USA > Kansas > Crawford County > A Twentieth century history and biographical record of Crawford County, Kansas > Part 17
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official service was characterized by promptness and fidelity in the dis- charge of every duty. Upon his retirement from office in 1902 he became a partner of W. L. Ringo in the real estate and insurance busi- ness, and both departments of their enterprise are proving profitable. They make a specialty of coal and farm lands and have negotiated many important real estate transfers. Mr. Radley keeps well informed con- cerning realty values through this part of the state, and he brings to bear upon his work the most modern and enterprising business methods. After relief from the office of probate judge he was elected as an alderman of the city council in Girard in 1903. In September, 1904. he organized the Girard Coal Company, which is composed of H. H. Rad- ley, president : N. A. Nixon, treasurer ; L. F. Crawford and W. L. Ringo. It is capitalized at $50,000, under the caption of "The Girard Coal Company." They have opened up mines five and a half miles southeast of Girard.
On the 28th of February, 1882, occurred the marriage of Mr. Radley and Miss Augusta A. Holmes, a daughter of Henry and Hannah Holmes, natives of Pennsylvania. This union has been blessed with three children: Grace G., at the age of twenty years, is now a student in the State University at Lawrence. Kansas: Pearl, at home, is at the age of fifteen years attending high school ; and Henry H., a little lad of seven summers, completes the family. The parents are members of the Methodist church, take a deep interest in its work and are also well known in the social circles. Mr. Radley gives his political allegiance to the Democracy and is unfaltering in his advocacy of its principles. He is a valued member of various fraternal organizations, including the Elks lodge, No. 12, at Pittsburg. Kansas: the Odd Fellows lodge, No. 196, at Pittsburg: the Ancient Order of United Workmen, at Girard; and the Triple Tie Benefit Association, at Girard. His entire career has been characterized by faithfulness to duty, whether in business, political or private life, and in the community where he makes his home he is held in high esteem by many friends.
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HON. EBENEZER B. HOYT.
Hon. Ebenezer B. Hoyt, business man and capitalist of Pittsburg, Kansas. is one of the best known men of southeastern Kansas and Craw- ford county. He is a pioneer. in fact, and the picture which he could easily call to mind, of the country as he saw it thirty-five years ago, and over which his early business operations were carried on, would present a most remarkable contrast to the scene of prosperity, commercial activ- ity and industrial development which just such aggressive and enterpris- ing men as Mr. Hoyt have brought about to the fulness of material realization. He came to this county fresh from college, and, with the vast ranges lying invitingly before him, was soon engaged in the cattle business, from which he branched out into mercantile pursuits, and his interests expanded in a degree corresponding to the other wonderful development of the country, until for a number of years he has stood in the forefront of the successful business men of Crawford county. He has also proved himself a citizen of unusual public spirit and fitness for the responsibilities laid upon him, and in all public matters affecting the welfare of city, county or state has made his influence felt for better- inent and on the side of morality and justice.
Mr. Hoyt was born in Adams county, Illinois, a son of Ebenezer B. and Mary J. ( Reynolds ) Hoyt, the former a native of Ridgefield. Con- necticut. and the latter of Orange county, New York, where she lived till almost grown, and then moved to New York city, where her father was a resident for almost fifty years. Mr. Hoyt's parents were married in New York city, and they then came west to Adams county, Illinois, in 1843, where they passed the remainder of their lives.
Mr. Hoyt received a good education in the public schools, and con- tinued his studies in Knox College, at Galesburg. Illinois, until 1868. In that year he came to Kansas and bought a ranch in the southeast corner of Crawford county, where he began the cattle business. At that time Pittsburg, with its great industries resulting from the later
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development of its coal mining, was not in existence, and cattle had a free range over the entire country. This industry of Mr. Hoyt's flour- ished, but with the subsequent settling up of the county he went into the mercantile business and the lumber business at the present town of Opolis, which he and Joseph L. Davis founded. He has continued his business enterprises in Opolis ever since, but for the past four years has made his home in Pittsburg, from which point he directs his business. During all this time he has been extensively engaged in farming in the vicinity of Opolis, and his financial, commercial and industrial inter- ests in Crawford county are probably as varied and extensive as those of any other man. At the present time he is vice president of the First State Bank of Pittsburg.
Mr. Hoyt during his career in this county has been more or less interested in politics from the standpoint of good citizenship. In 1875 he was elected to represent his county in the state legislature, and was the youngest member of the house at the time. His most notable part as a legislator was as chairman of the special committee which was appointed to revise and codify the school laws of the state.
Mr. Hoyt married Miss Melissa Embree, a native of Monroe county, Missouri. They have one daughter. Miss Eva Blanche, who is a student in Christian College. Columbia, Missouri.
ARTHUR K. LANYON.
Arthur K. Lanyon, cashier of the National Bank of Pittsburg, is one of the prominent Lanyon family whose enterprises and business activity may be said to constitute the corner stone of Pittsburg's won- derful industrial development and prosperity. These remarkable busi- ness men came to Pittsburg when it hardly deserved a place on the map. and were the pioneers in utilizing the great ore and coal deposits of the district, their smelting plants having given a great impulse to the growth and settlement of the town. Subsequently they have concerned
yon
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themselves also with the financial affairs of the city, and on almost every page of Pittsburg history their acts and influences appear. Mr. Lanyon, while thoroughly familiar with all the details of the smelting industry, has devoted his life almost entirely to banking, and is recog- nized as one of the foremost men in that business in southeastern Kan- sas. He is an adept in all matters connected with financial institutions of a general nature, and. furthermore, is so well acquainted with all conditions of trade and industry affecting the territory from which the National Bank draws its patronage that he has been of great assistance in making this one of the leading institutions of the kind in the state.
Some facts in regard to the National Bank of Pittsburg will indi- cate its influential position as both a safeguard and promoter of busi- ness and industry in Crawford county. It is the oldest bank in Pitts- burg, having been established in 1882, but was not at first a national bank, being then known as the Bank of Pittsburg. In 1886 it was reor- ganized as the National Bank of Pittsburg. with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, which stock was increased in 1890 to one hundred thousand. Its first president and founder was Mr. S. H. Lanyon, father of the present cashier and one of the leading figures in Pittsburg his- tory. The Lanyons have been in control of the institution from the beginning, and the present head of the bank is Edwin V. Lanyon, whose history is given on other pages of this work. The other officers of the National Bank of Pittsburg. besides the two named, are H. C. Willard. vice president, and A. H. Lanyon. assistant cashier. The directors are: E. V. Lanyon, A. H. Lanyon, A. K. Lanyon, Josiah Lanyon. William Lanyon, Jr., H. C. Willard and H. C. B. Flack. No better commentary can be made on the bank's wonderful growth and pros- perity under its efficient management than a comparative statement of the deposits on the books on the last day of each year from 1886 to 1903, the official figures being as follows for the eighteen years : $45.878.22. 59.603.75. 75-590.15. 95.500.87. 112.388.26, 166.393.56. 184,265.67. 130.509.82. 147.332.03. 146,803.53. 141.594-33. 176,-
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093.82, 215.524.15, 350,959. 11. 418.316.51, 485.092.05, 560,290.54, and 875.495.63.
Mr. Arthur K. Lanyon was born at Mineral Point, Wisconsin, Feb- ruary 14, 1866, being a son of Simon H. and Emily M. (Dabb) Lanyon. Simon H. Lanyon was born in the parish of St. Allen, Cornwall. Eng- land, and at the age of two years was brought to this country by his parents, who located at Mineral Point, Wisconsin. Other members of the Lanyon family followed later, several branches of the name heing established on this side of the water. When the zinc ore industry began at Mineral Point the Lanyons took an active hand in its development. beginning in a small way as shippers of ore to the smelter at LaSalle, Illinois. S. H. Lanyon devoted most of his life to the business. In 1872 he, in connection with Robert Lanyon, established a smelter at LaSalle, Illinois, and they two should probably be called the founders of the Lanyon smelter industry, although several others of the family soon became associated with them, and almost all the men of the younger generation have grown up in the business, which has brought them for- tunes. The zinc smelting interests in the Lanyon name and control are the most extensive in the world, and their plants are located at various points in the middle west.
S. H. Lanyon was the first to come to Pittsburg and begin the development of the zinc industry. He arrived in the summer of 1877, when there were not more than a dozen houses in the place and its population proportionately small. His family and Robert Lanyon and others of the name came in the following winter. Immediately on his arrival he began the erection of the Pittsburg Smelter, which grew into a great industry, and which is now being rebuilt. The Lanyons are also building a large smelter at Caney, Kansas. They established and owned for a number of years the zinc smelter at Iola, Kansas, but in recent years they have disposed of most of their stock in this, although it is still known as the Lanyon Zinc Company.
Mr. S. H. Lanyon died September 13, 1897, having filled out a life
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of exceeding usefulness and activity. His uncle, Robert Lanyon, is still living. Emily M. ( Dabb) Lanyon lives in Pittsburg and is a much esteemed old lady among her many friends. She was born at Camborn. in Cornwall, England, and remained there until she was married to S. H. Lanyon, who, after reaching manhood, had gone back to his native land to gain her for his wife.
Mr. Arthur K. Lanyon received his education in the Pittsburg public schools and at the Kansas State Normal at Fort Scott, where he graduated in 1884. He then became connected with the Pittsburg Smelter and learned all the details of the intricate business. He has been with the bank continually since 1885. having entered the old insti- tution in that year as bookkeeper. He was afterward promoted to assist- ant cashier, which position he held for twelve years, and since then has been cashier.
Mr. Lanyon is an ardent Republican in politics. In 1893 he was elected city treasurer, and served two terms. In April. 1903, he was again elected to this office, and is still serving on that term. He has also been a member of the city council. He is a prominent Mason, being past high priest and past eminent commander of the Knights Templar. and has attained other degrees of the order, being a Shriner. He is a past exalted ruler of the Elks fraternity. Mr. Lanyon has one daughter. Rosalie.
HARRY E. HORNADAY.
Harry E. Hornaday, who at the time of his death was incumbent of the office of county superintendent of education of Crawford county. was one of the best known educators in this section of the state, and had been engaged in the work for about fifteen years, most of it in connec- tion with the schools of Crawford county. He was accordingly well fitted for the multifarious and responsible duties of his last office, and it is a matter of satisfaction to the citizens that the schools took many
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steps forward during the two years of his incumbency, both in system of work and grading and in general efficiency.
Mr. Hornaday was born on a farm in Bartholomew county, Indi- ana, October 28, 1867. being a son of Chris Hornaday, later a prosperous farmer of Kansas. There are four other children in the family, one brother and three sisters. Mr. Hornaday was brought to Kansas when he was five years old, and was reared on a farm near Cherokee. He attended the country schools until he was twenty-one. and then began teaching. He depended on his own efforts for his advancement, and his progress was by the sure method of step by step. After teaching for a few terms he attended the Kansas Normal College at Fort Scott for ten weeks, and later graduated from the Gem City Business College at Quincy, Illinois, where he was offered a position here as tutor, and on account of ill health declined. He learned telegraphy and followed that occupation for about two years. He taught school in nearly every part of Crawford county, and was principal of the Hepler schools for two years, and for the same period at Monmouth. He was elected to the office of county superintendent of public instruction in the fall of 1902. Since his death the office of county superintendent has been most capably filled by his wife.
Mr. Hornaday was married in May, 1890, to Miss Leila Watt, and they have a family of three boys, one aged ten, one seven, and the young- est two years old. The eldest. J. Rhea, is in the sixth grade : Ralph C .. is in the fourth grade, and John L., is the youngest.
JOHN CRITES.
John Crites, proprietor of the Crites Hotel in Arcadia, is one of the prominent old-timers of Crawford county, and one who has resided within its boundaries since the Civil war period, and even during those troublous times his duties as a soldier led him over this part of the state. His career has been one of self-achievement, beginning with the age of eleven
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years, and through many ways and experiences time has brought him with honor to the last years of an active and useful life.
Mr. Crites was born in Niagara county, New York, November 20. 1832, a son of William and Ruth Crites, who were born in Pennsylvania. From New York his parents moved to Illinois, and thence to Iowa. and both are now deceased.
Mr. Crites was educated in the New York state schools, but his early training was terminated at the age of eleven, when he left home and became a driver on the Erie canal. Two years later found him in Wisconsin, employed during the summer in rafting logs down the Mis- sissippi as far as St. Louis. After two years he located at East Troy, Wisconsin, and did farm work for two years. In 1850 he drove a wagon across the plains to California, and ten years were spent in mining, one year of which, 1857, he passed along the Fraser river in British Colum- bia. In October, 1860. he returned to New York by the water route. and from Chicago went to Princeton, Illinois, thence to Wyanet, in the same state, and during the following year was engaged in the saloon business at East Troy, Wisconsin. He was ready for duty when the Civil war came on, and in 1861 enlisted in Company D, Third Wisconsin Cavalry. Eleven men of this regiment were killed in a railroad wreck while they were en route to Chicago. From St. Louis they were ordered to Leavenworth, Kansas, thence out on the plains to Fort Learned : from there to Fort Scott, and then to Lost Springs. From this last point Mr. Crites made a trip as bearer of dispatches to Fort Scott in one day. He was chosen lieutenant of his company after being in the service for six months. From Fort Scott he was sent to Stalls Creek, thence to Saline. Missouri, and returned to Fort Scott on July 4. 1863. On the following 23d of July he established the military post at Baxter Springs, where he was reinforced by Company A of the Second Kansas Colored troops. He was in the battles of Cane Hill, Pea Ridge, and several others. On October 5. 1863, he was summoned to Fort Scott as a witness in a court martial. Major Pond, of Company C, Third Wisconsin, relieved him
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at Fort Scott, and after five months of sickness he obtained a furlough of twenty days, which was extended to forty days. On his return to Fort Scott he took charge of the provost guard, which he retained for six months. He then rejoined his regiment and took command of his company. During Price's raid lie was called to Fort Scott, and with twenty men was sent to Balltown, Missouri, thence to Pappenville, to Germantown, and to Warrensburg and Sedalia, and then after four days and three nights' marching rejoined his regiment at Mound City. From there he was sent to Paoli. Kansas, thence to Hickman's Mill: was or- dered to Lexington, Missouri, where he fought against Price : after going back to Independence, he fought Price all day along the Little Blue, was in the following fight at Westport, and later participated in the capture of seven hundred of Price's men. His regiment was then sent to Fort Scott with their prisoners. From there he took a supply train to Fort Smith, Arkansas; thence back to Fort Scott, and three months later to Wyandotte, Kansas, where he was given charge of three hundred troops to go out on the plains. At the close of hostilities he was sent to Madi- son. Wisconsin, and mustered out with an excellent record in every part of army service to which he had been assigned.
In 1866 Mr. Crites came to Lincoln township, Crawford county, and began farming. Fourteen years later he moved to Arcadia, where he was engaged in the hotel and livery business, but after a year sold his hotel. He continued the conduct of his livery for twenty years. During both of the Cleveland administrations he served as postmaster of Arcadia. In 1880 he was elected to the office of justice of the peace. and has been in the office ever since, being also at the present time police judge. He established the Crites Hotel in Arcadia about six years ago. and has conducted this as the leading public house of the town, with a fine patronage and with profitable results.
Mr. Crites has been a loyal Democrat since casting his first vote. He is a Mason and affiliates with St. James Lodge No. 42, at East Troy. Wisconsin. He was married at Fort Scott, Kansas, January 1. 1865, to
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Miss Caroline R. Harris. Her father, William Harris, came to Kansas and located at Baxter Springs in the pioneer year of 1857. Mr. and Mrs. Crites have the following children : Florence, the wife of T. W. Gaffney. an attorney of Seattle, Washington; William, of Arcadia : Ruth, the wife of Chauncey Nichols, of Oklahoma: Mary, the wife of J. D. Sheffield ; and Josephine, who is attending a dramatic school in Kansas City, Missouri.
HENRY WILSON.
Henry Wilson, an extensive coal operator and farmer at Frontenac. Crawford county, has had a very prosperous and creditable career in this county for the past ten years. Success has come to Mr. Wilson as the reward of merit. He had an up-hill fight in his early days, with the struggle for a livelihood beginning when he was nine years old. But his work early and late in the coal mines laid the foundation, in the days before attaining manhood, for a life of usefulness and of substantial success in this great industry. He is honored for his self-achievements. for many years of steady and persistent climbing toward the goal of better things. and for a character and personal integrity that have been without blemish during all his years.
Mr. Wilson was born in Northumberland, England, in 1846, being a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Wilson ) Wilson, both natives of Eng- land, and the former was an English farmer, but died and left his family in dependent circumstances when the son Henry was an infant.
On that account the latter was compelled to become at a very early age a wage earner and take his place among the toilers of earth. He began working in the coal mines when he was nine years old and has been in the coal business ever since. While working in the English collieries during his boyhood he was compelled to go underground at three o'clock in the morning, and was not hoisted to the surface again until six in the evening. The miners of his early days and of that country had none of
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the comparative ease which surrounds the class at this time and in this progressive country, and during the winter season the workmen never saw daylight except on Sunday.
Mr. Wilson continued mining in his home land until he had gained a position of some responsibility and attained great ability in his work. and then, on May 11. 1879, arrived in the United States. He first went to Olio, where for seven years he had charge of the coal mines of the Cleveland, Lorain and Wheeling Railroad. He left that position and came west in order to take charge of some mines of the Santa Fe Rail- road in New Mexico, and he remained in that territory, with headquar- ters at Blossburg. from October. 1886. until July. 1893, when he was transferred to the Santa Fe mines at Frontenac. Crawford county, Kan- sas, which has since been his home. He remained in charge of the rail- road's mines until November, 1807, at which time the Santa Fe coal department interests in Frontenac were turned over to the Mount Carmel Coal Company. He then accepted the position of superintendent of the mines of the Kansas and Texas Coal Company in Indian Territory, and was located there for eighteen months. He then returned to Fron- tenac and organized the La Belle Coal and Mining Company, with him- self as president and a number of his old friends of the Santa Fe as stockholders. A shaft was sunk on a farm which he purchased in Baker township, one mile west of Frontenac, and this mine has been a success from the start, the output now being from one hundred and seventy-five to two hundred tons per day, and the pay roll including about fifty-five men. Mr. Wilson has since bought out the other stockholders, and the mine is now owned entirely by his family. He lives on the farm on which the mine is located, and carries on farming in addition to mining. There are eighty acres of land in the place, and it is situated in section 7.
Mr. Wilson was married in England in 1866 to Miss Sarah J. Arkle. and they have a family of ten children, as follows: Robert Mor- ris, weighmaster at the mine: Ralph C., engineer at the mine; Henry, Jr .. pit boss of the mine: Matthew, a conductor on the Santa Fe Rail-
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road: George W .. in the coal business in Indian Territory: James, in school : Mrs. Elizabeth Turner ; Mrs. Annie Martin : Mrs. Sarah J. Hag- erty : Mrs. Mary Hubert. The sons-in-law are all connected with the coal business in this district. Mr. Wilson is a stanch Republican, but with no ambition for connection with public affairs more than to per- form his duties as a good citizen.
THOMAS SHAFER.
Thomas Shafer, who is engaged in dealing in lumber and plastering materials in Girard, belongs to that class of substantial citizens who constitute the main strength of a community. They do not seek to figure prominently in public affairs, but in business are energetic and reliable and in citizenship are alert to all that stands for progress and improvement. Mr. Shafer has made for himself an enviable reputation in trade circles in Girard, and as a member of the firm of Thomas Shafer & Son is conducting a business which is now extensive and profitable.
A native of Knox county. Ohio, he was born on the 3Ist of October. 1832, and is a son of Philip and Rebecca ( Platt ) Shafer, the father of Pennsylvania and the inother of New Jersey. The father was a farmer by occupation and reached the advanced age of eighty-one years, passing away in 1894. He had long survived his wife, who died in 1846 when about fifty years of age. Their son Thomas, as a student in the public schools of Ohio, had mastered the common branches of learning, and he lived upon the old homestead farm until twenty-two years of age, giving his father the benefit of his services in the work of field and meadow. In 1854 he removed to Illinois, settling in Champaign, where he worked as a farm hand for a year. On the expiration of that period he returned to his home in Ohio, but after a short time went to Ogle county, Illinois. where he purchased eighty acres of land. continuing its cultivation and improvement until 1862.
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