FRANCIS WILILAM SHAFFER
Francis William Shaffer, physician, was born at Dubuque, Iowa, February 17, 1874, son of Thomas Daniel and Bridget
(Folliard) Shaffer. The father, born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1840, is a veteran of the Civil War. The mother, born
in Montreal, Canada, December 25, 1841, died at Lincoln Center, Kansas, November 13, 1929.
Francis William Shaffer received his medical degree from Cotner University, at Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1901. He has
attended Southwestern Optical College and the Post Graduate Medical School at Kansas City, Missouri. Dr. Shaffer
has been engaged in the practice of medicine for thirty-three years since 1908 at Salina.
On September 12, 1901, he was married to Margaret Frances Lonergan at Lincoln. Mrs. Shaffer was born at Warren,
Illinois, December 25, 1878. There is on son, Vernon Vincent, born July 19, 1904.
Dr. Shaffer is a Democrat, and at one time served as head surgeon at the Kansas State Soldiers’ Home at Fort Dodge,
under Governor Hodges. He is a member of the Sons of Veterans, the Knights of Columbus (secretary, 1910), and the
Kansas Eclectic Medical Association (secretary 1930-31). His religious affiliation is with Sacred Heart Catholic
Church. Residence: Salina (Illustriana Kansas, by Sara Mullin Baldwin & Robert Morton Baldwin, 1933, page 1040)
Submitted by Peggy Thompson
CAPT. JOHN MAY SMITH
An honored veteran soldier and officer of the Civil war, now living retired at Salina, Capt. John May Smith has
been identified with Kansas for more than forty years and he devoted much of his rugged strength to the development
of a Kansas homestead. He served his country well, has reared and provided for a family of capable children, and
in the evening of life he enjoys the honor and esteem of a host of friends.
Captain Smith was born July 26, 1838, in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, a son of Charles and Jane (McClelland)
Smith. His parents were also natives of Pennsylvania and were substantial farming people in the western and rugged
section of that state. There were ten children, five sons and five daughters, whose names are: Ann, John, May,
Lydia, Mary, George William McClelland, Eliza, Ira, Margaret Jane and Charles. Those now living are John M., William
M., Margaret Jane and Eliza.
The first Advantages enjoyed by Captain Smith is the way of schooling was in country districts and a log school
house of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. When he was about eight years of age his parents moved west to Kane County,
Illinois. There again he repeated his experience as a student in a log schoolhouse. His parents had located on
a new farm, and they spent the rest of their years there. His father died in 1871 and his mother in 1879.
The Illinois farm was Captain Smith's environment until 1862. In that year he enlisted in Company G of the One
Hundred and Fifth Illinois Infantry. He was at once chosen second lieutenant and before the end of twelve months
had been promoted to first lieutenant. In 1864 he was made captain of his company and these promotions were based
upon meritorious performance of duty both in the routine of a soldier's life and in the face of the enemy's fire.
Captain Smith led his company through part of the Atlanta campaign, and in the battle of Resaca was seriously wounded,
a ball passing through his entire body. That was the only wound he sustained, and he escaped capture altogether.
On account of disability caused by his wound he was granted his honorable discharge on December 30, 1864.
Following the war Captain Smith returned to Kane County, Illinois, and for a couple of years was a buyer and
shipper of cattle. For three years he farmed in McLean County that state, and on his father's death returned to
Kane County.
Captain Smith became a resident of Kansas in 1874. He located on Government land in Lincoln County, and
was a prosperous farmer in that section until 1902, when he retired and moved to Salina. He still owns his original
homestead, and besides improving the land he proved a helpful factor in local affairs in Lincoln County.
Captain Smith is an honored member of John A Logan Post No. 127, Grand Army of the Republic, at Salina. Politically
a republican, he has never sought any office, but in 1891 was nominated by his party for the Legislature from Lincoln
County, though the populists were too strong at that time and he was defeated.
On November 6, 1865, in Kane County, Illinois, he married Miss Susan Currier. Mr. and Mrs. Smith celebrated their
golden wedding anniversary nearly two years ago. Mrs. Smith has become well known in Salina literary circles and
is active in the Woman's Relief Corps. She was born in a log house on a farm in Kane County, Illinois, March 25,
1843, daughter of Hylas T. and Nancy D. (Rice) Currier. Her father was born in Holland, New York, in 1809, and
died in Kane County Illinois, in 8143. He was an early day farmer, school teacher and singing master in Illinois,
and was well educated, having attended school at Aurora, New York. Hylas Currier's father had served with the rank
of colonel in the French and Indian wars. Hylas Currier was married in 1835 to Nancy D. Rice, who was born in Vermont
in 1820 and died at Ottawa, Kansas, in 1906. Mrs. Smith was the youngest of three children. Her sister, Vienna
Celestia, was born in 1836 and is now living at Neodesha, Kansas, widow of Isaac Finley. Her brother, Edgar Llewellyn,
born in 1838, was a soldier in the Civil war, serving as a private in Company H of the Thirteenth Illinois Infantry,
and he died at Portland, Oregon, in 1913.
Besides the children that have grown up under their roof Captain Smith and wife now have a number of grandchildren.
Everell Dutton, the oldest of the children, was born August 8, 1866, and in 1893 married Minnie Wright and has
a son John Smith, born March 20, 1903. Willard, the second of the children, was born January 10, 1869, and died
March 24, 1869. Hylas Charles, born February 8, 1870, is now Indian agent in the famous Uintah Basin of Utah. He
married June 20, 1905, Marietta Lawson, and their four children are: Naomi, born in 1907, Eugenia, born in 1909,
Sidney, born in 1911, and Elizabeth Susan, born in 1915. Mabel Darling, born August 8, 1871, was married June 2,
1900, to Asa Huffman and has twin children, born January 15, 1906, and named Margreta and Berneta. John Burst,
born September 2, 1878, married May 20, 1908, Marietta Smith and has a son John Paul, born February 25, 1912. Jennie
Vienna, born August 24, 1882, became the wife of William Ernest Mayer on December 25, 1912.
Mrs. Smith was a teacher for seven years before her marriage in Illinois, and afterwards taught a similar period
in Kansas. All of her children have likewise been teachers at some time. The oldest son, Everell Dutton Smith,
was for four years county superintendent of public instruction in Lincoln County, Kansas, and is now connected
with the United State Agricultural Department.
A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, Page 2565 - 2566
JOHN G SPIVEY, Salina
John G. Spivey was born in Craven county, North Carolina, November 4, 1833. His father, Henry Spivey, was born
in Yates county, North Carolina, in 1800, and was by profession a lawyer; also owned a large plantation and was
quite a large slaveholder, living near New Berne. In 1819 he married Miss Mary Reeves, of Suffolk, Virginia, by
whom he had eight children. Their names were Jacob, Alfred, William, Robert, John Gill, Sarah and Mary. Jacob was
a broker on Wall street, New York City, during the war. In 1865 he removed to Savannah, Georgia, where he was president
of a national bank, and died in 1868. Alfred was a merchant in Memphis, Tennessee, and died of cholera some years
previous to the war. William was a merchant in Dardanelle, Arkansas, and was killed during a gun-boat fight on
White river, Arkansas. Robert was killed at the battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in 1863.
John Gill was sent to school at an early age, and was at twelve years quite proficient in Greek and Latin.
He completed his education at the University of North Carolina, and afterward studied law, first with Richmond
M. Pierson, of Cumberland, North Carolina, and lastly with J.K. Connelly, of Hernando, Mississippi. In 1856 he
came to Leavenworth, Kansas, where he engaged in the practice of his profession. In 1859 he went to Oskaloosa,
Jefferson county.
In September, 1859, he married Miss Lucy F. Wilkerson, of Columbia, who lived but a few months after. In 1861 he
was married to Miss Marietta L. Havens, of Fulton county, New York, by whom he had four children - Harry, born
January 29, 1862, and died March 29, 1865; Nellie, born May 12, 1866; Eleanor, born November 28, 1869; John Paul,
born October 16, 1872.
July 1, 1862, he started for the South and entered the Confederate army as a private in the 1st Arkansas Cavalry,
but was soon promoted until he attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel. His record as a soldier was high. In the
fall of 1863 he was taken prisoner and sent to Camp Chase near Columbus, Ohio, but was soon transferred to Johnson's
Island, where he remained sixteen months. Early in the winter of 1865 he was exchanged, and arrived in New Orleans
in February. From thence he went to Shreveport, Louisiana. At the conclusion of the war he started with a party
of ex-Confederate soldiers, among whom was B.J. Franklin, now (1878) member of Congress from Kansas City, Missouri,
for Los Angeles, California, hoping to retrieve their fallen fortunes. But, upon some of the party becoming dissatisfied
and wishing to turn back, it was rendered necessary for them all to abandon the trip. He then started for Leavenworth,
where his wife had been living during the war, and arrived there on the night of July 19, 1865, where he met with
a cordial reception from his old acquaintances. Taking his wife with him, he went to Kansas City to resume his
profession, but found he labored under disabilities on account of the so-called "iron-clad oath." Upon
the advice of friends he then went to Nebraska City, but found the same impediment. He remained there eight months,
however, having an office with S.H. Calhoun, then mayor of Nebraska City, but could not plead in the court-room.
Being much dissatisfied with that, he went to Columbia, Missouri, where he remained several years. In 1870 he went
to Salina, where he has since resided. He was the first Confederate to return to Kansas at the close of the war.
The United States Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Eminent and Self-Made Men. Chicago and Kansas
City, USA: S. Lewis, 1879.Pages 585 - 586 |
