WYANDOTTE COUNTY, KANSAS
BIOGRAPHIES
NELSON, JOHN P.
These paragraphs are designed to give some account of the popular and progressive Nordes Venner Society, of which John P. Nelson is a leading officer, rather than of the life of Mr. Nelson himself, although there is considerable in his personal record that is worthy of high commendation. He is now occupied very extensively with the affairs of the society, and its enterprise and success in the work it is doing for the advancement of its members and the welfare of the community will make it easy to infer what the amount and value of his services must be.
The Nordes Venner Society was organized in 1887. It was designed to promote social enjoyment and benevolence among its members, make them mutually helpful to one another, and to hold up a high standard of citizenship in the city of its home and work. Its founders were: Theodore Hassel, now a resident of Chicago; Edward Hambee and Frank G. Forsberg, living in Kansas City; Peter Peterson, a prosperous farmer in this county; Charles W. Green, who lives at Chelsea Point, and Charles Baker, who was killed some time ago, and whose widow has her home on Grandview avenue, Kansas City, Kansas. These gentlemen builded more wisely than they know. From the seed they sowed in hope has grown a large and vigorous organization that has a good name throughout this part of the state, is regarded as very worthy and well managed, and wields a considerable influence in support of all that is useful in the promotion of the city's best interests.
The present officers of the Society are: John Anderson,
president; John Peterson, vice president; Conrad Walter, corresponding secretary; John P. Nelson, financial secretary;
0. ML Smith, cashier; Oscar Swanson (machinist) custodian; Charles A. Anderson, master of ceremonies; Ernest Peterson,
ordinance man; Oscar M. Oleson, inside guard; Tobias Dahlgren, outside guard; and Henning Lindberg, building custodian.
They all show capacity and fidelity in the performance of their duties and make it manifest that they have unwavering
loyalty to the Society and an abiding practical interest in its present welfare and future progress.
John P. Nelson, the financial secretary, whose home is at No. 40, South Porter street, secured his preparation
for the office he holds in an extensive and varied experience, some of which was very trying, some decidedly agreeable
and all helpful to his development and in his training. He was born in Sweden, December 22, 1858, and there grew
to manhood, obtained his education and learned the carpenter trade. He was industrious and frugal, and made every
day of his labor tell to his advantage. But he longed for wider opportunities and better results than his native
land gave promise of affording him, and determined to seek them in another country.
At the age of twenty-five he came to the United States and direct to Riley county, Kansas. A short time afterward he moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where he was employed for two years on the Rock Island and Union Pacific railroads. In 1889 he came to Kansas City, Kansas, and this has been his home ever since. He has worked in the meat department of several packing houses and also done much as a contractor. These lines of endeavor still engage his attention and employ his faculties, and he has an excellent record in both, showing great intelligence and skill and the utmost integrity in all his work of whatever character.
The fraternal features of his nature find expression almost exclusively in the Nordes Venner Society, although he belongs to another Swedish order, the N. N. E., in which he holds his membership in Missouri. He is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, of the Kansas City camp, and has belonged to other orders, but has dropped out of them. The ordinary duties of life have been too exacting of him to admit of his giving the required attention to many lodges, and he has wisely limited his membership to those which are most in accord with his tastes and serviceable to his needs, and these have his full devotion.
He was married in Kansas City in the fall of 1896, being then united with Miss Anna Westman, who was born in Sweden on August 13, 1878, and was brought to this country in her childhood. They have become the parents of five children: Carl John, Oscar Clarence, Ann Amelia, Albin Edward and Mabel Eveline. Mrs. Nelson, the mother of these children, died on November 23, 1909. The father and his children attend religious services at the Lutheran church, and take an active part in its evangelizing work and social undertakings of every kind. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 568-569)
Carlis C. Craft, who is engaged in the business of house moving, was born at Polo, Missouri, on the 24th of October, 1875, and is a son of John M. and Margaret M. (Carroll) Craft. The father was born in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, and as a youth learned the carpenter's trade. He came to Polo, Missouri, in 1870 and in 1880 moved to Kansas City, Kansas, where he was engaged in the work of his trade and in house moving. He married Margaret Carroll in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, February 15, 1866, and they became the parents of three children, all of whom are living and of whom Carlis C. was the second in order of birth. The father is living and maintains his home in this city, where he is still doing carpenter work. He is a Socialist in his political adherency and was a soldier in the war of 1861. The mother died December 23, 1910.
Carlis C. Craft, who was a child of but five years of age at the time of his arrival in Kansas City, attended the common schools here and early began to assist his father in his work. When he had attained to years of discretion he assumed full charge of the house moving department of his father's business and with that line of enterprise he has now been identified for fully fifteen years. His offices are located at No. 700 Kansas avenue, and in connection with his work he has a finely equipped outfit and commands an extensive business. In politics Mr. Craft is a stalwart in the ranks of the Democratic party and while he has never had any aspirations for political preferment of any description he is ever ready to give of his aid and influence in support of all projects advanced for the good of the city and state at large. He is a member of the Kaw Valley Drainage Board. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Woodmen of the World, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Order of Owls.
On the 16th of September, 1900, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Craft to Miss Edna Matthews, who was reared and educated at Independence, Kansas, she being a daughter of John and Lovina (Kraft) Matthews, both of whom are now living, residents of Independence, Kansas. The father in his occupation is a grader. To Mr. and Mrs. Craft have been born two children, namely, Russell P. and Raymond A., both of whom are enrolled as pupils in the public schools of this city. Mr. and Mrs. Craft are prominent and popular factors in connection with the best social activities in the community. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 569-570)
The efficient and popular assistant postmaster of Kansas City, has been a resident of the Sunflower state for fully thirty-five years and thus may consistently be designated as a Kansas pioneer. He has been an influential factor in the civic and material development of this favored commonwealth and was the founder of Empire City, Cherokee county, now one of the thriving towns of the state. Prior to establishing his home in Kansas Mr. McClung had rendered distinguished service in the Civil war, in which he was identified first with the army of the Union and later with the navy arm of the service. He has been a resident of Kansas City since 1896 and is one of the well known and highly honored citizens of the fine metropolis of Wyandotte county, where his standing is such as to render it specially consonant to give in this publication a brief review of his career, which has been marked by varied and interesting phases.
Charles Livingston McClung was born at Troy, Miami county, Ohio, on the 1st of August, 1840, and is a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of the old Buckeye state. He is an only son of Benjamin Franklin and Amanda Florence (Taylor) McClung, the former of whom was likewise a native of Troy, Ohio, and the latter of whom was born in Pennsylvania. The father passed the closing years of his long and useful life at Empire City, Kansas, where he died in 1883, at the age of sixty-five years. He was a son of David and Nancy (Smith) McClung, the former of whom was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, and the latter in Lexington, Kentucky. He was a child at the time of his parents' removal from Kentucky to Miami county, Ohio, in 1798, and the family was one of the first to make permanent settlement in that county, with whose history the name has been prominently identified during the long intervening years. The McClung family is of stanch Scotch lineage and the original progenitors in America were numbered among the Scotch Presbyterians, or Covenanters, who settled at historic old Jamestown, Virginia, about 1680, other prominent Scotch families of the new colony having been the Prestons, the Paxtons, the Lyles, the Grigsbys, the Stuarts, the McCampbells, the McCues, the McKees, and the McCowns. Mrs. Amanda Florence (Taylor) McClung, mother of him whose name initiates this review, was a child at the time of her parents' removal to Kentucky, where she was reared and educated and where her marriage was solemnized. The Taylor family likewise traces its ancestry back to sturdy Scotch origin. Mrs Amanda F. McClung was summoned to the life eternal, at Troy, Ohio, when about fifty-one years of age. The parents were zealous members of the Presbyterian church and exemplified their deep Christian faith in their daily lives. The father devoted the major part of his active career to the vocation of cabinet-maker and his sterling attributes of character gained and retained to him the unqualified esteem of those with whom he came in contact in the various relations of life.
Charles L. McClung gained his early educational training in the common schools of his native town, where he received the advantages of the high school, and about one month prior to attaining to his legal majority he subordinated all other interests to tender his services in defense of the union, by responding to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers. On the 4th of July, 1861, he enlisted in the First Ohio Battery, and after this command had received about three months' tactical training, at Camp Chase, in the capital city of the state, he was assigned to detailed work in the quartermaster's department in that city, besides doing other service. He had been made first lieutenant in his battery, and this office he resigned in December, 1863, in order to enter the navy department of the service. He immediately enlisted in the navy, in which he was made acting master's mate. He took part in all the naval engagements along the course of the Mississippi river until the beginning of the Red river campaign. At the initiation of this expedition Mr. McClung was placed in charge of the-steamer ''Benefit," at the mouth of the Red river, and this was used as a dispatch boat after Porter had gone up the river from Alexandria. Mr. McClung was an active participant in the siege of Vicksburg up to July 2, 1863, when he was detailed to duty at the navy yard at Mound City, Illinois. In February of the following year he was detached from this service and again assigned to the flag ship Blackhawk, with the same rank of master's mate. The fleet proceeded to the mouth of the Red river in April, and after the fight at Grapp's Bluffs, on the 10th of that month, one of the most spirited encounters of that expedition, Mr. McClung was promoted to the office of ensign. At this time he was transferred to the fleet on the upper Tennessee river, and by rank of office he had command of the same between Decatur, Alabama, and Chattanooga, Tennessee. In this important service he continued until the close of the war, when he tendered his resignation and received an honorable discharge.
After the termination of his loyal and patriotic service in defense of the nation's integrity Mr. McClung returned to his home in Troy, Ohio, where he was engaged in the grocery business for the ensuing year. He then sold his stock and business and in 1869 he went to California, where he remained nearly two years and where he held a*n executive position with the Bank of California, in the city of San Francisco. He returned to Arkansas in 1870, and there followed various lines of enterprise until 1875, which witnessed his arrival in Kansas, a state that has ever since represented his home. He first located at Oswego, Labette county, but soon afterward removed to Cherokee county, where in 1877, he platted the city of Empire City, which grew to a town of four thousand five hundred population within one year. Prior to this, in 1872, Mr. McClung had served as United States deputy surveyor in Arkansas, and, as a skilled civil engineer, he continued in the government service for a number of years, having charge of mineral lands in various western states.
In 1883 Mr. McClung removed to Columbus, the judicial center of Cherokee county, Kansas, and there he maintained his home until 1896, when he came to Wyandotte county and located in Kansas City, where he has since resided. In 1879 he was elected mayor of Empire City, and at the expiration of his first term he was re-elected without a dissenting vote. He resigned the office after serving one year of his second term, and thus was chief executive of the thriving little city for three consecutive years. In the same county he was elected county surveyor, but he resigned after serving six months. Later he was again chosen for this position, but he declined to qualify for the same. For several years he was engaged in the work of his profession in connection with railroad operations. In this connection he was chief engineer of the old Missouri & Northwestern Railroad and he also did effective work in connection with other lines. After coming to Kansas City Mr. McClung continued in the work of his profession as a surveyor and civil engineer, and incidentally he received appointment to the position of assistant city engineer, also as city engineer. In July, 1909, he was appointed assistant postmaster of Kansas City, and he has since continued the efficient and valued incumbent of this office. He is a stalwart in the camp of the Republican party and takes a broad and intelligent view of matters of public import. He maintains a lively interest in his old comrades of the Civil war and signified the same by his membership in Burnside Post, No. 28, Grand Army of the Republic, and in the Kansas commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.
On the 21st of November, 1866, in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. McClung to Miss Anna H. Mackey, daughter of Dr. James H. Mackey, who was a native of Virginia and who became one of the representative physicians and surgeons of Miami county, Ohio, where Mrs. McClung was born, he was engaged in the active practice of his profession for more than half a century, in Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Missouri, in which last mentioned state he passed the closing years of his long and useful life. Mr. and Mrs. McClung have two children, Clarence Erwin, who is now a valued member of the faculty of the University of Kansas, at Lawrence; and Ella Blair, who is the wife of Wesley R. Childs, the present postmaster of Kansas City and a representative citizen of whom specific mention is made on other pages of this publication. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 570-573)
From the great Norseland has come a most valuable contribution to the social fabric of our national republic, and our Scandinavian adopted citizens have assimilated with the American body politic with completeness and rapidity. By as much as they have cherished the best heritages of their native lands and woven them into the fabric of their citizenship, by so much have they added fine and strong fiber to the American people. Wyandotte county cannot claim a large percentage of citizens of Scandinavian birth, but those who have established homes within her borders have well upheld the high prestige of the races which they represent. Such a one is Charles A. Anderson, who is still a young man and who came to America as a youth of eighteen years, endowed with energy, well balanced mind, industrious habits and sturdy self reliance. It has been his to gain distinctive success in his chosen vocation and he is today numbered among the representative contractors and builders of Kansas City, Kansas, where his advancement has been gained through his own well applied energies, and where he has made for himself a stanch vantage ground in the confidence and good will of all who know him.
Charles A. Anderson was born in Sweden on the 4th of June, 1870, and in the schools of his native land he secured excellent educational training. In 1888, at the age of eighteen years, he severed the ties that bound him to home and native land and set forth to seek his fortunes in America. He landed in the port of New York city and thence came forthwith to Kansas City, Kansas. Here his first employment was that of driving a solemn and none too ambitious mule, the appendage of which was a dump-cart of the common type. After remaining here for a few months Mr. Anderson went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he served a thorough apprenticeship at the trade of stone mason and where he continued to be employed at his trade for a period of about eight years. Thereafter he was identified with government contract work at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he assisted in the erection of the prison buildings, and later he was similarly employed at his trade in government contract work at Fort Riley, this state, and Fort Sam Houston, Texas. In 1908 he superintended the erection of the Fifteenth street bridge at Kansas City, Missouri-a seventy-foot stone span structure and one of the noted bridges of the west. In 1909 he began independent contracting in Kansas City, Kansas, and also in the Missouri city of the same name, and he has been indefatigable in his application to work, with the result that his success in his chosen calling is certain to increase from year to year.
At the time of this writing Mr. Anderson is engaged in the erection of the Central Baptist church, which will be one of the finest church edifices not only in Kansas City, Kansas, but also one of the best in the entire west. He has also contracted for the central stone work for the new city hall and for the erection of other important buildings, and he has thus become, within a brief time, one of the leading contractors in stone architectural work in Wyandotte county. He is loyal to all civic responsibilities and is fully appreciative of the advantages and attractions of the land of his adoption. In politics he is a stanch advocate of the cause of the Republican party, and his religious faith is that of the Swedish Lutheran church. He is a careful, conscientious and reliable business man, and his ability and energy have gained to him prestige and success in the work of his chosen vocation. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 573-574)
Many of the men who were prominent in the upbuilding of Kansas, coining here in pioneer days, were of foreign birth and breeding, Germany having contributed liberally of her stanch and sturdy young men. Among the number especial mention should be made in this volume of Anthony Philip Sauer, who was for many years identified with the growing prosperity of Kansas City. He was born March 10, 1826, at Hessen-on-the-Rhine, where he acquired a practical education. Inheriting the habits of industry, thrift and enterprise characteristic of his German forefathers, he began his business career when quite young, investing his money in a stock of merchandise, which he took to Australia, intending to there engaged in mercantile pursuits. Disappointed and discouraged with the outlook, he made an entire change of plans and immigrated to the United States, the land of great promise, landing in New York City in 1853.
Embarking in the leather business in that city, he remained there ten years, meeting with satisfactory success. His health failing, Mr. Sauer sold out his business in New York and came west in search of renewed vigor. Going to the Rocky Mountains, he, with his two sons, Gus William and Anthony P., Jr., were engaged in freighting during a part of the time the Civil war was in progress* operating a large train of teams. Subsequently locating in Kansas City, Kansas, Mr. Sauer established a tannery, and for a while was prosperously employed in the tanning and sale of leather. Disposing of his interests in that line, he embarked in the real estate business. About 1871 Mr. Sauer purchased sixty-three acres of land on the Shawnee Road, and in the improvement of the property invested about sixty thousand dollars, putting twenty thousand dollars into the spacious brick mansion which he erected. His intentions were to create a large fruit farm and to raise grapes for the manufacture of wine. Before his plans were all complete, however, he was called to the life above, his death occurring at his beautiful home August 16, 1878. He was a man of sterling integrity and worth, and adhered through life to the Catholic faith.
Mr. Sauer married, in Kansas City, Kansas, Mary (Einhellig) Messersmidt, who was born in Bavaria, Germany, November 22, 1840, a daughter of Anthony and Mary (Kabaerl) Einhellig. Her parents emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1848, and after living in Erie, Pennsylvania, for a few years came, in 1856, to what is now Kansas City, Kansas, arriving here at the time of the sale of the Wyandotte and Delaware lands, journeying by rail from Pennsylvania to St. Louis, thence by boat to Kansas City. Here Mr. Einhellig died in 1855, aged fifty-six years, and his wife died in 1867, aged fifty-two years.
Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Sauer seven children were born, namely: Gus William; Anthony Philip, Jr.; Eva, who married first William Van Fossen, and is now the wife of Mr. Perkins, of Kansas City, Kansas; Marie Antoinette, wife of George McLain, of Kansas City, Kansas; Josephine Theresa, wife of Thomas Kinney; Clara, living at the old home; and Helen, who died in 1865, aged fourteen months. Mrs. Sauer married first, when she was but nineteen years old, George Messersmidt, a native of Germany, and of that marriage she became the mother of two children, namely: Anna, wife of Theodore Votigtle, a civil engineer; and Mary, wife of Luther Klotz, living in Germany. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 574-575)
Winfield S. Ferguson, M. D., physician and surgeon of Kansas City, Kansas, has practiced his profession in this city for nearly a score of years and he is exceptionally well known among both fraternity and laity. Mr. Ferguson was born in Paducah, Kentucky, on the 28th of January, 1861, and is a son of Mason F. and Mary (Lagore) Ferguson, the former of whom was a native of the state of Kentucky and the latter of Ohio. The father was identified with agricultural pursuits in the vicinity of Paducah, Kentucky, until 1864, in which year he removed to the state of Kansas, settling on a farm near Glenwood, Leavenworth county. He married Miss Mary Lagore in 1844, and they became the parents of five children, three of whom are living at the present time. Mr. Ferguson was summoned to the life eternal in 1910, but his cherished and devoted wife survives and makes her home with the immediate subject of this review.
To the public schools of Bosar, Kansas, Dr. Ferguson is indebted for his preliminary educational training. When twenty-one years of age he left the home farm and was matriculated in Park College, Parkville, Missouri, in 1881. Subsequently he attended the Northwestern Medical College at St. Joseph, Missouri, and he was also a student in several other medical institutions, but did not graduate in any. However, he entered upon the practice of medicine at Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1887, but one year later he came to Kansas City, where he engaged in the real estate business. Meeting with financial reverses in 1893, he withdrew from that line of enterprise and again turned his attention to the general practice of medicine, in which he has now been engaged for nearly twenty years.
In November, 1884, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Ferguson to Miss Bertha E. Gates, of Leavenworth, Kansas. To this union have been born five children, as follows: Winfield B., a graduate of the law department of the University of Kansas, and now engaged in the practice of his profession in this city; Myrtle May, who is now enrolled as a student in the Kansas University; Florence F., who at the age of fifteen years met with a fatal accident while at high school; Ruth Naomi, a graduate of the high school; and Walter S., who is a student in the public schools.
In politics Dr. Ferguson is an adherent of the policies of the Prohibition party and fraternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and for twenty-one years a member of Giant Camp, No. 1412, of the Woodmen Order. He and his family belong to the Presbyterian church. Dr. Ferguson is a public spirited citizen and is a useful and respected member of society. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 575-576)
An active and well-to-do farmer of Bonner Springs, James B. Coleman has for many years been successfully identified with the development and advancement of the agricultural prosperity of this section of Wyandotte county, his large and well kept farm reflecting credit on his good judgment and ability. He was born, in 1859, in Kentucky, which was likewise the native state of his father, Levi Coleman.
Born in Kentucky, March 5, 1835, Levi Coleman lived there until after the breaking out of the Civil war, when he entered the government employ as the driver of a freight wagon. He subsequently came with his family to Kansas, locating first on a farm in Wyandotte county, and later moving to Miami county, Kansas, where he is still engaged in agricultural pursuits. He is a steadfast Democrat in politics, and a member of the Masonic Fraternity. His wife, whose maiden name was Trithy Saylor, died in Kansas in 1869, leaving four children, as follows: James B., the special subject of this personal record; Ida; Sallie Ann; and Anita.
Coming in 1866 to Kansas with his parents, James B. Coleman, then a lad of scarce six summers, attended the district school as a boy, and when old enough began to assist his father in the care of the home farm, in Wyandotte county. Choosing for his life work the independent occupation of his ancestors, he has judiciously invested in land, and is now the owner of a good farm of three hundred and fifteen acres, which he is successfully devoting 4o general farming, stock raising and dairying. He has also a steam threshing outfit, and during the harvesting season is kept busily employed in threshing grain throughout this section of the country.
In 1886 Mr. Coleman was united in marriage with Sarah Blankenship, who was born in Kentucky, February 24, 1867, coming to Wyandotte county, Kansas when she was a year old. Into their pleasant home ten children have been born all of whom are now living, namely: Alma, Ben, Hazel, Leonard, Lee, Clyde, Charles, Inez, Ida and Don W. Mrs. Coleman and two daughters, Alma and Hazel, belong to the Order of the Eastern Star, at White Church, Kansas.
In politics Mr. Coleman is a stanch and stalwart advocate of the policies of the Republican party. He is a member of Delaware Lodge No. 96, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and he also holds membership in the Order of the Eastern Star. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Page 576)
Bringing to the practice of his chosen profession a well trained mind, a zealous enthusiasm and habits of industry, A. Lloyd Clotfelter, of Kansas City, Kansas, has been very successful in his career and is now numbered among the able and influential younger members of the legal fraternity. A son of James H. and Rachel (Lloyd) Clotfelter, he was born June 20, 1881, in Emporia, o Kansas.
James H. Clotfelter was born October 16, 1848, in Montgomery county, Illinois, and there spent his boyhood days, receiving his first knowledge of books in the district schools and completing his early education in Springfield, Illinois. Coming to Kansas during the seventies, he was engaged in the live stock business at Emporia until 1884, when he located at Kansas City, Kansas, where he was a live stock buyer for the Armour Packing Company for over twenty years, resigning his position in February, 1908. Embarking then in business for himself, he bought and shipped live stock throughout the west and south until his death, December 23, 1909. The elder Mr. Clotfelter had an extensive acquaintance among stockmen throughout the country. He was a Republican in politics, and belonged to Wyandotte Lodge, No. 3, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, and to Kansas City, Missouri, Lodge No. 26, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He married Rachael Lloyd, who was born in Newark, Ohio, and is now living in Kansas City, Kansas.
The only child of his parents, A. Lloyd Clotfelter was given exceptionally good educational advantages. After being graduated from the Kansas City, Kansas, high school, he entered the University of Kansas, in Lawrence, remaining for two years. He then went to Harvard where he obtained his A. B. degree in 1906, thereafter attending the Harvard Law School, and on January 23, 1908, was admitted to the Kansas bar and to practice in the Federal courts. Since that time Mr, Clotfelter has been actively engaged in the general practice of law, and has met with well deserved success. From March 10, 1910, until December, 1910, he filled the position of assistant attorney general for Wyandotte county, Kansas, and during the time handled about two hundred cases. Mr. Clotfelter is unmarried, making his home with his widowed mother to whom he is intensely devoted.
In his political affiliations, Mr. Clotfelter is a sound Republican; fraternally he belongs to the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and to Wyandotte Lodge, No. 440, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 576-577)
One of the able physicians and surgeons who have provided a due quota in maintaining the high standard of the medical profession in Wyandotte county is Dr. Zugg, who is engaged in successful practice in Kansas City. In view of the wide realm of his profession he has realized the expediency of concentration or intensive work in the same, with the result that he has specialized in the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, to which he now devotes practically his entire time and attention and in connection with which his success has been on a parity with his marked success, with incidental high reputation. As one of the representative members of his profession in Wyandotte county he is, well worthy of recognition in this history of the county and its people.
Dr. Zugg claims as the place of his nativity the fine old commonwealth of Ohio, as he was born on a farm near the village of Bethel, Clermont county, that state, on the 26th of March, 1874. He is a son of John L. and Ella (Richards) Zugg, both of whom were likewise born in Clermont county, where the respective families made settlement
in the pioneer epoch of its history. William Zugg, grandfather of the Doctor, was a native of Pennsylvania, and his parents immigrated to that state from Germany. He was reared to maturity in his native state and as a young man he removed thence to Clermont county, Ohio, where he reclaimed a farm from a virtual wilderness and became one of the representative agriculturists of that section of the Buckeye state. His wife, whose maiden name was Ruth Swing, was a cousin of the distinguished divine, Rev. David Swing, D. D., who so long held the pastorate of the People's church in Chicago and who gained a national reputation as a pulpit orator. Enos Richards, the maternal grandfather of Dr. Zugg, was likewise of German ancestry, and his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Logan, was a member of the well known Logan family of Kentucky, where she was born and reared. John L. Zugg continued to be actively identified with agricultural pursuits in Clermont county, Ohio, until his death, at the age of sixty years, and he was one of the honored and influential citizens of his native county, where he ever commanded unqualified popular esteem. His wife, Ella Richards, is now living in Ohio, a Presbyterian in religious affiliation. Dr. Zugg is the eldest of a family of five children, all sons, Rev. Frank R., the next in order of birth, is a clergyman of the Presbyterian church and holds a pastoral charge at Washington, Kansas; Charles R. is a successful educator and resides in Bantam, Ohio; and Clark W., is a student of medicine at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Dr. Clarence L. Zugg laid the foundation for a
sound mind in a sound body through his close association with the work of the old homestead farm during the days
of his boyhood and early youth, and in the meanwhile he duly availed himself of the advantages of the district
schools of his native county. He applied himself diligently and at the age of twenty-one years he proved himself
eligible for the pedagogic profession, which he continued for one year. In 1896, with definite plans as to his
future life work, he set his face to the west and at Parkville, Missouri, he entered Park College, in which he
completed a course in the academic or literary department and was graduated as a member of the class of 1899, and
now has the Degree of Bachelor of Science from the Kansas City University. In preparation for the work of his chosen
profession he then came to Kansas City, Kansas, and was matriculated in the College of Physicians & Surgeons,
which now constitutes the medical department of the University of Kansas. He completed the prescribed course in
this excellent institution, in which he received his coveted and well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine, upon
his graduation as a member of the class of 1902. In the spring of the same year he opened an office at Orlando,
Oklahoma, where he served his novitiate in the practical work of his profession and where he remained three years.
He then returned to Wyandotte county and engaged in active general practice at Argentine, which is now an integral
part of Kansas City. There he continued to reside, with ever increasing success in his profession, until 1909,
when he removed to the central and original portion of Kansas City and turned his attention to the special treatment
of the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. In this circumscribed field of practice he has been notably successful,
and he admirably fortified himself for his specialty
through effective post-graduate courses in the diagnosis and treatment of such disorders, in which connection he
availed himself of the advantages of leading medical institutions in the cities of Cincinnati and Chicago. He devoted
a year to such post-graduate work, and he has personally done a large amount of research and experimental work
along the lines to which he is now devoting his attention. He is a valued and -appreciative member of the Wyandotte
County Medical Society, the Kansas Golden Belt Medical Society, the Kansas State Medical Society, besides which
he is also identified with the American Medical Association and the Kansas City (Missouri) Academy of Medicine.
He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, in which he has received the degrees of the blue lodge, and both
he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian church.
In the year 1902 was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Zugg to Miss Adda Campbell, who was born in Ohio but who was reared in Illinois, to which state her father, Elias B. Campbell, removed when she was a child. Her father died at New Richmond, Ohio, in 1909, and her mother and her only brother, Albert, live at New Richmond, Ohio. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 577-579)
Among the most prosperous and best known of the agriculturists of Wyandotte county must be mentioned Henry Stockhoff, who, upon a fertile and finely situated tract of two hundred and seventy-nine acres, conducts extensive operations in general farming and fruit growing. He belongs to that brainy, honest and generally admirable stock-the German-which has proved one of America's finest sources of immigration. Mr. Stockhoff, who is a son of George and Elizabeth (Sorenkamp) Stockhoff, was born in Hanover, Germany, March 10, 1842. At the age of nineteen years he came to the conclusion that he would find greater opportunity for success in America and he accordingly severed the associations of his youth and set forth. The old sailing ship in which the voyage was made required thirty-four days to cross the Atlantic and the landing was made at Baltimore. Mr. Stockhoff soon drifted westward to Ohio and spent eleven years in the city of Cincinnati. He learned the saddler's trade and was an employee of great usefulness in connection with a livery barn.
After having been in the new land for more than & decade, the subject returned on a visit to his native land and his parents. This delightful renewal of old associations was of about four months' duration and when he came back he came on to Kansas, whither his brother Fred, who came to America in 1866, had preceded him. He arrived in the Sunflower state in the year 1876 and immediately set about becoming a land owner. He purchased forty acres in the woods, this being a wilderness except for a log cabin in which lived a colored man he had hired. In a short time he constructed a good frame house in which he has ever since lived. He has added to his holdings from time to time and now owns, as previously mentioned, two hundred and seventy-nine acres. He does general farming and raises a large amount of fruit, having set out upon his place, three hundred apple trees and nine hundred peach trees. He is recognized as a substantial and public spirited citizen and at one time served the county as tax collector. He is an active member of the German Lutheran church and has been very zealous in its good works.
Mr. Stockhoff was married on the 14th day of December, 1876, the lady to become his wife and helpmeet being Minnie Winker, daughter of Christian and Margaret (Van Buren) Winker. Their union has been blessed by the birth of the following eight children: Emma Caroline, now Mrs. Henry Ellberg, lives on one of her father's farms; John Frederick, who remains under the paternal rooftree; Catherine Sophia, who became the wife of Emanuel Roemerman and resides upon the Stockhoff homestead; Louisa Margaret, Henry George, William August, Gertrude Dorothea, and Frederick Carl, all of whom are at home.
Mrs. Stockhoff was born in the Province of Westphalia, Prussia, July 29, 1858, and was but six years of age at the time of her parents' immigration to America. The sailing ship upon which she and her parents made the voyage was six weeks upon the ocean. The Van Burens were of noble stock, but wars and other calamities deprived them of their property, as well as of their position, official and social. Upon coming to America, the father Christian F. Van Buren located first in Decatur county, Indiana, and went thence to Kansas in 1870, locating in Quindaro township. It is a pathetic circumstance that both parents died upon the same day-January 14, 1892, with pneumonia. Mr. and Mrs. Stockhoff hold high place in popular confidence and esteem and they and their family are well known from boundary to boundary of Wyandotte county. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 579-580)
Hon. William H. Haskell, former state senator and a business man of prominence in Kansas City, Kansas, was the organizer of the substantial institution known as the Haskell Investment Company, of which he is president. Mr. Haskell was born in Cortland county, New York, on the 2nd of November, 1853, and he is a son of Moses and Hannah (Edmonds) Haskell, both of whom were likewise born in the old Empire state of the Union and both of whom are now deceased. The father was a farmer by vocation, was a devout member of the Baptist church and he was summoned to the life eternal in 1856, at the early age of thirty-two years. His cherished and devoted wife passed away in 1865, at the age of thirty-six years. The maternal and paternal grandparents of him whose name forms the caption for this review were natives of Connecticut.
The only child of his parents, William H. Haskell was but three years of age at the time of his father's death. He was reared to adult age in his native place and after completing the curriculum of the public schools was matriculated as a student in the State Normal School at Cortland, New York. He attended the latter institution for a period of four years, at the expiration of which he secured a position as professor of mathematics therein. He was engaged in teaching school for a number of years in the state of New York and in 1872 he removed to Toledo, Ohio, where he entered the employ of the Wabash Railway Company in the capacity of bookkeeper. Subsequently he worked for a time in the bookkeeping department of the First National Bank of Toledo and still later he was appointed assistant county treasurer at Toledo. In the fall of 1879 he removed to Gaylord, Smith county, Kansas, where he turned his attention to the general merchandise business. With the passage of time he became interested in cattle feeding, banking and milling enterprises and he achieved success as an able business man. In 1904 he was honored with election to the office of state senator, serving therein for one term. In 1901 he was appointed by former Governor E. W. Stanley as a member of the state prison board and later he was re-appointed to the same office by Governor J. W. Bailey. In 1905 he wag* appointed, by Governor Edward W. Hoch, as prison warden of the state penitentiary at Lansing, Kansas, and he retained that incumbency for a period of four years. In 1909 he located in Kansas City, Kansas, where he became instrumental in the organization of the Haskell Investment Company, which concern is incorporated under the laws of the state with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars and which is officered as follows, W. H. Haskell, president; T. T. Kelley, vice president; and B. R. Russell, secretary.
On the 6th of September, 1877, Mr. Haskell was united in marriage to Miss Antoinette L. Coy, of Toledo, Ohio, and they have two sons, concerning whom the following brief data is here incorporated: Frank C, is in the employ of the Armour Packing Company at Kansas City, Kansas; and Mason L.. a salesman of cattle at the Kansas City Stock Yards.
In his political proclivities Mr. Haskell is a stanch supporter of the Republican party, in the local councils of which he is a prominent and active factor. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the time-honored Masonic order, holding membership in Gaylord Lodge, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, and Smith City Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, in addition to which he is also a valued and appreciative member of the Kansas City, Kansas, Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 580-581)
Wylie White Cook has ever been prominent in public
life and has held with great credit to himself and benefit to the community a number of offices. For four years
he was assistant state auditor of Kansas, he was subsequently chief of police of Kansas City, Kansas, and at the
present time he holds the office of commissioner of elections, of this city. While a resident of Labette county,
he held successively the offices of deputy county clerk, county clerk and deputy county treasurer. One of the influential
Republicans of the state, he stands high in party councils; general confidence is reposed in him as the friend
of honest and enlightened government.
Mr. Cook is a native of Indiana, his birth having occurred July 1, 1859. He is the son of Levi and Margaret (White)
Cook, the father a native of Indiana and the mother of the state of Delaware. The elder gentleman who was for many
years a resident of Hamilton county, Indiana, was a farmer by occupation and a man who enjoyed no small degree
of consideration in the section in which he was best known. In fact the confidence and esteem in which he was held
were manifested by the bestowal upon him of numerous local and county offices in Hamilton county, to whose duties
he gave a whole-souled devotion. He also was a stalwart supporter of the Grand Old Party in the Hoosier state and
in their religious convictions he and his wife were Methodist Episcopal. Both are now deceased.
Mr. Cook had what has proved in so many cases the good fortune to be born upon farm amid rural surroundings were passed his boyhood and youth. He reaped to the fullest extent the advantages of public school education as afforded by the district school and his youthful strength was devoted for a time to farming. He also taught for a time and subsequently made an entirely new departure as a dealer in grain and live stock, in which he engaged until his marriage in 1879 at the age of twenty years. In the year 1902 he came to Kansas City, Kansas, and here has ever since made his home, meeting with success and honors. For six years he held the position as treasurer of the Banking Trust Company and contributed in no small measure to its high standing by his marked discrimination in his share of the management of its affairs. In addition to his other claims to distinction, Mr. Cook is a well known Mason and is eligible to wear the white-plumed helmet of the Knight Templar. He is also affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Mr. Cook was married February 19, 1879, his chosen lady being Mary L. Sanders, daughter of Albert P. and Sarah J. Sanders. Mrs. Cook was born in Indiana and their marriage was celebrated in Hamilton county, Indiana. She received an excellent academic education and is a cultured and admirable lady. Mr. and Mrs. Cook are the parents of four children. Minnie L. born at Cicero, Indiana, on Christmas Day, 1879, received a college education. She married Raymond S. Holding, a clergyman of the Friends church, now established in Matehuala, Mexico. Albert L., born in Parsons, Kansas, in September, 1881, is a graduate of the high school, and at the present time holds the office of chief clerk of the Nipe Bay Company, of Preston, Cuba. He married Miss Anite Hogge of Manzanilla, Cuba, and London, England. Lois Margaret, born in Oswego, Kansas, in April, 1888, is the wife of Frederick Norman Moseley, cashier of the Nipe Bay Company, of Preston, Cuba. Edith Irene, born at Oswego, Kansas, in December, 1891.
Mr. and Mrs. Cook maintain a hospitable and interesting home and enjoy that general esteem which is the right of useful and altruistic members of society. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 581-582)
In view of the great "wanderlust" which is gradually growing to animate all classes of American citizens to roam about from one place to another, it is particularly gratifying to here accord recognition to a citizen who has passed practically his entire life time in the county in which he was born. George Hafner is accorded the unqualified confidence and esteem of people who have been familiar with his career from early youth and during his period of residence at Bonner Springs, Kansas, he has won an enviable name for himself as a capable and successful business man.
A native of Wyandotte county, George Hafner was born in Kansas City, the date of his nativity being the 1st of March, 1865. He is a son of Melcher and Anna (Grubel) Hafner, both of whom were born and reared in the great Empire of Germany. The father immigrated to the United States about the year 1860 but previously to his coming hither he had entered upon an apprenticeship at the brewer's trade, with which line of enterprise he was thoroughly familiar. After disembarking in the harbor of New Orleans, he proceeded directly to St. Louis, Missouri, where he remained for two years, at the expiration of which he came to Wyandotte, now Kansas City, Kansas. Here he opened and operated the first brewery ever here conducted, continuing to be engaged in the operation thereof until his death, in 1868. His marriage to Anna Grubel was solemnized in old Wyandotte and this union was prolific of four children, concerning whom the following brief data are here incorporated: Charles is mail carrier at the Stock Yards; George is the immediate subject of this review; Rudolph was summoned to the life eternal in 1869, at the age of one year and eight months; and Gussie is the wife of G. A. Peters, of Bonner Springs, a sketch of whose career appears elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Melcher Hafner passed to the Great Beyond in the year 1901, at the venerable age of sixty-six years.
George Hafner was reared to adult age in old Wyandotte, where he early availed himself of the privileges afforded in the public schools. After reaching years of maturity he was employed at a number of different packing plants in Kansas City, where he continued to maintain his home until 1910. In that year he came to Bonner Springs, where he has since resided and where he is held in high esteem by all with whom he has come in contact. At the present time, in 1910, he is associated with his brother-in-law, George A. Peters, in the poultry business, their thriving concern being well known under the firm name of the Bonner Springs Poultry Company. Splendidly equipped coops and yards are maintained and they have on hand regularly as many as three hundred fowl, their principal market being Kansas City, Missouri. Just prior to his advent in Bonner Springs, Mr. Hafner was bookkeeper for the George Grubel Bottling Works, at Kansas City, Kansas. He and his brother-in-law now control a splendid business and they are constantly extending the scope of their operations.
In politics Mr. Hafner is aligned as a stalwart in the ranks of the Democratic party and while he has never manifested aught of ambition for the honors or emoluments of public office of any description he is ever on the alert to do all in his power to advance the general welfare of his home community. He is affiliated with a number of representative fraternal and social organizations of a local nature. He is genial and kindly in his associations, is fair and honorable in his business methods and is everywhere esteemed and respected for his exemplary life. Mr. Hafner is not married. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 582-583)
A well known business man of Kansas City, Missouri, and a large property owner, William Ellis Crawford is an active dealer in real estate in this part of Jackson county, his transactions in realty being numerous and profitable. He was born, January 28, 1865, in Adair county, Missouri, a son of William Allen Crawford, and grandson of James Crawford, of Idaho, who, if he lives so long, will celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of his birth in December, 1911. The grandfather is the founder of a family in which four generations are now living.
William Allen Crawford married Elizabeth Pinkston, from whom he is now separated, he having left her when their son, William Ellis, was a child of eighteen months, going to Idaho to make his fortune, and forgetting to return to his family.
Growing to manhood in Adair county, Missouri, William Ellis Crawford acquired a practical common school education, and a thorough knowledge of the various branches of agriculture on the farm where his youthful days were spent. Prom childhood he was specially interested in the raising of stock of all kinds, and began his active career as a stock raiser and dealer, continuing in that line of industry until 1908. Since that time Mr. Crawford has dealt largely in realty, buying and selling lands in different localities, and meeting with marked success in his operations. In 1910 he located in Kansas City, Missouri, where he is carrying on a substantial business, his home being at No. 3301 Mougall street, while his phone number is East, 3306. He has extensive property interests in the city, among other pieces of value that he owns being the Manhattan Hotel.
Mr. Crawford married, August 6, 1887, Thursa Holman, a daughter of Joseph and Martha (Cox) Holman, natives of Knox county, Missouri, and they are the parents of five children, namely: Alma, Artie, Joseph, Benjamin and Freda. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 583-584)
Though still a young man, the professional career of Dr. Wilkinson has been marked by a large and distinguished accomplishment, both in the domain of general practice and also in the educational field of his chosen calling. He is distinctively one of the leading surgeons of Wyandotte county, and his success and prestige are the more gratifying by reason of the fact that he is a native son of the Sunflower state and a scion of one of its honored pioneer families. He is engaged in practice in both Kansas Cities and his clientele is of an extensive and representative order, an indication of not only objective appreciation of his professional skill but also of his sterling attributes of character. Dr. Wilkinson has dignified his profession by earnest and effective service therein, and his technical attainments in both departments of medical science are of the highest order. He continues to be a close and appreciative student, and keeps in constant touch with the advances made in both medicine and surgery, so that he is admirably fortified for the duties and responsibilities devolving upon him in his exacting calling.
Dr. Wilkinson was born at Seneca, the judicial center of Nemaha county, Kansas, on the 27th of November, 1877, and is a son of Western E. and Mary (McLellan) Wilkinson, the former born at Berrien Springs, Berrien county, Michigan, on the 21st of March, 1846, and the latter at Brunswick, Cumberland county, Maine, on the 26th of June, 1845, their marriage having been solemnized at Buchanan, Berrien county, Michigan, on the 8th of April, 1869, where both were employed at the time. Western E. Wilkinson was but a boy at the time of the death of his father, Thomas Lee Wilkinson, in 1862, who was a native of Pennsylvania and who was one of the pioneer settlers of Berrien county, Michigan. Mary (McLellan) Wilkinson is a daughter of Hugh McLellan, who likewise was born in Maine, and who was a scion of a family founded in New England in the Colonial era of our national history. The original American progenitors were Hugh McLellan and his wife Elizabeth, who immigrated from Scotland about 1730, and who established their home at Gorham, Maine, thus becoming very early settlers of the fine old Pine Tree state.
In 1870, the next year after their marriage, Western E. Wilkinson and his wife came from Michigan to Waterville, Kansas, but established their permanent home in Seneca, Nemaha county, in January following, where they have continued to reside during the long intervening years, within which they have witnessed the development of that section of the state from the status of a primitive pioneer locality into one of the opulent and attractive portions of a great commonwealth. A man of strong individuality and excellent mental powers, Western E. Wilkinson was well equipped for leadership in thought and action in the pioneer community. He had learned the printer's trade when a young man, and purchased the Seneca Weekly Courier, the first paper established in Nemaha county. He continued as editor and publisher of this paper until 1884, and then disposed of the plant and business. For the ensuing fifteen years he served as cashier of the First National Bank of Seneca, and to his careful administrative policies was largely due the upbuilding of this substantial financial institution. At the expiration of the period noted he retired from active business and has since continued to reside at Seneca, enjoying the rewards of former years of earnest toil and endeavor. No citizen of Nemaha county is better known than he and none commands a more secure place in popular esteem. He came to Kansas poor, so far as financial resources were concerned, but by honest and well directed efforts in connection with normal lines of enterprise attained to substantial and gratifying success. He has ever been an uncompromising advocate of the principles of the Republican party and as a newspaper publisher he wielded much influence in connection with political, temperance, and other public affairs in Kansas in the pioneer days, though he never manifested aught of desire for public office of any description. He has been signally loyal and progressive as a citizen and has given support to those measures and enterprises tending to advance the material and civic welfare of his adopted state. As a compliment he was made postmaster of Seneca by United States Senator Ingalls, and served eight years. Though not formally identified with any home religious organization, he is a believer in conditional immortality as proclaimed by the Advent Christian church, and has been liberal in the support of Seneca church work. His wife is an active member of the Congregational church. Of their five children all are living except the only daughter, Prudie, who died at the age of five years; Paul, the eldest of the four sons, is an expert accountant by profession and resides in the City of Mexico; Hugh, of this sketch, is next in order of birth; Alvin is engaged in clerical business in Costa Rica; and Collins is still attending school in Topeka, this state.
To the public schools of his native town Dr. Wilkinson is indebted for his preliminary educational training. At the age of sixteen he was sent to Brunswick, Maine, the old home of his mother and her ancestors, and there he completed the scientific course in the high school, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1897. In preparation for the work of his chosen profession he availed himself of the advantages of an institution conceded to be one of the greatest in the entire Union, the celebrated Rush Medical College in Chicago which has of recent years been affiliated with the University of Chicago, constituting its medical department. In this college Dr. Wilkinson completed the prescribed four years' course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1001, with the well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. In November of the same year he located in Kansas City, Kansas, where he has been engaged in general practice and where he has gained distinctive precedence as one of the most skilled and successful physicians and surgeons of this part of the state. He held the chair of surgery in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in Kansas City, and after its affiliation with the University of Kansas he continued incumbent of the same professorship for two years, at the expiration of which he resigned, owing principally to the exigent demands of his large and constantly expanding private practice. He is a specially skillful and resourceful surgeon, and in the institutions mentioned has proved a particularly valuable and popular member of the faculty. For the past seven years he has been physician and surgeon for the Kansas School for the Blind, having received his original appointment from Governor Bailey in 1903. In the same year he was also made a member of the surgical staff of Bethany hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, and is at present abdominal and gynecological surgeon for this institution, with which he has been identified continuously since the year mentioned. He is a valued member of the Wyandotte County Medical Society; the Northeast Kansas Medical Society; the Golden Belt Medical Society; the Kansas State Medical Society, besides which he is an honorary member of the Clay County Medical Society in his native state, and is identified with the American Medical Association. He has made valuable contributions to leading periodicals of his profession and his enthusiasm in his work is of the most intense order. Dr. Wilkinson is an honorary member of the Phi Beta Pi medical fraternity of the University of Kansas, and in the Masonic fraternity is affiliated with Kaw Lodge, No. 72, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons. In his home city he is a member of the Mercantile and Union Clubs, and is deservedly popular in business, professional and social circles in Wyandotte county.
On the 21st of February, 1904, Dr. Wilkinson was united in marriage to Miss Ethel Sims, daughter of Ellington T. and Martha (Hering) Sims. Her father was for many years a well known business man of Kansas City, where he continued to reside until his death and where his widow still maintains her home. Mrs. Wilkinson was born at Sigourney, Keokuk county, Iowa, on the 28th of January, 1877, and was reared and educated principally in the city that is now her home. She was a well known Kansas City pianist previous to her marriage to Dr. Wilkinson. Dr. and Mrs. Wilkinson have one child, Elizabeth McLellan Wilkinson, who was born on the 30th of May, 1908. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 584-586)
The Buckeye state has furnished to Wyandotte county no small proportion of her citizenship, and prominent among the representatives from that state is William E. Pyre, an enterprising and prosperous fruit grower, whose home, spacious and substantial, is advantageously .situated in Quindaro township, beautifully located on an eminence overlooking five counties. Practical industry wisely and vigorously applied, never fails of success; it carries a man onward and upward, brings out his individual character, and acts as a powerful stimulus to the efforts of others. The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means, implying the exercise of the ordinary qualities of common sense and perseverance. The every day life, with its cares, necessities and duties, affords ample opportunities for acquiring experiences of the best kind, and its most beaten paths provide a true worker with abundant scope for effort and self improvement. In the legitimate channels of agriculture, Mr. Frye has won a comfortable competence and he also stands a man of honored citizenship.
The subject was born in Clermont county, Ohio, on the 25th day of April, 1857. He is a son of Jonas and Hannah (Harker) Frye, both of whom were likewise natives of the Buckeye state. In 1861, when the subject was about five years of age, the family removed to the vicinity of Dayton, Ohio, where they engaged in farming. After residing there for over a decade, in 1872, they removed to Delaware county, Indiana, and took possession of a farm in the Hoosier state upon the same day that U. S. Grant was inaugurated the first time as president of the United States. In another ten years the family sold their Indiana farm and came to Kansas, locating near Olathe, in Johnson county, where they resumed agricultural operations. The mother passed on to the life eternal in 1900, but the father is still living in Olathe, a retired farmer, venerable and respected. These worthy people became the parents of the following six children: William E., the subject, the eldest in order of birth; Clem V.; Dee, wife of A. J. Kennedy; Charles E., who died in 1906; Raul W.; and Blanche, wife of Fred Secrest.
Mr. Fyre is endebted for his education to the schools of both Ohio and Indiana, his attendance while in the latter state being carried on while assisting his father in the farm labor. He subsequently taught school in Indiana, his pedagogical experience covering a period of two years. On the 25th day of December, 1879, Mr. Fyre was married in Indiana to Hattie Kirkwood, a native of the Hoosier state. In that same year, he and his wife came to Olathe, where for eight years the subject engaged in farming, making a specialty of the raising of wheat and corn. He subsequently removed to Kansas City, Kansas, and in President Cleveland's second administration, he was appointed stock examiner, which office he held for four years. Later he became a policeman and wore the star of the custodian of the law for eight years, during two years of which time he was police sergeant.
Mr. Frye's present holdings consist of twenty acres and upon this small, but valuable homestead is located a substantial brick house. The land is entirely given to fruit and is located on Parallel Rock road.
Mr. and Mrs. Frye share their pleasant home with three children, namely: Ralph K., with the Wells-Fargo Express Company; Grace D. Frances, wife of Tim McMahon; and William C, who is still a resident beneath the paternal roof. Mr. Fyre is Democratic in his political affiliations and his fraternal relations are confined to membership in the Modern Woodmen of America. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 586-587)
Distinguished as a native born citizen of Bonner Springs and as one of its energetic and prosperous business men, John J. Baker is well worthy of special mention in a work of this character.
He was born May 12, 1886, and comes of pioneer stock, his father, the late Hervey J. Baker, having settled in this part of Kansas as early as 1869.
Hervey J. Baker was born, bred and educated in Wisconsin, being a son of John Baker, who served in the Civil war as a member of the Nineteenth Michigan Infantry. Subsequently o coming to Kansas, he located first in Leavenworth county, and from that time until his death, in 1903, was engaged in general farming. He married Louisa M. Armstrong, who is now living in Bonner Springs with her son, John J. Three children were born of their union, namely: Orpha, wife of Thomas Jackson, of Bonner Springs; Nannie D., a teacher in the public schools; and John J.
John J. Baker was reared on a farm and attended school in Bonner Springs, acquiring a practical education. In 1909 he embarked in mercantile pursuits, and is now one of the leading furniture dealers of the city, his store being amply supplied with a complete assortment of the most modern styles of furniture. As a merchant Mr. Baker is meeting with genuine success, his patronage being extensive and highly remunerative. Fraternally he belongs to the Ancient, Free and Accepted Order of Masons, and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he holds the position of noble grand. He is prominent in municipal affairs, and is now serving as a councilman.
Mr. Baker married, November 20, 1907, Edna Langston, whose parents are residents of Bonner Springs, and they are parents of two children, namely: Elizabeth Louise and Robert Armstrong. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 587-588)
A man is judged by his friends and acquaintances by what he has done. In the old country people want to know who and what a man's father was, but in this country it is the man himself who has to bring things to pass if he wants to be well thought of. He must either make money or fame. Otho N. Harrod, the owner of a pretty farm in Quindaro township, Wyandotte county, Kansas, has accomplished a great deal since he first started out in life and has become a well known man in the county, ably assisted by his estimable wife.
Otho N. Harrod was a native of Franklin county, Kentucky, where he was born January 13, 1850. He was the son of Franklin Harrod who came to Kansas in 1857 with his brother and located near Fairmont, Leavenworth county. He sent for his wife and family, who had remained behind in Kentucky until Mr. Harrod had made a start. In 1858, just as things seemed to be coming his way, Mr. Harrod died "at the age of twenty-nine, leaving his wife to bring up the family of little children. Just about that time two of the children died, leaving the widow more than desolate. She gathered her belongings together and took the other children back to Kentucky, where she had friends.
Otho was educated in the public schools. He first came to Kansas when he was seven years old, but had only just started to school here when his father died, stayed in Kansas only a short time after that, and then back to Kentucky with his mother. He went to school there, but was obliged to go to work when he was very young. When he was nineteen years old, in 1869, he got work with the Louisville, Cincinnati and Lexington Railroad as brakeman. He remained with this road about twelve years. The last five years of his service he was promoted to the office of conductor and he had charge of the train. In 1881 he came back to Kansas, where he got a position as brakeman with the Union Pacific Railroad. A year later he became a switchman and later got the position of master switchman. In the strike of 1886 he went out with the rest of the train men. After the strike was ended he entered the employ of the Kansas City and Northwestern Railroad, with whom he stayed thirteen years. He lived frugally in order that he might save some money and finally bought ten acres of land on which he has built a very pretty home. He has put many improvements on his land and has it set out with fruit, berries, grapes and asparagus, thus giving him a very fine fruit farm, which yields large crops for which he finds a ready market.
In 1882, soon after he came back to Kansas City, Mr. TIarrod married Miss Rina Connell, the daughter of William Connell, ex-judge in Indiana. There have been no children born to this union.
Mrs. Harrod is a highly cultured and refined woman, being the proud possessor of a library of two hundred volumes of choice literature, both she and her husband being omniverous readers of the best products of pen and press. She received her early education in the public schools of her home town, and later was a student at the Versailles (Indiana) Normal school for three terms. She was a successful teacher for eight years in her home county of Ripley, Indiana, and was also a prominent and efficient officer of the Degree of Honor.
Mr. Harrod was a member of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, of the Knights of Pythias, and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is now in a position where he can enjoy life, living close to nature. He and his intelligent wife have many friends who respect as well as like them. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 588-589)
In a volume devoted to the lives and achievements of representative men of Wyandotte county it is appropriate that mention should be made of that good citizen and enterprising business man, James A. McClean, who is connected with the Kansas City interests of the Fowler Packing Company in a responsible capacity. Mr. McClean are mingled several elements, for while at present one of the most loyal of Americans, he is of Irish stock, and was born in England, from which country he emigrated when a child. The date of Mr. McClean's birth was December 4, 1861, and his birthplace in the "right little, tight little island" was in Kent county. His parents, Archibald and Elizabeth (Ferris) McClean, were born in Ireland and subsequently took up their residence in England. The father, who was a packing house man, came to this country in 1872 and located at first in Indianapolis, Indiana. Both he and his wife are now deceased, but their six children, of whom the subject was the third in order of birth, ail survive. Archibald McClean was a respected and industrious citizen, a member of the Presbyterian church and a Republican in his political conviction.
When young James was a lad about five years of age his parents moved from England to their native Ireland and it was in the public schools of the Emerald Isle that he received his elementary education. He was eleven years of age when his parents answered the beckoning finger of opportunity from the shores of the new world and crossed the Atlantic to claim their share of it and to found a home of greater independence and possibility for their children. Mr. McClean finished his education in the schools of Indianapolis, where the family took up their abode, and as soon as he arrived to years of usefulness he followed in the paternal footsteps and entered the packing business. He continued in this field until 1880, when he removed to Chicago and in that western metropolis engaged with the Fowler Brothers in the packing business. Some two years later, in 1882, Mr. McClean removed to Kansas City, Kansas, where he became associated with Jacob Dold in the packing of meats and subsequent to that he again accepted a position with the Fowler Brothers. He learned the business in all its details and in 1900 was elevated to the position of superintendent of the Kansas City, Kansas, business.
Mr. McClean is known not only as an enterprising business man, but he is also very prominent in Masonic circles, being a thirty-second degree member of that ancient and august order. He is affiliated with Wyandotte Lodge, No. 3, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, and with Caswell Consistory, No. 5. He is also a popular member of that merry organization, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In politics he gives heart and hand to the men and measures of the " Grand Old Party,'' as its loyal adherents are pleased to call it.
On October 26, 1882, Mr. McClean laid the foundation of a happy household by marriage, his chosen lady being Miss Kittie Hanaford. Mrs. McClean was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and is the daughter of Geo. and Harriet A. Hanaford, both of whom reside in Chicago, the former home of Mrs. McClean. She is one of a family of six children. The subject and his wife share their pleasant and hospitable home with a quartet of promising young children, namely George, Gertrude, Eleanor and Irma. A daughter, Harriet A., died when seven years and four months old, in Chicago, and Herbert James died when seven months old in Kansas City, Kansas, in old Wyandotte. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 589-590)
One of the alert, progressive and public spirited business men who have contributed materially to the civic and industrial advancement of Kansas City is Willard Merriam, who is here an active and influential factor in business circles, as a member of the well known firm of Merriam, Ellis & Benton, engaged in the real estate and insurance business. He has done much to exploit and foster the interests of Kansas City and Wyandotte county and has been concerned with operations of broad scope and importance. He is an interested principal in a number of business enterprises aside from that conducted by the firm mentioned, and he stands sponsor for advanced civic ideals and progressive policies.
Mr. Merriam claims the Badger state as the place of his nativity, but the major portion of his life has been passed within the borders of Kansas. He was born at Berlin, Green Lake county, Wisconsin, on the 20th of January, 1864, and is a son of Horace and Eliza (Wright) Merriam, both of whom were born and reared in the state of Vermont, the respective families having been founded in New England in the Colonial epoch of our national history and both being of stanch English origin. Soon after their marriage the parents came to the west and established their home in Berlin, Wisconsin, where the father engaged in the practice of law and where he served as collector of internal revenue under the administration of President Lincoln. In 1876 he removed with his family to Trinidad, Colorado, where he remained four years and where he served as attorney for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. In 1880 he removed to Kansas City, Missouri, where he engaged in the fire insurance business, to which he devoted his attention during the remainder of his active career. He died in that city in 1898, at the age of seventy-six years, and his wife died in 1896 in Kansas City, Missouri. He was a stalwart Republican and was a man of strong individuality and fine intellectual talents, the while his sterling attributes of character gained to him the inviolable confidence and esteem of his fellow men.
Willard Merriam is indebted to the public schools of Wisconsin, Colorado and Kansas City, Missouri, for his early educational discipline, and in the meanwhile he gained practical business experience when still a mere boy. He was twelve years of age at the time of the family removal from Wisconsin to Colorado and was sixteen years old when the home was established in Kansas City, Missouri. When but eleven years of age he secured employment as messenger boy in a banking institution at Trinidad, Colorado, and his exceptional business acumen gained him promotion to the office of assistant cashier when he was but fourteen years of age. In 1880 he accompanied his parents on their removal to Kansas City, Missouri, where he was connected with various banking houses within the interval from that time until 1887, and he then became associated with his father in the fire insurance business, with which he was thus connected until 1890, when he came to Kansas City, Kansas, and established himself in the real estate and insurance business, with which he has since been actively and successfully identified and in connection with which he has handled a large amount of valuable realty, besides bringing about many improvements in the way of building, etc. The firm of which he is a member is one of the most important of the kind in this section of the state and it controls £ large and prosperous business in both the departments of real estate and insurance. Mr. Merriam has also made judicious investments in connection with various successful industrial and commercial enterprises in his home city, and is know as one of the most progressive, liberal and public spirited citizens of the metropolis of Wyandotte county. He has served as president of the Kansas City Mercantile Club and he takes a vital interest in all enterprises that tend to advance the material and civic prosperity of his city and county.
Though entirely free from office seeking proclivities, Mr. Merriam is found arrayed as a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Republican party, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Christian Science church. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and with the Knights of Pythias.
Mr. Merriam's first marriage was to Bessie Burtner, a daughter of Reuben Burtner, a native of Pennsylvania, she died in 1888, after becoming the mother of two children, Edith and Harriet.
In the year 1890 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Merriam to Miss Anna Peacock, daughter of James Peacock, a representative business man of the city of Chicago, and the two children of this union are Wallace and Helen. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 590-591)
Among the honored and well known citizens of Wyandotte county stands prominent Anderson S. Wilt, veteran of the Civil war, formerly engaged in the manufacturing business and for the past several years superintendent of Quindaro Cemetery. He has been identified with this section for the past fifteen years and has witnessed its splendid development, while at the same time contributing his quota of good citizenship to the result. As custodian of the natural beauties and the regulations and rules designed to protect this lovely and justly renowned cemetery, he has given service of signal faithfulness and efficiency for a period of eleven years.
Anderson S. Wilt is an Easterner by birth, his nativity having occurred in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 20th day of March, 1845. He is a son of Joseph and Louisa (Tapper) Wilt, the mother a native of the United States, the father of Germany. He received his education in the schools of Philadelphia. A very young man at the opening of the Civil war, he was high spirited and patriotic and in the year 1864, enlisted as a member of the Twenty-third Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry which, before the close of the war, consolidated with the Eighty-ninth Pennsylvania Regiment. He did particularly gallant service, and was discharged as corporal, July, 1865. Mr. Wilt was on picket duty at Winchester, when Sheridan made his famous twenty mile ride from Winchester. The subject served from 1864 until the close of the war as a member of the Sixth Army Corps, known as the Bloody Sixth. He was mustered out at Halls Hill, Virginia.
After the return of peace Mr. Wilt went into the
manufacturing business, being identified with the A. M. Collins Manufacturing Company, the largest manufacturers
of card board in the United States, continuing in this association for fifteen years. In 1896 he came to Kansas
City on account of poor health. In 1900 he became superintendent of Quindaro Cemetery and has remained in such
capacity until the present time.
Mr. Wilt has maintained his relations with the comrades of other days and formerly was a member of G. A. R. Post,
No. 2, Department of Pennsylvania. One of the most important and vividly remembered of the varied events of his
life was his participation in the Grand Review at Washington, D. C.
Mr. Wilt has been twice married, his first union occurring in Philadelphia, when Miss Elizabeth Maginly became his wife. She died in 1883 at the age of about thirty-three years, leaving one daughter, Effie M., who resides at home and is in the office of the Beal Excelsior Produce Company. The second union was solemnized in Oakland, California, the lady to become his wife and the mistress of his household being Margaretta Davis, daughter of David and Jane (Scott) Davis, Mrs. Wilt having been born in Alleghany City, as was her father. One son is the issue of the second union-Merrill Anderson, born in Philadelphia, December 27, 1893, and a student at the Wilson High School. Mr. and Mrs. Wilt and their family are popular and useful members of society and are known to a wide circle of friends.
Quindaro Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in the state of Kansas, having been established in the year 1855. Originally it was a part of the possessions of the Delaware Indians, the government later buying the land. Before the middle of the nineteenth century, a missionary to the Indians, Rev. James Witten, settled on the site and built upon it a small log church and school house, this being three years previous to the treaty which transferred the surrounding land to the United States government. The Rev. Mr. Witten's wife died in 1852 and her remains were the first to be interred here. Subsequently the United States commissioners reserved these two acres as a public cemetery. Numerous Indians are buried here as well as white men, and there is scarcely a foot of ground in the original two acres that is not utilized. As Wyandotte county became more thickly settled with white people, the citizens of the section formed an association, and bought land surrounding the original tract, which they plotted into lots. This was incorporated in 1869 under the laws of Kansas and is now one of the finest, if not the finest cemetery in the state, as well as the oldest. From the grounds, which are the highest in Wyandotte county, one secures a most beautiful view of the surrounding country in all directions. It is the only cemetery in Kansas City conducted on a plan by which the property receives all the benefits of its revenues. Its method of operation has been pronounced by competent judges the best ever devised for cemetery purposes. The existence of the old log church was brief, for it was burned in the spring of 1857, Many famous people are interred within the boundaries of old Quindaro Cemetery, among those whose spirits have passed on to the Undiscovered Country, but whose ashes are here treasured, being: Judge Gray, George M. Gray, Judge Leland, the members of the Combs' family, and the Menden-halls. The organizers of the association were R. M. Gray, Elisha Sorter and others. The present officers are James McNaughten, president; Fred Sorter, secretary; H. A. Mendenhall, treasurer; and Anderson S. Wilt, superintendent. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 592-593)
A man of scholarly attainments, talented and cultured, Arch A. Young, an able and influential lawyer of Bonner Springs, has won success through a wise and systematic application of his abilities to the profession of his choice. Born in Maryland January 26, 1879, he laid a substantial foundation for his future education in the public schools and in an academical course, and at the age of eighteen began the study of law. In August, 1900, he was admitted to all the courts of Maryland and to the United States District and Circuit Courts.
Beginning the practice of law in his native state, Mr. Young made rapid progress and developed a wonderful capacity for concentrated work, at the same time displaying especial adaptability for criminal cases. In the latter branch of his profession he built up an extensive and lucrative tri-state practice in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, for a number of years figuring prominently in every criminal case of note in those states. Mr. Young was likewise particularly successful in the handling of damage suits, being identified with a number of cases made famous by reason of the people and precedents involved.
Owing to a serious operation for appendicitis, Mr. Young was forced to relinquish all work for a year, and in October, 1909, under the advice of his physician, he came west to recuperate his health and strength, locating in Missouri. Finding the place attractive and the climate beneficial, he decided to remain somewhere in the west Answering in a Kansas City paper an advertisement by Philo M. Clark, of Bonner Springs, Wyandotte county, he visited the city and was so charmed with the town, its improvements, environments and business opportunities that he decided to cast his business career with the "Sunflower state." Inasmuch as he had no ties binding him to the east, and as his law practice, which had been neglected throughout his illness, would require rebuilding, Mr. Young opened a law office in Bonner Springs, and is fast winning his way to a leading position among the foremost attorneys of this part of the state. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 593-594)
John Debus is one of the successful men in Wyandotte county. His career has been varied, but he has finally found the occupation which suits him and for which he is admirably suited, that of superintendent of Mount Hope Cemetery. A man of his abilities could not fail to make a success of anything he undertook, and he is well liked in his present position, being always courteous, kind and considerate.
He was born in Wyandotte county, Kansas, February 22, 1870. His father was George Debus, who was born in Germany in 1820 and died in 1903. His mother's maiden name was Gertrude Rheinhart, who still resides in Wyandotte township.
John was brought up in Wyandotte county on his father's farm. As soon as he was old enough he attended the public schools and at the same time worked for his father on the farm. After he had left school he worked in Armour's packing plant for fifteen years. It is needless to that he did good and efficient service, or he would not have remained so so long in their employ. After he left Armour he was assistant foreman in Morris' sausage plant for one year. In 1909 he was appointed superintendent of the Mount Hope Cemetery, where he has done excellent work, giving his best attention to all who need his assistance and keeping the grounds up in fine shape.
On June 5, 1896, he married Emma Breclibuell, who was a native of Switzerland. When she was only two years old she came to America from her little home among the mountains. Her father is dead but her mother is still living. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Debus, Irene, Harold and Juanita. They are ail attending school, Irene being in the high school while the two younger ones are in the grade school.
Mr. Debus belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America fraternal order. He is a Democrat, having served his party and the township at the same time in the capacity of overseer, a position which he held for one year. Although of German descent, there is no one who is a more loyal American than he is. He stands prepared to do anything for the good of his party and for the good of the country. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Page 594)
Education is the capital which every man or woman must have in order to succeed, but education does not consist alone or even chiefly in book knowledge. John Henry Studt was a poor boy as far as material wealth was concerned and had very little schooling, but he studied to do everything faithfully that was laid to his charge. A man perfects himself much more by work than by reading and thus it has been with Mr. Studt. He has made the best possible use of his opportunities and has not always waited for opportunity to knock, but has gone out to meet it. He has become a man who is honored and admired in Wyandotte county. His friends and neighbors would say that he has achieved success entirely through his own efforts, but he gives to his mother a large share of the credit. There are many mothers who inspire their children to right thinking, to noble thinking and to tremendous efforts, but they often receive no credit for the part they play, even in the minds of their children. It is not so with Mr. Studt. He appreciates all that his mother did in assisting him in his early career.
John Henry Studt was a native of Hanover, Germany, where he was born June 1, 1834. His father, Henry Studt, was a native of Germany, where he died in 1840, having passed all his life in his native country. He had married Maria Olten, a young German girl, who died in 1868 in Cincinnati, Ohio, having come to America with John Henry Studt, her son.
When our subject was only six years old his father died, leaving to his widow the task of bringing up their son. She educated him to the best of her ability, but she had very little money and there were no public schools in Germany at that time. She made sure, however, that he learned certain things, namely honesty, decency, obedience, cleanliness in thought and speech. She told him he could have these things even if they were poor. Then she made sure that he learned as much as he could in the few years of school possible for him. She made him feel that poverty is not hopeless, but that there is a way out somewhere. She stirred him with ambition to get out, to do better than his father and mother had done. As a consequence of this influence and also by reason of his own natural enthusiastic temperament, he decided to come to America, when he was nineteen years of age, his mother of course accompanying him. They took passage in a sailing vespel, and after a weary voyage of eight weeks and four days landed at Baltimore, weary from the effects of the sea sickness and the discomfort they had endured on the ocean, but possessed of indomitable courage, which meant ultimate success. John Henry had no money at all when he reached Baltimore, not having been able to scrape together more than enough to defray their passage expenses, but he was not discouraged. He found some one in Baltimore who was kind enough to lend him enough money to get to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he believed he could get work. It is true he only needed a very little money, for he and his mother did not pay the regular passenger fare, but went in cattle cars, buying as little food as would suffice to keep them alive. When night came and they were making themselves as comfortable as they could in the car, lying on the hay, the train man said "All hands off" and they were forced to alight and spend the rest of the night on the wayside. The road was not built any farther and after spending the night in sheep pens, the next day they with other emigrants, marched three miles to the next railroad, going by cattle cars again to Cincinnati, Ohio. Arrived in Cincinnati, John Henry got work as a laborer at fifty cents a day, a small enough sum in America, but to his frugal mind, it was big pay, at least it was enough to support him and his mother with a fair degree of comfort. After a year, during which time he continued to receive but fifty cents a day, he went to work in a brick yard where he earned seventy-five cents a day. He stayed in Cincinnati until 1866, when he came to Kansas and in 1869 he bought a farm from Jim Zane, paying seven thousand dollars for it, the sum that he had saved out of his earnings, having worked in a piano store during the last fourteen years of his residence in Cincinnati. He had spent practically no money on luxuries in all of this time, except an occasional extravagance for his mother. When he bought his farm only a part of it was under cultivation and on it was a small, flat roofed log cabin. His whole farm of one hundred and eighty and one-half acres is now under cultivation, being one of the finest fruit farms in the county. He has set out about four thousand fruit trees and berries of all kinds; he has about twelve acres covered with various kinds of grapes and twenty-five acres he uses for truck gardening. He has now five houses on his ground, besides other farm buildings.
He married Louisa Horstman, daughter of Christof Horstman and his wife, Mary von Baron, both natives of Germany. They came to this country with their children in 1854 and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. Tn a few years they came to Kansas and sometime later bought fifty acres of ground in Quindaro township near to Mr. Studt's place.
The brother of Mrs. Studt, Christian Fred Horstman,was born in Minlen, Germany, May 16th, 1841. He was thirteen years of age when the family came to America. They bought their farm from Mr. Cramer, now a resident of Armourdale, who had the land nearly all under cultivation. A log house was on the farm and here Christian lived, building on to the old frame as he found necessity and means. In 1909 the old cabin burned down and he built a modern frame house, where he lives with some of his children. He married Mary Jans en. who was born in this township, a daughter of William and Mary Jansen. Mrs. Horstman died at the age of thirty-eight, February 2, 1892, and was buried in Quindaro township cemetery. She was the mother of eight children, all of whom are living at this time. Mary, now Mrs. Charles Sorter, lives in California. Ida (Mrs. Fred Sorter) lives in Wyandotte county; Louisa is at home with her father. She was named after her aunt, her father's sister who had married Mr. Studt. Catherine is at home, as are William, Henry and Alfred N. Rose is married to A. Combs. Mr. Horstman does truck and fruit farming, like his brother-in-law; about twenty acres of his land is planted with fruit trees. He is a man who has done a good deal for his county. He has held office of trustee of this township three years and ten months. He was county commissioner three years, being elected in 1886 and re-elected in 1890. He was a member of the school board for twenty-one years and was road overseer in 1881 and 1882. He is a member of the German Lutheran church, doing good in many relations of life.
Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Studt had three sons, as follows: George H., who married Amelia Studt and two sons, Elvin and George, were born to the union; they live on the farm with the father, J. H. Studt; the second son, Charles J., is also on the farm, having married Josie Terret and they have one daughter, Hazel; John H. died m Cincinnati at the age of seven years. Mrs. Studt died in 1901 at the age of sixty-seven and was buried in Quindaro Cemetery.
Mr. Studt is a member of the German Lutheran church in Kansas City, Kansas. He has served as township treasurer, having been elected twice to this office. In looking back over his life, he may well be content with what he has accomplished. Coming to this country with nothing, he is now worth thousands. Not only has Mr. Studt succeeded in making money, but he has given of himself for the good of his township and for the county. He is one of the best known men in the township and one who is universally liked and respected. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 594-597)
To the man who has won success through his own efforts the American people ever accord the fullest measure of honor, and in no other country are there so great opportunities for such advancement on the part of one dependent entirely upon his own powers and resources. Henry E. Dean, who is now one of the able and representative members of the bar of Wyandotte county and who is engaged in the successful practice of his profession in Kansas City, came to the state in 1885, as a young man, and here he first found employment in connection with farm work, from which he advanced to responsible positions in connection with the great meat-packing houses of Kansas City, but his ambition was not satisfied with such employment, even though lucrative, and he made a diametrical change by carefully preparing himself for the profession in which he has gained marked prestige and success, the while he has not been denied the fullest measure of popular confidence and esteem in the community that has long represented his home.
Henry Ezra is a native of the fine old Blue Grass commonwealth and is a scion of old and honored families of that state, to which his paternal grandparents removed in an early day from the state of New York, the lineage being traced back to stanch English origin and the family having been founded in America in the Colonial epoch of our national history. The maternal ancestors came from Ireland and the family name early became identified with industrial and civic activities in the state of Kentucky. Mr. Dean was born in Campbell county, Kentucky, on the 23rd of August, 1867, and is a son of Hiram Ezra and Matilda (McCollum) Dean, the former of whom was born in that same county and the latter in Kenton county, Kentucky. The father became a prosperous farmer of his native state and there continued to maintain his home until his death, in 1909, at the venerable age of seventy-nine years. There his widow still resides, and she is seventy-two years of age at the time of this writing, in 1911. Of the eleven children the subject of this review was the fifth in order of birth, and of the others, two sons and six daughters are now living. Hiram E. Dean was a loyal soldier of the Union in the Civil war, in which he served under General Buell in the Army of the Tennessee, and he gave his allegiance to the Republican party from the time of its organization until his death. He was a member of the Baptist church, as is also his widow, and his life was one of honest industry and constant rectitude, so that he held as his own the high regard of those with whom he came in contact.
The early experiences of Henry E. Dean were those gained in connection with the work of the old homestead farm, and he duly availed himself of the advantages of the public schools of the locality and period. In the autumn of 1885 he came to Kansas and soon after his arrival he secured employment on the farm of John R. Bell, in Leavenworth county. In the following spring he went to Franklin county, where he continued to be employed in connection with the agricultural industry until September, 1887, when he came to Kansas City and secured employment as driver of a team for the Allcutt Packing Company. With this concern he remained, in various capacities, until the spring of 1891, and he then entered the employ of Reed Brothers, another prominent concern in the same line of industry. He was finally advanced to the position of foreman in the curing department and he retained this incumbency until 1894, when the plant of the firm was destroyed by fire. In the meanwhile Mr. Dean had gained experience in connection with the various departments of this important line of enterprise, and from 1894 until 1900 he was a valued employee in the local plant of the great packing house of Swartzchild & Sulzberger. He was superintendent of the pork department during the last three years of his connection with this concern.
Seeking a broader and more individual field of endeavor, Mr. Dean had in the meanwhile determined to prepare himself for the legal profession, and with this end in view he availed himself of the night courses in the Kansas City (Missouri) Law School during the last three years of his identification with the packing industry. In this well ordered institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1900, on the 10th of June, and duly received his degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was admitted to the bar of Missouri at this time and shortly afterward to that of Kansas, and in September, 1900, he instituted the practice of his profession in Kansas City, Kansas, where he has applied himself with all of diligence and with marked ability, with the result that he has gained an excellent clientage and has built up a substantial and lucrative practice of general order. That he has the high regard of his professional confreres needs no further voucher than that offered in the fact that he has served since 1909 as president of the Wyandotte County Bar Association. In April, 1910, he was elected a member of the city commission, and he served as county auditor for four years, retiring from this office in 1909.
In politics Mr. Dean is aligned as an uncompromising advocate of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor, and he has taken an active part in its local affairs. He has received the K. C. C. H. degree in the Ancient, Accepted Scottish Rite of the Masonic fraternity and is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
On the 11th of October, 1893, Mr. Dean was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Bown, of Kansas City, this county. She was born at Terre Haute, Indiana, and is a daughter of William T. and Nancy Bown, now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Dean have had three children: Helen, deceased; Harry E., seven years of age; and J. Russell, three years old. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 597-598)
It is rather unusual nowadays to find a man who has followed up the line of work that he decides on when he is a boy. As a rule a boy changes his mind many times before he ever starts in to work and after that time he is apt to find that the work he thought he should like is not suited to him nor he to it. This has not been the experience of Henry E. Hartman. He is a farmer, the very thing he intended to do when he was a lad. He understands his business thoroughly and because he has attended to it so well, he has had great success.
He was born in Hanover in Germany, February 1, 1870, and is the son of Frederick and Louisa (Myer) Hartman, who spent their whole lives in Germany. Mrs. Hartman died in the spring of 1910, and her husband is a resident of Osnabruck, Germany. There were ten children, August and Henry being the only representatives of the family living in America, the balance being in Germany.
Henry was educated in his native country and when he was sixteen years old he came to the United States. He came direct to Kansas, which he had heard was the finest agricultural locality. He went to work on Judge Freeman's farm and worked around in different places until 1900. By that time he had saved up enough money to buy. After looking around for some time he bought twenty-two and one-half acres of land from Charles Sorter. He also bought a second farm which he sold at a profit; he bought another and sold that; he then went to Texas and bought a big farm with the proceeds of his trading and also purchased another. He retained his Texas farms but came back to live on the first farm he bought. During the yeara he has owned this Kansas farm he has improved it wonderfully. He has built all of the farm buildings; the house is the same one that was on the place, yet he has greatly improved it. He has set out about seventeen hundred fruit trees but is now cutting some of them down and is devoting his land to truck farming. He gets big prices for his products because he puts up none but first class goods and always gives good weight and measure for the money.
In 1896 he married Mary Dechman, daughter of Martin and Helma (Cochan) Dechman, the former a farmer in Quindaro township, who came here in 1840, where he bought thirty-two acres of land. He died here in 1896 at the age of fifty-nine. His .wife had died six months before, aged forty-nine. They are both buried in Quindaro cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. Hartman have three children, Lena, John and Frederick, all students in the district school. They have besides raised two children not their own.
Mr. Hartman is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, Camp No. 6942, at Bethel, Kansas, and of the C. P. A. Association. Mr. and Mrs. Hartman are adherents of the German Lutheran church.
If a man is not fair in his dealings, sooner or later he will be found out. It is the universal opinion that if you want a square deal you will get it at the hands of Henry Hartman. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 598-599)
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