USA > Kansas > Crawford County > A Twentieth century history and biographical record of Crawford County, Kansas > Part 29
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In 1878 Mr. Cory came to this county and bought a hundred and sixty acres in Lincoln township, where he has made one of the choice farmsteads of the county, well improved with comfortable and ample house and barn, with a nice orchard set out since he came here, and with fields cultivated in modern and most productive methods. Com- fort and hospitality go hand in hand with enterprise and able manage-
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ment at the Cory home, and its members are numbered among the sub- stantial and popular people of the township.
Mr. and Mrs. Cory have four children: Professor Elmer Ells- worth, who is principal of the schools at Pleasant Valley. Colorado: Lynn A., who, like his father, is a fine mechanic and is a prosperous carpenter and contractor of Lincoln township: Jesse F., who is clerking in a mercantile store : and Essie Dale, married and living at Englevale. Mr. Cory is a stanchi Republican, and he and his wife are members of the Church of God.
ZENAS M. BOGLE.
Zenas M. Bogle, a retired farmer now making his home in Pitts- burg, has enjoyed a most successful and happy career, and now when on the thither side of seventy years of age is passing a comfortable, con- tented and prosperous aftermath to previous scenes of industrious activ- ity, in which he found a creditable solution for life's problems and gained a position of honor and esteem among his fellows. He has never sought to achieve by eclat the work placed before him in the course of duty, but by the simple and unaffecting performance of each day's tasks has won the commendation of his own conscience and evolved a life and char- acter harmonious and worthy of the world's best praise.
Mr. Bogle was born in Perry county, Ohio, in 1833, being a son of Holmes and Mary (Kruson) Bogle. His father was a native of Penn- sylvania, whither his ancestors, like so many of the Scotch-Irish race in the north of Ireland, had come and made settlement generations before. He was taken by his parents to the new state of Ohio in 1807, and grew up in Perry county and helped clear away the forests in which their pioneer home was located. Holmes Bogle lived and died in that county, as did also his good wife.
Mr. Zenas M. Bogle was reared to manhood on the Perry county farm, and when school days and boyhood pleasures were over he entered
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upon real activity as a farmer, which occupation he continued with ex- cellent success in Perry county, Ohio, until 1882. In the spring of that year he came to Crawford county and bought a farm at the eastern edge of Sheridan township. He carried on active farming until a few years ago, since which time he has been retired and making his home in Pitts- burg. He still owns his farm, which is now being conducted by his youngest son, Francis W.
Mr. Bogle has never taken active part in politics further than to cast an intelligent ballot for the man who seemed to him to represent the best principles of national and local government. His first presi- dential vote was given to Fremont, and first and last he has voted for the Republican candidates for the presidency. He is a life-long mem- ber of the United Presbyterian church, he and his wife both coming of stanch Presbyterian stock, and for many years he was a member in the church of that denomination at Beulah, in Sheridan township.
Mr. Bogle was married in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1858 to Miss Margaret J. Barr, who became the mother of six children, the son Holmes P. being deceased. The others are Artemus M., Emma S., Elmer P .. Essie L. and Francis W. Mrs. Bogle was the daughter of Willian and Sarah (Brown) Barr, and is a descendant of Robert Barr, a Scotch- Irishman who came from county Donegal, Ireland, to America in 1790, settling in Pennsylvania. William Barr was born in Pennsylvania in 1800, and came with his parents to Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1802, the year in which Ohio became a state of the Union, and they were among the first settlers in that historic town. One of the sons of William Barr, William Calvin by name, was a soldier in the Civil war for three years. The histories of the Barr and Brown families, of which Mrs. Bogle is a member, have been published, and reveal a long line of ancestors who were strong in their religious faith, and a number of whom attained great distinction in religious action as well as in other depart- ments of life.
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W. M. HOLEMAN.
W. M. Holeman, president of the Walnut State Bank and other- wise prominent in the business and public affairs of his town and county, is a thorough product of the state of Kansas in everything except birth. He is plentifully endowed with the push and enterprise so characteristic of men of the Sunflower commonwealth, and his career has been suc- cessful and is such a pleasant record of progression from one stepping stone of progress to the one next higher that he is to be classed among the men of mark in Crawford county, with whose history he has been prominently identified more or less for the past twenty-five years.
Mr. Holeman was born at Vinton, Benton county, Iowa, March 29, 1857, a son of Abraham and Elizabeth ( Bradbury) Holeman, natives of Ohio. His parents moved to Neosho county, Kansas, and became farmers there at an early day in Kansas history. His father died in October, 1902, when he had reached the advanced age of eighty-five years, but his wife is still living at the age of seventy-eight, making her home with her son, W. M., at Walnut.
Mr. W. M. Holeman passed most of his youthful years in Neosho county, and had the advantage of the country schools and also those at Osage Mission. When he was eighteen years old he began teaching school in Neosho county. Two years later he moved to Bourbon county with his parents, and in the spring of 1880 came to Walnut as principal of the schools of that place, which position he occupied for three years. He then started and conducted the Walnut Journal for five years, fol- lowing which he was engaged in another newspaper enterprise at Bron- son for three years. He conducted a general merchandise establishment at Xenia, Kansas, for six years, and then sold out and returned to Walnut to engage in the banking business. The Walnut State Bank, of which he is president, is a sound and conservative financial institution, with ample capital and resources, and its excellent management has been a
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valuable factor in the business affairs of this part of the county and has likewise been a source of credit to Mr. Holeman.
Mr. Holeman was married in December, 1880, to Miss Lizzie Russel, a daughter of L. D. and Sarah M. Russel, natives, respectively, of Illi- nois and Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Holeman have one child, Edna, who is a graduate of the Walnut high school, attended college at Ottawa, Kansas, and graduated in the Conservatory of Music. The family are members of the Christian church.
Mr. Holeman is a Democrat in politics. He is a member of the city council, and has held the office of treasurer of the school board since he became a resident of Walnut. He affiliates with Vulcan Lodge No. 229, F. & A. M., at Walnut.
FRANK A. JONES.
Frank A. Jones, superintendent of the water works of Pittsburg. is an efficient and energetic business man and manager, as he has den- onstrated during the years that he has been connected with the Pittsburg Water Supply Company, his final promotion to the superintendency of the plant having been clearly dictated by the best interests of the com- pany, and in this position he has maintained the high reputation of the plant as second to none anywhere for a city of the same size. He is likewise popular and well known in the various circles of the city, and for a young man has certainly had a most successful and honorable career.
Mr. Jones is a native son of the Sunflower state, and most of his life and work has been spent within its boundaries. He was born in Doniphan county in 1873, being a son of George A. and Anna ( Stallons) Jones, both of whom are now living at Argonia. Sumner county, Kan- sas. His father was born in Columbus, Ohio, and came to Kansas dur- ing his boyhood, settling with his parents on a farm in Doniphan county. He lived there many years, and in 1883 brought his family to Sumner
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county, where he and his good wife are passing their remaining years in the esteem and affection of many friends and associates.
Mr. F. A. Jones received most of his education in the common school at .Argonia, finishing with a three years' course at Southwest Kansas College, Winfield, Kansas. In 1893 he went to the "Strip." in Oklahoma, and established a grocery store at the little town of Timber- lake Springs. While there he got a postoffice established and was appointed postmaster, but remained there for only a year, coming to Pittsburg, Kansas, in 1895. He took employment with the Pittsburg Water Supply Company, which furnishes water for the city of Pitts- burg, and has remained with the company ever since. He was made superintendent of the water plant in 1903. These water works are noted for their efficiency, having a complete modern equipment and supplying a million gallons of water each day, sufficient to fill all the requirements of the city.
Mr. Jones was married in July, 1903, to Miss Ella Gibson, a niece of Rev. Josiah H. Gibson, who is pastor of the United Presbyterian church of Pittsburg. Mr. Jones affiliates with the Masonic order and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
G. P. NORTON.
G. P. Norton, president of the Cherokee Commercial Company at Cherokee, is one of the foremost business men of Crawford county, a man of enterprise, industry, ability, and a high degree of public spirit, and during the past quarter of a century during which he has been a resident of the county he has participated actively in the work of general progress and upbuilding throughout this section of southeastern Kansas. The business firm of which he is the head is a notably reliable and com- mercially sound company, and their business is extensive throughout the town and country about Cherokee. Lewis Schwab is the general man- ager and treasurer of the firm, and its other members are J. G. Schwab
Geo P Norton.
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and M. C. Bolick. It is one of the pioneer general merchandise houses at Cherokee.
Mr. Norton, who has been in this business in Cherokee since 1893, and who took up his permanent abode in Crawford county in 1880, was born in Allegany county. New York, on the Genesee river, October 21, 1842, being of one of the old families of that section and of Eng- lish and Scotch descent. The original ancestors were three brothers who came from England and settled on Martha's Vineyard among the first to locate at that place. Mr. Norton's parents were Leonard and Margaret (Carr) Norton, both native New Yorkers. The mother's father was a Revolutionary soldier, and, being captured at the Wyoming Massacre, was held prisoner by the Indians for seven years before his final release. Leonard Norton, who died at the advanced age of eighty-four years, was a farmer by occupation. a Republican in politics and a member of the Presbyterian church : his good wife passed away at the age of seventy- two. Their four children were Charles, of Cherokee; Emma Benard, of Illinois : Alice Shannon, of McCune, and George P.
Mr. Norton was reared on a farm in New York, and his schooling was what he obtained in the public schools and by self-application. The family moved out to Missouri in 1858, and there he learned the car- penter's trade, which he followed very successfully for many years, and many buildings at Cherokee and in Crawford county show evidence of his skill and fine handicraft. In 1861 he joined the Missouri State Militia and Home Guards, and at the beginning of 1863 he became a member of Company F, Eighteenth Illinois Infantry, under Colonel Webber and Captain H. H. Benner. During his eighteen months' ser- vice he was at Little Rock, Arkansas, and at various Louisiana points. After the war he settled in McDonough county, Illinois, and, as above stated, came out to Crawford county in 1880.
In McDonough county he was married to Miss Nancy J. McClure, who was born, reared and educated in that county, and they have worked together for what they have gained of the world's material comforts and 24
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are highly esteemed members of Crawford county society. They had one daughter, Viola, who was the wife of Robert A. Bolick, cashier of the Cherokee Bank. She died November 28, 1904. Mr. Norton has long taken an active interest in educational affairs, and is now president of the local school board. He is a Republican in politics, and has for years served as quartermaster of Shiloh Post No. 56, G. A. R. He is an elder in the Presbyterian church.
There follows the obituary notice of Mr. Norton's lately deceased daughter :
Died at her home in this city Monday, November 28, 1904, Viola, beloved wife of Robert A. Bolick, and daughter of G. P. and Nannie Norton, aged 37 years and 22 days. Services were conducted by Rev. E. W. Beason, of Pleasanton, Kansas, at the Presbyterian church, in this city, of which the deceased was a member, after which interment was made in the Cherokee cemetery. A husband and five children are left to mourn the loss of a devoted wife and a kind and loving mother, but their loss is her eternal gain, leaving in this world the evidence of tri- umphant faith, passing peacefully to her eternal home, without fear, rely- ing in Him who has gone to prepare a place for you.
Viola May Norton was born in McDonough county, Illinois, No- vember 6, 1867. She removed with her parents to Cherokee county, Kansas, in the fall of 1880, and has since resided in the near locality.
She was married to Robert A. Bolick December 15, 1887. To this union were born five children all of whom are living.
She united with the Presbyterian church when about twenty years of age, and has been a consistent member thereof until her death. November 28, 1904.
OSCAR WEIMER SCHAEFFER.
Oscar Weimer Schaeffer, cashier of the Bank of Girard, is a citizen of long and honorable standing in Girard and Crawford county, and
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is one of the best known business men of the city. His connection for nearly a quarter of a century with one influential financial institution would mark him as one in whom his fellow associates imposed the utmost confidence both in his integrity and his administrative ability, and in all other relations of a busy and successful career he has borne the same reputation. He began business life in an unimportant capacity and when only a boy, and his own diligent and persevering efforts have been the means by which he has reached a position of influence and esteem in this city. His personal popularity is also very great, and he has made friends everywhere and with all classes of people.
Mr. Schaeffer was born in Lisbon, Linn county, Iowa, February 17. 1860, being a son of Josiah and Nancy B. ( Weimer ) Schaeffer, natives of Holland and descendants of the old Saxe-Weimers of that country. His parents came to America and located first in Pennsylvania and then in New York. Josiah Schaeffer came to Lisbon, Iowa, at an early day, and conducted a newspaper there and was also pastor of the Congregational church. He later moved to Sharon, Wisconsin, where his wife died in 1867. From there he went to Whitehall, Michi- gan, where he was also in charge of a newspaper and pastor of a church. He was later engaged in the same occupations at Coffeyville. Kansas, and in 1870 came to Girard, where he was pastor of the First Presby- terian church. He was later called to Ohio because of the illness of his father, and afterward had charge of several churches in the east. He died in 1890, at the home of his son in Rochester, New York. He had four other children besides Oscar, as follows: Maggie, the wife of L. M. Mores, of Curtis, Nebraska ; Benjamin K., of Curtis, Nebraska : C. T., now of New York city; and Irving, who was drowned in White Bay, near Whitehall, Michigan.
Mr. Oscar W. Schaeffer was educated in Sharon, Wisconsin, and began helping in his father's newspaper office when a small boy. He worked for his father and also went to school after moving to Coffey- ville, but on coming to Girard in 1870 he became a clerk in the store of
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Mr. Seabury. Shortly after, he made his start in the banking career as a clerk in the bank of Mr. Frank Playter, and, although the bank has many times changed hands since that time, he has been steadily in its service to the present time, having risen through the grades to the position of cashier, which he has held for the past twenty-four years. No small degree of the prosperity of the Bank of Girard is due to his constant and faithful work in its behalf. He also owns two good farms in the county, and has some city property that he rents.
Mr. Schaeffer has also been honored with other places of trust. He was city treasurer of Girard for twenty-four years, and for twenty- one years held the office of treasurer in the Mystic Council No. 12. Uniform Rank of the Knights of Pythias, in which order he stands high and is a member of the grand lodge. He likewise has faternal affiliations with the Independent Order of Red Men, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is vice-president of the A. H. T. A. He is treasurer of the Girard Business Men's Club, and is a member of the American Bankers' Association and the Kansas Bankers' Association.
L. H. THURSTON, D. V. S.
Dr. L. H. Thurston, who is engaged in the practice of veterinary surgery at Girard, is a native son of Kansas, his birth having occurred in Labette county on the 20th of July, 18.72. He is a son of David C. and Christina ( Bybey) Thurston, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Missouri. Mr. David C. Thurston is still living, occupying the home farm in Labette county, but his wife passed away on the 11th of June, 1878.
At the usual age Dr. Thurston became a student in the public schools and acquired his literary education in Labette county. He afterward went to California, where he worked on a ranch of five thousand acres devoted to the cultivation of grain. After three years and a half, how- ever, he returned to Parsons, Kansas, and was employed on the railroad
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for one year. Having in the meantime determined to devote his energies to the practice of veterinary surgery. he then entered the Ontario Vet- erinary College in 1902, and the following year was graduated from that institution, completing the course on the 26th of March. 1903. On the 29th of the same month he came to Girard and began practicing. On the 12th of January, 1904, he purchased two lots and a barn, remodeled the latter and transformed it into a first-class hospital for veterinary practice. This is the only establishment of the kind in Craw- ford county, and Dr. Thurston is enjoying an excellent patronage which is continually increasing.
On the Ioth of May, 1903, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Thurston and Miss Florence Edna Allison, a daughter of John and Emma Allison. Her father came to this county about thirty years ago, and is now one of the most extensive stock-raisers and landowners of this portion of the state, having five hundred acres of valuable land. Mrs. Thurston is a member of the Methodist church, and the Doctor belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Girard, while his political allegiance is given to the Republican party.
JOHN H. COONROD.
John H. Coonrod is another of the pioneer citizens of Crawford county residing in Lincoln township, with postoffice at Cato. He came to the county as long ago as October, 1857, at which time there were a hundred Indians camped along Drywood creek near where his present estate is located. In the course of forty-seven years he has naturally witnessed a wonderful change in the conditions and the appearance of the county, and he has performed his share of this work of development and progress. He has always been a friend and supporter of good insti- tutions, whether church, state or schools, and has lent his efforts in a substantial manner toward making his section of Crawford county a good place to live in.
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Mr. Coonrod is also esteemed as having been a soldier in the Civil war. August 15, 1861, he enlisted in Captain Jewell's company of the Sixth Kansas Cavalry, a well known regiment which did good service along the Missouri and Kansas border, fighting both the regular Con- federate armies as well as the bushwhackers and guerrillas. Mr. Coonrod served eight months in this regiment and then received his honorable discharge.
Mr. Coonrod was born in Scott county, Illinois, in 1831, being a son of Woolery and Jane (Pruett) Coonrod. His father, a native of Virginia and a member of an old family of that commonwealth, was one of the early settlers of Scott county, Illinois. The mother was born in Brown county, Illinois, her family also being first settlers of that locality, and coming originally from Kentucky, one member of the Pruett -family having been a soldier in the war of 1812. When John H. Coonrod was a baby his parents moved to Jasper county, locating on a farm seven miles from Carthage, Missouri, and thence in 1855 they moved to the territory of Kansas, being pioneers in settling along the rich land on Drywood creek, at the time the Osage Indians were still here. They built a log cabin for their first home, and in time had made a nice farm. They both died in this county, the father at eighty-five and the mother at eighty-four. They were members of the Christian church, and the former was in politics a Democrat. Fourteen children were born to them, several of them dying in infancy or childhood, and those who grew up being named as follows Adam, Martha, Mary, John H., Elisha, Emeline, Francis, Jefferson, William and George.
Mr. Coonrod grew to manhood on the farm in Jasper county, and he experienced many pioneer conditions during his young life. The schoolhouse where he obtained all his educational advantages was built of logs, had slab seats and a fireplace, and was primitive in both furnish- ings and methods and material of instruction. As has been stated, he came to this county in 1857, and in 1865 moved to his present location, where he has lived continuously for forty years. He has a pretty and
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comfortable homestead, with all the improvements and conveniences which mark the twentieth century farmstead, and he is certainly well circumstanced for the declining years of a long and prosperous life. His farm of one hundred and forty-four acres is located on Drywood creek ; there is both meadow and timber land, and the land is well culti- vated and exceedingly productive.
Mr. Coonrod has been married three times. He took Miss Sadie Odum for his first bride, their wedding being performed in Jasper county when he was twenty-two years old. She was born and reared in Mis- souri, being a daughter of John Odum. She was a good Christian woman, and her character was noble in all its attributes. At her death in 1868 she left four children: Calla Hutchins; Arizona, who has been a popular and successful teacher in this county for a number of years ; Woolery and Jolin. Mr. Coonrod married, second. Elizabeth Hensley, who was born in Dade county, Missouri. She was a member of the Chris- tian church and died at the home place in this county, leaving three children, Hillman, Dick and Minnie Williams. Mr. Coonrod's last wife was Mrs. Nancy Dowdall, who died May 22, 1902.
Mr. Coonrod is a Democrat in politics. He has long been an active member of the Christian church, for years being deacon and elder, and he has been very liberal in supporting the church and its various benevo- lences. His son, Dick Coonrod, who lives at the old home and manages the farm, was married on June 10, 1903, to Miss Sarah J. Ater, a suc- cessful teacher of the county, and they have one son, Carl Chester.
C. F. CALHOUN.
C. F. Calhoun, proprietor of the Hotel McCune and in many ways prominent in the business affairs of McCune, has spent nearly all the years of his life in Kansas, and since identifying himself with the town of McCune has not only added much to his own prosperity but as a
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public-spirited and energetic citizen has contributed to the general upbuilding and progress of this community.
He was born in Mercer county, Illinois, March 8, 1857, a son of William and Harriet S. (Gardner) Calhoun. The Calhoun family originated in Scotland and Ireland, and his grandfather, James William Calhoun, was born in Ireland, and some time in the latter part of the eighteenth century came to America and settled in Ohio, where his son William was born and was married to Harriet S. Gardner. The latter belonged to the Bishop family, which has an interesting place in American history, as set forth at a picnic celebrating the sixth annual reunion of the Bishop family, held at Woods Island, New York. On that occasion John C. Bishop gave the following facts concerning the family history :
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