and the date of the settlement of A. S. Speck in Atchison county goes
back to sixty years ago, when in September 20, 1855, Mr. and Mrs. Speck
with their two children arrived at the banks of the Missouri river,
after a six weeks’ trip overland in a covered wagon from their old home
in an eastern State. They crossed the river by ferry to the Kansas side
and landed near old Sumner, traveled over the hills and finally stopped
at a little log cabin, not far from Stranger creek, which stream is said
to have received its name from an unknown man having been drowned in the
stream some years previous. The Specks made a settlement in the county
and experienced a great deal of trouble from the border ruffians and
pro-slavery advocates because of the fact that Mr. Speck was a
pronounced anti-slavery man. It was the aim of the border ruffians to
intimidate or “get rid” of all Free State people in order to gain their
ends and make Kansas a slave State. A story concerning these troublous
times is timely here. One afternoon Mrs. Speck glanced from her cabin
door and saw a cannon facing the house and planted on a little knoll
with about thirty men surrounding the sinister looking weapon. They sent
one of their number to the door of the cabin to ascertain if Mr. Speck
was at home. In reply to their question as to Mr. Speck’s whereabouts,
Mrs. Speck said, “If he were here he would never send his wife to talk
for him.” After a long conference the men went away, but returned that
night and demanded the privilege of searching the house. All the weapon
of defense Mrs. Speck had was an axe which she held in her hand when she
opened the door. As the door was opened she asked for the revolver held
by one of the men who entered. This he refused to do, but the leader of
the gang, a man named Adkins, called out with an oath, “Give it to her,
we will protect you.” The gang searched the house thoroughly and were
satisfied that the man they sought was not there. They then went away
leaving the children crying in fear, and the mother so fearful of her
life that she sat up the remainder of the night on the outside of the
cabin with her babe in her arms, thinking they would return. Not long
after this came the news of the Quantrell raid and the burning of
Lawrence, Kan., and Mr. Speck with others went to the relief of the
sufferers. The ruffians returned to the Speck cabin in the afternoon of
the day of Mr. Speck’s departure, but this time Mrs. Speck was armed
with a gun which Mr. Speck had left with her. She also had another gun
which had been given her by a neighbor named Martin, who had had similar
trouble with the ruffians, who searched through Martin’s cornfield for
him, and when the raiders would get near him he would slip away unseen
to the rows through which they had already searched and thus elude them.
When the men saw the gun one of them insisted that she give it up, and
wrenched it from her hands. She at once reached for the other gun which
she kept hidden behind her and fired at her assailant, frightening him
so that he dropped the gun he had seized and ran from the vicinity of
the home. The others who remained near the cannon saw on a high ridge
some distance away what they thought was a company of men coming to
capture them. They at once took flight and left hastily, leaving behind
them a long rope which was evidently intended to be used in hanging Mr.
Speck. The small army seen in the distance later proved to be neighbors
driving a herd of cattle. One little son of the family made a vow to
whip Adkins when he grew up and had the later satisfaction of fulfilling
his vow when still a boy. The old neighbor of “cornfield fame” still
lives in practically the same locality. Pardee Butler, the famous Free
State advocate, who was placed on a raft and set adrift on the Missouri
by border ruffians, was an intimate friend of the Speck family. When the
Civil war broke out and the call for volunteers was sent out by
President Lincoln, Mr. Speck enlisted as lieutenant of Company F,
Thirteenth regiment, Kansas infantry, in September, 1862, serving until
his resignation, and later being appointed recruiting officer in August,
1863.
Mr. and Mrs. Speck lived on their farm until death took them, the demise
of Mr. Speck occurring in February, 1901, and that of Mrs. Speck
occurring January, 1904. They are survived by eight children: William
A., of Kay See, Wyo.; Frank, James and Arthur, of Nortonville, Kan.;
Mrs. D. P. Barber, of Cummings, Kan.; Mrs. Joseph Hotchkiss, of Willow
Springs, Mo.; Mrs. S. W. Adams, of Atchison, Kan.
ROBERT L. GRIMES.
Robert L. Grimes, farmer and stockman, of Lancaster township, Atchison
county, Kansas, is one of the representative and enterprising citizens
of the county who have made good. He has been a resident of Kansas for
the past forty-four years, and during that time has worked his way
upward by his own unaided efforts and is now the owner of 350 acres of
good Kansas soil. Of late he has practically retired from active
farming, and has rented out his land, that he may be able to take a well
earned repose and enjoy a life of leisure.
Robert L. Grimes was born February 11, 1852, in Fayette county,
Pennsylvania, a son of James and Margaret (Laughlin) Grimes, both of
whom were born and reared in that county. The father was born May 1,
1824, and was the son of Henry and Sallie Grimes, who came of old
pioneer stock in the Keystone State, and were of Scotch and German
descent. Henry was a blacksmith and made a good living for his family.
James Grimes was reared in his native county, and when he grew up became
a farmer. He tilled the soil in Pennsylvania until 1871, and then
disposed of his holdings, and migrated westward, to Kansas, investing
his cash capital in Lancaster township, where he bought 160 acres,
located in sections 15, 5 and 18, Atchison county. There were little or
no improvements on his land when he bought it, but with characteristic
thrift, he improved the land and made it into a desirable place of
residence. Like others who came to the county in that early day he went
through the “grasshopper era,” and was discouraged for a time but held
on, and as a result became fairly well to do in the course of time, as
better years followed the lean era. He lived on his farm until his
demise in 1905, and at the time of his death was one of the well
respected and best known citizens of his township. Grimes, senior, was
married in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, to Margaret A. Laughlin, and
this marriage was blessed by the following children: Robert Laughlin,
subject of this sketch; William, a farmer of Lancaster township;
Elizabeth, deceased; John A., Huron, Kan.; Mrs. Sallie Hardin, Lancaster
township, and Hugh L., Lancaster township. The mother of the foregoing
children was born February 12, 1828, and departed this life in 1901. She
left the impress of a noble and womanly character upon the lives of her
children, who have all led exemplary lives and been a credit to their
parents. She was a daughter of Robert Laughlin, a farmer of
Pennsylvania.
Robert L., with whom this review is directly concerned, was reared to
young manhood on the family farm in Fayette county, Pennsylvania,
received his early education in the nearby district school, and at the
age of nineteen years accompanied his parents to the new home in this
county. His first schooling was obtained in the Mt. Vernon district in
his native county, and he also attended the school near his new home in
Lancaster township, when not assisting his father in developing their
Kansas farm. He remained on the home farm until he was twenty-seven
years of age, and after his marriage, he launched into agricultural
pursuits for himself by renting a tract of land for two years. His first
efforts in his own behalf were successful and he then used his savings
to purchase a tract of land in Lancaster township, south of Eden. His
first investment was in a farm of 160 acres, which he improved as his
prosperity continued to increase. By the exercise of industry, self-
denial and good financial management, he has become the owner of 350
acres of fine land. This land has twenty-five acres of standing timber,
which is a valuable asset when one considers that timber is almost a
rarity in the greater part of Kansas. Mr. Grimes cultivated his land
until 1914, when he decided to shift some of the burden which grew heavy
as he felt himself taking on added years, and he accordingly rented it,
but retains the supervision of the farm.
For several years Mr. Grimes has been a breeder of Shorthorn cattle, and
takes considerable interest in his fine stock. His success in farming is
due to the fact that he has not been content to just be an ordinary
farmer, but has endeavored to keep abreast of the latest developments in
agriculture and has aimed to keep the best of live stock on his place.
He has an excellent barn, 32×60 feet in dimension, with a capacity of
eighty tons of hay, and which cost over $1,500, despite the fact that
most of the lumber used in its construction was cut and sawed from the
timber on his place.
Mr. Grimes was married April 16, 1879, to Miss Viola Wilson, who has
borne him two children: Mrs. Edith Shufflebarger, living on a farm in
Lancaster township, and Mrs. Franketta Carson, whose husband is farming
the Grimes farm land. Mrs. Grimes was born in Lancaster township,
December 21, 1862, and is a daughter of Andrew and Nancy (Carpenter)
Wilson, who came to Atchison county from Kentucky in the early pioneer
days. Andrew Wilson was a Union veteran who saw valiant service during
the Civil war.
In political matters Mr. Grimes has always been identified with the
Democratic party, and has served as a member of the school board in his
township. He attends religious services at the Methodist Episcopal
church, and is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.
CHRIST KANNING.
The proverbial success of the members of the German race, who have left
the Fatherland in search of fortune in America, is well illustrated in
reviewing the career of Christ Kanning, of Lancaster township, Atchison
county, Kansas. In a little more than a score of years, beginning with
practically no capital, Mr. Kanning has accumulated 240 acres of the
best land in Atchison county. He is the owner of two well improved
farms, and it was necessary for him to build practically all of the
improvements on his home place since purchasing the land in 1893.
Christ Kanning was born in Westphalia, a province of Prussia in the
German Empire, May 20, 1854. He is a son of Henry and Christena (Poos)
Kanning, who were the parents of seven children, three of whom are
deceased. The parents spent their lives in the Fatherland. Christ
Kanning is the only member of the family living in Atchison county; two
of the children live in Germany, and the other resides in Illinois.
Christ received eight years of schooling in his native land, became a
farmer in Westphalia, and in 1889 left the old home and immigrated to
Madison county, Illinois, where he worked as a farm hand four years. In
1893 he migrated westward, to Atchison county, and with his savings
bought eighty acres of land in section 24, Lancaster township. This
tract was improved at the time of purchase, but Christ, in keeping with
the policy of his neighbors and the other enterprising farmers of this
noted township, was not satisfied with the buildings, and has
practically replaced all the original improvements with residence and
barns more in keeping with his ambition and prosperity. He has erected a
large, eight-room residence, and a barn 40×46 feet, a granary, and a
large windmill which pumps the water for his home and live stock. The
Harry Searls place, which he also owns, is a very well improved farm,
and is located just one-half mile east of the home farm of Mr. Kanning.
It is a well kept modern place. Mr. Kanning keeps graded stock on his
place.
Mr. Kanning was married February 29, 1888, to Caroline Stahlhut, and
this marriage has been blessed with seven children, namely: Henry,
deceased; Mrs. Christina Poos, Benton township; Mrs. Mary W. Poos,
Benton township; Bertha, Otto, William, and Ada, all of whom are at home
with their parents. Mrs. Kanning was born April 27, 1869, in Madison
county, Illinois, and is a daughter of Henry and Mary (Debtner)
Stahlhut, both of whom were natives of Germany, immigrating to America
and settling in Madison county, Illinois, where they died. Mr. Kanning
is one of those citizens who believe in doing their own thinking in
political affairs, and is not allied with any political party, voting
for the man, regardless of his politics, and making up his own mind as
to each candidate’s personal fitness to ably perform the duties of the
office sought. He and his family are members of the German Lutheran
church.
THEO INTFEN.
Theo Intfen has been a resident of Atchison county for over half a
century. He has seen the county transformed from a wilderness and
unbroken prairie to a land of fertile farms and thriving cities and
towns. Practically all of his life has been spent within sight of, or
within, Atchison, and he has witnessed and taken part in the wonderful
growth of his home city. Nearly thirty years of his life have been spent
in building up the immense furniture and house furnishing business now
located in his own building at 623–625 Commercial street. This business
had its initial beginning in 1887 in the old Municipal theater building,
under the firm name of Miller & Intfen. In 1890 the store was moved to
the west half of the Ramsey building, where it remained under Mr.
Intfen’s management until November 25, 1912, when it was removed to the
present quarters. Mr. Intfen purchased the building and thoroughly
remodeled it, erecting a new and modern front, and building an addition
on the rear, 50×150 feet. A stock worth over $40,000 is carried on three
floors and the basement. An immense credit business is handled in a
successful manner, and nine men are employed by Mr. Intfen in the caring
for the trade. Goods from the Intfen store are sold over a wide range of
territory, the store having patrons located in Tennessee, Iowa, Florida,
Philippine Islands, the Dakotas, Arkansas, Nebraska, Oregon, Illinois,
Michigan, Oklahoma, and other states. He does an extensive business in
Kansas and Missouri, and cares for a great many orders received from a
distance. During the year of 1913 he made over 757 shipments from
Atchison to distant railway points. Mr. Intfen is an extensive
advertiser and believes in publicity for a healthy, growing concern such
as he has built up.
Theo Intfen was born December 24, 1861, in Weston, Mo., and is a son of
William and Mary (Piekman) Intfen, of Prussia. The Intfen home was just
across the Holland-Prussian line. William Intfen and his wife immigrated
to America in 1853 and made their first home for a number of years at
Weston, Mo. In October, 1862, they crossed the Missouri river by means
of a ferry and located on a farm, two and one-half miles north of
Atchison. The elder Intfen developed his farm and reared a family. At
this time there were not many settlers in Atchison county, and the city
was but a village. The first store of the town was then doing business,
and Theo Intfen can recall its appearance. Large trees stood on the site
of many of the present business blocks. William Intfen became the owner
of 180 acres of land, and was a prosperous farmer for those days. Mrs.
Intfen died on the home farm in 1885. William Intfen came to Atchison
after her death and died in 1901, at a ripe old age. Five children were
born to them, namely: John J., a merchant of Atchison; Theo, the subject
of this sketch; Mrs. Minnie Miller, living at 714 Laramie street; Mrs.
Anna Falk, of Andale, Kan.; Henry died at the age of two years.
Theo Intfen was reared on the pioneer farm and attended the district
school in his neighborhood. He assisted his father on the home place
until he attained his majority, and then decided to do things for
himself. He went to Kanopolis, Eldridge county, Kansas, and opened the
first store in the town. He sold sixty-two dollars’ worth of merchandise
the first day he arrived from boxes in the street before getting into
the store. He placed the first stock of goods in Kanopolis, and made the
first sale of merchandise in the town. One year after establishing this
store he sold out at a nice profit and returned to Atchison, where he
engaged in the furniture business, as before stated. His success has
been due to pronounced ability as a salesman, and his excellent judgment
in financial affairs, and a knowledge of what the people will buy, and
the carrying out of his plan to supply patrons on the credit plan, which
is optional with the customer.
Mr. Intfen was married in 1893 to Miss Emma Zibold, and to this union
has been born a daughter, Louise, born September 29, 1894, educated in
Atchison and graduated from the Atchison Business College. From 1912
until her marriage she was her father’s bookkeeper. She was married on
October 17, 1915, to LeRoy A. Osterbog, in charge of cost department of
the Atchison Saddlery Company. Mrs. Intfen is a daughter of Merman
Zibold, a native of Germany, who first settled in St. Louis, then lived
in St. Joseph, and from there came to Atchison.
Mr. Intfen is an independent Democrat, politically, and does his own
thinking as to what candidates he will support for office, when it is
time for him to cast his ballots. While interested in good government,
he does not take an active part in political affairs. He is strictly a
business man, who has built up a monument to his own individual
enterprise and energy through the development of the large Intfen store.
He is likewise interested in his home city and takes a just pride in the
fact that he has done his share to assist the development of Atchison,
and is proud of the knowledge that he has witnessed the growth of a
beautiful and prosperous city from its very beginning. He is a member of
St. Benedict’s Catholic Church, and is affiliated with the Modern
Woodmen.
THOMAS FINNEGAN.
Thomas Finnegan, an Atchison county pioneer, who came to this county
forty-eight years ago, is a successful farmer of Shannon township, and
has resided on his present place for forty years. Thomas Finnegan is a
native of Ireland, born in 1842, and is a son of Patrick and Hanora
Finnegan. The father died when Thomas was less than a year old, and the
mother came to this country, and died in Atchison county, at the home of
her son, Thomas, in 1899, at the remarkably advanced age of 102 years.
When Thomas Finnegan immigrated to America, he first settled in
Connecticut, where he remained for five years. He then went to Iowa,
remaining in that State for fifteen years. While living in Iowa he
worked out by the month a great deal and often worked for as low as
eight dollars per month. In March, 1867, he came to Kansas, and after
spending a short time in Atchison county, removed to Doniphan county,
and for about two years worked at breaking prairie land with ox teams.
He followed farming about two years in Doniphan county, and was also
interested in a threshing outfit, which he operated for a time, and in
1870 he returned to Atchison county, and in 1871 bought 160 acres of
land in Shannon township, where he has since been engaged in farming and
has met with uniform success. He has one of the best farms in Atchison
county, under an excellent state of cultivation, with a large producing
orchard. Mr. Finnegan is a great lover of trees and timber, and in the
early days in Kansas planted a great many trees, and now has a fine
grove on his place, with many large maple, elm and walnut trees, as well
as cottonwood, which adds greatly to the appearance of his place.
During the war Mr. Finnegan was employed as a Government teamster, and
in 1863 he drove transfer teams in St. Louis. He was married in 1869 to
Miss Anne Morley, a native of Ireland, born in 1850. The following
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Finnegan: Nora married J. J.
Slattery, Shannon township; John resides in Atchison; Mary married
Joseph Schlesbaum, Atchison; Thomas, Houston, Tex.; James resides in
California; Margaret married Joseph Longan, Doniphan county; Agatha
resides at home, and Roger, farmer, Atchison county. Mr. Finnegan leans
to independence in politics, and the family are members of the Catholic
church.
SAMUEL E. BALLINGER.
Adjoining Atchison, to the westward there are many beautiful and well
kept suburban homes. Along the road which borders Forest park on the
west are some especially fine homes with well kept grounds, dotted with
flowers and shrubbery, in striking contrast to the unkempt condition of
the park upon which these suburban estates front. These homes make ideal
places for people who have spent the greater part of their lives in
farming pursuits, and, while wishing to be near the city, yet wish to
have a larger space for a home setting than the thickly settled parts of
the town would afford. In one of the beautiful homes fronting the
highway resides Samuel E. Ballinger and his faithful wife and helpmeet,
who have been residents of Atchison county for many years and are both
descendants of old eastern families.
Samuel E. Ballinger was born September 7, 1843, in Salem county, New
Jersey, a son of John G. and Sarah Ann (Reeves) Ballinger. His paternal
grandfather was also named John G., who married a Quaker lady. His
maternal grandfather was Stephen Reeves, a scion of an old eastern
family, and in his day a leading ship builder of New Jersey. The father
of Samuel E. was born in 1827 and died in 1906. During his life he was a
miller and farmer and prominent in the affairs of Salem county, New
Jersey. He was twice married, his first wife, Sarah Ann, dying in 1850,
leaving three children: Stephen R., a retired miller of New Jersey, now
deceased; Samuel E., and Thomas E., residing in Atchison. John G.
Ballinger’s second wife was Sarah Austin, who bore him the following
children: John, Charles, Walter, Ella, Gertrude, Emma, and Minnie.
[Illustration:
_S. E. Ballinger._
]
[Illustration:
_Mrs. S. E. Ballinger._
]
Samuel E. received his education in the public schools of his native
county and State and early learned to perform his share of the work
required in the operation of his father’s gristmill and farm. He hauled
grist from the mill to town and to the patrons of his father’s mill and
assisted in cultivating his father’s farm when yet a boy in years. When
he attained young manhood he was associated with his father in the
livery and feed business at Camden, N. J., for a period of three years.
He and his brother, Stephen, then bought the gristmill which they
operated in partnership until 1871, following which he farmed for one
year and then disposed of all of his holdings with the intention of
migrating to Kansas. He came to Atchison, Kan., with a capital of $350
which he invested in eighty acres of improved land, costing him $2,400.
This land was but partly improved, with a modest home of two rooms and a
lean-to at the rear. He and his good wife by dint of economy and
perseverance soon managed to pay off their indebtedness and to erect a
rather pretentious dwelling, at the same time increasing their land
holdings. Their first purchase was an eighty acre tract near the home
farm, and they later bought a tract of 160 acres near Huron in Lancaster
township, which they later traded for eighty acres near Shannon. Mr.
Ballinger was the possessor at one time of 240 acres of well improved
land. As age crept upon this worthy couple they gradually disposed of
their land holdings until they retained but forty acres of the home
place, and they moved to Atchison in September of 1907, where they
invested in a beautiful suburban estate of five acres. Later, when they
disposed of the forty acre farm they added ten acres to the suburban
tract which has since become very valuable on account of its nearness to
the city.
Mr. Ballinger was married September 7, 1870, to Janie Louise Paxson, and
to this union have been born children, as follows: Mrs. Evelina
Lancaster, of Severance, Kan., who is the mother of six children,
namely: Samuel E., Sarah Catharine, William Andrew, Fred, Harry and
Leonard: Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Yaple, of Atchison, mother of children as
follows: Albert, Louise, Ruth, Esther (deceased), John, Edwin, Austin,
Raymond, and Ernest, and twin boys, Harold Paxson and Herbert Ballinger.
The mother of these children, Jane Louise (Paxson) Ballinger, was born
December 2, 1844, in the city of Philadelphia, daughter of Samuel W. and
Catharine (Speer) Paxson. Her father was the son of Irish parents and
her mother was born of German parentage. Samuel W. was a carpenter by
trade who was married in Camden, N. J., and plied his trade in that
vicinity for many years. He served in behalf of the Union during the
Civil war in a Pennsylvania regiment of volunteers. A brother, Henry,
served in the Tenth regiment of New Jersey volunteer infantry.
Mr. Ballinger has always been a Republican in politics, but has never
taken an active part in political matters. He is a member of the Central
Protective Association. He is essentially a home man and takes a pride
in keeping his attractive home in excellent condition, and can be seen
most any day working about the grounds surrounding the Ballinger home.
Mr. and Mrs. Ballinger are a worthy couple, kind and indulgent with
their children whom they have endeavored to rear so that they might lead
upright and worthy lives in the community.
CHARLES WILLIAM ROBINSON.
Charles William Robinson, county physician of Atchison county, assistant
surgeon for the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, and one of the
prominent and successful members of the medical profession in
northeastern Kansas, is a native son of the Sunflower State and was born
on his father’s farm in Noble township, Marshall county, March 1, 1890,
a son of William F. and Mary (Critchfield) Robinson. His parents were
born in Buchanan county, Missouri, his father in 1853, and his mother in
1857. William F. Robinson became a resident of Kansas in the seventies,
locating in Marshall county, where he engaged in farming and stock
raising. He is one of the extensive land owners of that county, his
properties exceeding 1,200 acres. He has been actively identified with
the development of his section, is one of his county’s most influential
citizens, and has attained a secure position in its commercial, social
and political life. Mr. Robinson has been married twice. Two children,
James M. Robinson, M. D., of Hiawatha, Kan: and Lucille, now Mrs. Dr. A.
E. Ricks, of Atchison, were born of the first marriage. Our subject, Dr.
Charles W. Robinson, is the only child of the second marriage.
Dr. Robinson received his early educational discipline in the public
schools of his native county, supplemented by a course in the Hiawatha
Academy. He subsequently completed a course in Washburn College, Topeka,
and then entered the medical department of Kansas University, from which
he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, a member of the
class of 1913. Following his graduation, he located for practice in the
city of Atchison, where he formed a partnership with Dr. C. A. Lilly.
Shortly after engaging in the practice of his profession, he was
appointed county physician, an unusual honor for a practitioner to
receive during his first year of practice. That he has filled the office
with credit is attested by his having been re-appointed in 1914, and
again in 1915. Dr. Robinson has built up a very lucrative practice and
is recognized as one of the most able of the younger members of the
medical profession in his section of the State. The demands of his
practice have not caused him to forego his habit of study. He keeps
abreast of the advancement in medicine and surgery, and during the
winter of 1914–15 completed a post-graduate course in diseases of
children at the Nursery and Child’s Hospital, New York City. He is a
member of the Atchison County Medical Society, the Kansas State, and the
American Medical Associations. He is also a member of Orient Lodge, No.
57, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Topeka; Atchison Lodge, No.
647, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Atchison Aerie, No. 173,
Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Royal
Arcanum, Fraternal Aid, Kansas Fraternal Citizens, Homesteaders, Yeoman
of America, and Ancient Order of United Workmen.
Since becoming a citizen of Atchison, Dr. Robinson has taken an active
interest in those measures and projects which have had for their object
the betterment and development of the city. He also finds time to take
an active part in its social life. Dr. Robinson is unmarried.
JOHN McINTEER.
John McInteer was a builder who had an abiding faith in the eventual
development of the West. He was a pioneer citizen of Atchison, and a
prominent figure in the city for over forty-five years, and had an
intimate acquaintance with the sturdy characters who had much to do with
the development of the Sunflower State. He came to Atchison in the days
when the great wagon trains left in a continuous, and often unbroken,
stream for the Far West with their valuable cargoes of freight. So great
was his confidence in the ultimate growth of his adopted city that he
invested his savings in real property, built of brick and stone, which
are still standing in the city. The handsome McInteer block on
Commercial street is a monument to his enterprise and faith in the
growth of the city. Mr. McInteer was well and favorably known among the
coterie of famous men who have cast luster upon Atchison and the State
of Kansas. He was a consistent and unremitting booster for his home city
and State, and the substantial fortune and good name which he left
behind prove his judgment and business acumen to have been sound and
essentially correct.
Mr. McInteer was born in Donegal, Ireland, in 1827, and immigrated to
America alone when a boy. He had heard of the wonders of the new land
across the ocean, and dreamed of one day sailing across the waters of
the broad Atlantic to the land of the free, there to seek his fortune.
How his dream came true is told in the succeeding paragraphs. His first
employment was in Philadelphia as a laborer. Opportunity did not seem to
beckon to him in the “City of Brotherly Love” sufficient to hold him,
however, and he turned his face still farther to the westward, going to
the newer State of Indiana, where he learned the trade of harness maker.
He first started a business of his own in Jeffersonville, Ind. While
busily engaged in this Ohio river town in plying his trade with a fair
modicum of success, he heard of the opening up of the vast stretches of
land west of the Missouri river. His Celtic imagination was still
working and he pictured to himself the possibilities of realizing his
ambitions in one of the new cities of Kansas. His decision was soon
made; he heeded the famous Greeley’s advice, “Go West, young man, go
West, and grow up with the country.” Accordingly, he sold out his little
shop and started for Omaha. On the way up the Missouri river his wife
was taken ill and he changed his plans to the extent of stopping in
Doniphan county, Kansas, and taking up a homestead. One year later he
traded his claim for a lot at Eighth and Commercial streets in Atchison.
Upon this lot he built a small shop, where he again began the
manufacture of harness and saddles. For several years he supplied the
great overland trains which passed to the Far West. His trade grew and
he was compelled to enlarge his quarters and engaged in the manufacture
of harness and saddles on an extensive scale. As he prospered and
accumulated capital he erected buildings and invested in real estate in
Atchison and the nearby city of St. Joseph. He also erected a modern
brick residence where his widow now lives. He died July 17, 1901.
He was twice married, his first wife being Alice Conley, who died in
1892 without issue. In 1895 he married Mrs. Anna (Conlon) Donovan, of
Montreal, Canada, whose parents, James and Anna Conlon, were well known
citizens of Atchison, and whose personal history will be found in the
biography of Charles J. Conlon, brother of Mrs. McInteer. Mrs. McInteer
was reared in Atchison, returned to New York with her parents, and was
there married to Peter Donovan, who was a customs officer under the
Canadian Government at Montreal. He died in Montreal in 1891. Three sons
were born of this marriage: Peter Donovan, a widely known journalist, of
Toronto, now a contributor to the _Toronto Saturday Night_; Fred, in the
insurance and real estate business in Atchison; Charles, a farmer and
stockman, residing with his mother.
Mr. McInteer was a member of the Catholic church, and a liberal
contributor to his own and other religious denominations. He was one of
those big-hearted, whole-souled gentlemen, who was a friend to all, and
who was highly regarded for his many excellent qualities of heart and
mind. He was independent in politics. The foregoing brief review is thus
contributed to the history of Atchison county in order that it be placed
on record for all time, and perchance, prove an inspiration for other
young men, poor in purse, whose destiny is yet to be worked out, and who
probably dream of accumulating wealth or a competence in their
generation.
HENRY HANSON LOUDENBACK.
A review of the educational institutions of Atchison county would be
incomplete without mention being made of the Loudenback School of Music.
It is probable that no institution within the borders of the State of
Kansas has had a more rapid, substantial and satisfactory growth than
has the school under the direct supervision and management of Professor
Loudenback. Established in 1912 as a school of piano and theory,
enlarged in 1913, and incorporated in 1914, it is now authorized by the
State to issue diplomas and certificates. It is rapidly building an
enviable reputation for thoroughness of instruction, having graduated
pupils who are conceded to be artists of recognized ability, and its
importance as an educational institution of the highest grade is
appreciated by the residents of its home city.
Henry Hanson Loudenback, founder and principal of the Loudenback School
of Music, was born in a log cabin on his father’s farm in Hancock
county, Indiana (the county seat, Greenfield, being the birthplace of
James Whitcomb Riley), March 17, 1879, a son of Daniel and Margaret
(McCray) Loudenback. His paternal grandparents were Henry Loudenback, a
native of Pennsylvania, who came to Hancock county, Indiana, in 1836,
one of the early pioneers of that section, and Elizabeth Brown, a native
of Virginia, of German ancestry. Daniel Loudenback was born in Hancock
county in 1846 and reared in a district which at that time was almost a
wilderness. Splitting rails was an occupation which took up a good
portion of his time. With his father, he settled on a farm about three
miles from Charlottesville. This property they developed into a highly
productive farm. Henry Loudenback died in 1905. Daniel engaged in
business in Charlottesville in 1882, and in 1883 established a store at
Wilkinson, which he conducted until his death, in 1888. He had married,
when a young man, Margaret McCray, now a resident of Wilkinson, who
survives him. They were the parents of two children: Henry Hanson, the
subject of this review, and Allie Almeda Cook, of Wilkinson, Ind.
Henry Hanson Loudenback received his educational discipline in the
public schools of his native State, and in 1898 came to Kansas and
joined relatives who resided near Centralia. He became a teacher in the
country schools, and later spent one year teaching music, going from
place to place on horseback. From early childhood he had given evidence
of remarkable musical ability, and had sung in public when only four
years of age. After learning harmonies from his sister, he began to
improvise his own melodies, and to harmonize them upon the reed organ.
His first real lessons were taken when thirteen years of age. In the
fall of 1901 he entered Campbell University at Holton, Kan., and was
graduated from that institution, in music, in 1902. Since receiving his
degree from Campbell College he has studied piano, harmony and
composition with the best teachers of these subjects in America, his
training being under such noted musicians as Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler,
of Chicago, the world’s greatest woman pianist; Mr. and Mrs. A. K.
Virgil, of New York City; Peter C. Lutkin and Arne Oldberg, of
Northwestern University, at Evanston; and Allen Spencer, of the American
Conservatory of Music, Chicago. From 1902 until 1906 he was director of
music in the Atchison County High School; from 1906 until 1910,
professor of music in South Dakota State College of Agriculture and
Mechanical Arts; from 1910 until 1912, director of piano, pipe organ,
and musical theory at the Dakota Wesleyan University. In 1912 he founded
the Loudenback School of Music at Atchison, and since its establishment
has devoted his entire time to its management and the teaching of piano
and musical theory. He is an accredited teacher of piano and theory by
the Kansas State Music Teachers’ Association, and was a member of the
executive committee of that organization which issued certificates to
accredited teachers in December, 1914, and was appointed a member of the
committee on piano standards for 1915, and in December, 1910, was
elected vice-president of that association, and was appointed a member
of the special accrediting committee. He has appeared twice as piano
soloist with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, and numbers among his
friends many of the great musicians of the present day.
Professor Loudenback married on June 28, 1900, Miss Flora Donald, a
daughter of George and Christy (Black) Donald, of Centralia, Kan. Her
father was an early settler and prominent farmer.
Professor and Mrs. Loudenback are the parents of the following children:
George Daniel, born November 23, 1901; Allie Mae, born March 12, 1904;
Ramona Lolita, born July 25, 1905; Henry, born August 17, 1907; and
Donald, born July 19, 1909. The children have inherited their father’s
love of music and show talent.
FRANK P. WERTZ.
Frank P. Wertz, deputy county clerk of Atchison county, is one of the
progressive young men of the county. He was born at Parnell, Atchison
county, September 2, 1888, and is a son of David M. and Elizabeth
Caroline Wertz, natives of Pennsylvania. They were married in their
native State and shortly afterwards came West, and located on a farm in
Atchison county, where they have been very successful. David M. Wertz
began life with nothing, and by industry and keen foresight has become
one of the substantial and well-to-do men of Atchison county. He has
always taken a commendable interest in the welfare of his community. To
David M. Wertz and wife have been born the following children: Frank P.,
the subject of this sketch; Eva married H. J. Barber, a banker, of
Cummings, Kan.; Abraham, a farmer and stockman, Mt. Pleasant, Atchison
county; Fredrick, a farmer in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county;
Rosetta, the wife of Fred C. Voelker, a farmer, of Shannon township,
Atchison county, and Bertha E., who resides at home.
Frank P. Wertz was reared on the home farm in Atchison county and
educated in the public schools, graduating from the Atchison County High
School. He then took a course in the Atchison Business College, and
graduated in 1909. He then became assistant cashier of the State Bank of
Cummings, and remained in that position for two years, when he resigned
to accept his present position. Frank P. Wertz takes a live interest in
the welfare of the community. He is a member of the Masonic lodge and
the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a popular county official,
and his genial manner and obliging nature, coupled with efficiency and
close application to the duties of his office, have won for him many
stanch friends and supporters.
THOMAS L. CLINE.
For sixty years Thomas L. Cline has lived in Mt. Pleasant township,
Atchison county, and he is one of the oldest of Kansas pioneers in point
of years of residence in the State. Coming to this county when he was
ten years of age with his parents he has lived to see Kansas become
prosperous and the vast prairie transformed by the hand of man into a
truly good place to live. He, himself, has risen in the course of time
to become one of the wealthy farmers of the county, and despite his
three score and ten years of age he still oversees the work on his large
farm of 320 acres.
Mr. Cline was born October 8, 1845, in Henry county, Iowa, a son of
Henry and Eleanor (Leanord) Cline, both natives of Ohio. The parents of
both Henry and Eleanor moved at a very early day from Ohio to Illinois,
where they were married. The parents of T. L. Cline lived but a short
time in Illinois and then removed to Henry county, Iowa, where four of
the children were born, of whom T. L. was the youngest. The family lived
in Iowa for sixteen years and came to Kansas as early as 1855. Henry
settled on a quarter section of land, which is still in the family, and
is owned by Thomas L., adjoining the quarter section upon which the home
of the subject is located. At the time the Clines located in Atchison
county the country was a vast reach of unpeopled prairie broken by belts
of timber along the streams. Prairie fires were very common in those
days. Henry Cline persuaded a neighbor to preëmpt the adjoining section
to his and eventually bought it and increased his acreage to 480 acres
in all. An interesting feature of the Cline farm is the stone fencing
which is built around a portion of the farm. Stone fences are a rarity
in Kansas and are found only in the occasional places where stone is
plentiful, and their building required time and plenty of it on the part
of men who in the early days made the building of stone fences a
vocation and followed it as their method of earning a living. While a
portion of the stone work on the farm has been replaced by wire fencing,
300 rods of this fence are in excellent condition despite the fact that
it was erected over forty-five years ago. T. L. Cline in speaking
reminiscently of the old days recalls that the “grasshopper” visitation
of 1866 was every whit as bad as in the years of 1874 and 1875, and he
also recalls seeing a company of “red shirts” or border ruffians
encamped near his father’s farm. Henry Cline died in 1875, his widow
dying in 1901 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Mary E. Blodgett. Henry
and Eleanor Cline reared the following children: Julia Ann (Jay),
deceased, at Rock Creek, Kan.; Mary E. Blodgett, Walnut township;
Charles W. died in Union service at Drywood, Mo., and Thomas L., the
youngest.
T. L. Cline grew up on his father’s farm and has never lived anywhere
else since he was ten years of age. He was married in 1874 to Miss Susan
Vandiver. The following children were born of this marriage: Ora, wife
of Edward Bradley, of Atchison county; Nellie, wife of Martin Decker,
living in Leavenworth county, Kansas; Charles Cline, farming on the home
place; T. L., Jr., better known as Lloyd, at home with his parents and
assists in farm work. The mother of these children was born February 11,
1853, in Green county, Wisconsin, a daughter of Edward and Irene
(Holloway) Vandiver, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of
Providence, R. I. The respective parents of Edward and Irene Vandiver
removed from their native states to Illinois, and it was in that State
that they were married. Shortly after their marriage they moved to
Wisconsin and settled on a farm near Monroe, in Green county. They
resided in Wisconsin for sixteen years and then returned to Schuyler
county, Illinois. After a residence of ten years in Illinois they came
to Atchison county, Kansas, to make a permanent home. Edward Vandiver
was a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln and often rode with Lincoln to
and from political gatherings. His political beliefs were the same as
Mr. Lincoln’s. Mr. Vandiver was also acquainted with Stephen A. Douglas
and attended the famous Lincoln and Douglas debates.
For one year after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Cline lived at the home
of Mr. Cline’s parents, when T. L. built a home for himself on a part of
the family estate. After his father’s demise he bought his mother’s
interest in the estate and moved to the old home place where he still
resides. Mr. Cline has always been a stockman and a large feeder of
cattle and hogs. He is now raising sheep and has about 140 head of these
animals on his farm. He has always been a stanch Republican, as his
father was before him, and has usually taken an active part in political
and civic affairs. He served for many years as a member of the school
board and was succeeded by his son, Charles, as a member of the board
when T. L. refused to serve any longer. He was one of the organizers of
the Farmers State Bank of Potter, Kan., and is generally found in the
forefront of all good movements tending to promote the welfare of the
people in his neighborhood. Mr. Cline carries his years lightly and can
be seen almost any day directing the farm work and is very active for
his years. Thomas L. Cline is one of Atchison county’s grand old men and
is a true Kansas pioneer.
ROBERT FORBRIGER.
In the present incumbent of the county assessor’s office, the people of
Atchison county are extremely fortunate in having a painstaking,
faithful and conscientious public servant who believes in doing his duty
by the people, taxpayers, and for the people as the law provides. It is
probable that no other individual in the county has a wider or more
intimate knowledge of values and property ownership in Atchison county
than Mr. Forbriger. Born in Atchison county in the pioneer days when the
county was in process of early settlement, he has grown up with the city
and county and has a speaking acquaintance with almost every person
within the confines of his native heath. Kind and obliging to a high
degree, he has made himself invaluable as a citizen and able county
official, and is well liked and highly esteemed for his many excellent
qualities.
The father of the gentleman named in the foregoing paragraph was Robert
Forbriger, a native of Saxony, Germany, born in 1825, immigrated to
America in 1848 and died in the city of his adoption in 1886. The senior
Forbriger was a man of good education, and came of a family of scholars
and educators in his native land. Therefore, he was well equipped to
fight a winning battle for success in the land of his adoption. He first
located in Elgin, Ill., and after a residence of ten years in that city,
came to Atchison in 1858. This thriving and beautiful city was then in
its infancy, and Mr. Forbriger had the distinction of being one of its
foremost citizens and builders in the early days. He obtained a job in
the J. E. Wagner hardware store, which was situated on the southeast
corner of Fourth and Commercial streets. Not long afterward he engaged
in the insurance and real estate business and from that drifted into the
banking business. He, with George Storch and John Belz, established the
German Savings Bank, which was later reorganized as the United States
National Bank. This new organization erected the building at the corner
of Sixth and Commercial streets. Mr. Forbriger was connected with the
banking concern until his death, after which the institution was again
reorganized. He was active in civic and business affairs in Atchison
during his long residence here, and was always a booster for his adopted
city, liberal in his donations and support of public enterprises, and a
benefactor of churches and charitable enterprises. It is said of him
that he always generously responded to calls for assistance in the name
of charity, religion or civic betterment of the community. As a citizen
he did his duty in an official capacity, serving as a member of the city
council and as an active member of the city school board. During the
early sixties when Atchison was yet a village he served as a member of
the town council. In addition he served three terms as city assessor.
While a Democrat in politics, he was a great admirer and warm personal
friend of the late Senator Ingalls, and it was the Senator’s custom to
make his headquarters in Mr. Forbriger’s office while at home, on his
return from Washington. This pioneer citizen was a charter member and
officer of the Turner’s Society, a famous athletic organization in the
early days. He was reared in the Lutheran faith, but was broadly
tolerant of all creeds and religious beliefs. It was only natural that
he should have been a charter member of the Atchison Masonic lodge, and
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. During the Civil war he was
enrolled as a member of the State militia, and responded to the call for
volunteers to repel Price’s invasion and served in Colonel Quigg’s
command.
Robert Forbriger, the elder, was married in 1862 to Helen Geier, born in
Limbach, Baden, Germany, and died in Atchison. She came from her native
land to Philadelphia with a sister and cousin, and from there journeyed
to Atchison. To them were born three children as follows: Robert, of
this review; Emil, engaged in business in East Atchison; Bertha, wife of
M. Noll, druggist of Atchison.
Robert Forbriger, the son, was educated in the public schools and St.
Benedict’s College. He then entered his father’s bank and also engaged
in the insurance business. After his father’s death he continued in the
insurance business for a number of years, until he began his service as
postoffice clerk, during Cleveland’s administration. After four years in
the mercantile business he filled the office of deputy register of deeds
for four years; served three years as deputy county assessor, and was
elected to the office of county assessor in 1912, and again elected or
appointed to the office by the board of county commissioners in 1914. In
his younger days he served several years as a regular fireman under
three successive fire chiefs, and two terms as city councilman. While
originally a Democrat, he deserted the party in 1896, as many others
did, to follow the teachings of William McKinley, and now takes an
active part in Republican politics, and is sincere and active in his
work in behalf of the candidates of his party. Having been born in
Atchison, April 4, 1863, it is only natural that he should gather for
his sustenance some of the needful in the way of property, and is the
owner of a fine fruit farm of twenty-eight acres near the city, and in
addition has five residence properties in the city, with properties in
Oklahoma and Seattle, Wash.
Mr. Forbriger was married May 21, 1888, to Carrie Wagner, and to them
have been born two children: Helen, wife of Leo T. Markey, a banker of
Greeley, Kan.; Ralph, a student of electrical engineering in the
Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College, at Starkville, Miss.
The mother of these children was born at Port Washington, near
Milwaukee, and is a daughter of Henry and Rosa Wagner, natives of
Germany, who removed from Milwaukee to Atchison where Henry Wagner
became a bridge contractor and builder. Mr. Wagner for a long period of
years did practically all of the bridge construction work in Atchison
county.
Mr. Forbriger is a member of St. Benedict’s Catholic Church, and is
broad and tolerant in his religious views, taking the staple ground that
the manner of life a man lives, regardless of his religious belief,
determines his salvation. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen, the
Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Fraternal Citizens, and the Modern
Brotherhood of America.
HIRAM H. HACKNEY.
The measure of a man’s real worth to a community determines his standing
and niche in the local hall of fame. While several things may be summed
up in the final reckoning as to what constitutes a really useful
citizen, his service to his fellow citizens in furthering institutions
which are of the greatest benefit to the greatest number takes
precedence over wealth, business ability, political success, or any
accomplishments which have a tendency to place the individual ahead of
his fellow men. No greater service to a city can be rendered than by the
building up of a modern, progressive public school system. He who
furthers the cause of education in a practical manner and takes a keen
interest in the success of the city’s educational systems, as an
unselfish task, befitting his citizenship, is entitled to an everlasting
place in the hearts and minds of his fellow citizens. The public school
system of Atchison is a monument to the labors of Hiram H. Hackney, and
his fellow members of the board of education during the eight years
while Mr. Hackney served as president of the board.
Hiram H. Hackney is a native of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, born near
Uniontown, November 30, 1859. He is a son of Hiram H. and Elizabeth
(Wyley) Hackney, both natives of Pennsylvania. The Hackney family in
America came originally from the town of Hackney, England, now a part of
the city of London, in the early part of the seventeenth century. Hiram
H., the elder, was born in 1822, and died in 1899. He was the son of
John Hackney, born in 1776, and lived on the original homestead of the
Hackneys, who were Quaker followers of William Penn. Elizabeth Wyley was
born in 1830, a daughter of Jacob and Hannah Way Wyley, members of an
old colonial family of Irish descent. Hiram H., Sr., was a resident of
Uniontown in his old age, and was the last surviving member of the board
of directors, chartering the First National Bank of Uniontown. He was
well to do and invested some of his funds in the West, becoming one of
the original stockholders of the First National Bank of Atchison. He was
also a “Forty Niner,” going overland to the gold fields of California in
1848, with a train of fortune hunters who outfitted at St. Louis and
fought continually with the Indians on the trip across the plains and
mountains. He engaged in the mercantile business at Sacramento and
Marysville, Cal., for a period of two years. He returned home by way of
Cape Horn, but made another trip before settling down to the pursuit of
farming and business in his native State. His brother, Samuel, died of
mountain fever while engaged in mining in the gold fields of California.
Mr. Hackney became an extensive farmer, stockman and banker, and
prospered exceedingly. He was known as a solid Quaker citizen “whose
word was as good as his note.” Of his five children, four are living as
follows: Mrs. Edward G. Hudson, of Newton, Kan.; Edgar S., of Uniontown:
Dr. Jacob S., a practitioner in Uniontown, and Francis, who died in
Pittsburgh.
Hiram H. Hackney, of Atchison, was educated in the State Normal School
at California, Penn., and Duff’s Mercantile College, Pittsburgh. He did
farm work while a youth, and taught school for two years. His father
having purchased an interest in the First National Bank of this city he
came here in 1881 and served as assistant cashier and director of the
bank until 1910. He then sold his holdings and retired from banking
pursuits on account of ill health, due to long years of close
confinement to his duties. He then established a real estate, insurance,
bond and loan business which he is now conducting with success. Mr.
Hackney is interested in Atchison real estate, and coal lands in
Pennsylvania, and is vice-president of the Blair Milling Company of
Atchison.
In politics he is a Republican, and the only office he has ever held has
been that of member of the board of education, from the presidency of
which body he has only recently retired. Of his services on behalf of
the public schools during his sixteen years’ membership on the board.
_The Atchison Globe_ said: “H. H. Hackney retired last night as a member
of the school board and that board has lost its most useful member for
at least two reasons: Mr. Hackney had the ability to handle the school
finances and the time necessary to accomplish the things the board laid
out. In addition he possessed an ambition to establish a system of
schools and equipment that would reflect credit on the city and on the
school board. He was a member of the board for sixteen years and its
president for eight years, and during the eight years he was president
he never had a disagreement with a member and there was never a question
came up which was not settled either by an unanimous vote or in a way
that left the members friendly. There never was a ‘row’ in the school
board and there never was a session where reporters were barred. In the
last eight years and under the management of Mr. Hackney, the school
board has spent $300,000 in school betterments and the total
indebtedness is but $25,000 greater than it was eight years ago. This
includes the new Ingalls Building, Washington Building, accepting the
plans and letting all contracts for the new Martin building, now under
course of construction, rebuilding Franklin and building the new Douglas
school. In these eight years manual training, mechanical drawing,
domestic art and science, a commercial department, normal training,
agriculture and physical training have been added to the high school, a
school nurse employed, music added to all grades and kindergartens
established in two buildings. Since Mr. Hackney became a member of the
board the high school enrollment has increased from 66 to 338 and the
faculty from three to twenty members.”...
During the time Mr. Hackney was a member of the school board he missed
but one regular meeting. He is president of the board of trustees of the
First Presbyterian Church and is a member of the board of directors of
the Young Men’s Christian Association.
He was married in September of 1888, to Frances Blair, a daughter of E.
K. Blair, deceased, formerly of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, founder of
the Blair Milling Company of Atchison. Mrs. Hackney’s mother was Barbara
(Allen) Blair. She was born and reared in Atchison, in the house located
on the same lot where the Hackneys now live, with the exception of their
first two years of married life, during which the new home was erected
at 1021 North Third street. To Mr. and Mrs. Hackney have been born two
children of whom they are justly proud, Helen Elizabeth, born 1890, a
graduate of the College Preparatory School of Atchison, and the Bennett
School for Girls, located on the Hudson, in New York, carrying honors at
both her graduations; Edward Blair Hackney, born in 1893, is a graduate
of the city high school and the Kansas University at Lawrence, where he
received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. While a student of the
university he managed the _Jay Hawker_, the college annual, and
performed his duties so ably and so thoroughly that Chancellor Strong
declared that the “Annual” issue under his management was the best ever
issued, the cost of which was $4,500, and managed so well that a nice
profit was earned. The young man is now a traveling salesman for the
Blair Milling Company.
GEORGE EDWIN WHITE.
George Edwin White, leading physician, of Effingham, Kan., was born at
Savanna, Andrew county, Missouri, April 18, 1867, a son of Willis and
Rachel (Hall) White, natives of Indiana. Willis was the son of Drury
White, who was born and reared in Virginia, and was a pioneer settler in
Grant county, Indiana, where he hewed a farm and home from the virgin
timber at a time when it required men of hardihood and the greatest
endurance to withstand the rigors of a life in the unbroken wilderness
of the Hoosier State. Willis White was born August 12, 1840, and when he
attained young manhood, hearkened to the call of President Lincoln for
troops to quell the rebellion of the Southern States, and enlisted at
the first call for “thirty thousand.” He served for ninety days in the
Tenth regiment, Indiana infantry. He migrated to Missouri in 1866 and
plied his trade of blacksmith in the town of Savanna until 1880, when he
moved to Greenleaf, Kan., and conducted a blacksmith shop, in addition
to cultivating his farm, which he purchased near Greenleaf. In the fall
of 1907 he moved to Effingham, Kan., and is living a retired life. Mrs.
White died in 1885, at the age of forty-three years. Twelve children
were born to Willis White and wife, four of whom are deceased: John,
Henry, and Mary, deceased; Frank, for several years a practicing
physician of note in Effingham, and who died in October, 1912, as a
result of an accident; Charles, of Kansas City; Dr. George Edwin, with
whom this narrative is directly concerned; Albert H., a farmer, in
Dickinson county; Mrs. Dora Hill, of Kansas City; William, living in
California; Mrs. Laura Shields, of California; Elmer, a farmer, of
Jackson county; Leroy, a farmer, of Effingham. Willis White was twice
married, his second wife being Elizabeth Heavenridge, of Indiana, who
bore him six children: Julia, employed in the Soldier’s Home at
Leavenworth, Kan.; Herman, a farmer in western Kansas; Earl, of
Effingham; Edith, at home; Ralph, also at home, and a child who died in
infancy.
George Edward White received his elementary education in the public
schools, studied three years in the Kansas Medical College at Topeka,
and graduated from the Medical University at Kansas City in 1905. For a
period of five and one-half years he practiced medicine in Dickinson
county, Kansas; practiced for two years in Brown county, Kansas, and
located in Effingham in the fall of 1912.
Dr. White was married in 1895 to Sadie A. Phillippi, who died in 1911,
leaving five children, namely: Willis, George, Lester, Birdie, and
Harold, all of whom are at home and attending the public and high
schools. One child, Ralph, died in infancy. Dr. White again married in
1912, to Ada M. Elliot, a capable and talented woman, who is a good and
kind mother to the doctor’s children.
Dr. White has achieved a reputation as a well read and capable
practitioner, and his practice in Effingham and the surrounding country
is constantly growing. He keeps abreast of the times and the latest
discoveries in the science of healing, and is associated with various
important medical societies, among them being the county, State, and
National societies, the Golden Belt, and the Northeast Kansas Medical
association, the Aesculapian Society, and the University Medical College
of Kansas City Alumni. He is a member of the Church of the Brethren, and
is fraternally connected with the Knights of Pythias, the Knights and
Ladies of Security, and the Mystic Workers. He is a Republican, but has
very little time for political affairs. Dr. White is a genial, whole-
souled gentleman, who loves his profession and his fellowmen.
GEORGE W. THOMPSON.
George W. Thompson is one of the oldest pioneers living in the State of
Kansas, and is all probability the oldest living pioneer in Atchison
county today. His career has been an interesting and even romantic one,
and reads like a tale from modern fiction. Homesteader, farmer,
statesman, politician and man of wide influence are terms which can well
be applied to this aged gentleman who has spent sixty-one years of his
four score and eight in assisting in the development of the Sunflower
State.
[Illustration:
_George W. Thompson and Wife_
One of the Oldest Pioneer Couples in Atchison County
]
George W. Thompson was born in Georgetown, Ky., October 18, 1827, a son
of Benjamin and Nancy (Baxter) Thompson, natives of Virginia and
Maryland, respectively, and descendants of old southern stock. Benjamin
Thompson was born in Virginia in 1799, the same year in which George
Washington died. He was a son of George Thompson, who removed from
Virginia to Kentucky in 1811, walking the entire distance over the Blue
Ridge mountains to the new home in the forests of Kentucky, where they
lived until 1843, and then joined the influx of settlers who were going
into Platte county, Missouri. The Thompsons loaded their entire effects
on wagons and drove as far as Frankfort, Ky., and then boarded an Ohio
river steamer which carried them to St. Louis. An interesting episode of
this trip concerns the passage of the boat over the falls at Louisville,
Ky., or five miles below that city. At that time the water was very high
in the river, and the captain of the steamer decided to take a chance
and go over the falls. During the passage the pilot’s steering gear
broke and the boat drifted over the falls without guidance in safety,
but not without expressions of fear on the part of the passengers. This
boat was the “Meridian,” one of the fast steamers of the river, and it
frequently raced with other river craft. The trip required about three
days from Louisville to St. Louis, which was at that time a city of
about 50,000 inhabitants. Mr. Thompson recalls that the boats were lined
up along the wharfs at St. Louis for over one and one-half miles, and he
has never forgotten the sight. About five days longer were required to
make the trip from St. Louis to Parkville, Mo., the trip ending on June
14, having commenced June 1, 1843. Benjamin plied his trade of
bricklayer in Platte county, and built the Green Hotel in Platte City,
which is still standing as a monument to his skill and handicraft as a
mason. He was the first brick mason in Platte City and he erected the
Green Hotel in 1844. Benjamin became prominent in the affairs of Platte
county and was a fine orator and public speaker.
For many years he was an active and influential figure in the political
life of Platte county, and he was a poet who left many evidences of
creative literary ability which are still prized among the archives of
the county. He resided in Missouri until 1860 and then came to Kansas
where he spent the remainder of his days, dying in Mt. Pleasant township
in 1862. His wife survived him and lived to an advanced age, dying in
1892, having been born in Rosamount county, Maryland, near Curlew. They
reared a fine family of nine children, of which George W. was the third
child.
George W. Thompson, with whom this review is directly concerned, grew to
sturdy manhood in old Kentucky, and was educated in the neighborhood
schools. Since boyhood, he has been a student and is at this day one of
the best read men of his generation. He learned the trade of bricklayer
under his father and followed the trade while living in Missouri. As
early as 1854 he came to Kansas, on the day following the passage of the
Kansas-Nebraska act which threw the Territory open to settlement. He
came up the Missouri river in a small boat and landed at the mouth of
Nine Mile creek in Leavenworth county. After investigating the
possibilities in this county, he filed upon a Government claim and went
back to his home in Platte county, returning in January of 1854 to erect
a log cabin. This erected, he again went home, returning in November and
roofed his cabin with clapboards made by him and his brother, and built
a stone chimney and daubed the chinks with mud. He located permanently
on his claim January 15, 1855, and on his way nearly lost his oxen in
the river. In the meantime a man named Dunham had jumped his claim, and
it became necessary for him and Dunham to compromise matters and divide
the land which was considered valuable because it had a very fine spring
of good, pure water available. Two years later Mr. Thompson sold his
claim and entered 160 acres of land in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison
county. He moved to Atchison June 14, 1856. He developed this farm and
lived on it for forty-eight years, or until 1914, when he came to
Atchison to reside with his daughter, Mrs. Keats.
Mr. Thompson was married in Missouri in 1850, to Rebecca Stigers, a
native of Knox county, Ohio, born April 18, 1831, a daughter of Conrad
Stigers, a native of Germany. The mother of Mrs. Thompson was Mary Snell
Stigers, who was born in Virginia, of French parents, and whose father
was shipwrecked on the coast of Virginia. She was a direct descendant of
the famous French family of D’ Estang, and her father was a connection
of Count D’ Estang. To Mr. and Mrs. George W. Thompson were born nine
children: Benjamin T., born October 11, 1850, in Missouri, and died
March 12, 1902; Mary Katharine, born October 2, 1854, wife of Asa
Barnes, of Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county; John Emmet, born
February 17, 1857, in Atchison county, and now residing in California;
Harriet M., born April 2, 1859, wife of T. M. Grant, Atchison county;
Louis T., born May 8, 1861, died May 1, 1864; Mrs. Dora T. Keats, born
March 21, 1864, wife of H. T. Keats, of Atchison; George McClelland,
born May 20, 1867, a farmer, Mt. Pleasant township; Clara Thompson, born
September 5, 1870, and Albert T., born October 5, 1873, died in infancy.
The Thompson family is one of the oldest in America and is of English
origin. The founder of the family came to Virginia with Capt. John Smith
in 1607, and through the marriage of John Rolfe with Pocahontas, the
princess daughter of old King Powhatan of the Indian tribes of Virginia,
the family and successive generations claim to have Indian blood in
their veins. They are or were connected with the famous Pickett family,
of whom General Pickett was a member. It will thus be seen that on one
side the present members of the family can lay claim to being descended
from the nobility and on another to being descended from an Indian
princess and one of the earliest of the old Virginia gentlemen. It is
not to be wondered that the founder of the family in Atchison county has
made such a fine record during his long residence here.
Mr. Thompson has always taken an active and influential part in the
political affairs of Kansas, and has been a life-long Democrat. He has
the unique distinction of having voted for but one candidate who was
elected President, and that was Franklin Pierce in 1852. This is
probably due to the fact that he has always been independent in his
voting, and acted upon his own convictions when it came time to cast his
ballot. His last vote was cast for Theodore Roosevelt. When Populism was
in vogue in Kansas he voted for the Populist candidate for President. It
was only natural that he himself become a candidate for office on
account of his education and the inherent gift for leadership. He served
as a member of the Kansas legislature at the sessions of 1867, 1868 and
1869, and has been a candidate a few times since. At another time, early
in his career, he was elected superintendent of public instruction in
Atchison county, but refused to serve, and sent in his resignation. His
last candidacy for the legislature was given him by the fusion of the
Populists and Democrats, but he was defeated by White by a very small
majority. During the campaign of 1866, he was asked to become a
candidate for the legislature by many Republican friends and upon the
advice of his many friends in the county, he cast his votes for both
Ross and Pomeroy for the positions in the United States Senate. It is a
matter of history that both Ross and Pomeroy were elected to represent
Kansas in the United States Senate, Ross subsequently making himself
very conspicuous by voting against the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.
This fine old pioneer was also a soldier in the Civil war, and served as
first lieutenant of the company commanded by Capt. Asa Barnes in the
battle of Westport. Mrs. H. T. Keats, daughter of Mr. Thompson, has in
her possession a number of interesting souvenirs of this battle, among
them being the belt buckle, and bayonet worn by her father in the
battle, and the company’s flag, Captain Barnes’ shoulder straps, and
James Binkley’s cap box, in addition to having some of the Government
scrip, with which the soldiers were paid. The colonel of the Twelfth
regiment was Colonel Louis L. Treat, another member of the company being
T. L. Cline. Very few of the members of this company or regiment are now
living.
On October 8, 1915, this noted old pioneer was eighty-eight years old
and still vigorous, mentally. His power of thinking is not much
diminished, and he is still a reader and student. Constant reading and
thinking, we are told, is conducive to longevity and Mr. Thompson has
always been a great reader and student of history and philosophy. He is
a man, self-made and self-taught, and is blessed with a keenness of
intellect far above the average. His life has been a well rounded and
useful one, and he has had a career of which he and his children and
grandchildren can well be proud. His long life has been clean and for
years he has been a stern advocate of temperance and has practiced his
own belief. In his younger days he was a noted and powerful orator who
had the ability to thrill and sway his hearers. Few men can look back
over a longer vista of years, well spent in honest pursuits, and in
behalf of his fellow men than George W. Thompson. All honor to him as
the oldest and most distinguished living pioneer of Atchison today.
B. F. TOMLINSON.
B. F. Tomlinson, deceased, was a pioneer merchant and meat packer of
Atchison, and left behind him an imperishable record for honesty and
fair dealing, which has never been surpassed in the mercantile history
of the city. He was born December 25, 1838, in Covington, Ky., a son of
Leroy Tomlinson, who was also a native of Kentucky. The mother of B. F.
Tomlinson died when he was a small boy, and as a consequence little is
known regarding her antecedents. The Tomlinsons are a very old American
family. Leroy Tomlinson was a commission merchant and meat packer, who
later removed from Covington to Louisville, Ky., and became prominently
identified with the business interests of that city. He conducted a
large packing establishment and handled as high as 100 beeves at one
time in his abattoirs, wholesaling the product of his packing houses to
meat merchants in the cities and towns bordering the Ohio river.
B. F. Tomlinson, with whose career this review is directly concerned,
was reared and educated in the city of Louisville, Ky., and when he was
but fifteen years of age his father died, his stepmother dying one year
later. Being an only child, he was left with the responsibility of his
father’s extensive business. The excellent training which his father had
given him, here came into good stead, and he carried on the packing
business successfully, paying, in the course of time, a considerable
indebtedness which his father had incurred. After his marriage in
Louisville in 1860, he continued to conduct his business in Louisville
until 1870, at which time he disposed of his possessions and came to
Atchison. Here he engaged in the butcher and packing business, and soon
held a prominent place in the mercantile life of the city.
B. F. Tomlinson was married September 11, 1860, to Miss Elizabeth
Alexander, who was born May 11, 1840, in Bedford, Ind. She was a
daughter of Robert M. and Emily (Legrant) Alexander. Her father was a
coach-maker by trade, and removed from Bedford, Ind., to Louisville,
Ky., where he died in 1900, at the age of eighty-nine years. Much
interesting history can be narrated concerning the mother of Mrs.
Tomlinson, who was born in New Orleans, and was one of three children
born to her parents, who were of French origin. The elder Legrant was a
drygoods merchant in the southern city, and the story goes, that on one
of his regular trips to Cincinnati, Ohio, to buy a stock of goods for
his store, he left two of the children at home, and on arriving in
Cincinnati he placed Emily in charge of a Scotch family by the name of
McDonald, and with whom he had been in the habit of stopping while on
business in Cincinnati. Emily at that time was twelve years of age, and
was a prime favorite with the McDonald’s who begged her parents to leave
her at their home during the time which would elapse until Mr. and Mrs.
Legrant made their next trip from New Orleans to Cincinnati. They did
so, but sad to relate, the little girl never saw nor heard from her
parents again, and what became of them she never learned, and she was
consequently reared to womanhood by the kind foster parents. In an
earlier year than this at New Orleans, and at a time when Emily’s father
was very sick with rheumatism, a band of over one hundred Indians was
encamped near the Legrant home at New Orleans. One of the other children
was also afflicted with cancer of the face. The medicine men of the
Indian tribe effected a cure of both the cancer and the father’s
rheumatism. The Indians were very affectionate toward Emily and called
her the “pretty squaw,” which was only natural, as she grew up to become
a very beautiful woman, eventually becoming the wife of Robert M.
Alexander, and after her husband’s demise, made her home with her
daughter at Atchison, where she died in November of 1904, at the
advanced age of eighty-nine years.
B. F. Tomlinson died in January, 1895. Mr. and Mrs. Tomlinson were the
parents of eight children: Martha J., wife of Louis Nelson, of St.
Joseph, Mo., and mother of one child, Frank B.; Emma T. Bosanko,
deceased, left one son, Harry; Lydia, wife of Frank Russell, of St.
Paul, Minn., and mother of one son, Clarence Russell; Alice, wife of W.
L. Johnson, of Atchison; Anna A., wife of Charles Robertson, of Chicago;
Robert, a resident of Columbia, Mo., and who has one daughter, Ecce
Tomlinson; Franklin, deceased; Birdie died in infancy. The mother of
these children is now three score and fifteen years of age, but does not
appear to be over fifty years old. She is remarkably well preserved and
has a keen mind, and is especially proud of her husband’s record and
fine family of children.
Mr. Tomlinson was a member of several fraternal societies, among them
being the Modern Woodmen, the Knights of Honor, and the Ancient Order of
United Workmen. He was politically allied with the Democratic party, but
never sought political preferment. He was well and favorably known and
highly respected in business circles in Atchison, his greatest and
kindliest trait being his generosity in giving assistance to the poor
and deserving of the city. He was always ready to listen to the call of
the suffering and improvident, and never turned away a supplicant in
dire need empty handed. It might be said of him that he was too generous
for his own financial welfare, but he sincerely believed in the
wholeness of his nature in giving of his sustenance to those whom he
deemed in need. The indulgence of this Christian trait of giving
naturally endeared his memory to a host of friends, who will long
remember him. Few men were more liberal or kinder than this upright
gentleman.
JOHN D. HAWK.
In the science of agriculture, as well as the learned professions, there
are always men who are naturally endowed with the powers of leadership,
and are so progressive and energetic that they lead in the van of better
and more productive farming where others follow. Atchison county has its
quota of these progressive agriculturists who are not content to be just
common, every-day farmers, but are ambitious to become specialists in
agricultural work. John D. Hawk, of Benton township, Atchison county,
holds a place in the front rank of successful and enterprising farmers
in Atchison county, and is the owner of one of the most productive and
best equipped agricultural plants in the county, or northeast Kansas.
His farm comprises 170 acres, located in section 2, range 618, Benton
township. A good farm home sets well back from the road, in the rear of
which is a large red barn. 86×46 feet, hip roofed and flanked by a
modern silo, built in 1910, and which is the first wood silo erected in
Atchison county. Mr. Hawk is beginning the breeding of thoroughbred
Jersey cattle, and at the present time has a fine dairy herd of twenty-
five head, among which is a number of pure breds. Leading this herd is
“Shawan Majesty,” a pure bred bull. He also specializes in Poland China
hogs, and is meeting with success in the breeding and raising of live
stock. Mrs. Hawk keeps a pure strain of Black Langshan poultry and
handles this end of the farm work with profit and satisfaction.
John D. Hawk was born November 19, 1875, on a farm in Coshocton county,
Ohio, a son of Lafayette T. Hawk, of Benton township, a sketch of whom
appears in this volume. He was seven years of age when his parents
removed to Atchison county, Kansas, from their Ohio home. Here he
attended the district school, and had the advantage of one year’s study
in the county high school. He worked on the home farm with his father
until 1898, when he began for himself in the spring of that year on the
McClennon farm which he rented for two years. After his marriage he
removed to his present place which is the old Law homestead. He erected
the present barn and the large poultry house on the place and made
various other improvements including the building of the silo.
Mr. Hawk was married March 15, 1899, to Miss Alice M. Law, who has borne
him eight children, of whom seven are living: Walter Gale, born January
12, and died February 1, 1900; Herbert, aged fifteen years; Kenneth,
born November 19, 1902; Dorothy, aged ten; Mateel, nine years old; John,
aged six years; and twins, Vera and Veda, born December 12, 1911. The
mother of these children was born in Toronto, Canada, a daughter of
Edwin and Mary Alice Law, both of whom were born in England. Edwin Law
comes of a family of singers, and it is a matter of record that his
mother sang before Queen Victoria on one occasion, and was noted
throughout England as a singer of note. The Laws immigrated from England
and first settled in Canada, going from there to Ohio, and after a short
residence in the Buckeye State, migrated to Doniphan county, Kansas,
from whence they came to Atchison county and purchased the farm where
Mr. and Mrs. Hawk now reside. There were five children in the family:
Alfred Law, Ella, Alice, Walter, and one died in infancy. Mrs. Law died
on the farm, and Mr. Law died in Canon City, Colo. After his first
wife’s death, Mr. Law again married, and had one daughter, Lillie, by
his second marriage.
Mr. Hawk is a Republican, but his activities do not tend to political
affairs. For several years he has been actively identified with
agricultural affairs in Atchison county, and his influence has ever been
exerted in behalf of better farming. He is president of the Atchison
County Farm Bureau, of which institution he is one of the organizers. In
connection with Fred Sutter, Alexander McClennon, he assisted in the
promotion of the Farm Bureau and its establishment, and the consequent
employment of County Agent Taylor as a skilled farm instructor. This is
now considered as one of the finest and most beneficial moves ever made
in the county in behalf of the farmers of the county, and even the most
incredulous who were unwilling to support the movement are now coming
into line and becoming enthusiastic over the possibilities for bettering
farm conditions in the county as the result of the efforts put forth by
its zealous supporters. This committee during the winter of 1914–1915
visited every part of the county, in the preliminary organization and
missionary work, and enrolled 200 farmers as supporters of the project.
Mr. Hawk is likewise president of the Atchison county Farmers’
Institute. He attends the Christian church, of which Mrs. Hawk is a
member, and is fraternally affiliated with the Central Protective
Association.
HERBERT J. BARBER.
A man’s standing in the community where he resides or transacts his
business affairs is usually gauged by his usefulness to society and his
activities in behalf of the general good of his fellows. If he be of the
class of citizens who are seeking to benefit the community in which he
is engaged in business, he is a decided benefit to that community. Such
an individual is Herbert J. Barber, banker of Cummings, Kan. Mr. Barber
is a native of the Sunflower State, and is a son of one of the early
pioneers. The story of Moses Barber, his father, Union veteran, Kansas
pioneer, and one of the first successful fruit growers of Atchison
county, is interesting and borders on the romantic to a considerable
degree. Over fifty years ago, directly after his honorable discharge
from the Union service at Leavenworth, Moses Barber set out on horseback
to find a place for a home in Atchison county. He found the homestead,
and at the same time found a sweetheart who later became his wife and
fought the good fight with him through the lean years and good ones
until he attained to the realization of his ambitions to obtain a
competence. He became widely known as the “Apple King” of Kansas as a
result of his remarkable success as a grower of apples, and cultivated
what was in all probability the largest apple orchard in existence in
the State of Kansas in his day. His son, Herbert, has followed in his
father’s footsteps and is fast making a name for himself in the field of
finance. Speaking in a biographical sense, Herbert J. Barber was born on
the old homestead of his father in Mt. Pleasant township, April 11,
1871, a son of Moses and Mary (Hubbard) Barber, the former a native of
Rhode Island, and the latter a native of Virginia.
[Illustration:
_Moses Barber_
]
[Illustration:
_Mrs. Mary (Hubbard) Barber_
]
Moses Barber was born in South Kingston, Rhode Island, April 22, 1833, a
son of James and Elizabeth Barber, natives of Rhode Island, of colonial
ancestry and English descent. A brother of James was Colonel Barber, who
served in the War of 1812, and the grandfather of Moses Barber was a
Revolutionary soldier. Moses was reared to young manhood on his father’s
farm in Rhode Island, and then migrated westward to Illinois. After a
residence of a few years in Illinois he came to Kansas and was a
resident of the State upon the outbreak of the rebellion of the Southern
States. He enlisted in Company I, Second regiment, Kansas cavalry, in
1861, and was soon promoted to ranking sergeant of his company. He
served his country well and faithfully and took part in several hard
fought engagements with his regiment, and received his honorable
discharge at the close of the war at Leavenworth, Kan. After receiving
his discharge from the service he set out on horseback in search of a
homestead, riding the faithful cavalry horse which had carried him
through the strenuous days of the Civil war. His route led him in a
northwesterly direction from Ft. Leavenworth through Atchison county. He
stopped for sustenance and rest at the home of a family named Hubbard at
Parnell, Kan. Mr. Hubbard was a pro-slavery and State rights man who had
removed from the Southland in 1855 after two years in Missouri, a State
rights advocate, and although Mr. Barber was his guest, they had
frequent clashes over the troubles of the South and war incidents. The
bitterness of the great conflict had not yet been obliterated, and it
was only natural that the Union veteran and State’s rights man should
have disagreements. This was not all of their troubles, as time soon
developed. Mr. Hubbard had an attractive daughter, and thereby hangs a
tale of romance. Mary Hubbard was the acme of beauty in the eyes of
young Barber and he purposely stayed around in the neighborhood that he
could be near Mary and do his courting despite the evident antipathy of
Father Hubbard. In fact, Moses often said later, “That was the reason I
stayed there.” The attraction between Mary and Moses grew into
friendship, friendship ripened into love, and the son of the North and
the daughter of the South were married. The parental opposition to this
natural outcome of the meeting of two young souls who were evidently
destined for each other was so great that a quiet marriage was
necessary. Moses and Mary quietly departed one day and returned to the
parental roof as man and wife. Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard soon afterwards
decided to accept the inevitable and become fond of their son-in-law.
Time and subsequent events proved that Moses and Mary were well mated
and the marriage, if a hasty one, proved to be very happy in the years
to come. Mr. Hubbard soon afterward went west to satisfy the gold fever
which obsessed him and Moses Barber settled down on his father-in-law’s
farm which he purchased, thus beginning a highly successful career as an
agriculturist. The first home of him and his young wife was a little log
cabin which formerly belonged to the Hubbards, but as prosperity came as
the reward of years of careful husbandry, he erected a handsome farm
residence of thirteen rooms which still stands on the place, built in
1882. Mr. Barber was one of the first men in Kansas to see the
possibilities in fruit growing and early began to develop that part of
the farming avocation. He planted four or five acres of apple trees as a
start in his horticultural experiments, and his success with his first
orchard was so gratifying that he increased his apple orchards to sixty
acres of bearing trees. He became widely known as the “Apple King of
Kansas.” While managing his immense fruit orchard he did not neglect the
other side of the farm work and cultivated assiduously and successfully
his large farm of 320 acres of land in Mt. Pleasant township. In the
early days he was a large cattle feeder and made large shipments to the
stock markets.
Moses Barber was married May 15, 1865, to Miss Mary Hubbard and this
union was blessed with two children: Mrs. Abigail Brayman, of Wickford.
R. I., and Herbert J., with whom this review is directly concerned. Mr.
Barber departed this life July 3, 1896, after having lived a long and
useful life which was profitable as well as happy. Mrs. Mary (Hubbard)
Barber, his surviving widow, was born May 7, 1845, in Roanoke county,
Virginia, and was a daughter of Clark and Rebecca Hubbard, both of whom
were born and reared in Virginia and came to Kansas in 1855. Mrs. Barber
resides with her son, Herbert J., in Atchison, Kan.
Herbert J. Barber attended the district school of his neighborhood in
Mt. Pleasant township and later pursued a course in the Atchison
Business College. After finishing his business course he returned to his
father’s farm and took charge of the fruit growing and general farming.
Later he spent three years in Colorado in the employ of a Denver
wholesale book and stationery house. In 1894 he returned to the home
farm and successfully managed it until 1908. He then removed to
Cummings, Kan., and assisted in the organization of the Cummings State
Bank. He became the cashier of this institution and has given evidence
of decided financial and business ability of a high order in his
vocation. Besides his banking interests Mr. Barber has land holdings in
Colorado and western Kansas. He makes his residence at 1020 Santa Fe
street in Atchison.
The marriage of H. J. Barber and Miss Eva Wertz was solemnized in
February 19, 1902. Mrs. Barber was born the twenty-sixth of May, 1878,
in Pennsylvania, a daughter of David and Eliza Wertz, both of whom were
born and reared in the Keystone State. David Wertz was for many years a
merchant at Parnell, Kan., and is now living in retirement at that
place. The mother of Mrs. Barber is now deceased. One child, Mary Reta,
born August 13, 1904, has blessed the marriage of Herbert J. and Eva
Barber.
Politically, Mr. Barber is a Republican, and has held the office of
trustee of Mt. Pleasant township for four years. He and his family are
religiously affiliated with the Baptist church. He is a member of the
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Washington lodge, No. 5, of Atchison,
and the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Barber is a booster and public-
spirited citizen by nature and is always ready and willing to support
anything for the good of the community and the people. Every civic
program which will have a tendency to benefit the whole of the people
finds him as one of its warmest supporters.
ROBERT PINDER.
Robert Pinder, the efficient and capable manager of the Effingham Lumber
Company, while having been a resident of Effingham but a few years, has
so identified himself with the life of the community and taken such an
active part in the city’s affairs, that his citizenship is an important
and component part of the body politic. He is a hustler in both thought
and deed, and strives to advance his city as well as managing his
business at profit, and so as to gain increasing prestige for the lumber
company’s business, which has been under the present management since
1912. The company conducts a general lumber business, and sells all
kinds of building material, such as farm gates, Crown and Tulsa silos,
of superior make, tiling, roofing and roof paints, etc. The sheds and
yards cover six lots, and Mr. Pinder employs two men to care for the
business. The president of the company is W. C. Alexander, of Atchison;
the vice president is T. B. Pinder, of Clifton, Kan., and the general
manager and secretary-treasurer is Robert Pinder, with whom this
narrative is directly concerned.
Robert Pinder was born September 5, 1872, in Timberland, England, a son
of John and Anna (Burton) Pinder, who were farmers in their native
country, and about 1894 immigrated to this country and settled on a farm
near Everest, Kan., where they died. In 1886 Robert was indentured at
Martindales, England, for three years and one and one-half years at
Horncastle, to grocery and provision merchants, with the understanding
that he was to receive his board and lodging, and his father was to
provide for other necessaries, such as wearing apparel, and medicine, in
case of sickness. His periods of indenture required both day and night
service and to play no games, or frequent taverns or dice tables, or
contract matrimony, or buy and sell. For an American boy to be required
to do anything of this sort would be considered the rankest injustice,
and he would rebel at being compelled seemingly to sacrifice his liberty
and become a bound employe for so long a time. But such is the custom in
England, and the training which Robert Pinder received during his four
and one-half years of indenture proved exceedingly valuable lo him in
later years. After serving his time as an apprentice he continued in the
provision business for three and one-half years longer, and then came to
America, journeying direct to Doniphan county in 1894. In the spring of
the following year he moved out on the farm owned by his father, who had
brought the entire family, with the exception of one brother, to this
country. He assisted his father in the cultivation of the farm for four
years, and then accepted a position in the lumber business of E. L.
Alexander, at Everest, Kan., in the spring of 1899. Three months later
he became manager of the Purcell Lumber Company, at Purcell, Kan., and
remained in this position for three years, following which employment he
was manager of the Alexander Lumber Company at Havensville, Kan., for
over ten years. In the spring of 1912 Mr. Pinder came to Effingham and
took charge of the Effingham Lumber Company. His success in the lumber
business has been marked and rapid, and is an indication of true and
tireless business ability of a high order. He is secretary and a
stockholder of the Alexander Lumber Company, a large concern: secretary
of the Harrison Lumber Company, of Garnett, Kan., and is interested in
this concern as a stockholder. Mr. Pinder also administered the family
estate after his father’s death in 1909, and his mother’s demise in the
year following. There were eight children in the family: Frederick died
in infancy; John W., living, in England; Edith Mary, wife of William
Pinder, of Huron, Kan.; Robert; Charles, a farmer living near Huron:
Henrietta died at Everest; Emma A., wife of Arthur Harris, of Everest;
Thomas Benton, in the lumber business at Clifton, Kan.
Mr. Pinder was married November 1, 1900, to Harriet M. Pinder, who was
born in Denton, a daughter of A. G. Pinder, a farmer, residing near
Huron, Kan. Four children have blessed this union: Ruth Mary, born in
November, 1901; Cecil Francis, born in 1903; Leslie Benton, born in
1906; John Sylvester, born in 1909.
Mr. Pinder is a progressive Republican, and has pronounced and decided
views upon independence in politics, and believes in “a government of
the people and by the people,” and not for the benefit of the favored
few. He is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church, and is
fraternally allied with the Knights and Ladies of Security, and the
Lumberman’s “Hoo-Hoo” society.
THOMAS J. POTTER.
For twenty-four years Thomas J. Potter has served the people well and
faithfully as postmaster of the town which was named in honor of his
father. Joseph Potter, one of the distinguished pioneer settlers of
Atchison county, Kansas. Thomas J. Potter was born January 29, 1856, on
a farm which later became the townsite of Potter, Kan., and was settled
upon by his father in 1854. Mr. Potter probably holds the record for
long and continuous residence in Atchison county as a native son of this
county. He was a son of Joseph and Minerva (Wiley) Potter, natives of
Kentucky and descendants of colonial ancestry. Thomas Potter, father of
Joseph, tracing his ancestry direct to a member of the colony founded at
Jamestown, Va., by Capt. John Smith, in 1607. Thomas Potter, grandfather
of T. J., was born in old Virginia, and was a pioneer settler in Lincoln
county, Kentucky.
Joseph Potter was born in 1819 in Kentucky, married there and reared a
family. When Kentucky began to take on a crowded condition, which was
inimical to a great many of the early settlers of the Daniel Boone
class, Thomas Potter conceived the idea of migrating westward, as Boone
had done. Accordingly, he sent his son, Joseph, to the wild country of
Saline county, Missouri, to find out about the fertility of the land,
and to determine whether or not the country was suitable for settlement.
Joseph made the trip in safety and made a favorable report on his
arrival home. The family, thereupon, disposed of their land holdings in
Kentucky and made the overland trip to Missouri, finally locating in
Buchanan county of that State, near the town of DeKalb, in 1846. Here
Joseph Potter was married in 1851 to Minerva Wiley, whose parents had
migrated from the old home in Kentucky to Buchanan county, Missouri,
about the same time the Potter family had settled there. Three years
later, in 1854, Joseph Potter and his wife removed to Atchison county
and filed upon an 160 acre claim, on part of which acreage the town of
Potter is now built. This was some years before Kansas became a State,
and about the time the great struggle between the pro- and anti-slavery
men was beginning for the control of Kansas. Joseph Potter was a strong
anti-slavery man, who was not afraid to voice his convictions in
unmistakable language at any and all times. He was firm in his belief
that slavery was an evil which should be abolished, and his
aggressiveness led him into frequent conflicts with the pro-slavery
advocates. He was one of the able and fearless leaders of the anti-
slavery contingent in Atchison county, and many times he was threatened
with physical violence. At the time of one of the territorial elections,
only three Free State votes were cast in Joseph Potter’s precinct. Four
thousand votes, a number far in excess of the actual number of voters in
the territory, were cast at this election, and pro-slavery men came from
Missouri, and even from Kentucky, and voted several times in favor of
making Kansas a slave State.
Joseph Potter was a Mexican war veteran. He enlisted in 1846 as a
private soldier in the regular army of the United States, and served
throughout the Mexican conflict under Col. Sterling Price. When the
Civil war broke out he was appointed recruiting officer for the Federal
Government, and later served as a captain in the Kansas State militia.
Joseph Potter served one term as a member of the State legislature. In
the year 1886 the town of Potter was established and named in his honor.
One of the most cherished of the friendships of this hardy pioneer was
that of the late Senator John J. Ingalls, a friendship which began in
the troublous days preceding the Civil war, and endured until death
parted them, long afterward. Mr. Potter’s first impression of John J.
Ingalls was obtained at an anti-slavery meeting held in Mount Pleasant
township, and he was fond of relating the occurrence after the Senator
became a Nation-wide character of prominence. Joseph Potter was the
political leader of the anti-slavery party in that section of the State
at the time, and Mr. Ingalls, then a young man of twenty-five, had
opened his law office a few weeks previously in the old town of Sumner,
Kan. Ingalls spoke at this meeting, and it is recalled, that as he arose
to speak, a tall young man, pale and slender, the impression that he
made upon his audience was small, and there were those present who even
sneered when he began to speak. It was not long, however, as the future
senator swung into his theme, until he convinced his auditors that he
had a thorough knowledge of Kansas conditions, and could speak with an
eloquence and honesty of delivery that was convincing. The listeners who
came to scoff, left the meeting as warm admirers of Mr. Ingalls, and Mr.
Potter was forever afterward his warm supporter.
Joseph Potter and his wife were the parents of eight children, as
follows: Celia J., wife of T. Lawler, of Cowles, Neb.; Francis, living
on the old home place in Walnut township; Alice P., residing on the home
farm; Josephine P., wife of J. W. Miller, of Atchison; Thomas J.; Samuel
L., a banker, living at Cutbank, Mont.; John J., also living on the old
homestead.
Thomas J. Potter was born and reared on the old home farm of the Potter
family, and followed the occupation of a tiller of the soil until he was
twenty-seven years of age. He was appointed postmaster of the town of
Potter, and was re-appointed in 1898, and has held the office
continuously ever since. He was married in 1882 to Fannie M. Brown, a
daughter of John Brown, of Missouri. Two children bless this union:
George Potter, in the United States mail service in Chicago, Ill., and
Garland J., wife of Charles Pruitt, of Sioux Falls, S. D. The mother of
these children died in February, 1906. In the year 1913 Mr. Potter took
for his second wife, Mrs. Estella Everhardt, widow of Charles Everhardt,
and a daughter of N. D. West, a native of New Jersey, who settled in
Kansas in the early territorial days.
Mr. Potter is politically allied with the Republican party and is a
supporter of Republican principles. He belongs to the Christian church,
and is fraternally affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America.
BENJAMIN F. SHAW.
Benjamin F. Shaw, hardware merchant, of Potter, Kan., is a native of
Atchison county, and is one of Potter’s younger successful business men.
He was born October 11, 1882, on a farm in this county. He is a son of
Henry and Martha (Nelson) Shaw, the former a native of Roodhouse, Ill.,
and the latter of Missouri. Both parents are of English ancestry. Henry
Shaw came to Kansas in 1867 when a young man twenty years of age. When
he came here he had a cash capital of about $100. He was of a saving
disposition, however, and it was not long until he became the owner of a
fine farm of 320 acres in Leavenworth county, Kansas. He is now residing
in Leavenworth, living on a small farm of twenty acres within the city
limits.
Benjamin F. is the fourth of six children born to Henry and Martha Shaw,
and is the only son. He spent his boyhood days on his father’s farm and
attended the district school in his neighborhood. When nineteen years of
age he came to Potter and entered the employ of L. M. Jewell, in his
general merchandise store. He began working for a salary of sixteen
dollars per month. When Mr. Jewell took charge of the Potter State Bank
as cashier, Mr. Shaw was placed in charge of the Jewell lumber yard and
furniture store. Shortly afterward he was enabled to purchase a half
interest in the furniture store. Within a year he sold his interest in
the furniture business and bought a half interest in the hardware store
of J. C. Helvey. Upon Mr. Helvey’s death, three years later, Mr. Shaw
purchased his former partner’s interest, and has since conducted the
business entirely in his own name, as the sole proprietor. Mr. Shaw has
met with signal success in his business venture, and has grown with the
town of Potter. He has increased the value of the hardware stock in his
establishment from $2,200 to over $7,000. In addition to his business he
is the owner of farm lands near the town of Potter. This is a
considerable accomplishment for a young man who began his career with
practically no capital, but a willingness to do the best he could, and
endowed with plenty of energy and intelligence.
Mr. Shaw was married in November of 1904 to Miss Louise Bessler, of
Leavenworth, Kan. His political affiliations are with the Democratic
party, and he is fraternally connected with the Modern Woodmen lodge.
LAWRENCE GRIFFIN.
A review of the life of the late Lawrence Griffin, of Effingham, Kan.,
is the story of a poor Irish lad who left his native land, served his
adopted country in the Civil war, became a pioneer in Kansas, and was a
railroad builder and successful farmer, and in the course of years
realized in full his boyhood dream of wealth and position in the great,
free land of America.
[Illustration:
_L. Griffin_
]
Lawrence Griffin was born in County Galway, Ireland, in 1838, a son of
poor Irish parents. When a boy in his teens he immigrated to America and
joined his brother, Michael, in Ohio, and there engaged in farm work for
a living. He worked his way westward, and at the outbreak of the Civil
war was driving a stage coach out of Springfield, Ill., where he
enlisted August 3, 1862, in Company C, Twenty-seventh regiment, Illinois
infantry, and served until his honorable discharge, September 20, 1864.
He fought in many important battles, among them being Belmont, Mo.,
Union City, siege and capture of Island No. 10, Farmington Mills, siege
and capture of Vicksburg, Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge, and the
battle of Chattanooga. After the war he went to St. Louis, Mo., and from
that city made his way to Atchison, where he took a contract under J. P.
Brown for building a portion of the grade of the Central Branch
railroad, at that time under course of construction. His first job was
the grading of one mile of road called section 20 in partnership with a
Mr. Keean. In partnership with James Brady he then graded two miles of
road near Wetmore, Kan. He saved his money which he made from his
grading operations and in 1867 was married and purchased a farm of
eighty acres near Arrington on the creek bottoms. He was compelled to
leave this place after one year on account of ague and invested in 160
acres of land north of Arrington, which he later sold and bought 160
acres of higher land four miles west of Effingham. This was prairie land
which he at once began to improve and made into a permanent home for his
family. He and his wife first lived in a small house and were often
discouraged and faced failure many times, but persistence and fortitude
finally won out and they became the possessors of 400 acres of well
improved land on which were erected two sets of farm buildings. Three
hundred and twenty acres yet remain intact of the original holdings,
which are rented to tenants. In 1908 Mr. and Mrs. Griffin left the farm
and purchased a handsome residence in Effingham where Mrs. Griffin now
resides.
Mr. Griffin was married November 25, 1865, in the old St. Benedict’s
Church in Atchison, to Miss Ellen Gallagher, the marriage ceremony being
performed by Father Timothy. Ten children have blessed this union, as
follows: Michael died in infancy; Martin Lawrence, a farmer at Wetmore,
Kan.; Ellen, wife of James Bergen, Graham county, Kansas; Elizabeth,
wife of Michael Murphy, Dallas, Texas; Anna, at home with her mother;
Patrick Henry, conducting a livery business at Effingham; John J.,
cultivating the home farm; Frank, agent for the Southern Life Insurance
Company, Wichita Falls, Texas; Walter L., a traveling salesman, Dallas,
Texas, and who graduated from the Atchison County High School, and
studied two years at St. Benedict’s College; James Ambrose, also a
graduate of the Atchison County High School, and now a stenographer in
the office with his brother at Dallas, Texas. The mother of these
children was born September 15, 1850, at La Salle, Ill., a daughter of
Martin and Anne (Corcoran) Gallagher, both of whom were born in County
Mayo, Ireland. They came to this country when young and Mr. Gallagher
took up a homestead in Illinois and also engaged in freighting from La
Salle to Chicago. He died in 1851, and the widow, accompanied by Ellen
and two sons, came to Atchison county in 1860 and made their home here.
Mrs. Gallagher married again, her second husband being Frank Cullen, who
preëmpted land near Muscotah, upon which the family moved from Atchison
in 1863. Mr. Cullen died in 1888. The mother of Mrs. Griffin died in
1890, at the age of sixty-six years.
Lawrence Griffin was a member of the Catholic church and was always a
liberal contributor to the support of that denomination, giving
substantially in aid of the building of the Catholic church in
Effingham. While he was a rough and ready type of man who took the world
as he found it, he was very moral and believed in living according to
the golden rule. He was very charitable to the poor and worthy and was a
kind husband, and a loving and indulgent father, whose sole aim in
amassing a comfortable fortune was to provide well for his wife and
children. In this aim he succeeded.
CHARLES E. BARKER.
The Nation owes a debt to the veterans of the Civil war, who gave the
best years of their young lives to the defense of the Union, and marched
under the star-spangled banner under the leadership of such heroes as
Grant, Sherman and Sheridan, which can never be fully repaid. The ranks
of the grand army of brave and true men who have worn the blue are
gradually thinning out, and where once they were numbered in hundreds
and thousands throughout this broad land, there are now but few in each
community. These veterans were of the salt of the earth, and no better
type of manhood ever trod the earth or marched to the strains of martial
music than the old guard, which saved the Union, at the call of Abraham
Lincoln. Living on a farm, in the northwest part of Benton township,
Atchison county, Kansas, is a survivor of General Sherman’s victorious
“march to the sea.” Comrade Charles E. Barker gave three years of his
life in the defense of the Union and flag, and has a war record which
has been equalled or surpassed by but few men who shouldered a musket to
save the Union from dissolution.
Charles E. Barker, well-to-do farmer, of Atchison county, Kansas, was
born in Fulton county, Illinois, April 4, 1842, a son of John and
Eleanor (Rutledge) Barker. The father of Charles was born in Virginia
July 20, 1786, and learned the blacksmith’s trade when yet a boy. He
migrated to Fulton county, Illinois, as early as 1826, and there
operated a blacksmith shop. He was twice married, his second wife being
Eleanor Rutledge, who bore him three children: George R., deceased;
James Lee, deceased: Charles E. The four children by the first marriage
were Joseph, John W., Sarah, and Elizabeth, deceased. The mother of
Charles E. was born in Greenbrier county, Virginia, November 28, 1801,
and died September 3, 1873. John Barker died in Fulton county, Illinois,
in September of 1861.
Charles E. Barker grew up on his father’s farm, and helped in the shop
and on the farm until his enlistment, at the age of twenty years. At the
outbreak of the war he harkened to Lincoln’s call for volunteers to
quell the rebellion of the Southern States, and went to Vermont, Ill.,
where he enlisted in Company F, One Hundred and third regiment, Illinois
infantry, August 14, 1862, under the command of General Sherman, and Mr.
Barker acted as commissary sergeant in Tennessee and the South. He
participated in the following engagements: Vicksburg, Mission Ridge,
Kenesaw Mountain, Resaca, Ga., Peachtree Creek, Ga., Dallas,
Gristleville, November 26, 1864, and many others, his regiment being in
twenty-seven battles in all. He marched under Sherman’s banner from
Atlanta to the sea, and then marched in the Grand Review at Washington,
D. C. He was honorably discharged at Chicago, Ill., July 7, 1865. He
returned home after his discharge, and remained in Fulton county,
Illinois, until 1883, when he disposed of his holdings there and went to
Dade county, Missouri, where he bought a farm. He remained in Dade
county for several years, living on various farms which he bought and
sold. In August, 1887, he went to Furnace county, Nebraska, and
purchased a half section of land, to which he added 160 acres later,
which he sold in 1903 to his son, Harry. On March 1, 1891, he went to
Brown county, Kansas, and lived there until his removal to Atchison
county. In 1894 he came to Atchison county, Kansas, and bought 160 acres
of land in the northwest corner of Benton township. He improved this
farm and cultivated it with profit to himself. He maintains good graded
live stock on his acreage and is considered one of the really successful
agriculturists of the county. Nearly all of his land is sown to alfalfa
and grasses.
On April 19, 1866, Mr. Barker was married to Mary E. Pontious, who has
borne him six children, as follows: Leonard, a farmer, of Norton county,
Kansas; Ira C., of Gooding, Idaho; Harry E., living in Brown county,
Kansas; William L., a farmer, of Kapioma township, Atchison county,
Kansas; Perry, residing in Stanford, Neb.; Nora, deceased. The mother of
these children was born in Ohio, a daughter of Andrew and Ann (Bear)
Pontious, natives of Germany.
Mr. Barker is a Democrat of the old school, and is a firm believer in
Democratic principles. He belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic,
Effingham Post, and numbers among the members of this organization many
warm friends and comrades. He has taken his place in the community as a
representative citizen, who enjoys the respect and esteem of all who
know him. He can look back over his three score and thirteen years of
life with satisfaction and realize with complacency that it has been
well spent, and he has accomplished all that any good American could
wish for on this earth.
JOHN E. SULLIVAN.
If a man has the inherent ability and energy in his makeup to enable him
to succeed, he is going to do it. The life stories of all successful,
self-made men bear out this contention, and there are numberless
instances of success among the younger generation in the West which are
well worth recounting. John E. Sullivan, real estate dealer, loan and
insurance agent, of Effingham, Kansas, is a representative example of
the class referred to in the foregoing statement. Mr. Sullivan was
destined to succeed in his farming and business ventures, and, while a
young man, he has already made his mark in the world, and is one of the
substantial and influential citizens of Atchison county.
John E. Sullivan was born on a farm, near Rulo, Richardson county,
Nebraska, January 20, 1873. He is a son of Murty and Mary (Rawley)
Sullivan, substantial and well respected citizens of Effingham. The
former was born in Ireland in 1847, and the latter is a native of
Canada, born of Irish parents in 1852. Murty Sullivan left Ireland in
1865, immigrated to America and settled near Rulo, Neb. He made his own
way in this country, and accumulated a large farm in Nebraska, on which
he resided until 1910, when he removed to Effingham and purchased a farm
adjoining the town on the south. Murty and Mary Sullivan are the parents
of the following children: James and Murty, Jr., living at Hardin,
Mont.; Daniel D., a farmer, of Benton township, Atchison county, Kan.;
John E., the subject of this review; Mrs. John Vogel, of Falls City,
Neb.; Sister M. Teresa, a sister of the Ursuline Convent, of York, Neb.,
and a teacher in St. Angela’s Academy there. The family are all members
of the Catholic church.
John E. received his primary education in the common schools of his
native county in Nebraska, and finished his education in St. Benedict’s
College, Atchison, Kan., graduating from the commercial department of
that institution in 1894. He then took a special teachers’ course at the
Lincoln, Neb., Normal School. He taught school for seven years in
Richardson county, Nebraska, and practically all of his teaching was
done in two schools of his home county. Upon his marriage in 1897 he
engaged in farming in Nebraska, and it is a matter of pride with Mr.
Sullivan that he earned more money in two years of farming operations
than he had in all of his seven years of teaching, another reason why
the farm is the best place for a young and ambitious man to make money.
His success as a farmer determined his future career, and he decided to
stick to the agricultural country for all time, imbued with the belief
that there is money to be earned in farming, or in handling farm lands.
He left Nebraska in December of 1901, and came to Atchison county,
Kansas, where he purchased a farm, one and one-half miles south of
Effingham, his first farm being the northwest quarter of section 34–618.
He is at present the owner of 400 acres of well improved land which is
kept in a high state of cultivation by improved methods of farming. Mr.
Sullivan raises considerable live stock on his acreage and aims to feed
all the grain raised on the land to live stock. He specializes in
Hereford cattle and Poland China hogs and aims to keep only good grade
of stock of all kinds. At the time of his purchase of the farm land in
Atchison county, the land itself was in poor condition, and the soil had
become impoverished by continual cropping of a single staple. Through
the modern method of crop rotation Mr. Sullivan is reviving the
fertility of the soil, and at the present time the greater portion of
his farm is planted to clover and grasses, for the purpose of renewing
the strength of the soil, the process being assisted by the raising and
feeding of live stock on the place. The Sullivan farm has splendid
improvements, which were placed on it by Mr. Sullivan, who erected a
modern eight-room house and a good barn. In 1907 Mr. Sullivan was
induced to take up insurance work as a side line, in the interest of a
Nebraska insurance company, and met with great success in his new line
of work. He later took up the real estate business and the handling of
loans, and has been likewise successful in establishing a permanent
business which requires his attention and necessitates an office in
Effingham. The Sullivan real estate and loan office is well located in
the Farmers and Merchants State Bank, of which concern Mr. Sullivan
served as cashier and a director for several years.
He was married February 16, 1897, to Mary Majerus, a native born
resident of Richardson county, Nebraska, and a daughter of Jacob and
Elizabeth (Wilker) Majerus, the former a native of Germany, and the
latter of Ohio, of German parents. Seven children have blessed this
union, namely: P. Justin, aged seventeen, and a student of St.
Benedict’s College, class of 1916; Leo, aged thirteen years; Nellie, ten
years old; Elizabeth, aged eight; Edward, six years old; Agnes, three
years of age; and Mary, born January 28, 1915.
Mr. Sullivan is a Democrat who takes an active and influential part in
the affairs of his party in Atchison county, having been the candidate
of the party for county treasurer in 1914. He is fraternally affiliated
with the Modern Woodmen, of Effingham, the Knights of Columbus, of
Atchison, and the Central Protective Association.
SAMUEL L. LOYD.
Samuel L. Loyd, an enterprising and successful farmer, of Shannon
township, was born June 11, 1860, in Brown county, Ohio, a son of Thomas
F. and Celina (McGinness) Loyd, natives of Kentucky and Ohio,
respectively. His paternal ancestors were of Welsh extraction. William
Loyd, grandfather of Samuel Loyd, after making a home for his family in
this country, started on a return trip to his native land, in order to
secure a legacy which had been willed to him by a deceased relative, and
on the way was afflicted with cholera, and died. With his death,
practically all knowledge of the family in the old country passed away,
and his widow and two children were left to get along as best they
could. Two years later the widow died. Thomas F. Loyd was reared by a
Mr. Boyd, and removed from Kentucky to Brown county, Ohio, when he
became of age, and there married Celina McGinness. About 1865 he set out
for the western country to obtain cheaper land, and make a permanent
home for his family. After living for one year in Clark county,
Missouri, he loaded his effects on a covered wagon, and with his wife
and children crossed the Missouri river at St. Joseph, and settled on a
farm in Doniphan county, Kansas, April 14, 1866. Thomas F. Loyd was a
member of the Home Guard in Brown county, Ohio, during the Civil war. He
was born in 1825, and died in 1910. His wife, Celina, was born in 1829,
and died in 1906. They were the parents of ten children, seven of whom
are living: William, Mollie, deceased, Charles, deceased, Samuel L.,
Anna, George, Effie, Otis, Oscar, and Celina, deceased.
Samuel L. Loyd was six years of age when his parents located in Doniphan
county, and consequently knows a great deal about the early days in
Kansas, and the struggles of the early settlers to make homes on the
prairie. He was brought up on the farm, and attended the district school
when possible, and learned very early in life to do farm work. After his
marriage he farmed in Doniphan county until 1899, when he came to
Shannon township in Atchison county, and purchased 160 acres of fine
land, which he has brought to a high state of cultivation. During his
sixteen years of residence here he has improved his farm to a
considerable extent, and has spent over $5,000 in the erection of a
handsome brick residence which sets far back on a rise of ground and is
reached from the highway by a private driveway. Other improvements on
the place in the way of buildings and fences have cost him over $1,500.
A severe storm, which swept this section May 3, 1903, did damage to the
extent of over $500 to his buildings, and he found it necessary to
repair all of this.
Mr. Loyd was married September 2, 1896, to Miss Lulu Voelker, born and
brought up in Atchison county, a few miles north of the city of
Atchison. To this union five children have been born: Myrtle Ceina, Edna
Lula, good educations by their ambitious parents. Mrs. Loyd is a sister
of Conrad Voelker, a wealthy and prominent farmer residing on one of the
finest farms in the county, about four miles north of Atchison, and who
earned the title of “Cabbage King” of Kansas, because of his wonderful
success in growing that vegetable some years ago. Mrs. Loyd was born
July 14, 1872, and is a daughter of Karl Voelker, who immigrated to this
country from Germany in 1861, and operated a dairy and truck farm in
Shannon township for several years. The mother of Mrs. Loyd was
Christina Neuhaus, of German parents. Further details of the history of
the Voelker family are found elsewhere in this volume. Conrad M., a
nephew of Mrs. Loyd, is county clerk of Atchison county.
Mr. Loyd is a Republican, but gives little or no attention to political
affairs, other than to vote as his conscience dictates. He is affiliated
with the Central Protective Association, and is a member of Good Intent
lodge, of Shannon township. While Mrs. Loyd was reared in the Lutheran
faith, the members of the Loyd family attend the Methodist church. For a
man who was forced to make his own way in the world, Mr. Loyd, with the
assistance of his faithful wife, has accomplished a great deal, for
which he deserves credit and honor among his neighbors.
JULIUS KAAZ.
The life story of Julius Kaaz, founder and proprietor of the
manufacturing concern which bears his name, is an account of the
achievements of a self-made man who left his native land to seek
opportunity and fortune in Atchison, and found it. During the period of
thirty-four years of his life which has been spent in his adopted city,
Mr. Kaaz has succeeded even beyond his expectations and has made a place
for himself an enviable one in the city. He arrived in Atchison in 1881
without a dollar, but endowed with a willingness to do whatever came to
hand, imbued with a desire to succeed where the opportunity awaited him.
The Julius Kaaz Manufacturing Company is a monument to his industry and
ambition. This is one of the thriving and important establishments in
the city of Atchison, and is widely known as one of the city’s leading
industries. The extensive plant covers two floors of a building, 52×130
feet, and from eighteen to twenty men are employed in the mill proper,
and from five to thirty-five men are given employment at outside work.
The factory is conveniently located at 1200–1208 Main street and is
fully equipped with all modern machinery to facilitate the manufacture
of the high grade products which consist principally of bank, church and
store fixtures, made to the order of the purchaser. An example of the
high grade work turned out by the Kaaz plant can be seen in the interior
fixings and furniture of the German-American State Bank of Atchison. Mr.
Kaaz ships his output to Kansas and Nebraska cities and all parts of the
United States, and it is unsurpassed in quality and finish.
Julius Kaaz was born March 26, 1854, in Prussia, German Empire, a son of
Daniel and Christina (Schroeder) Kaaz, who were the parents of four
children: Wilhelmina Loeproeck, a widow residing in Atchison county;
Ernest, Atchison; Mrs. Christina Schmeling, deceased; Julius, the
youngest of the family. Daniel Kaaz was a carpenter by trade and came to
Atchison from Germany with his family in 1881. He resided with his son
Julius upon his retirement from active labor until his death in 1902.
His wife, Christina, was born in 1821, and died in 1895.
[Illustration:
_Jul. Kaaz_
]
Julius Kaaz attended the schools of his native land and studied
architecture. He learned the trade of carpenter under his father, but
could not content himself to settle down in his native land and follow
in the footsteps of his forebears. When still a young man the germ of
ambition called him to other lands, and his goal was America. His desire
to better his condition led him to set sail for this country in 1881,
arriving in Atchison, where he at once sought employment. His first work
was cutting cordwood in the timber land, south of the city, during the
winter, and in the spring of the following year he worked on the
Missouri river, making and placing riprap. Soon afterward he was given a
job working at his trade for $1.50 per day. For one year he worked for
wages, and at length decided to embark in business for himself and began
taking contracts at a time when he had no capital worth speaking of. It
was even necessary for him to borrow the saw and hammer which he used in
his work. In 1885 he formed a partnership with Henry Braun in the
contracting business which continued until 1909, when they dissolved
partnership. In 1907 Mr. Kaaz erected his first planing mill which has
grown into his present extensive establishment consisting of plant,
yards and warerooms.
He was married to Ida Schmeling in 1883, and to this union have been
born nine children, as follows: Emil, Lena, Robert, Lydia, Julius E.,
Otto, Fred, Arthur, Martha. Of these children Martha is deceased, Lydia
is her father’s secretary, Fred is also employed in the office, and Otto
H. is employed in the mill. Mrs. Kaaz was born September 6, 1856, in
Prussia, German Empire, and is a daughter of August and Ernestine
(Polzien) Schmeling. She left her native land when sixteen years of age
and came to Atchison.
Mr. Kaaz, while politically allied with the Republican party, is an
independent voter who believes in voting for the individual who seems to
be most capable of serving the people, rather than supporting an avowed
politician. He and the members of his family are affiliated with the
German Lutheran church and are liberal supporters of this denomination.
GEORGE W. REDMOND, M. D.