]
George Storch was born near Poppen-Hausen, Bavaria, Germany, February
22, 1835, and was a son of Thomas and Margaret (Breitung) Storch.
Thomas, the father, was a farmer and linen dealer in his native locality
and was considered fairly well to do. George was reared to young manhood
in his native land and received a good common school education. When
seventeen years of age he determined to cross the seas and seek his
fortune in America. In accordance with this determination he embarked on
a sailing vessel which landed him at New Orleans. From this southern
city he made his way by river steamer up the Mississippi and Missouri
rivers to Herman, Mo. Here he joined a brother who was farming in the
neighborhood and who assisted George in securing employment on a nearby
farm. He worked at farm labor in Missouri for some years and in April,
1859, he came to Atchison, Kan. This city did not offer much inducement
for the ambitious young man and he was desirous of engaging in the
mercantile business. Kennekuk, in the north central part of the county,
was then in the heyday of its prosperity and seemed to offer a better
location than Atchison. After a few months’ stay in Atchison he went to
Kennekuk and opened a general merchandise store with the capital which
he had saved while working on the farms in Missouri. He was successful
from the start and his judgment in the matter of Kennekuk being an
excellent business location proved correct. Kennekuk was at that time a
prosperous and thriving village located on the overland mail and
emigrant route and the Storch store made money for its owner to such an
extent that he was enabled to branch out and invest in lands and engage
in the banking business. Mr. Storch justified his faith in his adopted
State by investing heavily in lands which have greatly increased in
value since his original purchase of the same. In the early days of the
development of the West, the railroad companies were granted large
tracts of farm lands along the right of way by the Federal Government.
These tracts were placed on sale by the railroads, and were sold for
very low prices and easy terms in order to induce settlers to locate in
the regions being developed. Mr. Storch took advantage of the low prices
of the farm lands and invested heavily. This property comprised many
thousands of acres which have since increased enormously in value over
and above the original purchase price. Kennekuk had its day, and the
time came when the decline of the village was inevitable owing to the
building of the Central Branch railway out of Atchison, and which passed
to the southward of Kennekuk. Mr. Storch saw the time coming when the
once flourishing inland village would be no more, and in 1867 he removed
to Atchison and managed his large farming interests from this city.
Upon his removal to Atchison he immediately became identified with the
leading financial interests of the city and in 1873 organized the German
Savings Bank which was for many years one of the strong financial
institutions of the city. He was also identified with the first bank
established in Muscotah, Kan. He engaged in the real estate and farm
loan business in Atchison and organized the Eastern Kansas Land and Loan
Company, a concern which is still doing business and of which his
daughter, Mrs. Louisa J. Lips, is president. Mr. Storch served as
president of the German Savings Bank until its stock was purchased by
the United States National Bank, and also filled the office of president
of this bank during the period of its existence. He was engaged in
banking pursuits for a period of eighteen years.
He was married in 1859 to Miss Elizabeth Fox, a daughter of John and
Elizabeth Fox, who removed from Evansville, Ind., where Mrs. Storch was
born, to Carroll county, Missouri, and settled on a farm. Two children
blessed this union of George and Elizabeth Storch: George H., who will
be remembered as a bright, intelligent and capable Atchison citizen and
who was associated with his father in business for several years, and
died in July, 1911, and Louisa Justina, widow of Oscar Lips. Mrs. Storch
died in February, 1905, and almost three years later followed the demise
of the husband and father, who departed this life in January, 1908.
Oscar Lips and Louisa Justina Storch were married in 1891, and that
union was blessed with a son, Charles, born in October, 1896. Charles
Lips received his primary education in the public schools of Atchison,
his preparatory work in the Culver, Ind., Military Academy, and is now
pursuing a collegiate course in the Kansas University at Lawrence. Oscar
Lips was born in St. Louis, Mo., a son of Dr. Charles August Lips, a
former practicing physician of St. Louis, and who was of German descent.
Oscar was reared and educated in his native city, and when a young man
engaged in the wholesale drug business. His demise occurred in Atchison,
August, 1905.
George Storch was a Republican in politics and took an active and
influential part in political affairs during his long years of residence
in Kansas. Not long after establishing himself in business at Kennekuk
he became postmaster of the town, and assisted in establishing the first
union school in the village, serving as a member of the board of
education which had charge of this school. The _Horton Headlight_ has
the following historical account of this school in an issue of August,
1905, in part: “The old stone school house was not the first school
building in the Kennekuk neighborhood, but it was the first substantial
one in this part of the country and marks an important epoch in its
development. It was built in 1867. It was a joint district, eight miles
north and south. The west line was the road between Atchison and Jackson
counties. A strip of country two miles wide and eight miles long was in
Atchison county and a corresponding trip of country was just over the
line in Brown county. The school house was quite a structure to be
builded in that early day, but the settlers did not complain at the high
taxes, since their children had a good place to attend school. The cost
was about $3,000, quite a good sized sum for early settlers to expend,
but it shows their determination to provide an education for their
children. The first school board was composed of George Storch, Squire
Willis and Henry Claunch....”
Mr. Storch was always greatly interested in the cause of education and
after his removal to Atchison he served as a member of the Atchison
board of education and was president of this body for a time. While a
resident of Kennekuk he was elected to represent Atchison county in the
Kansas legislature in 1864. During the ensuing session he voted for Gen.
James H. Lane for United States senator and voted to ratify the
fourteenth amendment to the National constitution. In 1876 he was
elected a member of the legislature from the city of Atchison, and
during the session following his election he was a member of the ways
and means committee and voted for P. B. Plumb for United States senator.
Mr. Storch made an excellent record as an able and honest legislator,
who had the best interests of his State at heart. He was active in civic
and political affairs in Atchison and served as a member of the city
council of which body he was president for one year, declining re-
election when his term of office expired. The following tribute to his
ability as a city father appeared in the _Atchison Champion_ of April 6,
1873: “One of the best councilmen our city has ever had leaves that body
after two years’ service in it. We refer to Hon. George Storch, chairman
of the committee on improvements. He has been industrious, independent,
and energetic. Having the chairmanship of the most important and
laborious committee, he has given his time and attention to the
discharge of the duties devolving upon him, and in the decision of all
questions in the council he has exhibited a clearness of judgment and a
carefulness in guarding the interests of the city that entitle him to
general commendation. He declined re-election.”
Mr. Storch served for three years as city treasurer and exhibited the
same judgment and careful management of the city’s affairs in this
important capacity that has marked the performance of his official
duties as a councilman and school trustee. It is worthy of record that
in 1865, while in Kennekuk, he was elected a member of the board of
county commissioners and served as chairman of that body.
Few pioneer citizens of Atchison lived a more useful or busier life than
he of whom this review is written. The name of George Storch figures
prominently in the historical annals of Atchison county as a builder and
creator and an honorable and upright citizen, who left behind him when
his soul winged its way beyond the knowledge of mortal ken, a record
imperishable, and a name unblemished and untarnished of which his
descendants may well be proud. While opportunities for achieving fortune
and fame may not be as great at this day as they were in George Storch’s
time and era, the story of this poor German emigrant boy who made his
own way in Kansas from poverty to affluence and won an honored place in
the history of his adopted county and State is well worth reading and
may serve as an inspiration and guidance to others of the present and
rising generations.
THOMAS BROWN.
There is considerable satisfaction in writing the life story of a man
who has worked his way upward from poverty to a position of wealth and
influence in the space of a lifetime, and accomplished it all with his
own strong arms and mind. When one adds to this accomplishment the
rearing of a large family to lives of usefulness, and to bring up a bevy
of young men and women to comfort their parents in their declining
years, there is not much for any one individual to wish for. Thomas
Brown, retired farmer, of Effingham, Kan., has done all of this and is
the proud father of one of the largest families in Atchison county. Had
he done no more than to bring into the world his thirteen children, he
would have been worthy of praise and been entitled to honorable mention
in this volume, as a patriotic and sturdy American citizen. A native of
the Emerald isle, he came to America in his youth, and now ranks as one
of the Kansas and Atchison county pioneers.
Thomas Brown was born in the little village of Altone, Ireland, and is a
son of John and Mary (Dalton) Brown. His birth occurred on February 10,
1847. His father was a farmer in his native country, and made a good
living for his family, later moving to the town of Altone and engaging
in the transfer business, in which occupation he was fairly successful
and enabled to provide for his family in comfort. He was the father of
ten children, seven of whom came to America to seek their fortunes in
the land of opportunity. The seven who came across the Ocean were: J. P.
Brown, a pioneer merchant and capitalist, of Atchison, now deceased;
Mrs. Bridget Norton, who died in 1913 at her home in Pittsfield, Mass.;
Mrs. Mary Scully, of Troy, N. Y.; Mrs. Anna Elkhorn, of Troy, N. Y.;
Mrs. Margaret Hewitt, of Independence, Mo.; Mrs. Kate Waters, deceased,
who was the wife of a soldier in the British army. The father of these
children died in Ireland, and the mother died in Troy, N. Y.
Thomas Brown emigrated from his native land to this country in 1865, and
hired out to a farmer in Orange county, New York, at $20 per month. The
farm where he was employed was located seventeen miles north of Newburg,
on the Hudson river. He worked there for two years and carefully saved
his earnings until he had $300. With this capital he set out for the
West and joined his brother, J. P. Brown, who was then located in
Atchison. His first employment was on his brother’s stock farm, located
north of Monrovia. Unfortunately, he was taken ill not long after his
arrival, and lay sick for a long time with typhoid, all of his savings
going to pay for medical services and nursing. He remained on his
brother’s farm for ten years and laid by another stake during that time.
During this period he cultivated three farms, owned by J. P. Brown, who
did not require him to pay any rental fees. Even the taxes were paid by
his brother who was only anxious to keep the land in cultivation and
give his brother, Tom, a start in the world. In the year 1877, Thomas,
having saved enough money to buy a farm of his own, invested his savings
in a tract of 160 acres of high prairie land, northwest of Effingham, in
Benton township. His first land investment cost him $2,250. The land had
on it only a small shack which was soon replaced by a comfortable home.
It is now one of the best improved places in this section of Kansas, and
the Brown farms are among the most productive in the whole State of
Kansas. A handsome white farm house graces the home place, which can be
seen for miles around, and it is quite imposing. Mr. Brown prospered as
he deserved and increased his holdings to the grand total of 640 acres
of good Kansas land. The remarkable part about his purchases of land is
that he paid cash for every tract of land which he bought and never went
in debt for a single acre. This land, purchased at varying prices, is
now easily worth $125 an acre. Mr. Brown carried on general farming and
live stock raising until February of 1911, when he turned over the
management of the home farm to his son, and removed to Effingham, where
he has a beautiful and comfortable residence in the west part of the
city.
He, of whom this review is written, was married on October 20, 1869, to
Miss Anna Neely, born in Ohio in 1846, a daughter of Samuel Neely, who
migrated to Atchison county, Kansas, in 1868. Sixteen children have been
born of this marriage, thirteen of whom are living, all of whom are
married excepting one daughter and a son: John, a farmer, living near
Blue Rapids, Kan.; Mrs. Ida Fishburn, living on a farm near Meriden,
Kan.; William, Charley, Frank, and Edward, who are located on their
father’s ranch; George lives at Effingham; Richard, a successful farmer,
living south of Muscotah; Mrs. Pearl Dunn, of Oklahoma; Mrs. Ethel
Smith, residing in Oklahoma; Edith, at home with her parents; Mrs. Julia
Wagner, living near Mortimer, Kan.; Mrs. Mary Kemp, on a farm near
Vermilion, Kan. This worthy couple have thirty-six grandchildren.
Mr. Brown is a Republican in politics, but is decidedly independent in
his voting and making up his mind concerning political questions of the
day. He believes in supporting the man best qualified to serve the
people in a civic capacity, rather than blindly following the dictates
of political leaders or so-called bosses, a characteristic of the man in
all of his conduct through life. He is a member of the Effingham
Catholic church and is a liberal supporter of this denomination, having
contributed liberally toward the building of the local church. He is a
member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons lodge and became a member
of this lodge in 1871. It is a matter of historical record that Mr.
Brown, Willis Walker and Hump. Henderson, of Effingham, are the three
oldest living Masons in Atchison county in point of years of membership
in the order. What more honor does a man wish than has befallen this
Atchison county pioneer?
ALBERT H. BLAIR.
Albert H. Blair, farmer, of Center township, Atchison county, was born
March 6, 1862, near Astoria, Ill., and is a son of William and Alcinda
(McCormack) Blair. He was one of five children, Daisy being the only
other survivor. She resides in Center township and is now Mrs. Warner.
Two other children died in infancy, and William died while living on the
farm which Bert now owns. The father was born May 18, 1833, in
Brownsville, Fayette county, Pennsylvania. He was a son of William
Blair, and was a glass cutter while living in the East, but when he went
to Illinois, he engaged in farming. Later, he farmed in Fulton county,
Illinois. In 1863 he came to Kansas and engaged in freighting between
Atchison and Denver, with his brother, Edward. They followed this
exciting occupation about three years, and in that short time had many
experiences which they related with great delight in after years. They
were never attacked by the Indians, for the reason that they drove in
large numbers, with 100 wagons to the train, and the Indians were shy of
such a large force. However, one night they thought that their luck had
changed. Mr. Blair can just barely remember the incident, although his
father has told it over so many times that it seems to him as if he
remembered the original incident. One night the party camped on the
trail between Atchison and Denver, lying asleep under their wagons.
Indians had been seen that day and the freighting party was a little
uneasy, and some of the more nervous members feared an attack. Late in
the night the mules became frightened and woke up Mr. Blair. William
jumped up, and off in the dark he could see a white object approaching.
The cry of “Indians” went out and rifles were aimed. William shot, but
could not hit the object. No one else could, for it was very dark and
the object could not be seen distinctly. The white object kept
approaching, and finally took a definite outline in the darkness. It was
a white steer. One night when Indians stampeded the mules of the train,
William and a comrade set out in pursuit of the Indians by flaying the
mules with arrows and drove them so fast that the pursuers caught up
with them by hard exertion and recaptured the horses. These are typical
of many narratives which the elder Blair related of his early-day
experiences on the plains. After quitting the freighting business, he
and his brother engaged in milling in Atchison, Kan. Three years later
William sold his interest to his brother, and started a livery business.
A year later he went to farming in Doniphan county, Kansas, and moved
from one farm to another for several years. In 1882 he was elected
sheriff of Atchison county on the Democratic ticket, and his first term
was so successful that he was re-elected. After his term expired he
continued to live in Atchison for some time. He then bought 160 acres of
land in Center township and remained there until 1891, when he removed
to Effingham, where he lived in retirement until his death in 1899. The
mother of Bert Blair was born January 11, 1842, in Brownsville, Pa. She
is a daughter of Alonza and Sarah J. (Hibbs) McCormack, who were natives
of Pennsylvania. They came west in the early days and farmed in Illinois
and Iowa. The mother is now living with her daughter, Mrs. Daisy Warner,
in Center township, Atchison county.
Bert Blair grew up on his father’s farm and in Atchison, and was
educated in the district schools and the Atchison public schools. He
lived at home until he was eighteen years of age when he engaged in
railroading. It may have been the stories of his father about the
travelers that prompted him to go into railroading. At any rate he found
the adventurous work to his liking and he worked as a fireman on the
Missouri Pacific railroad passenger train from Kansas City to Omaha,
until he was promoted to the position of locomotive engineer. His run
was from Hiawatha to Kansas City, which was a division of the Missouri
Pacific then. In 1890 he rented his father’s farm, and at the death of
the latter, he inherited eighty acres, and he has since increased his
holdings to 160 acres. He has built a fine modern barn on his place,
50×54 feet in size, with a capacity of ninety-two tons of hay, and was
designed and built by Mr. Blair himself.
In 1886 he married Sarah P. Jeffery, who was born February 20, 1869, in
Missouri. She was a daughter of Ira P. and Mary (Farley) Jeffery, both
of whom were born in Virginia. They came to Atchison county, Kansas, in
the seventies, and are now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Blair have been
born four children, as follows: Roberta, deceased; Claude, Effingham,
Kan., married Vera Pittman, of Effingham, and has one son, Thomas
Albert, who was born December 24, 1909; William C., who married Elsie
Stickler, of Lancaster, and has two sons, Chester Eugene, born April 23,
1913, and Bert William, born October 20, 1914. A daughter, Sarah, died
in infancy in Kansas City. Mrs. Blair died November 20, 1915, and her
remains were interred in the cemetery at Lancaster. Mr. Blair is a
Democrat. He attends the Methodist church, and is a member of the Eagles
and Modern Woodmen of America.
GEORGE H. T. JOHNSON.
There is considerable distinction in being the oldest practicing
physician in Atchison county, and this well merited honor properly
belongs to Dr. George H. T. Johnson, of Atchison, Kan., who for nearly
half a century has practiced his profession continuously in the city
with ever increasing prestige and success which has never abated during
the long period of his career. Dr. Johnson is one of the best loved and
well respected professional men of the city who has won his place in the
front rank of his profession by sheer merit and ability of a high order.
Despite his seventy-three years of age he still continues to minister to
the ailing and has kept abreast of the wonderful advances made in
medical science.
[Illustration:
_G. H. T. Johnson_
]
Dr. G. H. T. Johnson was born near Mt. Vernon, Jefferson county,
Illinois, October 15, 1842, a son of James and Lydia (Cricle) Johnson,
the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of Illinois. His
paternal grandfather, George Johnson, was a soldier in the American army
during the War of 1812. The father of Dr. Johnson died when he was an
infant and his mother departed this life at the age of seventy-eight
years. George H. T. was educated in the public schools of Jefferson
county and Mount Vernon. He remained at home until the summer of 1862,
when he enlisted in the Union army as a member of Company G, One Hundred
and Tenth regiment, Illinois infantry. In September of the same year
this regiment was assigned to the command of General Buell, then at
Louisville, Ky., and first saw action at the battle of Perryville, Ky.,
October 8, 1862. Subsequently, the One Hundred and Tenth was transferred
to General Rosecrans’ army and took part in the great battle of Stone
River and the campaign which resulted in the capture of Chattanooga, and
the great battle of Chickamauga. He was under General Thomas at the
battles of Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. General
Grant in person directed the maneuvers of Generals Thomas’ and
Rosecrans’ combined forces during these famous engagements.
Subsequently, his regiment was assigned to the command of General
Sherman and served under Sherman until the close of the Civil war. He
took part in the siege and capture of Atlanta and the famous March to
the Sea, which culminated in the capture of Savannah, which city Sherman
presented to President Lincoln as a Christmas gift. He also participated
in the campaign of the Carolinas and was at the last battle fought by
Sherman’s army at Bentonville, N. C., and at the surrender of the
Confederate army under Gen. Joseph Johnston near Raleigh. From there the
victorious army marched to Richmond, thence to Baltimore and on to
Washington, where they participated in the Grand Review. Mr. Johnson was
honorably discharged from the service and mustered out June 8, 1865. The
doctor tells many anecdotes of his long and varied army experience which
are all interesting and show that he proved himself not unworthy of the
martial blood coursing through his veins and transmitted from his
grandfather.
Upon his return home from the war Mr. Johnson taught one term of school
and then decided to take up the study of medicine and make the science
of healing his life vocation. Accordingly, he entered the Cleveland
Homeopathic Medical College and subsequently attended the Homeopathic
Medical College of St. Louis, Mo., where he was graduated February 26,
1869. While a student at college he heard of the city of Atchison and
was impressed with the idea that it would be a good place to locate.
After looking around for a few weeks he became convinced that Atchison
was a desirable location for a young physician and he came here in April
of 1869 and soon built up an excellent practice which grew in volume as
the years went on. In 1885 Governor Martin appointed Dr. Johnson a
member of the State board of health, and in April of that year he was
elected president of the board and retained the position for eight
years. He is president of the Atchison board of pension examiners for
the United States Government and has acted in that capacity for several
years, his service as pension examiner beginning during the term of
President Arthur and continuing under the administrations of Presidents
Harrison, McKinley, Roosevelt and Taft. He always takes an interest in
the brothers who fought in the army under the stars and stripes for the
preservation of the American Union and does everything in his power to
aid the old soldiers. He is a charter member of the Homeopathic Medical
Society of Kansas and served two terms as president of this society. He
is also a member and has been a senior member of the American Institute
of Homeopathy, the oldest medical institute in the United States. For
many years he has been a member of the American Public Health
Association, as well as the County, State, and American Medical
Associations. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Masonic order, the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Ancient Order of United
Workmen, and has been a surgeon of John A. Martin Post, No. 93, Grand
Army of the Republic, since its organization, excepting two years when
he served as the post commander. Dr. Johnson is a man of wide and
thorough experience, broad and tolerant in his views, who has commanded
the confidence and high esteem of the people of Atchison and the
surrounding country during the many years in which he has been a
resident of the city. He is one of the best known men in the county and
holds high rank as a physician whose skill has not suffered abatement as
the years have gone by.
CHARLES H. JOHNSON
Dr. Charles H. Johnson, his son, practices with his father. He is a
graduate of the Kansas State University and completed a course in the
medical department of Columbia University, N. Y., and also graduated
from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City. For two
years he served as staff physician of the Roosevelt Hospital of New York
City, where he gained a wide and varied experience in the practice of
his profession that has proven to be invaluable to him in his later
career. Since locating in Atchison with his father he has built up a
fine practice and served for ten years as surgeon of the Orphans’ Home
at Atchison.
THOMAS C. TREAT.
Thomas C. Treat, who is engaged in the investment brokerage business in
Atchison, is one of the extensive land owners of Atchison county. Mr.
Treat is a native of Atchison county, born March 26, 1865, and is a son
of Levi S. and Mary D. (Cooper) Treat, the former a native of
Connecticut and the latter of England. Mary D. Cooper was born in
Exeter, Devonshire, England, and was a daughter of Thomas and Mary A.
Cooper. The Cooper family immigrated to America when Mary D. was a
child. The family consisted of the parents and three children. They made
the trip across the Atlantic in a sailing vessel, the voyage taking six
weeks. They located at Covington, Ky., where the parents spent their
lives. Mary D. Cooper had friends living in Atchison, and came here in
1857, where she later met and married Levi S. Treat. Levi S. Treat was
born in Connecticut in 1814, and was a son of Amos Treat, who removed
with his family to the Western Reserve, which comprised twelve counties
in northeastern Ohio. The Treat family located in that section in 1828,
when Levi S. was fourteen years old, and there the parents spent the
remainder of their lives.
When a young man, Levi S. Treat was in the employ of the Government,
prospecting for copper in the Lake Superior region. He was thus engaged
for eight or ten years, and in 1856 came to Atchison county, Kansas.
Shortly after arriving here, he preëmpted 160 acres of land, part of
which is now included within the city limits of Atchison. Here he
followed farming and fruit growing in the early days and prospered and
acquired considerable land. He dealt quite extensively in real estate
and was one of the early promoters of Atchison, and built the first
brick business house in that city. This building was located two doors
east of the Byrum Hotel. Levi S. Treat was a successful business man and
one of the substantial citizens of Atchison county. During the Civil war
he was a colonel of the Twelfth regiment, Kansas militia. He died April
13, 1881, and his wife survived him for several years, passing away
March 29, 1913. They were the parents of six children, as follows: Kate
married Samuel K. Woodworth, and they reside in California; Frank
resides in Arizona; Thomas C., the subject of this sketch; Alice married
George Guerrier, of Atchison, Kan.; Grace married William Berry, of
Atchison, Kan., and Ethel married Harry McDuff, of Omaha, Neb.
Thomas C. Treat was reared in Atchison and educated in the public
schools, and later attended St. Benedict’s College. He then was engaged
in fruit growing for a number of years, and in 1889 engaged in the
investment and brokerage business in Atchison, and has continued in that
business to the present time. Mr. Treat owns over 1,100 acres of land
besides various other interests and investments. He is one of the
pioneer fruit growers of Atchison county, and owns a fifty-acre fruit
farm, which has few equals, if any, in the State of Kansas. The trees on
this place are about fifteen years old, and, under normal conditions,
are very productive. Mr. Treat has made an extensive study of the fruit
business and has developed a scientific system of treating his trees. He
was the first fruit man in Atchison county to use the spray method, and
he has been very successful in the fruit business.
Mr. Treat was one of the organizers of the Union Trust Company, which
was later merged into the Exchange State Bank, and has been a director,
or other officer, in that institution since its organization. He is also
a stockholder in the Exchange State Bank. He is a member of the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is one of the progressive
and public spirited citizens of Atchison county.
CHARLES H. FUHRMAN.
Charles H. Fuhrman, farmer and stockman, of Lancaster township, Atchison
county, Kansas, was born in Schleasien, Germany, December 13, 1852. He
is a son of Ernst and Louise (Heine) Fuhrman, and is their only child.
The father was married again, however, and to his second wife, Johanna
Gerlach, twelve children were born, as follows: Ernst, Atchison, Kan.;
Caroline (Dierking), Dodge City, Kan.; Louise (Repstein), Jefferson
county, Kansas; William, St. Joseph, Mo.; Reinhold, farmer, Lancaster
township, Atchison county, Kansas; Julius, Doniphan county, Kansas;
Traugot, Center township, Atchison county; Herman, Lancaster township,
Atchison county; Paul, Center township, Atchison county; Emma (Schwope),
Center township. Two children died in infancy. The father was born in
Germany July 8, 1826, and in 1872 came to America and settled in
Atchison county, Kansas, where he bought 160 acres of land in section
16, Lancaster township. This was timber and prairie land and there was
only a small, poorly built house on it at the time, but during the
twenty years which he owned it he built several substantial buildings
and made numerous improvements. He then sold the place to his son,
Herman, and removed to Lancaster, where he lived in quiet, well-earned
retirement for five years, when he went to live with his son, Paul, in
Center township, where he died September 2, 1915. The mother, Louise
(Heine) Fuhrman, died in Germany when a young woman in 1852. Charles
Fuhrman’s stepmother, Joehanna (Gerlach) Fuhrman, was born in Germany,
and is now living with her daughter, Emma, in Center township, Atchison
county, in her eighty-fifth year.
Charles Fuhrman left Germany with his parents when he was nineteen years
of age. He had received his education under the German system, and had
been taught the carpenter’s trade, but never followed this occupation
after he came to America. He remained with his parents, helping his
father on the farm in Lancaster township until he was twenty-five years
old, when he bought 160 acres of land in section 18, Lancaster township.
When he took possession the farm had no improvements, and he first built
a house and a barn, and added other improvements and conveniences. He
acquired more land until he now owns 390 acres, including eight acres of
fine timber land on his home place and ten acres of timber on the farm
which he rents. He has stocked his farm with graded animals. Besides his
real estate investments, Mr. Fuhrman is a shareholder in the Huron
Telephone Company. He was married in 1878 to Louise Roerchen, who was
born in Germany July 16, 1857. She left her native land with her uncle,
Karl Schwope, in 1860. They came to Wathena, Doniphan county, Kansas.
Her mother died on the ocean while coming to America and the little
daughter was reared by her grandparents in Doniphan county and attended
the grammar school at Wathena. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs.
Fuhrman: Ernst, farmer, Lancaster township, Atchison county; Ida
(Tuley), deceased; William, Lancaster township; Selma (Lange),
Grasshopper township, Atchison county; Edward, living at home; Mabel,
also living with her parents. Mr. Fuhrman is a Republican, and has been
road overseer of Lancaster township. He belongs to the Evangelical
church, and is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.
CHARLES LINLEY.
A true analysis of the growth and development of the manufacturing and
commercial enterprises of a city invariably brings forth the fact that
while the interested principals furnished capital, energy and ability,
its financial institutions were also material factors. The city of
Atchison is not an exception to the rule. The policy of her banks has
been, since the first one was established, to extend assistance to
merchants and manufacturers. Both executives and directors have been
keenly alive to the fact that a liberal policy, in so far as was
consistent with sound banking, was essential to commercial growth. Among
those who have realized success in this field of activity is he whose
name initiates this article. He first entered the banking life of the
city in the early nineties, subsequently served Atchison county in an
official capacity and re-entered financial circles as one of the
organizers of the Union Trust Company in 1907, was later elected cashier
of the Exchange State Bank, and in 1911 resigned to accept his present
position, that of cashier of the First National Bank.
Charles Linley was born in the city of Atchison July 10, 1867, and is
the only surviving member of the family of Dr. James M. Linley, a
pioneer physician of the city and one of her most influential citizens.
Dr. Linley was born in Salem, Ky., the son of a pioneer, and was of
English descent. He was reared in his native State, received a good
academic and classical education, and subsequently entered Miami Medical
College at Cincinnati, Ohio, from which he was graduated with the Degree
of Doctor of Medicine. During the closing years of the Civil war he
entered the Union army as a regimental surgeon and served until the
close of the conflict. Previous to entering the army he had married Mary
A. Hubbard, a daughter of Charles Hubbard, of Hickman, Ky., a member of
one of Kentucky’s most prominent families, an influential citizen and a
widely known and successful physician.
Following his service in the Union army, he came to the conclusion that
Kansas spelled opportunity for him, and bringing his family, located in
the city of Atchison in 1865. From this time until his death, which
occurred November 28, 1900, he continued in the active practice of his
profession. He was recognized as one of the most successful physicians
and surgeons in northeastern Kansas. He was a man of attractive
personality, was intimately acquainted throughout the city and county
and held in the highest esteem by all who knew him. His record for
continuous years of practice has seldom been equaled in the State. He
was a believer in the religion of deed, and his creed was to do good. He
believed in the gospel of help and hope. For forty-five years he lived
his creed and preached his gospel to the citizens of his adopted State.
He was not only a successful physician but also realized a substantial
success in a commercial way. He was directly or indirectly interested in
many business enterprises. He was one of the active forces in the
organization of the First National Bank, and from the establishment
until his death was a member of its directorate. He and his wife were
prominent in the social and religious life of the city, and the Linley
residence was known for its gracious hospitality which was extended to
their many friends with true Kentucky spirit. Dr. and Mrs. Linley were
the parents of five children, all of whom, with the exception of our
subject, are deceased. Hubbard Linley, the eldest, was graduated in
medicine and became one of the most prominent surgeons in northeast
Kansas. He was division surgeon of the Missouri Pacific railway,
Atchison district. His death occurred in July, 1911. Thomas died in
childhood; Victor, on November 20, 1915; and Maria died in childhood.
Charles Linley was reared in the city of Atchison and received his early
education in its public schools. Subsequently, he entered Kansas
University, where he completed a course in English. He initiated his
commercial career in 1887 when he entered the employ of the First
National Bank of Atchison in the capacity of collector. In 1892 he was
appointed deputy treasurer of Atchison county. That he filled this
position satisfactorily is attested through his having been elected
treasurer of the county in 1899 and re-elected to that office in 1902.
His second term expired in 1905, but he held over until 1907, as the
gentleman elected to the office in the fall of 1904 died before being
sworn in. The administration of the affairs of this office under Mr.
Linley was marked by efficiency, economy and courtesy. During the last
two years of this service he was the junior member of the Antle-Linley
Grain Company of Atchison. In 1907 he was actively concerned in
organizing the Union Trust Company of Atchison, and was elected
secretary and treasurer. He filled this position until 1909, when the
Exchange State Bank was organized. This institution took over the Union
Trust Company, and Mr. Linley was elected cashier. He remained with the
Exchange State Bank until 1911, when he was elected cashier of the First
National Bank, the institution in which he had received his first
business experience some twenty years previous, and in the organization
of which his father was an active factor. To the banking fraternity Mr.
Linley is known as an energetic, able and progressive executive, one who
has brought the administrative policy of his bank to a point of high
efficiency. He has extensive commercial interests aside from the bank.
He is a stockholder in the Globe Publishing Company, the Bailor Plow
Company, and the Cain Milling Company. Since attaining his majority, he
has been active in the political life of the county, and is one of the
influential members of the Progressive party. Mr. Linley is a member and
past exalted ruler of Atchison Lodge, No. 647, Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks. He is also a member of Atchison Lodge, No. 404, Loyal
Order of Moose.
On June 26, 1890, in Atchison, Mr. Linley married Miss Roberta Wilson
Riddell, a daughter of Mrs. Josephine E. Riddell. They have one child
Robert Wilson Linley, born in Atchison, March 8, 1894. He was educated
in the public schools of his native city and graduated from its high
school. In 1911 he entered the law department of Kansas University,
remaining until 1913, when he entered the University of Wisconsin, where
he completed a course in English. In 1915 he entered the employ of the
First National Bank of Atchison in the capacity of collector and
remittance clerk.
WILLIAM H. BUSH.
William H. Bush, farmer and stockman, of Lancaster township, Atchison
county, was born January 16, 1856, in Hanover, Pa. He is a son of Elias
D. and Sarah (Keithline) Bush, and was one of six children, as follows:
William, subject of this sketch; Samuel, deceased; John, deceased;
Andrew, foreman of tailoring establishment in St. Louis, Mo.; Charles
F., signal man for the Missouri Pacific railway in Colorado; Minnie,
Atchison, Kan. Elias D. Bush, the father, was born December 16, 1834, in
Pennsylvania. He was a stationary engineer and also followed farming for
a time. During the eighties he came to Atchison county and took up
farming in Shannon township. For a few years he rented his land, but
later bought 160 acres in section 26, Lancaster township, which is now
owned by Amel Markwalt. Elias D. Bush followed farming here until 1904,
when he sold his place and removed to Atchison, where he is now living
in retirement. William H. Bush’s mother was born February 27, 1834, in
Hanover, Pa., and died in 1890, and is buried in Lancaster cemetery.
William H. Bush attended the common schools in Hanover, Pa., and later
worked in the coal mines. In 1876 he left the East and came to Atchison
county, Kansas, and for five years worked for his uncle, Andrew
Keithline, and then rented land in Shannon township for eleven years. He
was successful in this venture, and in 1890 bought the farm of 160 acres
which he now farms, in Lancaster township. When he took the farm it had
only the most meager improvements, consisting chiefly of a small house
and an old barn, both in a dilapidated condition. Mr. Bush has built a
fine eleven-room house and a large barn, 64×60 feet. This barn cost him
$3,000, and he is willing to wager that it is one of the best, though
perhaps not the largest, in Atchison county. He now owns 320 acres of
land in Lancaster township and has a number of head of high grade stock,
including Shorthorn cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs. Mr. Bush is a
practical farmer, who, with practically no start, has, by hard work and
diligent economy, become a man of comfortable circumstances. He holds a
position of high esteem among the many acquaintances he has made in
Atchison county.
[Illustration:
MICHAEL J. HINES
]
[Illustration:
WILLIAM H. BUSH
]
[Illustration:
GEORGE DORSSOM
]
[Illustration:
CHAS. H. FALK
]
On March 30, 1881. Mr. Bush was united in marriage with Ellen J.
Christian, a native of the Isle of Man, a small island in the Irish sea
lying between Ireland and England. She was born January 24, 1857, a
daughter of Charles and Mary (Kneale) Christian, both of whom were
natives of the Isle of Man. Mrs. Bush died in February, 1911. They had
six children, as follows: Cora, Atchison, Kan.; Harry, Atchison, Kan.;
Mary Smithson, Lancaster, Kan.; Ina, deceased; Sarah, Atchison Kan.;
Jessie, Atchison, Kan. On October 29, 1913, Mr. Bush married Mary E.
Christian, a niece of his first wife, and a daughter of Charles and
Ellen J. (Wade) Christian, natives of the Isle of Man. She was born near
Pardee, Atchison county, March 21, 1869, and attended the Catholic
parochial school of Atchison. They have no children. Mr. Bush is a
Republican and attends the Methodist church. He is a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen of America of
Lancaster. He also is a member of the Atchison County Protective
Association, of which he was one of the organizers, and served as
president of the association for a number of years.
Mr. Bush is one of the most successful farmers in Kansas and is the
owner of a highly productive tract of land. As an illustration of his
success as a farmer, the records show that from a tract of twenty-one
acres there was corn produced at an average of 108 bushels to the acre
the first year, ninety-seven bushels to the acre the second year, and
eighty-four bushels to the acre the third year, after which the land was
sown to wheat in the natural order of crop rotation and the yield was
thirty-eight bushels to the acre. Mr. Bush is a firm believer in crop
rotation as a means of preserving the fertility of the soil.
MICHAEL J. HINES.
For an individual to come to Atchison county without funds and with
practically no influential friends to assist him to achieve success, it
is remarkable for him to accomplish in the rather brief period of
twenty-six years as much as has been done by Michael J. Hines, of
Lancaster township, Atchison county. It is apparent that Kansas presents
unusual opportunities for a man to better his condition, if one man can
accumulate 480 acres of land, become president of a flourishing banking
concern and a stockholder in another important city bank. The main
reason for Mr. Hines’ wonderful success must lie in the ability of the
man himself, and the reviewer must of necessity conclude that the power
to achieve was inherent in his mental and physical makeup, which,
combined with industry, decided financial ability, honesty and
uprightness has made him one of the leading citizens of his adopted
county. Mr. Hines is a scion of old southern families, and comes of good
old Virginia stock on his mother’s side, being descended from the well
known Hunter family of Virginia, who were among the founders of the
Baptist church in the southland. Mr. Hines is a large stockholder and
director, and was formerly vice-president of the Antelope Peak copper
mines of Arizona. He is the owner of a 320–acre irrigated ranch in the
Valier valley of Montana, near Valier.
Michael J. Hines was born July 5, 1863, in Roanoke county, Virginia, and
was one of the twelve children of Henry and Katherine (Jeter) Hines, six
of whom are living. The father was born in Rockingham county, Virginia,
in 1833. He was a Confederate soldier during the Civil war, having
enlisted in Virginia but was not in any battles during the war. His life
was spent in farming except for a time when he speculated in Confederate
money. At the close of the war he had a sack full of Confederate scrip
which could not be redeemed. He died at his home in Abington, Va., in
1898. His father, Richard Hines, was of Irish descent and was a
plantation owner in Virginia. His mother was Sallie (Howmaker) Hines,
and was of German descent. The mother of Michael Hines was also a
Virginian, having been born in Bedford county, Virginia, in 1841. She
died in 1890. She was a daughter of Allison Jeter. Her mother was a
member of the Hunter family, who were among the first members of the
Baptist church.
Michael Hines was reared and educated in Virginia and left that State in
1883 when he was twenty years of age, settling in Morgan county,
Illinois, where he worked as a farm hand for six years. He then came to
Atchison, Kan., and was engaged as foreman by the Greenleaf & Baker
Grain Company. Six years later he bought his present farm of 160 acres.
It was unimproved and none of the land was broken. Since buying the land
he has made $10,000 worth of improvements on his place and has set out
fifteen acres of orchard. This evidence speaks for the thrift and good
judgment of Mr. Hines. He also has bought 480 acres of land in Lancaster
township. He is a live, progressive farmer and stock raiser and keeps
graded stock of all kinds on his farm. Mr. Hines is a shareholder and
president of the Lancaster State Bank, and is also a stockholder in the
German-American Bank of Atchison, Kan. In politics Mr. Hines is a
Democrat, but votes independently in county and State affairs, and for
the individual.
Mr. Hines was married in 1890 at Alexander, Ill., to Lillie Kaiser, who
was born August 27, 1870, and six children have been born to this union,
as follows: Samuel, who was graduated from the Atchison business
college, and is now farming at home; Frank, Helen, Louise and Lillian,
all living at home, and one died in infancy. Mr. Hines is a member of
the Methodist church and is a trustee and steward in the Shannon
Methodist Episcopal Church. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America
and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Lancaster, Kan.
CHARLES H. FALK.
Charles H. Falk, of Shannon township, is the owner of the first tract of
land which was filed upon in the Atchison county land office in 1854.
This farm was preëmpted by Capt. William Jackson, who was a justice of
the peace and a captain of home guards during the Civil war, and died at
Ft. Worth, Tex., in 1911. The first house built on the place was made
from material taken from the cabin of a river steamer sunk in the
Missouri river. Henry Falk, father of Charles, and his son, have made so
many excellent improvements on the dwelling that the dining room of the
present residence is the only part of the old cabin now in use. This
part of the home was built in 1857. The original owner set out a grove
of cottonwoods in 1857 which was cut down in the fall of 1892 by the
present proprietor, and erected a barn from the lumber sawed, which made
over 112,000 feet of good merchantable lumber. Mr. Falk’s barn was built
from this lumber, with the exception of the shingles. Captain Jackson
sold the land to Frank Fisher, who died in 1877, six months after the
purchase, and it was bought by Henry Falk, father of Charles H., in
1878. After Henry Falk’s death, Charles H. came into possession of the
land by inheritance, and by purchase of the interests of the other
heirs. He has made very extensive improvements since becoming the owner
and despite that the soil has been in constant cultivation for more than
sixty years the yield of crops is greater now than ever before, and the
wheat crops in late years have exceeded twenty-two bushels an acre. The
farm residence is attractively situated, in the center of the tract of
155 acres and is reached by a splendid driveway, kept in first class
condition by Mr. Falk. In fact, the private road to the Falk residence
is kept in far better condition than many of the country roads in
Atchison county, and is in keeping with the general appearance of this
fine farm.
Charles H. Falk was born May 23, 1864, in Watertown, Wis., a son of
Henry, born in 1815, and died, 1894, and of Wilhelmina (Clout) Falk,
born 1819, and died in 1901. Both parents were born on the River Rhine
in Germany, and married in their native land. Henry Falk was a cabinet-
maker and immigrated to Wisconsin in 1857, and worked at his trade until
1866, when he settled on a farm. He came to Atchison county with his
family in 1879, and on February 2, of that year, moved on the farm which
he had purchased the preceding year.
Charles H. Falk was married in 1885 to Elizabeth Wolters, a daughter of
John Wolters, a native of Holland, who was one of the first brick-makers
in Atchison and Doniphan counties. John Wolters emigrated from Holland
to Doniphan county, Kansas, in 1857, and came to Atchison in 1858.
During his long residence in Atchison he has been a manufacturer of
brick, and the results of his handiwork are seen in the construction of
many of the brick buildings in the city. Mr. Wolters was born in May,
1827, and is now over eighty-nine years of age and the oldest Atchison
county resident at the present time. He lives a retired life on South
Second street. Mr. and Mrs. Falk have children as follows: John H., a
resident of Beattie, Marshall county, married Margaret Gressel, and they
have two children, Karl and Pauline; Henry, in the employ of the Symns
Grocer Company; Anna, a seamstress, living with her parents; Rose, wife
of John McGrath, a traveling salesman for the Symns Grocer Company, and
they have one child, Rosemary; Herbert, aged twenty years, and Irene,
aged ten years, both of whom are at home with their parents.
Mr. Falk and his family are members of St. Benedict’s Catholic Church,
and Mr. Falk is a member of the church committee of four councilors. He
is a Democrat, but is inclined to be independent in his voting, having a
decided leaning toward the support of those candidates that seem best
fitted for the office. He has filled no civic office but that of
township trustee, which he held for one year, having been appointed by
the county commissioners to fill a vacancy in Shannon township. He is
affiliated with the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association and the Central
Protective Association and is a member of the St. Joseph society.
GEORGE DORSSOM.
George Dorssom, one of the oldest living pioneer settlers of Lancaster
township in point of residence, now living retired at Lancaster,
Atchison county, was born August 4, 1864, in Lancaster township,
Atchison county. He is a son of George and Sophia (Storm) Dorssom, and
was one of thirteen children, four boys and five girls of whom are still
living. The subject of this sketch was the seventh child of the family.
The father of George Dorssom, whose name also was George, was born in
Germany January 8, 1820. He sailed to America and settled in New Orleans
when a young man and worked as a tailor there. He then went to Wayne
county, Ohio, where he worked as a tailor for a time, when he engaged in
farming. In 1860 he came to Atchison county, Kansas, and bought forty
acres of prairie land in section 21, Lancaster township, which he broke
with oxen. He farmed on this place until his death in January, 1895. He
came to America a stranger and without funds, but by hard work he
accumulated considerable means and reared ten out of a family of
thirteen children. His wife, Sophia, was a devoted helpmate, and when
they were struggling to make their farm pay, she would load up a small
hand wagon with vegetables and garden truck and pull it to Lancaster,
where she would sell or exchange the produce for goods. This trip was
two miles, and it was a great exertion for Mrs. Dorssom, but she was
glad to be able to help her husband in whatever way she could. After the
death of her first husband she was married again on February 19, 1896,
to Jacob Merkel, a native of Germany. He died March 12, 1908. His wife
is still active, despite her age, and lives in Lancaster with a maid.
She is able to be about her work and takes a keen interest in life. Her
children are: Mrs. Margaret Kleppe, a widow, residing in Brown county,
Kansas; Mrs. Katherine Hinz, a widow, Lancaster, Kan.; John, farmer,
Lancaster township; Mrs. Caroline Kloepper, deceased; Mrs. Sophia Myer,
living in Soldier, Jackson county, Kansas; Adam, Lancaster township;
Louisa Henrietta, dead; Mrs. Lizzie Myer, of Lancaster; Dora W.,
deceased; Adam, of Lancaster, Kan.; Mrs. Louisa Fridel, Brown county,
Kansas; Henry, farmer, and three children who died in infancy. She has
forty-five grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren and is very
proud of them all. Her descendants all carry the idea of an industrious
woman with them and the influence of the life of this woman will stay
with them all through their lives.
George Dorssom, the subject of this sketch, was reared on the farm of
his father. He attended school in the Bell district and worked on his
father’s farm until he was twenty-five years of age. He then bought
eighty acres of land from his father in section 21, Lancaster township,
and followed farming for fifteen years. He has added forty acres to his
farm and made extensive improvements to the extent of $7,000. He now
owns 138 acres of land and a fine residence with about five acres of
residence property in Lancaster, Kansas. Mr. Dorssom was a breeder of
Berkshire hogs, to which he paid special attention. In 1909 he retired
and moved to Lancaster, Kan. He is a Republican and was a member of the
city council for four years. For a term of seven years he was road
supervisor of Lancaster township. He has always taken an active interest
in public affairs of his community. He has led a useful life and looks
back on one of the longest careers of living citizens who were born in
Atchison county. He has traveled in many parts of the United States, but
is glad to have settled down in retirement in Atchison county, believing
it to be the happiest country he has ever seen.
On December 31, 1890, Mr. Dorssom married Hulda Hinz, who was born in
Germany October 1, 1860. She came to America when she was twenty years
old. Her father, Edward Hinz, died in Germany in 1895, at the age of
fifty-eight years. The mother, Caroline (Lutce) Hinz, came to Atchison
county, Kansas, in 1896, and now resides at Leavenworth. Mrs. Dorssom
attended school in Germany. She was one of nine children. A brother,
Richard, is a florist at Leavenworth, Kan., and two brothers are in the
same business, one, Rudolph, at St. Joseph, Mo., and the other, Amiel,
at Leavenworth. Mr. and Mrs. Dorssom have no children, but they adopted
a child, Gustave Hinz, a nephew of Mrs. Dorssom. They reared and
educated him, and he is now farming on the home place. Both Mr. and Mrs.
Dorssom are members of the English Lutheran church. He is a charter
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has been a member of
the Lancaster Lodge of Odd Fellows, No. 355, since October, 1891, nearly
twenty-five years. Mrs. Dorssom is a charter member of the Daughters of
Rebekah Lodge, No. 431.
CYRUS E. DAVIS.
Cyrus E. Davis, founder and proprietor of the firm C. E. Davis & Sons,
plumbing and heating contractors, at 509 Kansas avenue, is one of
Atchison’s leading citizens, and a successful business man who has built
up his business from a modest beginning in a few short years. He first
started with a small shop on Commercial street, and in October, 1914,
moved to his present location. A complete stock of plumbing, heating and
steam fitting goods is carried in the shop, exceeding a value of $2,500.
The excellence and thoroughness of the work done by the Davis
establishment is marked, and the business is constantly on the increase.
Mr. Davis was born October 10, 1864, in Frederick county, Maryland, son
of George W. and Belinda (Saunders) Davis. The Davis family is a very
old one of Welsh extraction in America. The founders of this family were
four brothers, who crossed the ocean and left their native land of Wales
early in the seventeenth century. George W. Davis was also born in
Frederick county, Maryland, and became a contractor and builder. He
followed his trade in his native State until 1873, when he migrated to
Nebraska with his family. Later he went to Texas, where he died in 1900.
He was the father of nine sons, as follows: George W., a contractor and
builder, of David City, Neb.; Harry W., a building contractor, of
Houston, Texas; Theodore E., a contracting painter, of Columbus, Neb.;
Mahlon, a tailor, located in Norwalk, Ohio; William M., deceased; Lewis
A., a tinner and coppersmith, of San Bernardino, Cal., in the employ of
the Santa Fe railroad; Cyrus E., with whom this review is directly
concerned; Frank H., business agent for the Carpenters’ Union of
Oklahoma City, Okla. The mother of these children was also born in
Frederick county, Maryland, in 1825, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter
Saunders, natives of England. Walter Saunders came of a good English
family and studied in a boarding school of Southhampton, England, and
became a school teacher in Maryland. He had the distinction of having
taught for forty years in one school district in Frederick county,
Maryland, and became well-to-do. Mrs. Davis died in 1889.
Cyrus E. Davis was educated in the public schools of Columbus, Neb.,
learned his father’s trade when a young man, and after taking a
correspondence course in bridge engineering, he entered the employ of
the Missouri Pacific Railway Company as bridge constructor. He remained
with this road for five years and came to Atchison in 1886. He was
employed by the Missouri Pacific Railway Company until 1905 and then
entered the plumbing and heating department of the Farwell Heating
Company for one and one-half years, and then became foreman for the
Thayer Supply Company of Atchison. In the year 1912 he started a shop of
his own on Commercial street and was successful from the start. It
became necessary for him to seek larger quarters, and in October of 1914
he moved his business and shop to his present location.
Mr. Davis was united in marriage with Ida Mayhood in 1889, and to this
union have been born seven children, as follows: Frank M., George E.,
Reynold, Fred, Norma, Charles, and Verner, deceased. All of Mr. Davis’
sons are associated with him in his business, and have learned to become
expert plumbers and steamfitters under their father’s tutelage. The
mother of these children was born November 9, 1869, in Leavenworth
county, Kansas, a daughter of George and Mary (Carr) Mayhood, natives of
Ireland, and Canada, respectively. George Mayhood emigrated from Ireland
in an early day and settled in Leavenworth county about 1865, where he
engaged in farming. He and his wife were married in Lowell, Mass.
Mr. Davis is a Republican, and has taken an active and influential part
in the civic life of his adopted city, having served two terms as a
member of the city council. He and his family are members of the
Christian church, and he is fraternally connected with the Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons, Active Lodge, No. 158, and the Modern Woodmen of
America, in both of which lodges he is much interested.
HENRY BUTTRON.
The life story of Henry Buttron, late of Lancaster township, Atchison
county, Kansas, reveals the accomplishments of a poor German emigrant,
who began his career in Kansas with no money, and rose to become the
practical leader of the German colony in the township, and to amass
considerable wealth. His large farm of 960 acres which he owned at the
time of his demise was left intact, to be held in trust for his children
and heirs.
Henry Buttron was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, October 12, 1831,
and he was one of the five sons of Jacob and Margaret (Zimmer) Buttron,
two of whom came to America from their native land. Two brothers of the
family, Frederick and Henry, came to America in 1852; Frederick settled
in Pittsburgh, as did Henry, and he resided there until 1854, and then
came to the West. In his native land, Henry Buttron had learned the
trade of blacksmith; he worked at his trade in Pittsburgh, and after he
came west, he was employed as a smith at Elgin, Ill., until 1857. He
then came to Kansas and preëmpted a claim on section 22, Lancaster
township, Atchison county. He brought a small amount of money with him,
and was enabled to build a very small house, and then began to improve
his farm. The crops failed in 1860, and he found it necessary to resort
to the hammer and anvil in order to gain a livelihood for himself and
his family. He, accordingly, removed to Atchison and was employed at his
trade by Tom Ray, of the firm of Ostertag & Carmichael, and Anthony &
Ostertag, consecutively for nine years. He then returned to his claim,
redeemed the unpaid taxes, and entered upon a new era of progress and
industry which led to his great success in the ensuing years. In 1882 he
erected a large, handsome farm house, which at the time was one of the
most conspicuous homes in the county. He added to his possessions as he
was able, and accumulated a total of six quarter sections of good land,
of 960 acres in all, all of which he left to his widow, who resides on
the old home place.
Henry Buttron was married in Atchison, Kan., in 1866, to Rosa Scheu,
whose father, Andrew Scheu, came from Wittenberg, Germany. The following
children were born to this union: Rosa, wife of Louis Gerhardt, of
Atchison; Emma, wife of Charles Kammer, of Lancaster township; Kate and
Jacob, at home; Henry, who married Bertha Kemmer; Fred, married Louise
Meek, lives near Nortonville, Kan.; Anna, wife of George Schulz,
Lancaster township; Karl, married Anna Hegland, Lancaster township;
William, George and Louis, at home. The mother of these children was
born in Germany, in May, 1845, and came to America with her parents when
nine years of age. She was a daughter of Andrew and Rosena (Baner)
Scheu, both deceased.
[Illustration:
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Buttron and Family, of Lancaster Township
]
Mrs. Buttron has grandchildren as follows: Kathrine, Rosa and Henrietta
Kammer; Henry Buttron’s children, three, Clarence, Esther and Ruth; Fred
Buttron has three children, Karl, Ralph, Mildred; Mrs. Anna Schulz has
two children, Gilbert and Karl; Mrs. Rosa Gerhardt has one son, William;
Karl Buttron has one child, Edward; Jacob Buttron has four children,
Bertha, Emma, Alice and John.
Henry Buttron died February 8, 1913. During the Civil war he was a
member of the Kansas State militia, and was in the engagement fought at
Westport, and which resulted in the rout of the forces of the rebel
general, Price. Mr. Buttron always took a keen interest in local and
county affairs, and took a prominent part in affairs of importance to
the well being of the people. He was always modest and unostentatious in
his conduct, and was greatly respected by the people of his neighborhood
for his cool judgment and patriotism at all times. Henry Buttron was a
good citizen, and a kind parent who was highly esteemed by all who knew
him.
W. H. SMITH.
Some men are natural organizers and blessed with such a deep love for
the well being of their fellowmen that their activities are to a
considerable extent devoted to spreading the gospel of good fellowship
among mankind. The social and fraternal orders which are popular among
men of any locality are simply the outgrowth of that desire, for the
realization of a great dream for the “Brotherhood of Man,” which was
predicted 2,000 years ago. A man who furthers the growth of
organizations which have the welfare of the individual, singly and
collectively, at heart is doing a considerable amount of definite good
for the betterment of social conditions. Such a citizen is W. H. Smith,
the widely known and efficient clerk of the district court of Atchison
county, and a likeable and able personality, who figures prominently in
the history of his county.
Mr. Smith was born February 3, 1855, at Knoxville, Ill. He is a son of
John and Harriet (Gibbons) Smith, natives of England. John Smith, the
father, was born in 1808, and died in the year 1863. He was a scion of
an English family and was a graduate of Oxford University. He became a
contractor and builder in his native land, but immigrated to America
with his wife and three children in 1852, settling in Knoxville, Ill.,
where he died eleven years later. He was the father of the following
children: Mrs. Sarah Ann Simpson, deceased; Mrs. Harriet Ann Webb, of
Burlington Junction, Mo.; Charles E., of Sierra Blanca, Texas, employed
as a stationary engineer by the Texas Pacific railway since 1880. The
mother of these children departed this life February 2, 1890, aged
seventy-eight years, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Simpson.
W. H. Smith was reared in Knoxville, Ill. Being left an orphan at an
early age, by the death of his father, it was necessary for him to start
work when a boy and practically earn his own living and educate himself.
By working on neighboring farms during the spring and summer he was
enabled to attend school during the winter months, and succeeded in
attending the Knoxville high school. He did farm work until 1865 and
then learned the printing trade in Knoxville, being attached to the
staff of the Knoxville Republican during the winter of 1866 and ’67, and
remained until 1874 in that capacity. At the early age of twenty years
he wedded Elmira Kistler, and then settled on a farm in Lehigh county,
Pennsylvania, on which was located a tannery. He operated both farm and
tannery until 1880, when he decided to cast his fortunes in the western
country. March 2, 1880, he came to Atchison with his family and moved to
a farm near Good Intent, five miles northwest of Atchison. The year
before this he had made a trip to Atchison county and invested in eighty
acres of land which was partly improved. He developed this tract into a
very fine farm and sold it at a considerable advance over and above the
purchase price in 1895. In the spring of 1890 Mr. Smith removed to
Atchison and for three years served as night agent at the union station
for the Wells, Fargo and American Express companies. He then bought an
interest in the Home Show Printing Company, and was connected with this
concern in active capacity for a period of twelve years, or until 1905.
The printing company was then taken over by other parties and he
continued working in the office until 1909.
During his residence in Atchison county previous to this time, Mr. Smith
had become prominently identified with the Republican party and had
become known as a “wheel horse” of the organization and universally
esteemed by the rank and file of the party. He was elected to the office
of clerk of the district court in the fall of 1908, and began the duties
of his office in January of 1909. He was reëlected in 1912 and again in
1914. He was elected without opposition from any source in 1912, and
overcame his opponent in 1914 by the immense plurality of 3,010 votes.
For a period of three years he was secretary of the Republican central
committee, and was for six years a member of the first Atchison county
high school board, being one of the surviving members of the original
board which erected the county high school at Effingham, and was
likewise a member of the board which rebuilt the school house when it
was destroyed by fire. Mr. Smith was a member of this board while still
a resident of the county and took a prominent part in the inauguration
of this worthy institution, which has been so much appreciated by the
people of Atchison county.
In religious matters Mr. Smith is identified with the Episcopal church.
Probably no man in Atchison county is identified with a greater number
of fraternal organizations than is he. He became a member of the Odd
Fellows August 2, 1882, and is also a member of the encampment. Since
January 1, 1915, he has served as a secretary of Friendship Lodge,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, No. 5, and has been scribe of the
encampment for the past fifteen years. For eighteen years he has been
secretary of the board of trustees of the Odd Fellows lodge and is
affiliated with the Rebekahs, and is a member of the canton. Since 1880
he has been a member of the Central Protective Association and was
practically its originator, and has been the grand secretary of the
order since 1886. The first of the annual outings and picnics held by
this famous association was conducted in the grove on Mr. Smith’s farm.
Visitors and guests to the number of 10,000 people have attended these
picnics. Mr. Smith has been a member of the Ancient Order of United
Workmen since 1895, and recorder of the order for thirteen years. He is
a member of the Woodmen of the World and has been their banker for six
years past. He is affiliated with the Knights and Ladies of Security;
the Kansas Fraternal Citizens; a member of Atchison Aerie, Fraternal
Order of Eagles, No. 173, and its secretary since 1904. Before removing
to Atchison he was secretary of the Central Protective Association at
Good Intent for five years. He is at present serving his second term as
State secretary of the Kansas Eagles, and has held various offices in
the State aerie, including the important post of State representative.
Since 1895 Mr. Smith has been a member of the Modern Woodmen; is a
member of the Fraternal Aid Union, and the Improved Order of Red Men,
and is an honorary member of the Typographical Union.
Mr. Smith’s happy wedded life began July 4, 1874, when he married
Elmira, daughter of Joel and Matilda Kistler, of Lehigh county,
Pennsylvania, members of an old Pennsylvania family. Joel Kistler was a
large land owner and tannery operator in Lehigh county. He and his
brother, Stephen, operated a number of tanneries, and were extensive
farmers, and were very wealthy. Joel Kistler came west, located in
Knoxville, Ill., and invested heavily in Illinois land. He died at Stony
Run, Berks county, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Kistler died at Schnecksville, Pa.
To Mr. and Mrs. Smith have been born the following children: Estella,
born July 14, 1875, deceased; Harriet Matilda, born June 6, 1876, wife
of J. A. Wilkinson, of Hershey, Pa., and the mother of two children,
John J., aged twelve years, and Michael aged eight years; Isabelle, born
December 15, 1880, wife of Dr. J. E. Exter, of Atchison, and mother of
one child, Eugene, aged five years; Pearl, born October 12, died April
25, 1890; Helen, born May 1, 1885, wife of R. H. Jones, chief train
dispatcher for the Missouri Pacific railroad at Falls City, Neb., and
mother of one child, Mary Elmira, aged six years; Frank Gibbons Smith,
born August 8, 1891, and died February 23, 1901.
W. H. Smith is considered as one of the best officials who has ever
filled a county office, and he is held in high esteem for his many
excellent qualities. To his many friends and associates he is
affectionately known as “Big Bill,” an appropriate name on account of
his large stature, and an appellation which can well be applied to his
heart and mind. While large of body, he is also big-hearted and blessed
with a breadth of mind and good will which embraces all mankind.
JOSEPH W. ALLEN.
For over forty-five years Joseph W. Allen, veteran, merchant, and
descendant of an old and distinguished colonial family, has been
identified with the civic and mercantile life of the city of Atchison.
He comes of rugged New England stock, noted for their integrity, honesty
and proverbial industry throughout the United States, and has been one
of the builders of Atchison’s largest wholesale grocery house. Mr. Allen
has grown up with Atchison, and has come to be one of its best known and
highly respected citizens, having risen from moderate circumstances at
the outset of his career to a position of affluence and decided prestige
among the commercial men of northeast Kansas.
Joseph W. Allen was born in Craftsbury, Orleans county, Vermont, March
2, 1841, a son of Hollis F. and Sophia (Root) Allen, natives of
Massachusetts. The father was a merchant and when a young man removed
from his native State to Craftsbury, Vt., where he was engaged in the
mercantile business for a number of years, and in the latter part of his
life he came to Atchison, Kan., dying in 1874. He had three sons who
served in the Union army: Frank H., who later came to Atchison and was a
member of the wholesale drug firm of McPike & Allen; George R. Allen, a
retired manufacturer, living at Alton, Ill., and Joseph W., with whose
career this review is directly concerned. A daughter, Anna H., wife of
the late Frank Howard, founder of the Frank Howard Manufacturing Company
of Atchison, died in 1915 at her home in this city. Another daughter,
Nellie, makes her home with her brother, Joseph W., in Atchison, and is
now in Honolulu. The Allen family is of Scotch origin, and Ethan Allen,
of Revolutionary fame, was a member of the same family.
Mr. Allen was reared to manhood in Vermont and received a good common
school education, attending the Craftsbury Academy. On October 2, 1861,
in answer to the President’s call for volunteers to defend the Union, he
enlisted for three years in Company I, First regiment, Vermont cavalry.
He was mustered in with the regiment November 19, 1861, at Burlington,
Vt., as bugler, and was mustered out of the service November 18, 1864.
He left Burlington December 12, 1861, for Washington, D. C., and
remained there with his regiment until February, 1863, at which time he
was detailed at General De Forest’s headquarters as musician.
Afterwards, he was detailed to General Kilpatrick’s headquarters as
musician and remained there until General Wilson took command of the
division in April, 1864. He was then detailed to General Sawyer’s
headquarters until October, 1864, at which time he came to Burlington
Vt., where he was mustered out of the service. Mr. Allen was in thirty-
seven engagements during his three years of service, and was never
wounded nor captured, nor was he absent from duty a single day on
account of sickness. His regiment did notable service under Generals
Sheridan and Custer, and he was engaged in the famous battle of
Winchester. An incident of Mr. Allen’s army career is well worth
recording. He effected, single handed, the capture of four Confederate
soldiers, and the story of the capture is one of the historical
incidents of the great conflict. The incident took place near
Lightersville, Md., and it was after the regiment had taken part in the
battle of Huntersville, Pa., July 2, 1863, and the battle of Gettysburg,
July 3, 1863, the battle of Monterey on the Fourth of July,
Lightersville on July 5, and on the sixth of July occurred the battle of
Hagerstown. The men were all fatigued and had been deprived of both
sleep and rest for several nights in succession, Joseph Allen among the
rest. When they had ridden nearly all night to a point near
Lightersville, they halted for rest in the small hours of the morning.
Many were dismounted and fell asleep on the ground, Mr. Allen doing
likewise. He slept so soundly, however, that when he awoke his comrades
were gone. It was dark and he was uncertain in which direction the
command had gone. He mounted his horse and let the animal pursue its own
way without guidance. Dashing down the road, horse and rider came out
into a main highway and unexpectedly came upon four men who were as much
taken by surprise and fright as Allen himself. The rebels, supposing
that there was a larger number of Union men following, made haste to
surrender without waiting for an invitation. Allen promptly accepted
their surrender and took them along to the main body which was some
distance ahead. His prisoners proved to be a major, a captain and two
lieutenants of the Eighth Georgia regiment.
Mr. Allen rode during the war a very sensible and intelligent cavalry
horse, and thereby hangs a tale. In one of the cavalry engagements in
which he participated he and his comrade were riding together under
heavy fire. His riding partner was shot from the saddle and Mr. Allen
felt his own horse sinking under him. Believing that the animal was
mortally hurt he dismounted and jumped on the back of his dead comrade’s
mount and rode away to safety. That night while lying in his blankets
with the earth for his couch and the starlit sky for a canopy overhead
he felt something soft and gentle nudging him. Startled, he arose
hastily and was overjoyed to find that it was his favorite horse which
had returned safely, but badly wounded, from the battlefield, and had
hunted out his master from among the hundreds of recumbent and sleeping
forms on the camping ground.
He returned to Craftsbury after his war service and engaged in
mercantile business which he continued until 1870, when he came to
Atchison at the solicitation of his brother, Frank H., who was at that
time the junior member of the firm of McPike & Allen, wholesale
druggists of Atchison. Mr. Allen entered the employ of the company as
traveling salesman and was thus engaged for a period of three years. He
then embarked in the grocery business in partnership with Colonel Quigg
under the firm name of Quigg & Allen. Colonel Quigg commanded the
Thirteenth Kansas infantry regiment during the Civil war. The firm of
Quigg & Allen carried on a wholesale grocery business for about three
years. Then Mr. Allen purchased his partner’s interest, and three years
later consolidated with the A. B. Symns Grocer Company. A. B. Symns
became the president of the company and Mr. Allen became vice-president.
When Mr. Symns died in 1905 Mr. Allen became president and held the
position until 1911 when he retired from active participation in the
business, although he still retains a substantial interest in the
company. Mr. Allen was one of the dominant individuals in the
development of the Symns Grocer Company in the extensive concern which
it is at the present time. When he joined forces with Mr. Symns their
combined capital did not exceed $15,000, and during his period of
association with this company their business developed into enormous
proportions, and the capital of the Symns Grocer Company now amounts to
$300,000. Mr. Allen was a natural salesman and had complete charge of
the traveling sales department of the Symns Grocer Company, and, in
fact, during the first few years was the entire traveling sales force
himself. Later, as additional salesmen were added to the force he
continued to direct the sales department of the business. Mr. Allen is a
prominent factor in the business world of Atchison, and is vice-
president of the Atchison Savings Bank. He is a member of the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks, and in his political views is absolutely
independent.
RALPH U. PFOUTS.
Ralph U. Pfouts, a leading young attorney of Atchison, is a native son
of Atchison county. He was born at Monrovia December 4, 1890, and is a
son of William A. and Ollie (Sharpless) Pfouts. William A. Pfouts, the
father, is also a native Kansan, born in Nemaha county in 1861 and is a
son of James and Caroline (Kellam) Pfouts, natives of Pennsylvania,
where they were reared and married, and in 1860 came to Kansas, locating
in Nemaha county. The father, James Pfouts, died a few months after
coming to this State and his wife returned to Pennsylvania with her
little family. A few years later, however, the Pfouts family returned to
Kansas, locating at Lancaster, Atchison county, and here William A.
Pfouts was educated and reared to manhood. He followed farming in early
life and for eighteen years was a school teacher. In 1896 he engaged in
the general mercantile business at Lancaster. To William A. and Ollie
(Sharpless) Pfouts were born two children, as follows: Ralph, the
subject of this sketch, and Mabel, deceased. The wife and mother died in
1901, and in 1905 William A. Pfouts married Miss Sadie M. Monnies.
Ralph U. Pfouts was educated in the public schools of Atchison county,
and Kansas University, at Lawrence, Kan., graduating from the law
department of the latter institution with the class of 1914. Shortly
after graduating he passed the State bar examination and engaged in the
practice of his profession at Atchison where he is meeting with well
merited success. He has appeared in connection with important
litigations in both the State and Federal courts and is enjoying a
lucrative practice. He possesses the natural qualities of an able lawyer
and is an untiring student, and those who know him best predict for him
a successful career in his chosen profession. Politically, he is a
Republican. Mr. Pfouts is a member of the Ancient Order of United
Workmen, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Atchison Aerie No. 173,
Fraternal Order of Eagles.
OLE G. GIGSTAD.
Ole G. Gigstad, farmer and stockman, Lancaster township, was born in
Norway, October 25, 1856. He is a son of Gulick and Anna (Grannan)
Gigstad. He was one of seven children, one of whom is now dead. Four
sons and one daughter are now living in the United States. A brother,
Knud G. Gigstad, is also a farmer and stockman in Lancaster township.
The father was a native of Norway and spent his life there. Ole Gigstad
left Norway in May, 1883, and came to Atchison county, Kansas, where he
worked a year for his brother, Knud. Then for three years he rented a
farm from his uncle in Brown county, Kansas, and in 1887 bought the farm
in Lancaster township. It is an eighty acre farm and Mr. Gigstad has
made improvements to the extent of $5,000, including a fine house and
barn. He now owns 320 acres of well improved land, 160 acres of which
are being farmed by his oldest son, Gustave, and it has a comfortable
residence.
Ole Gigstad attended school in Norway, but when he sailed for America he
could not speak the English language, and when he arrived here he was in
debt to the extent of fifty dollars, which was an additional handicap.
But his industry has brought him to the front rank of Atchison county
farmers. He owns a fine herd of graded stock and is a successful farmer
and stockman. He rented eighty acres additional in 1915 and he had 100
acres in corn last year.
Mr. Gigstad was married in 1888 to Severine Knudson, who was born in
Norway, September 23, 1866. She left her native land in the spring of
1883 and settled at Everest, Kan., where her brothers were living at the
time. In 1884 she removed to St. Joseph, Mo., where she worked four
years. Her parents were Knud and Inger Sofie (Berntson) Knudson, natives
of Norway. Her father was born in 1814, and immigrated to America in
1891, coming to Atchison county, Kansas, where he lived with his
children until his death, in 1894. The mother was born in 1827, and died
in her native country in 1887. Mr. and Mrs. Gigstad have eight children:
Gustave A., farming the 160 acres west of his father’s farm; Ida,
Charles, Albert, Emma, Edna, Alice, Benjamin, all living at home. Mr.
Gigstad is a member of the Lutheran church and is a Republican.
JOHN H. BARRY.
John H. Barry, chairman of the board of directors of the First National
Bank of Atchison, is one of the well known citizens of the city who has
figured in the development of Kansas, especially the eastern portion of
the State, for a period of many years. For fifty-seven years he has been
a resident of the State, and has made his own way from comparative
poverty in his youth, to a position of affluence which compares most
favorably with that of the men of his day with whom he has been
associated. He has seen the Sunflower State develop from a wilderness,
unsettled and unpeopled, except by the wild animals and Indians, to
become one of the fairest and greatest of the sub-divisions of the
American Union. He is proud of Atchison and her prestige, and has played
no small part in the task of advancing his adopted city to the forefront
of western municipalities.
J. H. Barry is of Celtic origin, having been born in the city of Boston,
of Irish parents, in 1849. His parents, Michael and Ellen (Roach) Barry,
were natives of County Cork, Ireland, where they were reared and
married, and crossed the Atlantic to seek their fortune in the new
world. Settling in Boston in the early forties, Mr. Barry plied his
trade of tailor with fair success and owned and conducted his own
tailoring establishment. He died there when John H. was a small boy. His
widow, accompanied by her son, then journeyed across the country to
Leavenworth in 1858. Here the boy was brought up until he was fifteen
years of age and in 1862 became a freighter in the employ of the
Government. He was a “mule whacker,” or driver, who had charge of a team
of six mules which he drove from Ft. Leavenworth across the Great Plains
to New Mexican points. Saving his earnings, he embarked in the
freighting business at Leavenworth for himself in 1866, driving his
outfit over the route of the Ft. Scott & Gulf railroad, via Baxter
Springs, Kan., through the Indian Territory to Indian agencies in the
territory and Texas, carrying wagon loads of merchandise and trinkets on
the outward bound trip, and bringing back a load of furs, hides and
osage orange seed. The trinkets taken along were intended for the
Indians who exchanged their furs for adornment. The osage orange seed
was in great demand at this period inasmuch as the settlers were then
girding their lands with osage hedges. Mr. Barry’s freighting venture
proved profitable, and he made considerable money during the two years
in which he made trips to the Southwest. In 1870 he engaged in railroad
contracting, and was fairly successful until 1873. He graded and built
many miles of railroad in southern Kansas and through Oklahoma, and in
the building of the L. L. & G. R. R., he reaped excellent profits. He
had his ups and downs, like other contractors, however, and one
experience in particular very nearly proved his undoing. This was in the
building of the M. K. & T. R. R., in which Mr. Barry had contracted to
build a twenty foot embankment for a distance of one mile. It was
understood with the railroad officials that the grading was to be
completed by the first day of the following year, but he rushed the work
so as to have it completed before the fall rains began. He succeeded in
doing this early in the fall, but the head contractor, Stewart McCoy,
would not accept the work as finally done before the time limit of the
contract, unless he would deduct twenty per cent, from the contract
price agreed upon. This arrangement meant the complete dissipation of
his profits, and he finally came through with only his outfits. This
experience ended Mr. Barry’s contracting career, as far as railroad
building was concerned, and disposing of his outfits, he came to
Atchison in 1873 with a small capital. Here on March 17, 1873, he
entered the employ of the Missouri Pacific railroad as switchman and
remained in the employ of this road until 1879, filling various
positions, such as baggageman, trainman and yardmaster. While engaged in
railroading he became interested in the civic and political life of
Atchison, and possessing an engaging and candid personality, he made
many warm friends, and was given political preferment. In the spring of
1879 he was elected constable and held the post and various others for
three years. Following this office he was appointed chief of the
Atchison city police in 1883 by Mayor C. C. Burns and served until 1885.
In 1885 he served as superintendent of the Street Railway Company. Since
then he has taken a more or less active part in political matters in the
city and county, and is considered one of the political leaders of his
party. While serving as city marshal he was a United States deputy
marshal under United States Marshal Ben Simpson. In 1885 he established
the Barry Coal and Wood Company, which he successfully conducted along
with other commercial propositions until 1910. He became interested in
the Atchison Paving Brick Company, and was active in the affairs of this
manufacturing concern for over fifteen years, being still interested in
the company. Upon the organization of the Commercial State Bank in
November, 1906, he was elected president of the institution, and upon
its consolidation with the First National Bank of Atchison he became
chairman of the board of directors of the new organization.
Mr. Barry’s marriage with Kate Curtin occurred November 28, 1874, and to
this marriage have been born the following children: John, engaged in
business in New Mexico; Henry, Helen and C. W., deceased; Frances Barry
Simmons, and one son, who died in infancy. The younger daughter is the
wife of O. A. Simmons, whose biography appears in this volume. The
mother of these children was born and reared in Leavenworth, Kan., a
daughter of John and Helen Curtin, natives of Ohio, who came to
Leavenworth in 1856. John Curtin was a landscape gardener by profession.
Mr. Barry has always been a Democrat. In 1885 he became a candidate for
sheriff of the county, but was defeated by only four votes. In 1887 he
was again a candidate for the office and was elected by the large
majority of 1,150 votes. This, too, in the face of the fact that
Atchison county has generally been considered a stronghold of
Republicanism. So well did he perform the duties of his office, and so
popular did he become that he experienced no difficulty in a second
election to the sheriff’s office in 1889, with a majority of 850 to his
credit. It is stated that his majority when elected sheriff of the
county was the largest ever given a candidate for the place. He is a
member of the Catholic church and is fraternally connected with the
Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Knights of Columbus, and the Elks.
Mr. Barry’s success has been due to a strong and winning personality,
squareness in the conduct of his business transactions which have been
proverbial, a genius and capacity for organization, which enabled him to
plan and carry out his various undertakings to a successful issue, and
the ability to make and retain friends.
WARREN W. GUTHRIE.
It is given to relatively few men to leave this world for the mysteries
of the next, contented with what they have done here, and without regret
for duties unfulfilled. At the end of a lingering illness, giving ample
time for reflection, and as a last utterance, General Guthrie called
closer to his bedside his faithful wife and companion and his six living
children then gathered about him and whispered to them: “I know that I
am about to leave you forever. I want you to know that I am going
without regret except for our separation. I have raised a family in
which I have had only pride. I have tried to prepare you to be good
members of your own families and useful citizens. I have fought the
fight and my work is done. I am ready to go. I want you to know that I
leave you feeling that I have never done any man an intentional wrong,
or left unfulfilled any duty I was capable of accomplishing, and that I
go content.”
These last whispers give a fair index to the life and character of this
sturdy pioneer Kansan. He was a type of a product of the early years of
struggle in Kansas, now largely passing away. Diplomacy was a word of
which he might never have known the meaning. He at least never practiced
it to the prejudice of frankness. Whether as a friend who could be
depended upon in any emergency and regardless of consequences to
himself, or whether as a foe who could not be placated by excuses or
offers of advantage personal to himself, and equally regardless of
consequences his cards in the game were always upon the table face up.
He despised sham and pretense in every form, and whether in business,
politics or the judicial forum, he always fought his way double-fisted,
straight for the goal.
Born June 9, 1834, on a flinty hillside farm on the banks of the
Housatonic river in Connecticut, and ambitious for a broader field, W.
W. Guthrie struck out for himself early in life. At seventeen he was
providing for his further education by teaching a rural school in New
Jersey, on the present site of Long Branch, where the chief
qualification for the teacher was his ability to thrash the biggest
young fisherman in the school. In his later years it was one of the
delights of General Guthrie to tell of his experiences in instructing
the youth of New Jersey with a clapboard.
In 1857 under the well known general advice of Horace Greeley, Mr.
Guthrie, then admitted to the bar, came, seeking his fortune, to Kansas
by way of steamboat up the Missouri river from St. Louis, landing at
Whitecloud, thirty-one miles north of Atchison, then one of the cities
upon the Missouri with small population but unlimited future
possibilities. Shortly afterwards he moved again westward to Hiawatha,
the county seat of Brown county, where he established himself in
practice, his business radiating to the surrounding counties, which were
reached principally on muleback. General Guthrie was over six feet in
height, and he loved to tell how, as a lanky young lawyer with a small
mule, it was difficult to keep his feet off the ground in traveling from
county seat to county seat. At Hiawatha he and the late Gov. E. N.
Morrill were close friends, kept “bach” together, and had the usual
quarrels as to whose turn it was to scrape the skillet.
Elected to the Territorial legislature, his service attracted such
attention that in his absence, and without his knowledge, he was given
by the Republicans the first nomination under State organization for the
office of attorney general; he was duly elected and served as the first
attorney general of the newly created State. It was from his incumbency
in that office that he became known as General Guthrie. He was not
acceptable for military service and took no part in the Civil war except
as a volunteer in the organization hastily effected to repel the
invasion of Gen. Sterling Price, which was cut off by his defeat at the
battle of Westport.
Some of General Guthrie’s friends have felt that he would not have been
nominated for attorney general if he had been at the convention where he
was nominated, or had known that he was to be suggested as a candidate.
While General Guthrie subsequently served with credit in the Kansas
State senate and was an influential factor in Kansas politics for many
years in the interests of others, he was not a successful politician as
a candidate in conventions not made up of a majority of men who
personally knew him well. He was thrice a candidate for the Republican
nomination for Congress, and once nominated by one of the two factions
of a convention which split up in a row and nominated two different
candidates. When it came to bodies made up of trading delegations
dickering for local advantages, General Guthrie’s straightforwardness,
his aversion to crooked deals and trades, and his unwillingness to offer
personal reward for political assistance put him at a serious
disadvantage. If he thought a man or thing was wrong he never hesitated
to say so, even though he understood what the results would be. It is
said that at the last congressional convention in which he was a
candidate, and in which he was the favorite candidate, the balance of
the power was held by a delegation amenable to the allurements of
promise of office, or more direct substantial and immediate reward. His
less scrupulous friends tried to “dope” the General with some medicine
that would put him out of action while they used the necessary means to
the end. But the General refused to be either doped or to retire and
shut his eyes to the situation, preferring an honorable defeat.
General Guthrie had physical as well as moral courage. Contesting the
candidacy of a former prominent citizen of Atchison who had come from
another State under a cloud, General Guthrie collected the record of
this candidate in his former home and announced that he would read it at
a meeting to be held in old Turner Hall. This was in the early days when
Atchison had her quota of “roughneck” citizens. General Guthrie was
notified that they would attend and that he would read his documentary
evidence at the peril of his life. He had never owned or carried a
firearm except during the preparation to resist the Price raid, but on
the night of the meeting he stepped out on the platform at Turner Hall,
and laying upon the table a pair of old army revolvers, he looked down
on the “roughnecks” in the front row and advised them that he was about
to proceed with his speech, and that persons who didn’t like trouble had
better leave before it began. He made the speech. The trouble did not
start. The candidate he was opposing was defeated.
From the time Kansas became a State until his death, General Guthrie was
a citizen of Atchison contemporary with that circle of brilliant and
able men who in the early days made Atchison the mother of the political
history of the State, such as Senator John J. Ingalls, Governor John A.
Martin, Governor George W. Glick, United States District Judge Cassius
G. Foster, Chief Justices Samuel A. Kingman and Albert H. Horton, and
such early-day business men as David Auld, the Challiss brothers, Jacob
Leu, and Samuel Hollister.
After his election as attorney general on December 21, 1863, General
Guthrie, accompanied by his friend, Chief Justice Albert H. Horton, as
best man, crossed the Missouri river to St. Joseph upon the ice,
crawling upon their hands and knees, the ice being too treacherous to
support a man walking upright, to be married to Julia, daughter of Capt.
William Fowler, of St. Joseph, also a pioneer, the first county clerk in
the territory of which St. Joseph is now the county seat. There were
born of this marriage eight children, two of whom died in infancy, the
others and the wife surviving General Guthrie. W. F. Guthrie, the eldest
son, practiced law with his father until about the time of the death of
the latter, when, with his wife and three children he removed to Kansas
City and is still in practice. The second son, F. L. Guthrie, a retired
banker, with wife, resides at Paola, Kan. Mary Louise Guthrie is the
wife of A. E. White, head of the commissary department of the Burlington
system, residing in Chicago, and the mother of four children. Warren W.
Guthrie, Jr., practiced law in Atchison in association with his father
and brother, and afterwards practiced alone until his death on August
17, 1914, being one of the most beloved men personally of all the people
of Atchison. Theodore F. Guthrie, also the father of four children, is,
as he has been since before his father’s decease, the manager of the
Guthrie ranch in Chase county, Kansas. Gilbert L. Guthrie has been the
wanderer of the family, a metallurgical engineer who has seen
distinguished service on every continent of the globe, but has given up
his work to be a companion to the widow, residing on the old Guthrie
homestead adjoining Atchison.
From the first General Guthrie became and until ill health overtook him
remained a notable figure at the bar, not only of Atchison, but of the
State at large, and particularly northeast Kansas, where his early
successes brought him in as a consultant in the territory he had
formerly covered on muleback, long after that territory had developed
many able lawyers of its own. His name appears frequently in the reports
of the supreme court of Kansas, and in connection with the establishment
of many new and novel precedents in the courts. General Guthrie was an
original thinker along legal lines, and not over-tolerant of the law as
he found it in the books. When it did not suit him his vigorous mind
would discern logical modifications and novel applications of old
doctrines to meet the new necessities of his litigation.
Every fight for the general good of the community found General Guthrie
in the front of battle. No difficulty daunted him. All that was required
for him was to decide as to what he thought right, and his hat was in
the ring. Perhaps the greatest personal, direct service rendered by
General Guthrie to the community was in connection with the failure of
the Peoples Savings Bank. The Peoples Savings Bank was an auxiliary of
the United States National Bank, the closing of which was brought about
by the circulation of rumors affecting its solvency. It paid its
liabilities in full before it closed, but the assets of the Peoples
Savings Bank were invested chiefly in real estate mortgages and bonds
not immediately payable, and as times were then, not readily
convertible, so that its closure, following that of the United States
National, left hundreds of citizens with their needed savings not
immediately realizable. General Guthrie was a holder of one share of
stock only in each of these banks, for the purpose of qualifying as a
director as an accommodation to the operating officers, his friends.
This double failure, at a time of general financial uneasiness, helped
by stories circulated by enemies of the bank officials anxious to bring
them into disgrace, filled Atchison with excitement. Nightly meetings,
attended by hundreds of depositors, were held, and in their ignorance
measures were initiated which would have resulted in a sacrifice of the
assets and the realization to the depositors of but a small per cent. of
their claims. General Guthrie undertook to stem this tide and save the
depositors from themselves. He arranged with his co-directors to advance
a sum to buy up at face value the deposits of the smaller and more needy
depositors, and out of his own funds advanced the moneys necessary to
protect the assets from sacrifice, and lent his own uncompensated
efforts to their realization at their actual value, with the result that
within a year every claim of the bank was paid in full.
Like many successful men who have been born and spent their early years
upon a farm. General Guthrie was interested in farming and in farm
development and in showing what could be done through proper cultivation
and stock development. He left ample provision for his widow and younger
children, chiefly in farm lands. He gave personal attention to the
operation and improvement of his farms, and took particular delight in
the management of his 6,000 acre ranch in Chase county, Kansas, and in
the development of a grade of cattle originated by himself, the Polled
Herefords, a strain of Herefords, from which he succeeded in breeding
off the horns. Nothing gave him greater pleasure in the later years of
his life than to explain his farming and cattle operations to his
friends and intimates. He was ready to put aside the most intricate
litigation at any time for a chat on this subject.
While General Guthrie’s open-handed warfare upon the things he thought
wrong made him many enemies, his untiring energy, integrity and
readiness to help anyone or anything he believed to be right, brought
him a host of friends, not only among the young lawyers he raised and
trained, but among the public at large, and he died an honored and
respected member of this community on April 22, 1903, at the old home
place adjoining the city of Atchison.
JOHN PETER ADAMS.
Faithfulness to duty is generally recognized and rewarded by the people
of an average American community. Atchison county is singularly
fortunate in having as its officials men of whom it can be said are
above the average type of county officials. The office of probate judge
of the county is no exception, and is ably filled by the present
incumbent of whom this biography treats. John Peter Adams is an able
member of the Atchison county bar and a painstaking and conscientious
public official. In the performance of the duties of his high office he
has won the esteem of the people of the county and showed such marked
ability in his judicial capacity that he was elected to the office for
the third time without opposition from any source.
Judge John Peter Adams was born in the town of Lock Berlin, Wayne
county, New York, June 7, 1855. His parents were Peter and Martha
(Eldridge) Adams, and Judge Adams was one of six children.
[Illustration:
WILLIAM A. JACKSON,
Judge District Court.
]
[Illustration:
CHARLES J. CONLON,
County Attorney.
]
[Illustration:
JOHN PETER ADAMS,
Judge of Probate Court.
]
[Illustration:
ROY C. TRIMBLE,
Sheriff.
]
Judge Adams received his early education in the schools of his native
State and the Macedon Academy, following which he completed a business
course at the Eastman Business College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He
practically worked his way through school by teaching, becoming a
teacher at the early age of eighteen. He came to Atchison in 1879 and
entered the law office of Judge H. M. Jackson, as a law student, and was
admitted to the practice of law in 1880. A short time following his
admission to the bar he opened an office for himself, and later became a
partner with Roy C. Crawford. A partnership with Charles J. Conlon was
formed some time afterward, which continued until the election of Mr.
Adams to the office of probate judge in 1910. Judge Adams was reëlected
in 1912, and again in 1914, without opposition for the nomination or
election. He is a Republican and a firm believer in a high protective
tariff. Previous to his election to the probate judgeship, he served as
judge of the Atchison city court, having been appointed by Governor
Bailey in 1902, and reëlected three times following his appointment
without opposition. Judge Adams has always earnestly advocated
Republican principles and has been a faithful party worker.
Judge Adams was married in Albion, Mich., June 24, 1885, to Mary
Stevens, a native of Lock Berlin, N. Y., and a daughter of Wells J. L.
and Nancy Stevens. To Judge and Mrs. Adams have been born three
children, who are the pride of their parents, as follows: Eldridge, born
November 30, 1892. He received his classical education in Kansas
University and graduated in medicine from Rush Medical College at
Chicago in 1914, after a thorough course of study in the University of
Chicago, now a practicing physician and surgeon in the Illinois State
Hospital for eye, nose and throat, at Chicago. Dr. Adams is a rising
young physician of marked ability and was an apt student, and is
ambitious to succeed in his chosen profession. He graduated from the
Atchison High School at the age of fifteen, from the Kansas University
at the age of nineteen, and received his Doctor of Medicine degree from
Rush College of Medicine when but twenty-three years of age. It is safe
to predict a brilliant future for this Atchison boy. A daughter of Judge
Adams, Eleanor, aged twenty, is a student of Knox College, Galesburg,
Ill., class of 1916, where she is specializing in music—violin and
voice. Genevra, the youngest child of Judge and Mrs. Adams, is eighteen
years old, a graduate of the Atchison High School, and a student in
Baker University. The Adams family has resided in the same house at
Fourth and Laramie streets for thirty years, or since the marriage of
Judge and Mrs. Adams. They believe in giving their children the
advantages of a good education, as the best preparation possible for
their future success.
Judge Adams was reared in the Episcopalian faith, which was the church
of his fathers, but is an attendant with the members of his family at
the Methodist Episcopal church. He became a member of the Masonic lodge
in 1876.
WILLIAM ANTHONY JACKSON.
While we reverence the courts and look upon them as the final refuge of
the citizenry in time of oppression or trouble, we realize that the
tribunals of the people for safeguarding our inalienable rights as
citizens are measured in their usefulness by the character of the men
chosen to sit at the head of the judiciary. Society is protected from
those criminally inclined, and we accept without criticism the decisions
of the judges with whom we come into personal contact, because of the
fact that the masses of the people have an abiding faith in the
integrity of the courts. This confidence is more in evidence in a
community where all have an opportunity of judging at close range the
qualifications and personal integrity of those chosen by the people to
administer the judicial affairs of the people. It is meet and necessary
that the judges in whom we place implicit confidence be men of the
highest calibre, broad-minded and sympathetic in dealing firmly with the
many diverse cases which are brought before them for adjudication. The
district court of Atchison county is presided over by a learned jurist
who has the confidence and esteem of the people, and who enjoys the
universal respect of the citizens of the county. Hon. William A.
Jackson, judge of the district court of Atchison county, is such a man
wisely chosen to fill the highest office within the gift of the people
in his district. His career as presiding officer of the court has been
marked by a display of ability, legal acumen, broad-minded and
sympathetic discernment of right and wrong in handing down his decisions
that have satisfied the most exacting. He was born in Versailles, Morgan
county, Missouri, October 6, 1866. He is a son of Judge Horace M. and
Lavanchia Isabelle (Valentine) Jackson, a review of whose life is given
in this volume.
Judge Jackson has a reputation for fairness and impartiality in his
judicial decisions which has gone far beyond the borders of his county.
The Atchison _Daily Champion_ in its issue of September 25, 1913, has
this to say of his high honor and integrity:
“In these days of alleged lawless lawyers and corrupted courts it is a
good thing to know that Atchison county has an honest and efficient
judge to administer justice from the district bench. Many big men,—men
of splendid qualifications and sterling integrity—have occupied the
important position now held by Judge Jackson, but never before has this
county had a judge whose service on the bench commanded more universal
satisfaction than that rendered by Judge Jackson. It is the unanimous
opinion of the Atchison bar that he is the best district judge in the
State. Absolutely fair, impartial, capable, he performs the functions of
his office with a high sense of duty and responsibility to the law and
to his fellow men, a duty and responsibility which precludes all other
results, save only unqualified justice for each case that comes under
his supervision.”
The supreme test which could be applied to a man in his position came on
an occasion when the father and brother of Judge Jackson appeared for
the defendant in a case which was tried in the Atchison court with Judge
Jackson on the bench, and he was not found wanting. Quoting from the
Atchison _Daily Champion_ in its issue of April 19, 1909, concerning
this unique situation and the conduct of Judge Jackson during the course
of the trial of the case:
“Many people have attended court the past week as witnesses, jurors and
spectators in the Norris-Mapes trial, and the fact was freely commented
upon that the appearance in the trial of father and son as attorneys for
the defendant and another son was on the bench, presented a situation
that was quite unusual. Some at first indulged in unfriendly criticism
of the circumstances and it is therefore a pleasure for the _Champion_
to say that it has heard nothing but the most universal praise for the
fairness, the impartiality and the splendid integrity of purpose Judge
Jackson displayed in his rulings on every disputed question of law and
evidence in the case. It is a fact worthy of comment that the _Champion_
takes pleasure at this time in giving public recognition to so important
a matter. There is nobody in Atchison who has a stronger following of
loyal friends than Will Jackson, and it is because of his manhood, his
honesty and fine sense of honor that he has earned them and retains
them.”
William Anthony Jackson was trundled in a home-made baby-cart and
dressed in clothing spun and made by his devoted mother. Few were the
luxuries in which he was indulged; the plainest of fare was his
sustenance during his childhood days. In 1870 he was placed in school at
Marysville, Mo., and after coming to Atchison with his parents he
attended the city schools. He attended the Monroe Institute and later
entered Kansas University at Lawrence, graduating therefrom in 1888. He
was admitted to the bar and in 1889 was made a member of the law firm of
Jackson & Jackson. His success in the practice of his profession has
been marked and he is widely known as a capable lawyer and jurist. His
first public office was that of city attorney, to which he was elected
in April, 1905, and served until 1909. During the four years of his
incumbency of the office of city attorney he lost but one case which
came up for trial under his care for the city. He was elected judge of
the district court, second judicial district, in November of 1908, and
resigned the office of city attorney to take up his duties on the bench
in order to qualify in January, 1909. His career on the bench speaks for
itself and the fairness of his decisions is proverbial. Judge Jackson is
remarked frequently for his kindness of heart, and soon after he was
admitted to the bar the opportunity came to him to “return good for
evil” in one particular case. A lad with whom he had come into contact
on the school ground at Marysville, and who had tried to impose on him,
with the result that strained feeling existed for many years between
them was the beneficiary of his goodness. This lad, then grown to man’s
estate, came to the judge in Atchison and asked him to assist him in
getting employment. The judge did so and earned the thanks of his
boyhood enemy.
Judge Jackson’s wedded life began April 26, 1894, when he was united in
marriage with Edith Fox, of Atchison. To this union have been born two
children: Jared Fox Jackson, born November 19, 1895, and now a student
in the law department of Kansas University; Edward Valentine Jackson,
born June 6, 1900, a student in the Atchison High School. The mother of
these children is a daughter of Jared Copeland. (See sketch of Jared
Copeland Fox elsewhere in this volume.)
Judge Jackson is fraternally affiliated with the Masonic Lodge,
Washington, No. 5, of Atchison, the Knights of Pythias, the Elks, the
Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity of the
Kansas State University. He is a liberal contributor to charitable and
religious denominations, and is usually found in the van of all projects
which have for their purpose the betterment of his home city and county.
ROY C. TRIMBLE.
In Roy C. Trimble, sheriff of Atchison county, the people have an
efficient and capable public official, who believes that his duties are
paramount over all other considerations, and he has shown by his
steadfast and unswerving loyalty to the ethics of his office that he is
a man eminently fitted for high public office. Mr. Trimble is a young
man to hold such an important office, but is old in ability and
experience. He is a native of Atchison county, and a son of James M. and
Margaret E. (McCreary) Trimble.
Roy C. Trimble was born August 11, 1877, on a farm, four miles southwest
of Atchison. His father, James M. Trimble, was born September 10, 1843,
in Buchanan county, Missouri, and died in January, 1910, in Atchison
county. He was the son of Benjamin F. Trimble, a native of Kentucky, who
immigrated to DeKalb, Mo., where he conducted a blacksmith and wagon
repair shop, and later removed to Texas. After a residence of some years
in Texas he settled in Atchison county, where the son, James M., bought
a farm which he cultivated until 1905, when he disposed of his land and
invested in a livery business. He was thus engaged until his death.
During the Civil war, Mr. Trimble was enrolled in the State militia.
Benjamin F. Trimble was one of the early pioneer settlers of Atchison
county and owned a farm near Effingham. The children of James M. Trimble
are J. P., a railway mail clerk on the Central Branch railroad; A. F., a
rural mail carrier; K. S., a farmer, south of Atchison; E. S., a
resident of Lake Ballinger, Wash.; Roy C., and T. O., a ranchman, near
Seattle. Wash.
The mother of the foregoing children was Margaret E. McCreary, born in
1850 and died in 1890. She was a daughter of Solomon McCreary, a pioneer
settler of Atchison county, who had a farm eight and one-half miles
south of Atchison. Solomon McCreary was born in Clay county, Missouri,
in 1822, and died in July, 1911. He was a son of Elijah McCreary, and
was the youngest of a family of thirteen children. The family is of
Scotch-Irish ancestry, and originally settled in South Carolina. S. K.
came to Kansas in 1854, first settling in Leavenworth county, and four
years later moving to Atchison county. He bought a land patent from a
Mexican war veteran, and made his home on the pioneer farm until his
death. His children were as follows: Mrs. B. Frank Trimble, Mrs.
Margaret Trimble, deceased; Mrs. Nellie Adams; Cora, deceased; W. S.,
deceased; Mrs. Nettie Perkins, Leavenworth; S. K., and Mrs. Grace
Salmon, of Los Angeles.
Roy C. Trimble was educated in the district school No. 5, located south
of the city, and resided on the farm until 1905 when he was engaged in
the livery business with his father, continuing until the latter’s
death, after which he conducted the business for a few years and then
traded it for some real estate. He was first a candidate for sheriff in
1912 on the Republican ticket, but lost out by 288 votes. He was again a
candidate in 1914 and won by the considerable margin of 700 votes.
Sheriff Trimble was married November 2, 1904, to May Florence Hartman,
who was born near Purcell, seven miles southwest of Atchison, and is a
daughter of Ex-Sheriff F. C. Hartman, now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs.
Trimble have been born the following children: Guy Roy, born August 7,
1905; Cynthia Grace, born May 2, 1907; Clara May, born May 10, 1913, and
Henrietta Gale, born June 4, 1915.
Mr. Trimble and wife are members of the Presbyterian church. He is
fraternally affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the
Fraternal Aid. Mr. Trimble is likeable, and has a winning personality
which goes far toward making him a successful and popular official. Such
encomiums and praise as have come to him for his conduct of the duties
of the sheriff’s office are well deserved and he is constantly widening
his circle of friends.
CHARLES J. CONLON.
Charles J. Conlon, a prominent attorney of Atchison, who is now serving
his second term as county attorney, is a native of the Empire State. He
was born at Orwell, Oswego county, New York, October 31, 1860, and is a
son of James and Anna (Bowen) Conlon, the former a native of New York
and the latter of Ireland. Anna Bowen, the mother, came to America with
her parents, William and Nancy Bowen, when she was thirteen years of
age. James Conlon was born in Oneida county, New York, and was a son of
Charles Conlon, a native of Ireland, who immigrated to America in 1814
and settled in Oneida county, New York, where he spent the remainder of
his life. James Conlon grew to manhood in Oneida county, and in 1859 was
married and about a year later removed to Oswego county, bought a farm
and followed farming there until 1867. He then returned to Oneida
county, where he remained until 1870, when he came to Kansas, locating
in Atchison county. He bought a farm about a mile and one-half southwest
of the city of Atchison, where he was successfully engaged in farming
and stock raising until about a year prior to his death, November 1,
1899, at the age of seventy-three. He was a very successful farmer and a
highly respected citizen, and at the time of his death owned 200 acres
of valuable land, which is still owned by the Conlon family. He was a
life-long Democrat and a member of the Catholic church. His wife died
September 22, 1898, aged sixty-three years. They were the parents of the
following children: Anna M. married Peter Donovan, now deceased, and
three children were born to this union, Peter, Fredrick and Charles, and
after the death of her first husband, Anna M. married John McInteer, who
is also now deceased and she resides in Atchison; Charles J., the
subject of this sketch; William H. resides on the old homestead; John
F., farmer, Atchison; James D., plumber, St. Louis, Mo.; Letitia M.
McKenna, Denver, Colo., and Fred J. died in Atchison at the age of
thirty-three years. He was a machinist and well and favorably known in
Atchison county. Charles J. Conlon was educated in the public schools,
St. Benedict’s College, Atchison, Kan., and Whitestown Seminary,
Whitestown, N. Y., graduating from the latter institution in the class
of 1882. He then entered the law department of the University of
Michigan, at Ann Arbor, Mich., and was graduated in the class of 1884
with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He then engaged in the practice of
his profession at Atchison, Kan., and has continued in the practice to
the present time. He was elected county attorney of Atchison county in
1912 and reëlected to succeed himself in 1914. Mr. Conlon is a capable
lawyer and is a fair and fearless prosecutor. Mr. Conlon was united in
marriage February 14, 1903, to Miss Mae Flanigan, a native of Oswego
county, New York.
JOHN F. CONLON.
John F. Conlon, farmer, was born October 15, 1865, in the town of
Orwell, Oswego county, New York. He was educated in the common schools
of his native town and later attended the Whitestown Seminary at
Whitestown, N. Y. After coming to Atchison county, Kansas, in 1885 with
his parents, he studied at St. Benedict’s College. He remained with his
parents on the home farm southwest of Atchison until their death, and
managed the estate for several years thereafter successfully.
THOMAS O. GAULT.
Personal achievements of the individual are always worth recounting when
he has accomplished something worth while. There is considerable
satisfaction in the latter years of the life of an industrious couple,
who, having begun at the foot of the ladder of success and having
climbed upward by degrees, have attained to a state of wealth and
comfort by the time middle age has been reached. Thomas O. Gault and his
wife, residing in a beautiful farm home in the northeast part of the
city of Effingham, are among the most respected citizens of Atchison
county. Mr. Gault is one of the large land owners of the county, and
while not an old resident he can lay claim to the fact that he was a
homesteader in Kansas back in the “grasshopper” era, and has had as many
ups and downs as the average western pioneer.
Thomas O. Gault was born November 7, 1849, in Wycomico county, Maryland,
a son of Archibald and Eliza (Littleton) Gault, natives of Maryland, and
descendants of old American colonial families. The ancestry of the Gault
and Littleton families dates back to the earliest days of the settlement
of the eastern coast of America. Archibald was the son of Obid Gault,
who was a soldier in the War of 1812, and was an early pioneer settler
of Indiana. Eliza Littleton was a daughter of Thomas Littleton, and died
when Thomas O. was seven years of age. Archibald Gault emigrated from
Maryland to Ripley county, Indiana, about 1859, and settled on a farm
south of Pierce City, or near Stringtown. This was in a timbered
country, and he lived there only three years, returning to Maryland
during the dark days of the Civil war, where he remained until the war
was over. In 1865 he returned to his farm in Ripley county, and
cultivated his Indiana farm until old age overtook him, and he finally
returned to the old home in Maryland, there spending his declining
years, dying in 1900, at the age of eighty years.