was one of Atchison’s ablest citizens,

public spirited, a successful financier and a familiar figure in the

leading circles of the city for many years. Merchant, banker, scholar, a

kind husband and father, his demise left a void which can never be

filled. Coming of a distinguished family, born October 30, 1841, in

Chili, N. Y., his life bears out the oft repeated assertion that lineage

and birth have something to do with shaping a man’s destiny, and

influencing his career. His parents were Jared Ware and Mercy Chapman

(Copeland) Fox. Jared Ware Fox was a son of Alanson and Elizabeth (Ware)

Fox. His maternal grandfather was Jonathan Copeland, who married a Miss

Wells at Charlton, Mass., who was a direct descendant of Ruth, a

daughter of John and Priscilla Alden. On April 2, 1816, Jonathan

Copeland was commissioned a captain in the militia and adjutant on the

governor’s staff of Massachusetts in 1816. In 1819 he was appointed a

brigadier commander of the State militia. After his marriage he removed

to New York and was there a colonel in the State militia of New York. He

held five different commissions in Massachusetts and New York. The Fox

family is of English descent and originally settled in Connecticut. The

maiden name of the wife of Col. Jonathan Copeland was Rebecca Edwards

and she was a connection of the family of which Rev. Jonathan Edwards

was a member. Colonel Copeland had three children: Mercy, Elizabeth and

the Rev. Jonathan Copeland, a Congregational minister of New York, who

conducted an academy in that city and one of whose pupils was Philip

Armour of beef packing fame. Jonathan was born October 16, 1786, died in

1858 in New York; Rebecca was born in 1790, died February 6, 1863, in

Kansas.

[Illustration:

_Eng. by E. G. Williams & Bro. N. Y._

_A. C. Fox_

]

Alanson Fox, grandfather of Jared C., removed from Connecticut to a farm

near Sherburne, N. Y., and here Jared Ware was born December 5, 1810.

Rev. Jared Ware Fox was educated for the ministry, studying four years

in Oneida Institute and one year in a seminary in New York City, and for

fifty years preached the Gospel according to the Congregational faith.

In the early days he was sent to Kansas by his church to establish and

organize churches in the new towns and cities building up on the broad

prairies. He formed a church at Burlingame and Ridgeway, Kan., making

his home at the latter place and preaching throughout the country

serving churches at Kunwaka, Waveland, Valley Brook and one year at

Lawrence. He spent one year in Topeka in charge of a church in the

capital city. He was a strong abolitionist and was in his natural

element when he first came to Kansas in 1860, the year of the “great

drought.” He took an active part in the relief work in Kansas at that

time and sent his son, Jared C., then but eighteen years of age, back to

Galesburg, Ill., where an old friend of the family resided, to gather

potatoes and produce for the sustenance of the drought suffers. He died

March 2, 1898, leaving the following children: Charles G., on the old

homestead at Ridgeway, Kan.; Jared C.; Irving Dwight, deceased; Herbert

Everett, of California; Herman Elliot, Davenport, Iowa. The mother of

these children, Mercy C. (Copeland) Fox, was born February 16, 1816, and

died April 11, 1893.

Jared C. Fox received an academic education in New York and accompanied

his parents to Kansas. At the age of nineteen years he was first

employed in a general store conducted by Crosby Brothers at Valley

Falls, Kan., at a salary of $150 per year and his board. He yearned for

a larger field and came to Atchison in 1862, entering the employ of

William Smith, who owned a dry goods store. During a part of the Civil

war he served as clerk in the commissary department at Rolla, Mo., under

Major Grimes for two years. After the close of the war he was deputy

county treasurer under Sam C. King, and upon Mr. King’s resignation from

the county treasurership, he was appointed to serve for six months

finishing out Mr. King’s unexpired term. He then served as deputy United

States marshal under Charles Whiting. For some years previous to

embarking in the drug business he was associated in the real estate

business with H. Clay Park, former postmaster of Atchison and editor of

_The Patriot_, and now one of the editors of the _St. Joseph News_. In

1869 Mr. Fox made the business venture which was the turning point of

his fortunes and launched him on the high road to financial success. He

entered into partnership with W. C. McPike, S. C. King and Frank Allen

in the wholesale drug business. Later Mr. Fox and Mr. McPike became the

sole owners of the business, Mr. Fox disposing of his interest to T. M.

Walker and the firm removed to Kansas City, where it is still doing

business under the name of the McPike Drug Co. Mr. Fox became interested

in banking and at the time of his death was vice-president of the

Atchison Savings Bank, the oldest State bank in Kansas. He conducted a

loan business as his financial resources increased in strength and he

became one of Atchison’s wealthy citizens.

On December 22, 1868, Mr. Fox was married to a charming southern lady,

Miss Virginia Alexina Tortat. This union was blessed by the birth of

five children as follows: Jared Copeland, Jr., manager of the Howard

Manufacturing Co., of Atchison, and father of eight children, Virginia

Parker, Marjorie Parker, Jared Copeland, Jr., Parker, Amelia Joanna,

Lawton, Edith and William Horan; Edith Fox Jackson, wife of Judge W. A.

Jackson, and mother of two children, Jared Fox and Edmund Valentine;

Henry Irving, wholesale druggist at Wichita, Kan., and father of Everett

Cranson, Florence, Mary Anne and Sarah Virginia Fox; William Tortat,

assistant cashier in the Atchison Savings Bank, and father of one

daughter, Mary; Florence, at home with her mother. The mother of these

children, Mrs. Virginia Fox, was born at Eufaula, Ala., December 20,

1847, a daughter of Henri Sylvest and Nancy (Decker) Tortat. Henri S.

Tortat was born in October, 1811, in France. He was destined to be a

clergyman by his parents, but, having no intention to enter the

priesthood, took part in the three days’ revolution against Charles X.

He left home and joined an uncle who was an officer in the French army

of occupation in Algiers in 1833. He came to America in 1836 when a

young man and was married at Wiscassett, Me., to Nancy Decker, whom he

met at Boston, Mass. After his marriage he took his bride to Charleston,

S. C., and thence to Eufaula, Ala., and conducted a merchandise store

there until he was induced to join a colony of southern people who were

going to Kansas in May, 1857. When he came to Kansas he first took up a

homestead claim and then purchased a bakery at Tecumseh, Shawnee county,

but died July 6, 1858, before he could get fairly settled in the new

country. Seven children were born to and reared by Henri and Nancy

Tortat: Henri Alexis, deceased; Mrs. Amelia Caroline Barry, deceased;

Mrs. J. C. Fox; Jean Paul, deceased; Augusta makes her home with Mrs.

Fox; William Marshall, Peabody, Mass.; Mary died at the home of Mrs.

Fox. Six years after Mr. Tortat’s demise, the mother and children

removed to Atchison, where she died December 20, 1864.

In his younger days Mr. Fox was a Republican, but later became a

Democrat and was a strong Cleveland adherent. He was a supporter of

President Theodore Roosevelt during his first administration. He was a

staunch supporter of Woodrow Wilson when Wilson was a candidate for the

Presidency, but was generally broad minded in his political views. He

was a member of Washington lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons,

Knights Templar, a Mystic Shriner and an Odd Fellow; he was reared in

the Congregational church atmosphere but after marriage chose to attend

the Episcopalian church with his wife. His death occurred August 23,

1914, when a strong and noble character passed to the great beyond. Mr.

Fox was blessed with a singularly happy temperament which manifested

itself even on his bed of illness; he was always good humored and had a

strong sense of humor which, combined with a kindly disposition, made

him a prime favorite with his friends and acquaintances. He was a great

reader, an expert accountant, possessed a strong memory and was a

Shakespearean scholar, quoting from Shakespeare while lying on his couch

awaiting the last summons, and also quoting the Twenty-first Psalm on

his last day on earth. He served the city as a member of the city

council and was president of the school board for a term, being of

material assistance in handling their financial affairs, because of his

genius in this direction.

JAMES EMERY PENNINGTON.

The _Western Advocate_, Mankato, Kan., in an issue of July, 1899, has

this to say in part regarding one of the most remarkable family reunions

ever held in Kansas or anywhere in the country: “Without doubt the most

remarkable family reunion ever held in Jewell county has been for the

past week at Burr Oak and among the various members of the family in

that vicinity. It is the reunion of the eleven children, together with

many of the sixty-four grand children of the late James Pennington and

Susan Wisdom Pennington. The Pennington family is a Southern family, the

elder Pennington being a native of Tennessee, and his wife of North

Carolina. All of the eleven children, however, with the exception of the

oldest son, were born and raised in Missouri. The Pennington family is

remarkable in that there were just eleven children and they are all

living and enjoying good health, although the youngest is now fifty

years of age, the eldest being a little past seventy. These family

reunions, which are an annual event, prove that the family tree,

nourished by the good old warm Southern blood, is still bearing the

fruits of hospitality and good cheer. Once a year they get together,

parents, children and grand children, and the ties of family, of

kinship, and affection are drawn a little closer. Hearts are cheered,

lives are brightened and days are lengthened.” Speaking of the gathering

on Saturday of the reunion week, the _Western Advocate_ goes on to say:

“On this day a company of one hundred gathered around the banquet board,

and the eleven brothers and sisters were weighed and their combined

weight found to be 1,832 pounds, an average of 166 pounds each.”

The father of this remarkable family was James Pennington, a native of

Tennessee, born in that State in 1822, and was there married to Susan

Wisdom. They migrated to Missouri in the early thirties and settled in

Nodaway county, developing a fine farm until the discovery of gold in

California. James then set out across the plains and mountains to the

gold fields of the New Eldorado in quest of fortune. While in California

he became a freighter and transported flour and provisions to the mining

camps afoot. He would carry a fifty pound sack of flour a distance of

sixteen miles and was paid at the rate of $50 per sack for

transportation, the flour costing $50 per sack at the point of purchase

and being valued at $100 when it was taken to its destination by the

carrier. James, Sr., remained in California until 1851 and then returned

to his home and family in Missouri, where he lived the remainder of his

days, dying in 1878, in Platte county. James and Susan Pennington were

the parents of eleven children as follows: William W., born in 1837,

died February, 1913, at Lebanon, Kan.; John Thomas, California, born in

1839; Mrs. Telitha Thorp, Marysville, Mo., born in 1841; Mrs. Julia

Denney, Benedict, Kan., born in 1842; Mrs. Clementine Conner, Santa Ana,

Cal., born in 1844, a widow; Mrs. Nancy Miller, California, born in

1845, a widow; James Emery, with whom this review is directly concerned;

Mrs. Sarah Robertson, Elk City, Okla., born in 1849; Mrs. Mary

Robertson, Burr Oak. Kan., born in 1853; Mrs. Cynthia Jane Judy, Burr

Oak, born in 1855; Mrs. Rocksinah Graves, Burr Oak, Kan., born in 1857.

James Emery Pennington, retired farmer of Potter, Kan., was born on a

farm in Nodaway county, Missouri, October 30, 1847. He was reared on the

farm in Missouri until seventeen years of age, and he then left home and

crossed the plains. The occasion of his going was because of the fact

that two brothers and three brothers-in-law had already enlisted in the

Union army for service in the Civil war, and the father felt that he

could not spare his son, James E., so it was agreed between father and

son that the boy should go west for a time. He made his way across the

Missouri to Ft. Leavenworth and there joined an overland freight train

which was bound for Salt Lake City, Utah. At that time all the freight

and merchandise west of the Missouri river was transported in wagons,

drawn by horses, mules or oxen. These wagons were loaded with from six

to twelve thousand pounds of merchandise and were drawn by teams ranging

in numbers from twelve to twenty-four animals. From twenty to forty men,

wagons and teams constituted what was then known as a “freight train.”

The train to which young Pennington attached himself consisted of forty

wagons, forty teamsters, two wagon masters, four assistants, two night

herders, and two extras, in all, fifty men, four hundred and ninety oxen

and a few horses for herding purposes. Being a farmer boy and having a

working knowledge of animals, young Pennington soon made himself

indispensable to the outfit and received the name of “Our Boy” from the

other men in charge of the train. The train proceeded its long way over

the plains of Kansas and followed the valley of the South Platte to the

Rockies without mishap, other than a few Indian skirmishes. In October

of 1864, “Our Boy” stood on the crest of the Rockies with one foot on

the Atlantic and one foot on the Pacific slope. Winter soon came on and

stock perished and they arrived at their destination in the dead of

severe winter. Young Pennington spent the winter in the home of a Mormon

family, consisting of a Mormon and his seven wives. From Utah he went

north into Idaho and Montana, and in that region took up his favorite

pursuit of freighting, which he followed for four years. His operations

were mainly from Ft. Benton, the head of navigation on the Missouri

river, to which point the river steamers carried the freight destined

for the mining camps of the mountain regions. He, with others,

transported the first quartz mill to the mining camp, later widely known

as Butte City, Mont. He returned home in 1869 and lived there for three

years, coming to Kansas in 1872. He had saved some capital which he

brought with him to Atchison county, and invested this money in a herd

of cattle which he grazed upon the free ranges, in this manner getting

his first real start in life, and which was the beginning of his later

prosperity. After his marriage in 1872 to Elizabeth Snoddy, he and his

wife settled on the home farm of the Snoddy’s, and at the end of one

year the father of Mrs. Pennington deeded the young couple eighty acres

of land which became the nucleus of their present acreage. This land is

four miles east and one-half mile south of Potter. Leavenworth county,

and the farm has been increased to 320 acres of well improved land. Mr.

Pennington removed to Potter in the spring of 1916, from the farm in

Leavenworth county, and has recently completed a fine, modern, ten-room

residence which will serve as his future domicile during the remainder

of his days.

James E. Pennington was married February 1, 1872, to Elizabeth, daughter

of Thomas and Margaret (Brown) Snoddy, the former a native of Tennessee,

and the latter a native of Missouri. Thomas Snoddy first came to Kansas

in 1854, and preëmpted the farm which he improved and where his children

were reared. He was a Mexican war veteran and the Government gave him

for his services a grant of land in northwestern Missouri, which he sold

for $1,600, and with the proceeds of the sale built his home on his

preëmption in Kansas. The upper part of the house was used as

headquarters for the Kickapoo Masonic lodge for many years. Thomas

Snoddy was born August 27, 1825, and died October 8, 1909. His remains

were interred in the Round Prairie cemetery. A remarkable fact about the

Snoddy house is, that the roof existed without repairs for over fifty-

five years and at the time of its repair by Mr. Pennington, the

excellence of the material which went into the building of the house

excited newspaper comment. Mrs. Pennington was born on September 25,

1856, and lived her whole life on the farm which her father preëmpted.

The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. James Emery Pennington:

Rebecca, wife of William Ehart, of Atchison county, Kansas; Bessena,

wife of Joseph James, of Atchison county, a farmer and horse and mule

dealer; Roxie, wife of John Goff, of Potter, Kan., a thresher and

farmer; Thomas W., living on the home farm; Frank P., a lumber merchant,

of Burr Oak, Kan., who was associated with his father in the grain

business in Potter, in 1906; George, a farmer living in Leavenworth

county; Mamie, a student in the Potter High School.

Mr. Pennington, with others in his neighborhood, organized and placed in

operation the Farmers’ Elevator Company, of which he was president. This

concern built the Potter grain elevator and later sold it to H. A. Ode.

He has long been identified with the Democratic party, but has never

sought political preferment of any kind. At the time of the organization

of the Potter High School district, Mr. Pennington was one of the prime

movers in the building of the new high school building. Perhaps the best

known trait of this grand old pioneer is his inherent hospitality, which

has made him famous and one of the best loved men in his section of the

State. Concerning a great Christmas celebration held at the Pennington

home in 1911, the _Atchison Globe_, of December 27, 1911, says:

“J. E. Pennington, a well known farmer of the Round Prairie

neighborhood, south of town, always provides a big entertainment for his

immediate friends and relatives every Christmas, and spares no pains or

expense to make these annual affairs highly enjoyable. The late holiday

was no exception to the rule. On Monday quite a crowd gathered at Mr.

Pennington’s home, as usual, and spent a day of merriment. A big

Christmas tree loaded with almost everything conceivable in the way of

holiday gifts, was provided by Mr. Pennington; a big dinner was also

served, and in the afternoon the men indulged in a hunt. A long wire was

stretched across a field, with a horse hitched to each end of it. The

wire was thus dragged across the field and in this manner all of the

rabbits were scared up. The men followed behind the wire and shot the

rabbits as they jumped out. Four jack rabbits were scared up and one of

them killed; also many cottontails. It is said that Mr. Pennington

expended nearly $200 on this affair. He is a very prosperous farmer and

is noted for his hospitality.”

DR. EARL A. GILMORE.

Dr. Earl A. Gilmore, veterinary surgeon, of Effingham. Kan., was born

September 27, 1887, at Ames, Iowa, a son of William T. and Jerusha

(Norton) Gilmore. His father was born in 1850, in New York State, and

when an infant accompanied his father, George Gilmore, to Iowa. His

mother was born at Zearing, Iowa, November 10, 1855, and died March 7,

1898. William J. was reared on the pioneer farm in Iowa, and was able

when a young man to take advantage of the opportunity to amass wealth in

the new and rich State, which was being developed during his day and

lifetime. He was married September 5, 1869. He became one of Iowa’s most

prosperous farmers, and in his later days, when he retired from active

farm work, he traveled extensively throughout the country, visiting many

points in the West, and the Philippine Islands. On February 1, 1915,

while aboard a Missouri Pacific train en route to Kansas City, the train

was wrecked, and he was injured to such an extent that he was laid up in

the hospital at Kansas City for several weeks, and then returned to his

home at Ames, Iowa. There were ten children in the Gilmore family: Mrs.

Uretta Stevens, of Star City, Mich.; Mrs. Maria Pellersells, of Grand

Rapids, Wis.; Maines Gilmore, now in Alaska; Charles, of Greeley, Colo.;

George, living in Iowa; William, a college professor at Winnipeg,

Canada; Earl A., the subject of this review; Mrs. Eva Burton, of Ames,

Iowa; Ella, deceased: one child died in infancy. The mother of these

children was a daughter of Isaac Gilmore, a native of Ireland. The

Gilmore family is also of Irish descent, all four of Dr. Gilmore’s

grandparents having emigrated from the Emerald isle.

Earl A. Gilmore was educated in the Nevada (Iowa) High School, and

studied at Drake University for one year; the Iowa State College at Ames

for two and one-half years; then studied for two years in the Kansas

City Veterinary College, graduating April 16, 1912. His funds being

exhausted, when he decided to become a veterinary surgeon, he found it

necessary to work his way through his final college course, by doing

reportorial work on the staff of the _Kansas City Star_. Upon his

graduation he immediately located in Effingham and has built up an

extensive practice in his profession, covering a territory of twelve

miles, north and south, and nine miles, east and west.

Dr. Gilmore is a member of the Missouri Valley Veterinary Association,

and the National veterinary fraternity, the Kansas City chapter of the

Delta Alpha Psi. He is a Republican in politics and is fraternally

affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows lodge and the

Knights and Ladies of Security. Dr. Gilmore takes a keen and active

interest in the civic welfare of Effingham and is usually found in the

forefront of undertakings which are intended to promote the best

interests of the city.

ALFRED JONATHAN HARWI.

In writing the history of a city and county such as Atchison, the

reviewer very naturally finds that among the large number of men who

have had much to do with the upbuilding of the community, and who can be

counted among the really successful men of the period covered, there are

few who stand out preëminently among their fellows, and whose

individuality looms far above the average, and who are noted not only

for their individual accomplishments on their own behalf, but who have

performed deeds which have endeared their memory to posterity for

generations to come. In this respect we must consider the late Alfred

Jonathan Harwi, founder of the great A. J. Harwi Hardware Company,

millionaire, statesman, and philanthropist, of Atchison. Mr. Harwi will

long be remembered as one of the leading figures in the business world

of Atchison. He was a pioneer in the establishment of the great

wholesale houses which have made Atchison famous over the western

country. Beginning his career a poor man, endowed with financial and

business ability of a high order, blessed with a keen foresight into the

future, having confidence in the ultimate development of the country,

tireless and industrious in all his undertakings, he achieved a truly

remarkable success, and through it all he was a man among men, who never

lost the respect and regard of his fellow men because of his great

success in the realms of business and finance.

[Illustration:

_A. J. Harwi_

]

Alfred Jonathan Harwi was born at Ritterville, Lehigh county,

Pennsylvania, January 21, 1847, the eldest of four sons, born to Michael

and Lucretia Harwi. One of the children died in infancy, and the others,

Edwin C. and W. H., followed Alfred J. to Atchison and became associated

with him in the hardware business which he had established. Edwin C.

died September 4, 1903, and Wilson H. Harwi died May 30, 1911. A sister

died in Pennsylvania when but a child. Michael Harwi followed the trade

of carpenter in heavy construction work during his life, and was engaged

in the building of canal locks in the days when the construction of

internal waterways was in vogue. He was also a farmer, and at the time

of his death was engaged in quarrying and contracting for slate. His

sons having all come to the West, he made preparations to join them here

in Atchison, but on the point of his departure on October 8, 1882, he

was taken ill and died. His widow, Lucretia Harwi, then came to Atchison

and resided here with her children until her demise, in November, 1904.

A. J. Harwi received his education in the schools of his native State,

attending the district school of his neighborhood until ten years of

age, then becoming a student at a Moravian school in Bethlehem, which

was located four miles from his home and required him to walk the

distance across a mountain both morning and evening. After spending two

years in diligent study in this institution he entered a general store

at Bethlehem for the purpose of acquiring business experience. However,

while learning the art of barter and trade over the counters of the

general store he did not neglect the cultivation of his mind. He read,

listened and learned, and in his spare time continued his studies until

his mind was broadened and he became a man of advanced thought, learned

to read and judge his fellow men, and acquire a refinement and polish

which in later years assisted him in his undertakings and enabled him to

command the respect of his fellows. His ambition was to eventually

engage in business for himself, and he saved his money to this end, and

in 1868, when he was twenty-one years of age, he became a partner in the

furniture business with J. B. Zimmele, but sold out two years later and

hearkened to the advice of Horace Greeley, who said: “Go west, young

man, go west, and grow up with the country.” While at Bethlehem Mr.

Harwi married Cora Wheeler, with whose father he became associated in

the hardware and implement business at Butler, Mo. When this partnership

was dissolved a few years later, Mr. Harwi went to Cedar Rapids, Iowa,

and for a few months was a clerk in a hardware store. In the year 1875

he came to Atchison equipped with considerable commercial experience,

but having little capital. He and C. H. Dearborn began a retail hardware

business in a small way in the building at 408 Commercial street. The

concern prospered from the start and its success was undoubtedly due to

Mr. Harwi’s intelligence and common-sense business methods and his

wonderful capacity for hard and unremitting work. This hardware business

soon became one of the leading local business enterprises of the rapidly

growing city of Atchison. Like other men who have been successful in

life, Mr. Harwi was visionary, but his vision did not take on the dream-

like character. It was practical and foresaw the inevitable development

of the western country and an increased demand for all kinds of products

as the country became more and more settled. He believed in common with

others of the period that Atchison was destined to become the gateway

and the distributing point for a large section of territory. Acting upon

this sound, practical belief in the early eighties when the retail

business had assumed large proportions and necessitated expansion in

other ways, he conceived the idea of engaging in the jobbing business.

He did so, and again his wonderful business acumen and ability came into

play, with the result that the A. J. Harwi Hardware Company is known

throughout the West and middle West, and has done a noteworthy part in

making Atchison famous as a wholesale center. The result of its

founder’s vision and industry is one of the great wholesale houses of

the West, represented by about twenty traveling salesmen covering four

States, while over fifty local employes are engaged to handle the vast

amount of office work and the great warehouse and shipping details

incident to such an important commercial institution as the A. J. Harwi

Hardware Company has developed into within thirty-five years. Their

commodious four-story office and warehouse building, located on the

corner of Commercial and Ninth streets, is one of the handsome modern

business houses of Atchison. One can begin to realize the scope and

extent of this business when he stops to think that it requires 75,000

feet of floor space to afford ample warehouse facilities. In 1889 the A.

J. Harwi Hardware Company was incorporated with a capital stock of

$100,000.

Mr. Harwi was three times married. His first wife, Cora Wheeler, whom he

married in Bethlehem, left one daughter, Mrs. E. P. Ripley, of Boston.

His second marriage was with Elizabeth Whitehead, of Atchison, in 1873,

to which union two children were born: Mrs. H. P. Shedd, of Bensonhurst,

Long Island, and Frank E., president of the A. J. Harwi Hardware

Company. The mother of these children died October 14, 1907. Mr. Harwi’s

third marriage occurred June 3, 1909, to Mrs. Mary E. Holland, who

survives him. Mr. Harwi passed away September 5, 1910. During his later

years the stress of business and the ceaseless activity which had been

his lot during life began to tell upon him, and for over twenty-five

years prior to his demise he was a sufferer from locomotor ataxia. The

things which he accomplished necessarily demanded that he be a hard and

tireless worker, but he never spared himself, and at a time when he

should have begun to conserve his bodily strength he worked the hardest,

with the result that his span of life was shortened under what it might

have been.

It is not alone through the magnificent mercantile concern which Mr.

Harwi conceived and built up that he is known, but he was a public

spirited gentleman who contributed generously to charity and

philanthropic work. Although he accumulated wealth outside of his

business to exceed a half million dollars and loaned out considerable

money on mortgages, he was never known to have taken advantage of a

debtor and to foreclose a mortgage. Although he was a member of the

Congregational church, he was a trustee of Midland College, Atchison,

and established and endowed the Harwi scholarship prizes, which have

been of inestimable benefit to many young students. He was one of the

trustees of the Atchison County High School at Effingham, and was also a

warm advocate of providing well for the education of the youth of the

community. Mr. Harwi was elected State senator from the Atchison

district in 1884, but did not allow his duties as legislator to

interfere with his business affairs, it being his custom while the

legislature was in session to spend the day in the legislative halls at

Topeka, return home and spend the greater part of the night in the

supervision of the business. His ability as a legislator came naturally

into the limelight, and there was talk of running him as the party’s

candidate for governor of the State, but this talk met with little

encouragement from Mr. Harwi, inasmuch as he was wrapped up heart and

soul in the reorganized Harwi Hardware Company at the time, the project

demanding all of his time and energy.

FRANK EDWIN HARWI.

Frank Edwin Harwi, president of the A. J. Harwi Hardware Company, is one

of Atchison’s live young citizens who is following in the footsteps of

his highly successful father. Mr. Harwi is in charge of the extensive

wholesale hardware concern founded and built up by his father, A. J.

Harwi. Frank E. Harwi was born October 11, 1884, in Atchison. He

received his education in the public schools of his native city and in

the Andover Preparatory School at Andover, Mass. He matriculated as a

freshman at Yale University, but was called home by the illness of his

father, and he became his father’s assistant for the ensuing year. In

1905 he entered the sophomore class of Kansas University, but gave up

his college course in 1906 to enter his father’s hardware establishment,

and upon his father’s demise took over the active management of the

concern and became president of the A. J. Harwi Hardware Company.

Mr. Harwi was married September 30, 1908, to Miss Florence Cain, a

daughter of John M. and Lucy Cain. To this union two children have been

born: Alfred J., born August 22, 1909, and Lucy E., born January 12,

1912. John M. Cain, father of Mrs. Harwi, was born July 30, 1839, at

Castletown, Isle of Man. He was educated in the select schools of his

native island, learned the carpenter’s trade and emigrated from the Isle

of Man in 1856, locating in Kansas, where he was successively farmer,

soldier, merchant and banker. He was a volunteer soldier in the company

organized by A. S. Speck and Asa Barnes, and was accepted for service in

1862, enlisting in Capt. P. H. McNamara’s company, of which he became

sergeant, and upon the organization of the regiments of colored troops

he was appointed first lieutenant of a company in the Eighty-third

regiment, colored infantry. He was afterwards commissioned a captain and

did splendid service throughout the Civil war. After the close of the

war he farmed in Atchison county, became a merchant, and was connected

with the old Atchison State Bank. He died in 1897. Mr. Cain was married

May 15, 1879, to Lucy Neerman, a daughter of Frank and Isabella (Rust)

Neerman. The following children were born of this marriage Eva, wife of

Foster Branson, of River Forest, Ill.; Ralph R., a banker, at Ada,

Okla.; Florence, wife of Frank E. Harwi; John Milton, with the A. J.

Harwi Hardware Company: William O., an attorney in Atchison, and Alfred

Neerman, deceased.

Mr. Harwi is an independent in politics. He was one of the organizers of

the Atchison Commercial Club and served as president of this thriving

organization in 1913, and is at present a member of its board of

directors. He is a member of the board of trustees of Midland College

and is a member of the Atchison city board of education. He has likewise

been one of the trustees of the Atchison city hospital since its

establishment. While the responsibilities connected with the conduct of

the great business establishment thrust upon his shoulders at the demise

of his father have been such as would probably daunt the young man of

average ability, Mr. Harwi has shown that he fully measures up to the

requirements of his important position in the mercantile world and has

made a reputation on his own individual account as a business head of

decided executive ability of a high order.

JOSEPH TROMPETER.

When Joseph Trumpeter departed this life Effingham lost one of its best

and most-highly respected citizens and his family suffered the lost of a

kind and industrious husband and father, whose sole ambition in life was

to provide well for his kindred and those dependent upon him for a

livelihood, and to accomplish his purpose in the most honorable and

upright manner possible. To him fell the task of erecting the first

county high school building in Effingham, and many of the most

pretentious dwellings of the city were built by him. He was one of the

widely known and successful contractors of the county, whose operations

extended over a wide stretch of territory, and whose work was always

strictly up to a certain high standard and honestly performed.

Mr. Trompeter was born June 15, 1857, in Prussia, Germany, and when ten

years of age he accompanied his parents to America. His father was

Maurice Trompeter, who settled on a farm in Illinois and who went from

Illinois to Texas, but after a short residence in that State returned to

Illinois, where he passed the remainder of his days. Joseph was reared

to young manhood in Illinois and there married Hannah Sowers. He also

went to Texas and removed from there to Horton, Kan. His father before

him was a carpenter and Joseph learned his trade and followed it,

becoming a contractor and builder when a young man. He erected several

court houses in Texas, and built several school buildings and church

edifices in Kansas. His first wife died in Horton, Kan., eight children

being born to this union, of whom two are living, namely: Mrs. Tina

Demmer, of Effingham. Kan.; Mrs. Bertha Wallace, also residing in

Effingham. Mr. Trumpeter removed to Effingham, and at once engaged in

building and contracting on an extensive scale. He erected all the

buildings on the main street of the town, on the north side of the

street, running from the banners and Merchants Bank building to the

newspaper office, at the end of the block. He also built the greater

part of the finer residences in Effingham and it is due to his handiwork

and taste that the city presents such an attractive appearance to the

visitor. In the spring of 1912 he and the family moved to his farm of

160 acres southeast of Effingham on which with his own hands Mr.

Trompeter erected a handsome farm dwelling and fitted it with all modern

improvements, adding an attractive barn at the same time. He did not

live to enjoy the comforts of his new home long, however, as illness

brought on by overwork, caused him to take to his bed and his demise

occurred August 19, 1915.

His second marriage was with Louise Richter, on November 8, 1892, at

Effingham. Four children were born of this marriage, namely: Amelia,

John, James and Mary, all of whom are at home with their mother. Mrs.

Trompeter was born in Austria, in 1874, a daughter of John, born

September 2, 1852, and Amelia (Wohletz) Richter, born May 31, 1849. The

Richters are of German birth and immigrated to America in 1882, first

residing in Atchison and then coming to Effingham. For twenty-eight

years Mr. Richter was employed in railroad work on the Central Branch of

the Missouri Pacific railroad. Mr. and Mrs. Richter now make their home

with their daughter, Mrs. Trompeter, and assist in the farming

operations. The Richter children are as follows: Mrs. Joseph Trompeter;

Domineck, conducting a meat market in Effingham; Leapold, living at

Tacoma, Wash., also a builder and contractor; Mrs. Amelia Hansen,

residing in Texas; Mrs. Anna Royer, Tacoma, Wash. There are eleven grand

children in the Richter family.

Mr. Trompeter was affiliated with the Democratic party, but was never a

seeker after political preferment. He was a member of the Catholic

church, and was fraternally connected with the Knights of Columbus and

the Modern Woodmen. Throughout his life he was an industrious and hard-

working citizen who did his duty as he saw it and lived an upright and

honest life. He was prominently identified with the civic life of

Effingham and was highly respected for his many excellent qualities.

JOSEPH N. ARTHUR.

Joseph N. Arthur, automobile salesman and garage proprietor, of

Effingham, Kan., is one of the progressive and enterprising business men

of the second city of Atchison county. Signal success has attended his

efforts during the years he has been a resident of Atchison county. He

embarked in the automobile business and established a garage in

Effingham, despite the fact that predictions were made that the venture

would not be a success, and Mr. Arthur as a result is the recognized

pioneer automobile man of his part of the county. Since taking the

agency for the Ford cars in 1912, he has sold over half the total of

Ford cars sold in the county and vicinity. Mr. Arthur first started in

business in 1910 and established a small garage in the rear of his real

estate office. His business grew to such an extent that larger quarters

became necessary, and in 1913 he erected a large concrete building,

forty by eighty feet in extent, in which is incorporated his office,

display and repair rooms. He employs a skilled mechanic, assistant and

driver. Mr. Arthur handles the Dodge Brothers, the Maxwell, and Ford

automobiles.

J. N. Arthur was born June 3, 1869, near Corning, Adams county, Iowa,

and is a son of John and Martha Arthur, natives of Ohio. Both parents

were reared in the old Buckeye State, and were early pioneer settlers in

Iowa, coming from Bucyrus, Ohio, in 1855, and driving overland via the

ox team route, with all their movable possessions loaded on wagons en

route from St. Joseph, Mo., to their destination in Adams county, Iowa.

John Arthur homesteaded Government land in Adams county and preëmpted

along the river where timber and water were plentiful. He prospered as

the years went on and the country became more and more settled, and he

became the owner of over 800 acres of excellent Iowa farm lands. He

resided in Adams county, Iowa, until his demise, in 1907.

John Arthur settled on the banks of a river for the purpose of having

timber, fuel and water, three essentials in keeping alive in the then

sparsely settled country in the southwestern part of Iowa. He built a

log cabin of logs hewn from trees chopped down with his own hands and

chinked the cracks and crevices with mud. When he preëmpted his first

tract of land in Iowa he had a yoke of oxen, $10 in money and a favorite

bull-dog, things which he was fond of telling about as he grew older and

more prosperous. During his fifty-two years of residence in Iowa he

accumulated 800 acres of land and had money loaned out to the amount of

$10,000. He was the father of eleven children, nine of whom grew to

maturity, each of whom as he married was assisted by the father to

settle on a farm of his own, and all have prospered—an enviable record

for a pioneer family to make.

Joseph N., with whom this review is directly concerned, was reared on

the Iowa farm, and knew something about the hardships of the pioneer

days in his boyhood. He attended the district school in his

neighborhood, and followed farming until he engaged in the implement

business in his home county for some years, with a fair degree of

success. He left his native State in 1904 and came to Effingham, Kan.,

purchasing 120 acres of land about one and one-half miles distant from

Effingham in Atchison county. One year later he embarked in the real

estate business, in partnership with B. F. Snyder. This partnership

lasted for two years and then Mr. Arthur engaged in the business for

himself. He also began to write insurance, and was reasonably successful

in both the real estate and insurance business. He erected a brick

building for his office quarters, and, when automobile owners multiplied

in Effingham and vicinity he foresaw the need of a repair shop and

established one in the rear of his real estate office. He soon afterward

rented an abandoned garage and hired a mechanic to do the repair work.

It was not long until larger quarters became necessary, and he built as

told in a preceding chapter. In July of 1915, Mr. Arthur disposed of his

insurance business, and has since devoted his energies entirely to the

automobile business.

He was married in 1892 to Lillie M. Ramsey, daughter of Newton Ramsey, a

pioneer settler of Adams county, Iowa, and a Union veteran of the Civil

war. Four children have blessed this union: Pearl, aged twenty-one

years; Jennie, aged eighteen years, and a teacher of music, and an

accomplished musician; Le Roy, nine years of age; Charles, three years

old. Three children are deceased: Chester A. died at the age of eight

years; Milton died at the age of eighteen months; Blanche died at the

age of nine months.

Mr. Arthur is a Republican in politics, and has identified himself more

or less with the civic life of his adopted community, and is considered

as one of Effingham’s best boosters and live wires. He is a member of

the Methodist Episcopal church, contributes to the support of the same,

and is affiliated with the Odd Fellows lodge and the Knights and Ladies

of Security.

DON CARLOS NEWCOMB.

It is a pleasure for the biographer to write a story of the life of a

man who has arrived at the evening of life and be able to record

something really worth while for the benefit of posterity. The life

annals of a man who has succeeded in making a name for himself,

achieving a well deserved competence, and been of some use to his

community, and has arrived at the time of life when he can look back

over the vista of the busy years that have passed, is interesting to a

high degree. In D. C. Newcomb, pioneer merchant and patriarch, of

Atchison, we find embodied that spirit of the West which enabled men to

build up this great country and to achieve things of importance in the

business and civic world. Mr. Newcomb loves his home city, its people

and prestige and is proud of its standing among the cities of the West.

He has had no small part in the upbuilding of Atchison, and it would

have been better in the days gone by if the city had more men like him

to assist its growth. Ever ready to contribute to any enterprise which

might help the growth of the city, his liberality and boosting

proclivities became proverbial, and it has oft been a saying of his that

Atchison could just as well have been a city of fifty or sixty thousand

inhabitants as to be its present size. Such men as he are of decided

benefit to any community.

[Illustration:

_Eng. by E. G. Williams & Bro. N. Y._

_D. C. Newcomb_

]

D. C. Newcomb, a pioneer merchant of Atchison, perhaps has had as much

to do with the commercial development of Atchison county for the past

half century as any other man within its borders. When Mr. Newcomb came

to Atchison county in 1858 it was a difficult matter to tell whether

Atchison, or its rival town, Sumner, was to be the chief town of the

county. Sumner was a thriving frontier town, but Mr. Newcomb picked

Atchison as the winner and time has demonstrated that his judgment was

sound. D. C. Newcomb was born in Washington county, Vermont, on Friday,

July 13, 1836, and is a son of Hosea and Harriet (Bixby) Newcomb, the

former a native of New Hampshire and the latter a native of Roxbury,

Mass., born in 1805. Hosea Newcomb was born in 1803 and came from a

prominent New England family of English descent. The Newcomb family was

founded in New England in 1635 by Francis Newcomb and his wife, who came

from England and located in New England at that time. It is recorded

that they made the voyage on a sailing vessel named “Planter.” Hosea

Newcomb, the father of D. C., was prominent in the affairs of his native

town, Waitsfield, Vt., where he remained until 1859, when he came to

Kansas, settling at the new town of Sumner, now extinct, in Atchison

county. He took an active part in the early-day development of that

promising frontier town and served as postmaster there. However, he

returned to Vermont in 1873, where he died in 1889, at the age of

eighty-six, and his wife passed away March 17, 1903, age ninety-seven

years, eight months and one day.

[Illustration:

Residence of D. C. Newcomb, Atchison, Kan.

]

D. C. Newcomb was one of a family of five children and is now the only

one living, except a sister, Mrs. Lydia M. Shephard, of Minneapolis. A

brother, Dan J. Newcomb, was a very early settler in Atchison county,

coming here some time before D. C. arrived. He was prominent in the

organization of Atchison county and was the first register of deeds of

the county, D. C. serving as his deputy. D. C. Newcomb was reared in the

town of Waitsfield, Vt., where he attended the public schools and later

was a student at Newbury Seminary. In early life he clerked in a store

at Johnson, Vt., and also clerked for a time in Montpelier, Vt. In 1858

he came to Atchison county and first landed at Sumner, but immediately

went to Atchison, and, although the latter town was also in its early

stages of development, the location impressed Mr. Newcomb so favorably

that he determined to locate there. Soon after coming here he was

appointed deputy register of deeds and served in that capacity for three

years. He then engaged in clerking in a store, and in 1864 entered into

partnership with Samuel Gard, who had been a fellow clerk of his, and

they organized the firm of Gard & Newcomb and engaged in the mercantile

business. Their capital was limited, perhaps less than $2,500, but they

were two industrious young men and had a reputation for honesty and

square dealing, which was an important asset. Mr. Newcomb went to New

York and bought a stock of goods valued at about $15,000, mostly on

credit, and at the end of the first year they had paid for every

dollar’s worth of goods which they had bought in the meantime and had a

stock of about $15,000 worth on hand. The partnership arrangement

continued about four years, when Mr. Newcomb purchased his partner’s

interest, who desired to dispose of his business on account of failing

health. Mr. Newcomb continued in business alone and conducted the great

Newcomb department store, the business of which developed far beyond his

most fanciful dreams. Mr. Newcomb continued in the mercantile business

until 1905, and for years was the leading merchant of Atchison. He sold

his business to Ed Lake, who has conducted it since 1905.

Mr. Newcomb has not only been a merchant prince in northeastern Kansas,

but has been identified with the growth and development of Atchison from

many standpoints. He was one of the organizers of the First National

Bank and was closely identified with that financial institution for

fifteen years. He served successively as director, vice-president and

president, but when he went out of business he disposed of his banking

interests.

Mr. Newcomb was united in marriage in 1866 with Miss Anna E., daughter

of Capt. George W. Bowman, an early-day steamboat captain, but later

engaged in the mercantile business at Atchison. He was a native of

Brownsville, Pa. To Mr. and Mrs. Newcomb have been born two children:

Hattie May, now the wife of Maj. Harry A. Smith, U. S. A., a graduate of

West Point Military Academy. During the Spanish-American war he held the

rank of major in the Twenty-first regiment, Kansas infantry, and is now

major in the Twenty-eighth regiment, United States infantry, doing duty

on the Mexican border. To Major Smith and wife have been born two

children: Newcomb, a cadet in the United States Military Academy, West

Point, N. Y., and William A., a graduate of Shattick’s school,

Fairibault, Minn., now a student in the University of Minnesota. George

Edgar, the youngest child born to Mr. and Mrs. Newcomb, born March 19,

1869, died March 25, 1909, aged forty years. He was married in October,

1895, to Miss Dorothy Jones, a native of Wisconsin, and three children

were born to this union: Clara Forest, D. C., and Charles Jones. Mr.

Newcomb has been a life-long Republican and has always supported the

policies and principles of that party. He has had many flattering

inducements to enter politics, but has refused to accept, preferring to

follow his commercial career in which he has been so successful. Mr. and

Mrs. Newcomb are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and for

years have been active in the work of their congregation and both have

lived exemplary Christian lives. Mr. Newcomb has held every office

within the gift of the church, all of which have come to him without

solicitation. In fact, every preferment has come to him unsolicited. In

1896 and 1900 he was elected a lay delegate to the general conference of

the Methodist Episcopal church held at Omaha in 1896 and Chicago in

1901.

WILSON R. SMITH.

Wilson R. Smith, of the firm of Snyder, Smith & Company, Effingham,

Kan., is an admirable type of a successful business man who has been a

resident of Effingham for the past six years, and has so identified

himself with the life of the community that it seems to the average

citizen that Mr. Smith has been a resident of the city and county all of

his natural life. The firm, of which he is an active member, handles

hardware, implements, grain, coal and feed, and is composed of G. M.

Snyder, W. R. Smith and U. B. Sharpless, present county treasurer. This

firm was organized in February of 1915 and took over the business of

Sharpless & Snyder. The concern also operates a grain elevator of 10,000

bushel capacity, and has two large warehouses and coal-yards, in

addition to the business room on Main street.

Mr. Smith is a Virginian by birth, and was born at Salt Sulphur Springs,

Monroe county, W. Va., on April 28, 1856. He is a son of Granville and

Caroline (Clark) Smith, both of whom were born and reared in Virginia,

and were descended from colonial ancestors. A direct ancestor of Wilson

R. was the first settled in Monroe county, and headed a long line of

tillers of the soil, the parents of Wilson R. living on their farm in

Virginia until their deaths.

Wilson R. left his ancestral home in Virginia in April of 1884 and

journeyed to the town of Craig, Holt county, Missouri, purchasing a farm

in the neighborhood of Mounty City, which he cultivated with

considerable success for ten years, and then engaged in the grain and

stock business for a period of nine years. He resided in Holt county

until 1909 and then came to Effingham, Kan. His first venture here was

in the grain and elevator business, which he conducted for a period of

four years, and then sold out to the Farmers’ Elevator Company. In

February of 1915, he purchased an interest in the business in which he

is now engaged. Continuous success has followed Mr. Smith’s efforts, and

practically every business venture in which he has embarked has proved

to be uniformly successful. His methods of transacting business are

above reproach and are such as to commend him to the public in general.

He was married in 1885 to Mrs. Celia C. Zachary, a widow, who was the

mother of one child, Edith Belle, by a former marriage. Two children

have blessed this marriage: Alberta, wife of Ross Meador, living on a

farm, five miles southwest of Effingham; Jennie, wife of C. A. Hawk,

residing three miles north of Effingham on a farm.

Mr. Smith is a stanch Republican in his political affiliations, and is a

member of the Modern Woodmen and the Brotherhood of American Yeoman. He

is one of Effingham’s substantial and enterprising citizens, who is ever

ready to assist his adopted community to better the conditions of things

in general and readily lends a hand when needed to assist the growth and

well being of the city.

GEORGE E. HENDEE.

Mr. Hendee is an automobile salesman, machinist and garage proprietor,

is one of Atchison’s hustling business men who has made good in the

automobile business. Seven years in the motor industry in Atchison has

seen him advance in his chosen work until he now owns the largest and

best equipped garage in the city, and has a plant including equipment

and cars in stock valued at over $15,000. Mr. Hendee is salesman for the

Regal, Chalmers and the White automobiles.

He was born on a farm in Lancaster county, Nebraska, July 31, 1872,

being a son of George and Loretta (Kistler) Hendee, who were the parents

of five children: William, deceased; Mrs. Margaret Bennethy, of

Logansport, Ind.; George E.; Delbert, of Logansport, Ind., and Leona, at

home with her parents. George Hendee, Sr., was born in Canada, in 1846,

removing from his native country to Indiana with his parents when a boy.

He was reared to young manhood in Indiana and served as a soldier in

Company G, Twenty-first regiment, Indiana infantry, until the close of

the war, in 1865. After the Civil war he migrated to Lancaster county,

Nebraska, and homesteaded on 160 acres of Government land. He built up a

splendid farm from the raw and unbroken prairie and prospered as he

deserved, living on his acreage until 1891, at which time he started a

general store at Panama, Neb. He retired from active pursuits in 1898

and moved to Royal Center, Ind., where he is now living. The Hendee

family is of French origin, and the founders of the family first settled

in the Dominion of Canada. The mother of George E. was born in

Pennsylvania in 1842, a daughter of Pennsylvania Dutch parents.

He of whom this review is written was reared on the Nebraska farm and

received his elementary schooling at Panama and York, that State. Early

in life he displayed an aptitude for machinery and determined to fit

himself to become an expert machinist. Accordingly, in 1895, he enrolled

as student in the State University at Lawrence, and pursued the

machinist’s course, having previously studied electrical engineering at

York, Neb. When thirteen years of age, George started out to make his

own way, educate himself and at the same time earn his living. While a

student in the York Technical School, he worked nights in the electric

light plant. For a period of three years he was a fireman on the

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad and the Santa Fe System, being

promoted to the post of railway engineer while in the employ of the

latter system, He was then employed by the General Electric Company, of

Chicago, in the installation of and erecting mining machinery. his

duties requiring him to travel in the South for over a year. He was

employed by the Chalmers company for one year erecting heavy engines,

and was employed as engineer of the Pearsons’ Flouring Mills at

Lawrence, Kan., for seven years. For a time he served as master mechanic

at the Leavenworth coal shaft on the Government grounds at Leavenworth,

Kan. In the year 1901 he built and operated a machine shop at Cripple

Creek, Colo., but his plant was destroyed by fire in 1902. He then moved

to Grand Junction, Colo., where he worked in the oil fields and was

round house foreman for the railroads in that city until he resigned his

position and located in Denver, Colo., where he worked as a machinist in

the Missouri Pacific shops until he took employment as engineer on the

Colorado & Southern railway. After this he was employed as a machinist

in the shops of the Santa Fe railroad, but resigned this place to become

foreman in the plant of the Locomotive Finished Material Foundry in

Atchison. Following this he was chief engineer for the Blair Milling

Company, resigning to take employment as an expert machinist with the

Atchison Motor Company until 1908. In that year he engaged in business,

and has made a name for himself in the motor and business world of

Atchison. Mr. Hendee is looked upon as one of the rising and successful

young business men of Atchison, and justly deserves all of the success

which has come to him.

His marriage with Laura Hall, of Lawrence, Kan., occurred in 1902 and

gave him a faithful helpmate who has assisted him in every way to

achieve his present success. Two children were born of this marriage,

Velva and Kenneth, both deceased. Mrs. Hendee was born in August, 1879,

in Wisconsin, a daughter of John and Nettie (Crow) Hall, natives of

Wisconsin. She is a well educated lady and is a graduate of the college

at Burlington, Kan. Mr. Hendee is an independent in political affairs,

and is fraternally allied with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons,

Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Modern Woodmen of America.

WILLIAM D. KISTLER.

William D. Kistler, prosperous farmer of Shannon township, is descendant

of good old Pennsylvania Dutch stock, and has lived in Atchison county

for thirty-six years. He came to this county from his ancestral home in

Pennsylvania, in moderate circumstances, if not actually a poor man, and

during that time has accumulated a fine farm of 200 acres which ranks

among the best and most productive farms of the county. The little shack

in which he and his family lived when they first came to Kansas has been

superseded by a handsome and comfortable residence and great shade trees

have grown up around it. The modest “eighty” in which Mr. Kistler

invested all of his small capital on his arrival here has grown steadily

with substantial additions from time to time as he was enabled to

purchase adjoining tracts. A large red barn alike shows evidence of

thrift and good management on the part of the proprietor.

W. D. Kistler was born in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, December 5, 1853,

a son of Nathan J. and Catharine (Dietrich) Kistler, both of whom were

born in the adjoining county near Lehigh county. Nathan J. Kistler was

born April 6, 1811, and died September 11, 1878. He was a son of Jacob

S., who was a son of Samuel Kistler, whose father, John George Kistler,

emigrated with his wife, Dorothia, from Germany and settled in

Pennsylvania early in the eighteenth century, arriving in Philadelphia

October 5, 1737. Nathan J. Kistler was a captain of State militia and

died at the old home in Lehigh county. Two brothers of W. D. and a

sister out of a family of nine children settled in the West. After his

public school training Mr. Kistler attended the Kutztown, Pennsylvania,

Normal School and prepared himself for the teaching profession. He

taught school in his native State for four years, after which he clerked

in a general store for four years, previous to migrating to Kansas. He

left the old home in Pennsylvania in 1879 and came to Atchison county,

Kansas, investing in an eighty-acre tract in Shannon township which he

gradually improved. The small house which he first erected was gradually

enlarged as the needs of his family demanded more room and his means

permitted. In 1883 he erected the present handsome home, which is one of

the most attractive places in the township. Mr. Kistler raises cattle,

horses and hogs and feeds his grain products to the live stock on his

farm, thus managing to keep up the fertility of his acres and being able

to market his farm products in the most profitable manner.

He was married in 1876 to Ellen Brobst, who was born in Lehigh county,

Pennsylvania, in 1853, a daughter of Daniel and Lydia (Kunken) Brobst,

of Lehigh county, and whose ancestry came from Germany. They are the

parents of five children: Mrs. Alice Bunnell, of Lancaster township,

this county: Anna, wife of Samuel Du Bois, also of Shannon township;

Calvin, a farmer, residing at the Du Bois home, and assisting in the

management of the farm; Bertha, wife of James Dooley, residing in

Shannon township; William, at home, married Catharine Wolters.

Mr. Kistler is a Republican in politics, but he has never been an office

seeker, or sought preferment at the hands of his fellow citizens. He is

affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He and the members

of his family stand well among their neighbors and are highly esteemed

by all who know them.

ANDREW KEITHLINE.

The late Andrew Keithline enjoyed the distinction of being one of the

oldest, if not the oldest living pioneer resident of Atchison. Fifty-six

years of his four score and seven years of life were spent in Atchison

and vicinity. In the fulness of his years, and satisfied in the

reflections concerning a long and useful life well spent he lived a

quiet, retired life in his comfortable home at 1121 Santa Fe street

until the Death Angel called him. He loved to meet his many friends and

speak reminiscently of the days when Atchison was in the embryo stage,

and of the stirring scenes during the days when Kansas was in the throes

of becoming an integral part of the great American Union. He was one of

the city’s grand old men who was universally loved and respected by all

who knew him. He came of that sturdy Pennsylvania German stock, noted

the country over for their sterling qualities of endurance and the

ability to do their share in the transformation of a wilderness to a

land of homes and plenty.

Andrew Keithline was born on a farm in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, a

son of John and Mary (Neyhart) Keithline. The first Keithline to come to

America was Colonel Keithline, who figures prominently in Revolutionary

annals and who accompanied Baron De Kalb to this country in 1775. Andrew

Keithline’s grandfather, Joseph Keithline, was born in Northhampton

county, Pennsylvania, served in the War of 1812, and died in 1850. He

was a tailor by trade and contracted to make buckskin breeches for the

Government, to be worn by the soldiers during the war. Joseph’s children

wore buckskin breeches made by their father. John Keithline, the father

of Andrew, operated a wagon shop which also served as the family

residence for some years, in fact, Andrew was born in his father’s wagon

shop. He prospered, in the course of time and came west in 1863 and

invested in eighty acres of land, south of Atchison and later owned 320

acres west of Atchison on the Parallel road. This tract was partly

fenced at the time of purchase and cost John Keithline $25 per acre. He

made his home thereon and was joined by his family in 1864. The mother

of Andrew died in 1865 and John returned to the old home in Pennsylvania

where he died in 1868. Nine children were born to John Keithline and

wife: Samuel, Catharine, Andrew, Julia, Sarah, Priscilla, John, Peter

and Mary E. Of these, Samuel, Sarah and Andrew came to Atchison county.

[Illustration:

_A. Keithline_

]

Andrew left the parental home in December of 1857, and went to Michigan,

remaining until 1859, when he came to Atchison, where he resided until

the fall of 1864. His first employment was with the firm of Walters &

Roswell, who conducted a general store and wanted a clerk familiar with

the German tongue. For the two years previous to his locating in

Atchison he conducted a coöperative store in Michigan. His first trip to

the Far West was taken in 1860, when he went to Denver and disposed of a

stock of goods for his firm. He made another trip across the plains

later than this. In 1864 he was called out with the Kansas State militia

to repel the Price invasion. On October 31, 1864, he moved to his farm

west of Atchison, and remained there tilling his acreage until September

1, 1898, and made his permanent home in Atchison until his death. His

fine farm consisted originally of 220 acres and when he removed to

Atchison he still owned 190 acres of the original farm. Mr. Keithline

bought a handsome brick residence on Santa Fe street and by wise

investments and carefully husbanding his resources accumulated a

comfortable competence for the support of his declining years. He was

considered a well-to-do citizen. He was married on November 5, 1854, to

Rose Varner, born in 1832 in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, a daughter of

George Varner, whose father was a soldier in the Revolution. Two

children were born to this well respected couple, namely: Gilbert, born

in 1855, died in Jackson county in the spring of 1915. He was the father

of seven children, Herschell, Sydney, Rose, Emma, Mary, Andrew and

Laura. Mrs. Cora Warters, a daughter of Mr. Keithline, lives in

Atchison. She is the mother of four children: Bessie, Andrew, Cora

Willis and Lorene.

Mr. Keithline was one of the original Free State men of Kansas, and was

induced to come here by the fact that men in favor of making Kansas a

free State were needed in the Territory. He consistently espoused the

principles of the Republican party, taking an active part in politics

during his younger days and served for two years as justice of the

peace. One of the bright spots in his memory of bygone days was his warm

friendship for Senator John J. Ingalls, which friendship was

reciprocated by the illustrious senator. He always adhered to the

Lutheran religious denomination, which was the faith of his fathers. The

evening of life must come to us all and happy is the man who can calmly

wait for the last call to summon him to his just reward in the world to

come, at peace with all mankind and cared for by capable hands; such was

the life of this fine old gentleman of whom it has been a pleasure to

write this brief review.

Andrew Keithline departed this life December 14, 1915. The end came

peacefully, as he had wished. The worn-out body of this grand old

patriarch ceased to be able to hold the immortal soul of one of the

grandest and best loved men of the early pioneer days of Atchison

county. Mr. Keithline was a good and honest citizen whose upright and

sturdy character will long prove an inspiration and guidance for the

present and future generations of Kansans who may peruse these pages. He

was a prominent factor in the building up of Atchison county, and was

intimate with the great men of his day and generation. When his time

came and the Angel of Death called him to the long rest he was content

to go and had no regrets. Death had no terrors for him as his life was

unspotted and clean, and in keeping with the attributes of the man

himself.

ABRAM STEVER.

Abram Stever, one of the early settlers of Benton township, Atchison

county, and now deceased, was born November 3, 1837, and departed this

life on July 27, 1881. He was born in Schoharie county, New York, a son

of Abram and Nancy Stever, both of whom were born and reared in New York

State, the father being a son of German parents, who were founders of

the family in this country. Two brothers emigrated from Germany, one of

whom settled in New York and the other made his home in Ohio. Abram was

reared to young manhood in his native State and when twenty years of age

migrated to the new State of Wisconsin, then in process of settlement.

He became a farmer in Walworth county and cleared a home from the

timber. Five years later he was married, and in 1867 came to Kansas,

driving his movable possessions across the country, his wife and

children coming by train to St. Joseph, Mo., where they crossed the

Missouri river by ferry. The first location of the family was in Brown

county, Kansas, where they lived until 1874 and then came to Atchison

county, where Mr. Stever purchased 160 acres of wild prairie land in

Benton township, one and three-fourths miles northwest of Effingham. He

improved his farm, erected a good home and beautified the premises with

fine shade trees and shrubbery. After his demise in 1881, Mrs. Stever

made her home on the farm until 1893, when she removed to Effingham, and

has since resided here, with the exception of a few years’ residence in

Mankato, Jewell county, Kansas, with her daughter, maintaining a

permanent home in Effingham.

Abram Stever was married December 24, 1862, to Sarah Elecia Bailey, of

Walworth county, Wisconsin. To this union have been born the following

children: Leona May, died at the age of fifteen years; Jennie Bailey,

died at the age of thirteen; Joseph Warren, died when twenty-two years

old; Arthur Carlton, a clothing merchant at Wetmore, Kan., who married

Maud Hawk, of Effingham, and they have one daughter, Leona May; Carrie

Adella Stever, at home with her mother, a graduate of the county high

school, and taught for seven years in the Effingham schools, and is a

specialist in music, having graduated from Bethany Conservatory at

Lindsborg, Kan., in 1906. She pursued a post-graduate course at

Lindsborg during winter vacation, and studied during one winter under

William H. Sherwood, America’s greatest pianist. She was for five years

a successful teacher of music at Mankato, Kan. Returning to Effingham in

1911, she became music director in the Atchison County High School, but

resigned to take up studio work entirely; Ray Howard, conducting a

suitatorium at Frankfort, Kan., married Inez McFarlan; Ralph Roy Stever,

a teamster at Nevada, Mo., married Treva Spell, and has had four

children: Lloyd Orr, Warren Clayton, Ralph Vern, Lola Esther, deceased;

Ernest Clayton, a graduate of the county high school, proprietor of a

suitatorium at Macon, Mo., married Charlotte Henderson, and has one

child, Roy Estell; Frank Abram Stever, county high school graduate,

located on the family estate in Benton township, married Daisy McFarlan,

and is the father of three children: Coral Nadine, Geneva Fay, and

Mildred Lorene. Mrs. Stever was born January 10, 1843, on a farm in

Walworth county, Wisconsin, a daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Perry)

Bailey, natives of Maryland and Dundee, Ill., respectively. An uncle,

Amos Bailey, was one of the first surveyors in the city of Chicago, and

run the first line in what is now the city. Joseph Bailey was one of the

first settlers in Walworth county, Wisconsin, at a time when there were

very few people in the State and neighbors were twelve miles distant

from one another. It was a common custom for a number of settlers to

band together and market their produce together in the city of Chicago.

Amos Bailey was the owner of several sections of land near Lake Geneva,

Wis., which is now the great millionaires’ resort, near Chicago. Joseph

Bailey was twice married, his second wife being Mary Catharine Sipperly.

It is also worth recording that a brother of Abram Stever, named

Washington Stever, was a soldier in the Union army and fought in the

Army of the Potomac from the beginning to the end of the war. At the

time of Mr. Stever’s death, the oldest son was only thirteen years of

age, and Mrs. Stever was left with a large family, the youngest of whom

was six months old.

Abram Stever was a Republican in his political affiliations, but will

best be remembered for his activity in behalf of the organization of the

Presbyterian church in Effingham. He was one of three men who raised the

fund to pay for the building of the First Presbyterian Church erected in

Effingham, and was a deacon and trustee, having been one of the only two

deacons ever installed in the early church. He was active in church work

during his entire life and was a thoroughly honest, religious gentleman,

who carried his belief into his daily life and in all his undertakings.

He was a good husband, a kind parent and an excellent citizen, and loved

by everyone who knew him.

REV. Z. S. HASTINGS.

Few pioneer citizens of Atchison county have lived more useful or

cleaner lives than Rev. Z. S. Hastings, retired minister and farmer, of

Effingham, Kan. During his nearly fifty years of residence in Kansas as

a farmer, educator, preacher, and statesman, he has worked continually

for the well-being of his neighbors and friends. Without fear of

contradiction it can be stated that Rev. Hastings has performed a

greater number of marriage ceremonies and officiated at the funerals of

more deceased residents than any minister in Atchison county. Despite

his three score and seventeen years this grand old patriarch bears his

age lightly and takes an active interest in the affairs of his

community.

Rev. Z. S. Hastings was born March 15, 1838, on a farm near Bedford,

Lawrence county, Indiana, a son of Howell and Edith (Edwards) Hastings,

natives of North Carolina. On his father’s side the family is of Quaker

origin and a very old one in America. The first Hastings having been a

follower of William Penn, came from England to settle in the Quaker

colony in Pennsylvania. A descendant of the first American Hastings,

Joshua by name, migrated to North Carolina and there founded another

branch of the family. Here in the Southland, Howell Hastings was reared

and married, and with his wife and two sons migrated to Indiana to

become one of the pioneer settlers of the Hoosier State. He died at his

home in Indiana December 25, 1854, leaving seven children: Joshua

Thomas, deceased; William Henry, John Arthur, Nancy Elizabeth, deceased;

Zachariah Simpson, with whom this review is concerned; Charlotte Ann,

deceased; Rufus Wiley, living in Arkansas. Of the foregoing, Joshua

Thomas and William Henry fought in the Union army during the late

rebellion of the Southern States; Joshua first fought in the Home Guards

of Missouri, and, returning to Indiana he raised a company for service

in the war, after fighting under General Lyons at the battle of

Springfield. He taught school for a time in Missouri, but returned to

Indiana. He died in Kentucky. William Henry enlisted in a Missouri

regiment.

Z. S. Hastings was educated in the common schools of his native State,

studied in Indianapolis, and also pursued a course at Hiram College, in

preparation for the Christian ministry. In 1857 he went to Missouri and

taught school for five years, studying in the meantime while teaching.

In 1862 he returned to his native State and began preaching the Gospel

in the Christian denomination. He taught and preached at the same time

while preparing himself further for the ministry. His first experience

in the ministry was obtained in 1860 while in Missouri. In 1867 Mr.

Hastings came to Kansas, resided in Leavenworth county for one year and

in 1868 came to Atchison county and located on a farm near Farmington.

He taught the Farmington school for five years and preached in the

vicinity of his home during this time. He cultivated his farm of 130

acres and preached at the Farmington church and in the surrounding

country for a period of twenty-five years. In 1895 he removed to

Effingham and continued preaching until 1903 when he retired from active

work in the ministry. Mr. Hastings was an excellent farmer as well as

minister and made a success of his farming operations, having the

distinction of selling an eighty acre tract of farm land, the first for

$100 an acre ever sold in the county up to that time. This farm was

located east of Effingham, and was the first tract near the town to

bring the price of $100 an acre.

He was married on June 28, 1870, to Miss Rosetta Butler, and to this

union have been born seven children: Harry Howell, an electrical

engineer, located at St. Louis, and who was educated in Holton College

and Kansas University; Paul Pardee, assistant freight and passenger

agent of the Santa Fe railroad, with headquarters at San Francisco; Otho

Ono, a graduate of the Atchison county high school, taught school for

ten years, served as county superintendent of Atchison county four

years, and graduated from the Atchison Business College, and is at

present bookkeeper for Urich’s planing mill at Independence, Kan.; Wiley

Wyatt died in infancy; Clara Charlotte, deceased, formerly a teacher,

wife of Charles Sprong, of Potter, Kan.; Edith Eliza, deceased, who was

also a public school teacher; Milo Milton, a journalist and author, of

New York City. Milo graduated from the Atchison county high school, the

State Agricultural College at Manhattan, and pursued a post-graduate

course in the State university. The mother of these children was born

August 5, 1844, in Sandusky Plain, Ohio, a daughter of the Rev. Pardee

Butler, a famous figure in Kansas history, and who was an outspoken

advocate of the anti-slavery principles during the struggle which made

Kansas a free State. He was so frank and fearless in the expression of

his views and so strenuous in the support of the anti-slavery doctrine

that his utterances brought him frequently in contact with the pro-

slavery men and border ruffians, and on one occasion when in Atchison he

was captured by ruffians and sent down the Missouri river on a raft.

Complete details of the life and activities of Pardee Butler are given

in another chapter in this volume. “Pardee Butler’s Own Book,” begun

during the latter part of his life, and finished and published by Mrs.

Hastings, tells of his life and adventures in Kansas. Speaking

biographically, Mr. Butler was born March 9, 1816, and died October 20,

1888. He first saw the light of day at Skaneateles, N. Y., and

immigrated with his parents, Phineas Butler and wife, who came to Ohio

in 1818. Phineas Butler was born in New York State. Pardee Butler was

reared to young manhood in Ohio and there married Sybil Carlton, of

Sullivan, Ohio, who was born July 4, 1823, and died August 7, 1898. She

was a daughter of Joseph Carlton, a native of Massachusetts, who

immigrated to Ohio in an early day. In his boyhood, Pardee herded sheep

on Sandusky Plain, and after his father’s death resided in Sullivan,

Ohio. In 1850 he removed to Iowa and settled on a farm in Cedar county,

where he lived for five years. While a resident of Iowa he preached in

Illinois for two years. In May of 1855 he set out for Atchison county,

Kansas, on horseback and settled on a farm at Farmington. For many years

he served as a Christian minister and conducted farming operations. He

had a remarkably retentive memory, which enabled him to memorize the

whole of the New Testament while herding sheep in Ohio. Rev. Butler was

the first State evangelist of the Christian denomination to visit Iowa

and was also the first State evangelist to take up the work of his

church in Kansas. Practically all of his traveling while engaged in

missionary work was accomplished on horseback. Night coming on he would

picket his horse in a grassy spot and use his saddle for a pillow.

Pardee Butler was one of the notable figures in the history of Kansas,

and will be remembered as long as history endures, as a brave, useful

and faithful patriot, and minister, whose life was full of good deeds

and who always stood for the right. He was the father of seven children:

Mrs. Rosetta Hastings, Clara Louise, Eugene Pardee, Maria Corintha, all

of whom died in infancy; Charles Pardee on the home farm; Ernest, died

in infancy; George, living at White City, Kan.

Rev. Hastings has always been a steadfast advocate of prohibition, but

has generally allied himself politically with the Republican party

principles. In 1876 he was selected by the Republican party in the

county as their candidate for the legislature, although at the time he

was an avowed Prohibitionist, and was elected, serving in the Kansas

legislature during the ensuing session. For eighteen years he served as

a member of the school board in his home district, and was for six years

a member of the Atchison County High School Board. He believes in

education for the young to the fullest and is heart and soul in favor of

giving young men and women every opportunity to acquire a higher

education, as is attested by the splendid training which he was enabled

to give each of his own offspring. Rev. Hastings has baptized hundreds

of converts during his ministerial career and started them onward in the

better life. His whole life has been dedicated for good.

KNUD G. GIGSTAD.

Knud G. Gigstad, farmer and breeder of fine cattle, was born in Norway

September 28, 1856, and is a son of Gulick and Anna Gigstad. He was one

of seven children one of whom is now dead. Four of the boys and one

daughter are living in the United States. The father was a native of

Norway and spent his life in that country.

Knud G. Gigstad left Norway at the age of twenty to try his luck in

America. He came without funds and went to work as a farm hand in Brown

county, Kansas. He remained at that place two years and then rented 160

acres from his uncle, Benedict Mutson. This was a profitable venture and

before long he was able to buy eighty acres of unimproved land in

section 28, Lancaster township, Atchison county, for which he paid

$16.25 an acre. Mr. Gigstad worked hard to get his farm in workable

shape, each year finding him a little more prosperous, and finally he

added 320 acres to the farm, besides 436 acres of rice land in Liberty

county, near Houston, Texas. Eighteen years ago he built a large house

on the farm and has since erected a large barn and other substantial

buildings. Mr. Gigstad is a breeder of Shorthorn cattle and has made

exhibits at the American Royal stock show in Kansas City, Mo., and in

1913 was awarded the prize as grand champion of America on his

Shorthorns. This is a high honor and is ample testimony of the quality

of Mr. Gigstad’s stock. He is an extensive shipper to all parts of the

United States. His reputation as a breeder is firmly established among

cattle men all over the country. He is almost sure of one or two first

prizes whenever he enters his cattle in a fair. Mr. Gigstad also has a

fine three acre orchard. He is a hard working man and has succeeded

despite great handicaps, and his financial success has not caused him to

neglect the welfare of his county, as he has always been active in

supporting measures for the good of Atchison county.

He is married to Lena Olsen, a native of Atchison county, and a daughter

of Herrol and Julia Olsen. She was born in 1866. Her parents are natives

of Norway and her father was an early settler of Atchison county. Mr.

and Mrs. Gigstad have eleven children: Anna Flattre, of Lancaster

township; Mrs. Julia Henz, of Lancaster, Kan.; Harry, Clara, Gena,

Gilbert, Matilda, Lillian, Gladis, Carl, Charles, all living at home.

Mr. Gigstad is a Republican and a member of the Lutheran church.

ALBERT BARNES HARVEY.

The memory of a good and noble man lingers long after his demise in the

hearts and minds of those who knew him best. The late Albert Barnes

Harvey, of Muscotah, Kan., during the course of a long and notable

career, covering ever forty years in Atchison county, accomplished much

in a material sense and left behind him an unimpeachable record for

integrity and upright living which will long endear his memory to his

former mortal associates. He lived in the days when men were more

closely drawn together in the great struggle to create a State from a

wilderness of prairie and unpeopled waste, and did his part in the

development of his adopted county, of which he was one of the real

pioneers. Soldier, farmer, banker and religious worker who lived true to

his ideals as a man and citizen, he walked with the leaders of the great

State which he assisted in upbuilding.

[Illustration:

_Eng. by E. G. Williams & Bro. N. Y._

_A. B. Harvey_

]

Albert Barnes Harvey was born May 12, 1841, at Williamsport, Pa., a son

of Samuel and Margaret Harvey. His parents went from their native State

to Illinois in the early days of the settlement of that State,

developing a fine farm in Henderson county, Illinois. Samuel Harvey

prospered in the State of his adoption, reared a fine family, and in his

later days retired to a comfortable home in Monmouth, Ill., removing to

the city for the purpose primarily, of giving his children the

advantages afforded there for obtaining a good school education. He died

at the home of his son in Henderson county after a long and useful life.

The subject of this review, Albert Barnes, when a young man twenty years

of age, hearkened to the first call of President Lincoln for troops with

which to quell the rebellion of the Southern States and enlisted in

Company G, Tenth infantry, regiment of Illinois volunteers, and served

faithfully throughout the Civil war. He was engaged with his regiment in

many great battles, such as Corinth, Island Number Ten, Missionary

Ridge, Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga, Siege of Vicksburg, and Capture of

Atlanta, and took part in Sherman’s famous march from Atlanta to the sea

and the subsequent taking of Savannah. He marched in the Grand Review at

Washington, D. C., and was mustered out of the service July 12, 1865. He

then returned home and engaged in the peaceful pursuit of farming until

1874, when he came to Kansas and settled on a farm southwest of

Muscotah. This farm was only partially improved at the time of his

purchase and he improved and cultivated it until 1880, at which time he

came to Muscotah and engaged in the hardware business in partnership

with A. J. Harwi; later he was in partnership with F. S. Roberts, who

was succeeded by W. C. Allison. In 1890 he became associated with J. H.

Calvert in the banking business at Muscotah, he and his partner

purchasing the bank founded by George Storch and changing the name to

the Muscotah Exchange Bank. This bank was later changed to the Muscotah

State Bank and is one of the thriving financial concerns of Atchison

county, now incorporated with the Farmers State Bank. Mr. Harvey was in

the banking business for twenty years and served as president of the

Muscotah State Bank, and was successful in his business ventures to such

an extent that he became one of the wealthy citizens of the county.

During his later years he and Mrs. Harvey enjoyed traveling about the

country, the condition of his health becoming such that it was

practically necessary for him to spend his winters in the Southland. He

and Mrs. Harvey spent many happy days in visiting the battlefields of

the South over which his regiment had fought and they enjoyed life to

the utmost during those later years.

Mr. Harvey was married October 25, 1871, at Stronghurst, Ill., to Miss

Viola Allison, who was born October 25, 1841, in Washington county,

Pennsylvania, a daughter of John and Margaret (Carter) Allison. John

Allison was born in Pennsylvania and was a second cousin of President

William McKinley, whose mother was an Allison. Margaret Carter Allison

was born in Scotland and accompanied her parents to this country when

twelve years of age, where they settled in Henderson county, Illinois.

Both of Mrs. Harvey’s parents died in Illinois, and a brother, John C,

who enlisted in the Union army at the age of seventeen years, died at

Ft. Donelson. An older brother, Hugh, also served in the Union army, and

a half brother, W. C. Allison, now of Horton, resided in Muscotah for

many years and was one of the pioneer business men of the city. The

Allison family is a very old and numerous one of Scotch descent. No

children came to bless this happy wedded life of Albert H. and Viola

Harvey, but they reared two adopted daughters, who are now established

in comfortable homes of their own, namely: Lela, wife of A. P. Bishop,

of Topeka, now a farmer living southwest of Muscotah, and Lula, wife of

E. H. Purdy, of Kansas City, Mo. Mrs. Bishop has four children: Albert,

George, Dorothy and Ruth. Mrs. Harvey spends the spring and summer

seasons in her beautiful residence in Muscotah and invariably travels in

the South during the winter. Mr. Harvey retired from active banking

pursuits in 1910.

Mr. Harvey was a member of the Congregational church at Muscotah and

served as deacon of the church from 1898 until his demise, on Monday,

July 22, 1912. For many years he was superintendent of the Sunday school

and was very fond of young people, nothing giving him more pleasure than

to gather about him a group of intelligent young folks with whom he was

always at his best. He took a keen interest in church and Sunday school

work and endeavored to follow the precepts of the Greatest of All

Teachers during all the days of his long and useful life. He was

prominent in Masonic and Odd Fellows lodge circles and served as

worshipful master of the Muscotah Masons on two occasions. He was a

member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was a Republican in

politics and took a keen interest in the political and civic affairs of

Atchison county, serving three terms as a member of the Atchison County

High School board and a term as mayor of his home city. Many of the

distinguished men of Atchison and the State of Kansas were his personal

friends, among them being the late Governor George W. Glick, with whom

he spent a winter in Florida, Ex-Governor W. J. Bailey, and the late

Judge Horace M. Jackson, of Atchison. He was, withal, a home and church

man above everything else. He loved his home and his family and was

hospitable to the core of his being, always ready to entertain friends

or even strangers at his board, jolly and big-hearted, always.

MARTIN KLEIN.

Martin Klein, living a retired life in the town of Potter, Atchison

county, Kansas, at the advanced age of four score and two years, is one

of the oldest of the Kansas pioneers, who for over sixty-one years of

his long life has lived in the Sunflower State, and has seen the steam

railway take the place of the overland freight trains, hauled by oxen

and mules, and has witnessed the automobile superseding the farm wagon

and horse and buggy as a means of transportation. On his lonely claim in

the north part of Leavenworth county, near Potter, he could see the

great trains passing along the Ft. Riley road from Leavenworth to Salt

Lake; he remembers the dread visitation of the grasshoppers in the

seventies, when the “hoppers” came in dense clouds, ate up all the

growing crops and left devastation and desolation in their wake. Martin

Klein is one of the best known of the old-timers in this section of

Kansas and took an active part in the slavery contest which was bitterly

waged on Kansas soil, and nearly gave his life in defense of his

principles, later to shoulder a musket in defence of his adopted

country.

Martin Klein was born March 2, 1833, in Alsace-Lorraine, a son of Peter

and Teresa (Miers) Klein, both of whom were born and reared in Alsace-

Lorraine, and were of ancient French extraction. When Martin was

fourteen years of age, his parents in 1847, left their native land and

immigrated to Oneida county, New York, where they settled on a farm near

Rome. The elder Klein prospered in the land of his adoption and Martin

grew up imbued with American ideals, along with the other five children

of the Klein family. Martin was the youngest of a family of six children

born to Peter and Teresa Klein. Three brothers of Mrs. Klein, Joseph

Miers, and two others, were soldiers, who served under Napoleon

Bonaparte, and were members of the Grand Army of Napoleon which marched

to the siege of Moscow. Two of the brothers were killed at Moscow, and

Joseph was one of the few out of the many thousands of soldiers who

lived to return home and tell about the ill-fated expedition which cost

Napoleon his grand army.

In the fall of 1854, Martin Klein left his old home in New York and set

out for Kansas, to grow up with the country. He arrived in Leavenworth

on September 18 of that year, and lost no time in taking up a claim in

Leavenworth county, which served as his home until 1900, when he retired

to a comfortable home in the town of Potter. Six years after his arrival

in Kansas he married Miss Paulina Hawley, whom he espoused on March 29,

1860. She was a daughter of Francis H. and Louise Hawley, both of whom

were natives of old Virginia, and were early settlers in Kentucky, where

Mrs. Klein was born November 12, 1826. She departed this life January 4,

1907, in Potter, Kan. She was a loving and faithful helpmeet to Mr.

Klein for forty-seven years, and endured with him many hardships

incident to the pioneer life in Kansas.

When Mr. Klein first came to Kansas in 1854, the turmoil and the border

warfare waged between the pro- and anti-slavery forces, was just

beginning, and he, being a pronounced anti-slavery man, was thrown into

the thick of the fight. He was an accurate marksman with the revolver,

and often found occasion to make use of his ability with the pistol. He

was so active in his work in behalf of the Free State party that he was

marked for vengeance by border ruffians. An occasion which is memorable,

and marked the savagery of this warfare, is worth recording: “On a

Sunday in the spring of 1856, when Mr. Klein was at church, three

strangers came to church, ostensibly to buy corn from him. After the

bargain had been struck, and he had agreed to sell the men the corn

wanted, they insisted on him accompanying them to Easton, Kan., in order

to get his pay for the corn. This Klein refused to do. During the parley

one of the men had kept a hand hid under his coat on the plea that he

had a sore member. The wind blowing the coat flap to one side, Klein

noticed that the man was concealing a revolver in his hand. They finally

showed him a warrant for his arrest. He then knew that his life was in

danger, and again refused to accompany the men to Easton. He turned to

go back to the church and they opened fire on him, firing eight shots in

all, four of which took effect in his body, one shot striking him in the

head, one in the side, and one in the hip. He fell to the ground and the

ruffians rode away, leaving him for dead. Happily, the wounds were not

fatal, and he recovered, and lived to see the final triumph of the cause

which he loved, and for which he had sacrificed his peace and nearly

lost his life in advocating. During those early days Mr. Klein served as

constable and deputy sheriff and was constantly in danger of his life.

In the fall of 1856, he and others of the Free State men deemed it

prudent to leave their homes and go to Lawrence, Kan., where they joined

the citizen army, which was being organized in defense of Free State

principles. He took part in several incipient battles and scraps with

the pro-slavery advocates during those years, and when the war broke out

he enrolled in the Kansas militia and fought in Captain Baird’s company

when it marched to battle against General Price’s army of invasion.

Mr. Klein has a keen remembrance of his first day in Kansas, when he

walked a distance of twenty-four miles from Ft. Leavenworth to find his

brother-in-law, Charles C. Foster. He was all day finding Foster’s

claim. Starting out without his breakfast, he lost his way, and it was 8

o’clock that night before he arrived at his destination, footsore, weary

and hungry. The prairie grass in those days grew as high as a man’s head

in the bottom lands, and was knee high on the uplands, and the richness

of the soil was apparent to a man brought up on a farm. From his cabin

door Mr. Klein could look out in the distance and see the old Ft. Riley

trail which led from Ft. Leavenworth to Salt Lake. One morning on

arising he saw eighty covered wagons standing on the trail, each of

which had hitched to it six yoke of oxen. This was a sight worth seeing

and entertaining to a plainsman, being an indication of the onward march

of civilization as it moved ever westward. On one occasion while serving

as an officer of the law, Mr. Klein was sent to the cabin of Jim Foster,

a noted border desperado, to effect his arrest, but Foster was absent at

the time from his home on the bluffs overlooking Big Stranger creek.

After the war was over, Mr. Klein settled down to farming and peacefully

tilled his acres until his retirement to Potter. He took an active and

influential part in the affairs of his community, and has always been

allied with the Republican party, never, however, having been a seeker

after political preferment, and never held office except the post of

school director in his district.

BARNEY CUMMINS.

Barney Cummins, farmer and trustee of Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison

county, was born in Atchison December 17, 1859, a son of Patrick and

Mary (Faulkner) Cummins, the former a native of Roscommon county, and

the latter a native of County Caven, Ireland. Both came to America from

their native land when young, and met, and were married in Philadelphia.

After their marriage they went to Wisconsin and lived there one year and

then came to Atchison, Kan. Patrick was employed on a Missouri river

steamboat for a time, saved his money and moved to a farm, which he

rented for about ten years, accumulating sufficient capital to then

purchase a quarter section of school land in Mt. Pleasant township, the

tract now known as the old Cummins homestead. Patrick Cummins succeeded

in his farming venture and became prosperous as the years passed. During

the Civil war he was enrolled as a member of the Kansas State militia.

He was known as a Free State Democrat, and was a member of the Catholic

church. He died in 1871, and the widowed mother of Barney Cummins is

still living at the age of seventy-six years, on the old home farm.

There were six children in the Cummins family, namely: Barney; Charles,

on the home place; John, a farmer in Atchison county; Kathrine, living

with her mother; Mary, wife of William Rogers, of Nortonville, Kan.;

Sophia, wife of Thomas Cavanaugh, of St. Joseph, Mo.

Barney was about four years of age when the family removed from Atchison

to the farm in Mt. Pleasant township. He received his education in the

district school, near his home, and has lived on the farm all of his

life, excepting one year spent in Atchison. Mr. Cummins recollects with

sadness the severity of the early-day teachers as compared with the

teachers of today. He recalls that he was frequently given his choice of

punishments, which included either having his ears cut off, or take a

sound whipping with a great gad. This badly frightened him, and he also

remembers how the teacher jerked a big boy from his seat and threw him

unconscious to the floor of the school room. Happily, the days of brute

strength control of pupils in the schools is past, and a new and better

era of kindness and forbearance has dawned, years since. Mr. Cummins is

the owner of 100 acres of well improved land and is a progressive

farmer.

He was married January 9, 1882, to Sarah Maylen, a daughter of Joseph

and Elizabeth Maylen. The father was a native of Canada, and the mother

was born in Liverpool, England, their children being a product of the

intermarriage of French, English and Welsh ancestry. Joseph Maylen was a

French Canadian and his wife was of Welsh and English descent. They came

to Kansas in the early days and settled on a farm in Doniphan county.

Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cummins: William, living at

Potter, Kan.; Ella, wife of Luther Blodgett, a farmer in Atchison

county; Anna, wife of Harry Linsey, living in Atchison county; Joseph,

at home with his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Cummins have reared all of their

children on the farm upon which they have lived continuously since their

marriage.

Mr. Cummins is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen lodge of Potter, and

is a member of the Catholic church. He is a Democrat of the old school,

and since attaining his majority he has taken a more or less active part

in political affairs. He has served several terms as trustee of Mt.

Pleasant township, and it can be said of him that no man ever filled the

office more capably or administered the affairs of the township to

better advantage or more economically and honestly than Barney Cummins.

He was first elected to the office in 1892, again in 1907, then in 1908

and again in 1912, being re-elected in 1914. As trustee, Mr. Cummins has

the supervision of eight schools in his township, including the graded

high school of Potter. He is a faithful and conscientious public

official in whom the people impose every trust.

ALVA CLAPP.

Alva Clapp, president of the retail hardware company which bears his

name, has been engaged in business on Commercial street in Atchison

since May, 1907. At that time he purchased the retail store of a local

wholesale firm, and has made a pronounced success of the venture. It is

one of the most attractive and well stocked stores of the city and is

well patronized. Mr. Clapp is popular with his patrons and the citizens

of Atchison generally. He takes an active part in city affairs and is

especially interested in the public school system. Having been a teacher

before he became a merchant, he has never lost interest in the schools,

and is now the president of the Atchison city board of education.

Mr. Clapp was born August 23, 1868, at Carthage, Mo. He is a son of

Isaac and Susan B. (Eckler) Clapp, natives of North Carolina and

Illinois, respectively. Isaac Clapp emigrated from North Carolina to

Danville, Ill., when a young man, and married in his adopted State. His

parents were slave owners in the southland, and he himself owned slaves,

but having a pronounced distaste for the institution of slavery he

disposed of his human chattels and moved to the North. After a residence

of some years in Illinois, he located in Carthage, Mo., and owned a farm

in Jasper county which he cultivated. In 1875 he removed to Cherryvale,

Kan., and invested in a tract of land near that city. Here he resided

until his death in October, 1913.

Alva Clapp received his education in the schools of Cherryvale, Kan.,

and began teaching school when a very young man. He taught two terms in

a district school and served for two years as high school principal. He

had a liking for business and obtained his first experience in the

retail hardware trade in a store at Conway Springs, Kan., from 1891 to

1900, or a period of ten years. He then traveled for two years in the

interest of a local wholesale hardware company and was then employed for

five years in the various departments of the local concern. In 1907 he

organized the Alva Clapp Hardware Company and purchased the retail

department of the Blish, Mize & Silliaman Company of Atchison. Mr. Clapp

has given evidence of a pronounced aptitude for business affairs, and

faithfully attends to the numerous details which require the undivided

attention of the proprietor of a thriving concern, such as is in his

charge.

He was married in September of 1896 to Beatrice Kathrine De Haven, of

Wichita, Kan. They had one child, Harold De Haven, who died at the age

of one and one-half years. Mr. Clapp refers to Mrs. Clapp as his partner

in the business and his best and most competent assistant. Mrs. Clapp is

not only a good wife and socially active in the city, but she takes a

just pride in assisting her husband in making a success of his business.

Mr. Clapp is politically allied with the Republican party and has served

for fourteen years as a member of the school board. During his period of

service as a member of the board the school system of Atchison has made

its greatest advances, and the high school has achieved considerable

prestige. New buildings have been erected to accommodate the growing

needs of the school system, and others are in course of erection. All of

these improvements have received the hearty support of Mr. Clapp and he

enjoys the respect and esteem of his brother members to such an extent

that when the presidency of the board became vacant he was elected to

the position. He was also recently elected treasurer of the Commercial

Club of Atchison, another city boosting organization in which he is a

prominent figure. Mr. Clapp is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen and

the Elks lodges.

HON. GEORGE STORCH.

One of the notable and influential figures of the first and second

decades in the history of Atchison county was the late George Storch, of

Atchison. He came to Kansas when the State was in its infancy of

development and was a pioneer merchant of old Kennekuk, becoming in turn

a merchant, banker, statesman, and was, withal, one of the most useful

citizens of Atchison county of whom the reviewer has had opportunity to

write. Mr. Storch was a pioneer with a vision which enabled him to see

far ahead into the future. This vision, coupled with faith in the

eventual prosperity of Kansas, led him to invest heavily in farm lands

which made him one of the wealthy citizens of Kansas prior to his

demise. For nearly half a century, Mr. Storch was closely identified

with the financial and civic life of Atchison county, and twice

represented the county in the halls of the State legislature, each time

acquitting himself with credit and honor.

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