USA > Kansas > Crawford County > A Twentieth century history and biographical record of Crawford County, Kansas > Part 24
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R.J. Georgia
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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
followed the plow during the summer and taught during the winter. until the fall of 1874, when he was elected county superintendent of schools of Crawford county. During his term of office the town of Pittsburg was laid out, and upon the expiration of his term he moved to Pittsburg, where he has since resided.
In the spring of 1867 he was elected justice of the peace, which office he held for three years, and in January, 1877, he was appointed postmaster of Pittsburg, retaining that incumbency until 1884. Since that time he has been engaged in the real estate, loan and insurance business. Republican in politics, he has taken an active interest in public affairs, and has served several terms as councilman and member of the board of education of Pittsburg.
Edith Wood, of Pittsburg. is his only living child, and she was about nine months old at the time of his enlistment in the army. His wife Edith died in February, 1894. and in 1896 he married Mrs. Elizabeth Bell, his present wife.
JOHN W. DAVIS.
John W. Davis, farmer and stock-raiser of Osage township, has long been known as one of the live and enterprising citizens of Crawford county, and his worth and integrity are apparent in all his relations with his fellow men. He has enjoyed a very active, and indeed strenuous, career, and in a lifetime of fifty odd years has lived and experienced as much as most men when past threescore and ten.
For one thing, Mr. Davis got an early start in his career of activity. When he was a boy of thirteen. in 1864, he became an enlisted soldier in the Civil war, and has the honor of having been among the youngest of our veterans. His enlistment took place at Unionville. Putnam county. Missouri, in Company C. Forty-second Missouri Infantry, under Captain Thompson and Colonel Forbes. They went into camp at Macon, Missouri; were first under fire at Sturgeon, where they fought
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Colonel Bill Anderson's troops and guerrillas ; saw a good deal of rough service in that part of Missouri, and the Forty-second Missouri by its proved prowess gained the respect of all the enemy in that part of the country ; then went to Benton Barracks at St. Louis, and from that time to the end of the war did much scouting and skirmish duty in Tennessee and Kentucky. Mr. Davis was honorably discharged at Nashville, in June, 1865, with an excellent record as a boy soldier.
Mr. Davis was born near New London, Ralls county, Missouri, in September, 1851. His father, Parker Davis, was born in Virginia, of an old family of that state, was reared to manhood there and married Miss Anna Seeley, who was born near Quebec, Canada, of French line- age. Later they settled in Ralls county, Missouri, where the father died in 1856, leaving his wife and seven children; namely, George, who was a soldier in the Eighteenth Missouri Infantry: Martha, Sarah, Marian, Susan, Mary, John W. The mother died in Putnam county. Missouri, when past seventy. Politically the father was a Democrat. and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. John W. Davis was reared on the farm to the age of thirteen, being taught to work and gaining a fair amount of education for his time and locality. After the war he returned and went to work on the farm: later was in Pettis county. Missouri, two years; was in Illinois eighteen months; returned and spent eleven years in Putnam county, Missouri. after which he went to Jasper county, Iowa, and lived there three years. during which time he was married; then went west to Fron- tier county in western Nebraska, took up a homestead, and during nine years of industry and steady delving raised but two crops. This was certainly enough to discourage anyone with that part of the country, and he accordingly sold out his land and in a prairie schooner drove back to God's country, first to Missouri and then to Neosho county, Kansas, where he lived two years. He then came to Crawford county and bought a farm of eighty acres near Monmouth. This he improved and traded for property in Neosho county, but now for several years
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has owned and resided on a fine estate of one hundred and sixty acres about five miles northwest of McCune. This is one of the first-class farms of Osage township, well improved and cultivated, and its man- agement indicates the good judgment and ability of its proprietor.
Mr. Davis was married in Jasper county, Iowa, in 1885. to Emma J. Brewin, who was reared and educated in that county, being a daughter of John and Alice ( Pondro) Brewin, who were both born in Leicester- shire. England, where they were married, and then came to Iowa, where both passed way. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have a fine family of nine chil- dren : Homer. Oakley. Walter. Andrew, Curma, Parker, Hickory, Pansy and Theodore Roosevelt. As the last name would indicate, Mr. Davis is a thoroughgoing Republican, and it is worthy of mention that he formed his resolutions concerning party affiliations when he was a boy of twelve years, and has ever since maintained a loyal adherence to the party of his youthful choice. He is a member of Osage Post No. 156. G. A. R., at McCune. His wife is a member of the Methodist church.
PHILIP F. SCHULZ.
Philip F. Schulz, in addition to conducting a large and finely im- proved farm in Grant township, is also proprietor of several creameries in different parts of the county, and has more extensive interests in this line than any other man in the county. He is an old-timer of Crawford county, with residence here dating back to the year 1869, when he had not yet reached the age of manhood and had only recently arrived from the old country. He has made a most creditable record in business affairs and matters of citizenship since allying himself with his adopted land, and Crawford county finds in him one of her most able and public- spirited representatives.
Mr. Schulz was born in Germany, April 19, 1850, being a son of George and Margaret Schulz, both natives of Germany. His mother died in Germany in 1867. at the age of thirty-eight, but his father lived
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to the great age of eighty-one and passed away in Pennsylvania in 1903.
Mr. Schulz received his early education in the schools of his native land, and in the year following his mother's death he came to the United States. He was in Michigan one year, and in 1869 came to Crawford county. Kansas, where he took up a claim. He remained only one year. however, and in 1870 went to Pennsylvania. He was engaged in navi- gating the Ohio and Mississippi rivers for over two years, and quit as second mate. He was then in the butcher business one year and over, until his brother bought him out. In 1876 he returned to Crawford county and bought his present home in section 12 of Grant township. His farm consists of three hundred and twenty acres of choice soil, and all the excellent improvements, including a large orchard of one thou- sand trees, are the result of his own individual labor and supervision. In 1896 he embarked in the creamery business, at first in partnership with D. H. Young, whom he bought out in 1899. He now has a cream- ery on his farm, and also owns and operates through his sons-in-law one at Walnut, one at Greenbush and one at Porterville. Mr. Schulz has very recently erected an ice plant, which can manufacture three tons per day.
Mr. Schulz is an independent Democrat, and served on the school board of his district for thirteen years. He affiliates with Lodge No. 72, A. H. T. A., and he and his family are members of St. Patrick's Catholic church at Walnut. Mr. Schulz was married January 5. 1875. to Miss Dora Bedc, of Germany, and twelve children have been born to them, all of whom are living, as follows: Mary, the wife of S. B. Newell, who operates the creamery at Walnut : Lizzie, the wife of Samuel Little, who runs the creamery at Greenbush; Anna, the wife of Henry West- hoff, who has the creamery at Porterville: Otto, a farmer, who was on a ranch near Oswego, Kansas: Rose, the wife of Phillip Westhoff, who conducts a sawmill; and Frank, Edward, Dora, Theresa. Ernest, Ray- mond and Lawrence, who are all at home.
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JAMES M. HEWETT.
James M. Hewett, a prominent and well known farmer of Grant township, Crawford county, took up the claim which he has developed into his present beautiful and productive farm, over thirty years ago. so that he is one of the pioneer agriculturists of the county. He has been very successful in his efforts, has taken a creditable interest in public matters of township and county, and in all the relations of church, state and private life has commended himself by his integrity and intelli- gence to his fellow citizens.
Mr. Hewett was born in the state of Pennsylvania. February 12, 1841. His parents were Collins .A. and Martha ( Moore) Hewett, na- tives of New York and Pennsylvania, respectively. His father was a minister of the Baptist denomination, and when he moved to Crawford county, Kansas, in 1871. he assisted in the building of the first Baptist church in Girard. He preached in this town and also in Cherokee and Lightning Creek church. His death occurred in 1876, followed in the next year by that of his wife.
Mr. J. M. Hewett received his education in the common schools of Illinois, in which state he grew to manhood. He lived at home until 1870, and in that year came to Kansas and took up a claim of one hun- dred and sixty acres in Grant township of Crawford county. His dili- gent efforts have effected a great transformation in the appearance and general productivity of this place since that pioneer time in the history of the county, and he has also added other land to his farm, so that his well improved place of three hundred and twenty acres is a model of its kind and comparable with any farmstead in the vicinity.
Mr. Hewett was married March 22. 1870. to Miss Jennie Browne. a daughter of Alexander and Catherine M. Browne, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. nd Mrs. Hewett have four children: Collins .1. is a carpenter of Chanute, Kansas; Katie M. is the wife of J. M. Car- lisle, of Granite, Montana : Miss Jue makes her home with her sister in
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Montana; and Sheldon B. has recently graduated from a medical college in Kansas City. The family are members of the Baptist church, and Mr. Hewett affiliates with Lodge No. 215, A. H. T. A. He is an inde- pendent Republican in politics, and was for a number of years a school director in his district.
DR. RAYMOND W. MOORE.
Dr. Raymond W. Moore, the well known physician of Arcadia, Kansas, has attained a high rank in his profession during the few years since his technical preparation was concluded, and he enjoys an espe- cially wide range of influence and patronage about Arcadia. He has established himself as the trusted family doctor in many homes, and his professional services are being sought by a constantly growing number of patients. He is well equipped for his life work, is progressive and devoted to his science. and his scope of usefulness is destined to be large wherever his lot is cast.
Dr. Moore was born in Marshall, Missouri, September 22, 1872. a son of Levi J. and Nancy ( Horseman) Moore, both natives of Ohio. His parents came to Missouri in 1865, in 1880 located in Randolph county, Illinois, and five years later returned to Missouri, making their home in Vernon county. His father died there February 25, 1897, at the age of fifty-five years, and his mother is living in Nevada, Missouri, being fifty-six years old.
Dr. Moore was a student in the common schools of Missouri and Illinois, and also attended the state normal at Warrensburg, Missouri. He took up the vocation of school teacher at the age of nineteen, and followed it for four years. He then entered the University Medical College at Kansas City, and in the course of his studies served as interne in the University Hospital of that city. During the Spanish war in the summer of 1898, lie was hospital steward in charge of the operating department of the second division of the Second Army Corps. at Camp
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Alger, Virginia, and at Camp Meade, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University Medical College in March, 1899. and on the 3d of April following located in Arcadia. In 1900 his office was burned out. and he lost all his clothing, drugs and instruments. He now has a mod- ern and well equipped office of three rooms, containing his professional library, and he carries his own stock of drugs. He still does much read- ing along the line of his work, and always keeps to the forefront in the progress of his profession. He is a conscientious and enthusiastic phy- sician, and is one of the most valuable citizens of his town and com- munity.
Dr. Moore is examining physician for the New York Life, the Home Life of New York, the Kansas City Life Insurance Company, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Degree of Honor. the F. . 1. . 1 .. the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Home Builders' Union. He has fraternal affiliations with the F. A. A .. the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Home Builders' Union, and is noble grand of Lodge No. 401, I. O. O. F. He is president of the board of health, is secretary of the Arcadia Telephone Company, and secretary of the Arcadia Com- mercial Club. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Dr. Moore married. October 22, 1901. Miss Anna May Downing. a daughter of J. W. and Violetta Downing, of Kansas City. Two chil- dren have been born of this marriage. Maud and Ralph.
EDGAR S. DOLSON.
Edgar S. Dolson, cashier of the McCune City State Bank, is a young but aggressive and able business man of this town of southwestern Crawford county, and in the few years since entering his business career has demonstrated especial capacity for the management and control of financial affairs. He has identified himself both personally and publicly with the town of McCune, taking a public-spirited part in all matters
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pertaining to its growth and prosperity, and is at the present time serving as its mayor.
Mr. Dolson was born in Scotland county, Missouri, December 15, 1878, a son of Harvey I. and Luceba ( Skidmore) Dolson, the former of Illinois and the latter of Virginia, whence she came with her parents in her young girlhood to Illinois and there married. His father has been a minister of the Methodist church all his life, and in this capacity came to Kansas in 1883, settling first in Bourbon county, but owing to the itinerancy enjoined by the rules of the church he has moved about from place to place. and at the present time has charge of the church at Savonburg. Allen county, Kansas, where he and his wife reside. They are the parents of five children : Robert, of New York city; F. H., of Kansas City: Flora, wife of G. W. Norton, of Kansas City ; B. W., of Kansas City; and Edgar S.
Mr. Delson. the youngest of the children, received a common school education, and after finishing the high school curriculum at Greeley, Anderson county, Kansas, took a business course in a Kansas City busi- ness college. At the conclusion of his school days, in 1900, he came to McCune, where he accepted the position of assistant cashier in the Mc- Cune State Bank. In 1902 he resigned and then helped organize the McCune City State Bank, with a capital of ten thousand dollars, and with John W. Martin as president and himself as cashier. He has proved a most valuable official and director of this financial institution, and has dore much to give it the conservative steadiness and financial solidity which are to be reckoned among its chief assets.
Mr. Dolson's popularity in the town is shown by his election as mayor, in which office he is now serving his second year. His honesty and persevering industry and genial qualities of character have proved his best capital, and with these he has worked up to a commendable place in his community. He is a Master Mason of Temple Lodge No. 237, F. & A. M., and also a member of McCune Lodge No. 195, I. O. O. F. He was married May 17. 1900, to Miss Jennie M. Evans, of Kansas City, and they have one child, Catherine.
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HENRY B. PIERCE.
Henry B. Pierce. of the Pierce Realty Company, at Pittsburg. Kansas, has been well known in Pittsburg for nearly twenty years, and for the past ten years has had his permanent residence here and been extensively engaged in, the real estate business. He has been a successful business man, but. outside of his occupations pursued for individual gain. he has also been much interested in matters pertaining to the public welfare and the development of the material resources and the civic progress of whatever community with which he has been identified for any considerable time. He will always be remembered in Pittsburg for the part he has played in advancing the standard of educational facil- ities and making this city a center of education along practical lines.
Mr. Pierce was born in Oil City. Pennsylvania, in 1858, being one of the sons born to David and Lovina ( Hockman ) Pierce, both natives of Pennsylvania, where his mother still lives. His father was a farmer. but was also interested in the oil industry, and died from the result of an accident.
Mr. Henry Pierce received his education in Oil City, but took up the practical duties of life at the age of fourteen, beginning work in the oil trade, in-which his father and nearly all his brothers were interested. some of his brothers being still connected with that great industry. He soon worked into a good position with the Standard Oil Company. and at an early age was earning a large salary. But, feeling the need of further education, he resigned his place and took a course in the State Normal School at Edinboro, Pennsylvania. In 1880 he was married. and in the same year came west and settled in Cherokee county, of southeastern Kansas, on the Indian Territory border, where he engaged in the farming and cattle business on a very extensive scale. He lived there until 1885. and then for a short time was a resident of Pittsburg. which town was then in its infancy. He afterward moved his family out to the western part of the state, in Kinsley. Edwards county, where
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he lived for a number of years. He left there in order that his children might have better educational facilities than could be offered in that section of the state, and in 1894 took up his residence in Pittsburg, where he has made his home ever since. He established here the Pierce Realty Company, which is successfully engaged in a general real estate and financial business, making city and country loans, and dealing in bonds, etc.
Since coming to the west Mr. Pierce has taken much interest in educational affairs in the several places of his residence, not only for the advantage of his own children but from the purely altruistic desire for educational advancement in general, and has usually been connected in some official capacity with the school boards. For several years he was a member of the Pittsburg board of education, and was associated with Senator Porter in establishing here the public manual training school. the first of its kind in the state. He was a member of the finance com- mittee that floated the bonds and made negotiations for erecting the school and devised the plans for maintaining it. The inauguration of this school in Pittsburg led to the later establishment here of the State Normal Manual Training School, by act of the legislature, which marked one of the greatest advances the Kansas school system had made.
Mr. Pierce was married at Oil City. Pennsylvania, in 1880, to Miss Maggie Kline, and they have had five children. The two oldest sons, Hurlburt G. and Harvey J., were students of the State University at Lawrence, the former finishing in the law department and the latter in the civil engineering department. Hurlburt is now a member of the Pierce Realty Company, while Harvey, although only twenty-one years old, is in charge of the engineering department of the Midland Valley Railroad in Arkansas and Indian Territory. Floyd, a younger son, will become connected with his father's business as soon as he is through school. The other two children are Esther and Fred. Mr. Pierce is a Royal Arch Mason, and in politics is a Democrat.
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CAPTAIN D. K. MORRIS.
Captain D. K. Morris, of Lincoln township, is one of the old set- tlers, having come here shortly after the Civil war, in which he gave full ineed of patriotic service, is a prosperous and progressive farmer, and in public affairs and private life has manifested the high degree of integrity and worthy endeavor which make for ideal citizenship and accomplishment.
Captain Morris was living in Warren county, Illinois, when the Civil war came on, and at Monmouth of that county, on August 7, 1862, he enlisted and was chosen sergeant of Company H. Eighty-third Illinois Infantry, under Captain W. G. Bond and Colonel A. C. Harding. From Monmouth they were ordered to Cairo, Illinois, and then to Fort Hine- man, Kentucky, their first important engagement being at Fort Donelson. They were campaigning ail through Tennessee, being at Nashville, Pulaski, Clarksville, and on other battle grounds, under General Hooker part of the time and were fighting the noted Confederate General Hood. Captain Morris was mustered out at Nashville and went home with an honorable record as a soldier.
Born in Jackson county, Ohio, September 29, 1837, Captain Morris was a son of James and Nancy ( Price ) Morris, the former born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and serving as a soldier in the war of 1812. The father was a successful farmer ; in politics followed the fortunes of the Democratic party for a number of years, but later be- came a Republican : he and his wife were members of the Christian church. The mother died in Warren county, Illinois. There were sev- en children in the family, four sons and three daughters, and two other sons were soldiers of the Civil war; namely, Joshua R., of the Thirtieth Illinois, and William, of the Tenth Illinois Infantry.
Captain Morris was reared on the home farms in the states of Ohio and Illinois. In 1860 he was married to Miss Sarah Hendrick, a native of Indiana and a daughter of Thomas and Mary (Burke)
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Hendrick. both of whom were born in Kentucky, and the latter died in Warren county, Illinois, and the father. a farmer, a Republican and a member of the Christian church, died in Kansas. There were eight chil- dren in the Hendrick family, and two of the sons, James M. and John T., were soldiers of the Sixty-fourth Illinois Infantry.
On coming to this county in 1867 Mr. Morris bought a good tract of land, and his farm of one hundred and twenty acres is now recognized as one of the best in Lincoln township, affording a most comfortable home place in which the Captain and his family have passed so many years. There are five children living, as follows : Robert T., of Coalville, Kansas: Laura Hastings, of Big Cabin, Indian Territory: James, of Mineral, Kansas: Ellen Willard, of Big Cabin, Indian Territory ; and John, on the home farm. Captain Morris is a strong Republican, and has served as justice of the peace in his township for twenty-four years. He is a member of Arcadia Post No. 472. G. A. R. Mrs. Morris is a member of the Christian church.
ISAAC M. SHIPMAN.
Thirty-four years have come and gone since Isaac M. Shipman became a resident of Crawford county, and during this period he has witnessed much of the growth and development of southeastern Kansas. He has seen its wild lands reclaimed for the purposes of civilization and transformed from raw prairie into richly cultivated fields dotted here and there with comfortable and substantial homes, good school buildings and churches, while in the midst of the district have sprung up enter- prising towns. enabling citizens to enjoy all the comforts and conven- iences of the older east. Mr. Shipman, now making his home in Girard, is engaged in the breeding of Percheron and trotting horses and of jacks. and in former years he was closely connected with agricultural interests in the county.
A native of Fountain county, Indiana, Isaac M. Shipman was
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born on the 7th of April, 1842, and was a son of Henry and Elizabeth ( Davis) Shipman, both of whom are now deceased, the mother having passed away in 1844, while the father survived until 1871. Isaac M. Shipman, reared in the usual manner of farmer lads, obtained his edu- cation in the common schools of Indiana and started out upon an inde- pendent business career when eighteen years of age by working at the cooper's trade in the winter months, while in the summer seasons he engaged at farm labor. In 1866 he removed from Indiana to Illinois, settling in Livingston county, where he engaged in farming for a year. On the 19th of October, 1867, he arrived in Crawford county, Kansas, and purchased a claim on Elni creek seven miles west of Girard. There he owned two hundred and eighty acres, which he transformed from its primitive condition into richly cultivated fields, while upon the farm he placed many substantial modern improvements. He was continuously engaged in the cultivation of the soil until March, 1895, when he re- moved to Girard, where he purchased a nice home, and at this writing has just completed an excellent barn thirty by thirty feet. In 1901 he sold his original farm to James Wylie, and purchased two hundred and thirty acres of land which is pleasantly and conveniently located only a mile and a half northeast of Girard. It is upon this place that lie en- gages in the breeding of Percheron and trotting horses and jacks, and he owns some other valuable stock, while his annual sales reach a large figure.
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