Indiana, and began working at the hardest kind of farm labor when yet a
boy. When he attained his majority he came to the great West, where
opportunity seemed to beckon with a more lavish hand than among the
hills and forests of his native county and State. He located in Jasper
county, Iowa, and worked at farm labor until twenty-five years of age,
then came to Kansas and homesteaded a Government claim in Phillips
county. This was a sad experience, however, as the grasshoppers came
along soon afterwards and “cleaned out” the crops of the homesteaders in
his neighborhood, and he abandoned his claim and left the country. He
returned to Jasper county, Iowa, in 1873, where he remained for three
years, after which he remained in Iowa, locating in Pottawattamie county
in 1878, where he had purchased a farm. He and his wife developed the
farm and prospered for a period of fourteen years. Selling out their
Iowa farm at a good round price in 1903, they located in Effingham,
where they have resided since March of 1903. Mr. Gault invested his
capital in Kansas and Missouri lands and has made money since he came to
Kansas. Being gifted with the moneymaking instinct and capacity, he has
dealt somewhat in land and been successful in his farming operations in
Atchison county. He is the owner of an eighty acre tract of valuable
land, purchased in 1902, adjoining Effingham, Kan., on the northeast,
and has one of the most attractive modern farm homes in the county. He
owns at the present time a total of 582.5 acres of land, 262.5 acres of
which is located in Grundy county, Missouri, and the rest in Atchison
county. He has a large farm of 240 acres near Pardee in Center township,
which is one of the best improved tracts in the vicinity. This farm was
purchased in 1902 and is equipped with excellent buildings, including a
house of twelve rooms and three good barns.
He was married on March 4, 1888, to Miss Melissa Drury, of the town of
Drury, Rock Island county, Illinois. They are the parents of two
children: Essie, at home with her parents, and Pearl, wife of William
Thomas, a son of Robert M. Thomas, of Effingham. Mrs. Gault was born
March 4, 1861, in Drury, Rock Island county, Illinois, a daughter of Eli
and Margaret (Hubbard) Drury, natives of Wayne county, Indiana, and
Bedford county, Pennsylvania, respectively. Mr. Drury served as
postmaster of the village named in his honor in Rock Island county for
thirty-five years, and was filling the office at the time of his death,
in 1892.
Mr. Gault is a stockholder in the Farmer’s Mercantile Company of
Effingham. He is a Republican in politics, but is an independent voter,
who believes in doing his own thinking as regards the merits of
respective candidates for office and the principles which influence good
government. He became an Odd Fellow in Marshall county, Iowa, in the
early eighties, and has continued in good standing in the order to the
present time. One of the incidents of his early career which left an
impression on Mr. Gault’s memory, which time has never been able to
eradicate, was his first Kansas experience. He was so thoroughly cleaned
out during the great grasshopper scourge in the seventies, in Phillips
county, Kansas, that he was forced to walk the entire distance from Blue
River, Kan., to Atchison.
WILFULL A. STANLEY.
Wilfull A. Stanley, a Civil war veteran, who perhaps has had more
military experience than any other man in Atchison county, is a native
of New Jersey. He was born at Salem, November 26, 1838, and is a son of
Joseph C. and Rebecca D. (Gosline) Stanley, both natives of New Jersey
and descendants of colonial ancestors, who trace their family genealogy
back for several generations in this country. The first white child born
in the English colony that settled in New Jersey, opposite Egg Harbor,
was an ancestor of Wilfull A. Stanley. Joseph C. Stanley, the father of
Wilfull A., was a son of Friend Richard Stanley, who was a soldier in
the War of 1812. The Stanley’s were Quakers, but there were a great many
fighting Quakers distributed along the line of descent. Friend Richard
was a son of John Stanley, who was a Revolutionary soldier and served in
Lighthorse Harry Lee’s cavalry. He was captured and confined in a
British prison ship for some time. He lived to be a very old man and
died in 1845, at the age of 102. He was very active physically and
mentally to a very old age. Wilfull A. Stanley was reared in New Jersey
and received a common school education. On December 22, 1860, he
enlisted as a private in the United States marine; and after making a
trip around the world was detailed in 1861 as orderly to Admiral
Dahlgren at Washington, D. C. He also served as orderly to Commanding
Officer C. R. P. Rogers. Mr. Stanley was at the taking of Hatteras Inlet
and the operations on Roanoke Sound in conjunction with General
Burnside’s expedition. He was at the engagement of Port Royal and served
as orderly to Capt. C. R. P. Rogers there. He was also at the engagement
at Ft. Walker. The “Wabash,” upon which he was serving then, joined
Admiral Farragut’s fleet at New Orleans. Here Mr. Stanley was
transferred to the “Hartford,” Admiral Farragut’s flag ship, and served
as orderly to Farragut and participated in the engagements at Fts.
Jackson and Phillip, and was at the capture of New Orleans when he was
again detailed to the “Wabash.” Shortly after that he was taken sick
with a fever and sent to the marine hospital at Brooklyn, N. Y. After
recovering he was discharged, and with his discharge received a very
complimentary letter from Admiral Rogers. After remaining home a short
time he enlisted in the Second regiment, New Jersey cavalry. He
participated in the battle of Nashville and was at the siege of Mobile.
He went from there to Montgomery, Ala. About this time the war closed,
but Mr. Stanley’s regiment was kept in the South for nearly a year
during the reconstruction period, and in 1866 he was discharged and
returned to his New Jersey home. Mr. Stanley had learned the plasterer’s
trade when he was a young man and at the close of the war worked at it
for some time, when the military spirit took possession of him again and
he enlisted at Philadelphia, Pa., and was assigned to Troop L, Seventh
United States cavalry, and was sent from Ft. Leavenworth to Ft. Morgan
on the Platte river. Capt. Michael V. Sheridan, a brother of “Little
Phil,” commanded this troop and they were mobilized at Ft. Hayes for a
winter campaign against the Indians in the Wichita mountains. This
campaign was against the Arapahoes, Comanches and some other tribes.
After an engagement with Lone Wolf’s band the soldiers were forced to
retreat, but soon after were re-inforced at Big Timber by a Kansas
regiment, and after that captured Lone Wolf and Satanta, chief of the
Kiawas, and returned the Indians who had been on the war path to the Ft.
Sill reservation. After that Mr. Stanley returned to Ft. Leavenworth and
had charge of the hospital stores for two years, when he was transferred
to Wingate, N. M., where he also had charge of the hospital stores until
1872, when he was discharged and returned to New Jersey. In 1889 he came
to Kansas, locating in Atchison, where he has since worked at his trade
most of the time. He had lived in Philadelphia for some time and in
Georgetown, S. C. before coming to Kansas, and came to this State on
account of his wife’s health. Mr. Stanley was married in 1877 to Mrs.
Mary E. (Ingram) Fpuntain, a widow. She is a native of Bellefont, Pa.,
born June 25, 1842, a daughter of Isaac D. and Deborah (Grant) Ingram,
natives of Pennsylvania and descendants of old Pennsylvania stock.
Joshua Bloomfield Williams, a major in the Revolutionary war, and at one
time colonial governor of New Jersey, was a grand-uncle of Mrs.
Stanley’s mother, and Mrs. Stanley is a Daughter of the American
Revolution. She is a member of the Ladies’ Corps of the Grand Army of
the Republic, and is past department president of Kansas, and National
press correspondent, and has filled all the offices from the local
circle to the National. Mr. and Mrs. Stanley have one child, Leon Glen,
born in 1881. He served in Troop B, Sixth United States cavalry. He was
in China at the rescue of the foreign legations and suppression of the
Boxer uprising and later served in the Phillipine Islands, and after
three years’ service he was honorably discharged. He was the first post
printer at Ft. Leavenworth, and is now in the employ of the _Atchison
Globe_, in the capacity of pressman and mailing clerk. He married Sadie
Wiggins, and two children have been born to them, as follows: Inez Leona
and Richard. Wilfull A. Stanley is a member of the Grand Army of the
Republic and has been adjutant of the Atchison post for ten years and is
past commander.
CHRISTIAN W. STUTZ.
Christian W. Stutz, a substantial farmer of Center township, Atchison
county, was born and reared in Lancaster township, this county, and is a
son of pioneer settlers of the county. The Stutz family came to Kansas
from Missouri in 1859. Christian W. is a son of Christian and Catharine
(Schweitzer) Stutz, both of whom were born in Germany from whence they
came to America in 1855, and first settled in Jackson county, Missouri,
coming from there to Lancaster township in Atchison county four years
later. Christian, the father, was born in Germany, March 25, 1825, and
when thirty years of age decided to locate in the new country where
there were better opportunities for gaining a livelihood and laying up a
competence. Accordingly, we find that after a residence of four years in
Jackson county, Missouri, he came to Atchison county, and with his
savings invested in eighty acres of timber and prairie land in Lancaster
township. He hired a man to break this land with ox teams, and proceeded
to cultivate his land. He made extensive improvements on his farm from
time to time as he was able, and added to his acreage to such an extent
that at the time of his death, December, 1898, he was the owner of 380
acres of land. Christian Stutz was the father of seven children as
follows: Mrs. Caroline Demel, of Central City, Neb.; Mrs. Katherine
Wilkins, of Atchison, Kan.; Frederick, a member of the Atchison police
force; Christian W.; Gustave, a prosperous farmer of Lancaster township;
John, a farmer in Center township; one child died in infancy. The mother
of these children was born in Germany in February of 1829, and died in
Lancaster township, in December, 1888.
Christian W. Stutz, whom this review directly concerns, was reared on
the old home place of the Stutz family in Lancaster township, and
educated in the Lancaster school. He assisted his father in the
operation of the home farm until he was twenty-three years of age, and
then began farming for himself on land which he rented from his father.
He continued to till the rented land for four years, all the time saving
his earnings, with a view of eventually owning a farm of his own. He
made his first investment in 1891 when he purchased and inherited,
partly, eighty acres of improved farm land in section 8, Center
township. He at once began to remodel the home and make extensive
improvements, and it might be said that he has never ceased to improve
his surroundings. In 1908 he erected a new barn, 50×50 feet, and now has
one of the attractive places of his township and county. Mr. Stutz has
continued to add to his land holdings until he is now the owner of 393
acres of land, all of which he has secured through his own efforts.
During 1915 he had planted 160 acres to corn which gave him an excellent
crop. He keeps good graded stock and maintains a herd of Shorthorn
cattle. He has made quite a reputation as a breeder, and in 1914
exhibited a “Mahrath Jack” at the Atchison county fair which was awarded
the second prize. In addition to his farming interests he is a share
holder in a copper mine located in Arizona.
Mr. Stutz was married in 1891 to Kathrine Walz, and of this union have
been born ten children, as follows: Charles F., William, John E., Clara,
a graduate of the Atchison County High School; Arthur, Mary and Margaret
(twins), the latter deceased; Francis, Nora B., Reidel, all of whom are
at home with their parents. Mrs. Stutz was born September 8, 1868, in
Atchison, Kan., a daughter of Charles and Kathrine (Reidel) Walz, both
natives of Germany. Charles Walz emigrated from Germany to Cincinnati,
Ohio, and there learned the butcher business and trade. When nineteen
years of age he left Germany to seek his fortune in America, and about
1857 came to Atchison and worked in the first butcher shop ever operated
in that city. He later bought the shop of Phillip Link, and after
operating it for a time bought a farm in Shannon township, where he
lived until his death, in 1891, at the age of sixty-one years. Kathrine,
his wife, was born in 1842, and died on the old home place in Shannon
township.
Mr. Stutz is a Democrat, but has never sought political preferment,
having no time other than for the management of his large farming
interests. He is fraternally connected with the Odd Fellows and the
Fraternal Order of Eagles.
MICHAEL JOSEPH HORAN.
In observing the management of the leading commercial houses of
Atchison, the fact is determined that, invariably, the executive
departments are in charge of young men who have practically grown up
with the business. The Dolan Mercantile Company is one of the oldest
wholesale institutions of the city, and one of the most successful and
substantial. Its affairs are conducted by young men who entered the
employ of its founder when boys, and have advanced, step by step, in the
management of the concern. M. J. Horan, the president of the Dolan
Mercantile Company, began his career in a humble capacity in the
business of which he is now the chief executive, and has become an
honored and able member of the body of commercial men who have made
Atchison preëminent among the cities of the West. The story of a self-
made man is always interesting and this review is a story of a self-made
man.
Michael Joseph Horan is a native of Atchison, born November 12, 1875. He
is a son of Michael Frank Horan, a native of Bir, Kings county, Ireland,
born in 1824. The elder Horan left his native heath when a young man,
with his young wife, who died later in Atchison. He first located in
Peru, Ind., and there met William Dolan in 1840. He came to Kansas in
1865 and located some land at Wetmore, proved up on his homestead, and
one year afterward located in Atchison. Here he engaged in the real
estate business, and became fairly well to do. For years he was a well
known figure in Atchison and took an active interest in Democratic
politics. He died in 1888. His second wife was Anna Dean, whom he
married in her native county of Queens, Ireland. She was born in 1844
and died in February, 1910. They were the parents of the following
children: Mrs. John A. Reynolds, Atchison; Miss Bridget Horan, Atchison;
Anna, at home; Michael Joseph, Atchison; Frank, Marshalltown, Iowa;
Charles L., secretary of the Dolan Mercantile Company, and in charge of
the shipping department.
M. J. Horan was educated in the parochial schools and St. Benedict’s
College, of Atchison. At the age of sixteen years, or in 1892, he
entered the employ of the Dolan Mercantile Company, as office boy. He
applied himself diligently to his duties and promotion step by step
followed, as a matter of course. His next position was that of bill
clerk. This was followed by his promotion to the post of bookkeeper and
then buyer. When the company was incorporated in 1900, he was elected
vice-president. He succeeded Mr. Dolan as president of the company, upon
the latter’s death in 1913.
Mr. Horan was united in marriage in Kansas City, Mo., with Martha Emma
Malone in 1909. To them have been born four children: Michael Joseph,
Mary Ann, Francis and William. Mrs. Horan is a daughter of Edward
Malone, formerly a resident of Atchison, and who died here, after which
the mother and all of the family except Martha Emma removed to Chicago.
In political affairs Mr. Horan is an independent Democrat, who favors
good and efficient government, and believes that it can best be obtained
by good and capable officials regardless of their political adherence.
He is a member of St. Benedict’s Catholic Church, and is affiliated with
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the United Commercial
Travelers. Mr. Horan is recognized as one of the substantial and
progressive business men of the city, and he and his wife have many warm
friends among the best families of the city, who esteem them for their
many excellent qualities of mind and heart. Mr. Horan’s dignified and
courteous demeanor in the conduct of his business affairs has won him
universal respect and esteem both of patrons and employes of the concern
of which he is the head.
RINHOLD FUHRMAN.
Rinhold Fuhrman, farmer and stockman, of Lancaster township, Atchison
county, Kansas, was born in Germany February 11, 1863. He is a son of
Ernest and Johanna (Gerlach) Fuhrman, and was one of twelve children
born to them. The others are as follows: Caroline Deaking, Dodge City,
Kan.; Louise Repstein, Jefferson county, Kansas; William, St. Joseph,
Mo.; Julius, Doniphan county, Kansas; Trauget, Center township, Atchison
county; Herman, Lancaster township, Atchison county; Paul, Center
township, Atchison county; Emma Schwope, Center township, Atchison
county; Ernest, Atchison, Kan., and two children who died in infancy.
The father by an earlier marriage to Louise (Heine) Fuhrman had one son,
Charles, a farmer and stockman of Lancaster township, Atchison county.
Ernest Fuhrman was born in Germany July 8, 1826, and immigrated to
America in 1872, settling in Atchison county, Kansas, where he bought
160 acres of land in section 16, Lancaster township. This was timber and
prairie land and had only a small, poorly built house on it at the time,
but during the twenty years that he owned it he built several
substantial buildings and made numerous other improvements. He
eventually sold the place to his son, Herman, and then bought 160 acres
in Doniphan county, where Julius lives, and moved into Lancaster where
he lived in retirement. He bought eighty acres in Center township. Five
years later he went to live with his son, Paul, to whom he sold the
eighty acre tract, in Center township. He died on Paul’s second farm of
160 acres in Center township September 2, 1915. The mother, Johanna
(Gerlach) Fuhrman, was born in Germany and resides with her daughter,
Emma, in Center township, Atchison county, at the age of eighty-five
years.
In 1872 Rinhold Fuhrman left Germany with his parents who came to
Atchison county, Kansas. He was reared on his father’s farm and attended
school at Rock district No. 59, and when eighteen years of age began
life for himself as a farm hand for $15 a month and proved himself a
capable worker and later was given $20 a month, which was more than the
average farm hand was paid at that time. He worked three years as a
hired hand and then rented his father’s farm for five years, and later
bought it. The farm consisted of 160 acres in section 20, Lancaster
township. He improved it considerably after he took charge of it in
1899, erecting a house at a cost of $1,000, and he also built a barn
which cost $500. He has built sheds and other improvements since and did
most of this work with his own hands. He has always been a hard worker
and obtained all that he now owns by hard labor. He has a fine little
orchard which is in a thrifty condition. He keeps graded stock and takes
great care to keep his animals up to the standard.
On October 8, 1890, he married Emma Kammer, a native of Lancaster
township, who was born April 18, 1868. She attended school at Rock
district and is a daughter of Karl and Johanna Kammer. She has a
brother, Karl, who is a farmer in Atchison county. Mr. and Mrs. Fuhrman
are the parents of three children, as follows: Mrs. Laura August Poos,
Lee’s Summit, Mo.; Edna and Karl, both living at home. Mr. Fuhrman is a
Republican and he and his wife are members of the Evangelical church. He
is a conscientious, hard working farmer who has deservedly attained
success. In March, 1916, Mr. and Mrs. Fuhrman left the farm and retired
to a home in Lancaster, where Mr. Fuhrman purchased a residence. He has
rented his farm after accumulating a competence which will enable him to
live in comfort the remainder of his days.
JOHN E. REMSBURG.
The past half century has witnessed the transformation of the section of
Kansas known to the world as Atchison county from wilderness to a
smiling and peaceful land of thriving towns and cities and checkered
with fertile farms, a development which has been duplicated many times
over in the great State of Kansas. While this wonderful transformation
was going on as the handiwork of man—particular individuals from out of
the mass of men who were working wonders in giving to this Nation a new
commonwealth, were likewise developing mental attributes with which they
had been gifted—statesmen, soldiers, and men of letters were in the
making. Atchison county, Kansas, has been made famous by several
illustrious sons who have achieved more than ordinary renown in the
world of letters, as well as in other lines of endeavor. John E.
Remsburg, editor and publisher of the _Potter Kansan_, educator, author
and lecturer, during nearly a half century of residence in the county,
has become as widely known in the realm of literature as any Kansan
citizen. He has achieved a reputation as a writer and lecturer of force
which is world-wide and deserved by the recipient. Mr. Remsburg came to
Kansas from his native State of Ohio in 1868. Two years after his
arrival in Atchison county he was married to Miss Nora M. Eiler, of
Walnut township, this county, who came with her parents from Missouri to
Kansas in 1855. Seven children were born to this marriage: George J.,
John J., Reullura R., Wirt A., Charles B., and Claude A., all of whom
are living, and Eugene, deceased.
“The International Who’s Who,” printed in English, German, French and
Italian, and published in London, Paris and New York, contains the
following biographical sketch of Mr. Remsburg:
“John E. Remsburg. Teacher, lecturer, author; born near Fremont, Ohio,
U. S. A., January 7, 1848. Of German-English descent, his paternal
ancestors emigrating from Germany to Maryland about 1760; his maternal
ancestors emigrating from England to Boston in 1640. His father was
George J. Remsburg, son of John P. Remsburg, who removed from Maryland
to Ohio in 1831; his mother was Sarah A. (Willey) Remsburg, daughter of
Eleazer Willey, who removed from New York to Ohio about the same time.
Educated in the public schools of Ohio and at Fort Edward Collegiate
Institute, New York, continuing his studies after leaving school.
Entered Union army at 16, serving until close of Civil war. For fifteen
years engaged in educational work in Ohio and Kansas, serving as
superintendent of public instruction of Atchison county, Kansas, four
years (1872 to 1876). Married in 1870 Nora M. Eiler, daughter of Jacob
Eiler, a Free State pioneer of Kansas. In 1880 became a lecturer and
writer in support of free thought and State secularization. Delivered
over 3,000 lectures, speaking in fifty-two States, Territories and
Provinces, and in 1,250 different cities and towns, including every
large city of United States and Canada. In the performance of this work
traveled over 360,000 miles. Author: ‘Life of Thomas Paine,’ 1880; ‘The
Image Breaker,’ 1882; ‘False Claims,’ 1883; ‘Bible Morals,’ 1884;
‘Sabbath Breaking,’ 1885; ‘The Fathers of Our Republic,’ 1887; ‘Abraham
Lincoln,’ 1893; ‘The Bible,’ 1903; ‘Six Historic Americans,’ 1906.
Portions of his writings have been translated into French, Italian,
German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Bohemian, Bengali, Singalese and
Japanese.”
[Illustration:
_John E. Remsburg._
]
[Illustration:
_Geo. Remsburg._
]
It may interest Mr. Remsburg’s Atchison county friends to know in what
esteem he is held as a speaker and writer by the world at large. From
the hundreds of reviews and commendatory notices of his lectures and
books which have appeared a volume of testimonials like the following
could be compiled:
“One of the best speakers and writers to be found in the West, if not in
the whole country.”—Charles Robinson, first governor of Kansas.
“His lectures are models of logic and good sense.”—Arnold Krekel, LL.
D., Judge United States District Court, Missouri.
“Mr. Remsburg’s address was given with great eloquence and power.”—E. W.
Howe.
“A brilliant lecture.”—_San Francisco Chronicle._
“Most eloquent words.”—_Boston Globe._
“An interesting and eloquent address.”—Rev. J. F. Wilcox, Chicago.
“It is lit up with such flashes of genius, it is so poetical and
picturesque that one never wearies of hearing it.”—E. M. Macdonald, New
York, President American Secular Union.
“He retired with the reward of loud and long continued applause.”—
_Kansas City Star._
“Came in for his full meed of praise today.”—_New York Herald._
“J. E. Remsburg was paid at the rate of two dollars a minute for his New
York address; probably the highest price yet paid for a Kansas talk.”—
Noble L. Prentiss, 1882.
“A noble lecture.”—Ernestine L. Rose, noted reformer, London.
“He has given to the world several volumes of priceless worth.”—L. K.
Washburn, editor _Boston Investigator_.
“This volume of 600 pages is a digest of all that is known on the
subject.”—Franklin Steiner, author, New York.
“Nothing equal to it has been published within my recollection either in
America or Great Britain.”—Charles Watts, President British Secular
Union.
“It is indeed excellent—nothing could be better.”—Sir Hiram Maxim,
London.
“In many respects the most important volume on the subject that has yet
appeared.”—Le Pensee, Brussels.
“Excellent, bold, direct, unanswerable.”—James Parton.
“Mr. Remsburg is an orator of high and wide reputation.”—_Washington
Post._
“One of America’s noted orators.”—_Montreal Times._
“A most able lecturer and writer.”—Charles Bradlaugh, M. P., noted
orator and statesman of England.
“My translations of Bradlaugh’s and Remsburg’s writings have an enormous
circulation in this country.”—Kedarnath Basu, India.
“His [Remsburg’s] lectures have an immense circulation in India.”—
_Calcutta Gazette._
“One of the most promising orators in America.”—_Secular Review_,
London.
“His style is simple, earnest and attractive, and in these qualities he
is eloquent.”—W. H. Herndon, law partner of Abraham Lincoln.
“I have listened to all of our great orators from Clay to Ingersoll, but
I have never heard a more polished oration than Remsburg delivered last
night.”—Hon. William Perkins, associate counsel of Lincoln in several
important cases.
“A graphic, yet concise sketch.”—Rev. S. Fletcher Williams, Liverpool,
England.
“Imparted in language clear and forcible and not seldom with grace and
beauty.”—Thomas Gray, author, Edinburgh, Scotland.
“I have never heard the case so fairly and so ably stated as he has
stated it tonight.”—Richard B. Westbrook, D. D., LL. D., Philadelphia.
“I have asked a bookseller to order twenty copies of Remsburg’s work.”—
U. Dhammaloka, President Buddhist Tract Society of Burmah.
“Such an admirable book is always welcome.”—Rev. J. Lloyd Jones, LL. D.,
Chicago.
“This effort to right the wrongs of Thomas Paine is, in my opinion, a
service to mankind.”—Andrew D. White, LL. D., first president of Cornell
University, minister to Russia and ambassador to Germany.
“The most fair and honest of all the biographies which have yet appeared
of the great iconoclast.”—_Boston Herald._
“It will help restore to honor a much abused name and forward the cause
of human rights the country over.”—Rev. Charles Wendt, D. D., Ex-
President Taft’s pastor at Cincinnati.
“May this brilliant work bring its author the praise of posterity.”—_Der
Freidenker._
“A very strong case.”—_Public Opinion._
“A valuable contribution to literature.”—Wm. McDonald, author, Canada.
“His lectures have as large a circulation in Europe, India and Australia
as in this country.”—S. P. Putnam, author, New York.
“A most interesting lecture.”—_New Orleans Delta._
“A large audience and frequent applause.”—_Baltimore Sun._
“Skillfully and vigorously written.”—_Unitarian Herald_, Manchester,
England.
“His style is pleasing and his arguments incontrovertible.”—_The
Universe_, Berhampur, India.
“A noble and eloquent work.”—Charles Bright, lecturer, Australia.
“It is really a remarkable work.”—Yoshira Oyama, President Japanese
Rationalist Association, Japan.
“Clearly, Mr. Remsburg has done his duty as he sees it, and has had the
fairness to present at the outset the opposite view of the question.”—
_New York World._
“Given in evident fairness and remarkable completeness.”—_Chicago
Times._
“J. E. Remsburg, of Kansas, who addressed the Congressional Committee on
the Sunday question at the Capitol yesterday, made a good impression.
Every member heartily applauded him.”—_Washington Star._
“My views are well expressed by him.”—Hon. George W. Julian, one of the
founders of the Republican party and a prominent leader in Congress.
“I will gladly contribute to his work.”—Rear Admiral George W. Melville.
“I have the pleasure to inform you that at the meeting of the Committee
held this day (January 5, 1910) you were elected an ‘Oversea’ member of
the Authors’ Club.”—Reginald H. B. Giller, Secretary Authors’ Club,
London.
“Member Authors’ Club, London; National Geographic Society (Washington);
life member American Secular Union (president three years).—_Who’s Who
In America._
“I have watched with interest his growing influence.”—Hon. John J.
Ingalls, president pro-tem United States Senate.
“Ably and well have you done your work.”—Parker Pillsbury, noted Anti-
Slavery leader.
“When truth and freedom triumph at last your name will be known and
honored by all men.”—Eugene V. Debs, four times the nominee of his party
for President of the United States.
GEORGE J. REMSBURG.
George J. Remsburg was born in Atchison county, Kansas, September 22,
1871. His life has been devoted mainly to horticultural, journalistic,
archaeological and historical work. He spent many years on a fruit farm,
removing to Atchison in 1892, where he engaged in newspaper work on the
_Daily Champion_, the oldest newspaper in Kansas; he was a reporter,
city editor, and even did editorial work on that paper up to 1900, when
he returned to the farm on account of ill health. In 1894–95 he was
editor of the _Missouri Valley Farmer_, now the leading agricultural
journal west of the Mississippi. During the winter of 1905–6 he was on
the reportorial staff of the _Leavenworth Daily Post_, and editor of
_Western Life_, published in that city. He has also acted as special
correspondent of the _Leavenworth Times_, _St. Joseph Gazette_, _Kansas
City Journal_, _Topeka Mail and Breeze_, _Topeka Capital_, _Atchison
Globe_, and other well known western newspapers, besides having been an
editorial contributor to many different magazines and other
publications.
He has spent many years in archaeological explorations, principally in
northeastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri, has opened a number of
ancient mounds and identified and explored old village sites of the
Kansa Indians, visited by Bourgmont in 1724, and Lewis and Clark in
1804, on the Missouri river. He has published a pamphlet describing one
of the more important of these old villages, entitled, “An Old Kansas
Indian Town on the Missouri.” In all, he has discovered and examined
more than 100 old Indian village, camp, workshop and grave sites in the
region mentioned and gathered one of the most extensive private
archaeological collections ever assembled in Kansas.
In 1897 he was elected a corresponding member of the Western Historical
Society upon the unsolicited recommendation of United States Senator
George G. Vest, of Missouri. In 1901 he became associated with Hon. J.
V. Brower, of St. Paul, Minn., in important archaeological
investigations relative to the ancient Indian province of Quivira,
visited by Coronado in 1541, and upon the organization of the Quivira
Historical Society by Mr. Brower, he was made a life member. In 1905 he
was elected president of this society to succeed Mr. Brower, deceased.
The Quivira Historical Society erected a number of costly monuments to
commemorate historical events of Coronado’s time in Kansas.
At the annual meeting of the McLean Historical Society of Illinois at
Bloomington in 1909 he was elected an honorary member in recognition of
his researches regarding the Kickapoo Indians, of which tribe the McLean
society is making a special study. He has thoroughly explored the old
village of the Kickapoos near Ft. Leavenworth, occupied from 1832 to
1854, and visited these Indians on their reservation in Brown county,
Kansas, on several occasions, gathering a vast amount of ethnologic and
historic material pertaining to the tribe. He is also a member of the
Kickapoo Club, of Bloomington, Ill.
Mr. Remsburg is a member of the National Geographical Society, having
been elected at the annual meeting of the society in Washington in 1911.
He has been a member of the International Society of Archaeologists
since its organization in 1909; was appointed an associate editor of the
_Archaeological Bulletin_, official organ of this society, in 1910, and
elected vice-president of the same society in the same year. In 1901 he
was elected a member of the American Society of Curio Collectors; was
elected vice-president of the same in 1902, and appointed a contributing
editor of the society’s official organ in 1906. He is also an active
member of and contributor to the Kansas State Historical Society, and is
a member of its committees on archaeology and Indian history.
Brower’s “Memoirs of Explorations in the Basin of the Mississippi,”
Volume VII, contains a summary account of Mr. Remsburg’s archaeological
work, and says of him: “He has long been a capable and painstaking
archaeological explorer in the Missouri Valley.” Chappell’s “History of
the Missouri River” says he is an acknowledged authority on early
western history and the archaeology of the Missouri valley.
He has held a number of local offices, such as justice of the peace,
member of school board, and secretary of various clubs and societies. He
was at one time a member of the Kansas National Guards. He is now
connected with the staff of the _Potter Weekly Kansan_ and doing special
correspondence for several newspapers. His home is at Potter, in this
county. He is a son of John E. Remsburg, whose sketch appears elsewhere.
WIRT HETHERINGTON.
Heredity, undoubtedly has an important bearing upon the choice of a life
vocation for the individual citizen, and it is evident that this maxim
governing the destiny of man himself holds good in the life of Wirt
Hetherington, cashier of the Exchange National Bank of Atchison. In the
city of Atchison, three generations of bankers from the Hetherington
family have toiled in the financial activities of the city, the first of
whom was William Hetherington, grandfather of W. Wirt, the present scion
of the family, engaged in banking. Following William, the pioneer banker
of Atchison, and who established the first banking concern in the city,
came Webster Wirt Hetherington, father of him whose name heads this
review.
William Hetherington, the first of the line in Kansas, was born in the
town of Milton, Penn., May 10, 1821, and was there reared and received
his education. When he became of age he was married, at Pine Grove,
Penn., to Miss Annie M. Strimphfler, who was born in Womelsdorf, Berks
county, Pennsylvania, September 24, 1827. This marriage occurred May 9,
1848, and William and his bride, shortly afterwards, became residents of
Pottsville, Penn., where he engaged in the operating of a flouring mill.
Three children were born to them in this city, namely: Mrs. Balie P.
Waggener, of Atchison; Webster Wirt and C. S. Hetherington. In 1859 they
removed to Atchison and the youngest child of the family, Mrs. William
A. Otis, was born here. Mr. Hetherington first located in St. Louis,
when he came west, later going to Kansas City, and from there to
Leavenworth, Kan., where he purchased a bankrupt stock of goods, which
he hauled by wagon to Atchison in 1859. He at once established the
Exchange Bank, which absorbed the Kansas Valley Bank, at that time owned
by Robert L. Pease. When Mr. Hetherington came into possession of the
bank it was located in a basement at the corner of Third and Commercial
streets. A short time later he moved it to the building now occupied by
the water works company, and it was here that an attempt was made by the
outlaw Cleveland to rob the bank, but the attempt was unsuccessful,
Cleveland being frightened away by some freighters who were working
nearby. Some years later, Mr. Hetherington erected a bank building at
the northwest corner of Fourth and Commercial streets, which was the
home of the bank until the erection of the handsome Exchange National
Bank Building, two blocks further west, in 1885. In 1882 the
Hetherington bank was merged into a national bank, and it was known as
the Exchange National Bank, one of the successful banking concerns of
the State of Kansas. Mr. Hetherington was a man of considerable ability,
whose efforts to advance the growing city of Atchison were worth a great
deal, and he became a leading factor in the material advancement of the
city. His influence on public thought and movement was marked and it was
the more powerful, for he was largely unbiased in his judgments. He died
in 1890.
Webster Wirt Hetherington, father of the subject of this review, was
born in Pottsville, Penn., December 19, 1850. He was educated in Gambier
College in Ohio, and came directly from his studies in that institution
to enter the Exchange National Bank of Atchison, of which his father was
the founder and president. He became cashier of the bank, and upon his
father’s demise, in 1890, he became the president of the bank, remaining
in this position until his death, January 28, 1892. Mr. Hetherington,
during his financial career, became widely known in banking circles, and
had many valuable acquaintances among New York financial men, with whom
he had many transactions in western securities. When the Rock Island
road was building in Kansas and Nebraska, Mr. Hetherington made
arrangements to purchase all the municipal bonds the road received from
the counties and townships through which it passed. The deal was
successful, and won him the confidence of the New York brokers through
whom he sold the bonds. In 1889 he received, as a reward from W. P.
Rice, of New York City, $10,000 in cash and also traveling expenses for
himself and wife on a tour in Europe, in payment for his services in
going to London and assisting Mr. Rice in interesting English
capitalists in investing in American enterprises. Mr. Hetherington was
married November 18, 1875, to Miss Lillie Miller, the oldest daughter of
Dr. John G. and Anna B. (Bennett) Miller, both natives of Pennsylvania.
This marriage was blessed with five children as follows: Ruthanna, wife
of Dr. L. A. Todd, of St. Joseph; Mary Louise, wife of Lieut. J. G.
Pillow, U. S. A., of Honolulu; Webster Wirt, cashier of the Exchange
National Bank of Atchison; Gail, wife of B. R. Allen, of Atchison; Harry
Hale, Seattle, Wash.
Wirt Hetherington, third in line of the bankers of this estimable
family, was born in Atchison, February 21, 1881, and received his
education in the public schools of the city, after which he became a
student in the Military School at Orchard Lake, Mich., from which
institution he was graduated in 1900. Soon after his graduation, he
entered the Exchange National Bank in the capacity of receiving teller
and bookkeeper, and since that time he has advanced to higher positions
of trust and responsibility in this important banking institution,
learning the banking business in a thorough and painstaking manner as he
passed from one position to a higher one. In 1905 he became assistant
cashier, a position which he held until February, 1914, when he became
cashier of the bank, of which he is also a director. Mr. Hetherington is
unmarried and makes his home with his widowed mother.
Politically, Wirt Hetherington is a Democrat as were his father and
grandfather before him. He is a communicant of the Episcopalian church,
which is the church of his forefathers, who were of English origin. He
is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Hetherington is destined to
follow in the footsteps of his able and distinguished father and
grandfather, and has already given decided evidence that he has
inherited and is developing marked financial ability of a high order.
His demeanor in the conduct of the duties of his important position is
commendatory and his pleasant and courteous manner of greeting those
with whom his duties bring him in daily contact betokens the innate
gentlemanly attributes which he possesses to a considerable degree.
HARRY L. SHARP.
Harry L. Sharp, secretary of the Atchison Commercial Club, is one of the
“live wires” of the city and has given evidence of great ability in his
chosen profession. He is industrious, frugal, sincere and unpretending.
His accurate knowledge as to the departmental matters is a constant
surprise to those who have occasion to consult him with reference to any
branch of public service. He realizes that facts, and not theories, must
be the working forces in this organization. He is not only able,
intelligent and practical in the discharge of his duties as secretary of
the Commercial Club, but is thoroughly conscientious and always shows
the courage of his convictions.
[Illustration:
_Harry Sharp_,
_Sec’y Atchison Commercial Club._
]
Harry L. Sharp was born in Moravia, Iowa, January 14, 1883, a son of
John Wilson and Cora Wright Sharp, who trace their ancestry to Thomas
Brown and Col. William Crawford, of Pennsylvania. Thomas Brown was one
of the early pioneers in western Pennsylvania and founded the town of
Brownsville, that State, in the year 1776. Col. William Crawford was a
confrere of George Washington. Colonel Crawford married a daughter of
Thomas Brown, which closely related both sides of Mr. Sharp’s family,
his father’s people being the Crawfords and his mother’s the Browns. He
was graduated from the Moravia High School, after which he entered the
restaurant and bakery business for himself, conducting the same for a
period of three years. Disposing of this business, he came to Atchison
and was for a time associated with Sawin & Douglass in the undertaking
business, qualifying and obtaining a license to do embalming in the
State of Kansas. Following this, he was clerk at the Byram Hotel for a
period of three years. During the following year he wrote life insurance
and resided in Hiawatha, Kan. Returning from Hiawatha, he took a
position as yard clerk in the Missouri Pacific railroad yards. From this
position he worked up to that of claim clerk for that company, which
position he resigned to become traffic manager for A. J. Harwi Hardware
Company. Upon the death of A. J. Harwi, Mr. Sharp succeeded F. E. Harwi,
as buyer of the house furnishings goods department of this concern,
continuing his traffic work. He held this position until he was tendered
and accepted the secretaryship of the Atchison Commercial Club. While
Mr. Sharp is a Democrat, he has always been inclined to be independent
in his views of things political. He is a Royal Arch Mason and a member
of the Elks and Eagles and other fraternal societies. In December, 1906,
Mr. Sharp was married to Mary, daughter of Edward C. Wolters, a native
of Germany, and a resident of Atchison, where Mr. Wolters was a
contractor for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Sharp have one child, LeRoy
Edward, born May 31, 1909.
Mr. Sharp is one of the most capable and efficient experts in his
particular vocation that can be found in the West. He seems to be
naturally adapted for the difficult and exacting position which he
holds, and is gifted with rare tact and diplomacy which is so necessary
in handling the various affairs which are placed in his hands in the
interest of Atchison and the Commercial Club. He is possessed also of
decided literary ability, evidence of which talent will be readily seen
in the perusal of the chapter on Atchison Industries which was written
and compiled for this volume by Mr. Sharp.
HENRY KUEHNHOFF.
Henry Kuehnhoff, farmer and stockman, of Lancaster township, Atchison
county, was born August 3, 1869, in Lancaster township. He is a son of
Charles and Caroline Kuehnhoff, who were the parents of nine children,
six of whom are living. The father was born in Germany in 1841 and left
there when a boy of sixteen years, sailing for New York. He remained
there a short time and then went west, arriving at St. Joseph, Mo.,
where he enlisted in Company B of the Volunteer infantry, serving in the
Civil war. He was discharged at Lexington, Mo., at the close of the war,
having made a good military record.
He returned to civil life and worked at St. Joseph, Mo., as a laborer
for $8 a month. Shortly afterward he came to Atchison county, Kansas,
and bought eighty acres of land in section 10, Lancaster township. Using
oxen, he broke the ground on his newly acquired farm and began to
improve it as far as his resources would permit. In 1894 he retired and
went to the National Soldiers’ Home at Leavenworth, where he died in
1903. The mother was born in Germany, in 1845, and died in 1899. Henry
Kuehnhoff grew to manhood on his father’s farm and attended the Eden
district school No. 37, and also attended No. 3 school for one term. He
worked on the farm until he was twenty-one, and, then with his brother,
William, rented the old home place. At the death of his father he became
heir to a share of the place, and in 1905 bought the farm where he now
lives in section 9, Lancaster township, Atchison county. He now owns 157
acres of well improved land and has a large amount of graded stock, and
is a stockholder in a telephone company.
In 1901 he was married to Caroline Kloepper, who was born July 20, 1882,
in Atchison county. She is a daughter of Crist and Caroline (Dorssom)
Kloepper, natives of Germany and Atchison county, respectively. The
mother is now dead, but her father resides at DeKalb, Mo. Mr. and Mrs.
Kuehnhoff have one child, John, who lives at home. Mr. Kuehnhoff is a
Republican and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows lodge.
He is a member of the school board of district No. 3, Lancaster
township.
MRS. D. N. WHEELER.
The average woman, left penniless, destitute, and even burdened with
debt at the hour of her greatest sorrow in life, the demise of a loved
husband, is very likely to throw herself upon the more or less doubtful
mercies of friends or relatives, and make no attempt to take up the
burden of gaining a livelihood by her own exertions. However, this may
be the case in many instances, but the exact opposite has been the
career of Mrs. D. N. Wheeler, one of the wealthiest real estate
proprietors in Atchison, who, during the thirty-four years that have
elapsed since the demise of her husband which left her with a small home
burdened with debt, and otherwise penniless, has amassed a competence
which has placed her in the ranks of the largest individual taxpayers in
the city of Atchison.
She was born in Chautauqua county, New York, a daughter of Ezekiel and
Almirah (Trowbridge) Rooks, both of whom were natives of New York. Her
father died when she was four years of age, and she was reared in Erie
county, Pennsylvania, where her mother removed after her father’s death.
Rooks county, Kansas, is named in honor of the Rooks family of New York,
who formed one of the first settlements in Rooks county, during the
pioneer days of the early sixties in Kansas. While a student in the
academy at Erie, Penn., she met her future husband, who was then
traveling passenger agent for the Chicago & Northwestern railway. After
their marriage in Erie in 1869, they went to Omaha, Neb., where Mr.
Wheeler was connected with the Union Pacific railway. They had the honor
of being the guests of George Pullman of the Pullman Car Manufacturing
Company, as passengers on the first Pullman train run over the Union
Pacific tracks, en route from Omaha to San Francisco. Upon their arrival
in San Francisco they attended a reception at the Occidental Hotel,
after which Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler traveled in California visiting points
of interest. They had some interesting experiences during their travels
over the country while Mr. Wheeler was engaged in his duties in
connection with the Union Pacific railroad. S. H. H. Clark, president of
the Union Pacific railroad, was a very dear and warm friend of the
Wheelers, and after Mr. Wheeler’s death, she accompanied the Clark
family to San Francisco and was domiciled at the Palace Hotel as their
guest. She was with the Clarks at St. Louis when the Union Pacific
railroad was sold for $60,000,000, and she was in New York when Mr.
Clark signed this transfer. Mrs. Wheeler still retains the friendship of
the Clark family and frequently visits them.
Mr. Wheeler had charge of the expedition to North Platte when Generals
Grant and Sherman made the treaty with the Indians, and Mr. and Mrs.
Wheeler became personally acquainted with the famous generals. A
souvenir of this experience is a pack of playing cards which General
Sherman gave Mrs. Wheeler when the party was on the return trip, and
which was used in playing Bezique by the two generals to while away the
time. Mr. Wheeler was the conductor of the train which brought in the
survivors of the Plum Creek, Neb., Indian massacre, in which many of the
settlers were killed and scalped by Indians. Mr. Wheeler died in 1881,
leaving his young wife practically destitute, in the little three room
house which they had undertaken to buy in Atchison for $600. At the time
of his death there was an incumbrance of $400 on this house, and Mrs.
Wheeler was so poor that a load of coal which she had ordered for
delivery at the home was returned because it was thought she would be
unable to pay for it. She at once began to display the spirit which has
enabled her to triumph over all difficulties, and earned her living by
teaching drawing and painting in the old Monroe Institute, supplementing
her salary by giving private lessons at her home on Saturdays. She
managed by dint of the strictest economy to pay off the mortgage on her
little home, and has since remodeled it into one of the most attractive
places in Atchison. This beautiful home is situated high up on the
bluffs, bordering the Missouri river, and offers a view from the east
windows over broad reaches of the Missouri which is unsurpassed for
beauty and distance anywhere in the West. Mrs. Wheeler, while without
business experience of any kind whatever, at the time of her husband’s
demise, embarked upon a career of investing her savings in residence
properties until she is now the owner of twenty fairly valuable pieces
of real estate in Atchison. She followed the time tried plan of the
cumulative method of buying houses, which she would place in good repair
for rental purposes, going in debt for a house and then gradually paying
out, and eventually buying another and so on, until she is now paying
taxes on a property valuation of over $40,000, her taxes alone amounting
to $2.00 per day, or over $730 yearly. At the same time she has gained a
valuable knowledge of real estate, she has learned to know and
accurately judge human nature, a combination of wisdom which is
irresistible in achieving success. She is a saleswoman of great ability,
and has frequently been pitted against some of the shrewdest traders in
Atchison, and has never been worsted in an encounter. Endowed with a
keen observant mind and a remarkable memory, she has made many prominent
friends during her career, and has often been called upon to assist them
in various capacities, an instance of which is found in the aid which
she gave Bishop Tuttle in the preparation of his reminiscences of the
Old Santa Fe Trail. To quote the words of a prominent friend of hers,
who has known her for many years and witnessed her struggles to attain
affluence, “Mrs. Wheeler is a very remarkable woman.”
NAPOLEON B. PIKE.
Napoleon B. Pike, farmer and stockman, was born May 10, 1856, in
Washington county, Iowa, and is a son of Charles and Maria (Salers)
Pike, and was one of eleven children, seven of whom are living. The
father of Napoleon Pike was born in New York State, November 13, 1826.
He came to Ohio with his parents and after his marriage went to Iowa.
For a time he was engaged in a small mercantile business in Iowa, but
later engaged in farming. He also farmed a place of his own near
Atchison, Kan., where he removed in 1882, but his larger holdings were
in Iowa. He died in 1903. The mother was born in New Jersey in 1836, and
died in Atchison county, Kansas, in 1898. Both were members of the
Methodist church.
Napoleon Pike grew up on his father’s Iowa farm. He was married there
and came to Kansas with his father in 1882. For a year he rented land in
Doniphan county, Kansas, when he came to Atchison county, and rented a
farm in Lancaster township. In 1907 he bought the forty-acre farm which
he now works. When he took the place it had few improvements, but he has
invested $8,000 since then, and made a modern farm and keeps graded
stock.
In 1878 he married Julia Utterback, who was born in Lancaster, Iowa,
July 17, 1856. She is a daughter of Nels and Matilda Utterback, both
natives of Indiana. To Mr. and Mrs. Pike have been born five children,
as follows: Charles, Center township; Alta (Higley) Lancaster township;
Walter, farmer, Lancaster township; Willard, farmer, Center township,
and Warren, deceased. Mr. Pike is a Republican and a member of the
Christian church of Atchison. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen of
America at Atchison.
JOHN A. SCHOLZ.
During the thirty-seven years in which the Scholz family has resided in
Atchison county, its members have made a record for each and every one
which is a credit to their parents and themselves, individually and
collectively. John and August Scholz, farmers and live stock breeders of
Lancaster township, take high rank in the county as enterprising and
successful agriculturists, and have both achieved success, and attained
a reputation as specialists, being well known breeders of Shorthorn
cattle. Their father, the late August Schulz, was wise in his day and
generation, in that when he came to Atchison county, a comparatively
poor man, he secured enough land which would require that his sons
remain at home and become farmers. He was successful in his plan, and
the result is seen in the enterprising sons whom he trained to till the
soil in the best manner possible, and who have been successful, as their
father had wished. John Scholz is a native son of Kansas, and was born
and brought up on the farm where he now resides. He has one of the
attractive country places in the county, nicely located, with a well
built farm residence, good barns and out-buildings for housing his live
stock and storing the harvests of the Scholz fields. He and his brother,
August, have long held their land in common, and worked together on a
partnership basis in a manner satisfactory to both and productive of
good results.
John A. Scholz was born November 27, 1879, in Atchison county, and is a
son of August and Johanna (Seidel) Scholz, who were the parents of the
following children: Mrs. Pauline McCowin, Renton, Wash.; Herman,
Doniphan county, Kansas; Charles, Lancaster township; Mrs. Louise
Thoren, Los Angeles, Cal.; Caroline, wife of J. W. Louthian, Lancaster
township, Atchison county; George, Lancaster township; Paul, living near
Lancaster, Kan; Mrs. Anna Stockebrand, Yates Center, Kan.; August,
farming in partnership with his brother, John, in Lancaster township;
John A., farmer, Lancaster township; Robert, Lancaster township. The
family was reared on the father’s farm and the sons were all taught
farming. The father was born in Schlesien, Germany, November 25, 1835.
He learned the blacksmith trade from his father, and worked at the trade
until he left Germany in 1870. He was a son of George Frederick Scholz.
His mother died when he was an infant. Coming to America with his family
of six children, August Scholz resided in St. Joseph, Mo., for a time
when he bought a farm of 160 acres in Doniphan county, Kansas, which he
operated about six years. He broke the soil on this place with oxen and
made all necessary improvements himself. After leaving Doniphan county
he rented a farm in Atchison county, and then bought 480 acres of
prairie and timber land in Lancaster township, Atchison county, in 1882.
He bought the farm of Morgan Osborne, and paid $15,000 for it. The place
is known as the “Three Springs Farm” and is located on the northwest
quarter of section 9. This name comes from the fact that the farm has a
fine natural water supply coming from springs located on it. The springs
furnish water enough for the stock on the farm even in the longest
drought and supplies the neighborhood when necessary. The father bought
an unusually large farm for a special purpose. He wanted his boys to
grow up with him, and did not want to see them go out as hired hands for
other farmers, so he went into debt to buy enough land so that the boys
could work it themselves and make a living on it. He had very little
capital, but he was industrious and his family was also industrious.
This enabled them to go in debt for the farm without fear of not being
able to pay for it. The farm was paid for in due time and improvements
were made constantly. The father farmed until his death, in 1901. The
mother of John Scholz was a daughter of Godfred and Rosanna (Schwartzer)
Seidel. She was born in Schlesien, Germany, April 10, 1840. The father
was a farmer in his native land. The mother lives with John Scholz. John
Scholz attended the Atchison County High School at Effingham, Kan.,
having previously gone to school in District No. 3, of Lancaster
township. He remained at home after leaving high school, and helped his
father on the farm. When the father died John was married and began life
for himself. He and his brother, August, bought 160 acres each from the
heirs, and engaged in farming. They bought 320 acres comprising the old
home. March 1, 1915, they bought eighty acres additional in Lancaster
township, making 400 acres in all. John and his brother began to take a
fancy to high grade stock and they are now breeding fine Shorthorn
cattle. They have a herd of twelve head of thoroughbreds. They have a
graded stock of horses and breed Poland China hogs also. John A.
especially takes great interest in mules, and at one time had the
largest span in the county. These sold for $600. They were five years
old and weighed 3,300 pounds.
John Scholz married Ida R. Meyer, October 1, 1913. She was born March 3,
1882, in Center township, Atchison county, and is a daughter of John and
Caroline (Schroeder) Meyer. John Meyer was born in Switzerland, and came
to Atchison county when he was four years old, with his parents, John
and Verena (Slaughter) Meyer, natives of Switzerland. They were early
settlers in Center township where they died. John Meyer was born May 8,
1854, and his wife, Caroline (Schroeder) Meyer, was born in Elgin, Ill.,
April 2, 1859. Mrs. Meyer was the daughter of Nicholas and Katherine
Schroeder, natives of Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Scholz have one child, Ralph
Edward, born August 17, 1914. Mr. Scholz is a Democrat, and he and his
wife belong to the Evangelical church.
WALTER E. BROWN.
Walter E. Brown, of the law firm of Waggener, Challiss & Crane, and the
present city attorney of Atchison, is a native son of Kansas. He was
born at Whiting, Jackson county, Kansas, November 17, 1887, and is a son
of William E. and Martha W. (Gilmore) Brown, natives of Pennsylvania.
William E. Brown, the father, came to Kansas with his parents in 1872 at
the age of sixteen. He is a son of Michael Brown, a native of Ireland.
The Brown family settled in Brown county, Kansas, where the parents
spent their lives.
In 1879 William E. Brown removed to Jackson county and engaged in the
lumber business at Holton, where he is still an extensive lumber dealer
and one of the substantial business men. To William E. and Martha W.
(Gilmore) Brown were born three children, as follows: Walter E., the
subject of this sketch; Bernice and Harold.
Walter E. Brown was reared in Holton and educated in the public schools,
graduating from the high school there. He then entered Kansas
University, Lawrence, Kan., and was graduated in the class of 1909 with
the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He then came to Atchison and became
associated with the law firm of which he is now a member. Some few
changes have taken place in the personnel of the firm of Waggener,
Challiss & Crane within the last few years, but it substantially remains
the same.
Mr. Brown is a Republican and since coming to Atchison has taken an
active part in political matters. He was elected city attorney in 1913
and reëlected to succeed himself in 1915. He is a Knights Templar and
Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks, Loyal Order of Moose, and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Mr. Brown
is a very capable attorney and has a wide acquaintance in northeastern
Kansas.
E. G. BURBANK.
E. G. Burbank, proprietor of the Burbank printshop, is a native son of
Atchison county. In 1905 Mr. Burbank founded this printing establishment
in a very humble way, which within ten years has developed into one of
the leading printing plants of eastern Kansas. The phenomenal success of
this enterprise is, no doubt, due to the fact that Mr. Burbank was an
expert job and edition printer when he embarked in the business for
himself. Burbank’s printshop catered to high class printing from the
start, which has been its specialty and in which it has made a clean
record. They do a large amount of high class catalog printing and other
high grade work of a kindred nature. They are also well known as book
printers and binders and printers of high class stationery. The plant
has a floor space, 30×50 feet and is equipped with all modern machinery
and methods for up-to-date printing.
When Mr. Burbank started in business for himself he was able to do most
of his work alone, but he now has ten people on his payroll, and the
plant is now one of the most prosperous concerns of Atchison.
[Illustration:
S. W. ADAMS,
Aetnea Life Insurance Co.
]
[Illustration:
H. C. HANSEN,
Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co.
]
[Illustration:
JULIUS DEUTSCH
]
[Illustration:
E. G. BURBANK.
]
E. G. Burbank was born at Muscotah, Kan., January 17, 1881, and is a son
of Henry N. and Mina S. (Hazlett) Burbank. Henry N. Burbank, his father,
was a native of Vermont and came to Atchison county with his father,
George S. Burbank, in the pioneer days of Atchison county. He died in
1913, and his wife now resides at Billings, Mont. E. G. Burbank was
reared in Muscotah, and after receiving a high school education began
his printing career as “devil” in the office of the _Muscotah Record_.
Shortly afterwards, he entered the office of the _Atchison Globe_ and
was connected with that paper as a printer for four years, when he
organized the plant which now bears his name.
Mr. Burbank was married in 1908 to Miss Millie Anderson, and they have
two children: Millie Ervin, born in December, 1910, and John Maxwell,
born in July, 1912. Mr. Burbank is of the type of business men who are
making Atchison the commercial and center that it is. He is a member of
Washington Lodge, No. 5, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
H. C. HANSEN.
The story of a young man who has been successful in his chosen field
through sheer force and energy and aptitude is always interesting.
Consequently, it is fitting that the biography of one of the most
successful life insurance men of northeast Kansas have a proper place in
the pages of the history of Atchison county. The rise of H. C. Hansen in
the insurance field has been rapid and substantial until his high place
among the business men of his home city is assured. Born in the little
kingdom of Denmark and reared on American soil, he has given evidence of
possessing the sturdy qualities peculiar to the Danish people which have
led them to the forefront in America wherever they have settled. It is
probable that no people coming here from foreign shores and speaking an
alien tongue have shown greater adaptability and more acumen in being
assimilated into the great American body of citizens than those who have
come from Denmark.
H. C. Hansen was born in Denmark January 17, 1867. His parents were Hans
and Anna Hansen, who left their native land to seek their fortunes in
America in 1869. Hans Hansen was a blacksmith, and the family first
located in Atchison. From here they went to Brown county, and a few
years afterward settled in Doniphan county. Mr. Hansen operated a
blacksmith and wagon-shop at Severance, Kan., until 1890. He then
removed to Graham county and settled on a farm where he still resides.
His first wife, Anna, died in 1875, leaving four children, as follows:
Mrs. Mary Kellenberg, of Brown county; Mrs. Minnie Knoop, of Canton,
Okla.; Mrs. Ellen Moore, of Cottonwood Falls, Chase county, Kansas, and
Hans Christian.
H. C. Hansen was reared in Doniphan county and was forced by
circumstances to look after his own education. When still a boy he
learned the blacksmith’s trade and also worked as a farm hand. He had
little opportunity to secure an education and received no encouragement
from his parents to acquire knowledge. It was necessary for him to earn
money to support himself while attending school. He studied for two
years in the Christian Brothers College of St. Joseph after he became of
age. Beginning with December 20, 1892, he served twelve years as
salesman for the Edward Heeney Hardware Company, of Severance, Kan. He
then became local agent for the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company at
Severance. So successful was Mr. Hansen in his new vocation that in a
short period of eighteen months he was tendered the position of general
agent of the company, with headquarters in Atchison. He has written as
high as $200,000 in life insurance policies yearly and his success still
continues. A strong and amiable personality combined with energy and
persistence have been factors in enabling him to advance with such rapid
strides in a field which is full of able competitors. In addition to his
duties as general agent of the Penn Mutual Insurance Company, he looks
after his farm of 120 acres, located five and one-half miles east of
Potter. Mr. Hansen has purchased this farm with money earned in selling
life insurance, and he is displaying the same energy in developing his
farm acreage that placed him to the forefront in the life insurance
field. An old, rundown orchard of about ten acres was located on his
farm. He had this orchard placed in shape for fruit bearing by trimming
the trees and spraying with a power sprayer. The results are seen in the
fine quality of fruit which the trees have yielded. He has been awarded
three first prizes at the Atchison county horticultural display.
Mr. Hansen was married August 20, 1891, to Katie Browning, a daughter of
Frank Browning, an early pioneer settler of Doniphan county. To them
have been born the following children: Anna, a graduate of the public
school and high school, and now a teacher in the schools of Sparks,
Kan.; Bettie, a trained nurse, who graduated from the Sisters of Charity
Hospital, at St. Joseph, in October of 1915; Crystelle, a milliner in
the Ramsey store; and William Penn or “Pat,” the youngest of the family.
Politically, Mr. Hansen is an independent Republican, inclined to be
progressive in his ideas of government by the people, and favoring those
candidates for office who seem to be capable of serving the people to
the best advantage of all. He is a member of St. Benedict’s Catholic
Church, and is fraternally connected with the Knights of Columbus.
JULIUS DEUTSCH.
Julius Deutsch, retired merchant and capitalist, of Atchison, is a
citizen who has made his own way in the world, and achieved a
satisfactory measure of success in the mercantile field. He was born in
Lorraine, the French province of Germany, November 27, 1858, a son of
Molling and Melanie Deutsch, who were born and reared in Lorraine.
Molling Deutsch was a wholesale grain and flour merchant in his native
town. Melanie Deutsch was a daughter of M. Friend, a soldier in the
Napoleonic wars, and who was awarded the Medal of St. Helena for bravery
on the field of battle. Both parents lived their lives and died in the
land of their nativity.
When Julius Deutsch had completed his education at the age of fourteen
years, in 1872, he immigrated to America, coming direct to Atchison,
where he made his home for a short time with an uncle, L. Friend. Later,
he entered the employ of another uncle, I. Friend, a merchant, doing
business in Seneca. He worked in the store at Seneca for two years, sold
goods in Atchison for another year, spent one year in a mercantile
establishment at Topeka, and then embarked in business for himself. Mr.
Deutsch established a general store at Muscotah in 1878, which was a
successful venture. Prosperity attended his efforts, and it was not long
until he and his brothers embarked in the mercantile business at Horton,
Kan., and established a store which they still own. He was associated in
his business ventures with his brothers, Sylvain, Maurice, Simon, and
Isaac. Simon is now a resident of Cleveland, Ohio. Isaac is deceased.
The brothers established a chain of stores and operated them at Beloit,
Atchison, Valley Falls, Muscotah, and Concordia, which were generally
successful, and made money on the investments. Mr. Deutsch continued in
active mercantile pursuits until his retirement to Atchison in 1902. He
first came to Atchison from Muscotah in 1885, turned over the business
at Muscotah to his brother, and then engaged in business in this city.
His brother, Maurice, now operates the store at Horton, Kan. Sylvain
Deutsch makes his home principally in Kansas City. During later years
the Deutsch brothers have disposed of a number of their various stores,
and now operate the Horton concern only. Their capital is mainly
invested in real estate, consisting of city property and farm lands in
Kansas and the West. Isaac Deutsch was the first of the family to come
to America to seek his fortune, and his brothers followed, and a
community of interests which held them together at all times, resulted
in all becoming well-to-do.
Mr. Deutsch and his brothers are interested in a number of financial
institutions, and he has many friends among the substantial citizens of
his home city. He took an active part in the incorporation of the town
of Muscotah, serving as city councilman. He is of the Jewish faith, and
is prone to assist all religious denominations to the extent of his
ability, being tolerant and broad-minded in this respect. He is
fraternally allied with the Odd Fellows and the Elks. Mr. Deutsch
possesses a likable personality, which, coupled with a kindly and
courteous demeanor at all times, makes him well liked by his associates
and esteemed for his many excellent qualities.
STARK WILBOR ADAMS.
Stark Wilbor Adams, general manager for the Aetna Life Insurance
Company, with offices in the new Masonic Temple, and secretary of the
Atchison County High School board, is a native of the Buckeye State,
born in May, 1866, at Huron, Ohio, and a scion of an old American family
which traces its lineage back to the colonial days of New England. His
father, Stark Adams, and his mother, Mary (Chandler) Adams, were born in
Milan, Ohio, and Birmingham, Ohio, respectively. Stark Adams was a son
of Philo, a son of Daniel Adams, of Vermont, who was a soldier in the
Continental army during the American war of independence, and was a
brother-in-law of Ethan Allen, of Vermont. Daniel was second in command
of the “Green Mountain Boys” at the capture of Crown Point and
Ticonderoga. In recognition of his services in behalf of the new nation,
he was given a grant of land in the Western Reserve. His son, Philo,
rode horseback from Middlebury, Vt., to the Huron river valley in 1816
and took possession of the tract which had been granted to the family by
the Government. He also traded a horse for an eighty-acre tract in
addition to his own grant. He and three brothers settled on the land
lying along the course of the Huron river, Philo locating at the mouth
of the river where it flows into Lake Erie, and upon which the town of
Huron was eventually built. The brothers became the owners of about 600
acres of land in the neighborhood. They cleared the land of standing
timber, planted corn, harvested and shelled it during the first season,
then crossed the lake to Buffalo to trade grain for supplies, which they
again traded with the Indians for furs. They conducted a general trading
business and the settlement grew from this beginning, in course of time
to be of considerable importance. Philo Adams was a first cousin of John
Quincy Adams, and was appointed the first collector of the Port of
Huron. The first of the family to come to America was Henry Adams, who
came to Plymouth on the “Mayflower,” when the good ship made its second
voyage to bring over the Puritans, and he settled at Mt. Wolaston, (now
Quincy, Mass.) in 1638. Joseph Adams II was the son of Henry, the
founder of the family in America; Joseph III, son of Joseph Adams, was
next in line, and was the father of Daniel and President John Adams,
second President of the United States. Daniel Adams was the father of
Philo Adams, and direct ancestor of the Adams family.
Stark Adams, accompanied by his family, left the old home in Ohio in
1878, crossed the country to Hays City, Kan., and there homesteaded on
160 acres of land, taking up a timber claim of the same number of acres
at the same time. Settlers were few and far between in that part of
Kansas in those days, and the country was settling up slowly because of
the droughts and other vicissitudes with which the farmers had to
contend. Ten years after locating near Hays City, Mr. Adams came to
Atchison and eventually bought a farm four miles south of the city, on
which he lived until his retirement to a residence on the corner of Q
and Sixth streets in Atchison. He was born October 14, 1827, and died
August 30, 1909. His children are: Augusta J., at home; C. B., of 714
Park street; James Otis, on a farm, eight miles southwest of the city;
Stark Wilbor; Margaretta L., at home, associated with S. W. in the
office located on the second floor of the new Masonic Temple; J. D., at
the family home in Atchison at 517 South Seventh street.
S. W. Adams and family came to Atchison from the farm in February, 1908,
and engaged in the insurance business, the mother and father and family
coming to the city in December of the same year. He opened his present
office May 1, 1914, when Mr. Adams was appointed manager of the Aetna
Life Insurance Company for northeast Kansas. His career as an insurance
solicitor and manager has been very successful. The real estate and loan
business conducted in the same office is in charge of Jay D. Adams.
Mr. Adams was married December 25, 1899, to Miss Mary Speck, who was
born on a pioneer farm in Atchison county on Stranger creek in Mt.
Pleasant township. She was a daughter of Archimides S. and Sarah E.
Speck, natives of Kentucky and North Carolina, respectively, who
emigrated from Indiana to Kansas, driving a team the entire distance,
during the year 1855. (Further data concerning Mr. and Mrs. Speck will
be found elsewhere in this volume.) To this union have been born,
Dorothy M., Sarah E., Mildred J., Lorena Wilberta, Wilbor Speck.
Mr. Adams is a Republican in politics and has taken a more or less
active part in political and civic affairs. For the past five years he
has served the county as secretary of the Atchison County High School
board. He and the members of his family are affiliated with the
Presbyterian church. Fraternally he is allied with the Odd Fellows,
Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
GEORGE SCHOLZ.
George Scholz, farmer and stockman of Lancaster township, Atchison
county, Kansas, was born in Germany, April 22, 1870, and is a son of
August and Johanna (Seidel) Scholz, who were the parents of seven
children: Mrs. Pauline (McCowin), Renton, Wash.; Herman, Doniphan
county, Kansas; Charles, Lancaster township, farmer; Louise, wife of C.
Thoren, Los Angeles, Cal.; Caroline, wife of J. W. Louthian, Lancaster
township; Paul, living near Lancaster, Kansas; Mrs. Anna Stockebrand,
Yates Center, Kan.; August, farming with his brother, John, in Lancaster
township, and John, farmer, Lancaster township; Robert, Lancaster
township. The family was reared on the father’s farm where all the sons
were taught farming. The father was born November 25, 1835, in
Schlesien, Germany, and learned the blacksmith trade from his father,
and worked at that trade until he left Germany in 1870. He was a son of
George Frederick Scholz. His mother died when he was an infant. Coming
to America with his family of six children, August Scholz resided in St.
Joseph, Mo., for a time and then bought a farm of 160 acres in Doniphan
county, Kansas, which he worked about six years. He broke this place
with oxen and made all necessary improvements himself. After leaving
Doniphan county he bought 480 acres of prairie and timber land in
Atchison county, Kansas. This was in 1882. He bought the farm of Morgan
Osborne and paid $15,000 for it. The place is known as the “Three
Springs Farm.” It is located on the northwest quarter of section 9. The
name comes from the fact that the farm has a fine natural water supply
from springs located on it. The springs supply water for the stock on
the farm even in the longest drought.
The father bought an unusually large farm for the reason that he wanted
his boys to grow up on his own farm. He did not want to see them go out
and work for strangers. His capital was limited but he and his sons were
industrious, and they were able to go into debt to acquire more land,
and the farm was paid for in due time and improvements were made as
rapidly as possible. The father farmed his place until his death, in
1901. The mother of George Scholz was a daughter of Godfred and Rosanna
(Schwartzer) Seidel, and was born in Schlesien, Germany, April 10, 1840,
and is now living with her son, John. The father was a farmer in his
native land.
George Scholz attended the Atchison county schools, finishing at the
Rock district school. He remained at home until he was twenty-six years
old, when he rented a farm which he operated in partnership with his
brother, Charles A. In 1905, George bought the farm which he now owns,
and which consists of 120 acres in section 24, Lancaster township. The
place was comparatively unimproved, having only an old house and barn.
Since then he has built a modern eight-room house, electric lighted and
modern in all respects. In addition, he has erected a fine barn, 40×36
feet in size. It is electric lighted and equipped with up-to-date
conveniences. Mr. Scholz keeps graded stock on his farm and is a
progressive farmer and conducts his farm in an efficient manner. When he
and his brother were farming together, ten or more years ago, they sold
corn from the field as low as fourteen cents per bushel.
Mr. Scholz was married to Anna Buttron, February 10, 1909. She was born
October 20, 1877, and is the daughter of Henry and Rosanna Buttron. Mr.
and Mrs. Scholz have two children: Gilbert, born December 31, 1909, and
Karl, born January 16, 1914. Mr. Scholz is an independent voter. He is a
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows lodge, of Lancaster, No.
355, and attends the Lutheran church, of which his wife is a member. Mr.
Scholz made his first investment in 160 acres in Sheridan county,
Kansas, for $1,100 in 1902, and sold it three years later for $2,400.
THOMAS E. HORNER, M. D.
Diligence in the pursuit of success is inevitably rewarded, be it in the
marts of finance or in the ranks of the learned professions. The
profession of medicine has from earliest times offered opportunity for
honor and social prominence, as well as giving its members a chance for
bettering the condition of mankind in general as well as physical. The
physician is at once the friend in need who alleviates our ills and is
often the family adviser. To him very frequently are intrusted the
secret troubles which beset his patients many times and he thus becomes
a benefactor to mankind in more ways than one. Thus, the needs of this
noble profession require a high type of individual who is at once a
learned and skilled practitioner and gentleman in whom the people can
place their trust. Dr. Thomas E. Horner is of the type of physician in
whom one can have confidence and whose ability in his life work is
marked, the best evidence of which is his large practice in and near the
city of Atchison.
He is a native born Kansan, born on a farm on Independence creek in
Doniphan county August 8, 1875, a son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Farrell)
Horner, natives of Ireland. His father was born in 1836 in the town of
Coleriyne, Ireland, and his mother is a native of County Cavan, North
Ireland, born in 1842. Isaac died in Atchison county in 1911. He
immigrated to America with his father, James Horner, who bought a farm
near New York City, returning to Ireland where he resided for twelve
years, after which he located in western Pennsylvania. From there Isaac
removed to Kansas in 1859 and became a freighter across the plains,
operating his own outfit. He married in 1866 and settled on Independence
creek. Isaac left the farm in 1880 and removed to Atchison where he
engaged in buying and shipping live stock until his death. He became
well-to-do and was the owner of over 1,000 acres of land in Doniphan and
Atchison counties. He was an excellent business man and a keen trader
who was honest in his dealings and enjoyed the respect and esteem of
those with whom he came in contact during his long life. Coming of an
excellent Irish family, he was a younger son and had a brother named
Samuel who was educated in Oxford University, and was an early settler
in Atchison county, dying in Jackson county, Kansas, in 1886. The
children born to Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Horner are as follows: Mrs.
Elizabeth McGurk, Frankfort, Kan.; Mrs. Ella St. Peters, Denver, Colo.;
James, who married Nellie Deigan and resides in Parnell, Kan.; Rose, at
home with her mother, and Dr. Thomas E. Horner, with whom this review is
directly concerned; Mrs. Marie Farrell, widow of James Farrell, of
Atchison; and Samuel, who married Mollie Butler, and resides at Jarbalo,
Leavenworth county.
Dr. Horner was educated in the parochial schools and Christian Brothers
College at St. Joseph, Mo., from which academic institution he graduated
in 1893 with the highest honors of his class. He then pursued the study
of medicine and graduated from the Kentucky College of Medicine in 1897.
For two years he practiced medicine at Vliets, Marshall county; then at
Severance, Doniphan county, for a period which ended in 1911, prior to
his location in Atchison. He has built up an excellent practice and has
a beautiful home at 1114 Santa Fe street.
In politics Dr. Horner is a Democrat; he is a member of the Catholic
church, and is affiliated with the Knights and Ladies of Security, the
Fraternal Aid Societies, the Mystic Workers, and the Knights of
Columbus. He is likewise associated with the Atchison County, the Kansas
State and the American Medical associations. He served as police surgeon
of the city of Atchison.
Dr. Horner was married January 11, 1898, to Sadie E. Armstrong, and to
them have been born three children: Elizabeth, aged fifteen years; Mary,
fourteen years of age, and Thomas, aged seven years. The mother of these
children is a daughter of Thomas T. and Mary J. (White) Armstrong.
Thomas T. Armstrong was born in 1846 in Canada and came to Kansas when a
young man and entered the employ of the Missouri Pacific railroad. He is
now living a retired life in Atchison. His wife, Mary J., died January
9, 1902, leaving one son, Fred, a resident of Seattle, Wash.
JOSEPH E. GIBSON.
Joseph E. Gibson, farmer, of Center township, Atchison county, Kansas,
and a widely known breeder of Shorthorn cattle, has one of the
attractive and well kept farm homes in Atchison county, located directly
on the White Way, a much traveled and fairly well kept highway, crossing
Atchison county from east to west. Mr. Gibson was born August 22, 1861,
in Union county, Ohio, and is a descendant of good old Virginia stock.
His parents were John and Susannah (Westlake) Gibson, the former a
native of Virginia and the latter of the Buckeye State. John Gibson, the
father, was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, June 17, 1824, and
was the son of Leven and Mary (McClure) Gibson, who were among the early
settlers of the State of Ohio, migrating from their old homestead in
Virginia in 1833 and settling in Ohio, where they lived on a pioneer
farm the remainder of their days. John Gibson was reared to young
manhood on his father’s farm, and after his marriage settled on a farm
of his own in Union county, Ohio, where Joseph was born and reared. John
Gibson was the father of seven children, namely: Arthur, a farmer living
in Union county, Ohio; Joseph E.; Mattie, deceased; Mrs. Rosa F. Staley,
of Union county, Ohio; Thomas, a farmer and sawmill operator in
Louisiana; Mrs. Lizzie Schuler, residing in New Dover, Ohio; and Asa, a
farmer, of New Dover, Ohio. The father of these children died in 1899.
The mother was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1829 and departed this
life in 1907. She was a daughter of Josiah and Christena (Knughouf)
Westlake.
Joseph E. Gibson, of whom this review directly treats, was brought up on
his father’s farm in Union county, Ohio, and there attended the district
school. He remained with his parents until 1891 and then migrated to
Kansas, to become a foreman in the fruit orchards owned by J. W. Parker
in Atchison county. Eight years later he rented a farm three miles north
of Shannon, Kan., and in 1901 purchased the farm of eighty acres which
he is now cultivating in Center township. This tract of eighty acres
lies in sections 10, 6 and 19 of this township and is well improved. The
improvements which Mr. Gibson has placed on his farm since buying it
will exceed $1,400. For some years he has been a breeder of pure bred
Shorthorn cattle and ships the product of his farm to all parts of the
country. He has a herd of high grade Shorthorn cattle to the number of
twenty-eight head. The cattle bring good prices at private sale, the
buyers visiting the farm for the purpose of purchase. He also is a
breeder of Big Type Poland China hogs of the best breed obtainable.
Mr. Gibson was married November 8, 1888, to Miss Virginia I. Weaver, and
to this union the following children have been born: Imogene, a graduate
of the Atchison County High School; Walter S., at home, attending
business college at Atchison; one child died in infancy. The mother of
these children was born on April 17, 1864, near Lockburn, Franklin
county, Ohio, a daughter of Samuel and Isabella (Gavel) Weaver, the
former a native of Ohio, and the latter a daughter of German parents.
The mother of Mrs. Gibson is aged eighty-one years and makes her home
with her daughter.
Samuel M. Weaver was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, May 20, 1826, a son
of George and Isabel (McConnell) Weaver, who were the parents of six
children. The father, George, was a native of Berks county,
Pennsylvania, where he remained until 1806, when he came west and
located in Pickaway county, Ohio, near where the city of Circleville is
now located. He was a tailor by trade, and for many years held the
office of deputy sheriff of that county. He was a soldier in the War of
1812. He died in 1848. Samuel Weaver was well educated. When twenty
years of age he went west and traveled in different states for ten
years. When thirty years old, while traveling in Iowa he met Isabel
Gavel, to whom he was married December 16, 1856. She was born in Germany
and immigrated with her parents to America when one year old and was
reared in Franklin county, Ohio. She was born April 3, 1835. Samuel and
Isabel Weaver were the parents of five children: Mrs. Catharine E.
Cunningham. She died at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1911; Mrs. Virginia I.
Gibson; Mrs. Mary F. Southern died at Marysville, Ohio, in 1900; George
H. and Samuel, deceased. Samuel, after a residence in Franklin county,
located in Delaware county, Ohio, in 1869 and farmed until his death,
July 26, 1904.
Mr. Gibson is a Democrat who has taken an active interest in political
and civic affairs in the county, and is now serving his third term as
trustee of Center township. It is needless to remark that he is
satisfying the people of the township and is an efficient and capable
official who looks after the township affairs as carefully as he does
his own personal affairs, he is fraternally affiliated with the Odd
Fellows lodge, the Modern Woodmen, and the Central Protective
Association.
Mrs. Gibson takes a just pride in keeping the place in spick and span
condition and she has a beautiful lawn fronting the White Way road which
attracts the attention of travelers.
BENJAMIN PATTON CURTIS.
Benjamin Patton Curtis has been for sixty-one years a Kansan. Looking
back what wonderful changes do these years present to the onlooker! The
privations, vicissitudes and perils of those days in which the State was
born; the beginning of her commerce when the ox team and flat-boat were
the principal means of transportation; the five long drawn-out years of
civil strife in which the Union was preserved; the era of agricultural
development, when the wild prairies were transformed into fruitful
fields of golden grain; the epoch in which railways were keeping pace
with the settler, the merchant, the manufacturer, and steam and
electricity displaced the ox team and stage coach. Sixty-one years in
Kansas, from the days of the prairie schooner, flat-boat and pony
express, to the days of the automobile, air-ship and telephone; to have
done his share in connection with these great developments; to have
through his unaided efforts and with determination and energy achieved
success to have so lived that he is honored by his friends and
neighbors, entitles the man whose name initiates this review to a
prominent place in this publication, the history of the county in which
he is passing the sunset years of his life.
Benjamin Patton Curtis, pioneer, successful farmer and Civil war
veteran, since 1904 a resident of the city of Atchison, was born on the
twenty-seventh day of March, 1839, while his parents were encamped in
the wilderness of Missouri, a terrific snow storm having interrupted
their journey to Illinois. His father, John M. Curtis, was a native of
southern Tennessee. He had married when a young man, Mary Ann Warren,
also of that State, and with his young wife had settled in Missouri.
They were both of Scotch-Irish ancestry and came from a remarkably long-
lived line of forebears, one of whom lived to the age of 104 years. In
1839 the family removed from Missouri and settled in Adams county,
Illinois, where they remained until 1854, when they came to Kansas
Territory, settling just across the Missouri river from St. Joe. John M.
Curtis became a stanch Republican after seeing the abuse of slaves while
in Missouri, and he was one of the fearless men who came to Kansas for
the purpose of making her a free State. He preëmpted a quarter section
of land and then engaged in “following the river,” as it was then
termed, flat-boating, rafting and steam-boating. His three sons, among
whom was our subject, also followed that occupation for a time.
Ben P. Curtis spent the first fifteen years of his life in Adams county,
Illinois. His schooling was scant and that little was acquired in the
country schools. In his fifteenth year he came to Kansas Territory with
his parents, as has been previously stated, and within a short time was
employed on the Missouri river. The free life of the plains called him,
but as his two brothers had run away from home, and he was the only son
left, his longing to become a freighter was unsatisfied, as he preferred
to remain with his father. He was one of the first in his section of the
State to heed President Lincoln’s call for volunteers, and in May, 1861.
he enlisted in Company A, First Kansas Volunteer infantry, under Capt.
B. P. Chenowith. He was with his regiment in all its engagements, and is
Atchison’s only survivor of the battle of Wilson’s Creek. After the
burning of Holly Springs with $2,000,000 worth of supplies; the First
Kansas was compelled to live off the country. During the march to
Memphis, and while out foraging, Ben Curtis was captured and taken to
Ripley, Miss. He was paroled, and while waiting to be exchanged he and a
companion, Alverton Abbey, decided to exchange their uniforms for the
rebel grey and join the Union lines as deserters and reënlist in some
regiment other than their own, knowing full well they would be shot if
they were again captured while serving with the First Kansas. They were
successful in securing the rebel uniforms and gained the Union lines,
Curtis taking the name of C. F. Barker and his comrade, Abbey, that of
William Payne. He enlisted in the Fifth Illinois cavalry, and Ben
Curtis, under the name of C. F. Barker. At the time of his capture he
was serving as sergeant, and when enlisting under Captain Chandler he
showed him his parole as Sergeant B. P. Curtis. The captain assured him
he would not lose his rank and he was accordingly made a sergeant and
served as such until mustered out in February, 1864.
On conclusion of his military service he returned to Doniphan county and
resumed his old employment of “following the river,” remaining in this
field of occupation until 1867, when he bought a quarter section of land
in Doniphan county and engaged in farming. He made a success as an
agriculturist, was an active and influential factor in the life of his
section and reared a family of six daughters, all of whom are women of
education, intellectuality and refinement. In 1901 Mr. Curtis’ health
failed and he disposed of his farming interests and became a resident of
Troy, and in 1904 came to Atchison, where he has since resided.
On July 23, 1865, Mr. Curtis married Mary Eliza Ashcraft, a daughter of
Jeddiah Ashcraft. She was born July 23, 1844, in Larue county, Kentucky,
her marriage being on the twenty-first anniversary of her birth. The
first eight years of her life were spent in her native State, the
following three in Missouri, and in 1855 her father brought his family
to Kansas and took up a claim near Mt. Pleasant, where she lived until
her marriage with Mr. Curtis. She was for a time a teacher in the
Doniphan school. They are the parents of the following children: Bird,
the wife of Judson F. Thayer, of Stormsburg, Neb.; Anna, the wife of
Julian Tait, of St. Joseph, Mo.; Mable, the wife of William Maynard, of
Cologne, S. D.; Maude, the wife of A. W. Toole, of St. Joseph, Mo.;
Jessie, the wife of C. H. Allison, of Chicago, Ill.; and Frances, the
wife of A. E. Williamson, of Troy, Kan.
On July 23, 1915, their children, sons-in-law, grandchildren, friends
and acquaintances gave them signal honor in a fitting observance of
their golden wedding anniversary. The _Atchison Globe_ of that date says
in part: “Fifty years ago today Miss Mary Eliza Ashcraft and Benjamin
Patton Curtis were married in Doniphan.” Of their first meeting it
states: “The Ashcraft home was on the old Military road, and when Ben
Curtis, a soldier in the Civil war, passed there Mary Ashcraft handed
him a cup of water which he drew up from the well. However, that was not
the beginning of the love affair which culminated in the marriage of
Mary Ashcraft and Ben Curtis. They fell in love with each other in
Doniphan, where Miss Mary Ashcraft went to teach school, and Mr. Curtis
does not accuse his wife of ‘chasing’ him. He asked for an introduction
to the pretty school teacher. After he received it he never took another
girl.” Mrs. Curtis is the type of woman everyone admires. Her home is
her kingdom and she rules it wisely and well. She has never belonged to
a woman’s club, but when there is sickness or trouble at her own home,
or in the neighborhood, Mrs. Curtis is on hand, capable, gentle and
sympathetic. She rules her home with a velvet hand, and her husband says
that he notices as the years glide by he gets off at the stations for
which she has bought the tickets, not because he has to, but because he
wants to.
Of Mr. Curtis it states: “If you don’t know Ben Curtis there is missing
from your acquaintance one of the most companionable of men. Friends who
have hunted and fished with him say that he is a seventy-seven year old
prince. A lover of wild life, he has thoroughly enjoyed his retired
life, which has now covered a period of fourteen years. In the summer he
hunts the best game and fishing resorts of the North, and the winter is
liable to find him down around Corpus Christi, Texas, or some other
locality that is attractive when this climate isn’t. At Leach Lake,
Minn., a famous resort on Leach Lake, if you tell the people that you
are from Atchison and a friend of Ben Curtis, the place instantly
belongs to you.” Without sons of his own, he has naturally taken a great
interest in his nephews and is justly proud of the position attained by
the following, all of whom are Doniphan county boys: Edward Franklin,
formerly of the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, now professor of
chemistry at Leland Stanford University; Thomas Franklin, a prominent
insurance underwriter, of Chicago; and Professor Will Franklin, of
Lehigh University. The latter is also the author of several text books
which are in general use.
Mr. Curtis has been a life-long Republican, and during his residence in
Doniphan county took an active part in its political affairs. Political
office has never appealed to him, and, although often urged by his
friends to accept nomination, he refused. He is a member of Severance
Post, No. 391, Grand Army of the Republic, and is prominent in Masonic
circles. He has attained the Knights Templar degree and is affiliated
with Abdallah Temple, Mystic Shrine.
JOHN W. ABNER, M. D.
John W. Abner, M. D., although recently locating in Atchison, his skill
and ability as a capable and painstaking physician has met with ready
recognition and he has a large and growing practice. Dr. Abner is a
native of Kentucky. He was born in Clay county, in 1867, a son of John
and Matilda (Robinson) Abner, both natives of Kentucky. Dr. John W.
Abner was one of a family of three children whose parents died when they
were very young and the children were reared by friends and neighbors.
When Dr. Abner was fifteen years old he started out to make his own way
in life. He was always of a studious turn of mind and by his own efforts
obtained a very good education. At an early age he determined to be a
physician and bent his every effort in that direction. He learned the
carpenter and cabinet maker’s trade, and after working at his trade for
some time he entered the Eclectic Medical College of Kansas City, where
he was graduated in the class of 1912 with the degree of Doctor of
Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy. He engaged in the practice of his
profession in Kansas City. Mo., where he remained until February, 1915,
when he located in Atchison, Kan. He has a fine suite of offices at 712
1–2 Commercial street and is meeting with well merited success. Doctor
Abner was married in 1902 to Ada Pearl Wade, of Kansas City, Mo., and
they have one child, Dorothy, born January 6, 1905. Dr. Abner is a
member of the Christian church and takes an active part in the work of
his denomination and has served on the board of trustees. He is a member
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World.
Dr. Abner is a past noble grand and senior warden of Subordinate Lodge,
No. 577, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and past chief patriarch of
Encampment, No. 27, of Kansas City, Mo., and is a member of the
Patriarchs Militant, No. 14, Kansas City, Mo.
Politically, he is an independent Republican and takes a keen interest
in political as well as current events generally. He is a close student
of the science of his profession and aims to keep himself thoroughly
posted in the rapid advances that are constantly being made in the world
of medicine and surgery.
WILLIAM HENDERSON.
William Henderson, one of the most industrious farmers of Benton
township, Atchison county, Kansas, was born December 29, 1872, in the
locality where he now lives. His parents, George and Amelia (Stockwell)
Henderson, had six children, of whom the subject is the oldest. The
others are James, Atchison, Kan., in the employ of the International
Harvester Company; Josie married Walter Kelsey, and now dead; Ella
married Clayton Davidson, of Effingham, Kan.; Etta, wife of Arthur
Olinger, Jefferson county, Kansas; Iva, married Elmer Grabiel, Garden
City, Kan.; George Henderson was born in Platte county, Missouri, in
1844, and came to Leavenworth county, Kansas, with his parents when
eleven years of age. Seven years later he came to Atchison county, where
he has since lived, and is now retired, making his home in Effingham.
The mother of William Henderson was born in Missouri in 1846.
William Henderson was reared on the farm and attended the district
school near the farm, and the Effingham high school one year. He worked
for his father until he was married to Nettie R. Jenkins September 5,
1900. His wife was born in Mitchell county, Kansas, in 1883, and is a
daughter of James Q. Jenkins, who came to Atchison county, Kansas, in
1894, from Nebraska, but was born in Illinois. Mr. Henderson owns 180
acres of land which is all well improved, the improvements costing
$5,000. Of four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Henderson, three died in
infancy. The living child, Floyd, was born May 28, 1904.
Mr. Henderson is a Democrat. He belongs to the Elks lodge of Atchison,
Kan., and the Masonic lodge at Effingham. Though not a church member, he
attends regularly. Mr. Henderson has made a success by hard work and
good management. He is always in favor of movements which benefit the
community and is a public-spirited citizen.
LUMAS M. JEWELL.
Potter is one of the coming and enterprising towns of Atchison county
and Kansas. During the past few years the town has taken wonderful
strides in the matter of public improvements and new buildings. A
considerable portion of this push and enterprise is directly due to the
energy and influence of Lumas M. Jewell, retired merchant and banker,
who can well be called the “father of the present day Potter.” Mr.
Jewell has been a consistent booster for the town ever since his advent
in the town, and has given of his time and money toward its development.
Mr. Jewell is a self-made Kansan, who has had an interesting career, and
whose rise from a poor boy to a position of comparative wealth and
affluence is well worth recording in the annals of Atchison county.
[Illustration:
_L. M. Jewell_,
_Potter, Kan._
]
L. M. Jewell was born on a farm in Wayne county, Kentucky, December 3,
1861, a son of Heman S. and Susan Mary (Weaver) Jewell. His father was a
native of Vermont, who immigrated to Kentucky when a young man, and
engaged in farming operations. He followed farming during his life,
until a few years before his demise, at the home of his son, G. W.
Jewell, at Kidder, Mo., in 1913. L. M. Jewell received a meager
education in the schools of his native State, and his later success in
life has been due entirely to his own efforts. His greatest education
has been received in the stern school of experience, which is the best
after all, and most useful, in developing the real attributes of a man.
When he was seventeen years of age, he left home and went to the home of
an uncle in Michigan, where he attended school for a time. When he had
attained his majority in 1882, he went to South Dakota and homesteaded a
tract of prairie land. He stayed in South Dakota for two years and
developed his homestead to such an extent that he was able to dispose of
it for a good round price, and he then moved to Caldwell county,
Missouri, and bought another farm, which he cultivated with a fair
degree of success. Later, he embarked in the mercantile business in
Marvel, Mo., for a period of three years, disposing of his business in
1892, and locating in Potter, Kan. His first employment in Potter was
with the general merchandise firm of Paxton & Kemper. Three years after
entering the employ of this firm, Mr. Jewell purchased Mr. Paxton’s
interest for $1,500, paying $400 cash, and borrowing the remaining
$1,100 with which to complete his purchase. It is remarkable that he
could have so established a reputation for business ability and
integrity in that time as to be able to command that amount of capital
to swing his first business deal in Kansas. His later successes date
from that time on, and in the short time of three years he was out of
debt, and the business had taken on larger proportions. W. T. Kemper,
his partner, then sold his interest in the store to a cousin, Madison
Kemper, from whom Mr. Jewell purchased the remainder of the business and
became the sole owner. During this time the stock of the store had been
increased, and the business had taken on a wider and a more general
scope through Mr. Jewell’s enterprise and the exercise of his decided
business ability. He became sole owner of the store in 1897, and during
the next three years the business was placed upon a permanent and stable
footing, which yielded large profits for its owner. In 1900 Mr. Jewell
conceived the idea of engaging in the real estate business, primarily
for the purpose of building up the town of Potter and attracting more
residents to the place. He acquired several business lots and began to
erect buildings to such an extent that Potter soon began to take on the
airs of a growing city. Where there was but one store building on the
side of the street occupied by the Jewell store, he erected five new
store buildings, which are occupied by merchants who have moved into the
town in the past fifteen years. It is due to Mr. Jewell’s enterprise in
this regard that the business part of Potter has been developed.
Whereas, when he first came to Potter the town boasted but three stores—
his own store, a small hardware shop, and a grocery. All the stores were
small and the town did not have a bank. At the present time Potter has
two banks and every line of business is represented. As Mr. Jewell’s
business expanded his enterprises included a lumber yard, furniture
stock and a grain elevator. Seeing the need of a bank, he started a plan
of organizing the Potter State Bank in 1899, and after almost a year’s
effort, he received the assistance of O. A. Simmons in effecting the
organization, and Mr. Simmons was the first cashier of the bank. Mr.
Jewell later served as cashier, and is now the president of this bank.
In 1910 Mr. Jewell disposed of his mercantile interests, and is
interested mainly in real estate and farm lands in Jackson county,
Missouri, and Atchison county, Kansas. He has also made a number of
large trades in merchandise stocks.
Mr. Jewell was married in 1897 to Sinnie M. Shaw, a daughter of Henry
Shaw, who was an early settler of Kansas. One child was born to them,
Edna Fern Jewell, born in 1901. Mr. Jewell is a Democrat in politics,
and Mrs. Jewell is a member of the Methodist church.
Mr. Jewell’s efforts to advance Potter among the Kansas municipalities
have not been confined to commercial activities alone, but he has always
had in mind the welfare of the people along other lines. He had not been
a citizen of the town but a few years when he conceived the idea that a
newspaper would be of great benefit to the community in more ways than
one. Consequently, he used every effort to have a paper established in
the town, and the _Potter Kansan_, one of the best edited small
weeklies, and one of the most prosperous newspaper enterprises in the
State, is the result of his dream. He has been foremost in the cause of
education, and he worked unremittingly toward the erecting of the
present modern school building and the establishment of a graded school
system in the town. Such men as Mr. Jewell are the kind of citizens
every town needs, and Potter has been the gainer for his civic
enterprise and the fostering of the growth of his adopted city.
WILLIAM R. DONNELLAN.
William R. Donnellan, hardware merchant and postmaster of Lancaster,
Atchison county, Kansas, was born June 25, 1868, at Lancaster. He is one
of six children of John and Mary J. (Davidson) Donnellan, as follows:
Anna A. (Ostertag), of Atchison; Thomas E., Parsons, Kan.; William R.,
the subject of this sketch, Lancaster, Atchison county, Kansas; Emma B.,
Atchison, Kan.; Margaret (A. Manglesdorf), Atchison, Kan.; Junia (J.
Cleary), Shannon township farmer. John Donnellan, the father, was born
in Ireland in 1827. When twenty years of age he left the Emerald Isle to
trust his fortunes in America. Landing at Ellis Island, N. Y., he set
out for the interior of New York State and found employment on a dairy
farm. After a few years of hard labor there he went to Crawfordsville,
Ind., and worked in a hardware store. In 1856 he left Crawfordsville and
came to Kansas, where he preëmpted 160 acres of land in Lancaster
township, Atchison county, and built a small, four room house and lived
in the most primitive way. When he first broke the soil on his farm he
used oxen, but later, as he prospered, he used improved methods of
farming. He died on his farm in 1893. The mother of the subject of this
sketch was born in Harrisburg, Pa., and died in 1892, a year preceding
the death of her husband.
William R. Donnellan was born and reared on his father’s farm in
Lancaster township. He attended the public schools of Lancaster, and at
the age of twenty-one went to Kansas City, Mo., and secured employment
as a motorman and conductor in the service of the Street Railway Company
there. Three years later he became shipping clerk for the A. J. Harwi
Hardware Company of Atchison, Kan., and a year later returned to his
home and engaged in farming on the home place. He remained on the farm
until 1903 when he moved to Lancaster and purchased the hardware stock
of H. O. Whittaker. This is a large store, carrying $8,000 worth of
stock. In politics Mr. Donnellan is a Republican. He was elected mayor
of Lancaster in 1907 and served until 1911. In 1903 he was appointed
postmaster.
Mr. Donnellan was married in 1893 to Lillian M. Sanders, who was born
February 12, 1870, at Lewisburg, Pa. She is a daughter of George L. and
Elizabeth (Harrison) Sanders, both natives of Pennsylvania. They have
one child, Eva M. (Carson), living in Lancaster. She is a graduate of
the high school and business college. Mr. Donnellan is a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen of America, and the
Knights and Ladies of Security lodges.
LAFAYETTE T. HAWK.
The biographical annals and the history of Atchison county, Kansas,
record three distinct periods of settlement in Kansas and Atchison
county. The first was the real pioneer era, when an influx of settlers
came, who were the first to break the prairie and lay the foundation for
future development. The second was directly after the Civil war, when
many people came from all parts of the East and European countries. The
later period was in the eighties, when there came from Ohio and
Pennsylvania many excellent American families who have prospered and
taken leading places in the civic and agricultural development of the
county. The Hawk family, of old Pennsylvania German stock, came to this
county in the latter era. Lafayette T. Hawk, substantial and well
respected, and prominent farmer of Benton township, was among this
number, who can be reckoned among the latter-day old settlers of the
county, and who has resided here for over thirty-four years, and has
worked his way upward from the station of comparatively a poor man to a
position of affluence in the county.
L. T. Hawk was born August 22, 1849, in Coshocton county, Ohio, a son of
Jonathan and Margaret (Neede) Hawk, both of whom were born and reared in
the Buckeye State. Jonathan Hawk was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, in
1822, and was a son of Leonard Hawk, born in Pennsylvania, of German
parents. Leonard Hawk was an early immigrant in Coshocton county, Ohio,
and settled in that county when the whole region was a wilderness and
carved a farm from the dense woods which covered that part of the
Buckeye State in the early part of the nineteenth century. He first came
to Ohio in 1814. Jonathan Hawk came into possession of the old home
place of his parents’ in Coshocton county, but sold out in 1883, and
came to Kansas, to join his son, Lafayette T., who had preceded him to
Atchison county by one year. During the first year of his residence
here, he made his home on his son’s farm, and then purchased the Shell
property in Effingham, where he made his home until his demise in
December, 1889. He was the owner of eighty acres of land which he
farmed. Jonathan Hawk was the father of eight children, namely: Sarah
died in Ohio; Lafayette T., of whom this review is written; Mary Jane
Roll, widow of Samuel Roll, and residing in Effingham; Samuel, living in
Oklahoma; Mrs. Margaret Denbow, of Great Bend, Kan.; George Leonard, of
Oklahoma; Edith Elzina died at the age of four years; John, deceased.
The mother died in January, 1891, at the age of sixty-six.
Lafayette T. was reared on the ancestral farm in Coshocton county, Ohio,
and received his education in the district schools of his neighborhood.
He learned in his youth to do the hardest kind of farm work and was
taught by his parents the best methods of tilling the soil. When a young
man he became imbued with the desire to locate in the West where
opportunities seemed to be greater than in his home State, and he saved
his earnings toward this purpose. Not long after his marriage he came to
Kansas, in 1882, and located in Benton township, Atchison county. His
cash capital being limited to the sum of $300, he deemed it advisable to
rent land for the first year, then bought his first farm of 160 acres at
the purchase price of $25 per acre. This farm was necessarily bought on
time, but with good management and industry, Mr. Hawk was enabled to pay
out and add considerably to the improvements of his place, which is one
of the most attractive in the county and one of the most fertile and
productive. Mr. Hawk also added ninety acres to his land holdings in
later years, and invested his surplus in western land which he traded
for the Effingham Hotel property which he now owns. He is a stockholder
and director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Effingham, he is also
a stockholder in the Midnight Oil Company, a producing concern with
headquarters at Morris, Okla.
Mr. Hawk was married March 21, 1874, to Miss Harriet Pitt, of Coshocton
county, Ohio, and who was born in Kentucky. To this union have been born
the following children: Charles, who served in the Twenty-second
regiment, United States infantry, during the Spanish-American war, and
is at present chief of police at Shawnee, Okla.; John D., a prosperous
and progressive farmer in Benton township; Margaret, wife of Clem
Higley, a farmer living in Center township, near Pardee; Homer, who was
killed in a railway accident in October, 1913; Fred, died in April,
1913, and who had held the position of cashier of the Farmers and
Merchants Bank of Effingham prior to his death; Wilbur D. Hawk, business
manager of the _Atchison Daily Champion_, and former deputy warden of
the Federal penitentiary, Atlanta, Ga.; Mrs. Mary Foster, of Trenton,
Mo.; Robert, a farmer in Benton township; Clifford, a farmer and
auctioneer in Benton township, and Vera, at home with her parents. The
mother of these children was born, November 8, 1851, in Kentucky, a
daughter of William and Frances (Phillips) Pitt, the former a native of
New Jersey and the latter of Vermont. In 1853 Mrs. Pitt and their
children removed to Coshocton county, Ohio, Mr. Pitt having died when
Mrs. Hawk was an infant. Two of the three children were reared: Mrs.
Hawk and Mrs. Lenore (Miller), who died in September, 1915, at Carlton,
Ohio. Mrs. Pitt’s second marriage was with Dr. Ephraim P. Stewart, of
Coshocton county, Ohio, where he practiced after moving from Carroll
county, Ohio, his birthplace.
With the exception of a few years spent in Atlanta, Ga., with his son,
Wilbur D., when on duty as deputy warden of the Federal Penitentiary,
Mr. Hawk has lived continuously in Atchison county, since 1882, and has
taken an active and influential part in the affairs of the county. He is
a stanch Republican in his political affiliations, but has never sought
political preferment. He and the members of his family are affiliated
religiously with the Lutheran denomination, which was the faith of his
father. He is prominent in lodge circles and is a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Knights and Ladies of
Security. He is one of the original Central Protective Association
members and is a charter member of Sunny Hill Lodge, No. 158, of
Effingham, and is prominently connected in Central Protective
Association circles throughout the State of Kansas, having organized
seven lodges in this State.
JAMES R. GRAGG.
For nearly fifty-nine years James R. Gragg, wealthy farmer and stockman,
of Lancaster township, Atchison county, Kansas, and the present township
treasurer, has lived in Kansas, and is one of the real pioneers of the
State. Since a lad six years of age he has been a resident of Atchison
county, and has lived to see the once wild and barren prairie become one
of the garden spots in America, and has seen the towns and cities grow
within the borders of the county where once was a wild, unbroken waste.
When a boy he was taught by his father that the greatest returns from
the pursuit of agriculture could be obtained by the raising and feeding
of live stock, and he has endeavored to follow his father’s teachings in
this respect and has met with success, resulting from following a
definite plan of getting the best results from his efforts. He is a
descendant of a southern pioneer family, who were among the original
settlers of eastern Tennessee, and again were pioneers in Clay county,
Missouri, early in the nineteenth century. It is a topic of interest to
compare the comfortable residence and farm buildings of Mr. Gragg, at
this day, to the log cabin in which he was reared, and the stock shed
made of poles and slough grass, which his father was forced by necessity
to erect in the early days of the settlement of Kansas. Few families
settled in Lancaster township as early as the Graggs, and in point of
years of residence, James R. is probably the third oldest living settler
of the township.
James R. Gragg was born February 5, 1851, in Clinton county, Missouri.
He is a son of Jefferson and Mary (White) Gragg, to whom fifteen
children were born. Four children, two sons and two daughters, are still
living, as follows: Mrs. Mahala Martin, Gower, Mo.; James R.; Mrs. Alice
Muks, near Oklahoma City, Okla.; and Bishop or Bascomb Gragg, Stafford,
Kan. The Graggs are of Irish descent. The father of James Gragg was born
in 1814 in eastern Tennessee. When he was a child his parents removed to
Clay county, Missouri, where he grew up as a farmer. In the spring of
1856 Jefferson Gragg came to Kansas and settled in Leavenworth, where he
had taken a claim. He sold this a year later and came to Atchison
county, and preëmpted 160 acres in section 24, Lancaster township, on
which James R. is now living. He paid $1.25 an acre. As soon as he took
charge of the land he built a log house, twelve feet square and also
erected a hay barn with a slough-grass roof. He brought a covered wagon
to Kansas and lived in it until the log house was ready for occupancy.
During the border war he was forced to return to Missouri for three
months, but at the end of that time came back to Kansas and continued to
improve his farm. It was slow work, as he did most of the plowing with
oxen and this took a great deal of time, but he was able to accumulate a
little money slowly, and in ten years erected a better house on his
place. He had a hard fight for existence the first few years in the face
of crop failures, droughts and grasshoppers, but when he retired, about
1890, he owned 640 acres of land which he divided among his children,
and lived with them until his death, April 10, 1910. His wife, the
mother of James R. Gragg, was born in Clinton county, Missouri, in 1816,
and died in 1912. She was the daughter of Robert White, and her mother
bore the maiden name of Cooley. Both parents were members of the South
Methodist church, and helped to organize and build the Bethel church in
Grasshopper township, which was one of the early Methodist churches in
Kansas. Both parents are buried in old Huron cemetery.
James R. Gragg, the subject of this sketch, was reared on the farm where
he now lives, and attended school in Lancaster and Huron, Kan., although
his early educational opportunities were limited. In early days the
father and his son were stock buyers on a large scale. The father did
the actual buying, and the son had charge of the herds on the prairie.
They did a large business in trading and buying and selling stock, and
the son has continued this until the present time. James has always
lived on the Gragg land and was with his father until the latter retired
in 1890 and the land was divided. James later bought out the other heirs
and now owns 1,040 acres in Atchison and Wabaunsee counties, 560 acres
of this land being located in Atchison county, with three sets of farm
buildings. He gives a great deal of attention to the stock selling part
of his business, and feeds and winters 150 head each winter. On December
25, 1872, Mr. Gragg married Mrs. Viola A. Norris, who was born May 26,
1855, in Buchanan county, Missouri. She is a daughter of David and
Martha (Cook) Norris. The father’s family came from Kentucky and the
mother’s from Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Gragg have two children: Jefferson
K., born February 23, 1875, in Atchison county, Kansas; married in
October, 1894, to Ella Walls, and has two children, Paul, aged twenty
years, and George, aged twelve years. He is now engaged in the live
stock commission business in Kansas City, Mo., and Arch, born May 3,
1889, who is farming on the home place, married March 11, 1914, to Edna
Wilson, of Lancaster township, a daughter of J. E. Wilson. Jefferson,
the older son, completed a course in the Atchison Business College. Mr.
Gragg is a Democrat, and has been a member of the school board, and is
now treasurer of Lancaster township. He is a member of the Methodist
church and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen of
America.
URI SEELEY KEITH.