USA > Kansas > Crawford County > A Twentieth century history and biographical record of Crawford County, Kansas > Part 28
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
Hon. W. H. Ryan received his education in the public schools of Kansas and at the Brothers School, a Catholic college at St. Paul, for- merly Osage Mission, Kansas. He was reared to farm life and engaged in that occupation until 1882. when he embarked in the grain and mer- cantile business in Brazilton, Crawford county. This business has.con- tinued and prospered to the present time, and is now conducted under the name of W. H. Ryan and Sons, his son Charles H. being manager. Mr. Ryan was elected, by the fusionists of the county, to the lower house of the state legislature in 1892, and during his two years of service in that body was elected to the office of temporary speaker. The same constituents elected him to the state senate in 1896, and he was on the judiciary committee for four years. He took an active and public- spirited part in the legislation effected, and was the author of the bill. which became a law. making the office of mine inspector elective and thus placing it in the hands of the miners themselves.
Mr. Ryan was admitted to the bar in March, 1898, by Judge Sim- ons, of the sixth judicial district. and since then he has been engaged in the practice of law in Girard. He was also admitted to practice be- fore the supreme court. in February. 1903. He has large business inter- ests to look after, and is the owner of fourteen hundred acres of Craw- ford county land, giving some of his attention to farming and stock raising. In April. 1903. he was chosen to the position of mayor of Girard on the citizens' ticket, Girard being normally two hundred Repub- lican majority.
Mr. Ryan was married at Osage Mission. Kansas, in 1878, to Miss Ella Songer. a native of Iowa and a daughter of Harrison Songer and
392
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
Jane Songer. Her father was one of the early settlers of Neosho coun- ty. Kansas, and died in 1880, aged seventy years. Eleven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ryan, as follows: Charles H., of Bra- zilton, mentioned above, married Miss Laura Hess, but has no living children ; William H., Jr., a farmer near Brazilton, married Miss Kate Purden and has one child, Edna : Clarence M., a farmer near Brazilton, married Miss Lulu Hess, and has one child; George E., residing at home, is studying law in the office of Ryan and Phillips ; Frank is farm- ing on the home place and resides with his brother William; Belle is a student in the Girard high school; Lillie May is in the Girard schools; and Leonard, Ernest and Howard; and Andrew J., who died at the age of four months. Mr. and Mrs. Ryan are members of the Catholic church, and he affiliates with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
ARCHIBALD B. KIRKWOOD.
Archibald B. Kirkwood, general manager of the Wear Coal Com- pany and president of the Standard Mercantile Company, Pittsburg, Kansas, is one of the most practical business men and coal operators as well as most successful in the state of Kansas. Energy, industry and quickness of action have brought him from the humblest position in the coal mining industry to the highest, and he is a fine type of the man who finds his opportunities at hand, whatever his occupation, and rises to the top. He has been identified with the coal industry since the age of thirteen years, and the subsequent thirty years have been filled with well directed labor and have brought him to the important position which he now holds in the commercial and industrial activities of Pitts- burg and this part of Kansas.
Mr. Kirkwood was born at Lonaconing, Allegany county, Mary- land, in 1859, a son of John and Rachel (Gibb) Kirkwood. His father was born in Glasgow, Scotland, whence he emigrated as a young man
A.BKimeword
395
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
to the United States, locating in Maryland. He was a practical coal miner, reared to the trade in his native country, and came to this coun- try to find a larger field of operations. About 1862 he brought his fam- ily west and located at Fairbury, Livingston county, Illinois, where he opened and operated the second coal mine of that town. conducting it under the name of the Central Coal Company. He was a successful coal operator there until the late eighties, and then came to the coal fields of Kansas. He was assistant superintendent of the Osage Coal Com- pany at Scranton for some time, and in 1893 came to Pittsburg, where his son Archibald had previously located. His death occurred in this city, but his wife survives him and is still living in this place. She was also born in Scotland.
Archibald B. Kirkwood attended school in Fairbury, Illinois, but at the age of thirteen entered the coal mines. He began with the occu- pation of keeping trap door, later drove mules, was then a practical coal digger, and from that came through all the positions of pit boss, mine foreman, superintendent, up to his present important place as general manager of a number of large mines. There is nothing about a mine of which he does not have a thorough practical working knowledge.
In 1880 Mr. Kirkwood left Fairbury and went to Montana, where he was a sub-contractor in the construction of the Big Horn tunnel on the Northern Pacific Railroad, in Custer county, where he remained nine months. He then came to Carbondale, Osage county, Kansas, where the coal mines were just then beginning to be of some importance. He became mine foreman for the Kansas Carbon Coal Company, which was the coal department of the old Kansas Pacific Railroad. From there he went to Scranton, in the same county, and was made foreman for the Osage Mining Company, the coal department of the Santa Fe Rail- road. While in that mining region he first met Mr. Frank E. Wear, with whom he later became associated in the mining business. Mr. Kirkwood remained at Scranton until 1888. and then went to work for Mr. Wear at Liberal, Missouri, where they leased and operated a mine.
23
396
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
They were there two years, thence went to Minden, Missouri, where they opened up the No. I mine, known as the "Sunshine." In the meantime. in 1890, the Wear Coal Company had been organized, and in 1891 Mr. Kirkwood came to Pittsburg as superintendent of the mine which they had opened. In 1900 he was elected general manager of all the coal mines of the Wear Coal Company, which include nine mines in the Pitts- burg coal district, and a number of other mines at Collinsville, Oolagah and Poteau, Indian Territory, and mines in Arkansas and Missouri. They employ about eleven hundred men in the Pittsburg district alone. Mr. Kirkwood is a stockholder in the Wear Coal Company, of which F. E. Wear is president. T. G. Wear, vice president, and N. S. Wear, secre- tary.
Mr. Kirkwood is president of the Standard Mercantile Company of Pittsburg, which operates here in Pittsburg what is said to be the largest department store in Kansas. Its trade in 1903 amounted to over three hundred and sixty thousand dollars. The company was organ- ized in 1899 to succeed the mercantile establishments of the Wear Coal Company and the Kansas and Texas Coal Company. The store occu- pies the largest commercial building in Pittsburg, a two-story brick and stone structure, with a frontage of one hundred feet on Broadway and one hundred and twenty-five feet on Seventh street, and is modern and well equipped in every particular. The company also has a store in Minden, Missouri.
Mr. Kirkwood affiliates with the Masonic blue lodge, chapter, coun- cil and commandery at Pittsburg, and with Ararat Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Kansas City; is also a member of the lodge of the Elks, the United Commercial Travelers. the Independent Order of Red Men and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He was married at Windsor, Illi- nois, March 30, 1880, to Miss Ida M. Bowman, and they have three chil- dren : Ray N., who is wife of Dr. Robert B. Gibbs, of Pittsburg : Miss Edna and Roy.
397
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
JOHN H. HESS.
John H. Hess, chief engineer of the Pittsburg Gas and Electric Light Company, is well known in various parts of Kansas for the public works the installation of which he has superintended, and his career in Pittsburg has been in the same connection, having made this the center of his opera- tions for a number of years. He is thoroughly acquainted with all the details of his business, has the necessary push and enterprise for a suc- cessful prosecution and carrying out of the important public works en- trusted to his care, and has made a well deserved and highly creditable reputation for efficiency and integrity of character and action.
Mr. Hess was born near Baltimore, Maryland, in 1852, being the son of William H. and Anna ( Sluss) Hess, who are still living in Balti- more. His father is a prosperous real estate owner there, and for a number of years was a successful farmer near that city.
Mr. J. H. Hess was educated at Eagleton Institute, where he was graduated, and also attended the college at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He began his business career by engaging in the sewing machine busi- ness, being connected with the well known Singer company, and from that went into the employ of the Champion Reaper Company. In 1879 he left Maryland and came west, and for several years followed mining quite extensively, first in the Black Hills, then at Cheyenne, and at Leadville and other places in Colorado, which country was then in its interesting boom days. During that period Mr. Hess was one of the founders of the mining town of Aspen, Colorado. He had the varied experiences of the mining man up to 1884, and in the early part of that year located in Dodge City, Kansas, where he was in business for several months. From there he went to Parsons, Kansas, in the same year. and there secured the work of putting in the water works, as also at Independence, Cherryvale and Ottawa, during a part of the time being associated with Captain Ewing. He left Ottawa to take up his abode in Pittsburg, where he has since resided. His first mission in Pittsburg
398
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
was putting in the pumps and other apparatus for the city water works, and his work from then till now has been mainly along the line of foremanship on public works. He did considerable work for the Pitts- burg Railway Company, both in and out of the city. In his present ca- pacity as chief engineer for the Pittsburg Gas and Electric Light Com- pany he has done much valuable service, his wide and successful experi- ence making him just the man for the place and able to carry out with absolute precision and effectiveness the wishes of the company.
Mr. Hess is a loyal Republican, and has been favored with offices at the various places in which he has resided. In Pittsburg he is presi- dent of the city council, having been elected a member of the body from the first ward, in April, 1902. He is chairman of the fire committee, also of the purchasing committee, and is a member of the streets and alleys committee. Mr. Hess married Miss Sarah Steele, and they have two children, Edna B. and Bonnie.
J. T. LOUTHAN.
J. T. Louthan, a prominent farmer and stockman of Arcadia, has passed a life of most useful and honorable activity, beginning with a creditable record as a Union soldier while in the bloom of young man- hood, then for a number of years following the trade of blacksmith, and for the past thirty years engaged, until five years ago, in the dual occu- pation of farming and blacksmithing, and since then in conducting his fine estate near Arcadia, where after the stress of sixty years of life he will pass his remaining years in contentment with what the years have brought forth. He has met in a manly and courageous manner all the obligations laid upon him, whether as a soldier or civilian, and he merits and receives the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens in this part of Crawford county.
Mr. Louthan was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, May 3, 1843, a son of Moses and Electra ( Thomas) Louthan, who came to Ohio from
399
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
Pennsylvania. Both his parents lived to honorable old age, his father dying in 1892 at the age of eighty-two, and his mother in 1901, when eighty-seven years old.
Mr. Louthan received his education in the common schools of Ohio. and at the age of nineteen, in the spring of 1862, he enlisted in Company F. Eighty-seventh Ohio Infantry, going in for three months' service. At the siege of Harper's Ferry he was captured, and after being paroled he returned home. He re-enlisted in August, 1863. being enrolled in Company B, Twelfth Ohio Cavalry. He participated in the engagements at Saltsville, Virginia, Greensboro, South Carolina, Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, and at Bridgeport, Alabama, and was mustered out at Nash- ville, and was discharged at Columbus, Ohio, October 22, 1865. withi a most creditable record as a soldier in defense of the Union. He re- turned home to engage for a time in the blacksmith business, and in the spring of 1867 came out to Baxter Springs, Kansas, where he fol- lowed his trade one year. He lived in Barton county, Missouri, until August, 1875, at which time he took up his permanent residence at Arcadia, Crawford county, and bought the farm of one hundred and sixty acres which now comprises his pleasant and productive homestead. He had a blacksmith shop on his farm until about five years ago, but has now given up following his trade.
Mr. Louthan is a stanch Republican. He served one term on the school board of Arcadia. He has fraternal affiliations with Lodge No. 401. I. O. O. F. He was married in 1869 to Miss Margaret Myer. of Illinois. She died in March, 1889. leaving the following children : Marion Franklin, of the state of Washington; W. S., of Washington : Lewis, of Peru, Kansas; Ruth Electra, of Fort Scott. Kansas: and M. E., of Washington. Mr. Louthan married, second, in May. 1896, Miss Charlotte Parker. She is a native of England, and was a trained nurse in London. She is a member of the Presbyterian church, and a most delightful and pleasant lady.
400
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
DR. HARVEY M. GRANDLE.
Dr. Harvey M. Grandle, who has a large and flourishing practice as a dentist in Pittsburg, and is one of the popular and enterprising spirits of that city, has practiced his profession with much success for the past twelve years. He is almost entirely a Kansas product, for he has lived in this section of the state since he was one year old, having been reared among the pioneer surroundings of thirty odd years ago in the Sunflower state.
Dr. Grandle was born at Marion, Iowa, in 1867, and his parents are Harrison and Maria (Shields) Grandle, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Indiana. His father was an emigrant to Iowa in 1856, and spent sixteen years in that state. In 1868 he drove a wagon out to Kansas and took up his location on a farm near Monmouth, Craw- ford county, so that he is really one of the old settlers of this county, which less than forty years ago was an uncivilized abode. He is at present a prosperous and well preserved farmer, owning about a section of Crawford county's fine land, and has a nice home near Monmouth, where he and his wife live. They have a family of six sons and two daughters, all grown.
Harvey M. Grandle received a good education at Monmouth in the graded school, which at that time was one of superior excellence. He prepared himself for teaching, and was engaged in the work of peda- gogue for five years, the last three years of that period having been spent as an instructor in the high school at Weir, in Cherokee county. While at Weir he decided upon dentistry as his profession, and began his studies to that end under Dr. Cartwright as preceptor. As soon as his preparation was complete he took up practice, and has now been in steady practice for the past twelve years. He first practiced at Weir, then was located at Pittsburg for some time, and again returned to Weir. On April 1, 1903, he came to Pittsburg and formed a partnership with Dr. Fred K. Ream, which was continued until the following August 18,
401
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
when he bought Dr. Ream's interest, and is now the owner of the business and in the enjoyment of a high-class and profitable practice.
Mr. Grandle is prominent in the fraternal orders, being a member of the local lodge of the Elks, and at Weir is affiliated with the Masons and Knights of Pythias, the Pyramids, the Maccabees, Sons and Daugh- ters of Justice, and others. He is a Democrat in politics, and served one term as mayor of Weir. When he left that town he had for some time been serving as president of the board of education.
Dr. Grandle was married at Jacksonville, Illinois, October 1, 1894, to Miss Margaret Gallagher. They have three children, Sadie Dorothy, deceased; Nina Catharine, aged six ; and Harvey Marion, aged three. Sadie Dorothy, born January 11, 1897, died February 8, 1905, after an illness of two weeks, of pneumonia fever. Her eight years filled her fond father's and mother's lives with sunshine. She was always happy and loved all nature.
JOHN W. MARTIN.
John W. Martin, president of the McCune City State Bank, has for a number of years been prominently connected with the business interests of this town, and within its environs has practically worked out his entire successful career. He is a young man who has achieved much in the years of his life, and his success is the more deserving be- cause it is the result of conscientious and persevering application since he was a very young lad, having become dependent on his own exertions when he was a boy of twelve years.
He was born in Jefferson county, Illinois, August 12, 1868, being a son of Joseph B. and Mary M. (Dollins) Martin, both natives of Illinois. His mother's father, Colonel James J. Dollins, served three years in an Illinois regiment during the Civil war, being promoted to colonel. Joseph B. Martin died in 1876, when comparatively young, but his wife still survives, and is living in Savonburg, Kansas. Their
402
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
two children were John W. and Ida M., the latter the wife of Charles Smith, of Chanute.
Mr. John W. Martin came to Kansas in 1880, and since that time has been almost entirely earning his own way. He lived with his grand- mother for eight years, going to school whenever he had opportunity. He began his career as a clerk in a general merchandise store in McCune, and was thus employed for eight years. When the A. Hood and Sons organized a large implement store, also a full and complete line of mod- ern vehicles and wagons, in McCune Mr. Martin entered their employ, and has been with them ever since with increasingly important duties, being now the manager of the store. In 1902 he helped organize the McCune City State Bank, and is now its president and one of the direc- tors. He has prospered mainly because of his arduous labor from an early age and his strict adherence to honesty.
He is a Republican in politics, and is held in high esteem by- all his fellow townsmen. He affiliates with Temple Lodge No. 237, F. & A. M., at McCune, and with McCune Lodge No. 193, I. O. O. F. He was married in October, 1895, to Miss Scinda E. Hurley. a native of Chero- kee county, Kansas.
JOHN VIETS.
John Viets, the present popular and efficient county clerk of Craw- ford county, is one of the oldest established residents of the county, and almost his entire active career has been identified with the private busi- ness and agricultural and official affairs of the county. His prominence is well deserved, for from the time of boyhood he has been engaged in useful activity, beginning with several years of patriotic service to his country. He knows what it is to subdue the virgin prairie soil to the uses of agriculture, and was also one of the early merchants of the county. Many places of responsibility and trust have been confided to him by
403
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
his appreciative fellow citizens, and his integrity and high personal char- acter have always proved worthy of the greatest confidence and honor.
Mr. Viets is a true-blue American in everything except birth. He was born in Hanover, Germany, July 15, 1843, being a son of Henry and Margaret (Heimsohn) Viets, both native Germans. His parents came to America in 1857. and first located in Benton county, Missouri, where his father was engaged in farming for ten years, and in 1867 came to Crawford county, Kansas, where he continued the tilling of the soil. He died March 5. 1903, and his wife had been taken from him in 1884.
Mr. John Viets was educated in the old country and in Benton county, Missouri, being reared and accustomed to farm life from child- hood. He was about seventeen years old when the call for ninety-day troops came to Missouri, and he enlisted for that period and served it out. He then enlisted in the Fifth Missouri Cavalry. and at the end of two years veteranized in the Thirteenth Missouri Cavalry. He was in the bat- tle of Cold Camp, in Price's raid, and many other engagements of the war. and was mustered out with the rank of lieutenant on January 11. 1866. He came to Walnut township. Crawford county, and took up a clain of bare land, which he at once set to work to improve, and on which he lived until 1869. He then sold his farm and started a general store in that locality, which he sold out in the following year. He moved into Hepler in 1870 and engaged in the general merchandise business. He also bought grain and stock, and continued his business operations there until 1890.
Mr. Viets has had a most honorable public record. He served as county treasurer from 1884 to 1886. In 1890 he moved to Girard and built the county court house. He was elected county clerk in 1899. and took office in January, 1900, serving as such until 1902. He was again elected clerk of the county in 1902, and has held the office till 1905.
Mr. Viets was married in July. 1867. to Miss Adelleit Gotheer, a daughter of Henry Gotheer, of Miami County, Kansas. They have had five children : Emma is now cashier in the office of the Illinois Life
404
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
Insurance Company in Topeka, Kansas; Amelia is the wife of Charles R. Bernard, of Florence, Colorado; Marie is the wife of Dr. A. T. Havely. of Girard; Nora is the wife of John Vincent, proprietor of a meat market in Girard; and Henry, the only son, is attending college. Mr. and Mrs. Viets are members of the Lutheran church, and their children are Episcopalians.
ALONZO L. CORY.
Alonzo L. Cory, of Lincoln township, with postoffice at Girard, came to Crawford county in 1878, just when it was beginning its period of most rapid development, and he has since lived here and become a successful farmer and also taken an active part in the affairs of his community and county. He is a man of many resources, is practical and able, and has prospered in all his undertakings. He came to this county from Syracuse, Kosciusko county, Indiana, where he was born February 7, 1845.
At the age of eighteen he became a soldier in the service of his country, and before reaching maturity he had twice been a soldier in the greatest war of his country. He first enlisted in February, 1863, in Company G. One Hundred and Eighteenth Indiana Infantry, and from the camp at Indianapolis was sent into the Virginias and Carolinas, and his service also took him into Maryland and Pennsylvania after General Longstreet's rebel forces. He was in the engagements at Strawberry Plains, Walkers Ford, the Cumberland Gap, and for nine months on the campaign in the James valley. He was honorably discharged from the service, but in January, 1865, he again enlisted in Company A, One Hundred and Fifty-second Indiana, along with his half-brother A. J. Cory, and served until the close of hostilities, when he was honorably discharged and came home a veteran.
Mr. Cory was the youngest child of Abijah C. and Sally ( Mann) Cory. His grandfather, Jeremiah Cory, was a native of Pennsylvania,
405
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
of Scotch ancestry, and was a soldier in the war of 1812. He married Dorothy Martin, and they moved to Indiana among the early settlers in 1834, and thence moved to Story county, Iowa, where they both died. Abijah C. Cory married for his first wife Sally Mann, who died in 1845. soon after the birth of Alonzo, and leaving two other children, Saman- tha, who died at the age of fourteen years, and Almeda. After the death of his first wife Abijah C. Cory married Mrs. Matilda (Wood) Gunter, a daughter of John G. Wood, a soldier of the war of 1812, and by this marriage there were the following children: A. J., Jesse, M. Malinda, P. Celestine, and Elizabeth. The father, who died at Syracuse, Indiana, at the age of seventy-five, was a successful farmer and stock- man, politically was a Whig and Republican, active in party affairs though never seeking office, and was a member of the Baptist church.
Mr. Cory grew up on the old farm in Indiana, where he was taught to work as well as learning the lessons of the public schools. Possessed of much mechanical ingenuity and practical ability, he took up the occu- pations of carpenter and mechanical engineer, and followed that line for some years. He was a very young man when he gave hostages to for- tune by getting married, for on the day before Christmas, 1865. he was married, in Kosciusko county, to Miss Rebecca Kauffman, and they have spent a most happy married life of nearly forty years. She spent the first nine years of her life in Pennsylvania, and then came to Indiana, where she grew up and received her education. She was a daughter of Joseph and Mary (Fry) Kauffman, who both passed away in Kosciusko county.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.