A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans
Volume III
by William E. Connelley Chicago : Lewis, 1918
A-M
NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the
Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message
remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in
any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations.
Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than
stated above must obtain the
written consent of the file contributor.
This file was contributed for use in the Kansas AHGP Jackson County by County
Coordinator
ACKER, William
William Acker has for many years been prominently known in Marshall County, at
first as a teacher and educator, afterwards as a farmer and stock raiser, and in
connection with various public interests and affairs. Mr. Acker is vice
president of the State Bank of Vermillion and is one of the leading blooded
stock raisers in that community.
He is a native of Kansas and was born in Seneca March 19, 1862. He was left an
orphan almost in infancy, and was adopted and reared by the late D. W. Acker,
whose family name he took. His own family name was Spencer. His father, John
Spencer, was born in Indiana and was a Kansas pioneer, locating in Seneca in
1856. For some years he ran a stage line between Leavenworth and Seneca. His
death occurred as a result of an accident near Leavenworth in 1865. The Spencer
family is of very early Colonial American stock and settled in Massachusetts
along about the time of the Mayflower pilgrims. John Spencer married Julia
Smith, who was born in New York State in 1840 and died in Seneca in 1862, soon
after the birth of her only child, William. Julia Smith was a sister of Mrs.
Mary V. Lyon and H. E. Smith, well known pioneers of Nemaha County, and who
later removed to Santa Ans, California.
D. W. Acker, foster father of William Acker, was born in New York State in 1826.
He was one of the prominent free state men in early Kansas Territory, locating
in Sumner, near Atchison, in 1854. By trade he was a brick maker and he had the
distinction of manufacturing the first brick in Sumner, probably the first in
Kansas, and also made the first brick ever made at Atchison. From brick burned
in his kiln he erected the first brick building in the City of Atchison. For a
few years he was a resident of Atchison, and as an old timer became associated
with such prominent citizens of Kansas as J. J. Ingalls, Jim Lane, Governor
Harvey and others. In 1860 he removed to Nemaha County, Kansas, and engaged in
brick making and farming. In 1866 he removed to a farm near Vermillion and
subsequently was a brick manufacturer at Seneca. His death occurred on his farm
near Vermillion in 1902. He was a republican and had played a very active part
in the events by which Kansas was made a free state. He was at one time a
conductor on the "underground" railway. He had a part in the border wars, and as
a member of the Kansas militia helped repel Price's army from Kansas. He served
as city clerk and justice of the peace at Seneca and filled other local offices,
and in Masonry was grand lecturer of the State of Kansas at the time of his last
illness. He was one of the best known Masons in the entire state. D. W. Acker
married Nancy Jane Kinney, who was born in New York State in 1831 and died at
Vermillion, Kansas, in 1908. They had no children except their foster child,
William Acker.
William Acker was educated in the public schools of Marshall County and is also
a graduate of the Kansas Normal College at Paola. Until twenty years of age he
lived with his adopted parents, but at the age of sixteen had begun teaching in
Marshall County. For ten years most of his time was spent in the school room.
Since then he had been occupied with stock raising and farming and had been one
of the leading buyers and shippers of cattle out of Marshall. He had a fine
stock farm adjoining Vermillion on the east. Mr. Acker makes a specialty of
Hereford cattle and Poland China hogs. Besides his substantial country home,
where he resided, he owned a garage in Vermillion and also a store building in
that city.
Mr. Acker was superintendent of schools of Marshall County during 1888-90. He
had held various township offices in Noble Township and had been a director of
the public schools. He is a republican and is identified with Vermillion Lodges
of Masons and Odd Fellows. He is a Scottish Rite Mason. Mr. Acker married in
1887 at Wymore, Nebraska, Miss Ella. C. Sheridan, for many years a successful
teacher in Marshall County, and a daughter of W. D. and Melinda Sheridan. Her
parents are both now deceased. Her father was a farmer and an early settler in
Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Acker have no children.
ALDERFER, Allen A.
Allen A. Alderfer had been a merchant and connected with different enterprises
in Topeka for many years, and is one of the well known citizens.
He came to Kansas when he was about twenty-one years of age. He was born at
Sterling, Illinois, August 16, 1865, a son of Philip and Matilda (Siegfried)
Alderfer. Both parents were natives of Pennsylvania, his father of Lancaster,
and from that state he moved to Akron, Ohio, and later to Sterling, Illinois,
where he is now living retired. He spent his active business career as a cigar
maker and farmer. The mother died in Sterling, Illinois, December 24, 1911. The
other son is L. S. Alderfer, a tobacconist at South Bend, Indiana.
Allen A. Alderfer acquired his early education in the grade schools of Sterling,
Illinois. As a vigorous young man seeking the opportunities of the West he
arrived at Atchison, Kansas, February 7, 1886, remained in that city about six
weeks and then was successively at Junction City, Clay Center and Concordia,
spending the summer at the last named place. The following winter and spring he
was with the staff of Santa Fe Railway surveyors until they disbanded. Topeka
had been his home ever since. For two years he was employed in the Santa Fe
shops and then spent seven years with the Topeka Flour Mills Company and the
Shawnee Milling Company. With this preparation for an independent career, he
engaged in the grocery business at 400 East 8th Street, remained in that
location seven years, and had since continued to supply goods of high and
reliable quality to his large patronage at 1001 Morris Avenue.
Mr. Alderfer, who had never married, is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member
of the Mystic Shrine and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Politically he
is a republican.
BAILEY, Willis J.
Willis J. Bailey, who was governor of Kansas from 1903 to 1905, had been a
resident of the state since 1879 and had long stood as a leader in agricultural
affairs, as a banker, and as a member of the republican party. His home is now
in the City of Atchison, where he is vice president and managing officer of the
Exchange National Bank.
His administration as governor of Kansas is made the subject of some paragraphs
in an appropriate place on other pages of this history. The following is
intended merely as a biographical statement of his career and with some notice
of his varied and effective interests as a Kansan.
Willis J. Bailey was born at Mount Carroll, Illinois, October 12, 1854, and is
of New England ancestry and descended from a long line of whigs and republicans.
The Baileys came out of England and were colonial settlers in Massachusetts
prior to the year 1640. Governor Bailey's grandfather, Joshua Bailey, was born
in 1780 and served in the War of 1812 as a member of Captain Tomlinson's
company. For many years he lived on a farm in Warren County, New York, but in
1845 moved out to Mount Carroll, Illinois, and continued farming in that
community until his death in 1870. He was a Whig during the existence of that
party, and then became a republican. He was one of the very active members of
the Baptist Church in his different communities. He married Lydia Kinyon, who
was born in New York State and died in Warren County there.
Monroe Bailey, father of Governor Bailey, was born in Warren County, New York,
in 1818. From his native county he removed in 1839 to Mount Carroll, Illinois,
and was one of the very early settlers in that section. He developed a farm and
became a prosperous and influential citizen. In October, 1879, he followed his
son to Kansas, locating at Baileyville, a place named in honor of this family,
and lived on a farm there until his death in 1902. He began voting as a whig and
for many years was a loyal and stanch republican. He held some township offices
and at one time was a county commissioner in Illinois. A cousin of the late
Monroe Bailey is Joseph Cook, the noted lecturer. Monroe Bailey married Nancy J.
Melendy, who was born at Cambridge, Vermont, in 1826 and died at Baileyville,
Kansas, in 1901. Her father married a member of the Arbuckle family, related to
the Arbuckle Brothers, famous coffee merchants. Monroe Bailey and wife had four
children: Oscar, who died at Baileyville, Kansas, in 1915; Willis J.; Ernest N.,
who is in the grain and elevator business and a farmer at Baileyville; and
Marion L., wife of C. N. Cafferty, a dentist practicing at Portland, Oregon.
Governor Bailey was educated in the public schools of Mount Carroll, Illinois,
His early life was spent on a farm, and the training he there acquired remained
a strong factor in his subsequent career. He had never been totally divorced
from agricultural affairs. Mr. Bailey was graduated from the Mount Carroll High
School in 1872 and subsequently entered the University of Illinois, where he
finished the Literary and Scientific courses in 1879. In 1904 the University of
Illinois awarded him the honorary degree LL. D.
BARDWELL, Sol. A., Hon.
Hon. Sol. A. Bardwell. Not so often, as in the election and re-election of Hon.
Sol. A. Bardwell, has the public choice fallen upon so able and scholarly a man,
one so admirably qualified for high public service. For many years Mr. Bardwell
was widely known in the educational field, and still later in business circles,
his entire training from boyhood leading along lines that develop mental
strength and stable character. Accustomed to leadership and responsibility, he
entered upon the duties of a legislator with intelligent vision as well as
firmness of purpose. Being a careful student, a ready speaker and naturally
aggressive, he became a strong number from the first and aided in bringing about
much enlightened and constructive legislation.
He was born in Atchison County, Kansas, March 6, 1870, and is one of a family of
six children born to Milner and Mary (Washer) Bardwell. Milner Bardwell was born
in Massachusetts and came of an old and highly respected family of New England.
His father was a Presbyterian minister who was a missionary among the Indians in
Mississippi prior to the Civil war, a short time before which he had removed to
Indiana. Milner Bardwell was then a young man and in Indiana he was married to
Miss Mary Washer, a native of that state. In 1861 Milner Bardwell enlisted in an
Indiana regiment for service in the Civil war, in which he was a faithful
soldier for three years. Sickness then overcame him and he was sent home but
never recovered sufficiently to rejoin his regiment, from which he received an
honorable discharge. In 1868 he came to Kansas and resided in Atchison County
for five years, in 1873 removing with his family to Riley County, where he
pre-empted a homestead and there carried on agricultural pursuits until 1896
when he removed to Clay Center, Kansas, where he resided until his death some
years later.
Sol. Bardwell was reared on his father's farm and can recall the many hardships
and disappointments incident to the pioneer days of Riley County. As he grew to
school age he attended the district school in the winter time, working during
the summer on the farm, and later, continued his studies in the high school at
Clifton, Kansas. He was nineteen years old when he first entered the educational
field, as a district school teacher and for nearly twenty years followed the
profession. In the meanwhile he alternated, for a time attending school and
teaching, in this way completing the educational course he had laid out for
himself. In 1895 he was graduated from the Kansas State Normal School at
Emporia, Kansas. He took a post-graduate course in this institution a few years
later. He taught in the district schools of Riley and Clay counties–was
principal of the Leonardville schools, later principal of the Randolph schools
both of Riley County and then went to Clay County as principal of the New Clay
County High School just established. He remained in this position for seven
years, which he resigned to enter business.
In 1908 Mr. Bardwell moved to Manhattan, Kansas, and went into the real estate
and loan business in partnership with his brother Lou Bardwell, under the firm
name of Bardwell & Bardwell. The business was profitable from the first. This
association continues and is one of the most prosperous in this city, handling a
large amount of outside capital at times that has resulted in fortunate
investments and business development at Manhattan.
Mr. Bardwell has always been identified with the republican party. In 1914 he
was chosen republican candidate for the legislature in Riley County, to which
office he was subsequently easily elected. During his first term he served as
chairman of the committee on education and with exceptional ability, and it has
been said that at this session of the legislature more extensive and
constructive school laws were enacted than ever before in the history of the
state. In the second term he was favorably mentioned as an available candidate
for speaker, but would not himself become an active candidate.
In 1898 Mr. Bardwell was married to Miss Edith Thomas, a daughter of Dr. F. M.
Thomas, of Leonardville, Kansas. Mr. Bardwell is a member of the First
Presbyterian Church of Manhattan and is president of its board of trustees. He
also served four years as president of the board of education. Fraternally he is
a Master Mason and belongs also to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
He is dignified in his manner but frank and affable and his circle of personal
friends and well wishers is wide.
BATTEY, Richmond T.
Richmond T. Battey is a retired banker at Florence, Kansas, with which community
he had been, identified as a businees man and leader in public affairs for forty
years. Mr. Battey is one of the old timers of Kansas. His recollections of the
state go back to the territorial period of the latter '50s. His experiences as a
whole and particularly those of his earlier years are mainly a reflection of
those events and times which form the substance of Kansas history. He knew the
western plains and the old trails by actual experience, and is perhaps as well
informed on that phase of the great western history as any man now living.
Mr. Battey was born at Providence, Rhode Island, September 16, 1849, and came to
Kansas with his parents, Stephen and Rebecca (Cady) Battey. His father was an
early day Kansan, concerning whom some record should be made in permanent form.
He was a native of Rhode Island and died at Florence, Kansas. In early life he
was a confectioner and baker, but subsequently entered the ministry of the
Baptist Church and gave several years to that work. In 1858 he came to Kansas,
and during the first year he leased land now occupied by the campus of Washburn.
College at Topeka. After farming this land a year he went into the freighting
and transportation business over the western plains. That was his main business
for many years until the building of railroads caused the ox and mule trains to
depart forever. He drove many wagon trains, drawn by mule teams, across the
plains to Colorado and other points. For months at a time he lived on no meat
except that of the buffalo and his life was a constant episode and experience of
adventure and romance. During a trip across the plains in 1864 a party of
hostile Indians stole his teams and it was with the greatest difficulty that he
got back to civilization. Stephen and Bebeeca Battey were married in 1835. His
wife was a daughter of Christopher Cady and was born in Rhode Island, and she
also spent her last days in Florence, Kansas. Their children were: Elizabeth
Cady, deceased; David Cady, now a retired merchant at Warren, Rhode Island;
Andrew Jackson, who became a member of Company A of the Seventh Kansas Cavalry,
and lost his life during the war, being killed by the accidental discharge of a
gun; Alvin Dingley, now a retired merchant at Glencoe, Illinois; and Richmond T.
Richmond T. Battey had completed the primary course in the public schools of
Providence, Rhode Island, when the family left that eastern home and journeyed
to Kansas. He was nine years of age and had a complete recollection of the
incidents of that long journey to the West, which brought him into a land of
romance and adventure. They traveled by railway as far as St. Louis, thence by
boat up the river to Leavenworth, and from there by wagon to Topeka. After
coming to Kansas Mr. Battey attended school only three months, in Topeka. His
real education was accomplished by experience and by large and diverse
commingling with men and affairs. He early learned business by practical
experience, and the first year he lived in Kansas he took a large quantity of
popcorn raised by his father on the farm and sold it on the streets of Topeka.
Topeka then had less than 1,500 people. His first day's sales amounted to $3.60,
and some days he brought home $6 to represent his activity as a salesman. As a
boy he also sold peanuts and fruit in the halls of the Kansas State Legislature
and vended such wares in the dignified Senate chamber where he himself many
years later was a member.
At the age of ten Mr. Battey qualified as an ox team driver for his father.
Thenceforward for seven or eight years he was almost constantly on the plains,
making freighting trips to Denver and elsewhere. He made four round trips from
Leavenworth and Atchison westward, one trip each year. His last trip to Denver
was made in 1866. Mr. Battey had numerous stories to tell about his experiences
on the plains, and he frequently came in contact with parties of hostile
Indians, and he is one of the few men now living who saw the buffalo when they
comprised a mighty herd beyond estimation of human counting. While at Denver in
1866 Mr. Battey joined a gold prospecting party and went to Santa Fe, New
Mexico, intending to proceed to Arizona. At Santa Fe, instead, he entered the
employ of the Santa Fe Overland Stage Company as driver, and for a year had the
responsibility of driving a four-horse overland stage coach. From there he
returned to Topeka, and soon afterwards, with his brothers David and Alvin,
filed a contract to furnish stone for the east wing of the State House. In 1869
he established in Topeka the first sheet iron cornice works in that city.
Mr. Battey came to Florence, Kansas, in 1871. His home had ever since been in
Marion County and from 1872 to 1875 he was proprietor of a hardware store at
Marion. In September, 1875, he took the post of cashier and responsible head of
the Marion County Bank of Florence. He served that institution as cashier and
later was president of the bank until January, 1911, since which date he had
given up active business responsibilities and had spent his winters in Florida
and his summers only in Kansas.
Mr. Battey had had a life and a service that have made him well known all over
the state. For years he had been a recognized leader in republican politics both
locally and over the state at large. He served three years as mayor of Florence,
had been treasurer of the school board, and in 1896 was elected a member of the
State Senate from the twenty-fifth district, comprising the counties of Marion,
Morris and Chase. He served in that body four years and was a member of the
committees on state affairs, railroads, express, banks and others. He retired
definitely from politics in 1901, Mr. Battey still owned some farms and town
property in Marion County and is one of the prosperous men of that vicinity. He
had many friendships with leading politicians and statesmen, including the late
Senator John J. Ingalls and Senator Preston B. Plumb. For twenty years he was a
business associate of Senator Plumb. Mr. Battey is a member of the Masonie
Order.
On May 9, 1879, at Florence, he married Miss-Mary E. Riggs, who was born in
Appanoose County, Iowa, February 14; 1859. Mrs. Battey is an active member of
the Eastern Star. They have only one child, Andrew Field Battey, who is now
having at Topeka. He was born May 7, 1881, and on November 20, 1903, married
Cora Nogle. Their son, grandson of Richmond T. Battey, is named Richmond T. for
his grandfather and was born November 3, 1905.
A. Beauchamp. More than thirty years ago A. Beauchamp entered
the service of the Chicago, Burlington & Quiney Railway at Atchison as car
clerk, and had been continuously with that road, being now one of the veteran
employees, and by successive promotions now handles the responsibilities of
local agent for the company at Atchison.
Mr. Beauchamp is a native of Kansas, and was born in Doniphan County September
15, 1856. That date indicates the pioneer residence of the family in this state.
He was born four years before Kansas became a state. It was in the border epoch
of Kansas history and his father, Edward A. Beauchamp, was one of the early
settlers and homesteaders of Doniphan County. The Beauchamp family originated in
France, and it was Mr. Beauchamp's great-grandfather who came to this country
about the time of the Revolution. The family from France had gone to England and
thence to the United States. They afterwards located in Kentucky. Edward A.
Beauchamp was born in Kentucky in 1813. He grew up in his native state, as a
young man went to Illinois, where he married, thence removed to Missouri, and in
the spring of 1856 arrived in Kansas. He located a few miles west of the
Missouri River in Doniphan County and preempted a claim of 160 acres, He battled
sturdily with the virgin soil in an effort to make a living until 1866, and then
removed to Mount Pleasant in Atchison County, where he bought another farm. In
1878 he went to Nemaha County, owned a farm in that locality, but finally
retired from its management and lived at Seneca, the county seat. While there he
was taken ill and went to Atchison, where three months later, in 1896, he died.
Edward A. Beauchamp was a stanch republican and a free solder and a Union man.
He was one of the first justices of the peace elected in Doniphan County, and
also filled a similar office at Mount Pleasant. He was one of the pioneer
supporters of the Baptist Church in Kansas.
Edward A. Beauchamp was married in Illinois to Jane Elizabeth Gibson, who was
born in that state in 1825. She died at Mount Pleasant, Kansas, in 1868. Her
children were as follows: Columbus, a retired resident at Concordia, Kansas;
James, who died as a child in Missouri; Maria, who died at the age of twelve
years; Milton, connected with the coal firm of C. A. Wright at Atchison; the
fifth, a son, died in infancy; the sixth was Mr. A. Beauchamp; Austin became a
farmer and died near Centralia at the age of fifty; and Samuel is a farmer ten
miles south of Centralia.
Mr. A. Beauchamp was educated chiefly in the public schools at Mount Pleasant.
He also attended the Normal School at Leavenworth, but at the age of eighteen
left school and for one term taught in Platte County, Missouri. Mr. Beauchamp
had been a resident of Atchison since 1876. Three years were spent with the A.
B. Symms Grocery Company, and for one year he was with Julius Kuhn in the
wholesale grocery' business, and for six months was shipping clerk for the
wholesale furniture house of Kelsey & Simpson.
After this somewhat varied experience Mr. Beauchamp accepted the position of
night baggage agent at the Union Depot in Atchison. In the spring of 1885 he was
enrolled among the employees of the Chicago, Burlington & Quiney Railway as car
clerk, and filled one post of responsibility after another until 1907, when he
was appointed local agent. He is one of the most capable men in the service of
the company. The local offices of the Burlington road are situated at the corner
of Main and Second streets.
Mr. Beauchamp owned a comfortable home at 314 North Third Street in Atchison. He
had always voted and affiliated with the republican party, and is a trustee of
the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married in 1882, at Atchison, Miss Nellie
Edgerton, a daughter of Emmett and Dianthony (Shaw) Edgerton. Her father, now
deceased, was an early resident of Atchison, owned some real estate there, but
at the beginning of the Civil war enlisted in the Union army and died soon
afterward, Mrs. Beauchamp's mother is still living at Atchison. Four children
have been born to their marriage: Edward Edgerton, a Methodist Episcopal
minister, now living near Hiawatha, Kansas; Carrie Irene, wife of B. H. Hand,
who had charge of a laundry at Ottumwa, Iowa; Lucy A., still at home with her
parents; and Maxine, wife of J. R. Montgomery, who runs a lumber yard at Dubois,
Nebraska.
George Howe Bechtel. Of the men who are maintaining
Montgomery County's reputation and prestige in financial circles, few are more
highly esteemed as banking officials and citizens than George Howe Bechtel,
cashier of the Liberty State Bank, of Liberty. Like many other Kansas bankers,
Mr. Bechtel is a product of the farm and of the schoolroom. It would seem that
the practicality developed in agricultural life and the mental sharpening
acquired in the educator's vocation form a combination happily adaptive to the
great and important business of banking. At least, Mr. Bechtel's career and his
success support such a view.
Mr. Bechtel was born September 13, 1867, in Atchison County, Kansas, and is a
son of William and Emma F. (Thompson) Bechtel and a member of a family that
originated in Holland and emigrated to America in Colonial times, settling in
Pennsylvania. Joshua Bechtel, the grandfather of George H. Bechtel, was born in
the Keystone State, and there passed his entire life, dying in Montgomery
County. He followed farming as a vocation and was accounted a substantial man
and a good citizen, respected and esteemed by those who knew him. William
Bechtel, father of George H., was born in 1825, in Montgomery County,
Pennsylvania, and was there reared and educated. In young manhood he went to
Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was married, and there followed carpentering and
building until coming to Kansas in 1860. He first located at Leavenworth, where
he worked at his trade, made sashes for Colonel Anthony to be used in the Times
Building, and during the early days of that city assisted in its upbuilding and
development. In 1865 he removed with his family to Atchison County, Kansas, and
with his earnings purchased a farm of 160 acres, on the prairies. This he
succeeded in putting under a good state of cultivation, and there he made his
home during the remainder of his active life, although at the time of his
retirement he went to Valley Falls, Kansas, where his death occurred in
December, 1904. During the Civil war Mr. Bechtel served in the Kansas State
Militia, with which organization he assisted in repelling Price in his raid
through Kansas. He was a republican in his political views, and belonged to the
Methodist Episcopal Church, in the work of which he was always active, being a
member of the official board for a long period of years. As a citizen he did his
full duty by his community, and his sterling traits of character gave him a high
standing in the confidence of his fellowmen, Mr. Bechtel married Emma F.
Thompson, who was born in Rhode Island, in 1833, and died in Atchison County,
Kansas, in 1907. She was a Christian woman of many charities and was beloved by
a wide circle of friends. To Mr. and Mrs. Bechtel there were born the following
children: Willis, a resident of San Francisco, California; Jennie, the wife of
Luman Rutty, who is retired and lives on his orange grove at Pomona, California;
Nellie, who is the wife of Lewis Chandlee, a carpenter and builder of
California; Emma, who is the wife of William S. Irvin, of Muskogee, Oklahoma; J.
R., a graduate of the Topeka Medical College and now a practicing physician and
surgeon of Lawrence, Kansas; George Howe, of this notice; and Edward, who is a
carpenter and builder of Kingfisher, Oklahoma.
George Howe Bechtel attended the public schools of Atchison County, the Salina
Normal University and the State Normal School, at Emporia, and in the meantime
resided on the home farm, where he devoted his summers to the cultivation of the
soil. Thus, at the age of twenty-one years, he was equipped physically and
mentally for the vocation of teaching, which he followed for four years in
Dickinson County and for seven years in Atchison County, and in the latter was
for two years principal of the schools of Huron. In 1902 Mr. Bechtel gave up
teaching for the business of banking in that year becoming bookkeeper for the
Huron State Bank, with which concern he was connected three years. He then
became cashier of the Citizens State Bank, of Pern, Kansas, with which he was
identified for two and one-half years, and in 1907 came to Liberty to become
cashier of the Liberty State Bank, a position which he has since retained. The
Liberty State Bank was established in 1904 as a state institution, by C. W.
Wingate, Lewis Billings and others, and immediately began to fill a long felt
need. In that year the brick banking house was built on Main Street, and the
business of the institution has steadily grown under the management of the
following officials: president, Lewis Billings, of Cherryvale; vice president,
John H. Tole, Liberty; cashier, George H. Bechtel, Liberty.; and assistant
cashier, G. W. Wingate, Liberty. The capital of the Liberty State Bank is
$10,000 and the surplus and undivided profits, $3,600. It bears an excellent
reputation in banking circles and is regarded as a safe and conservative
institution which will protect its depositors' interests in every way, such an
opinion being the result of its past operations and the well known integrity of
its officials. Mr. Bechtel is a republican. While a resident of Huron he served
as a member of the city counsel, has been a member of the school board at
Liberty, and at present is city treasurer. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal
Church and to its board of trustees. Mr. Bechtel is also a member of the Kansas
State Bankers Association.
In 1896, at Nortonville, Kansas, Mr. Bechtel was married to Miss Mabel Mitchell,
daughter of Charles and Isabelle (Helm) Mitchell, residents of Baldwin, Kansas,
where Mr. Mitchell is a retired farmer. To Mr. and Mrs. Bechtel there have been
born the following children: Isabelle, a graduate of Montgomery County High
School, class of 1915, and now bookkeeper in the Bank of Liberty; Viola, a
senior at the Montgomery County High School; Ruby, a freshman in that school;
William and George, who are attending the graded schools of Liberty; and
Dorothy, still at home.
BECKER, Peter
Peter Becker was born in Prussia, Germany, in 1841. His father, George Becker,
was born in Prussia and came to the United States about 1846, locating at
Mansfield, Ohio, where he was a merchant. He had served his term in the regular
army of Germany. Peter Becker was five years of age when brought to the United
States, and he grew up at Mansfield, Ohio. From that point he enlisted and
served as a Union soldier, and after his period of gallant and faithful service
he returned to Mansfield, was married there, and in 1868 brought his family to
Atchison, Kansas. Here he became a pioneer merchant and for many years conducted
a successful grocery business. He built his residence and store on Main Street
just outside the limits of Atchison, and became a very extensive property
holder. His death occurred in Atchison in November, 1914. Mr. Peter Becker was a
democrat and at one time served as treasurer of Shannon Township of Atchison
County. He was affiliated with Friendship Lodge No. 5, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, with Unity Camp No. 356, Modern Woodmen of America, and was associated
with his old army comrades in A. S. Everest Post No. 493, Grand Army of the
Republic.
In Mansfield Peter Becker married Louisa Gribling, who was born in Coblenz,
Prussia, in 1842, and died at Atchison in August, 1901. They had a large family
of children, eleven in number. William Becker, who was born September 16, 1869,
was educated in the Atchison public schools and St. Benedict's College, had
never married and is now a resident of Wallace, Idaho, where he had some
valuable mining property. Amelia is the wife of Joseph Haeglin, proprietor of a
brewery at Sabinas, Mexico. Elizabeth married E. E. Stauffer, a minister of the
Lutheran Church now located at Lawrence, Kansas, and a former member of the
State Legislature. Dora is unmarried and lives at Atchison. Emma is the wife of
Carl Mangelsdorf, a retail seed merchant and florist at Atchison. Caroline is
the wife of Carl Haeglin, who is associated with his brother in the brewing
business at Sabinas, Mexico. Augusta married William Buhman, living at Atchison,
and a traveling salesman for the Mangelsdorf wholesale seed house at Atchison.
The eighth in order of birth is Ida, widow of George H. Storch and she resided
in Atchison. Albert, who was in the transfer business at Atchison, died at the
age of twenty-eight. Bertha is the wife of Floyd Spaun, a shoe salesman at
Atchison. Etta, twin sister of Bertha, married Gordon Herald, a grain buyer at
Morrell, Kansas.
BENNETT, Arthur H.
Arthur H. Bennett. Few men have contributed more practical encouragement to
grain and stock raisers in Kansas than has Arthur H. Bennett, of Topeka,
president of the Bennett Commission Company, whose business has been one of the
chief commercial factors in its line in the city during the past decade. He was
born May 9, 1869, on what was known as the "Old Thompson Farm," located near
Marengo, McHenry County, Illinois, the only son of Fayette Henry and Mary Eliza
(Merriman) Bennett.
The Bennett family is of Puritan stock, the progenitors of the family having
come to America on the Mayflower. Fayette Henry Bennett was born July 4, 1838,
in Chautauqua County, New York, the eldest son of Ashley C. and Charlotte S.
(Wheeler) Bennett, grandson of Zebulon and Sarah (Cooper) Bennett and
great-grandson of Zebulon Bennett. Fayette H. Bennett served for a time as a
soldier in the Civil war, being a member of Company A, Ninety-fifth Regiment,
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and at the close of the war returned to Illinois
and resumed his agricultural operations. He remained in that state until 1878,
when he removed with his family to Kansas, settling at Clifton, Clay County, but
in his declining years took up his residence at Topeka, where his death occurred
July 12, 1910. Mr. Bennett was a devout Methodist in religion, and a strong
temperance man, being active in the movements which eventuated in making Kansas
a prohibition state. His religion was a part of his nature, inherited, no doubt,
from his Puritan forbears. Prior to his death he had, at his own expense,
supported a native missionary in China. In business circles he was known as a
man of the highest integrity, in private life his every action was characterized
by the strictest probity, and as a citizen he was foremost in promoting good
movements for the betterment of education, religion and civic affairs.
Arthur H. Bennett was nine years of age when he accompanied his parents to
Clifton, Kansas, and there he attended the public schools until 1886. In the
latter year, and the year 1887, he was a student at Lawrence College, and in
1888 he began his business career in the employ of Isaac H. French, a grain
merchant of Clay Center, Kansas. Here he received his introduction to the
business in which he has since spent his activities. After several years at Clay
Center, Mr. Bennett went with Mr. French to Kansas City, Missouri, to work in
the grain exchange located in that city. While living there Mr. Bennett was
married, July 15, 1891, to Miss Allicia Sophia McIlravy, of Lawrence, Kansas, a
daughter of John William and Sophia (Van Buskirk) McIlravy and their first home
was at No. 27 East Thirty-second Street, Kansas City. In 1892 they moved to Clay
Center, Kansas, and in the scene of his earliest activities Mr. Bennett embarked
in business with a partner. This venture, although started modestly, was
progressing well and promised to grow into a prosperous enterprise, but just at
a time when its prospects seemed brightest the panic came on, and this was
followed by the dishonesty of a trusted friend. The double blow swept away all
of Mr. Bennett's savings, for he had invested his entire capital in the
business, and he awoke not only to find himself bankrupt, but several thousand
dollars in debt. Such a discouragement would have disheartened a less
persevering man, but he possessed the qualities that do not admit of defeat, and
he at once set about to recuperate his lost fortunes. For several years
following he was again employed in the Grain Exchange of Kansas City, working
energetically to clear off his indebtedness. His fidelity, energy and evident
ability soon gained their reward, for he was placed in charge of the domestic
business of the Greenleaf-Baker Grain Company, a large concern of Atchison,
Kansas, in which city his first son was born: Arthur Harry, May 23, 1897. In
1898 Mr. Bennett came to Topeka, where his experience and abilities had gained
him an important position with the Capital Elevator, of which, in 1900, he
became the owner of a one-third interest. He subsequently disposed of his
holding advantageously, and immediately thereafter founded the business of which
he is now the head, the Bennett Commission Company, which deals almost
exclusively in the now famous "Kansas Turkey" wheat, which has gained a
reputation all over the country.
Mr. Bennett is a firm believer in organization, and for many years has been an
active and official member of the Kansas Grain Dealers' Association and the
National Grain Dealers' Associations. He stands high in the trade, and has been
repeatedly honored by his associates, having served as a director in the
national organization and as president and vice president of the state body. He
is also keenly alive to the value of improvement along the line of live stock
conditions in Kansas, and is himself a breeder of pure-bred horses, cattle,
sheep and hogs. In this connection he is a leading and active member of the
Duroc-Jersey Association, the American Shropshire Association, the Kansas
Pure-Bred Horse Breeders' Association and the Kansas Improved Live Stock
Breeders' Association.
For many years Mr. Bennett has been greatly interested in historical and
genealogical research, and is a life member of the Kansas State Historical
Society and a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, nine of his
ancestors having served the American colonies in their struggle for independence
from the rule of Great Britain. His ancestors came to America in the Mayflower
and by virtue of this fact Mr. Bennett organized the Kansas Society Mayflower
Descendants, of which society for several years he held the office of governor.
In his religious belief he is a Methodist and has taken an active part in church
movements. Their younger son, Fayette Ashley, was born at Topeka, March 14,
1900.
BERGER, Albert C.
Albert C. Berger is the founder and president of the Atchison Leather Products
Company, one of the newer industries of the city, but one which adds to the
distinction of Atchison as a manufacturing and disprosperity of the community,
since its goods go over a large territory and the business furnishes employment
to many hands.
Mr. Berger is one of the forceful and enterprising tributing point, and it is a
factor in the commercial younger men of Kansas. He came here in his twenties and
was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, October 25, 1885. His father, Albert
Berger, Sr., was born in the Kingdom of Wuertemberg, Germany, in 1844. He was
reared and educated in Germany and as a regular soldier in the German Army
served with a cavalry regiment in the Franco-Prussian war of 1871. It was soon
after that war, in 1872 that he immigrated to America and settled at
Williamsport. By trade a stone mason, which he had learned in Germany, he
followed that work all his business career and died at Williamsport in 1899.
After taking out citizenship papers he allied himself with the democratic party.
He was a member of both the lodge and encampment of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows and was devout in his attendance upon the services of the German
Lutheran Church. After coming to Pennsylvania he married, and his wife, Louise
Berger, was also a native of Wurtemburg, Germany, and had come to America about
the same time as her husband. She was born in 1846 and died at Williamsport
February 28, 1912. Their children were: Mary, wife of Christ Durrwachter, a
baker living at Williamsport; Barbara, wife of Abraham Metzger, a wagon and
carriage builder and blacksmith at Williamsport; Emma, wife of George Gehron, a
carpenter of Williamsport; Albert C.; and Herman J., who is also a resident of
Atchison and is shipping clerk for the Atchison Leather Products Company.
In the city of his birth, which is a considerable manufacturing town in
Pennsylvania, Albert C. Berger grew up and attended the public schools until he
had completed the graded course. In 1899 he was graduated from the Williamsport
Commercial College, and soon afterward entered the office of the Williamsport
Staple Company, where he remained until July, 1908. On September 3, 1908, Mr.
Berger arrived in Atchison, locating here as a suitable place for the
establishment of the business he had in mind. He began manufacturing leather
specialties on a small scale and had carefully and effectively guided that
business until it is now a corporation employing from sixty to seventy hands.
The offices of the plant are located at 316 Commercial Street. Mr. Berger is
president of the company.
In politics he is independent and takes a good citizen's interest in everything
promoted for the welfare of the community. He is a member of St. Mark's Lutheran
Church, and is affiliated with Washington Lodge No. 5, Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons; Washington Chapter No. 1, Royal Arch Masons; Washington Commandery No.
2, Knights Templar; Abdallah Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Leavenworth; and
also belongs to Friendship Lodge No. 5, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr.
Berger's home is at 107 North Terrace Street. He was married in 1907 at
Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to Miss Minnie Kuntz. Mrs. Berger was born and
reared in Williamsport. They have two children: Walter E., born June 21, 1908;
and Marian E., born March 8, 1910.
BRONAUGH, Robert M.
Robert M. Bronaugh of Baileyville had been a factor in the life of Kansas for
considerably more than half a century. His people were in fact territorial
pioneers. He fought when the country needed his fighting ability as a young man
during the Civil war, and after that took up farming and latterly business
connections with Baileyville, where he is still a merchant and is vice president
of the Baileyville State Bank.
He comes of old French stock and of aristocratic ancestry in America. Mr.
Bronaugh was born in Schuyler County, Illinois, May 6, 1844. His paternal
ancestors some generations back were Huguenots who emigrated from France to
England and from there came to America and located near Fredericksburg,
Virginia. In the old Dominion they became planters and slave holders. Mr.
Bronaugh's grandfather bore the name Taliaferro Bronaugh, and he was born near
Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1776, the year the Declaration of Independence was
signed. In 1801 he crossed the mountains and became a Kentucky pioneer. He was a
farmer and planter, raised large quantities of tobaeco, and worked his
plantation with the aid of slaves. He died near Hopkinsville, Kentucky, in 1863.
He also kept a country hotel for a number of years. He was a member of the
Presbyterian Church.
Thomas Bronaugh, father of Robert M., was born near Hopkinsville, Kentucky, in
1805. He grew up and married there and he left Kentucky and removed to Illinois
in order to get away from the institution of slavery, which he thoroughly
disliked. At the time of his marriage his father gave him a faithful darky
slave, and a woman slave to his bride. Thomas Bronaugh married Mary Rollins, who
was born in Kentucky in 1809, and died on the Kansas farm in 1875. She was of a
family of noted Kentuckians and a cousin of Major Rollins and of Ben Ficklin,
both prominent characters in Kentucky history. Her parents were Kentucky
planters and slave owners but long before the war they freed their slaves and
sent them to the Republic of Liberia in Africa.
Thomas Bronaugh went with his wife to Schuyler County, Illinois, in 1830, and as
a pioneer settled in that locality. In 1859 he again became a pioneer, this time
in the Territory of Kansas. He bought a pre-emption in Nemaha County and for
many years was successfully engaged in farming. He died on his farm near
Baileyville in Marion Township in 1884. Politically he was a democrat. He served
eighteen years as a justice of the peace, and as township trustee eighteen years
in Illinois. He was a very active supporter of the Baptist Church. Among other
attainments he had a thorough knowledge of the law and practiced that profession
in connection with farming. Thomas Bronaugh and wife had eight children: Eliza,
who died at Seneca, Kansas, in 1871, married O. C. Bruner, who at one time was
county treasurer of Nemaha County, served twenty years as county surveyor, and
died at Atchison, Kansas. Taliaferro became a farmer and died near Mammoth
Springs, Arkansas, in 1913. James T. was also a farmer and died near Seneca,
Kansas, in 1898. Lucy A., who now lives at La Mesa, California, married A. L.
Gilliland, who was a wagon maker by trade. Virginia, who died in Fresno,
California, in 1914, married Thomas Magatagan, a farmer now deceased. The sixth
in the family is Robert M. Elvira is the wife of B. F. McBratney, who assists
Mr. Robert Bronaugh in the store at Baileyville. Mary died on the old home farm
at Baileyville in 1867.
Robert M. Bronaugh was fifteen years of age when the family came to Kansas. He
had attended the rural schools in Schuyler County, Illinois, and afterwards the
high school at Centralia, Kansas. He lived on his father's farm until 1862 and
then enlisted in Company E of the Thirteenth Kansas Infantry and saw active
service for three years. One of the most important engagements in which he
participated was the battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, December 7, 1862. He was
also with the Union forces that repelled the raid of General Price through
Southern Missouri and Kansas. With the close of the war he returned home,
married soon afterward, and then actively entered upon his career as a farmer.
From the farm Mr. Bronaugh came into Baileyville and in 1894 bought an interest
in a lumber and hardware business. In 1904 be sold that business and had since
continued as a furniture merchant. The store, the only one of its kind in a
radius of six miles, is located on Main Street and carries a complete equipment
of household goods. For a number of years Mr. Bronaugh had been interested as a
stockholder in the Baileyville State Bank and is now serving as its vice
president. He had sold his farms and had invested much of the surplos in the
bank in his mercantile business and in various improved real estate in
Baileyville. Included ip his property is his own home in the northwest part of
the town.
Mr. Bronaugh is a Democrat in politics. He served as township trustee of Marion
Township. He is a member and trustee of the Presbyterian Church, is past noble
grand of Baileyville Lodge No. 406, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and had
represented the lodge many times in the Grand Lodge at Topeka, Fort Scott and
elsewhere. He also belongs to the Knights and Ladies of Security at Baileyville,
to Seneca Post No. 92, Grand Army of the Republic, and is a member of the Kansas
State Historical Society.
In 1866, near Baileyville, Mr. Bronaugh married Miss Mary Casady, daughter of
John M. and Eliza Casady. Her father was for many years a farmer in Nemaha
County, having come to this state from Ohio. He and his wife subsequently went
to Oregon, where they died. Mr. and Mrs. Bronaugh have four children: John M. is
a farmer two miles south of Baileyville; Olive married A. B. Griffiths, in the
elevator and grain business at Baileyville; Laura, who died near Baileyville in
1904, was the wife of Harry Bigelow, a farmer, also deceased; Thomas C. is
proprietor of a dry cleaning and pressing establishment at Kansas City,
Missouri.
Many paragraphs might be filled with interesting reminiscences of Mr. Bronaugh's
life in Nemaha County, and he recalls the fact that in the summer and fall of
1860 he with others killed buffalo within eighty miles of Baileyville.
BROWN, Channing John
Channing John Brown. One of the most beautiful spots in the State of Kansas is
Blue Rapids in Marshall County. Besides its picturesque location near a
waterfall that had furnished power for manufacturing purposes for many years the
town itself was originated by a colony of very substantial people from Genesee
County, New York. The secretary of this company was Mr. C. J. Brown, still
living in Blue Rapids. Mr. Brown is a former state senator and for many years
was clerk of the Supreme Court of Kansas.
Mr. Brown was born in Genesee County, New York, October 31, 1847. His father,
John B. Brown, was born in the same county in 1816, grew up and married there
and spent his active career as a farmer. He was one of the commissioners of the
Genesee Colony who came out and founded the Town of Blue Rapids in 1869. His
associates on this committee were Rev. C. F. Mussey and H. J. Bovee. Following
them came about fifty families, comprising the Genesee Colony. A town site of
nearly 300 acres was secured, including the water power privileges, for $15,000,
and in addition 8,000 acres of farming land was made available for the
colonists. A stone dam was built in 1870, and in a short time Blue Rapids had
attained the dignity of a city. John B. Brown himself located on a farm near
Blue Rapids and lived there until he retired into the town, where be died in
1886. He was a republican and a very active member of the Baptist Church. He
also belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. John B. Brown married
Prudence D. Davis, who was born in Western New York in 1821, and died at Topeka,
Kansas, in 1891. However, her home was at Blue Rapids. They had six children.
The oldest, Alice M., is now living at Topeka, the wife of Herbert Armstrong,
retired. Their son, H. L. Armstrong, is deputy clerk of the Supreme Court of
Kansas. The second in age is Mr. C. J. Brown. Stella, the third child, married
Charles J. McHarg, who is now superintendent of some important irrigation
projects owned by his uncle, Henry McHarg. Mr. and Mrs. McHarg live at Pueblo,
Colorado. Walter P. Brown is the leading Blue Rapids hardware merchant, and
further mention of him is made in later paragraphs. Frederick K. was formerly a
merchant and afterward was stamp agent for the United States Government under
Willard Hall. He died at Blue Rapids in 1910. E. J. Brown, the youngest of the
family, lives at Blue Rapids and is traveling representative over Northern
Kansas for the Simmons Hardware Company of St. Lonis.
Channing John Brown grew up in Genesee County, New York, attending the public
schools of Caryville. He prepared for college at Lima, New York, and in 1865
entered Hamilton College, where he took the full four years course and was
graduated A. B. in 1869.
About the conclusion of his college course he became an active factor in the
organization of the Genesee Colony and was elected its secretary. He came out to
Blue Rapids and had much to do with the laying out and the incorporation of the
town during the following year. At the same time Mr. Brown engaged in the real
estate business and actively promoted many of the earlier institutions. For a
time he conducted a law office at Blue Rapids. He assisted in organizing the
township, and was a member of the township board and helped to build some of the
early bridges.
In 1874 he was elected a member of the Legislature and served during the session
of 1875. In 1877 he became a member of the Senate, serving during the session of
that year and of 1879. In 1879 Mr. Brown was appointed clerk of the Supreme
Court of Kansas, and filled that office consecutively for eighteen years, until
1897. While clerk of the Supreme Court he had his residence in Topeka and
continued to live there several years after the close of his term.
In 1900 he returned to Blue Rapids and engaged in the hardware business with his
brother Walter P., but sold out his interest and retired in 1912. He had since
developed the only important commercial orchard in Marshall County. His entire
farm consists of 160 acres, adjacent to Blue Rapids on the southwest, and his
orchard of many hundreds of bearing trees comprises thirty acres. Mr. Brown
owned a large amount of town property, including a modern brick residence on
Genesee Street. He is a republican and is now junior warden of the Episcopal
Church.
In 1881, at Topeka, Mr. Brown married Mrs. Julia E. (Gilmore) Greer, daughter of
William D. and Mary (Harvison) Gilmore. Her parents are both deceased. Her
father was a merchant in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Mrs. Brown had two daughters by
her first marriage. Grace Greer is now the wife of Mr. J. W. Gleed, a prominent
Topeka lawyer, member of the firm of Gleed, Palmer & Gleed, general attorneys
for the Southwestern Telephone Company. The second daughter, Florance Greer,
died unmarried at Blue Rapids in 1915.
The Brown family is of old Colonial American stock. They were originally from
Scotland and on coming to this country first settled in Rhode Island.
Walter P. Brown, younger brother of C. J. Brown, was born at Oak Field, Genesee
County, New York, October 20, 1862. He was educated in the public schools of
Blue Rapids, and at the age of eighteen left school to enter the hardware firm
of Blish, Mize & Silliman at Atchison. He remained with that firm until 1888,
and there laid the foundation of the experience which had made him successful in
the hardware business. Returning to Blue Rapids, he established a small stock of
general hardware and for a number of years was associated with his brother C. J.
Brown under the name Brown Brothers. Since 1912 he had been sole proprietor of
this business. The store, located on the public square in Blue rapids, is the
largest of its kind in this part of Marshall County. It supplies a district in a
radius of six miles around Blue Rapids with most of its hardware, plumbing and
heating equipments. Mr. Walter P. Brown is a republican. He was elected a member
of the State Senate in 1908, serving during the sessions of 1909-11. In both
sessions he was chairman of the fees, salary and mileage committee, and a member
of the ways and means committee, banks and banking committee, assessment and
taxation committee and other committees. For three terms he was mayor of Blue
Rapids. During his last term in 1900 he was instrumental in securing the
electric light franchise for Blue Rapids. Mr. Brown, who is unmarried, is
affiliated with Blue Rapids Lodge No. 169, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons,
Topeka Consistory No. I of the Scottish Rite, and Abdallah Temple of the Mystic
Shrine at Leavenworth. Besides his home on Genesee Street he owned the building
in which his store is conducted and considerable other town property.
BROWN, Walter E.
Walter E. Brown is one of the younger members of the Atchison bar, but had been
favored by his ability and training and early associations and had attained just
recognition as one of the resourceful lawyers of the state. He is junior member
of the well known firm of Waggener, Challiss, DeLacy & Brown, senior partner of
which is one of Kansas' most distinguished and eminent lawyers and citizens,
Hon. Bailie P. Waggener.
Mr. Brown represents a pioneer name in Kansas history. He was born in Whiting,
Kansas, November 17, 1887. His grandfather, Michael Brown, came to Kansas in
1872 and homesteaded 800 acres in the Kickapoo Indian Rescrvation in Brown
County. Michael Brown was born in the North of Ireland and was of Irish
Presbyterian stock. He came to America at the age of eleven years with his
father, grew up in Binghamton, New York, and became a lumberman, but followed
farming chiefly after his removal to Kansas. The death of this honored old
settler occurred at Whiting in 1910, when he was eighty-one years of age.
William E. Brown, father of the Atchison lawyer, was born in Binghamton, New
York in 1856, spent his boyhood there, and came to manhood on his father's
homestead in Brown County, Kansas. He followed farming only briefly and
incidentally and most of his active life had been spent as a merchant. He became
a hardware merchant at Whiting, and in 1890 removed to Holton, Kansas, and had
since been a leading lumber merchant of that city. William E. Brown is a
democrat, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with the Masons
and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Upon reaching his majority he went
East to Lewiston, Pennsylvania, where he married Miss Martha W. Gilmore. She was
born in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, in 1861. To their union have been born
three children, the oldest being Walter E. Bernice is a graduate of the Holton
High School, and subsequently was a student in the University of Kansas and the
State Agricultural College at Manhattan, and is now at home with her parents at
Holton. Harold, the third child, is pursuing his studies in the University of
Kansas.
Walter E. Brown lived in Holton from early childhood, attended the public
schools there, and was graduated from high school in 1905. He then entered the.
State University at Lawrence, where he finished the law course and was granted
his LL. B. degree in 1909. In the same year he was admitted to the bar and at
once removed to Atchison, where he began practice in September, 1909. Hard work
and ability have brought him his present influential connection with some of the
strongest law firms in the state.
On April 1, 1913, Mr. Brown became city attorney of Atchison and was re-elected
in 1915, finally retiring from the office in 1917. He is a member of the
Atchison County and Kansas State Bar associations.
Fraternally Mr. Brown had made rapid progress in the assimilation of the work of
Masonry. He is a member of Active Lodge No. 158, Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons, Washington Chapter No. 1, Royal Arch Masons, Washington Commandery No.
2, Knights Templar, and Abdallah Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Leavenworth. He
also belongs to Atchison Lodge No. 647, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Mr. Brown is unmarried.
BUELL, Rollin
Rollin Buell. Since his education was finished Rollin Buell had applied himself
chiefly to banking in Kansas, and is now cashier of the Farmers State Bank at
Potter in Atchison County.
Almost since pioneer times the Buell family was identified with Macoupin County,
Illinois, where Rollin Buell was born September 15, 1883, and his father,
Charles Buell, in 1856. The grandfather. John Buell, was born in England, and
after coming to America located on a farm in Macoupin County, Illinois, where he
died in 1865. John Buell married Miss Mitchell. Her father was a remarkably
successful Illinois farmer. He reared a family of twenty-one children, and out
of the abundance of his means was able to give each one a quarter section of
land.
Mr. Charles Buell, who is now living at Lenora, Western Kansas, was reared and
married in Macoupin County, Illinois, and in 1884 started West, and after six
months at Lincoln, Nebraska, moved during the same year into Scott County,
Kansas. He was one of the pioneer farmers of that region for three years, and in
1887 he went still further West to Norton County. His home was on his original
claim in that county until March 1, 1917, when he removed to the vicinity of
Lenora in the same county. He is an active democrat and a member of the Modern
Woodmen of America. Charles Buell married Dora Belle Hayden, also a native of
Macoupin County, Illinois, where she was born in 1861. Her children are: Stella,
wife of F. F. Payden, a farmer at Lenora; Rollin; Ola, wife of John J. Whipple,
a farmer owning a half section of land in Eastern Colorado; Ethel, wife of Ray
Swartz, a farmer at Lenora; Floyd E., also a Lenora farmer; Millard T., living
at home; and Alma, who resided with her brother Rollin and is attending the high
school.
Rollin Buell was educated in the country schools near Lenora in Western Kansas.
He completed the work of the junior year in the Norton High School, and after
that his education was continued in the State Agricultural College at Manhattan
one year, one year in the College at Emporia, and one year in the Emporia
Business College.
In August, 1910, Mr. Buell entered the Farmers State Bank at Lenora as
bookkeeper and assistant cashier. Two years later, in July, 1912, he came to the
Atchison Savings Bank as teller, and was with that institution in that capacity
until February 1, 1917, when he resigned to become cashier of the Farmers State
Bank at Potter.
Mr. Buell is a republican in politics, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church and is affiliated with Washington Lodge No. 5, Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons, at Atchison. He was married in September, 1913, at Weston, Pennsylvania,
to Miss Floy M. Gifford. Her parents, T. I. and Hattie (Wells) Gifford, are now
at Portis, Kansas, where her father is principal of the public schools, but they
have a residence at Logan. Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Buell have one daughter, Mildred
L., born September 23, 1916.
BUTLER, Joseph A.
Joseph A. Butler, prominent and well known in local politics in Kansas City,
Kansas, had been a factor in the business life of that city for many years and
is proprietor of a complete service and equipment as an undertaker at 749-753
Central Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas.
Mr. Butler had lived in Kansas since he was nine months of age. He was born June
21, 1870, in the City of Cleveland, Ohio. He is the sixth in a family of eight
children, all but one still living. Five are in the State of Kansas, one in
Missouri and one in Wyoming. The parents were Jeremiah J. and Laura (Campbell)
Butler, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of England. Jeremiah
Butler was a cooper by trade. He married in England and at once brought his
bride to America, landing in Philadelphia, where he lived for some years. In
search of better opportunities for himself and for his family he came West and
located in Kansas City, Kansas, where he secured work at his trade and in 1870
sent for his wife and children. The old home of the Butler family was on the
site now occupied by the offices of Armour & Company. When Jeremiah Butler came
to Kansas City, Kansas, the entire County of Wyandot had not more than 10,000
people. He always had the greatest satisfaction in reviewing the rapid growth
and development of Kansas City from a small town or suburb until it was the
recognized metropolis of Kansas. He followed his trade until he retired a few
years before his death in 1903. Though he never got rich and at the best was in
no more than moderate circumstances, he saw to it that his children were
provided with every possible advantage and were well schooled. He was an active
member of the Catholic Church.
Joseph A. Butler grew up in what is now Kansas City, Kansas, attended the common
schools as they were then conducted, and he and three of his brothers learned
the trade of cooper under the direction of their father. This trade Mr. Butler
worked at and earned his living thereby until he was about twenty-five years of
age.
Already he had become something of a leader in local democratic politics and at
the urging of his friends he was elected marshal of South City Court for the
years 1897-98. In 1899 he was chosen representative of the old Ninth District,
now the Seventh, and served through the Legislature of 1900. He brought a number
of measures before that body for consideration, and was very active in behalf of
his constituency. From 1902 to 1904 Mr. Butler was county commissioner of
Wyandot County. That service it will be recalled covered the period of the
disastrous flood of 1903. In that critical time Mr. Butler rendered what was
doubtless his greatest public service. He was chairman of the board of
commissioners, and he proved his ability as an organizer and administrator of
the chaotic conditions which followed the high waters of that year.
Since leaving the office of county commissioner Mr. Butler had steadfastly
declined all offices or political honors, but still continues active in the
party for the benefit of his friends and for the cause of good government. He
left office to enter the undertaking business, and for twelve years had been one
of the leading members of that profession in the city. He is a member of the
Kansas Funeral Directors' Association. Mr. Butler owned considerable real estate
and is a director of the Riverview State Bank.
On February 8, 1893, he married Mary E. Nichols, who was born in Indianapolis,
Indiana, daughter of Patrick J. Nichols. Her father was for many years
superintendent of the Kingan Packing Plant at Indianapolis and later of Kansas
City, and he died in Kansas City in 1914. They are the parents of four children;
Loretto, a graduate of Mount St. Scholastics Academy at Atchison; Marie, a
graduate of the Catholic High School; Joseph A., Jr., a student in the Christian
Brothers School at Kansas City, Missouri; and Dorothy, in the Catholic High
School. Another member of the home of Mr. Butler is Mrs. Butler's nephew, Harry
Butler Burns, the son of Mrs. Butler's sister. Her sister died when this child
was six weeks of age and since then he had been in the home of Mr. and Mrs.
Butler.
Mr. Butler had shown commendable public spirit and liberality in connection with
every movement for the general good in Kansas City, Kansas. Fraternally he is
affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Ancient Order of United
Workmen, the Woodmen of the World, the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association, the
Knights and Ladies of Security, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and
is one of the prominent members of the local Catholic Church. He also belongs to
the Kansas City, Kansas, Mercantile Club.
CAIN, John M.
Mr. John M. Cain, father of Mrs. Harwi, was born July 30, 1839, at Castletown,
Isle of Man. He grew up on his native island, attended the select schools, and
learned the trade of carpenter. At the age of seventeen, in 1856, he immigrated
to America and identified himself with the territory of Kansas. Here he lived a
very useful and prominent career. He was successively a farmer, soldier,
merchant and banker. During the period of bitter border warfare he was a
volunteer in the company organized by A. S. Peck and Asa Barnes.
In 1862 he entered Captain P. H. McNamara's company and was elected sergeant.
With the organization of regiments of colored troops he was appointed first
lieutenant of a company in the Eighty-Third Regiment Colored Infantry, and
afterwards was commissioned captain. He served until the close' of the war and
made a splendid record as a soldier and officer. When the war was over he began
farming in Atchison County. From his farm be applied some of his capital to the
establishment of a store, and later became connected with the old Atchison State
Bank and owner of the Cain & Harthorn Mill Company, The death of this Kansas
pioneer occurred in 1897,
He was married May 15, 1879, to Miss Lucy Neerman, daughter of Frank and
Isabella (Bust) Neerman. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Cain were: Eva, wife of
Foster Branson, of River Forest, Illinois; Ralph R., a banker at Ada, Oklahoma;
Florence, Mrs. Frank E. Harwi; John Milton, connected with the A. J. Harwi
Hardware Company; William Q., an attorney in Atchison; and Alfred Neerman, now
deceased.
CASEY, William D.
William D. Casey was admitted to the bar at Atchison before he was twenty-one
years of age, and the expectations based upon his early attainments have been
fully justified in his career as a lawyer during the past twenty-five years. Mr.
Casey had long been an active leader in Atchison County affairs as well as a
forceful and successful member of the bar.
He was born in Carroll County, Missouri, November 19, 1871, a son of Warren
Casey, who was born in New York State, where the family originally settled, in
1850. Warren Casey was reared in his native state, removed to Indiana, and in
1884 came to Atchison, Kansas. In Indiana he was connected with the hardware
business but was a grocery merchant in Atchison, where he died in May, 1916. He
was a republican, served several years in the Atchison City Council, and was a
member of the Christian Church. His wife, whose maiden name was Harriet Ward,
was born in Indiana in 1851 and is still living at Atchison. William D. Casey
was the oldest of their children. Harry entered railroading, was a railroad
brakeman, and was killed while in discharge of his duties at the age of
twenty-six. Ira died at Atchison when nineteen years of age; Frank D. lives in
Atchison and is traveling representative of the Niles-Moser Cigar Company.
William D. Casey grew up in Atchison from the age of thirteen, attended the high
school through the junior year, and for two years was a student of law in DePauw
University at Greencastle, Indiana. He returned to Atchison in 1889, continued
his studies in private offices and at home, and in 1891 was admitted to the bar.
Since then he had been looking after an increasing civil and criminal practice,
varied with the performance of many official duties. For four years he served as
justice of the peace, for six years was judge of the City Court, and was probate
judge of Atchison County six years. Mr. Casey also filled the office of
postmaster at Atchison a term of four years until February, 1913. Since retiring
from the post office he had concentrated all his time and abilities upon his
practice. His offices are in the Blair Building. Mr. Casey also owned a farm of
120 acres in Atchison County, his home at 404 North Ninth Street, and three
other dwelling houses in the city. Mr. Casey is a republican in politics, member
of the Christian Church, is active in the County and State Bar associations and
is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order
of Elks, the Improved Order of Red Men, the Knights and Ladies of Security, the
Modern Woodmen of America and the Fraternal Aid Union.
At Atchison in 1894 he married Miss Ella Scott of Topeka. They have three
children: Venita, who was born January 29, 1896, is a graduate of the high
school and of the music course at Midland College, and is still at home; Marion,
born August 17, 1901, is a junior in the Atchison High School; and Marlin, born
August 15, 1902, is a member of the freshman class in the high school.
(Submitter's Note: Wm Casey's daughter Venita mentioned in the above biography was named Venita Florence CASEY and married Edgar Wilson GLENN of Soldier, Kansas 29 Nov 1917. see website here for more information on this line)
CHALLIS, Luther C.
Perhaps Luther C. Challis, nearly forty years a citizen of Atchison, is best
known as a pioneer railroad man. He was born in New Jersey January 26, 1829, and
for some years before moving West was engaged in business in Philadelphia and
Boonville, Missouri. In 1855 he located in Atchison and joined his brother as
one of the first merchants of that town. He afterward became a banker, and
maintained a profitable ferry across the Missouri River until the building of
the bridge in 1875. Mr. Challis was elected to a seat in the Territorial Council
of 1857-58, made vacant by the resignation of Joseph P. Carr in January, 1858.
He is generally conceded to be the father of the Central Branch of the Union
Pacific Railroad, having framed the bill to authorize its construction, secured
its passage, and negotiated the treaty with the Kickapoo Indians for securing
its right-of-way through their territory. Mr. Challis was also one of the
incorporators of the Atchison & St. Joseph Railway, the first railroad built in
the state, and one of the founders of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. He died
in Atchison, July 26, 1894.
CHISHAM, James M.
James M. Chisham. Perhaps no one had been more closely identified with the
public affairs and public ntilitias of Atchison than Mr. James M. Chisham, who
is now superintendent of the Atchison Water Company. For a number of years he
filled official positions in the city's government, and helped make Atchison a
city of modern improvements, including paved streets, and possessed of those
public utilities which are insoparable from health and convenience.
He is an old resident of Atchison, having come to the city when a child. He had
fought his own way to success. He was born in Randolph County, Missouri,
December 23, 1859. His ancestors, the Chishams, came from Scotland, were early
settlers in Virginia, in colonial times, and from there the family moved to
Kentucky and later to Missouri. Mr. Chisham's grandfather Chisham was a Randolph
County, Missouri, pioneer, and spent his life there as a farmer. Mr. Chisham's
maternal grandfather Palmer went out to California during the gold excitement of
the early '50s, and while returning by way of the Isthmus of Panama was lost on
the Gulf of Mexico.
George Chisham, father of James M. Chisham, was born in Missouri, in 1836, spent
his active career as a farmer and died in Randolph County in 1862. He was a
democrat in politics. His wife, Elizabeth Palmer, was born in Missouri in 1838
and died at Atchison, Kansas, in 1871. There were just three children, James M.
being the second and the only one still living. This family suffered a tragedy
in 1862, when they were stricken by dysentery and not only the father but the
oldest son, William, and the youngest son, John, died of the disease. William
was five years old at the time and John was an infant.
In 1865 the widowed mother brought her only son, James, to Atchison, and the
latter had known no other home since he was six years of age. He attended as
regularly as possible the public schools and for two years was a student in
Montgomery College in Montgomery County, Missouri. He left that school in 1879
and returning to Atchison entered the office of the recorder of deeds as
assistant deputy. Subsequently he was deputy county clerk and was in the court
house three years altogether. In the spring of 1883 he began work for the
Eastern Kansas Land and Loan Company as bookkeeper, but after three months took
a position as cashier with the Atchison Gas and Water Company. That was his
first connection with the public utilities. He was cashier of the Gas and Water
Company three years and then became superintendent of the gas works. He managed
that company until January 1, 1898, and at the same time was secretary of the
company. While retaining that office he was appointed postmaster under McKinley
and served until January 1, 1911. In 1905 Mr. Chisham became active
superintendent of the Atchison Water Company, and had retained that office to
the present time. The water company is owned by a private corporation, the
general offices of which are in St. Louis, Missouri. The local offices are at
406 Commercial Street in Atchison.
Atchison had a fine water system. The pumping station is near the Union Station
at the foot of Utah Avenue on the Missouri River. The capacity of the pump is
4,000,000 gallons a day, and the water is delivered partly by direct pressure
and partly by gravity flow. At Spring Garden Street and Sixth Street are
situated four reservoirs, one with a capacity of 4,000,000 gallons and each of
the others with a capacity of 1,750,000 gallons, so that when full these
reservoirs contain over 9,000,000 gallons of water.
From 1885 to 1891 Mr. Chisham was a member of the City Council of Atchison and
was president of the council three years of that time. This was an era of great
public improvements. During that time two-thirds of the paving was done, and
Atchison is noted for its many miles of paved streets. From 1891 to 1893 he also
served as city treasurer. Mr. Chisham is a director in the Atchison Water
Company and is a stockholder in the First National Bank.
In politics he is a republican, is a member of Trinity Episcopal Church, is
affiliated with Washington Lodge No. 5, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, is
past high priest of Washington Chapter No. 2, Royal Arch Masons, is a member of
Washington Commandery No. 1, Knights Templar, and belongs to Atchison Lodge No.
4, Ancient Order of United Workmen, and to the Royal Arcanum.
In 1905 Mr. Chisham built one of the finest homes in the city, at 705 North
Fourth Street, where he and his family reside. He married June 20, 1883, near
Hawthorne in Atchison County, Miss Florence Iddings. Her parents, James M. and
Margaret (Peedler) Iddings, are both now deceased. Her father was a farmer and
stock man and an early settler in Atchison County. Mr. and Mrs. Chisham have two
children. Ruby, still at home, attended the Midland College at Atchison through
the junior year and completed her education in the art department of the
University of Kansas. Fay is the wife of Arthur C. Moses, a resident of Kansas
City, Missouri, and in the mills of the Kansas Flour Mills Company. Mr. and Mrs.
Moses have one child, William, born November 27, 1915.
CLARE, John
John Clare. The name of John Clare recalls one of the very early territorial
pioneers of Kansas. This family, of Irish origin, settled in Eastern Kansas
about the time the original Kansas-Nebraska bill was being considered by
Congress, and from that time to the present members of the family have shared
their fortunes with the fortunes of the Sunflower State, have been worthy
members of various communities and have done their share in carrying forward the
work of advancement and progress.
The late John Clare was born in Queens County, Ireland, in 1836. His father
Michael Clare first brought his family to America about 1840. In the City of
Boston he taught school for several years, but then returned to the old country.
In 1851 he came a second time to America, and located in Washington, D. C. In
1854, before the first territorial government of Kansas was organized, he
located in Leavenworth. He lived there for eleven years, and in 1865 moved to
Atchison County, establishing his home on a claim seven miles south of the city
of Atchison. Thenceforward he took a very prominent part in the community of
Mount Pleasant, where he organized the first public school and became its
teacher. Michael Clare was born in Ireland in 1800 and died in 1875 on the
homestead that he had improved at Mount Pleasant.
John Clare was eighteen years of age when the family came to Kansas in 1854.
Thenceforward he was actively identified with those movements which eventually
made Kansas a free state. He and his brother subsequently were employed by the
government in the freighting service. Both became wagon masters, and conducted a
number of government trains between Fort Leavenworth and Fort Laramie, Wyoming.
They were engaged in that hazardous occupation for four years, and their
children recall many thrilling experiences they would relate of their life on
the plains.
After the war John Clare settled down to farming at Mount Pleasant in Atchison
County. In 1869 he married Miss Margaret D'Arcy, a native of County Wicklow,
Ireland. She had also come to Kansas in the very early days. To their union were
born nine children, five daughters and four sons: Michael, John, William,
Charles, Ella, Maud L., Margaret, Frances and Agnes. Michael, John and William
all own farms in Jefferson County, Kansas. The son Charles is a member of the
Topeka fire department, at Station No. 4. Margaret is Mrs. Krall of Atchison.
Maud L., Frances and Agnes still live at home in Topeka. The last years of his
life John Clare spent in Jefferson County. He was quietly pursuing his vocation
as a farmer when death came to him as the result of an accident. In 1910,
following his death, Mrs. Clare moved to Topeka and bought the home at 700 Lane
Street, where she died in 1914. That home is still occupied by their daughters.
CORTELYOU, Luther
Luther Cortelyou was for many years one of the prominent grain merchants of
Kansas, and in later years had given his chief attention to the management of
the Farmers State Bank of Muscotah, of which he is president. Mr. Cortelyou had
resided in Muscotah for nearly thirty years. His family is a prominent one in
Atchison County, and his son Peter J. is now postmaster of Muscotah.
Mr. Cortelyou was born in Somerset County, New Jersey, December 23, 1851, and is
descended from some of the original stock of the Jersey Coast. His ancestors
were both Dutch and French. In 1701 a Dutch company from Long Island bought a
tract of 10,000 acres in Franklin Township, Somerset County. Among the men in
the enterprise were Peter Cortelyou and Jacques Cortelyou. In those early days
the name was sometimes spelled Cortilleau. Jacques Cortelyou had arrived in New
Amsterdam about 1651 as private tutor to the children of a prominent Dutch
family, Van Werkhoven. Jacques Cortelyou married Neltje Van Duyn, and both were
of French extraction. Among their children was Jacques h. Hendrick, son of the
second Jacques, was born April 11, 1711, and settled on lands owned by his
father adjoining the tract of 10,000 acres bought by Peter Cortalyou and others.
Hendrick married, August 3, 1731, Antie Coeste Van Voorhees. Their son Hendriek
married Sarah Scothoff. Hendrick, third, born in 1761, married Ann Dehart, and
for his second wife Elizabeth Voorhecs. Hendrick the fourth was born November 5,
1789, and died in 1856. It was through this line of the family that Luther
Cortelyou is descended.
An old history of Somerset County, New Jersey, contains the following reference
to some of the earlier generations: "In 1671 Captain Jacques Cortelyon acted as
one of the commissioners to settle the disputed boundary line between Brunswick
and Newton. He was also the surveyor on that occasion. His sons Jacques and
Peter were also prominent land surveyors. Jacques second or third, surveyed the
Harrison tract in 1703 and received from the company as compensation a tract of
two hundred eighty acres extending from the Middlebush road to the Millstone
River. Jacques first is represented as being somewhat singular and eccentric in
his ways. The Cortelyou families have been uniformly distinguished for their
industry, economy, peaceful demeanor as citizens, and their friendship to the
prosperity of the church and her institutions."
James G. Cortelyou, father of Luther, was born in Middlesex County, New Jersey,
November 11, 1816. He spent his life in his native state, chiefly at Harlingen
in Somerset County, where he followed farming. He died at New Brunswick February
19, 1892. He was a democrat and was a very active member of the Reformed Church
and served as an elder many years. He also belonged to the Masonic fraternity.
James G. Cortelyou married Cornelia Polhemus. This also is one of the oldest
Dutch families of New Jersey. Cornelia was born in Somerset County January 26,
1816, and died at New Brunswick May 20, 1893. Their children were: John Gardner,
who was born in the Town of Harlingen, New Jersey, January 13, 1849, was a New
Jersey farmer, afterwards moved to Polk County, Nebraska, where he was a banker
until 1894, and then retired to Los Angeles, California, where he acquired
extensive real estate holdings and died in that city in July, 1901; Luther, who
was the second in age of the children; Peter J., born at Harlingen May 25, 1857,
was a farmer, removed to Corning, Kansas, in 1898, was a grain merchant in that
city and died there April 13, 1902.
Luther Cortelyou was educated in the rural schools of the Town of Harlingen, and
also finished the junior year at Rutgers College at New Brunswick. He left
college in 1873 and lived on his father's farm until his marriage on November
14, 1877.
After his marriage Mr. Cortelyou spent twelve years as a farmer in Talbott
County, Maryland. In 1889 he came to Muscotah, Kansas, bought an elevator, and
became extensively interested in the grain business, having relations that
extended well over the state. He sold his elevator in 1907, and in 1911
organized the Farmers State Bank of Muscotah, of which he had since been
president.
He was one of the organizers of the Kansas Grain Dealers Association, and served
as president five years. In the National Grain Dealers Association he was second
vice president and later first vice president. In 1904 Mr. Cortelyou built his
modern home on Kansas Avenue in Muscotah. Among other interests he still owned
250 acres of farming land in Atchison County, five miles north of Muscotah.
Politically his actions have been in line with the democratic party. For
eighteen years he served as a member of the school board of Muscotah, was
township treasurer two terms, and several times was elected mayor and also
councilman.
He married for his first wife Miss Gertrude F. Stelle, of Middlesex County, New
Jersey. Mrs. Cortelyou died February 5, 1905. She was the mother of four
children, Luther Jr., Stelle, Peter J. and Frank Morgan. Luther, Jr., was born
May 23, 1881, is a graduate of the Atchison County High School at Effingham, and
is now assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Parsons, Kansas. Stelle,
born July 25, 1883, was for several years a stenographer in the Government
employ and died at Ancon, Panama, July 28, 1905. Frank Morgan, the youngest son,
was born October 29, 1886, graduated from the Atchison County High School at
Effingham, and took the civil engineering course in the University of Kansas. He
was honor man of his class when he graduated. He is now associated with the firm
of Waddell & Harrington, civil engineers, of Kansas City, Missouri. He had been
resident engineer in charge of the construction of three large bridges. One was
in Portland, Oregon, another at Fort Smith, and he recently returned after
superintending the construction of a bridge built at a cost of $1,750,000
between Portland and Vancouver on the Pacific Highway.
CORTELYOU, Peter J.
Peter J. Cortelyou, third son of Luther Cortelyou, was born on a farm in Talbott
County, Maryland, June 25, 1885, and was four years of age when his parents
removed to Muscotah, Kansas. He attended the public schools there, graduated
from the Atchison County High School in 1904, and then for several years was
associated with his father in the grain business. During 1910-12 he owned and
edited the Muscotah Record. In November, 1913, he was appointed postmaster of
Museotah, under President Wilson, and had filled that office to the present
date. On July 1, 1916, Mr. P. J. Cortelyou again bought the Muscotah Record, and
is editor and proprietor. This paper was established in 1884, and had an
influential circulation throughout Atchison and adjoining counties. It is
conducted independent in politics, and is a weekly paper. The plant and offices
are situated on Kansas Avenue. P. J. Cortelyou, who is unmarried, is affiliated
with Muscotah Lodge No. 116, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and in politics
is a democrat.
CRAWFORD, Lester M.
Lester M. Crawford of Topeka is one of the men of remarkable enterprise in a
state which for years had been in the habit of contributing enterprise, ideas,
principles for the vitalizing and regeneration of the world. He is perhaps best
known as the owner and lessee of a chain of theaters in a dozen or more cities
of Kansas and other states. He had done more than any other man to bring
artistic talent to Topeka and other cities of the state. A theatrical man is not
often a pioneer in agriculture, but the readers of that old agricultural
journal, The Country Gentleman, will recall several interesting articles
describing Mr. Crawford's experiment in establishing a "fur farm" in Kansas, and
his success in breeding and crossing Asiatic sheep with some of the native stock
to produce the pelts which are so much esteemed when manufactured into the
Persian lamb, Astrakhan and other grades of fur.
Mr. Crawford came to Kansas when a boy of thirteen. His parents Thomas and
Charlotte (Hill) Crawford, were natives of Ohio, and his father was a carpenter
and at times conducted a farm. Their home, where Mr. Crawford was born, was in
the little town of Mount Pleasant in Southern Ohio, in what is called the
Hanging Rock Iron Region. The family had also lived in other parts of the state.
In coming to Kansas they spent sixteen days en route. A railroad took them to
St. Louis, and from there they journeyed for twelve days on a boat up the
Missouri River to Leavenworth, followed by a two days wagon journey to Topeka.
At that time Topeka had less than a thousand inhabitants and was only a frontier
village, without sidewalks, and with only two or three brick buildings. Here
Thomas and Charlotte Crawford spent the rest of their lives. Of their eleven
children three are now living.
Lester M. Crawford, seventh in age, had had his home in Kansas and is a typical
Kansas man since he was thirteen years old. At the age of seventeen he started
to learn the printer's trade and vividly recalls working the old Washington hand
press on the Kansas Tribune, published by J. F. Cummings and S. R. Shepherd. An
item of his still earlier experience was hauling freight between Leavenworth and
Topeka and Atchison. As a printing apprentice he also worked on the old Kansas
Free Press at Atchison, published by the honored F. G. Adams. In 1864 a spirit
of adventure led him to cross the plains to Fort Laramie, in the employ of a
freighter named Moore. On this trip they encountered difficulties on account of
Indian depredations. Later he resumed his work as a printer on the Topeka Leader
published by J. F. Cummings. When Prouty, Davis & Crane started the Daily
Commonwealth, the first daily paper in Topeka, he became circulation manager and
advertising solicitor.
In connection with his early newspaper experience about 1868 Mr. Crawford
started a bill posting service. It was that which gave him his first insight
into the amusement business as a vocation For a number of years he made general
advertising and bill posting his regular occupation.
As the owner and promoter of theatrical houses his activities have become widely
spread. In 1880 he bought the old Costa Opera House on the site of the present
Commerce Building at Topeka. This was remodeled into a theater, but a few months
later was burned. It was rebuilt in 1881, and in 1906 was again destroyed by
fire. When it was rebuilt it became known as the Commerce Building, furnishing a
home and headquarters for the Topeka Commercial Club. As a theatrical manager
Mr. Crawford brought to Topeka such noted artists as Clara Louise Kellogg,
Joseph Jefferson, Sol Smith Russell, Robison & Crane, Booth and Barrett, Emma
Eames Abbott, and in fact all the greatest actors and singers of the day. His
success at Topeka led him to expand the scope of his action. He built an opera
house in Atchison, the Crawford Theater at Leavenworth, the Crawford Theater at
Wichita, Crawford Theater at El Paso, Texas, Crawford Theater at St. Joseph,
Missouri, the Oliver Theater at Lincoln, Nebraska. The Gaiety Theater of St.
Louis is also owned by Mr. Crawford, and he is lessee of Brandies Theater.
Omaha, Nebraska, the Texas Grand Theater, El Paso, Texas, and is also interested
in a number of other places of amusement throughout the country.
For many years he had been making investments in farm and ranch lands, and now
owned a 1,920 acre ranch in Chase County, Kansas, which is the scene of his
extensive enterprise with cattle and Karakul sheep, and he also had another
ranch of 2,381 acres near El Paso, Texas. While a great amount of publicity had
been given in the magazines and the newspaper press to Mr. Crawford's experiment
in fur farming, the story of his efforts is undoubtedly best told in a
fascinating little booklet which he issued under the title "Fur Farming with
Sheep," and detailing his experiences. As he says he is a pioneer in what he
believes is a new industry for sheep growers of the United States, and in his
booklet he tells what he knows about raising fur by crossing Karakul sheep from
Asia on native American breeds. These experiments were conducted on his ranch
near Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, where he made his first test in 1912. At the
beginning it should be explained that the hides of the lambs of the Karakul
sheep, on account of their special quality, have long held an exclusive place in
the world's fur markets. The industry until comparatively recently was confined
to Southern Russia and Asia, and on account of the world's demand for the
Karakul fur its cost had been steadily rising during the past twenty years.
There are three kinds of fur produced. If the curls are small and very tight,
furriers call it Persian lamb fur. When the curls are larger and loose the pelt
is known as Astrakhan, and if the pelt shows shades of gray it is called
Krimmer. The most valuable pelts are taken from the newborn lambs, usually
before they are two weeks old.
It is possible to quote only a few paragraphs from Mr. Crawford's booklet. "My
decision to start a fur farm probably was born from a desire of long standing in
me to grow fur. It appealed to me as fascinating work. More than that–for I
couldn't afford to do it for pleasure–it appealed to me as profitable. The
opportunity came when a sheep breeder in Texas, who had imported a herd of
Karakul sheep direct from Asia, and with whom I had been negotiating offered to
sell out to me. It was perhaps the first herd of Karakuls ever brought to this
country. We closed the deal for thirty-four head–nineteen rams and fifteen
ewes–and I removed them to my 1,900 acre sheep ranch near Cottonwood Falls,
Kansas. My total investment was about $35,000.
"It may seem that I was taking a pretty big chance to invest so much money in an
enterprise before the practicability of it had been proved. But it wasn't
altogether a gamble. Scientists had proved that lambs resulting from Karakuls
crossed on native American breeds would bear pelts valuable for fur. These tests
of course were only scientific; no one had actually attempted the production of
the pelts for profit. But the scientific fact seemed safe enough to me. I was
willing to try it. There wasn't any doubt about the Karakul sheep thriving in
this country. They are a very hardy breed, the extreme hot and cold temperatures
of their native land having hardened them to the hardships of weather.
"I now gave close attention to stocking and equipping the fur farm. And it was
fascinating work I assure you. We repaired the old buildings and fences on the
ranch and built a new barn large enough to accommodate 1,200 sheep. I needed
some good blooded ewes. The better the grade of native sheep used in breeding
for fur the better the pelt will be. So I bought 1,100 selected Lincoln ewes
from the Gooding ranch in Idaho. The possibilities of fur farming as a new
industry had attracted the attention of experts at the Kansas Agricultural
College, particularly Dr. R. K. Nabours, an experimental breeder. At my
invitation Doctor Nabours became an adviser in the work, and as such had
rendered valuable aid to me by his wide knowledge of cross breeding.
"It was well into November, 1912, before we began crossing the Karakul rams on
the Lincoln ewes." Then Mr. Crawford explains that in carrying out his plan to
keep a careful record of the breeding the matter was delayed with the greater
number of ewes until the season was almost past. "Consequently our crop of
half-bloods was small–only about three hundred came. A cold lambing season
killed a number of the lambs, some were born dead, so that only two hundred
survived. However, not one of the pelts from the one hundred dead lambs was
damaged. Death or early birth does not affect their value in the least."
In the next season, 1913, the breeding was begun earlier and he profited by his
previous experience, and the results were much more satisfactory. It should be
noted that not only is the Karakul sheep valuable for its fur, but it also had
exceptional qualities as a mutton stock, and it had proved that the quality of
mutton produced from the crossing of the two stocks will be greatly improved.
In politics Mr. Crawford is a republican, and is a Knight Templar and Shriner
Mason. On January 15, 1868, he married Miss Mary E. Wright of Topeka. To their
union were born the following children: Orlin T.; Chester P.; Bertha, who died
in her sixteenth year; Roy, who is associated with his father in business; and
Edith, Mrs. Oscar Messing of St. Louis.
DARLING, Mary Morrall
Mrs. Mary Morrall Darling is the daughter of Wamego's pioneer physician, Dr.
Albert Morrall, and she is now living in the same house where she was born May
14, 1872.
The Morralls were English people and were colonial settlers in the Carolinas.
Her great-great-grandfather was Daniel Morrall who married Lydia Savanen. Her
great-grandfather was John Morrall. Her grandfather, George Washington Morrall,
was born at Georgetown, South Carolina, August 17, 1786, became an attorney by
profession, and practiced at Grahamville and at Beaufort, South Carolina, dying
in the latter city February 22, 1836. He married Phoebe Jenkins Tripp, who was
born January 23, 1794, and died in Barnwell District, South Carolina, April 10,
1865.
Dr. Albert Morrall was born at Grahamville, South Carolina, November 17, 1829.
The record of this old time physician had a distinctive place in the history of
Kansas, particularly in the pioneer times of the country around the Big Blue
River. He was of old Southern family and kept his sympathies with the South
during the period of hostilities over slavery and the questions of state rights.
He was educated in private schools at Grahamville, and first came to Kansas in
the spring of 1856. He tells the story in his own words:
"I came to Kansas in the spring of 1856 in company with thirty other young men
from the South. My object in coming to this state was to hunt buffaloes, but I
was disappointed in not finding any very near to our camp at Atchison, where we
first landed. We had to go into the country at least two hundred miles at that
season of the year. Frank Palmer was one of the men with whom I came to Kansas
and he was in charge of a company, the object of which in coming to Kansas was
to make this a slave state. I was not a member of this company, but free to do
as I pleased, although I always worked with them." After describing several of
the skirmishes between his side and the free state men, including the march of
the pro-slavery men upon Lawrence and their encounter with Jim Lane and his men,
Dr. Morrall continued: "In November, Vander Horst, Stringfellow of Virginia, and
also William Grearson of Charleston, South Carolina, and I started for
Marysville, fixing up one of the wagons for a hunt."
The following clipping taken from the St. Louis Republican, describes their
experiences on this hunt: "Terrible suffering on the plains.–We have information
of the return of a hunting party from the Little Blue in a most deplorable
condition. They were Mr. James Stringfellow, Mr. Van Dorser and Mr. Morrall, the
first from Atchison, K. T., and the two latter from South Carolina. George
Matthews saw them after their hairbreadth escapes and gives me the following
thrilling narrative: When they reached the Big Blue they fixed their encampment,
but finding only a few buffalo they left their camp in charge of a negro man
belonging to Mr. Van Dorser and proceeded over to the Little Blue. On the first
evening out they were overtaken by a storm of wind and snow, and lost their way.
They wandered for eight days without fire and food. They blew the tubes out of
their guns in their efforts to kindle a fire and then threw the guns away. The
feet of Van Dorser and Morrall became so frosted and they were so exhausted from
fatigue and starvation that Mr. Stringfellow, who had had some mountain
experience, was scarcely able to get them to move slow. He encouraged them by
every means until they finally reached a habitation and were saved. Mr. Morrall
und Mr. Van Dorser, however, will lose their feet and Mr. Stringfellow some of
his toes. Their sufferings were beyond description and they will be ill for some
weeks to come. The negro who remained in the camp is uninjured, although he
suffered a good deal from the severity of the cold and anxiety for his master
and friends. They are all now safely lodged at Atchison."
The above narrative gives some idea of their sufferings, but is not correct, as
it was Mr. Morrall who finally led them to a habitation. To quote Doctor Morrall
further: "When mortification set in, I got a sharp rifle bullet mold and with a
file sharpened it, cutting my tools off myself by squeezing the mold down and
pulling the bones out like a tooth one by one. I had to go on crutches all that
winter."
In the spring of 1857 Mr. Morrall went to Mormon Grove, staked a claim of 160
acres, and built a small house eight feet square. In the summer he returned to
Marysville, stopping with an old Frenchman named McCloskey who had an Indian
wife from the Sioux tribe. From them he learned many signs and words of the
Indian language. He often met the Indians and hunted all day with them. Having a
little money, in the fall he built a small house, secured a partner and started
a trading post. A man named Ballard took charge of the store, but failed in the
business and all the money invested by him in the enterprise was lost.
At that time he determined to read medicine. He attended lectures at Rush
Medical College in Chicago that winter and with the conclusion of the lectures
returned to Kansas. The war between the North and the South then broke out and
he was notified to leave the state or fight with the Union army. He could not
bring himself to fight against his home people and he crossed over the Missouri
River to St. Joseph and from there started for Lexington, Missouri, to join
General Price, who was marching onto the town. Lexington was then held by
General Anderson's command of 4,000 men. He was part of General Price's army
which laid siege to the town and forced Anderson to surrender. Doctor Morrall
states that 4,000 stands of arms and cannon, mules, wagons and ammunition were
captured there. Mr. Morrall then started for South Carolina, revisiting his
native town of Grahamville and soon joined the southern forces. He was stationed
in and around Grahamville until the end of the war. He served as lieutenant in
Company H, Third Regiment, South Carolina Cavalry. When hostilities were ended
he was left practically penniless. Going to Charleston, he secured employment
and bought quite a stock of wheelwright goods, opening a shop at Monk's Corner,
together with a man named Bonnett. He prospered in business and made enough
while there to enable him to return to Kansas in 1866. He located at Wamego and
soon afterwards re-entered Rush Medical College at Chicago, where he was
graduated M. D. in 1867.
Doctor Morrall was the first permanent physician of Wamego and he continued
practice there for nearly half a century. He was a man of ability in his
profession and enjoyed the highest standing and esteem of a large community. He
served as county health officer and for four years was postmaster of Wamego,
being a democrat in politics. He was a member of the Baptist Church and in 1862
joined Friendship Traveling Lodge of Masons at Grahamville, South Carolina. He
was a charter member and served as Master of Wamego Lodge No. 75, Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons, and was High Priest of Wamego Chapter No. 52, Royal Arch
Masons. Doctor Morral prospered in a business way, was a stockholder in the
Wamego Building and Loan Association, and he owned a residence on Lincoln Avenue
which was his wife's father's house before him. This house is the oldest
structure in Wamego and is still in excellent repair. Doctor Morrall also owned
two farms west of Wamego, one of 600 acres and another of 30, and had property
in Kansas City, Missouri.
Doctor Morrall's death occurred in University Hospital at Kansas City, Missouri,
March 4, 1917. He was then in his eighty-eighth year and was one of the last
survivors of the active participants in the pioneer events of territorial
Kansas.
Doctor Morrall married Sarah A. Wagner, who was born at Dowagiac, Michigan,
October 30, 1840, and died at Wamego May 7, 1880. Their only child is Mary
Wagner Morrall, now Mrs. Darling.
Mrs. Darling was educated in the public schools of Wamego, and from high school
entered Miss Kelly's Seminary at Charleston, South Carolina, where she spent
three years. She was also a student in Ottawa University at Ottawa, Kansas, a
year, and subsequently returned to the same school and took a year's course in
music. She is now clerk of the Baptist Church at Wamego and had interested
herself in many social and benevolent movements. She is past matron of Wamego
Chapter No. 76, Order of the Eastern Star, and served two years in that office.
She was married at Kansas City, Kansas, May 4, 1912, to Fred Enoch Darling. Mr.
Darling was born at Hudson, Michigan, March 12, 1873, and died May 24, 1912,
twenty days after his marriage. He spent his childhood in his native locality of
Michigan and came with his parents to Kansas, locating near Grenols, where he
attended the public schools. He also attended school at Omaha, Nebraska, and
began his business career in a hardware store. In Kansas City, Kansas, he was
associated with Mr. Moulton as distributing agent for the Twentieth Century
Furnace Company of Akron, Ohio. Mr. Moulton died and Mr. Darling was just
preparing to take over the business for the entire Middle West when his own
death occurred. He was a republican and a member of the Baptist Church.
DAVIS, William Edward
William Edward Davis is the youngest state auditor Kansas had ever had and one
of the youngest men who ever held such an official dignity in any of the states.
It may also be added, to express a general opinion current at the capital and
over the state, that Mr. Davis' administration as auditor had been a synonym of
efficiency and economy. He represents that splendid type of young American
manhood which had drawn attention by its capacity for accomplishment.
Though most of his life had been spent in the Middle West, he was born in West
Virginia, and his ancestors had lived there for several generations. He was born
on a farm in Hampshire County, July 14, 1875, a son of John William and Hannah
Catherine (Timbrook) Davis. His paternal grandfather, Eli Davia, was born in
what is now Hardy County, West Virginia, then Old Virginia. He married a Miss
Evans. Gipson P. Timbrook, the maternal grandfather, married a Miss Hott. John
W. Davis was born in Hardy County, West Virginia, May 26, 1851, while his wife
was born in Hampshire County, July 12, 1854. Both parents are still living,
residents of Shawnee County, Kansas, removing there from Carroll County,
Missouri, in November, 1915, and they naturally take much pride in the
accomplishments of their son.
When William E. Davis was nine years old, his parents moved to Carroll County,
Missouri, and he grew up there on a farm. The limited advantages of the country
schools he supplemented by attendance at Avalon College in Livingston County,
Missouri. Leaving school at the age of twenty he became clerk in the village
post office at Tina, Carroll County. In 1896 at the age of twenty-one he came to
Kansas to make his fortune. He worked as a solicitor one year at Atchison and
another year at Topeka, and then moved to Hutchinson, where he became a
traveling salesman for a stationery house selling goods to counties and banks.
In 1902 in addition to his work as salesman for the stationery company, he
bought and still owned a controlling interest in the Globe-Republican, at Dodge
City, now the daily and weekly Globe. This was the pioneer weekly paper of Dodge
City, and the Globe is now and had been for several years the leading organ of
the republican party in that section of the state. Mr. Davis never gave his
personal attention to the paper, trusting its management to an experienced
newspaper man.
He continued as a traveling salesman for the Hutchinson firm until January,
1907, when he was appointed to the office of assistant state auditor. He made a
commendable record while in that position, and it was this record plus
popularity gained by extensive traveling acquaintance over the state that
elected him auditor of the State of Kansas on November 8, 1910, on the
republican ticket. It was the first office for which he was ever a candidate,
and he was only thirty-five years of age at the time of his election. Mr. Davis
began his official duties as state auditor January 9, 1911, and is now filling
his third successive term. He had realized the ideal which he set before himself
of making the office of state auditor a medium of service to the entire people
of Kansas. Whether as an official or a friend he had the courtesy, the personal
magnetism and the impartiality which are valuable requisites for any official,
and at the same time he possesses and exercises a promptness and sureness of
decision and a thorough knowledge of details which largely account for the
excellence of his administration. While in office he had exercised a careful
scrutiny of public expenditures, and it is said that he had put in effect rules
governing the expenditure of public moneys that have been helpful to the
claimant and beneficial to the state. The difficulty pertaining to school lands
that had been one of the chief sources of worry to the state auditor's office
had practically disappeared. By co-operation with the county clerks he had
straightened out the defects in the sale of lands and had cut through some of
the technicalities which interfered with the prompt issue of patents. Another
achievement had been his energetic requirement that all moneys collected on
school land sales and payments should be brought into the state treasury within
the time required under the law.
Mr. Davis still had his legal residence at Dodge City- He is a member of the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the United Commercial Travelers. On
September 23, 1899, he married Miss Ellen Mary Wiley, who at that time was a
resident of Meade, Kansas, but was born in Osceola, Iowa, Their one son, William
Edward, Jr., was born November 16, 1902.
DIEBOLT, Anton, Jr.
Anton Diebolt, Jr., cashier of the Piqua State Bank in Woodson County, is one of
the younger bankers of Kansas and had studied and practiced banking with a
varied experience in different institutions ever since reaching manhood. He is a
native of Kansas and represents a family that have had an important share in
business and financial circles.
He was born in Atchison County, Kansas, October 10, 1885, a son of Anton
Diebolt, Sr., and a grandson of Joseph Diebolt. The Diebolt family in the
earlier generations lived in the Province of Alsace, on the border between the
French and German empires, and alternately a French and then a German
possession.
Joseph Diebolt was born in Alsace when it was part of France, and in his earlier
life he saw active service in the regular French army. In 1862 he came to
America, locating in Brown County, Kansas, and lived the life of a pioneer
farmer there until his death.
Anton Diebolt, Sr., was born in 1832, in Alsace, France, and was a boy of
sixteen when he left his native land in 1848 and immigrated to the United
States. He landed at New Orleans, and spent twelve years in that southern city,
having a varied experience in different lines of business. For two years he
lived at Cincinnati, Ohio, and then removed to Mendota, Illinois, and engaged in
farming in the rich agricultural district surrounding that town. In 1881 he
brought his family to Kansas, settling in Atchison County on a farm, and from
there in 1891 removed to Olpe in Lyon County. He continued farming there, but is
now retired from that business and is a general merchant and banker at Olpe. He
had had a very successful business career. In matters of politics he is
affiliated with the democratic party, and is a member of the Catholic Church. At
Mendota, Illinois, Anton Diebolt, Sr., married Justina Walter. She was born at
Bingen on the Rhine in Germany in 1842. Her parents came to this country in
1860, locating at Mendota, Illinois. Anton Diebolt, Sr., and wife became the
parents of a very large family of children, and nearly all of them are
independently settled in life, and it is a remarkable family in many ways. John,
the oldest of the children, is a farmer at Olpe, Kansas. Lawrence is a farmer
living at Piqua, Kansas. Mary married Max Goldberg, a jeweler at Seattle,
Washington. Peter lives at Piqua, Kansas, and is also a farmer. Kate is the wife
of Henry O'Howell, a policeman at Los Angeles, California. Justina married Dr.
Gordon Gafford, a physician and surgeon at Kinsley, Kansas. Clara is the wife of
Fred Boeckler, a resident of Ocean Park, California, and the proprietor of a
chain of dairy cafes in that state. Lizzie married Carl Kuhlman, a farmer at
Olpe, Kansas. Joseph is a hardware merchant at Westphalia, Kansas. George is one
of the brothers who run the general store of their father at Olpe, Kansas. The
eleventh in age of this large family is Anton Diebolt, Jr. Minnie married Avery
Chamberlain, who is also connected with the Olpe store. James is in the store at
Olpe.
Anton Diebolt, Jr., received his education at Olpe and also at Atchison in St.
Benedict's College, and in 1904 graduated in the commercial course from St.
Francis College at Quincy, Illinois. He had further business training of one
year in his father's store. In 1905 his father took a prominent part in the
organization of the Olpe State Bank, and Anton, Jr., served as assistant cashier
until 1908. The family and other associates then organized the Ravenna State
Bank at Ravenna, Nebraska, and Anton served as cashier there until 1910. In
August, 1910, he was one of the men who brought about the establishment of the
Piqua State Bank in Woodson County, and he had served as its cashier ever since.
The other officers of the bank are: L. G. Niemann, of Piqua, a merchant, who is
president; J. W. Groggman, a retired resident, vice president; and J. H. Wille,
assistant cashier. The bank had a capital of $10,000, had surplus and undivided
profits of $6,000, and had well earned the confidence and patronage of the
entire community in and around Piqua.
Mr. Diebolt is a democrat in politics, a member of the Catholic Church, and is
affiliated with Humboldt Council of the Knights of Columbus, and with St.
Martin's Branch, No. 7, of the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association at Piqua.
Among other interests he is the owner of a farm of 160 acres in Boxbutte County,
Nebraska. Mr. Diebolt is unmarried.
DONNELLAN, Thomas E.
Thomas E. Donnellan of Parsons has the active supervision of all Southeastern
Kansas, Eastern Oklahoma and Southwest Missouri for the International Harvester
Company. He has been general agent for that great corporation for the past
fifteen years. Mr. Donnellan is a Kansas man, is a birthright farmer and knows
the practical side of farming, an experience which has proved valuable to him as
representing a great agricultural house.
His family on both sides came to Kansas in territorial days. His father, John
Donnellan, who was born in County Clare, Ireland, in 1824, came to this country
at the age of twenty years, and for several years was employed in the lumber
camps of New York State. It was in March, 1856, that he came to Kansas. Kansas
was then a territory and the scene of the great struggle which earned for the
territory the name "Bleeding Kansas." His first location was in Miami County,
where he secured 160 acres of an old Indian reservation and for two years was
engaged in cultivating it. The activities of the Bushwhackers drove him away
from that land, and he then moved to Atchison County. Subsequently he sold the
quarter section in Miami County and in Atchison County he bought a farm of 160
acres a half mile west of Lancaster. Thereafter he was one of the leading
farmers and citizens of Atchison County until his death in 1894. John Donnellan
was a republican, and was one of the first justices of the peace in Atchison
County and for many years served on the school board. For twelve years he was
township treasurer of Lancaster Township. John Donnellan and all his family were
members of the Catholic Church. During the war he was a member of the Home
Guards, in the Union army, and helped repel the invasion of General Price. The
wife of John Donnellan was Mary Davidson, who was born in Uniontown,
Pennsylvania, in 1828 and died in Atchison County, Kansas, in 1895. Her father
Robert M. Davidson was born in Pennsylvania in 1807 and was of Scotch ancestry,
the Davidsons having come to Pennsylvania in colonial times. Robert Davidson
spent his early life in Pennsylvania, was a carpenter and builder by trade, and
in 1857 migrated to Atchison County, Kansas. For a number of years he was a
general merchant there and died at Lancaster in 1889. The children of John
Donnellan and wife were Anna, wife of Albert Ostertag, a traveling salesman
living at Atchison, Kansas; Thomas E.; William R., who has a hardware and
implement store at Lancaster; Emma, who is cashier in a store at Atchison;
Margaret, wife of August Mangelsdorf, who is in the wholesale seed business at
Atchison; and Juniata, wife of John Cleary, a farmer in Atchison County.
Born in Atchison County, Kansas, April 16, 1864, Thomas E. Donnellan spent the
first twenty-one years of his life on his father's farm. He attended the public
schools, and himself became a school teacher, following that work in his native
county for five years. He was one of the young and progressive farmers of
Atchison County four years, and also filled the position of under-sheriff there
four years.
After two years in the coal and lumber business at Atchison Mr. Donnellan in
1901 entered the service of the International Harvester Company, becoming
general agent for Kansas. He has since represented this corporation and in
December, 1914, moved to Parsons, from which city he supervises a force of
fifty-four men in Kansas, Eastern Oklahoma and Southwestern Missouri. There are
five other branch offices in the State of Kansas under his jurisdiction. Mr.
Donnellan's offices are on Twentieth Street and Broadway.
His home is at 1631 Corning Street. Mr. Donnellan is a republican, and besides
the official service already mentioned was township trustee and township
treasurer of Lancaster Township in Atchison County. He is a member of the
Catholic Church, and belongs to Council No. 723, Knights of Columbus at
Atchison, to Lodge No. 647 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at
Atchison, to the Modern Woodmen of America and the Knights of the Maccabees at
Atchison, and the Woodmen of the World at Topeka. He is also an active member of
the Parsons Commercial Club and the Rotary Club.
In Atchison County on April 4, 18